Chapter 129: Order to Arrest
Twenty thousand taels...

Zhu Yuanzhang was incredulous. He glanced at Deng Qianqiu and asked Liu Zhi, "How did you know about this?"

Liu Zhi was stunned, but said: "It was the imperial censor who found the evidence based on hearsay! If your majesty does not believe it, just arrest Shen Sen immediately. Your majesty, it is really unbelievable that the grandson of a lowly merchant is studying with the royal family. If this gets out, the whole world will laugh at him. Moreover, Deng Qianqiu accepted money and property during this process, so he deserves death."

Zhu Yuanzhang seems to have been roughly identified.

Twenty thousand taels for a classmate, and every year?
Is the Shen family so rich?
His heart suddenly felt like it was about to jump out of his throat, and he couldn't help but have a thought: "What if there are more people like this? What if there are ten or eight?"

No.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly had a more terrifying thought: "What if there are hundreds or thousands of them..."

This terrible thought popped up, like Pandora's box, and began to linger in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, unable to be driven away.

As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang could no longer hear clearly what Liu Zhi said later.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly came to his senses and suddenly said to Liu Zhi: "Although the Shen family is a merchant family, I don't know which country he is from?"

This sudden question stumped Liu Zhi.

Liu Zhi said: "This man is a merchant from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, not from a foreign country."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at him coldly: "Then you are the subject of my Great Ming. Since you are the subject of the Great Ming, don't you always say that all the subjects of the world are my sons, so I am both the ruler and the father. This is the principle of the so-called ruler and father. His grandson from the Shen family is quite talented, so what's wrong with him studying with my prince?"

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang raised his voice and continued, "Why, normally all the people in the world are my sons, but now this son is different?"

Liu Zhi: “…”

Can it be explained this way?
Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily, "My people, how can we distinguish between noble and humble? You usually talk about the relationship between the emperor and his subjects, and the relationship between father and son, but now, in order to frame Deng Qianqiu, you actually deny it? I want to ask you, what is your intention in making such a distinction between me and the Shen family?"

Liu Zhi: “…”

Liu Zhi felt like he was going crazy.

He actually had some understanding of Zhu Yuanzhang. His Majesty has always been disgusted with merchants, but in the blink of an eye, he denied it?
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at him with a flash of contempt in his eyes, and sneered: "Just now, Jian'er said that a treacherous person must be loyal, so we should listen to his words and observe his actions. Only in this way can we distinguish right from wrong."

Liu Zhi was already filled with fear. He suddenly realized something and said tremblingly, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty... I... I am just reporting the truth. Even merchants are divided into good and bad. But asking for money so blatantly... Your Majesty is very strict in governing officials. Anyone who embezzles more than ten taels of silver will be severely punished, and this Deng Qianqiu..."

Zhu Yuanzhang had a cold face and felt that Liu Zhi was even more annoying.

This man is so vicious that he even wants him to impose severe punishment on Deng Qianqiu!

At this time, Deng Qianqiu said: "But he volunteered."

Deng Qianqiu could see that Zhu Yuanzhang was protecting him, and he couldn't help but feel grateful, but when he looked at Liu Zhi, a cold light flashed across his eyes.

What a severe sentence! If he doesn’t say anything, people will think he is easy to bully!

Deng Qianqiu stepped forward and said, "You always talk about heaven, earth, emperor, parents and teachers. This shows that the importance of the master is comparable to that of a father. Then let me ask you, if a son is filial to his parents and gives them 20,000 taels of silver, is this filial piety or a sin?"

"This..." Liu Zhi said: "You...you are confusing right and wrong."

Deng Qianqiu said, "Twenty thousand taels of silver is just a drop in the bucket for my student. He plucked a hair and gave it to his teacher, hoping that his teacher could eat better and wear warmer clothes. Is this considered a heinous crime? Liu Zhi, you have read so much that you are a fool. Are you still a human being? Do you still have any moral principles? You have also taken others as your teacher and accepted disciples, but you have turned this teacher-student relationship into what you call accepting money and property. You must say so, right? Well, from today on, I beg Your Majesty to immediately conduct a thorough investigation. Among all the officials, anyone who accepts money and property from disciples, whether it is 100,000 taels of silver or one penny, will be punished."

The ministers began to whisper...

Liu Zhi's face turned pale at this moment. He didn't expect Deng Qianqiu to be so despicable as to bring out the banner of his sect.

He said: "This cannot be generalized. One penny and twenty thousand taels..."

Deng Qianqiu interrupted, "Twenty thousand taels of silver is silver, but isn't one penny also silver? A bandit who robbed twenty thousand taels of silver should be beheaded, but if he robbed one penny, shouldn't he be beheaded? Liu Zhi, I respect you as a scholar, but I didn't expect you to be so shameless. You have no king, no father, no teacher, and you are worse than pigs and dogs. You are a traitor who has no king, no ministers, and no fathers and sons. Everyone has the right to kill you."

