Grand Tutor 016

Not far away, Li Yunzhi's face darkened, though his complexion was already quite dark to begin with.

"This piece of land is indeed quite nice, and the soil is quite fertile," Fang Zhiyi said meaningfully. "Lately, even though I don't hold an official position in the court, quite a few people have come to visit me. They either give me money or land. My days are getting better and better."

Li Yunzhi felt a twinge of pain in his heart.

He waved his hand slightly. A few attendants behind him stepped forward and, in a few swift moves, pinned down the domestic servants who were beating an old man. Then, they dragged the rich young master over to him like a dead dog.

"Let me go! Do you know who I am? My father is Fang Wenbing! He is the current General of Military Might!" the rich youth continued to clamor. "I was seizing this land for the Emperor! Do you have a death wish?"

Fang Zhiyi shrugged. "If you want to be a good emperor, it's not that simple... it's very complicated. If you just want to be a benevolent ruler, then pretend you didn't see anything and just go back to the palace. After all... the world is vast, so vast that some voices cannot reach here." After saying this, he slowly turned to leave. "You stand too high, so high that you are starting to lose sight of the path you took to get here."

"What emperor? You... Great-grandfather!" The rich youth finally recognized Fang Zhiyi, his face full of joy. "Great-grandfather! Didn't I say I was getting a piece of land for you..."

Fang Zhiyi ignored him and merely waved his hand. "Go back and tell your father to eat well and sleep well."

Li Yunzhi was silent for a long time before suddenly speaking, "Send him home."

The rich youth looked at Li Yunzhi in front of him. His brain worked rapidly, and he soon realized the identity of the person before him. He trembled in fear, but fortunately, the Emperor was just as forgiving as his father had said.

Lin Shucheng, who had already become the Prime Minister, was extorted—and by Fang Zhiyi, no less. Fang Zhiyi kept claiming he wanted to return to his hometown but had no money, forcibly prying a significant amount of salary silver from Lin Shucheng's hands. It pained Lin Shucheng so much that he cursed under his breath, only feeling a bit better when he turned and saw Zhao Wu looking equally pitiful.

They all thought Fang Zhiyi was purely extorting them, never expecting that he would actually leave.

Because during the court assembly, the usually gentle Emperor suddenly flew into a rage over a minor memorial, which impeached Fang Zhiyi for accepting bribes.

Regarding this, the officials in the court all felt it was a bit absurd. Who didn't know the relationship between Fang Zhiyi and the Emperor? It could be said that without Fang Zhiyi, there would be no Emperor!

But the subsequent turn of events left them dumbfounded.

This time, the Emperor seemed truly furious. He ordered a thorough investigation. Lin Shucheng tried to defend Fang Zhiyi but was scolded on the spot, forcing him to shut his mouth, lower his head, and stand to the side.

The results came out quickly. The investigators hardly exerted any effort because the evidence of his crimes was piled up glaringly right in Fang Zhiyi's home.

The Emperor was enraged. Ignoring the pleas of numerous officials, he directly stripped Fang Zhiyi of his title as Grand Tutor and then sent people to drive him back to his hometown, forbidding him from ever returning to the capital in this lifetime. This outcome shocked all the officials.

When Fang Zhiyi left, he brought almost nothing with him, taking only the silver he had forcibly borrowed from Lin Shucheng and the others.

Lin Shucheng felt that a delicate balance had been broken. In the following period, everything seemed the same as before, but as the Prime Minister, Lin Shucheng clearly sensed something was wrong. The work that originally fell within his duties was actually taken by the Emperor to handle personally. This was immediately followed by military reform and the selection of capable individuals from the common populace to fill vacant positions as alternates.

This series of maneuvers was not a major issue in itself, but Lin Shucheng acutely noticed the problem, because the Emperor's gaze had changed from the day Fang Zhiyi was driven back to his hometown. It became... no longer so genial.

He began to mimic his Grand Tutor, standing with his hands behind his back and staring blankly at the sky, occasionally muttering to himself. Even his close attendant Zhao Wu couldn't quite figure out what his Emperor was thinking.

