Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 520: The Emperor Looking for Trouble
Without the need for the Fourth Prince or the Third Prince to return to the palace, and without the brothers personally filing a complaint, the scene in the Nine Chapters Hall reached the emperor's ears the first time. Whether it was the Fourth Prince's grievances and tears, the Third Prince's stepping forward and pretending to blame but actually helping, the reactions of Zhang Shou and other students, all the details were included, and there was no exaggeration.
When the emperor learned that his two young sons were being troubled by Zhang Shou, his first reaction was to angrily scold him: "Zhang Shou, why does he always pick on Sanlang and Silang?"
But after scolding him, he dismissed the eunuch from the Imperial Household Department, walked back and forth in the room, and then suddenly turned his head to ask Liu Feng, the manager of the Palace of Heavenly Purity, "Tell me, is it because Zhang Shou has never been able to finalize the matter he asked Yingying to come to the palace to talk to me, so he plans to use Silang as a raft to try to divert attention?"
Although Liu Feng had suffered a lot because the Fourth Prince betrayed him unintentionally, and was almost driven out of the Palace of Heavenly Purity by the Emperor, he did not dare to have the mentality of revenge, because the Fourth Prince was treated as a child by the Emperor, and all mistakes would be forgiven as long as they were not principled. Moreover, he and Zhang Shou did not have any good relationship, so he just wanted to keep a distance from him.
Therefore, he really didn't want to answer the emperor's question, but under the emperor's gaze, he had to bite the bullet and said, "Dr. Zhang should just be talking about the facts, right? After all, the fourth prince was not selected to the Jiuzhang Hall before. If he just brazenly goes to the class every day and spreads it, wouldn't the previous written test and interview become a joke?"
Liu Feng thought about it and finally decided to be fair. But this fair attitude made him once again sneer at the emperor: "There is no such thing as absolute fairness in this world. Zhang Shou must know this. Rather than torturing Si Lang, it is better to let this child truly understand the hardships of studying, and by the way, temper San Lang's previously timid character."
"But I'm afraid he'll go too far! If Sanlang and Silang's personalities were to swap places, I'd have a headache!"
Liu Feng imagined the possibility of this situation and immediately felt his scalp tingling: "Is the emperor worried that the Third Prince will become more outgoing, but the Fourth Prince will suffer too much setbacks and lose his edge?"
Seeing that the emperor did not make any comment, he recalled some rumors that had come from the Imperial Household Department, and immediately said cautiously: "Didn't the emperor decide that the third prince would have morning classes in Jiuzhang Hall and afternoon classes in the palace? Now that the third prince spends all day in Jiuzhang Hall, the fourth prince has also followed him. In this case, will those wise men who were invited think that..."
Liu Feng deliberately did not finish his words, leaving a hook for the emperor to think about it himself, but he was calculating with some malice in his heart. Although Zhang Shou and Chu Kuan, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, were not very close, it was said that this prince's teacher was also supported by Chu Kuan in front of the emperor in the past. So he would hold him back from behind. Anyway, he did not want to see Chu Kuan get everything he wanted.
When he said this, the emperor suddenly paused, and the emperor, who happened to be next to the table, slammed the table and cursed angrily. He originally thought that his words worked, but who knew that what the emperor said was not the case at all!
"No, Zhang Shou is not that kind, and he is helping to correct the character of the two brothers! He made things difficult for Si Lang today, maybe just to drive him back! If San Lang hadn't been responsible and smart now, he wouldn't have helped, but just said that he couldn't stand Si Lang's slowness. Maybe he would have been questioned together with San Lang! Just like when Zhang Shou first met Yingying, he thought it was troublesome!"
The more the emperor spoke, the more he felt that his guess made sense. He immediately walked around to the desk and sat down. Then he gently tapped his left hand with his right fist, with a look of wisdom on his face, as if he had completely seen through your evil scheme.
"I think so. When these two guys were in Banshan Hall, Zhang Shou sent them back to me under the pretext of the branch hall examination. When Jiuzhang Hall was recruiting new members, he deliberately set a strict threshold and only recruited Sanlang... Of course, if Sanlang hadn't suddenly shown his power, he probably wouldn't have wanted to recruit anyone at all! A few nice words coaxed these two brothers into forgetting to eat and sleep. This kid is so cunning!"
Liu Feng finally couldn't listen any more. Even though he knew his words might displease the emperor, he still said cautiously, "Could this be Zhang Shou's...playing hard to get?"
"Playing hard to get? I have captured and released him seven times. Do you think he is Zhuge Kongming, and Sanlang and Silang are the unlucky Meng Huo?"
