Chapter 97 Attack

Although they always appear to be rough and uncouth, seemingly rude and unscrupulous, the attack angles chosen by the Jinyiwei are actually very powerful. The Weaving Bureau was the emperor's secret treasury, and attacking the emperor's secret treasury was tantamount to slapping the emperor in the face, and at least one charge of contempt for the monarch would be unavoidable; not to mention that the Jinyiwei added insult to injury and deliberately exaggerated the losses of the Weaving Bureau - based on their experience, this kind of loss would immediately trigger the PSTD of Feixuan Zhenjun Wanshou Emperor named "My money!", forcing the Prince of Mu to be ejected from the officialdom and directly killing the competition.

When it comes to false accusations and frame-ups, the Jinyiwei may not be able to compare with the Dongchang, but they must have two unique skills to be able to survive under Lao Deng. But Zhao Wu and other Jinyiwei had probably been away from the center for too long, so the tactics they used were a bit old-fashioned, so the effect was really unexpected - it would be fine if you falsely accused others of contempt for the imperial power, but you had to falsely accuse the prince of Muguogong...

Why, doesn't the True Lord believe in the Book of Heaven bestowed upon him, but instead believes in you clumsy and foolish mortals?

A loyalty value of over 100 is really significant, not to mention that there is Hai Gangfeng with a loyalty value of over 300 next to him. As long as this loyalty remains, the emperor would have no reason to doubt; and as long as the emperor's morbid suspicion mechanism is not triggered, nothing would be a big deal - the looting of the weaving bureau could certainly be explained as vicious and cruel; but as long as you change your way of thinking, it's just that the young man was young and ignorant, and made a small mistake in a hurry.

We are all family anyway, why should we be so fussy? After all, the prince was sincerely working for the court and fighting for the emperor. Why did he have to hold on to this small mistake he made accidentally?

Therefore, the emperor did not show any anger, but just asked Li Zaifang to approve it with "I know"; and then thought that the matter could be resolved. After all, the prince had offended the Jinyiwei and the Weaving Bureau badly, and it would be bad not to give an explanation; Zhenjun had already drawn up a plan, intending to make the prince reflect on his mistakes in the name of being frivolous and impetuous, and send people to reprimand him every day; after the storm died down, he would choose an auspicious day to quietly release him.

As the saying goes, if someone is simple in the emperor's heart, the treatment he will receive will be very different.

After spending half a minute making a decision, Master Feixuan adjusted his sitting position on the cushion and signaled Li Zaifang to read the memorial again. The next few memorials were quite boring, reporting on the rice prices in the capital and the north. But after three or four official documents, the next memorials started to get exciting again:

"The Memorial to Impeach Mu Qi for Fifteen Major Crimes..."

The emperor suddenly opened his eyes:

"What kind of memorial is this?"

Li Zaifang bowed and said, "This is a memorial from Ye Qing, the retired Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Pavilion and Minister of Revenue. It impeached the prince of Duke Mu for being a tyrant in Jiangnan. He destroyed everything he had and the people were wronged and sued countless times..."

The prominent families in Jiangnan are not stupid. Of course they will seek revenge when they suffer a great loss, and they will seek revenge at the weakest point. They were not interested in arguing with the mere fourth-rank prefect Hai Gangfeng, and immediately dispatched their own retired masters, who also acted at full speed and decisively, and went straight to the emperor. Comparing this memorial with the memorial from the Embroidered Uniform Guards, the effect was greatly enhanced - listening to one side leads to ignorance, listening to both sides leads to enlightenment; the unanimous impeachment was enough to prove that the Prince of Mu was arrogant and incurred public anger.

But the emperor's expression changed slightly. He opened his eyes and glanced at the document:

"When was this memorial delivered?"

Li Zaifang bowed and said, "In reply to your Majesty, it was sent to the Ministry of Public Administration yesterday."

——So, it arrived at the same time as the memorial from the Embroidered Uniform Guard?

The emperor's expression changed completely:

“So soon?”

Li Zaifang held his breath and dared not say another word.

The Jinyiwei who went south had the king's flag and imperial authorization; all memorials went directly to the emperor without any screening; but the ministers in the outer court - especially those old ministers who had retired long ago and had no official duties, had to submit memorials that had to go through the Tongzhengshisi and be carefully screened before they could be submitted. Judging from the efficiency of the imperial court in the past, this memorial would have taken at least seven or eight days to be qualified to be presented to Master Feixuan. It arrived yesterday and will meet the emperor in the next few days. This efficiency is too high!

