Chapter 162: Imprisonment
The news of Fang Mingzhang's dismissal was not widely publicized in the city, for fear of alarming the students in the academy, because the emperor ordered that all of them be sent to Beidi.
Song Yuzhu's original words were "These people only study literature but not moralize. They will be a disaster even if they become officials in the future. It is better to simply end their official careers." The purpose of Xu Bing's trip was to deal with this matter.
"Exile to Beidi?!" Li Jie said in horror.
Xu Bing smiled and said, "The emperor was merciful by not directly ordering their execution. Exile at least provides a way out."
Li Jie took a deep breath in his heart. Sending a scholar to open up wasteland in Beidi was no less than sentencing him to death. It seemed that the emperor was really angry this time!
“There were so many participants that day, and we were afraid we might catch students who didn’t participate by mistake.”
Xu Bing said: "It's time to test you, you have to be careful when clearing the stage."
"Yes, sir." This matter was a bit tricky, but Xu Xiang had already overcome the most difficult hurdle of Fang Mingzhang, and the only thing left was a matter of time. If he sent more people to secretly investigate and visit, he would definitely be able to find all the students who participated in the march that day and forced Bailu Academy.
"Nothing, I will withdraw now."
"Wait, the emperor has another instruction." Xu Bing picked up the palace seal from the desk and handed it to him.
"His Majesty has ordered you to temporarily take over the post of Suzhou prefect. You are fully responsible for everything here."
Li Jie's eyes widened, and he quickly knelt down to take the seal: "I will not let the emperor down!"
"Go ahead."
After the others left, Xu Bing looked at his back and nodded slightly. The emperor's order was actually that if Li Jie did not do his job well, he would be sent back to the court, and someone else would be selected from the court to take over the post of Suzhou prefect. If Li Jie found out what happened in Suzhou, he would be left as the prefect temporarily.
Although it was a temporary appointment, he jumped three levels! In less than three years, this guy was promoted from a fifth-rank official to a third-rank official. Xu Bing could not think of anyone else who was so highly regarded by the emperor except Liu Lin.
A big part of the reason why Li Jie was favored by the emperor was that he was very supportive of women's admission to school.
It is not difficult to discover the emperor's various behaviors in recent years that he wants to help Princess Changle ascend to the throne.
Xu Bing leaned back in his chair, pressing his fingers between his eyebrows. He did not look down on women, nor did he object to women serving as officials in the court.
Take his wife Wang Tingyue for example. Her father was the imperial censor of the previous dynasty and also a great scholar. Influenced by her father, Mrs. Wang's ideas have surpassed those of most women in the world.
But even such a woman was still bound by the secular world, and even her marriage was almost ruined by the hands of a villain.
He had watched Changle grow up, she was smart, wise, and extremely clever. If it was a boy, he would definitely support it with both hands and feet. But she was a girl, and he was afraid that she would indulge in love affairs when she grew up...
It has not been easy for Daqi to develop to where it is today. Although the emperor is in his prime, his health has not been good. He always falls ill every winter, which makes him very worried.
There is no point in thinking too much. The emperor has no children, and it is even more impossible for him to adopt a collateral heir, so there is no solution to this problem.
Xu Bing sighed. His beard had turned white from worrying so much over the past few years. He could only place his hope on Changle, hoping that she could support Daqi like her brother.
*
On the other hand, the students of the academy thought that the incident at Bailu Academy was over. After all, such a long time had passed and no one had found them to ask about what happened that day.
Many people felt scared, and fortunately the court did not pursue the matter, otherwise it would have affected their studies and careers and would have been a loss.
However, for some people, this incident fostered the seeds of evil in their bodies. The worst among them was the scholar named Cao.
Cao Xiucai is already 27 or 28 years old this year. He was quite famous in Suzhou City because of his good academic performance in the early years. Later, he took part in the imperial examination, but failed several times in a row, which hit him hard.
From then on, he no longer focused on studying literature. When he had money, he went to brothels to drink and get drunk. When he had no money, he went to teahouses to brag.
Today, as usual, he was chased out by the servants in the brothel. Standing at the door, he spat and cursed: "Bah! You are such a dog-eyed person who looks down on others. When I become rich one day, I will strip all the girls in your brothel naked for people to enjoy!"
The servant was not angry either, and said with a smile: "Then wait until Master Cao becomes rich and then come back~"
Scholar Cao left the brothel cursing, with a few banknotes in his pocket. He went straight to a nearby teahouse to sober up and brag about his own glory that day.
He walked to the teahouse and sat down at a table in the middle. Cao Xiucai ordered a pot of the cheapest Maojian tea, took a sip of tea and spat out a few leaves, saying, "If you ask me, the most despicable place in Suzhou is Bailu Academy!"
Someone nearby immediately heard the voice and looked over and asked, "What do you mean?"
Scholar Cao leaned back in his chair and burped, saying, "This all started when thirteen people died in Bailu Academy a few days ago."
Everyone was attracted by him, and many people came over to listen to him bragging.
"I still remember it was a rainy day. I was talking with several classmates from Qinglu Academy. One of the scholars said that all academies in Suzhou Prefecture did not accept women, but Bailu Academy was the only one that had many women."
"I thought it was strange when I heard it. How could a girl have the ability and talent to study? To put it bluntly, isn't the purpose of going to the academy to make more friends with scholars and find a good marriage in the future?"
