Chapter 1078: Those Who Gaze At the Starry Sky

Censorate.

Han Yue blew gently on the ink on his memorial until it dried, closed the memorial, and tucked it into his robe. He then looked at his colleagues and said, “Everyone, if we fail today, you and I shall walk the same road again in the afterlife!”

As he spoke, this Censor-in-Chief bowed solemnly to everyone present. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

The censors all returned the bow.

Afterward, Han Yue strode out of the main hall, but before he had even approached the courtyard, he heard some commotion.

A minor clerk hurried over from a distance, his face pale. “Censor-in-Chief, something terrible has happened.”

Han Yue frowned slightly. “What happened? Tell me in detail!”

The minor clerk did not dare hesitate and quickly said, “It’s... the common people. The common people have surrounded the Censorate!”

Hearing this, Han Yue frowned and looked at the minor clerk before asking incredulously, “What did you say?”

The minor clerk looked like he was about to cry. “Your Excellency, it’s true. Right now, the entire area outside the Censorate is filled with common people!”

Han Yue was speechless. The Censorate had always been a symbol of integrity within the imperial court. The historical records were by no means lacking in accounts of censors smashing their heads against various places and dying, and there had been countless censors who had remonstrated unto death. Normally, they were the ones who surrounded some government office. When had anyone ever come to surround the Censorate?

What was more, they were a group of common people.

“Where are the constables? Are they being paid to do nothing?”

Han Yue quickly recovered and spoke up, but there was also some tension in his voice.

The minor clerk replied, “There are simply too many common people. Our constables have no way to deal with them.”

Han Yue said angrily, “Then where is the Jingzhao Prefecture? If the Jingzhao Prefecture cannot handle it, where is the Lord Warden Commander’s Office?”

The minor clerk said bitterly, “After the common people surrounded us, not a single one of us could get out. We can only wait and see when the Jingzhao Prefecture learns what is happening here.”

Han Yue took a deep breath and glanced at the censors behind him. They still had an important matter to attend to. How could they afford to waste time here? But just as he was about to speak, another minor clerk came running over, equally hurried. “Your Excellency, the common people are saying that they want you to come out. Otherwise, they’ll smash up the Censorate!”

Han Yue frowned, and his expression became extremely grim.

......

......

Outside the Censorate, a crowd of common people surrounded this government office of the imperial court, all of them seething with anger. The constables standing in front of them were covered with rotten eggs and vegetable leaves. On an ordinary day, these constables might have done something, but facing this densely packed sea of common people, none of them dared act rashly.

But they were also extremely nervous. If the common people insisted on surging forward, should they stop them? In other words, it was not a question of whether they should stop them, but to what extent.

Could they beat the common people?

Could they even kill a few of them?

This was an extremely complicated matter.

The big shots would probably not make such a decision lightly, let alone low-ranking officials like them.

Finally, just as the constables were extremely tense, the door behind them finally opened.

With a voice announcing his arrival, the most authoritative censor in the Censorate, Censor-in-Chief Han Yue, walked out.

This elderly Censor-in-Chief, whose hair was already streaked with white, looked at the common people with a stern expression. “Do you know where you are? You dare surround a government office of the imperial court. Do you not want to live anymore?!"

Han Yue had always been skilled at using lofty principles to pressure people in court. Once he opened his mouth, his tone was actually no different from those imperial court officials.

The common people fell silent for a moment. Han Yue nodded and was just about to say a few more words when a rotten egg suddenly flew out of the crowd and struck the Censor-in-Chief squarely in the forehead. After that, countless vegetable leaves and rotten eggs flew out from the crowd.

They all came hurtling toward him.

Han Yue was suddenly left in an extremely sorry state, but before he could say anything, curses rang out endlessly from the crowd.

“What kind of damn censors are you? You think only what you say is right? Everyone else’s words are just bullshit?”

“What the hell do you mean by don't want to live anymore? Your Father is tired of living, why don't you come and kill Your Father?!"

“Fuck that! If it weren’t for those soldiers in the north, Your Father would have been eaten by the demon race long ago. And now you’re asking me whether Your Father wants to live or not? If it weren’t for those soldiers, do you think you could stay alive just because you wanted to?”

“Damn you, talking to us in that official tone. Disgusting! If Your Father hadn’t studied for a few years, Your Father would beat you old bastard to death right now!”

“You bunch censors, what have you done all these years? You take the imperial court’s salary and all you know how to do is open your mouths and spout nonsense? Have you ever thought about where the imperial court’s salaries come from? Aren’t they paid by the taxes we people pay?!"

