Royal Gold Magistrate

Li Yuanzhao walked over to Yan Guoan with a serious expression. In a deep voice, he said, “Teacher Yan, must you target Lord Fang like this?”

Hearing this, Yan Guoan immediately raged, “Your Highness, mind your words! Fang Zheng is a court official. How can you call him ‘Old Fang’?”

“Fine! Then I’ll call him Teacher Fang.”

“………”

Emperor Jing’s gaze followed Li Yuanzhao, not expecting the crown prince to act so unusually today, even going out of his way to defend Fang Zheng.

Li Yuanzhao’s eyes then met the emperor’s.

“Imperial Father, Teacher Yan’s words are biased. During the time Teacher Fang taught me, I never neglected my studies.”

“If you don’t believe me, I can recite them for you to hear.”

Without waiting, Li Yuanzhao began reciting:

“The Mandate of Heaven is called nature; following one’s nature is called the Dao; cultivating the Dao is called education. The Dao – one cannot stray from it for a moment…”

“The way of the noble person is lofty yet hidden. Even with the foolishness of a husband and wife, one can know it, but when it comes to the end…”

“…….”

After reciting over twenty passages without pause, Li Yuanzhao finally stopped, leaving everyone stunned.

The crown prince had truly changed his ways and could now concentrate on studying. And he recited so many passages in one breath without stopping!

Li Yuanzhao looked at Fang Zheng proudly. “The thirty passages I owed you, I’ve recited them all. How’s that?”

Impressive! Fang Zheng grinned and gave a secret thumbs-up.

As Emperor Jing listened, the corners of his mouth curved up slightly. “Simply reciting the words without understanding is not enough. Allow me to ask you – ‘The noble person models themselves on their position and acts accordingly, not wishing to go beyond it. If wealthy and noble, they act as such; if poor and humble, then…’ How would you explain this?”

Without hesitation, Li Yuanzhao answered, “This means that a noble person is content with their current status and does what is required of it, without harboring inappropriate ambitions.”

Emperor Jing’s eyes lit up, and he asked a few more questions, which Li Yuanzhao answered one by one.

……

Finally, when all the questions were answered, Emperor Jing was overjoyed. “Was it Fang Zheng who taught you all this?”

“Correct! Teacher Fang taught me everything!”

Emperor Jing looked at Fang Zheng with gratification. “Lord Fang, you’ve done well, far exceeding my expectations!”

Fang Zheng nearly laughed out loud but quickly composed himself. “Not at all, this is simply my duty!”

Damn it, the crown prince’s divine assistance, I’ll give him extra chicken legs when we get back!

The officials also showed delighted expressions, amazed at the crown prince’s remarkable transformation. This was truly a joyous occasion.

As the only prince in the current dynasty, everyone had been deeply worried about him.

They never expected that after spending time with Fang Zheng, he would change his ways so drastically.

Could two foul insects together produce something fragrant? Was this the legendary principle of “things must reverse after reaching an extreme”?!

Li Yuanzhao raised his hand and continued, “Imperial Father, don’t be too hasty! I haven’t finished speaking yet. Reading and writing books are just minor details, insignificant matters not worth mentioning.”

The officials: “…….”

Fang Zheng’s face fell.

Was it really necessary to add that last line?

“Earlier, Teacher Yan mentioned that I, along with Teacher Fang, beat up Doctor Hu. Imperial Father’s words may not satisfy Teacher Yan.”

“So allow me to explain why we had to beat that quack!”

“Doctor Hu is nothing but an incompetent quack, so I won’t say much about that. Just a few days ago, he used some so-called overseas miracle ginseng to supplement the princess. Do you know how much that ginseng cost, Imperial Father?”

“You would never guess – a full two thousand taels! But later, when I inquired about the purchase, I discovered that the true price of this item was only a measly two taels!”

“A one-thousand-fold difference in price! I beat that blind and senile quack for this reason.”

Fang Zheng was full of admiration. The crown prince now lied without blinking an eye – truly befitting the son of a dragon!

Li Yuanzhao continued with a serious expression, “After learning of this, I realized that there must be widespread corruption in the palace’s procurement processes. It’s not just the Medical Ministry; even the Imperial Kitchen may have such blatant instances of price gouging.”

“So I secretly sent Liu Jin out of the palace to investigate market prices.”

“This investigation opened my eyes greatly!”

“For common vegetables, eggs, rice, and other food items in the commoners’ markets, the prices are merely a few coins per catty at most. But in the palace, the prices are often several times higher or even tens of times higher!”

“Take eggs as an example – a single egg in the palace costs ten taels, while in the common markets, an egg costs no more than five coins!”

