Chapter 27: Views on the Li Party
Upon hearing this, Fan Sheng couldn't help but laugh: "What help does father need in the court? Father's greatest helper is your aunt. As long as your aunt is still the queen, father's foundation in the court will be stable."
Fan Sheng looked Fan Zhijue up and down, frowned and said, "But you, you are covered in wounds, were you bullied?"
Fan Sheng said in a deep voice, "Your father has repeatedly warned you not to provoke those families. Don't be fooled by our Fan family's current prosperity. In reality, compared to them, we are a poor family."
After hearing this, Fan Zhijue said with a bitter face, "I'm not stupid, how could I possibly provoke those families? All of my injuries are caused by Sanlang! He colluded with outsiders to bully me."
"Colluding with outsiders to humiliate you?"
Upon hearing this, Fan Sheng's face darkened, and he shouted, "He's a traitor! How can this be tolerated? Your aunt has expended countless efforts to maintain the Fan family's reputation, and has faced countless impeachments from those civil servants. He doesn't even think about repaying your aunt or contributing to the family. Instead, he colludes with outsiders to bully his own family!"
“That’s absolutely ridiculous!”
"Someone, come here! Bring that unfilial son back to me!"
"Yes, sir!"
After receiving the order, a team of Fan's personal guards clasped their fists and immediately went to capture Fan Zhiyu.
Seeing this, Fan Zhijue curled up a triumphant smile.
He attentively helped Fan Sheng into the mansion, speaking flattering words while ordering the servants to quickly prepare hot water so that Fan Sheng could wash off the dust.
On the way to the bathing room.
As Fan Zhijue took off Fan Sheng's armor, he said with a smile, "Dad, I've found you a good helper. He's an imperial censor, and he's come to us!"
"Imperial Censor?!"
When he heard the word "Imperial Censor", Fan Sheng was also stunned.
Fan Sheng looked surprised. "Are there censors willing to serve under my Fan family? Did I hear correctly?"
Fan Sheng knew better than Fan Zhijue what kind of status the censor held in the court.
To put it bluntly, people who come from the imperial censor background will definitely have a bright future and rise to prominence as long as they don't make any mistakes in the future.
As long as you have enough experience, even if you cannot enter the cabinet or become a prime minister, you can still become a senior official.
If the Fan family can recruit such people, their strength will be greatly increased.
Fan Zhijue nodded and said, "He is truly an imperial censor."
"Are you deceiving your father?" Fan Sheng asked with some suspicion.
The censors were noble officials and a vital part of the civil service system.
The Fan family is a family of royal relatives, military generals and nobles, and is the group the censor dislikes the most.
The only connection between the Censor and the Fan family was that the Censor had once submitted a report to impeach the Fan family.
What's more, the distinction between civil officials and military generals is clear. The censors are civil officials. Even if they want to surrender, they will surrender to the prime minister, not the military nobles.
Seeing that Fan Sheng didn't believe him, Fan Zhijue became anxious, "It's true. He said his name is Wang Yang and he is an imperial censor."
Fan Sheng suddenly stopped, his eyes wide open.
"Wang Yang?!"
Fan Zhijue nodded.
Fan Sheng pressed on, "Did you bring him to your house?"
Fan Zhijue nodded again.
Fan Sheng slapped his thigh and said, "Get rid of them immediately! They can't be allowed to stay!"
Fan Zhijue was stunned when he heard this.
Fan Sheng explained with a bitter face, "He is indeed an imperial censor, but he is also an imperial censor who offends people everywhere. What's more terrible is that he is so foolish that he can't even keep the things that can save his life. As a father, I can't save him."
"We can ask our aunt for help." Fan Zhijue suggested.
Fan Sheng glared at her, "Foolish! Your aunt's reign over the Imperial Palace has already drawn criticism. If she continues to win over the censors and form a clique of foreign ministers, what are she planning? Are you trying to emulate Empress Wu Zetian?"
Fan Sheng picked up the battle skirt, shoulder guards and helmet he had just taken off and put them on again.
