Da Ming: I told you to die for your cause, why are you actually going to die?

Chapter 87 The bell rang? Old Zhu woke up? [Seeking first subscription]

At the entrance of the Marquis of Wuding's mansion, Guo Ying slumped on the threshold, watching Zhang Biao and the others pull away with three thousand taels of silver and that terrifying pile of 'medical equipment' as they clattered away. Tears streamed down her face, and she looked like a young wife who had just been ravaged by a group of bandits.

Zhang Biao, on the other hand, was in high spirits, walking at the front of the group and stretching lazily in the sunset.

"Brothers! How did it go today?"

His voice was loud and clear, carrying a sense of righteous righteousness, as if he wanted to rob the rich to help the poor.

"A resounding victory!"

Everyone cheered in unison.

Although they were a little tired, their faces were filled with a kind of happiness and excitement, as if they were following Brother Biao and eating nine meals in three days.

After all, they emptied the Duke's mansion and scared the old Marquis to death; these experiences are enough to brag about for a lifetime.

Shen Lang, his eyes gleaming, fiddled with the abacus and said:
"Brother Biao! The Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Personnel, the Duke of Cao's Mansion, and the Marquis of Wuding's Mansion—our 'mobile audit' today, after deducting the distribution to veterans and their families, plus the cash and the depreciated value of the goods, roughly calculates to be almost equivalent to half a year's national treasury revenue!"

"Okay! That's great!"

Sun Gui held aloft the chamber pot lamp that seemed to never give up. Although the oil was almost gone, his momentum remained undiminished: "It's all thanks to Brother Biao's excellent leadership! We're acting on behalf of Heaven!"

Li Mo, meanwhile, was writing furiously with a charcoal pencil on a wooden board he had somehow acquired, recording today's "Audit Outline" and "Summary of Results".

If he survives this time, he plans to write a book in the future. He has already thought of a title: "The Hongwu Audit Storm: From the Ministry of Revenue to the Marquis's Mansion, the Path of a Censor to Protect His Rights".

Zhang Biao nodded in satisfaction, then smiled and said:
"Brothers, you've worked hard! Once the remaining three audits are finished, let's find a place to stew that Jinhua ham we borrowed from Li Jinglong's house, and have some drinks to celebrate!"

Upon hearing that there would be a midnight snack, everyone cheered and, pulling the heavy chariot, prepared to head to the remaining three units.

However, at this moment.

A middle-aged man dressed in the scarlet robe of a second-rank civil official, with a xiezhi embroidered on his badge, a lean face, sharp eyes like an eagle, a slight mustache, and an imposing presence, appeared before them.

It was none other than Zhan Hui, the highest-ranking official of the Censorate, the Left Censor-in-Chief.

He had clearly been waiting there for a long time, his face so gloomy it could wring water out of it.

Behind him followed several censors from the Censorate, all of whom were his confidants.

Their gazes as they looked at Zhang Biao and the others were filled with complex emotions: fear, confusion, a hint of secret admiration, but mostly dread.

"Zhang Biao!"

Zhan Hui's voice was like ice shards in the dead of winter, filled with suppressed rage: "Look what you've done!!"

This roar instantly silenced Shen Lang, Sun Gui, and the others, who had just been full of vigor, causing them to instinctively shrink back.

After all, the Left Censor-in-Chief led the Censorate and the Ministry of Personnel, and his power had been accumulating for a long time. For these low-ranking officials in the capital, his influence was no less than that of the emperor.

Zhang Biao stopped in his tracks, looked at his superior, his arrogant smile fading slightly, but his eyes remained calm, even carrying a hint of amusement:
"Oh, Your Excellency the Chief Justice? What brings you here? Are you here to welcome our triumphant audit team?"

"A triumphant return?!"

Zhan Hui was so angry he almost choked, his finger trembling as he pointed at Zhang Biao and said:
"You still have the nerve to talk about a triumphant return?!"

"Look what you've done! Storming the government office! Coercing your superiors! Emptying the treasury! Humiliating nobles! And you even made the Emperor faint from anger!"

"You're no censor! You're a bandit! A plague! A scourge that will bring ruin to the country!"

He became more and more agitated as he spoke, his spittle almost spraying onto Zhang Biao's face:

"You have utterly disgraced the Censorate!"

"You have trampled the dignity of the imperial court under your feet!"

"Do you have any respect for the law?! Do you have any sense of hierarchy?!"