The more Deng Qianqiu spoke, the angrier he became, and he wished he could rush up and strangle Liu Zhi to death.

Liu Zhi was so frightened that his face turned pale. He had been hoping that someone would come out and say something for him at this time.

But now... everyone looked at Zhu Yuanzhang anxiously.

Accepting benefits from disciples will lead to punishment. Don’t say it, don’t say it. If you draw an analogy based on this, then the current emperor... might really do such a thing.

By then, all the officials would be arrested. Who dares to speak up for Liu Zhi now? They just wish Liu Zhi would shut up. If he keeps talking, they will all go to hell together.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Liu Zhi anxiously and shouted, "You are still trying to quibble now? The crime of false accusation is punishable by death. Come, take him away, take off his official hat, and order the officials to judge him."

Liu Zhi shuddered and tried to apologize, but it was too late. He burst into tears and shouted, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."

Zhu Yuanzhang said viciously: "I never thought that there would be someone so sinister in the world..."

All the officials looked at Liu Zhi with grief at this moment.

However, many people secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Since Liu Zhi had been arrested and was found to have made a false accusation, then... the economic activities between the teacher and the student should not be investigated.

In fact, the ancients attached great importance to the relationship between teachers and students, especially since the Song Dynasty, when the imperial examination system became popular. The original system of nobles and aristocratic families recommending each other to the court through bloodline was broken.

Many scholars who passed the imperial examination and did not have much of a background began to enter the court. These people might not have a strong background, and their families did not have mountains of money and grain, but because they did well in the exams and gained fame, they were immediately noticed by many bigwigs in the court.

Thus, the custom of becoming a disciple began to prevail.

Those who hold high positions need to expand their wings and make plans for their descendants, so they recruit many disciples.

When these disciples arrived in the capital to serve as officials and had no relatives, they were strongly promoted by their mentor.

So, each of them gets what they need.

Therefore, in the eyes of scholars, this kind of teacher-student relationship is very much in need of maintenance. Anyone who dares to destroy this community of interests under the guise of a teacher-student relationship will become the public enemy of scholars all over the world.

After all, once this rule is broken, those in high positions will no longer dare to trust their own disciples.

And why do those scholars who have just entered the court and have no one to rely on gain favor?

What's more, they were scholars and held power. Naturally, as the tradition was passed down from generation to generation, the relationship between teachers and students began to be more and more sacred, to the point that now the relationship between teachers and students has become the same as that between a monarch and his subjects, or between a father and his son.

Liu Zhi was desperate and tried all means to save his life. He even used the teacher-student relationship to make a fuss. As a result, not only did His Majesty dislike him, but now even the officials began to dislike him.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Deng Qianqiu has worked hard to teach the princes! I know my sons well. They are not stupid. It's just that the people around them are too arrogant, which makes them lose interest in their studies. Today I personally tested them, but I didn't expect that they would make rapid progress. This is all thanks to Deng Qianqiu."

Only then did all the officials turn their attention to Deng Qianqiu.

Having solved a big problem, Deng Qianqiu was in a good mood and said modestly: "I didn't teach them anything. They learned it all by themselves. Your Majesty, I am ashamed to accept your praise."

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "As expected, now that you have become a teacher, you have acquired all the bad habits of a scholar. Why are you being so humble in front of me?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, with his hands behind his back, he paced a few steps, and looked around at the ministers: "My lords, please leave. Deng Qianqiu stays, and the Prince of Jin and the others are waiting outside the main hall."

The ministers had mixed feelings and had to bow and leave.

Zhu Gang's face was grim. When he heard that his father wanted to talk to Deng Qianqiu in private, he seemed to think that the worst result had come. So he hung his head and left in frustration.

After all the people had left, Zhu Yuanzhang sat up straight, raised his head and looked at Deng Qianqiu with a smile: "Mr. Deng's family, 20,000 taels of silver a year? What does this mean?"

Deng Qianqiu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. No way, were they so impatient?

"Your Majesty, he did this voluntarily."

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "I know they did it voluntarily. I just want to ask why only one surnamed Shen is willing to pay? There are countless wealthy families in the Ming Dynasty. It is impossible that only one surnamed Shen is rich."

Deng Qianqiu had no choice but to say, "I took the initiative to recruit him from Mr. Shen."

"Hmm?" Zhu Yuanzhang found it more and more interesting. He tried his best to be kind so as not to scare Deng Qianqiu: "Come, sit down and talk slowly."

Deng Qianqiu said: "I just want to see if this can be accomplished. After all, it is all about teaching and educating people. Teaching three is teaching, and teaching four is also teaching."

"Well, you didn't say anything. Teaching three, teaching four, even teaching a hundred or a thousand, is still teaching." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "From what you said, it can be seen that you are a loyal minister. You work tirelessly and think about the century-long plan of our Ming Dynasty."

…………

Asking for a monthly ticket.

(End of this chapter)