"Father has returned to the Beijing Camp. Today, let's pretend that he has never come back..."
Before leaving, Fan Sheng sternly warned Fan Zhijue, "Get him out right away! If he stays outside our Fan family for even a moment longer, it will become a pretext for others to impeach our family."
Fan Sheng came and went in a hurry.
When Fan Zhijue came to his senses, his father was nowhere to be seen.
He stood there in a daze, muttering absentmindedly, "How could this be..."
"That's an imperial censor!" Fan Zhijue sighed.
At this moment, he still didn't fully understand the key.
But in the end, he didn't dare to disobey his father.
He was too embarrassed to see Wang Yang, so he asked his followers to send Wang Yang away.
Wang Yang wandered around Fan's house and was eventually driven out again.
Fan Zhijue, who had previously led him into the mansion, never showed up.
Wang Yang stood in front of the Fan Mansion, raised his head and cried out in grief: "Fan Sheng is trying to kill me, the heavens are trying to destroy me..."
Until now, he still doesn't know who the real person who hurt him is.
"In this situation, the only one who can save me is my mentor... I must go find him... I hope he still remembers our old friendship..."
Wang Yang also hoped that Zhang Yan would save his life out of the relationship they had as master and disciple.
But he didn't know that Zhang Yan picked up a pen and wrote his own name on his death warrant.
…
Zhang Mansion.
A servant dressed in blue handed the business card to the gatehouse of Zhang's mansion.
The doorman led the person into the mansion and took him to the study.
Zhang Yan was wearing Confucian robes and stroking his long beard as he carefully read the classics, history, and philosophy collections, taking notes whenever he came across the key points.
As a lecturer in the Eastern Palace, Zhang Yan was required to prepare daily lecture notes. Tomorrow, after the grand court meeting, he would teach the Crown Prince about benevolence, one of the Five Constant Virtues. Right now, he was compiling passages related to benevolence from the classics of sages, in preparation for his lecture.
The doorman bowed and said, "Master, Lord He Jingyi has sent someone over."
"He Jingyi, what does he want from me?"
The servant in blue bowed to Zhang Yan and said with a smile, "I greet Master Zhang. Tomorrow at the court, the master will report Wang Yang on fifteen serious crimes, including corruption, dereliction of duty, condoning his relatives' crimes, and murder for money. I specially invite Master Zhang to sign the report."
"The treacherous man who betrayed his master for personal gain?"
Zhang Yan was startled when he heard this, and his hand holding the pen suddenly tightened.
"Impeach Wang Yang. Did you get the rhinoceros belt back?"
The servant in green clothes smiled and said, "I got it back."
Zhang Yan smiled and said, "Give me the memorial, I'll add a few words to it."
The servant in blue hurriedly took out the memorial from his arms and handed it to Zhang Yan.
Zhang Yan took the memorial, unfolded it, and examined it carefully. He mused, "Three people have already signed it. He Jingyi's handwriting is quite impressive..."
Zhang Yan happily added his name to the memorial, handed it to the blue-robed servant, and said, "After leaving the mansion, go to the residence of the Right Minister of Justice and tell him to submit a memorial tomorrow."
"I don't need to..."
The servant in blue took the memorial and left Zhang's house, heading for the residence of You Zhengyan.
You Zhengyan was Zhang Yan's disciple, so he should obey Zhang Yan's words.
So many important officials in the court joined forces to decide that Wang Yang must die.
In fact, it was a bit excessive to make such a fuss just to deal with Wang Yang, a small censor.
However, He Jingyi's move was clearly intended to scare the enemy.
Zhang Yan also saw the intention of making a warning in He Jingyi's memorial, so he didn't mind escalating the situation a little bit.
He Jingyi wanted to make a show of force to scare the enemy, so why didn't Zhang Yan also need to show his authority to the public?
Wang Yang's defection was a wake-up call for him.
Song Qianzhao and Fan Zhiyu bowed to Wang Feng and said goodbye, intending to go straight home. When they reached the street corner, Fan Zhiyu suddenly grabbed Song Qianzhao's sleeve - several familiar figures were wandering around the alley. They were actually the guards sent by his father to look for him.
