Chapter 1040

Zhu Zhu Yijun was very curious about why Wang Wang Yie refused to speak; having suffered such an unprovoked disaster right at the New Year, anyone should be angry.

What exactly was Wang Wang Yie worried about?

The Great Ming Emperor arrived at the Northern Metropolitan Guard prison. Although the Emperor's visit was a spur-of-the-moment decision, the Northern Metropolitan Guard knew that the Emperor would certainly inquire about this case personally, so they had long since finished a deep cleaning, and even the corners had been swept very clean.

Even the dungeons where the Emperor would absolutely never go had their bedding aired out, the inside and outside had been scrubbed, and even the cracks in the walls had been brushed.

The cells for holding high-profile criminals and court officials were not in the same place; when officials entered the Northern Metropolitan Guard, they lived in small single rooms, and even had brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

Zhu Zhu Yijun and Zhao Zhao Mengyou carefully inquired about the interrogation process and more or less guessed Wang Wang Yie's concerns.

"An old fossil," Zhu Zhu Yijun said, shaking his head after letting Zhao Zhao Mengyou go to bring Wang Wang Yie.

Wang Wang Yie's main concern was his loyalty to his own perceptions.

Wang Wang Yie was a very traditional scholar-official who highly valued the principles of Heaven, Earth, Sovereign, Parents, and Teacher. Xu Xu Jie was Wang Wang Yie's mentor; no matter what mistakes Xu Xu Jie had made, a mentor was still a mentor. If Wang Wang Yie were to reveal certain things, it would damage his mentor's reputation.

Although Xu Xu Jie no longer had any reputation to speak of.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty, long live, long live." Wang Wang Yie, wearing neither shackles nor fetters and dressed in a scholar's robe, performed the grand ritual of five kowtows and three prostrations.

"Exempt from the ritual," Zhu Zhu Yijun waved his hand, looked at Wang Wang Yie, and asked, "Minister Wang, before the New Year you were still a Walker in the Western Study and had the possibility of entering the Cabinet, yet today you are thrown into prison. Are you truly willing? To leave the court like this?"

"What exactly did Xu Xu Jie entrust to you back then, and what did you do, that made him give you 100,000 silver? Such a generous reward, I fear it was no small matter."

"Your Majesty is wise," Wang Wang Yie sighed heavily and said.

"Whether it is thunder or dew, it is all imperial grace. Your subject has served a wise sovereign and holy lord, experiencing the era of reform, and early on harbored the heart to exhaust my efforts. The great trend is vast and mighty, and your subject's heart is also stirred with passion and high aspirations. However, today's imprisonment truly concerns the ethics of teacher and student. Though your subject may die ten thousand times, I dare not trade my integrity for personal gain."

"Your subject is not protecting a traitor, but truly protecting the moral code of Heaven, Earth, Sovereign, Parents, and Teacher. Now that Lu Qin Fengyi has brought up old matters, your subject is willing to accept the punishment, only begging Your Majesty to consider your subject's twenty-seven years of diligent service to the throne, and not let the name of me betraying my teacher be made known to the world."

After the Emperor personally arrived, Wang Wang Yie still maintained his attitude. The reason was simple: historical records are like iron, and Wang Wang Yie could not bear the label of "harming his teacher for personal gain" no matter what.

"This is Xu Xu Jie's fault. As your mentor, he trapped you in a situation where you could not be both loyal and filial," Zhu Zhu Yijun said with a furrowed brow. "By stubbornly refusing to speak, you are ultimately taking Xu Xu Jie's mistakes upon yourself. While the way of the teacher is important, why go to such lengths?"

It was Xu Xu Jie who entrusted things that should not have been entrusted, which led to Wang Wang Yie being in a difficult position many years ago, causing trouble that lasted until today, and still making Wang Wang Yie suffer now.

When a mentor has acted to this extent, is it still necessary to respect the teacher and the way? With Xu Xu Jie's character, does he even deserve such a disciple?

