On October 18th, the sky in Lin'an was full of haze in the morning, and the wet and cold air made people feel even more cold. But the Songshan Academy where the Taixue is located is indeed very lively. Today is the day when they go to the palace to pay memorial service. After breakfast, the students of the Taixue gathered in front of the Mingdao Hall one after another. They were all wearing Lunshu Confucian clothes, with uncontrollable excitement on their faces.

There were six people standing side by side on the steps in front of the hall. They were the initiators of this memorial for Fuque. Looking down at the classmates at the steps, they looked at each other and smiled, and they felt a sense of pride. Thinking that today, the memorial for the palace will surely be famous all over the world. When they enter the hall, they will be called a marquis, as if they are in front of them.

"Brother Li, there seem to be fewer people participating in the memorial today. Did the teacher stop in the vegetarian room?" Zhang Ruifeng asked Li Yun beside him. Before that, they wanted to stop the emperor on his way back to court and wrote a letter in front of the Chaotian Gate. There were many responders at that time. There were more than 300 people who signed the memorial alone, and nearly 1,000 people who wanted to stop the driver. But after waiting for two quarters of an hour today, there were only more than 200 people gathered in front of the hall, which seemed a little sparse.

"Brother Zhang, yesterday, he said that we were not encouraged to go to the front of the palace to submit memorials, but we would not impose any obstacles. And I also sent people down the mountain to check. The city was as usual, and no military troops set up checkpoints along the way." Li Yun said.

"The teacher and the doctors have not gone to the dining hall for dinner today, and they are nowhere to be seen now, as if they are deliberately avoiding it!" Liu Muxi frowned.

"They all have official positions, so it's hard to go with us. I don't want to take care of the relationship if I avoid it. Brother Liu is thinking too much." Zheng Youmei next to him chuckled.

"Brother Zheng's words are reasonable, but I feel more and more uneasy." Yang Lianshan said in confusion. In the past few times, whether it was the Imperial College or the court who heard that they wanted to write a letter, they would send people to persuade or intimidate, or even send troops to block the gate. This time, except for the sacrificial and uneven words from the sacrificial wine, the court had no movement and no arrangements along the way, which made him feel very abnormal.

"Brother Dong, there are not many people from you Bingzhai. Are you timid?" Li Yun looked at Chen Min who had not spoken.

"I said yesterday that I would go together, but today many people refused to go together and refused to go together. Only more than 30 people came!" Chen Min was the convener of Bingzhai, and today's situation made him feel very embarrassed and sighed.

"The people in Bingzhai are all children of officials. They must be frightened by the pressure from the court, worried that they would cut off their future career or implicate their families!" Zhang Ruifeng and Chen Min were intimidated, and when they saw that they were embarrassed, they asked to smooth things over.

"Why aren't there many people from Jiazhai coming?" Liu Muxi entered the school through the imperial examination, but he had only obtained Ding and others during his studies and did not obtain the qualification to become an official. The other classmates have gone to various places to serve as officials, and only a dozen people in Yizhai who are in the same situation as him are left.

"Who knows, maybe it will come in a while!" Li Yun said with a chuckling. In fact, he was very dissatisfied with Liu Muxi. He thought that he had passed the imperial examination and was superior to others. He wanted to be the leader of these people, and he had to point fingers in everything and threaten to withdraw at any time. The reason why he can tolerate it at the moment is because he is the only person who actively participated in the memorial service. In order to demonstrate the unity of Tai students, he can only tolerate it for the time being.

"Hmph, I'm shameless and want to be one of the six gentlemen. Do you really think that everyone is not aware of what the idea is?" Chen Min also disliked Liu Muxi's behavior, knowing that he was so active, but because he lost the election, he wanted to gain fame, which attracted the attention of the court, and then he was promoted to the officialdom.

"Although Liu is not talented, he can pass the 'third test' and get a title on the gold list. Unlike some people who rely on their ancestors to have a place in the Imperial Academy, they don't know that in this Lin'an city, the 'fourth rank, the fifth rank, the seventh rank, the eighth rank is as cheap as a dog', a just a freshly-listed official is like dust." Liu Muxi saw his disdainful face, chuckled and retorted.

"Do you know that my Chen family has two ministers and a noble concubine. Many brothers in the clan hold important positions in the court. It is not something that the village men in your hometown can compare with." Chen Min was stabbed to the pain and said with hatred.

He was a new member of the Chen family. His father followed Chen Zeweng to fight against Mongolia in Guangzhou, and later he was stranded in his hometown due to injury. After he was restored to the Song Dynasty, he remembered that his father had a minor achievement, was awarded the eighth rank, and was a minor official in the Ministry of Revenue. In fact, he could only be regarded as a distant relative of the same clan, not a relative of the neighborhood branch. Seeing that Chen Min failed to study and practice martial arts, he asked to go to the Chen family to study in the Imperial Academy.

However, Chen Min claimed to be a child of the Chen family and would always carry out the Shangshu and the imperial concubine to show off in order to make people look up to the top. Those who know his background know that he could only meet the Chen brothers during the New Year. It would be a little bit more to say whether he knew him. However, due to the sympathy, he became more proud. Now that he was being presented to the public, he was naturally angry.

