Doctor Amnesiac, but not completely amnesiac

"I take this as a compliment."

The tutor's tone was still as cold and hard, but his expression was a little more relaxed.

At least, this guy in front of me still maintains his bottom line.

"Okay, let's stop with the pleasantries. In order to pass on a message to me, you even sent out a clone of that guy to see me - what was it all about?"

The Master was silent for a while.

"That's it."

"——No, it's been several years, and you're still staring at Wei Yanwu? Is this guy your biological son or the late emperor's biological son?"

Qiao Yelan couldn't hold it anymore. Does that mean you really want Wei Yanwu to come back and sit in this position?

"Your Majesty today is far behind that person in terms of both qualifications and talents."

The old man sighed.

"He was unable to cope with Cai Yan, who had gathered the power of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel, and even had to bring in external forces to break the situation. The current situation of Great Yan is not something that an ordinary monarch can handle."

"You are talking nonsense. If it weren't for you, an old man, and a group of old ministers, would the emperor be having such a hard time now?"

Qiao Yelan glanced at him sideways.

"For the emperor to control the court, the most important thing is balance. The Ministry of War does not intervene, you take the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Sui Tai and leave them alone. The Ministry of Justice and the Heavenly Master only maintain the Great Yan Law. The Prime Minister still controls two of the remaining three ministries, and the emperor only has the Ministry of Works. How can you balance the court? How can you counterattack?"

The Grand Tutor remained silent.

"Also, what do you mean by 'even bringing in external forces'? You are very unhappy that the emperor asked me to come back to help, right? Why didn't you object five years ago? And why didn't you object forty years ago?"

The man was acting a little aggressive.

The Grand Tutor still said nothing.

"To put it bluntly, I came back without bringing Wei Yanwu with me, which means that I wanted to help the current Majesty - this is why you are unhappy, right?"

"I help His Majesty control the government, and you know I have the ability to do so, so the hope of Wei Yanwu's return is even slimmer - but have you ever thought about whether Wei Yanwu really has the slightest intention of coming back?"

"...If any prince says that he doesn't want to sit on the supreme throne, it must be a lie."

The old man finally spoke.

"Humph, I admit that the Crown Prince was definitely ambitious back then and wanted to ascend to the supreme throne, but now - let me put this on hold, old man, if I don't come back this time, then Wei Yanwu will really have his entire path cut off."

Qiao Yelan sneered.

The Grand Tutor frowned and looked at Qiao Yelan with a puzzled look on his face.

"Do you know what he did?"

"......What?"

"He married his sister to the most legitimate heir to the Victoria Drake royal family."

The man's tone turned sinister.

"You heard it right. It's 'marry', not 'marry' - in other words, he married a princess of Da Yan to a foreign royal family."

The Grand Tutor's expression darkened. As someone who had been in charge of the Ministry of Rites for decades, it was impossible for him not to understand what Qiao Yelan meant.

What Princess Shang meant was that when the princess got married, the prince consort would live in the princess's residence and all household affairs would be decided by the princess because she was the head of the household.

Marrying a princess is just like marrying an ordinary person. The princess lives in her husband's house, and the husband is the head of the household.

Princesses of Dayan can marry or marry into the royal family, but marrying into the royal family is basically arranged by the royal family. However, there is only one thing that is taboo -

Princess Dayan will never marry a foreign princess.

Regardless of whether Edward had a title, a fiefdom, or a country, his bloodline determined that his identity could not be changed - so Wei Yanwu's actions did not need to be smeared or distorted, and could be directly characterized as a marriage of peace.

Because no matter what Wei Yanwu's surname is now, he is not a simple Duke of Dayan, but a vassal king with royal blood.

If it was Princess Shang, and Wei Yanwu let his sister marry Edward, there would not be any reaction in the court. Even the generals in the Ministry of War would only praise Wei for doing a good job. No one would say anything bad about Wei Yanwu, as he would have a claim of legitimacy for no reason.

But now, Wei Yanwu himself married a foreign princess, and married his sister to a foreign prince - the military will have to think carefully about this.

"He really did that?"

"Not now - I have already dealt with this matter. The foreign prince is a [rumor]. The princess was just deceived and kept a concubine."

Qiao Yelan waved his hand, signaling the tutor not to be too nervous.