Wang Wang Yie wanted to speak but hesitated, and finally remained silent.

Zhu Zhu Yijun also said nothing, just waiting quietly for a while. His personal arrival was the first opportunity, and the current silence was the second. If Wang Wang Yie refused to seize the opportunity, then he, as the Emperor, had no other choice.

Wang Wang Yie had floated in the officialdom for decades and knew clearly that this was an opportunity given by His Majesty; he repeatedly weighed the pros and cons.

He passed the imperial examination at nineteen and was now sixty-one. He had traveled north and south for forty years, building achievements. On the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, he was thrown into prison, and on the ninth day of the first lunar month, His Majesty came to the prison.

During these days in the prison, Wang Wang Yie reviewed his life. He could honestly say that he had a clear conscience, was worthy of Heaven, Earth, and his parents, worthy of the common people, and even more worthy of his own conscience.

He believed he was a man of integrity who should leave a good name in history, leaving his own page in the Emperor Wanli Reform.

When he was young, his family was poor and he had no books to read, so he could only take the Quzhou County Battalion Commander Yang Shun as his foster father. He never changed back to his original surname while serving in local posts until he entered the capital and the Ministry of Personnel re-verified his household registration, only then did he change back to the Wang surname.

It was not easy for him to reach this point. He knew the bitterness and hardship of the journey, he knew how difficult it was for him to walk, and he knew even more how unwilling he was to give up.

A serious illness the year before last almost cost him his life, making him even more urgent. The older one gets, the more one fears death. He truly wanted to leave something behind for future generations to remember him by, rather than having the identity of a disciple of Xu Xu Jie attached to him to summarize his life.

Zhu Zhu Yijun was willing to give Wang Wang Yie a chance for a very simple reason: because when Wang Wang Yie was the Prefect of Jianning, Fujian, in the fortieth year of Emperor Jiajing, he had defended against the Japanese pirates in Jianning.

At that time, the Japanese pirates could not take Jianning Prefecture and began to attack Zhenghe. Wang Wang Yie decisively led troops out of the city to provide reinforcements, which allowed both Jianning and Zhenghe to be preserved, eventually repelling the Japanese pirates.

Zhu Zhu Yijun was always willing to give a chance to any official who had made contributions during the Japanese pirate troubles of the Emperor Jiajing era. Wang Wang Chonggu had also been given a chance by the Emperor for this reason.

Zhu Zhu Yijun was always more patient with heroes who had resisted the Japanese pirates.

"Your Majesty, your subject thanks Your Majesty for your great grace." Wang Wang Yie finally chose to speak. His Majesty's willingness to wait for him while he struggled internally was the greatest grace within imperial grace.

"In the fortieth year of Emperor Jiajing, Xu Xu Huating asked your subject to fabricate some charges against Hu Hai Zongxian, but your subject refused."

"Resisting the Japanese pirates is a major affair of the state and the foundation of the nation. The way of the teacher is as heavy as a mountain, but with the state's affairs at stake, your subject could only fail the teacher's school but not fail the world. Therefore, I feigned ignorance and did not fabricate charges. As for the weight of the teacher's way, your subject has never exposed the matter."

"After Hu Hai Zongxian died, Xu Xu Huating asked your subject to take 100,000 silver to keep me silent. Your subject never took the gold, nor did I speak of this matter to outsiders."

Wang Wang Yie finally told the whole story. When a wall is about to collapse, everyone pushes it. If Wang Wang Yie, who had once resisted the Japanese pirates in Jiangnan, had stood up to trample on Hu Hai Zongxian, Hu Hai Zongxian would not only have died without a doubt, but would also have been infamous for ten thousand years.

For example, if Wang Wang Yie had said that Hu Hai Zongxian colluded with the Japanese pirates.

