Doctor Amnesiac, but not completely amnesiac

Gao Cheng was someone he had won over by relying on the teacher-student relationship, so Qiao Yelan did not pay any attention to Gao Cheng. Instead, he put all his energy on Chen Fan from the very beginning, someone he had won over by relying on personal interests.

The most crucial point is that after splitting Chen Fan and himself, a normal person would, of course, continue to expand this rift until the Tsai Party is completely split.

But Qiao Yelan is not a normal person at all - after the rift appeared, he was able to pull Chen Fan to the emperor's side overnight.

What Cai Yan could not have expected the most was that in just one night, Chen Fan not only defected, but also detonated a bomb within the Tsai Party with the most drastic behavior, almost as if he was paying a token of his allegiance.

The situation exploded internally, and the emperor was exerting pressure externally. However, at this moment Cai Yan himself was held back by the case of the doorman and could not speak - so Gao Cheng, the idiot who was promoted by him, was exposed in an instant.

This is the only thing Cai Yan doesn’t understand.

If Cai Yan could still think back on the split between himself and Chen Fan in hindsight, then persuading Chen Fan to switch sides and submit his allegiance to the emperor overnight was something that seemed incredible to him.

Because unity is much more difficult than division.

Qiao Yelan has to convince not only Chen Fan, but also the emperor. He even wants the emperor to give Chen Fan a reassurance, so that Chen Fan will be willing to surrender.

Moreover, after the fall of the Cai Party, Cai Yan and Chen Fan had several confrontations in the court. The results of these confrontations made Cai Yan certain that Minister Chen was still the same Minister Chen, and that interests were everything to him. Therefore, he could be irreconcilable with Cai Yan in front of the emperor, but he could also stand by Cai Yan in the court.

So Prime Minister Cai’s review was stuck here - before he figured out how Qiao Yelan brought Chen Fan and the emperor together, he didn’t even dare to contact Chen Fan privately.

Cai Yan saw traces of Qiao Yelan at a glance from what happened in the past two days.

Because they are too similar.

Every time something big happened, he would drag the person he wanted to deal with into the water in an irrefutable manner, and let the emperor manipulate him as he pleased, and then he would let the person go when he was satisfied.

What's more, it was obvious that the emperor had always intended to let Qiao Yelan take over the position of Minister of Rites, and all kinds of rumors in the court were evidence of this - there was no reason to give the position of Minister to someone else when Qiao Yelan had once again "achieved extraordinary feats".

Therefore, this must be Qiao Yelan’s own intention.

So Qiao Yelan must be a participant in this plan.

Then the question arises - I was spared by Qiao Yelan and the Emperor.

Even he himself was able to stay in the court, so how could the Taifu be trampled upon to the point that he was deprived of the opportunity to serve the emperor?

It doesn't make sense. Cai Yan himself doesn't even dare to say that he can surpass the Taifu, so how could the emperor be so wasteful?

"Your Majesty, the Grand Tutor is still the Grand Tutor after all. Managing a mere Simaitai should not take up all his energy. After all, he is an old minister and there are still many things he can do for Your Majesty."

The Grand Marshal, who had never interfered in court affairs, suddenly stood up and pleaded for the Grand Tutor.

This was quite reasonable - because of the status of Taifu as one of the Three Dukes, and the fact that the emperor was angry at the time, the only people who were qualified and courageous enough to plead for him were the other two of the Three Dukes.

However, it was this sentence that made Cai Yan's pupils shrink suddenly.

Is it really because of this?

The emperor appoints people based on their talents, and as long as they are under his control, he will not waste their abilities - Qiao Yelan can convince the emperor to let Cai Yan go, so why can't he convince the emperor to let the Taifu go?

With Cai Yan as an example, and his dedicated and conscientious work, how could the emperor really suppress the Taifu and prevent him from attending court and working?

Then, such heavy suppression is naturally for other purposes.

Now, the purpose pops up on its own.

If we are to talk about the responsibility for the grievances that the emperor suffered in the first few years after he ascended the throne, none of the three ministers can escape responsibility - because if any one of them had stood on the emperor's side, things would never have developed to this point.

Cai Yan took the lead in resisting the imperial order, the Taifu was concerned about the crown prince of the previous dynasty, and the Taiwei was deaf and blind in the court.

