Jiajing Chengming

then.

The two Hanlin scholars Wu Hui and Jiang Dian were escorted to the Imperial Examination Hall by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and became the new chief and deputy examiners of the Shuntian Prefecture's provincial examination.

Not long after, the scholars taking the exam in Beijing also learned about this through newspapers, official notices, and the shouting of soldiers in Shuntian Prefecture.

The candidates who passed the second place exam and those who failed the exam thus rekindled their hopes.

"The chief and deputy examiners have been changed. It seems that your Majesty has won!"

"I didn't expect that the enrollment for this provincial examination would be expanded."

"So, there are still some upright Confucian officials in the court who are willing to acknowledge the emperor's achievements in civil administration and are willing to select the 180th place in the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination."

These scholars began to discuss the matter in the streets and alleys, and therefore chose not to leave Beijing.

……

……

As for Xia Yan, after he killed several Hanlin scholars in a row, some Hanlin Qingliu could no longer suppress their anger and asked Xia Yan:
"Xia Gongjin, what are you doing!"

"I said, if the king insults his subjects, he will die. As a subject, I should punish those who disobey me on my king's behalf!"

After Xia Yan answered in a deep voice, he threw the Jinyiwei officer's knife to the ground.

At this time, a Hanlin also said loudly: "They are not disloyal!"

"If you do not acknowledge your Majesty's achievements in civil administration and disobey your orders, you are a traitor!"

Xia Yan replied in a deep voice.

Then, a Hanlin also stood up and pointed at Xia Yan and said, "Xia Gongjin, you are killing all the scholars in the world on behalf of His Majesty!"

"This is not backbone, this is the evil spirit of disloyalty!"

"Xia must kill him today for your majesty. This is the duty of a minister!"

Xia Yan answered again in a cold voice.

"I will report you! I will ask His Majesty to execute you!"

At this time, another Hanlin pointed at Xia Yan angrily and said loudly with tears in his eyes.

"it's up to you!"

After saying this, Xia Yan returned to his duty room and began to write a letter of self-accusation, accusing himself of killing people on behalf of the judicial officials without submitting the report first.

The other Hanlin scholars also left here one after another.

Only a few colleagues who sympathized with the murdered Hanlin went to find their families and carried the murdered Hanlin back home.

After writing his self-accusation memorial, Xia Yan came to Yang Yiqing.

When Yang Yiqing saw Xia Yan, he said, "Someone from the Imperial Academy has told me what you did."

Xia Yan bowed to Yang Yiqing and said, "I have no choice but to do this. Some upright Confucian officials are too paranoid and want to force Your Majesty to become a tyrant. If I don't help Your Majesty, Your Majesty, who is smart and loves the people, will only rely more on Zhang, Gui and others, and in addition to being mean, most people in the world will think that he is not ungrateful!"

"In short, as the Buddha said, if I don't go to hell, who will? The situation has come to this point today. If Yan wants to prevent His Majesty from being coerced by the treacherous ministers Zhang and Gui, he can only become a cruel official first!"

Yang Yiqing nodded.

Then, Yang Yiqing actually stood up and bowed to Xia Yan: "Please accept my servant's greetings!"

Xia Yan was shocked and hurriedly returned the gift.

Afterwards, Yang Yiqing said to Xia Yan, "You did nothing wrong. These paranoid ministers think it is an honor to die for their advice! But they are secretly plotting to frame the emperor and his father for injustice and lose the hearts of the people. If you want to protect your majesty's rule, you need truly loyal ministers to stand up at this time! They can exchange their reputation for your majesty's reputation, so that the emperor and his ministers can continue to fight but not break. Even those who oppose the emperor's rule can only be said to be caused by too many foolishly loyal and treacherous ministers."

"Gongjin, you should be the prime minister!"

When Yang Yiqing reached this point, he smiled and said something to Xia Yan.

Xia Yan was immediately excited, but he also bowed and saluted: "Thank you, Prime Minister!"

"Now it depends on how His Majesty will deal with you."

"But there is no doubt that if the scholars and officials of the world still insist on judging cases according to the Spring and Autumn Annals, then your majesty should forgive you! After all, you killed a disloyal minister for the sake of the emperor, not out of personal grudge! It is an act of loyalty, filial piety and righteousness. As the saying goes, killing someone for the humiliation of his parents should be forgiven! The same applies to ministers!" "If the scholars and officials of the world, especially those in the upright position, really want to force your majesty to kill you, then you must deny the Spring and Autumn Annals! Accepting etiquette is not the law!"

