On the Wufeng Tower, Emperor Longqing counted the blows that fell on Zhao Shouzheng's buttocks.

Every blow felt like a knife cutting into his heart.

"Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen..." A shattering sound rang in Longqing's ears. It was the sound of a whole set of "Jin Ping Mei" shattering porcelain!

"Eighteen, nineteen, twenty!" The emperor held onto the arrow stack with a distressed look on his face, tears streaming down his face.

"Feng Bao, you bastard, this is not a beating, this is throwing my secret porcelain into the moat..."

~~

At the Meridian Gate, after the twenty beatings were completed, the Imperial Guards untied Mr. Zhao's straitjacket and presented him with a door panel.

Zhao Hao and the young master hurried forward, grabbed the felt blanket under Zhao Shouzheng and tried to lift him onto the door.

"I can do it myself..." Zhao Shouzheng thought to himself, in fact, it would be right to help me pull up my pants first.

"No, father, you can't." Zhao Hao pressed his shoulders and said with a little force: "You are already seriously injured, close your eyes and have a good sleep. Even if the sky falls, it has nothing to do with you."

"..." Zhao Shouzheng smacked his lips, wondering what was going on? But he knew it was right to listen to his son, so he closed his eyes obediently.

But if he knew that all nineteen of his strokes from the second to the twentieth were thanks to his son, I wonder how he would feel?

~~

"Ah, is that all?"

Xu Fan, Dong Chuanze and others on the side seemed a little bored.

"Why does it feel like it's not as exciting as when I beat Yuanchun?" Xu Fan smacked his lips, feeling a little itchy.

"Hey." As the Dali Temple Chief Justice, Dong Chuanze was no stranger to the art of beating people with a stick. After all, the Dali Temple also had a group of professionals who made a living from this.

He whispered to Xu Yuanchun, "This is not a beating, this is just a show. Do you believe that if we find a dog to chase Zhao Shouzheng now, he will run away when he gets off the ground?"

"Oh?" Xu Yuanchun suddenly felt like he had eaten a fly.

This is a royal caning, such a sacred thing, how can it be falsified?

It simply tarnishes the reputation of the industry!

Just as Xu Fan was about to protest, Dong Chuanze pulled him back and said with a wry smile, "How can you verify the authenticity of such a thing? Do you believe that someone can whip the meat off your buttocks in two strokes with the same board?"

Xu Fan was no longer in the court, but Lord Dong still had to. The mountains were high and the rivers were long, and the stirrups were short. He didn't know when the stick would hit him on the buttocks, so he didn't dare to offend professionals.

As they were talking, Zhao Hao and others had already carried Zhao Shouzheng towards Chengtian Gate.

"Let's go too." Xu Fan said gloomily. He felt very unhappy now. It was like paying a lot of money to invite a troupe to perform, but the actors on stage lip-synced.

"Let's go." Dong Chuanze's energy had obviously been drained away.

He had been feeling uneasy ever since the beating in court began. He felt as if he had gone from being a positive character who was grateful and spoke up for justice to a treacherous minister who abused his power to oppress others and harmed loyal people.

The two of them and several imperial censors including Zhu Wenke also walked towards Chengtian Gate.

~~

Outside Chengtian Gate, more than two hundred newly-appointed Jinshi were eagerly waiting there.

The adults who participated in the court meeting had already returned to the yamen, but they waited and waited, but Big Brother never came out.

Seeing that the sun was already setting, everyone began to feel anxious.

"I hope nothing has happened to my brother?" The young officials lacked self-control to begin with, and now they began to have wild thoughts.

"Don't talk nonsense. Didn't Uncle Zhong ask this just now?" Zhang Wei, Shen Yikuan and other experienced people calmed everyone down and said, "The result of the court discussion is not to punish my brother."

"Zhongbo" is not someone's housekeeper, but Zhao Zhigao's pen name. Like Zhang Siwei, he is the rising star of the Jin Party. When Yang Bo, Huo Ji, Wang Guoguang and other Jin Party leaders came out just now, they came forward to ask about the result.

