Huangming

Chapter 67 Gathering a Party and Disrupting Politics, Flowing Three Thousand Miles

hiss~
Sun Chengzong took a deep breath.

Lin Bei, stop tolerating this!
Sun Chengzong suddenly raised his head, and the night wind abruptly lifted the hem of his scarlet official robe, revealing the golden peacock patch under the palace lanterns, which flashed with a chilling light.

His bloodshot eyes swept over the crowd like sharp blades, a vein throbbed on his left cheek, and a thunderous roar rolled from his throat.

"enough!"

His voice was deep and resonant, so powerful that it shook the palace walls, causing dust to fall. Han Kuang staggered back half a step.

Sun Chengzong trampled the moonlight on the ground, his black gauze hat almost poking Yang Lian's pale nose, and the jade belt at his waist made a crisp cracking sound as he swung it around.

"Ask yourselves honestly!"

His blood-stained fingers traced the kneeling crowd of remonstrators, his official boots clattering loudly on the blue bricks.
"Is the one kneeling before Zuo Shun's gate a display of unwavering loyalty? A symbol of integrity and upright character? Bah!"

Sun Chengzong looked extremely arrogant, his spittle flying onto the glass palace lanterns.

The madness that had been suppressed for so long was finally released from his body.

Sun Chengzong's appearance left everyone present dumbfounded, and for a moment, they even forgot to refute him.

"Gentlemen, you're merely using your knees to gain a reputation for integrity, and your heads to exchange for power!"

Sun Chengzong suddenly ripped open his shirt, revealing his thin, bony chest, with three ribs clearly visible in the moonlight.

"Look! I, Sun Gaoyang, starved to death while procuring provisions for the soldiers of Liaodong, while you all sit on pleasure boats on the Qinhuai River talking about how gentlemen don't form factions!"

After saying this, he abruptly pulled up the slumped Zhou Jiamo and said sternly, "Minister Zhou, do you dare to show us the records from your Ministry of Personnel's Performance Evaluation Department? How many border officials have been evaluated as 'frivolous' by you, and how many good-for-nothings have been promoted with 'outstanding' titles!"

Zhou Jiamo's face twisted in pain, and he opened his mouth as if to speak, but found that no sound came out.

Because what Sun Chengzong said was true.

But he felt no remorse.

How many of the military reports from those border generals and border officials are falsified? Can they be taken as true?

If we, the upright and honest, are not promoted, how can we expect a court full of upright officials?

Seeing that Zhou Jiamo showed no remorse whatsoever, Sun Chengzong's tone suddenly turned mournful.

"The soldiers of Jizhou have gone without pay for half a year, while you indulge in wine and revelry every night! The Jurchen cavalry have repeatedly invaded the border, yet you have the leisure to kneel and remonstrate outside the Zuoshun Gate!"

Sun Chengzong put Zhou Jiamo down, then suddenly grabbed Han Kuang's withered hand and pressed it against his own chest.
"Touch it! Grand Secretary Han, this heart is hot enough to bake pancakes—hot enough to burn the laborers who froze to death outside the city, hot enough to burn the corpses floating in the Yellow River!"

Immediately afterwards, Sun Chengzong threw a bloodstained confession from his sleeve and smashed it into Yang Lian's face.

"Zhou Chaorui wet his pants before he even saw the branding iron! The names of his accomplices he confessed to in prison could fill an entire sheet of Xuan paper!"

"Hahaha~"

Sun Chengzong seemed to have gone mad, suddenly throwing his head back and laughing wildly, the sound echoing outside Zuoshun Gate.

"How brilliant! You forced His Majesty to use the Imperial Guards and the Eunuchs, then turned around and accused the eunuch faction of interfering in politics. Isn't this precisely because you formed cliques and pursued your own interests that His Majesty would rather believe a castrated man than a beast in human clothing!"

After saying this, he suddenly tore open his official robe, revealing whip marks on his back; the old scars looked like ravines in the moonlight.

"These thirty-seven whip marks are from when I encountered bandits on the border years ago!"

He turned and roared like thunder, demanding, "And you? Your backs are covered only with the festering sores of flogging!"

"The consequences of kneeling and remonstrating again are already known to all of you, so I will not repeat them!"

After venting his emotions, Sun Chengzong felt as if the pent-up emotions in his heart had been completely shattered.

Cool!
So cool!
Previously, I actually humbled myself and hoped to serve the country by currying favor with others and forming cliques.

I was so blind back then.

After Sun Chengzong finished speaking, the officials began to react.

"He's gone mad! He's gone mad! Sun Gaoyang has gone mad!"

Suddenly someone cried out in surprise, and the officials who were kneeling behind the crowd, who were offering their remonstrances, all stood up in alarm.

"Our desire to serve our country is not a crime of forming a faction!"

"Grand Secretary Han, as long as the green hills remain, there will always be firewood to burn."

"Is kneeling to remonstrate a way to gain a reputation for honesty? If Your Majesty truly believes that, I will leave!"

