Ming Dynasty: I, Yan Maoqing, am truly radiating auspicious energy!

Chapter 262 A Model of Filial Piety and Parental Love [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

"..."

After hearing the latest battle report, and then reading the secret edict that Zhou Shangwen had secretly shown him.

Guo Xun also experienced a series of dramatic emotional changes, and then fell into a long silence.

He had been worried about Yan Maoqing these past few days, fearing that something might have happened to his "Shouchang".

In hindsight, his worries were entirely unnecessary, at least regarding the surprise attack on Anda. The person he should have been worried about was Anda…

However, his concerns about the Emperor have come true.

Just like when he came to Datong last time, the Emperor once again harbored murderous intent towards Yan Maoqing.

However, the last time, the emperor gave him a secret edict, instructing him to push Yan Maoqing to the forefront, let Yan Maoqing handle everything, and let Yan Maoqing take the blame in the end.

Of course, he did not act according to the secret edict, but immediately revealed its contents to Yan Maoqing.

He even suggested that Yan Maoqing shift the blame to his colleagues Shen Lian and Gao Gong, but Yan Maoqing had his own ideas and did not heed his advice. In the end, he single-handedly facilitated the establishment of the tribute system and even extorted a large sum of silver from Anda.

This time, the secret edict sent to Zhou Shangwen ordered him to assassinate him and sell out the entire Hero Camp.

Guo Xun could naturally tell that Zhou Shangwen certainly didn't intend to act according to the secret edict, otherwise he wouldn't have shown it to him so quickly...

"Duke Yi, what are your thoughts on this matter?"

Seeing that Guo Xun remained silent for a long time, Zhou Shangwen waited for a while before finally taking the initiative to ask.

"call--!"

Guo Xun turned around, first letting out a long breath, before asking seriously,

"Since General Zhou has come to see me and even showed me the Emperor's secret edict, it seems that he is already one of my and my son's own people. Can I take that view?"

"Yes, that's fine."

Zhou Shangwen nodded and said rather seriously.

"Since that's the case, I'll speak frankly."

Guo Xun pondered for a moment and said,
"The Emperor issued this secret edict without fully understanding the extraordinary achievements Yan Maoqing had made on this trip. He made the decision on a whim simply because of the potential gains and losses of the tribute agreement."

"His Majesty's judgment was flawed due to the delay in receiving information, but we must not perpetuate this mistake."

"Otherwise, if the emperor later finds out that he mistakenly killed a national hero like Shouchang due to a moment of impulsiveness, the crime would be greater than the heavens."

"General Zhou should know that His Majesty could never bear such a crime, otherwise it would be a major event that shakes the country and the state. So someone has to take the blame. General Zhou should not have a hard time figuring out who will ultimately be held responsible for this matter, right?"

Zhou Shangwen was not surprised by Guo Xun's statement and nodded in agreement.
"Of course I know that whoever does it must bear the consequences, and I am the one who should bear the brunt of it."

The current situation in the Ming Dynasty's officialdom, where doing more leads to more mistakes and doing less leads to fewer mistakes, was not created from the bottom up, but rather from the top down.

Zhou Shangwen knew this, and so did Guo Xun.

Although the current emperor is intelligent from a young age, he is not a perfect person, and he is very good at shifting the blame to his ministers when things go wrong.

Over the years, quite a few officials have been demoted, imprisoned, or even killed because of this...

For example, the eunuch who had Yang Zui, the Minister of the Imperial Stud, beaten to death was actually carrying out the emperor's orders, but when the infamy arose, that eunuch was pushed out and demoted to the inner army.

For example, Zhang Cong and Gui E previously helped the emperor vigorously promote new policies, which aroused the hatred of powerful officials and ministers. They even stirred up public opinion to create a bloodbath, and dared not return home.

At that time, the emperor also shifted the blame to the two due to public pressure. It was Guo Xun who took them in at the Duke of Yi's mansion, which helped them get through the danger...

Even Guo Xun had to admit that the emperor was a selfish person at heart.

Most of the time, he only cared about himself, treating all court officials, whether loyal or treacherous, as mere expendable resources.

This was true for Zhang Cong, Gui E, and others back then, it was true for Xia Yan, it was true for himself, it was true for Zhou Shangwen... Even Yan Maoqing, who was so favored, would not be an exception, otherwise there would have been no secret edict.

"good."

Guo Xun then added,

"Therefore, given the current situation, General Zhou must not act on orders."

"The best course of action for General Zhou would be to hold back and immediately send back to the capital the news of Shouchang's killing of Anda and a group of Tatar leaders, and the capture of hundreds of royals."

"As long as the people of the world know about this, the Emperor will also know about it."

"Then the Emperor will understand that even if the Heavenly King himself came, he would never dare to openly touch a hair on Shouchang's head again."

"General Zhou could also take the opportunity to submit a secret memorial with the silver seal along with the victory report, stating that when the secret edict was received, Yan Maoqing had already returned to his post and there was no longer any chance for him to be assassinated. In this way, the matter could be easily pushed away."

"Furthermore, General Zhou must never reveal this secret edict to a second person, not even your own son. You must keep it strictly confidential, even from Shouchang."

"In addition, General Zhou must also attach this secret edict to the silver-seal secret document and present it to the Emperor together..."

Hearing this, Zhou Shangwen asked with slight confusion:
“Wouldn’t it be safer to just burn this secret document and inform the Emperor in the silver-seal secret document?” “The old general still doesn’t understand the Emperor.”

