Chapter 119: Lonely Soul And Transformation
In the cold, damp Imperial Prison Death Row, only a few faint rays of light penetrated through the small, high air vents, illuminating the dancing dust.
Zhang Biao leaned against the cold stone wall, heavy shackles on his hands and feet. Yet, his face showed no despair; instead, it held a calm bordering on madness.
The guards kept their distance, afraid to approach this ‘plague god’ who dared to curse the Emperor unconscious and curse the nobles and high officials before his death.
“Dismissal of Confucianism? Heh.”
Zhang Biao murmured, a mocking curve pulling at the corners of his mouth: “Those fools, they don’t actually think I’m going to dig up Confucius’s grave, do they?”
He raised his head, gazing at the small air vent, his eyes sharp as knives, as if they could pierce this cage and see the vast, decaying body of the empire outside.
Then he heard himself whisper:
【What I want to dismiss is not the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, not those fine words about cultivating oneself, regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world! 】
【What I want to dismiss is the tool of rule that, for nearly a thousand years, has worn the guise of Confucianism to restrict thought, solidify class, and cultivate hypocrites! 】
Even though he couldn’t speak his true thoughts, he still carried a kind of isolated indignation and lucid madness.
【They bind people’s hands and feet with ‘ruler and subject,’ erode people’s courage with ‘the three cardinal guides and five constant virtues,’ and block all paths to reform with ‘ancestral law’! 】
【They speak of ‘benevolence, righteousness, morality,’ but in their hearts, they calculate for fame and fortune, and discriminate against factions! 】
【Scholars spend their lives studying diligently, only to become officials through the imperial examinations, and then use their positions to amass wealth and power, and build moralistic facades for themselves with the teachings of the sages! 】
【What they protect is not the tradition of the sages, but their own privileges and a comfortable life obtained without effort! 】
【What use is such ‘Confucianism,’ such a ‘pure stream,’ to the nation? What benefit is it to the people? They are nothing more than vermin attached to the nation’s lifeline! 】
A flame burned in Zhang Biao’s eyes, the fire of idealism crushed by reality.
【When I audited the Six Ministries, I was investigating corruption in money and grain, the visible worms. 】
【But even if all corrupt officials are killed, if the root that cultivates hypocrites and vermin remains unchanged, with a different emperor, a different reign title, the worms will still grow, perhaps even fatter. 】
【Therefore, I want to break this sky, I want to shout ‘Dismissal of Confucianism’! 】
【Even if I die for it in the end, I will tear off that fig leaf and tell everyone that the problem is not with a few corrupt officials, but that the ideological foundation sustaining this empire has rotted! 】
【This empire needs a blood transfusion! It needs something new! 】
【Practical learning! Learning for governing the world! 】
【Learning that can build muskets and cannons, enrich the nation and strengthen the army! 】
【Learning that can build water conservancy projects and benefit the common people! 】
【Not endless talk of “if and then,” bowing and scraping, and engaging in godforsaken discussions about nature, principle, energy, and the way of officialdom! 】
He violently tugged at his shackles, creating a clattering sound, and, addressing the empty prison cell, as if shouting at Old Zhu in the netherworld:
【Old Zhu! You can kill all the corrupt officials, but can you kill all this pervasive decay? 】
【You ask me how to solve these problems? Is this even a question? Can’t you see? You don’t need a group of moral gentlemen who only know how to kowtow and write flowery essays! 】
【What a pity! You don’t dare! 】
【You are ultimately bound by this system. You can only see my madness, and you only want to use my ‘mad knife’ to help you with your political purges. 】
“Hoo.”
Zhang Biao exhaled a breath of stale air, with a hint of weariness and knowing mockery, shaking his head: “Fine, I’m definitely dead this time. I can only wait for the next wave.”
“However, at least this time I got to curse to my heart’s content, play to my heart’s content, and can go home for a good rest!”
As he spoke, he seemed to remember something and muttered: “I wonder if those little wolf cubs will be able to grasp anything? Otherwise, I’ll have really died in vain.”
He closed his eyes, no longer dwelling on stray thoughts.
At the same time, the news of Zhang Biao being thrown into the Imperial Prison Death Row and awaiting the autumn execution spread like wings throughout Yingtian Prefecture.
The court and the public were in an uproar.
Some applauded.
Some felt a sense of shared misfortune.
More people, however, fell silent in fear.
Meanwhile, the five people who had closely followed Zhang Biao and whom he called ‘wolf cubs’ – Shen Lang, Li Mo, Sun Gui, Wu Nai Da, and Zhao Fengman – gathered in Shen Lang’s small and humble official residence.
The atmosphere was as oppressive as the overcast sky outside.
On the table sat a pot of inferior Shao Daozi liquor and a plate of pig’s head meat, cold dishes that had barely been touched.
After an unknown period, Zhao Fengman finally spoke in a hoarse voice:
“Will Director Zhang really be executed in the autumn?”
After saying this, his eyes reddened.
This stout censor, who once offered to ‘buy Zhang Biao’s coffin’ and always addressed him as ‘Director Zhang,’ felt a true fear and grief for the first time.
He remembered Zhang Biao’s teachings on righteousness during the “Dying for a Cause training class.”
He remembered the night Zhang Biao patted his shoulder and said, “You’ve gotten thinner, you’re starting to look like a wolf cub.”
He remembered Zhang Biao fainting the Emperor four times in the Hall of Supreme Harmony Square to protect them.
He remembered how Zhang Biao fiercely retaliated when the ‘pure stream’ faction tried to implicate them, and tears streamed down his face uncontrollably.