"Then why haven't you come out yet?"

"Perhaps Your Majesty will keep some words to say." Zhao Zhigao said with a smile: "But I guess he will scold you."

"Haha, go ahead and scold me, it's worth it to beat the young cabinet minister into retirement with a few punches and kicks."

As everyone was talking and laughing, they suddenly saw Zhao Hao and his entourage, carrying Zhao Shouzheng on a door panel, coming out of Chengtian Gate in great sorrow.

Although he had only been an official for more than a month, everyone was familiar with this scene.

Half a month ago, Shi Xing, the official in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, was brought out in this way...

"Brother!" There was a burst of exclamations, and all the classmates rushed up like a tide, surrounding Zhao Shouzheng tightly.

"Brother, what's wrong with you? Wake up, brother!"

“Brother…”

Hearing those cries that were as sad as the weeping cuckoo's blood, Zhao Shouzheng wanted to open his eyes and tell them that he was fine... except for the burning pain in his butt.

But he was pinched by Zhao Hao's hand under the felt.

He quickly closed his eyes and dared not say a word.

"Don't panic, my father just fainted." Then Zhao Hao said loudly to everyone, "Please make way for us. We will quickly find a doctor to treat his wounds!"

"Hey, OK." The classmates responded quickly, and then they reacted and asked in unison:

"What? A stick wound. Did brother get beaten with a stick in the court?!"

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded, suppressing his sadness.

"Why?!" Shocked and puzzled voices immediately resounded throughout Chengtian Gate. "Wasn't the result of the court discussion to exempt from punishment?"

"Alas, this is the condition for Lord Xu to retire. The young Lord and Tingwei Dong are still watching." Wang Wuyang pointed behind him angrily and said, "If Your Majesty does not punish our master, they will refuse to leave."

"What?!" A group of young officials jumped up and started to greet Xu Fan and Dong Chuanze's eight generations of ancestors.

Just at this time, the two men came out of Chengtian Gate with their men.

Seeing the public outrage, Xu Fan and the others had a bad feeling and tried to escape quickly.

"Stop!" Seeing the two villains trying to run away out of guilt, the hot-tempered old brothers immediately started chasing after them.

"Traitor, where are you going? Grandpa is going to squeeze your balls out!"

"Revenge for my brother!"

But Xu Fan and Dong Chuanze were scared. If they were caught by this group of lunatics, they would be beaten into pieces.

"Stop them!" The two men ordered Zhu Wenke and several imperial censors, and then ran towards You'anmen!

"Don't chase us, let's talk it out...oh..." Several imperial censors who were trying to stop a chariot with their bare hands were quickly drowned in the crowd.

Then a group of young officials in the second year of Longqing continued to chase the two culprits.

Xu Fan and Dong Chuanze ran all the way out of You'anmen, supporting their legs with their hands and breathing heavily like bellows.

"Hoo, hoo, I'm so tired..."

"Run, they're catching up with us again." Dong Chuanze pointed behind him and stuck out his tongue.

"Stop them!" Xu Fan hurriedly gave orders to the sedan bearers and attendants of the two men, and then he didn't even bother to sit in the sedan and continued to run westward.

Therefore, the common people and merchants on West Chang'an Street that day had the opportunity to witness a strange sight of two third-rank officials running in front and a large group of eighth-rank minor officials chasing them from behind.

"Oh, is this a thin dog chasing a rabbit?" The Beijing residents who were watching the fun with their sleeves tucked in their sleeves cheered for both sides with great interest.

"It's even more lively than yesterday! The officials of our Ming Dynasty are really full of energy."

"Run quickly, don't let anyone catch you."

"Chase and chase, once I catch you I'll let you hehehe..."

Fortunately, the young master's house was nearby. The two frightened rabbits rushed into the house and shouted with their last strength: "Close the door, close the door!"

Then, they collapsed to the ground one after another amid the barking of the dogs outside the door.

In this round, the rabbit narrowly won.

ps. Fourth update, 13600 votes plus more, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes~~~