I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1049 Lying in my office, I hear the rustling bamboo, unaware of the suffering of the common people.

Zhu Yijun was very curious as to why Wang Yi'e refused to say. Anyone would be angry to suffer such an undeserved calamity during the Lunar New Year.

What exactly is Wang Yi'e worried about?

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty arrived at the prison of the Northern Garrison Command. Although the Emperor's decision was made on a whim, the Northern Garrison Command knew that His Majesty would personally oversee the case, so they had already prepared a thorough cleaning, making sure every nook and cranny was spotless.

Even the dungeon, which His Majesty would never go to, had its bedding aired out, the inside and outside swept and cleaned, and even the cracks in the walls were cleaned.

The prisons for serious criminals and high-ranking officials were not together. When officials entered the Northern Garrison, they stayed in small single rooms, which were even equipped with writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.

Zhu Yijun and Zhao Mengyou inquired carefully about the interrogation process and guessed to some extent what Wang Yie's concerns were.

"An old relic," Zhu Yijun said, shaking his head as he told Zhao Mengyou to fetch Wang Yi'e.

Wang Yi'e's main concern is that he wants to stay true to his own beliefs.

Wang Yi'e was a very traditional scholar-official who highly respected the concepts of Heaven, Earth, Ruler, Parents, and Teacher. Xu Jie was Wang Yi'e's mentor, and no matter what mistakes Xu Jie made, a mentor is a mentor. If Wang Yi'e revealed certain things, it would damage his mentor's reputation.

Although Xu Jie had no reputation left to speak of.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty!" Wang Yi'e, without shackles or chains, dressed in a Confucian robe, performed a grand ceremony of five bows and three kowtows.

"No need for formalities." Zhu Yijun waved his hand and looked at Wang Yi'e, asking, "Minister Wang, you were still serving in the Western Study before the New Year, and you had a chance to enter the Grand Secretariat. Today you're imprisoned. Are you really willing to leave the court like this?"

"What exactly did Xu Jie entrust to you back then, and what did you do to earn such a generous reward of 100,000 taels of silver? It must have been no small matter."

"Your Majesty is wise," Wang Yi'e said with a heavy sigh.

"Thunder and rain are all blessings from Heaven. I have been able to serve a wise and sage ruler and live through a period of reform. I have long held the heart to devote myself to the cause. The great trend is overwhelming, and I am also excited and full of pride. However, today's prison is a matter of the proper relationship between teacher and student. I would rather die ten thousand times than change my principles for personal gain."

“I am not protecting treacherous officials, but rather upholding the fundamental principles of Heaven, Earth, the Sovereign, Parents, and Teachers. Now that Lu Fengyi is bringing up old matters, I am willing to accept the blame. I only beg Your Majesty to remember my 27 years of diligent service to the King and not let my betrayal of my teacher's name be known throughout the world.”

Even after the emperor arrived in person, Wang Yi'e persisted in his stance. His reason was simple: the historian's pen was ironclad, and Wang Yi'e could not bear the seven words "Wang Yi'e harmed his teacher for personal gain."

“This is Xu Jie’s fault. As your mentor, he put you in a dilemma between loyalty to the emperor and filial piety.” Zhu Yijun said with a furrowed brow, “By stubbornly refusing to speak out, you are ultimately taking the blame for Xu Jie’s mistake upon yourself. The relationship between a teacher and student is important, but why did it have to come to this?”

It was Xu Jie who entrusted Wang Yi'e with something he shouldn't have, which caused Wang Yi'e a great deal of trouble many years ago, and the trouble continues to this day, still causing Wang Yi'e a dilemma now.

If this master has gone to such lengths, is there still any need to respect teachers? With Xu Jie's character, does he even deserve such a disciple?

Wang Yi'e hesitated, then finally fell silent.

Zhu Yijun remained silent, waiting quietly for a while. His personal visit was the first opportunity, and his current silence was the second. If Wang Yi'e refused to seize the opportunity, then there was nothing he, as the emperor, could do.

Having navigated the ups and downs of officialdom for decades, Wang Yi'e was well aware that this was an opportunity given to him by His Majesty, and he repeatedly weighed the pros and cons.

He passed the imperial examination at the age of nineteen and is now sixty-one years old. He has been traveling north and south for forty years, making great achievements. He was imprisoned on the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, and His Majesty came to the imperial prison on the ninth day of the first lunar month.

