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

Zhang Anan laughed and said, "It's all because His Majesty made a good choice to appoint him as censor. Otherwise, Censor Cheng would not have had the opportunity to show his talent."

Li Shimin's smile deepened upon hearing this.

Upon entering the courtyard of the Hall of Justice, Li Shimin was surprised to see a stretcher at the entrance, upon which lay a burly young man covered with a blanket. He exclaimed in astonishment:

"Why is there a student lying on a stretcher here?"

Zhang Anan sized up the other person and said with some surprise, "It looks like the youngest son of Minister Li Jing!"

Li Shimin's expression turned solemn. "The Li family has such a fine tradition. Even though he's so ill, his son still comes to listen to the lecture."

Then Li Shimin felt something was off, "Why doesn't he go inside and wait?"

Zhang Anan thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps it's not time for Cheng Jun to start his lecture yet?"

"Perhaps..." Li Shimin nodded thoughtfully, stopped thinking about it, and went to the entrance of the Hall of Justice, preparing to go in.

Before he could even step across the threshold, Li Shimin was taken aback when he saw that the Hall of Justice was full of people.

The people sitting in the Hall of Justice were all familiar faces!

Yuchi Jingde, Li Jing, Wen Yanbo, Wei Zheng...

Why are all the civil and military officials here?

Li Shimin was somewhat puzzled.

At that moment, the court officials, who were sitting on cushions in the hall chatting and laughing, were all stunned when they suddenly saw Li Shimin standing at the door.

The next second, everyone quickly stood up and bowed to him, saying:

"I will pay my respects to Your Majesty."

"..."

Li Shimin came to his senses and subconsciously said, "My dear ministers, you may rise and dispense with formalities."

He immediately sensed something was wrong; this wasn't the Taiji Hall, so why all the formality?

Li Shimin looked at everyone and asked in confusion:

"I never said we would have a court meeting at the Imperial Academy, so why are you all here?"

The court officials exchanged glances, then Fang Xuanling coughed lightly and said, "We have come to listen to Imperial Censor Cheng's lecture."

Li Shimin's eyes widened as he said, "If you hadn't told me, I would have thought that the place for holding court had been moved to the Imperial Academy!"

After saying that, he looked at Kong Yingda and asked, "What happened?"

Kong Yingda gave a wry smile and said, "I don't know whether to blame myself or the Duke of Wu."

He then recounted the whole story.

Li Shimin was somewhat amused and exasperated upon hearing this. Looking at his ministers, he waved his hand and said, "Since you're all here, sit down and listen."

After saying that, he looked towards the door and said, "These students will have to make do and stand while listening to the lesson."

The officials inside the hall and the students outside responded in unison:

"I will obey your orders!"

Li Shimin sat down next to Fang Xuanling, then suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, there's a student lying on a stretcher outside. Whose family is he?"

Li Jing immediately stood up and replied, "It is my son."

Li Shimin praised, "It's clear that your son's dedication to his studies is all thanks to you."

"Pfft..." Suddenly, a muffled laugh rang out.

Suddenly, everyone turned to look at the person who had laughed.

When Cheng Jun saw Li Jing glaring at him, he immediately pinched his thigh to suppress a laugh, and then apologized to everyone:

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something happy."

Li Shimin gave him a strange look, but didn't pay it any mind, and then said to Li Jing:

"After Cheng Jun finishes speaking, take your son to the Imperial Medical Bureau and let Physician Chen and the others take a look."

Li Jing's eyes were red, and he choked with emotion as he said, "My son has been fortunate enough to receive such great favor from His Majesty; his life has been worthwhile!"

Li Shimin smiled and asked Kong Yingda:

"Minister Kong, when shall we begin the lecture?"

Kong Yingda quickly replied, "Let's begin once everyone is here."

"Your Majesty was the only one missing. Now that you've arrived, everyone is here."

Li Shimin nodded and said, "Then let's begin."

After saying that, he gave Cheng Jun a look, signaling him to begin the lesson.

Cheng Jun then walked to the front of the Hall of Justice, where the Imperial Academy scholars usually gave lectures, sat down, and looked at the civil and military officials below, feeling quite strange.

Am I here to give a lecture, or to hold a meeting for parents...?

Cheng Jun collected his thoughts, first bowed to Li Shimin, then sat up straight and slowly said:

"I am a Palace Attendant Censor, named Cheng Jun, courtesy name Chuxia. I live in Huaide Lane. My father is Duke Cheng Yaojin."

"Today I am honored to be invited by the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy to give a lesson."

"Um......"

Seeing Cheng Jun hesitate, Li Shimin reminded him:

"Why did you stop? Keep going."

Cheng Jun was pondering whether to continue as his elder brother had instructed, but upon hearing this, he no longer hesitated and continued:

"Before, I was just an ordinary person who stayed at home studying. After the selection of censors, I was favored by His Majesty and selected as a supervising censor."

"I have lived up to His Majesty's favor. On my first assignment to handle criminal cases, I uncovered a wrongful conviction, upheld justice, and earned His Majesty's praise."

"Afterwards, I submitted a memorial to His Majesty, pointing out the problems with the public office capital and the money collection clerks, and requesting that the money collection clerks be dismissed and the public office capital system be abolished. His Majesty granted my request. Because of my memorial, a problem in the hearts of the people was removed, and thus I gained a little bit of fame in Chang'an."

"After that, His Majesty appointed me as the Imperial Censor in charge of collecting money. I was entrusted with the imperial order to produce fine wine to benefit the people, to collect money for the country without harming the people. In this way, my reputation grew a little bit more."

"Later, His Majesty appointed me as the Crown Prince's tutor. To be honest, I was still uneasy, not knowing how to be a good tutor for the Crown Prince. Fortunately, the Crown Prince was a rough diamond. After my careful polishing, he is now showing signs of becoming a fine piece of jade."

"Later, because I had rendered meritorious service in inviting the retired emperor back to the capital, His Majesty promoted me to Palace Attendant Censor."

"I was uneasy about the sudden promotion, after all, the higher the rank, the greater the responsibility."

"But this unease quickly turned into my motivation. I told myself that I must be a good censor and uphold the belief that I would risk my life for the country and not avoid it because of personal fortune or misfortune!"

"After that, I persuaded Master Sun to come out of seclusion and asked His Majesty to grant him permission to conduct physical examinations for civil and military officials. It was because of this that it was discovered that the Empress was unwell and Lord Du was suffering from a hidden illness. The Empress is a virtuous empress and Lord Du is a good minister. Their well-being is my contribution to the stability of the country."

"Later, I was ordered to mediate the conflict between the three kingdoms of Haidong. Through my mediation, the three kingdoms agreed to a truce. This can be considered as a display of the prestige of our Great Tang Dynasty."

"After that, I helped the court uncover a group of Turkic spies, and as a result, I was rewarded by His Majesty with a Ferghana horse, which I named 'Adolf,' a name full of Tang Dynasty flavor."

"Because of all these events, I've gained some fame, and wherever I go, I'm loved and respected by the people..."

The officials sitting below couldn't hold back their excitement as they listened to him speak. Was this how a lecture was conducted?

Yuchi Jingde looked at Du Ruhui sitting next to him with a puzzled expression and said, "Is my virtuous nephew Chuxia giving a lecture? To me, it sounds like he's praising himself."

Du Ruhui pondered for a moment and said, "It's hard to say, let me hear more."