Chapter 1627: The True Champion’s Skill

The dark prison was filled with the stench of years of decay, a paradise for bedbugs, fleas and rats. Desperate groans echoed in my ears, the cries of prisoners who had just been tortured or were dying of illness.

In such a terrible environment, people can only rely on the most tenacious will to support themselves from collapse. And the tenacious will comes from a firm belief. When the belief is disintegrated, collapse will follow.

Deng and Xiong were already scared to death when they learned that their host had suffered heavy bleeding. After being severely criticized by Shen Shixing, their belief in sacrificing their lives to defend the truth collapsed.

The two of them cried and said that they were too young and naive, and sometimes they were naive. They were sorry for the cultivation of the master...

"The first people you should let down are the emperor and the country." Shen Shixing said earnestly, "You must reflect on this!"

"Yes, yes." The two nodded hurriedly and cried even harder.

"Okay, stop crying." Shen Shixing said as he took out two manuscripts from his sleeves, "This is the confession I wrote for you. If you think it's okay, copy it down to avoid making mistakes again.

"Thank you, teacher." Deng Yizan and Xiong Dunpu were completely intimidated by Shen Shixing, and they obediently copied down the two memorials word for word.

Zhao Shouzheng was also dumbfounded. Old Shen was usually very well-behaved and didn't even read "Jin Ping Mei". He didn't expect that he would be so wild.

"Brother Gongming, do you have anything to add?" Shen Shixing asked politely.

"No, no." Zhao Shouzheng waved his hands quickly, fearing that he might say something wrong and ruin Shen Shixing's plan to deceive people.

"Well, go back and wait patiently." Shen Shixing nodded and said to the two pitiful people, "There will be good news soon. But there is one thing, don't talk nonsense anymore."

"Teacher, don't worry. We won't tell anyone even if you kill us." The two nodded rapidly. Xiong Dunpu even wiped his tears and said, "I regret it so much. Those people are so evil..."

Before Xiao Xiong could finish his words, he saw Shen Shixing's eyes suddenly turn cold. He could not help but shiver and quickly swallowed the words.

"If you keep talking nonsense, don't even think about getting out of the imperial prison." Shen Shixing waved his hand coldly.

The two men huddled together, bowed and said goodbye to the two ministers, and were then taken away by the jailer.

~~

After a while, the newly-appointed Jinshi Zou Yuanbiao was taken into the prison cell which served as an interrogation room.

As soon as he saw the two of them, Zou Yuanbiao knelt down, kowtowed and sobbed, "I'm sorry to have worried you two teachers!"

Shen Shixing and Zhao Shouzheng were the chief examiners and deputy chief examiners of the examination.

"Oh, Erzhan. You are so confused! Why don't you discuss such a big thing with us two?" Although Shen Shixing was blaming him, his tone was full of deep affection.

"I was so angry that I wrote a letter in anger, but I was afraid that it would implicate the two teachers." Zou Yuanbiao said with shame on his face, "I didn't expect that the two teachers would still risk their lives for the students."

"Since you call me teacher, we can't ignore you. We have to pull you out even if it's a dangerous place." Shen Shixing sighed, "Of course, I know that you have a sense of justice and passion, and I absolutely believe that your original intention in submitting the petition was good."

"Yes..." Zou Yuanbiao nodded, straightened his back and said, "My idol is Mr. Lan Gu, my senior from our family!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Shixing glanced at Zhao Shouzheng. He roughly understood why Zou Yuanbiao suddenly jumped out.

The so-called Mr. Lan Gu was Zou Yinglong, who was famous for impeaching Yan Song. He was as famous as Hai Rui at the time. He enforced the law impartially and without favoritism. During the Longqing period, he punished Feng Bao's lackeys several times, which made Feng Bao hate him.

At the beginning of the Wanli reign, Zou Yinglong was sent to Yunnan as governor. After his generals were defeated, Feng Bao seized the opportunity and arranged for someone to submit a memorial to impeach him. As a result, he was demoted to a commoner and never employed again.

During this process, Zhang Juzheng and Zou Yinglong, who were from the same school, just stood by and watched coldly. Naturally, this attracted criticism from scholars, who believed that he deliberately did not help Feng Bao in order to please him, and even helped him to commit atrocities.

This is probably the origin of Zou Yuanbiao's dislike for Zhang Juzheng.

"Take a look at this first." Shen Shixing pointed to two memorials on the table, with wet ink next to them, obviously having just been written.

"Yes." Zou Yuanbiao replied, and then he picked it up and looked at it. It was a letter of apology from Deng and Xiong. As he read it, his face gradually turned pale, and his back became less straight.

He wrote the letter to express his support for the person, but now that the person responsible has pleaded guilty, of course he has lost his position.

"See? They have admitted that they were deceived and thought that this would help their teacher, but they didn't expect that it would make Mr. Zhang sick!" Shen Shixing raised his voice slightly, and said with a look of regret:

"They were both sold out and still helped others count money. You are not even a fool! How many days have you passed the imperial examination? You don't even have a formal official position now. You are just observing government affairs in the ministry. What does observing government affairs mean? Tell me!"

"Teacher, those who observe politics should observe all political affairs and be familiar with the political system before appointing them to positions."

"To put it bluntly, we are asking you to learn how to be an official. Have you learned it now?" Shen Shixing asked in an increasingly stern tone.

"No." Zou Yuanbiao shook his head in shame. After passing the imperial examination, he took a leave of absence and returned to his hometown for half a year. He had only been back to work at the Ministry of Justice for a few days and had not yet figured out what the Thirteenth Office of the Ministry of Justice was doing.

