Of course, this was not Liu Cheng's only reason. He had also considered how willful and capricious the Prince of Badong was. If his elder brother submitted this letter, it might sink like a stone into the sea.
Judging by the prince's manner during On Learning, he seemed to appreciate Wang Yang quite a bit. He also needed Wang Yang's help to drive down grain prices. What if he deliberately shielded him when the time came?
Moreover, although Wang Yang was an impostor, Liu Zhao and Zong Rui were genuine scholar-officials. Scholar-officials helping someone make a false household registration could be treated as either a major or a minor offense. Before Register Verification, it might scarcely have counted as an offense at all. Though the household registration laws were now stringent, these two had merely helped attach his name to a register; that did not quite amount to outright forgery. If the prince wished to let them off unlawfully and brush the matter aside, no one would be able to find fault with his decision.
The best course was to expose it publicly, forcing the prince to deal with it. Even if he wanted to show favoritism, he would be unable to do so.
Liu Cheng bore no grudge against Liu Zhao or Zong Rui, but he wanted to help his elder brother secure the post of Libationer at the Official Academy. This matter offered a convenient way to bring Liu Zhao down. Knowing his brother's temperament, however, he did not reveal that intention, but offered a different explanation:
"Let us wait another day, until the grain ships reach Jingzhou. The Prince's Residence will hold a grand banquet then, and the grain shipment will be complete. We can expose Wang Yang in public. First, we can state the facts before