Nie Changju lowered his head and kept thinking. He had taken the initiative to stand behind Fang Yun before, which seemed to be a compromise.
Qingguan used the supplement of Xiangzhou Gazette to fight back against Fang Yun, causing chaos in Xiangzhou. If he confronted Fang Yun in front of the people from the Criminal Court, it would be very likely that Fang Yun would be forced to take an extreme approach.
Nie Changju is a Qing official after all, not a Qing citizen or the Zuo Xiang. The Qing citizens and the Zuo Xiang hope that Fang Yun and the Qing official will die together, but the Qing officials know very well that they have to fight against Fang Yun, but they cannot start a full-scale war, otherwise the Qing officials will become victims.
Balance and compromise are the foundation of all officials in Xiangzhou. Whether they are Qing officials or Jing officials, they should achieve these two points.
However, Nie Changju's real purpose was to add fuel to the fire. The more Xiangzhou officials who opposed the Criminal Court, the heavier the punishment from the Criminal Court would be.
The crime of resisting the Criminal Court is very serious, but the human race has always been a law-abiding people. In the end, the person who will be punished by the Criminal Court is most likely only Fang Yun. Even if the Criminal Court wants to punish Qing Guan, Nie Changju can say that he was forced by the situation and turned the tables on Fang Yun.
The reason why Nie Changju was worried was that if Fang Yun failed, they would die together.
After all, the great Xu Shengzhen was forced into a desperate situation and had the ability to perish along with half of the country, not to mention the officials of Xiangzhou.
Even if he took an unconventional approach, the most punishment Fang Yun would receive would be giving up his position in Shengyuan Continent. He would still be able to reach a very high position in other places. Once he made great achievements, his previous crimes would be written off. However, the price Qingguan would pay would not only be his life, but even his descendants would lose protection.
The supplement to the Xiangzhou Gazette was published in the morning, and it was already afternoon when Han Zhengyang, the special envoy of the Criminal Court, left.
Under the bright autumn sunshine, the officials returned one after another.
Soon, some people discovered that there were more soldiers in front of the government printing houses in various cities in Xiangzhou. Later, they received news that from today on, all large-scale printing must obtain documents from the Governor's Office to avoid another investigation by the Criminal Palace.
It was not the Governor's Office that issued the document, but the state governor Fang Shouye.
Qingguan wanted to fight back, but when he saw Fang Shouye using the Xingdian as a shield, no one dared to step forward. They acquiesced to this fact and gave up using the Xiangzhou Dibao as a weapon to attack Fang Yun.
On July 21, the supplement to the Xiangzhou Gazette caused an uproar throughout the city. Countless people were discussing the matter, and many even fought over their stances, and finally had to see the authorities.
What is strange is that the officialdom in Xiangzhou is extremely calm, as if it is waiting for something.
That night, many scholars of the human race received a message that the Criminal Hall had issued an order to severely punish Fang Yun, with a total of three punishments.
After learning about the three punishments, some officials were very happy, while others were very unhappy, because the three punishments were very light punishments in the Criminal Hall.
The first penalty was to reduce Fang Yun’s military merit by 30%.
The military merits of human scholars are extremely important. Not only are they related to the status of the human race, but they can also use their military merits to enter various secret places in the Holy Academy. At the same time, they can consume their military merits to borrow various cultural treasures of the Holy Academy, and can even directly exchange them for longevity fruits or life-giving fruits.
But those officials who hoped that Fang Yun would be severely punished sighed when they saw the first punishment. Fang Yun's 30% military merit far exceeded the military merit of a university scholar in his entire life. Even the military merit of some great Confucian scholars was not as much as Fang Yun's 30%. After all, not all great Confucian scholars would always participate in foreign wars.
However, Fang Yun was a virtual saint. To enter the same secret place in the Holy Academy, he only consumed one-tenth of the military merits of an ordinary person, or even no military merits at all. As for magical objects such as literary treasures and life-giving fruits, Fang Yun had no shortage of them at all.
At the level of Virtual Saint, military merit is more of an honor, and the impact of this first penalty on the opponent's luck is minimal.
