The Villain's Counterattack

Chapter 309: The scheming Murong Fu

If you say something, you must do it. As the saying goes, how can you repay kindness with kindness? The ancients believed in give and take. How could a man as "magnanimous" as Murong Fu turn a blind eye to it?

He said he would go there in person, but he didn't mean he would go alone, and you guys are not the only ones who will do publicity to boost our reputation. My Gusu Murong family has such a big reputation, and if it were just martial arts, it wouldn't be enough. Who doesn't have a few good friends to promote it on their behalf?

Gusu City had long been under the control of the Murong family. Murong Fu's couplet had been spread all over the world through word of mouth among the students of various academies. This rare couplet was not only praised by the academies that had invaded, but also by other scholars and even famous scholars.

Murong Fu was not a petty person. Although his first trip was all around Taihu Lake, he still put on a grand display. There were five carriages alone. The first one was his. The two carriages on the left and right were one for singing and dancing and the other for folk art, all of which were young and beautiful women. The last two carriages were filled with delicious food, wine and various small tools.

This trip he made not only to enhance his prestige, but also to show his kindness. The Agricultural College and Mozi College were not just for decoration. All of these new agricultural tools were fine products of later generations. The new pens, inks, paper, and inkstones were also very popular with scholars and writers. He even brought a lot of distilled liquor.

In addition to the five carriages, there were more than ten maids and more than thirty guards guarding them, running around busily. Finally, there were the heads of each department. Their tasks were not many, just to be a witness and learn from them.

They are all the pillars of Gusu College. In the future, Murong Fu cannot be asked to step in for anyone who comes. Therefore, he plans to focus on training this group of brothers, but in the end he wants to save energy for himself. If possible, he will even bring them into his own camp. However, most of these people are from wealthy families, so it is difficult for him to use them.

If it could really be used for my own benefit, I would have entered the inner courtyard of Taihu long ago. Why would I suffer in the outer courtyard?

During these five years, with Gusu College leading the way, not many people noticed that many emerging industries had emerged or existing industries had changed owners within three to five hundred miles around Taihu Lake. Wherever Murong Fu went, there were people to greet him, taking care of his food, clothing, housing and transportation in every possible way, and all of them were high-end and classy.

Murong Fu's itinerary was quite compact and orderly. The first academy was not very famous, but it was the closest to Gusu College and was also the initiator of the last challenge. Murong Fu was not polite at all and took the initiative. The three carriages played music before they stopped, and the music was full of murderous aura.

After getting off the car, without even looking at the other party's formation, he saluted and clapped his hands. The guard behind him came forward with a pen and ink. The pen made of fine steel probably weighed more than ten or twenty pounds. Murong Fu walked directly to the door of the other party's house and wrote a couplet with ink that was very consistent with the name of the other party's academy. The handwriting was so clear that because he poured three-tenths of his internal force into the wall, it looked like a carving.

Not to mention the strength, just the couplet and calligraphy above made the academy teacher's face turn black. This was really a slap in the face, and the other party took the initiative from the beginning, which really caught them off guard.

But then Murong Fu still answered their questions one by one, defeated their students one by one, and finally even went to their teacher with a smile, picked out the loopholes in their previous knowledge and criticized them, and finally returned victorious.

Those gentlemen were defeated, probably because Murong Fu never fought a battle without confidence. He researched their academic work in advance and mobilized the power of all the students and teachers in Gusu College to correct the errors. With his and Bookworm's ability to study, it was not too difficult to find the mistakes. So it seems that the final result was indeed very good.

After defeating the enemy, Murong Fu left behind some exquisite and novel gifts and left. However, this time he was not going directly to the next target, but would stay in the surrounding area for three to five days. One reason was to see if there was anything wrong with the Murong family's property, and the other was to promote the new agricultural tools of Gusu College and help local wealthy families and even the government office plan water conservancy.

Murong Fu had long regarded the entire Taihu Lake as his home, so the area within a radius of hundreds of miles was in his mind, and he even kept an exquisite and detailed map in Yanziwu. Later, he planned the water conservancy projects in various places together with the skilled craftsman Feng Asan and the flower-crazy Shi Qinglu. This time, in order to bring fame to Gusu College, he took it out and divided it into many parts to hand over to the local authorities.

Murong Fu was not only a student of Gusu College, but also a descendant of the famous Gusu Murong family. With such an identity, he had to visit local martial arts masters. Although he was only fifteen years old, with the help of his mother, Mrs. Murong, he mastered the "Little Wuxiang Gong" and pushed the "Nine Yang Divine Art" to an extremely high level. Although it was not perfect, he had already been promoted to the first-class level and went very far at the first-class level.

This was the prerequisite for Old Lady Murong to dare to let him go out. Her son's internal strength was first-rate, and his swordsmanship was so superb that even the four great estate owners could not defeat him together. And his most powerful skill was actually his Qinggong. He was so fast and had such great endurance that even she did not dare to predict his chances of winning.

