Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 648 Deliberate
When she was young, she was first a princess of a vassal state, then an empress, and became the empress dowager at the age of thirty. She was in charge of government affairs behind the scenes, and had been busy with all kinds of affairs. The empress dowager had long been accustomed to going to bed early and getting up late. It was only in recent years that the emperor's methods became a little more tactful, and only occasionally he would be simple and rough. She just completely ignored the affairs of the court, and finally moved her bedtime forward from the midnight to the evening.
However, she was in her early sixties and was always alert, so the night watchmen in the palace often avoided Qingning Palace. In summer and autumn, some people even caught the singing insects in Qingning Palace specifically to let her sleep well.
But on this day, Yuquan had to urgently wake up the empress dowager in the middle of the night and convey the news that had just come from the Qianqing Palace.
The empress dowager who was helped up still felt a little dizzy. She reached out to take a cup of warm water from Yuquan and drank a few sips to calm herself down. Then she frowned and asked, "Did the emperor really remove three of the four people who held the seal and pen in the Imperial Household Department? Not only was Lu Chan demoted, but he was also caned, and he even sent Chu Kuan to the Ciqing Palace to serve as a scribe?"
"yes."
The Queen Mother put down the teacup, and then put on a dress with Yuquan's help, and then leaned on a large pillow, gently rubbing her temples while listening to Li Shanggong, who was brought in by Yuquan, telling her about the incident in the Palace of Heavenly Purity. When she learned that Chu Kuan did not make any excuses and did not rely on their past friendship and merits to plead for mercy, she sighed.
When Li Shanggong said that the imperial attendant and Lü Chan were sent to the Criminal Department together, and the emperor's original words were to be beaten with 20 strokes of the cane and lifelong hard labor, she sighed and said, "He ignored Liu Feng's kindness for so many years and beat him to death. He didn't even find the body and didn't even investigate. But now he is so lenient to the imperial attendant... This is not normal."
No one knows a child better than his mother, so Yuquan naturally believed the Queen Mother's judgment. But she also knew that the Queen Mother didn't want to hear her opinion, so she didn't agree or object, but just gently pulled the quilt higher for the Queen Mother.
"Chu Kuan has only been the seal holder for less than a year... I thought that with his age, qualifications and achievements, he would be able to work until old age." The Queen Mother sighed softly, then frowned in confusion, "How could the emperor be so arbitrary to demote him without any evidence? It's as if he has determined that it was Chu Kuan who did it... Li Shiniang, Chu Kuan really didn't beg for mercy, nor did he say he wanted to come to see me?"
Li Shang Gong quickly shook her head and said, "Empress Dowager, after leaving the Qianqing Palace, Eunuch Chu returned to the Zhifang. I heard that he also told the new seal holder, that is, the eunuch Qian who was promoted by you, the Empress Dowager, that from now on he will serve in the Ciqing Palace, and the Zhifang in the Outer Imperial City will not be needed. When the time comes, it will be returned to the Silijian, and others will be able to use it."
"The new seal holder of the Imperial Household Department... is Qian Ren?" The Queen Mother asked in disbelief. Seeing Li Shanggong nodding repeatedly, she covered her forehead with her hands this time. It was indeed Qian Ren whom she promoted, but that was because he was honest and loyal, and there was no discrepancy when replacing old and new treasures in a certain warehouse. At that time, she had just been crowned as the Queen, so she promoted him to Fengyu.
As a result, 20 years later, he was still Fengyu. She occasionally saw him being bullied by his juniors, so she told the emperor about it and promoted him to Suitang. Later, the emperor probably remembered this person and promoted him to Bingbi a few years later.
But this is already the limit of this person's ability. He is a guy who can read and write, but is still as honest as a farmer. He becomes the pen holder because he has lived long, has enough experience, is loyal and rarely makes mistakes. After all, he is over seventy years old. It's okay to be a good omen, but as a seal... It would be strange if he is not eaten alive by those cunning younger generations!
Thinking of this, the Queen Mother, who had a headache, opened the quilt and was about to get out of bed. Yuquan was shocked when she saw this, and hurriedly stretched out her hand to stop him. Li Shanggong hurried forward and knelt down to salute, saying: "Queen Mother, I came out to report the news because the Emperor specifically ordered me to do so. The Emperor also told me that he knew what was going on, so please don't worry."
The Queen Mother was amused by the Emperor's message, but what Lady Li said next made her sit back down.
