Chapter 239

Whether the old Emperor had gone mad or not was unclear, but in any case, the Heavenly Prison ushered in a peak season.

Twenty or so convicted officials were locked in at once. In the neighboring Imperial Prison, it was said that even more convicted officials were being held; the cells were not enough, and single rooms had become shared rooms.

Chen Guanlou was flipping through the roster while assigning cells. Following the list one by one, the four squad leaders all had their share.

As he was assigning them, he suddenly froze.

"Chen Tou, is there a problem?" Shi Hong, who was on the side, asked.

Chen Guanlou collected his thoughts and shook his head, "No problem, just saw an acquaintance."

"Chen Tou still knows officials?" Shi Hong was extremely curious, "Among this batch of prisoners, there is no one from the Marquis's Mansion, right?"

He stared at the list and confirmed it repeatedly. They were all civil officials; there wasn't a single noble or military general. The reason nobles could stand in the court for hundreds of years was not only because of military merit, but also because nobles mostly did not get involved in court factional strife. No matter who sat in the position of Grand Secretary, they had to treat the power of the nobles with caution.

Shi Hong did not believe that Chen Guanlou had the ability to know officials in the imperial government offices, so he suspected that Chen Guanlou was talking nonsense.

Hmph!

They were both prison guards, and his cousin was even a favored concubine of Master Fan, yet he didn't know many officials; it was impossible for Chen Guanlou to be more impressive than him.

He must be deliberately gilding his own face. Shi Hong expressed strong contempt.

Chen Guanlou didn't pay any attention to Shi Hong at all; he had indeed seen a familiar name on the list: Zhao Mingqiao. The talented scholar who used to rent a room at Sister Chunxiang's house, who later moved out after studying under a famous Confucian scholar. He heard that he had passed the imperial examination last year. He didn't expect that after only one year of being an official, he would end up in the Heavenly Prison.

Without any hesitation, he assigned Zhao Mingqiao to be managed in his own jurisdiction; at least they were old acquaintances, so he would take care of him as much as he could.

After a busy day, Chen Guanlou used the excuse of patrolling the cells to come to the cell door to visit Zhao Mingqiao.

He used his staff to knock on the cell bars, and Zhao Mingqiao, who was sitting on the bed board in a daze, came back to his senses in a daze, and turned his head to see him.

Stunned!

It seemed he didn't dare to recognize him.

Chen Guanlou coughed lightly, "Young Master Zhao, don't you recognize me anymore?"

"Ah!" Zhao Mingqiao finally realized, "Chen Tou! I said you looked familiar, but my mind was blank, and I couldn't remember for a moment. My fault, my fault."

Zhao Mingqiao suddenly became happy, laughing heartily, quite casual and free-spirited.

Chen Guanlou told him, "Here, if you have anything, just speak up; I will do my best to help with what I can."

Zhao Mingqiao grinned, "There is actually one thing. The prison guard told me that according to the rules, I need to hand over six hundred taels of silver, otherwise I won't have a good time. However, I have only entered the officialdom for one year, and my expenses have been quite high, so I don't have much savings on hand. Can I owe it for now? Once the servants at home gather enough silver, I will definitely hand it over in full."

He was still the same polite Young Master Zhao who didn't judge people by their status or position.

"No problem, I will instruct the people below not to make things difficult for you. If you really can't gather the silver, just tell me, and I will find a way for you. It's fate that we know each other." Chen Guanlou was very straightforward.

In fact, when Zhao Mingqiao was renting a room at Sister Chunxiang's, the two didn't interact much. Both were busy people, and it was rare for them to run into each other. However, he had always had a good impression of Zhao Mingqiao; he didn't have the bad habits of other scholars who were arrogant and unapproachable, he was forthright, humorous in speech, never showed off his status as a scholar, could talk eloquently, and could also mingle with the commoners; he could handle both high and low, had real talent and learning, and was grounded.

These days, grounded scholars are as rare as grounded celebrities in later generations. In the eyes of most officials and scholars, the common people are grass, ants, leeks that have no joy or sorrow and are born to be enslaved.

Chen Guanlou hoped that there could be more officials like Zhao Mingqiao; with more grounded officials, the lives of the common people could be a little better.

What a pity!

After only being an official for one year, he ended up in the Heavenly Prison.

This official luck is truly unlucky to the extreme.

"Chen Tou is still as righteous as ever. If I really can't gather the silver, I will definitely ask for your help." Zhao Mingqiao was not pretentious either, and generously accepted Chen Guanlou's favor. His eyes were still clear, just a bit more weathered and tired.

"Don't be polite with me at all; at least we have the friendship of having eaten together." After a pause, Chen Guanlou asked with concern, "Your case, I remember you passed the imperial examination last year, it's only been a short year, how did you end up in here?"

He really couldn't hold it back and had to ask clearly.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Mingqiao's expression suddenly became serious, "The traitor Jiang Tu controls the imperial court, deceives the Emperor, and for his own selfish interests, he has wantonly plundered Dongzhou, inciting civil unrest in Dongzhou, and the cult bandits have taken the opportunity to make trouble, harming the common people of three prefectures and twelve counties. Jiang Tu deserves to die ten thousand times; as a subject, how can I sit by and watch? Although I am insignificant, I must follow my colleagues to raise a shout, so that more people know of Jiang Tu's crimes. If I could kill this villain Jiang Tu, even if I were to go to the Heavenly Prison, I would be willing."

What a righteous and stern speech!

Chen Guanlou's mouth twitched, and he couldn't bear to look.

"No, do you really think Jiang Tu has the ability to deceive the Emperor? Do you really think Jiang Tu is wantonly plundering Dongzhou for his own selfish interests, thereby inciting the civil unrest in Dongzhou?" Chen Guanlou asked back in succession, "You officials are all the smartest people in the world, you wouldn't really think so, would you?"

"I know what you want to say, the subordinates follow the superiors. However, some things are understood, but cannot be said, let alone done." Zhao Mingqiao's expression was solemn, "As for the Sage, there are high officials to remonstrate. As an ant in the officialdom, I should naturally focus my firepower on dealing with Jiang Tu. If Jiang Tu is not removed, the world will not be at peace."

"But, even if Jiang Tu is gone, there will be Li Tu and Zhang Tu. How can you ensure that the successor will be better than Jiang Tu? It is more likely that they will be worse than Jiang Tu."

Chen Guanlou didn't talk about inertia or discuss historical views. Based on his shallow historical knowledge, if a dynasty is broken, it will only get worse and worse; you think you have reached the negative first floor, but you didn't expect there to be eighteen levels of hell below. Wanting to set things right is definitely not something that can be done by a single official.

History proves that such a situation can only be turned around by two types of people: one is an Emperor who makes decisions alone, and the other is a powerful minister who holds the reins of power. And these two cannot exist in the same space-time simultaneously.

It is very clear that the current situation is an Emperor who makes decisions alone; he doesn't want to change, he wants to go all the way to the dark. As for a powerful minister who holds the reins of power, sorry, there isn't one now. As long as the old Emperor is alive, it is impossible for a powerful minister to appear. When the new Emperor ascends the throne, perhaps a powerful minister will appear, and then it will be another round of flashing blades and shadows.

"Even if the successor is worse than Jiang Tu, we must remove Jiang Tu first. We cannot tolerate Jiang Tu continuing to harm the court and the people." Zhao Mingqiao was righteous and stern, very passionate, and very driven.

Chen Guanlou sighed inwardly and said a heartbreaking sentence, "You didn't remove Jiang Tu, but instead ended up in the Heavenly Prison."