Chapter Seventy-One: Confrontation

  In the Ming Dynasty, Guozijian was undoubtedly the first academy, which originated from its history, from the degree of attention received by the emperor, and also from the composition of students inside. Inside Guozijian, there is a lecture hall called Yilun Hall, where the emperor lectures exclusively, with not only luxurious decorations but also a specially set dragon chair, showing the weight of Guozijian in the Ming Dynasty.

  Even though the Imperial Academy is no longer what it used to be, those who study here still have an innate sense of arrogance. It's like the difference between a noble and a commoner. No matter how down on his luck a noble may be, he will never look up to a commoner who has more money than him. This sense of superiority is born with them and cannot be explained in detail.

  In the Guozijian of the Ming Dynasty, although it was the highest institution of learning, it was not the only official school. According to the imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty, in order to participate in the imperial examinations, one had to attend an official school. As a result, there were too many scholars who needed to enter official schools, and the official schools could not accommodate them all. Therefore, people came up with another solution, which was to allow private academies to be affiliated with official schools. For example, the Xunwen Literary Society was actually composed of four major private academies in the capital, and it can be considered a self-organized alliance of a folk nature, as well as a union of scholars in the capital.

  Academies like this are eager to challenge the Imperial Academy, and the reason is very simple. To put it simply, nobles look down on commoners, but commoners often look down even more on those nobles who only know how to enjoy life and rely on their ancestors' fame. So commoners really want to go and trample the nobles underfoot, on the one hand proving that the nobles are not as good as themselves, and on the other hand also indirectly verifying that they themselves are actually the true nobles.

  However, in the past, it was only one or two people who came to challenge, and no matter whether they won or lost, they couldn't stir up too much of a commotion. But this time is different, as they have actually come to challenge under the name of Xun Literary Society, and judging by their numbers, it's likely that more than two-thirds of the entire society has arrived.

  Due to the grand momentum, the common people near Guozijian and on the streets saw that the number of people following was increasing. At this moment, the gate of Jixianmen was surrounded by three layers inside and three layers outside, and the crowd was still gathering from all directions, with an increasingly fierce momentum.

  Seeing more and more people gathering, the members of the Xunwen Literary Society became even more arrogant, shouting loudly: "How about it? Does the Imperial Academy dare to send someone to fight?"

  At this moment, the Imperial Academy was already in an uproar. Since the Sacrificial Rite Director Shen Yun was not present, the two Administrators immediately sent someone to summon all the Doctors to the Doctor's Hall to discuss a countermeasure.

  At this moment, Wang Ruhai was explaining the Doctrine of the Mean to Jiang Xia and others. A teacher rushed over, panting heavily, and exclaimed: "Wang... Dr. Wang, something big has happened! The Xun Wenxueshe people have come to challenge us, and the two deans are calling you to hurry to the doctoral hall to discuss countermeasures."

  "It's just a challenge, can't you just send someone over to respond?" Wang Ruhai said nonchalantly.

  The teacher shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it's not that simple. This time is different from the past. Almost everyone in the Xun Literary Society has come, and many people from the capital have followed. The five great talents of the Xun Literary Society are here to challenge us, they're not easy to deal with. If we lose this time, there will inevitably be rumors among the common people, and when the news reaches the Emperor's ears, I'm afraid all of us will..."

  Wang Ruhai's face changed color as he heard this, and he immediately put down the book in his hand and said: "Let's go, go to the doctoral hall right away."

  Wang Ruhai left, and the whole sky was suddenly noisy. The grandson of the Left Supervisor of the Ducha Yuan, Xia Fengchou, excitedly said: "Ah ha, now there's a good show to watch! I've heard that among the talented scholars in the capital, the five members of the Xun Wenxue Society are the most famous. What were their names again? Seven-step poet Sun Mowen, Danqing Shenghua Wang Qianxun, Tiehua Yinhao Mo Zhongyu, Absolute Unique Li Yunqing... and the last one was... who was it?"

  "Intelligence is like a ghost, how can it be hidden?" said Wang Wenbo, the grandson of the Left Servant of the Ministry of Revenue.

  "This time the Imperial Academy is definitely unable to withstand, others may not know but I am clear that the Imperial Academy does not have any outstanding talents, those doctors are just a bunch of poor scholars who only know how to read books to death, when it comes to painting and calligraphy, composing poetry... humph." The grandson of the Minister of Rites, Jiang Hanlin, shook his head disdainfully.

  "We... how can we let others gain prestige and destroy our own reputation? Even if the Xunwen Literary Society is formidable, what can they do to us? Our Imperial Academy is not a place where they can come and challenge us?" said Liang Wenhuan loudly, sitting beside Jiang Xia. What he said was righteous and stern, but his pig-headed appearance really made people want to laugh.

