"Why are you bowing down again? No need to be polite, no need to be polite..." Zhu Su quickly helped Luo Guanzhong up. This great writer who wrote about the Three Kingdoms was dressed in rags, and his behavior was too humble. I think he must have been beaten by reality a lot on weekdays. While Zhu Su was a little disillusioned, he couldn't help but feel a little pity for him.
Wang Qi, a later generation, said in the "Collection of Barnyard History" that Luo Guanzhong "aspired to be king" in his early years. Although he is not necessarily the "King of Pictures", Luo Guanzhong certainly had great ambitions when he was young. Therefore, during the troubled times at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he devoted himself to Zhang Shicheng's staff as an aide, and once helped Zhang Shicheng defeat Lao Zhu's subordinate Kang Maocai. attack.
But soon, Luo Guanzhong saw Zhang Shicheng's nature of ease and pleasure, and left in disappointment. Later, Zhang Shicheng was defeated and died. Luo Guanzhong also escaped because of his early vision. But also because of his experience of working under Zhang Shicheng's early years, he could only live a life of depression in the new Ming Dynasty. .
Nowadays, he has long lost the ambitions he had in his early years, and is just focusing on the creation and promotion of Zaju. The "Water Margin" written by his former teacher Shi Naian was a problem in his heart, but because it involved the sensitive topic of rebellion, and it was a manuscript in the hands of King Gucheng's staff, how could any bookstore or factory be willing to publish it?
Luo Guanzhong had no choice but to stick to his predecessor's "Water Margin" while composing his own "Three Kingdoms", hoping to meet Bole who could help him spread these two works to the world.
Later, I was shocked to hear that a prince in the capital had obtained the manuscript of "Three Kingdoms" from nowhere, and even continued it and published it. Now it has become popular in half of the Ming Dynasty. Luo Guanzhong bought a copy and read it, and he couldn't help but be amazed. While he introduced Zhu Su as a confidant in his heart, he also had the idea that "His Highness might also like "Water Margin".
Therefore, through all the connections, he was finally appreciated by Wei Guan, the prefect of Suzhou, and he was invited to meet Zhu Su together.
Until today, before he had finished speaking, His Highness heard the song and understood its elegant meaning, and directly arranged the affairs of Water Margin.
How could he not be shocked by the fact that his and Shi Shi's two generations' longest wishes were fulfilled by this young His Highness?
Thinking of this, Luo Guanzhong's eyes filled with tears again, and he opened his mouth and said: "Your Highness is willing to open your eyes for my teacher. I am really grateful. However, it is absolutely impossible to benefit from the manuscript. Your Highness is willing to publish it for my teacher and me. This is a great kindness." , how can we collect gold and silver again?"
"You don't need to say more about this matter." Zhu Su had expected that he would say this, so he interrupted: "If my guess is correct, Mr. Luo should be responsible for spreading and drama."
"In this case, in order for our Ming Dynasty and Zaju to prosper, you have to collect these gold and silver."
"Have you not heard the allusion about Zigong redeeming a man and Zilu receiving an ox?"
"Not only the profits from the future "Water Margin", but also the profits from the previous "Three Kingdoms" must be given to you. Second Uncle Shen, I will leave this matter to you." Zhu Su ordered, and Shen Wang hurriedly bowed. should be.
Zigong redeems people and Zilu accepts cattle, both come from "Lu Shi Chun Qiu", which tells the story of Confucius's disciple Zigong who redeemed people for the country but refused to receive rewards. Confucius believed that "from now on, the people of Lu will not redeem people. ", saying that he thought he was being honorable by refusing to accept rewards, but in fact it dampened the enthusiasm of others to redeem people for the country.
Another disciple of Confucius, Zilu, saved a drowning man. The man was grateful to him and gave him a cow. Zilu accepted it. So Confucius happily praised Zilu: "In this way, more people will be willing to rescue those who fall into the water!"
Zhu Su used this allusion as a warning. Luo Guanzhong was startled and understood what Zhu Su meant. He wanted him to leave a way to support his family for the subsequent family composers. Only more people can make a living in this way. Only the likes of Ming Dynasty can truly achieve great prosperity. He had no choice but to cup his hands with a Hao Ran look on his face: "In this case, I will be ashamed of myself."
"It's just His Highness's kindness, but there's nothing I can do to repay it..."
