Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2698 Still Vigorous in Old Age 82.0
As soon as Bai Meng spoke, the entire flower hall fell silent, and no one spoke for a long time.

Finally, Chu Han broke the silence. He cleared his throat and looked at Bai Meng.

"What did you say? What is the Imperial Observatory planning to do?"

"They petitioned His Majesty because His Majesty, as the Son of Heaven, has not yet been married, and the Great Xia Dynasty has no Empress. This has been judged by Heaven as unfilial, hence the punishment." Bai Meng rolled her eyes as she spoke. "I don't know if these people have gone mad, actually petitioning in court."

Shen Cha, from the Imperial Observatory, looked at the porridge that Mei Lin had brought over, her face clearly showing that she didn't want to drink it. She pouted and said, "We've been drinking porridge for days now, can't you change it up to something else?"

"Sister Miaomiao said we can have some minced meat porridge or egg porridge." Meilin stirred it with a spoon. "Today it's minced meat porridge, would you like some?"

"Hmm," Shen Cha thought for a moment and nodded, "A little bit of minced meat is acceptable."

Shen Haolin reached out to Meilin, took the bowl of porridge from her hand, looked at it, and said, "There's not much, only a small half bowl."

"That's alright." Shen Cha opened her mouth, took a sip of the porridge Shen Haolin fed her, swallowed it, and said, "What's wrong with those people at the Imperial Observatory? Don't they know what happened to those who did this last time? I thought the entire court had a tacit understanding on this matter, and no one dared to touch this sore spot. How come the Imperial Observatory is so bold this time?" She ate several more mouthfuls of porridge, but couldn't eat anymore, so she shook her head at Shen Haolin, "I'm full."

Shen Haolin nodded, quickly finished the two mouthfuls of porridge, and took a handkerchief to wipe Shen Cha's mouth.

"Who's leading this time?" He glanced at Bai Meng, who was munching on a meat bun. "Could it be Supervisor Hao?"

"No, that's not it. Supervisor Hao has been ill for more than half a year, and his condition has been fluctuating. He hasn't been well at all." Bai Meng shook her head gently. "The Deputy Supervisor has been acting as Supervisor for a long time, so it was Deputy Supervisor Fu who submitted the petition in court."

"Deputy Supervisor Fu?" Xia Chen thought for a moment, realizing he didn't know anyone with that surname. He looked at Song Yaojia, "Who?"

“The son-in-law of Vice Minister Ou of the Ministry of Rites.” Song Yaojia rolled his eyes. “He caused a minor trouble at the Ministry of Rites before, and Vice Minister Ou had no choice but to find a way to put him in the Imperial Observatory.” He snorted. “I didn’t expect that this time he would cause an even bigger trouble.”

“It is indeed quite large.” Bai Meng took a sip of soup, snatched a chicken foot from Lao Tang’s hand, and said while gnawing on it, “This Deputy Supervisor Fu submitted a memorial at the court meeting. Before His Majesty could do anything, every single member of the Censorate jumped out to impeach him.”

“He has so many weaknesses; the Censorate could easily find plenty,” Shen Cha yawned. “Even we, who are rarely in the capital, know what kind of person this deputy supervisor is, let alone those in the capital!”

"What did he do?" Xia Chen asked, looking at Shen Cha who didn't seem to be in good spirits. "Do you want to rest for a bit?"

"I'm not sleepy, I just don't have much energy." "You mentioned Deputy Supervisor Fu, is there some old grudge?"

“That’s really true.” Xue Ruitian picked up a piece of green vegetable with his chopsticks and said while eating, “You don’t know, they’ve been enemies for a long time. He has always been very disdainful of the troops stationed at the borders in various places. Every time we return to the capital and need them to receive us, the Ministry of Rites always says this is not allowed and that is not allowed. Anyway, we’ve argued about it many times.”

He paused, looked at Song Yaojia, then at Bai Meng, and the three of them exchanged glances and smiled in unison.

"What did you three do?" Xia Chen looked at the three of them and asked tentatively.

"It's nothing much. We just took advantage of him going out drinking and getting drunk, got someone to put a sack over his head, and beat him up." Song Yaojia snorted. "His father-in-law went directly to the palace to complain, but couldn't find any evidence to prove who did it, so he could only cry and complain."

“Brother Xiaojue knows everything. He knows how many times you’ve hit him.” Shen Cha smiled. “This time, he’s petitioning for Brother Xiaojue to get married. I’m afraid Brother Xiaojue himself will have to find someone to beat him up.”

“That’s for sure.” Song Yaojia snorted. “However, the Censorate probably won’t let him off the hook before His Majesty beats him up.”

"The Censorate?" Chu Han, who had been eating while listening to their conversation, couldn't help but speak up at this point. "What does this have to do with the Censorate? His Majesty hasn't married or established an empress; shouldn't the Censorate be the most likely to object? But you're saying their reaction is so strong, and they've even found fault with Deputy Director Fu to impeach him. Why? This is quite different from their usual practices."

"There's no other way. These are lessons learned through blood and tears. When it comes to His Majesty's wedding and the establishment of the Empress, the Censorate will probably have the final say in the entire court."

"What do you mean?" Chu Han immediately became interested. "Tell me in detail."

"It's nothing, just a bit of a shadow." Song Yaojia sneered and explained to Chu Han, "The censor who last openly mentioned the establishment of an empress to His Majesty in court should still be repairing roads in the deep mountains! If anyone in the court would stand on His Majesty's side on the matter of establishing an empress, it would probably be the Censorate. They don't want to get involved again."

"The lesson was painful!" Xue Ruitian sneered. "That time, the Censorate lost three or four censors. They were either sent to repair roads in the deep mountains or to dig ditches. They had studied hard for more than ten years, hoping to make a name for themselves in the court, but they never expected that they would never be able to return to Xijing City for the rest of their lives."

"Not only that, but of the censors who jointly submitted the memorial, apart from the ringleaders who were exiled far away, the rest were all flogged, and even punished in court." Bai Meng spread her hands. "The ones responsible for carrying out the punishment were our Imperial Guards, but the order was not given by His Majesty, but by the Empress Dowager. When the Empress Dowager learned that His Majesty was besieged by censors in court, she was furious and no one could persuade him. It was already quite good that she didn't have those censors flogged to death in court."

"So it was hurt." Chu Han stroked his chin. "The lesson of the past is right before our eyes, yet there are still stubborn people who want to push forward. I don't know where they got the audacity." He paused for a moment. "Besides, this blizzard didn't just affect Great Xia; Liao and Jin were also affected. Does the Emperor of Great Xia have to take responsibility for the blizzard in Liao and Jin?"

"Grand Uncle is wise, Grand Uncle is right." Bai Meng nodded to Chu Han. "His Majesty meant the same thing at the time. Fortunately, Hao Lin and Xiao Cha sent a letter back saying that the blizzard affected not only the Great Xia, but also the Liao and Jin. His Majesty then had an excuse to perfectly counter the Imperial Observatory. However..." He raised an eyebrow, snorted, and said, "This time, those who are related to Deputy Director Fu will probably all be implicated."