The emperor had obviously read a lot of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He glared at Liu Feng, and when he saw him hurriedly lower his hands and head and dare not say anything, he said calmly, "This kid is afraid of trouble, so he doesn't want to get involved with any troublesome people. The same is true for troublesome things. He comes up with ideas and then throws them to others to do. Have you ever seen him not do this?"
"So, when he heard that I summoned four deans to the capital, his students were certainly very nervous, but he might have it was a good thing to save trouble and worry, as he didn't have to worry about my two silly sons who thought he was the best teacher in the world! He came up with a lot of ideas and wanted to take a break? It's not that comfortable. I wrote a secret letter and you can send it to the cabinet to Mr. Wu."
The emperor started writing without a second thought. Although Liu Feng should have gone up to grind the ink and stretch the paper, he had just angered the emperor with his careless remarks, so he naturally did not dare to go up and continue to be scolded.
What's more, what the emperor was writing was a secret letter. If he took a look at it and really leaked the news, he would be the first person to be suspected because he had been punished for letting the secret slip before.
So, even though Liu Feng really wanted to know what kind of secret letter the emperor had written, he could only stand there and watch the emperor write it all in one go, stamp it, let it dry, fold it, put it in an envelope, and seal it...all the steps were completed independently. He had no chance to help at all. All he could do was to step forward and bend over to take the envelope when the emperor handed it to him.
Since the emperor had asked him to deliver it instead of sending someone to deliver it, Liu Feng had to make the trip himself. When he arrived at the cabinet in front of Wenhua Palace and specifically asked to see Elder Wu, he was naturally brought to the famous good man, or the emperor's yes-man.
"Hey, what wind brings you here, Eunuch Liu?"
Lord Wu was as enthusiastic as ever. He had been in the cabinet the longest - at least longer than the current Grand Secretary Kong and Grand Secretary Zhang combined. He even joked with Liu Feng in a very familiar manner until the other party took out a secret letter from his arms.
The moment he saw the thing, the corners of Wu Ge Lao's eyebrows trembled slightly. Although his face was expressionless, he was extremely bitter in his heart. No wonder Liu Feng, who was on par with the chief of the Imperial Household Department, came to see him in person. It turned out that he wanted to give him such a tricky thing!
There is no doubt that he, the emperor's yes-man, will have to take the blame again!
Wu Ge Lao, who was used to taking the blame, just complained to himself for a while, but soon regained his spirits. Even though Liu Feng came to deliver the letter in person, he did not reveal a word to him. Instead, he said a few polite words and sent him away with a smile. After reading the letter, the most senior person in the cabinet, who was never the most senior in the ranking, began to act.
He found two trusted cabinet secretaries and gave them instructions quietly. At about 3 p.m., the several memorials he needed arrived in his hands when they were classified and drafted, and then he wrote down the drafts he had prepared in advance.
With so many memorials to be processed every day in such a large court, it was naturally impossible for the emperor to review them one by one. Therefore, a system was established during the time of Taizu, whereby the cabinet elders drafted the memorials and the emperor approved them.
Of course, the power of this group of reds had nothing to do with the Imperial Household Department, and the emperor had no practice of not changing the bills. It would be a strange thing if they did not reject 100 or 80 bills every day when they met emperors like Yingzong and Ruizong who were born in the imperial family. During the most intense period of conflict between the power of the emperor and the power of the prime minister, Yingzong changed seven cabinet ministers in one year, and Ruizong changed ten in two years.
As a result, in the later years of Emperor Yingzong's reign, his sons fought for the throne and the civil officials became alienated; after Emperor Ruizong's death, the court was in turmoil. Although all the military officials stood on the side of the empress dowager and the emperor, a widowed mother and her young son, the empress dowager and the emperor also had to make concessions in certain areas.
As for the cabinet elders, it was not only the chief minister who could draft memorials, but the cabinet secretary would distribute all memorials one by one and deliver them to the memorial boxes of the cabinet elders. It was said that it was anonymous and everyone depended on fate, but as long as they were willing, the cabinet elders could use their own means to get the memorials they wanted to draft into their own hands.
After the memorials were drafted by the cabinet ministers and refuted by the emperor, they were forwarded to the Six Departments Gallery, where they were reviewed by the Six Departments' Secretaries in different categories. If they did not need to be refuted, they were transferred from the Six Departments Gallery to the Ministry of Public Administration, and then to all the major government offices and circulated throughout the country.
However, apart from a group of strong officials during the reign of Emperor Taizu, the six departments' seals and rejections have long been in name only. Even though Emperor Yingzong and Emperor Ruizong emphasized the role of the officials, the officials nowadays have mostly usurped the authority of the censors, shifting the focus from the emperor to the ministers. Seal and reject the emperor's red-lettered approval? Are you trying to save your life?
Although finding fault with the emperor became finding fault with the ministers, there were still a group of people in the Six Departments who firmly believed in their duties.
