Chapter 1046: Once Again, the Eunuchs' Favorite Segment

History has never been a little girl who can be dressed up at will, and the victors have never been able to recklessly deny the losers—at least, not in the Great Ming.

For instance, the fallen monarchs of the Jin Dynasty, Wanyan Shouxu and Wanyan Chenglin; within a single hour, they both died for their state, and history books gave them a three-character evaluation: "No shame therein."

Even now, Akbar hopes that when the Mughal Empire dies, it can at least do so with dignity.

The writers of the Great Song never humiliated the monarchs of those two enemy states. On the contrary, Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong of Song, who lived on in captivity, were fiercely cursed for hundreds of years. By comparison, Huizong and Qinzong appear even uglier.

History is a very pure little girl; as long as you are willing to show her an attitude, she will truly come to like you.

Take Xiang Yu, for example. Xiang Yu was defeated in the struggle for the world, but from the early Han until now, few have cursed him. Everyone feels that the Hegemon-King of Chu lost due to the grand trend of the times—that the enfeoffment system clearly did not conform to the historical trend—rather than any personal failing of Xiang Yu himself.

Wang Guoguang's posthumous reputation is extremely, extremely important; it involves the Great Ming's fiscal and tax system, the "Du Shu Pang Tong" (Mathematical Principles), the inclusion of mathematics in the Great Ming imperial examinations, the Dinghai academic system, and so on.

The inclusion of mathematics in the imperial examinations, the great academies built by the Dinghai academic system, the five major shipyards, the various official factories, and even the Institute of Physical Sciences—almost all of these grew out of the guidance of the "Du Shu Pang Tong." These achievements and the "Du Shu Pang Tong" have an inseparable relationship.

Zhu Yijun must do his utmost to protect Wang Guoguang's posthumous reputation from being destroyed.

Originally, Zhu Yijun thought that Wang Jiaping had come to the Huangji Gate to stop him, the Emperor, from committing an act of tyranny, but the moment Wang Jiaping produced the imperial warrant, the misunderstanding was cleared up.

Wang Jiaping had come to complete the paperwork.

"No need for formalities, no need for formalities." Zhu Yijun had Li Yougong bring over the imperial warrant, examined it carefully, and then said with a smile, "Minister Wang is truly a loyal subject who cares for the state. I was also blinded by anger and forgot about this warrant."

The Emperor can forget, but Wang Jiaping, as the Minister of Justice, cannot.

"Your Majesty, this matter is not over." Wang Jiaping reminded the Emperor to pay attention to the contents of the warrant; there was something suspicious about this case.

Specifically, this wave of attacks following Wang Guoguang's death did not arise without cause; rather, there were people colluding behind the scenes, which created such a clamor.

The contradiction reflected behind it is naturally the problem of the increasingly empty coffers in various local yamen after the reduction of land taxes due to the celestial anomalies.

Anyone who has worked in a yamen for two days knows that for a yamen, "reducing expenditure" is impossible; they can only try every possible way to "increase revenue." But the Emperor does not allow them to increase revenue from the common people—if there is a popular uprising, they will truly be beheaded.

At this time, local yamen, wanting to scrape together some silver, will naturally try every possible way to bypass supervision and make the silver disappear. Major construction projects can be paused, but putting money into their own pockets cannot stop.

In any case, the ultimate loss is public money, which ends up in their own pockets. As for the deficit in the treasury, restoring the ancestral laws, abolishing Wang Guoguang's New Policies, and abolishing the court's supervision—even if the Heavenly King himself descended to investigate, he wouldn't be able to find anything.

"Understood. Let's beat this batch first." Zhu Yijun naturally noticed the contents of the warrant; the situation was complex. He would carry out the court beatings first, then carefully investigate the matters behind them.

Wang Jiaping wanted to say more but stopped; in the end, he didn't speak. He actually guessed to some extent who was behind this.

The Emperor's actions were too fast. Give him seven more days—no, give him three more days—and he could drag out the people behind this!

Some things cannot be done by the Emperor himself. The Emperor's court beatings were striking the minor officials of the Censorate, but they were also striking the faces of the high ministers. How was this just striking the buttocks of minor officials? It was clearly striking the faces of the high ministers.

If the Emperor had to do everything himself, what use were they, these high ministers?

