Chapter 487 Beating the Minister

Lu Hezhou returned home with two black eyes, distraught and staring blankly.

Yesterday, his wife Wang Zhaoyun brought his second daughter-in-law Wang Zhihua to the Su Mansion to ask for Su Ying to be his co-wife, but they were thrown out by the Donggong guards.

After returning, he could not suppress his anger, so he immediately found the person in charge of the Wang family to discuss how to impeach Su Bucheng and his three brothers and Su Ying.

He colluded with several inspectors overnight and wrote an impeachment memorial.

It was nothing more than Su Bucheng forming a clique for personal gain and using students studying in Lingnan to cultivate his own clique.

Su Lao Er and Su Lao San built up their power in Lingnan, hoping to make the Su family another big clan after Feng Xian of Gaoliang.

Su Ying was a hen that crowed at dawn, and she was restless in her boudoir. She even used the official school for girls to win people's hearts and called herself the second Lady Xian.

He plundered the people's wealth in Lingnan, and on his way back to Beijing, he showed off all the way, wasting people's money and resources, and even occupied a merchant caravan's passenger ship to escort himself.

After returning to the capital, she sent gifts everywhere, remained unmarried at the age of marriage, and charmed the East Palace...

They worked overnight and fabricated many charges, both true and false.

Prepare to hunt down and intercept the Su family at the grand court meeting. If they don't kill them, they will at least tear off a piece of their flesh.

Just as the grand court meeting was about to begin, and they were about to criticize the Su family, the crown prince jumped out first and proposed that the Imperial College establish two official schools, the Agricultural College and the Engineering College.

Poor students, craftsmen, farmers, fishermen and other common people could all sign up. This proposal shocked the court officials.

It is understandable that students from poor families would sign up, but it is really incomprehensible that craftsmen, farmers, fishermen, etc. would sign up.

Is the threshold for admission to the Imperial College so low? Even the lowest class can enter?

The prince seemed to be energized. He stood alone in the court, arguing with all the ministers, debating one after another, and successfully defeated all opponents.

Finally, the proposal was handed over to the Imperial College to draft detailed rules and establish a school, which would enroll the first batch of students in May.

This long debate took an hour and a half to end.

The inspectors, who had been prepared, were about to step forward to impeach him when the emperor suddenly asked, "Where is the Minister of Works?"

"I'm here!" Lu Hezhou's heart skipped a beat and he had a bad feeling.

"I heard that your wife brought your second daughter-in-law to the Su Mansion yesterday?" The emperor said in a cold tone.

"Your Majesty! Yes! The daughter of the Su family was once engaged to my second son, but the engagement was broken off due to a misunderstanding.

My wife felt sorry for the Su family's daughter who had passed the age of marriage and no one came to propose marriage, so she brought her second daughter-in-law to the Su family to discuss marrying her as a co-wife to make up for her previous unintentional mistake.

Who knew that the Su family didn't know how to appreciate my kindness and scolded my wife rudely.

Even His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was bewitched by the Su family's daughter-in-law and threw his wife and second daughter-in-law out of the Su Mansion in public.

Your Majesty, please make the decision for me!" Lu Hezhou accused the Su family in a passionate voice.

The instigator was portrayed as a farmer, and the Su family was portrayed as an ungrateful snake.

"Lu Hezhou, you are going too far! You, the Lu family, are so shameless! It's not enough to humiliate my son once, but now you come to humiliate him again!

You're still dreaming that my Su family would be grateful to you, bah!" Su Bucheng, who was usually patient, cursed angrily.

"Your Majesty, look! Su Shaoyin is so arrogant and rude in public, and the girl he brought up is even more naughty and arrogant. Her kindness is taken for granted!"

Lu Hezhou added fuel to the fire.

"Shameless man! How dare you slander my son like this!" Su Bucheng was furious. He rolled up his sleeves and chased Lu Hezhou to beat him.

Su Bucheng often went to the fields to work with farmers, and even studied farming in Lingnan for a year. He was in his prime and had great strength.

He pressed Lu Hezhou to the ground and punched him several times. Lu Hezhou was beaten with a bruise on his face and the Jinxian crown rolled to the side.

"Master Su, please calm down, Master Su, please calm down!" The prefect Li Hongshi beside him pretended to try to stop the fight, but in fact he was trying to stop the people from the Lu and Wang families.

