Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 453: Draft Bills and Cabinet Turbulence

Just as Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen had predicted, the day after the Censorate and the Imperial Guards impeached the "Wuqing Ni Hou," a letter was copied by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and forwarded to the Cabinet. However, the first signature on the letter was Cui Wensheng, the governor of the East Depot. This ignited a firestorm that began in the Cabinet and gradually spread to all the nobles and relatives in Beijing.

The East Depot was not part of the civil service system and did not need to report to the outer court. It had always taken the path of direct reports from the inner court to the emperor. Now, it was using the Tongzhengshisi route to formally submit a memorial, which directly stunned Han Yu, who was responsible for distributing memorials.

"Prime Minister," Han Yu opened the memorial and glanced at it, immediately deciding to give it to Fang Congzhe. "The East Factory has also submitted a report! And it has Sun Zhisheng's signature on the back."

As soon as Han Yu shouted, he immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the pavilion.

The cabinet members seemed to be under pressure and put down their work and looked up at him. Instead, Fang Congzhe, who was called by Han Yu, slowly wrote the last word of the sentence in front of him before putting down his brush.

Han Yu walked over and handed over the memorial, but Fang Congzhe didn't reach out to take it. Instead, he asked knowingly, "What's written in the book?"

Han Yu was stunned for a moment, then realized that Fang Congzhe was going to tell everyone the contents of the memorial himself. Han Yu opened the memorial, swallowed his saliva to moisten his throat, and while reading, he summarized:
"The memorial said. The East Factory discovered through secret visits that Marquis Wuqing, Earl Pingjiang, and Earl Boping had sent people to fabricate two cases of false disappearance in Tianjin. Now, the East Factory has caught this gang of thieves with the help of the Tianjin Fu Biaoying Camp. After interrogation, it was learned that the three families sent people to fake disappearance not only to embezzle the rice and goods on the ship, but also to prevent the sea transportation of grain and wages from being diverted to Gaizhou, in order to maintain high grain prices in Liaodong. Seeing that the Minister of Finance Li Changgeng was not shaken by the two cases of disappearance of grain and goods, this group of people even set their sights on Li Weidong, the Tianjin Coast Guard Guerrilla, and tried to bribe him to directly embezzle the wages transported through the Coast Guard Camp." In summary, Han Yu only said less than 200 words in total, but even this little content made him feel a little dry in the mouth.

"Prime Minister, that's all." Han Yu placed the memorial on Fang Congzhe's desk and walked back. However, the other four ministers' gazes didn't shift as Han Yu left; they continued to stare at Fang Congzhe.

"Another one," Fang Congzhe said, looking surprised as if he had just learned about this. "What do you all think?"

The first person to pick up on Fang Congzhe's words was his not-so-obedient henchman, Shen. He looked at Fang Congzhe with a subtle look and blurted out six words. "Unbelievable."

"Yes," Fang Congzhe nodded immediately, clearly agreeing with the words. "I never thought that besides smuggling and shielding, Marquis Wuqing would actually do something so detrimental to the country."

"Hmph." Liu Yirong chuckled and said directly: "Prime Minister Fang, you knew about this yesterday, right?" If there were three consecutive cases involving the same important person and Liu Yirong still didn't know that there was some kind of trick involved, he would have no need to continue working in the cabinet.

"Ah?" Fang Congzhe was extremely thick-skinned. Once he blushed once, it was hard for him to blush again. "What do I know?"

Because the Emperor had said to "wait for the cockcrow," Fang Congzhe, upon returning to the cabinet, simply stated the Emperor's rejection of two cabinet proposals regarding the Guangning case: not appointing Wang Huazhen, the former governor of Ningqian, concurrently managing Guangning, nor suspending Li Guangrong, the Guangning general. He also failed to inform the other cabinet members of the case uncovered by the Jinyiwei and Dongchang. As for the Emperor's decision regarding the disposition of Wuqing Marquis, Fang Congzhe made no mention of it.

"I don't know what you know either," Liu Yirong turned to look at Ye Xianggao, curled his lips, and asked with a smile, "Does Ye Cifu know about this?"

Fang Congzhe glared at Liu Yirong fiercely. This young man was truly despicable! He actually tried to sow discord in front of him.

Ye Xianggao couldn't help but see through Liu Yirong's subtle thoughts, but Fang Congzhe hadn't said anything to him, so he still felt a little resentful. He looked at Fang Congzhe with a rather resentful look and said with a sigh, "No, Prime Minister Fang didn't come to my house last night. I didn't hear anything."

