Chapter 543: Reversal (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Han Zhanghe’s eyes widened, and he suddenly raised his head, his mind buzzing.
Hot flames ignited in his eyes again, containing monstrous hatred. He raised his thin chin and gritted his teeth. “Gu Ce surrendered to the enemy and opened the city gate, causing tens of thousands of commoners and soldiers to die in vain. How can he be compared!”
He admitted that he had misunderstood Second Lady Gu. However, everyone knew about Gu Ce’s crime. How could the Eldest Prince erase it with just a few words!
Father was father, daughter was daughter!
The other students behind him also felt the same way. They nodded one after another, with the same indignation written on their faces.
The students looked indignant, but Chu Yi still smiled casually and asked, “Who saw it?”
Nine years ago, after the State of Yue army took down Tailing City in Yangzhou, they slaughtered for three days.
All the soldiers who participated in the battle died in battle or were buried alive. The commoners in the area of Tailing City were also empty. It could be said that corpses were everywhere.
The students present and the onlookers outside had heard that the smell of blood in the sky above Tailing City didn’t dissipate for a long time, and crows flew in groups.
But now, the Eldest Prince was asking, who had seen it?
This question was a little heartbreaking. Han Zhanghe and the others were speechless for a moment.
Chu Yi repeated again, “Without investigation, you have no right to speak.”
Everyone still remembered what Chu Yi said just now.
If he had said that before today, it would have certainly provoked a lot of backlash, especially from the scholars present. They would have written extensively, condemning and criticizing him.
At this moment, they couldn’t say anything.
Today, they followed the Eldest Prince for half a day and observed his behavior. He wasn’t the muddle-headed person they had thought was bewitched by beauty, nor had he become mediocre and weak because he had been a hostage in the State of Yue for many years.
Not only did their Eldest Prince have a photographic memory, he was also a person with a gully in his chest.
Moreover, the lesson of the Hua family’s case was right in front of them.
The students looked at each other, and their guard, which had been as hard as a city wall, loosened a little.
The current Emperor had a benevolent personality. After ascending to the throne for a year, he abolished several miscellaneous taxes and harsh labor practices. He had even supported the academy and opened up the Imperial Examination to give commoner students like them a chance to showcase their ambitions.
He was unlike the late Emperor, who valued those noble families more. Although he hadn’t abolished the Imperial Examination in the past 20 years, he had never placed any importance on any poor family scholars.
As soon as the current Emperor ascended the throne, he established the imperial examination system, clearly proclaiming his political stance in support of scholars from humble backgrounds throughout the realm.
Such an Emperor was not only magnanimous but also a monarch who cared about the world and tried to revive it.
Since the current Emperor and the Eldest Prince both felt that there was something hidden about Gu Ce surrendering to the enemy back then, could there really be something hidden…
Han Zhanghe took a deep breath and maintained his bow. He looked at Chu Yi without blinking and said seriously, “Your Highness, do you have any evidence?”
“If there was enough evidence, it would be clear now.” Chu Yi’s expression was extremely calm, and his tone was quite calm, as if this was a matter of course, and he didn’t doubt it at all.
Han Zhanghe heard the hidden meaning in Chu Yi’s words and asked anxiously, “May 1 ask if Your Highness has already discovered some clues?”
After saying this, Han Zhanghe was afraid that this was a secret of the imperial court. He wanted to say something, but Chu Yi spoke first. “When I was in the State of Yue, I happened to discover that in the battle in Yangzhou back then, the State of Yue army claimed to have lost 20,000 soldiers, but in fact, 30,000 people died in battle. 10,000 people disappeared into thin air. After the remaining State of Yue army returned to the State of Yue, they were ordered by the Sage to return to the fields.”
Just a few words caused the atmosphere in the Myriad Herb Hall to suddenly become heavy.
As the saying goes, a high scholar is a gold scholar. Only one high scholar can appear in a few counties. Every high scholar was a smart person who had killed his way out of thousands of elementary scholars.
To be able to study all the way to the high scholar level, the students here weren’t stupid. Furthermore, the purpose of their imperial examination was to be an official. Usually, in the academy, their teachers would often tell them about the current affairs of the imperial court and let them analyze and write strategies.
This suspicious point raised by the Eldest Prince was indeed strange. They all frowned deeply and revealed thoughtful expressions. The same thought appeared in their hearts: Could it be that the Sage of the State of Yue ordered the State of Yue’s northern expedition army to retire and return to the fields in order to hide the “disappearing” 10,000 State of Yue troops?
Gu Ce’s case had a lot of implications. It involved tens of thousands of lives and concerned the face of the Great Jin Dynasty. If not for that defeat, the Great Jin Dynasty wouldn’t have needed to negotiate with the State of Yue. It wouldn’t have needed to bow and scrape to the State of Yue, cut off the sea as compensation, and give the Eldest Prince as a hostage..
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