The person who spoke was the Minister of Rites Shi Chaoyuan. He had an angry look on his face and spoke in a heavy tone.
Fu Xiaoguan glanced back at him and replied, "I am not a Jinshi."
"You...! This is the Golden Palace. Even if you are not a Jinshi, you still have to kneel before the emperor!"
Fu Xiaoguan touched his nose and laughed at Shi Chaoyuan. "I don't know who you are, but I know the emperor is sitting there. And the kind eunuch just now clearly said that the ten Jinshi scholars came to see the emperor. I am not a Jinshi scholar to begin with. Am I supposed to pretend to be one? Isn't that a crime of deceiving the emperor?"
Shi Chaoyuan was about to speak when Fu Xiaoguan said, "I have no grudge against you. Today is my first time in the palace to see the emperor. Why do you want to kill me? Old man, being kind to others will eventually bring blessings. If your majesty asked me to kneel, I would definitely kneel faster than anyone else, but your majesty didn't ask me to kneel!"
Shi Chaoyuan never expected that this little brat from Linjiang would dare to contradict him in front of His Majesty and all the ministers in the Golden Palace. He is the Minister of Rites. If he can't save his face, he will become a laughing stock in the future!
"You little brat, you're so sharp-tongued! I'm the Minister of Rites. You've shown no respect for etiquette in the Golden Palace, and refused to kneel before the Emperor. I've tried to teach you a lesson, but you dared to contradict me. You're disrespectful of your superiors and your reading of sages in vain. According to the law, you deserve fifty lashes! Someone, come!"
Fu Xiaoguan was angry, so he simply turned around and faced Shi Chaoyuan.
"Wait a minute! What an imposing authority! Since you are the Minister of Rites, you must understand the concept of etiquette best. Let me ask you, where does the saying 'If you don't learn etiquette, you can't establish yourself' come from?"
"The Analects of Confucius, Chapter 16 of Ji Shi"
"Let me ask you again, from which book do the rituals, which govern the state, establish the country, order the people, and establish successors, come?"
"Zuo Zhuan, Yin Gong Eleventh Year"
"Very good, you are indeed educated. Now let me ask you one last question: since you know etiquette, why don't you follow it?"
Shi Chaoyuan's brows sank, "Where has this official violated etiquette?"
Fu Xiaoguan stepped forward and said, "This is the Golden Palace, and His Majesty is here. His Majesty hasn't even spoken yet, yet you're already impatient to accuse me. Do you even take His Majesty seriously? If you don't take His Majesty seriously, how can you possibly take the word of propriety to heart?"
"You...you are slandering me!" Shi Chaoyuan pointed at Fu Xiaoguan, his hair and beard standing on end.
"You're calling me a slanderer? That kind eunuch clearly said it was the ten Jinshi scholars who were to meet the Emperor. I declare again, I'm not a Jinshi! Yet you're accusing me of deceiving the Emperor! Am I the one who's slandering you, or are you just trying to cover up the truth?"
"You are just a commoner from the mountains. It is customary for you to kneel before the emperor in the temple and pay homage to him. This has nothing to do with these ten people!"
Hundreds of court officials seemed to be sleepwalking at this moment.
What is going on?
How could this kid Fu Xiaoguan be so bold as to directly confront the Minister of Rites?
And it seems that the current situation is quite unfavorable for Shi Chaoyuan. This guy is holding on to the phrase "Ten Jinshi are here to see the emperor". He is indeed not a Jinshi, but shouldn't everyone who enters the Golden Palace kneel before the emperor? So Minister Shi can't be said to be wrong.
So who is right and who is wrong now?
Someone raised his eyes and glanced at the emperor, who was watching with great interest at the moment, and seemed to have no intention of stopping this farce.
The ten kneeling Jinshi felt really fucked up.
I wasted more than an hour waiting for this guy, and finally arrived at the Golden Palace to meet the emperor. I was thinking of getting into the top three in the palace examination, but this guy actually dared to argue with the Minister of Rites. We still have to take the exam, can you please just calm down?
