Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 123 Anyone who knows the inside story must die!

Fang Congzhe narrowed his eyes slightly and sat quietly on the wooden stool bestowed by the emperor, like an old monk in meditation. Facts had proven that casually responding to the emperor's words was highly risky. A single misstep could lead to a huge scapegoat being slapped on the head.

Liu Yirong glanced at Fang Congzhe beside him, then returned his gaze to the golden dragon embroidered on the black robe. He also didn't believe the emperor's words truly reflected his will.

He had felt from the outset that using the early morning reforms to stir up political turmoil and force the emperor to make concessions was an extremely bad idea. However, at the meeting to decide on the offensive, Liu Yirong and Han Yu never expressed any objection.

This was not only because they had little reputation among the "Qingliu faction" of censors and opposition was almost meaningless, but also because they had agreed on a strategy of infighting within the faction.

Liu Yirong and Han Yu, two representatives of the powerful faction, reached a consensus after private discussions. They believed that the "clean stream" faction of censors, led by Zhao Nanxing, was too noisy. They would interrupt questions both where they were supposed to be and where they weren't, offering their so-called "honest" opinions. It seemed as if disobeying their orders would lead to the collapse of social order and chaos.

Moreover, Liu Yirong, who is in the cabinet, holds a high position of power and is ambitious, and always wants to go further. He has his own political ambitions. If he is always constrained by the public opinion controlled by the Qingliu faction, what is the point even if he really drives Fang Congzhe out of office one day and replaces him as the prime minister?

But Liu Yirong was also well aware that he was not Yan Song or Zhang Juzheng, lacking the near-unlimited favor of the emperor. He could not appoint or dismiss censors as he pleased. In other words, the powerful faction headed by him and Han Yu simply did not have the qualifications to compete with the Qingliu faction. Therefore, Liu Yirong could only choose to borrow the emperor's influence to suppress the Qingliu faction's arrogance.

"If the censors and imperial scholars want to speak, they should be allowed to. But the affairs of state are for you, the ministers." Zhu Changluo paced a few steps in the hall. He stroked his beard again, seeming very hesitant. "It's a dilemma. What do you two Grand Secretaries think I should do?"

At this time, Fang Congzhe had already closed his eyes, looking very old and weak.

"If we abolish the three daily court sessions and return to the ten-day session, the imperial court will inevitably be in turmoil again. But if this continues, I'm afraid that important officials will be exhausted in the cabinet." Zhu Changluo turned and cast his gaze on Liu Yirong. "Grand Secretary Liu, Minister Fang is tired. What do you think?"

"It's all up to the Emperor to make the final decision." If the Emperor summoned Liu Yirong alone to discuss matters, he would have started to flirt with the censors. But with Old Man Fang sitting on the sidelines pretending to be clueless, Liu Yirong would have to wait for the Emperor to make his own decision before acting accordingly. No matter how serious the internal conflicts within the Donglin Party were, they couldn't let the enemy party seize on them.

Zhu Changluo nodded with satisfaction, because Liu Yirong's answer made him realize that his repeated pressure on Liu Yirong had worked.

If the Donglin Party remained united, Liu Yirong could have immediately responded by finding a compromise between "three court sessions a day" and "one court session every ten days," restoring the previous "one court session a day." However, Liu Yirong did not do so.

"Since both ministers have no idea, I will make the decision myself." Zhu Changluo spoke as if he was forced to make the decision.

Zhu Changluo walked to the shelf where documents were piled up and directly pulled out a handwritten draft of the imperial edict.

Liu Yirong saw it all and was shocked: Sure enough, the emperor had already made a plan!

"This will remain unchanged for three generations, but starting tomorrow, the Cabinet, the six ministries, and one academy, temple, and department will only need to send one official to participate. Each department will choose its own official." Zhu Changluo handed the rolled-up draft directly to Liu Yirong. "If civil and military departments other than the Cabinet, ministries, academies, temples, and departments request clemency for the same reason, they do not need to submit a petition. The Cabinet can simply approve it, following this example."

