[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers":3,"chapter-restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-chapter-24":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Restoring the Mountains and Rivers",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2364293,4623,"Chapter 24: Scholars Cause a Riot","restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-chapter-24",24,"\u003Cp>Leaving the Hou Fu, Li Mu did not rush back to the Battalion Command, but chose to leave work early.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Marquis of Wuyang agreed, but that did not mean the business could begin immediately—it still required the Eastern Depot’s cooperation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, had the Eastern Depot’s reputation been even slightly better, this business would never have fallen to Li Mu’s hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The need for the Five City Military Command as an intermediary stemmed largely from the Eastern Depot’s abysmal credibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone feared handing over money only to be targeted the moment they turned their backs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the ransom business, the Five City Military Command appeared to earn only intermediary fees, but in truth, they were paid for their credibility endorsement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Desperate offers are never good deals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the Eastern Depot gave a positive response, he would take no action.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he showed too much eagerness, those greedy bastards would demand an exorbitant ransom, and the business would collapse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Down with the eunuch faction!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Down with the eunuch faction!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Down with the eunuch faction!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Following the sound, he saw a group of students holding up Confucius’s tablet, chanting slogans as they marched toward the imperial palace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Turn around, take a detour!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mu decisively ordered his retainers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reason told him the situation was about to turn bad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The students before him were clearly incited by others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Openly shouting \"Down with the eunuch faction\" was a direct challenge to the eunuch clique's bottom line.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If left unchecked, the Eastern Depot’s newly established authority would vanish instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without fear, the Pure Stream faction, once silenced, would surely revive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With this shift, the Eastern Depot’s advantage in court would quickly become a disadvantage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter what, the eunuchs would never let the matter reach the Emperor’s ears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mu did not believe the eunuchs would sit idle out of concern for the backlash of targeting students.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He guessed that the Eastern Depot’s forces had already assembled; blood would soon stain the streets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deep inside, he felt a moment of sympathy for these deceived students, then quickly regained his reason.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Adults must answer for their own choices.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The last time students held up Confucius’s tablet to petition the Emperor was a hundred years ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Emperor flew into a rage afterward; the court was purged, and heads rolled among all involved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This scene before him clearly showed no lesson had been learned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With things reaching this point, the party strife case, meant to end, would likely be shelved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ensuing public storm would thrust the eunuch faction to the center of the storm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the Pure Stream faction pushed further, the anti-eunuch wave might spread from the capital to the provinces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had lost ground in court, but it was different on the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Pure Stream faction, with deep roots among the scholar-gentry, would not fear the eunuch faction in their own strongholds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once he sorted through the logic, Li Mu developed a deep loathing for whoever orchestrated this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the sake of power struggles, they were sending naive students to their deaths.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If such a bottomless person rose to the pinnacle of power, it would be a catastrophe for the Great Yu Dynasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are you standing around for? Arrest them now!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zuo Tianjun, leading the troops, roared at his men.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In recent days, the Eastern Depot had been riding high.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even their old master, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, now followed their orders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even high-ranking officials were arrested on a whim.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had arrested hundreds of officials—why should they fear a group of powerless scholars?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your Excellency, they are holding the tablet of Confucius taken from the Shengmiao.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A nearby Battalion Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard reminded him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Great Yu Dynasty governed through Confucianism; Confucius held immense reverence both in court and among the people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Bold!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the tablet of Confucius, how dare you not kneel!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lead student shouted first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The tablet was their greatest shield—they had barely intimidated the soldiers and could not let them recover.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Heh!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What tablet of Confucius? I see none.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who among you saw it? Come with me to the Imperial Prison and tell me about it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or you?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or perhaps you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I didn’t see anything!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I saw nothing!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I saw nothing either!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those pointed out hurriedly claimed they saw nothing, terrified of being dragged into the Imperial Prison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Get out!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, the onlookers scattered in panic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are you standing around for!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>None of you saw the tablet of Confucius—this must be the work of demons! Seize these demons at once!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A group of upright students had been twisted by Zuo Tianjun into demons through sheer audacity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he turned “pointing at a deer and calling it a horse” into such blatant farce, the soldiers, once fearful, regained their courage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this, the students who had come to petition turned pale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The eunuchs’ shamelessness had rendered their plan useless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Run!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Someone shouted, and the deflated students scattered in all directions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Come back!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Quick, come back!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t run!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each man for himself in the face of disaster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how loudly the lead student shouted, the situation could not be changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The grand petition had become a farce; the arrested students would suffer terribly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Crack!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A whip lashed out; the lead student screamed in agony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ahh!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It hurt too much—this was nothing like the scene he had imagined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Take them all back for strict interrogation!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zuo Tianjun ordered triumphantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had resolved such a major incident so easily—he would surely be rewarded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Censorate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sir, it’s time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing his colleague’s reminder, Zuo Du Yushi Yue Shufeng unconsciously looked up at the sun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was already this late; the news should have arrived by now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh, go ahead without me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I still have some official business to finish—I’ll stay a while longer.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke, Yue Shufeng pretended to pick up a document and began reading it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The others exchanged glances and silently withdrew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In recent days, the Censorate had become a hotspot for arrests; Yue Shufeng’s trusted men had all been imprisoned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only officials still unharmed were either his rivals or seasoned time-servers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Earlier, when the Censorate loudly impeached the eunuch faction, they had merely followed the crowd, focusing on trivial matters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example: impeaching someone for arriving or leaving a quarter-hour late.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example: impeaching someone for being improperly dressed on a certain day, with creases on their official robe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or fabricating excuses to impeach someone for walking with improper steps, and so on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if the target of such technical impeachment were Yin Zu himself, the Imperial Secretariat would not intercept it, but send it immediately to the Emperor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These are trivial faults; even if the Emperor imposed punishment, it would be a mere nominal fine of salary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For eunuchs, these impeachments bring only advantages, no drawbacks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They not only demonstrate their magnanimity, but also let the Emperor know that they have not stifled free speech.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1165,"2026-06-21T08:09:02.410Z",1,"Qwen3.5 397B","6d399cdb26ca72cca171818592752527ff042d19f3cd3ef84cb51eafe9247008","restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-chapter-25","restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-chapter-23",391,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frestoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-cover.jpg"]