The old man sitting on the chair gripped the edge of the chair with his withered hands, breathing with difficulty.
Da Chu's Emperor, Jiang Si, did not panic at all. With a half-smile, he said, "The Red Ink Iron Certificate bestowed by the previous Emperor? Of course, I remember, but you probably don't. Taizu once said that anyone who committed a great crime of rebellion would be executed! "
The official was stunned for a moment and then laughed out loud. He looked around, as if he had gone mad. "How laughable, how laughable. In the long history of the Chu Dynasty, there has never been an official who was given a certificate and executed. I didn't think that I would be so lucky to meet His Majesty, the Emperor who has opened up a new era!"
The Hanlin scholar, who was known for his elegance, suddenly raised the jade tablet high up and smashed it viciously on the floor of the hall. It instantly shattered.
His voice was like the mournful cry of a dragon and phoenix.
The Hanlin scholar, who had frightened everyone, said clearly, "I don't want to be an official like this!"
Then, just as he turned to leave the hall, the old Grand Tutor, Sun Xiji, who was already at the end of his life, slapped the edge of the chair and shouted angrily, "What a scandal! Li Zhangji, even if you want to hang up your seal and resign, you should wait until the court session ends before you can leave the hall. Otherwise, you should go straight to the imperial prison yourself! There's no need for the Ministry of Justice to interrogate you! "
The Hanlin scholar froze on the spot and snorted heavily. Although he was not afraid, in the end, he did not walk out of the hall. Instead, he swaggered back to the ranks of the officials.
With Li Zhangji taking the lead, the civil and military officials, who had always believed in hiding knives in their sleeves but had to maintain harmony on the surface, felt their backs straighten a little. The young female Emperor's inexplicable madness began to seem a bit like a self-amusing joke.
Yes, the court was full of civil and military officials. Behind them were so many powerful families that would rise again with the spring breeze regardless of the rise and fall of the dynasties. As long as we are of the same breath and branch, do we really fear a young woman without the support of Cao Changqing? Furthermore, looking at the situation, the old Grand Tutor was only tolerating her crazy actions and did not support them.
Jiang Si shot a glance at the Hanlin Academy scholar who looked like a victorious general on the battlefield. He sneered and said, "Li Zhangji, I heard that you claim to be an ancient and modern scholar. You don't even need to look at them. You can only judge the good and bad based on your nose?"
Just as Li Changji flew into a rage out of humiliation and was about to refute, Cheng Wenyu, a famous scholar of the same generation in the literary world who had been the most critical of Li Changji, walked out of the ranks unexpectedly. He didn't even hold up the jade tablet. Instead, he held it in one hand and said with a smile, "Although the scholars of the Da Chu have no objections to Master Li's poetry and prose, Your Majesty must know that even This Old Man of the Song family in Liyang, the son of this Old Man Song, once commented that 'writing is like a fierce general on the battlefield commanding troops, in a fierce battle without rest. It is also like a ruthless official handling a case, scrupulous to the end, strict but not lenient. Although it is a little biased and fair, it can be said to be extremely powerful!' Your Majesty, let's not talk about Master Li's ability as an official, but this essay …"
Although Cheng Wenyu didn't say the last half of his sentence, the meaning behind his words was very clear. Li Changji's scholarly essay was definitely not something that Jiang Si could comment on.
What was even more thought-provoking was not the common cynicism and ridicule that scholars were used to. Of course, for a court official to directly face the monarch and ridicule him, there was no lack of unyielding people in history, but there certainly weren't many. Cheng Wenyu's magnificent feat was still very praiseworthy. Perhaps in the future, it would go down in history and be written about by later generations of historians. Other than that, what was really worth chewing on was Cheng Wenyu's righteous words on behalf of his sworn enemy in the literary world. This meant that not to mention the other officials, even Li Changji, who was at the very least attached to the towering tree of the Song family at that time, was no longer fighting alone. The two aristocratic families behind Cheng Wenyu had been forcefully pulled onto the Song family's ship that should have already sunk into the Guangling River. This wasn't adding flowers to brocade, but rather firmly helping to light the lamp in the dark room.
Following Cheng Wenyu's departure from the ranks, a knowing smile rose to the corners of the lips of many officials who had been frightened because of their dirty dealings.
Very quickly, an official from the back row also stepped out. However, he didn't have Li Changji's heroic spirit that reached the clouds, nor did he have Cheng Wenyu's noble character and unquestionable integrity. He only trembled with fear as he spoke to the Emperor. After all, the Song family had been Da Chu's cornerstone for 300 years. The war between the two countries was raging like a raging fire. Blaming the Song family at this time would chill the hearts of the soldiers on the front lines.
Jiang Si was indifferent.
Sun Xiji turned his head to look at the young Emperor with regret and pleading.
