As the emperor, Cao Rui naturally had nothing to worry about. Cao Rui raised his hand and pointed at Wang Su: "Wang Qing, do you have anything to say? Please tell me." At first Wang Lang thought the emperor was referring to him, but when he noticed the emperor's eyes were looking behind him, he realized that the emperor was calling his son Wang Su. For a moment, Wang Lang was quite conflicted and just hoped that Wang Su would not say anything shocking. Wang Su cupped his hands and said, "I have something to say but I don't know whether I should or not. The court is now full of Zheng school followers who regard Zheng school as the golden rule. Since Zheng Kangcheng proposed to restore corporal punishment, he has proposed it again and again, and it has never stopped!" Cao Rui frowned slightly: "Wang Qing means that there is something wrong with Zheng Xue?" Wang Su said bluntly: "Zheng Xue may not be without problems." Cao Rui had no intention of discussing any academic issues with Wang Su now, but asked directly: "Just now you said that Zheng school disciples all proposed to restore corporal punishment, right?" "I remember that in the 13th year of Jian'an, Kong Rong, who was then the Minister of the Imperial Household, opposed Xun Lingjun's proposal to restore corporal punishment. When Kong Rong was the Prime Minister of Beihai, didn't he also praise Zheng Xuan?" Wang Su was not afraid at all and immediately replied: "Your Majesty, Kong Wenju praised Zheng Kangcheng because he was knowledgeable and good at annotation. But Kong Rong also refuted Zheng's school of thought, saying that 'Zheng Kangcheng made many conjectures, and people thought his name was based on something', and he did not agree with all of Zheng Kangcheng's views."
Cao Rui just felt a little headache for a moment. Wang Su is indeed knowledgeable, but after talking about so many academic matters, what is the focus? Cao Rui shook his head slightly: "I want to ask you, why do we need to restore corporal punishment if we learn from Zheng's teachings?" Wang Su replied: "Your Majesty, I think there are two reasons." "First, Zheng's school emphasizes the text and sentences but not the principles. Therefore, the followers of Zheng's school do not know the great principles of the saints. Since the custom of Jian'an, they only attach importance to the name of punishment." "Second, many scholars studied Zheng's teachings and formed cliques! Xun Wenruo, Zhong Yuanchang, Chen Changwen, these are all cliques!" As soon as Wang Su finished speaking, everyone in the room was shocked and everyone looked at Wang Su. The seventy-year-old Wang Situ also stood up from his seat in shock, turned to his son and shouted, "Ziyong, how dare you speak nonsense about the ministers!" Wang Lang turned and bowed deeply to the emperor: "Your Majesty, I am sorry for my words. Please forgive me." Cao Rui remained silent. He looked at Wang Lang, then at Wang Su who had a solemn expression behind him, and then looked at the three ministers who had come here with him. Needless to say, Wei Zhen was trustworthy. Liu Ye and Yang Fu also knew the importance of the matter. After a long silence in the hall, Cao Rui said to Wei Zhen and the two attendants who came with him, "Today's words have been heard by everyone present, and that's it. Do you understand?" The emperor's words were golden, and it was obvious that he did not want Wang Su's criticism of the ministers to spread. Of course, Wang Lang would not spread his son's words around. Wei Zhen and the emperor had a teacher-student relationship, and Liu Ye and Yang Fu were eunuchs, so keeping secrets was their duty. If the secrets were leaked, the three of them would probably be blamed. Wei Zhen stood up and said, "I obey your order." Seeing this, Liu Ye and Yang Fu also stood up and responded. Cao Rui looked at Wang Su calmly and said slowly: "Does Wang Qing know what you are talking about?" "I know." Wang Su replied immediately. In the nearly one year since Cao Rui ascended the throne, there were almost only two "factions" in the court: scholars and military men.
Among the civil officials, the people of Yingchuan held the most power. Therefore, Cao Rui tried to remove the power of the people of Yingchuan from all angles. Winning over Zhong Yao and sending Chen Qun far away were just some political tactics. It doesn't matter what is right or wrong. Which emperor would be indifferent to seeing a faction of civil officials gaining power? Wang Su’s words just now gave Cao Rui some new inspiration. Cao Rui asked in a low voice: "Si Tu is also a learned scholar, and Wang Qing also seems to be a well-educated person. Just now, he said that those who follow Zheng Xue are almost a clique. Do you have any evidence?" "If you speak nonsense about the three ministers and ministers without any solid evidence, I will punish you." Wei Zhen, Liu Ye and Yang Fu were holding their breath at this time. Since I have been with Your Majesty, I have never heard the Emperor speak like this, nor have I heard such a serious accusation. What happened today? Cao Rui stared into Wang Su's eyes. Wang Su was of medium build, and although he was thin, his eyes were bright and his eyebrows showed firmness. Cao Rui looked at Wang Lang again. I heard that when Situ Wang was in Kuaiji in the past, he repelled Sun Ce’s attacks many times? Wang Lang's family is really tough. Thinking of this, Cao Rui couldn't help but sneer. Among the first three ministers of the Wei Dynasty, Jia Xu and Jia Wenhe easily overthrew Chang'an with just a few words. Hua Xin received Cao Cao's order and personally pulled out the Queen of Han who was hiding in the wall, and then she died. Although Wang Lang did not have the same "glorious" deeds as the previous two, if he was just a mediocre person, how could he be ranked among the three highest officials in the Wei Dynasty when the court was full of people? Everyone was waiting for Wang Su to speak. Wang Lang seemed to already know what his son was thinking, and he just stood there expressionless. Wang Su was also thinking very fast in his heart at this time. After all, he was the son of the Prime Minister. He was just making comments. Would His Majesty chop off my head? Judging from your Majesty's governing style in recent months, is your Majesty really willing to watch Zheng Xuemen control the government? Win the bet! After Wang Su thought it through, he slowly said, "Your Majesty, I do have evidence to prove it." Cao Rui narrowed his eyes, looked at Wang Su, and nodded slightly. Wang Su said, "In the past, in Yecheng, my teacher, the great scholar Song Zhongzi, disagreed with Zheng's school of thought in his academic opinion, so he was often regarded as an enemy by Zheng's school of thought." "In the 24th year of Jian'an, my teacher was framed and implicated to death in the Wei Feng case!" At this point, Wang Su bowed and saluted: "After so many years, I also think that this matter should not be investigated again or overturned. But I think that Your Majesty must not be ignorant of it!" Cao Rui stood up and looked at Wang Su with a serious expression: "How did you frame the 'disciple of Zheng Xue' you mentioned?" Wang Su bowed his head and said, "As it relates to the previous dynasty, I dare not speak." The atmosphere in the hall was suddenly cold as ice. Wei Zhen, Liu Ye, and Yang Fu all lowered their heads to look at the floor tiles, not wanting to speak at this time. Wang Lang also stood aside with his hands folded. His son had already spoken, what else could he do? He would just wait and see how His Majesty would act.
