Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 530: The police are also law enforcement officers
Chief Hong didn't know that the captain of the fast squad, whom he totally despised, had already greeted his whole family. He only knew that he was filled with anger at the moment, because he felt that Zhang Shou's messy stuff, which was not even a lecture, was more popular than his serious and earnest lectures, which was entirely due to the declining academic atmosphere .
However, although he had a conservative personality and was considered by his teacher and daughter to be easy to offend people after leaving Yuzhang Academy, he at least knew that if he vented his anger on Zhou Jijiu and Luo Siye, he would really make enemies on all sides. Therefore, he could only vent his anger on the insignificant officials whom he completely despised.
Anyway, as a great scholar summoned to the capital by the emperor, he doesn't need to take those runners and servants seriously at all!
However, before Zhou Jijiu and Luo Siye could reply, Hong Shanchang heard a voice behind him: "Hong Shanchang, what you said is absurd. The saying that the policemen are menial servants has not existed since the founding of our dynasty by Emperor Taizu!"
Seeing that Chief Hong Shan suddenly turned around and glared at him with his brows raised, Zhang Shou walked forward without changing his expression, smiled at Lin Lao Hu and said calmly: "What do the three squads of police officers in the yamen do? The fast squad is responsible for hunting down criminals who have violated the law, the police officers in the soap squad are responsible for standing guard in the court and administering flogging and caning, and the militiamen in the strong squad are responsible for maintaining street law and order and, if necessary, protecting the people in times of crisis."
"Although it is said that even today, there are people who are selling dog meat under the guise of selling mutton, bullying the people and mistreating the common people, but the original intention of Emperor Taizu was that the three classes of runners were the actual executors of the Ming Dynasty law, representing the strictness of the law. Therefore, the black dog skins that everyone derogatorily calls them now were synonymous with the law during the reign of Emperor Taizu. If ordinary people think that they are menial servants, it is understandable, but..."
"Master Hong, you are a well-educated scholar, don't you know the painstaking efforts of Emperor Taizu? In his imperial edicts, he repeatedly emphasized that the third shift of officials are law enforcement officers, not menial servants!"
Seeing that Hong Shanchang's face had turned livid, Zhang Shou suddenly pointed at Lin Lao Hu and said word by word, "And the person you just accused was the lowly servant, Constable Lin of Shuntian Prefecture Yamen. He has been a constable for thirty years, following in his father's footsteps. He has killed countless thieves and robbers who have come to the capital!"
"Do you think Tiger is his real name? It's because people praised him for his hatred of evil and his ability to catch evil like a tiger, so they gave him Tiger as a respectful name! Law enforcement officers use the law as a criterion to bring all criminals to justice. Even if they are not as good as teachers in teaching and answering questions, they should not be discriminated against!"
"From ancient times to the present, many major cases have been placed on the shoulders of government officials. They have to solve them within a certain period of time, and they are the ones who receive the punishments, but their salaries are pitifully low. Emperor Taizu once lamented that he wanted the horse to run but not eat grass. This is why there are so many unscrupulous officials in the world, and he was determined to change the situation."
"Master Hong, you are a well-read scholar, don't you understand this? Are you old and confused, or are you pretending not to know?"
Lin Lao Hu was almost in tears after being talked about by Zhang Shou. If he used to think that Zhang Shou had brought a lot of trouble since he came to the capital, now he felt that such a reasonable young man was worth all the trouble !
Seeing that Hong Shanzhang was almost mad with anger, Zhou Jijiu, who had just stared at Zhang Shou's full-throated bullying, finally reacted. He quickly laughed and said, "Okay, okay, this is not a big deal..."
However, this time he was interrupted before he could finish his words.
The one who spoke was the unhurried little fat man Lu: "The Grand Secretary is wrong. This is not a big deal... This is a big deal that cannot be ignored! If all the great scholars in the world are like Hong Shanzhang, not taking the three shifts of officials seriously, and even despising them, treating the law clerks as menial servants, then wouldn't that mean they don't take the great grandfather's painstaking efforts seriously?"
“You…you…”
Hong Shanzhang was finally completely mad. Although Zhang Shou had angered him once before when he met the emperor, at least there were not many people present at that time. But now, in front of so many people, there were still students and candidates who had not left yet! He was ashamed and angry and wanted to refute, but he usually used the sage scriptures to question people. Was he going to use the sage scriptures as a weapon to accuse Emperor Taizu of treating the runners as law enforcement officers? That was pure nonsense.