"Prime Minister Fang." Han Yu, who had returned to his seat, interjected at the right moment: "Does the Emperor have any instructions?" This established that Fang Congzhe had long been in collusion with the Emperor.

Fang Congzhe was a little embarrassed. He supported his forehead and smiled silently.

At this moment, Shen jumped in, decisively chiming in: "If Lord Han wants to ask for the Emperor's instructions, he might as well go directly to the Qianqing Palace and ask for an audience. I just don't know if the Emperor would be willing to see you." For the ministers of the Taichang Dynasty, access to the Emperor was not difficult. Except during special periods, anyone who approached would generally receive an audience. But Shen's words were clearly more than just words, and they carried a heavy humiliation.

Han Yu was still young after all, and Shen's words provoked him so much that his face flushed red. However, when it came to talking, he was no match for Shen.

However, Liu Yirong remained unafraid of Shen. He followed Shen's words and accurately found Shen's "vital point." "The Emperor would like to see you, but I don't know which eunuch to pass the message through? Wei Xichang, right?" Liu Yirong smiled and glanced at Fang Congzhe, truly determined to continue his divisive tactics.

"Lord Liu is truly well-informed," Shen was truly reeling from Liu Yirong's words. But unlike Han Yu, who simply blushed and remained unable to respond, he gritted his teeth and lashed out, "No wonder. The entire Ministry of Justice is probably your spies by now, right?"

Liu Yirong reacted very quickly. As soon as Shen finished speaking, he gave a very beautiful counterattack: "It is better to have ears and eyes than to be deaf and blind." Liu Yirong's words were obviously provoking. Before, Shen wanted to find someone to cause trouble, but no one was willing to pay attention to him.

"You!" Shen had already guessed that Liu Yirong and Han Yu were most likely behind this. But now Liu Yirong had brought this up so blatantly and sarcastically, and Shen was still furious. The problem was, he had a hard time finding a way to retort.

Seeing Shen speechless and blushing under Liu Yirong's spell, Fang Congzhe felt a mix of emotions. On the one hand, Fang Congzhe was irritated by Liu Yirong's youthful, impetuous attitude, yet he felt it was inconvenient to confront him personally. Therefore, he truly needed an eloquent spokesperson like Shen to speak on his behalf. Yet, on the other hand, he was pleased to see Liu Yirong effectively suppress Shen.

While Fang Congzhe was indeed slower to realize the situation than Liu Yirong, he wasn't so slow to react after something as outrageous as Shen's recommendation of Wang Yingjiao. Afterward, he sought to investigate the underlying reasons behind Shen's unusual behavior.

Fang Congzhe soon learned that Shen had close ties with Wei Zhongxian, the governor of the Western Depot, and that they appeared to be connected. He therefore reached the same conclusion as Liu Yirong: Shen was connected to the palace, and all his abnormal behavior was at the behest of the palace, or rather, the emperor.

This judgment gave Fang Congzhe a strong sense of crisis.

If Liu Yirong's occasional provocations were merely minor threats posed by a young man who didn't know his place, then Shen's direct collusion with the emperor through Wei Zhongxian was a major threat, enough to threaten Fang Congzhe's position as Prime Minister.

During the reign of Emperor Shenzong, Fang Congzhe wouldn't even have cared about the position of Prime Minister. The cabinet under Emperor Shenzong was a place of misery, and the position of Prime Minister was one that meant no access to the emperor, no response, an excessive workload, and the reprimand of subordinates for being overly exclusive. Working in the cabinet not only required managing various pressures, but even when a task was finally completed, there was no sense of accomplishment. From Zhang Juzheng to Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue, Zhao Zhigao, and Shen Yikuan, it can be said that, with the exception of Wang Jiaping, who decisively returned the imperial edict during the dispute over the national foundation and was nearly forced to retire by the emperor, no one left office with a good reputation.

Even worse, even if they wanted to resign due to their inability to continue, the emperor would not let them go. Poor Zhao Zhigao died on the job because he did not receive mercy from his emperor and father.

But during the Taichang era, Fang Congzhe still cherished his position as the Prime Minister. The emperor's courteous treatment alone made Fang Congzhe deeply appreciate the joy of being a minister. Even if there were occasional disagreements between the emperor and his subjects, the emperor would not hold a grudge.