At this time, Cao Rui had his hands behind his back, staring at Wang Su's hair crown in silence. Wang Su slowly stood up. Although he still had his head down, his back was straight as a pine tree as he stood in the hall. In fact, Cao Rui had doubts about the Wei Feng case a long time ago. Wei Feng was a man who was clearly regarded as a "traitor" by all the officials of the Wei Dynasty. In the 24th year of Jian'an, while Cao Cao's army was far away in Hanzhong, Zhong Yao, then prime minister, recruited Wei Feng as a clerk in the Western Cao. However, Wei Feng conspired with Chen Yi, the Weiwei of Changle, to rebel. The one who stayed behind in Yecheng at that time was the former emperor Cao Pi. In order to quell the rebellion, Cao Pi quickly executed Wei Feng and implicated dozens of people involved in the case. Among those implicated were Song Zhong, Liu Wei, and two sons of Wang Can from the Jingzhou School. Song Zhong was Wang Su's teacher. Even though Cao Pi killed so many people and even Prime Minister Zhong Yao was demoted to a commoner for recommending Wei Feng, Cao Cao still had to accept it. There was no other reason, it was just that in the 24th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao had just ended his failed confrontation with Liu Bei in Hanzhong, and rushed to Henan to command the army to resist Guan Yu, and even wanted to move the capital at one point. After Cao Cao returned to Luoyang, he died of illness before he could return to Yecheng. Then came the story of Cao Pi succeeding to the throne of King Wei and then becoming emperor. Who can still blame Cao Pi for anything? At first, Cao Rui, who had just succeeded to the throne, thought it was just an ordinary rebellion. Wei Feng was a very bad man and deserved his punishment. Later, Cao Rui thought that this was Cao Pi's attempt to seize power. Wei Feng and many other people supported Cao Zhi, and it was reasonable for Cao Pi to eliminate dissidents while the war was at stake and he had no time to worry about the consequences. Now it seems that there may be an academic dispute involved? Zhong Yao, Chen Qun...these people from Yingchuan all admired Zheng's school of thought. Could it be that Cao Pi took the opportunity of suppressing the rebellion to wipe out all the academic enemies of the Yingchuan people? So, since Liu Ye, Fu Xun and others believed that Wei Feng would rebel, why did Zhong Yao still recruit Wei Feng? Was Zhong Yao so stupid that he could not see it at all? Was he fishing? Cao Rui took a long breath. All that was just said was just speculation based on what Wang Su said. The water here is too deep to dig! At least not for several years! After thinking it over, Cao Rui looked at Wang Su coldly with a stern face: "How dare you overturn the verdict of the court? The late emperor was wise and powerful, how could he make a mistake in the case of Wei Feng?" "I will punish you!" Seeing the emperor's words, Wang Su immediately knelt down and pleaded guilty. Wang Lang also widened his eyes and looked straight at the emperor with a wrinkled face. "Wang Su, how do you read the books of sages?" Cao Rui said stiffly, "Wang Su has a hysterical attack and is talking nonsense. He is confined to his house for half a year and is not allowed to go out!" Wang Su thought the emperor would give him some serious crime, but he was actually confined to his room. Wang Su was a little confused for a moment. Wang Lang was an old and shrewd man, and had already noticed something was going on since the emperor had previously banned Wei Zhen and the other two from speaking. At this time, the emperor confined Wang Su to his home under the pretext of "punishing him". This house arrest is too ambiguous. While Wang Su was kneeling on the ground and looking up at the emperor at a loss, Cao Rui had already spoken to Wang Lang. Cao Rui asked, "Minister Wang, do you know that in mid-March, the Minister of Rites submitted a petition to build a sleeping garden for Empress Wen Zhao in Yecheng?" Wang Lang took a few moments to calm down, then replied: "Your Majesty, I don't know." Cao Rui nodded: "This matter is of great importance. I have too many affairs to attend to. Minister of State, are you willing to go to Yecheng on my behalf and offer sacrifices to Empress Wen Zhao with three animals?" Wang Lang bowed and replied: "As a high official, I should share your majesty's worries. I am willing to go."
Cao Rui nodded gently. (End of this chapter)