Chapter 857: For whom does the death knell of the Land Return Order toll?

Zhu Yijun always believed in one thing: there is no reasonless case in this world. Every action has a reason, a purpose, and a cost.

Yuan Keli was implicated because they didn't know which book box Xiong Tingbil had, so there were two book boxes with forbidden items.

And the reason and purpose for Liang Shoujian to do this was that his grandson was going to participate in the provincial and metropolitan examinations. His grandson successfully passed the *juren* examination, and the whole family was overjoyed. Then the metropolitan examination came, and he had to pay more to let his grandson pass the *jinshi* examination.

Once successful, from then on, they would be an official family.

The benefits of becoming a *jinshi* were truly too many, completely worth taking this risk. And Zhang Juzheng didn't provide such benefits. Liang Shoujian had needs, so naturally, someone contacted him.

From the investigation of the Embroidered Uniform Guards of the Northern Depot, one could clearly see how Liang Shoujian stepped into the trap step by step.

Everything started from a fellow villager, a man named Xu Wu, a native of Jingzhou Prefecture. He was originally surnamed Sun, went down the river to Songjiang Prefecture to make a living, became a servant in Xu Jie's house, and then changed his surname to Xu.

After Xu Jie fell from power, Xu Wu followed his new master to the capital to start a miscellaneous report business. Through a very "accidental" opportunity, Xu Wu and Liang Shoujian met again after many years.

Meeting suddenly in a strange land, drinking and chatting happily, trusting each other after months of contact, speaking the truth after drinking to complain about troubles, whispering slander to sow discord, hating the same person with different fates, having no way out and introducing a noble person, the noble person having eyes and hands that reach the sky to solve worries—the old Liang family had been farmers, workers, servants, and slaves for generations, and finally produced a *juren*.

According to Xu Wu's agreement, on the day before the metropolitan examination, the ninth day of the second lunar month, the day Xiong Tingbil and Yuan Keli left the All-Chu Hall, Liang Shoujian was supposed to commit suicide. The poisonous wine was already prepared. As long as Liang Shoujian drank the poisonous wine and left a suicide note saying that people have different fates, everyone is human, Xiong Tingbil is smooth sailing, while his own grandson is difficult and bumpy, and he felt resentment, that was why he did this.

Of course, no one believed this suicide note, but as long as Liang Shoujian died, there would be a long time, at least three to six months of investigation time. This was the opportunity.

This noble person who provided help to Liang Shoujian wanted this time of three to six months.

It would be best if the Emperor was furious, gathered the Capital Camp, and made people panic. As long as the Emperor lost support, then the Emperor as a person would be very easy to deal with.

The Capital Camp was naturally powerful, but once the struggle and reform slid rapidly toward the extreme, the cheap Confucians would have a full stage. They could let violence escape the Emperor's control, and they didn't even need to do it. As long as they labeled people as "rebel parties" and constantly expanded the scale and intensity of the struggle, three to six months would be enough to ferment.

Even if the Emperor didn't get furious, the Emperor absolutely couldn't accept that Xiong Tingbil, whom he had high hopes for, would miss the metropolitan examination again. Last time, the age issue had already blocked

Xiong Tingbil once. As long as the Emperor had any action to interfere with the imperial examination, the struggle would come.

The imperial examination was the most important territory for traditional Confucian scholars. Once the Emperor reached out, it would be the intensification of the conflict between imperial power and ministerial power.

Even if the Emperor didn't lose his temper and didn't let Xiong Tingbil continue the examination, then Xiong Tingbil, this closed-door disciple of Zhang Juzheng, would have to bear the crime of imperial examination fraud for the rest of his life. This also achieved the goal.

As long as Xiong Tingbil's resume had such a major flaw, Xiong Tingbil's growth would be restricted everywhere, and it would be easy to fight him down in the future.

Wang Chonggu did a muddled thing when Wang Qian took the *juren* examination, and every step of Wang Qian was very, very difficult.

In these three to six months, clearing the traces and not being found by the Embroidered Uniform Guards was the goal. The cheap Confucians calculated everything, but missed two things: Feng Bao and Luo Sigong.

Feng Bao was bold and reckless, blocked the Emperor, and solved this matter with the excuse of "feeling sorry for the scholars being delayed for life by the search for forbidden items." Xiong Tingbil, Yuan Keli, Xia Zongyao, and more than a dozen others were reasonably allowed to re-enter the examination hall. From the seventeenth year of Wanli, there were no more cases of bringing forbidden items.

