Chapter 310: People's Heart, Sacred Heart

The main office of the God-Slaying Division.

When the drum for reporting the case was struck yesterday, the fact that Li Jianhu and other two sued Zhou Tieyi was like a stone thrown into a lake, creating ripples that no one had expected.

Two days later, in front of the God-Exterminating Division Yamen, because of the publication of the Tianjing News, the people all knew that the first three-court trial would be held today.

The dense crowd blocked the outside of the God-Punishing Division like a tide, causing the clerks of the Division to sweat slightly on their foreheads and rush in to report.

In the main hall of the God-Slaying Division.

A group of officials sat upright, occasionally glancing at Zhou Tieyi, who was drinking tea in the middle with a calm demeanor and wearing a dragon robe. They also wanted to know how Zhou Tieyi would judge the case.

On Zhou Tieyi's left and right were the Minister of Justice Cui Wanxia and the Chief Censor of the Censorate Deng Zhenquan.

Normally, at this stage, the three chief judges in charge of the trial would discuss the details of the case.

However, Cui Wanxia, ​​a Legalist, and Deng Zhen, a Confucianist, had no intention of communicating with Zhou Tieyi and were just waiting for the confrontation during the trial.

"My Lords, the people who are listening outside have arrived."

According to the provisions of the "Daxia Tianxian", such publicly tried cases, even if they were heard in the local county government, required at least ten citizens to attend as observers to ensure a fair and open trial.

Of course, most of the time, this is just formalism.

With the development of the feudal empire over three hundred years, those who generally participated in such trials were local elders. Most of the time, their interests were consistent with those of the local magistrate and county lieutenant, and they would not object to the results of the trial.

Deng Zhenquan, the chief censor of the Imperial Censorate, looked at Zhou Tieyi and said after a moment's hesitation, "Lord Zhou, aren't you inviting too many people today?"

Of course, he already knew the situation outside. Such a huge crowd of people would only form in a few major cases, and these cases would undoubtedly cause the presiding judge to treat them with caution, for fear of accidentally causing an uproar among the people.

At that time, even if their trial process and results are correct, they will still be reprimanded and scrutinized by their superiors.

Zhou Tieyi put down the tea in his hand leisurely and looked at Deng Zhenquan calmly, "It is more important to guard against the people's mouths than to guard against the river. If General Deng feels that there are too many people here today, just have them drive them away."

The expressions of the officials around him suddenly became interesting.

Lord Zhou, no, Lord Zhou's words are still as sharp as ever!

If the Chief Censor of the Censorate were to drive away the common people who were attending the trial, then Deng Zhenquan would probably never be able to consider himself an upright censor again.

Even with Deng Zhenquan's shrewdness, he couldn't help but hold the teacup at this moment, and his expression was a little out of control.

Cui Wanxia from the Legalist School acted as a peacemaker, "Lord Zhou, Lord Deng didn't mean that. He just wanted to say that with so many people coming to listen, I'm afraid the main hall can't accommodate them."

Zhou Tieyi casually put down the tea bowl and said, "Since the main hall can't accommodate it, then I can just put it in the open space of the military camp. Do you gentlemen mind accompanying me to bask in the sun?"

At the Zhushensi military camp, a temporary public office was quickly built, and the people were able to enter in order and stand on the open space to watch.

Even though the sun was blazing, none of the people present wanted to leave.

Most of them did come because of Zhou Tieyi, but they were not invited by Zhou Tieyi.

The Railway Chamber of Commerce has recruited over 10,000 workers.

Both the recruiters themselves and their families truly accepted Zhou Tieyi's favor. They also understood that if something serious happened to Zhou Tieyi, their good days would probably be over.

Therefore, they naturally could not allow a few outsiders to come to Tianjing to "persecute" Zhou Hou. This was a combination of simple moral values ​​and pure interest values, so their own beliefs became more and more firm.

Because of morality, they felt that it was right to be grateful to Zhou Tieyi. Because of interests, they turned this thought into concrete action and stood firmly behind Zhou Tieyi.

The other group was something Zhou Tieyi had never expected.

That's the newsboy!
As hundreds of newspapers began to be published and sold regardless of cost, the number of newsboys in Tianjin exploded in an instant. In order to cover the nearly 20 million people in the mountain and four cities, the number of newsboys had already exceeded 10,000.

Tianjing is indeed a place of great virtue. With the education of various schools of thought in this world, the literacy rate has reached an astonishing 60%.

But 40% of the people still do not have the opportunity to learn to read.

The emergence of the profession of newsboy has invisibly changed this situation.

Ordinary people are unable to read and write because their families are too poor when they are young and they have to choose between making a living and studying.

Even though the emergence of the newspaper boy profession only lasted for a month or two, it still provided children from poor families with a new choice.

That is to balance literacy and making money.

While selling newspapers, they were also able to get simple "books". In particular, the development of the vernacular movement itself lowered the threshold for literacy and was no longer limited to hundreds of private schools and colleges.

In order to enable newsboys to sell newspapers better, the Tianjing Daily has established ten free newsboy schools in four cities and one mountain, so that newsboys can read and learn to read in their spare time.

And this unintentional action is the reason why the other half of the people here came!
When Zhou Tieyi walked out, the people burst into cheers. "Sir Zhou, we support you!"

"You are innocent. Interrogate these outsiders carefully. They are the remnants of the evil spirit!"

······
As voices of encouragement gathered, Cui Wanxia and Deng Zhenquan looked at each other.