The second penalty is to confiscate 90% of Fang Yun and the Fang family’s income in Shengyuan Continent within ten years, including land, shops and various business income.
When they first saw this punishment, many people who hated Fang Yun laughed, but soon they could no longer laugh. Not to mention that Fang Yun didn't care about these worldly properties at all, nor that the land, shops, etc. in Shengyuan Continent were all donated by various families and royal families of various countries, not to mention that ten years was a very short time for the great scholar. The "Shengyuan Continent" alone showed that the Criminal Hall didn't really want to punish Fang Yun, because everyone knew that Fang Yun's real wealth was in the Xuemang Realm.
If the Criminal Palace really wanted to punish Fang Yun, it would definitely confiscate Fang Yun’s earnings in the Blood Ray Realm.
Everyone knows that if Fang Yun carries a small hoe and a torn sack on his back and walks around the Xuemang Realm, he can pick up a few magical objects and sell them for hundreds of millions of taels of silver, which is far more than his income in the Shengyuan Continent.
What's more, even if Fang Yun ran out of money, he could borrow a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry by going to the Dragon Palace in the East China Sea. This is a loan, not income.
The third punishment was to strictly order Fang Yun to leave Shengyuan Continent and go to an ancient land to expand his territory before being promoted to a great scholar.
After seeing this punishment, many scholars knew that the Criminal Court did not blindly protect Fang Yun after all. This punishment was very severe for the Grand Secretary.
After being promoted to a great scholar, a Grand Secretary must leave Shengyuan Continent to hone his skills and make achievements for the human race. However, there are many ways to make achievements, such as guarding the Liangjie Mountain.
Expanding territory in ancient areas is extremely difficult and is a higher level of achievement, which can usually only be done by literary masters or literary giants.
Sending a university scholar to expand territory in ancient lands is tantamount to a death sentence for others.
However, many scholars thought about it carefully. This punishment only mentioned before becoming a great scholar, but did not mention the specific time. As long as Fang Yun went to expand the territory when he was at the peak of the university, it would also be considered before becoming a great scholar. Moreover, Fang Yun was very powerful. After becoming a peak university scholar, he would definitely have the strength to fight against the new great demon king, and even face a higher level great demon king with ease.
If Fang Yun could seize the opportunity and be promoted to a great scholar immediately after entering the ancient land, and if a noble family could lend him a semi-saint robe, he would have enough power to protect himself.
In other words, this third penalty did not seem like a punishment to Fang Yun, but rather seemed to stimulate Fang Yun's true strength.
In addition to the punishment against Fang Yun, all the officials who followed Fang Yun that day were also punished and were not allowed to be promoted within five years, neither too light nor too severe.
When the Criminal Hall issued the three punishments, a few scholars opposed it on the discussion board, attempting to attack Fang Yun's literary reputation, but most scholars were too lazy to argue with them. After all, Fang Yun was a virtual saint, and this punishment was just right. If it was too severe, Fang Yun would not give face to the Criminal Hall and would directly use the privileges of a virtual saint to be exempted from punishment.
However, many people also felt strange, because for this level of punishment, Fang Yun could have used the privileges of a virtual saint to be exempted from punishment. However, Fang Yun took the initiative to write a letter to confess his guilt and stated that he would accept the punishment of the Criminal Hall.
The next morning, the news from the Holy Academy spread to all parts of the human race. Except for the East Holy Pavilion, the Criminal Palace, the Etiquette Palace, the Literary and Newspaper Editing Institute and other palaces and pavilions of the Holy Academy all supported the establishment of a civilian newspaper in Xiangzhou as a pilot.
Subsequently, a large number of eclectic scholars began to attack Fang Yun on the discussion board and opposed the establishment of a private newspaper.
The eclectic officials used various arguments to discuss the harm of public reports, but many insightful scholars saw at a glance that the eclectic officials were afraid that the people would become more intelligent. The people would be easier to manage only if they lived in a relatively closed environment. Once the people became more intelligent, their demands would increase, and the cost for officials to manage the people would continue to increase.
To be continued.