Eastern Han Dynasty, not the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1157 Public Trial of aristocratic families and the nation's chronic diseases

The training ground south of the city had already been prepared. On a temporary platform, a table was set up, with Ma Chao sitting in the center, Zhou Yu and Lu Xun on either side, and veteran generals such as Cheng Pu and Huang Gai standing on either side below. Their armor gleamed coldly in the sunlight. Ten wooden pillars stood in front of the platform, and the heads of the aristocratic families involved were chained to them. Their once pampered faces were now filled with fear, their brocade robes were mostly stained with dust, and all traces of arrogance were gone.

The news had already spread throughout Jianye and the surrounding counties. Before dawn, the area around the drill ground was packed with people. The dense crowd was surprisingly quiet, with only the occasional sound of a child crying, which was hurriedly covered by the mother. At the front of the crowd, several elderly men with gray hair and beards held the petitions, their knuckles white from gripping them tightly; in the back, young people stood on tiptoe, peering in with eyes full of anticipation and nervousness.

"Silence—" With Huang Gai's loud shout, the training ground fell silent instantly.

Lu Xun rose and announced loudly, "By order of the King of Liang, today will be a public trial for the families involved in this case. Anyone who has been wronged should come forward with concrete evidence to appeal. I hereby order that this trial be conducted jointly with all the generals, without any bias!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged man with a limp squeezed out from the crowd. He was carrying a broken hoe in his arms. He staggered to the front of the stage and said, "Sir! I want to sue the Shen family of Wu County! Three years ago, they forcibly seized three acres of my family's fertile land. My father went to reason with them and his leg was broken by their servants. He died less than half a year later... This hoe was broken when he resisted!" He held the hoe high, and dark red bloodstains were still embedded in the rust at the broken end.

The Shen family patriarch, chained to the third pillar, suddenly changed his expression and roared, "You're talking nonsense! That's your father paying off gambling debts with his land!"

"Bullshit!" The man's eyes were bloodshot. "My father never even touched dice in his entire life! Wang Er and Li Laoshuan were there too; they can testify to that!"

Two elderly farmers immediately stepped forward from the crowd, their voices trembling as they echoed, "It's true! We were right there on the edge of the field, and we saw it clearly!"

Lu Xun gestured for the soldiers to bring up the witnesses, then looked at Chief Shen and asked, "Do you have any rebuttal?"

Chief Shen's lips trembled, his eyes darting around, unable to utter another word. Zhou Yu opened the file and read in a deep voice, "The Shen family forcibly seized farmland and condoned their servants' killing of people. The evidence is conclusive, and according to the law, they should be executed! Their property shall be confiscated, and their land returned to the people!"

"Good!" A thunderous cheer erupted from the crowd. The lame man knelt down with a thud and kowtowed three times heavily towards the platform, tears mixed with dust streaming down his face.

That shout of "Good!" seemed to open a floodgate, and people surged forward one after another. A woman, clutching her child, wept, accusing a powerful family of withholding wages and driving her husband to his death; a scholar held up his torn-up exam paper, denouncing the sons of wealthy families who had stolen his place in the imperial examinations; even a former servant stepped forward, exposing his master's secret practice of raising a private army and stockpiling weapons…

Every single incident was stained with blood and tears. Lu Xun sat upright at his desk, meticulously recording everything stroke by stroke, occasionally glancing up to inquire about the details, his gaze clear as a mirror. Ma Chao remained silent throughout, his fingertips lightly tapping on the table, a chill flashing in his eyes whenever he heard of heinous crimes.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the final day, as dusk fell, the setting sun bathed the drill ground in a golden-red hue. Lu Xun reviewed the case files and loudly announced the results: "A total of seventeen families were involved. Nine of them were found guilty of heinous crimes and sentenced to immediate execution, with their property confiscated. Six of them, though lacking concrete evidence of treason, were found guilty of oppressing the people, and their property was confiscated, with their land distributed to tenant farmers. The remaining two families, with no one testifying against them in three days and no wrongdoing found, are to be released immediately and their land returned."

The two families, whose masters and servants had been released, collapsed to the ground, gazing at the setting sun and muttering to themselves, unsure whether to feel relieved or terrified. Among them was the Lu family, and Ma Chao nodded secretly, confirming that the young man's words were true. The convicted aristocratic heads, their faces ashen, were dragged away by soldiers, their former arrogance completely gone.

The people did not disperse; instead, they all knelt before the high platform, shouting "Your Majesty is wise!" Their voices seemed to tremble even in the evening glow. Ma Chao rose, looked at the dark mass of people, and declared loudly, "The sky over Jianye belongs to the people! From now on, anyone who dares to act arrogantly and domineeringly will be an enemy of the world, and I, Ma Chao, will not forgive them!"

Lu Xun stood aside, watching the bustling scene, his palms slightly sweaty. He suddenly understood that Ma Chao's words, "to give the people of the world a way out," were not just empty words—this public trial was not only judging the crimes of the powerful families, but also building a wall for the common people to stand tall and speak out.

As dusk deepened, the people on the training ground gradually dispersed, leaving only soldiers cleaning up the scene. Zhou Yu walked to Lu Xun's side and patted him on the shoulder: "Young Master Lu, you did a good job on this first task."

Lu Xun gazed at the darkening sky in the distance and said softly, "This is just the beginning." He knew that breaking the old order was not easy, and building a new world was even more difficult, but at this moment, the fire in his heart was hotter than the sunset on the horizon.

On the high platform, the evening wind whipped at his robes. Ma Chao turned to look at Zhou Yu, his voice carrying a hint of relief: "Gongjin, let's go, walk with me." His gaze swept over Lu Xun, who was about to bow and take his leave, and he paused before adding, "Lu Xun, you come here too."

