Chapter 93: Emperor! Please Stop Meeting With Censor Zhang! 【 Seeking Monthly Ticket 】
Audit the Six Ministries?
Empty the Ministry of Revenue and Ministry of War, and socially kill the Ministry of Personnel?
Drive Fu Youwen and Ru Chang mad?
Confiscate Li Jinglong’s home? Forcibly invite him to dinner?
Frighten Guo Ying awake from near death, and extort three thousand taels?
Now heading for the Ministry of Works?!
This series of abstract and absurd news, with every word conveying a bloody reality, struck Old Zhu’s understanding like countless heavy hammers, one after another.
He had governed the empire for nearly thirty years, what storms had he not weathered?
Mountains of corpses and seas of blood, schemes and stratagems, he believed his heart had long turned to stone!
But at this moment.
He felt his mind had been stuffed into a mad whirling top, spinning and collapsing violently at a speed and in a manner he could not comprehend at all.
This.
What the hell is all this?!
Censors not writing memorials, but carrying abacuses to confiscate homes?!
Nobles not impeached, but extorted by ‘audits’?!
Where is the court’s system? The law? The moral principles?!
Fed to the dogs?!
An extremely intense emotion, a mixture of shock, absurdity, rage, and a hint of bewilderment he himself was unwilling to admit, like a breached dam, instantly washed away all his composure.
His withered body trembled uncontrollably, his sallow face flushed crimson, his chest heaving like bellows.
He wanted to kill madly, to kill without restraint!
He wanted to tear all this absurdity to shreds!
But his throat felt as if tightly gripped by an invisible hand, unable to utter a sound!
Under this immense, uncontrollable emotional impact and physical spasms,
“Pfft—!”
It wasn’t spitting blood.
It was the ginseng soup he had swallowed not long ago, mixed with nausea and extreme emotional fluctuation, like a long-suppressed small fountain, suddenly gushing from his mouth.
Precisely, without reservation, directly and in his face.
It all sprayed onto Zhu Yunwen’s face, who was slumped on the ground, head tilted back, his face a picture of terror and despair!
“？？？？？！”
Zhu Yunwen was completely stunned.
The pungent stomach acid and warm ginseng soup with a strong medicinal aroma dripped down his smooth forehead, straight nose, and gaping mouth.
The Winged Goodness Crown, symbolizing his status, was askew on his head, his meticulously styled hair dampened, with a few strands clinging to his cheeks.
The front of his prince’s robe, embroidered with gold thread, was also a wet expanse, dark water stains rapidly spreading, with a few un-dissolved ginseng slices and goji berries still clinging to it.
Boom!
Time seemed to congeal at this moment.
He remained in a slumped, head-tilted posture, his eyes wide open.
His pupils reflected Old Zhu’s face, contorted by violent coughing and emotional agitation, and his own unprecedentedly disheveled state.
The wet, warm sensation on his face, and the strong scent of ginseng and sourness, reminded him with agonizing reality of what he was experiencing.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What happened?
Immense humiliation, confusion, and a fear that penetrated to the bone instantly overwhelmed him.
He even forgot to wipe his face, as if under a petrification spell.
Jiang Huan and Yun Ming, standing nearby, were also astonished.
They watched as His Majesty sprayed Prince Yunwen’s face with ginseng soup.
This.
This was truly an unprecedented event!
Even Jiang Huan, the Imperial Guard Commander who had killed countless people, had his brain freeze for a moment, completely unsure how to react.
Should he immediately step forward to protect His Majesty? Or should he first hand Prince Yunwen a handkerchief?!
No, wasn’t handing out handkerchiefs Yun Ming’s job?
He instinctively looked at Yun Ming, only to see Yun Ming suppressing a smile, quickly turning his head away.
He had undergone professional training; no matter how funny it was, he wouldn’t laugh.
But the speed at which his shoulders trembled still betrayed him.
As for Old Zhu, after spitting out that mouthful of ginseng soup, he began to cough violently again, coughing heartbreakingly.
But after a fit of coughing, his breathing seemed much smoother than before.
He was seen coughing, while raising his trembling hand, pointing outside the hall, his voice hoarse but filled with a desperate roar:
“Rebellion… rebellion, all of you have rebelled!”
“Jiang Huan! Jiang Huan!!”
“What are you still hesitating for?!”
“Cough cough… Arrest. Arrest that madman, Zhang Biao, for us!!”
“Alive! We want him alive!”
“We want to ask him personally! What exactly does he want to do?!”
He almost roared the last few sentences.
Accompanied by violent coughing, his eyeballs were bloodshot from extreme anger and agitation.
Saliva mixed with residual ginseng soup splashed onto Zhu Yunwen, who was still slumped on the ground, once again.
Zhu Yunwen shuddered from the shouting and finally snapped out of his petrified state.
Seeing Old Zhu’s appearance, as if he wanted to devour Zhang Biao’s flesh and blood, he was scared out of his wits. Forgetting his disheveled state, he scrambled backward on all fours, screaming with a crying voice:
“Imperial Grandfather, please quell your anger! Imperial Grandfather, please take care of your dragon body!”
Jiang Huan had also recovered his senses, knowing this was no time for dallying.
He immediately bowed: “Your subject obeys! Your subject will personally lead men to apprehend Zhang Biao!”
After saying this, he dared not look at the grandfather and grandson again, turned, and was about to rush out of the bedroom.
However, Yun Ming, standing beside him, suddenly knelt down with a ‘plop’ and crawled to Old Zhu’s leg, crying:
“Your Majesty! Please don’t see Censor Zhang again! Your servant is afraid! Your servant…”
“Scram—!”
