A son who doesn't resemble his father? Love you, old man, see you at Xuanwu Gate!

Chapter 202 Disarming
Chang'an City.

This is undoubtedly the place with the most Confucian scholars in the world.

Learning both literary and martial arts skills to sell to the emperor is nothing more than that.

The Confucian scholars, who had just been reeling from the accusations of the sage, were stunned to hear news that the sage family had abandoned the capital and fled west, only to be ambushed and killed by various schools of thought between Chen and Cai.

If Confucianism is likened to a country, then Qufu is the capital of Confucianism, and the Kong family is the royal family of the Confucian country. In the face of a major crisis, the Kong family's act of abandoning Qufu is tantamount to the royal family abandoning the capital, and should be despised by thousands of Confucian scholars.

However, following the "demise of the royal family," the entire Confucius family perished, "the country was destroyed and the family was ruined," and "they were destitute." For a time, Confucian scholars were utterly bewildered.

At this moment, Lü Bushu, a disciple of Dong Zhongshu, once again stepped forward and found an object of hatred for all Confucian scholars.

The Hundred Schools of Thought!

In their intellectual debates, the various schools of thought did not engage in intellectual discussions, but instead resorted to warfare to attack the Confucian capital and its people—a truly despicable act.

Thus, in the capital of the Han Dynasty, the Confucian scholars, who were all alone and received special treatment, gathered and protested in front of palaces and government offices, including Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, and the Prime Minister's Mansion, demanding that the murderer be severely punished!

Having endured the brutal beatings of the Gonggong, the Confucian scholars finally learned a lesson. They merely extolled the cruel extermination of thousands of clans by the various schools of thought, violated the law by using prohibited weapons, and contravened the laws of the Han Dynasty, but no longer made baseless accusations.

They gradually became more cautious in their words and actions towards the Emperor of Han, the Chancellor of Han, and the Crown Prince's court officials, no longer daring to openly criticize them. They only dared to say in secret that the Crown Prince and the Crown Prince's court officials bore an unshirkable responsibility for the downfall of the sage family, or at least for dereliction of duty and indulgence.

So many people carrying prohibited weapons rushed into the territory of the Han Empire, killing Han officials and civilians, including the Emperor Fengsi, yet the Han court knew nothing about it, did nothing to stop or intercept them, and even afterward, all the murderers escaped. This is simply unacceptable.

Confucian sentiments surged.

The calls for "punishing the culprit" echoed from the south to the north of Chang'an, and from the east to the west of the city, day and night, provoking the anger of countless officials and commoners.

These ragged, starving, and penniless fellows seem to have become even more shameless, disturbing the peace and quiet all day long.

This confirms the saying, "When the granaries are full, people know etiquette; when they are well-fed and clothed, they know honor and shame."

The city of Chang'an is always bustling with noise.

The Weiyang Palace urgently summoned high-ranking officials, nobles, and members of the imperial family from both the central and foreign courts to the palace for an audience and discussion.

On the Chengming Hall.

Imperial Censor Zhang Tang took the lead in proposing a "curfew" on the issue of Confucian sentiment. At 7:15 PM, officials and commoners were not allowed to go out on the streets without reason, nor were they allowed to gather in crowds to make noise or cause trouble. During the day, the central imperial locations such as Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, and the Prime Minister's Residence were placed under control, and people were not allowed to approach them without reason, all under the pretext that the Marquis of Champion was about to return in triumph.

The Marquis of Champion swept across the right wing of the Xiongnu, cutting through the Hexi Corridor from west to east. At the last major tribe of ten thousand households, the Xiutu tribe, the army captured tens of thousands of prisoners. In addition, thousands of nobles, including the Right Wise King, Queen, princes, and prime ministers of the Xiongnu, were captured or surrendered. With such a victory, the Prime Minister's office proposed and the Emperor agreed to hold a surrender ceremony.

Enforcing a curfew in Chang'an would both ensure the smooth completion of the surrender ceremony and prevent the Confucian scholars from "disturbing the people," achieving two goals at once.

