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

Upon hearing this, Yan Shigu's eyebrows shot up in anger, and he said bluntly:

"If you want to impeach me, go ahead and impeach me!"

"Let's see if His Majesty will reprimand you or me after you submit a memorial to me."

Yan Shigu was not afraid at all.

After all, this matter had nothing to do with him; it was his nephew Yan Xianfu's affair.

Educating his nephew on how to be a good person was the responsibility of his father, Yan Qinli.

It's not his place as the uncle to take charge.

Therefore, Cheng Jun's impeachment of him will only make His Majesty think that there is something wrong with Cheng Jun.

In addition, his criticism of Cheng Jun yesterday, and Cheng Jun's current criticism of him, is clearly retaliation.

His Majesty is such a clever person, how could he not see the clues? Therefore, Cheng Jun's impeachment of him is just being presumptuous and will only end up hurting himself.

Seeing his attitude, Cheng Jun was not annoyed. He smiled and cupped his hands, saying, "Since that's the case, I'll take my leave. I'll go to your nephew's house now and take him back to the Censorate to be imprisoned."

Upon hearing the word "detention," Yan Shigu raised an eyebrow. Seeing Cheng Jun turn to leave, he immediately blocked his path and questioned him:

"Explain yourself before you leave. What right do you have to arrest my nephew?"

Cheng Jun stopped and said calmly:

"His Majesty previously issued an edict granting the Censorate the power to detain criminals, so I now have the authority to detain your nephew in the Censorate prison."

Yan Shigu narrowed his eyes and said, "My nephew's matter is under the jurisdiction of Wannian County Government. It is suspicious that your Censorate has directly handled this matter without going through Wannian County Government. Cheng Jun, I can impeach you again for this reason alone!"

Cheng Jun said, "Have you forgotten that Cui Shen, the Wan Nian Ling, has already been arrested?"

Yan Shigu then remembered that Cui Shen, the magistrate of Wannian, had long been dismissed from his post because of Cheng Jun, and frowned, saying:

"If the Wannian County Government can't handle this, it should be transferred to the Chang'an County Government!"

Cheng Junju waved the indictment lightly, and said with a kind smile:

"Guess who gave me this lawsuit?"

Seeing Yan Shigu's expression change, Cheng Jun continued:

"This morning, Yang Zuan, the magistrate of Chang'an, accepted this complaint. Tonight, he told me that he was unable to resolve the case. According to procedure, cases that the Chang'an County government cannot handle will be handed over to the Censorate."

"Therefore, my involvement in this matter is not an overstepping of my authority, but rather a matter of course."

This kid is well-prepared... Yan Shigu couldn't help but curse under his breath.

At the same time, he cursed Yang Zuan, the magistrate of Chang'an, in his heart as well.

How could Yang Zuan not know how to handle such a small matter?

It was obvious that Cheng Jun had obtained the complaint from Yang Zuan late at night.

As long as Yang Zuan stands by Cheng Jun and speaks on his behalf, then Cheng Jun will not be guilty of overstepping his authority.

His efforts to recruit Cheng Jun were in vain.

Seeing that Yan Shigu remained silent, Cheng Jun put away his smile and said seriously:

“Man of Yan County, let me make this clear: I will not release him until your nephew’s matter is resolved.”

Yan Shigu stared at him and said, "I don't think it's necessary to arrest him. He's not going to run away."

Cheng Jun flatly refused, saying, "Your guarantee is useless. I'm going to take this person today. You are a famous scholar in the court. I came to see you first to give you face and to honor the Yan family!"

"Since you're not going to interfere, I can only proceed according to business. Goodbye!"

After saying this, Cheng Jun put away the complaint, cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, and walked towards the door.

However, after taking only two steps, Yan Shigu suddenly reached out and stopped him.

Cheng Jun stopped again, looked at him and asked, "Yan County Magistrate, is there anything else?"

Yan Shigu pondered for a moment and said:

"How about I send someone to call my nephew over?"

Cheng Jun pondered for a moment and said, "That would be best, saving me the trouble of running back and forth."

Seeing that he agreed, Yan Shigu immediately turned and beckoned to the middle-aged steward of the mansion. When he came to his side, he whispered something in his ear.

"Remember, go quickly and come back quickly."

"promise!"

The steward of the Yan family immediately left with two servants.

Yan Shigu looked at Cheng Jun, spread out his palms, and said:

"Imperial Censor Cheng, would you like to sit in the main hall for a while?"

Cheng Jun nodded slightly and followed Yan Shigu to sit down in the main hall of the Yan residence.

The two sat in the main room without exchanging a word, their eyes fixed on the outside.

Half an hour later, hurried footsteps sounded outside the main room.

Upon closer inspection, Cheng Jun saw that it was a middle-aged man and a teenager who had arrived.

The middle-aged man walked ahead with an anxious expression.

The boy, about sixteen years old, followed behind nervously.

