West Warm Pavilion.

Emperor Longqing felt nervous because of the constant talk from his trusted eunuchs.

There was another long silence, and he said with great difficulty: "Shi Xing, the official in the Ministry of Personnel, acted rashly while in the palace, took the initiative to stir up trouble, and should be punished for the same crime."

"Your Majesty, if a censor commits a crime, he will be punished three levels higher..." Teng Xiang reminded in a low voice.

"Shut up." Long Qing glared at him and said, "What good will it do you if you kill him?"

Feng Bao secretly tugged at Teng Xiang's sleeve, signaling him to quit while he was ahead.

"Yes." Teng Xiang quickly shrank his neck and dared not say any more nonsense.

~~

The canteen system in government offices has a long history, dating back to the Qin and Han dynasties. It was later popularized and promoted by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and then became a custom. As the saying goes, "All the offices in the capital and the prefectures and counties all over the country have public kitchens." Even the most stingy dynasties did not abolish it.

Yes, I'm talking about you, Da Meng.

The public kitchen of the cabinet was located in the back room of Wenyuan Pavilion. Although the food was not as luxurious as the imperial meals, it was slightly better in terms of elegance and taste.

At this time, more than twenty officials who were slightly injured or not injured enjoyed the rare treatment of Grand Secretary.

After taking a bath and changing into clean clothes, they sat at the long table where the Zhongshu Sheren and Sizhilang ate. Looking at the sumptuous meal served, they found it difficult to swallow for a moment.

"It's all so kind of you, gentlemen. Let's use some of your money." Until Section Chief Zhu took the lead and picked up a piece of pickled cucumber.

The other censors then reluctantly picked up their chopsticks and took a symbolic bite.

Mmm, it smells really good...

Then I remembered that I didn't eat breakfast. Never mind, I won't bother with the food.

So the next moment, the censors began to use their chopsticks quickly and eat the food in big mouthfuls.

"Hmm, this pickled cucumber is delicious."

"Woo woo, delicious, delicious..."

"This is the method passed down by Lord Yan. Liubiju's pickles were made from him."

"Then I'll eat one more bowl of rice..."

The censors were devouring the food and enjoying it very much. Suddenly, a sharp and high-pitched voice came from the front of Wenyuan Pavilion:

"There is an imperial decree!"

The censors hurriedly took a few bites of food and a few gulps of rice, then wiped their mouths and trotted out to listen to the emperor's orders.

In front of Wenyuan Pavilion, the Grand Secretary and the servants were already waiting there.

Mr. Zhang appeared out of nowhere and was talking to Li Chunfang in a low voice.

"Hurry up, we're waiting for you." The strict father Chen Ge Lao called on the officials to line up according to their shifts.

Then everyone knelt down and listened to the imperial decree.

"Your Majesty, I have discovered that the eunuchs Lü Yong, Gao Xiang, Tao Jin, and Xu Yi are resentful and believe that Zuo Shunmen will not punish those who kill others. They have gathered people in the Forbidden Palace to ambush the censors. However, after searching through the classics, I have not found such a law. Moreover, Zuo Shunmen has now been renamed Huijimen, so we cannot just follow the tradition. We must punish them severely to serve as a warning to others!"

Meng Chong, who came to deliver the imperial edict, read aloud: "Order the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Internal Affairs Department to arrest and interrogate the perpetrators. Tie the principal offender to the inner factory, beat him with 60 sticks, and send him into exile. The accomplices will be beaten with 30 sticks to see the effect."

When the censors heard this, although they were still confused, they felt a lot better.

However, we haven’t even had our meal yet, so is this matter over?

Of course not.

Meng Chong paused for a moment, then announced in a cold voice: "Shi Xing, the official in the Ministry of Personnel, acted rashly in the Forbidden Palace, took the initiative to stir up trouble, and should be punished for the same crime! I decree this!"

After delivering the decree, Eunuch Meng gnashed his teeth and said to the officials, "Are you satisfied now?!"

"Uh..." The officials were all stunned and at a loss as to what to do.