Over the years, Old Madam Murong has learned the basics of Tai Chi Magical Skills, which complement the Small Wuxiang Skills. She has made great progress in martial arts and has also taken good care of her body. She is free of illness and looks younger.

Murong Fu sent visiting cards to the people in the martial arts world in the name of the young master of the Gusu Murong family, which gave them enough face. Who among the martial arts people didn't care about face? This one thing alone could be boasted about for the rest of their lives, so naturally they received them warmly and warmly.

People in the martial arts world behave differently from scholars, so banquets are indispensable, during which they will have some exchanges of ideas. Murong Fu personally took action and defeated his opponent in thirty moves. He then pointed out his opponent's shortcomings and loopholes, and gave some suggestions and opinions, which made the opponent grateful and his favorability increased sharply.

Murong Fu did not visit just anyone. First, he needed to have a good reputation, second, he needed to have commendable martial arts skills, and third, he could not harbor any ill will towards the Gusu Murong clan. He, Murong Fu, was a first-class master, the young master of the Gusu Murong clan, and he would become the master of Chanhe Villa after he came of age, but he would not bow to his enemies.

Along the way, they visited more industrial shops than people in the martial arts world, and more people in the martial arts world than academies. However, other independent literati and poets would not be visited and received individually, but would be hosted in hotels in towns and cities, and by the way, let them see the folk art talents of Gusu Academy.

Other academies took the opportunity to test him, but found that this fifteen-year-old boy was a genius. Not only was he proficient in the Four Books and Five Classics, but he was also extraordinary in poetry, songs, calligraphy, chess, and painting. He was not much worse than their teachers and professors. This made them feel at a loss.

This time, Murong Fu was clearly planning a counterattack, and he was fully prepared. He wasn't overbearing, but he was incredibly assertive. It wasn't that someone had tried to appease the situation through connections, but Murong Fu dismissed them with a simple remark: "If you repay evil with kindness, how can you repay kindness?" This perfectly embodies the Murong clan's motto of "give in kind, and do unto others."

However, one academy after another was eliminated, and the remaining few immediately changed from clamoring to teach Murong Fu a lesson to asking him to show mercy or not to attack them.

However, after several challenges, Murong Fu's reputation became more and more famous. Once, at the request of a Confucian scholar, he said lightly: If I choose another academy and ignore this one, pass by its door without entering, and see the academy but ignore it, what do you think the result will be?

The Confucian scholar was speechless. If that was the case, even if the academy was not ridiculed as not up to standard and not worthy of his challenge, it would be excluded from the circle of literati by other colleagues. The consequence of this was much more serious than being challenged and dismissed.

Murong Fu's trip was to go around Taihu Lake. Not all academies were challenged. Some academies were quite ethical and did not make things difficult for Gusu College. Murong Fu sent a visiting card with a complete couplet attached. On the one hand, it was to show his strength, and on the other hand, handing the complete couplet to the other party was also a goodwill gesture, indicating that he attached great importance to them.

Seeing this, these academies understood Murong Fu's little thoughts, so they invited them into the academy openly, or let them show themselves openly, or avoided the students and just asked a few teachers to accompany Murong Fu to discuss literature and philosophy.

Even when facing great scholars, Murong Fu was not afraid. Although he pretended to be invincible, he was fearless and had reasons and evidence. If he knew, he knew. If he didn't know, he said he didn't know, which made them like him even more.

It’s not that no one had plans to attack Murong Fu, but almost none of the people accompanying him were weak. The guards were all second-rate fighters who were better at joint attacks. They could easily solve problems and provide considerable political achievements for the government.

The three-month journey quickly ended. Murong Fu had ultimately held back. Although he had publicly suppressed all the students and teachers at the other academy, he had left them with an opportunity to turn things around: their respective academy's couplets. That half couplet wasn't too difficult; anyone with real talent could easily complete it in three to five days. At the very least, they could ask a friend for help. As long as they kept it a secret, who would know it wasn't their own work?

But Murong Fu was no ordinary person. He left a trap in this glimmer of hope, which was his calligraphy. Although he could not be called a master, he was still a master, and he was also a master of both calligraphy and sculpture. Those academies not only had to write the second couplet, but also had to find a master of sculpture to complete the carving, otherwise it would fade and it would not be a perfect ending.

But if they looked closely, they found that except for three or five people who had close ties with Gusu College, all the other carving masters around Gusu City were actually from Gusu College, which made them look even uglier.

This little brat is really full of tricks! But if it succeeds, this couplet alone will increase the academy's prestige. Although it may not be as good as the one in Suzhou Academy, it is definitely not bad.

For a time, the Gusu Murong family was famous throughout the south of the Yangtze River. Many students and scholars rushed to visit them, but they found that Murong Fu rarely showed up. The other students in the academy were actually very good. Although they were a little immature, they maintained a good spirituality and had unique insights that never deviated from the original. This was very remarkable.

Especially the nine deans, who had followed Murong Fu on his travels for three months and had gained a lot of knowledge. Listening to Murong Fu's lectures every night, their knowledge had improved by leaps and bounds, and they were gradually able to withstand the challenges of the academy.