These days, Wang Yie has been reflecting on his life in prison. He can say with a clear conscience that he has done right by heaven and earth, his parents, the common people, and his own conscience.

He believed himself to be a true man, deserving of a place in history and to leave his mark on the Wanli Reforms.

In his youth, his family was too poor to afford books, so he became the adopted son of Yang Shun, a military officer in Quzhou County. He never changed his surname back to his original surname until he entered the capital and the Ministry of Personnel re-verified his records, at which point he changed his surname back to Wang.

It wasn't easy for him to get to this point. He knows the hardships and struggles he's faced along the way, how difficult it was, and how unwilling he is to give up.

Two years ago, he suffered a serious illness that almost cost him his life, which made him even more anxious. The older people get, the more afraid they are of death. He really wanted to leave something behind so that future generations would remember him, rather than simply labeling him as a disciple of Xu Jie and summarizing his life.

Zhu Yijun was willing to give Wang Yi'e a chance for a very simple reason: when Wang Yi'e served as the prefect of Jianning in Fujian in the 40th year of the Jiajing reign, he had defended Jianning against Japanese pirates.

When the Japanese pirates were unable to capture Jianning Prefecture, they began to attack Zhenghe. Wang Yi'e decisively led his troops out of the city to provide relief, which saved both Jianning and Zhenghe and ultimately repelled the Japanese pirates.

Emperor Jiajing (Zhu Yijun) was willing to give a chance to any official who made contributions during the Jiajing period when the Japanese pirates harassed the country. Wang Chonggu was given a chance by the emperor for the same reason.

Zhu Yijun was always more patient with those who had made great contributions to the fight against Japanese pirates.

"Your Majesty, I thank Your Majesty for your great kindness." Wang Yi'e finally spoke. His Majesty was willing to wait for him, which was the greatest kindness in the world.

"In the fortieth year of Jiajing's reign, Xu Huating asked me to fabricate a crime against Hu Zongxian, but I refused."

"Resisting the Japanese pirates is a major event for the nation and the foundation of the country. The relationship between teachers and students is of paramount importance. However, with the nation's affairs at hand, I can only fail my teachers and dare not fail the world. Therefore, I pretended to be deaf and dumb and did not fabricate any charges against them. The relationship between teachers and students is of paramount importance, and I have never reported such matters."

"After Hu Zongxian died, Xu Huating asked me to withdraw 100,000 taels of silver, which left me speechless. I did not take the money, nor did I mention this matter to anyone."

Wang Yi'e finally revealed the whole story. When a wall falls, everyone pushes it down. Wang Yi'e, who once defended against Japanese pirates in Jiangnan, stood up to kick Hu Zongxian while he was down. Hu Zongxian was not only doomed to die, but would also be infamous for eternity.

For example, Wang Yi'e said that Hu Zongxian colluded with the Japanese.

Although the fact that Hu Zongxian, the commander-in-chief of the anti-Japanese war, was colluding with the Japanese pirates sounds quite fantastical, as long as it is confirmed that Hu Zongxian was suspected of harboring pirates to enhance his own power, he could be killed honorably instead of being imprisoned.

Hu Zongxian died in prison, and his case will surely be overturned. Only by making it an ironclad case can Hu Zongxian be thoroughly nailed to the pillar of historical shame.

To defeat a living person, you only need to defeat him once. As long as he makes a fool of himself in order to survive for a few more days before he dies, and is eventually hanged like a dog, then everyone will laugh at this loser and coward.

But defeating a dead man is much harder; it requires defeating all his supporters.

Hu Zongxian never yielded until his death. Even when he died in prison, he still insisted on his innocence. In the end, Xu Jie could not defeat the living Hu Zongxian, nor could he defeat the dead Hu Zongxian.

Even Wang Yi'e, a disciple of Xu Jie, did not believe that Hu Zongxian deserved to die and refused to frame him.

Wang Yi'e certainly had his concerns. Although he hadn't done anything wrong, he had kept quiet about the matter. Although he hadn't accepted any money afterward, he hadn't told anyone about it. Moreover, this involved his mentor's reputation and touched on old cases from back then.

Wang Yi'e had initially intended to shoulder the burden himself, but upon seeing His Majesty, his initially resolute heart immediately wavered.

