Volume 1: Kyoto Winds and Clouds Chapter 16: The Wicked Man Pleads His Case First

  Looking at Yuan Shu who was provoking him, Liu Zhang slowly and calmly said: "I am not a noble son, but my father temporarily holds the position of Zongzheng, my teacher is Taifu Cai Yong, and my brother is the current emperor! I just came out from reading books in the palace, with the surname Liu and the name Zhang! Does the Lord of Luoyang still have any questions?" Yuan Shu was about to pop his eyes out, but the Lord of Luoyang had a bitter smile. These three dukes and nine ministers, none of them could afford to offend him. Looking at Liu Zhang, he couldn't bear to arrest him, nor could he not arrest him. The Lord of Luoyang was not a strong-willed person, he knew it would be a dead-end if he didn't yield, so he really didn't dare do anything!

  "Little lord, would you like to come with me?" Luoyang saw that Liu Zhang was a child and prepared to bully him.

  "You didn't even ask me why I beat up this fatty, and now you're taking me away? Isn't that a bit unfair?" Liu Zhang sneered: "It seems like you think you can bully me because I'm just a kid. Shi Ah, Han Sheng, let's go! Anyone who dares to block our way, I'll have them beaten up! If anything happens, I'll take responsibility! As a member of the imperial family, even if someone is killed, it should be handled by the Ministry of Rites!"

  Liu Zhang left, and the Lord of Luoyang didn't dare to stop him. He could see that this young master was a man of his word. Who would have thought that the son of the Minister of Works would be beaten into a pig's head? The Lord of Luoyang wasn't even in his eyes, so what did it matter? Helpless, the Lord of Luoyang bowed to Yuan Shu and said: "Young Master Yuan also saw it, I am incompetent and couldn't catch him. Please forgive me! Someone, bring a few people to escort Young Master Yuan and his attendants back to the Minister's mansion!"

  Yuan Shu was furious, he had been rampant in Luoyang for so many years and had never suffered such a great loss! No matter what he did, as long as his father, the Minister of Works, was mentioned, who dared to mess with him? But today, he was beaten by someone and even got his head smashed like a pig's. This grievance was really hard to swallow! Looking at Liu Zhang's receding back, Yuan Shu decided to take revenge, so he sent people to bring the little girl who had been teasing him earlier back to the mansion, planning to vent his anger on her first and then go find his father, the Minister of Works, to help him avenge. Who knew that Liu Zhang had already anticipated this, and Yuan Shu's men were beaten again!

  When Yuan Shu knew that his men had been defeated again, he was not just angry! Remembering that Liu Zhang was the son of a noble family, he thought of letting Yuan Fang help him take revenge. So, Yuan Shu, dragging his wounded body, found Yuan Fang!

  "Father!" Yuan Su came to the study, saw Yuan Feng writing a memorial, and immediately walked over and said: "The child was bullied by someone!"

  "Huh?" Yuan Feng heard his son's voice and immediately looked up, only to see a pig head in front of him. He asked in surprise: "Who are you?"

  "I'm a highway!" Yuan Shu was somewhat frantic, he knew he had been beaten badly, but he couldn't believe that even his own father couldn't recognize him!

  "Highway?" Yuan Feng heard that it was his son's voice, but his son, although a bit chubby, didn't have a pig head. Yuan Feng asked without any emotion: "How did you become like this?"

  Although Yuan Fang was somewhat helpless with his son's pampered personality, after all, he was his own son. No matter what mistakes his son made, only he, as the father, could educate him, unless he offended the emperor, otherwise even if he were a prince, it didn't count for anything. Yuan Shu heard the anger in Yuan Fang's words and quickly told him about today's events.

  After hearing Yuan Shu's account, Yuan Fang was furious!

  Yuan Shu did not conceal his harassment of the civilian woman, and Yuan Feng was not angry about Yuan Shu's harassment of the civilian woman. It must be known that the imperial court at the end of the Han Dynasty was controlled by aristocratic families, let alone Yuan Shu harassing a civilian woman, even if he did something to her, she would only have to resign herself to it. If she were more stubborn, she would take her own life! As for national law, it may have had some effect in the early Han Dynasty, but by the end of the Han Dynasty, which official dared to sentence a member of an aristocratic family? Don't even mention the emperor, he was busy with succession and didn't have time to deal with such trivial matters!