Shi Yiming's face was very gloomy because Fu Xiaoguan was talking to his uncle!
When this is over, if I don’t break all five of your legs, I won’t be called Shi!
He is indeed a fool from the countryside, daring to provoke the Shi family, one of the six major families!
Just when everyone was shocked and lost in thought, Fu Xiaoguan actually took another step forward. He was only two arms' length away from Shi Chaoyuan.
"Without learning etiquette, one cannot establish oneself. You only know one side of the story, not the other. Let me explain it to you! What is etiquette? Xunzi said that without etiquette, people cannot survive, without etiquette, things cannot be accomplished, and without etiquette, the country cannot be at peace. Therefore, without etiquette, not only will it be difficult to establish oneself, but it will even lead to unrest in the country. For example, in this court, Your Majesty is the supreme leader. Your Majesty hasn't even spoken yet, but you have spoken. This is a lack of etiquette, breaking the rules, and disrespecting the emperor! If all the civil and military officials in the court are like you, can etiquette still exist? Can this country still be at peace? You are the Minister of Rites, you should understand the principles of respect and inferiority, and you should understand the principles of the state, the order of the people, and the benefit of future generations. But what you do, do you have any etiquette at all? You are trying to disrupt the court order, bring disaster to the world, and expose Your Majesty to the spit of the people!"
"you……!"
"What do you mean by 'you'?" Fu Xiaoguan took another step forward. "You are such a traitor! Where is the dignity of the emperor? Where is the dignity of all the ministers? I'm telling you today, His Majesty is always above you. You have no right to speak until His Majesty speaks! It's like your father hasn't spoken, but you, as his son, are talking nonsense. If I were your father, I would slap you right there and then, you ignorant thing!"
"puff……!"
Shi Chaoyuan spat out a mouthful of blood, and Fu Xiaoguan dodged it with a quick move. Shi Chaoyuan's trembling hand was still pointing at Fu Xiaoguan, but he tilted his head back and fell to the ground with a bang.
He is still not as powerful as Stephen Chow. He just spat out blood.
Fu Xiaoguan raised his eyebrows slightly and pursed his lips, then turned around and took two steps forward.
"Your humble servant, Fu Xiaoguan, pays homage to the Emperor. Long live the Emperor!"
He bowed, and the ministers behind him seemed to wake up from a dream.
Emperor Yu Yin said to the eunuch Jia beside him, "Call the imperial physician."
Xu Huaishu, the Minister of Rites standing at the back of the hall, kept looking at Fu Xiaoguan. From his initial worry to his current even greater worry, his expression became increasingly gloomy.
This kid really has the same temper as his mother. He can't afford to suffer any loss, but he will suffer a big loss afterwards!
He sighed, hoping that Yun Qing's spirit in heaven would protect him.
The emperor looked at Fu Xiaoguan who was kneeling below, and he liked him more and more. This kid is great. He expressed what I was thinking!
During normal court meetings, they all wish I wouldn't say anything and just listen. If I'm a little tougher, they'll say I'm stubborn and don't care about the country. If I'm even tougher, they'll all resign or bang their heads against the wall!
I feel relieved today!
I am the Son of Heaven. If I don't speak, how can you be qualified to speak?
It would be perfect if this kid could attack them one by one and make them vomit blood, especially the old guy Yan Beixi. If he could be beaten to death... Well, this old guy can't be killed yet, forget it, let's end it here.
"Get up."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
"Next up is the palace examination. Ten Jinshi candidates will take their seats... Official Fu, you will go too."
Fu Xiaoguan was stunned. Only Jinshi candidates were eligible to participate in the palace examination. What did the emperor mean?
But this was what the emperor said himself, so he dared not disobey, so he obediently sat at the last table.
There were pens, inkstones, and paper on the table. The emperor stood up and said, "Today is the palace examination. I have prepared a question for you eleven to answer. Listen carefully, this question is: What is the basis of war?"
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