Most importantly, under Feng Bao's presiding, the Emperor won the hearts of the scholars of the world by cracking down on imperial examination fraud. Even if they didn't pass the *jinshi* examination, these six thousand *juren* would return to their hometowns and couldn't say anything bad about the Emperor. The grievances they suffered in the capital were avenged by His Majesty through the public trial.

These *juren* also received gifts from the Emperor, including Confucian robes, book boxes, and stationery.

The cheap Confucians also missed Luo Sigong. Luo Sigong was a favorite in front of the Emperor, but among the court officials, Luo Sigong was a transparent person. He had been in the All-Chu Hall, didn't participate in any matters on weekdays, and no one cared.

Liang Shoujian didn't regret it and didn't want to die, but after drinking the poisonous wine, he was discovered by Luo Sigong, who was extremely meticulous and resolutely executed the holy decree. Three bowls of soapberry water went down, and this poisonous wine was vomited out before it reached the intestines.

Luo Sigong didn't save Liang Shoujian by coincidence. Over the past year, every time he saw Liang Shoujian, he could perceive Liang Shoujian's restlessness, and it was getting worse, finally becoming absent-minded, so Luo Sigong arranged for people to tail him.

In Luo Sigong's view, the lives of everyone in the All-Chu Hall belonged to His Majesty. If His Majesty didn't let them die, they absolutely couldn't die.

If Liang Shoujian died, they would have to carefully investigate everyone who might have contacted the book box, and they would have to carefully question and verify, and conduct an investigation on everyone Liang Shoujian contacted, in order to make a profile of Liang Shoujian's life and find possible evidence.

"Blame me. I didn't let people rank by seniority, but called Shen Shixing, Wang Jiaping, and Shen Yiguan back to the capital, and even let Shen Shixing and Wang Jiaping preside over the critical imperial examination, making people feel resentment." Zhu Yijun looked at the complete case file, his brow furrowed. These cheap Confucians were a bit difficult to deal with. Facing the iron-clad facts and six thousand scholars under the platform, under the eyes of everyone, Tian Yijun still felt that it was his own bad luck, not that his direction was wrong. This was not what Zhu Yijun wanted to see.

"Your Majesty, cheap Confucians don't feel they are wrong, because they have already put aside the facts. People who don't talk about any facts, but only talk about their own guesses and judgments, how can they feel they are wrong? It's the world that is wrong." Zhang Juzheng explained why Tian Yijun refused to admit his mistake. Such cheap Confucians existed yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

When facts are favorable to them, they talk about facts;

When rules are favorable to them, they talk about rules.

This is the basic sophistry logic of cheap Confucians.

Zhang Xueyan looked at the torture platform and shook his head: "Tian Yijun is simply a person who doesn't work hard and doesn't distinguish between the five grains. He still feels he shouldn't die because he is the Vice Minister of Rites, a third-rank official. According to the Eight Deliberations Law, he can deliberate on virtue, ability, and nobility."

"Punishment does not extend to high officials. If they commit a crime, it is based on the severity of the eight deliberations, not in the criminal book."

Punishment does not extend to high officials is annotated as: if a high official commits a crime, the severity of the error must be deliberated by the eight deliberations, and the punishment is not in the criminal name.

After the court discussion, the court officials believed that Tian Yijun should die because he was a rebel and a traitor.

For example, Shen Li, whose head was shrunk like a quail at this moment, was usually talkative, but today, he didn't say a word.

Because Tian Yijun was the Vice Minister of Rites, and the Ministry of Rites produced such a thing, he, the Grand Ancestor, bore a certain joint responsibility. Wan Shihe himself was from a cheap Confucian background and managed the Ministry of Rites for more than ten years without any trouble. It was his turn, this bone-stiff person, who had such a thing happen.

"He just can't stand Great Ming being good, can't stand the common people living a few stable days, can't stand the poor and suffering living a few stable days. When he dies, he will know he was wrong." Shen Li looked at Tian Yijun, the corners of his mouth twitched, with a bit of resentment. Tian Yijun messed around like this, and his three years of hard work were all in vain.

Shen Li had finally obtained the holy favor through various performance assessments, but all of it was returned at once by this Tian Yijun.