Dean Xiao and Dean Xu, who were standing by, saw Dean Hong's expression, which looked like he was about to explode with anger, and they couldn't help but look at each other. Although Taihu Academy and Huating Academy had always been rivals, at this moment, the two sworn enemies felt that Dean Hong was really useless. He insisted on showing off his eloquence, but now he was being squeezed and couldn't say anything. At least he had one last trick to wipe out the whole family, right?
If you can’t win the argument, just pretend to be faint!
After all, Zhang Shou is much younger than you. If word gets out that he doesn’t respect the elderly and the virtuous, and makes the elder faint on the spot, then it’s natural for your students from Yuzhang Academy to get involved, right?
Even though they thought so, neither of the two headmasters who came almost together planned to remind Headmaster Hong - they were competitors, and Headmaster Hong was even trying to attract attention by marrying his daughter to the eldest prince. Wouldn't it be okay for them to watch them laugh at the joke?
However, there were still some seemingly honest people. Seeing that Zhou Jijiu, the Grand Secretary of the Imperial College, came out in person to act as a peacemaker, but was rejected by Lu Sanlang, Shanzhang Yue stepped forward and stopped Shanzhang Hong, who seemed determined to fight to the end.
"The Imperial Academy is an important place for the academy. In the past, no one was allowed to enter. Principal Hong must have been angry when he saw someone from the government. Doctor Zhang, the instructions of the Grand Master you mentioned are reasonable, but you should also give the elders some face and forgive them when you can. Look, you set such a good example, but your chief disciple is also aggressive."
Principal Yue's words were sharp but gentle. Zhang Shou naturally heard that while he was insisting that Principal Hong had said the wrong thing by mistake, he was also hinting that he was aggressive and that Lu Sanlang, as a student, was even more aggressive.
However, since Master Hong had scolded him for his sweet talk in front of the emperor last time, he was justified in taking advantage of Lin Lao Hu's incident. Therefore, when he saw the little fat man glaring at him and about to fight back, he also reached out to stop his chief disciple.
Although this title was bestowed upon me by Yue Shanchang...
"Let Master Yue know that this is not about being aggressive, but about the truth. Most importantly, I did not on my own initiative, nor did I invite them as the chief priest and secretary of the Imperial Academy. Instead, the emperor ordered them to maintain order."
"They received this urgent task three days ago and have been preparing intensively, demarcating areas and making number plates, just to be absolutely sure. Thousands of people gathered here today, and many of them are even visiting the Imperial College for the first time. They are not familiar with the buildings and the entrances and exits. If there is no one to maintain it, once a stampede occurs due to the large number of people, who will bear the responsibility? Will it be you, Director Hong, or someone else?"
"Every year during the Lantern Festival, all the officials from the various government offices go to the streets to maintain order. That's the reason! A lot of the dirty and tiring work is done by these black-clad officials whom you look down upon! You enjoy the convenience they bring, but you look down on them in person. Is this the way of the wise?"
Zhang Shou looked at Yue Shanzhang without giving an inch. Seeing that Hong Shanzhang's face was red and his neck was thick, and the look in his eyes seemed to be so angry that he wanted to swallow him up, he was not afraid at all and instead smiled.
"Master Hongshan, you are willing to live in poverty and your moral integrity is indeed impeccable. However, there are many things in the world that cannot be accomplished by moral integrity alone. You must know that every profession has its own expertise. Some things cannot be accomplished by just talking."
"You...are arrogant!" Hong Shanzhang was so angry that he blurted out these two words, and then he passed through Yue Shanzhang's obstruction, but he did not argue with Zhang Shou anymore, but left in a rage. Although he was stubborn to the point of being unchangeable, he was not a fool. Would he stay and argue with Zhang Shou at this time and let others laugh at him?
When Shanzhang Hong left, Shanzhang Yue, who had failed to be a peacemaker like Zhou Jijiu, glanced at Zhang Shou with a somewhat inexplicable look, then bowed to Zhou Jijiu and Luo Siye as if nothing had happened, and nodded to the other two Shanzhangs to say goodbye, but left without saying goodbye to Zhang Shou. He had a grudge against Zhang Shou because of Fang Qing's matter, so naturally he was too lazy to maintain the image of a gentle gentleman at this time.
