Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 5011 Severe Punishment
At the beginning of the founding of the country, the central government was quite tolerant of the aristocratic families in Shandong, Henan and Jiangnan. The aristocratic families represented by the "Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats" even openly despised the royal family. They suppressed the royal majesty by means of "not intermarrying with the royal family" and spread their own reputation throughout the country.

However, since the end of the Zhenguan period, there have been several mutinies and rebellions, and the aristocratic families have all suffered heavy defeats in the face of the powerful military force of the central government, which has damaged their foundations and greatly reduced their strength.

Tens of thousands of Youwei troops were stationed in Shitou City, ready for battle at any time. Their naval ships cruised on the Yangtze River, using the Yangtze River as a boundary to intimidate the south of the Yangtze River. If they launched a full-scale attack, the Jiangnan gentry would be unable to resist. Therefore, even if each family secretly wanted to undermine the imperial examinations and maintain their political strength and continue the political structure of "Jiangnan is the Jiangnan of the Jiangnan people", they could only put pressure on the court in this way, but did not dare to openly resist.

Gao Kan is now full of murderous aura, and it seems that with a wave of his hand, the ferocious and wolf-like Youwei army will start a massacre. Who wouldn't be terrified?

Looking at the candidates who were pretending to be high-spirited but actually nervous, Gao Kan looked at them with disdain and shouted, "Where is the Supervisory Censor?"

Sun Chuyue was maintaining order in the examination room and had finally managed to calm the restless candidates. Then he heard Gao Kan's voice and hurriedly trotted over.

As a newly emerged "star censor" in the Censorate, he naturally had to shoulder heavy responsibilities, so he was arranged by Liu Xiangdao to Jinling, an important imperial examination center in Jiangnan. As long as he could successfully supervise this imperial examination, he would definitely be promoted further in the Censorate.

However, Jinling is the center of Confucianism in the south of the Yangtze River, and it is also the territory where the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River have been entrenched for hundreds of years. It has always been independent of the central government. The policies promulgated by the central government are difficult to implement in the south of the Yangtze River. It is almost impossible to have a smooth journey.

As expected, the more you fear something might happen, the more likely it is to happen.

Moreover, when something goes wrong, it is a major event such as boycotting the exam or even criticizing the examination questions...

"I am here, what orders do you have, General?"

Sun Chuyue wiped the sweat from his forehead and panted.

Gao Kan said, "You are the Censor-in-Chief, responsible for discipline inspection and examination room discipline. You don't know how to deal with such a situation?"

Sun Chuyue took a deep breath and said, "When I came to Nanjing, the central government anticipated that someone would ignore the imperial laws and national policies, so Your Majesty and the central government's prime minister formulated a way to deal with it."

Watching Sun Chuyue take out a bright yellow scroll from his arms, it was clearly an imperial decree...

Even the candidates who had just been full of ambition and determination couldn't help but become nervous.

The reason why they dared to cause such trouble was, on the one hand, that they had the support of the Jiangnan gentry behind them, and on the other hand, they were betting that Gao Kan would not dare to ignore the stability of Jiangnan and kill people, thus causing the entire Jiangnan to fall into turmoil and chaos.

Even if Gao Kan was bold enough to arrest all the examinees, Jinling was thousands of miles away from Chang'an. It would take a long time for Gao Kan to report to the central government and for the central government to make a decision. It was enough time for the Jiangnan gentry to intervene and calm the situation down.

But if Sun Chuyue was carrying the imperial order, he could immediately make a decision on the candidates who were causing trouble.

The decree was promulgated and the whole country followed it, with no room for maneuver.

Sun Chuyue first held up the imperial edict, looked around, and everyone bowed their heads to listen to his instructions.

Then, he unfolded the edict and read it aloud: "Your Highness: Since I ascended the throne, I have worked hard day and night, striving to unite the four seas and unify the imperial power. All the people of my empire are blessed by the emperor... The imperial examination is the empire's grand ceremony for selecting talents. It is dignified and respectful and cannot be desecrated. If there are those who disrupt the order of the examination room and attempt to undermine the imperial examination, the main offender will be severely punished, and their direct relatives of more than three generations will be expelled and their writings will be destroyed. The books written by them will be noticed by the supervisors, and those below three generations will not be allowed to participate in the imperial examination. The rest of the accomplices will be disqualified from taking the imperial examination for three years. If they have no bad deeds within three years, their qualifications can be restored..."

The candidates were all confused at first, as many of the punishments in the decree were unheard of. When they realized what was happening, their faces suddenly changed.

Sun Chuyue broke out in a cold sweat as he read the imperial edict. This punishment was really too harsh and did not take into account the interests of the scholar group at all.

Punishments like "expelling from office" and "destroying all written works" were unprecedented and targeted civil servants. In the past, if a civil servant made a mistake, as long as it was not a serious crime such as treason, he would often be fined three cups of wine and asked to retire, and the matter would be dropped. He would return to his hometown to wait for the political situation to change, and once the situation was favorable, he could return to work.

“No punishment shall be imposed on officials” may lead to many interpretations, but it is an indisputable fact that officials and scholar groups enjoy privileges.

But now, all those privileges are gone forever, especially the final "destruction of all writings of three generations of direct relatives since their birth", which is equivalent to destroying all their official positions, promotion records, and job evaluations, and directly expelling them from the scholar class, and they can no longer enjoy privileges such as holding official positions, tax reductions and exemptions, etc.

Moreover, children under three generations are not allowed to take the imperial examinations, which is enough to cause a prosperous family to fall off a cliff in an instant, with no hope of recovery.

Sun Chuyue presented the imperial edict and asked, "Do you want to verify the authenticity of the imperial edict?"