“The Emperor’s golden words…”
Li Mo’s voice was relatively calm, but his clenched fists and trembling fingertips betrayed his inner turmoil.
As a Hanlin Academy Editor, he knew all too well the weight of the words ‘slandering Sacred Learning’ in the current Emperor’s mind.
It was more earth-shattering than cursing the Emperor, auditing the Six Ministries and nobles, or auditing the Imperial Treasury.
This truly touched the red line of governance.
It was already a great surprise that Zhang Biao received ‘autumn execution’ instead of ‘lingchi.’
But he also couldn’t forget Zhang Biao’s final, mad, and precise ‘on-site audit,’ the ruthlessness with which he tore off the mask of hypocrisy.
The discussions about the Yellow River and Yangtze, the clarity of the debate on governing the world.
“Damn it! Why?!”
Sun Gui slammed the table, making the bowls and plates jump.
As a Ministry of War Department Director, he possessed the bluntness and spirit of the military: “Brother Biao exposed so many vermin. If not for Brother Biao, Li Tiesheng and that bunch of old scoundrels would still be lecturing people with their respectable airs!”
“Why should a meritorious official be sent to the death row? Only a few worms were caught? Is there any justice in this court?!”
“Heh!”
Wu Nai Da let out a cold laugh: “What justice?”
As a Director of the Ministry of Personnel and the eldest and most shrewd among them, he said: “When has this court ever dispensed justice as we imagine it? There is only interest, only weighing pros and cons!”
“Does the Emperor want to kill Brother Biao? He wishes he could use Brother Biao to help him purge the vermin and rats!”
“However, he *has* to kill him!”
“Because he has to give the scholars of the realm an explanation and maintain the dignity of that ‘Orthodox Tradition’!”
“As for the worms and rats… does the Emperor not know they are everywhere in this realm? Killing a few is just to stabilize things for a while, to put on a show!”
His words were cold and realistic, like a knife peeling away the bloody truth.
The group fell silent again.
After another unknown period, Shen Lang, who had been silent, finally said with a choked voice: “Then what should we do? Are we just going to watch Brother Biao die?”
He was the most timid, and his body was still trembling slightly: “If Brother Biao is gone, we probably won’t live much longer.”
“The accomplices of those ‘pure stream’ officials probably hate us to death.”
“And Ru Chang, Fu Youwen, Zheng Ci, Zhai Shan, and them… they definitely won’t let us off.”
“What are you afraid of!?”
Sun Gui grabbed the chamber pot lamp on the corner of the table, his neck stiff and said: “A severed head is just a big scar! In eighteen years, we’ll be good heroes again! At worst, we’ll fight them! It’ll be a reunion with Brother Biao!”
“Fight? With what?”
Wu Nai Da poured a basin of cold water: “We have no power or influence. What can we use to fight against the Book of Documents ministers, vice ministers, dukes, and nobles? What can we use to fight against the Civil Official Group? Are we just going to rush to our deaths for nothing?”
As his words landed, silence fell over the room once more.
An atmosphere of despair permeated the air.
This time it wasn’t too slow; after only a moment, Li Mo broke the silence: “We cannot fight, nor can we wait to die.”
As he said this, the other four looked at him simultaneously.
Then he slowly said: “Do you remember what Brother Biao said before he was taken away?”
“Brother Biao said the good show had just begun, and cursed Fu Youwen and the others, saying they would all die, waiting to die together.”
Pausing here, he looked around at the four, a clear intelligence in his eyes: “I think Brother Biao wasn’t cursing, he was reminding us!”
“He is telling us that the enemy will not give up, and danger has just arrived. He is telling us that we cannot sit and wait for death, but must thoroughly eliminate those hidden dangers!”
“Then…”
Shen Lang subconsciously swallowed, sounding a little nervous: “What should we do then?”
“Audit!”
Li Mo uttered two words, his eyes suddenly sharpening: “Don’t forget our identities, don’t forget what Brother Biao taught us.”
“I am a Hanlin Academy Editor, I can organize archives and consult classics. I can find things they don’t want people to know from old piles of paper!”
“Sun Gui is a Ministry of War Department Director. He knows the bad accounts of the Ministry of War – military equipment, provisions and pay, vacant positions – better than anyone. Continue auditing, continue investigating! If you can’t do it openly, collect information secretly!”
“And Brother Wu…”
He paused here, turning to Wu Nai Da: “You are a Director of the Ministry of Personnel. You know all the tricks of official promotions and transfers, who belongs to whom! Figure out this network of relationships!”
“As for you two…”
He then looked at Shen Lang and Zhao Fengman: “You are Censors! Although your positions are low, you have the right to report rumors!”
“Before, when we followed Brother Biao in ‘fooling around,’ it was exciting and fun. From now on, we must learn to use our power, collect evidence, and find opportunities for a fatal blow!”
As he finished speaking, Li Mo’s gaze swept over each person, his voice low but full of strength: “Brother Biao paved a road for us with his life and taught us how to use auditing as a knife.”
“Even though he has fallen now, this knife cannot be discarded!”
“We cannot be like before, only going mad with Brother Biao, only being his tools! We must think for ourselves, judge for ourselves, and act for ourselves!”
“We must survive, not by groveling, but by living like wolves!”
“Watch our enemies, find their weaknesses, wait for the opportune moment, and tear their throats out!”
“Not for fame, not for self-interest, but for…”
He took a deep breath, his expression suddenly serious and solemn: “…to be worthy of Brother Biao’s life! To be worthy of the common people of the realm!”
Boom!
Li Mo’s words were like lightning that cleaved through the fog, igniting the almost extinguished sparks in the hearts of the other four.
At this moment, they were beginning to transform.