Zhu Changluo sneered in his heart: Stand for six hours a day, let’s see how long you lazy nerds can last.

Not long after the emperor finished speaking, Fang Congzhe "woke up".

"Your Majesty, please punish me for my misconduct in front of you." Fang Congzhe stood up and bowed.

"You should go back and rest. It's getting late and I don't want to keep you for dinner." Zhu Changluo waved his hand, signaling the two cabinet ministers to leave.

"Come back! Take these two piles of garbage away." Fang and Liu had just walked to the door and were about to push it open when Zhu Changluo pointed at the list he had handed to them and said.

Liu Yirong paused, and when he turned around, he met the emperor's stern and even hostile eyes: What exactly is the garbage that the emperor is referring to?

As soon as he exited the southern study, Fang Congzhe perked up. His eyelids fluttered a few times, wiping away the haziness and blurriness that covered his pupils. He was about to strike up a conversation with Liu Yirong, to annoy this talented but ambitious junior, when he spotted a familiar figure kneeling at the foot of the stairs. Wasn't that Cui Wensheng?

Many thoughts flashed through Fang Congzhe's mind, but no matter which one they were, they all had a common starting point: Cui Wensheng was about to gain momentum again.

"Greetings to Lord Fang. Greetings to Lord Liu." From a distance, Wei Chao smiled and raised his hands.

"Wei Bingbi is still so energetic." Fang Congzhe walked to Wei Chao's side in two or three steps and put on the same brilliant smile.

Liu Yirong's expression remained unchanged, but he sneered in his heart: Aren't you so tired that you are about to fall asleep?

"Now that you two have come together, the matters concerning the court meeting should have come to a conclusion, right?" Wei Chao asked.

"Your Majesty is wise and decisive. How can I have any say in this?" Fang Congzhe seemed to unintentionally shake the "garbage" in his hand in the direction of Liu Yirong.

"Lord Fang is as vigorous as usual, more capable than many young people," Wei Chao said in a veiled manner.

Liu Yirong was more cunning than a fox, so he naturally knew that Wei Chao was blaming him. The list in his hand was made by the Imperial Household Department, and as the eunuch in charge of writing the list, Wei Chao must have been deeply involved.

The thoughts of this group of eunuchs are complicated, but to put it simply, they will have a problem with anyone who has a problem with the emperor.

Liu Yirong wanted to defend himself, but his rationality ultimately prevailed over his emotions. There was no way to argue this matter. To do so would have been to imply to the leaders of the opposing faction and the most important eunuchs in the inner court that the Donglin Party was not united, and that the cabinet's powerful figures were little more than puppets of the leading Qingliu figures. Liu Yirong, with his immense pride, would never admit such a thing.

Liu Yirong tried his best to maintain a calm expression, but the slight twitching of his eyes still reflected his inner turmoil to a certain extent: Zhao Nanxing must be expelled from the Donglin Party! Otherwise, the Donglin Party will sooner or later be strangled by the inner court and the enemy party.

The two cabinet ministers, Fang and Liu, surrounded Wei Chaodong and chatted for a long time, but they both tacitly ignored Cui Wensheng who was kneeling beside them. In their opinion, Cui Wensheng was the one who deserved to die at the beginning of the winter month.

"Ji Hui and I still have to go back to the cabinet to draft the imperial edict. Wei Bingbi, we'll say goodbye now." Fang Congzhe took the initiative to say goodbye to Wei Chao before the awkward situation of having nothing to say came.

"Don't worry, Lord Fang. Your sedan chair is waiting outside." While Wei Chao was summoning Cui Wensheng, he also received the emperor's order and sent someone to Dong'an Gate to call in the Fang family's sedan chair bearers. This was the last scene he performed for Liu Yirong today.