Seeing that Su Shaoyin did not suffer any loss, Li Chengqian did not say anything, pretended not to see it, and watched the show silently.

"Su Qing, stop!" After seeing Lu Hezhou being punched several times, the emperor slowly spoke to stop him.

"Your Majesty! Su Shaoyin has disrespected the court and openly assaulted court officials. I request that Su Shaoyin be punished for disrupting the court and disrespecting the imperial court!" Lu Hezhou complained while enduring the pain.

He was secretly delighted, but just when he was worried that he had no evidence, Su Bucheng gave him one.

The inspectors will all come together to impeach Su Shaoyin later. I don’t believe they can’t bring him down!

“Hiss! It hurts so much!” Lu Hezhou grimaced in pain.

Minister Lu's eyes were black and blue, and he looked like a wronged and bullied little woman, which was really funny.

The ministers wanted to laugh but didn't dare to. They silently thought about all the sad things they had encountered in their lives, but they still couldn't help it.

"Hehehe..." I don't know who laughed first, and then the whole court burst into laughter. The emperor sitting on the dragon throne even turned sideways to laugh.

"Your Majesty, Su Shaoyin disregarded the court rules and beat a court official in front of all the civil and military officials. He should be severely punished as a punishment!" The inspector from Lu and Wang's group spoke.

"I would like to ask you all, if an unmarried girl is living peacefully at home and someone comes to her house and humiliates her, as a father, shouldn't you be angry?

If it were you, the ministers, would you be cowards, allowing yourself to be humiliated?" The emperor was clearly smiling, but his words were extremely cold.

"Minister Lu, you still know you are a court official! Let me ask you, what is Su Ying's identity?"

Lu Hezhou looked up in surprise, "The girl from the Su family!"

"He is the Inspector General, the Manager of Lingnan Brocade Works, and the Director of the Weapons Supervision and Firearms Research Institute!" The Emperor spoke word by word.

"Lu Wangshi abused her power to bully others, disrespected court officials, and even went to their homes to humiliate them! This woman's virtue is lacking, and the imperial decree of the Respectful Lady is hereby revoked.

Minister Lu failed to properly manage his family members, and allowed them to humiliate court officials and show contempt for the court, which showed his lack of moral character.

He was demoted to the rank of Fifth Rank Yuanwailang, in charge of the construction of official roads in Rongzhou Prefecture, Lingnan Province, and his family was to accompany him.

"Your Majesty! I am innocent!" Minister Lu did not expect that he would be brought down before any impeachment was carried out.

Instead of tearing off the Su family's flesh, they tore themselves apart and made them bleed!

"Master Lu, I've opened my eyes today. You came to humiliate someone, and you spoke so refreshingly and elegantly! You're truly an expert at confusing right and wrong!

If everyone in the court were like you, not doing their jobs but only framing others and confusing right and wrong, wouldn't our Tang Dynasty be destroyed by your treacherous officials?

The prince did not forget to step on Lu Hezhou and labeled him a traitor.

In fact, calling him a treacherous minister is an exaggeration. Lu Hezhou entered the officialdom through connections with his family and was a pure sycophant.

Lu Hezhou looked at the prince unconvincedly. It seemed that he had been bribed by Su Ying!

"Young Master Su, you fought in the court. According to the law, you should be punished with twenty lashes of the cane. However, considering your actions were justified and your desire to protect your daughter, I will punish you for three months! Take this as a warning!"

The emperor looked serious.

"Yes!" Su Bucheng bowed and when he stood up, he did not forget to glare hatefully at Minister Lu, no, Yuanwailang Lu.

"Master, what are you doing..." He got off the carriage and startled the butler who came to meet him.

The master's hair is messy and his eyes are bruised. Did he have a fight with someone?

"Shh! Go and report to the lady!" the coachman whispered.

The housekeeper hurried back to the inner house, "Madam, madam, something bad has happened! The master has been beaten!"

"What!" Wang Chaoyun, who was sitting in the flower hall drinking tea and waiting for the news, suddenly stood up and said, "Who is so bold? How dare you hit the Minister!"

"Master!" Seeing her distraught husband, Wang Zhaoyun was so frightened that she covered her mouth with a handkerchief.

Is this still the elegant and graceful young man?

"Who hit him?" Wang Chaoyun asked with concern.