In response, Confucian officials such as Zhongdafu Erkuan raised objections, arguing that with the court's current strength, it was entirely possible to hold the surrender ceremony without enforcing the curfew, suggesting impure motives. However, their objections were jointly rejected by the Crown Prince's ministers and other court officials. Even for their own peace of mind, they could not allow the Confucian scholars to continue.

The minority obeys the majority. The imperial edict was issued, and Chang'an City immediately entered a curfew. The embroidered-clothes officials of the Imperial Censorate, the officials of the Court of Justice, and the yamen runners of the Prefect of the Capital were ordered to go to the streets to persuade people to go home. If anyone refused, the officials of the three parties would decide on the punishment according to the circumstances, including but not limited to execution and detention.

The Crown Prince's decree and laws of the Great Han Dynasty once again suppressed the Confucianists. Feeling extremely aggrieved, Er Kuan decided to no longer tolerate it. He stepped into the central court and took the initiative to say, "Your Majesty, is there any law outside the law in our Great Han Dynasty?"

The matter of seeking justice for the Kong family has even reached the court debate.

Liu Ju, seated on his throne, looked at Er Kuan's interrogative speech but said nothing.

Liu Zhu, the Prince of Chu, who had received considerable guidance from the former prime minister, stepped forward and said, "Grand Master, even feudal lords are subject to the same laws as commoners. Where does your extra-legal approach come from?"

Some people, just by standing there, can block out the population. In the previous council of princes and nobles, some princes died, some were imprisoned, and some were forced to study. All their fiefdoms were withdrawn and incorporated into the Han. This made the two princes standing in the court seem like the embodiment of the law. If you want to question the injustice of the Han emperor's law enforcement, you have to get past them first.

"Then why can some murderers who cruelly exterminate other clans go unpunished?" Er Kuan didn't even bother to hide his accusations anymore.

Upon hearing that his mentor and family had perished in Chen and Cai, Erkuan nearly vomited blood and died. His greatest motivation for living now is to fight against the various schools of thought.

Another minister, Liu Ji, the Prince of Hejian, stepped forward and said, "Grand Master, the banditry in Guandong is rampant. Although the court and local authorities have taken many measures, it will take time for them to be effective. Don't you see that even the Emperor of our Great Han Dynasty had to stop in Nanyang during his southern tour because of the banditry?"

His Majesty's southern tour group initially consisted of several thousand people, protected by two thousand guards, yet they couldn't even leave Nanyang County, which indirectly proves the severity of banditry in Guandong.

"The murderer, or rather the gang of thieves, mentioned by the Grand Master, has been apprehended by the imperial court, and the Yuzhou Prefecture is also making efforts to capture them. However, this is not something that can be accomplished overnight. The imperial court and local authorities cannot abandon other political and military affairs in order to pursue the murderer. Please be patient and wait for some time," Liu Ji echoed.

This was the kind of "officialese" that Confucian officials were most adept at, and now it was being used on Erkuan, making Erkuan extremely uncomfortable.

As the Crown Prince issued a decree to His Majesty's southern tour entourage, many officials from the central court returned to the capital. Among them, Chu Da, the foremost of the four disciples of the renowned Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu and a scholar specializing in classical studies, stepped forward. He first bowed towards the throne, then bowed to Liu Zhu and Liu Ji, saying, "Your Excellencies, the murderer is extremely wicked and possesses forbidden weapons. If we cannot expedite the pursuit, it is not an exaggeration on my part, but there is a possibility that unforeseen events may occur."

"What unforeseen event?"

"Many officials in the court come from Guandong, and quite a few of them have large clans. If the murderer is punished again, all families may become targets. Moreover... it is not impossible for the murderer to do the opposite and secretly bring weapons into Guandong. I dare to say that this may endanger Chang'an."

Even members of the Han imperial family could become targets of murderers!
The combined power of the Hundred Schools of Thought could threaten any person or force.

If the Mohists were to persecute the tyrannical and disrupt the laws with force, which of the Han emperors and ministers could be confident that they would be safe?

Chaos gradually spread within the main hall.

Chu Da smiled, but there was a hint of sadness in his smile. It was impossible to disarm the various schools of thought without endangering "him".

Throughout history, the only thing officials have ever cared about is themselves!
(End of this chapter)