Click. Shortly after Fang Congzhe got on the sedan chair, the door of the hall opened again.

Wang An came out and said in a clearly unhappy voice, "Cui Wensheng, go in. The master wants to see you."

"I obey your command." Because Wei Chao deliberately "dawdled," Cui Wensheng didn't kneel for long. Having knelt outside the palace gate for a whole day and night before, Cui Wensheng felt like he had barely lifted his robe and knelt when the emperor summoned him.

"Ancestor, aren't we going in?" Wei Chao asked.

"Go back to the Imperial Household Department. We're dismissing court early today." "But I still have a small matter to report to my master." Wei Chao puckered his cheek.

"Don't report such a small matter today. Let's talk about it tomorrow. The master wants to train the dog." Wang An strode on the white carpet newly woven by God.

"It's the Zhang family's business." It's a long way from the Qianqing Palace to the Silijian, so it's better to talk about business instead of keeping silent.

"What's going on again? That female hero beat up the Jinyiwei and then ran away? Isn't that clever guy Lu Wenzhao her senior brother?" In fact, as soon as the group left Xu's residence that day, the executor of the Western Factory reported the identities of the "Table Sharing Female Hero" and the "Silent Female Hero".

But the emperor seemed to be more interested in the "military man" who didn't care about the strict rules between men and women than the "lady" who always maintained a proper distance. This led Wang An to speculate that the 20 kilograms of yellow vegetables, which were more valuable than an equal weight of silver, were a reward for something else.

"No. Zhang Shirui gave your godson three hundred taels of silver, saying he wanted to see the master." Wei Chao shook his head. "Most likely he came to plead for Zhang Xianyong."

Wang An thought for a long time, but still couldn't remember what his "godson" was called. After all, at his age and status, he had too many godsons of godsons. Finally, Wang An lost interest in guessing and said casually, "I'll report it tomorrow. Whether the master will honor me or not, I don't care."

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"The sinful slave Cui Wensheng kowtows with tears to his master, long live the emperor." As soon as Cui Wensheng entered the room, he endured the pain of the scabs on his back that were cracked and bleeding, and performed the ritual of three kneelings and nine kowtows to the emperor in an orderly manner.

"Why, offering sacrifices to heaven?" In the Ming Dynasty, even slaves only performed the ritual of five bows and three kowtows before the emperor. Even Nurhaci, the wild boar who was causing trouble in the north, dared not ask his men to perform such an "extraordinary ceremony" to him.

Zhu Changluo, while researching this period of history, speculated that the reason Huang Taiji ordered all the beile ministers and bannermen to perform the three-kneeling and nine-kowtow ritual upon his ascension to the throne was because he was not well-educated, as Huang Taiji himself also used this ritual to kneel and kowtow to his brothers and sisters.

"Your Majesty, the master, is the sky above my head. I am stupid and arrogant, and have embarrassed you in front of outsiders, but my loyalty to you will never change." Cui Wensheng was calm and shamelessly threw out the speech he had prepared long ago.

"You're quite sensible, my servant!" Zhu Changluo had been about to chide Cui Wensheng again, but he'd been surprised by the guy's even lower attitude than he'd anticipated. "But you've already said everything. What else do I have to say?"

"It is my fault for overstepping my bounds." Cui Wensheng kowtowed and bowed again, pressing his forehead hard against the floor that had been polished to a shine by the eunuch.

Not long after, Cui Wensheng breathed a sigh of relief, as he saw the familiar pair of boots again in his limited field of vision. But as he breathed a sigh of relief, his heart once again rose to his throat, because not long after he last saw the boots, Cui Wensheng's head was hit by a continuous stream of memorials.

"Look up." As he spoke, Zhu Changluo squatted down.

Cui Wensheng lifted his hands off the ground and straightened up when his eyes met Zhu Changluo's.

"Master!" He quickly lay back down, supported himself on the ground with his hands, and then raised his head to look up at the emperor.