"Now, you should know what Wei Yanwu is thinking, right? If this guy hadn't refused to give in and said that if he became emperor, Princess Wenyue must be the empress, you wouldn't be unable to speak for him. Even if Wenyue was a concubine, it would be this former prince who is sitting on the throne now."

"Essentially, these two things are the same. Wei Yanwu just wants to use the method of self-desecration to make the six ministries of the court distance themselves from him - marrying Wen Yue as his principal wife is to reject your Ministry of Rites, and marrying his sister to someone else is to reject the Ministry of War."

Although the old man's face looked ugly, he did not say anything angry to Qiao Yelan. It was obvious that he also saw the facts clearly.

"The reason why I hurried back without informing you when the emperor still doesn't trust me is because this matter involves too much. Once it is confirmed, Wei Yanwu will completely lose the qualification to compete for the throne - this is the only thing that neither of us wants to see."

"So before I gain the emperor's trust, I cannot show that I have any connection with you, otherwise the emperor will see through my intentions. If that happens, the content of the imperial edict that Zhu Ronghui receives will be completely different."

The Grand Tutor nodded. The reason why he was still in a good mood towards Qiao Yelan this time was because he had heard about Zhu Ronghui's appointment. He also knew that this must have been the result of Qiao Yelan's efforts.

"Since you are doing this, you must be more optimistic about Duke Wei - then why do you still want to help the emperor and control the court?"

"You'd better make a clear distinction. My protection of Wei Yanwu's right to take office and my support for Wei Yanwu are two different things. I just keep an extra card for myself out of habit, just in case there is an unexpected assassination and I can't find anyone to support me."

Qiao Yelan said coldly.

"What I care about is only the Tianji Pavilion in Saibei. The current emperor has never said that he wants to cut the expenses of the Tianji Pavilion to satisfy his own desire for power."

The old man remained silent. If anyone dared to talk about the successor to the throne of Dayan being just a card in front of him, he would immediately strangle the person to death.

But this person is the only one who is truly qualified to say this.

"So you will help him deal with Cai Yan."

"That Prime Minister Cai's eyes were red when he saw Chen Fan from the Ministry of Revenue making a fortune from smuggling. Although he could get a share of the money, it was only a drop in the bucket after all. Chen Fan had been using money to pave the way for the country recently, and he was already trying to shake Cai Yan's position."

"Since he can't increase the source of income, he can only cut down on expenditure. But he should never, ever, think of the Tianji Pavilion - in this case, we have no choice but to ask Prime Minister Cai to set off in advance."

Qiao Yelan's tone was calm, but his words were as turbulent as a storm.

There was no surprise or sarcasm on the Taifu's face.

He just sighed.

"It seems that Duke Wei really has no hope."

"After hearing what I just said, you didn't have any evil thoughts?"

"Do you think I would deliberately mislead His Majesty and let him attack the Tianji Pavilion?"

The old man sneered.

"I just prefer Duke Wei in my heart, not the ambitious people who want to plunge Da Yan into civil strife for their own selfish interests."

"Since Duke Wei himself is unwilling, and you have already recognized Your Majesty, then I will naturally not interfere for no reason. I have said that the situation facing Great Yan is too complicated and too dangerous. Even a stable Great Yan cannot be expected to cope with it, let alone a turbulent Great Yan."

Having said that, he raised his head and glanced at Qiao Yelan.

"——I have seen the state of Ursus in recent years."

Qiao Yelan just took the iron tongs and added another piece of charcoal into his hot water bottle.

"In that case, you should take this opportunity to show your goodwill to the emperor and take advantage of Cai Yan and his gang. This way, I can feel more relaxed and you can regain the opportunity to communicate with the emperor. I don't want to go back to Dayan Capital to deal with the mess after your death next time."

"No, I just don't want to get involved in party disputes, but that doesn't mean I won't - Your Majesty will be willing to keep me."

The Grand Tutor said it lightly, and Qiao Yelan did not refute.

In the court of Dayan, the longer one lives, the more evil one becomes.

This Taifu is just like that.

"What are you going to do next?"

"Your Majesty will be very angry at the court meeting tomorrow. Under such circumstances, if the emperor says he wants to use the Imperial Guards to impose martial law, no censors or court officials will dare to object. The trouble is what happens after the martial law."

"Who are you trying to catch?"

“I have no official position, but my identity is sensitive.”