The difference between them is that Cai Yan was sentenced to lingchi, Taifu was hanged, and Taiwei was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Now in the court, the Ministry of Revenue has defected, the Ministry of Personnel has been replaced, the Ministry of Rites has taken over, the Ministry of Works has followed the emperor, and the Ministry of Justice goes without saying - of these six ministries, only the Ministry of War is left.

And the relationship between the Taiwei and the Ministry of War...

Cai Yan took a deep breath—he knew it!

Once the emperor starts to take action against the three ministers, how could he stop?

After the Taifu fell from power and handed over the Ministry of Rites, the emperor no longer cared about him - because the Taifu could no longer influence the court.

Then the natural thing is to squeeze out every last bit of his value.

——Force the general to die.

Cai Yan just felt a chill all over his body.

His attitude towards Qiao Yelan had varied from fear to submission to flattery and counterattack - but this time was the first time he felt fear towards Qiao Yelan.

This man... is he going to use the emperor's hand to clean up all the three officials?

The Three Dukes assist the emperor in governing the country. After all, Dayan is so big, and the emperor is not an eternal wise king, so naturally he needs the Three Dukes by his side.

But now, Qiao Yelan plans to use the emperor's hand to turn the three ministers into the emperor's yes-men one after another.

This is still the court - outside the court, the Shaofu has spies all over the capital, and now they have selected good people to form the Jinyiwei, and together with the Suzhengyuan of the Dali Temple, they are investigating all officials in the country...

Once the Grand Marshal falls, it means that there is no one in the entire Dayan who can stop the emperor. Counting the Shaofu and the Jinyiwei, it can be said that the emperor's power has reached an unprecedented level.

This is the true "I am the state".

Qiao Yelan——What on earth are you going to do!

Rejecting the position of Minister of Rites...Does that mean he doesn't value a mere position of Minister?

Or......

Cai Yan didn't dare to think about it anymore.

Once this is accomplished, the three officials will be just a decoration, and Qiao Yelan will become the real "second to none".

He really wanted to go out and plead for the Grand Tutor with the Grand Marshal - but then Cai Yan was at a loss.

Why would he object?

For Da Yan?

By definition, it seems that those who do not respect the emperor are the traitors...

For your majesty?

If other people heard this reason, they might sweat like a bean...

For the sake of ancestral system?

...That's enough. The emperor doesn't even feel that it's going against his ancestors - who are you?

Cai Yan suddenly realized a problem.

The reason he couldn't look back was because Qiao Yelan had already nailed all the labels.

The Grand Marshal was the head of the military officers, so his plea could not influence the civil officials.

Cai Yan is the head of the civil servants, but how can his plea resonate with other civil servants and make them follow suit?

What about the other head of the civil service?

Still kneeling there.

At this moment, Prime Minister Cai, who was not being watched by anyone, was sweating profusely.

This is not right—this is not right!

The court should be like a game of chess. Since it is a game of chess, there must be chess players. Only when two sides play against each other can it be called chess.

The ministers sit in their positions according to their talents, and some of them are at odds with Your Majesty, while others are in agreement with Your Majesty, and the Emperor uses power to control the ministers.

This has always been the case between the court and the emperor.

The emperor is a chess player, and naturally there are chess players among his ministers.

Qiao Yelan stands on the side of the emperor, so even if he can become a chess player instead of the emperor - what about the chess players on their side?

He, the Grand Tutor, and the Grand Commandant are all pawns with labels.

These are all chess pieces that have been labeled by the opposing chess player!

Who is playing the chess game on their side?

A conclusion that made Cai Yan shudder quietly and silently crept into his heart like a maggot on the tarsal bone.

The chess player on their side is also Qiao Yelan.

Prime Minister Cai remembered something.

There was actually a court meeting the night before he fell from power and forced Chen Fan to break up with him.

At that court meeting, the one who was making trouble was not the emperor, nor was it Qiao Yelan——

It's the Taifu.

He is the Grand Tutor who has not come to the court and has not spoken for a long time.

He had a chance to turn the situation around that day, but his doorman was arrested, and he and Chen Fan lost the opportunity to communicate secretly. However, Chen Fan was still a member of Tsai's party at that time, and he had already realized that something was wrong. The person behind the scenes was not any of them.

As long as Cai Yan gains a foothold that day, everything will continue to drag on.

However, the Grand Tutor came to the court, and not only did he come, he also brought the Minister of War with him, and was the first to oppose the motion he proposed to "not expand the arrests."

