Top Scholar

Chapter 553 I have never been one to fight, but only to resolve conflicts
"Why should I? You didn't receive an imperial edict!" Duke Dingguo, Xu Guangzuo, immediately became furious upon hearing that he was to kneel before Liu Jin. Duke Yingguo was too old to attend court, and Duke Chengguo was stationed in Nanjing. He was the head of the noble families in the capital, how could he kneel before a eunuch?
If he really kneels down, even his ancestor, the King of Zhongshan, will be turning in his grave.

"Didn't you hear, Your Excellency? The Emperor said he's entrusting this entirely to me! I'm investigating the 'Hidden Books at the Imperial Gate' case by imperial decree!" Liu Jin sneered. But even in his rage, he wouldn't expect a Duke to kneel before him, so he added, "..."

"Officials of the third rank and above, stand and answer!"

This way, not only nobles and military officials, but also the Nine Ministers and the Vice Ministers of various departments no longer need to kneel.

Other officials didn't receive this treatment; they could only obediently kneel before Liu Jin...

Of course, there were also those who insisted on not kneeling, but were forcibly pressed to kneel by the Imperial Guards.

The sun was blazing overhead, the heat was intense, and the ground was so hot you could fry an egg on it...

Three hundred officials knelt before Fengtian Gate, their court robes clinging to their sweat-soaked skin, feeling stifled and hot. Sweat dripped from their chins onto the ground, evaporating instantly.

Liu Jin was drinking cool tea in the shade of the city gate, with two servants constantly fanning him. He remained calm and composed.

Within half an hour, many elderly and frail officials had flushed faces and were trembling, yet their faces were dry, clearly indicating that they had suffered from heatstroke...

Suddenly, an official in his forties or fifties fell straight down, his face slamming heavily to the ground.

"Don't help him up!" Just as someone tried to carry the unconscious official to the shade, Liu Jin coldly stopped them.

Wei Bin and Gao Feng stood by, with the latter advising, "Brother, calm down. If this continues, things might get out of hand."

"Closing things up? I don't have time to worry about closing things up right now!" Liu Jin said with a gloomy face and full of malice, "At this critical moment, someone actually dares to set fire to our family. They are clearly trying to kill me! If I don't teach these bastards a lesson today, then any Tom, Dick, or Harry will dare to climb on my head and run wild!"

During the Empress Dowager's hunger strike, Eunuch Liu had chosen the wrong side and was already on edge. Now, someone had accused him, which only added fuel to the fire, so his reaction was naturally unusually strong.

"Yes, yes, what you say is true, but isn't this enough? It's going to be unbearably hot," Gao Feng said anxiously.

“Look, another one has fallen…” Wei Bin said, but his tone was more of a schadenfreude.

"Hmph!" Liu Jin then stood up and walked out of the city gate, coldly sweeping his gaze over the swaying officials, saying, "The one who wrote the anonymous letter! Don't you pride yourself on being a righteous person? Then you should take responsibility for your actions! What kind of hero implicates others? Look, several people have already fainted from the heat. If this drags on, a few more lives will be lost! This debt will all be yours!"

“Eunuch Liu, this has nothing to do with us…” At this moment, Censor Ning Gao pleaded, “We have always known the law, how could we dare to do such a thing? Perhaps it was done by the newly appointed scholar.”

Liu Jin snorted and said, "What does this have to do with the new graduates? They can't even get a chance to attend court! It's people like you who are ruining important matters for the court. I've rectified and reformed things, and you hold a grudge. Don't you know the laws of Emperor Taizu?"

A barrage of insults left Ning Gao speechless.

"Eunuch Liu, please be lenient." Li Dongyang couldn't bear it any longer and came over to plead in a low voice, "Doctor He and Zhou Zhizhong are already weak and sickly. If they are not treated quickly, they could really die."

"You've only been kneeling for a short while, and you can't even keep going?" Liu Jin sneered contemptuously. "What kind of official is this weak body? I'd rather die of heatstroke as a warning to others!"

“Father-in-law, that anonymous letter wasn’t written by either of them, so how can it be considered an ‘imitation’?” Li Dongyang said helplessly.

"I don't care what you say," Liu Jin said arrogantly. "If no one admits it, then everyone will be punished! If you're really worried about them, then hurry up and help find the culprit."

"Then at least let me see that anonymous letter." Li Dongyang wanted to see if he could find a starting point from the content of the letter.

"No." Liu Jin shook his head decisively and said, "The content is too outrageous. It would be disrespectful to the Emperor if even one more person saw it."

"Sigh..." Li Dongyang sighed helplessly, and had no choice but to change his approach again, speaking in a humble tone:
“I was only thinking of you, Father-in-law. Your intention was to give them a small punishment as a warning to prevent them from making bigger mistakes in the future. But once someone dies, it goes against your original intention and ends up in the hands of those treacherous villains.”

Liu Jin, being rather uneducated, had his concepts unconsciously replaced by Li Dongyang, and involuntarily went along with him, saying, "Are you saying that someone is deliberately creating conflict between our family and the officials?"

"That's right, Father-in-law is wise!" Li Dongyang quickly praised, "You saw through the wicked schemes of those villains at a glance. The vast majority of officials are good; you just push them to the opposite side."

"Hmm," Liu Jin pondered for a moment before waving his hand, ordering someone to carry the heatstroke official to a shady spot against the wall.

Then he said to the officials, "You all say you didn't write it yourselves, fine, I'll believe you this time."