After Wang Chonggu announced the verdict, the public trial ended. Tian Yijun would live for a while longer, waiting until all the rebel parties were arrested, and then they would be screened one by one to prevent similar unjust cases like Xu Wei being detained for seven years for no reason.

Hu Zongxian dying in the heavenly prison was also a political case, and Xu Wei was implicated and convicted.

The scholars left the venue in an orderly manner under the arrangement of the Embroidered Uniform Guards. This might also be the only opportunity for some scholars to see the Emperor in their lives. After failing the examination, most chose to return to their hometowns. In fact, many *juren* also knew that they couldn't pass, but they had studied for so many years and wanted to give themselves an explanation.

When Xia Zongyao returned to the inn, he found that the inn had changed owners. He opened his book box and looked at the brand-new printed books in the book box: *Theory of Contradiction*, *Theory of Public and Private*, *Illustrated Treatise on Production*, *Theory of Class* (two volumes), *Great Ming Mathematics*, *Theory of Evolution*, *Theory of Human Selection*, *Illustrated Treatise on Dissection*, *Hygiene, Prevention and Simple Prescriptions*, etc.

Xia Zongyao opened the *Theory of Contradiction* and immediately furrowed his brow, because it was completely different from what he had read in the past. The content was the same, but the annotations were worlds apart. The *Theory of Contradiction* he held now was annotated by His Majesty himself. Many things he couldn't figure out in the past were immediately figured out.

For example, the *Theory of Contradiction* begins by stating that the Theory of Contradiction is not a classic, but a way to observe the infinite principles of all things. Contradictions succeed each other, and it is not sudden, but realized on the basis of achieving knowledge and action.

For example, the *Theory of Contradiction* emphasizes the universal connection of all things. The wind blows the water surface of the pond, wrinkling the spring water, and also scatters the moon shadow, and the moon shadow is the reflection of the moon.

The existence of universal connection of all things reveals another truth, that is, every decision of every person in Great Ming eventually creates the final direction of the Great Ming country. Don't feel that your choice is useless. Every choice of every person is quietly changing this world.

For example, contradictions succeed each other, meaning that solving one contradiction will lead to the emergence of new contradictions. Songjiang Prefecture solved the human-land contradiction through the Land Return Order, but soon the labor-capital contradiction became the main contradiction in Songjiang Prefecture, and this new contradiction posed a new test for the Great Ming country. Past experience had no reference experience, and Great Ming had to walk a new path.

Such things, when Xia Zongyao finished reading the *Theory of Contradiction* annotated by His Majesty, he suddenly realized that it was not his fault that he couldn't understand, but that someone had deliberately distorted the key points in the process of spreading the *Theory of Contradiction*.

When Xia Zongyao opened the *Theory of Class*, his face turned iron-blue! This time it was not just a problem of annotation, but deletion and modification!

The *Theory of Class* he had seen before had a large number of deletions. Not only deleted but also modified, changing the whole *Theory of Class* beyond recognition. It was not only obscure and difficult to understand, but also wrong to read. Many contents were going in the opposite direction.

The first volume of the *Theory of Class* talks about classes, that is, the division of all strata in Great Ming. For example, in the *Theory of Class* he had read in the past, there was no stratum of poor and suffering people, and the local gentry were the lowest level. In this way, the local gentry were the foundation of the country's destiny. So whether the poor and suffering were human beings was a problem that had always plagued Xia Zongyao.

Those were all living people, yet in the national code, there was no trace of their existence. Now he had no confusion!

Such errors were everywhere, causing great confusion in the dissemination of the *Theory of Class*. *Juren* couldn't understand it, let alone *xiucai* and children. It would be a ghost if they could understand it.

Great Ming's important ideological and political achievements of the Wanli Reform were artificially distorted in the process of dissemination.

Xia Zongyao slapped the table hard and said angrily: "His Majesty said to read more books and be less deceived by scholars! Sure enough, it's abominable. How dare they modify the classics! Also, they even dare to modify the facts!"

*Juren* had to wait for the results of the metropolitan examination. In these few days, the scholars frequently participated in various Deer Cry Meetings, fellow villager meetings, and poetry meetings in the capital, which were actually interpersonal interactions. If someone became successful, they could say in the future that they had drunk with him, and if there was anything in the future, they could request help.