Then the wind direction suddenly changed, and Chen Fan had to follow the crowd and stood against himself at the court meeting that day.

That court meeting was the fuse for the downfall of Tsai’s party, and it was the Grand Tutor who lit the fuse.

So, would Qiao Yelan put such a switch in the hands of someone he doesn't trust?

The emperor was already in a precarious situation at the time, and he had never succeeded in recruiting a tutor, so there was no reason for him to accomplish this task suddenly - so it must have been Qiao Yelan who did it himself.

Given the level of trust between Qiao Yelan and the Grand Tutor, why has it come to this?

What happened to this step?

The Grand Tutor handed over the Ministry of Rites, but still firmly controlled the Simaitai. The person who succeeded the Ministry of Rites was also his student. Although there were disagreements between the Grand Tutor and Minister Ning, they were a teacher-student relationship after all. Minister Ning could not and would not add insult to injury to his teacher - otherwise, the charge of "disrespect" alone would be enough to make him, the Minister of Rites, suffer.

The Ministry of Rites was not originally under the jurisdiction of the Taifu.

In other words, this old man simply returned something that did not belong to him, and he ended up safely, standing on the side of the emperor.

Is Chen Fan really the only one who has pledged his allegiance?

Chapter 150: Who is happier, seeing through or being ignorant?

Qiao Yelan noticed Cai Yan's gaze.

He was worthy of being the least loyal one among the three ministers left behind - his performance had proved that his abilities in other aspects were strong enough to make the late emperor not bother with him about the so-called loyalty issue for the time being.

Although Prime Minister Cai was able to keep his emotions under control, the fact that he looked directly at Qiao Yelan, skipping over the Grand Tutor and the Grand Marshal who were currently the ones to bear the brunt of the impact, was already a blatant sign of his wavering.

[Ignorance] is the greatest mercy a superior can give to a chess piece.

On the other hand, if a chess piece sees through the situation and then infers the identity and position of the chess player, that would be the tragedy of the chess piece.

——Because he had to face that unspeakable fear.

When he was dismantling Cai Yan's followers, the other party was able to remain calm and maintain the demeanor of a prime minister. Not only did he not do anything desperate, but he also showed the courage he had experienced in the officialdom for decades.

Cai Yan did not shelter any of the former followers of the Cai Party. He did not even stand up when Gao Cheng was about to be exterminated in a quarrel. He just gave a routine advice against excessive killing, and when the emperor did not accept his advice, he did not speak again, but continued to work diligently in his position.

This also made the emperor gradually realize Cai Yan's ability - because he could not handle many things in the memorials himself, he had to let Cai Yan go through them and write a response strategy first.

Therefore, Cai Yan did not have too much fear of Qiao Yelan. He just regarded Qiao Yelan as a very capable young man. Everyone was playing the game within the rules. If he could not win, it was just a victory or defeat. It was not to the point where he thought he was inferior to others.

But now, it's time to wake up from this complacent and self-righteous dream.

The Grand Tutor has completely sided with him, and by using the Grand Tutor's affairs, he could in turn bring out the Grand Marshal, and thus allow the Emperor and the Grand Marshal to hold each other against each other.

With the help of those old ministers and the secret help of the Grand Tutor, the Grand Marshal should be able to withstand the pressure from the Emperor. At least a decisive victory is unlikely.

Therefore, as long as he can scare Cai Yan, the court will be stable for a long time.

This is why Qiao Yelan prefers his opponents to be smart people - because if the opponent is Char Siu, he might not understand his operations and will have to rush in.

You can win, but it will be an uncomfortable win, and you might even get spit on the head by the opponent.

This time, Qiao Yelan did not respond to Cai Yan's gaze. He just sat quietly in his wheelchair, closing his eyes and resting.

Special approval from His Majesty the Emperor.

Qiao Yelan did not intend to really win over Cai Yan, he just wanted to keep him out of the way - because if he wanted Cai Yan to join his team, Qiao Yelan would have to keep an eye on him.

Otherwise, Cai Yan will definitely rebel.

However, with the other party's abilities, except for Qiao Yelan himself who could see through it, the others were almost unable to withstand Cai Yan's deception - so they might as well scare the other party and make him stay away from their own affairs.

However, there still needs to be some spies in the court. The old man Taifu seems to have changed sides, but in fact it is just the conventional inertia of not putting all eggs in one basket.