Our family has been rebelling for generations, and you've become the top scholar in the imperia

That night.

Qin Feng followed behind Eunuch Miao, looking puzzled. Why would the emperor want to see him at this time?

Could it be that their secret land requisition was discovered?

Has news of the formation of the "Beijing Dung Gang" leaked?

Bribing the head constable of the yamen?

With trepidation, Qin Feng was led into the Imperial Study.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects!"

"Rise, please take a seat..."

"The outcome is decided. The East Ward is in complete chaos. Ding Yun is utterly incompetent and has disgraced all scholars, causing the East Ward to fall into such a state of disarray."

As soon as Qin Feng sat down, Zhou Zhengde, who was behind the dragon desk, spoke angrily.

"The envoy will arrive in the capital in three days at most. All the restaurants and inns in Dongfang are closed. Ding Yun deserves to die."

Understood!

This means the Nanjing Forestry Party has directly admitted defeat!

but.

Admitting defeat and leaving this mess to the emperor is truly shameless.

"Your Majesty, several new inns and restaurants have recently opened in the western district, which should be sufficient to accommodate the envoys."

"I summoned you here to arrange this matter. The envoy is staying in the West Ward; can you handle his/her hospitality well?"

Qin Feng was taken aback.

Receiving envoys should not be the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites. In principle, the Minister or Vice Minister of Rites should accompany and receive them throughout the process.

Why give him a mere court official?

He wasn't even an official.

"I am prepared to announce that Dongfang has conceded defeat. At that time, I will naturally grant you an official position to receive envoys."

"Your Majesty, has the Eastern Ward not admitted defeat?"

Qin Feng blinked, then suddenly took the initiative to ask questions the whole way.

"It's already in such a mess, is there any point in comparing? How could Grand Tutor Wang possibly have the face to stand before me again? This matter will naturally be dropped, and the Nanlin Party will no longer obstruct the granting of an official position to you."

"but……"

Before Zhou Zhengde could finish speaking, Qin Feng quickly stood up, cupped his hands, and said:

"Your Majesty, how can we finish speaking before the comparison has even taken place? The fact that the Nanlin Party has not voluntarily conceded defeat means that the competition is still ongoing. Since that is the case, we must receive the envoy immediately. I humbly request Your Majesty to conduct the comparison between the two parties ahead of schedule."

Upon hearing this...

Zhou Zhengde looked completely puzzled.

Grandpa Miao, who was standing to the side, also looked over in confusion.

What else is there to compare?

All the shops in Dongfang have been emptied out; there's not a soul left on the streets.

People no longer go to Dongfang to stroll and shop.

There's no need to even compare; Dongfang is bound to lose.

"Scholar Qin, the Grand Tutor holds a high position and wields great power. It is unlikely that he will admit his mistake in this matter. It would be better to let it go, and the Nanlin Party will not obstruct the granting of an official position."

"Grandpa Miao..."

Qin Feng smiled, knowing that Grand Tutor Wang was too proud to admit defeat.

The comparison between the two workshops was initially proposed by the other party.

Now that they realize they can't win, they're just taking advantage of their age and seniority to cheat, not even revealing the result of the competition, and want to just let it go like this?

How is that possible!

Being aggressive when bullying others and cowardly when apologizing—there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Besides, if you're not ruthless, you can't stand firm.

If he wants to gain a foothold in the capital and prevent the Nanlin Party from easily provoking him in the future, he must do something ruthless.

"Comparing the two neighborhoods, the Southern Advance Party had quite a few officials involved, so is it only Ding Yun's fault that the Eastern Neighborhood has become like this?"

"Ding Yun is just a ward manager; he has no one backing him up. With so many shopkeepers in the East Ward, can he really be forced to stop doing business?"

Qin Feng bowed to Zhou Zhengde again, his voice gradually becoming somewhat gloomy.

"I believe that we should take this opportunity..."

He didn't finish his sentence.

but.

Qin Feng felt that the emperor should have understood what he meant.

If you still can't understand this.

The fact that the Nanlin Party was able to grow to this extent was largely due to the emperor.

"I……"

Zhou Zhengde understood, and he stood up excitedly, pacing back and forth on the dragon table.

Since Grand Tutor Wang did not directly admit defeat.

