Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 611: Children's Words
Several, not just one! So, they were lucky to have only one person hit?
Zou Ming and the other three young candidates were able to pass the provincial examination in their early twenties, and they were the best among all the scholars in the province. Even if they were oblivious to the world outside and only focused on reading the books of sages, it would not be difficult for them to at least discern this meaning. As for the other people in the second hall, none of them were stupid, and they all changed color at this moment.
Even Zhu Ying, who always kept a distance from scholars, could not help but curse: "How ridiculous! All the scholars studied hard for decades to get their honors, none of them were lucky. He took his anger out on others out of jealousy, he deserves to be cut into pieces! He can go to the Imperial Household Department with a cut on his head? What kind of filthy place does he think the Imperial Household Department is!"
Zou Ming and the other two were all excited when they heard the words in defense of the candidate, thinking that Miss Zhu, who was known for her domineering behavior in the capital, was actually quite knowledgeable. But when they heard the second half of the words, their faces froze instantly, and they couldn't help but squeeze their legs together.
The description of getting stabbed in the head is really too deadly for a man! Apart from Zhu Ying, which rich girl can say such explicit words without restraint?
Magistrate Shen, who was just worried that he would not be able to get a confession and the case would remain unsolved, no longer cared about his dignity as a man, because it was not him who was being accused. Since Ah Liu had gotten a confession, he was surprised and delighted, and quickly winked at Captain Zhang.
Seeing him, he immediately dragged Lin Lao Hu out, and soon invited Ah Liu in. He smiled and said to Zhang Shou: "A strong general has no weak soldiers. Dr. Zhang's subordinates are indeed full of talented people."
"First, the generals of the Duke of Zhao's mansion rescued people bravely, and then the capable people under Dr. Zhang got the confession. Today's case might have shocked the capital, but now it has been solved in one fell swoop without causing any loss of life. This is all thanks to Dr. Zhang and the eldest lady! I heard that the two of you are going to get married next month. I must go and have a glass of wine at the wedding!"
Zhu Ying liked people talking about her and Zhang Shou the most. When she heard Magistrate Shen say this, she naturally smiled. But before she could say anything, Zhang Shou slowly got ahead of her and said, "Ah Liu, after you asked for the confession just now, did you ask someone to sign it? Were there any other witnesses present?"
"Of course!" Ah Liu said calmly without blinking, "The confession is in the hands of the witness."
Zhang Shou glanced at the somewhat bewildered Captain Zhang and Lin Lao Hu, and had already guessed who the so-called witness was. Unlike him, County Magistrate Shen, who had no idea, immediately asked, "Excuse me, little brother, who is the witness outside..."
"The Fourth Prince." When Ah Liu said these four words, it seemed as if he was talking about an ordinary kid next door. It was not until he saw County Magistrate Shen was stunned for a moment, and then he choked and coughed until he almost died that he said casually, "When I brought the Fourth Prince out of the Jiangdu Palace, I heard people talking about the young master and the eldest lady saving people, so I came all the way here."
When they found out that the child they had left behind when they went to find Ah Liu was actually the Fourth Prince, Captain Zhang and Lin Lao Hu were going crazy! Captain Zhang had indeed never seen the Fourth Prince, but Lin Lao Hu had!
But when Lin Lao Hu saw Ah Liu talking to the Fourth Prince just now, he didn't care at all because of the tone of voice he used as if he wasn't a noble in the palace. Plus, the Fourth Prince's clothes didn't look luxurious at all - the Emperor often taught the brothers to be simple, so the Third Prince was really simple - so he didn't care at all.
But who would have thought that the child squatting and playing tricks next to the half-dead sturdy man wrapped in a quilt was the Fourth Prince?
Magistrate Shen, who finally managed to catch his breath, saw Zhang Shou immediately stand up, call Ah Liu over to scold him, and then hurriedly get up and walk out. He also hurriedly left his seat and followed. As for Zhu Ying... When he saw Zhu Ying inviting Zou Ming and the other two to go out with her to meet the Fourth Prince, he felt that the eldest lady was not as spoiled and willful as the rumors said. At least she still took the Fourth Prince seriously!
Although in order to show their integrity and character, the court officials would only bow respectfully to the Fourth Prince in the past, and would not take him seriously, let alone say a word. But now, even if the Fourth Prince is different from the Third Prince who is about to be appointed as the Crown Prince, he is definitely different now. At least, who dares to ignore him?
When Shen County Magistrate Wan Zhangshou hurried outside, he saw a scene that made him dumbfounded. Not far away, a boy with a topknot was sitting on the back of a big man on the ground, bored, with his feet resting on the man's head. From time to time, he would move his feet to hit the man's head hard, just like those naughty boys in the folk who bullied honest people.
