Chapter 410: The Fighting Has Broken Out

Wei Zhongxian and Cui Chengxiu rushed to Shoushan Academy without a moment's rest. The two moved very quickly, and at the same time, to prevent anyone from causing trouble or any unexpected incidents, Wei Zhongxian also brought a considerable number of men.

The Eastern Depot agents were all in high spirits. For them, this was a chance to render great service.

Every one of them was brimming with vigor. Along the way, they exuded such murderous intent that the people around them kept far away. No one dared to come near, and the effect of clearing the streets was excellent.

In an instant, the entire capital was seething with excitement.

After ascertaining Wei Zhongxian's destination, everyone in the court was shocked.

What was this about? What was His Majesty planning? Why had he sent Wei Zhongxian to Shoushan Academy, and with such murderous intent? Could it be to make arrests?

All sorts of rumors spread like storm clouds.

Many people began rushing to Shoushan Academy—some to watch the excitement, others just to see if there was an opportunity.

Quite a few officials followed along as well. Their purpose was even simpler: to see what Wei Zhongxian was going to do, then find some pretext to impeach him afterward. This was a golden chance to build their reputation, and they absolutely could not let it pass.

In an instant, the whole capital was in motion.

Naturally, the Eastern Depot noticed all of this.

Intelligence quickly converged at Wei Zhongxian's position. He paid it no mind at all—on the contrary, he grew excited.

For the Eastern Depot to make a move that shocked the world this time was the best possible outcome. It was time they learned of his prestige and might.

When Wei Zhongxian led his men to Shoushan Academy, he witnessed a scene he had never imagined.

Such a commotion?

Wei Zhongxian had envisioned all sorts of scenarios—that the students would scatter and flee for their lives the moment he arrived; that they would gather at the academy gates waiting to do battle with him; he had even considered that someone might attack him, and had prepared all manner of defensive measures.

In Wei Zhongxian's view, no matter what situation arose, he could handle it. At that point, he would render meritorious service and earn the respect of His Majesty.

When our Eastern Depot handles matters, we are far better than those crude, clumsy Embroidered Uniform Guard fellows.

But he never expected that things would turn out beyond his predictions.

Even Cui Chengxiu hadn't expected things to develop to this extent.

Because a massive brawl was breaking out at Shoushan Academy—the students were actually fighting each other!

Shouts rang out without cease, and dust flew thick at the gates of Shoushan Academy.

The two sides were going at it with tremendous vigor, their scuffling and shouting never pausing for a moment.

Those who knew the place understood it was Shoushan Academy; those who didn't would have thought a gang fight was underway.

The men who had followed Wei Zhongxian were also greatly alarmed. If the students had been fighting Wei Zhongxian, that would not have surprised anyone.

Wei Zhongxian was everyone's enemy, the old eunuch of the Eastern Depot. If a real fight broke out, quite a few people secretly harbored thoughts of helping the students.

Some of the officials who had come along even hoped the students would win. As long as they won, these officials would have their chance to make a name for themselves.

But no one had expected that while a fight was indeed breaking out at the gates of Shoushan Academy, it was the students fighting among themselves. Judging by the scene, the intensity of the fighting was truly considerable.

Wei Zhongxian was also completely dumbfounded.

What was going on here? How had they started fighting?

None of the scenarios I predicted came to pass. Instead of uniting against me, you're fighting among yourselves? What am I supposed to do now?

Cui Chengxiu came to Wei Zhongxian's side and said with some urgency: "Director, you should pull them apart. We can't let them keep fighting here. If someone dies, it will be too late. These are students of the Great Ming—if they are truly harmed, the whole realm will be in an uproar, and we won't be able to answer to His Majesty."

Hearing this, Wei Zhongxian finally snapped back to his senses.

Though his expression was grim and he had no desire to manage these students—in his heart he wished they would fight even harder, preferably beating each other's brains out—

at that point, no one would be stirring up trouble from top to bottom anymore.

But Wei Zhongxian also knew he had to intervene. What Cui Chengxiu said made good sense: if he came here yet did nothing, and something went wrong, the responsibility would fall entirely on him.

Most importantly, if he botched the task His Majesty had assigned, there would be no remedy—he would be finished. Forget earning merit; he would likely face punishment instead. That was not what he wanted.