"Okay, okay, it's a big deal to submit memorials to the Que. Don't argue about small matters. This will make people look down on it and think we are just a mob!" Li Yun saw that the two of them were about to turn against each other, so he quickly smoothed out the situation.

"There are also many people who change their minds in the Imperial Academy. When the emperor returns to the capital, they feel timid and dare not ask for the people. We must not surrender, and make people think that all the scholars in the world are cowards!" Yang Lianshan said with two people.

"The way is different, and we don't plan for each other. Since they have chosen to submit, we don't force it. There are already gentry from all over the city gathered with us to report memorials in front of the palace, and Mr. Yuzhai led famous scholars from all over the world to ask for their orders. We are not alone!" Zhang Ruifeng saw a little chaos, and hurriedly cheered everyone up.

"It is our responsibility to eliminate treacherous and slanderous people, and to ask for the people!" Zheng Youmei shouted with a loud voice.

"I have no regrets even if I die!" Li Yun and others also responded.

So Li Yun, Zhang Ruifeng, Liu Muxi, Zheng Youmei, Chen Min and Yang Lianshan were known as the "Six Gentlemen of Xiangxing". They led nearly 300 students out of Mingde Hall and worshiped the Confucius Temple, indicating that their memorials were to submit their destiny to the heavens and follow the public's opinion. Then the six people held the memorials in front of them, and the students went down the mountain behind to the palace to hold the door and write a letter.

The group went east to Yujie along the road and headed north to the palace through Sifangguan. However, after walking along the street, they found something wrong. When they went on, the people would watch as soon as they went on the street. Some idle men called out to open the way, and even some businesses along the way delivered wine and food. But today, no one paid too much attention. At most, they stopped and took a look at it and went to do whatever they should do, let alone someone followed. And those annoying idle men also pointed and pointed at them like watching a play, no longer having the interest of the past.

At first, they thought that the government was intervening, and the people and businesses were afraid of being intimidated by the power of the tyranny, but soon found that there were not more yamen runners patrolling the streets than usual, nor did they go forward to investigate and block them as before, but they just looked at them coldly and let them move forward on the streets. The imagined guards in front of the imperial army were on strict guards, and the relevant situations of dissuasion by the officials did not appear at all, and everything was as usual.

Li Yun and others knew that the more lively this kind of thing, the better. It would be better if the streets were blocked and the viewers were tide. That would attract the attention of the court and the attention of people from all sides. They could take advantage of the situation to put pressure on the court and force the emperor to comply with their advice. The scene is extremely deserted, and only they walked slowly on the imperial street, looking so lonely and desolate, and a little disgraceful.

The scene of support from the crowd did not appear, which made the originally energetic Tai students feel uninterested and their morale depressed. They unconsciously accelerated their pace. After passing the six ministries and the Secretariat, a group of people came from the state bridge next to the Big Buddha Temple, either taking a car, sitting in a sedan chair, or riding donkeys and horses to join their team.

These people were the gentry from various prefectures and counties in Jiangdong who came to Beijing to ask for the orders. Although their arrival made the team stronger, it also made the team that wrote the letter seem a bit inconsistent, as if some cinders were sprinkled on the snow. What disappointed the students of the Taishou was the gentry who came. They shrank many times more than what they claimed. Even the servants who drove cars, led horses, and carried sedan chairs seemed to have less than 200 people.

Zheng Youmei, who was responsible for contacting the gentry, went over and asked for a reconciliation, and her face turned extremely embarrassed. It turned out that the imperial boat was attacked by the gentry of Huguang in Jiangzhou on the way. She wanted to assassinate the important officials of the court. The emperor was furious and ordered to punish him severely. According to news recently, the Huguang Division, together with Ezhou, Jingzhou and other prefectures, had full inspection and arrested more than 100 gentry involved in the case, and more than 400 officials and gentry were implicated.

All the property of the person involved was missing, the family members were detained, and those in the clan were dismissed from office. Now the main culprit has been admitted and is on his way to the capital, but the case is still being closed and is still being investigated. The prefecture where the carriage is passing is also cooperating with the investigation of the person involved. Once there is a suspicion, they will be arrested and tried strictly. It is still unknown how many people will be involved in it in the end.

The news came, which made some people who were already weak in their minds frightened, especially the gentry from Huguang who were worried that they would be involved and retreated one after another. The gentry from Jiangdong was hesitant to see this, and only those who fulfilled the contract this morning were left. As for the fact that thousands of people were originally imaginary, they were so publicized just to appear to be huge. If they all came, they would not seem so distant. After all, no one would come forward to check them one by one.

Most of the gentry broke the appointment, which made the Tai students, who were already in a low morale, angry and were hit again, and their emotions were depressed. Fortunately, when we arrived at Taimiao, another team joined. They were all famous Confucian scholars. Although there were only a dozen people, it was already very rare. Their joining also restored the confidence of the Tai students, and they finally did not return halfway.
Chapter completed!