Top Scholar

Chapter 432 Heading to the Capital for the Imperial Examination (Please vote with monthly tickets!!)

The realm of the top scholar, the middle place in passing the imperial examination.

The waiter stood quietly at the entrance of the tavern, watching the movements of pedestrians on the street warily.

Inside the private room, the dim light cast long shadows of Su and Yang.

Su Lu looked at Yang Yiqing, who was bowing deeply, and remained silent for a long time before slowly asking, "Why didn't you tell me these things from the beginning, sir?"

"Firstly, I was embroiled in legal trouble at the time and couldn't go to Luzhou," Yang Yiqing replied. "Secondly, I was being petty and worried that if you refused to cooperate, the whole plan would fall apart."

He paused, his words growing increasingly earnest: "Hongzhi, I had always intended to tell you everything before you left Nanjing. I believe that with your loyalty and magnanimity, you will understand my good intentions..."

Su Lu continued, neither confirming nor denying, "If your plan goes smoothly, what are your plans after I arrive in the capital?"

"Let the scholars petition the emperor, and let them boycott the exam to plead your case!" Yang Yiqing declared resolutely. "I will also lead nine retired officials to beat the Dengwen Drum and smash our heads against the Meridian Gate to remonstrate with the emperor!"

“What if the Emperor continues to be deceived by Liu Jin and knows nothing about these things?” Su Lu asked again.

"His Majesty will definitely attend the grand court ceremony on New Year's Day. At that time, the petition of ten thousand words from officials and commoners across the land, demanding the execution of Liu Jin, will also be presented to the Emperor by the Grand Secretary. Liu Jin will have no way to hide it!" Yang Yiqing said passionately.

"Is it that intense?" Su Lu asked softly.

"Only in this way can the Emperor be made to repent!" Yang Yiqing said excitedly, then said dejectedly, "In the end, the whole plan fell through because of a panda."

Su Lu chuckled and said, "You can continue to impeach Liu Jin; there's no need to use me as a pretext."

“You are at the center of this storm. Without you, we cannot unite the hearts of the people in the court and the countryside…” Yang Yiqing sighed. “Now that we have given up halfway, we can only reconsider our approach.”

Even so, he was still hoping for Su Lu's return, seemingly harboring some unrealistic expectations.

Su Lu knew perfectly well that this old man was putting on a show of feigning distress, not simply to gain his forgiveness. What was his forgiveness worth anyway?

He wanted to see if she could willingly cooperate with him and finish the second half of this charade...

Su Lu didn't respond to Yang Yiqing's question. He paused for a moment, then posed a more pointed one:
"Sir, is it really true that this deeply entrenched and intractable situation was solely caused by Liu Jin?"

Yang Yiqing was taken aback: "You mean that when Liu and Xie were alive, they pressured His Majesty too much? Indeed, they were very wrong that time; they shouldn't have taken advantage of His Majesty's youth..."

"They're not just bullying the current emperor—in the Zhang Tianxiang case of the sixteenth year of the Hongzhi reign, the cabinet knew it was a miscarriage of justice, yet they used the late emperor's distrust of the scholars and officials to blackmail him into upholding the original verdict!" Su Lu sneered repeatedly.

"The late emperor was already thirty-four years old at that time, so he wasn't considered young anymore, was he? Yet he was still bullied as usual."

"You mean that the ministers of this dynasty have gone too far in deceiving the emperor, which is why they have brought this retribution upon Liu Jin?" Yang Yiqing said with a sigh.

“I want to ask more than that—if ministers can govern the country well like this, then so be it,” Su Lu’s voice was even lower, but it made Yang Yiqing’s ears ring.

"But did the so-called 'Hongzhi Restoration' really exist? Is the current situation of widespread suffering and rampant corruption simply the result of Liu Jin's misdeeds during his year and a half in power?"

"What do you mean by that?" Yang Yiqing's eyes suddenly sharpened as he looked at Su Lu in disbelief.

Su Lu took a deep breath and slowly exhaled the pent-up emotions that had been building up in his chest for so long:

"I once saw the Grand Secretary's 'Memorial on Understanding the People's Conditions,' written in the seventeenth year of the Hongzhi reign. It was shocking and unforgettable for many years—"

He then repeated the passage from the memorial, word by word:

"When I passed through the Lihe and Tianjin area, what I saw was that the men pulling the ropes were rags and the men carrying hoes looked pale and sickly. Looking around, it was truly disheartening."

“In places like Linqing and Anping, thieves roam freely, and murderers and robbers are everywhere… In various places, groups of hundreds or even tens of Hui thieves roam openly in broad daylight, appearing and disappearing without restraint.”

"Moreover, the people are depleted, the army is empty, the government troops have no reserves for ten days or a month, and their salaries are owed for years... The northern region is poor and has never had any savings. If there is another famine this year, how will we cope?"

"Stop talking, stop talking..." Yang Yiqing couldn't listen anymore. He had served as governor in the north for a long time and had also served as the commander-in-chief of the three border regions. How could he not know these things?
“Alright, let’s talk about something else then.” Su Lu changed the subject, saying, “The Criminal Law promulgated in the fifteenth year of the Hongzhi reign stipulated that officials could pay money to redeem themselves if they committed a crime, as long as they were not involved in treason! Isn’t this the origin of the ‘rice fine law’?”

"Back then, Liu Jin was still in the Eastern Palace accompanying the Crown Prince to catch mudfish! Putting all the blame on him may relieve everyone, but can it really solve the problems of the world?!" Su Lu stared at Yang Yiqing, pressing him relentlessly for an answer.

