I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 337 Everyone Can Be a Saint
Liang Wei leaned against a corner of the cell, hugged his knees with his hands, and looked exhausted.

Looking through the bars at the oil lamps in the corridor, the dim and flickering light made the prison look like a ghostly den.

A student from the Imperial College nearby came over and murmured, "Why hasn't Lord Yude come back yet?"

"Will he be beaten to death by the traitors?"

A Confucian scholar who was tired in another corner suddenly said something that blew through everyone's heart like a cold wind.

He hasn't come back for such a long time, he must have been murdered!
I heard that the treacherous party was ruthless, especially the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang, which used dozens of tortures that you can't even imagine, so cruel and inhumane. Duke Yude must have been tortured to death by these treacherous party members.

Liang Wei felt as if his heart was being cut by a knife.

In his heart, Yu Changde is like a Mount Tai.

He had outstanding literary talent, noble character, and was kind to others. Many students in the Imperial College, in particular, chatted and laughed with him as if he were a family member.

However, Yu Changde was a bit harsh on him, pointing out various flaws in his articles from time to time and asking him to correct them. He also took great care in inviting him to attend literary gatherings, gatherings attended by great talents.

At the literary conference, you can present your own articles, and these senior experts will be happy to give you pointers, which will help you make great progress. But Liang Wei could not afford to go after only two visits.

The expenses of such literary gatherings must be raised by the students who are being mentored. Do you want those seniors to teach you about writing and provide you with food and drink? That's not a good thing. Those people are just your seniors, not your real fathers.

But no matter how you calculate it, the cost of the literary gathering is too high, and Liang Wei, who comes from an ordinary family, cannot afford to go.

But he was grateful to Yu Changde, who pointed out a clear path for him and helped him a lot in his studies.

Such a good gentleman and senior should not be harmed by a traitor!

Liang Wei stood up suddenly, rushed to the gate, and shook the wooden fence desperately, "Quickly release Lord Yu De! You traitors, quickly release Lord Yu De!"

Twenty or thirty students from the Imperial College jumped up, rushed to the gate, shook the wooden gate, and shouted in unison: "Release Duke Yude!"

The sound was so loud that it echoed and buzzed in the prison.

After shouting for a quarter of an hour, there was no movement at the prison door, as if there was no one outside the prison.

The students at the Imperial College shouted themselves hoarse.

Water was distributed regularly in the prison, three times a day, but that was all. Now everyone was shouting and screaming, but there was not a drop of water to moisten their throats.

They collapsed on the ground, gasping weakly, like fish out of water.

Someone nearby said gloatingly, “I told you not to shout, don’t shout. No matter how loud you shout, the people outside won’t bother to care about you.

Your throat is dry now, is there no water? Haha, there is a full bucket of water in the wooden barrel over there, go and have a sip to moisten your throat, but the taste is so strong that it makes you angry! "

"Haha, dozens of people's overnight stale urine, of course it smells pungent!"

Liang Wei gave them a fierce look.

Why are there such people in this world? They applaud when others are in trouble, spit when others fall into a well, and cannot distinguish between good and evil, good and bad.

There was a bearded prisoner in the cell next door. Looking at Liang Wei's youthful face full of indignation, he seemed to remember his younger self and couldn't help but remind him.

"Boy, don't be impulsive. This prison is like hell on earth. Take care of yourself first. Besides, don't be too open-hearted to others. The most difficult thing to distinguish in this world is people. It's hard to tell whether they are human or ghost!"

Liang Wei sneered, "Humph, I'm not a child who can't tell good from bad. I just want to be a gentleman like Lord Yu De."

"A gentleman! Haha, a gentleman!"

The bearded man closed his eyes and ignored Liang Wei.

Liang Wei felt bored and stopped talking.

The entire prison soon fell into complete silence in the night.

The next morning, when distributing breakfast and water, Liang Wei discovered that Yu Changde had not been released. When he asked the jailer or the guard, he also said he didn't know.

Four days later, heavy snow fell outside, and the weather became colder day by day. At night, everyone huddled in the haystacks or huddled together tightly.

That morning, dozens of yamen runners came in and started arresting people.

The first to be brought out were the twenty or so officials, who never came back after they left.

The news began to spread that the court and the people were outraged at the arrest of Duke Yude, and they rushed to tell each other and petitioned for his rescue. The treacherous officials in the court were forced to release Duke Yude due to the overwhelming public outcry.

These unknown people like me will also be released, and their reputations will be doubled because of this just action!

Liang Wei felt very excited, yet somewhat unbelieving.

He had a vague feeling in his heart that it wasn't that simple.

Liang Wei and a dozen students from the Imperial College were taken to the side hall of Shuntian Prefecture, where an inspector sat behind the desk and called out everyone's names, then said, "You twelve people gathered in front of the Meridian Gate to cause trouble, and according to the law you will be imprisoned for fifteen days.

Now that the term has expired, you can leave now!"

Let us go?

They let us go now? The other students were overjoyed, and some even said, "I will say that it was the Qingliu who rescued us."

Liang Wei shook his head and was convicted and sentenced to fifteen days in prison for rescuing us.

