Jiajing Chengming

"I have to enter the palace!"

"I have to go to the palace to plead guilty!"

After hearing what his son Lu Ji said, Lu Shen's breathing suddenly became heavy and he said these two sentences in a panic.

As he spoke, Lu Shen asked his son to prepare a sedan chair, while he went to the study and wrote a memorial of self-accusation and apology.

Not long after, Lu Shen arrived at Zuo Shunmen, knelt on the ground and raised the memorial in his hand.

At that time, it had just snowed. Although the eunuchs had already cleared the snow here, Lu Shen still felt his bones frozen after kneeling down. The cold wind after the snow was like thousands of ice blades cutting his neck.

However, Lu Shen did not stand up, but only shouted in a trembling voice:

"I, Lu Shen, the Minister of the Imperial Academy and the Imperial College, am mean and cold, and have no loyalty to a minister. I bullied the crown prince and even flattered him in front of his father and king. I am guilty of a heinous crime and unworthy of being a teacher. I ask Your Majesty to sentence me to death and remove my Sun Enyin from office as a warning to others!"

Zhu Houcong learned about this in the inner court soon after.

"This old fellow, his grandson is indeed his weak spot!"

Zhu Houcong sneered at this.

Zhu Houcong then looked at Gui E who was in front of the emperor and said: "Your idea is not bad. It is a punishment in name only. This old man will be forced to suffer in silence."

"This is all due to your majesty's kindness to all the officials. Otherwise, how could Lin Wenjun dare to offend an old scholar like Lu Shen on my behalf?"

Gui E responded modestly.

Zhang Cong then said, "Your Majesty, before this Lu Shen used the righteousness of putting the country and the people first to cover up his rebellious heart. Now, Your Majesty can also use the righteousness of putting the country and the people first to not admit that Lu Shen is guilty, but only reprimand Lu Shen for his inconsistency."

"He should be reprimanded. Not only that, but all the court officials should be asked in Wenhua Palace why he feels that he is being mean again."

"Let the Crown Prince also go to Wenhua Hall to listen and see the hypocrisy of these people."

"I want this lowly scholar to show his sanctimonious side to the Crown Prince!"

Zhu Houcong said.

An hour later, Lu Shen received an imperial edict from Zhu Houcong reprimanding him, and saying that if he really thought he was guilty, he should go to Wenhua Hall to explain to the court officials why he was guilty, so that people in the world would not be puzzled as to why he suddenly felt guilty after strictly disciplining the crown prince, and would mistakenly think that he was forced to confess by the emperor.

After Lu Shen received it, the self-accusation letter he was holding fell to the ground with a thud.

At the same time, he also put his hands trembling on the ground, and gritted his teeth and said: "As you command!"

At the same time, the court officials also received the emperor's decree asking them to go to Wenhua Palace to discuss whether Lu Shen was guilty, and they all rushed to Wenhua Palace.

"I'm guilty!"

"My crime is to pretend to be loyal in order to tame the prince's cowardice. I made him recite in the morning outside the palace despite the cold weather. Even though my colleagues advised me that this would be detrimental to the health of the prince, I am disloyal and unkind!"

After these court officials arrived, Lu Shen answered truthfully.

Xu Zan, the Minister of Justice, could not accept that Lu Shen, a man of high moral character, integrity and uprightness, was saying that he was a traitor pretending to be loyal, and that he was disloyal and unkind. So he pretended to be neutral and asked Lu Shen:

"Even if you are disloyal and unkind, why do you dare to do this when you know that your colleagues are watching you and there are spies around you? Aren't you afraid of the mighty power of heaven?!"

"Because I want power more than I want life!"

Lu Shen replied.

Xu Zan asked again: "How do you say it?"

Lu Shen said: "I think as long as the emperor cares about the country and the people, and dares not say that the country and the people are not as important as his own prince, and kills me without guilt, then when the prince ascends the throne in the future, I, the master of the East Palace, will become the prime minister, and I will be able to completely dominate the court and the country, and the power and happiness of the master will be controlled by me!" "Then you are really guilty of a heinous crime, and you actually harbor such evil intentions!"