Yang Yiqing was shocked. He had never expected that Su Lu had such a clear understanding of the problems of the Ming Dynasty, far surpassing that of ordinary scholars and even high-ranking officials in the court.

His expression shifted between light and dark for a long time before he finally sighed and nodded dejectedly: "You're right. The root of the Ming Dynasty's problems has never been just Liu Jin; the whole world is sick."

"Alright, just for what you said, sir, I'll drink this cup." Su Lu picked up the wine cup and drank it all in one gulp.

Yang Yiqing, however, had no time to spare for his original plan. His tone carried a hint of seeking advice: "Since you see things more clearly than anyone else, then please tell me, what exactly is the crux of the Ming Dynasty's problems?"

"The root of all the problems is that the imperial court can't collect taxes! And the crux of the problem lies in the privileges we people have!" Su Lu didn't mince words, hitting the nail on the head:
“I, a mere scholar, can exempt fifty people from military service and five hundred acres of land from taxes.”

“And a second-rank official like you, sir, can exempt thousands of people and tens of thousands of acres of land from the imperial court’s taxes!” “It is precisely thousands upon thousands of people like you and me who, while claiming to be concerned about the country and its people, are devouring this country at the same time!” Su Lu’s words were like hammer blows, striking Yang Yiqing’s heart heavily.

"We spout benevolence and morality, but in reality, we only care about our own selfish interests... We study for ourselves and become officials for our families. How many of us truly care about the country?! Even if we do, we are like Mr. Shizong, who was ostracized and sent to the border and could not return to the capital!"

Yang Yiqing remained silent for a long time, then sighed and said, "You're right. It's clearly us who are sick, yet we're forcing the Emperor to take medicine. No wonder things backfired, producing a monster like Liu Jin!"

“Few officials in the world would admit this as readily as Mr. Shi Cong,” Su Lu exclaimed sincerely.

As he spoke, he filled two more glasses of wine, picked one up, and handed it to Yang Yiqing. "This one is for you, sir!"

Yang Yiqing drank the cup and pressed on, "So, you're saying you disagree with dealing with Liu Jin?"

"Liu Jin must be eliminated!" Su Lu shook his head resolutely. "This kind of thorough destroyer has caused too much harm to the country. But I would like to ask you, sir—"

Su Lu asked in a deep voice, "After Liu Jin is eliminated, the civil officials will make a comeback, everything will remain the same, or even worse. Then the disease of the world will get worse and worse. What should we do?"

Yang Yiqing fell silent, unsure how to answer the question.

Su Lu poured a third cup, but did not raise it again. He simply pushed the warm yellow wine forward and said softly, "Sir, think this through before you drink this cup."

Then he stood up, bowed, and said calmly but resolutely, "I am also going to the capital to find my own answers."

After saying that, Su Lu lifted the curtain and walked straight out of the private room.

The waiter quickly opened the door for him and respectfully saw him off, saying, "Please come again, sir."

Before leaving, Su Lu tossed him a silver ingot: "Give your master something good."

After saying that, he disappeared into the deep night without looking back.

The waiter looked bewildered.

~~
The next morning, the Jiangdongmen Wharf was once again packed with people, as officials, commoners, and students from Nanjing came together to see off Su Jieyuan as he headed north to take the imperial examination.

At the riverside restaurant next to the dock, Yang Yiqing sat in his original spot, with dark circles under his eyes, watching Su Lu and his group board the ship, and then waved goodbye to the crowd seeing them off.

Sitting opposite him were Huang Xun, the Minister of Personnel in Nanjing, and He Jian, the Minister of War.

Huang Xun was the second-place scholar in the same examination as Wang Hua, and he, Wang Hua, and Xie Qian were all from Yuyao, Shaoxing. Naturally, he hated Liu Jin, who was causing chaos in the court and ruthlessly suppressing his hometown.

He Jian was also from Shaoxing, and the two had always stood together through thick and thin. At this moment, they were both watching the movements at the dock, but their expressions were quite different.

"Brother Shizong," Huang Xun spoke first, "did Scholar Su agree to it last night?"

Yang Yiqing slowly shook his head: "The plan has changed, let's wait a bit longer."

"What do you mean?" He Jian frowned slightly.

"Time is running out, how can we wait?" Huang Xun asked anxiously.

“Last night, Su Jieyuan asked me a question that I have been deliberately avoiding and dared not think about deeply all these years,” Yang Yiqing said in a low voice. “I need to find the answer before I can continue.”

Huang Xun was incredulous: "You, the esteemed Mr. Shi Cong, the most brilliant mind in the Ming Dynasty, were actually stumped by a mere scholar who passed the provincial examination?"

"What deadly question did he ask you?" He Jian asked curiously.

Yang Yiqing shook his head without speaking, his expression complicated, and said, "I will tell you when I have the answer."

He paused, then reassured the two, "Don't worry, you won't have to wait too long."

"So, will it still proceed as planned?" Huang Xun asked.

"I've already said, the plan has changed." Yang Yiqing's expression turned serious, leaving no room for argument.
"From now on, the most important thing is to do everything in our power to ensure the fairness of this year's imperial examination! We must not allow Liu Jin's faction to trip up Su Jieyuan in the examination hall!"

"Alright." Although the two adults didn't quite understand why they should do this, they still trusted Yang Yiqing's decision.

Yang Yiqing didn't go into too much detail with them, but simply stared intently as Su Lu's official ship slowly sailed away from the dock and disappeared into the distance...

A lone sail disappears into the vast blue sky, only the Yangtze River flows to the horizon.

End of this volume

P.S. This is a preliminary post, to be revised later. The next volume is set in Beijing, so please vote with your monthly tickets!!!
(End of this chapter)