The two men left one after another. After watching the show for a while, Principal Xiao coughed and said, "Dr. Zhang's lecture today was very unique. It really opened my eyes. However, Principal Hong's tolerance is not very good. You must be more careful in the future."
As he spoke, he chuckled, nodded to Zhou Jijiu Luo Siye and Zhang Shoulu Sanlang equally, and left. When he left, Xu Shanchang said a few polite words in a low-key manner, and never mentioned the scene just now, as if it had never happened at all, and left lightly without a trace of cloud...
Not until the four headmasters left did Zhou Jijiu finally wake up from his dream. He glared at Zhang Shou, filled with rage.
It was Luo Siye who realized that Zhang Shou's words just now were completely on the side of righteousness, so he quickly grabbed Zhou Jijiu and gave Zhang Shou a serious lecture on the importance of being on guard against others. Then he quickly dragged his immediate superior away, and while walking, he continued to give Zhou Jijiu earnest advice.
After all, it almost never happened that the Imperial College Director was promoted to the position of Priest, but it did happen that the Imperial College Doctor was suddenly promoted to Director. Moreover, his rank was now almost the same as Zhang Shou's. How could we be sure that the emperor would not ignore public opinion because of temporary favoritism?
From this point of view, he is actually the person who fears Zhang Shou the most, even more than Hong Shanchang and others!
As soon as these people left, the few doctors from the Imperial College who had just been watching the fun naturally fled, and the scholars who had not left had nothing to watch, so they dispersed in twos and threes. Considering that the person who was squeezed just now was the unpopular Hong Shanchang who lectured long and boringly, most people applauded in their hearts. As for those who were upright and thought Zhang Shou had no manners...
Most of them dared not to be angry or speak out because of the instructions of Emperor Taizu. Emperor Taizu was wrong. It was okay to say such things in private, but to say them in public was courting death, wasn't it?
Lu Sanlang didn't care what other people looked at him like. He just felt that Zhang Shou was showing off his talent today, and he was extremely powerful. But before he could open his mouth to flatter him, he saw Lin Lao Hu quickly approaching and suddenly bowed to Zhang Shou.
"Dr. Zhang, I am so grateful for your kindness. I never thought you would think of us, the clerks who are often criticized, in this way!"
Zhang Shou had been pent up with anger for a while, so he just took advantage of the situation. Seeing Lin Lao Hu's reaction, he was slightly stunned, then hurried forward and helped him up with a smile: "Captain Lin, why are you like this? These are the instructions and benevolent policies of Emperor Taizu. I am just parroting what he said. How dare I accept this great gift from you?"
As he was talking, he caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye that Zhu Ying was coming towards him with the Third Prince under the cover of a group of Jiuzhang Hall students. They seemed to be hiding in the crowd, intending to scare him. He could not help but smile and continued talking to Lin Lao Hu as if nothing had happened.
"Besides, Magistrate Song and you have done so many things for me in the past. If I allow you to be ridiculed as a lowly servant today, wouldn't that be too inhumane? Captain Lin should hate people like this the most, right? As for your great achievements, they were all told to me by Ah Liu. This kid has probably visited every part of the inner and outer city of the capital. If you want to thank someone, thank him."
Lin Lao Hu was even more moved at this moment, and immediately broke free from Zhang Shou's hands, took a step back, and bowed again very solemnly. As for whether Zhang Shou would take out his anger on him and let the students from Yuzhang Academy treat him, he was too lazy to think about it.
When someone hit him in the face, Zhang Shou helped to hit him back. Could he still blame Zhang Shou for being too reckless and causing him to be pissed off? You know, he wanted to confront this great scholar from Jiangxi in person, but he only regretted that he was not good enough at talking and could not win the argument!
"What? Did I miss something just now?"
Zhu Ying, who had originally intended to give Zhang Shou a good scare, realized that something was wrong, so she gave up and rushed over. When she arrived in front of everyone, she looked at Lin Lao Hu and Zhang Shou with a smile: "Shou, shouldn't you thank the officers for maintaining order, so that you can have such a wonderful lecture today? How come it's the other way around?"
"Why did he thank you in return?"
When Lin Lao Hu heard Zhu Ying say that Zhang Shou should thank him, he was already full of gratitude and felt that this fiancée was simply a breath of fresh air among the dignitaries in the capital. He took a deep breath, then forced a smile and said, "Anyway, thank you, Dr. Zhang, for your fair words. I will go back to work now. If you have anything to ask in the future, just tell me and I will do everything I can!"
