In addition to the time when he angrily criticized Zhang Shou at the imperial lecture, Dean Hong had also done such things as stirring up a hornet's nest in the past at Yuzhang Academy.
But Hong knew better that when her father was in Yuzhang Academy, he had the old principal above him and a group of students who admired his knowledge and character and sincerely protected him. In addition, there were retired bigwigs from Yuzhang Academy who had experienced ups and downs in officialdom for decades and finally returned to their roots and also lent their support. Most importantly, when her father offended someone, she would find ways to guide him, so her father was always safe in the end.
Not only was he safe and sound, but every time he offended someone in public, the person offended by Hong Shanchang would often fall. Over time, he developed the same stubborn character as his father, because people always believed that destiny was on their side.
This time, the emperor said he would give his father a hundred gold coins and send him back to Jiangxi after the imperial lecture. But after the crown prince was enthroned, the imperial lecture was not held every day, so the date for his return to Jiangxi was delayed again and again, and he was still in the capital.
At this moment, she didn't care about Princess Yongping and Zhu Ying, and hurried to the outer room. She saw that the person who came was an old servant who followed her father. She immediately asked him carefully and learned that it was her father who sent him out to buy paper, and said that he would write a memorial to the emperor about the second prince. He was so scared that he hurried to Bei'an Gate to find her to report the news. Fortunately, someone told her that she was there, so he came to find her.
Knowing that her father did not explicitly say that he was speaking up for the Second Prince, this was just her own old servant's guess because he had followed her father for a long time. Thinking of how her father had once been involved in a dispute over the division of property of a famous family in Nanchang, Hong smiled bitterly to herself, rubbed her temples lightly, and after thinking quickly, she smiled pleasantly at the old servant.
"Thank you for making this special trip. I'll have someone take you back later. Buy the paper you need. If your father blames you for taking so long, tell him that there was a quarrel in front of the writing shop. It sounded like the families of two officials."
Of course, the paper used to write memorials is not ordinary small or large paper, but paper of a special format. In places like the capital, it is sold in various elegant pavilions that sell the four treasures of the study, as well as in ordinary stationery shops.
In such a place, you might encounter the attendants of various officials. Although the old servant had only been in Beijing for a short time, he understood this principle and nodded quickly.
Knowing that Princess Yongping and Zhu Ying might come out, and that others might secretly pay attention to her movements, Hong continued calmly, "Tell father that the censor's family claimed that his master would submit a petition to request a thorough investigation of the Second Prince's affairs, saying that the Second Prince is still a prince no matter what, and he would give the Second Prince justice even if he died."
"Another person claimed that his master was a certain minister, and he scolded the censor for being crazy for fame, and said that the emperor hated people like this the most! Every year, there are so many abandoned poor children filling the ditches in the world, why doesn't he care? There are so many officials who are corrupt, why doesn't he care, but he is trying to figure out the emperor's intentions. What's this about being torn to pieces? It's clearly just for fame and integrity. All the years of studying are wasted!"
Seeing that the old servant was trying hard to remember, she asked him to repeat it to her. After confirming that she remembered it correctly, she continued, "Tell my father that the attendant of the Censor's family was very dissatisfied. Should the death of a prince be treated like a poor child who died in a ditch? There should be no investigation? The Shangshu family retorted, "As a king and father, did the emperor ever say that he would not investigate?"