According to normal procedures, these memorials would anger the Emperor, Shen Shixing would come forward to mediate, Gao Qiyu would come forward to point out their motives, and Wang Jiaping, as Minister of Justice and Grand Secretary of the Wenhua Hall, would drag out the instigators behind the scenes.

Following such a set of procedures would take at least ten days or more, enough time for the ministers to do their work.

But the Emperor did not play by the rules, which caught the ministers off guard. Likewise, it also meant that the Emperor was truly angry. The Emperor, who had never violated procedures and never punished for speech, chose the thunderous means of violating procedures and punishing for speech.

In fact, one cannot blame the Emperor for being so angry. Wang Guoguang, apart from breaking away from the Yan Party, had almost nothing worthy of questioning from his morality to his political decrees. To be slandered like this—even the posthumous title drafted by the Ministry of Rites was not approved by this group of censorate officials.

The Emperor's reaction was truly within reason.

"Beat them for me!" Zhu Yijun waved his hand, signaling Zhao Mengyou to carry out the beating.

Two Embroidered Uniform Guards used their heavy staves to pin Shang Shangzhong's head so he couldn't move, while another guard checked Shang Shangzhong's buttocks to ensure nothing was padded, and then struck down fiercely.

This strike had almost no sound, but Shang Shangzhong's face immediately flushed red. His mouth was stuffed with his own socks; he couldn't scream even if he wanted to, and could only bite down hard.

The Embroidered Uniform Guards carrying out court beatings is a job that requires great technique. If it were to please the Emperor, they wouldn't stuff socks, and they would strike loudly, coordinating with screams to let the Emperor vent his anger.

If they truly had to execute the court beating, they would stuff the socks, and the strikes would have almost no sound, but they would definitely strike the solid parts.

Even so, the guards actually only used thirty percent of their strength. The Emperor's decree said they were to be sent to Liaodong to reclaim land and farm; if they were beaten to death, who would farm the land?

But even this thirty percent strength was not something that these scholar-officials, who lacked the strength to truss a chicken, could endure.

The reason they had to strike the solid parts was because Shang Shangzhong falsely accused Wang Guoguang of shielding his relatives and acting for personal gain, relying on his status as a high minister to promote Vice Prefect Wei Zhongjian to Yuntong and Assistant Prefect Yang Zhi to Pingshi—both of whom were Wang Guoguang's relatives.

Zhu Yijun was very certain it was a false accusation because Li Yougong had investigated; both of these people were promoted normally according to the Evaluation Law.

The base accounts of the Evaluation Law were kept in the palace. Whether it was shielding relatives or acting for personal gain could be seen just by flipping through the accounts. In fact, because of Wang Guoguang's status as a high minister, the evaluation of these two people was even more stringent.

The second person beaten was Zhang Shize, a Director in the Bureau of Receptions of the Ministry of Rites. Zhang Shize falsely accused Wang Guoguang of selling offices for bribes and being corrupt, meeting with corrupt scholars at home, and having flawed personal morality, thus not deserving the posthumous title "Wending." This was also a false accusation.

The capital had a whole bunch of political brokers who, under the guise of corrupt scholars, lobbied in various households.

Everyone knew clearly about the activities of these brokers in the capital. These low-class brokers couldn't even dream of entering the homes of high ministers; they couldn't even see a single official above the fifth rank.

Zhu Yijun specifically had the Embroidered Uniform Guards look into the matters of selling offices and corruption that Zhang Shize claimed. In the seventh month of the twentieth year of Wanli, Wang Guoguang did indeed meet a Shanxi merchant, but this merchant came from Yangcheng and was a direct relative of their Wang family.

Serving as an official in the imperial court, and not even allowed to see one's own relatives? Where is the logic in that?

The memorials of the remaining forty-one censorate officials and court officials were almost all the same: false accusations that confused right and wrong. If Zhu Yijun didn't beat them, then in the future, false accusations would become the norm in the Great Ming court, and correcting it would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Just like the twenty years of opening the seas, which created a huge political inertia. If false accusations succeeded, then everyone would falsely accuse in the future. This kind of inertia is very difficult for even an Emperor to correct.

The Wanli Reform was extremely arduous to achieve the current situation. How could Zhu Yijun let these few people who wagged their tongues and drummed up trouble easily destroy it?

In front of the Huangji Gate, there were no screams. The forty-three officials were beaten until their skin was torn and flesh was mangled. The guards held these fellows up, verified them one by one in front of the Emperor, and then took them back to the Northern Internal Security Bureau yamen.