We haven't even started to criticize... oh no, we haven't even made a move yet, but the emperor has handled the matter at lightning speed?

"What kind of new trick is this?" the censors screamed in their hearts.

Especially the big guy Shi Xing who was kneeling at the end, he almost fainted, what did I do? Why did they hit me too?

Oh yeah, I used my Iron Sand Palm to slap a guy away...

He stared blankly at his right hand, then slapped it hard with his left hand.

Why can't I control this hand?!

~~

In front of Wenyuan Pavilion, the eunuch Meng Chong waited for a long time without any response, and could not help but frowned and said, "Chief Zhu, come and receive the decree!"

Section Chief Zhu was feeling depressed, thinking to himself, did Ouyang curse the God and predict that he would have a disaster today? So he made up an excuse not to come?

Just as he was about to reach out his hand, he heard a secretary suddenly shout:

"How can we hastily close the case before the judicial trial is completed? We must refute this imperial edict!"

"Huh?" Meng Chong was stunned, thinking: Can this be rejected?

"Nonsense!" Zhang Juzheng turned around and scolded, "Your Majesty is handling palace affairs. What right do the six departments have to refute them?!"

"Uh..." The Jieshizhong was stunned, thinking that it was true. The six departments refuted the imperial edicts sent to the outer court. When could they refute the imperial edicts that had nothing to do with the outer court?

Will His Majesty be allowed to speak?

"Mr. Zhang, are you just going to watch the eunuchs bully us like this?" another official said angrily.

"Fuck you!" Meng Chong was so angry that he rushed to him, lowered his head, widened his eyes, and said with trembling cheeks: "Nearly twenty people in our inner court were punished, and there was only one of you. Who is bullying who?!"

"You are the one who set us up!" No matter whether their arguments were reasonable or not, the censors would never lose their momentum.

"You were the ones who started it!" Meng Chong's eyes were red, and he looked like he wanted to kill someone.

"Shut up!" Zhang Juzheng and the two ministers could not bear it any longer and stepped forward to yell at both sides to calm down.

Then Zhang Juzheng looked at the censors expressionlessly and said, "You six officials are responsible for upholding the laws of the court. Are you going to take the lead in disobeying the order?"

A huge hat was put on them, and the officials immediately lowered their heads.

Section Chief Zhu looked at Shi Xing deeply and sighed, "Good brother, I will burn paper for you."

Then he took the yellow page with both hands and shouted at the top of his lungs: "I will obey your order!"

"Take him away!" Meng Chong gave the order.

The Eastern Depot thugs rushed forward and tied up Shi Xing.

"Tie him a few more times, he's a martial artist!" Meng Chong snorted coldly.

The guards then wrapped several layers of cowhide rope around him, added iron locks and chains, tied him up like a dumpling, and took him away.

The officials were filled with sadness, but they didn't know where to start. They could only follow behind silently and leave Wenyuan Pavilion.

Zhang Juzheng watched the censors leave in a daze with an expressionless face, then turned and went into the duty room.

Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin secretly gave a thumbs up. They didn't expect that an incident that was about to lead to a big chaos was settled so easily by Zhang Xianggong.

"Amazing, worthy of being Zhang Jiangling." Chen Yiqin walked back with his hands behind his back, saying, "He helped His Majesty defend his authority, and he himself was not implicated. He taught the inner court a lesson, and they felt it was acceptable. He also taught the censors a lesson, and left them speechless."

"And by the way, we can tell the censors to stop bothering us with the young minister's affairs." Li Chunfang also smiled and said, "Alas, but if we do this, the secretaries will be so upset that they will explode."

"It's better to hold it in for a while. They can't just cause trouble for others, they can't allow others to feel disgusted with them too, right?" Chen Yiqin spread his hands and said, "It has nothing to do with the cabinet anyway, so let them be angry if they want."

"Ha..." Li Chunfang was about to laugh, but suddenly he remembered that there were still a group of injured people in the west duty room in front of the building. He quickly covered his mouth, looking quite funny.

ps. Third update, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes~~~