  "Go down! I have my own way of handling this!" Yuan Feng looked at Yuan Shu's pig head and felt a little heartache, after all, he was his own biological son.

  After Yuan Shu left, Yuan Fang immediately came to the Taiwei Mansion. When Yuan Wei saw his brother visiting, he immediately went forward to pay his respects. Yuan Fang waved his hand and said straightforwardly: "Second Brother, your nephew has been bullied!"

  "What! Who is so bold as to bully my nephew?" Yuan Wei angrily said: "Didn't the nephew mention your name to me?"

  "It's done! The other party showed no mercy!" Yuan Feng said calmly: "The other party claims to be the son of Zong Zheng, and the governor of Luoyang dare not intervene!"

  "Is it really Liu Yan?" Yuan Wei asked in doubt: "He is the emperor's new favorite, and he is the one we are trying to win over. Although he has four sons, they are all scholars, only a young son who is learning martial arts, but he is only five years old. My nephew goes out on the street every day with dozens of people surrounding him, I heard that Liu Yan himself doesn't have many guards, how could he possibly bully my nephew?"

  "Is... " Yuan Feng asked with some surprise: "Could it be that someone is impersonating?"

  "No need to pretend to be Liu Yan's son!" Yuan Wei said coldly: "Regardless of whether it is or not, we will pour all the dirty water on Liu Yan! After all, he has four sons. If his son really did it, we'll take revenge; if not, we'll just remind Liu Yan to behave himself! He has been in Luoyang for so long and hasn't come to visit us, making it clear that he doesn't want to be on the same side as us. Since that's the case, we'll teach him how to be a human being!"

  Yuan Wei was the younger brother of Yuan Fang, but he had become one of the Three Dukes before Yuan Fang. With this mindset alone, three Yuan Fangs would not be his match. Yuan Fang had always been very trusting of this younger brother, and now that he wanted to use this matter as an excuse to deal with Liu Yan, Yuan Fang naturally would not object. However, how to deal with it still depended on Yuan Wei's decision. It wasn't until deep into the night that the two brothers finally came up with a plan, waiting only for dawn and the early court session to severely reprimand Liu Yan, this newly risen noble in the imperial court!

  The next morning, Liu Hong sat on the dragon chair as usual. After all the ministers finished their obeisance, Yuan Feng suddenly knelt down in front of the emperor and cried: "Your Majesty, please do justice for me..."

  Yuan Feng's sudden wail startled both the Emperor and Cao Jie. Liu Hong asked, "Sir, why are you so grief-stricken? What has happened?"

  "I report to Your Majesty, my son was beaten by someone yesterday!" Yuan Feng cried: "The one who beat him actually swaggered away in front of the Prefect of Luoyang, showing such contempt for the law and the imperial court. I beg Your Majesty to uphold justice for me!"

  "What?!" Liu Hong angrily said: "Who is so bold?! Officer Xiao, tell me the details of what happened!"

  Yuan Fang carefully recounted the story of Yuan Shu being defeated, only to reverse the roles of the people who robbed civilians and those who rescued them. Yuan Shu became a heroic knight with a strong sense of justice, while Liu Zhang was portrayed as a complete scoundrel! Emperor Ling slapped his dragon throne and exclaimed: "There's actually such an evil person? How could the governor of Luoyang let him escape?"

  "It's not that the governor of Luoyang is to blame!" Yuan Wei said in a gloomy and mysterious tone, "The family of that evil man has considerable power, and the governor of Luoyang really doesn't dare to intervene!"

  Liu Hong's ears perked up, this matter was suspicious. Normally, no matter how much trouble the young nobles of Luoyang caused, it would be settled privately at most. People like Yuan Wei and Yuan Fang, who were among the three dukes, could only be feared by their political enemies or fellow members of the three dukes and nine ministers. However, the three dukes and nine ministers had long since formed a united front, so Liu Hong thought it should be the eunuchs' power, he looked at Cao Jie, but Cao Jie shook his head to indicate that he didn't know.

