Chapter 1708: Grand Court Meeting (Thanks to the reward from the book friend "Luo Qing")
There is always a grand court meeting after the holiday, and this time is no exception.
Early in the morning, after everyone finished discussing some important matters, they began to wait with bated breath. Many adults who had already known the news or had sensed the rumors did not move.
Finally, an official from the Ministry of Revenue stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to say about Wang Ji, the Censorate's impeachment of the Crown Prince and the Imperial Medical Bureau for colluding to amass wealth."
The emperor raised his eyes, nodded and said, "Speak."
The official from the Ministry of Revenue said, "The Imperial Medical Bureau's private medical teaching only earns two thousand taels a year. I have seen how the Imperial Medical Bureau plans to use this money. It only covers the losses of the Imperial Medical Bureau's teaching. This is roughly the same amount a year. It can't be considered as making money."
Wang Ji immediately stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the Imperial Medical Bureau is only for the study of medical skills. Even at the provincial academy, the annual tuition fee is only about eight taels. Even the best private schools wouldn't dare charge more than twenty taels. And yet the Imperial Medical Bureau dares to charge a hundred taels for a mere medical artisanship course? Remember, that's a hundred thousand coins."
The emperor, who was drinking tea with his head down, almost spit out the tea. Well, it was quite a lot if converted into copper coins.
He stopped drinking tea. Seeing that they were about to quarrel, he turned over the table and picked up Zhou Man's memorial, which had been returned, from the table. He threw it to Gu Zhong who was standing beside him and said, "What a coincidence! I received a memorial today, which also mentioned this matter. However, this memorial is impeaching Lord Wang. Gu Zhong, read it to them."
Gu Zhong took it with a bow, opened it, glanced at it, then looked up at the officials below and said, "This is a memorial submitted by Zhou Man, the editor of Chongwenguan."
Then he began to read. Zhou Man was young after all, so his memorial was incredibly lively. It began, "Your Majesty, I heard today that Lord Wang from the Imperial Censorate impeached the Crown Prince and Xiao Yuanzheng for collecting one hundred taels of silver from the Imperial Medical Bureau as tuition for private classes. I was deeply saddened and angry after hearing this."
"I am saddened that our Great Jin and Your Majesty have such a minister. I am angry that our Great Jin and Your Majesty have such a minister..."
Gu Zhong paused at this point, and couldn't help but look up to explain to the ministers, "This is what is written in the memorial, and I am not repeating it."
The emperor propped up his forehead with one hand to block his view and chuckled secretly.
Gu Zhong paused and continued, "Your Majesty, you should know that the establishment of the Imperial Medical Bureau was jointly proposed by me, Bai Shan, and Bai Cheng. Your Majesty has also sent a memorial to each government office to review it in turn. The original intention of establishing the Imperial Medical Bureau was to benefit the millions of people in Dajin, not just the poor, but also the rich. The diseases in this world require in-depth research to be cured. Training doctors will not only benefit the poor, but also the rich."
"Your Majesty and Your Majesty are compassionate and sympathetic to the hardships faced by the impoverished people of the world. That's why they emptied their private coffers to build the Imperial Medical Bureau and train doctors free of charge. The estimated cost for the Eastern Palace and the Imperial Medical Bureau alone over three years is no less than a million coins. Not to mention the cost of doctors traveling around the country and treating the people in three years. The cost will only increase."
"Your Majesty and Your Majesty, knowing the expense, still agreed to build the Imperial Medical Bureau. Was it for personal gain? Of course not. It was for the benefit of the people, for the development of medicine and diseases for generations to come, and for the lifespan of all future generations..."
Zhou Man is always nagging, and she can write a long story just to set up the previous story. When she finally finished praising the emperor and empress, she changed the subject and talked about the private school class.
She originally wanted to write about why this private school was established. Isn't it because you powerful families want to poach people and our Imperial Medical Bureau came up with this trick under pressure from power?
However, Bai Shan said that writing like this would create too much hatred, mainly because the list submitted included the Cui family, the Wang family, the Lu family, even the Crown Princess's family, the Queen's family, and Kong Jijiu's family.
If Manbao doesn't want to be beaten up, he can only ignore this matter for the time being.
So she skipped over it at this point, not mentioning the fact that the Imperial Medical Bureau was being coerced by the powerful. She simply said, "...Her Majesty feels sorry for the meritorious officials. She thinks that the officials, who work so hard for the state, really need to take care of their health. That's why she allowed us to take the trouble to set up this private school. The price of one hundred taels was also agreed upon by the wife of Duke Zhao and others in front of the Empress."
"Lord Wang, while impeaching our Imperial Medical Bureau for corruption, simultaneously applied for a position there," Gu Zhong glanced down at the words, thought for a moment, and then continued reading. "...Does Lord Wang think that we doctors are inferior to scholars? To learn medicine, one must first learn to read. Which doctor in the world is illiterate? And which scholar is completely ignorant of medical principles? Don't forget, the founder of medicine is Huangdi. When it comes to true nobility, who can compare to him?"
"Going to the Imperial Medical Bureau to submit someone was for personal gain. This impeachment and suppression of doctors is not for the benefit of the country, but for personal gain!" Man Bao said, "The Censor should supervise all officials and seek benefits for the people. Officials should put the people first and be loyal to the emperor. But you are obsessed with your own interests and are not hesitant to make the court a mess for this purpose. Not only are you undermining the country and His Majesty, but you also feel that the country and His Majesty are not giving enough. This is simply unreasonable!"
She wrote, "How do you measure this year's salary? I tell you, I measure it by the value of a doctor. Today, I'm only taking less than 10% of a doctor's value. Do you know how many lives they could save if they were deployed to local medical offices? How much more could they increase the local population each year? The value of a person is immeasurable!"
"You are proud of being a scholar, thinking that scholars can govern a country, but doctors can only treat people, and a country is made up of people. Moreover, we have fulfilled our duties as doctors, but you have failed to fulfill the duties of a scholar. As a scholar well-read in poetry and books, you only think about petty profits every day, disregarding the interests of the country and Your Majesty for your own selfish interests, and living a life of idleness..."
The rest of the words were even more unpleasant, simply a pile of various elegant curse words. Gu Zhong quietly raised his eyelids and glanced at Wang Ji, whose face was already ashen with anger. Seeing that the emperor did not stop, he gritted his teeth and recited all the four-character idioms that were used to curse.
Everyone thought the court would erupt in arguments as soon as this unfriendly memorial was read. But just as Wang Ji, furious, was about to speak, another person stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I second Zhou Man's proposal. I also have a memorial impeaching Wang Ji, Liang Fei, and others..."
Immediately, another person stood up and said, "I also want to impeach Wang Ji and Liang Fei for being idle and seeking personal gain..."
"I second the motion..."
"I second the motion." Immediately, more than a dozen people knelt in the hall and said in unison, "Your Majesty, please thoroughly investigate the assessments of Wang Ji, Liang Fei, and the others."
The court suddenly fell silent. Wei Zhi, who had kept his eyes half-closed, finally opened them and stepped forward, saying, "Your Majesty, officials are most averse to living on idleness. I second your motion and implore Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate this matter."
Wang Ji's eyes widened, and he immediately knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I am innocent. Zhou Man did this for revenge."
I won't write pure classical Chinese, so please bear with me. It's not particularly well written, but I have revised a long paragraph.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
