Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 132 The correct way to use Yang Shen is to beat Zhang's slave to death!
Yang Shen was born into a noble family and became famous at a young age, so it was always the case that he despised others but others never despised him.

But now, this servant Geng Que was so arrogant to him, so he naturally became angry.

Therefore, he was different from other grassroots officials and said in a deep voice:

"I really dare to take it!"

"Get him!"

Subsequently.

Yang Shen waved his sleeves.

The yamen runners behind Yang Shen did not dare to move.

Seeing this, Yang Shen shouted to his subordinates, "Do you dare to disobey my orders?!"

"Anyone who dares to disobey orders will be punished with death!"

Yang Shen then threatened loudly.

Therefore, these yamen runners had no choice but to muster up their courage and arrest Geng Que.

Geng Que struggled and shouted, "You son of a bitch, you are just a lowly official in a green robe, how dare you take me!"

"Aren't you afraid that my Lord will take your life?"

"Don't forget, my Lord is the Empress Dowager's younger brother. Even the Emperor has to respect him!"

Snapped!
Yang Shen slapped Geng Que in the face and said, "How dare you! If you continue to speak rudely, I will beat you to death with a stick!"

Geng Que was hit so hard on the face that it hurt.

But this beating also made Geng Que's brain start working. He wondered if this Dianshi had a great background, or was he really just a fearless young man?

"Everyone knows that the Empress Dowager Zhaosheng is a virtuous queen. If she knew that her mother's family had a family and gave birth to a child that would ruin the reputation of the emperor's uncle, she would definitely say that I did a good job!"

Yang Shen then thought of how he had expressed to his father his determination to be a good historian, and at this moment he began to speak righteously.

then.

Yang Shen arrested Geng Que and threw him into prison.

The city patrol censor Luo Wei and the military commander Cheng Quan were both greatly shocked by this.

Cheng Quan couldn't help but ask Luo Wei: "How can this Dianshi be so bold?"

Luo Wei said: "Because he is Yang Sheng'an, you naturally don't know him since you just took over as the commander of the military headquarters, but you must have heard of him."

"That's not surprising."

After hearing what Luo Wei said, Cheng Quan replied with this sentence.

Ren Zhengxian, the magistrate of Daxing County, was also quite shocked when he learned that Yang Shen had taken the slave of Marquis Jianchang. However, although he was his superior, he did not dare to criticize Yang Shen.

After all, Yang Shen was a top scholar and the son of Taifu Yang Tinghe, and he enjoyed a very high reputation among the literati.

He himself was just a juren, not even a jinshi.

Therefore, Ren Zhengxian just advised him kindly: "How can you offend the Marquis of Jianchang? This will make it even more difficult to protect the ceremony!"

"As a registrar, you should fulfill your duties conscientiously. Otherwise, how can you live up to the trust of your father and king?"

"Ritual is ritual, law is law. We cannot protect the slave of Marquis Jianchang just because of the great courtesy."

"Otherwise, if a house slave can beat up an official and undermine the imperial system, then what about the moral principles?"

Yang Shen said to Ren Zhengxian, "Please enforce the law impartially and execute this offending servant immediately!"

Ren Zhengxian said, "At least we should ask the Marquis of Jianchang for his opinion first, right?"

"This is a political matter, how can you ask a relative?"

"Your Excellency, you don't want your words today to be known by the scholars of the world, right?"

As Yang Shen asked questions, he began to threaten Ren Zhengxian.

After hearing this, Ren Zhengxian had no choice but to grit his teeth and say, "You are right. As a judge, I should enforce the law impartially!"

then.

Ren Zhengxian then ordered Geng Que to be beaten with a stick 120 times for committing a crime against his superiors.

Geng Que was beaten so hard that he screamed in pain on the spot.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yanling, the Marquis of Jianchang, immediately brought his servants to the Daxing County Office and said, "Stop! Who dares to hit my people?"

The bailiffs had no choice but to stop.

Ren Zhengxian was so frightened when he heard the voice of Marquis Jianchang that he hid under the table.

“Don’t stop!”

"He is a relative by marriage and has no right to interfere in government affairs!"

Yang Shen did not hide, but just shouted loudly.

The bailiffs carrying out the execution were at a loss for what to do.

When Yang Shen saw this, he simply walked over, snatched the board from the yamen runner, and beat Geng Que himself.

"what!"

Geng Que screamed again.

Geng Que was beaten to death after only a few hits.

When Zhang Yanling came over, he saw his servant with blood flowing from his mouth and nose, his hands drooping and his eyes lifeless.