"In that case, are you willing to come under my curtain and be a guest?" Seeing that the heat was almost over, Zhu Su opened his mouth and revealed his true purpose.
"Your Highness...want to recruit me?" Luo Guanzhong was stunned. "Your Highness may not know that Mo Xue is a person waiting for sin and was once under Zhang Shicheng's command."
"If His Majesty or the Crown Prince finds out, they might become suspicious..."
"It doesn't matter." Zhu Su waved his hand. "In fact, our Lao Zhu family doesn't have that many troublesome things. We just accept a guest who we usually discuss with, so there is no need to be suspicious."
If we were to be suspicious, he already had a suspicious monk who possessed the skill of slaying dragons and would go to encourage horses when he was a guest. Wouldn't he be a hundred times more suspicious than the rickety-looking Luo Guanzhong?
"Besides, I am still young, so I don't have any specific duties as my guest. I usually ghostwrite for me, write some stories, etc..." Before, I had written thousands of words about the splendor of the Three Kingdoms, and I was almost tortured. Bald. If you accept a literary giant like Lao Luo as your pen, and then run a newspaper or magazine to control public opinion, wouldn't that be easy?
Even if you just tell him the general plot, he can write books like "Shooting the Condor" and "Shuo Yue" by himself. The dividends of writing in this era are still extremely rich. After all, the field of public opinion is still a desert ignored by the mainstream, and there is really a lot to do in it.
"In this case, His Highness loves you so much that I dare to refuse!" Luo Guanzhong wiped away his tears again and bowed deeply to Zhu Su. "This broken body will be driven by His Highness from now on!"
"It doesn't have to be like this." Zhu Su smiled. "You will know in the future that I am most impatient with these messy vulgar etiquette. There is no need to call it Mo Xue, as long as you and I are compatible in the future!"
Luo Guanzhong bowed in response and changed his title to "I", but he still addressed Zhu Su as "Your Highness". Over there, Shen Wang also congratulated the two of them.
While the scene was enjoying itself, Zhu Su suddenly remembered something and asked, "Mr. Luo, you asked someone to tell me before that you had something to tell me. Are you talking about the Water Margin?"
"I dare not deceive His Highness," Luo Guanzhong said. "But there is something to say. It was originally intended to arouse His Highness' curiosity and establish the purpose of "Water Margin"."
"There is nothing to hide now. Does Your Highness still remember the 'three difficult things' that Magistrate Wei just said?"
"What do 'floods', 'people's hearts' and 'bandit troubles' mean..." Zhu Su said. "What about these three difficult things?"
"Your Highness has a good memory." Luo Guanzhong cupped his hands. "Among these three incidents, the most serious one is actually the third 'bandit disaster'..."
Zhu Su nodded. The other two incidents also occurred in the Ming Dynasty in history, but Suzhou in history was peaceful.
But the Taihu bandit who dared to coerce the victims, kill officials and cut off taxes, and even deliberately spread rumors was something that did not exist in the annals of history!
Hearing that the two of them were going to discuss important matters of family and country, Shen Wang resigned in a sensible manner.
"I may know the reason why those Taihu water bandits are so elusive." Luo Guanzhong continued.
"Huh?" Zhu Su couldn't help but perked up. The Suzhou Guards sent troops to attack Taihu Lake but found no one. If this mystery was not a false report, it would indeed be a bit puzzling. So he sat up straight and asked, "Tell me, where did those water bandits come from?"
"The water bandits definitely exist, and they are not the ghosts and gods as the rumors say. Anyone who does not see the enemy's feelings is nothing more than difficult to know." Luo Guanzhong said.
Zhu Su knew that these four characters came from the "Military Struggle Chapter" in "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu. When Luo Guanzhong talked about the art of war, his eyes shone brightly.
"No one can be found. One is that the movement of the army has been detected by the bandits, so they moved their stronghold early."
"Secondly...the so-called Taihu water bandits are actually right under the eyes of the army."
"You mean..." Zhu Su touched his chin, thoughtfully.
"Suzhou Guards looked in the wrong direction from the beginning. Those Taihu water bandits are not actually entrenched in Taihu Lake at all."
"It's that the people and the bandits are one and the same. It's hard to tell them apart. Go ashore to be a people, and enter the lake to be a bandit?"
"Your Highness is wise!" Luo Guanzhong bowed and praised.
(End of chapter)
