Chapter 134: Minister Sun Speaks Up for Song Shi'an

Illegitimate Son of a Noble House

Cui Ting's move directly struck up a girl band in the court hall—bang!

On the spot, everyone in Taiyuan Hall was thrown into chaos.

The Prince of Zhongping was especially dumbstruck, completely stunned.

He actually hit him?

At this moment, the Prince of Jin and the Prince of Wu couldn't concern themselves with their factional struggles either. They simultaneously turned back in shock, looking at the suddenly chaotic scene, their expressions complex.

"Ah!" The cane struck the official's head, making him cry out in pain. Grimacing and pointing at the other party, he shouted, "Ah! You old bastard!"

After striking, Cui Ting's body suddenly tensed.

Then came a wave of dizziness.

The next moment, he toppled backward.

Zhao Yi rushed forward in a single stride, catching Cui Ting from behind to prevent him from falling.

Then others came over to help support him.

"You old bastard, hitting someone then pretending to faint! What kind of nonsense is this?" The man wasn't made of dough either. His temper flared on the spot, and he was about to raise his fist to punch the other party a few times.

"Stop!" The Prince of Jin quickly walked over, separating the two. "This is the court hall, don't resort to violence. Everyone calm down, calm down."

After the Prince of Jin left his position, everyone in the great hall descended into chaos.

"No matter what, you can't hit people."

"But mockery and slander are acceptable?"

"Both are wrong, both should calm down."

"Yes, yes, serving in the same court, it's not easy for anyone, not easy..."

The Emperor sitting on the dragon throne watched this scene calmly, without any emotional change.

In fact, he was somewhat speechless.

He glanced at the Duke of Li, who also said nothing and made no move.

The Emperor deliberately let the scene remain chaotic before speaking with displeasure: "How is this court assembly any different from street corner quarrels?"

One sentence made everyone calm down completely.

They hurriedly returned to their positions.

All lowered their heads, hands placed before them, accepting the Emperor's reprimand.

Only Zhao Yi was still supporting Cui Ting from behind, extremely awkward.

"Summon the imperial physician, take Vice Minister Cui down for treatment," the Emperor ordered.

Soon, an imperial physician took the unconscious old man away.

When the Emperor gave the order, the concern in his tone was minimal.

One could say there was basically none.

They were all thousand-year-old foxes—who couldn't see through whom?

Cui Ting wasn't truly agitated, nor did he really feel insulted. He just wanted to appear as if he'd lost his composure, strike the other with his cane, then pretend to faint so others couldn't retaliate against an old man, using his age to his advantage as he was carried away.

In fact, when he was trembling while leaning on his cane, the Emperor could already tell this prop would probably come into play.

How to put it—it was somewhat absurd, but also a kind of statement.

Covering his head with his hand, the man who'd been struck suddenly became nervous, involuntarily glancing back...

This old man wouldn't actually have been angered to the point of fainting and dying, would he?

If he really died, when Song Jing came out, wouldn't I be... hiss, why did I even get involved in this!

Would I be blamed for forcing Cui Ting to death?

How unjust!

I was the one who got hit with the cane!

This was the effect.

The Emperor saw the officials gradually realize what happened and begin to feel fear. Regarding the possible reckoning to come, they all became uneasy.

These people had all been outmaneuvered by this old fox.

Prince of Wu, do you understand?

The Emperor glanced at the Prince of Wu.

After a moment of bewilderment, the Prince of Wu didn't quite grasp it and looked confused.

But Ye Changqing immediately understood.

That cane strike was excellent!

Cui Ting's fainting was excellent!

A Second Rank official, the head of the Cui Clan of the Five Prestigious Families of the Capital, was driven to unconsciousness in the court hall by a colleague's aggressive pressure.

Even our Lord Cui has ended up like this, do you still have the nerve to pressure them!

Wasn't it just a small request to register his grandson for the imperial examination?

Is it really necessary to kill him over this? How cruel you all are!

"What do you ministers think of what Cui Ting said?" the Emperor asked.

No one dared speak up too readily.

At this time, the Emperor asked Gu Yixin: "Teacher Gu, what do you think?"

"There has never been such a precedent before. This old subject doesn't know what to do either," the Chief Grand Secretary said after deliberation. "It's entirely up to Your Majesty to decide."

The Emperor was actually already showing partiality.

However, because it wasn't very obvious, some below still pretended not to notice and continued expressing their positions.

But Gu Yixin had always been known for his talent and virtue, desiring nothing. Regarding matters involving factional politics, he naturally wouldn't get involved.

"Then Prince of Jin, the imperial examination is your responsibility. What do you think?"

Actually, the Emperor never intended to ask Gu Yixin. He was purely using him as a transition to his real purpose.

When the Prince of Jin was questioned, he wasn't the only one who became tense.

The Prince of Wu was also affected.

That's right, the Emperor was forcing the Prince of Jin to make a choice.

He had separately summoned Sima Yu, as well as the Prince of Wu and the Prince of Jin.

Among them, he specifically told the Prince of Jin that he hoped he and the Prince of Wu would properly safeguard the empire together.

Wei Yixuan, make your choice.

"In response to Your Majesty..."