  Jiang Xia suddenly stood up, nodded and said: "Wenhan is right, we are all people of Guozijian, no matter how bad we are ourselves, we absolutely cannot let others trample on our heads, come on, let's go out and take a look."

  As soon as Jiang Xia said this, he immediately gained the support of everyone. The people from the Heavenly Class stood up one after another and said: "Right, Brother Jiang is right. Those people from the Xun Wenxue Society are too arrogant, they don't even look at their own identity, and they dare to come and challenge our Imperial Academy, do they really think that our Imperial Academy has no one? Let's go out and take a look."

  After finishing speaking, Jiang Xia led Tian Ban and others out of the classroom.

  Jiang Xia and others had just gone out, and the rest of the people in the classroom who heard the wind sound also followed them to Ji Xian Gate.

  At this moment, the two deans in the doctoral hall were frowning and thinking hard, but they couldn't find anyone to go and fight. They asked all the teachers, but everyone was afraid of losing and damaging their reputation, so no one was willing to take the lead.

  And on Jiang Xia's side, as they walked out, more and more people followed them, until finally a large crowd of people arrived at Jixian Gate.

  The entrance to the Ji Xian Men was blocked by Wu Gang and Yuan Da Lin, so the people from the Xun Wenxue She had not been able to get in for the time being. However, the area outside the gate was already packed with people, and the entire street was impassable.

  Jiang Xia led a group of people out of Guozi Jian, and a scholar from the Xun Wenxue She clapped his hands and laughed: "Good, good! The turtles of Guozi Jian have finally come out. Let's hear it, who are you here to challenge?"

  Jiang Xia looked at the man and it was clear that he was not one of the five great geniuses, but his phrase "turtle shrinking its head" also insulted Jiang Xia. Jiang Xia was not a person who would take a loss lying down, so he pointed at the man and crooked his right index finger.

  The man stared blankly for a moment before asking, "What's going on?"

  Jiang Xia smiled harmlessly and said: "I'm here to tell you who should go to war."

  "Good." The man walked over.

  Suddenly, Jiang Xia grabbed his hair with one hand and swept him to the ground with her right foot. "Bang bang bang..." Jiang Xia stomped on his head fiercely.

  "What's wrong with you? Why did you hit him? What's wrong?"

  Jiang Xia suddenly drew a long knife from Yuan Dali's waist and pointed the blade at the person he had just trampled, then shouted: "All of you shut up! Take one more step forward and I'll make him bleed all over this place."

  The people of Xun Wenxue She stopped in their tracks, no one dared to move forward.

  The people of the Heavenly Group standing behind Jiang Xia felt greatly relieved, and even Liang Wenhuan couldn't help but say: "Brother Jiang's personality is really not bad, it's a relief..."

  "Shut up, it's no small matter to draw a knife in front of everyone, or we'll get beaten with a board." Wang Wenbo whispered to Liang Wenhuan.

  At this time, one of the five great scholars who was standing in the middle stepped forward and said: "We are all Confucian scholars, learning from the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, emphasizing the use of virtue to win people over. Why do you behave so violently? This kind of behavior is probably tarnishing the reputation of the Imperial Academy!"

  "Who are you?" Jiang Xia asked.

  "In the future, Li Yunqing." Li Yunqing slightly clenched his fist towards Jiang Xia, his face clearly somewhat unpleasant.

  Jiang Xia smiled and said: "This person has insulted His Majesty, as subjects of the Emperor, can we still sit back and do nothing?"

  "What did he say to offend the emperor?" Li Yunqing was slightly taken aback.

  The man who was stepped on by Jiang Xia also shouted loudly: "Nonsense, I didn't even mention the emperor half a word."

  "Hmph!" Jiang Xia snorted, using the blade to lightly slap the man's face and said: "Didn't you just say 'The turtles of Guozijian?'".

  "What does it have to do with anything? I was scolding the Imperial Academy, what relation does that have to Your Majesty?"

  Jiang Xia said coldly, "No big deal? Our Imperial Academy is the highest institution of learning in the Ming Dynasty. Do you know what title our students hold?" Jiang Xia turned around and asked the crowd, "Brothers, tell them what our title is."

  The people of Guozijian all understood and shouted in unison: "Tianzi Men Sheng!"

  As soon as this roar came out, the people under Jiang Xia were suddenly frightened. Jiang Xia smiled and said: "Did you hear that clearly? We are students of Tianzi Gate, we are apprentices of the emperor. You say that the emperor's apprentice is a turtle, what is the emperor in your heart? Not only do you not respect the emperor, but also disrespect the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, because since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the students of Guozijian have been......

  Jiang Xia raised his left hand, and this time he didn't say anything. The people from the Imperial Academy shouted in unison: "The Son of Heaven's student!"