This gathering naturally led to the topic of the Imperial Pole Gate public trial. Once they started talking, they started discussing the Emperor's gifts. Some said the Confucian robes were distributed by region, the north was thick worsted wool, and the south was mainly cotton. Some said the book boxes were made of extremely expensive wood.

This discussion naturally led to the books in the book boxes. This discussion was fine, but everyone discovered they had been deceived!

Each place had its own way of cheating, but none were complete, and the ambiguity was extremely serious.

Xiong Tingbil and Yuan Keli didn't participate in any gatherings, because they were Zhang Juzheng's disciples, and no one dared to come to the All-Chu Hall to call them.

Xiong Tingbil was already used to it. He was too lazy to go to those poetry meetings. They were all youths who didn't know the taste of sorrow, forcing sorrow to write new poems, talking nonsense, and the poems and lyrics written were not good, and not even as good as His Majesty's.

The poems and lyrics written by His Majesty were already rebellious enough and didn't care about rhythm.

Yuan Keli was very fortunate. He only brought seven *taels* of silver when he entered the capital, so he didn't have that much money to prepare for the gatherings.

To participate in poetry meetings, you had to have a set of silk and satin, accessories, folding fans, and hair ornaments. When you are away from home, you have to have a carriage. Others were all luxurious imperial estate products. If you weren't rich enough, you had to rent one. And most importantly, this kind of poetry meeting would have a partner, and this partner was also a kind of competition.

The poetry meetings in the capital were no different from those in Henan, and the capital was even more extravagant. If the partner you brought couldn't be on the stage, you would be laughed at, and this kind of ridicule was very direct, and no one would talk to you at all.

This kind of poetry meeting had long ceased to be about chanting poems and discussing the Way, but had become a kind of invisible competition of wealth.

Yuan Keli was too lazy to go in Henan. Going to these poetry meetings and suffering those inexplicable humiliations was not as good as reading two books at home.

The grass grows and the warblers fly in the second lunar month, and the willows on the embankment are drunk with spring smoke. It is very difficult to see the magnificent scene of willows like smoke in the north. That requires going to the Jiangnan that Li Chengliang misses day and night. Although Li Chengliang was entrusted by the Emperor with the task of exploring the Western Regions, Li Chengliang felt that he must die in Jiangnan in the future. Liaodong was truly too bitter.

On the first day of the third lunar month, it was the day the metropolitan examination list was posted. Xiong Tingbil and Yuan Keli took a carriage to the East Flower Gate. Xiong Tingbil and Yuan Keli were not familiar with each other. Yuan Keli had been fully preparing for the examination after entering the All-Chu Hall, and the two had not spoken much despite being from the same school.

"Actually, if you want to go, the All-Chu Hall has carriages and female partners." Xiong Tingbil finally couldn't help but open his mouth, telling him that if he really wanted to go to the poetry meetings, the All-Chu Hall had everything. The various carriages bestowed by the Emperor were so many that they had to be sent to the Yicheng Marquis Mansion in the Western Hills.

Zhang Juzheng's house was in the Yicheng Marquis Mansion in the Western Hills, occupying three thousand *mu*. Although most of it was landscape gardens, the building area was also over three hundred *mu*, making it the second most luxurious residence in the capital. The first most luxurious residence was Qi Jiguang's Fengguo Duke Mansion, also occupying three thousand *mu*.

"I won't go. Going means spending money. I don't have that much silver." Yuan Keli looked at the bustling crowd outside the window and shook his head: "Actually, it's meaningless. I don't like the tone of the poetry meetings. Talking about the heart and nature with folded hands, what can be talked about?"

"I don't like it either. Brother, you don't know, sometimes, even cheap Confucians hate cheap Confucians!" Xiong Tingbil smiled. Everyone hated cheap Confucians. This was having a common topic!

"Oh? I'd like to hear the details." Yuan Keli was very interested in this matter. He felt that his enemies in the future would be these cheap Confucians. Of course, he had to pass the *jinshi* examination first.

"One of the legacies left by Hai Wenzhong Hai Zongxian—the Censorate's water-carrying matter." Xiong Tingbil randomly chose a material and began to tell how cheap Confucians made things difficult for cheap Confucians. This matter was an interesting story in the capital.

