"Nonsense!" Li Si moved his steps as if he was killing his relatives, and said with cupped hands: "Your Majesty, Li Zhaoxin is a liar. I have learned about it. Xiao He is the chief official of Pei County. He has outstanding talents and learning. He is a great talent within a hundred miles."
"And Li Zhaochen knows very well that he is an uneducated and incompetent man. How can he be qualified to support Xiao He? It is clearly a shirk."
After hearing this, Li Zhao secretly despised Li Si several times in his heart. Is he ignorant and incompetent? But it is a hundred times stronger than Li Zhan!
"Xiao He, you are the person involved, tell the truth."
Ying Zheng suppressed his anger and let Xiao He speak. In fact, nothing Li Zhao and Li Si said is enough to serve as evidence. Xiao He is the victim and has the most say.
Xiao He also figured out what was going on, but he didn't dare to speak without permission.
At this moment, he secretly glanced at Ying Zheng, knelt down and saluted again, "Yes, Your Majesty!" Then he paused for a moment, as if he was organizing his words, but he showed a hint of anger unnoticeably.
This angry look was noticed by Li Si, and he was secretly happy. Li Si told him that Xiao He, who was abused by Li Zhao, was very angry. If he expressed his anger, Li Zhao would be dead...
snort! For a moment, a sense of revenge came over me.
Li Zhao should die, his wife should be exiled, and he could marry again. However, Li Zhao was arrogant in front of the ministers, and he felt like a thorn in his heart, which made him very uncomfortable.
"Xiao He, this is the court, there is no need to be afraid of anyone, tell the truth." He emboldened Xiao He.
Ying Zheng also nodded and wanted to say some words of encouragement, but he heard Li Zhao's inner voice.
"Old beast, you are really a ghost! What does my home in Chang'an Township have to do with you? You don't need to be afraid of anyone? Isn't this about me? Why would I, a noble gentleman, threaten others? He must have sent someone to monitor him. Me, making trouble, this is revenge."
Li Zhao really hated Li Si.
In fact, it was not his wild imagination. Xiao He was the nephew of the housekeeper, and they were getting along well with each other these days. He already regarded Xiao He as one of his family members.
Um! Ying Zheng heard this and thought: Family matter? Why did Xiao He become his family? And send people to monitor and take revenge?
Sending people to monitor is not uncommon in Great Qin, but if there is a deep hatred between the two sides and sending people to monitor, the element of revenge will be obvious.
Xiao He was not afraid, but what should I say? If it was a few days ago, he would have spoken out boldly and denounced Li Zhao, but for some reason, after reading Political Economy, his impression of the young master has greatly changed.
"Yes!" Xiao He spoke slowly, "Actually, the young master did not force himself to stay among the common people..."
What?
Before Xiao He finished speaking, Li Si's reaction was particularly strong, and he was a little unable to react.
What did this man say? Shouldn't he tell the truth and target Li Zhao? How do you say you were not forced to stay?
Also, Li Zhao abused him and still called him 'young master'?
He couldn't accept it.
He thought that Xiao He was still afraid of Li Zhao, so he did not dare to tell the truth, so he emphasized it again and again, saying by name: "Xiao He, tell the truth, if Li Zhao dares to target you, I will protect you."
These words were very straightforward, but Xiao He waved his hand and still said: "The young master did not target me, and he never forced me to stay."
"Impossible, Li Si obviously said..." Li Si was no longer calm, but as soon as the words came to his mouth, he realized his mistake and quickly changed his words, "You are talking nonsense, nonsense!"
Li Zhao was also surprised and couldn't help but look at Xiao He a few more times. Is he actually defending himself? Unexpected! It seems that this boy has become enlightened.
Ying Zheng's ears were so sharp. He immediately noticed that Li Siqi was fishy, and his face frowned slightly.
He really sent someone to monitor Li Zhao! He secretly thought: This beast is very abominable, it actually does such a dirty thing.
But then he thought again: Even if Li Zhao did not force Xiao He to stay, destroying his classics and forcing him to go to the fields to catch insects would be an unforgivable crime.
But as soon as he had the idea, Xiao He spoke again.
"Your Majesty, the grassroots are not talking nonsense. The young master did not force him to stay. In fact, the grassroots stayed here voluntarily."
Indeed, this was something he said against his will, but the young master gave him such a precious classic on 'Political Economics'. This kind of love should not be overshadowed by the bottom of the bowl.
"Oh!" Ying Zheng's anger subsided a little, and he became interested and asked, "Why?"
Shouldn't a well-known student from Peixian County stay in Xianyang and study privately when he is about to take the imperial examination? But he chose to stay in Chang'an Township. There was nothing good there, it was just a farming place.
"Return to your majesty, the common people are here to study."
Stay for study? Ying Zheng felt that he had heard the funniest joke, what should you learn from farming? What's more, are there any great Confucians or talented people in law?
Absolutely not.
But this statement makes sense. Ying Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and was no longer so angry with Li Zhao. It was his right to stay and study, so this did not constitute abuse! It seems that Li Si is really framed for revenge!
For a moment, he gave Li Si a fierce look.
Li Si was frightened and knelt down quickly, but asked Xiao He, "Shuzi lied. You are helping the tyrants to do evil. Chang'an Township is a land of farming, how can you learn from this?"
It has to be said that in order to trip up Li Zhao, he would say anything.
Xiao He did not panic and responded in an orderly manner: "No, what I learned in Chang'an Township is something that ordinary people cannot learn."
Ordinary people can't learn?
It’s rare for a student from Mingpei County to say such a thing! Ying Zheng became more interested and seemed to have forgotten that Li Zhao was responsible for this trip, so he asked: "Who did you learn from? How much did you learn?"
Xiao He's expression did not change and he responded slowly, "Return to your majesty, what the common people learned from the young master."
Indeed, he learned it from Li Zhao, after all, the young master wrote that classic.
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by the scolding of the ministers.
Someone said angrily, "You can't teach a boy. As a dignified student, he actually learns from peasants. It is a disgrace to a scholar."
"What qualifications does Li Zhao have to be your teacher?"
"Absurd, utterly stupid."
Criticisms came and went, one wave after another. If saliva could drown people, Xiao He would have been drowned long ago.
Indeed, in the eyes of these powerful people, Li Zhao was only granted the title of Young Prince because of His Majesty's favor, and had no actual achievements. To put it bluntly, he was just a farmer and could not stand on the stage.
Xiao He ignored it and continued: "What I studied is political economics."
The ministers became even more angry after hearing this. The imperial examination was about to take place. What the students studied were either Confucian classics or the classics of Shang Yang and Han Fei. Who studied political economics?
Also, what is political economics? I have never heard of it. Can it govern a country? It's clearly a miscellaneous book.
This man actually read miscellaneous books before the exam, which is an insult to the sage's tradition.
Originally, everyone unanimously criticized Li Zhao, but after a while, they all reprimanded Xiao He.
Ying Zheng was not led to the rhythm, but chewed on these five words, political economy? Another new word, it must have come from the mighty!
When did Chang'an Township have such power? Could it be...
I can’t help but ask: “Who authored this classic?”
Seeing that His Majesty had no intention of blaming him, Xiao He was overjoyed and said truthfully, "It's the young master's fault."