However, when they saw a group of people coming out, they immediately stood up and ran over: "Teacher, Sister Yingying!"
The Fourth Prince was very happy, and he smiled at Ah Liu who was standing beside Zhang Shou, "Sixth Brother, I followed the method you just left and found out the answer! I don't know where this guy heard that the cabinet is the foreign minister, and the Silijian is the internal minister. If you can get in, you will have a better future than those regular Jinshi, so he is excited and ready to castrate himself!"
When it came to the word "self-castration", the Fourth Prince didn't even pause - even though he had no idea what the so-called self-castration meant, it did not stop him from expressing contempt for someone.
"Humph, what kind of filthy place does he think the Imperial Household Department is?" These words were exactly the same as Zhu Ying's, but to Zhang Shou, what the Fourth Prince said next was pure dry stuff that he had only heard a little about, or had never understood at all.
"I heard from Liu Feng that the charity hall of the Silijian would adopt many abandoned babies every year, and then select the smartest ones to raise until they are six years old, and then select a group of people according to their qualifications for intensive training. Among them, those who study best and perform best in exams will be sent to the Silijian's inner school. The Silijian will teach them from a young age that those who take care of their children but not their parents are not worthy of being called parents, and loyalty to the emperor is the foundation..."
The Fourth Prince was casually talking about the training rules of the Imperial Household Department that Liu Feng had told him, and he didn't notice that County Magistrate Shen frowned when he heard it. At this time, Zou Ming, who was wrapped up like a dumpling, had forgotten the identity of the Fourth Prince and couldn't help but retorted: "This is wrong. There are no parents who are not wrong in the world. How can you slander them just because of abandonment? Besides, even if he is an orphan, the Imperial Household Department shouldn't abuse him like this..."
It was not until his companion pinched his hand that Zou Ming stopped talking in anger, but he was still full of anger. But the Fourth Prince was not angry, but widened his eyes slightly and said with a puzzled look on his face: "How can the Silijian abuse? Didn't Wang Si in Nancheng run a charity before? That's called abuse. Few people who came out of the Silijian charity hall entered the palace, and most of them worked outside!"
When the Fourth Prince said this, County Magistrate Shen's face suddenly changed. How the Imperial Household Department recruited people was an internal palace matter, not something that outsiders could control. This was because the issue of eunuchs was always strictly controlled, and the number of eunuchs in the palace was always strictly controlled. Therefore, even though there were all kinds of messy rumors about the Imperial Household Department, they could not be confirmed, so outsiders could not comment on it.
But at least, things like poor families selling their children and having them castrated to enter the palace are almost extinct in this dynasty, because they simply won't accept them!
But in this case, where did the eunuchs in the palace come from? Now listening to the tone of the fourth prince, it is very clear that the Silijian actually set up a private charity, selected abandoned children with good qualifications and trained them, and then cut off the relationship between the people and their parents and relatives, and even instilled the guilt of abandonment in them, artificially created hatred towards their parents, and then took them into the palace! Only talking about loyalty, not filial piety, is ridiculous!
The most important thing is, apart from the group that entered the palace, the rest of the people are working outside? It is obvious that the Silijian has a large number of people in secret besides the small number of people on the surface! After years of operation, County Magistrate Shen dare not imagine the scale!
The Fourth Prince did not have much affection for the Imperial Household Department. He just wanted to explain that you could not enter the Imperial Household Department just because you wanted to. He did not care about County Magistrate Shen's expression at all, and continued to talk to himself: "The Imperial Household Department has many rules. You can only use the Beijing dialect, not the local accent. You are not allowed to make friends with your fellow villagers, you are not allowed to recognize relatives from outside, and you are forbidden to bring people into the palace... Oh, I heard that among the orphans, there are also children from the Northern Tartars..."
County Magistrate Shen was certainly extremely shocked, and Zou Ming and others were equally shocked!
Since ancient times, eunuchs have never been extinct, and this dynasty is no exception. However, Emperor Taizu repeatedly emphasized to the people that it is forbidden to castrate oneself, and he would never accept eunuchs who have done so. In addition, the number of eunuchs in the palace has always been controlled at a very low level, and the palace people are released on time when they reach a certain age. Therefore, the civil servants naturally welcome such a benevolent policy.
Who would want to have a bunch of eunuchs whispering in the emperor's ear and competing with him for power?
Because they had rarely heard of anyone being castrated and entering the palace, and eunuchs were unlikely to appear outside the capital, scholars from other places like Zou Ming had never thought about how to replenish eunuchs in the palace. At this time, the Fourth Prince's words not only gave them some knowledge, but also made them shocked and angry.
County Magistrate Shen endured and endured, but finally couldn't stand it anymore and said in a deep voice: "Orphans are also raised by their parents. They adopted them but castrated them and sent them to the palace, severing their family ties and hometown ties. Where is justice and humanity? This is really too much!"
