The drum of the third watch was beaten, and the candles were still lit in the prime minister's signing room. Chen Dong is still discussing with Deng Su and Wen Xunzhi.

Within only two or three months of violating the "Qingliu Law," more than 3,000 people in various localities were beheaded and abandoned in accordance with the law for violating the "Qingliu Law," and the case files handed over to the Criminal Department for review were piled up, and the prison of the Criminal Department was full of prisoners who had been escorted to Beijing, and many prestigious scholars were also imprisoned for violating the Qingliu Law, and this was only the beginning.

According to the usual practice, nine times out of ten, the death sentence reviewed by the criminal department will be reduced to a stabbing sentence. In the past, two to three thousand people were handed over to the Criminal Department for review in a year, but only 100 people were actually executed. However, at this time, in the name of "maintaining a clean stream" and "indulging in evil is suppressing good", the state schools demanded that the criminal department could no longer pardon the death penalty as before. The Zhenguo Army, the Southeast Battalion, and the three towns of Henan, which had a large number of scholars, all publicly announced that in order to maintain military discipline, they would no longer accept death row prisoners who were assassinated by the Criminal Department. In the past few days, Wen Xunzhi, the secretary of the Criminal Department, has been under great pressure, and the local state school has set off a distinction between "true and clear streams" and "fake clear streams", accusing the Criminal Department of delaying the review of the death penalty, which is actually confusing the turbidity, and Wen Xunzhi, the secretary of the Criminal Department, is a traitor who shields the turbidity.

"It's too much to kill," Chen Dong rubbed his temples tiredly, and sighed: "It's better to wait for the autumn trial, let's let it go for a while." ”

"Wu Zilong is too vicious," Wen Xunzhi said angrily, "Shaoyang, if you deal with me clearly, you actually want to force you to comply." He shook his head and asked, "What about Jin Hongfu's case?" In Jin Hongfu's case, the Hangzhou government submitted three major crimes, the first was "slandering Confucius and Mencius, daring to advocate chaos", and the second was "bribing more than 100 guan". The third is "obscene and insulting the wife and daughter of the clean stream". However, Shilin knew that Jin Hongfu was caught and held on, and he was the first to be convicted for his words.

Jin Hongfu calls himself suspicious of the ancients, and is known for his rebellious words and deeds, and for his deviance. The ministers of the DPRK and China regarded him as an outlier. This time, he was grabbed by the handle and imprisoned, some people clapped their hands, and some people rushed to the rescue. Wen Xunzhi personally reviewed the case file, the first article is the Confucian Lin Gong case, although Jin Hongfu has disrespectful words to Confucius and Mencius, but he argues that this is similar to the Buddha scolded by the ancestors of the Shi family. In the southeastern Shilin, those who admired and slandered Jin Hongfu were equally fanatical. And the third article is ten years ago, if this has to be turned out to be questioned, I am afraid that there are few left. Third, there is a beautiful woman next to Jin Hongfu's residence who sells wine in the house. Jin Hongfu pretended to be a romantic Wei and Jin Dynasty, and when he was in a wine shop, he slept on the beautiful legs of the proprietress when he was drunk. The husband of the proprietress of the wine shop began to swallow his anger, but later chose to abide by the Qingliu Law, but Jin Hongfu still stuck to me, and as a result, he made trouble in Hangzhou Yamen, the facts are there, and it has been made into an iron case.

"Hangzhou hold on," Wen Xun sighed: "Jin Yigu is also a genius in the world, and his only chance now is amnesty." ”

"Impossible." Chen Dong's face was cold, "Jin Hongfu killed himself, if he is alone, we will lose the hearts of the Qingliu people, and we will fall into the arms of Wu Zilong and others." "The pattern of the clear stream in the world has been very different from before, celebrities like Jin Hongfu, who were still on the edge of the clear stream, have now stood on the opposite side of the clear stream, up to the temple, down to the people, everyone wants to kill and then fast.

In the entire territory of the Great Song Dynasty, from the official eunuchs, celebrities and scholars, to the state and county gentry, down to the merchants, Confucian scholars, and officials, as long as they believe in the importance of heavenly principles over human desires, and are rigorous, they have all joined the Qingliu Law. Before choosing the law and self-discipline, these people were like a plate of loose sand, and they were often humiliated by the greedy and tyrannical. After choosing the law and self-discipline, under the constraints and protection of the etiquette law, Qingliu has become a group of scholars with a strong self-identity, and in fact, it also shares honor and disgrace. Whether it is Chen Dong or Wu Zilong, they only control part of the power of this group.

"I see." Wen Xunzhi nodded and sighed, he stood up and left. People in the world choose the law to abide by themselves, but in fact, the litigation at the state and county level is not too heavy. After all, there are still a few people in the world who abide by the law of the clear stream. And when it comes to the gentry, each case is not simple. However, the review cases poured into Ezhou like a flood, and the pressure on the criminal department to review was suddenly greater. At present, the Criminal Department not only has to deal with a mountain of case files on a daily basis, but also criticizes Wen Xun for directly taking power, and demands that the Criminal Department narrow the scope of case review. If it weren't for Chen Dong's support, Wen Xunzhi would have been under pressure to prevent the state and county from killing people without permission, and I don't know how many people would have their heads on the ground.

After Wen Xunzhi left, Chen Dong picked up the documents of the Ministry of Rites, which were books that were required to be banned by schools in various prefectures and counties.