Just as Your Majesty said, why should Wang Yi'e suffer the consequences of Xu Jie's mistakes after so many years?

"It's no big deal, it's all in the past." Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "Pack up and continue to work for the country."

Three years ago, Wang Yi'e caught a cold, which quickly developed into pneumonia. The chief physician used six units of penicillin to cure him. Now that the court had cured him, he should devote himself wholeheartedly to continuing his studies.

"Your Majesty, I thank you for your great kindness!" Wang Yi'e was taken aback, not expecting that His Majesty would let him off so easily.

Zhu Yijun didn't even make a judgment on the case, nor did he evaluate who was right and who was wrong; he simply turned the page.

Xu Jie's actions were indeed dishonest, but Hu Zongxian's methods of seizing the position of governor of Zhejiang and taking charge of the anti-Japanese war under Yan Song's instructions were also not honorable.

Hu Zongxian was not entirely innocent in the deaths of Zhang Jing, the Minister of War in Nanjing, and Li Tianchong, the Governor of Zhejiang.

At best, it was a case of fighting fire with fire, and it didn't even work out because of the overall situation of resisting Japanese pirates.

Zhu Yijun is no child anymore. The world is not that simple. Can people be distinguished by dividing them into good people and bad people?

As Feng Bao said when he was still alive, people are unreliable, especially after the age of forty when one is no longer confused, one understands this statement more clearly, because people are extremely fickle.

Xu Jie's reason for giving 100,000 taels of silver was simple: it was precisely because Wang Yi'e's cooperation was not enough that the plan failed and Hu Zongxian was killed. Therefore, he wanted to win over Wang Yi'e with a large sum of money.

Of course, this was also a test. If Wang Yi'e took it, he would have no choice but to be completely devoted to Xu Jie and share his fate.

If Wang Yi'e doesn't take the money, the teacher-student relationship will essentially be severed.

Zhu Yijun was in a very good mood. He strolled back to the Imperial Study in Tonghe Palace and said to Li Yougong with a smile, "Minister Wang wants to improve himself. That's good."

"Wang Yi'e's apprenticeship to Xu Jie was truly the worst luck imaginable. He was stuck in the position of Vice Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture for ten years, unable to move, and now he has suffered another misfortune."

Wanting to improve is a good thing; not wanting to improve and having no desires or wants is the most elusive thing.

Zhu Yijun was in a good mood because he had gained another useful person. There were really not many capable people in the court, and with another weightlifting champion, Zhu Yijun could have an much easier time.

"How is the matter of Elder Shen's efforts to enforce strict school discipline and rectify academic conduct progressing?" Zhu Yijun inquired about the loyalty screening that Shen Shixing was conducting at the university.

Li Yougong found a memorial and placed it in front of His Majesty, saying sincerely, "Grand Secretary Shen is a talented man. I never expected such meticulous work as threading a needle."

After reading Shen Shixing's memorial, Zhu Yijun agreed with Li Yougong's assessment that Shen Shixing was indeed very talented.

Shen Shixing's memorial had only one core purpose: all the graduation exam papers of university graduates should be graded in a manner similar to the imperial examination system, using anonymous grading, copying, and closed grading. The reason was very simple: to prevent mediocre talents from using the name of the university to tarnish the school's reputation.

With the eighteen universities located throughout the Ming Dynasty, rather than under the direct control of the imperial court, some things became harder to keep under control.

It's incredibly easy for the children of local powerful figures, gentry, and wealthy merchants to get into schools and simply gain a resume. We need to prevent this from happening again through institutional reforms.

The basic political framework of the Ming Dynasty was a system of separate departments and local governments, which was perfectly normal. Local governments were naturally divided into separate units, but they couldn't be filled with a bunch of idiots who were disgusting. Regardless of their morality, they couldn't be incompetent.

The highly mature imperial examination system is worth learning from. This combination of measures can at least weed out most of the mediocre students from the universities, preventing them from graduating. Only in this way can the Dinghai education system cultivate capable talents.

Implementation was simple: just copy the regulations from the provincial examinations in various places, and that would perfectly meet the requirements.

The Dinghai school system was becoming more and more complete. Zhu Yijun approved this memorial, telling Shen Shixing to act boldly and without worry. If anything went wrong, he, the emperor, would cover for him. This matter had harmed the interests of some people, especially powerful and influential families who wanted their children to become superior people openly and legitimately.

