Dafeng Guardian 大奉打更人 Episode 38

Emperor Jingdi was reluctant to convict the Prince of Zhennan, which not only made many ministers unhappy, but also worried Lin'an. He called the crown prince to inquire about it. The crown prince told Lin'an not to worry about it anymore, because they were relatives and the Prince of Huai was theirs. As for the uncles of Jingdi, they should not join the impeachment team according to both emotion and reason. Moreover, the reason why Emperor Jingdi loved Lin'an before was because Lin'an did not interfere in state affairs. If they continue to be aggressive now, they may get into trouble in the future.

Emperor Jing summoned the court officials again to discuss the matter of sentencing the Prince of Zhennan, but the court official Li Wang insisted that it was because of the invasion of the Kui tribe that led to the subsequent events, and that the entire city of Chuzhou was massacred and no one knew about this. It would be better to push all the blame onto the Kui clan, so that there will be no more cases of royal relatives taking bribes and committing crimes, and the people will not be disheartened by hearing about the corruption of court officials. The ministers in the court were shocked to hear what they heard. Although Zheng Xinghuai denounced that the truth could not be concealed and tens of thousands of soldiers witnessed the tragedy, Emperor Jing still insisted on withdrawing from the court and the matter of convicting the Prince of Zhennan was left unresolved.

After the court was dismissed, a minister suggested to Zheng Xinghuai that he should take a long-term view and return to Chuzhou to recuperate. Zheng Xinghuai looked at the minister with pain and called him shameless. Afterwards, Zheng Xinghuai met with all the officials of the court. Except for Wei Yuan, he opened the door to meet him and avoided the others.

Wei Yuan sympathized with Zheng Xinghuai's pain and personally made tea for him. He hinted to Zheng Xinghuai that he must be patient, not be radical, and take it step by step. That night, Zheng Xinghuai went to see Xu Qian'an again. Seeing that he looked sad, Xu Qian'an used the story of the tortoise and the hare to persuade him to take a long-term view and proceed step by step. These words are exactly the same as what the Duke of Wei said. Zheng Xinghuai bowed to express his thanks and also offered to invite Xu Qian'an to have a bowl of plain noodles with him.

The two walked to the noodle stall next to them. Zheng Xinghuai ate noodles while talking about his past. He was demoted to the impoverished Chuzhou because he offended the prime minister of the previous dynasty. Later, he fell in love with the dialect there. It was really unbearable to see the common people and the people they cared about die tragically. Perhaps what Duke Wei said was true, but every night when he closed his eyes, he would see the tragic scene of the bloodbath in the city that day.

Afterwards, Que Yongxiu was in the process. This person was extremely evil, but he distorted the facts and wrote a blood letter, falsely accusing Zheng Xinghuai of colluding with the Kui clan and slaughtering the whole city. The emperor believed the slander and ordered people to arrest Zheng Xinghuai and find out the truth.