Guo Xun shook his head and laughed.

"First of all, you must not burn the Emperor's edict. The Emperor values ​​it extremely highly, and such an action would be considered highly disrespectful."

"Secondly, the Emperor is always quite suspicious, and this matter is no small thing, so he will naturally be even more concerned. He might not believe you if you say it was burned, but if he burns it himself, then it's true... Being suspected by the Emperor is definitely not a good thing, General Zhou;"

"Furthermore, this is also a way for you to show the Emperor your loyalty by keeping quiet. The Emperor will understand that you will not leak anything, and he will regard you as a loyal subject, which can make up for your obstruction of tribute a few days ago."

Zhou Shangwen suddenly realized what was happening and immediately bowed to Guo Xun.
"Hearing the Duke of Yi's words is truly worth more than fighting a ten-year war! I have learned a lot!"

"However, upon closer reflection, I believe that the Duke of Yi's actions were also motivated by consideration for you, his adopted son."

"Only if I make it clear to the Emperor that I will keep quiet about this matter will the Emperor not worry that Yan Maoqing will develop a grudge against him because of this, and will he be able to continue to trust and rely on Yan Maoqing in the future, is that not so?"

Guo Xun did not deny it, but simply smiled and said:
"This matter is inherently intertwined; it's a mutually beneficial affair, so it can't be considered my personal motive, can it?"

"If we're talking about personal motives, the matter I'd like to ask General Zhou to do next is the one that truly has a bit of a personal agenda..."

Zhou Shangwen immediately showed a wary expression and said in advance:
"Duke Yi, please tell me first, but let me make this clear beforehand: I may not necessarily agree."

"If I remember correctly, Ji Nang, who is stationed at the Aoerdusi, is also Anda's elder brother and the true leader of the Right Wing Thirty Thousand Households. In recent years, he should have made many requests to establish tribute and trade relations with the Ming Dynasty, just like Anda did?"

Guo Xun ignored Zhou Shangwen's "ugly words" and continued speaking.

"General Zhou has been stationed in the border town for many years. I wonder how much he knows about Ji Nang?"

Zhou Shangwen vaguely realized something, but still told the truth:
"As far as I know, Ji Nang is now seriously ill and probably won't live much longer. Therefore, many of his subordinates have been secretly communicating with Anda, which has made Anda's power grow bigger and bigger."

"It is precisely because of this that Anda was able to monopolize the benefits of coal without encountering any major obstacles."

"Otherwise, the enormous profits involved would probably be enough to turn the two brothers against each other."

Guo Xun then asked:

"Then, does General Zhou have anyone under his command who can communicate with Ji Nang?"

"I don't have any."

Zhou Shangwen shook his head, but then added,
"However, I know someone who can. These people are currently locked up in the prison of Datong Prefecture, awaiting the inspection and judgment of the imperial censor sent by the court."

He had already understood Guo Xun's intentions.

What the emperor wanted was to accept tribute, to control the carbon tax office, and to seize this newly generated fiscal revenue.

Anyway, it's all about doing business. It doesn't matter who you do business with, and the taxes are collected the same way.

Anda is gone, but there's still Jilang.

Even if the gibbons are gone, there's still the Little Prince.

Even if the little prince is gone, they still have heirs to inherit the throne.

The Emperor's blaming of Yan Maoqing was merely because he had launched a surprise attack on Anda's court outside the pass, which might have hindered the tribute exchange.

Yan Maoqing has made an unparalleled contribution on this trip and is now immortal.

If we could find a way to reconnect the coal trade with the Emperor, wouldn't there be no blame at all?

Most importantly, the Aoerdusi, where Ji Nang was stationed, was not far from Datong, in the Hetao region.

Today, Yan Maoqing was able to launch a surprise attack on Anda's royal court, even managing to storm the royal camp with only two thousand soldiers, leaving Anda without a complete corpse and capturing the entire royal family.

So tomorrow, Yan Maoqing will also be able to launch a surprise attack on Ji Nang's royal court. If Anda couldn't stop the Hero Camp, can Ji Nang stop it?

Now is probably the best time to drag Ji Nang into this and make a "treaty of surrender" with him!
The tribute exchange facilitated under these circumstances was the kind of tribute exchange that Zhou Shangwen could accept, since he understood that the Tatars could never be completely wiped out.

They have evolved from nomadic peoples, Xiongnu, Turks, Mongols, and Oirats into the Tatars of today, just like the Central Plains, their vitality enduring...

"You mean those merchants who smuggled goods to the Tatars?"

Guo Xun seemed to understand something, and pondered for a moment before saying,
"It's not that I can't give a few of them a chance to redeem themselves; it's just a matter of me using my power to cross out a few names..."

Guo Xun had already quietly formed a script in his mind.

This script is based on Yan Maoqing's actions during his first mission to Anda, and can be slightly modified for use on Ji Nang.

The last time Yan Maoqing failed to "recapture the Hetao region" was because the Hetao region was not in Anda's hands at all.

This time, is Ji Nangzong the actual controller of the Hetao region?
"Shouchang, you have saved your godfather several times. This time, it's time for your godfather to do his part and give you a helping hand. Please do so."

“My son and I are truly a model of filial piety.”

"When my godfather writes these stories down and publishes them, they will surely become a celebrated tale..."

(End of this chapter)