This made Li Shimin anxious, and he wanted to trade one for one with me.

When Cheng Jun's words echoed in everyone's ears, they were shocked. This kid's words were becoming increasingly sharp and piercing.

Chao Yuanfang stood aside, his eyes filled with astonishment, as if he were seeing Cheng Jun in a completely new light.

At this moment, he truly appreciated the extraordinary courage and boldness of this young man.

Li Shimin's face remained calm, but his heart was churning with turmoil. He was secretly delighted because what Cheng Jun had done was exactly what he had wanted to do but dared not.

Cheng Jun's outspokenness was undoubtedly the most powerful counterattack against Li Yuan's arrogant behavior.

Wen Yanbo smiled, but quickly suppressed it. He was on the same side as Li Shimin, and he had long been dissatisfied with Li Yuan's harassment of Li Shimin. Now that Cheng Jun had bravely stood up, he felt very pleased. Looking at Cheng Jun, he felt extremely comfortable.

Li Yuan was furious, his face turning purple with rage. He glared at Cheng Jun and roared:

"Cheng Jun, do you know how arrogant your words are? Are the heads on your shoulders enough to chop off?"

Li Yuan's voice was filled with anger and threat, as if he wanted to devour Cheng Jun.

Cheng Jun met his gaze, his expression calm and composed, neither humble nor arrogant, and said:

“Your Majesty, I am an imperial censor personally selected by Your Majesty. My duty is to tell Your Majesty the truth.”

"So when the Emperor Emeritus asked if I had enough heads to chop off, this was the only answer I could give..."

Cheng Jun looked at Li Yuan and said:

“The censor is not afraid of death, so why threaten him with death?”

This kid is saying he's not afraid of death... That's what everyone was thinking, but soon they realized there was another layer of meaning.

Cheng Jun was referring to the fact that the censors were not afraid of death.

If Cheng Jun really dies because of this, I'm afraid more censors in the Censorate will step forward.

Censors and officials who dared to speak out were among the most fearless of death.

They were all willing to die for their principles.

"you you--"

Seeing that his threats had no effect, Li Yuan became furious and turned to look at Li Shimin, only to find him standing silently to the side, eyes downcast.

At this moment, Li Shimin remained silent, which was actually his way of supporting Cheng Jun and allowing him to continue criticizing the retired emperor.

Li Yuan snorted coldly. The only way to punish Cheng Jun now was to leave him with no room for rebuttal.

Since Cheng Jun couldn't refute it, Li Shimin had nothing to say either, and he had no choice but to punish Cheng Jun.

However, it wasn't as easy as he thought to make Cheng Jun unable to refute his point of view, after all, this guy was a censor who made a living by talking.

Li Yuan suddenly had a thought and stared at Cheng Jun, saying:

"Cheng Jun, you just impeached me, so let me ask you a question—in this world, is there any son who punishes his father?"

No... The answer was immediately clear in everyone's minds.

A son punishing his father is considered unfilial.

They immediately realized the power of Li Yuan's words.

Cheng Jun impeached the retired emperor before His Majesty, but the question is, does His Majesty dare to punish the retired emperor?

If Your Majesty dares not punish the Emperor Emeritus, then Cheng Jun's memorial against the Emperor Emeritus will truly be in vain.

Conversely, if Your Majesty dares to punish the retired emperor, it would be like a son punishing his father. When the people hear of this, they will surely criticize you, saying that the emperor is unfilial.

Everyone looked at Cheng Jun.

The Emperor Emeritus's question was quite tricky.

In their view, this question is simply unanswerable.

However, Cheng Jun had to answer. If he didn't, he would be severely reprimanded by the Emperor Emeritus, and might even be forced to be punished by His Majesty for not being able to answer.

At this moment, Cheng Jun's voice rang in everyone's ears:

"I can answer the Emperor Emeritus's question now."

Cheng Jun said slowly:

“No son in the world punishes his father, but there are sons who advise their fathers.”

As he spoke, he glanced at everyone and said firmly:

“The sage said: When serving one’s parents, one should offer gentle advice. If they do not listen to one’s advice, one should still be respectful and not disobey them. One should work hard without complaining.”

"What does the sage mean by 'gentle remonstrance'? It means to offer advice in a tactful way."

Cheng Jun said, "If they still don't listen after being gently advised, the sage said that we should 'respect without disobeying,' meaning we should still be respectful to our parents."

"The sage means that even though parents have done wrong, they are still parents, so they should still maintain the image of a son."

"So, does this mean we should continue to 'respect without disobeying' indefinitely? Of course not, the sage later mentioned the word 'labor'."

Cheng Jun's voice continued to echo inside the Imperial Medical Bureau:

Why is it 'laborious'? Of course, it's because of a certain thing, which is repeated over and over again. What thing needs to be repeated many times? Of course, it refers to 'repeated advice'.

Cheng Jun slowly said, "From this, we can see that what the sage meant was that when parents make mistakes, the son should first adhere to the right path and offer advice tactfully. If the parents do not listen, the son should abide by human ethics and 'not disobey'. After the parents' temper has subsided, he should continue to offer advice tactfully. If the parents still do not listen, then he should 'not disobey' again."

"This process was repeated until the father was able to correct his mistakes."

After Cheng Jun finished speaking, he looked at Li Yuan and said:

"Therefore, I have submitted a memorial to the Emperor Emeritus. Your Majesty certainly does not need to, and cannot, punish the Emperor Emeritus, but you can advise him."

“If the Emperor Emeritus does not listen, Your Majesty will continue to advise him until he listens.”

"Then, what should Your Majesty advise the Emperor Emeritus on? This is the content of my memorial to the Emperor Emeritus."

Cheng Jun said in a deep voice, "What I want to impeach is that the Emperor Emeritus is unfilial. What do you mean by unfilial? The Emperor Emeritus moved out of the capital and lived in the Da'an Palace outside the city. There was nothing wrong with that, but the people criticized him, saying that the Emperor Emeritus moved to the Da'an Palace on purpose, to confirm Your Majesty's reputation for being unfilial."

"Intentionally..." Li Yuan's expression changed upon hearing this. Although it was indeed the case, he absolutely could not admit it. He angrily said, "This is a rumor, a guess by the people themselves, and has nothing to do with me!"

Cheng Jun solemnly said, "The rumors were not spread by Your Majesty, but now that they are rampant, it is not good for Your Majesty or the court. Therefore, it is only right to calm people's hearts and quell the rumors."

"His Majesty sent two imperial censors to Da'an Palace to invite the retired emperor. This is to reassure the people and quell rumors."

"However, Your Majesty the Retired is unwilling to return to the capital."

Cheng Jun stared at Li Yuan and said:

"The Emperor Emeritus is unwilling to return to the capital with us, clearly intending to brand His Majesty as unfilial. Therefore, isn't it only right for me to impeach the Emperor Emeritus for being unkind?"

He actually managed to smooth things over... Chao Yuanfang was stunned when he heard this. He turned to look at Wei Zheng, Changsun Wuji, and the others, and found that they looked normal and were not surprised.

Chao Yuanfang couldn't help but lean closer to Wei Zheng and whisper:

"Lord Wei, aren't you surprised that Cheng Jun managed to make his accusations seem reasonable with just his words?"

Wei Zheng turned to look at him and said in a low voice:

"What's there to be surprised about? Cheng Jun has only just begun."

…………

First update.