Chapter 1272: The Secret History of the Confucian Sec (1/2)

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Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The members of the Confucian Sect were far from the only ones to receive the news. In the Wang Family Residence, Wang Chong was dressed in casual attire, his black hair allowed to hang down, held in place by a single wooden hairpin. Standing at his desk, he exuded both a scholar's elegance and a warrior's solemnity. And in front of him was news from the various prefectures and commanderies.

”Not bad! In this little time, it's already exceeded fifty thousand!”

Wang Chong looked at the letter on the table and smiled. This number was far greater than he had imagined. The daily expenditure was simply astonishing. Even those great clans who had been operating in the capital for two to three hundred years and possessed astonishing wealth couldn't possibly bear this burden. In normal circumstances, no single person or faction would have ever been able to support such vast expense.

But after the Battle of Khorasan, Wang Chong had obtained 1.9 billion taels of gold from Mutasim III. One billion taels of gold had been handed to the Imperial Court, one hundred million had been used to buy the Hyderabad ore mine, and two hundred million had been used for payments, both to the families of soldiers who had died in battle and for the services of the various tribes of the Western Regions and the kingdoms of Greater and Lesser Balur.

This left Wang Chong and Gao Xianzhi with six hundred million taels of gold. It was precisely this vast sum of wealth that allowed Wang Chong to support such an enormous number of body-strengthening schools throughout the empire.

This step was not necessarily to counter Li Junxian and the Confucian Sect. In truth, long before, when he had first obtained this gold, Wang Chong and Gao Xianzhi had discussed in Khorasan how they could use this money to enrich the country and strengthen the people. One of their ideas was to build body-strengthening schools throughout the empire that would teach martial arts and increase the strength of the common people of the Great Tang.

The idea had even received Gao Xianzhi's vigorous approval. Thus, he had used this opportunity to fully promote his body-strengthening schools.

In his last life, when fighting against the otherworldly invaders, Wang Chong had always been hampered by a lack of soldiers. Although the Central Plains was home to ten million people, few of them were suitable for fighting on the battlefield. This was the essential reason the idea of body-strengthening schools had appeared in Wang Chong's mind in the first place.

Wang Chong put down the letter and said to himself, Six hundred million taels of gold won't be able to last for too long, but it should be able to hold for at least ten years, right up until the descent of the calamity. As long as the body-strengthening school plan lasts until then, the Great Tang will be able to train many suitable soldiers.

This was a plan to arm the entire empire, though no one except for Wang Chong knew this.

Flapflap! As he was thinking, an extremely fierce-looking golden eagle flew in through the window and landed in front of Wang Chong's desk. Upon seeing this eagle, Wang Chong's eyes widened.

This was a signal that he had prearranged with Old Eagle, meaning that there was finally news from Lu Ting. Two days later, a letter accompanied by a carriage full of books arrived at the capital from the Jing Prefecture and entered the Wang Family Residence.

Wen Choushu's identity had been confirmed, and Lu Ting had obtained much more than they had imagined. He had not only been able to fulfill his long-cherished desire from so many years ago and obtained a meeting with Wen Choushu himself, but had also obtained piles of information on Bird Seal Script from this number one book collector of the Central Plains. Lu Ting excluded the purely academic information and only sent the information that he thought useful back to the capital. In addition, he had made marks on what he thought relevant.

”Milord, Academic Lu said that the most important book is on top. Once you read the first book, you'll roughly understand the meaning of the ink symbol,” Su Shixuan sternly said.

Wang Chong said nothing as he took up the black book at the top of the book chest. Upon opening it, Wang Chong immediately saw a bookmark with a red seal stamped atop it.

”Wen Choushu!”

Wang Chong recognized the name at a glance. Flipping to the first page, he immediately saw various Bird Seal Script characters and knew that Lu Ting had been correct. The symbol at the center of the ink symbol truly had been a word, and it was exactly in the style of Bird Seal Script.

Wang Chong continued to read. This was an ancient text that sought to systematically describe Bird Seal Script. The text originated from some learned Confucian from around five or six hundred years ago, during the Wei-Jin era1. He had apparently been particularly interested in the Bird Seal Script, so he had gathered up all the information he could and summarized it in this book. Besides the various Bird Seal Script words, he had also described the origin and stories behind them.

After browsing through twenty to thirty pages, Wang Chong saw a bookmark that Lu Ting had left in the book. A unique character immediately appeared before his eyes, and upon seeing it, his pupils suddenly constricted as if he had been stabbed by a needle.

This character in the ancient book was practically identical to the character in the center of the Confucian Sect's ink symbol.

”同 (Harmony)!”

As Wang Chong read the explanation left by that erudite Confucian from long ago, he suddenly raised an eyebrow. Even though he had seen this symbol twice, in this life and the last, Wang Chong had never imagined that it contained a word. The book also recorded the origin of this character.

In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, all the states warred with each other and the Central Plains was beset by calamity and suffering. A sage rushed around between all the states, meeting with their various sovereigns in the hopes that he could persuade them to set aside their selfishness. From thirty to seventy, this Sage spent forty years on this endeavor, but his efforts were fruitless. In his retiring years, the wars of the Central Plains had not died down, but intensified.

When a disciple who had been at his side as he tried to persuade the various sovereigns was killed in the strife, this final sage of the era was overcome by grief and rage. He vomited blood, and then he dipped his finger in this blood and created this new Bird Seal Script character in front of his young followers, the character '同'.