Although the idea of Hu Hai Zongxian, the Regional Commander of the anti-Japanese forces, colluding with the Japanese pirates sounded quite magical, as long as it was confirmed that Hu Hai Zongxian was suspected of harboring pirates for personal gain, he could be killed openly and honestly, rather than dying in prison.

If he died in prison, the case would definitely be overturned. Only by making it an ironclad case could Hu Hai Zongxian be nailed to the pillar of shame in history forever.

To defeat a living person, it is enough to defeat him once. As long as he behaves disgracefully before death just to survive a few more days, and is finally hanged like a dog, then everyone will sneer at this loser and coward.

But defeating a dead person is much harder; it requires defeating all his supporters.

Hu Hai Zongxian did not yield until his death. Even though he died in prison, he still insisted that he was innocent. In the end, Xu Xu Jie failed to defeat the living Hu Hai Zongxian, and even more so could not defeat the dead Hu Hai Zongxian.

Even Xu Xu Jie's own disciple, Wang Wang Yie, did not believe Hu Hai Zongxian deserved to die and refused to frame him.

Wang Wang Yie certainly had concerns. Although he had not committed any wrongdoing, he knew the truth but did not report it. Although he did not take the silver afterward, he did not speak of the matter, and this involved the reputation of his mentor and was linked to the old case from back then.

Wang Wang Yie had previously wanted to carry it all himself, but upon seeing His Majesty, his originally firm heart immediately began to waver.

Just as His Majesty said, why should he, Wang Wang Yie, suffer for the mistakes Xu Xu Jie made so many years ago?

"What a small matter, it's all in the past," Zhu Zhu Yijun said with a smile upon hearing this. "Clean yourself up and continue to work for the nation."

Three years ago, Wang Wang Yie caught a cold that quickly developed into pneumonia. The imperial physician used six units of penicillin to cure him. Since the imperial court had cured him, he should exhaust his efforts and continue to work wholeheartedly.

"Your subject thanks Your Majesty for your great grace!" Wang Wang Yie was stunned; he did not expect His Majesty to let it go so lightly.

Zhu Zhu Yijun did not even pass judgment, let alone judge who was right and who was wrong; he simply turned the page.

Xu Xu Jie's actions were indeed not honorable, but the means by which Hu Hai Zongxian, under the instruction of Yan Song, plotted to seize the position of Zhejiang Provincial Governor and command the anti-Japanese affairs were also not honorable.

Hu Hai Zongxian was not entirely clean regarding the deaths of Zhang Jing, the Minister of War in Nanjing, and Li Tianzong, the Governor of Zhejiang.

At most, it could be considered "using their own methods against them," and it didn't even succeed because of the overall situation of resisting the Japanese pirates.

Zhu Zhu Yijun was no longer a child. How could the world be so simple that one could distinguish people by dividing them into good and bad?

Just as Feng Bao said when he was still around, people cannot be relied upon. Especially after forty, one understands this even more clearly, because people are extremely fickle.

The reason Xu Xu Jie gave this 100,000 silver was simple: it was precisely because Wang Wang Yie did not cooperate that it didn't succeed, and he could only let Hu Hai Zongxian die in prison. Therefore, he had to use heavy money to win over Wang Wang Yie.

Of course, this was also a test. If Wang Wang Yie had taken it, he would have had to be loyal and advance or retreat with Xu Xu Jie.

Since Wang Wang Yie did not take the silver, the teacher-student relationship was basically severed.

Zhu Zhu Yijun was in an excellent mood. He swayed back to the Imperial Study of the Tonghe Palace and said to Li Li Yougong with a smile, "Minister Wang wants to advance. It's good that he wants to advance."

"Wang Wang Yie having Xu Xu Jie as a mentor is truly the worst luck in eight lifetimes. He was pressed into the position of Vice Prefect of Shuntian for ten years, unable to move, and now he has suffered another disaster."

Wanting to advance is a good thing. Not wanting to advance, having no desires and no demands, is the most difficult to fathom.