After Xiong Tingbil finished speaking, he summarized: "What's interesting is that since then, the Censors of the Censorate have never impeached officials for things like coughing. Most of the memorials submitted by Censors have not caused His Majesty's thunderous anger. It's probably because they lost the sharp knife of the Censor, so some people hiding behind the scenes have to come out in person."

Hai Rui's improvement of the Censorate was effective.

"Is it because they are afraid of His Majesty's punishment?" Yuan Keli always felt that the Censors were afraid of the Emperor increasing the punishment. The Censors could quarrel to the point of fighting over a water-carrying shift, which was simply sweeping the floor with decency.

Carrying water was one thing, and doing some work was doing it, but the road from the Censorate to the Sweet Water Well was truly too difficult to walk, because there was a business of "watching monkey shows" along the street. On the second floor of the shops along the street, there were all onlookers who came for the name. They stood on the second floor to watch the fun. Censor water-carrying was one of the four scenes of the capital.

People like to watch the fun, not just the Great Ming Emperor.

These four scenes were: throwing chili peppers at the All-Chu Hall, Wang Chonggu killing his son, the Censorate carrying water, and Li Yashi sitting in prison, known as the four major scenic lines of the capital.

Li Yashi sitting in prison as a scenic line was mainly because of the interesting jokes he compiled. The reason why they were jokes, not rumors, was because many contents no longer fit the current situation. It was that past problems had been solved or greatly improved. Everyone would only smile knowingly after watching, rather than associating it with the court situation.

If the problem was not solved, what Li Yashi compiled would be rumors, and ten thousand heads would not be enough to cut.

If the Emperor intended to solve the problem, it would be one of the scenic lines. For example, Li Yashi had sharply criticized the problem of border troops lacking pay, saying that the court pretended to pay, and the soldiers pretended to fight. Even if the pay wasn't issued, there was no rebellion, which was already loyal, and it had already been solved.

Xiong Tingbil shook his head and said: "Not necessarily. In the past, cheap Confucians always shot the arrow first and then drew the target. Now it doesn't work, because the target will fight back."

"The water-carrying matter made the Censors understand a truth: if you don't carry water, you have no water to drink. This sounds like a bit of nonsense, but before, the Censors didn't understand how the water nest worked at all. This nonsense, on the contrary, let some Censors understand the concept of 'practice it, believe in the truth'."

Once people understand this concept, it's like being poisoned. It's very difficult to pretend to be unpoisoned.

The change in the style of the Censors was the result of Hai Rui's improvement of the Censorate. This was a huge correction to Great Ming's wind and public opinion.

"Does the teacher have any grudges with Hai Wenzhong? I heard many bad rumors in Henan." Yuan Keli finally asked the question he wanted to ask the most: the relationship between Zhang Juzheng and Hai Rui.

Many people said that Zhang Juzheng and Hai Rui were mortal enemies, and Hai Rui had been trying to put Zhang Juzheng to death for sixteen years, because Zhang Juzheng was greedy and corrupt and shielded his subordinates. Zhang Juzheng took the silver of generals like Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang, and Wang Rulong.

"The posthumous title of Wenzhong was advocated by the teacher." Xiong Tingbil sighed and said: "How could the teacher and Hai Wenzhong have any grudges? It was all for the country's destiny, all for Great Ming's revival. If there were grudges, it was also some unresolved grudges with Wang Chonggu."

Zhang Juzheng didn't want Hai Rui to return to the court because he was afraid that Hai Rui would hinder things. After all, a serious illness required heavy medicine. The Wanli Reform had some extraordinary actions, and Hai Rui was a famous hard bone.

The posthumous title of Wenzhong was fought for by Zhang Juzheng with all his might. The Ministry of Rites originally set it as Zhongjie, but the Emperor didn't allow it. Zhang Juzheng specially communicated with Shen Li on this issue, and finally, the Grand Tutor suppressed the opposition of the Ministry of Rites and determined this posthumous title, which was second only to Wenzheng.

Although Hai Rui scolded the Jiajing Emperor very harshly, Hai Rui was his own loyal minister, the loyal minister of the Shizong, the loyal minister of the late Emperor, and even more so the loyal minister of His Majesty.

"So that's how it is!" Yuan Keli finally understood the whole story. Zhang Juzheng's reputation in the scholar circles was poor, largely because after the late Emperor passed away in the sixth year of Longqing, Zhang Juzheng didn't allow Hai Rui to return to the court to be an official.

