Thief Emperor

Chapter 1021 Fall

The next day, Du He, Shangshu Du, finally sobered up. He sat alone on the edge of the bed, his mind constantly flashing back to the conversation he had with his brother last night. After a while, he was already sweating profusely.

He sat alone for a long time, until the maid came to serve him, brought hot water for him to wash and change into official clothes. Then, Shangshu Du stood up suddenly, took a look at the official clothes in the maid's hand, and remained silent for a long time.

"master."

The maid reminded him quietly, "Although there is no court meeting today, if you don't change your clothes now, you will be late for your duty at the government office."

"today…"

Du Shangshu shook his head: "It's not worth it."

The Minister of Revenue simply changed into ordinary clothes, left his home, got on the sedan chair, and went all the way into the imperial city and into the Secretariat.

As soon as he entered the Secretariat, Du He ran into Yao Zhong who was carrying documents. Shangshu Du stopped and bowed to Yao Zhong, saying, "Mr. Yao."

Yao Zhong held the document in his hand and said helplessly: "Brother Du, I can't complete the gift."

Du He shook his head slightly, indicating that it was not necessary, and just asked at the beginning: "Is my brother in Zhongshu?"

"Yes, Prime Minister Du is on duty inside."

Yao Xianggong looked at Du He and smiled, "Cui Xiaolang, come quickly and take Du Shangshu in to see Du Xiang."

The Secretariat had some clerks who served the prime ministers. When Yao Zhong called out, Cui Xiaolang immediately trotted over and led Du He to the door of Prime Minister Du's room. He then extended his hand and knocked on the door, saying respectfully, "Prime Minister Du, the Minister of Revenue wants to see you."

Soon, the door opened, and Du Qian, dressed in the uniform of a first-rank official, stood behind the door and silently looked at Du Shangshu who was standing outside the door.

He sighed and said, "Come in."

As he spoke, he pulled Du Shangshu into his public room, and told the people at the door to stay away. After closing the door, Du Qian poured Du Shangshu a cup of tea and said silently, "I have been waiting for you all morning."

Du He was silent for a long time, then he also sighed: "Last night...I drank too much last night."

He looked up at Du Qian, hesitated for a moment, and whispered, "How about I go and confess my guilt to His Majesty?"

Du Qian frowned and said, "The case has been closed, why bother to bring it up again? If this case involves you, my third brother, how will the people in charge of this case deal with it?"

Upon hearing this, Minister Du remained silent.

"I already said yesterday that this matter has to end here. From now on, it depends on what choice you make, Third Brother."

Du He hesitated to speak. After an unknown amount of time, he lowered his head silently and sighed, "I...I will go and resign from my post with His Majesty."

Mr. Du looked at his elder brother seriously, shook his head and said, "At this time, the third brother still wants to protect the person behind him."

Minister Du remained silent.

Du Qian looked at him for a long time, and finally took out a document from his desk, handed it to his brother, and said, "Last night, after I returned home, I drafted two memorials for you. This one is a resignation letter. Please stay here and copy one."

Du He took it, read it once, and exhaled with some difficulty: "Okay."

He was the Minister of Revenue for many years and was one of the Nine Ministers.

Moreover, the Du brothers are extremely famous, and his status over the years is far more than just a Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

It is quite difficult to come down from such a high position on your own initiative.

It is also against human nature.

Du He was silent for a long time before he sat down at the table in Du Qian's office, picked up his pen, dipped it in ink, and copied the document.

He bowed deeply to Du Qian and then walked back home.

It was already noon.

After he had lunch, he changed into official uniform and went into the palace, hoping to see the emperor.

When he arrived at the entrance of Ganlu Palace, he was stopped by the eunuch Gu Chang, who bowed to him and said, "Minister Du, His Majesty is discussing military affairs with Minister Zhao in secret. No one can enter for the time being."

Du He was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Eunuch Gu, how long will it take?"

"That's impossible to say."

Gu Chang shook his head and said, "This kind of military and national affairs may take one or two hours, or one or two days."

He stretched out his hand and said with a smile: "If it were anyone else, they would have to wait here, but Minister Du is an acquaintance. If you have anything important to say, I will take it in for you and hand it over to His Majesty."

This is the strength of Gu Chang.

He was able to stand out from the palace maids, sit in the position of eunuch, and become the number one eunuch around Emperor Li because of his smooth dealings. The Du brothers were in high positions and powerful in the court, and no one dared to offend them. With this sentence, he cleverly flattered Du He.