Lu Xun paused, then quickly followed. Ma Chao descended the steps, strolling towards the Sun residence, his black cloak drawing a steady arc behind him. Zhou Yu and Lu Xun followed hand in hand, the former in a simple blue robe, the latter in a brocade robe. Though they spoke not, they both tacitly slowed their pace, maintaining a respectful distance from the figure ahead. Further behind were generals and guards in gleaming armor, the sound of their boots clashing on the cobblestones echoing in unison, like a series of elongated ellipses, silently guarding the path ahead.

“Gongjin,” Ma Chao suddenly spoke, his gaze falling sideways on Lu Xun behind him, his tone carrying a hint of approval, “this lad does indeed have some talent.”

Zhou Yu chuckled and nodded: "Indeed, although your actions are somewhat immature, you have a sharp spirit that refuses to be bound by convention."

Ma Chao continued walking through the cascading wisteria trellis, his voice tinged with seriousness: "Most of the powerful families in Jiangdong have been purged, and the vacant positions must be filled as soon as possible. Ultimately, administrative matters must be handled by capable people." He turned to Zhou Yu, "When you make the subsequent appointments, don't be bound by background. Anyone with genuine talent and a good reputation among the people can be promoted. Otherwise, if there are too many vacant positions, you'll have a headache when your policies are not implemented smoothly."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yu paused slightly, a knowing glint in his eyes, and asked softly, "Brother, are you... leaving?"

Ma Chao gazed at the deepening twilight in the distance and sighed: "Once this matter is settled, and after paying respects to Bo Fu, and in a few days having Shao'er succeed as the ruler of Jiangdong, I will have no more worries here."

He turned to look at Lu Xun, who was listening intently. Upon hearing this, the boy looked up abruptly, his eyes filled with astonishment. Ma Chao smiled faintly, "Kid, you did a good job. You weren't wrong when you said I was domineering."

Lu Xun hurriedly bowed: "This subordinate dares not—"

“No need to be modest.” Ma Chao raised his hand to stop him, his tone becoming heavy, carrying the weight of someone who had been through it all. “Our methods may be a bit harsh, but in chaotic times, sometimes leniency really doesn’t work. I understand the principles you’re talking about.” He looked at the last ray of sunset on the horizon, his voice filled with helplessness. “But you’ve also seen it, the aristocratic families are like that, one wave after another rises, their roots run too deep.”

“You are right to enlighten the people and break the monopoly. But how easy is it for everyone in the world to be able to read?” He unconsciously stroked the jade pendant at his waist with his fingertips. “Leaving aside the fact that people’s hearts are different, the books and paper alone are enough to stump most people. Although there is Cai Hou paper, there are few workshops that can produce it and the price is high. How can ordinary people afford it? Not to mention those rare books and secret scrolls hidden in the study of aristocratic families, ordinary people can’t even see them.”

Ma Chao's voice grew increasingly somber in the twilight, as if grinding a stubborn stone: "Even letters are incredibly precious. Each stroke of the engraving takes time and effort, and represents a family's wealth. Those aristocratic families lock their letters in their towers, preferring to let them be eaten by insects rather than let anyone even glance at them—what makes them think they can hold the reins of governance? Just because they hold these scraps of paper in their hands?"

He paused, tapping his knuckles on the pillar beside him, making a dull sound: "It's difficult for ordinary people to study; it's even more difficult for those who have studied to get things done. If you don't bow down and curry favor with powerful families, who will give you a way out? This creates a vicious cycle. Once one powerful family is destroyed, a new one will emerge, just with a different name but the same substance."

His gaze swept over Lu Xun's flushed face, and he softened his tone: "To break this deadlock, we must first make paper cheap. If paper is expensive, books will be expensive; if books are expensive, fewer people will be literate. Secondly, how can we possibly keep up with the demand for books by hand? How long does it take to copy a book? There will be errors and omissions during the copying process, and there's no guarantee that someone won't deliberately alter the wording."

“We open family libraries as soon as we conquer a place, but when ordinary people go in, they can’t even recognize a few characters. No one explains them, so it’s a waste of time. Besides, those books get damaged every time they’re turned over; they can’t withstand many people reading them.” He looked at the dark night sky in the distance, as if talking to the stars. “These are deep-seated problems that can’t be cured with a strong medicine.”

Lu Xun clenched his fist, his Adam's apple bobbing: "Then...then we can always come up with a way, like...like finding a cheaper papermaking method? Or having someone copy books, make multiple copies?"

"It's good that you have the intention, young man." Ma Chao patted his shoulder with considerable force. "No need to answer in a hurry. What my generation can do is to break open the dam of the aristocratic families. As for how to let the water flow, that's up to you to slowly dig the canal."

He turned to Zhou Yu, his eyes reflecting the scattered lights in the distance: "The method of recommending candidates for official positions has long become a tool for aristocratic families to flatter each other. Even if a poor scholar reads ten thousand books, it's no match for a single word from someone else. It needs to change. We need to ensure that scholars can keep their jobs and get into the system, even if they start from the lowest official position, so that they have something to look forward to."

Zhou Yu gazed at his temples, ruffled by the night wind, and suddenly felt that his elder brother's back was even more somber than the night behind him, yet within that somberness lay a light more persistent than starlight. He recalled Ma Chao's words earlier, "If this generation cannot see it, there will be the next generation," and his throat tightened. Finally, he nodded heavily, "Brother, rest assured, I will accompany Lu Xiaozi and the others on this path."

A gentle evening breeze swept through the courtyard, carrying a few fallen leaves, as if echoing a promise made across generations. Lu Xun gazed at the two figures, and suddenly felt his face, which had been flushed, no longer burning. Instead, a bright flame ignited in his heart—it turned out that some things were never accomplished overnight, yet there were always those willing to be the first hammer to break the stone.