Haha, what's so excessive about this? You haven't seen the system of castrating Christian boys as slave guards! Besides, the literati's homes have slaves and maids, which are messy things. Except for not castrating people, how is it cleaner than the palace?
Zhang Shou knew it well. The literati and eunuchs were in natural conflict - this was normal, in essence, it was a game between the imperial power represented by the eunuchs and the literati group. Except for the late Tang Dynasty when the eunuchs controlled the emperor's dethronement and the emperor's power, and the vassal states controlled the military power, the civil service group tried to suppress the eunuchs internally and consolidate the military power externally, but ultimately failed miserably, the struggles continued throughout the dynasties.
Even in the Song Dynasty, where eunuchs did not seem to be that famous, the Northern Song Dynasty had Tong Guan and Liang Shicheng, who were cultivated by Song Huizong, who was the best at playing power games; and the Southern Song Dynasty had Dong Songchen, who was brought up by Song Lizong, who claimed to advocate Neo-Confucianism but was a mess in governing the country and using military forces. Which one of them was not a running dog of the imperial power?
"That's not too much. Last time, I asked Liu Feng to secretly take me to the inner study hall. The sound of reading there was loud and clear. It was quite interesting! It's not like I haven't studied in the Imperial Academy before. Many of the students there just want to . It's not as good as the inner study hall!"
The Fourth Prince had always been rash, impulsive, even a little rebellious, so he certainly didn't like an old man like County Magistrate Shen who was always talking about justice, so he started to confront him.
At this point, not only did Magistrate Shen's face turn pale, but even Zou Ming and the other two could not bear it. The scholar who had thanked Zhang Shou profusely for saving him said word by word, "Fourth Prince, how can the Imperial Academy's inner library be compared with the Imperial Academy? Most of the students in the Imperial Academy have official titles and have studied hard for decades. What kind of sage books are these abandoned children adopted by eunuchs reading!"
"All I know is that Liu Feng told me that there are hundreds of thousands of orphans in the capital who are taken into charity halls every year . After studying, only one in ten can pass the annual and monthly examinations and finally enter the inner school. And only one in ten can pass the three selections in the inner school and finally enter the palace. And after entering the palace, those who can enter the Silijian have to take three major examinations again, but still only one in ten!"
"Those who failed every exam cried bitterly, regretting that they didn't study hard enough! But I see that among the six halls of the Imperial College, many students have been wandering around for ten or eight years and ended up only being admitted to Guangye Hall. These students don't feel ashamed!"
"Fourth Prince, that's enough!"
Although Zhang Shou also wanted to hear more about the huge amount of information that the Fourth Prince suddenly revealed today - after all, even he couldn't pry into these things at random, otherwise it would be a real spying on the palace - he still shouted in a deep voice. When he saw that the Fourth Prince stopped talking with a look of dissatisfaction on his face, he shook his head at him.
"You should be tactful when speaking. It's just what Liu Feng said to you. Can you use it as evidence when arguing with others? Besides, why are you only focusing on those unlearned and unskilled people in the Imperial College who are spoiling the pot of porridge? There are also talented people in the Imperial College, such as..."
"For example, Sister Yingying's eldest brother." The fourth prince snorted unhappily, but under Zhang Shou's stern stare, he finally just muttered in a low voice, "We are all scholars, why do you look down on others?"
The Fourth Prince's words, "They are all scholars," made Magistrate Shen, Zou Ming and others turn pale.
Knowing that they would never want to be compared with a group of future "elites" of the Imperial Household Department, who were currently abandoned children from the Imperial Household Department's charity hall, Zhang Shou could only put on a serious face again. But before he could stop the Fourth Prince again, County Magistrate Shen suddenly asked, "May I ask who is the Liu Feng that the Fourth Prince keeps talking about?"
Zhang Shou looked at Magistrate Shen in astonishment. Liu Feng was also the manager of the Palace of Heavenly Purity, so Magistrate Shen, as the Magistrate of Wanping County, wouldn't he not know about it? However, seeing that he was still so serious, he realized that Magistrate Shen wanted the Fourth Prince to say it himself.
As expected, the young Fourth Prince had no idea about these things, and he said without hesitation: "He is the steward of the Palace of Heavenly Purity? He said that he was a loser who didn't study hard and therefore couldn't enter the Imperial Household Department."
Zhang Shou was still impressed by Liu Feng's fickleness, and when he heard the Fourth Prince say this, he just felt it was unbelievable. Why did Liu Feng tell the Fourth Prince all this for no reason? Didn't he know that the Fourth Prince was prone to speak without restraint? Sure enough, the next moment, he heard County Magistrate Shen say sternly: "So it was him... How dare he deceive the prince like this, I must impeach him!"