"How dare you talk nonsense about state affairs and ridicule the Prime Minister?!" Shen Shixing slammed the table heavily and shouted angrily:

"How dare you, a bookworm who knows nothing, say 'Your Majesty, is the rule of justice beneficial to the country?' - Can't you see what changes have taken place in the country in the six years since Prime Minister Zhang took office? If this is not beneficial to the country, then what is it?!"

"Mr. Zhang is a man of extraordinary talent, even his political enemies acknowledge this. But how dare you say something like, 'Ju Zheng may have potential, but his academic knowledge is biased; although he has ambitions, he is too self-righteous!'" Shen Shixing became angrier as he spoke, but he always spoke clearly, as if he was afraid that the Jiangxi man in front of him would not understand his Wu-accented Mandarin.

"You cited three examples - the facilities are out of place: the number of students is reduced, so the number of talents is not wide enough! The number of prisoners is always too high, which means the punishment is too indiscriminate! And the Yellow River is flooding, the people are suffering, but the government does not care." Shen Shixing refuted:

"Let's talk about the Yellow River flooding first. You said the court didn't care? Well, let me ask you, since the second year of Longqing, how many river ministers have been replaced in order to repair the Yellow River? How many plans have been changed, and how much money has been invested every year?"

"This..." Zou Yuanbiao was dumbfounded and unable to answer.

"Let me tell you, there have been five river ministers! Five plans! The annual investment is no less than one million taels! The court has never ignored it!" Shen Shixing sneered:

"I also tell you that the reduction in the number of students is to crack down on those uneducated landlords and merchants who steal the students' fame and evade the court's taxes!"

"The reason why the prisons are always full is because officials pursue the so-called reputation of benevolence. Even the most vicious people are killed, so the evil people are unscrupulous and the social atmosphere is corrupted! The purpose of killing more people is to reverse the overly lenient punishments in the past decade, so that the good people can be free from fear. This is the real benevolent government!" Shen Shixing seemed to treat the imperial prison as a classroom, and sternly taught his students:

"National laws are meant to serve the vast majority of the country's people. They are not a tool for some officials to make money, nor should they be a shelter for evil people! What did you learn in the Ministry of Justice? I think you were brainwashed by that Ai Mu?!"

"Yes..." Zou Yuanbiao was sweating profusely, and nodded dejectedly: "The student was deeply influenced by Mr. Xiting."

Xiting is Ai Mu's nickname.

"He is a juren, and he made shocking remarks and did shocking things in order to stand out! You are a genuine jinshi, do you need to follow the crowd to attract attention? It is so childish!" Shen Shixing scolded him:

"Think back to the sad words in the memorial. Is that something a normal official would say? You have been deeply poisoned by him!"

How could Zou Yuanbiao, a newcomer to the officialdom, withstand Shen Zhuangyuan's bone-melting palm? He finally broke down completely, and knelt on the ground, crying and saying:

"The students were indeed led astray by Aimu..."

"Okay, stop crying." Shen Shixing then slowed down his tone and said, "Do you really know you are wrong?"

"I really understand..." Zou Yuanbiao blew his nose and nodded vigorously.

Shen Zhuangyuan tried to persuade him with emotion and reason, then let him stand up. He took out the third draft from his sleeve and said:

"The teacher has written a letter of apology for you..."

~~

The fourth person brought in was Shen Sixiao, the head of the Ministry of Justice.

Shen Shixing changed his previous friendly attitude towards the two young Hanlin scholars Deng and Xiong, and no longer treated them as his students like he did to Zou Yuanbiao. He sat at the head of the square table and said nothing, just staring straight at Shen Sixiao.

Manager Shen felt uneasy when he was looked at. He lowered his head and dared not look at Mr. Shen. Just then he saw three memorials placed in front of him, and his heart immediately tightened.

"Look if you want." Shen Shixing said calmly.

After Shen Sixiao thanked him, he picked up the three memorials and started looking through them. His face changed immediately.

It’s not just because those in the front and the back have all given in, because in their confessions, Deng Yizan, Xiong Dunpu, and Zou Yuanbiao all confessed that they were bewitched by someone—

The first two said that someone told them that persuading the teacher in the capacity of a student would be very effective, and that those people would follow suit and no one would be punished.

Zou Yuanbiao said that a predecessor told them that every official had the obligation to submit a memorial for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, so he followed suit.

Although no one was named, he and Ai Mu were the only ones who wrote the letter right after Deng and Xiong!

Zou Yuanbiao followed the other two in submitting the petition, and all three of them were from the Ministry of Justice...

What the hell is the difference between this and naming names?

"How could they do this?" Shen Sixiao's face turned green. Well, once these three confessions were submitted, he and Ai Mu went from being sacrificing their lives for justice to being the culprits who used the star change to incite chaos and plot against the prime minister.

"The day after the star change, you five and two others had a drink together at the Hu Family Restaurant in Dengshikou. What did you talk about at that time? Do you need me to repeat it?" Shen Shixing said coldly.

Zhao Shouzheng was stunned. This was what Zou Yuanbiao had just told them. Shen Shixing's skill in cooking and selling fresh food would be a pity if he didn't open a snack shop.

Over there, Shen Sixiao was still looking at Zhao Shouzheng eagerly, hoping that this noble classmate could say something for him. However, Zhao Zhuangyuan didn't notice him at all, and was still immersed in Shen Zhuangyuan's tricks...

"For Brother Gongming's sake, I'll give you a chance." Shen Shixing said, pulling out the fourth draft from his sleeve and said, "Copy it, or go out and let Ai Mu come in."

(End of this chapter)