Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 922: The Great and Cruel Officials
Zhang He wanted to step forward to help, but had to give up because Liu He refused. He looked at the situation in front of him with anger, wishing he could kill all those arrogant and domineering noblemen on the spot.

However, to everyone's surprise, this unknown knight was actually an excellent martial artist. He did not even draw his sword, but only used the scabbard to meet the enemy. The scabbard was like a black iron stick, dancing vigorously. Every time the guards and runners were hit by his scabbard, they fell to the ground immediately.

Zhang He's eyes lit up: "Although this man's strength is a little lacking, his swordsmanship is already very proficient. However, it can be seen that he has not received any guidance from a famous teacher, so he must be much more than this."

Liu He also agreed with his comments. He thought to himself, "It seems that he is not from a famous family..."

Young Master Du shouted, "Kill him, and these ignorant and unruly people, kill them all on the spot, show no mercy."

"That's right. How dare these lowly people covet the highest institution of learning in our Han Dynasty? Just for this reason, they deserve the death penalty. Beat them hard."

These noblemen shouted loudly, and although the Luoyang magistrate looked a little embarrassed, he did not order the patrol guards to retreat.

Although the knight was brave, he was not a top master. In addition, he refused to draw his sword. Therefore, facing the siege of so many people, he soon fell into a disadvantage.

However, despite this, he did not retreat at all. Instead, he shouted at those nobles, "You beat up the people in the street first, and now you attack a certain family. You even want to kill me, and you force the court officials to work for you. According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, you should be beaten with 30 sticks and then sent to exile. If you turn back and surrender to the court now, you can be exempted from the punishment of exile. You should think carefully."

After hearing what he said, all the noblemen burst into laughter.

"Hahaha... did you hear what this guy said?"

"He actually threatened us, saying he would send us into exile? Who does he think he is? The current emperor? Hahahaha..."

The Luoyang magistrate advised, "My brave man, I consider this is your first offense. If you surrender, I will give you a lighter sentence."

"Bah, you have no shame." The knight said harshly to the Luoyang magistrate: "You are an official appointed by the court, in charge of the important capital, yet you cling to the powerful and oppress the people, and even dare to flatter them here. With your crime, you should be stripped of your official position, demoted to a commoner, and never be hired again for the rest of your life."

"You..." Luoyang Ling was naturally very angry when he saw that his "good intentions" had resulted in such a result.

Seeing this, Master Du immediately added fuel to the fire and said, "Loyang Magistrate, look at this man. He is so arrogant and conceited. If we keep him in the capital, there will definitely be trouble."

"You should capture him, punish him severely, and banish him from Luoyang. Oh no, banish him from Sili."

Luoyang Ling looked at the knight with a gloomy look, and thought to himself: "This man has offended Master Du. If I don't punish him, I will definitely offend all of you gentlemen. Well... Although you are somewhat innocent, for the sake of my future, I can't care about much."

Luoyang Ling thought that he was just a child of a small family. He had finally arrived in Luoyang. If he did not seize the opportunity and find some backers, his official career would be bleak.

Thinking of this, he ordered the guards, "Take out the lasso, capture this thief, and bring him back to the government office."

Upon hearing this, the guards were somewhat unwilling but they had to follow orders and took out lassoes from their arms.

The vendors and the people around them shouted, "Hurry up, brave man! If you are caught by them, you will be beaten to a pulp."

"Hurry up and leave us alone. The lives of ordinary people like us are not worth cherishing..."

The knight did not retreat: "Nonsense, all people in the world are subjects of the Han Dynasty. These people are lawless. Although they are of noble birth, they deserve to die. Although you are ordinary people, you abide by the law and are good citizens of the Han Dynasty. The country only needs good citizens, not bullies."

"What a big tone! Today, I will let you know who is the boss of this big man."

"Is there any need to say this? The Han Dynasty is naturally the world of the nobles like me. Are you, the unruly people, qualified to talk about the country?"

What these noble gentlemen said made the surrounding people extremely angry, but even angrier than them were Liu He and his two companions.

Zhang He lowered his voice and said, "Your Majesty, would you like me to…"

Liu He shook his head: "There is no need to resort to force in this matter. Daozhun."

"The minister is here."

"You come forward and bring that person into the palace."

"As you command, but...what about the rest of the people?"

