40: Chapter 40: A Grand Confucian Debate Begins with Concern Over Whether One Has Eaten

Just as the group of ruffians were rubbing their palms, eager to don armor and mount their horses immediately to head south and generate revenue, the figure of Jiang Wan appeared at the palace entrance. He did not come in, just stood there bowing, his expression somewhat strange.

"What is it?" Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong glanced at him.

Jiang Wan then quickly entered, knelt on one knee, and said in a loud voice: "Reporting to Your Highness, there is a situation outside the palace. Hanlin Academician Huang Zicheng has contacted hundreds of students from the Imperial Academy and Yingtian Prefecture Academy, and they are currently all kneeling outside the Meridian Gate, saying that Your Highness being enfeoffed as the Prince of Wu is contrary to ritual, and they request that The Emperor rescind the order."

As soon as he finished speaking, the atmosphere in the hall, which had just been fervent, instantly turned cold.

"Damn it!" General Wang Bi was the first to explode. He slammed the table, making the teacup jump, "These shameless pedantic scholars! Give them an inch and they take a mile! Your Highness, this general will take men to drag them all back!"

"General Wang Bi, sit down!" General Lan Yu, lying on the couch, snorted coldly, "Drawing swords on a group of scholars, what will people think of us if word gets out? Don't cause trouble for His Highness!"

Everyone fell silent upon hearing this. Indeed, His Highness had just been enfeoffed as the Prince of Wu and was preparing to go to Jiangnan to uproot them; it was not the time to invite complications.

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's face showed no sign of anger upon hearing this; instead, it carried a hint of amusement.

"I was just worrying that I lacked a justification for heading south to sweep away evil. Even with The Emperor's decree, it would be hard to avoid criticism." He put down his teacup and swept his gaze across the group, "Now, someone has delivered a pillow right to our door; is this not a good thing?"

Everyone was stunned, not understanding what he meant.

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong stood up, walked to the center of the hall, and said sonorously: "They want to talk about ritual systems and moral codes, do they? Very well, then I shall accompany them and have a good discussion."

He turned to look at Jiang Wan: "What did The Emperor say?"

Jiang Wan lowered his head even further: "The Emperor's oral decree is that this matter... is entirely up to Your Highness to handle."

"What a fine 'entirely up to me to handle'." The smile on Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's lips deepened.

The old man had kicked the ball back to him again. If he handled it well, it would be evidence of the Prince of Wu's sagacity and versatility, and no one in the court would dare to dissent. If he handled it poorly, it would mean Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong lacked the virtue for his position and couldn't suppress the civil officials, and the prestige of this Prince of Wu would be greatly diminished.

"You all stay here; those recovering from injuries continue to recover, and those who aren't, ponder the matters of heading south." Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong waved his hand and walked straight out of the hall, "I will go meet them myself."

"Your Highness!" Chang Sheng was anxious and quickly stood up, "If you go alone, what if those pedantic scholars..."

"Uncle, rest assured." Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong did not stop, leaving them only his back, "To deal with a bunch of scholars, there is no need for thousands of troops."

Eunuch Sanbao quickly trotted to follow him.

...

Outside the Meridian Gate, hundreds of students wearing blue shirts were kneeling in a dense crowd, each one stiff-necked, their faces filled with indignation, as if the moral codes and ethics of the Great Ming Dynasty all rested upon their shoulders.

At the head was none other than Hanlin Academician Huang Zicheng. He knelt at the very front, his spine straight, his gray beard trembling slightly in the wind, his aged face full of the determination of "petitioning for the country, with no regrets even in death."

Beside him, Qi Tai, Fang Xiaoru, and others remained silent, their expressions solemn.

This scene was nothing short of spectacular. Since the founding of the Great Ming, this was the first time so many scholars had collectively knelt at the palace gate. The surrounding Imperial Guards were as if facing a formidable enemy, yet they dared not step forward to drive them away, only able to report the matter level by level.

The sun gradually rose, and the spring sunlight shone on them, already bringing a hint of warmth. But the students kneeling on the cold stone slabs felt icy cold in their hearts.

They were gambling, gambling that The Emperor would not want to bear the infamy of "obstructing the path of speech and suppressing civil officials." They were gambling that the newly enfeoffed Prince of Wu was young and hot-headed, and would choose to solve the problem in the most brutal way. As long as he dared to use force, they would win!

Just as everyone was lost in their own thoughts, the side gate of the Meridian Gate opened with a creak.

Everyone's gaze was instantly drawn over.

A youth wearing dark everyday attire was seen walking out slowly with his hands behind his back. The youth's figure still appeared slender, but that air of composure made everyone present feel an inexplicable pressure.

He walked down the steps, step by step, passed through the ranks of the Imperial Guards, and finally stopped not far in front of Hanlin Academician Huang Zicheng.

In the sunlight, his handsome face carried a hint of a gentle smile.

"Lord Huang," Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong spoke, his voice clear, "bringing so many people here to sunbathe? It's the spring chill, be careful not to catch a cold."

The way he said this, actually showing concern for them, instantly blocked the bellyful of impassioned rhetoric that Hanlin Academician Huang Zicheng had prepared in his throat.

Hanlin Academician Huang Zicheng held it in for a long time, his old face turning the color of a pig's liver. After a long while, he kowtowed heavily, his voice like a booming bell: "Your subject, Hanlin Academician Huang Zicheng, pays respects to the Prince of Wu!"

Behind him, hundreds of students also kowtowed in unison, shouting together: "We pay respects to the Prince of Wu!"

In their voices, there was a sense of unyielding defiance and tragic heroism.

Hanlin Academician Huang Zicheng raised his head, staring intensely at Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong: "Does Your Highness know why we have come?"

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong smiled, walked in front of him, and actually sat down cross-legged, completely disregarding the coldness of the ground.

Eunuch Sanbao, seeing this, wanted to spread out the brocade cushion he was carrying, but was stopped by a look from Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong.

"I know." Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong sat settled, looking calmly at Hanlin Academician Huang Zicheng, then swept his gaze over the young faces kneeling around, "You think that I, Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong, an obscure imperial grandson, suddenly elevated to a high position and enfeoffed as the Prince of Wu, am like a monkey dressed in a hat, lacking the virtue for the position. You think that since the Grand Imperial Heir is still in the Eastern Palace, my enfeoffment as the Prince of Wu breaks the rules."

For every sentence he said, Hanlin Academician Huang Zicheng's expression became more complex; no, wait, everything you're saying is my script.

"So, you pillars of the Great Ming, the hope of the nation, ran here to kneel, intending to use your knees to defend the orthodoxy in your hearts, is that right?"

"Your Highness is sagacious!" Although Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong had said his lines, Hanlin Academician Huang Zicheng did not overthink it, kowtowed again, and said: "The ancestral rituals and laws must not be abandoned! We who eat the ruler's stipend must naturally share the ruler's worries and uphold the laws for the country! Today, if The Emperor does not rescind the order, we shall kneel here and not rise!"

"Kneel here and not rise!"

Behind him, hundreds of students shouted in unison, their voices shaking the clouds.

Looking at this group of righteous scholars before him, who seemed ready to sacrifice themselves for their ideals at any moment, the expression on Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's face did not change in the slightest.

He just looked at them quietly, waiting for the wave of sound to gradually subside, before asking a question that had absolutely nothing to do with the matter at hand.

"Have you all eaten yet?"