  The people of Xun Literature Society fell silent, the five great geniuses fell silent, and the person who was trampled underfoot by Jiang Xia was even more frightened to tremble with fear.

  Jiang Xia moved his foot away, laughing warmly: "Now I give you two choices. One is to immediately kneel down and apologize, I won't let you get up until I say so; the other is for me to hand you over to the Imperial Guards for a thorough interrogation, to see what was really on your mind just now. You choose."

  Brocade guard, can you still come out after entering that place? The man didn't say another word and immediately got up to kowtow: "I was wrong, sorry. I was wrong, sorry..."

  Jiang Xia's mouth was curled up with a smile, and the others in Guozi Jian also felt greatly relieved.

  At this moment, the momentum of the national child supervisor has risen. Jiang Xia pointed at Li Yunqing and said: "Just now you wanted to help him take the lead, then come first, aren't you Li Yunqing who digs graves for people?"

  "It's absolutely peerless Li Yunqing." Li Yunqing corrected with an iron face.

  "Who cares, aren't you going to compete? Draw a few lines and I'll continue. But let me tell you beforehand, whoever loses will kneel on the side and knock three loud heads, shouting 'I admit defeat' three times. How about it? Dare to compete?" Jiang Xia said casually.

  Li Wenhan, standing behind Jiang Xia, couldn't help but whisper in his ear: "Brother Jiang, Li Yunqing's couplets are famous in the capital, it's not worth betting so big with him."

  "Rest assured, he doesn't dare to gamble."

  "Bet on it." Li Yunqing agreed to Jiang Xia's words and said, "We each come up with a couplet, if you can't respond to mine, I win this round. Same for yours. If we tie after one couplet, we continue competing. If there's a winner or loser, we'll follow the betting agreement."

  "Alright, as you say." Jiang Xia smiled and said: "You go first."

  Li Yunqing blurted out a couplet, which was something he had come up with when he visited Yue Fei Temple in the past. He had only managed to think of the first half of the couplet and couldn't come up with the second half, so now Li Yunqing said it out loud, wanting to give Jiang Xia a taste of his skills.

  "A solitary mountain and a lone temple, with a general riding a horse and holding a sword horizontally."

  As soon as this was said, everyone began to ponder, and the other four talented individuals' eyes lit up one after another, with a thoughtful expression emerging in their gazes.

  Liang Wennan said somewhat carelessly: "This couplet only has a few words, and it doesn't sound very difficult either."

  Wang Wenbo shook his head, furrowed his brow and said: "It's difficult. This upper couplet is extremely challenging. Think about it, the upper couplet is 'A solitary mountain, a lone temple, one general with a horizontal sword on horseback.' The characters for 'solitary', 'lone', 'one' as well as 'horizontal' and 'match' are all singular, equivalent to the entire couplet being composed of variations of the character for 'one'. This couplet can be said to be extremely difficult. It's not easy to come up with a match."

  "Ha ha, indeed, you are the grave-digging Li Yunqing! This clever couplet was thought of in just a moment, impressive, impressive..."

  Li Yunqing was caught cheating by Jiang Xia, and his face couldn't help but turn red. However, Li Yunqing still insisted on saying: "What's wrong? If you can't come up with a solution, then admit defeat."

  Jiang Xia smiled slightly and shook his head, saying: "Listen well to the next couplet."

  "On both banks of a river, two old fishermen fishing with two hooks."

  As soon as Jiang Xia spoke, everyone's minds pondered for a moment before suddenly letting out a low cry of admiration. This couplet can be said to be extremely ingenious, not only is it well-crafted, but also perfectly captures the inner subtlety of the upper couplet.

  Two shores with a river in between, two old fishermen fishing with hooks facing each other.

  Among them, "two", "sandwich", "secondary", "opposite" and "double" are all double numbers of the word "two", which is equivalent to the variant of the word "two". The upper rhyme is incredibly wonderful.

  "Good!" The people of Guozijian suddenly burst into applause, and the surrounding onlookers couldn't help but follow suit. Many people exclaimed: "Indeed, it's worthy of Guozijian! They came up with a matching couplet so quickly, and it seems to be quite good too."

  So-called outsiders watch the excitement, insiders watch the doorway. Li Yunqing listened to Jiang Xia's couplet and his cold sweat dripped down, he had been thinking for more than three years but couldn't come up with a couplet, while Jiang Xia only used a few words of time to match the couplet, and it was so neat, what does this represent?

  This represents that this person's kung fu skills are completely above his opponent's, even surpassing them by a huge margin...

  Jiang Xia smiled and looked at Li Yunqing, saying lightly: "I've figured out your upper rhyme, isn't it my turn now?"