My daily cultivation progress is calculated.

Chapter 47 The Crown Prince is deposed, and Wang Yuan is implicated.

Shen Yan arrived at the Heavenly Prison.

After Xu Shaogong was imprisoned, the Ministry of Justice did not send a new prison warden.

Prison A was naturally headed by Shen Yan, but for some reason, Ma Danian and Lü Youcai also came back to consult him when they encountered problems.

Previously, Xu Shaogong was responsible for handing over the monthly profits from the prison. Now that he's gone, there's no one to keep the accounts.

The Ministry of Justice didn't send anyone to ask for money, which puzzled Shen Yan.

The only thing to do is to go back to my old profession and keep good records to avoid any mistakes and getting implicated.

If I don't pick up a pen, I'll almost forget that I was once a scholar.

that's it.

For several days in a row, nothing happened in the prison.

No new prison magistrate was sent down from above, nor were any prison guards promoted.

The imperial prison seems to have been forgotten.

However, the peace did not last long, and the punishment for the prison guards was announced.

The official from the Ministry of Justice implied that only half of the people needed to die, and who would live and who would die depended on who paid more money.

Xu Shaogong also escaped with his life, but was instead exiled to southern Xinjiang.

Although it's a long exile, it's still much better than death.

I wonder if it was the letter he wrote that had an effect.

To survive, the jailers started borrowing money from others. Nobody wanted to die, so naturally, life was more important than money.

The events inside the prison didn't even cause a ripple; after just a few days, no one paid any attention anymore.

Soon, a major upheaval occurred in the imperial court.

Shen Yan could hear discussions everywhere in the streets and alleys: Crown Prince Li Chengde had been deposed because of his immoral words and deeds.

With a single edict from Emperor Xuanwu, the former Eastern Palace was transformed into the Prince Ping's residence.

Li Chengde waited for thirty years, but not only did he not live to see the day he ascended the throne, he also failed to retain his position as crown prince.

Upon hearing the news, he immediately vomited blood and fell into a coma.

Li Chengde was already at the age of fifty, and being a scholar who preferred literature to martial arts, he was just an ordinary person.

If it were an ordinary person, they would be thinking about how to arrange their affairs after death at this age.

As for a new crown prince, Emperor Xuanwu did not appoint one. He was nearly seventy years old, yet he deposed the crown prince at this time.

The officials in the court naturally disagreed and submitted memorials one after another, requesting the emperor to rescind his decree.

I heard that the officials who pleaded for leniency knelt from the West Garden Palace gate all the way to the city gate.

However, these arguments failed to sway Emperor Xuanwu, and he did not retract his decision.

Emperor Xuanwu glanced at the officials outside the palace and snorted coldly.

"Since you're willing to kneel, then kneel before me!"

After saying that, he went straight back to the alchemy room to refine pills, no longer looking at them.

The storytellers in the teahouses also began to secretly mock Emperor Xuanwu for disregarding ancestral teachings and the order of seniority, even going so far as to abolish the position of the eldest son of the legitimate wife as crown prince.

Even Wang Yuan, the imperial tutor, could not escape this fate. He was imprisoned in the imperial prison for his poor teaching.

Shen Yan was dumbfounded when he saw the prisoners brought by the officials of the Dali Temple.

"Why was this giant Buddha statue sent here?!"

We finally managed to get rid of the White Lotus rebels, and now they've sent in an even bigger figure.

If something were to happen to Wang Yuan, Shen Yan felt that the Duke's mansion might not be able to protect him.

Ding Anzhi was handing over duties with officials from the Court of Judicial Review, bowing deeply and showing utmost respect to Wang Yuan.

With a kind face, Shen Yan had never seen Ding Anzhi like this before, and couldn't help but find it a little amusing.

However, he dared not be careless and ordered Chen Xiaoshuan to clean the cell.

"Xiao Shuan, quickly clean cell number one, light some incense to repel insects, and also to dissipate the smell."

Ding Anzhi brought Wang Yuan to Shen Yan's side, which gave him a chance to take a closer look at Wang Yuan.