Minister Du hesitated for a moment, then took out the resignation document from his sleeve, handed it to Gu Chang, and said, "Thank you, eunuch."

Gu Chang took the document and said with a smile, "Minister Du, please wait a moment. I will be out with a letter to you right away."

As he said this, he trotted into the Ganlu Palace.

At this time, the Emperor was discussing the details of the wars in Youyan and Liaodong with Zhao Cheng, the Minister of War, and preparing to set a set of detailed and useful regulations. Gu Chang trotted all the way to the Emperor's left and handed him the document in his hand: "Your Majesty, Minister Du of the Ministry of Revenue is outside asking for an audience. This is the memorial that Minister Du asked me to pass on to your Majesty."

The emperor was startled when he heard this, and then he said to Zhao Cheng: "Wait, let's talk later."

After saying this, he took the document, flipped it open and read it, then folded it up again and handed it back to Gu Chang.

"Go out and tell Minister Du that I have approved it."

"Let him go to the Secretariat and inform the prime ministers, and let the Secretariat draft it."

Gu Chang didn't know the contents of the document. He just responded and walked out of the hall holding the document.

The Emperor was stunned for a moment, then regained his composure and said to Zhao Cheng, "Let's continue."

"At this time, the Qingzhou Army is already led by Zhou Luo. After you arrive in Youzhou, if the time is right, you can recruit the Qingzhou Army to join the war in the name of the court."

"Anyway, anyway..."

His Majesty the Emperor narrowed his eyes and said, "It will take one or two years to clean up Youyan."

"Otherwise, you can all return to Luoyang to enjoy your life. I will personally lead the troops to fight the Khitans and see if they are really that difficult to deal with!"

Zhao Cheng stood up, knelt on the ground, kowtowed to the emperor, and said tremblingly: "Your Majesty, if I am not effective in the battle, I will be willing to die in order to atone for my sins!"

His Majesty the Emperor looked at him and said silently: "You don't have to die."

"It's settled now, go and get ready."

Minister Zhao stood up and bowed his head deeply: "I obey your command."

"Thank you very much, Your Majesty."

.........

On the other side, Gu Chang trotted all the way and returned the document to Minister Du, smiling and saying, "Congratulations, Minister Du, after reading your document, His Majesty nodded in agreement without even thinking about it, and asked you to go to the Secretariat to draft it with the prime ministers."

From beginning to end, Gu Chang had never read the contents of the document, so he naturally didn't know that it was a letter of resignation. When he saw that the emperor only glanced at it and agreed to Shangshu Du's request, he thought that the Du brothers were still in the emperor's favor.

Upon hearing this, Du He stood there in a daze, not saying anything for a long time.

Until he came to Ganlu Palace, he felt that the emperor might not know about this.

You may not know, he is also involved.

After all... after all... I heard that His Majesty the Emperor was born in the outlaws and has a rough nature. His mind may not be very delicate and he may not be able to see everything clearly.

Not only Du He thought so, many people in Luoyang City also held this idea, which is why there was this farce during this period of time.

Originally, Du He thought that if he came to see the emperor this time and wrote a letter of resignation, if the emperor was determined to keep him, he might be able to take advantage of the situation and not have to resign and retire at the golden age of his political career.

And now, His Majesty the Emperor's reaction...

It seems, it seems... His Majesty the Emperor not only knows that he is involved, but he is also a little annoyed with him! He just hasn't shown any anger yet.

When Du Shangshu took the document handed back by Gu Chang, he felt dispirited. All the scenes around him lost their colors and turned black and white.

Even Gu Chang's voice congratulating him turned into a buzzing sound and could no longer be heard clearly.

He stumbled towards the Secretariat holding the documents, but after taking a few steps, he lost his balance and fell heavily to the ground.

Gu Chang was startled, and quickly beckoned over a few palace servants, saying, "Quick, quick, help Shangshu Du stand up, help Shangshu Du stand up!"

By the time he was helped up by several young eunuchs, there was already a blood mark on his forehead. Eunuch Gu was frightened and hurriedly sent someone to notify Prime Minister Du and summon the imperial physician.

At this time, Minister Zhao Cheng just walked out of Ganlu Palace and witnessed this chaotic and somewhat absurd scene.

He looked at the hurried eunuchs, and then at Du He, who was being supported by the eunuchs but whose eyes had lost their luster. He could not help but stop and stroke his beard with his hand, feeling confused.

"What happened?"

(End of this chapter)