The accompanying imperial physicians began to apply medicine to them. The Emperor wouldn't let them die; he wanted them to go to Liaodong to reclaim land. Even if they wanted to die, there was no way.

The imperial physicians didn't care about political storms; they only cared about treating illnesses and saving lives.

After Zhu Yijun finished beating the censorate officials, he returned to the Tonghe Palace. He didn't let Wang Jiaping leave, but instead asked him about the results of his investigation.

"Where did you hear this news? Even the Embroidered Uniform Guard yamen, which is good at catching shadows, didn't catch the tail of this news." Zhu Yijun flipped through Wang Jiaping's memorial and asked with some surprise.

Wang Jiaping smiled and said, "The son of Duke Wencheng taught me."

"Wang Qian?" Zhu Yijun frowned.

"It is indeed Young Master Wang." Wang Jiaping explained, "When Governor Wang was in the capital before, didn't he compile the four issues of 'Anecdotes of the Pure Stream Scholars'? He has people on the line of the 'three aunts and six grannies,' and quite a few of them. When Governor Wang left the capital, he gave all of this to me."

"So that's how it is." Zhu Yijun nodded in realization.

The "three aunts and six grannies" indeed have some advantages in intelligence that the Embroidered Uniform Guards do not have. Zhao Mengyou also admitted this.

Sometimes, handling cases indeed requires using these people from all walks of life, and they are very easy to use.

Most of these forty-three censorate officials and court officials shared a characteristic: they kept mistresses, and their mistresses lived very close to each other. Wang Jiaping cut into the matter from this point and learned of their recent unusual movements.

Ever since the news of Wang Guoguang's critical illness spread, these people frequently appeared at their mistresses' homes, and their interactions were extremely close.

"Then how about I leave this matter to Minister Wang?" Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and decided to give the minister some face.

Originally, he wanted to let the Embroidered Uniform Guards handle it, but if he always let the guards handle things, the ministers would gradually lose their function. If the subjects were useless and the Emperor didn't use them, the subjects' power would naturally flow away.

"I obey the decree." Wang Jiaping breathed a sigh of relief and bowed to accept the order. He had finally shifted this matter from the Emperor doing it himself to the normal procedure of ministers handling it. How could it be that whenever something happened, the Emperor had to charge into the fray?

Wang Jiaping only used seven days to find out the person colluding behind the scenes and presented it to the Emperor: Lu Kun, the Governor of Shanxi and Vice Censor-in-Chief, who was known alongside Shen Li and Guo Zhengyu as one of the "Three Sages of Wanli" and one of the "Twenty-Four Scholars of the Ages."

The three brokers he kept in the capital were the main manipulators who colluded with the forty-three officials to attack Wang Guoguang this time.

"Let the Embroidered Uniform Guards go to Datong Prefecture and arrest Lu Kun." Zhu Yijun issued the vermilion rescript. The facts were clear and the evidence was solid. This fellow was indeed something; even while in Datong Prefecture, he managed to get things done.

In the original historical timeline, during the Wanli era's struggle for the succession, there were two "Qimin Yaoshu Cases," both of which had intricate connections with this Lu Kun. Lu Kun collected the deeds of virtuous women and filial daughters through the ages and wrote "Gui Fan Tu Shuo" (Illustrated Records of Women's Models). A eunuch in the palace happened to buy a copy when he went out of the palace to handle business and brought it back.

It just so happened that this "Gui Fan Tu Shuo" was seen by Imperial Consort Zheng, who was seeking the position of Empress and planning the throne for her son.

Imperial Consort Zheng added twelve people, included herself, and had her uncle re-engrave and sell "Gui Fan Tu Shuo" to build momentum for herself and her son, the later Prince of Fu, Zhu Changxun.

Everything was just right, just like Gao Gong's "Last Words on the Sickbed," which appeared right after Zhang Juzheng died, was brought into the palace by a eunuch, and was seen by the hesitant Wanli Emperor. It was just right that at that time, the ministers in the court were attacking the deceased Zhang Juzheng.

The Qimin Yaoshu Case is the quintessential method of using public opinion to coerce court decrees.

Zhu Yijun was very clear about this set of tricks. Lu Kun was clearly a master of this.

It was just that because the Emperor's reaction speed was a bit too fast, the attacks in the court had just begun, and the public opinion had just been stirred up, when it was smashed to pieces by the "Imperial Fist of Heaven."