At this time, although the one on top was still looking down at the one below, the distance between them was not as far as before.

"Do you know that there are so many eunuchs in Zheng's palace? Why do I only use you?" Zhu Changluo skipped the knocking process and started to concentrate.

"I am stupid." At this time, even if Cui Wensheng knew, he had to say he didn't know. Otherwise, the emperor would be speechless again.

"Because you have a past relationship with the Eastern Palace." Zhu Changluo said softly.

Cui Wensheng was completely confused about what the emperor was talking about this time. During the Wanli reign, Cui Wensheng had at most avoided taking advantage of the situation of the Crown Prince. Besides deliberately making things difficult for the Crown Prince, trying to curry favor with the Imperial Concubine, and fawning over Prince Fu, he had done everything he could.

"I'm a man who cherishes the past," Zhu Changluo continued. "I prioritize those who have a past with me. In the forty-third year of the Wanli reign, a barbarian named Zhang Cha entered the palace to assassinate me. Do you remember this?"

"I remember." Cui Wensheng nodded blankly. He still didn't know why the emperor brought up the case of the assassination at this time.

"My father doted on Zheng so much that he even asked me to submit a petition to plead for her." Zhu Changluo seemed lost in painful memories. Deep in love, he even forgot to refer to himself as "I": "She wanted to kill me."

In order to play this play well for only one audience, Zhu Changluo sent Wang An away in advance, otherwise Wang An would have been much more excited than the leading actor himself. This was because Zhu Changluo was a fake prince consort, while Wang An was the real tutor.

"I remember that you were the one who killed those two beasts Pang Bao and Liu Cheng, right?" A hint of gratitude flashed in Zhu Changluo's eyes.

Cui Wensheng finally understood at this time: So this is why!

When Pang Bao and Liu Cheng were executed, Concubine Zheng sent Cui Wensheng to oversee the execution simply because he had served as an executioner in the palace for a time in his youth. He was there to ensure that the simple ten strokes of the cane would kill the two men and prevent any future complications. To put it bluntly, the one who was to execute Pang Bao and Liu Cheng was not Cui Wensheng, but their master, Concubine Zheng.

This imprisonment also chilled Cui Wensheng's heart to a certain extent, and planted a small seed for him to betray Zheng Yangxing without hesitation in the future, which he himself did not even realize.

"Master, I am your servant. Your servant..." In an instant, Cui Wensheng's heart was filled with surprise and delight: he had done something unintentional but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, and the prince, now the emperor, still remembered him, thinking that he had avenged the Eastern Palace.

Cui Wensheng hesitated for a long time, unable to speak, but he knew that he could not deny this matter, otherwise the foundation of the emperor's trust in him would collapse. Cui Wensheng swallowed his saliva and decided to "accept" this matter.

"I just did my duty." Cui Wensheng kowtowed sincerely.

"Well done, you did a great job." Zhu Changluo put away his lonely and sad expression, restored his imperial dignity, and pointed to the second table on the left side of the imperial desk and said, "Go sit there."

"I bow to thank my master for his grace!" Cui Wensheng kowtowed three times in a row, then stood up quickly and ran to the seat pointed to by the emperor.

This was the third-ranking chair in the Imperial Household Department. In other words, even after the major case that shook the court and the country, Cui Wensheng still sat before Wei Zhongxian.

The moment his butt touched the chair, Cui Wensheng suddenly remembered something: Even if we put aside the immobilized Concubine Zheng, the people who knew the truth about the assassination were still alive. If anyone, intentionally or unintentionally, revealed the truth, I would be completely deprived of the emperor's favor!

Cui Wensheng held the long-lost red pen in his hand, and secretly swore in his heart: This secret must be buried forever, and anyone who knows about it must die!

Zhu Changluo had not yet realized that his fabricated gratitude and the play of calming down based on "gratitude" had inadvertently sentenced many people to death.

(End of this chapter)