Old Zhu kicked Yun Ming away and struggled to sit up.
But he lost his balance and almost fell to the ground.
He quickly extended his withered hand and grabbed the edge of the bed tightly, his fingernails almost digging into the wood:
“We want to see Zhang Biao!! We want to see him now!”
“Quick! Quickly bring him to us! We want to ask him personally! What exactly does he want to do?! Is he truly trying to dig up the roots of our Old Zhu family?!”
Once this thought arose, it spread like wild grass, instantly occupying Old Zhu’s entire mind.
Countless anger, humiliation, fear, and a trace of extremely faint curiosity, which he himself was unwilling to admit, mixed into a powerful obsession.
He had to see that madman immediately!
He had to personally understand all of this!
However, this frenzied command terrified everyone present.
Because not only Yun Ming had realized it, but others had too.
Old Zhu’s current state, if he were to see Zhang Biao, was likely dire.
“Your Majesty! You must not! Absolutely not!”
At this moment, the imperial physician, who had just returned from boiling medicine, also knelt by the doorway with a ‘plop’, kowtowing like pounding garlic:
“Your Majesty, your dragon body is unwell, you are excessively agitated, your qi and blood are in disarray, and you urgently need rest! You absolutely cannot endure any more stimulation! That Censor Zhang speaks astonishingly, and if…”
He paused, deliberating, “If your dragon body should have another mishap, your subjects would die a thousand deaths and still not atone!”
“Yes, Your Majesty! Taking care of your dragon body is paramount!”
Several eunuchs also pleaded with tears.
Seeing this, Jiang Huan also showed hesitation and couldn’t help but advise Old Zhu:
“Your Majesty, this Zhang Biao, his actions are eccentric, his words are unrestrained, and he seems to have little reverence for imperial power.”
“If he is summoned now, I fear his wild words may alarm Your Majesty again. Should we wait until your dragon body recovers slightly, then…”
“Nonsense!”
Old Zhu angrily slapped the bed and coughed again: “We are not dead yet! We want to see him now!”
“Jiang Huan, are you also afraid of that madman?! Can’t even handle this small matter?!”
“Your subject deserves death!”
Jiang Huan quickly lowered his head and apologized: “It is only for Your Majesty’s dragon body…”
“You!”
Just as Old Zhu was about to erupt in anger, hurried footsteps and an announcement were suddenly heard from outside the room.
“Hanlin Academy Scholar Liu Sanwu requests an audience!”
“Imperial Son-in-Law Mei Yin requests an audience!”
It was clear that news from outside the palace had rapidly reached these key figures, and they had rushed over immediately.
“Let them roll in!”
Old Zhu was in a rage and yelled impatiently.
Liu Sanwu and Mei Yin hurried into the bedroom. Upon seeing the mess within, they both knelt down.
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty—!”
“Your subjects implore Your Majesty to take care of your dragon body!”
Old Zhu impatiently interrupted them:
“Less of this useless talk! You’ve come at the right time! Jiang Huan won’t do it, you two go!”
“Go tie up that scoundrel Zhang Biao for us! Today, we must see if he has three heads and six arms!”
Upon hearing this, everyone’s faces turned ashen.
Liu Sanwu, who valued propriety and etiquette the most, could no longer afford to be concerned and said with a trembling voice:
“Your Majesty! This matter absolutely cannot be done!”
“That Zhang Biao behaves like a street ruffian, with no regard for proper conduct!”
“Your Majesty, with your precious person, how can you confront such a madman before the hall? Would that not defile the sacred hearing and diminish imperial prestige? If this were to spread, how would the world view our Great Ming Dynasty? Your Majesty, think thrice!”
Mei Yin was more direct, kowtowing:
“Your Majesty! That Zhang Biao has angered you three times, his intentions are punishable! His words are like knives and swords! If you summon him now, it is no different from feeding yourself to a tiger!”
“What if he speaks further wild words? What about Prince Yunwen? What about this Great Ming Empire? Your Majesty, for the sake of the empire, you cannot take this risk!”
The two spoke in turn, their tears flowing melodramatically, their words never deviating from ‘take care of your dragon body’, each sentence implicitly suggesting ‘Zhang Biao is poisonous, seeing him is death’.
They had practically described Zhang Biao as a sorcerer capable of cursing an emperor with mere words.
Old Zhu, upon hearing this, frowned tighter and tighter.
He knew very well what these two feared.
They feared that Zhang Biao’s venomous tongue would make him faint again, and if he truly couldn’t wake up, their credit for supporting him would be lost, and they might even be purged.
But this scene of wailing and pleading was indeed irritating him.
“Enough!”
Old Zhu impatiently interrupted them, his voice weakened by illness, yet still carrying authority: “Crying and wailing, what sort of decorum is this! We are not dead yet!”
Liu Sanwu and Mei Yin’s cries abruptly stopped, but they remained kneeling, sobbing, wiping their seemingly inexhaustible tears with their sleeves.
Old Zhu looked at their demeanor, then remembered Zhang Biao’s brazenness, daring to point at the entire court nobility and curse him to his face, and felt a strange sense of nausea.
He took a deep breath, suppressing the surging emotions, and said as calmly as possible: “Your loyalty, We know. But that Zhang Biao…”
“Imperial Grandfather, your grandson believes that although Censor Zhang acts rebelliously and treasonously, his incitement of lower-level officials to mutiny might have hidden reasons, or perhaps it was instigated by certain individuals intending to disrupt the court order. His heart is punishable…”
Before Old Zhu could finish speaking, Zhu Yunwen’s voice suddenly rang out.
“What did you say!?”
Old Zhu shot him a cold glance, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