Yang Yiqing continued speaking.

Xia Yan nodded: "What the Prime Minister said is right. If Your Majesty really wants to kill me for this, then I will die. If Your Majesty does not kill me and still uses me, then the moral principles will be protected!"

"No matter what others do, I, Yang Yiqing, will do my utmost to protect you this time! The righteousness of the saints cannot be abandoned. If it is abandoned, you must kill me, Yang Yiqing, first!"

Yang Yiqing said.

Xia Yan bowed again.

……

……

Soon after, Zhu Houcong also received news that Xia Yan had been impeached by the censors for killing the Hanlin Academy.

However, Zhu Houcong had already known about this through the Jinyiwei, but he never made it public.

It was not until an official formally impeached Xia Yan and Xia Yan impeached himself that Zhu Houcong asked Yang Yiqing and others, "What do you think of Xia Yan's case?"

"Your Majesty, Xia Yan killed someone to protect the great ceremony between the emperor and his subjects. He had no choice but to do so. According to the Spring and Autumn Annals, he should be forgiven!"

Yang Yiqing said.

Zhang Cong said: "Your Majesty, although Xia Yan had no choice, he killed the Hanlin without authorization and without going through the court. This has violated the law and should be severely punished!"

Yang Yiqing said again: "Your Majesty, the Holy Dynasty governs the country with courtesy. If you kill Xia Yan for this matter, it will hurt the hearts of loyal ministers!"

"Then let's go to the court first and let them decide the charges!"

"After all, Xia Yan's actions are understandable, but his procedures are indeed too arbitrary."

Zhu Houcong made his own decision. He naturally had no intention of killing Xia Yan for this, but he had to see how those who opposed his independent rule could use the righteousness of the saints to preserve their own judicial privileges as scholar-officials while coming up with sufficient reasons for him to kill Xia Yan.

As a result, Xia Yan was imprisoned.

"Mingsir, this is a very difficult matter. If you want to kill Xia Yan, you have to deny the Spring and Autumn Judgment and let Your Majesty rule the country by law! At the same time, you have to admit that disobeying orders is legal and that it is okay to commit crimes against superiors."

"If we want order from top to bottom, we can only protect Xia Yan!"

The court officials soon began to discuss the matter.

Zuodu Yushi Zhou Lun talked about this matter with Zhu Xizhou, who was transferred to become the Minister of Revenue.

Zhu Xizhou nodded: "Yes! If we really follow the righteousness of the saints, not only can we not kill Xia Yan, we must also protect Xia Yan!"

"Did those Hanlin scholars die in vain?"

Xu Zan, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, couldn't help but ask at this time.

Zhou Lun laughed and said, "To put it bluntly, not only did they die in vain, they also deserved to die! Anyone who has a heart of respect for the emperor should not force the emperor to do this. Fighting for the power of scholars with death is a trick that has been tried and tested by the Qingliu since Chenghua, but such a drastic method will only lead to more intense conflicts between the emperor and his subjects! It is not good for the overall situation!"

"The Chief Justice is right. His Majesty is quite restrained and has not completely abandoned the country. He is still willing to protect the country and the people. Therefore, he has held court meetings continuously and summoned ministers more diligently than the Emperor Xiaozong. Otherwise, people like Wang Zhenze and Yang Anning would not be so obedient to him!"

"But imagine if His Majesty was forced by these people to completely abandon the world and not be willing to be a puppet, would that be a good thing?"

"As the saying goes, when the nest is overturned, no egg is left unbroken. The consequences of the Song Dynasty and the early Yuan Dynasty are clear proof of this!"

Zhu Xizhou said.

After hearing this, Xu Zan fell silent.

after awhile.

Xu Zan couldn't help but say, "Although they are paranoid and rebellious, their crimes are not punishable by death! At least it is not Xia Yan's turn to kill them! The purpose of the Ministry of Justice to adjudicate cases according to the Spring and Autumn Annals is to make etiquette prevail over law, to distinguish between the noble and the humble, and to make the scholars and officials respected by the world, not to let Xia Yan use this to deal with his own scholars!"

"But he just used it like this, what can we do?"

"This man is very talented and dares to do cruel things. He will definitely become a powerful official in the future!" (End of this chapter)