Liu He glanced at those people and said, "As for the others... don't bother with them. We will deal with them later."

After saying this, he took Zhang He and left.

Just as the guards were about to throw lassoes at the unknown knight, Qian Li suddenly stood up.

"Stop it!"

Everyone was stunned. Du Shao and others looked at him. Seeing that he was also a man in plain clothes, they thought he was also a nosy person and immediately mocked him.

"Hey, another one looking for death?"

"Quick, take him down as well."

Luoyang Ling was a little hesitant at this time. He looked at Qian Li, feeling a little nervous: "This person looks familiar. I seem to have seen him somewhere..."

Seeing that he did not take any action, Du Shao was somewhat displeased: "Loyang Commander, what are you waiting for? Why don't you order someone to capture him?"

The unknown knight shouted, "Don't let this warrior suffer in vain. Leave quickly."

Qian Li smiled slightly, walked straight to Luoyang Ling, then took out a token and waved it in front of Luoyang Ling.

As soon as he saw the token, Luoyang Ling's face turned extremely pale.

The nobles didn't take it seriously and kept urging him, "What are you doing? Why don't you take him down?"

"Shut up, do you want to die?" Luoyang Ling suddenly roared at them, scaring everyone.

"Loyang Ling, you dare to be so rude to us? Do you believe that I can send you home with just one word?"

Qian Li looked at the young man who was speaking and said, "Oh? Are you so capable? Even I, Qian, would not dare to boast like that."

The young master who was speaking held his head high: "Who do you think you are? Are you worthy enough to compete with me? I am..."

"Shut up!" In the eyes of Luoyang Ling, these noblemen were just like a group of stupid pigs.

He knelt down in front of Qian Li in a hurry and said, "I didn't know that the Inspector General of the Imperial Guards was coming. I am sorry for not welcoming you. I hope you will forgive me..."

Everyone was stunned by his words.

"Si Li... Si Li Xiao Wei? Could he be..."

"He just said his last name is Qian, could it be..." Those noblemen were dumbfounded. Who in Luoyang didn't know the name of the Sili Xiaowei Qian Li? He was the emperor's childhood friend, and he was favored by the emperor. He had a very high position in the court. In terms of his influence on His Majesty, he was even less than the three ministers.

When they thought that they had actually offended such a big shot, these noblemen who had been so arrogant just now were all scared and became incoherent.

Qian Li ignored them, but walked all the way to the unknown knight and said, "My hero, please follow me. Someone wants to see you."

After the man learned of Qian Li's identity, he was a little surprised at first, but he quickly calmed down.

"Someone wants to see me? Captain Qian, who is it?"

"No need to ask any more questions, just follow me." Qian Li interrupted him and turned away.

The knight thought about it and followed.

The remaining Luoyang magistrates and many noblemen all knelt on the ground, looking at each other, and no one knew whether they should get up or not.

Qian Li brought the man all the way to the gate of the imperial palace. The guards at the gate saw Qian Li but did not stop them, and the two of them walked into the palace.

By this time, the knight should have guessed who he was going to meet. He had been fearless before, but now he couldn't help but become a little nervous.

"Captain Qian, could it be..."

"I told you, don't ask too many questions. Especially after you meet that person later, ask fewer questions and answer more."

Seeing that he was being a little rash, Qian Li had to give him a few pointers to avoid making a fool of himself in front of the Emperor.

Soon, the two arrived at the door of the study. When Qian Li was about to report, Gong Saner came over and said, "His Majesty has ordered that if the Si Li Xiao Wei comes, just go in."

Qian Li quickly put on his clothes and walked in with the man.

"Your humble servant Qian Li pays respect to Your Majesty."

He knelt down respectfully, but found that the man next to him did not move at all, so he hurriedly pulled his clothes and said, "Kneel down quickly..."

"Oh...oh...ok..."

The knight was so nervous that he stuttered and knelt down in a hurry.

"I...I pay my respects to Your Majesty..."

Liu He waved his hand and said, "Stand up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Qian Li took the initiative to help the man stand up.

Liu He looked at the man and asked, "What's your name and where do you live?"

"I...I am Man Chong, courtesy name Boning, from Shanyang Changyi. I wonder...I wonder what instructions your majesty has for me when you summoned me?"

Even now, Man Chong still couldn't believe that he actually saw the current emperor like this. He felt as if he was still in a dream. While speaking, he secretly pinched his waist and felt excruciating pain. Only then did he make sure that he was not dreaming.