After hearing that the emperor had even secretly left the palace to see his old minister one last time before Li Ruhua returned home, Fang Congzhe even wanted to experience for himself that romantic scene: the minister on his deathbed, the emperor holding his hand, speaking tenderly and shedding tears. If the Hanlin who compiled the Veritable Records could record this in the Veritable Records after the emperor's death, leaving behind a beautiful story that would be passed down through the ages, Fang Congzhe would die without regrets.

But this despicable young man, Shen, secretly established contact with the emperor through the eunuchs. To curry favor with the emperor, he even pretended to be Yan Song, abandoning his usual position without any principles. If Shen became Yan Song, what would he become, Xia Yan? That wouldn't do!
Therefore, as the Prime Minister, Fang Congzhe was in the awkward position of having to rely on Shen's struggles with the two Donglin Faction cabinet ministers to maintain his reputation as the leader of the Zhejiang people, while also relying on the Donglin Faction cabinet ministers to suppress Shen in order to maintain his authority as Prime Minister. However, to put it another way, being challenged by various factions and having to maintain stability between them is itself a unique pain for a high-ranking leader.

"Alright, alright." Fang Congzhe knocked on the table and the first person he looked at was Ye Xianggao. "Some things are enough for me to handle alone. There's no need to make everyone else share the burden with me."

"." Hearing Fang Congzhe say this, Liu Yirong immediately lowered his head and smiled. Take the responsibility himself? When did this old man become so courageous?

"Prime Minister," Shen quickly calmed down, shifting his focus and withdrawing from the previous conversation. He bowed to Fang Congzhe and said, "Since I proposed this motion, it's natural that I should draft it and be the first to sign it. How can you shoulder the responsibility alone?"

Shen had assumed Fang Congzhe's claim of "one person taking the blame" meant the emperor was prepared to shield Wuqing Hou from all the charges. Shen was happy to bear the stigma of the imperial court, fighting for the emperor and suppressing the officials. Ever since his influence was eroded by the Donglin Party, Shen no longer cared about such an intangible thing as fame. As long as he could earn the emperor's favor and ascend to power smoothly, he would be surrounded by people currying favor. By then, there would be no Donglin Party, Zhejiang Party, Qi Party, or Chu Party left in the court—only his own Shen Party.

Fang Congzhe naturally saw through his thoughts at a glance. He turned to look at Shen and smiled, "Okay, Mingzhen, since you're willing to draft the document, draft the document to dismiss Li Changgeng from his post and send it to the Imperial Household Department for seal." Yesterday, the Imperial Household Department had already sent someone to the Ministry of Personnel to inform Zhou Jiamo. All preparations were complete; all that was needed was the Cabinet's draft order, and the process would be completed quickly.

Shen was stunned for a moment. "Should we fire Li Changgeng first?"

"Yes." Fang Congzhe nodded and said, "There's also the document for the Ministry of Personnel to recommend. Let's draft it together."

"I'm afraid this isn't a good idea?" Shi Jixie, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up. At this moment, Shen also withdrew his gaze.

"What's wrong?" Fang Congzhe looked at Shi Jikai. "Li Changgeng's negligence and dereliction of duty have caused such great damage to the country and the court. Can he still be kept in office?"

"Prime Minister, I'm not saying he can't be dismissed, but I think he shouldn't be dismissed right away," Shi Jixie explained. "According to the memorial, the masterminds of this case are clearly the Marquis of Wuqing, the Earl of Pingjiang, and the Earl of Boping. Even if Li Changgeng is guilty of negligence, shouldn't the Marquis of Wuqing and his associates be considered first before Li Changgeng's case? If my cabinet, upon taking office, doesn't first address the Marquis of Wuqing and his associates, but directly throws Li Changgeng out, what will the outside world think of this matter? And what will they think of us?"

Shi Jikai's words were spot on, and Fang Congzhe couldn't help but nod. But he was under pressure from the emperor, and he had to complete all the procedures today. There was no time to delay. Fang Congzhe subconsciously glanced at Shen and saw that he seemed to be writing something with his head down. He stopped talking and lowered his head to support his head, looking thoughtful.

As expected, Fang Congzhe didn't "ponder" for long before Shen took out a drafted document and walked over to Fang Congzhe. "Prime Minister, I have written down on this piece of paper the proposal to dismiss Li Changgeng and the proposal to have the Ministry of Personnel organize the imperial nomination."

Shi Jijie stared at Shen blankly. His mouth opened and closed, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he just smiled bitterly and said nothing.

Fang Congzhe took the note from Shi Jikai and discovered that he had not only drafted the note but also signed it at the top. "Alas!" Fang Congzhe sighed and signed his name after Shi Jikai.

(End of this chapter)