Zhu Zhu Yijun was in a good mood because he had one more usable person. There were truly not many people in the court who could be used. With one more weightlifting champion, Zhu Zhu Yijun could be much more relaxed.

"How is the matter of Grand Secretary Shen strictly enforcing school style and discipline, and rectifying the academic atmosphere, progressing?" Zhu Zhu Yijun asked about the loyalty screening that Shen Shen Shixing was conducting at the Great Academy.

Li Li Yougong searched for a memorial, placed it before His Majesty, and said sincerely, "Grand Secretary Shen is a talented person. As for this kind of delicate work of threading the needle, your subject certainly never thought of it."

Zhu Zhu Yijun finished reading Shen Shen Shixing's memorial. Just as Li Li Yougong said, Shen Shen Shixing was indeed very talented.

The core purpose of this memorial by Shen Shen Shixing was only one: that the graduation papers of all Great Academy graduates should imitate the imperial examination system, using methods of covering names, copying, and closed-door grading. The reason was very simple: to prevent mediocre people from using the name of the Great Academy to ruin the school's reputation.

Eighteen Great Academies were established across the Great Ming, not under the eyes of the imperial court, so some things could not be watched too closely.

It was too easy for the children of local powerful families, local gentry, and wealthy merchants to enter the school to mix for a resume. It was necessary to prevent Great Academy graduates from being unworthy of the name through the system.

The basic political framework of the Great Ming was a system of vertical and horizontal lines. It was very normal for local people to engage in private exchanges, as the localities were originally divided into pieces, but one could not have a bunch of idiots disgusting people. Regardless of good or bad, at the very least, they could not be incompetent.

Then the very mature imperial examination system was worth learning from. This set of combination punches would at least brush away more than half of the people who were just making up the numbers in the Great Academy, preventing them from graduating, so that the Dinghai School System could cultivate usable talents.

Execution was also simple: just copy the regulations from the provincial examinations in various places, and it would fully meet the needs.

The Dinghai School System was becoming more perfect.

Zhu Zhu Yijun gave his imperial approval to this memorial, telling Shen Shen Shixing to go ahead and do it boldly. If something happened, he, the Emperor, would take responsibility. This matter harmed the interests of some people, especially those powerful families who wanted their children to become superior people openly and honestly.

It was a matter of course that Shen Shen Shixing would be attacked, but as long as the Emperor did not punish him, no one could judge Shen Shen Shixing.

The ministers of the Emperor Wanli Reform were willing to do things and capable of doing things, which had a direct causal relationship with the Emperor.

Because the Emperor was willing to shield the ministers from the wind and rain, willing to take on the responsibilities that originally belonged to the Emperor, rather than having the ministers shield the Emperor and carry responsibilities they could not bear while moving forward under a heavy burden.

According to the basic logic of sovereign and subject for thousands of years, the Emperor was never wrong, and it was always the ministers' fault. If trouble arose, the Emperor would push the ministers out to be beheaded as scapegoats. But His Majesty was different; His Majesty had never done such dishonorable things.

Even for a treacherous official like Wang Wang Chonggu, as long as he was useful to the Great Ming, His Majesty would protect him with all his might.

With the golden signboard of "Duke Wencheng" standing here, the ministers were naturally willing to contribute their talents, making the Emperor Wanli Reform more solid and go further.

Because of the holiday, Zhu Zhu Yijun did not have to work for very long. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, he celebrated the Lantern Festival with the soldiers at the Northern Great Camp. On the sixteenth day, the beginning of the new spring, Heaven sent down sweet rain, a drizzling rain and snow that lasted for a full day before stopping, sweeping away the haze over the capital.

The plan for the year is made in the spring, and the Great Ming Emperor began to get busy again.

"What is the Master busy with?" Zhu Zhu Yijun, in the midst of his busy schedule, put down the paper and brush in his hand and asked while loosening his wrists.

When Zhang Zhang Juzheng was young, he was reckless in his institutional design. Even though Shen Shen Shixing had done some subtraction, it still kept the Emperor so busy that his feet were hitting the back of his head.