When the memorials from the palace that had been approved by the emperor finally arrived at the Six Departments Hall in the evening , the six departments sorted them out and the hundreds of memorials were sorted into their respective places. Among them, the Civil Service Department and the Household Department had the most memorials, followed by the Criminal Affairs Department and the Engineering Department. The Military Department, which had always occupied the largest number of memorials, fell behind the Rites Department and had the least memorials.
As for the reason, it was very simple. There would be another big exam next year, and the Ministry of Rites was busy. There were many memorials, many drafts, and more rejections. Of course, the Rites Department was also busy. And because there was no war in the north, there were not so many people rising up in rebellion, and there were not many bandit problems. The Ministry of War was idle, and of course the Military Department was also idle.
But this time, Yu Huai, the Chief Censor of the Military Department, was shaking with anger holding a memorial in his hand, because it was a memorial reported by Zhu Tingfang about encountering bandits on the canal, and then showing his supernatural power by beheading many people underwater and capturing seven alive. After the people were handed over to the Ministry of War, it was unknown which idiot interrogated them, and actually reported that the people were remnants of the Linhai camp!
"What a bunch of bastards! Throwing buckets of dirty water on those traitors is just to make them speechless! They are only good at stabbing people in the back... If you have the guts, continue to impeach the Duke of Zhao and his son, and use tricks like buying off the pirates!"
He casually threw the memorial written by Zhu Tingfang and concluded by someone in the Ministry of War onto the desk, and the Deputy Secretary angrily cursed: "The Ministry of War is really getting more and more outrageous, even worse than when Lu Wan was in office! Lu Wan and Liu Zhiyuan are so good, one resigned and the other was unemployed, and they are both happily busy with their so-called public schools. As a result, the Ministry of War is dominated by a bunch of bastards!"
Having scolded to this point, Yu Huai casually pulled out the next book, only to see that it was indeed an impeachment of the current acting Minister of War, the Left Vice Minister, who was incompetent and doing nothing. He felt quite relieved after reading it once before looking at the draft and whether it would be approved or rejected in the end. However, he almost jumped up after just one look.
In theory, the cabinet's proposal for such an impeachment was just to ask for the emperor's judgment, and rarely any opinions were written. But this time, for the fierce impeachment, there was a proposal signed by Wu. And the inserted proposal only had two short lines of words.
"Since the Duke of Qin can be the Minister of Shuntian, why don't the Duke of Zhao or the Duke of Chu choose one to take charge of the Ministry of War?"
"Old Wu is simply ruining the country... no, bringing disaster to the country!" Yu Huai cursed while quickly glancing at the emperor's red words. When he saw the bright red words that clearly stated that Duke Zhao Zhu Jing could be the Minister of War, he finally went completely crazy.
"This is ridiculous! This is simply ridiculous! Although Duke Qin inherited the title, he has always been in charge of editing books and other tasks, more like a civil servant than a military officer. After taking office as the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, he followed the rules and regulations. What's more, Shuntian Prefecture is only responsible for the security of the capital, how can it be compared to the importance of a department... Old Wu must have accepted benefits from Duke Zhao Zhu Jing, I want to impeach him!"
Therefore, Yu Huai did not choose to seal or reject the emperor's red-lettered edict, but directly rolled up his sleeves and began to prepare to impeach Wu Ge Lao and Zhao Guogong Zhu Jing for colluding with civil and military officials and plotting against the law - as for whether it was true or not... what did it have to do with him? Such a big thing, as long as he directly exposed it, there would definitely be a lot of people swarming to follow.
As he was writing passionately, he brushed aside the pile of memorials. Anyway, most of the time, the Six Departments were just going through the motions, and the power of sealing and rejecting was rarely exercised, so it was naturally irrelevant whether they read it or not.
Therefore, he did not notice at all that among the pile of memorials that he had casually swept aside, there were unexpectedly the draft of Lord Wu and several lines of red comments from the emperor.
Wu Ge Lao proposed: "For escort ships at sea, the volunteers can recommend themselves and raise the funds for the ships themselves. After the Ministry of War approves it, they can send personnel to accompany the ships. The Ruiqi Battalion will select people to supervise the ships and approve the weapons carried by the personnel on board."
The emperor wrote in red: "Yes."
The next evening, after finishing his class at Jiuzhang Hall and returning to Zhang Garden, Zhang Shou learned from the angry Zhu Ying that his future father-in-law had been impeached for colluding with the cabinet elders and plotting to become the Minister of War. After finally calming down Zhu Ying, who was so angry that he wanted to beat up the censor in the street, he welcomed an unexpected guest.
Cao Wu almost bowed down as soon as he saw him, and said excitedly: "Dr. Zhang, the escort ship is done!"