"The Emperor also asked me to tell the Queen Mother that he and Eunuch Chu grew up together and he knows him best. Eunuch Chu would definitely not come to the Queen Mother to cry and plead for mercy. If that were the case, he would not confess his guilt in the Palace of Heavenly Purity. He got what he wanted, and the Queen Mother doesn't have to feel wronged... The Emperor even thinks he got it for free!"
Yuquan was confused by these nonsensical words, and Li Shanggong, who delivered the message, was equally confused. However, after the initial bewilderment of the empress dowager, her mind suddenly became clear, and all the key points that she had been unable to understand just now suddenly became clear.
The charity halls in the Imperial Household Department have existed for too long. If they are to be rectified, they must make a big move against the Imperial Household Department. If Chu Kuan is in power, he must protect the interests of this group. If the emperor wants to take action, he has to bite the bullet and resist, otherwise he will lose his prestige. After all, if the head of the Imperial Household Department takes action against the territory of the Imperial Household Department, then this head will be finished!
Maybe the guy who wanted to castrate himself to get promoted but had no other way to get promoted, so he attacked the candidates in anger, and the one who pushed the rumor was Chu Kuan himself. Even Liu Feng plotted against the Fourth Prince, although it was his own intention, but he could bring the Fourth Prince to hang out in the inner study hall of the Silijian, which was probably because Chu Kuan deliberately condoned it.
Unexpectedly, the Fourth Prince did not reveal the secret in front of the Emperor, but revealed it in public, thus causing huge trouble.
Even the Lu family affair might have been a play staged by Chu Kuan himself, just to make the emperor furious and take him down... But, how could he understand the emperor's intention so well and know that he wanted to stabilize the country before fighting foreign enemies?
No, the emperor did not seem to notice the malpractices in the Imperial Household Department.
Maybe Chu Kuan just saw that the emperor had been angry in Xuanda, Guanglu Temple, the Ministry of Revenue and even the Imperial College over the past year, which aroused strong reactions. This just happened to attract those court officials to turn their spearheads? Does this count as cleaning up the family and dispelling slander for the emperor, killing two birds with one stone?
Thinking of the child with a disability that she had picked up in front of her door, how she had let someone raise him because she was soft-hearted and taught him the rules and kept him in the palace, how she had kept him by her side because she saw he was smart and capable, and how he had learned both literature and martial arts and truly became a right-hand man, but could not serve as an official just because of that disability, the Queen Mother could not help but sigh deeply, and then ordered lightly: "Turn off the lights and go to bed."
Yuquan and Li Shanggong were just worried that the Queen Mother would be so angry after hearing such news that she would rush to the Qianqing Palace in the middle of the night to argue with the Emperor. Now seeing that the Queen Mother suddenly relaxed and even planned to rest again, they were suddenly happy and worried. Of course, it was impossible to disobey the Queen Mother, so they could only do as she was told. After quietly leaving the bedroom, the two looked at each other.
"Are you going back to the Qianqing Palace to report?"
Yuquan asked, and when she saw Li Shanggong nodded, she said softly, "How about this, you report the Queen Mother's reaction to the Emperor in detail, so that the Emperor can understand it. From this situation, the Queen Mother obviously understood the deep meaning of the Emperor's handling of the matter. It's a pity that we are too stupid to understand it."
When Li Shanggong hurried back to the Qianqing Palace, the emperor had not yet gone to bed. After listening to her report on the results of her trip to the Qingning Palace, he nodded slightly and dismissed the Shanggong recommended by his mother.
Just now, he was worried that the Queen Mother would come to the Qianqing Palace in person to question him because of what happened tonight. Now, he can finally put his mind at ease and have a good sleep.
However, the emperor's reassurance only lasted for a short while.
He had no interest in going to the concubines tonight. Just as the maid had made the bed, he changed his clothes, washed up, and yawned as he prepared to go to bed, when the steward Chen Yongshou came in person to report that the Crown Prince wanted to see him. Thinking that he had placed his two sons in the Zhaoren Palace next door, he was too annoyed to change his clothes. He just told him to come in and took off his shoes and went to bed.
So, when the third prince came in neatly dressed, he saw the emperor leaning on a large pillow with his eyes closed. He knew he had come at the wrong time, and his face flushed, but he knew he couldn't back down, so he could only grit his teeth and step forward. After paying his respects, he said in a deep voice: "Father, I have been sitting here for a long time and still can't figure it out, so I can only come here to ask for advice."
Looking at his son lying on the bed, honestly and sincerely saying he didn't understand, the emperor, who had just pretended to be asleep, could no longer sit still. He raised his finger angrily and pointed at the back of the third prince's head, and then scolded him: "Don't think about things you can't understand. Don't you believe in the way your father has ruled the world for more than 20 years?"