"Just raising flowers, planting crops, raising two nests of crickets, and planning to write a book of gods and monsters like Li Li Chunfang, titled 'Sequel to Journey to the West'," Li Li Yougong said, describing Zhang Zhang Juzheng's leisure. He was truly enjoying his old age, and even visits from past disciples were sent away by the gatekeeper to the Quanchu Guild Hall to find Shen Shen Shixing.

"Very good," Zhu Zhu Yijun said with a smile. "The Master truly has elegant leisure."

Zhu Zhu Yijun finished reading the memorials and picked up the miscellaneous reports on the table to read. These miscellaneous reports were the new ones after the beginning of spring this year. In order to compete for subscriptions for the whole year, every house would use the greatest sincerity for this first issue, and they were truly worth reading.

For example, the Hanlin Academy published an article in the *People's Report* titled "A Study on the Origin of Taking the Husband's Surname."

Before the Han Dynasty, men used the *shi* (clan name), and women used the *xing* (surname).

The *xing* represented blood relationships and was an important symbol of family inheritance.

The origin of the *shi* was very complex; it could be an official position, like Tan Sima, or a fief, like Shang Yang, whose original name was Wei Yang, and who was only called Shang Yang after being enfeoffed in the fifteen towns of Shangyu.

The *xing* remained unchanged for thousands of years, while the *shi* changed with time and fiefs. For example, the First Emperor's *xing* was Ying, his *shi* was Zhao, and his name was Zheng, so he should be called Zhao Zheng, not Ying Zheng.

The merging of *xing* and *shi* occurred roughly in the early Han Dynasty. Since then, the two have become one.

In the Han Dynasty, wives took their husbands' surnames. For example, Huo Guang's wife, Huo Zhang Xian, changed her surname to Huo after marriage. Of course, Huo Zhang Xian was able to leave a mark in history because she took the matter of causing the death of Emperor Xuan of Han's first wife and talked about it everywhere, leading to a great disaster for Huo Guang's entire family.

From taking the husband's surname to adopting the husband's surname, the prototype was formed roughly between the Han and Wei dynasties, and it became a trend by the end of the Southern Dynasties.

This period was exactly when aristocratic politics was flourishing, and it was also the period when the aristocratic families were at their most powerful. The aristocratic families, who emphasized marriage relationships, vainly attempted to have power continue through bloodlines.

With the invention of the imperial examination system, aristocratic politics headed toward decline, and this phenomenon of adopting the husband's surname began to slowly weaken.

Specifically in the Great Ming Dynasty, in the early Ming, when Song Jin Lian wrote the *Biographies of Chaste and Virtuous Women*, he continued this style, such as "Biography of the Chaste Woman Zheng, née Huang" and "Biography of the Chaste Woman Wang, née Tang."

But the Great Ming did not emphasize adopting the husband's surname. Whether it was the Great Ming Code, household registration, or customs, there was no such phenomenon. The reason was a bit ridiculous, because Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu Emperor, was a rough man.

Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang came from a beggar's background, and most of his family starved to death. He became Emperor, and Empress Ma was his first wife. Zhu Zhu Yuanzhang, this founding sovereign, did not engage in these tedious formalities, and the Great Ming did not do this when conferring titles on officials' wives either, which led to the local gazetteers and county gazetteers also recording women by their original surnames.

By the Emperor Wanli years, people were still allowed to decide for themselves; if you wanted to adopt it, you could, and if you didn't, no one would care or say anything.

The miscellaneous report also gave an example. The famous Great Ming poetess Zhu Miaoduan's husband, Zhou Ji, was a fourth-rank official, so the conferred title of "Lady" was: "Zhou Ji, Prefect of Anqing, and his wife, Lady Zhu." And the *Genealogy of the Zhou Clan of Haining* also recorded Zhu Miaoduan as: "Son Ji, courtesy name Ruhang, pseudonym Wang Jian'an, became a tribute student in the fourth year of During Chenghua and served as an instructor in Guangze, Fujian. Lady Zhu was intelligent in her youth and could write poetry at seven..."

