Chapter 87: The Bell Is Ringing? Old Zhu Is Awake? 【 Seeking First Subscription 】
Outside the Marquis of Wuding’s mansion gate, Guo Ying collapsed on the doorstep, watching Brother Biao and his men carrying three thousand taels of silver and a terrifying pile of ‘medical equipment’ away with a clatter. He was in tears, like a young bride who had just been ravaged by a group of bandits.
Meanwhile, Zhang Biao was spirited, walking at the front of the group, stretching towards the setting sun.
“Brothers! What was today’s haul?”
His voice was loud, carrying a heroic spirit of robbing the rich to help the poor.
“A great victory!”
The crowd cheered in unison.
Although a bit tired, their faces were filled with a sense of happiness and excitement, like “following Brother Biao means eating nine meals in three days.”
After all, they had emptied the Duke’s mansion and paralyzed the old Marquis; this experience was enough to brag about for a lifetime.
Shen Lang, fiddling with an abacus, said with shining eyes:
“Brother Biao! The Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Personnel, Duke Cao’s Mansion, and the Marquis of Wuding’s Mansion. After deducting the amounts distributed to old soldiers and their families from our ‘mobile audit’ today, the silver and the value of goods are roughly estimated to be almost half a year’s income for the National Treasury!”
“Excellent! Truly excellent!”
Sun Gui raised the chamber pot lamp that seemed unyielding, even though the lamp oil was nearly depleted, his spirit undiminished: “It’s all due to Brother Biao’s excellent leadership! We are acting on behalf of Heaven!”
Li Mo, on a plank he had somehow acquired, was diligently writing with a charcoal pencil, recording today’s 《 audit summary》 and 《 achievement abstract》.
If he were to survive this ordeal, he planned to write a book, and he had already thought of a title: 《 The Hongwu Audit Storm: From the Ministry of Revenue to the Marquis’s Mansion, An Imperial Censor’s Path to Defending Rights》.
Zhang Biao nodded with satisfaction, then said with a smile:
“Brothers have worked hard! After auditing the remaining three ministries, we’ll find a place to stew that Jinhua ham confiscated from Li Jinglong’s home, have some small wine, and celebrate!”
Hearing there was a late-night snack, the crowd cheered even more, pulling the heavy war chariots, ready to head to the remaining three ministries.
However, at that moment.
A middle-aged man wearing the crimson robe of a Rank Two official, with a qilin embroidered on his rank insignia, a gaunt face, eyes sharp as an eagle, a slight beard on his chin, and an imposing presence without anger, appeared before them.
It was the highest-ranking official of the Censorate, the Grand Censor, Zhan Hui.
He had clearly been waiting there for a long time, his expression so dark it could wring out water.
Behind him followed several censors from the Censorate, all his trusted subordinates.
They looked at Zhang Biao and his men with complex expressions: fear, confusion, and a hint of hidden admiration, but mostly dread.
“Zhang Biao!”
Zhan Hui’s voice was like shards of ice in midwinter, carrying suppressed wrath to the extreme: “Look at the mess you’ve made!!”
This roar instantly silenced the previously high-spirited Shen Lang, Sun Gui, and others, who instinctively cowered.
After all, the Grand Censor led the Censorate and the Ministry of Personnel, and his authority had been established for a long time. For them, low-ranking capital officials, his deterrence was almost equal to that of the Emperor.
Zhang Biao stopped, looking at his superior, his roguish smile slightly subdued, but his eyes remained calm, even with a hint of amusement:
“Oh, Grand Censor? What brings you here? Have you come to welcome us back from our audit victory?”
“Victory?!”
Zhan Hui was so enraged he almost choked, pointing a trembling finger at Zhang Biao:
“You still have the audacity to speak of victory?!”
“Look at what you’ve done! Storming government offices! Coercing superiors! Emptying storerooms! Humiliating nobles! And even making the Emperor faint from anger!”
“You’re not an imperial censor, you’re a bandit! A plague god! A harbinger of national doom!”
As he spoke, he became more agitated, his spittle almost flying onto Zhang Biao’s face:
“You have utterly disgraced the reputation of our Censorate!”
“You have trampled the dignity of the court underfoot!”
“Do you still have any regard for the law?! Or for hierarchy?!”
