The revitalization of the Tang Dynasty began with the Ganlu Incident.

Seeing that they could not win the argument, the censors began to invoke the imperial system.

However, Liu Hongyi was prepared for this and immediately responded.

"So you think I should just stay outside the waiting room and wait for all the officials coming and going to see that a mere censor dares to neglect his duties and disrespect the court, and then wait until the morning court session to make a scene in the hall and use this trivial matter to complain to His Majesty?"

His tone was full of sarcasm, which immediately reminded the group of censors of their own excited expressions just now. Their faces turned even redder, and they were speechless.

Immediately afterwards, Liu Hongyi ignored them, turned around and bowed to the emperor, saying...

"Your Majesty is wise. The court has established rules, and all officials should follow them. Censors are responsible for impeachment and should set an example. This censor, however, has been bullying court officials because I come from an inner palace. Instead of investigating his dereliction of duty, the other censors have gathered a crowd and caused a disturbance in the main hall."

"Such disregard for the dignity of the court and humiliation of its ministers is not something a subject should do. I request Your Majesty to severely punish him as a warning to others."

These words were clearly not only addressed to those few censors, but also to the many officials present.

It should be understood that regardless of whether someone was behind what happened today, the fact that such a thing could happen shows that there are still quite a few officials in the court who are dissatisfied with eunuchs like Liu Hongyi being transferred to the outer court.

Ultimately, although eunuchs wielded considerable power, throughout history, such figures were considered inherently lowly by traditional scholar-officials.

They may fawn over and back down from those in power, but the contempt in their hearts is hard to erase.

The reason why Liu Hongyi was so tough from beginning to end was twofold. Firstly, the Shence Military Governor's Office held a special position, and he had to maintain a distance from the court officials. Secondly, he also wanted to convey a message to the civil and military officials in the court.

Regardless of whether he came from a eunuch background, since he stood in this court, he was a legitimate and important official of the court.

Regardless of their true thoughts, if they dare to show even the slightest provocation, Liu Hongyi will surely let them know what the wrath of thunder is.

Li Ang sat on the throne, watching the discussions among the court officials below.

He did not make a decision immediately, but turned to look at the other ministers beside him and asked.

"Minister Liu impeached the censors in the palace for suspected dereliction of duty and collusion. What explanation do the officials of the two provinces and the Censorate have for this?"

These words actually carried a hint of favoring Liu Hongyi.

From the side of the Secretariat and Chancellery, Li Deyu was the first to step forward and speak.

"Your Majesty, I believe that what Governor Liu said is reasonable. The censor in charge of verifying the household registration knew that Governor Liu was a court official, but deliberately obstructed him, which is a dereliction of duty."

"The position of the Shence Prefecture Commander is equivalent to that of the Chief Censor. The censors in the court impeach him at will without regard to the circumstances, attacking the important officials of the court, but turning a deaf ear to his derelict colleagues. This has lost the fundamental principle of fairness in the censorate."

"In my opinion, all the censors who were impeached for this reason should be demoted one rank and dismissed from the capital. As for that censor in the Waiting-for-Leaves Court, he should be severely punished, demoted three ranks, and exiled to a remote border region!"

No one expected that Li Deyu, who had always been dissatisfied with the eunuchs' monopoly of power, would so clearly stand on Liu Hongyi's side this time.

He was even more radical than the person in question, directly proposing to demote these censors and send them out of the capital, which was quite unexpected.

Of course, those who hold this view are mostly ordinary officials.

Those high-ranking officials in the court who were familiar with the situation during this period had basically anticipated Li Deyu's attitude.

After all, Li Deyu had been actively pushing forward the reform of Shence during this period.

The establishment of the Shence Military Governor's Office was of paramount importance as a core measure of the reform.

If we were to anger Liu Hongyi and the others at this point, while it wouldn't necessarily prevent the project from being completely halted, it would certainly create many more difficulties later on.

Therefore, at this time, if we were to discuss who was most dissatisfied with these troublemaking censors, it might not be Liu Hongyi and the other two main figures, but rather Prime Minister Li Deyu.

In comparison, Wang Ya and Jia Su were more peaceful.

As a well-known peacemaker in the imperial court, Wang Ya, wanting to avoid trouble, hesitated for a moment before stepping forward to speak.

"Your Majesty, I believe that today's events were a misunderstanding. Today was the first day that Governor Liu and others attended court, and the officials were not very familiar with each other, so some clashes were inevitable. The censor in the waiting room was certainly at fault, but since Governor Liu has already reprimanded and punished him, it can be considered a small punishment to serve as a warning."

"As for the censors who were just impeached, they did indeed speak and act inappropriately. However, if it is rumored that speaking out is the duty of censors, and they are demoted for this, it may be a case of punishing people for speaking out. In my opinion, it would be better to issue an imperial edict to reprimand them and deduct one month's salary from each of them as a form of punishment."

To be fair, Wang Ya's plan was already quite lenient. However, like Li Deyu, he also held the attitude of punishing these censors, the only difference being the severity of the punishment.

Subsequently, Jia Su expressed the same opinion.

Seeing this, Li Ang deliberately did not speak immediately, but instead seemed to be pondering for a while, while glancing more and more at Niu Sengru and the others beside him out of the corner of his eye.

Judging from what happened in the waiting room, it's highly likely that today's incident is related to these people.

It's even quite possible that they were the ones who instigated it.

Although the purpose is unclear at the moment, it is certainly not as simple as just giving away a few insignificant people to establish the authority of Liu Hongyi and others.

After all, some people had clearly stated outside the Waiting-for-Leaves Courtyard that they would impeach Liu Hongyi and others.

After waiting for a short while, sure enough, Du Cong couldn't hold back any longer and stepped forward from his class.

"Your Majesty, I have something to say."

"Speak..." Li Ang raised his hand and said casually.

Du Cong then cupped his hands and said, “Your Majesty, it is the duty of officials to report matters based on hearsay. I believe that the censors in the palace should not be blamed for this. As for the censor in the Waiting Room, he was certainly wrong. However, Governor Liu used private torture to beat court officials in public, which should not go unpunished. I request Your Majesty to punish both of them to uphold the law.”

As soon as he spoke, the censors below seemed to have found a powerful backer and began to speak up.

"Your Majesty, please severely punish those who abuse their power, so as to uphold the discipline of the court."

When this group of people got noisy, they actually had quite a bit of an imposing presence.

Upon seeing this, Li Deyu frowned and coldly rebuked him.

"There are established rules for court audiences. Are you trying to add to your punishment by making such a disturbance?"

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than a voice suddenly came from the side, carrying an almost undisguised hostility.

"Lord Li, as a high-ranking official, why are you so protective of a mere eunuch like the Commander of the Shence Army, even going so far as to attack the censor for him? Is this out of impartiality or out of personal favoritism?"

As this person stepped forward to speak, everyone in the hall, including Li Ang, turned their attention to him.

Niu Sengru!

Li Deyu's old rival finally couldn't hold back any longer.