The examinees, led by Lu Yanyuan, were shocked and in disbelief. They had thought there would be severe punishment, but they had never imagined that there would be such a severe punishment that would directly cut off an entire family's chance of taking the imperial examination!
Although they made trouble and boycotted the test questions, everyone knew that the imperial examination was irreversible and would become the only way to select talents for the country. Now "three generations have been destroyed" and "three generations have been cancelled", which meant that a family's path to the imperial examination was completely cut off.

Even if a family or clan is prosperous, if no one has taken up official duties for decades, how can they protect their own interests?
Not only that, if you lose your status as the person in control of the interests, not only will you not be able to keep your current family business, but you may even be divided up and devoured by other clans, leaving nothing behind...

"Of course I have to watch it! Your Majesty is a benevolent ruler of the world, how could you punish me so cruelly?"

"You must be treacherous and deceitful people, deceiving the emperor and falsely passing on the imperial edict!"

The candidates were all clamoring, especially Lu Yanyuan, who was full of shock and disbelief. At that moment, he was the so-called mastermind. According to the imperial decree, not only would his fame and fortune be gone in one day, but his family's writings three generations ago would be destroyed, and his qualification for the imperial examination would be revoked for three generations. For an ambitious scholar and a member of the aristocratic family that flourished in Jiangdong, this was ten or a hundred times more serious than beheading!
He glared at him, his pupils bloodshot, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "It must be that the traitor Fang Jun who bewitched Your Majesty and caused chaos in the court, in order to strangle our Wujun Lu family! Think about it, our Wujun Lu family originated in the Spring and Autumn Period, and has thrived to this day, preserving the Chinese heritage and protecting the land. Our ancestors have been loyal to the country and their virtues are known throughout the world...but because of Fang Jun, we have been slaughtered, the main branch has been slaughtered, and the bloodline is almost extinct. Today, you are even using such means to coerce and persecute us. Are you helping the tyrant? What guilt have we incurred? I do not accept it!"

Seeing that he was very emotional, Sun Chuyue frowned and said, "Before the exam, I have repeatedly emphasized the examination room disciplines, and you all know them very well. The exam questions are set by the central government, and the central prime minister and the world's great scholars have gathered together. It is not a single person's arbitrary decision. What can you protest? Since it is done by the central government, it is a national custom. How can it be cancelled or abolished just because of the clamor of people with ulterior motives like you? The imperial edict is issued and should be followed without violation. How can it be changed overnight just because of your cry of injustice?"

Lu Yanyuan's chest was heaving, he was filled with fear and couldn't speak.

He Mo, Zhu Yuan and others stepped forward, intending to check the imperial edict.

Sun Chuyue glared at them angrily: "You have no achievements, and now you are disrupting the examination hall and boycotting the imperial examination. How can you be qualified to review the imperial edict?"

He handed the imperial edict to Xiao Yu with both hands. With Xiao Yu's identity, status and prestige, he could naturally check the imperial edict on behalf of these candidates.

Xiao Yu bowed slightly, took the imperial edict with both hands, unfolded it and read it at a glance. After reading it, he sighed, but his eyes were calm. He said to the candidates calmly: "Your Majesty's edict was formulated by the Secretariat and reviewed by the Ministry of Personnel. The regulations are correct and the content is detailed. It cannot be changed."

Gao Kan glanced at him, unable to figure out whether he was involved in the current incident. However, it didn't matter. With the help of Xiao Yu's tablet, it was enough to intimidate the Jiangnan gentry.

Lu Yanyuan looked as pale as death. Could it be that he had no hope of becoming an official and could only stay at home and study calligraphy?
He Mo, Zhu Yuan, Zhang Zheng and others also looked pale and trembled. Who could have imagined at the beginning that they would face such severe punishment?

Gao Kan waved his hand and said, "Come here, cross out the names of Lu Yanyuan, He Mo, Zhu Yuan, and Zhang Zhengzhi from the examination book, strip Lu Yanyuan of his official uniform, expel him from the examination room, and send him back to his hometown!"

"Here!"

Then several soldiers rushed forward and stripped off Lu Yanyuan's green collar. Lu Yanyuan offered no resistance and was like a walking corpse. Then they were escorted out along with the rest of the people, and officials sent them back to their hometown.

Sun Chuyue stepped forward and whispered a few words with Xiao Yu and Gao Kan, then looked around the examination room and said loudly: "Due to an unexpected incident, this exam will be delayed for an hour. I hope all candidates will calm down and concentrate on the exam!"

A group of examiners returned to the examination room and scolded the students repeatedly, thus stabilizing the examination discipline.

……

Inside the official residence, Xiao Yu had a gloomy face. He read the imperial edict again and again, and then asked Sun Chuyue: "The crime in this edict is unheard of, and its severity is unprecedented. I think it was written by Fang Jun, right?"

Fang Junzhi's style of doing things is most unconventional and innovative.

Then he sighed, put down the imperial edict, and said solemnly: "But once this imperial edict is spread, it will surely cause a stir in the world and a lot of discussion."

The three words "scholars" not only represent identity, but also mean privilege. From ancient times to the present, aristocratic families who control educational resources have relied on their long-standing culture, strong economic strength, and extensive connections to push their own children into officialdom and monopolize the path to officialdom.

Even if you are dismissed or retired due to making mistakes, taking sides, etc., you can still lie dormant, endure, wait for the opportunity, and make a comeback.

The world belongs to the scholars and the aristocratic families.

However, once this decree was issued, the "amulet" of the scholars was completely stripped away. From then on, anyone who dared to disobey the orders of the central government and run a private business would end up with "the writings of all their origins destroyed."

Since then, the whole world has been in an uproar.