Chapter 55: Retaliating directly

"Famous people are so talkative that they dare not do it themselves, but pretend to be someone else, which only makes people laugh!"

Qingkong Gui smiled knowingly, famous people are good at arguing, but this arguing has just become, arguing.

They are best at confusing right and wrong.

Therefore, it has always been hated by Legalists and Confucianists.

Military strategists also hate the gossip of famous scholars, after all, most censors come from famous scholars.

Dong Xingshu laughed and said, "Whose blind memorial is this again?"

Yuchi Pojun did not hesitate to hand the memorial to the two of them.

Although this memorial was written by a censor of the 16th rank, the gist of it was that he had heard about Zhou Tieyi's request for military support last night. He listed the crimes in detail, saying that this was the beginning of a disturbance in the imperial court, and requested that the emperor conduct a thorough investigation.

Although it was written by a sixth-rank censor, with their knowledge and insights, the three of them all knew that the memorial was backed by Sima Shilang of the Ministry of Censorship.

Qingkong Gui was not concerned about the matter and asked, "Then how do we pay attention?"

The approval opinions written by the three of them are sometimes more important than the memorial itself.

Yuchi Pojun thought for two seconds, looked at Dong Xingshu and said, "How about not making a note and submitting it directly?"

Dong Xingshu did not refuse and said directly, "Let's do it."

The three of them continued to read the memorials, when suddenly Qingkong Gui stopped and a look of difficulty appeared on his casual face.

This immediately attracted the attention of the other two. Dong Xingshu laughed and said, "Why? You also encountered an ignorant article?"

Qingkong Gui handed the memorial over silently. Dong Xingshu still had a smile on his face at first, but after reading two lines, the smile disappeared.

Then he read it carefully, word by word.

After a while, he put the article down and sighed, "What a good article. I am not as good as you."

Yuchi Pojun was curious about what was written, so he immediately picked up the article and read it. After finishing reading it, he also remained silent.

Dong Xingshu asked the eunuch who was waiting to summon him, "Where is Mei Qingchen?"

The eunuch was summoned and rushed out to look for him.

After half a cup of tea, he hurried back, already sweating profusely.

"He's kneeling in front of the Noon Gate! Several fourth-rank generals guarding the city can't lift him up. Even if we ask you to find him, he won't get up!"

The Noon Gate is the intersection between the imperial palace and the outside world. People inside and outside the palace can see it.

Dong Xingshu read the article again, and couldn't put it down. He said, "Then let him kneel down."

Dong Xingshu looked at Yuchi Pojun and Qingkong Gui on his left and right. He did not first talk about how to annotate the "Petition for Begging for Crime", but instead brought up another matter.

"How long has it been since His Majesty came to court?"

Yuchi Pojun did not answer.

Qingkong Gui replied, "It has been ninety-nine days."

Dong Xingshu nodded and said, "Yes, he used to come to the throne intermittently, but this time, it has been ninety-nine days. It seems that the emperor really wants to cultivate immortality."

There was complete silence in Cheng'en Hall. When the clerks and eunuchs who were serving the people heard these words, some of them suddenly became exhausted and fell to their knees on the ground, fainting.

Dong Xingshu took a glance and said coldly, "You spineless guy, drag him out."

The others who were still able to stand quickly dragged the people around them out, and soon there was no one serving in the hall.

Dong Xingshu ignored him and continued, "Buddhists and Taoists don't care because they are outsiders, but we Confucians, Legalists and Military Strategists can't ignore it!"

Yuchi Pojun did not refuse, but asked, "What do you mean?"

Dong Xingshu looked at the memorial again, picked up the pen and wrote directly, "I request to reward Zhou Tieyi, the general flag of the God-Slaying Division, to commend his merits." Yuchi Pojun's eyes immediately turned red with anxiety, "You are going to destroy my good military talent!"

Dong Xingshu asked in return, "My Confucian scholar is kneeling in front of the Meridian Gate now!"

Yuchi Pojun just wanted to destroy the memorial in front of him. What kind of crap was it!

Confucian bastards just love to make trouble!
"You two, put your pen to paper."

Qingkong Gui first took the memorial and wrote after Dong Xingshu's comments, "I second the motion."

Yuchi Pojun took the pen and could not move for a long time. He sighed in his heart, "Boy, I will help you for the last time." He wrote, "There have been attacks on the border recently. Such a good talent can take on the important task."

After both of them put down their writings, Dong Xingshu flipped through the annotated memorials and placed this one behind the one in which the censors criticized Zhou Tieyi's request for troops.

Yuchi Pojun's lips moved, but this time, he did not say anything to stop him.

······
The sun is high in the sky.

His Majesty the Great Xia had just gotten up, had his lunch, and practiced a set of slow boxing in the imperial garden.

He took the towel from the eunuch who was accompanying him to study, wiped it, and asked, "When will the Palace Master of Daming Dao Palace come to Beijing?"

The eunuch who accompanied the emperor smiled and said, "It will only be a day or two. We should go to the capital before the Dragon Fish Festival so that we can accompany His Majesty to fish for dragon fish."

The Great Xia Emperor said, "What's so good about catching dragon fish? It's been like this for so many years. It's so boring."

The eunuch who accompanied him in reading hurriedly said, "Then tell His Majesty about the great principle of the unity of heaven and man. It will always help to entertain His Majesty."

"That's interesting."

The Great Xia Emperor said with a smile.

The two chatted as they walked towards the imperial study. Although the emperor no longer attended the morning court, it was a habit he had developed over the years and he always felt that something was missing from his day if he didn't read the memorials.

In the imperial study, the Queen Mother was already waiting, and had sorted the memorials according to their importance.

His Majesty Daxia was used to it, so he asked with a smile, "Is there anything urgent today?"

The Queen Mother smiled and replied, "Thanks to the great blessing of His Majesty, the rivers and seas are peaceful, so there is nothing urgent."

The Great Xia Emperor nodded with satisfaction. "Confucianism says that the Holy Emperor governs with ease. I have some understanding of this recently."

He sat down, and the Queen Mother ground cinnabar ink herself beside him. Then she opened the memorials one by one and presented them to the Emperor of Daxia.

The Emperor of Daxia had been revising memorials for more than 20 years. Basically, one could know what was written in the middle just by reading the beginning and the end, so the mountain of memorials quickly disappeared.

When the Emperor of Daxia had just started reviewing memorials and was in his best spirits, the Empress handed him a memorial, which was the one in which the censors criticized Zhou Tieyi.

The emperor, who was usually marking memorials at a very fast speed, suddenly slowed down, looked at the memorial, put down his red brush, and drank a sip of tea.

The Queen Mother asked at the right time, "Is there a problem with this memorial?"

The Great Xia Emperor showed a sneer on his face, "This nonsense memorial is not as brilliant as the two sentences I heard yesterday."

"Which two sentences?" asked the Queen curiously.

The emperor picked up the red pen and first wrote, "Eat the salary of the emperor and be loyal to the emperor."

Then he wrote, "Hawks and dogs patrol the area, and there are no taboos."

Both of these sentences can be used as comments on this memorial, and each has its own usefulness.

The Queen of Heaven looked at it and her eyes lit up, "These two sentences are indeed exquisite, but eight words are worth a thousand words. I wonder who said that?"

The emperor smiled and said, "It was the little fellow who was accused in this memorial who said that."

(End of this chapter)