"It's not too much to be cut into pieces!"

Xu Zan said through gritted teeth.

Zhou Lun also looked at Lu Shen at this time and said, "It's really like Wang Mang was humble before he usurped the throne! I thought you were an upright minister who was not afraid of power, but I didn't expect you to be a treacherous and evil person with a hypocritical appearance! If all the Confucian officials in the world are like you, how can the world's morals be righteous?"

"We are so incompetent that we elected such a hypocritical and treacherous person."

Dali Temple Minister Fang Xianfu couldn't help but say something as well.

Minister of Personnel Li Chengxun said: "The Imperial Palace Master was recommended by the Ministry of Personnel, so our Ministry of Personnel cannot escape responsibility! We should also apologize to Your Majesty."

Zhang Cong and Gui E couldn't help but smile at each other when they saw this.

Lu Shen, who was criticized by these court officials, also noticed Zhang Cong and Gui E who were laughing secretly in the hall.

This made his heart burn with anger, his entire face turned purple, and his eyes looked like a volcano was about to erupt.

You know, he is an extremely arrogant man, and the reason he ended up in such a shameful situation today, and even exposed his own shame, is basically because Gui E proposed such an idea of ​​nominal favor and actual punishment to the emperor, and Gui E's student Lin Wenjun deceived him and accepted his bribe in vain.

At the same time, Lu Shen's face was full of frustration, like a puddle of mud. He accepted the criticism from the court officials without any reaction and without making any excuses.

He couldn't and didn't dare to defend himself.

Not long after, Zhu Houcong also received memorials from court officials impeaching Lu Shen.

They demanded that Lu Shen be cut into pieces.

Whether it was the upright people who were originally on the same side as Lu Shen or those who were already dissatisfied with Lu Shen, they all followed the emperor's wishes and demanded that Lu Shen be severely punished.

As for why the upright people in Lu Shen's party also demanded severe punishment for Lu Shen, it was because Lu Shen broke the rules and actually admitted his guilt because he succumbed to threats.

But Zhu Houcong no longer wanted to kill Lu Shen because of this.

He did not want to do as the upright people wished. Instead, he wanted the prince to use this opportunity to control and divide these upright people in the future.

"After all, he is the Crown Prince's first teacher. I must consider the Crown Prince's virtue as well as my own."

"There is no reason to execute him just because he admits his guilt. After all, it is possible that he is just succumbing to power and not really hiding something. Even if I don't want to write this, I have to judge impartially."

"Besides, in the Spring and Autumn Period, there is no reason to kill a mentor for a student."

Zhu Houcong said this to Zhang Cong and others in the imperial study, and then ordered: "Exile him to the sun. When the crown prince ascends the throne in the future, if he still remembers him as the master of the East Palace, he can show mercy and let him come back to show his benevolence. In short, if Lu Shen wants to come back and restore his status, he should pray for the crown prince to ascend the throne smoothly."

"Yes!"

When Lu Shen learned of his punishment, he was devastated and fell to the ground crying, "Your Majesty, I do not deserve such leniency from you. Please sentence me to death as a warning to others!"

Lu Shen really didn't want to die in a foreign land and be mocked by the world for being mean and disrespectful, while the emperor and the crown prince were kind and generous.

Therefore, when Lu Shen said goodbye to the crown prince Zhu Zaigui, he also pleaded for mercy from Zhu Zaigui: "I harbor evil intentions, I am hypocritical and treacherous, and my death is unforgivable. I ask the crown prince to report this to the emperor and sentence me to death!"

"Father only exiled you. Can I still ask him to kill you?"

"You were so strict and cold before, and now you're asking me not to follow the teacher-student relationship. Don't you think what you're doing now is really disgusting?!"

The crown prince Zhu Zaigui angrily rebuked Lu Shen and said, "You can't ask us to teach the way of sages only when you need it!" (End of this chapter)