Before the officials could even catch their breath, he abruptly changed the subject, saying, "But you all have to prove yourselves first. Here's what we'll do: those who are willing to stand on my side can get up and go to the shady spot. There's also chilled watermelon to eat."

Dozens of low-ranking officials from Liu Jin's eunuch faction hurriedly got up, stumbled into the shade, and began wolfing down the watermelons on the table, completely disregarding decorum.

The military officers, unwilling to offend Liu Jin, also got up and went to eat watermelon in the shade.

But over 150 civil officials remained steadfast, refusing to move. Dying from the heat was a small matter; losing their integrity was a far greater one—to be branded a eunuch for a patch of shade or a slice of watermelon was a terrible loss. "Fine! Fine!" Liu Jin roared furiously, pointing at the officials who refused to rise. "You're not even going to pretend anymore, are you? Since you disdain to be associated with me, then continue kneeling! If you don't hand over the one who wrote the treasonous letter today, everyone will be treated as an accomplice, flogged in court, and exiled—not a single one will be spared!"

Enraged, Liu Jin angrily flicked his sleeve and turned back to the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, leaving his adopted son with the Embroidered Uniform Guard to continue overseeing the officials being forced to kneel.

"What should we do?" Wang Ao asked Li Dongyang anxiously in a low voice, "With such a scorching sun, if we kneel for another afternoon, there won't be many people left alive."

Li Dongyang was equally anxious, spreading his hands and saying, "I've done my best while Eunuch Liu was in a fit of anger..."

"Let's ask Scholar Su for help," Yang Tinghe said in a low voice. "Only he might be able to handle this matter!"

Wang Ao frowned upon hearing this and said, "What does this have to do with Hongzhi? Aren't we, as Grand Secretaries, ashamed to ask a junior who has just entered the officialdom for help?"

"We can't worry about that now, saving lives is the priority." Li Dongyang clearly didn't feel ashamed and immediately ordered his men to go to the Leopard House to ask his grand-disciple for help.

"..." Wang Ao looked at these two shameless guys and didn't want to bother with them anymore.

~~
Leopard House, East Laurel Hall.

The dense clatter of abacuses was like raindrops pattering on banana leaves as a group of officials from the Imperial Household Department buried themselves in files, calculating the property status of each temple.

After each calculation was completed, they submitted their work to Su Lu, who then compiled them one by one. Just as everyone was working feverishly, Zhang Yong stood anxiously at the door.

"Eunuch Zhang has arrived." Zhu Zihe announced to Su Lu. Su Lu looked up and exchanged a glance with Zhang Yong, and knew that something had happened. He quickly got up and left the office.

"What's wrong, Uncle?" Su Lu asked in a low voice when they reached a secluded spot.

"Something's happened, my dear nephew!" Zhang Yong frowned and told Su Lu about how someone had anonymously submitted a letter to the emperor during the morning court session, accusing Liu Jin. The emperor then told Liu Gonggong to handle the matter himself, and Liu Jin had forced all the officials to kneel outside Fengtian Gate.

"Has Liu Jin gone mad? How dare he torment all the officials like this!" Su Lu exclaimed in shock. "Does he really have a death wish?"

"You're only now realizing he's a madman?" Zhang Yong said with a bitter smile, "It's his business if he's looking for death; the sooner he dies, the better."

He paused, his face pale, and asked in a low voice, "Nephew, do you think... the Emperor might suspect that this anonymous letter was written by us?"

"Is that so?" Su Lu asked jokingly, though he was indeed highly suspicious.

"Of course not!" Zhang Yong stamped his foot and said, "Nephew, you don't know, the Emperor just gave me a warning, how could I dare to 'look for trouble in the latrine'?"

“If it wasn’t Uncle who did it, then what are you afraid of?” Su Lu said, “Quickly report to the Emperor! How can we not let the Emperor know about such a big matter?”

"Isn't it because we can't find the Emperor?" Zhang Yong said with a troubled expression. "The Emperor went straight to the military camp in the western suburbs for inspection as soon as the court session ended. He didn't even return to the Leopard House. I have already sent someone to report to him, but I don't expect to hear back anytime soon."

"Why did His Majesty suddenly go to the military camp in the middle of the day?" Su Lu frowned, a possibility rising in his mind. He pondered for a moment and said in a low voice, "This matter is strange. Let's wait and see."

"Hmm..." Zhang Yong nodded.

As the two were talking, Xiaoyuer quickly came over and whispered a few words in Su Lu's ear.

Upon hearing this, Su Lu smiled wryly at Zhang Yong and said, "My master has given the order, so I can't stay out of it. I have to go to Fengtian Gate."

"You told me not to get involved in this mess, but you've already gotten involved yourself?" Zhang Yong said speechlessly, "Your master is really something else, always trying to trick you."

"It's not really a trap," Su Lu joked. "'I'm not one for fighting, but for resolving conflicts.' By establishing good relations with both sides, I'll have more leeway in my future actions."

"Are you going to use the imperial gold medal again?" Zhang Yong asked.

"That's a national treasure, how can we use it all the time? It wouldn't be good if I got angry and had to take it back." Su Lu shook his head and said calmly.

"Besides, why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut when something can be done in a few words?"

"Hey!" Zhang Yong couldn't help but chuckle. "Then I'll have to see how my nephew resolves this situation in just a few words."

P.S. Thank you all for your concern. My cold is much better. Of course, it's a viral cold, so the illness will last a while. I'm still feeling weak and chilled, so I'll only post two chapters today. I need to go to bed early. I hope I'll feel better tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)