The two workshops are still competing.

Under the guise of an envoy's arrival in the capital, the competition was launched ahead of schedule. The winner would be responsible for receiving the envoy, while the loser was promised continued training and an official position a few years later.

Dongfang is doomed to fail.

Take this opportunity to purge a few Nanlin Party officials.

The more Zhou Zhengde thought about it, the more excited he became.

"As expected of my blade, are you confident in this matter?"

"It's just that I participated in governance; dismissing me from office would be a stretch. As for anything else..."

Qin Feng did not answer.

He turned his head to look at Grandpa Miao to the side.

The meaning is clear: it's your turn, the head of the secret service, to take the lead.

With so many eyes and ears in the capital, don't tell me that I don't have any dirt on any Nanlin Party officials.

"This servant...this servant...is confident!"

Grandpa Miao's face flushed red, and he hurriedly knelt on the ground to reply.

How could I not be confident?

Which official in the imperial court doesn't have some dirt on them? Especially these officials from the Nanlin Party, who are usually arrogant and have plenty of evidence against the secret police.

In the past, the Southern Forest Party was very powerful, and a single move could have far-reaching consequences.

We cannot arrest people rashly.

But now, the competition has gone wrong, and Dongfang has lost. Using Dongfang's case, it's no problem to clean up a few Nanlin Party officials.

"Qin Feng".

Zhou Zhengde sat down again.

"Since you are in charge of the West Ward, you should be familiar with the situation in the East Ward. Go to the Imperial Guard to check the evidence of crimes and see how many Nanlin Party officials should be purged. Remember, they must be related to the East Ward; you cannot select them randomly."

"Your subject understands."

Qin Feng bowed and accepted the order.

Indeed, we cannot clean up too many cases. At the very least, we need a legitimate reason to successfully elicit evidence of the other side's crimes through the competition between the two neighborhoods.

Otherwise, the officials of the Nanlin Party are not fools; they would naturally realize that he was in cahoots with the Emperor and was deliberately using this opportunity to purge people.

……

The Imperial Guard Station in the capital.

"Qin Zhuangyuan, the evidence of his crimes is all here. You can take a look and see which officials are suitable to be selected."

Qin Feng followed Eunuch Miao all the way to the garrison.

In a secret room, I saw the recorded evidence of these crimes.

A whole box full.

Qin Feng dared not imagine that all the evidence of crimes committed by the officials was probably here.

Looks like I'll have to be careful around this old eunuch from now on.

To avoid having some of your crimes recorded later.

"Does your father-in-law have anyone in mind?"

Qin Feng didn't open it directly; instead, he asked a question.

"You all go out first, we need to discuss some things with Scholar Qin."

They drove the few eunuchs out of the secret room.

Grandpa Miao turned to one of the pages of the incriminating evidence.

"I believe that Vice Minister Ren must be among them, and then there is..."

"Anything else?"

"A Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue would also be acceptable..."

"Ah? Eunuch Miao, it seems the Vice Minister of Revenue wasn't involved in the management of the Eastern Ward."

Qin Feng was not ashamed to ask questions of those less knowledgeable than himself.

It's obvious that the old eunuch didn't choose people randomly; there must have been a reason behind it.

but.

What is the rationale behind this? It doesn't seem like the selection is based on evidence of guilt.

"This person comes from the Qian family of Hejian."

Grandpa Miao said it casually.

"Then he must be guilty and deserves to die!"

Qin Feng immediately realized what was happening and replied.

The two looked at each other and smiled, their smiles becoming exactly the same.

The reason is simple and straightforward.

If the emperor wanted to remove several officials from the Nanlin Party, he naturally couldn't simply force them to resign; he would definitely want to eliminate them completely.

That necessitates a standard procedure for factory hygiene.

Copy the house!

Since we're going to confiscate their property!

Of course, you'd choose the one with the most family wealth; the Qian family of Hejian is a prominent clan.

Moreover, they were from an extremely wealthy and prestigious family.

"Lord Qin, if things go well... then we..."

"Father-in-law, we understand. We're all on the same side, we understand. Let's see if there are any other suitable ones?"

Qin Feng replied with an "I understand" emoji, and the two huddled together to continue examining the evidence of crimes committed by Nanlin Party officials.