“Fucking hell, we support you, and you don’t even consider what we want?!"

The common people grew agitated, their curses never stopping. One person after another spat out their words, as though they could drown this Censor-in-Chief right here.

Han Yue remained silent for a while before frowning and saying, “The frontier army marching south has no precedent. Once this precedent is set and it becomes customary in the future, the realm could be overturned in the blink of an eye. When that happens, do you really think you’ll be able to escape unscathed?”

As Censor-in-Chief, although he disdained to say much to these common people, at this moment he had no choice but to speak.

“May I ask Your Excellency, when His Majesty seized the realm back then, what was it for?!"

A commoner in the crowd asked the question, but in reality, it was an extremely sensitive one. It was one thing for common people to occasionally mention it in casual conversation, but how could imperial court officials discuss such matters in public?

But Han Yue truly could not give an answer. He had never reached any conclusion about this matter in his heart.

“It was the people’s hearts! That deposed emperor did not have the people’s hearts!”

Someone in the crowd shouted loudly.

Han Yue asked, “After ascending the throne, the deposed emperor also did many things that benefited the people’s livelihood. Why say that he did not have the people’s hearts?”

“What the people want is to eat our fill, but we want more than just full bellies. That year, the deposed emperor had thirty thousand more common laborers conscripted to mine ore for the cultivators of the foreign lands. How many of those thirty thousand people came back in the end? Was this an unavoidable measure? Or are the people supposed to bear such unavoidable measures forever?" "How many women did those itinerant cultivators of the foreign lands abduct in those years? How many common people did they kill? Did the imperial court not know?" "But after the imperial court knew, did they say even half a word? Did they do even half a thing?" "The justice the people wanted, did the imperial court give it to them?”

“The common people are at the very bottom, and life is hardest for them. You are at the very top. Eating your fill is not difficult for you, and living with dignity is not difficult for you either. But have you ever thought about this: in this Great Liang Dynasty, is it enough for only you officials to live well?”

A commoner said, word by word, “The common people also want to live good lives. We also want to avoid being bullied, and we want to live with dignity. The deposed emperor could not give us that. Only His Majesty can!”

Han Yue’s brows furrowed deeper and deeper. At this moment, this Censor-in-Chief seemed to have fallen into deep thought as well.

“What overturning the realm? What changing dynasties?" "In this world today, anyone can see that the common people’s lives are getting better and better. In such a good world, how can the frontier army marching south possibly overturn the realm just like that?" "If one day things become bad, does that mean that as long as the frontier army does not march south, the dynasty will not be changed?"

A commoner spoke from within the crowd, his words sharp.

Han Yue frowned, wanting to angrily rebuke him, but in the end he still could not say anything.

“Those soldiers are risking their lives in the north to hold back the demon race. Do we even need to say how difficult that is?" "And these cultivators in the south still want to stab them in the back. After stabbing them in the back, you won’t even let them personally take revenge?" "What kind of logic is that?!"

After this voice rang out from the crowd, Han Yue’s brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

There were some things that could never be heard in official circles. They had to come from the mouths of the common people. Yet those who served as officials actually found it very difficult to sit down in front of the common people.

......

......

In a tall building not far away, someone was watching the Censorate.

Someone kept reporting the situation back. When word came that the common people had begun speaking like this, someone’s expression changed.

“Your Excellency, isn’t it somewhat inappropriate for the common people to speak like this?”

Someone spoke toward a curtain, behind which a person was seated.

That person smiled. “Let the common people say whatever they want. Didn’t our dynasty’s founding emperor put it particularly plainly? Our dynasty shares the realm with the common people. It has never shared the realm with the scholar-officials." "What the common people want and how they want to live have always been the most important things. As for the officials, they can come afterward.”

“By the way, it looks like these censors won’t be able to leave the Censorate today. There probably won’t be anything more to say about this matter either.”

“Who would have thought that this time, the opening would come from the common people. There was no need for anyone in the imperial court to intervene at all.”

The official smiled. “This way, His Highness the Crown Prince doesn’t need to worry about this matter either, and we won’t have to trouble the Lord Warden Commander.”

That person sighed. “The Lord Warden Commander has countless affairs to attend to every day. We can’t have him worry about every little matter.”

The official nodded and said, “It’s enough for the Lord Warden Commander to devote his attention to the north. As for matters in the south, if we can avoid making him worry about them, it’s best not to make him worry about them.”

That person smiled. “Still, we have to say that His Highness married a good Crown Princess Consort.”