The corners of the man's mouth curved slightly.

"The concierge of the Prime Minister's residence."

"Is there any basis for this?"

"Yes, it was during the first court meeting after Manager Wang's death. After the court session that day, Chen Fan took Minister Wang to visit Cai Yan. The information about this matter was withheld by the Secret Service, and the concierge had previously denied it, so the Dali Temple didn't know about it yet - but after the court meeting, the Dali Temple would know about it."

The old man nodded, as long as they didn't arrest people without any evidence.

"After arresting the gatekeeper of the Prime Minister's Mansion, Cai Yan will not let it go. He will definitely make a big fuss at the next court meeting, saying that the Imperial Guards took advantage of the situation to expand the crackdown and detained and interrogated irrelevant people without reason, inciting the fear of being purged among the court officials, hoping that the emperor would restrain himself."

"At that time, I will stand up and support the emperor as the Grand Tutor. The Ministry of Rites and the Simatai will also support him. If we add the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple, as well as the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of the Imperial Household, which are already in your Majesty's hands, Cai Yan will not be able to stop him with just the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel."

Qiao Yelan nodded, with a look of relief on his face.

I haven't had a chat with a smart person in a long time, and this feels like a needle in a haystack.

"But I'm afraid we won't be able to capture Cai Yan just by arresting the doorman, right?"

"I have no intention of taking down Cai Yan. The late emperor chose Cai Yan because he is really capable and competent. The current situation is entirely due to his willful eldest son. So if we really want to say who is to blame for the current situation in the court - the first is Wei Yanwu, the second is you, and the third is Cai Yan's turn."

"If Wei Yanwu hadn't suddenly run away, Cai Yan's ambition would have never been born. If you hadn't indulged him, this ambition would have no room to grow. And if you want to take someone down, the first thing you need to consider is who can take up this position."

"With the current situation in Dayan, if Cai Yan falls, will you take over or should I take over?"

The Master stopped talking. He didn't have the energy or the thought to do so, but Qiao Yelan took over...

Well, compared to this, he felt that Xiao Cai was a pretty good leader, so why remove him?

"What I want is to break up the clique that Cai Yan has colluded with. The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel must be split. As long as these two departments are split, Cai Yan will not be a threat to the emperor. Then he will have to work overtime in that position until he dies. Otherwise, the emperor will send him to death early."

Qiao Yelan sneered.

Killing is the lowest form of revenge - what he is best at is always destroying the heart.

What desire for power, what ambition, in the end, he was suppressed by the young emperor he once despised for his whole life. In order to avoid being chopped off by the emperor, he had no choice but to stay in this position, unable to make any progress or retreat, and be a conscientious court official.

This is what Qiao Yelan prepared for Prime Minister Cai, and it is the ending that best suits him.

Chapter 89: Transaction Completed

"Do you want to see Him?"

After agreeing on the cooperation in the court, the Grand Tutor suddenly changed the subject.

"Of course I have to see him. Besides you, the person I want to see this time is him."

Qiao Yelan nodded.

"The meeting at Longmen was very hasty, and there were too many irrelevant people around, so we couldn't talk in detail. I hope we can handle it all at once this time."

The old man nodded, feeling relieved. He had taken the risk of sending the clone of the Second Phase to deliver the message, and it seemed nothing unexpected had happened.

"Then go - if you stay here too long, His Majesty will become suspicious."

"You're pushing me?"

"Respecting the old and loving the young is the traditional virtue of Dayan."

The Grand Tutor pushed Qiao Yelan and walked towards the depths of Simuitai.

After passing through a long and deep corridor, the view suddenly opens up. Among the gardens, under a peach tree, a young man sitting in front of a chessboard looks particularly out of place.

"A new national player?"

The man asked impatiently without even looking up.

"I'm really sorry, I only know a little bit about chess, I'm afraid I can't beat you - but there is still a deal between you and me, so I came to visit."

Hearing Qiao Yelan's voice, the other party suddenly looked up and appeared in front of Qiao Yelan in an instant.

"——You asked for the Art of Weapon Spirits, and I have completed it. Now, fulfill your promise!"

"Okay, okay, what do you want?"

Qiao Yelan took the paper in his hand and asked with interest while reading.

"Help me revive my sister!"

He stared at Qiao Yelan, pain and desire flowing in his eyes.