Hai Rui was a good person, so Zhang Juzheng must be a bad person. This kind of binary opposition was an extremely common concept. But Hai Rui never felt that Zhang Juzheng was wrong. Hai Rui said that Zhang Juzheng was good at planning for the country but clumsy at planning for himself, and Zhang Juzheng sought the posthumous title of Wenzhong for Hai Rui.

"Then, is the matter of throwing chili peppers at the All-Chu Hall true?" Yuan Keli looked left and right and asked in a low voice about the teacher's gossip.

"Uh, this is indeed true. The teacher loves spicy food, to the point of not being happy without spicy food. His Majesty tried to persuade him several times but failed, so he used means. In the past two years, he threw less, because..." Xiong Tingbil leaned forward, smiled and said in a low voice: "Because the Agricultural Academy developed a kind of non-spicy chili, which was passed down from the Luzon Viceroy's Office. It was one of the gifts Antonio gave to His Majesty."

"The teacher wanted to eat chili, so the kitchen put green peppers. Later, the teacher could only sigh helplessly."

If you want to eat chili, you can. The kitchen also put it. You can't say there is no chili, right? Green pepper is not chili?

Some people like sweet, some like salty, some like spicy. People are all like this, sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy. Some have their own biased preferences, but the spiciness had already affected Zhang Juzheng's health, so it was not up to Zhang Juzheng to decide.

Over the years, Zhang Juzheng's health had been better than before. He had to exercise every day, and his diet had to be healthy. If it was healthy, it was naturally low in oil, low in salt, low in spice, and no irritation, with no taste at all. His mouth was bland.

Once, Zhang Juzheng lost his temper at Luo Sigong, saying that the criminals in the heavenly prison ate more tastily than him. If he was restricted strictly, he would go to the heavenly prison to eat with Li Yashi!

Luo Sigong didn't speak, just kept throwing chili peppers, letting the Grand Tutor Zhang go to His Majesty to lose his temper. He was acting on orders, and Luo Sigong also said that even if he went to the Imperial Prison to eat, he would still be in charge, because he was an Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Zhang Juzheng swung his sleeves angrily several times, but was helpless.

"Here." The coachman stopped the carriage. Xiong Tingbil and Yuan Keli, these two scholars of the All-Chu Hall, got off and stood before the East Flower Gate.

Xiong Tingbil and Yuan Keli saw their names at a glance. The first in the metropolitan examination was Xiong Tingbil, the second was Yuan Keli, and the third was Wu Daonan. Their three names were specially placed on a list, and the font was very large, so they saw it from far away.

"Eh, I passed, haha, I passed! I passed the exam!" In the crowd, a person suddenly jumped very high, grabbed the person beside him, shook him hard, and shouted loudly: "I passed, passed!"

This person was Xia Zongyao. His liberal arts grades were good, and his mathematics or science grades were not bad. His comprehensive grades reached the top four hundred. Xia Zongyao didn't care about the eyes of others at all, his face was flushed, and he told everyone he met that he had passed.

Some scholars didn't even have the courage to see the list themselves, waiting for someone to beat drums and play music to report. If someone asked for a reward, they were on the list. If no one asked, they probably failed.

"I passed, haha, uh..." Xia Zongyao grabbed Xiong Tingbil and shook him, but found he didn't shake, and grabbed Yuan Keli to shake, but didn't shake either, so he changed to someone else to shake. Xia Zongyao, who had passed the metropolitan examination, was a bit crazy. This kind of excitement usually lasted for several days.

Xia Zongyao ran away jumping, without any decency at all.

"Practiced?" Xiong Tingbil looked at Yuan Keli with some surprise and asked. Yuan Keli didn't look like a weak scholar.

Yuan Keli nodded and said: "In the first year of Longqing, Henan had a flood. Refugees were everywhere, and bandits were rampant. I learned a little martial arts to protect myself. Yue Fei is from Tangyin, Henan."

There were many temples of Yue Fei north and south of the Yellow River, and many people practiced martial arts because bandits were rampant.

"Don't look at me. I can't beat you. You can go take the martial arts examination, but I can't." As soon as Xiong Tingbil looked at his eyes, he knew it was bad. Xiong Tingbil wanted to fight and was eager to try.

Poor literature and rich martial arts. Yuan Keli had learned some martial arts, which could be considered both civil and military, but he really couldn't fight on the battlefield. He just led the villagers and cooperated with the government officials to wipe out mountain bandits when he was sixteen.