Even the Qimin Yaoshu hadn't been released yet, and the situation had changed in the blink of an eye.

The court officials didn't even have the courage to go to the Huangji Gate to save them. Only Wang Jiaping ran to the Huangji Gate to complete the paperwork for the Emperor, preventing controversy.

"The method of this Qimin Yaoshu doesn't have enough force. Thinking of fighting me with this hand—isn't that looking down on me too much?" Zhu Yijun held a small booklet in his hand; this was one of the ironclad proofs.

The three brokers had just finished printing the small pamphlets that hadn't been distributed yet, and they were all filled with ambiguous stories about Wang Guoguang.

Most of these stories were aimed at the "lower three paths" (sexual scandals). These dog-like corrupt scholars, when slandering people, love to aim at the lower three paths the most.

Corrupt scholars stare at the things in their pants all day, so they naturally think that all great men only have things in their pants.

Just looking at this booklet, one would think Wang Guoguang was a treacherous minister of the state—hoarding wealth, currying favor, blindly catering to the Emperor's will, having loose personal morals, corrupt lifestyle, selling offices, and a treacherous minister who covered the sky with one hand.

Currying favor and blindly catering to the Emperor's will?

Bullshit!

When Wang Guoguang was in the court, he often slammed the table with Zhu Yijun over silver. Sometimes, when the Emperor acted arbitrarily, Wang Guoguang even threatened him, the Emperor, with resignation.

Could Zhu Yijun accept such threats? He immediately withdrew the decree.

"If he were lazy in government, the method of the Qimin Yaoshu would be very powerful. It's just that he ran into the Emperor, who is vigorous and resolute. If it weren't for that, wouldn't this villain have found an opportunity?" Li Yougong had something to say about this matter. It wasn't that the method of the Qimin Yaoshu wasn't powerful.

Public opinion is something that needs to slowly ferment. As long as the Emperor is lazy in government, coupled with the inherent rigidity of the court, once public opinion ferments, the court situation is very easily coerced by this kind of public opinion.

But now, the Emperor is so diligent in government that this method seems a bit vulnerable. It's not that the method isn't powerful; it's that the Emperor's reaction speed is too fast. Even the Grand Secretaries hadn't reacted, and the Emperor had already finished the court beatings.

These three brokers, looking at the printed booklets, didn't know whether to distribute them or not, and in the end, they were caught.

This case stirred up monstrous waves in the capital, especially the discussions among the common people, which were very enthusiastic. This kind of counter-attack and settling of scores is very common. Yan Song, Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Wang Chonggu—people who have lived in the capital for decades have seen too many of these things and have become accustomed to them.

These movements were not as big as the movement of the craftsmen coming down from the mountain. When the craftsmen came down, the Beijing Garrison stood firm, and almost everyone realized at the first moment that all of this was instructed by the Emperor to protect Wang Chonggu.

The reason this case caused such a big storm was that as the investigation deepened and the case was gradually made public, the people of the capital, while eating melons (gossiping), discovered some common characteristics of these people.

Shang Shangzhong, Zhang Shize, Lu Kun, and others were all Jinshi. Before keeping mistresses, although they couldn't be called upright and clean, they were not greedy people. They did things with a sense of proportion and generally wouldn't trigger the 50,000-silver anti-corruption line of the Anti-Corruption Bureau.

50,000 silver is really a lot—nearly one-tenth of the late Emperor's mausoleum. You couldn't finish eating pork for a lifetime with that.

But after they kept mistresses, the alienation of power, money, and greed became rapid.

However, the silver they greedily obtained at the terrible cost of being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, being questioned by the Emperor, and being cursed by people pointing at their spines, was given to their mistresses. But these mistresses played in all sorts of ways.

For example, Shang Shangzhong's mistress, stage name Qingxu'er, changed her name to Mu Ruqing after following Shang Shangzhong. It was a name Shang Shangzhong took from the "Book of Songs": "Jifu makes a chant, as gentle as a clear breeze."

But the Embroidered Uniform Guards' investigation found that the three sons this mistress gave birth to for Shang Shangzhong were likely not Shang Shangzhong's, but the children of the several male favorites Mu Ruqing kept.

This Mu Ruqing kept a full seven "little white faces," and they were all top performers from various opera troupes. The various gadgets confiscated to increase the atmosphere were more numerous than the torture instruments of the Northern Internal Security Bureau.