It was only natural that Shen Shixing was attacked, but if the emperor did not take action, no one could judge him.

The ministers who led the Wanli Reforms were willing and capable of doing their jobs, and their actions had a direct causal relationship with the emperor.

Because the emperor was willing to protect his ministers from the wind and rain, and to take on the responsibilities that should have belonged to the emperor, rather than the ministers protecting His Majesty from the wind and rain, and carrying responsibilities that they could not possibly bear, and moving forward with heavy burdens.

According to the basic logic of the monarch-minister relationship that has been in place for thousands of years, the emperor is not at fault; it is always the ministers who are at fault for causing trouble. The emperor would then have the ministers executed to take the blame. But Your Majesty is different. Your Majesty has never done such tasteless things.

Even a treacherous minister like Wang Chonggu, as long as he is useful to the Ming Dynasty, His Majesty will do everything in his power to protect him.

With the prestigious title of Duke Wencheng standing here, the ministers were naturally willing to contribute their talents to make the Wanli Reforms more solid and go further.

Because of the holiday, Zhu Yijun's time at the mill was not very long. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, he celebrated the Lantern Festival with his soldiers at the Beidaying camp. On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, at the beginning of the new year, the heavens sent down a gentle rain, a light drizzle mixed with snow that lasted for a whole day before stopping, sweeping away the smog over the capital.

As the saying goes, "A year's plan starts in spring," and the Ming emperor once again began his busy schedule.

"What are you busy with, sir?" Zhu Yijun asked, putting down his pen and paper amidst his busy schedule and stretching his wrists.

When Zhang Juzheng was young, he was careless in designing systems. Even though Shen Shixing made some reductions, the emperor was still kept very busy.

"He just grows flowers, plants some land, raises two broods of crickets, and even plans to write a fantasy novel like Li Chunfang's, titled 'The Sequel to Journey to the West.'" Li Yougong said, describing Zhang Juzheng's leisurely life. He was truly enjoying his retirement. Even when his former disciples came to visit, the gatekeeper sent them to the Quan Chu Guild Hall to find Shen Shixing.

"Very good," Zhu Yijun said with a smile. "Sir, you certainly have a refined and leisurely lifestyle."

After reading the memorial, Zhu Yijun picked up the miscellaneous newspapers on the table and began to read them. These were the new miscellaneous newspapers published after the beginning of spring this year. In order to win subscriptions for the whole year, each newspaper would put its utmost sincerity into this first issue, which was really worth reading.

For example, the Hanlin Academy published an article in the Minbao entitled "A Study on the Origin of the Use of the Husband's Surname".

Before the Han Dynasty, men used clan names (氏) and women used surnames (姓).

Surnames represent blood relations and are an important symbol of family lineage;

The origins of the surname are quite complex. It could be an official position, such as Sima, or a fief, such as Shang Yang, whose original name was Wei Yang. He was enfeoffed with fifteen towns in Shang, hence the name Shang Yang.

Surnames remain unchanged for thousands of years, while clan names change with time and fiefdoms. For example, the First Emperor's surname was Ying, his clan name was Zhao, and his given name was Zheng. He should be called Zhao Zheng, not Ying Zheng.

Surnames gradually merged around the early Han Dynasty, and since then, surnames have become one.

During the Han Dynasty, wives took their husbands' surnames. For example, Huo Guang's wife, Huo Xian, changed her surname to Huo after marriage. Of course, Huo Xian was able to leave a mark in history because she spread the story of killing Emperor Xuan's first wife, which brought disaster upon Huo Guang and his entire family.

The practice of wives taking their husbands' surnames and then adopting their husbands' surnames roughly took shape during the Han and Wei dynasties and became a widespread trend by the end of the Southern Dynasties.

This period coincided with the flourishing of aristocratic politics and the most powerful era for these families. They emphasized kinship ties and attempted to ensure that power would continue through bloodlines.

With the invention of the imperial examination system, the politics of aristocratic families declined, and the phenomenon of wives taking their husbands' surnames began to gradually weaken.

Specifically in the Ming Dynasty, in the early Ming period, Song Lian continued this style when writing biographies of chaste and virtuous women, such as "Biography of Zheng Jiefu Huang" and "Biography of Wang Jiefu Tang".

