Da Ming: Father, step aside, I'll be the prime minister!

Chapter 26 Wait! He'd be too good for himself if he died!

"Your subject is willing to accept punishment in order to preserve Your Majesty's virtue!"

Upon hearing this, the Wanli Emperor, who was standing on the imperial platform, nearly exploded.

Your Majesty, you are wrong. Why are you still not repentant?
You are the emperor, and I cannot do anything to you.

Then just behead me, and it will make Your Majesty seem wise!

How is this any different from directly calling him an unreasonable and foolish ruler?
Wanli's chest heaved, and only one thought rose in his mind.

Kill this treacherous dog who has no respect for his father!

He said all the nice things!

Is he the only loyal minister? Am I a tyrannical ruler?

He was the one who insulted me first, yet I should thank him?

The Wanli Emperor swept all the memorials off his desk in one go, his fingers trembling.

"Very well! You are willing to accept punishment, and you are doing this to preserve your holy virtue. Then I will grant your wish!"

"Feng Banban!" Emperor Wanli roared.

Feng Bao could no longer stand still and stepped forward to bow.

"I'm here, slave."

The Wanli Emperor gritted his teeth: "This man is arrogant! Drag him away and give him sixty strokes of the cane!"

Boom~
As soon as this statement came out, the officials were in an uproar.

Xu Xuemo, the Minister of Rites, finally could not hold back and stepped forward, saying, "Your Majesty, please reconsider. Since the sixth year of the Wanli reign, the court has rarely used caning. Unless it is a heinous crime of treason, caning is not easily carried out. Although Wei Maozhong is audacious and reckless, his crime does not warrant this punishment!"

Following the "seizure of mourning" incident in the sixth year of the Wanli reign, Zhang Juzheng, in order to emphasize the principle of "the law must be enforced," advocated replacing the threat of violence with regulations such as the performance evaluation system.

The existence of such a rule is obviously beneficial to all the officials in the court, so they will naturally speak out to defend it.

The court officials, who already sympathized with Wei Yunzhen, also offered their advice when they saw the emperor about to reinstate the flogging.

Chen Kai, the Left Censor-in-Chief and Wei Yunzhen's superior, stepped forward and spoke.

"Your Majesty, it is the duty of censors to report matters based on hearsay. Censor Wei's dissent against His Majesty is not a capital offense!"

Judging from the emperor's anger and Feng Bao's snarling, dog-like appearance.

If Wei Yunzhen were to be flogged in court, he would probably lose his life.

But the Wanli Emperor wouldn't listen; he was furious.

Ignoring any concern for his reputation, he flicked his sleeve and said to Feng Bao.

"Feng Banban, what are you waiting for?"

With the emperor's backing, Feng Bao no longer hesitated and spoke in a sharp voice.

"Guards! Seize this scoundrel for us!"

"That's not right!" "Stop!"

Some even hid in the crowd and cursed.

"Grudge!"

The harsher the officials' criticisms, the colder Feng Bao's gaze became towards Wei Yunzhen.

What are you all standing there for?

Upon hearing Feng Bao's rebuke, the Han generals guarding the Imperial Palace no longer hesitated and immediately stepped forward to restrain Wei Yunzhen.

What use are the ministers' objections?

For a moment, all the officials turned their attention to Zhang Juzheng.

In the imperial court, only Zhang Juzheng can persuade the emperor now, right?

Even though the two had some disagreements, the emperor still valued Zhang Juzheng far more than other officials.

In the past, no matter how much people criticized Zhang Juzheng, he would always offer a few words of advice to the emperor.

Whether it's useful or not, it's still something that should be done.

But ever since Zhang Yunxiu entered the main hall, Zhang Juzheng has been eerily quiet, not uttering a single word, and even began to close his eyes to rest.

Xu Xuemo grew anxious, stamped his foot, and said, "Lord Jiangling, are you still going to remain unmoved?"

Zhang Juzheng remained silent, only keeping his eyes closed.

Feng Bao's sharp voice came again.

"What are you all standing there for? Drag this man outside the Meridian Gate!"

It turned out that Wei Yunzhen remained motionless, lying on the ground like an iron turtle, while muttering something.

"Your Majesty, please repent and turn back from the wrong path!"

Those burly generals used all their strength, even resorting to punching and kicking, to barely lift Wei Yunzhen up.

"Grudge!"

Someone shouted something, and the court officials' ranks erupted into chaos, on the verge of breaking apart. Their words were filled with hatred for Feng Bao.

Just as the Han generals were about to carry Wei Yunzhen out.

"Wait!!!"

This phrase resounded throughout the ceiling of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

There's actually someone who dares to stop it?
Feng Bao stopped and turned around angrily, wanting to see who had the audacity to do that.

