Chapter 521: Sacrifice
Editor: Atlas Studios
The moment Grand Tutor Yan’s memorial was handed over, it caused a huge uproar. At a moment like this, peace negotiations with the Jin Kingdom and West Xia were no different from selling the country for survival. Half of the officials of the Imperial Court objected vehemently, while 25% were silent and 25% approved of it.
The Yan family was dragged into the vortex. Almost all the officials cursed Grand Tutor Yan throughout the day’s court meeting. Unfortunately, no one from the Yan family attended the court meeting today, and this was also the reason why everyone was even angrier.
Grand Tutor Yan had not been in court for a long time. However, since Yan Du was a second-grade official, his absence obviously suggested that he was trying to shirk responsibility. Therefore, as soon as the court meeting ended, some officials angrily went to the Yan residence to smash the door.
The Great Zhou Dynasty was a strange country. The people in power were afraid of the commoners rebelling, but they were not afraid of their words. Therefore, the commoners could even smash rotten eggs at the entrance of the palace without being charged, as long as they did not use metal tools to demonstrate at the entrance of the palace.
Officials could clamor that the Emperor was a fatuous ruler, or they could get into a fight right in front of the Emperor. As such, it was naturally nothing new for them to go to a minister’s house and smash the door in anger.
Back then, Minister Qin had single-handedly facilitated the peace talks between the Great Zhou and the Jin Kingdom. After the Great Zhou gave away land and money to appease the Jin Kingdom, many officials had thrown rotten eggs into Minister Qin’s residence. Though furious, Minister Qin could only secretly cause trouble for them. On the surface though, he could not do anything to them.
Therefore, the angry officials rushed to the entrance of the Yan Residence.
The Yan residence’s door was tightly shut. An imperial censor was the first to smash the door and howl angrily. As the Yan family was a family of scholars, Grand Tutor Yan and Yan Du had always supported the idea of General Yuan and the other generals recovering their territory. They were also leaders who were like a breath of fresh air. This made Grand Tutor Yan’s “betrayal” all the more unacceptable, which was why they were very worked up. Some officials even fell to the ground in the street and cried, “Teacher, you’re ruining my Great Zhou!”
As the imperial censor smashed the door, he cried, “Teacher, give us an explanation. Why did you betray the country to seek peace? Half of our Great Zhou was stolen by the Jin Kingdom. Now that the southwest has fallen into West Xia’s hands, are you going to ignore those commoners? Come out and give us an explanation!”
The commoners did not know what had happened, but it did not stop them from watching the commotion. This being the first time they had seen so many officials crying on the streets, the commoners stood at the side curiously.
Just then, a carriage stopped by an alley. A capable man stopped beside the carriage and said respectfully, “Your Excellency, the imperial physician sent by the Emperor hasn’t come out yet. No one from the Yan family has come out since yesterday, either. It’s extremely strange.”
Minister Qin lifted the curtain slightly and looked at the officials who were crying on the ground. His expression was cold as he snorted and said, “Idiots.” He looked up at the Yan residence and said, “I’m afraid the Emperor instructed Teacher to write this memorial. But since this is also what I want, it saved me a lot of effort.”
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Minister Qin was about to put down the curtain and order them to leave when the door of the Yan residence slowly opened. He looked up and was greeted by a white scene. His face was stunned, and then his expression changed drastically. He lost his composure and leaned out. “Teacher…”
Everyone in the Yan family was standing inside the door in mourning clothes. The officials outside the door were still covered in tears as they were startled by the people inside.
Yan Du’s eyes were red as he watched his angry or sad colleagues who were kneeling, sitting, or standing, slowly kneel down. Yan Fu and the descendants of the Yan family behind him also knelt down and kowtowed to the people outside the door.
In a choked voice, Yan Du said, “My father… my father passed away last night.”
There was silence inside and outside the door. Yan Du’s throat was dry as tears flowed. He said, “Father said that negotiating with the Jin Kingdom’s West Xia is an unfaithful, unfilial, heartless, and unrighteous act. He has let down the ancestors of Emperor Shizong and the common people. He has even pushed the Yan family into an unjust place. However, there are flames of war everywhere in Great Zhou now. Only by seeking stability at the borders can we stabilize the kingdom. Only then will our Great Zhou not perish. I hope that everyone will show mercy and be lenient.”
With that, he kowtowed again.