Sure enough, after a series of small moves, a censor suddenly stepped forward to impeach the General of Military Might, Fang Wenbing, for oppressing the commoners and embezzling military rations. This censor's direct accusations unapologetically tore open the illicit dealings between the noble families and court officials. And the usually forgiving Emperor did not offer appeasement this time; instead, he ordered Zhao Wu to continue the investigation.

No one expected that Zhao Wu, using the Fang family as a starting point, would successively uncover several dirty dealings involving collusion between court officials and noble families. The Emperor was furious. The normally forgiving and benevolent ruler changed his face and actually ordered all the verified culprits to be beheaded in public. On that day, rivers of blood flowed at the execution grounds of the vegetable market.

This was also recorded in the books by the historians. Lin Shucheng also advised the Emperor that this action was too shocking to the world; after all, no emperor had people line up to be beheaded like that. But the Emperor merely replied faintly.

"The Grand Tutor once said that neither you nor I are qualified to judge whether what is done is right or wrong. Among future generations, there will naturally be those who will argue on my behalf."

The next few years were exceptionally terrifying for the officials. The Emperor seemed like a different person, showing absolutely no mercy towards military corruption, court factionalism, and the noble families' manipulation of state affairs. Even meritorious officials were killed without exception.

And because of his previous subtle arrangements, the batch of alternate officials he had promoted himself quickly filled the vacated positions, ensuring that the implementation of government decrees was not affected. Furthermore, due to the military reforms, the vast majority of the military was now firmly in the Emperor's grasp. Only then did the noble families realize in hindsight that they had already become fish on the chopping block.

Some bitterly cursed Li Yunzhi for pretending to be a wise ruler for over a decade when he was actually a tyrant. He didn't care about this at all. Instead, he introduced even more regulations in one fell swoop, mainly targeting the noble families' interference in politics and the factionalism of court officials. He also established the Universal Inspection Bureau, whose sole purpose was to make it convenient for commoners to file grievances; anyone who obstructed a petitioner would have their entire family executed.

Lin Shucheng always felt that there was the shadow of Fang Zhiyi behind the Emperor's actions over these years, but he didn't dare to say anything. Although the Emperor's reputation was poor in the mouths of the noble families, in the mouths of the commoners, he was still the good emperor who loved his people like his own children, and that was enough.

And in the following decade, Li Yunzhi once again announced a decree that made the whole world boil with excitement.

The royal court was no longer a dictatorship. Instead, representatives of the common people from various regions would enter the court. Whenever a major event occurred, it would be voted upon by everyone together. Although the emperor held veto power, he still had to consider the opinions of the people and the court officials. The Prime Minister had supervisory duties over this. Simultaneously, all kinds of preferential treatment for noble families were abolished. In fact, by this time, the noble families could no longer make any waves. They could only glare and accept Li Yunzhi's words. Have an objection? Go tell the Universal Inspection Bureau!

The following year, Li Yunzhi passed the throne to the Crown Prince. By now, Lin Shucheng felt unsurprised by anything he did. He was now even busier, having to restructure the court's layout according to the regulations left by Li Yunzhi. This matter originally faced some resistance, but after twenty years of bloody storms, the officials were terrified, and almost no one dared to voice any opposition.

"This kid... just what on earth has he been learning?" Fang Zhiyi shook his head upon hearing the news. "I only told him to suppress the noble families, but he went and turned himself into a tyrant."

"When you led him in rebellion, you weren't exactly soft-hearted when slaughtering the noble families either. Who do you think he learned it from?" Little Hei said. "But I bet he just thinks being the emperor is too much trouble, exactly like you do."

"Who knows."

Dressed in plain clothes, Li Yunzhi sought out the place where his Grand Tutor had retired in seclusion. He pushed the door open, but found nothing inside. Feeling a wave of disappointment, he slowly lay back in a dust-covered chair, the greater part of his life flashing through his mind.

"Grand Tutor... your final lesson really forced me into a corner..." He slowly raised his hand, staring fixedly at it. "I went from being a benevolent ruler to a tyrant... Whether I was right or wrong, I truly do not know."

Suddenly, a voice put him on alert.

"Host, I invite you to become my partner."

"Who is there?" Li Yunzhi sat up abruptly, only to see a black sphere bouncing in midair.