However, the Ming Dynasty did not emphasize the husband's surname. This phenomenon was not found in the Ming Code, household registration, or customs. The reason for this was somewhat ridiculous, because Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor, was a rough and uncultured man.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who came from a beggar background and whose family almost all starved to death, became emperor. Empress Ma was Zhu Yuanzhang's first wife. As the founder of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang did not engage in such formalities. The Ming Dynasty also did not follow these procedures when bestowing titles upon the wives of officials. Even the local gazetteers and county annals recorded the women's original surnames.

Even during the Wanli era, people were still allowed to decide for themselves; if you wanted to wear a hat, you could, and if you didn't, no one would care or say anything.

The miscellaneous report also cited an example: Zhu Miaoduan, a famous female poet of the Ming Dynasty, whose husband Zhou Ji was a fourth-rank official, was bestowed the title of Lady Zhu upon his wife: Zhou Ji, Prefect of Anqing, married Lady Zhu. The "Genealogy of the Zhou Clan of Haining" also records Zhu Miaoduan as follows: "Zi Ji, courtesy name Ruhang, sobriquet Jian'an, was a tribute student in the fourth year of the Chenghua reign (1444) and served as an instructor in Guangze, Fujian. Lady Zhu was intelligent from a young age, able to compose poetry at the age of seven."

Neither official documents conferred by the imperial court nor family genealogies bear the husband's surname.

From wives taking their husbands' surnames, to wives adopting their husbands' surnames, to allowing people to make their own decisions, and then to the general trend of not adopting their husbands' surnames, this objectively reflects the changes of the times.

The newspaper article, starting with the topic of children taking their father's surname, discussed the phenomenon of children taking their father's surname.

This writer's view is very interesting. He believes that the mother-son relationship is a blood relationship, while the father-son relationship is a social relationship.

This viewpoint aligns perfectly with the pre-Han period practice where men used clan names and women used surnames.

The idea that father and son form a social relationship is quite bold.

In nature, apart from birds and fish, it is extremely rare for males to care for their young, especially among viviparous mammals. Males are almost never responsible for protecting their young, providing social education, grooming their fur, catching insects, hunting, and so on.

Humans are also animals. If you study anatomy, you will find that the organs of humans and some animals are highly similar.

According to the principles of nature, humans should also exhibit this animalistic behavior, namely, that men should not raise offspring.

The phenomenon of children taking their father's surname is an artificial constraint, establishing a social relationship. Coupled with the instilling of the concept of carrying on the family line, it has gradually evolved into a division of labor within the family and has become a cornerstone of society.

This writer made a bold hypothesis: what would happen if, as things gradually develop, the surname of the child changes and society no longer accepts children taking the father's surname, thus dismantling this social relationship?
And you know what? This writer actually found a real-world example!
It wasn't an individual, but a vast group. This writer learned that in the distant West, the Kunlun slaves had no fathers.

Thanks to the Ming Dynasty's great voyages of exploration, news from overseas was recorded by sailors and ship captains, and turned into various newspapers and books, which were then spread throughout the Ming Dynasty.

Ming Dynasty merchants encountered a group of people called "Red Clay People" at the Governor's Palace in Mozambique. These people were covered in red clay from head to toe and made a living by selling pearls and various fruits. They were also part of the Kunlun slaves and generally did not have fathers.

The way things were passed down in this place greatly surprised the merchants of the Ming Dynasty, because there were generally no fathers, and the system of inheritance by uncles and nephews was ultimately formed.

An uncle may not know if his son is his own son, nor where his son is, but if his sister's son is his nephew, then usually, before he dies, he will leave all his property to his nephew.

In Africa, where there is no such social relationship as father-son, this social structure is really hard for the Ming people to understand, but the locals take it for granted.

Zhu Yijun read through all the miscellaneous newspapers, selected two, and placed them in the official gazette for publication in all prefectures, states, and counties across the country.

Besides this article about adopting the husband's and father's surname, another article caught the emperor's attention: an article about collecting public opinion.

The popularity of the three major types of newspapers in the Ming Dynasty—the official gazette, the official newspaper, and the miscellaneous newspapers—especially the miscellaneous newspapers, made it more efficient to gather public opinion and sentiments into the government offices.