This made Zhang Yanling quite angry, and he pointed at Yang Shen: "You!"

"Why did the Marquis of Jianchang break into the county government office?"

At this time, Yang Shen took the initiative to ask about Zhang Yanling.

"You beat my slave to death, and you still dare to ask me?"

Zhang Yanling asked.

Yang Shen threw down the board and said, "Not only do I dare to ask, I also dare to go to the Censorate to sue you, the Marquis of Jianchang, for breaking into the county government and interfering with local government affairs!"

Zhang Yanling thought that Yang Shen was a famous champion, so he couldn't just order his servants to beat Yang Shen to death. He just pointed at Yang Shen and said with gritted teeth, "Okay, you wait!"

talking.

Zhang Yanling turned and left: "Let's go!"

After Zhang Yanling left, Ren Zhengxian came out from under the desk, patted his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that Zhang Yanling would not be able to resist and demolish the lobby of his county government office.

Let’s talk.

Since Yang Shen was demoted to the position of Daxing Dianshi, he has indeed enforced the law impartially in several cases where the powerful oppressed the military and civilians.

The beating to death of Zhang Yanling's servant was just one of the circumstances.

Many of the servants of the rich and powerful were punished by Yang Shen.

Even Zhou Jian, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the son of the former relative of the emperor, the Earl of Changning, was thrown into jail by Yang Shen because he had raped a woman.

Therefore, many powerful bureaucrats in the capital now hate Yang Shen very much, but because they know that Yang Shen is the son of Yang Tinghe and the future leader of the literati, they dare not speak out.

Now, after the servant of Zhang Yanling, Marquis of Jianchang, was beaten to death by Yang Shen, these powerful bureaucrats instigated Zhang Yanling to go through the harem route and file a complaint against Yang Shen.

Zhang Yanling then informed Empress Dowager Zhang about this.

Empress Dowager Zhang was very angry because her brother had been wronged, so she informed Zhu Houcong about the matter and asked him to make the decision for her brother.

Zhu Houcong pretended to be angry and said, "This Yang Shen! It would have been fine if he had just spoken out in the last incident regarding the Kong family. Now I demoted him to a minor official in the capital in order to let him reflect on his mistakes. I didn't expect that he would go even further and bully the emperor's uncle!"

Snapped!
"Does he really think that I dare not kill him?!"

Zhu Houcong deliberately slammed the table, stood up, put his hands on his hips, and looked angry.

Empress Dowager Zhang was shocked herself, but at the same time, she felt much better.

Empress Dowager Jiang also said, "The emperor is right. Yang Shen is indeed too much. However, he is the number one scholar appointed by the previous emperor and the son of the old imperial tutor. He has a very high reputation among scholars. If you really kill him for the emperor's uncle, people will only say that your aunt is domineering, disorderly and unvirtuous, and condones the emperor's uncle to retaliate against the ministers in the court."

"Mother!"

"You speak for him anyway."

Zhu Houcong pretended to be furious and looked at Jiang.

"It's ok that Yang Shen is arrogant all the time, but now he is bullying the two uncles of the emperor. If I continue to indulge him, people in the world will think that I am really afraid of his Yang family!"

"No matter what, even if I don't consider the two uncles' sake, I have to vent my anger for the sake of my aunt!"

"I don't care about the policy-making elders anymore!"

Zhu Houcong waved his hand and said, "If Yang Tinghe really wants to force my aunt to depose me, the worst that can happen is that I will just go back to Xingguo!"

Empress Dowager Zhang was also frightened by Zhu Houcong's threat to kill Yang Shen. In addition, after Jiang said this, she also clearly realized that if she really sat back and watched Zhu Houcong vent his anger for her, her own reputation would be even worse. At that time, the civil servants would probably intensify their efforts to target her Zhang family.

Therefore, although Empress Dowager Zhang was moved by Zhu Houcong's behavior for her two brothers, she had to persuade Zhu Houcong:
"Good boy, I know you are standing up for the Emperor's aunt, but your mother is right. The reputation of our royal family is more important. Please spare Yang Shen for the Emperor's aunt's sake. Let your two uncles bear the loss."

Empress Dowager Zhang began to sob as she spoke.

Zhu Houcong said: "Since the imperial aunt has said so, what else can I say? It's just that it's hard to express my anger! Moreover, people in the world will think that I am unwilling to stand up for the two uncles and think that I am indifferent to the imperial aunt's family!"

Empress Dowager Zhang had to take the initiative to comfort Zhu Houcong: "It's nothing. After all, your two uncles broke into the county government office, which was not right. I'm very happy that you don't blame them!"