"Man Chong?" Liu He was slightly surprised. He was naturally familiar with this famous general and cruel official of Cao Wei in the original history.

Man Chong was a man of both civil and military talents. He led his troops to pacify Runan, guarded the southern border of Cao Wei, and repelled Sun Quan.

At the same time, when he was just a magistrate of Xu County under Cao Cao, he dared to go against Cao Hong, a general in Cao's camp, and arrested several family members and retainers of Cao Hong who had committed crimes. Even Yang Biao was arrested and imprisoned by him. Even when Xun Yu, the second-in-command of Cao's camp, personally came forward to plead for mercy, he remained unmoved. He was definitely a strict official who enforced the law impartially and ruthlessly, even a cruel official.

"I didn't expect Man Chong to come to Luoyang. I don't know if he came for the Talent Recruitment List, to study at the Imperial College, or to visit relatives and friends..."

Liu He was now desperate for four fronts, and when he met such a famous and talented person, he naturally wanted to win him over.

"So it's Shanyang Man Boning. I've heard of you a long time ago. Xu Gongming was in charge of Shanyang County. He once sent a memorial mentioning the talented people in Shanyang County, and he praised you highly."

Man Chong was somewhat flattered: "General Xu Huang is a famous general of the time, and he is feared in the northern border. How can I, a humble commoner, deserve such praise..."

"Oh, don't be so modest. Just now at the gate of the Imperial College, I saw that you were not afraid of the powerful, spoke for justice, and your martial arts were extraordinary. I admired your talent, so I invited you to the palace to see me. But there is one thing I don't understand."

Man Chong said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, please ask me, I will tell you everything I know."

Liu He pointed at the sword on his waist and said, "You were clearly at a disadvantage just now and could be taken down at any time. Why didn't you draw your sword to fight the enemy?"

Man Chong replied, "Your Majesty, although they were violent in the street, no one was killed when I arrived. According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, if I draw my sword to fight them, it would be considered a mass fight and I should be punished with forty strokes of the cane and one year of forced labor. Therefore, I could only fight with my sword sheath and did not dare to draw my sword."

"So that's how it is." Liu He said suddenly.

"It seems that Berning is very familiar with the laws of our dynasty?"

"I dare not. But I think that those who govern the world should be benevolent, but strict laws are even more indispensable. Therefore, I have been learning laws since I was young and dare not slack off."

"Yes." Liu He nodded, looking very satisfied: "Confucianism on the outside and law on the inside are indeed the key to governing a country. I also deeply agree with it."

Man Chong was excited: "Your Majesty is truly an eternal sage."

Liu He smiled and said, "You don't have to flatter me. I just don't know why you came to Luoyang this time?"

Man Chong was straightforward: "Your Majesty, I have been traveling around the world for several years and have gained experience. I heard that Your Majesty has issued a call for talents and is going to reopen the Imperial College and open it to all subjects. I dare not call myself a wise man, but I just want to try and see if I can enter the Imperial College to study, so that I can serve the court in the future."

Liu He was delighted: "Haha... Bo Ning is too modest. You have such martial arts skills, are familiar with the law, and have a strong and upright character. How can you say you are not a talented person? I want to make an exception and recruit you. Then you don't have to go to the Imperial College. What do you think?"

Man Chong's face was a little surprised, but soon it turned into ecstasy: "I...I thank your majesty for your great grace!"

At this time, Qian Li asked, "I wonder what position Your Majesty intends to assign him to?"

Liu He smiled mysteriously and did not answer him, but continued to ask Man Chong: "What do you think of the Luoyang magistrate's behavior today?"

Man Chong immediately showed anger and said bluntly: "Your Majesty, it is a shame for the Han Dynasty to have such a shameless villain who tries to curry favor with the rich and powerful. I think such officials must be severely punished to serve as a warning to others."

"Well said, this remark deeply touches my heart." Liu He laughed three times, and then said: "Immediately issue an order to remove the Luoyang Magistrate from all his duties, and at the same time order the new Luoyang Magistrate to strictly interrogate his past crimes."

Qian Li was stunned: "The new Luoyang magistrate? Your Majesty is referring to..."

Liu He pointed at Man Chong and said, "Isn't there a ready-made one?"

(End of this chapter)