Zhang Biao picked at his ear, still calmly saying:
“Grand Censor, the law you speak of, is it the law that lets Old Censor Wang starve at home? The dignity you speak of, is it the dignity that lets frontier soldiers freeze and starve? The hierarchy you speak of, is it the hierarchy that lets Fu Youwen, Ru Chang, Guo Ying, Li Jinglong suck the blood of the people and not be spoken about?”
“You! You’re twisting words!”
Zhan Hui was momentarily stunned, but immediately said sternly:
“Even if they are wrong, there is still the law of the court! The Emperor’s judgment! How can you be so lawless, setting up private courts and using torture?!”
“The law of the court?”
Zhang Biao sneered, his face full of disdain:
“If the law of the court were effective, would Shen Lang and the others be owed salaries for months, with no regard for their lives? If the law of the court were effective, would we still need to confront these nobles and high officials?”
“If the law of the court were effective, would we need to demand salaries today instead of them proactively paying them? Grand Censor, you sit in the hall of the Censorate, and the law you see seems different from what we see!”
Hearing this, Zhan Hui’s face turned ashen:
“Even so! You shouldn’t have committed such violent acts! Do you know the magnitude of the disaster you’ve caused?”
“The Six Ministries are paralyzed, the nobles are enraged, and the court is in turmoil!”
“When the Emperor wakes up, you will be the first one he deals with!”
“Your death would be insignificant, but you will also implicate everyone in our Censorate!”
“You are acting for your own selfish interests, engaging in foolhardy courage, and disregarding the overall situation of the nation!”
“Your heart deserves to be condemned!”
He revealed his true intentions, issuing the most severe inquiry and threat, attempting to crush Zhang Biao with the heavy charges of disregarding the national interest and acting out of selfish motives:
“Zhang Biao!”
“You claim to be acting for your colleagues, for the common people, but I see you acting out of personal resentment! To gain a reputation for integrity! To satisfy your own insane desires!”
“You completely disregard the chaos the court will fall into because of this! You disregard whether the border will be affected! You disregard whether the Great Ming Empire will be shaken because of you!”
Having said this, he looked at Shen Lang and the others, his tone becoming even more somber: “You even disregard the lives of these colleagues who follow you!”
“Tell me! Are you acting out of personal gain?!”
“What face do you have to face the Emperor? What face do you have to face the people of the world?!”
This series of questions struck Shen Lang and the others like heavy hammers, leaving them with complex and unnamable feelings.
However, after hearing this, Zhang Biao suddenly smiled.
There was no mockery or anger in that smile, only a deep, almost compassionate clarity.
He took a step forward, his gaze piercing, looking directly into Zhan Hui’s eyes, which were distorted by anger. His voice was not loud, but it clearly cut through the gentle breeze at the Meridian Gate, landing with a resounding force:
“Grand Censor Zhan.”
“You ask if I am acting out of personal gain?”
“Fine, I will tell you.”
“Everything I, Zhang Biao, have done today is not for promotion or wealth!”
“If it were for promotion, why would I have angered the Emperor to the point of fainting three times? That is already a capital offense!”
“If it were for wealth, why would I have distributed what was audited to my starving colleagues and old soldiers!”
“You say I’m doing this to gain a reputation for integrity. Then I ask you, can integrity buy food? Can it bring me back from the dead?”
“Also, you say I’m acting out of personal resentment. Then I ask you, do I have any past grudges with Fu Youwen, Ru Chang, Li Jinglong, or Guo Ying?”
He paused, his voice suddenly rising, with a decisive and unquestionable resolve:
“You don’t understand anything, yet you’re here pointing fingers at me. What do you think you are?”
“You!”
Zhan Hui was rendered speechless by anger.
But Zhang Biao’s output was not over.
He looked expressionlessly at Zhan Hui and the Censorate colleagues behind him, and said coldly:
“I did this for only two reasons!”
“First, I can’t stand it! I’m unhappy!”
“Second, I have the ability to manage it! And I want to manage it!”
“Why should corrupt officials deceive superiors and manipulate subordinates, and why should powerful nobles prey on the common people, live good lives, and sleep soundly? Why should loyal officials who serve the country starve at home, and soldiers who fight bravely be poorly clothed and barely survive?”
“And I just happen to have read a few accounting books, know a few ways, have the guts to risk my life, and have a group of brothers who, like me, don’t want to endure it anymore!”
He surveyed Shen Lang, Sun Gui, Li Mo, and the others. As they felt his gaze, their fear gradually turned into a surge of passion, and their chests involuntarily puffed out.
