Dynasties come and go, but powerful families remain.
However, as Confucius once said, "If the ruler commands the subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die. Even if the subject truly does not want to die, but no one comes to save him..."
Ji Dongxue was almost in tears. To be fair, he was a good official who never accepted bribes, never abused his power, and often spoke up for the people.
However, he was a member of the old party and did not share the same mind with the emperor.
If you don't share the emperor's heart, even if you were the Duke of Zhou alive, you'd still have to obediently go to those remote and desolate places to govern the unruly people.
Sure enough, Ji Dongxue saw that things were not going well, but he was determined not to take the blame himself. Almost all the men in black in the Yongwang Mansion courtyard had been burned to death. Although they were burned beyond recognition, he could tell that they were clearly a group of assassins. In the present Dayong, those who could afford to support assassins were basically families that had been wealthy for more than three generations.
This kind of person would not easily provoke ordinary people. He is the Minister of Personnel of the dynasty, who speaks out for the people and will never yield to the powerful and wealthy!
Emperor Mingde had finally caught his breath, but seeing that Ji Dongxue neither admitted his mistake nor begged for forgiveness, he was so angry that he almost fainted again. His acting skills were truly remarkable.
Having finally caught his breath, he pointed a trembling finger at Ji Dongxue, "You will come with me to Qianzhou! No, to Zhuzhou!"
Qianzhou was fine, Liu Huan had been there too. Although the mountains were high and the rivers were long and the roads were difficult to travel, it was at least closer to the capital than Zhuzhou. But... Zhuzhou!
Zhuzhou, also known as the Western Regions by the common people, was a desolate place at that time, undeveloped and not yet one of the four major pastoral areas of the dynasty. The people of Zhuzhou lived a self-sufficient life of herding. If they had the leisurely thought of "picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence", it would have been a good place. But Ji Dongxue, a descendant of a scholarly family, would never have looked up to it.
He knew he was destined to be demoted, whether to Yunnan and Guizhou or to the far north, but to Zhuzhou! What a foolish emperor! He scrambled to his feet, pointed at Emperor Mingde, and cursed, "Foolish emperor! You listen to sycophants, appoint petty men, and are stubborn and selfish! The nation is in great misfortune! The world is in great misfortune! The country is in great misfortune! The people are in great misfortune!"
After venting several major misfortunes, I felt much better. Indeed, being an extraordinary and virtuous minister is truly satisfying!
"Ji Dongxue, you dare to defy the imperial decree!" Yan Shiren pointed at Ji Dongxue and said sternly, "You have the audacity to argue with your poor judgment in appointing people. If the Emperor were to keep you as Minister of Personnel, that would be true incompetence! First, you allowed virtuous officials to remain in the provinces instead of recommending them to the capital, which was already a dereliction of duty. Now, the Prince's residence has been attacked, and you still do not know how to repent?" After saying this, he turned and knelt down before Emperor Mingde, shouting, "Your Majesty is wise."
As he completed the gauntlet, everyone knelt down and shouted, "Your Majesty is wise!"
Lu Yuan glanced around. He was the only member of the New Party; the others must have been blocked outside by the Iron Cavalry. He was outnumbered and outmatched. He received Ji Dongxue's pleading look but ignored him. Self-preservation was the priority; he had no desire to go to Zhuzhou.
Thinking of this, Lu Yuan knelt down with a thud and lowered his head.
Ji Dongxue was heartbroken and only wanted to sing Qu Yuan's famous line, "The world is muddy, but I am clear; everyone is drunk, but I am sober." But he didn't sing it. He was not Qu Yuan, nor did he possess Qu Yuan's nobility. Emperor Mingde was not Prince Huai, but an ambitious emperor who wanted to reform.
Wei Caitao was still imprisoned in Wei Tingsi's private tent. He was so angry that he wanted to tear down the tent, but he was too weak to even kill a chicken. As the saying goes, a scholar can't reason with a strong soldier.
The assassins who had been following him had long since been knocked down by Wei Tingsi and were nowhere to be found. He paced anxiously in the tent, his gaze falling on the box by the bedside. The box looked somewhat familiar, and he looked at it carefully, but he couldn't remember that it was his wife's favorite box.
Although it wasn't particularly beautiful in appearance, the material was top-quality sandalwood. As he held the box in his hand, a faint fragrance lingered around his nose, persisting for a long time. Legend has it that sandalwood is immune to all poisons, immortal, and can ward off evil spirits.
The box was locked. He wanted to open it to see what was inside, but as soon as he touched the lock, the soldier outside shouted, "Lord Wei, you are the general's father. The general only allowed you into his private tent because of this. Please have some self-respect!"
Wei Caitao was so angry that he didn't care about his image anymore. He slammed the box down, strode to the door, lifted the tent flap, and glared at the guards. "I am a high-ranking official in the palace. Your general has detained me without authorization. This is an act of favoritism and perverting the law!"
The soldier looked at him like he was an idiot. "Lord Wei, this is the general's private tent, not within the camp area, and the general is protecting you!"
“You…” Wei Caitao was speechless.
The Sun family was in chaos at this time, with one side advocating unity and vowing never to separate, and the other advocating separation and the idea that "without separating the family, there is no way to continue the family line."
As the head of the family, Sun Ganzheng sat in the main seat and listened to the elders arguing for several hours. His temples throbbed and the veins on his fists bulged. Even though he was well-mannered, he couldn't help but get angry after hearing the loud discussions about how good it was to divide the family.
The elders of the Sun family were almost all of his generation, with a few of his uncles who were of a higher generation but were about the same age as him. At this moment, they were quoting classics with great enthusiasm.
Suddenly, his trusted aide Sun Qi came to his side and whispered in his ear, "Master, all our men are gone..."
Sun Gan clenched his fists, his short fingernails leaving deep marks on his palms, but his face remained expressionless as usual, revealing nothing about him.
"Uncle, eldest son." He called out to the clan elder and eldest son sitting next to him, stood up, flicked non-existent dust off his sleeves, and said, "Let's divide the family property."
Immediately, everyone fell silent. They had been arguing for two hours, and Sun Ganzheng had remained seated in the main seat without ever speaking. Now, he suddenly proposed dividing the family. As the head of the family, his word was law in the Sun family, and no one dared to disobey him. The elders who opposed the division of the family were at a loss for words.
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