Without saying a word, the two of them turned around and went into a nearby inn and asked for a room to stay in.
As the sky brightened, Song Qianzhao knocked on the door.
"Let's go to Mingchuan Street. I have an appointment with Brother Wang to go to Fengtian Prefecture to get the land deed. We also have to clean up the ruins left by the burned Ruiqi Casino and Xiangyun Pawnshop."
Song Qianzhao and Fan Zhiyu left the inn together and strolled towards Mingchuan Street.
When they arrived, Wang Feng was already waiting there. Li Chun'e also came, but Wang Yang's father-in-law and children were not there.
After a few greetings with a smile, Wang Feng accompanied Song Qianzhao to Fengtian Prefecture to handle the formalities, while Fan Zhiyu stayed in Mingchuan Street with Li Chun'e.
When Song Qianzhao and Wang Feng returned from processing the land deeds, they saw from afar a group of followers surrounding Fan Zhiyu, who was shouting and directing them to clean up the ruins of the pawnshop and gambling house. Li Chun'e was also busy, having hired a hundred or so temporary workers, and the group was working hard.
After a long day of work, they finally cleared out half of the debris. Wang Feng and Li Chun'e simply built a makeshift shelter in the open space, intending to spend the night there. Fan Zhiyu watched from the side, and thinking of the inevitable scolding he'd get back home, he followed suit and built a shelter to stay in as well.
Song Qianzhao had no intention of staying there with them to starve, so he asked Xunjiu to stay and help, and went home himself.
As soon as he arrived at the gate of the mansion, he ran into the official sedan chair of Song Jian and He Jingyi.
As soon as the sedan chair stopped in front of the mansion gate, Song Jian lifted the curtain and saw Song Qianzhao standing there.
"Meet grandfather and uncle."
Song Qianzhao bowed quickly.
Song Jian's nose twitched slightly, and he smacked his lips. "It smells like alcohol. Has he been out fooling around again?"
"Grandfather, you misunderstood. I didn't drink too much. I just sat with a friend for a while." Song Qianzhao's eyes drifted to the stone lion beside him, and his Adam's apple rolled unnaturally.
"Let's talk inside."
Song Jian interrupted the conversation, turned around and took He Jingyi and Song Qianzhao into the gate.
When passing through the screen wall, Song Jian suddenly stopped and said, "I heard that you beat Lu Ming in the restaurant." His voice was neither light nor heavy.
Song Qianzhao's heart trembled, and he said with a forced smile: "They were the first to attack."
Song Jian frowned and began to talk about moral principles again.
Song Qianzhao opened his mouth and swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his mouth.
Song Qianzhao has lived through two lifetimes and is well versed in the ways of the world. He has a lot of experience in how to get along with elders.
When elders lecture you, the easiest thing to do is to listen obediently. The more you argue back and explain, the more excited they become.
Seeing that he was silent, Song Jian thought he had heard it, so he said in a slightly slower tone, "Go back to your room... You have nothing to do these few days, so don't go out."
Song Qianzhao's eyes moved slightly, and he vaguely guessed that the scholars beaten by Fan Zhiyu might have some background.
Just as she was about to turn around, Song Jian suddenly asked, "What do you think of the Li Party?"
As soon as Song Jian said this, He Jingyi also stared at Song Qianzhao with a vigilant look.
They had already learned about the conversation between Song Qianzhao and Lu Ming and others in the restaurant. Song Qianzhao actually openly praised the Li Party and expressed the same views as the Li Party.
The Song family has been upright for generations and is a family of upright officials. They have always despised the Li Party. Now that the Li Party is powerful, they have deceived the emperor, framed ministers of remonstration, and persecuted virtuous and good people. They are hated by scholars, and even more so by upright officials.
If a member of the Li Party appeared in the Song family, their century-long reputation would be ruined, and they would never again be able to gain a foothold in the scholar community.
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