The Prince of Jin was about to kick the ball back to the Emperor, but the Prince of Zhongping's glare made him realize that retreating further would cause people's hearts to scatter. Therefore, he spoke: "If we go by Great Yu's laws, indeed there has been no statement that one cannot participate in the imperial examination during a criminal investigation while awaiting trial."

This statement seemed quite objective.

But the officials immediately understood—he was showing partiality toward them.

Because he used 'if we go by.'

This implied there would be a reversal in the following statement.

"Your Majesty," the Prince of Jin raised his head and said, "Our Great Yu must act according to law, so Vice Minister Cui's action would be legal and proper. However, this subject truly feels that if someone is implicated in a case investigation, they should not have imperial examination eligibility."

These words were quite tactful.

He didn't make a choice, yet still had an attitude.

The Prince of Jin truly wasn't as legendarily incompetent and weak as rumored.

"The Prince is right," at this time, Grand Secretary Sun Kang nodded in agreement. "This subject has supervised examinations for many years, participating in both provincial and metropolitan examination question-setting and registration. Song Shi'an currently has not been judged yet, so what the outcome will be is unknown. However, if certain people truly have some stain but are still given registration eligibility, even if they ultimately don't take the exam, it would still tarnish the sanctity of the imperial examination."

"Then beloved minister, what is your opinion?" the Emperor asked.

Sun Kang appeared somewhat troubled, not knowing what to say.

"Then let the Prince of Jin speak, since you're presiding over the whole thing," the Emperor said.

After consideration, the Prince of Jin said: "This subject humbly requests to amend this provision of the examination law."

Truly watertight.

The Prince of Jin usually did avoid trouble and responsibility, but that was toward the Emperor himself.

His performance in court was still competent.

"But if we temporarily amend the examination rules, wouldn't that be somewhat improper?"

At this time, Grand Secretary Zhang Zhao asked.

This man was from humble origins. After becoming prominent, he frantically acquired farmland.

He had a natural distance from the old money families, but being a Grand Secretary after all, he was proud and didn't feel inferior despite being excluded.

What was fortunate was that he wasn't originally part of Minister Sun's faction.

Speaking up now, even if he intended to support the Prince of Wu, wouldn't seem opportunistic.

Everyone fell into uncertainty.

Zhang Zhao had a point.

Amending laws couldn't be done by emergency patching the moment a loophole was discovered.

One could only let the loophole be exploited first, then use the case as precedent to mend the fold after the sheep are lost.

Otherwise, it would be chaos.

Being able to flexibly amend according to 'reason' during law enforcement would mean the law was worth nothing.

This was also where his second brother, the Prince of Jin, got it right.

The Prince of Zhongping was still quite satisfied with this move.

He both expressed an opposing attitude and didn't rigidly resist the Prince of Wu when his momentum was strongest.

"Your Majesty."

Just then, Ye Changqing stepped forward and said: "I believe allowing Song Ce and Song Shi'an to take the examination violates fairness."

What is he doing?

Even the Prince of Wu was shocked. Why was he singing a different tune?

The officials were also puzzled.

Isn't this one of the Prince of Wu's people?

What is he up to?

"How does it violate fairness?" the Emperor asked.

"In response to Your Majesty, the lords are considering maintaining the sanctity of the imperial examination and feel it shouldn't be this way, with no selfish motives. Because even if Song Shi'an could truly take the exam, it wouldn't cause any loss to the lords. Similarly for me as well, because I've already taken it."

After this roundabout explanation, Ye Changqing finally said: "What would truly be damaged are this year's juren examination candidates."

Hearing this, everyone still felt completely bewildered.

It had nothing to do with what he was saying.

Everything he said was correct, he even flattered his colleagues a bit—everyone attacking Song Shi'an wasn't because they held grudges against him, it was purely for the nation.

But what was the point of all this nonsense?

What meaning did it have?

"As everyone knows, last year Song Shi'an was first place in both lyrical composition and policy essays in the Si Prefecture provincial examination. If he participates in the imperial examination this year, there's a very high possibility he'll pass as a jinshi," Ye Changqing said quite earnestly. "And the number of jinshi positions each session is limited. If he can rise up, he'll definitely push someone else down."

"..." The Prince of Jin listened for quite a while but still didn't quite understand.

The Prince of Wu was also pondering.

But the Prince of Zhongping immediately looked toward Minister Sun.

That lord's expression really didn't look very good.

Minister Sun's gloomy face was quite frightening.

"If Song Shi'an participates in the metropolitan examination this year and pushes out someone else's jinshi position, or even the zhuangyuan..." Ye Changqing made an expression of sincerely feeling this was problematic, "That wouldn't be good."

Now everyone understood.

Last year, who was it that stepped on Sun Qian's head to become first in both lyrical composition and policy essays?

If he participated in the examination, what if he stepped on Sun Qian's head again?

Given Minister Sun's face-conscious personality, he couldn't possibly not take the bait.

Otherwise, even if his son became zhuangyuan, people would say it was fortunate Song Shi'an didn't come.

"Does a zhuangyuan title obtained without defeating Song-ker in the metropolitan examination actually have any value?"

"Since this time there's no violation."

The hot-tempered Minister Sun said coldly: "Then he should have examination eligibility. If he's truly guilty, we can revoke it later."

Under this open scheme, in the court hall, this twisted and bizarre scene finally emerged.

Minister Sun actually spoke up for Song Shi'an.