So the question is: Why did the efficiency of the Tongzhengshisi suddenly become so high?

This question is actually not difficult to answer. The True Lord has held the imperial power for so long that he knows all too well the tricks involved. Although there are ups and downs in officialdom, the so-called disciples and old friends, the so-called party followers and relatives, even if important officials retire and return to their hometowns, can still form an unbreakable network through blood ties, family background, and master-disciple relationships, and their influence should not be underestimated. Even though it has long been away from officialdom, this network of relationships still exerts a strong influence and is sufficient to interfere with the central government's administration.

——Okay, okay, this is how you guys play, right?

The division of power is always delicate and tense. The emperor was supreme in name only, but in reality he always had to share power with the bureaucrats. Many prominent families along the coast raised financial resources through smuggling and relied on Japanese pirates and pirates to threaten public security, and they did have enough capital to bargain with the central government. Many years ago, more than a dozen Japanese pirates were able to kill their way to the outskirts of Nanjing, encountering almost no obstacles along the way. Was it really because the Japanese warriors could defeat a hundred enemies alone that they were able to sweep through the enemy lines so smoothly? However, the southeast is an important financial center, so the imperial court can only tolerate some things.

One is afraid of harming the enemy, while the other relies on Japan for self-esteem. The relationship between the two sides is awkward and tense, and has continued to this day in an unspeakable tacit understanding. And now, the letter submitted to the emperor might be a subtle protest by some people - the depth of the collusion between the prominent families in the south of the Yangtze River and the capital, and the great influence of retired officials, are probably far beyond the original expectations.

Such a demonstration is of course extremely rude, but since they dared to hand it over, it meant that they were certain that Master Feixuan could do nothing about it. The balance of power could never be changed by incompetent rage. Relying on smuggling to gather financial resources and relying on Japanese pirates to win over military forces, as long as these two items are still in the hands of the prominent families in the south of the Yangtze River, what can Emperor Feishou and Emperor Wanshou do? Even if you give Lao Deng a knife, who would he dare to chop now?

If you are not good at it, practice more. If you can’t afford to lose, don’t play. The past was the past, and the present is now. Politics is always such a practical and cruel thing. After the glory of Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong disappeared, the majesty of imperial power was irreversibly destroyed. When the time comes, there is no control over it. Even an old giant baby can only learn the turtle method and hide his head when it is time to do so. At most, we can pick a few nephews and nieces of the Ye family to disgust the opponents, and then we can just make peace with each other.

——Usually, this is how things develop.

But the question is, is this the normal situation?

Master Feixuan was still very patient and would never fight an unprepared battle. After realizing the vague protest from the former Grand Secretary Ye Qing, he just slowly closed his eyes, called out the heavenly book that he had read several times before, and carefully reviewed the key passages of the Shangyu naval battle.

——Known: The "rocket" developed by the prince of Muguo won a great victory in the battle of Shangyu, and swept across the European countries after the Jiayin Reform. The whole world was terrified and no one dared to disobey;

——It is also known that Japan was actually just an insignificant supporting role in the "Age of Discovery", a foot-washing maid who was not even worthy of carrying shoes for the European powers.

——It can be obtained that: the combat power of the rocket is greater than that of Portugal, greater than that of the European powers, greater than that of Japan, and greater than that of the southeastern nobles who rely on the Japanese pirates to bully others; after the scaling operation, the inequality can be proved: the rocket of the prince of Duke Mu is far greater than that of the southeastern nobles.

——To sum up, it is not difficult to conclude that as long as the True Lord firmly controls the Prince and his rocket, he can beat Scholar Ye and his family like dogs.

——It’s settled.

After spending a minute proving the Feixuan Zhenjun inequality that could affect the entire political situation, the emperor opened his eyes with confidence:

"What a great university scholar, what a great retired minister! They all say that they don't care about government affairs after retirement, but I think this university scholar Ye knows everything about family affairs, national affairs, and world affairs. They are so diligent in government affairs, they might as well just take care of my family!"

The tone was calm, yet full of vicious sarcasm. Li Zaifang immediately lay down, not daring to look up.