  Since it wasn't Cao Jie's person, Liu Hong felt at ease and smiled to ask: "If there is such a thing, the Minister of Works can speak straightforwardly, I will take charge for you! Which family's son beat your son?"

  "Zhōng zhèng Liú Yān zhī zǐ!" Yuán Féng nù dào: "Qí zǐ dǎ rén shí hái shuō, tā shì Hàn shì zōng qīn, jiù suàn dǎ sǐ rén yě shì Zōng zhèng fǔ guǎn!"

  Translation:

  "Zhongzheng Liu Yan's son!" Yuan Feng angrily said: "His son beats people and says he is a relative of the Han imperial family. Even if he kills someone, it's still under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Clan Court!"

  Liu Hong was shocked and looked at Liu Yan, asking: "Imperial Uncle, is this true?"

  "I am terrified, I don't know!" Liu Yan hastily bowed and said: "My family has four sons, but I don't know which one the Grand Marshal is referring to?"

  Yuan Shu said that he was beaten by Liu Yan's son, but he didn't say who it was. However, this can't be blamed on Yuan Shu, being beaten is already embarrassing enough, and being beaten by a young child would be even more humiliating. Yuan Wei and Yuan Fang thought it was either the eldest or second son of Liu Yan who did it, after all, these two were already grown up and knew some martial arts, so they could handle Yuan Shu, this spoiled brat.

  "It's better to ask the four sons of Emperor Shenzong about this matter!" Cao Jie and the Yuan family had a deep grudge, as Yuan Feng and Yuan Wei were both followers of Chen Fan and Dou Wu. When Chen Fan and Dou Wu were executed, Cao Jie was forced to spare the Yuan family due to pressure. Now that the Yuan family is at odds with Liu Yan, and Liu Yan was recommended by Cao Jie, the enemy of an enemy is a friend, so Cao Jie naturally sided with Liu Yan.

  Liu Hong and Cao Jie's minds were similar. In Liu Hong's view, Liu Yan was his own person, not only a member of the Han imperial clan but also loyal to him. If Yuan Shu was indeed beaten by Liu Yan's son, Liu Hong would have tried his best to protect him. However, no one expected that Yuan Shu was actually beaten by a five-year-old child!

  Soon, Liu Yan's four sons were all summoned to the Golden Temple. Among them, Liu Yan's eldest son and second son had already been officials in the court, while Liu Zhang was also in the palace every day, so only the third one was a little afraid. Emperor Wu looked at the four men with a gentle expression and asked: "Yesterday, the son of the Minister of Works, Yuan Yu, was beaten on the street, I wonder who did it?"

  "It's not me!" The eldest and second eldest exclaimed in unison, while the third was so frightened that he couldn't speak, but shook his head on the side, only Liu Zhang seemed to be thinking deeply!

  "A real man should dare to take responsibility for his actions. Since you reported your family name when you were fighting, why don't you dare to admit it now?" Yuan Wei said coldly: "Are you trying to die without admitting it, in order to muddle through? As long as I call the Luoyang Magistrate, you won't be able to deny it!"

  "Report to Your Majesty!" Liu Zhang bowed and said: "It was my brother who hit him!"

  The whole court was shocked, if it's true what Yuan Feng said, Liu Zhang forcibly took the civilian girl, Yuan Pu stopped and got beaten. What can this five-year-old child do with taking a civilian girl? Can't be that he takes her back to drink milk?

  "Jiang Er, don't randomly acknowledge!" Liu Yan coldly hummed: "Do you know why Young Master Yuan was beaten and yet he's acknowledging like this? Can't it be someone else framing my family?"

  "Your Majesty, Father! It was indeed I who beat Yuan Gongzi, and the reason for it was that he had forcibly taken a commoner's daughter!" Liu Zhang also spoke out another version, in which the villain was Yuan Shu.