"We are loyal ministers and upright officials. How could we be accused of forming cliques and disrupting the government? This is slander!"

One by one, more people left.

They wanted to gain fame, but they didn't want to die.

If Han Kuang wins, they will win by default. Even if they kneel down, what does it matter if they offend the emperor?
After all, if the sky falls, there's always someone taller to hold it up.

With a proper title, one has the capital for future promotion.

But Han Kuang is bound to lose.

If they continue to kneel and plead here, aren't they just going to their deaths along with Han Kuang and the others?

Who wants to die?
They joined the Donglin Party partly because of shared ideals, but also partly because forming a party meant faster promotions and ensuring they wouldn't be left without a chance to enter the center of power. Now that's all gone, what are they waiting for?
Run!

More and more people left.

Finally, only a handful of people remained outside Zuoshun Gate.

"Hehehe~"

Han Kuang actually laughed out loud, but his eyes were silent, clearly filled with despair.

"Sun Gaoyang, you have colluded with the eunuch faction and become a favored minister; your crimes are heinous!"

Sun Chengzong helped his mentor Sun Shenxing to his feet. He didn't want to argue too much, and simply said calmly, "History will tell you the answer."

His Majesty deliberately kept him in the palace in order to protect him.

But he insisted on leaving the palace to face the public.

It is about saving a group of people, a group of people like him.

Too many people are forced to form factions for self-preservation or for career advancement.

In addition, there is the matter of conveying the emperor's wishes on the golden platform.

He didn't want the emperor to really be labeled a tyrant.

As for the court's widespread criticism, what is there to fear?
He is willing to lead Yulong to die for his lord!

Whether they are favored officials or sycophants.

He would accept any position as long as His Majesty would value him and as long as it would serve the country!

Sun Chengzong helped Sun Shenxing leave.

Zhou Jiamo gave a bitter laugh, dusted off his trouser legs, and left dejectedly.

Only Han Kuang and Yang Lian remained kneeling outside the Zuoshun Gate.

Han Kuang turned to look at Yang Lian and said, "Wenru, you may leave now."

He lost, he lost miserably.

Power has gradually slipped away from him.

Kneeling to plead for power is a futile endeavor.

Han Kuang was deathly pale, his eyes filled with a death wish.

Perhaps Liu Yijun is right.

But at least he fought back; he did not betray his ideals.

Han Kuang was a man of integrity, a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, and a man of principle from beginning to end.

Yang Lian became anxious upon hearing Han Kuang's words.

"Your Excellency, what are you saying? Do you think I, Yang Lian, am afraid of death?"

Han Kuang shook his head and said, "I know you are not afraid of death, but you should not die here. I was the one who started the kneeling remonstrance. I will take the blame for any crime. Before Lord Ye and the others enter the court, the overall situation of the court still needs someone to stabilize it."

He said, as if entrusting his last wishes, "The court cannot be without upright and honest officials."

Yang Lian was so moved that tears streamed down her face, and she finally slowly got up.

He didn't know whether to feel fortunate or sad.

Once again, he failed to persevere like Hai Gangfeng.

finally.

Outside Zuoshun Gate, only Han Kuang remained.

The night is deep, but it will eventually dawn.

A new day begins, and the sun slowly rises.

As the first rays of sunlight shone into the Forbidden City, the Zuoshun Gate slowly opened.

Wei Chao unfurled a bright yellow scroll, his sharp voice piercing the morning mist: "By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Han Kuang, Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion, as a regent, has not thought of assisting the state, but instead engaged in forming a faction and disrupting the government. His crimes are threefold: First, he formed a faction and disrupted the government, gathering a crowd to kneel and remonstrate at the Left Shun Gate, forcing the emperor to abdicate, and falsely threatening him with his kneecaps; second, he condoned the Ministry of Personnel's distortion of the virtuous and the foolish, dismissing capable border officials on the grounds of 'frivolity' and promoting incompetent ministers based on 'outstanding talent'; third, he was guilty of corruption and bribery."

"I originally intended to punish him for treason."

Wei Chao suddenly paused, his hawk-like eyes sweeping over Han Kuang's violently trembling shoulders, and continued reading: "However, considering your minor contribution in supervising the repair of the Yongding River embankment in the twenty-sixth year of the Wanli reign, you are hereby stripped of all your official positions, your family property confiscated to be used for Liaodong military expenses, and exiled three thousand li to Qiongzhou and Danzhou. Your descendants for five generations are barred from taking the imperial examinations, and any of your students and former associates who implicate Zhou Chaorui and others in their testimonies shall be handed over to the Censorate for rigorous investigation!"

Han Kuang couldn't even receive the imperial decree; he immediately fainted.

The incident of kneeling in remonstrance passed by Zhu Youxiao without serious consequences.

However, this matter has already had an immeasurable impact on the court and even the world!
……

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Released on May 1st, with a massive update at that time.

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(End of this chapter)