On the thirteenth day of the second month of the twenty-second year of Wanli, Zhu Yijun came to the Northern Internal Security Bureau again. Besides his personal attendants, Wang Jiaping also followed. Wang Jiaping was the organizer of this case.

"Is it true or false? Lu Kun is, after all, from a wealthy family of the Ningling Lu clan. Doesn't he even have this bit of precaution?" Zhu Yijun said to Wang Jiaping while walking.

Wang Jiaping looked left and right and whispered, "Your Majesty, this is the first time I've heard of this, and I also feel surprised. It truly is an eye-opener."

Zhu Yijun said with great emotion, "Then Lu Kun greedily took those 120,000 taels of silver; didn't it all go down the drain?"

"If he had greedily taken the silver and enjoyed it himself, living a life of debauchery, and was now caught by me, he would be willing to bet and willing to lose. Right? If he lost, he lost. At least he lived a life of luxury."

"But in order not to be investigated by the court, in order to maintain his reputation, he was cautious and careful, and all the silver was given to his mistresses. As a result, his mistresses bullied him like this? Two mistresses, four children, and not a single one is his?"

Wang Jiaping hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, it's not like that. I don't know if they are his children, because those two mistresses don't know who the father of the children is either."

Zhao Mengyou and Li Yougong looked at each other. They had also finished eating this melon. Roughly speaking, there were too many people linked, and neither mistress could explain clearly who the father of the children was.

Zhu Yijun finally arrived at the White Tiger Hall of the Northern Internal Security Bureau and had Zhao Mengyou bring Lu Kun before him.

"Lu Kun, I have come to ask you." Zhu Yijun flipped through the case files and asked with a serious expression, "You set up a 'Lu Kun Manor,' right?"

"Kill or carve, I am at your disposal!" Lu Kun knelt on the ground but refused to bow his head. Instead, he stiffened his upper body and said loudly, "A great man acts and takes responsibility. It was indeed me who did it!"

Zhu Yijun didn't care at all about Lu Kun's defiance and continued to ask, "This Lu Kun Manor was set up for those two mistresses of yours, Chen Yu Yao and Zhao Qinqin, because the land deeds were written in their names, as well as the names of their four sons."

"Yes." Lu Kun also sensed something unusual and said hesitantly, "Your Majesty, why do you keep pursuing this matter?"

"You used the silver obtained from corruption to purchase land and, drawing on Fan Zhongyan's 'Righteous Field System,' established the Lu Kun Manor. This manor exists in your hometown and also overseas, totaling 24,000 mu of land."

Zhu Yijun first confirmed the scale of the land with Lu Kun, then asked uncertainly, "The purpose of you founding this manor was to bypass the clan elders and pass the family property to these mistresses and their sons?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, yes." Although Lu Kun didn't know why the Emperor kept asking these questions, a sense of foreboding had already risen in his heart.

Coming from a large family has this one disadvantage: the clan elders in the family wouldn't agree to who he wanted to leave the property to. In order to compensate his mistresses and their sons, Lu Kun had no choice but to create this "Righteous Field" and "Righteous Manor," creating the Lu Kun Manor to avoid interference from the clan elders.

"This matter, it's not convenient for me to speak about. I'll trouble Attendant Li and Attendant Zhang." As the Emperor, some things were beneath his dignity to say, so he had to let the eunuchs handle it.

Zhang Hong and Li Yougong looked at each other. It was once again the eunuchs' favorite segment: humiliating civil officials.

Two young eunuchs brought up a table. Li Yougong stood behind the table to act as the straight man, and Zhang Hong stood outside the table to act as the comedian.

"By the Holy Decree, today the two of us will break down the messy business in old Lu's family. Little Li, you must remember not to spread this."

"Old Zhang, what are you saying? Don't you know me? My mouth is the tightest! What's the matter?"

"Alas! It is said that old Lu met his mistress Chen Yu Yao at night. This Chen Yu Yao came from a brothel; where could the yellow-faced woman at home compare to her methods of pleasing people?"

"That's true."

"That night, it was truly 'embracing and trembling, even the strongest steel softens.' The slave found it difficult to come out, teaching the gentleman to love wantonly. But old Lu was, after all, a man of officialdom and couldn't stay the night, leaving in a hurry. Guess what happened?"

"What happened?"