Zhang Biao picked at his ear and said calmly:
"Your Excellency, is the law you speak of the one that allows Imperial Censor Wang to starve to death at home? Is the decorum you speak of the one that allows soldiers on the border to freeze and starve to death? Is the hierarchy you speak of the one where Fu Youwen, Ru Chang, Guo Ying, and Li Jinglong leech off the people and can't even be addressed with respect?"

"You! You're just being unreasonable!"

Zhan Hui was momentarily speechless, but immediately retorted sharply:

"Even if they are wrong, there are laws of the court and the Emperor's judgment! How can you be so lawless, setting up a private court and resorting to private punishment?!"

"Imperial laws and regulations?"

Zhang Biao scoffed, his face full of disdain, and said:

"If the laws of the court were effective, would Shen Lang and his colleagues be owed wages for months, with no regard for their lives? If the laws of the court were effective, would we, as nobles and high-ranking officials, even need to come knocking on their door?"

"If the laws of the court were to be effective, would we need to go and demand our wages today, instead of them paying us voluntarily? Your Excellency, the laws you see sitting in the main hall of the Censorate seem quite different from the laws we see here!"

Upon hearing this, Zhan Hui's face instantly turned ashen:
"Even so! You shouldn't have committed such a violent act! Do you know how much trouble you've caused?"

"The six ministries are paralyzed, the nobles are furious, and the court and the country are in turmoil!"

"When the Emperor wakes up, the first person he'll hold accountable is you!"

"Your death is not enough to be pitied, you're just dragging down the entire Censorate!"

"You are acting out of selfishness and recklessness, disregarding the overall national interest!"

"You! Your heart is despicable!"

He revealed his true intentions, issuing the most severe questions and threats, attempting to overwhelm Zhang Biao with the grand rhetoric of national interests and personal gain:
"Zhang Biao!"

"You keep claiming to be acting for your colleagues and for the people, but I see you're just doing this to vent your personal grievances, to gain a reputation for integrity, and to satisfy your own insane desires!"

"You completely disregard the chaos that will plunge the court into! You disregard whether this will cause changes on the border! You disregard whether the Ming Dynasty will be shaken because of you!"

He glanced at Shen Lang and the others, his tone growing even heavier as he said, "You don't even care about the lives of your followers!"

"Tell me! Were you doing this for your own selfish reasons?!"

"How can you face the Emperor? How can you face the people of the world?!"

This series of questions struck Shen Lang and the others like a heavy hammer, leaving them with complex and bewildered feelings.

However, Zhang Biao suddenly laughed after hearing this.

There was no mockery or anger in that smile, only a deep, almost compassionate clarity.

He stepped forward, his gaze piercing, staring directly into Zhan Hui's eyes, which were distorted with anger. His voice, though not loud, clearly pierced the breeze of the Meridian Gate, resounding with conviction:

"General Secretary Zhan."

"You ask me if it's for my own selfish reasons?"

"Okay, I'll tell you."

"Everything I, Zhang Biao, have done today is not for promotion or wealth!"

"If it were for promotion, why would I have cursed the Emperor unconscious three times? That would have been a capital offense!"

"If it were for money, why would I distribute the audit findings to my starving colleagues and veterans!"

"You say I'm doing this to gain a reputation for integrity? Then let me ask you, can a reputation for integrity put food on the table? Can it bring me back from the dead?"

"Furthermore, you say I did this to vent my personal anger. Then let me ask you, did I have any prior personal grudges against Fu Youwen, Ru Chang, Li Jinglong, and Guo Ying?"

He paused, then his voice suddenly rose, carrying a resolute and unwavering determination:

"You know nothing, yet you're pointing fingers at me. Who do you think you are?"

"You!" Zhan Hui was so angry that he was speechless.

But Zhang Biao's output didn't stop.

He stared blankly at Zhan Hui and his colleagues from the Censorate behind him, and said coldly:

"I did this for two reasons!"

"First, I can't stand it! I'm not happy about it!"

"Secondly, I have the fucking ability to manage it! And I want to manage it!"

"Why should corrupt officials who deceive their superiors and powerful nobles who prey on the people be able to live a good life and rest easy? Why should loyal officials starve to death at home, while soldiers who fought bloody battles are poorly clothed and barely survive?"

"And I happen to have read a few books, know a few paths, have the guts to risk my life, and have a group of brothers who, like me, are no longer willing to endure this!"