Someone around echoed, "That's right, women are born clumsy, and it's enough for them to serve men well. What's the point of studying?"
Scholar Cao laughed filthy: "Hehe, that's right! I don't know what the dean of Bailu Academy has in mind by keeping those female students. I thought it was inappropriate, so I gathered a few scholars from the academy to protest."
"More and more people are seeking justice. Qinglu Academy, Beizhang Academy, Yuntong Academy, Lanze Academy... they all went there. More than a thousand people blocked the entrance of Bailu Academy." Cao Xiucai listed the names of seven or eight academies in one breath. These academies were all quite famous academies in Suzhou.
"When we arrived at Bailu Academy, the dean tried to persuade us to go back. You said he had a big beard and was hiding in the classroom with more than ten women. I don't know what he was doing in there."
Perhaps the alcohol was taking effect, Mr. Cao was a little tipsy and started snoring while lying on the table.
The person next to him pushed him and asked, "What happened next?"
"Later... I said a few words, and the old man was actually pissed off to death, hahahaha. The women in the room were even more interesting. They bumped into the stone pier at the door one after another, like cracking eggs, and their brains were all over the floor..."
The noisy sounds around suddenly quieted down, leaving only Cao Xiucai's laughter, which seemed particularly eerie.
A group of soldiers rushed in from outside the door, picked up the silly-smiling Cao Xiucai, put him in handcuffs and dragged him away.
Everyone was so frightened that they didn't dare to breathe. They paid their bills and went home.
*
Scholar Cao was taken to the prison and was still drunk. The old jailer in charge of the interrogation took a cowhide whip dipped in salt water and hit him on the head. Two whips sobered him up.
He screamed, "Ah!!! Who hit me? Where is this? Let me go!"
The jailer spat and said, "I heard that Mr. Cao is very good at talking. He can make Dean Bai and more than a dozen girls angry to death with just a few words. Today I will give it a try." Then he rolled up his sleeves and slapped him dozens of times, causing Mr. Cao's mouth to be full of blood and seven or eight back teeth to spit out.
Only then did Cao Xiucai realize that he had been thrown into jail because of the incident at Bailu Academy.
"I...I was just talking nonsense, please forgive me, sir!"
The jailer spat a mouthful of thick phlegm, picked up the whip and whipped him more than ten times, leaving his skin torn and flesh exposed, and he was dying.
The jailer outside the gate came in and said, "Old Liu, please be gentle. Don't beat this scholar to death because he has such delicate skin and tender flesh."
"Oh." The jailer then picked up Mr. Cao and threw him into the dirtiest cell, where rats and cockroaches were crawling all over the floor. He was seriously injured and it depended on God's will whether he could survive.
The jailer squatted at the door and said coldly, "Boy, do you know that one of the girls who died in Bailu Academy was my niece?"
Scholar Cao looked horrified. How could he know all this?
"Our little girl has been smart since she was young. She is better at studying than boys. She said she wanted to pass the imperial examination and buy wine for her uncle. It's a pity for me that I can never drink her wine again."
"You really deserve to die!"
Mr. Cao was so frightened that his eyelids fluttered and he fainted completely.
*
Within a few days, students from various academies were thrown into jail. Due to the large number of people arrested, the jail cells in the government office could not accommodate them all, so the extra people were locked up in the stables of the Bingmasi.
Among them were also sons of wealthy families. When their parents heard the news, they immediately took gold and silver and prepared to use their connections to release the children.
Before dawn, there were more than ten horse-drawn carriages parked in front of the government office, and almost all the people in the carriages had not slept all night.
Yesterday they suddenly received news that their nephews were suddenly taken away by soldiers. They rushed over overnight in a hurry to ask what had happened.
There were three gorgeously dressed people sitting in a spacious carriage. The fat man in the middle was Lin Xiaoen, a wealthy man from Suzhou. His only son, Lin Feng, was locked up.
Sitting on both sides were Lin Xiaoen’s wife, Ms. Gao, and the other was Suzhou Tongpan Gao Shijin, who was also Lin Xiaoen’s brother-in-law.
"So Feng'er was arrested because he participated in the parade a few days ago?" Lin Xiaoen asked.
Gao Shijin nodded: "This incident alarmed the court, and they sent an imperial envoy to investigate the case."
"It's not a big deal, why do you suddenly arrest people? The weather has been getting colder these days, I hope Feng'er won't freeze tonight." Gao muttered.
"If I had known this would happen, I would have sent Feng'er to Zhongzhou to study." Gao blamed her brother a little. She only had this one son. If anything happened to him, how would she live?
Gao Shijin also felt a little aggrieved: "I just received the news today. Who could have thought that they would suddenly attack."
Lin Xiaoen comforted his wife and said, "Okay, Shijin can't do anything about this. The most important thing right now is to find a way to get Feng'er out first."
Gao Shijin nodded: "That's right, everything will be easy as long as we see Lord Fang." Given his relationship with Fang Mingzhang, releasing his nephew would be just a matter of a word.
There were many people who shared the same idea as them. They did not know that Fang Mingzhang had been dismissed from office, and they did not take the matter seriously. After all, there were thousands of students detained, and the law did not punish the masses, so the court would not do anything to them.
There were even students who held a poetry reading in prison. They laughed and joked, saying that holding a poetry reading in prison was quite interesting.
They were unaware that their future had come to an end and what awaited them was endless suffering and cold.
(End of this chapter)
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