So Wei Zhongxian glanced back, then turned to Sun Yunhe behind him and said: "Take your men up there immediately and separate all these people for me. If anyone resists, I'll deal with them this time."

"No hitting, no hitting!" Cui Chengxiu quickly interjected, speaking urgently: "If our men lay hands on them, they might turn on us. At that point, we definitely won't be able to explain ourselves."

Wei Zhongxian shot Cui Chengxiu a glare and said: "What you say makes sense. We'll do as you suggest."

Upon receiving the order, Sun Yunhe led the Eastern Depot agents charging in and began separating everyone.

Both sides were still shouting loudly, but the Eastern Depot agents all had martial skill. They might not be fit for real combat against an army, but dealing with these students who had never shed blood was naturally no problem.

The agents quickly separated the students.

Some who were still shouting and trying to fight were also subdued and taken into custody by the Eastern Depot agents.

Once the crowd was separated, Wei Zhongxian strode in with a darkened face.

The current situation had exceeded his expectations, and all his earlier predictions were now useless. The impact of his grand appearance had been greatly diminished—Wei Zhongxian would be a fool to be pleased.

Walking forward, Wei Zhongxian said: "What a disgraceful spectacle!"

"Look at every one of you. You are all scholars—where has the refinement of scholars gone? Resorting to violence here? You are utterly unworthy of the title of scholar. Even the soldiers in the army are better than you!"

Wei Zhongxian's words were harsh, but since everyone present had already been subdued, no one jumped out to object.

The situation was now complicated. If anyone shouted at Wei Zhongxian, they would certainly be taken into custody.

The fight just now was one thing—at most it was just a brawl among students. But if they now clashed with Wei Zhongxian, this matter would become impossible to shake off.

So although the students glared with fury, no one stood up to resist.

Wei Zhongxian walked forward, and Cui Chengxiu hurried to follow.

The two passed through the detained students and walked straight into Shoushan Academy.

Inside Shoushan Academy, students had also been fighting, but they had now been separated.

When Wei Zhongxian and the other walked in from outside, the academy was in complete chaos—broken chairs, toppled tables, and even students lying on the ground groaning in pain.

This place no longer looked like a place for teaching and nurturing talent.

Wei Zhongxian's face was dark as he walked deeper inside, cursing inwardly.

Things had come to this—instead of arresting people as originally intended, he was now cleaning up a mess and pacifying students. Was this what the Eastern Depot ought to be doing?

But Wei Zhongxian also knew that while he could disregard everything else, he could not disregard Cui Chengxiu at his side. This was one of his few subordinates in the court, and one of high standing—he could not let Cui Chengxiu fall.

This time, the reform of the Imperial Academy was his responsibility. If he fell, then things would become troublesome.

He himself was still thinking of using this opportunity to pull in more people. So he could not allow him to fall. The matter here had to be pacified as quickly as possible. It also had to be resolved perfectly. Otherwise, it would give people an excuse to attack Cui Chengxiu.

Though his heart was filled with rage, Wei Zhongxian still made an effort to suppress his temper.

"Go fetch Zhong Yuzheng and Ruan Dacheng." Wei Zhongxian looked at Cui Chengxiu and said.

Cui Chengxiu nodded, and with a dark face went to find the men. In Cui Chengxiu's heart, he was also cursing Zhong Yuzheng and the other man.

What the hell are you two good for? How did you manage to stir up something like this?

Zhong Yuzheng, aren't you a senior? Don't you have great prestige among the literati? How did you still manage to stir up something like this?

And that Ruan Dacheng — when he spoke, every point sounded reasonable, but what was the result? Not only did he fail to handle things properly, he even poked such a huge hole in things. Utterly senseless!

When he reached the back, Cui Chengxiu finally saw Zhong Yuzheng and the other man.

The two were hiding in a room, with the door shut from the outside.

The corner of Cui Chengxiu's mouth twitched slightly. He stepped forward, opened the door, and let the two out.

Zhong Yuzheng and the other man had disheveled hair, dirt on their clothes, and Ruan Dacheng had even ended up with a black eye.

Clearly, they had been beaten.

"Lord Cui, you've come!" Seeing Cui Chengxiu, Ruan Dacheng said excitedly.

At this moment, Ruan Dacheng had long lost his earlier composure; the man was utterly bedraggled. Now that he saw Cui Chengxiu, he was even more immensely excited.

His savior had finally arrived!