"I believe it... but I just hope to understand your father's thoughts, so that I won't work so hard to learn and catch up, but still can't learn and catch up!" The third prince's forehead almost touched the ground in front of the bed, but he didn't raise his head and said, "I just can't understand it. Your father should also think that it may not be Eunuch Chu who did all those things, so why did he punish him so severely?"
"If it was to serve as a warning to others, why did they remove the other two officials and promote Eunuch Qian to be the seal holder? He is already over seventy years old, and I heard that he is not a smart and capable person!"
After saying this in one breath, the Third Prince finally gathered up his courage. He gradually raised his head and looked at his father, and then he said word by word: "Father, you were able to kill Liu Feng before, so why did you let go of that audacious imperial attendant who attacked Eunuch Chu tonight?"
The emperor was very satisfied that the prince he had chosen could question him like this, but he was also dissatisfied. He was satisfied that the third prince finally had a questioning spirit instead of being submissive. You know, he really liked a considerate yes-man, but he definitely didn't like a yes-man prince! As for what he was dissatisfied with...
That is, his own prince actually thought that he, the emperor, believed that those things were not done by Chu Kuan!
So the emperor kicked his quilt away, sat cross-legged on the bed, stared coldly at his heir, and said word by word: "Why do you think that I don't think Chu Kuan did it? Your teacher and sister Yingying think that Chu Kuan didn't do it, that's because they think Chu Kuan is a smart man and wouldn't be so stupid."
"When those people from the Imperial Household Department pleaded for mercy, they insisted that Chu Kuan definitely didn't do it. That's because some of them fear Chu Kuan's power and ability, some want to put him on the spot, and some speculate that I have a very close relationship with him, so I must protect him. Among the seven people from the Imperial Household Department who pleaded for mercy, there is probably not a single one who really cares about Chu Kuan."
"Even his godson, Lu Chan, probably wasn't sincere. Eunuchs are just like court officials, they all come for profit, they all go for profit, there's no real affection, it's just a combination of interests. And the things they will do are the same, smart people may not necessarily not do stupid things, and stupid people may not necessarily not do smart things."
"Just because Chu Kuan used to be a smart man, you concluded that he didn't do it. I tell you, you are totally wrong!"
"How do you think the turmoil in the Imperial College came about? Yingying and those guys traced it back to the outer court of the Imperial Household Department. You thought it was a trick because it was so easy to find out, and Chu Kuan even backed away when Yingying blocked the door? No, I can tell you clearly that it was Chu Kuan who ordered it!"
"Liu Feng instigated your fourth brother. Maybe it wasn't Chu Kuan who ordered him to do so, but how did Liu Feng know certain details? Have you ever thought about it?"
"Tonight, I used hypnosis to tell Zhang Chen about those messy imperial attendants. Do you think he was just accusing Chu Kuan? That imperial attendant suddenly died of colic. Was it someone else who framed him? Haha, even if it was a frame-up, do you believe that Chu Kuan was behind it? It was really unfair to kill that attendant!"
"I have been a master and servant with Chu Kuan for many years, so I know him better than anyone else! I don't need to check, because he asked Hua Qi to tell me that he is willing to come to the Qianqing Palace to sweep the floor! Haha, is the Qianqing Palace short of a cleaning servant? Since there is no shortage, then I will fulfill his wish and let him go to the Ciqing Palace to serve you with writing materials!"
The Third Prince was completely stunned. He looked up at his father in astonishment, and for a long while he cried out, "Father, what you mean is, could it be that Eunuch Chu...did he do this on purpose?"
"He did it on purpose."
The emperor raised the corners of his mouth expressionlessly. He didn't smile, but instead showed a hint of sarcasm: "If he had planned it carefully, it would be so crude, so absurd, so stupid, and so easily exposed and cause such a big fuss? He deliberately wanted to trap himself, and he wanted me to see it... Tsk tsk, he was probably afraid that I couldn't see it, so he asked Hua Qi to send a message."
"Why?" The third prince finally couldn't help asking a question foolishly, but this time, he didn't get a detailed answer from the emperor. On the contrary, the emperor threw his question back to him without changing it.
"I have told you so much, you have to figure it out yourself. Starting tomorrow, Chu Kuan will move to Ciqing Palace and serve you while you study. You can use your own eyes to observe what kind of person he is, and use your own heart to experience his style of doing things."
"Today, I have certainly cut the Gordian knot, but that is because the Imperial Household Department is under the royal family, so I can make the final decision. Once it involves the outer court, handling such matters will become ten times more difficult. The inside and outside are different, do you understand?"