Whether it was the official documents conferred by the imperial court or the family genealogy, she did not adopt her husband's surname.

From taking the husband's surname, to adopting the husband's surname, to allowing people to decide for themselves, to generally not adopting the husband's surname, it objectively reflected the changes of the times.

The miscellaneous report moved from adopting the husband's surname to the phenomenon of children taking their father's surname.

The view of this editor was very interesting; he believed that the mother-child relationship is a blood relationship, while the father-child relationship is a social relationship.

This viewpoint was very consistent with the phenomenon before the Han Dynasty where men used the *shi* and women used the *xing*.

The idea that the father-child relationship is a social relationship was truly bold.

In the natural world, except for birds and fish, other animals rarely exhibit the phenomenon of males caring for their young, especially in placental and mammalian animals; there is almost no phenomenon of males caring for their offspring, that is, males being responsible for protecting the young, educating them socially, grooming them, catching insects, hunting, etc.

Humans are also a kind of animal. If you look at anatomy, you will find that humans and some animals have highly similar organs.

According to the laws of nature, humans should also exhibit this animal nature, that is: males do not raise their offspring.

The phenomenon of children taking their father's surname is an artificial shackle, establishing a social relationship, and coupled with the indoctrination of the concept of continuing the family line, it gradually evolved into the division of labor in the family and became the cornerstone of society.

This editor made a bold assumption: if it continues to develop, just like the constant changes in adopting the husband's surname, what would happen if society no longer recognized children taking their father's surname and dismantled this social relationship?

And don't you know, this editor actually found a social example!

It was not an individual, but a huge group. This editor learned that in the distant West, the "Kunlun slaves" had no fathers.

Thanks to the Great Ming's great voyages, various overseas news was recorded by sailors and ship-borne navigators, turned into various miscellaneous reports and books, and spread throughout the Great Ming.

Great Ming merchants saw a kind of "red mud people" in the Mozambique Viceroyalty. They were covered from head to toe in red mud and made a living by selling pearls and various melons and fruits. These red mud people were also part of the "Kunlun slaves" and generally had no fathers.

This local inheritance made the Great Ming merchants very surprised, because they generally had no fathers, and what eventually formed was a system of inheritance from uncle to nephew.

An uncle did not know if his son was his own son, and even less did he know where his son was, but the son of his sister was definitely his nephew. Therefore, usually before an uncle died, he would leave all his property to his nephew.

In the African continent, where the social relationship of father and son had not been established, this social structure was truly very difficult for the Great Ming people to understand, but the locals considered it a matter of course.

Zhu Zhu Yijun finished reading all the miscellaneous reports, selected two, and placed them in the *Di Bao* (Imperial Gazette) to be published in all prefectures, departments, and counties across the country.

In addition to this article on adopting the husband's surname and taking the father's surname, another article caught the Emperor's attention, which was the article about the collection of public opinion.

The popularity of the three major types of newspapers—the *Di Bao*, official reports, and miscellaneous reports—especially the popularity of miscellaneous reports, allowed public opinion to be collected more efficiently in the government offices.

The government offices in various places were still very attentive to the local miscellaneous reports, and even His Majesty the Emperor himself paid considerable attention to these miscellaneous reports.

The *Di Bao* was the highest-level newspaper of the imperial court, containing all the major events of the court, while official reports were newspapers established by various official government offices, mainly about the situation in each office, explaining policies and promoting government decrees.

And miscellaneous reports reflected public opinion.

Likewise, this gave birth to another thorny problem.

That is, these editors often took money to write articles, which caused huge obstacles for the Great Ming imperial court and local government offices in collecting public opinion. These editors distorted facts, called a deer a horse, and generalized; these chronic diseases of the "cheap scholars" that Zhang Zhang Juzheng had already written through were still being committed by these editors.

