There is always a grand assembly after court holidays end, and this ti was no exception.
Early in the morning, after discussing so important matters, everyone held their breath waiting, and many officials who were aware of or sensed the trending news did not move.
Finally, an official from the Ministry of Revenue stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, I have sothing to say about Censorate official Wang Ji’s accusation of the Crown Prince and the Imperial dical Bureau colluding to amass wealth."
The Emperor raised his eyes and nodded, "Speak."
The official from the Ministry of Revenue said, "The Imperial dical Bureau’s private dical education only earns about two thousand taels a year. I have reviewed their budget plan, which covers the losses from their teaching, roughly this amount annually, and it doesn’t amount to amassing wealth."
Wang Ji imdiately stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the Imperial dical Bureau is rely about learning dicine. Even in governnt schools, the annual tuition is around eight taels. No private school outside dares charge more than twenty taels, yet the Imperial dical Bureau’s basic dical craft dares to charge a hundred taels. Do they realize that’s a hundred thousand copper coins?"
The Emperor, who was sipping tea, nearly spat it out. Yes, converted to copper coins, it’s indeed a lot.
He stopped drinking tea. Seeing they were about to start arguing, he turned over the table and selected Zhou Man’s earlier submitted morial that had been returned, handing it to Gu Zhong beside him and said, "Coincidentally, today I received a morial also ntioning this matter, but it’s an accusation against Courtier Wang. Gu Zhong, read it to them."
Gu Zhong accepted it with a bow, opened it and glanced over it, then raised his head to the officials below and said, "This is a morial submitted by Chongwen Pavilion compiled by Zhou Man."
Then he began to read, starting with Zhou Man’s youthful and lively write-up, "Your Majesty, today I heard about Censorate official Lord Wang’s accusation regarding the Imperial dical Bureau’s hundred tael tuition for private classes concerning the Crown Prince and Director Xiao. Upon hearing this, I was heartbroken and greatly angered."
"Heartbroken that in our Great Jin and Your Majesty there exists such official, angered that in our Great Jin and Your Majesty there exists such official..."
Gu Zhong paused here and couldn’t help but raise his head to explain to the officials, "This is what’s written in the morial, not my repetition."
The Emperor propped his hand on his forehead to block the sight below and secretly chuckled.
Gu Zhong paused for a mont and continued reading, "Your Majesty should know, the matter of the Imperial dical Bureau was jointly advocated by Bai Shan, Bai Cheng, and . The morial has already been conveyed by Your Majesty to each authority for review. The original intent of establishing the Imperial dical Bureau was for the millions of people of Great Jin, benefiting not only the poor but also the wealthy. The diseases of this world require thorough exploration for effective treatnt. Training dical practitioners will not only serve the poor but also the wealthy."
"And Your Majesty and the Empress, with benevolent hearts, felt deeply for the hardships of the country’s impoverished population; hence, you emptied the private treasury to establish the Imperial dical Bureau for free training of physicians. The estimated cost from the Eastern Palace and the Imperial dical Bureau over three years exceeds a million coins, let alone future expenses when trained physicians begin treating the populace, which will only increase."
"Were Your Majesty and the Empress aware of these expenses, yet still agreed to build the Imperial dical Bureau out of self-interest? Certainly not, it was for the people’s interests, for the developnt of dicine and disease treatnt across generations, for increasing the lifespan of future descendants..."
Zhou Man is usually loquacious, writing at great length for the introduction before shifting the focus to the private classes.
Originally, she wanted to write why these private classes were established, but wasn’t it due to the powerful noble families wanting to influence and insert people, and thus the Imperial dical Bureau had to devise a response due to compulsion?
However, Bai Shan advised that writing this would create too much resentnt, mainly because the submitted list included the families of the Cui, Wang, Lu, even the Crown Princess’s family, the Empress’ family, and also Libationer Kong’s family.
Manbao, if she didn’t want to be besieged, could only overlook this and not ntion that the Imperial dical Bureau was coerced by power.
So she overlooked and didn’t ntion their being coerced, just stating, "... The Empress cared for the ministers, thinking that the court ministers who toil for the state affairs should indeed take care of their health, hence we expended efforts to set up this private class, with the hundred tael price discussed in front of the Empress by State Duchess Zhao and others."
"Lord Wang criticizes our Imperial dical Bureau for amassing wealth on one hand, yet registered a slot with us on the other," Gu Zhong quickly glanced downwards, deciding to continue reading despite seeing so words, "... Does Lord Wang consider our dical craft inferior to scholars? To learn dicine, one must first learn words and characters. What doctor doesn’t know how to read? And which scholar doesn’t understand a little of dical principles? Don’t forget, dicine originates from the Yellow Emperor. If we talk about noble, who could be more so than him?"
"Registering with our Imperial dical Bureau is for self-interest. This accusation, suppressing physicians, isn’t for national benefits but rather for self-interest!" Manbao wrote, "Censors should oversee the officials, seeking benefits for the people, and officials should prioritize the people, loyally serving the ruler. But you all think only of self-interest, making the court an utter ss, not only undermining the state and His Majesty but also complaining about insufficient benefits from them, it’s simply outrageous!"
She wrote, "How do you evaluate this year’s tuition? I’m telling you, I assess it based on the value of a physician. We collect less than a tenth of a physician’s full worth. Do you know how many people they can save placed in local dical bureaus, how much they can increase the population each year? The value of a person is imasurable!"
"You pride in scholars, thinking they govern the nation, but dicine cures the people, and the nation consists of people. Besides, we fulfill our duty as physicians, yet you fail your role as scholars. As scholars well-versed in literature, you think daily only of petty profits, neglecting the country’s and His Majesty’s interests, living extravagantly on salaries..."
The remaining words were harsher, a pile of refined insults. Gu Zhong sneakily peeked at Wang Ji, whose face was blue with anger, and seeing the Emperor had not called a halt, read out all those insulting four-character idioms with difficulty.
It was expected that as soon as this unfriendly morial was read, the court would erupt into argunts. However, just when the infuriated Wang Ji was about to speak, another person stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I second Zhou Man’s report, I also have a morial to impeach Wang Ji, Liang Fei, and others..."
Imdiately after, another person rose and stepped forward, "I also wish to impeach Wang Ji, Liang Fei for living extravagantly on salaries, only pursuing self-interests..."
"I second this..."
"We second this," Imdiately, more than ten people knelt down in the hall in unison and said, "We request Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate the conduct of Wang Ji, Liang Fei, and others."
The court fell silent, and Wei Zhi, who had been half-closed eyes, also opened them, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the most reproachable thing for an official is living extravagantly on salaries. I too second this, urging Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate this matter."
Wang Ji widened his eyes, knelt down imdiately and said, "Your Majesty, I am wronged, Zhou Man’s actions are retaliatory."
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