Wang Yuan looked old, with a full head of white hair. Although he still looked energetic, he was at least seventy years old.

Shen Yan knew that he was definitely older than seventy and must have mastered internal martial arts.

Wang Yuan was once Emperor Xuanwu's teacher, so he should be a centenarian.

In my previous life, even a detention center wouldn't dare to accept him; instead, he was sent to such a terrible prison.

He couldn't help but think to himself how these important figures thought.

Wang Yuan was quite approachable; he would even greet Shen Yan when he saw him.

"Thank you for your help, sir. I'll be relying on you for the time being."

This is the only official Shen Yan currently has who doesn't look down on the prison guards in the slightest.

Previously, those convicted officials, even after being imprisoned, still looked up at the sky and didn't care about the prison guards.

Wang Yuan was taken to cell number one, A.

"The conditions in the imperial prison are limited, please forgive me, Grand Tutor."

"This is my fourth time in this cell, and this is the best one yet. Thank you for your help."

"It's a trivial matter, sir, and it's nothing compared to your contributions to educating the people."

Shen Yan not only placed many books in Wang Yuan's prison cell, but also added dozens of sets of writing implements.

Last time, I gave Ji Boyan a fake set of writing implements, but this time, dozens of sets of writing implements are genuine ones that Wang Yuan used.

Imbued with Wang Yuan's refined air, he thought to himself, "Selling these things for a hundred taels a set shouldn't be too expensive, right?"

Shen Yan said to Chen Xiaoshuan, "You must keep the things in cell number one safe and not let anyone take them."

Although he only put out some ordinary goods, the total cost was only a few dozen taels of silver.

Having learned from the previous poisoning incident involving Qin Tieyi and others, Shen Yan realized that even having the jailers taste the food might not be a guarantee of safety.

He called Li Jianzhong and Huang Sixi over.

"I believe you all know that the Grand Tutor is imprisoned in the Imperial Prison. We cannot afford to make any more mistakes this time. Old Li, please check all the meals delivered to you from now on."

Seeing Li Jianzhong's displeasure, Shen Yan spoke up again.

"If this matter is handled well, I will not pursue the matter of you using ordinary people in cell number C to test medicine."

"Drug testing?! That's not true! Don't you dare slander me!!"

Shen Yan sneered, "Shi Sanlang, Zhu Huolang, Wei Shuisheng, Chen Daqian... Do I have to read these names out one by one?"

Li Jianzhong immediately said seriously, "I am also a member of the Heavenly Prison. Such a small matter is naturally nothing to me."

Shen Yan nodded.

"That's good. Those prisoners were indeed too weak and died before they could even reach the execution ground. They were lucky to have their bodies intact."

After hearing this, Li Jianzhong secretly glanced at Shen Yan and, seeing that the other party's expression was normal, he felt relieved.

After the value is set.

Shen Yan arrived at the tavern. In this bitterly cold winter, drinking a pot of wine to warm himself up was his favorite thing to do since coming to this world.

The tavern is a melting pot of all sorts of people, and you can often hear all sorts of different stories.

Shen Yan hadn't been here for many days, so he found a seat by the window and sat down.

Many of the people here are镖师 (bodyguards/escorts) or江湖人士 (people of the martial arts world).

However, these martial arts practitioners were not highly skilled; most of them were low-ranking martial artists.

After all, this is the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, a place teeming with experts.

Most martial arts masters dare not come here.

After all, these days, who among those who roam the martial world doesn't have a few lives on their hands?

Those who have cultivated to the middle third rank in the martial arts world all have wanted posters on their hands.

If someone recognizes you, no one will mind that you have too much credit.

Shen Yan sensed something was off about the tavern.

"Why are there so many martial artists today?"

He looked at the many guests before him, his body brimming with vitality.

Almost all of them were martial artists who had reached the highest rank.

This situation is truly abnormal; although there are quite a few lower-rank martial artists, there shouldn't be this many.

He wondered to himself, "What's going on in Bianjing? Why are so many martial artists here?"

He then shook his head with a smile: "What does this have to do with me? The Five Cities Garrison should be the ones worrying about it."