Beside him, Zhong Yuzheng's body was trembling, and from his mouth he kept repeating: "What a disgrace! What a disgrace!"

Seeing the two men's bedraggled state, Cui Chengxiu did not open his mouth to curse them, holding it back in his heart. The most important thing was to ask the cause and resolve this matter perfectly.

No matter how impatient Cui Chengxiu was, there was nothing he could do.

"You two, come with me." Cui Chengxiu said.

After saying this, Cui Chengxiu turned and walked out ahead, leading the way for the two.

Though Cui Chengxiu wanted to ask right now, Wei Zhongxian was over there, so he could not be the first to ask.

The three walked out from within and soon saw Wei Zhongxian.

Wei Zhongxian also saw the three. Seeing two bedraggled men following on either side behind Cui Chengxiu, how could Wei Zhongxian not know the two men's identities.

Seeing Zhong Yuzheng and the other man's bedraggled appearance, Wei Zhongxian furrowed his brow.

"How did it come to this? What place is this? How did a fight break out?" Wei Zhongxian asked.

Zhong Yuzheng and the other man naturally also saw Wei Zhongxian, and from his clothing they knew what sort of person this was.

So Ruan Dacheng stepped forward, bowed, and said: "Many thanks to the Director for the grace of saving us! The Director arrived in time — if you had come any later, who knows what might have happened!"

Wei Zhongxian glanced at Ruan Dacheng, still impatient at heart.

At a time like this, who has the mind to listen to all this?

So Wei Zhongxian asked directly: "No need for all this useless talk. Now tell me — what exactly happened?"

Ruan Dacheng hastily said: "This matter was simply an accident. Originally the scholars had gathered here, and everyone was more or less well-behaved. Somehow, someone raised the idea of opposing the court's academy reform, saying the reform was strangling learning, not to mention that it did not spread the way of the sages."

"They felt the court was suppressing men of learning, being unfair to them. So the Shoushan Academy should not oppose what the academy teaches, but rather oppose the academy's reform. If the academy did not reform and simply maintained the status quo, then naturally that would be best of all."

"Some even shouted that if the Imperial Academy wanted to build new academies, it should go build its own — why suppress other academies? This was factionalism; there were treacherous ministers in the court eliminating those who disagreed with them!"

Hearing this, Wei Zhongxian's face sank, and his expression turned even uglier.

These people truly went too far. How could they make such a racket? And say such things?

Utterly lawless! In a moment, he would have them all arrested and teach them a lesson.

"Then how did a fight break out?" Cui Chengxiu asked impatiently from the side.

Hearing this question, Ruan Dacheng's face instantly crumpled as he said: "After the students started making a commotion, I and Dean Zhong went to persuade them, wanting to have a proper talk with them, to make those students understand the court's good intentions. But the people there grew more and more agitated and argued with us endlessly. Someone shouted 'kill the treacherous sycophants,' and then blows were exchanged, and the more they fought, the more people joined in, and in no time it became this chaotic mess."

Hearing this, Wei Zhongxian's face turned even darker, and he glared at Zhong Yuzheng and the other man.

You two are a pair of useless fools. Even if a fight broke out, you couldn't even figure out who was agitating behind it? Utterly senseless!

Wei Zhongxian said to Sun Yunhe beside him: "Have our people interrogate and investigate — find the one who shouted that!"

"Yes, Director." Sun Yunhe acknowledged, and hastily gathered men to sort things out.

Wei Zhongxian glanced at Cui Chengxiu beside him and asked: "What do you think should be done about this matter?"

"What does the Director want to do?" Cui Chengxiu thought for a moment, then asked directly.

"I want to arrest them all." Wei Zhongxian said with a dark face: "These people gathered here to brawl and defy the court's laws — utterly lawless. After arresting them all, interrogate them strictly and see who was plotting behind this. People like this who are lawless should all be arrested and beheaded."

Cui Chengxiu glanced at Wei Zhongxian, his heart filled with helplessness and bitterness.

Director Wei clearly wanted to blow this matter up, using the interrogation of these people to implicate court officials and turn this into a major case.

What Wei Zhongxian wanted to do, Cui Chengxiu understood very clearly in his heart.

The Eastern Depot's days were not good right now — this was about using this matter to display the Eastern Depot's power and re-establish its authority.

For Wei Zhongxian, this was an opportunity he could not ask for.