He regretted that she shouldn't have suddenly used such a strong medicine on Da Chu, a critically ill patient. He prayed that she wouldn't let her emotions affect her decisions. As the Emperor of a country, he could hide a needle in silk floss. He could be gentle in his methods. He could be flexible in his methods. If he wanted to condemn someone, he could always find a pretext. He could deliberately cultivate factions in the court to maintain balance. He could even privately feel that the saying 'water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize a boat' did not make sense. However, he couldn't allow himself to become a true 'lonely person'. He couldn't allow himself to become the public enemy of all the civil and military officials in the court. After all, when the flood reached the heavens, the people who were in the same boat as him were precisely those officials in the court. If the person who sat on the dragon throne ended up in a situation where 'everyone in the boat was the enemy of the country', then there would really be a change of dynasty!
Sun Xiji's lips trembled. The old man no longer had the strength to speak loudly. He could only repeat in a low voice that sounded like he was mumbling to himself, "Your Majesty, please reconsider. Your Majesty, please reconsider …"
Jiang Si said expressionlessly, "Oh? Did This Old Man of the Song family, who lost his integrity in his later years, say that? Zhen has never heard of it. Zhen has only heard from Cao Changqing that you, Li Changji, only have the air of a paper craftsman, the air of a scholar of the same weight, and the air of a refined and refined scholar.
Li Changji and Cheng Wenyu, these two literary giants of Da Chu's scholarly world who could summon the wind and summon the rain, felt as if they were struck by lightning at the same time. They didn't know how to respond.
Cao Changqing.
He had always been the person with the most detached status in Da Chu. Ever since he received the imperial edict to enter the palace and become a chess piece awaiting the imperial edict, he had been the most proud person in West Chu. When Li Mi lost to him on the chessboard, Ye Baikui laughed and said, 'If there's you on the Da Chu battlefield, then there won't be me.' Tang Jiahe, who was known as the omniscient master of miscellaneous studies, even told people that if there was something I didn't know, I should ask Cao Changqing.
When Da Chu's mountains and rivers were intact, it was like this. After Da Chu became West Chu, it was even more so.
Suddenly, Song Jingde, the Deputy General of the Imperial Guard in Da Chu, who was born in a rich and powerful family, seemed to be talking to himself.
He said in a low voice, "In this time of crisis, dare I ask where is Cao Changqing?"
When Sun Xiji, who was not paying attention to, heard this sentence, he slumped against the back of the chair. The old man closed his eyes, his breathing was weak.
All the civil and military officials in the imperial court, those high ranking officials, all sneered incessantly, while those officials in the back kept quiet out of fear.
Jiang Si wanted to say something but hesitated. She was filled with anger, but she couldn't say anything.
She suddenly walked down from the dragon chair, walked to the chair, squatted down, and gently held the old man's withered hand, which was trembling so powerlessly.
Sun Xiji could no longer speak. He tried his best to open his eyes. In his eyes, there was only the pity and kindness of an elder looking at the younger generation.
She wanted to say something.
She wanted to say 'I'm sorry'.
But the old man used the last of his energy to shake his head slightly.
The old man seemed to want to laugh and say to her, 'You've already done very well. Don't feel guilty, don't feel guilty.'
In the Da Chu Dynasty, which was once the orthodox dynasty of the Central Plains, this old man who slowly closed his eyes seemed to be satisfied with his achievements at the age of twenty. After sixty years of merits and demerits, honor and disgrace, there was nothing left to say.
After the old man closed his eyes, his withered hand, which was covered in age spots and had no flesh, seemed to push this female emperor. It was as if he wanted to push her out of this smoke-filled imperial court, push her very far away, push her out of the northwestern frontier.
When all the civil and military officials in the imperial court saw this scene, they all had complicated thoughts.
There was a soft cough that sounded above everyone's heads.
Other than Emperor Jiang Si, who suddenly stood up and raised her head, no one else noticed.
She saw a young man who had been sleeping on a beam sit up and smile at her.
Originally, even if everyone on the boat was an enemy nation, she didn't feel wronged. She also didn't fear that they would reveal their true intentions. But for some reason, after seeing him, she felt that she had suffered a great grievance.
She knew that she was unreasonable. In fact, she had always been much more unreasonable than him.
But she just wanted to let him know that she felt wronged in front of him.
She liked him, so she didn't want to reason with him.
He liked her, so he had to reason with her.
There was no reason to reason with this kind of reason.
She shed tears, but her face also flushed red. She was somewhat embarrassed. Lowering her head wasn't enough. She even turned her head away, not daring to look at him.
In the next moment, everyone was dumbstruck.
It wasn't because of the emperor's strange actions.
Instead, it was because a young man with a warblade at his waist floated down from above to land next to the emperor of Da Chu. He gently placed one hand on her head and the other hand on the hilt of his blade. Facing all of them, facing the civil and military officials of Da Chu inside and outside the great hall, he smiled and said, "Cao Changqing is not here, but I, Hsu Fengnian, am."
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