Zhu Houcong then mentioned the matter to the court officials, saying that Yang Shen was too inconsiderate of his feelings, which almost made it difficult for him to face Empress Dowager Zhang. Fortunately, Empress Dowager Zhang understood the righteousness of the matter and did not make things difficult for him, so he did not pursue Yang Shen's recklessness.

The court officials were all surprised at Empress Dowager Zhang's behavior.

Because in their impression, Empress Dowager Zhang would not be so wise and righteous.

"The sun comes out in the west?"

"Empress Dowager Zhang actually refused to make a decision for the two uncles and even wanted to make a scene?"

After the court was dismissed, Jiang Mian told Mao Ji about it in surprise.

Mao Jize said: "Perhaps this is also the benefit of your majesty not recognizing Xiao Miao as the emperor's father during the grand ceremony. This will force Empress Dowager Zhang to restrain herself!"

"Of course, Empress Dowager Zhang is willing to do this, which shows that Your Majesty is good at handling all matters in the harem, and that the Holy Mother is a virtuous queen. Otherwise, with Your Majesty's strength alone, I'm afraid you won't be able to make Empress Dowager Zhang so understanding."

After Mao Ji said this, Jiang Mian also nodded: "That makes sense. No matter what, this is a blessing for the new dynasty. If the harem is peaceful, the world will also be at peace!"

Liang Chu was also very willing to see Empress Dowager Zhang change, and was even more willing to see Empress Dowager Jiang cooperate so well to stabilize the palace for her son, the emperor. So, when he was alone with Zhu Houcong in the imperial study, he smiled and said:

"The Holy Mother is a virtuous queen!"

“This is a blessing for the world!”

Zhu Houcong smiled and said, "What the Prime Minister said is true. However, I think that letting Yang Shen be the Dianshi of Daxing is a blessing for the world. It is not in vain that I tried to let him be the Dianshi official of the capital."

"It is inconvenient for me to summon him directly. You should meet him in private and encourage him. Let him continue to carry forward this upright style of not fearing the powerful!"

"Those powerful people in the Ming Dynasty who disregard the laws of the court need someone with a background like him to deal with them!"

"Also, I remember there is a chief official named Ke Weixiong who has been very active recently, just like Yang Shen back then. He even went to the government office to plead for Liu Zhu."

"So, demote him to the position of Wanping County Dianshi as well!"

"When the time comes, we can deal with these wealthy and powerful people in the capital and make them pay the taxes honestly. Maybe we can use them."

After Zhu Houcong said this, Liang Chu did as Zhu Houcong asked.

thus.

Ke Weixiong was demoted to the position of Wanping County Dianshi on the grounds that he was a disloyal minister.

Yang Shen also received a secret meeting with Liang Chu.

Liang Chu said to Yang Shen, "It was His Majesty who asked me to come see you!"

Yang Shen was shocked when he heard this.

Liang Chu said, "You should know that it is very difficult for His Majesty. On the one hand, he wants to work hard to govern the country and revive the Ming Dynasty. On the other hand, he has to consider the views of the people in the world. He dare not be too harsh on the Zhang brothers. Sometimes he can only indulge them in doing things that violate the law. Therefore, His Majesty said that only people like you can preserve his holy virtue! Demoting you to the position of Dianshi is not because His Majesty really does not tolerate you, but because he intends to train you! He wants to see if you are really brave enough to die for the world, regardless of personal feelings, and regardless of your own safety!"

"Please tell Your Majesty that I, Yang Shen, will never show favoritism or seek comfort!"

Yang Shen couldn't help but burst into tears, and immediately bowed deeply in response.

Liang Chu asked again: "Including your father's plea?"

"Loyalty is greater than filial piety. Moreover, protecting one's father's virtue is the real filial piety, not just obeying one's father's orders!"

Yang Shen thought about it and answered resolutely.

"very good!"

When Yang Shen left the cabinet, he happened to meet Zhang Yanling who had also left the palace.

Zhang Yanling glared at Yang Shen fiercely, and it was obvious that he hated Yang Shen to the core. After all, Yang Shen was a rare person who had caused his Zhang family to suffer losses but had not been hurt by his family, so Zhang Yanling felt very embarrassed.

Now that Yang Shen had received the imperial edict, he became even more fearless and simply walked away.

Zhang Yanling became even more angry, and could not help but mutter angrily: "These civil servants are really not good people! I don't know why my sister is so afraid of them now. She has to stop His Majesty and not let His Majesty deal with them!"

(End of this chapter)