"Alas—the tree wants to be quiet and the wind does not stop," Deng Su sighed, "this is the current situation, those who go with it prosper, and those who go against it die." ”

There are three immortals in life, and Liyan is one of them. In the eyes of the scholars, the prohibition of books was of paramount importance. According to the Great Rites Law, if a state or county school finds that a book that needs to be banned cannot be destroyed arbitrarily, it must be submitted to the Ministry of Rites, and after the approval of the Ministry of Rites, it will be included in the list of prohibited books before the state and county can ban the destruction.

At the same time, the Ministry of Rites does not have the right to make arbitrary decisions, and whether to ban the books on this list is up to the discretion of each state and county school. Unless it is a forbidden book that must be destroyed by the world's academic and political public discussions, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Criminal Affairs will supervise the strict prohibition of the state and county, not only to ban the book, but also to destroy the engraved stele and printing plate, and to erase the traces, as if there has never been a book in the world.

The Ministry of Rites categorized the banned books played in schools in states and counties. The first category is those who slander Confucius and Mencius, the second category is those who are cults and heresies, and those who are confused by strange powers; the third category is the articles of Cai Jing, Li Bangyan, and other powerful traitors; the fourth category is those who teach prostitution and theft and corrupt the world's morals; and the fifth category is those involving the state's military aircraft.

Chen Dong looked at this list of banned books from top to bottom, and suddenly his eyes froze, he actually saw that Zhao Xingde once wrote the two words of "Bald Pen Weng" under the pseudonym of "Bald Pen Weng" were also listed on the list, and the comments were strange and confusing, and they were obscene and stealing, corrupting the world. Chen Dong sighed, picked up his pen, and ticked off the two books from the list of the Ministry of Rites. The banning of books itself, he couldn't stop it. He pondered for a moment, and then ticked off more than half of the so-called articles that "slandered Confucius and Mencius", "prostitution and theft", and "power rape".

"Shaoyang, what are you doing here? Deng Su was surprised, "Do you know that there is criticism from the outside? ”

"Even when Cai Jing and Li Bangyan were in power, the ban on books was not so powerful, and it should not be nonsense." Chen Dong's face was slightly pale, and he said in a deep voice, "Although the outside world is violent, there are always many people who follow the crowd. If I do too much to ban and destroy books, I will become a weak race of the Great Song Dynasty, and I will harm future generations endlessly. It's always a last resort. You and I are in the temple, we have to take responsibility, and we can't let these people be unscrupulous and do too much. ”

"But ......" Deng Su hesitated for a moment, shook his head and sighed, "Since I have to take responsibility, let me take the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites." ”

Chen Dong nodded and closed the paperwork. The prime minister has all the opportunities and can't take care of everything. Originally, it was the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites to approve the ban on books, and the prime minister was just reading them, but Chen Dong directly intervened. After the joint impeachment of the prime minister, Deng Su used the procedures of the Ministry of Rites to try to delay the time of the public discussion by one year on the grounds that the Xuezheng of various prefectures and counties had just returned from Ezhou, and it was inconvenient to go to Ezhou immediately. Now, Chen Dong and Deng Su have become de facto allies, so Deng Su did not hesitate to damage his name and took the initiative to slander Chen Dong.

"Shouyi," Chen Dong sighed and said in a low voice, "Somehow, lately, I've often thought of Minghuan and others. Back then, we didn't hesitate to lose our reputation, and even spilled blood on our heads, always wanting to make the Great Song Dynasty better than in the past. Now, have we done it? His tone was a little gloomy.

"Shaoyang, now is the critical time, you must not have the intention of retreating." Deng Su said worriedly, and he said with a straight face, "If it weren't for your painstaking management for many years, when the Liao thieves invaded the south, the southeast would have collapsed long ago, and it would have been impossible to have the current Zhongxing situation." Now, although the Xia State occupies Luoyang, Xiangyang, and Fangzhou, and the Liao State occupies Hebei, most of the land and Baixin of our dynasty have been retained, Yuan Zhi has recovered Bianliang, and Yue Shuai has waved Hebei. Shaoyang, now it is the system of the reality of the virtual monarch, you are the prime minister, your shoulders, you have to bear the burden of the Great Song Dynasty. ”

"I know. Don't worry. Chen Dong patted Deng Su's shoulder and said in a low voice, "Thank you." ”

Deng Su nodded, knowing that Chen Dong was just feeling it for a while, so he let go of his worries. Every major thing that Chen Dong has done is not done by weak and incompetent people. If it weren't for the tenacity of temperament, how could he be indomitable after exposing the big case, running in all directions, gathering Qingliu to rectify the society, and persisting until the new emperor ascended the throne, and when the Liao people entered the palace, he took the lead in Ezhou.

The four drums are beating, the night is thick, the moonlight is hazy this night, but there are stars in the sky twinkling.

The next day, the rooster crowed, the sky was not clear, and Jiangxia County School was already crowded with white-robed scholars. Since the southern invasion of the Liao, the imperial court has encouraged the pen to be congenital, and the scholar's white robe as a whole is much narrower than before, more similar to the military robe. There are also people who simply tie the hem of their white robes around their waists, and then tie the hem of their trousers to wrap their legs, and some people wear white foreheads like officers, which is a fashionable attire now, although it is not as chic as the wide robe and large sleeves of the past, but it is much cleaner.

There were torches on the four walls, the smoke was choking, the yard was very noisy, everyone was whispering, and some people couldn't help but cough quietly. "Mr. Lee." Someone whispered a reminder. Li Du coughed softly and walked from the slightly gloomy corridor to the middle of the courtyard. Li Du is a student of Ezhou Prefecture, his face is grim, and his gestures are full of the demeanor of a leader. The courtyard suddenly fell silent, and several torches shone on his face, which was as young as a scholar from Jiangxia County.