“Once, I asked the Imperial Kitchen to make me some pastries, and the stated cost was dozens of taels. But outside the palace, the same pastries only cost a few coins. Where does this massive price difference go?”

“Now, some might argue that palace food is different from commoner food, that palace ingredients must be carefully selected and far superior to commoner goods.”

“But is this really true? I used my own money to purchase various ingredients from the commoner markets. After comparing them to the palace ingredients, I found no difference at all! The dishes made were equally unappetizing!”

“I inquired with the Ministry of Revenue – last year, the palace’s expenditure on food and drink alone was a staggering eighty thousand taels. Calculating this, the palace’s actual expenses should be no more than around eight thousand taels.”

“The difference is over seventy-two thousand taels. I ask you, where has this enormous sum of silver gone? It seems there are people profiteering at every step!”

“Additionally, during the time I sent Liu Jin out, I also had him investigate the living conditions of the commoners. So many struggle tirelessly for every meal. Seeing this, I gave away all my silver, but it was merely a drop in the ocean.”

“If the palace could purchase goods at real prices and live frugally, the people would not have to suffer such hardship! I beseech Imperial Father to examine this carefully!”

After this speech, everyone was stunned, including Fang Zheng, who stood dazed.

Li Yuanzhao’s performance truly surprised him. Originally, he thought the prince had squandered his silver on indulgences, but instead, he had given it all to the people!

Though his methods were crude, one could not help but be deeply moved.

For the first time, Fang Zheng felt the pride of being a father…

Emperor Jing’s eyes welled up with tears, his trembling hands reaching out to caress Li Yuanzhao’s face but landing on his shoulders instead. With a quavering voice, he asked, “You did all this…by yourself?”

“Yes, while Teacher Fang was away those few days, I wanted to find some meaningful tasks for myself.”

Emperor Jing turned away, discreetly wiping his eyes, then faced Li Yuanzhao again with a smile. “Good! Very good!”

“Look, all of you! This is my son! This is my son!”

“Congratulations to Your Majesty, the crown prince is wise and benevolent.”

The officials knelt in obeisance, many overwhelmed with joy. The senior officials like Li Yansong could not hold back their tears.

The crown prince had truly matured! This was indeed the mark of a sagely ruler!!

Zheng Qiao wiped away a tear and tugged at Li Yansong’s sleeve, whispering, “Lord Li, could it be that the crown prince was really taught by Fang Zheng?”

Li Yansong’s face was alight with excitement. “It must be… Apart from Fang Zheng, who else could there be at the Imperial Clan Court? I never expected that at my age, I would misjudge someone so greatly. Great loyalty can seem like deception… Great loyalty can seem like deception, indeed! Good! This Fang Zheng is impressive!”

Nearby, Zhang Dongxiang frowned but couldn’t help nodding twice in acknowledgment.

Emperor Jing was overjoyed and clapped Li Yuanzhao’s shoulders heavily twice more.

Li Yuanzhao grimaced in pain.

“Yuanzhao, you’ve done well. Guo Tianyang! You have one month to thoroughly investigate all instances of corruption in the palace’s provisions of food, clothing, housing, and transportation. I want to know every detail!”

“Fang Zheng, you’ve done excellently! This is a great achievement – I bestow upon you a robe with the qilin embroidery!”

“Yan Guoan! Do you have anything else to say?” Emperor Jing fixed his stern gaze on Yan Guoan.

At this point, Yan Guoan was trembling. After all those years of teaching the crown prince, only to have his efforts undone by Fang Zheng, and now being seen in this humiliating light by everyone, what more could he say…

So he kowtowed, his body shaking as he said, “I am ashamed and have nothing more to say, Your Majesty.”

“Good! In that case, I hereby relieve you of your position at the Imperial Clan Court. From this day forth, Fang Zheng will be the sole Grand Tutor. Does anyone object?”

The officials kowtowed again. “Your Majesty is immensely wise and enlightened!”

Yan Guoan remained kneeling on the ground, his heart like dead ashes, filled with regret…

Seeing an opportunity, Fang Zheng pressed on, “Your Majesty! Since the crown prince has such profound concern for the people, please permit him to leave the palace freely to inspect the common folk’s circumstances.”

“As the saying goes, ‘One cannot sweep the universe clean if one does not first sweep one’s own courtyard. Reading ten thousand books is not as valuable as traveling ten thousand miles.’ The crown prince has shown great progress today, but he needs to take it further!”

“I will accompany him at all times. Please, Your Majesty, you can rest assured!”

Li Yuanzhao’s eyes lit up, giving Fang Zheng a thumbs-up.

Old Fang is awesome!

Hearing this, Emperor Jing was delighted once more. “‘Reading ten thousand books is not as valuable as traveling ten thousand miles’ – well said! I permit it!”

……………