He took a step forward and summoned up the courage to ask, "Master, may I ask what happened to Lord Yude?"

"Him?" The Censor shook his head, his face full of sarcasm, "He's in big trouble."

how!

Are the treacherous party still unwilling to let Duke Yu De go?

"What happened to Lord Yude?"

"He, for personal gain, cheated and helped others impersonate scholars and pass the imperial examinations. He also sold the qualification of the Imperial College student everywhere, selling each place for 50 to 100 taels of silver, and sold a total of 300 to 400.

Hehe, your Dean is really brave. He can sell all the scholars, juren and students of the Imperial Academy for money."

"Impossible!" Liang Wei said loudly, "Someone must have framed him!"

"Haha, frame him? If they really framed him, corruption, treason, disrespect, or even accusing him of writing anti-government poetry would be better than this. Who would bother to fabricate such a crime to frame him?

His trusted stewards, his students, and the dozen or so doctoral assistants in your Imperial College have all confessed. They worked together to make money. The evidence is there, and he has confessed himself, so why are you still complaining for him?

I said that each generation of students in the Imperial College was getting worse and worse, and it turns out the reason was here.

Well, I still have a bunch of cases to try, so I won’t keep stewing mushrooms with you guys here! Get everyone out, and take the next batch of prisoners with you!”

Liang Wei returned to his residence, took a shower, changed his clothes, and hurried to the Imperial College. He wanted to get to the bottom of things.

As soon as I arrived at the door, I found that it was surrounded by people from the Patrol Bureau, the Pacification Bureau and the Guard Army.

More than 400 students were escorted out with their heads down by the guards. There were dozens of carts nearby, piled high with the students' luggage.

Liang Wei was startled and asked the people around him: "What's going on?"

"You don't know yet? These people were bought in through the channels of Yu Changde or others. Now that Yu Changde's case has been exposed, all these people have been dismissed."

"I told you that among these 400-plus students, not a single one is serious about studying. They spend all day hanging out in brothels, and they call it a literary gathering. Haha. Now, all the flies and dog shit have been uncovered."

A student came up and said mysteriously, "Yu Changde also colluded with his relatives, fellow townsmen and students, and helped people to cheat for personal gain, using forgery, paper slips and leaking questions to help people pass the county exams as students, scholars and juren. It is reported that there are 157 students, 51 scholars and 8 juren from four prefectures and twelve counties.

This is really unprecedented and outrageous. After the incident, Yu Changde's classmates and friends in Hanhua all cut ties with him and accused and cursed him! "

"It's really your own fault!"

Liang Wei's face turned red and blue as he listened to these discussions. Shame and despair filled his heart. He felt that his worldview, which had been maintained for more than 20 years, had completely collapsed.

He quietly went to a place in the Imperial College, squatted on the ground and cried loudly.

The crying attracted a middle-aged scholar, who was thin and stern, wearing a gray quilted shirt and robe, followed by a man in his twenties.

"Why are you crying here? You're a grown man, but you're crying with tears and snot." The middle-aged scholar walked up to Liang Wei, bent down and asked curiously.

"You are not from the Imperial College, so you don't understand." Liang Wei looked at him and replied.

"Why don't I understand?" The middle-aged scholar saw Liang Wei stop crying and asked curiously, "Does it have to be someone from the Imperial College?"

He watched Liang Wei pulling at his sleeves, preparing to wipe his tears and snot, and grabbed him.

"Your clothes are so new, wipe them with my sleeves."

what?
Liang Wei looked at him blankly.

"I've been wearing this dress for about a month. If I don't wash it, it will become too heavy to wear. You can use it to wipe your new dress so that it won't get dirty. But my sleeves are too hard and they scratch my face a bit."

This gentleman has a very peculiar way of thinking.

But he was still too embarrassed to use the sleeve of the middle-aged scholar to wipe it, so he had to wipe it roughly with his hands.

When the middle-aged scholar asked the reason again, Liang Wei was willing to tell him.

Blah blah, saying how he used to admire Yu Changde, but it turned out he was just a hypocrite. Now that his idol’s reputation has collapsed, he, as a die-hard fan, is heartbroken.

The middle-aged scholar laughed and said, "These so-called great scholars are righteous and noble, and they dress elegantly but behave like dogs and pigs. The real study lies in the unity of knowledge and action. If you think of it, do it. If you haven't thought of it yet, insist on doing it. When you do it, you will think of it.

Who are they like? They haven't done anything yet, but they are talking about it first, bragging about themselves as great scholars. Such people have ulterior motives!"

After saying that, he patted Liang Wei on the shoulder and said, "Boy, don't give up on yourself. Why do you have to have someone to be your role model? You can be your own role model.

There is no one in the world who is not aware, no thing that is not aware, and no moment that is not aware. As long as one purifies the source, everyone can become a saint. "

Liang Wei's eyes widened, and after a while he bent down and saluted, then asked respectfully in a trembling voice, "May I ask your name, sir?"

"I am Li Zhi, Li Zhuowu, and I have been ordered to take over the Imperial College. This is my fellow countryman and student, Li Tingji, Li Erzhang."

(End of this chapter)