But when they saw where the sound came from, they were stunned for a moment.

What's Zhang Shiyuan up to?
The officials were initially delighted to hear that someone had "spoke out for justice."

They were shouting loudly, but none of them dared to be the first to step forward, for fear of being caught in the crossfire.

But just as the thought arose, he turned around and looked closely, and the source of the voice was someone he never expected.

"What kind of scoundrel is Zhang Shiyuan?"

This question expressed the sentiments of the assembled officials.

Zhang Yunxiu ignored them, strode forward, and respectfully bowed to the Wanli Emperor.

"Your Majesty, I request that you refrain from punishing Imperial Censor Wei for the time being."

The Wanli Emperor frowned deeply and said with some dissatisfaction.

"Are you going to plead for him too?"

He sounded somewhat disappointed and emphasized his words.

"This person is determined to kill you."

Zhang Yunxiu shook his head and said, "No, I just feel that killing Imperial Censor Wei like this is too lenient on him."

"Shameless!"

The censors thought Zhang Yunxiu was going to plead for Wei Yunzhen, but they didn't expect this kid to be even more ruthless.
What does he want to do? To destroy Wei Yunzhen's family?
But Zhang Yunxiu ignored him and explained to the emperor.

"Your Majesty, Wei Yunzhen's words are all for the sake of the country, for benevolence and morality, and for Your Majesty."

By killing him like this, you are only fulfilling his wish and allowing him to retain a good reputation, while Your Majesty will be labeled a tyrant.

The Wanli Emperor took a deep breath, slightly displeased.

"What do you say?"

Even without Zhang Yunxiu saying it, Emperor Wanli knew perfectly well what was going on, but being young and impetuous, he simply couldn't swallow this insult.

Today, Wei Yunzhen either bows his head or dies!
Zhang Yunxiu tentatively suggested, "May I give it a try?"

The Wanli Emperor narrowed his eyes and said, "Zhang Shiyuan, do you have a way to make this man confess his crimes and submit to the law?" "Of course, I will persuade him with reason!"

Zhang Yunxiu said very firmly.

Upon hearing this, many ministers nearly lost their composure. Zhang Yunxiu was about to persuade them with reason.

Has he even finished reading the Four Books and Five Classics? He's not even a student of the lowest level of education, yet he expects to persuade people with reason?

The Wanli Emperor also felt it was somewhat unreliable, and he said with a slightly embarrassed tone.

"Hey Zhang Shiyuan, you can't just spout nonsense. This Wei Maozhong is a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) and a censor in the Censorate."

Emperor Wanli, after all, valued relationships and didn't want Zhang Yunxiu to run into trouble.

Of course, he also thought that if Zhang Yunxiu were to lose again, he, as the emperor, would lose face big time!

Then he spoke to Feng Bao.

"Feng Ban."

"slow!"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Yunxiu pulled out a stack of newspapers from his pocket.

Zhang Yunxiu waved the newspaper and said, "Your Majesty, this is the latest edition of the Wanli Xinbao. Since Censor Wei thinks there is something wrong with my newspaper, I will let him take a look."

I believe that after reading this issue of the newspaper, Imperial Censor Wei will be completely convinced.

Emperor Wanli was stunned for a moment. He wanted to ask Zhang Yunxiu in a low voice, "Are you reliable or not?"
Could a newspaper really convince him?
After staring at Zhang Yunxiu for a long time, Emperor Wanli recalled the secret edict he had given Zhang Yunxiu the day before.

After these incidents, his resolve softened considerably, and he began to hesitate about whether or not to kill Wei Yunzhen.

With a sigh, the emperor waved his hand and said.

"That's right."

After all the commotion, the emperor's anger subsided, and he became increasingly disappointed in Zhang Yunxiu.

Zhang Yunxiu didn't care about anything else. With the emperor's approval, he immediately took a newspaper and went to Wei Yunzhen.

At this moment, Wei Yunzhen was being held by a group of burly generals, his hair disheveled and him looking utterly wretched.

He looked disheveled, but his physique remained as sturdy as a pine tree, and his face bore an expression of resignation to his fate.

He sneered in a hoarse voice, "Shameless brat, don't stop this old man from dying! Don't be so arrogant now, you'll be punished in the future."

At first, Wei Yunzhen was very resistant, but Zhang Yunxiu had a strong grip and she couldn't move him no matter what.

After glancing at the article, Wei Yunzhen couldn't help but feel a sense of disdain.

It was nothing more than an article about solving the problem of the Tusi (chieftains) in the southwest; there was nothing particularly outstanding about it. Students from the Hanlin Academy could write three or four of them a day.