Yan Shigu saw Cheng Jun sizing them up and snorted:

"The person you're looking for has arrived, and his father has arrived too."

As he spoke, he got up and went outside. When the two men came to his side, he pointed to the tall man, about 1.85 meters tall, who was sitting in the main hall wearing a light green official robe, and said:

"Third brother, that's Cheng Jun, the Imperial Censor who wanted to arrest Xianfu."

Yan Qinli was tall and thin, with a goatee. He was wearing a scarlet official robe and stood next to Yan Shigu, frowning as he looked at Cheng Jun, who was sitting in the main hall.

Cheng Jun stood up, cupped his hands, and said, "Greetings, Scholar Yan."

Yan Qinli was Yan Shigu's third younger brother and a great Confucian scholar. He was not only the Assistant Compiler of the Bureau of Writing, who was in charge of drafting and compiling texts, but also a scholar of the Hongwen Pavilion.

Yan Qinli nodded in response.

After bowing, Cheng Jun looked at the handsome young man following behind Yan Qinli and gave him a kind smile.

Facing such a prominent figure in Chang'an, Yan Xianfu felt a mix of nervousness and resentment. He entered the main hall, first bowing to Cheng Jun, then looked up and asked:

"Imperial Censor Cheng, I heard from my uncle's steward that you're going to arrest me?"

Cheng Jun nodded and said, "You've gotten yourself into a lawsuit; you should know that."

Yan Xianfu said angrily, "It was wrong of me to hit him, but my Yan family has already compensated him with money, what more do you want!"

Cheng Jun chuckled and said, "If I knocked out a few of your teeth and threw three or five strings of cash at you, would that have been the end of it?"

Upon hearing this, Yan Xianfu immediately pursed his lips and remained silent.

Cheng Jun spread his hands and said, "Look, I've already compensated you, what more do you want?"

"Do you feel uncomfortable? You feel uncomfortable because you don't need those few coins."

Cheng Jun took out the complaint again, looked down at it, and said:

“The person you hit has some wealth, so he doesn’t need the meager compensation from your Yan family.”

"Furthermore, you beat that person quite badly; you knocked out two of his teeth."

"According to the laws of my Great Tang Dynasty, those who engage in fighting shall have their teeth broken and be sentenced to one and a half years of penal servitude."

Yan Qinli then spoke up: "Imperial Censor Cheng, do not forget that our Great Tang Dynasty has the system of redemption for punishment."

Cheng Jun glanced at him and said, "Of course I know, that's why your son hasn't gone to jail yet."

Yan Qinli was a scholar of the Hongwen Academy who wore a scarlet official robe, so his son was eligible to redeem himself from punishment.

Cheng Jun looked down at the complaint and continued:

"It is true that our Great Tang Dynasty has a system of redemption for punishment, but in addition to redeeming one's own punishment, according to the law, one must also compensate the victim."

"The person who was beaten by your son felt that the compensation your family gave was not enough and that you did not apologize after hitting him, so he took legal action."

Yan Qinli frowned and said, "I know nothing about this."

Cheng Jun accepted the indictment and nodded, saying:

"I believe you are unaware of the Yan family's reputation. The reason you are unaware is because Cui Shen, the Wan Nian Ling who handled your son's case, wanted to do your Yan family a favor when he received the victim's complaint, so he deliberately suppressed it."

"The victim was so angry that he kept refusing to listen and felt he was being taken advantage of, which is why he kept appealing until today."

“After His Majesty punished the former Wannian Magistrate, the position has remained vacant. In the past, when the victim sued your son, the Wannian Magistrate would suppress the complaint. Now that the Wannian Magistrate is gone, he has nowhere to appeal, which is why he took the complaint to the Chang'an County Government.”

Cheng Jun said, "Chang'an Magistrate Yang Zuan took over the case today. However, Yang Zuan felt that the case was too important for him to handle, so he reported it to the Censorate. In the end, I stepped in to handle the case."

"That's why I came here tonight to ask your son to go to the Censorate."

Hearing Cheng Jun's words, Yan Qinli glanced at Yan Shigu, who was glaring at Cheng Jun with his mouth forming the shape of an insult but not uttering a word in rebuttal. Knowing this, Yan Qinli pondered for a moment and said:

"So, as long as my Yan family pays that person enough money and apologizes, that's enough?"

Cheng Jun nodded and said, "Yes."

Upon hearing this, Yan Qinli and his son Yan Xianfu felt a great sense of relief.

So it's just such a trivial matter?

Yan Qinli smiled and said, "Once things are clear, it'll be simple. Tomorrow I'll have my son bring enough money to apologize to them!"

Cheng Jun said, "Okay, but that's for tomorrow. Tonight, I need to take Yan Xianfu back to the Censorate first."

Yan Qinli immediately said, "I'll take my son to find that person right now and apologize to him. Tell me that person's address!"

Cheng Jun refused, saying, "No."

…………

I'm having diarrhea and stomach pain right now, so I can only update once today. I'll update more tomorrow TvT!