"Who would have thought that the moment old Lu left, someone crawled out from under the bed! This person had sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, truly a handsome appearance. This person was none other than the top performer of the Sixi Troupe, Song Yongsheng!"

"Huo! Old Master Lu had just left, and he crawled out. What did he do?"

"I saw this Song Yongsheng beckon, hold Chen Yu Yao in his arms, pat her gently, and whisper, 'It's been hard on you, my lady, having to play along with such an old man!'"

"Not bad, his methods of pleasing people are indeed excellent!"

"I saw this little lady Chen Yu Yao burrow into Song Yongsheng's arms, weeping and complaining, 'Being with old man Lu for years isn't as enjoyable as one night with Song Lang!'"

"Truly shameless!"

Zhang Hong and Li Yougong finished telling this part and looked at Lu Kun.

Lu Kun was dumbfounded and tongue-tied. He didn't think the Emperor had nothing better to do than to come and tease him. He had nothing fun about him, and the Emperor was busy with ten thousand matters; how could he have so much leisure time?

Clearly, this was all true!

"Song Lang is indeed young and strong. The weeping soon turned into the sounds of orioles and swallows. After a good time, Song Lang grabbed Chen Yu Yao's hair and kept asking, 'I can be considered a fellow traveler with that old man Lu, who is stronger?'" Zhang Hong slapped the gavel and continued.

"That goes without saying, it must be Song Yongsheng. Look at that name."

"I saw Chen Yu Yao crying and saying, 'Song Lang, spare me. Naturally, Song Lang is stronger. Haven't you noticed that Lian'er looks more and more like you? He is a withered tree; whether his seeds can take root and sprout is another matter!'"

"There's such a story?" Li Yougong said in surprise, "Could it be?"

"Hey! It really is! It turns out that old Lu's mistress's son, Lu Chengliang, is not old Lu's son at all! Old Lu risked being blamed by the clan, being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, and being questioned by the Emperor, taking on huge risks to get the silver, only to give it to this little white face from the opera troupe to raise his son!"

"Good fellow!"

Zhang Hong and Li Yougong stopped talking here. They signaled the two young eunuchs to move the table away because Lu Kun had already fainted from anger.

Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, "Good work, reward them!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Zhang Hong and Li Yougong didn't care much about the reward money; they were mainly satisfied with the emotional value of humiliating the civil officials. If they had this opportunity, they would be willing to do it even without money!

Lu Kun fainted from anger; it was a step he found for himself. If he continued to listen, he would probably really be angered to death. He had no choice but to feign fainting to escape this humiliation. A basin of cold water was splashed onto Lu Kun's face, and Lu Kun immediately woke up with a start.

"A scholar can be killed but not humiliated! If Your Majesty wants to kill, then kill. Why humiliate the guilty subject like this!" Lu Kun argued forcefully, denying it, but his eyes didn't look as stiff as his tone. His eyes were full of begging, hoping the Emperor would let him go.

Clearly, compared to his unfaithful mistresses, the Emperor was more trustworthy.

Zhu Yijun clapped his hands, and the guards brought up four prisoners: Chen Yu Yao, Song Yongsheng, Lu Chengong, and Lu Chengliang.

Once the four prisoners were brought up, without anyone else saying anything, Lu Kun himself saw the problem.

The younger son, Lu Chengliang, and this Song Yongsheng were cut from the same cloth—the eyebrows, corners of the mouth, bridge of the nose, and even the birthmark on the arm were exactly the same.

"You see it too. These two are simply not your seeds." Zhu Yijun sat on the grand armchair, patted his knees with both hands, and said, "Do I have the time to tease you? If it weren't true, would I do this just to humiliate you?"

"I am just curious: the silver you greedily took, and all that you did—what for? Just to let Chen Yu Yao and this Song Lang live in luxury, and for the sake of their son, you even dared to defy and contradict the Holy Will?"

Lu Kun leaned back in his chair, saying nothing. At this moment, he was completely disheartened.

"Do you regret it?" Zhu Yijun stood up and asked Lu Kun.

Lu Kun exhaled a turbid breath forcefully and answered the Emperor's question: "I regret it, it is too late for all regrets."

"It's too late." Zhu Yijun smiled and turned to leave.

Speaking of laborers, it seems like he was cursing the poor and suffering, but Lu Kun had been busy for so many years—what was the difference? ===== CHAPTER 1047 =====