And usually, the chief official of a local government office would raise a secretary called a "White Head," who was specifically responsible for selecting these miscellaneous reports. After passing through this sieve, they would become much cleaner.

The reason they were called "White Heads" was that after this secretary read them, if he thought they had value, he would stick a white slip on them and submit them to his superiors; if he thought they had no value, he would not stick a white slip and would throw them aside.

Zhu Zhu Yijun looked at Li Li Yougong. In the past, this work was done by Feng Bao, but now it was done by Li Li Yougong.

But this inevitably fell into another problem: these secretaries called "White Heads" were also not clean. If they took money or were simply related to the interests, those articles about the suffering of the people would never be seen by the "blue-sky" officials.

And in order to avoid this problem, the imperial officials in various places would often ask their subordinates to submit public opinion at fixed times, on the first and fifteenth of the month. If the "White Head" secretary missed or deliberately ignored certain key messages, then that secretary's career would be over.

The "White Head" secretaries could hide from the first, but they couldn't hide from the fifteenth. This was what allowed the secretaries to avoid the phenomenon of "lying in the government office listening to the rustling of bamboo, unaware of the suffering of the people" by not being able to build an information cocoon for the imperial officials through the screening of miscellaneous reports.

This article wrote about the changes of the "White Head" secretaries during the Emperor Wanli Reform, wrote about the collection and hierarchical reporting of public opinion, wrote about the increase in the Great Ming imperial court's management tools, and also conducted a comprehensive discussion on the fourth estate that was still in its infancy, namely media, public hearing, and public opinion.

Zhu Zhu Yijun personally selected these two articles to be published in the *Di Bao*, which could be considered the court's trend.

Wang Wang Yie was released without charge and restored to his original post. Soon, impeachments against him drifted into the Cabinet like snowflakes and drifted before the Emperor.

These impeachments were mainly divided into three aspects.

The first aspect was that the imperial censors hoped to understand whether Wang Wang Yie had truly neglected his duties and used his power for personal gain, and whether Lu Qin Fengyi's accusations were true. As a Walker in the Western Study and a candidate for the Cabinet, Wang Wang Yie would not only be examined for his ability but also for his moral character.

The second aspect was that the imperial censors hoped to know the specific reasons for Wang Wang Yie's release without charge, and this reason had to be convincing, because Wang Wang Yie was completely different from other Walkers in the Western Study. Simply put, he was a remnant of the Xu faction, and it was only natural that he would be scrutinized more if he wanted to advance further.

The third aspect was mainly to impeach Wang Wang Yie and force him to resign to fulfill the righteousness between sovereign and subject. As a minister, especially a high official, if one makes a mistake, one must admit it, and if one admits it, one must leave; one cannot linger.

Zhu Zhu Yijun replied to all of them with a single "I know," without making any more detailed explanations. Explaining this matter would only make it more chaotic, and stopping it at the Emperor was an excellent choice for everyone.

The imperial censors were blocked by the "I know" and were naturally a bit unconvinced, wanting to submit memorials one after another. But Shen Shen Shixing found the Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, Lu Lu Guangzu, and talked to him in detail: if they continued to submit memorials and entangle themselves, I fear they would offend the Emperor.

Now that Zhang Zhang Juzheng was no longer in the court to stop him, if His Majesty were to get angry, there would truly be no one to stop him.

Let alone talking about going to the Huangji Gate to prostrate; that would get people killed. Just His Majesty picking a few imperial censors to send to the Western Regions or Liaodong to reclaim land and farm would be enough for these scholar-officials to handle.

Shen Shen Shixing was still the same, always wanting everything to be thorough, not wanting these imperial censors to suffer such unprovoked disasters.

This storm, under Shen Shen Shixing's mediation, soon subsided, and Wang Wang Yie returned to the Ministry of Revenue to continue his work.