Chapter 679 A Dream of Youth 211

Have you finalized your candidate list?

"Not yet, should we send the best candidates, or..." The Imperial Physician was somewhat conflicted.

Jiang Yuanzheng coughed lightly, "It's a mixed bag, I suppose."

People often die while accompanying the army, so they need to keep some good candidates. However, even the worst doctors who can enter the Imperial Medical Bureau are not that bad.

"Alas, why did Physician Xie suggest to His Majesty that those students from the Imperial Academy be sent? Those students haven't even mastered their skills yet, and accompanying the army is such a arduous task. If even one of them dies, wouldn't all our years of training be wasted?"

Jiang Yuanzheng stopped the Imperial Physician from speaking, "Pinlin, we should keep these words to ourselves, and never spread them outside."

"I know, but I'm a little resentful. I've got my eye on several of them, and I'll get them into the Imperial Hospital as medical assistants in a year or two."

Now we need to send a few people to accompany the army. If they don't come back by then, then all their hard work will be lost.

"Those soldiers are all warriors. Our local cadets, let alone martial arts, are only so-so at horsemanship. If we really want to compare, it's easy to find a soldier, but difficult to train a healer. A healer's life is much more important than a soldier's..."

The Imperial Medical Bureau has only started to improve in the last few years, and now half of its efforts have been wasted. I don't know what Physician Xie was thinking. You wanted to invite her to the Imperial Medical Bureau to be a doctor a while ago, but I absolutely disagreed. She is still childish and needs to be trained for a few more years.

Now... I am unfit to be a teacher.

Xie Ning, who was standing at the door, did not listen any further and turned to leave.

Du Mingzhao had just returned from taking a pulse with his uncle outside the courtyard when he saw Xie Ning come out. He quickly followed her and said, "Ah Ning, are you going to the pharmacy? I'll go with you."

Xie Ning snapped out of her daze, calmed herself down, and then asked, "What were you doing at the pharmacy?"

"Pick up Xin'er. She's been in a bad mood these past few days. Grandmother said she'd take her to a temple in the mountains outside the city to clear her head. By the way, did Xin'er ask you for leave?"

"No." Xie Ning came and went in a hurry, and didn't notice anything wrong with Du Xin's emotions.

"What happened?"

Du Mingzhao didn't know what to say for a moment, but Xie Ning was also half a mentor to Du Xin, so it wouldn't be good to keep it from her. "Sigh, Aning, if you have time, please try to comfort Xin-jie."

The Zheng family has come to annul the engagement.

Xie Ning stopped in her tracks. "Why? Because Du Xin went to the pharmacy?"

Du Mingzhao quickly waved his hand, "No, no, the Zheng family is a rare good family. They came to break off the engagement mainly because they don't want to drag Xin'er down."

After saying that, she glanced around and, seeing that there were no palace servants, whispered, "Does Aning still remember the 'Refugee Picture'?"

This matter was well-known not only in the imperial court but also among the common people, so Xie Ning naturally remembered it.

"Yes, that painting, 'Refugee Map,' also forced Prime Minister Shi to resign."

Actually, that was a trigger. Shi Xiang resigned mainly because of the pressure from the previous dynasty and the harem, and the celestial phenomena at that time were indeed unfavorable.

The drought was severe, and everyone believed it was a warning from heaven.

A hint of surprise flashed in Xie Ning's eyes. "The Zheng family you're talking about, you wouldn't happen to be the Zheng family that submitted the 'Refugee Map' to the emperor, would you?"

Du Mingzhao nodded sadly, "So you didn't know, Aning?"

"have no idea."

She wasn't paying much attention to other people's marriages. It was her brother Xie who started it. If it weren't for Chen Wanniang nagging her every day, Xie Ning wouldn't know what stage the process was at.

"Did Du Xin agree to the Zheng family breaking off the engagement?" She remembered that Du Xin seemed to like her fiancé quite a bit.

"What can we do if we disagree? Since the Zheng family has made their decision, and Father has already exchanged the betrothal gifts for the sake of Xin'er."

There was absolutely no room for Du Xin to speak.

Xie Ning sighed. She had never met Lord Zheng, but she knew Xie Wangzhi. He said that Xie Wangzhi was a rare person who was honest and upright, and quite talented, but he had only become a minor official guarding the city gate.

Originally, because he had submitted a memorial under the pretense of an urgent report and included a picture of refugees, which led to Shi Xiang's resignation, the New Party was already dissatisfied and handed him over to the Censorate for punishment.

However, after Zu and Wen came to power, the new laws continued, and Zheng submitted another memorial to impeach them. He also drew a picture of a gentleman and a villain, which angered the New Party, especially the prime minister Wen.

Therefore, Lord Zheng was directly demoted to Tingzhou.

Xie Ning recalled that Xie Wangzhi said that when Lord Zheng submitted his impeachment memorial, he mentioned palace secrets. As an outsider, he knew such secrets, so he was impeached by Lord Wen for colluding with an insider and was brought back for investigation before he even reached Tingzhou.

Xie Wangzhi only said that there was no collusion between them, but the group of people in the Censorate were all members of the literary faction. Their punishment of Zheng Yifu was only the surface purpose. Their main purpose was to get rid of Shi Xiangzhi's brother, who had always been against him, and another Vice Minister Xia.

Vice Chancellor Wen wanted to sentence Zheng Yifu to death, but the emperor stopped him. After all, Zheng Yifu's words were not for himself, but for the country and the court, so he was a loyal person. Therefore, the emperor only demoted him to Yingzhou.

He was originally demoted to Fujian, but was eventually demoted to Guangdong, which is further south, thus increasing the severity of his punishment.