An official kneeling on the ground muttered, “Can our Great Zhou really be saved after the peace talks?”
His voice was not loud, but everyone heard it amid the silence. Doubtful, everyone looked at the Yan family in a daze. They were at a loss about the future.
The demonstration at the Yan residence ended just like that. However, not only did the officials who left not feel relieved after venting their anger, but their hearts felt even heavier now, as if a rock was stuck in their hearts.
The Yan family also hung up a white banner and officially held Grand Tutor Yan’s funeral.
Not many people came to attend the funeral. Only a few relatives and Grand Tutor Yan’s students came. Minister Qin also came personally. He kowtowed three times respectfully in front of Grand Tutor Yan’s tablet and left without saying much to Yan Du and the others.
Even after Yan Du’s explanation, most people were still not understanding of the memorials submitted by Grand Tutor Yan, but the Emperor was already preparing to act according to the contents of Grand Tutor Yan’s memorials.
Half of the officials objected, but Minister Qin stood up to support it and even mobilized all the forces he could to bring this matter to fruition.
At this moment, the Emperor could not care less about Minister Qin because West Xia was advancing at an increasingly fast speed. Although the rebels were blocked outside Longxing Prefecture by Qi Haoran, there were also smaller groups of bandits rebelling in other parts of Jiangnan. The Emperor did not have time to waste.
After the Emperor finally succeeded in fighting for a plan to make peace, Grand Tutor Yan’s funeral procession was to be held.
Mu Yangling sighed and suggested to the Empress that she wanted to leave the palace to pay respects to Grand Tutor Yan. This shocked the Empress, but as she could not make the decision herself, she consulted the Emperor.
After a moment of silence, the Emperor nodded in agreement.
Li Jinghua didn’t go because she had to stay behind to look after the children. Her feelings for Grand Tutor Yan weren’t as complicated as Mu Yangling’s. In her opinion, this was just a change in world affairs. She had only seen Grand Tutor Yan from afar and didn’t have a deep impression of him. She couldn’t quite understand how Mu Yangling felt when she cried for him.
Mu Yangling did not agree with Grand Tutor Yan’s views and actions, but she admired him. She admired him for being able to withstand this infamy and for being able to bear this responsibility. In this aspect, he was much more responsible than Emperor Jingyan.
This alone was worthy of Mu Yangling’s admiration.
Furthermore, considering the characteristics of this era, Grand Tutor Yan was even more worthy of her admiration.
As a person who came from the future, in her opinion, anyone could be the Emperor. As long as they were capable and virtuous, she could accept having a different Emperor every day.
However, this was unacceptable to the people of this era. In Grand Tutor Yan’s eyes, he was a citizen of the Great Zhou, and only the Guo family was an orthodox ruler. Therefore, he had to protect his country. However, in Mu Yangling’s eyes, it was the people that made up a country. The country was divided according to territory and ethnicity, not according to the dynasty. Therefore, in her opinion, it was wrong to cede a large piece of territory to protect the Great Zhou and reduce so many commoners to second-class citizens.
It was just a mistake in perception of the times. She could not use the knowledge she had gained 600 years from now to correct his thoughts.
Mu Yangling put on plain clothes and paid respects to Grand Tutor Yan at his funeral.
The Yan family was slightly surprised because most of the people who came today were close to the Yan family or students who still recognized Grand Tutor Yan as their teacher. Even Minister Qin did not attend the funeral to avoid becoming associated with them, instead only offering sacrifices by the roadside.
Meanwhile, the Qi family and the Yan family did not seem to have close ties. Yesterday, Qi Xiuyuan’s urgent document had already arrived in front of the Emperor’s table, stating his objection to the peace talks with West Xia of the Jin Kingdom. Qi Haoran’s memorial had also arrived two days ago. He also objected to the peace talks. Logically speaking, the Qi family should not be on good terms with Grand Tutor Yan.
Mu Yangling respectfully offered incense to Grand Tutor Yan. Seeing that the Yan family was looking at her suspiciously, Mu Yangling said in a low voice, “My brother-in-law and husband don’t agree with Grand Tutor Yan’s opinion, but they admire his character. They will object to the memorials he submitted, but they won’t stop him from submitting it. That’s his right.” This made those officials who were clamoring for the Yan family to take back the memorials seem very ridiculous.
Shocked, Yan Fu widened his eyes in surprise and looked at Mu Yangling.