But the emperor had not yet vented all his anger; this memorial was only the beginning of the fire, and the real anger had been pent up for years: the Japanese pirates were rampant with smuggling, openly encroaching on farmland and resisting the central government; over the years, some people had slapped the court and the emperor in the face; but the emperor was wary of the situation, the financial situation, and the Japanese pirates, and could not be convicted. The anger has been accumulating for many days, and today it finally erupted:

"'The water of Canglang is so clear that I can wash my hair with it'. The water in the south is indeed clear - but now the clear water is also going to overflow! The clear water will overflow and submerge the mountaintops. The family will not be a family and the country will not be a country. Even my Tongzhengshisi will have to eat a bite of the Ye family's food!"

It’s “Ye family” and “Qingshui” again, the hatred is obvious. Although he didn't understand where the emperor's anger came from, Li Zaifang still kowtowed vigorously:

"I will immediately ask someone to check the Ministry of Civil Affairs! Check the Ye family!"

Having said this, he paused and looked up carefully. As the chief steward of the inner court, Li Zaifang was of course aware of the situation in the court and the corruption in the southeast. So, to say this fierce word was nothing more than to give the emperor a way out. After all, I have endured it so many times in the past, are I really going to turn against you today?

You can't really check it, right? If they found out something that caused a fallout with the prominent families in the southeast and disrupted the overall situation, the spy who was investigating would have to be shot by eight crossbow arrows and commit suicide.

But unexpectedly, the emperor did not step onto the prepared steps. He was silent for a moment, and said coldly:

"Investigate in secret, don't let anyone get caught."

Are they really going to take action against Southeast? Li Zaifang's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't dare to persuade him any further and could only kowtow and agree.

After venting his anger for a while, the emperor picked up the memorial and threw it to the ground:

"Don't approve a single word of this memorial. Just throw it back and let Mr. Ye figure it out on his own!"

There had to be respect for each other between the monarch and his subjects. Even if the emperor was dissatisfied with a memorial, he would most likely just keep it in his pocket and not send it out, which was equivalent to reading it but not replying. As for "throwing the original memorial back", it was equivalent to the emperor directly blacklisting the minister, and the humiliation and stimulation were of course beyond words.

Eunuch Li carefully put away the memorial. Seeing that the emperor had no more words to say, he could only bite the bullet and remind:

"Please give me your instructions, Your Majesty. Regarding the Crown Prince..."

The Jinyiwei are still eagerly waiting for a reply, can't you give us a definite answer?

"What happened to Mu Qi?" The emperor suddenly raised his head, his expression very unhappy: "Why, Jinyiwei still has to force me to deal with people?"

When the mood changes, the mentality also changes. If ten minutes ago the emperor was still thinking about making a big deal out of a small matter and putting Mu Qi in solitary confinement to get the matter over with, then now that he was provoked by Ye Qing's impeachment memorial and became so angry, his thinking immediately took a sharp turn!

The more the enemy opposes me, the more it proves that I am doing the right thing! This guy named Ye criticized Mu Qi so harshly that he said nothing good about him, which just goes to show that Mu Qi has nothing to say to them!

Since Mu Qi is so right, why should I let my own people suffer? !

"Go back and tell those Jinyiwei to mind their own business and not get involved with others, especially those officials in the south!" The emperor scolded directly: "The prince of Duke Mu was sent to Jiangnan by me. He never hides anything from me. Do I need these people to nitpick and exaggerate? Let them understand clearly that I specially approved an "I know" not to protect the prince, but to protect them. I am too lazy to care about what their intention is in this impeachment. But if there is a next time, it will not be a matter of "I know" to fool them!"

Since Prince Mu was right, then the Imperial Guards were certainly wrong. Originally, the Crown Prince was the Emperor's own man, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard was the Emperor's own dog. When conflicts arose between man and dog, the Emperor was willing to mediate. But now Zhenjun himself was furious, so of course he raised his leg to kick the dog.

Don’t bite what you should bite, and bite what you shouldn’t bite. When I asked you to go south on mission, did I ask you to keep an eye on Prince Mu? What a bastard!

Li Zaifang didn't dare to say a word and quickly retreated with the memorial in his hand. Just after turning around the screen wall, I saw Huang Shanggang coming hurriedly with an official document in his hand.

Because his master's temper was really strange, Li Zaifang deliberately reminded his subordinate: "Eunuch Huang, what is this document you are holding?"

Huang Shanggang bowed quickly and said, "In reply to Eunuch Li, this is a letter of apology from the son of Duke Mu. He said that there were many mistakes during the trip to the south, and he asked the emperor to punish him severely."

Li Zaifang: ...Ah?