Zhang Biao looked at Zhan Hui again, his eyes sharp as knives:
“You say I disregard the overall situation of the nation? What is the overall situation? Is it to allow vermin to gnaw at the foundation of the empire until the edifice collapses?!”
“You say I am shaking the empire? Wrong! It is precisely for the eternal stability of this empire that I must squeeze out these abscesses! Even if the process is brutal!”
“You say my heart deserves to be condemned? My heart is clean, worthy of heaven and earth, worthy of my conscience, and worthy of every loyal soul like Old Censor Wang who still held hope for this court until his death!”
Finally, he almost roared out a world-shattering declaration:
“Zhan Hui! Listen to me carefully!”
“Except for this vast blue sky, and the common people of this world!”
“No one, including the Emperor, including your damn superior, has the right to question me, Zhang Biao, about whether I am acting out of personal gain?”
“Only the pen of history! Only the will of the people! And my own conscience can judge me!”
“Now, you either get out of the way and let me audit the remaining three ministries. Or, you can try to enforce your so-called ‘law of the court’ right here!”
Boom!
As the words fell, silence descended upon the Marquis of Wuding’s mansion gate.
In an instant, Zhan Hui was stunned by these earth-shattering, rebellious remarks.
He pointed at Zhang Biao, his lips trembling, but he could not utter a single word.
The censors behind him listened, their hearts pounding with excitement and trepidation.
Shen Lang and the others felt a surge of passion rush to their heads, trembling with excitement.
Brother Biao!
This was their Brother Biao!
After a long while, Zhan Hui seemed to have all his strength drained, and he wearily lowered his arm, his face ashen.
He realized that all his official authority, all his reasoning, was utterly powerless against this lawless, yet seemingly morally superior madman.
In the end, he could only reluctantly step aside, clearing the path to the remaining three ministries.
However, at the very next moment.
“Clang—clang—clang—”
A heavy and urgent bell sound suddenly came from the direction of the Imperial Palace, piercing the twilight gloom and echoing clearly throughout Yingtian Prefecture.
The bells chimed one after another, carrying a solemn and majestic, yet subtly urgent tone.
The boisterous ‘salary-demanding team’ instantly fell silent.
Everyone stopped in their tracks, their smiles frozen, and they instinctively looked in the direction of the bell.
This bell sound was extraordinary!
Shen Lang’s face turned as white as a sheet, he forgot to use his abacus: “The Jingyang Bell from the palace?! At this hour, could it be that the Emperor…”
Sun Gui’s chamber pot lamp flickered, and he said with a trembling voice: “The Emperor, has the Emperor woken up?! Or has His…”
He did not dare to utter the word “Majesty’s passing,” but fear had gripped everyone’s hearts.
Li Mo’s charcoal pencil dropped to the ground, and he murmured: “The sound of bells and cauldrons signifies either good fortune or mourning. At this hour… things are not looking good!”
The lively atmosphere instantly cooled to freezing point.
Immense fear and uncertainty, like a cold tide, washed away the joy of their recent victory.
They suddenly realized that all their madness and ‘victories’ had been based on the Emperor’s coma.
And now, the Emperor might have woken up.
The Hongwu Great Emperor, who truly held the power of life and death and could decide all their fates with a single word, had woken up.
What would be their fate? Confiscation of property? Extermination of clan? Flay and stuff?
The thought of Zhou Ya’s end in the Hall of Supreme Harmony Square yesterday sent a shiver down everyone’s spine.
The silver and loot that had felt heavy moments ago now felt like hot potatoes, capable of detonating a thunderbolt of destruction at any moment.
All eyes, involuntarily and in unison, focused on Zhang Biao.
Zhang Biao also put away the resentment that had been stirred up by Zhan Hui.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, looking calmly in the direction of the Imperial Palace, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the railing of the ‘Audit Chariot’.
Old Zhu is awake?
Much faster than I expected.
I hope he kills me this time.
I really, really want to die.
He took a deep breath. Under everyone’s terrified gaze, his face showed no fear; instead, a more insane smile slowly spread across it.
That smile, in the afterglow of the sunset and the darkening sky, appeared particularly chilling.
“Brothers!”
Zhang Biao’s voice rang out again, but with a strange excitement: “Did you hear? The Emperor is calling us!”
Everyone: “???”
Is the Emperor calling us? Or calling us to our deaths?!
…
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