Xiong Tingbil and Yuan Keli looked at the list, their emotions very stable. Xiong Tingbil was even a bit guilty, because the Emperor changed the questions, all of which were in his most specialized field. If he couldn't get first place, he would be sorry for his reputation as a genius.

Yuan Keli was very surprised, because he criticized current affairs and didn't sing praises for the Wanli Reform, but instead got the highest evaluation.

When Xiong Tingbil and Yuan Keli took the carriage back to the All-Chu Hall, they learned that there were guests visiting, and the guests were looking for Yuan Keli.

Lu Shusheng had come to the door.

"Therefore, this was never a criminal case from start to finish, but a political case."

"I, Wang Chonggu, am indeed not a gentleman, but I have not betrayed the Great Ming, nor have I betrayed His Majesty. So, do you understand now why your charge is treason?"

If it had just been letters, that would be one thing, but they were fully prepared and had already put their plans into action. Everything was ready, just waiting for the Emperor to lose his temper, and they were prepared to act as "loyal ministers."

Once the Emperor, in a fit of rage, made some highly inappropriate move, they would immediately hoist the banner of "upholding the sovereign's authority" and, in the name of loyalty, stir up trouble on a massive scale, labeling everyone suspected of anything as a traitor. They would double down, using the name of loyalty to the monarch to commit acts of rebellion.

Some loyal ministers are indeed loyal—loyal to the people, loyal to the Great Ming, loyal to the imperial court, and loyal to His Majesty—but the things they do are not favored by the Emperor, such as Hai Rui;

But some loyal ministers need to be guarded against; their loyalty is merely a facade to muddy the waters, expand the scope of the struggle, and drive the Wanli Reform to the absolute extreme.

By that moment, even the Emperor and Zhang Juzheng would be powerless.

"Your students were planning to organize a regiment in Zhejiang, and they were secretly forming societies, raising four hundred men, and preparing to respond to Hou Yuzhao's 'Return the Land' decree by labeling all local gentry and scholars as traitors. Those who didn't return the land were traitors, and those who did were also traitors. In short, they were all traitors."

"Attempting to assassinate the Emperor in Renhe County wasn't enough; they wouldn't stop until they had thoroughly ruined the New Policies." After Wang Chonggu displayed the letters, he put them back into the box.

Doubling down—an old tactic.

When the Emperor wanted to return the land, they turned all the local gentry and scholars into enemies, inciting widespread opposition and

questioning, so that the decree would be destroyed.

Tian Yijun collapsed to the ground; he knew very well what was written inside.

Wang Chonggu was already old. He stroked his white beard and asked calmly, "Do you think that because Liang Shoujian died, the imperial court wouldn't be able to trace this back to Xu Wu and then to you so quickly? Do you still think it was just bad luck? If you'd had better luck and Liang Shoujian had died, you would have had three to five months to trace it, enough time for you to clean up your tracks—for example, by killing Xu Wu."

Tian Yijun's expression changed; clearly, his thoughts had been guessed correctly. Matters having reached this point, he still felt it was just bad luck. Liang Shoujian drinking the poisoned wine and not dying had truly caught him off guard.

Wang Chonggu looked at Tian Yijun's face and knew he had guessed right. He said with considerable emotion, "Back then, Zhang Siwei thought the same, and I thought the same. How did we end up one move behind? Was it really just one move behind?"

"Actually, it wasn't one move behind; it's that the state has not yet decayed to the point where vermin can show off their skills."

"Your biggest problem is that you have never treated people as human beings. You treated your tenant farmers and servants that way, and you treated Xu Wu that way. Think it over clearly on the road to the Yellow Springs."

Wang Chonggu used to think that he, Yang Bo, and Gao Gong combined had lost to Zhang Juzheng. As time passed, he realized that what he lost to wasn't Zhang Juzheng, but the consensus and popular will of the Great Ming to reform, innovate, and escape its perilous situation. Tan Lun, Wang Guoguang, and even Wan Shihe were all the same.

The trial of the defendants—Tian Yijun, Liang Shoujian, Xu Wu, and Tian Yijun's accomplices—resulted in them being beheaded as a public warning. Tian Yijun's family was exiled to Chonggu Fortress, and the families of the other defendants were exiled to the Jinchi Governor's Office.