Who Cares

39

Chapter 39 Virtuous Minister

The next day, in Chengde Hall, the civil and military officials divided to the left and right to present court memorials together.

Because of Xu Guangzhi's request, several great scholars already prepared letters of recommendation to report to the emperor. When County Prince Jing stepped forward and urged Xu Guangzhi to enter the office, they also followed and spoke together. Guan Father took a step forward and was about to second a motion, but he heard his old man refute with anger, "Report to the emperor, Xu Guangzhi is lacking personal virtue, have become depraved, and could not become an official..." Finally, he unfolded the long memorial in his hand, recited word by word.

Father, didn't we agree before that we won't slap County Prince Jing's face in the court? Your words cannot be trusted, ah! Guan Father sighed in his heart, but his face didn't show anything. And at his instigation, several Legalism scholars who were preparing to impeach Xu Guangzhi for burning books and discarding articles were also caught off guard at this time. They never expected that Old Master Guan would be so upright, and even teared up the younger generation of his own school. However, listening to it, they were touched by his 'looking up not ashamed of the sky, looking down not ashamed of people' magnificent aura and candidness, one by one were moved to tears.

Not long before, the Confucius's policy was promulgated, and the court ministers had their own schools of thought, naturally they were worried about the damage to their interests. And Xu Guangzhi's remarks of "Abolishing a hundred schools of thought" made their already precarious situation even more difficult. If they didn't change the lane and withdraw, those Legalism classics couldn't be said what's their fate tomorrow. However, asking scholars to give up what they have learned all their lives and reluctantly accept ideas they do not agree with was more cruel than directly beheading them.

Therefore, they want to fight against Xu Guangzhi to the end, but they also knew that the emperor would not open his eyes for other schools, and they could only fight to the end and sacrifice their lives for righteousness. However, they did not expect that as the Confucian master and Emperor Teacher, Old Master Guan, would stand up one step ahead of them and thoroughly criticized. If all Confucian scholars were as virtuous as Old Master Guan, the literary world would definitely flourish, the court would be stable, and the society would have a long history.

When Old Master Guan finished reading the memorials in an eloquent manner, there was a roar of applause from the court, and even the generals who had always been at odds with the civil servants also clasped their hands, and the second motion continued.

Xu Guangzhi's actions were very high-profile. No, it should be said that in these two lifetimes, he had been a small utensil that easy to fill, without regard for others. The difference was that in the previous life, he was supported by Emperor Sheng Yuan, but in this life, he could only cling to the powerful and planned every step. One point of fate differ made everything also very different. In the previous life, he had brutalized the scholars of other schools like that, not necessarily didn't make enemies, but because of his strong backing and deep background, he always stood firm. But in this life, he had shown himself without the strength to protect himself, and the fate after antagonizing countless enemies could be imagined.

He thought that the ministers of the Confucian school would all backing him up, but he forgot whether those who was in charge, that was, Old Master Guan, would appreciate his style of bullying others, burning books and abolishing Legalism. The answer was he didn't appreciate it and even hated it!

For the first time, Emperor Sheng Yuan listened carefully to the words of his teacher. Because of his selfish advocacy of Legalism and rejection of Confucianism, his impression of Old Master Guan had always remained at the level of conformity and ignorance. After he had a secret affection for Guan Suyi, he began to re-examine the old man, and finally found the other person's loyalty, honesty, uprightness and righteousness hidden under the pedantic and stubbornness.