They could already imagine what would happen if they targeted Zhou Tieyi during the trial.

Perhaps they can ignore the mutiny of dozens or hundreds of people.

But there are tens of thousands of people in front of us!
If there really was a mutiny in Tianjing, the consequences would definitely be something they could not bear.

What's more, according to their understanding, Zhou Tieyi did not do this intentionally.

Otherwise, the businessmen led by Qian Guangyun of the Southeast Chamber of Commerce would have taken action long ago, and the military families would have also taken action.

After a little thought, Cui Wanxia and Deng Zhenquan already understood that this case could not be tried in Tianjing, and Zhou Tieyi could not be tried alone. It could only be moved to another place for trial!
Even with Zhou Tieyi's cunning mind, his heart was slightly disturbed at this moment. He sighed slightly and simply bowed to the people, "Greetings to all the villagers."

······
On Yujing Mountain, on the eleven-story building sign, is Mingde Palace, a branch of Daming Taoist Palace.

In the main hall, the word "Dao" appears even more profound and remote under the candlesticks.

In the hall, the golden boy and the jade girl lit up the pepper and orchid, and the curling green smoke outlined the fairyland of Penglai.

In the middle, the Lord of Daming Palace sat opposite someone, with a chessboard in front of them, but their minds were not immediately focused on the chessboard at this moment.

The Lord of Daming Palace looked down from Yujing Mountain and saw that the people in Zhushen Division were braving the scorching sun, all ready to support Zhou Tieyi. He chuckled and reached out to embrace a cloud, blocking the sun over Zhushen Division and casting a refreshing shadow.

In front of him, Ke Anran was wearing a blue Confucian robe and had a full view of the scene in the God Execution Division. He turned to look at the Lord of Daming Palace and said with a smile, "The people are in favor of this case. If it is only settled in Tianjing, there is no need for further trial."

The Lord of Daming Palace chuckled and said, "He wouldn't just want to end it in Tianjing."

"Oh, how do you know that?"

Ke picked up a black piece dejectedly. He did not start by placing it on the Tianyuan position like Zhou Tieyi did, but placed it on the four-cornered star position in a proper manner.

After receiving the latest letter from Dong Xingshu and knowing that Zhou Tieyi was about to leave Tianjing, Ke Anran rushed to Tianjing today.

However, after coming here, he did not choose to pay a visit to Simin Mansion first, but came to Daming Taoist Palace, and asked to see the Lord of Daming Palace in the name of Taoist Qingwei.

The Lord of Daming Palace held the white chess piece and placed it randomly, saying with a smile, "Because whether it is the inkstone mine, the coal mine, or the iron mine in Taihang Mountain, they are all very important to him, and he must be dissatisfied with the mining and transportation of these mines in the past, so he must go there."

Ke picked up the chess piece, thought for a moment, and nodded. "If you don't plan for a small area, you won't be able to plan for the whole situation. His choice was not wrong, but he was too hasty."

Thinking of this, Ke asked sadly, "Why is he so anxious?"

This time, the Daming Palace Master did not answer directly, but smiled and asked, "Why should I tell you?"

Today, Ke Anran came in the name of Qingwei Taoist, so the Lord of Daming Palace answered the first question.

Ke pondered for a moment, then dropped the black piece in his hand and hit the chessboard, causing the surrounding clouds to change, evolving into an image of continuous mountain mist, gushing springs and waterfalls, and falling mountain rain.

Then Ke looked up and smiled, "Taoist celestial phenomena, is this reason enough?"

Ke Anran did not cover his foundation, and the Lord of Daming Palace laughed loudly, "What a celestial phenomenon! What a celestial phenomenon!"

People in the world probably could not imagine that the blue-robed Confucian scholar on the Confucian Potential Dragon List of this generation had not only crossed the boundary between the middle three ranks and the upper three ranks, but also converted from Confucianism to Taoism, secretly achieving Taoist celestial phenomena.

The Daming Palace Master's smile faded slightly, and he looked at Ke Anran, "How did you come up with the idea of ​​changing your path?"

Ke touched the gray hair on his temples and sighed, "I was driven out of Tianjing like a stray dog ​​and criticized by the people of the court for my evil ways. Is there still a place for me, Ke, to make my voice heard in this world?"

“Instead of asking others for help, it is better to ask yourself. I have enjoyed the mountains and rivers these years, and naturally saw the celestial phenomena.”

When he talked about his achievement of the Taoist celestial phenomena that countless practitioners longed for, it was as if he was talking about a trivial matter. There was even a hint of regret and lament in his words, making the surrounding clouds and mist show both the joy of mountains and rivers and the continuous rain.

The Lord of Daming Palace held the chess piece in his hand and thought for a while before answering Ke Anran's previous question.

"It's not that he is too anxious, but His Majesty the Great Xia is too anxious."

Ke Anran frowned slightly, vaguely aware of the connection, but still did not understand the most crucial point.

The Lord of Daming Palace said with a smile, "Jian is in the heart of the Emperor. Only then do you know that accompanying the Emperor is like accompanying a tiger. The time left for His Majesty is short, and the time left for him is also short. If His Majesty fails and dies, do you think His Majesty will let this latent dragon go before he dies?"

Ke sighed sadly, his eyes fell on the God Execution Division again. Today, the people of Tianjing came to help Zhou Tieyi, and it would also be the reason for Zhou Tieyi's death in the future. "No."

(End of this chapter)