Chapter 1706 Meaning
Manbao glanced at the prince sympathetically. The prince frowned, glanced down at her, and asked, "So what did you do in writing the petition?"
"I have submitted a letter to impeach Wang Ji and others."
The prince raised his eyebrows slightly, looked Zhou Man up and down, and asked, "Did you have a quarrel with the censor?"
Manbao said seriously, "Your Highness, how can this be a quarrel? I am doing this to make the court, the Imperial Medical Bureau, and the country better."
The prince nodded perfunctorily, "Yes, the impeachment is good, but don't cry if you can't win the argument."
"Am I that kind of person?" Manbao said ambitiously, puffing out his chest. "As long as I'm right, I won't lose."
The prince curled his lips, thinking that she was too naive. In this world, especially in the court, winning or losing is never determined by reason.
The prince glanced at her, then put his hands behind his back and quickened his pace, passing Zhou Man and heading towards the backyard where he lived.
Eunuch Wu hurriedly trotted to catch up, but Manbao, who had fallen behind, grabbed him and whispered, "What does your highness mean by this?"
Eunuch Wu whispered, "It means you can go and have fun on your own."
After saying this, he immediately broke free from Zhou Man's hand, trotted to catch up with the prince, and followed behind him three steps behind.
Manbao scratched his head and couldn't help muttering, "I was just going to play by myself, but you stopped me."
She shrugged and turned to go to Chongwenguan.
When she arrived at Chongwenguan, Bai Shan and the others were just getting out of school.
Manbao thought of something and immediately ran to find Mr. Zhuang.
Mr. Zhuang was just about to go home after collecting his copied manuscript when he saw Manbao running in. He asked with a smile, "Why are you running?"
Manbao said, "Sir, go back and tell my sister-in-law that I want to have mutton and bamboo shoot noodles with sauerkraut tomorrow morning."
Mr. Zhuang asked, "Aren't you leaving the palace tomorrow morning after breakfast?"
"I can eat less and save some room for the sauerkraut noodles when I get home."
Mr. Zhuang raised his hand and tapped her head in response.
Mr. Zhuang didn't know that Manbao had argued with someone by submitting a memorial, so he smiled and agreed. It should be said that most of the court officials, including the Censorate, were still unaware of this.
By the time the memorials were submitted to the Ministry of Personnel, it was already too late. Everyone had to prepare to leave the office, so some unimportant memorials were piled up there and selected by the person on duty, who would then decide whether to send them to the Ministry of Central Secretariat and His Majesty for review.
Zhou Man was a fifth-rank editor, and impeaching Wang Ji and others was not a very important matter, so his memorial was left behind like a bunch of memorials.
Wei Zhi, who was on duty at night, was bored, so he asked someone to classify the memorials and send the important ones to the palace for the emperor's review tomorrow.
Yes, most officials, especially those at the grassroots level, can take a day off, but the upper echelons have a rotation rule.
Not to mention the emperor. When officials were on leave, he would just skip the morning court and write fewer memorials, but he still had to work every day.
Zhou Man's memorial was also screened out, and Wei Zhi happened to go and look at the recent impeachment memorials.
Impeachment memorials have always been an important tool for monitoring the conduct of officials. From these memorials, you could learn which official had gone to a brothel to get drunk; or which official or official's son had done something that corrupted public morals or violated the law...
Wei Zhi has always believed that whether the administration of officials is clean or not depends on whether the impeachment memorial can be made at any time.
When the day comes when the censors dare not speak out, it means that the government has become corrupt to a certain extent. Therefore, even among the censors, there are also cases of impeachment for personal gain, but he still does not advocate that Your Majesty prohibit it.
Because people tend to seek benefits and avoid harm, once censors are punished without any evidence, it will deal a heavy blow to the freedom of speech.
After flipping through several books, most of them were placed on the right hand side. These did not require the emperor's processing and only needed to be handed over to the Secretariat. There was only one book on the left hand side, which needed to be read by the emperor himself.
He casually picked up a book, opened it, and saw the densely packed words. He felt a pang of pain. Although it looked very neat, so many words...
I've said it so many times, even impeachment must be concise and to the point, with less nonsense, but those people in the Censorate just don't understand... Huh?
Wei Zhi regained consciousness, sat up slightly, and turned back to read from the first line...
Wei Zhi took a long time to finish reading the memorial. After thinking about it, he put his hand on his left.
The memorials selected by the Menxia Province were delivered to the emperor's desk early the next morning.
However, the emperor did not feel like working hard this morning, so after breakfast he played with his daughters and sons in the imperial garden for a long time. When they were having fun enough, he put his hands behind his back and went to review the memorials that he could never finish reading.
When the emperor saw Zhou Man's memorial, he couldn't help but slap the table with joy. He held the memorial and laughed heartily, saying to Gu Zhong, "This child is quite good. Her scolding is brilliant. How come I didn't know she had such eloquence?"
Gu Zhong smiled as he poured tea for the emperor and asked casually, "Which young master are you talking about, Your Majesty?"
"It's Zhou Man. Yesterday, Wang Ji wrote a letter impeaching the Crown Prince and the Imperial Hospital, and today she wrote a letter impeaching Wang Ji." The emperor shook his head and laughed, "I don't know if she's venting her anger on behalf of the Crown Prince or the Imperial Hospital."
The emperor had not finished reading yet, only read half of it. He smiled, took a sip of tea, and continued reading. As he read, the smile on the emperor's face disappeared. Gu Zhong, standing aside, was terrified, but did not dare to show it.
The emperor tapped the table with his hand, then smiled after a moment, saying, "I underestimated her by sending this memorial to Kong Jijiu's residence. Actually, she was able to submit the memorial because she was a fifth-rank editor at the Chongwen Academy, and Kong Jijiu was the director, so it was his responsibility to oversee it."
Gu Zhong didn't know what was written on the memorial, and didn't dare to peek. He bent down, took the memorial, put it in a box, and asked his apprentice to send it out of the palace.
Kong Jijiu is having a rare day off. He is having a drink with friends at home and playing chess to cultivate his character.
When he received the memorial from the palace, he unfolded it curiously.
The Duke of Yu, who was playing chess with him, saw that he had been silent for a long time, so he lifted his eyelids to look at him and asked, "What's the matter?"
Kong Jijiu stroked his beard and said with a pleased smile, "It's nothing, just a humble official impeaching a few officials."
"What serious crime has been committed that His Majesty specifically handed you this memorial?"
Kong Jijiu smiled, put the memorial back into the box, and said nonchalantly, "It's not a big deal, County Lord. Is it my turn now?"
The Duke of Yu did not ask any further questions, but responded with a smile. After finishing the game of chess, he put his hands behind his back and said goodbye and went home.
After the Duke of Yu left, Kong Jijiu reopened the box and glanced at the memorial. After a moment, he turned back to his study and said to the servants, "Go and invite the Duke of Zhao and the Minister of War, Guo."
Duke Zhao is the king's uncle and has always had a good relationship with the prince. Not to mention Zhanshi Guo, he is the head of the Zhanshi Mansion.
See you at 9pm
(End of this chapter)
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