The article was fairly well-formatted, so Wei Yunzhen continued reading. He was determined to find loopholes in the article and use them against the author.

As her gaze shifted, Wei Yunzhen read at an extremely fast pace and also provided her evaluation of the content.

"Replacing native chieftains with appointed officials?"

This is just a tired old story!
"Dispatch elite troops as a deterrent?"

This is just a stopgap measure!
"Use barbarians to control barbarians?"

This plan was already widely discussed in the court; could it have been that scoundrel Zhang Juzheng who leaked it to him? It's simply...
Zhang Yunxiu thought he could convince himself with these things?

Just as Wei Yunzhen was dismissing it with disdain, the following content surprised him.

"To cultivate their minds with classical texts? The Imperial College will establish stipends for local officials and students, and adopt Mandarin to educate them. When the students return to their hometowns to govern, the chieftains will incorporate passages from the Four Books and Five Classics into their prayers."

His eyes widened.

Wei Yunzhen was a self-proclaimed upright and "ideal" Confucian official, but also a person who was stubborn and inflexible.

In his mind, Zhang Juzheng should not have monopolized power, and the emperor should not have neglected his duties.

To restore order, I would die without regret.

His heroic deeds will surely be remembered in history books and by future generations!

At this moment, he really didn't want to admit it.

But this suggestion really resonated with me.

To educate barbarians with Confucian classics is the lifelong dream and pursuit of every scholar who considers himself a disciple of a sage!

If anyone raises this issue in court discussions, Wei Yunzhen will definitely give it his full support!

Using barbarians to control barbarians! Confucian education! Indigenous people's self-governance! In the end, wouldn't the conversion of native chieftains to centrally appointed officials be a logical next step?
There is no better strategy than this.

Instinctively, Wei Yunzhen naturally wanted to be stubborn.

A blunt rebuttal, ignoring the value of this article, is meaningless. On the contrary, it will be more meaningful when discerning people read this article.

Wei Yunzhen thus became a joke.

Therefore, Wei Yunzhen's only hope was...

"This is an article written by Zhang Jiangling! Zhang Jiangling, what are you trying to do? How long do you intend to hold onto power?"

In the blink of an eye, he ignored Zhang Yunxiu and instead glared at the composed Zhang Juzheng.

Then his emotions became somewhat difficult to control.

"Zhang Jiangling, it must be you! You deliberately tricked me!!"

Wei Yunzhen spat out foul blood, and despite being suppressed by the Han general, he continued to go mad.

Inside the main hall, the assembled officials all frowned.

All they saw was Zhang Yunxiu placing the newspaper in front of Wei Yunzhen.

After only a short while, Wei Yunzhen became as if possessed, claiming that the article was written by Zhang Juzheng.

This inevitably raises the question: what exactly is in the newspaper?
An imperial censor stepped forward and angrily asked, "Zhang Shiyuan! What have you done to Duke Wei?"

Zhang Yunxiu pulled the newspaper back, then smiled and handed a stack of newspapers to the censor.

"Learn?"

"rude!"

The censor blushed, wanting to refuse, but he couldn't suppress his curiosity and took the stack of newspapers.

"Quickly, let this old man take a look!"

As soon as the newspaper was handed over, the surrounding courtiers craned their necks.

There were many copies of the newspaper. The courtiers complained, but they still curiously took the newspapers and started reading.

The morning court session began at 5:00 AM, but the court officials had already entered the Forbidden City by 3:00 AM, so none of them had seen the newspaper.

Shen Shixing knew that the Prefect would definitely want to know the contents, so he immediately stepped forward, took a copy, and handed it to Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng opened his eyes and looked at Zhang Yunxiu standing in the main hall, his deep eyes revealing a deep contemplation of something.

Finally, his gaze fell on the newspaper.

This is a very standard memorial in the style of a memorial to the emperor. Under normal circumstances, Zhang Juzheng would have been overjoyed, not just praising his youngest son.

If what happened today hadn't taken place in the imperial court, Zhang Juzheng would have personally killed this rebellious son!

Finally, Zhang Juzheng saw the fourth section of "On Reforming the Native Chieftain System and Replacing it with Directly Appointed Officials".

"To cultivate their minds with the teachings of the classics, the Imperial Academy established a system of subsidized students by local officials. The prayers of the local chieftains incorporated passages from the Four Books and Five Classics."

His gaze gradually froze.

　This chapter is nearly four thousand words long, and many fans in the comments section have suggested adding more chapters. In reality, for the sake of the story's completeness, many chapters in this book are basically only three thousand words long.

　　I'll definitely update a lot more after it's released!
　　Finally, the next chapter will be updated at midnight. Thank you all for your monthly tickets and recommendation tickets. Please continue to follow and support me!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)