August 11th.

Before dawn, Li Banghua was awakened by the scolding outside.

I opened the window and looked out, and saw four or five young people sitting at the table at the entrance of the inn.

They ate breakfast and drank tea, cursing all the time.

"Li Banghua, you are old and still alive, you are a thief..."

"I have lived for seventy-one years in vain, and have accomplished nothing in my life. I can only talk nonsense and help the tyrant to do evil!"

"Shameless old thief, don't you know that all the scholars in the world are willing to eat your flesh and skin you alive!"

The curses these people gave were so harsh that even the soldiers on duty outside the door could not bear it any longer.

They walked up to the young men and shouted, "You all look like educated people, why are you swearing?"

The young man who led the group sneered, "Su Shi, a great writer in the Song Dynasty, once said, 'When I was cultivating, I saw you as a pile of shit.' If he could say that, why can't I?"

"You..." The soldiers were all rough people, and were confused by the questions asked by these scholars.

He stood there and thought for a while, then cursed loudly: "Bah, damn it."

This simple yet practical curse word directly broke the defense of several people.

One of the young men stood up with a red face: "Hey? Why are you swearing?"

"If you can curse, why can't I?" the soldier asked back.

This time it was the turn of the young people to be confused.

They didn't leave though, instead they continued to sit at the table and curse under their breath.

Since Li Banghua had instructed in advance not to take action against these people, the soldiers could only curse back when they cursed harshly.

As the sky brightened, more and more scholars gathered outside the inn, and the cursing became more and more intense.

Li Banghua roughly counted and found that there were about a hundred people outside the door.

Amid the noisy scolding, Li Banghua washed up and finished his breakfast.

After a short rest, he took a carriage to the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing. The Ministry of Revenue was in charge of money and grain, so if he wanted to find out the problem, he had to start with the Ministry of Revenue.

The Minister of Revenue Gao Hongtu had been waiting outside the yamen for a long time, and the two sides began the audit work in a friendly and harmonious atmosphere.

For the next two days, Li Banghua only did two things every day.

Check the accounts and eat.

During this period, more and more scholars gathered outside the posthouse. At first, they were somewhat restrained and only cursed in the way of scholars.

As time goes by, the anger in these people's hearts accumulates more and more, and simple verbal abuse can no longer vent their emotions.

On the night of August 14, Liu Kongzhao changed his clothes and hurried to Zhu Guobi's mansion.

He was a little surprised after pushing open the Meridian Gate.

There were several acquaintances sitting in the room.

There were nobles, court officials, and even two very famous local gentry.

Zhu Guobi used his eyes to signal Liu Kongzhao to sit down and continued, "Everyone, the court has sent an imperial envoy to Nanjing to collect the tax arrears."

"We are the people of the Ming Dynasty. We must keep the imperial court in mind before doing anything. The imperial court is determined to recover the debts this time, so don't have any illusions. Pay the money back as soon as you return."

"Those who have money have to pay the taxes, and those who don't have money have to sell their land and houses to pay the overdue taxes, otherwise their lives will be in danger!"

Liu Kongzhao frowned, then felt relieved.

Everything Zhu Guobi said was in a sarcastic way. You can't listen to him directly, you have to listen to him in the opposite way.

Everyone present responded and expressed their agreement.

Zhu Guobi nodded with satisfaction and continued, "I heard that scholars have a big reaction to this matter?"

"It's more than a big uproar, it's going to be a huge uproar!" An official from the Ministry of Rites replied, "The day after tomorrow is the Autumn Examination, and I heard that the students are planning to boycott the exam en masse to force the court to stop exploiting scholars."

"Are you sure?" Zhu Guobi's eyes flickered as he spoke.

"I'm not sure, I just heard about it. If I were sure, I would report it to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince so he could think of a countermeasure. But I can't report it because I'm not sure."

"Yes, I just heard about it. I don't think the students will boycott the exam. They all rely on the court for their jobs." Another official replied.

"Indeed," Liu Kongzhao finally found an opportunity, and he said solemnly, "The cancellation of the examination will not have much impact on the court. The Ming Dynasty has many Jinshi scholars, and if there are not enough Jinshi scholars, Juren scholars will be appointed, and if there are not enough Juren scholars, Xiucai scholars will be appointed."

"I'm afraid they will boycott the exam and surround the six ministries. Especially the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War, they are in charge of money, food and other military supplies. If they are surrounded, the soldiers on the front line will not have enough to eat."

"If you don't have enough food, you won't have the energy to fight. If you don't have the energy to fight, you will lose the battle. The imperial envoy has been ordered to inspect the south. If he leads to a defeat on the front line as soon as he arrives here, it is unacceptable!"

"Yes," Zhu Guobi sighed, "It is not easy for Lord Li to work hard for the country at such an old age. We absolutely cannot tolerate such a thing happening."

"Yes, we can't let this happen." The others cooperated very tacitly.

“How about this, when you go back, use various methods to warn those candidates not to cause trouble, otherwise the law will be ruthless.” Zhu Guobi said with a wicked smile on his face.

"We all listen to Lord Zhu!" the others answered with a smile.

Everyone chatted for a while and then dispersed.

The next morning, the city of Nanjing began to become lively.

It’s nothing, just because today is the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Although the Mid-Autumn Festival is not as important as the other four festivals, people still celebrate it in their own way.

Most families will prepare some delicious food in the evening and eat while appreciating the moon.

In order to take care of the emotions of these scholars, Li Banghua ordered people to buy many mooncakes from the street and distribute them to the scholars who were cursing outside the inn.

Just as the soldiers were distributing mooncakes, three scholars suddenly rushed into the inn.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!