Local officials and government offices paid close attention to the miscellaneous reports from their respective regions, and even His Majesty the Emperor himself was quite concerned about them.

The Imperial Gazette was the highest-level newspaper of the imperial court, containing all information on major events in the court. The Official Gazette, on the other hand, was a newspaper established by various government offices, mainly reporting on the situation at each office, explaining policies, and promoting government orders.

Miscellaneous reports, on the other hand, reflect public opinion and social conditions.

Similarly, this has led to another thorny problem.

That is, these scribes often accepted money to write articles, which greatly hindered the Ming court and local government offices from collecting public opinion. These scribes distorted the truth, called a deer a horse, and generalized from limited information. These are the common ailments of lowly scholars that Zhang Juzheng had already thoroughly exposed, and these scribes are still committing them.

Local government officials usually employ a clerk called a "white-headed official" to select these miscellaneous reports, sifting them through a sieve to make them much cleaner.

The reason it's called "white-headed" is that after the clerk examines it, if he thinks it's valuable, he'll affix a blank slip and present it to his superior; if he thinks it's worthless, he won't affix a blank slip and will just throw it aside.

Zhu Yijun looked at Li Yougong. This job used to be done by Feng Bao, but now it was done by Li Yougong.

However, this inevitably leads to another problem: these clerks called "White Heads" are not clean either. If they take money or are simply interested in something, those articles about the suffering of the people will never be seen by the upright and just official.

To avoid this problem, local officials would often instruct their subordinates to submit reports on public opinion and social conditions at fixed times, on the first and fifteenth of each month. If a senior official missed or deliberately ignored certain key information, his term as senior official would be over.

Even if the white-haired clerks managed to dodge the first day of the month, they couldn't dodge the fifteenth. This was what made it impossible for the clerks to filter through miscellaneous reports, thus creating an information cocoon for the court officials and preventing the phenomenon of "lying in their offices, listening to the rustling bamboo, unaware of the people's suffering."

This article describes the changes in the white-haired clerks during the Wanli Reforms, the collection and hierarchical reporting of public opinion, the increase in the administrative tools of the Ming Dynasty, and a comprehensive discussion of the nascent fourth estate: the media, public opinion, and public perception.

Zhu Yijun personally selected these two articles for publication in the official gazette, which can be seen as a indication of the court's direction.

Wang Yi'e was acquitted and reinstated. Soon, impeachments against him began to flood the cabinet and eventually reached the emperor.

These impeachments mainly fall into three categories.

Firstly, the censors wanted to know whether Wang Yi'e had truly neglected his duties and used his power for personal gain, and whether Lu Fengyi's accusations were true. As a member of the Western Study and a candidate for cabinet minister, Wang Yi'e's abilities would be examined, but his moral character would also be scrutinized.

Secondly, the censors wanted to know the specific reasons for Wang Yi'e's acquittal, and these reasons had to be convincing. This was because Wang Yi'e was completely different from the other members of the Western Study. Simply put, he was a remnant of the Xu faction, and it was only natural that he wanted to be further investigated.

The third aspect mainly involved impeaching Wang Yi'e and forcing him to retire in order to uphold the duty between ruler and subject. As a subject, especially a high-ranking official, one must admit one's mistakes and leave once admitted, rather than lingering in power.

Zhu Yijun simply replied "I understand" without offering any further explanation. The more he explained, the more complicated things became, so stopping at the emperor's level was the best option for everyone.

The censors were shut down with a simple "I know," and were naturally a little unconvinced. They wanted to submit a series of memorials, but Shen Shixing found Lu Guangzu, the chief censor of the Censorate, and had a detailed discussion with him. He realized that if they continued to submit memorials and pester the emperor, they might offend him.

Now that Zhang Juzheng is no longer in power to stop His Majesty, if His Majesty were to lose his temper, there would truly be no one to stop him.

Don't even mention going to the Imperial Gate to kneel before the palace gates; that could get you killed. Even if His Majesty just sends a few censors to the Western Regions or Liaodong to reclaim wasteland and cultivate the land, that would be enough to give these scholar-officials a hard time.

Shen Shixing remained the same, always striving for perfection in everything, and unwilling to let these censors and officials suffer such undeserved calamities.

The turmoil was quickly quelled by Shen Shixing's mediation, and Wang Yi'e returned to the Ministry of Revenue to continue his work.

(End of this chapter)