He glanced around at Shen Lang, Sun Gui, Li Mo, and the others. As they felt his gaze, their initial fear was gradually replaced by a surge of passion, and their chests involuntarily puffed out.

Zhang Biao looked at Zhan Hui again, his eyes sharp as knives:

"You say I disregard the overall national interest? What is the overall national interest? Does it mean allowing parasites to gnaw at the foundations of the empire until the edifice collapses?!"

"You say I'm undermining the country? Wrong! It's precisely for the sake of this country's eternal stability that I must squeeze out these festering sores! Even if the process is brutal!"

"You say my heart is despicable? My heart is clean and pure, I have done right by heaven and earth, I have done right by my conscience, and I have done right by every loyal soul like Censor Wang who, even in death, still held hope for this court!"

Finally, he practically roared out that earth-shattering declaration:

"Zhan Hui! You listen to me right now!"

"Except for this glorious blue sky, except for all living beings under heaven!"

"No one, including the Emperor and even your damned superior, has the right to question me, Zhang Biao, about whether I am acting out of personal gain?"

"Only the record of history, the will of the people, and my own conscience can judge me!"

"Now, you either step aside and let me audit the remaining three departments, or you try to enforce your so-called 'imperial laws' here!"

Boom!

After he finished speaking, a deathly silence fell over the gates of the Marquis of Wuding.

In an instant, Zhan Hui was stunned by these earth-shattering and unorthodox remarks.

He pointed at Zhang Biao, his lips trembling, but he couldn't utter a single word.

The censors behind him were both thrilled and terrified.

Shen Lang and the others felt a surge of heat rush to their heads, and they trembled with excitement.

Brother Biao!

This is their true style!

After a long while, Zhan Hui seemed to have all his strength drained away, and he slumped down, his face ashen.

He found that all his official authority and all his reasoning were so pale and powerless in the face of this lawless madman who seemed to stand on some kind of moral high ground.

In the end, he could only awkwardly step aside to make way for the remaining three sections.

However, the next moment.

"Dang——dang——dang——"

A heavy and urgent bell suddenly rang out from the direction of the palace, piercing through the twilight and echoing clearly over the entire Yingtian Prefecture.

The bells rang one after another, carrying a solemn and dignified air, yet also subtly conveying a sense of urgency.

The noisy "wage-demanding group" instantly fell silent.

Everyone stopped in their tracks, their smiles froze, and they instinctively looked in the direction from which the bell was coming.

This bell sound is extraordinary!

Shen Lang's face turned pale instantly, and he even forgot to adjust the abacus in his hands: "The Jingyang Bell in the palace?! It's ringing at this hour, could it be that the Emperor..."

Sun Gui's chamber pot lamp trembled, and his voice shook: "Is it the Emperor? Has the Emperor woken up?! Or is he riding?"

He didn't dare say the word "collapse" out loud, but fear had already gripped everyone's hearts.

Li Mo dropped his charcoal pencil and muttered, "A time of great wealth and prosperity is either auspicious or ominous. This hour is not good!"

The atmosphere, which had been so lively just moments before, instantly plummeted to freezing point.

Immense fear and uncertainty, like a cold tide, overwhelmed the joy of the newly achieved victory.

They then realized with a start that all their previous madness and all their 'victories' were built on the foundation of the emperor's coma.

And now, the emperor may have woken up.

The Hongwu Emperor, who truly held the power of life and death and could decide the fate of all of them with a single word, awoke.

What will become of them? Their homes confiscated? Their entire clan exterminated? Skinned alive?

The thought of Zhou Ya's fate at Fengtian Hall Square yesterday sent chills down everyone's spine.

The silver and spoils that had seemed so substantial just moments before now felt like a hot potato, ready to unleash devastating lightning at any moment.

All eyes involuntarily and simultaneously focused on Zhang Biao.

Zhang Biao also suppressed the resentment that Zhan Hui had stirred up earlier.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, calmly gazing in the direction of the palace, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the railing of the 'audit chariot'.

Is Old Zhu awake?

It's much faster than I expected.

I hope they can kill me this time.

I really, really want to die.

He took a deep breath, and under everyone's horrified gaze, instead of showing fear, he slowly revealed an even more insane smile.

That smile, bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun and the darkening sky, appeared particularly eerie.

"Bros!"

Zhang Biao's voice rang out again, but with an unusual excitement: "Did you hear that? The Emperor is calling us!"

Everyone: "???!"

Was the Emperor calling us? Or was he sending us to our deaths?!

……

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(End of this chapter)