Everyone in the living room sat in their respective seats with somber expressions, creating a somewhat dull and oppressive atmosphere.

Before long, the steward in charge of receiving guests at the Li residence hurriedly brought in the last scholar to arrive from the back hall.

After greeting Li Jing, who was in the first seat, the scholar walked to an empty seat on the left.

Then, Li Jing looked at the butler beside him with a serious expression: "Close the doors and windows. No one is allowed to come near here!"

"Yes, Master!"

The butler acknowledged the order and then quickly left.

After the doors and windows were closed and everything was confirmed to be in order, Li Jing glanced around at everyone and said in a deep voice:

"Alright, now that everyone's here, let's talk about what happened today and how to deal with those lackeys from the Yuan, Xun, and Yang families!"

Upon hearing Li Jing's question, everyone in the hall began to ponder.

Sitting to Li Jing's left, the head of the Zheng family frowned slightly: "The Yuan family, the Xun family, and others have done nothing wrong in their political affairs. It will be very difficult to deal with them..."

"Yes, His Majesty now dislikes reporting things on hearsay. If we impeach someone without solid evidence, we might end up in trouble!"

"That's right, especially those officials in the court these days. They're praising the Yuan family to the skies because of concrete. It'll be very difficult for us to deal with them..."

Everyone chimed in with sighs, clearly not optimistic about how to deal with the Yuan family.

Li Jing's expression also turned slightly cold: "Then find a way to make them make mistakes. If they don't make mistakes, then pin the blame on them."

In short, we must take down a number of the officials who have sided with them. If we fail to demonstrate our power, they will only become more arrogant and disrespectful of us!

"this......."

Upon hearing Li Jing's words, everyone paused, sitting there in silence, and did not offer any words of agreement.

Although they talk about dealing with the Yuan and Xun families, they are not confident that they can win if they openly break off relations.

Upon seeing this, Li Jing's expression turned quite grim, and he looked at everyone with a pained expression.

"Gentlemen, what are you still hesitating about? Nearly 30% of the people in the court are related to those few families, and nearly half of the recommended candidates for the examinations have also gone to those families."

If we don't act now, and things continue like this, I fear the entire court will fall into their hands, and we will have nowhere to stand!

“Patriarch Li is right. They have too many people in the court. Most of the profits from the Royal Merchant Guild end up in their pockets. Now it’s a good opportunity to bring down a group of them and fill the gaps with our people!”

The head of the Han family, who was standing to the side, also chimed in with his opinion.

"That's right, they get the official recommendations, they get the assessments, and they get a share of the royal trading company's profits. Where does that leave us?"

"Absolutely! We can't let them continue like this!"

"....."

Li Jing and the Han family head's words resonated deeply with everyone.

The matter of officials recommending officials and the royal trading company sharing profits was particularly intolerable to everyone.

Seeing this, Li Jing's lips curled up slightly, and then he looked at everyone and said loudly, "Since that's the case, let's discuss it properly and see which aspects we should start from!"

A scholar stood up and bowed to Li Jing, saying, "In my opinion, since we cannot deal with them in the court, we might as well start with the officials they have recommended!"

Li Jing's expression shifted: "Oh? Please elaborate!"

The scholar smiled and said, "Have you all forgotten? His Majesty once issued an edict that recommending the unworthy would be punished equally."

"Now that Zhong Yao, Chen Qun, and Sima Fang have arrested so many people, many of whom were recommended by them, it wouldn't be difficult to use this as an opportunity to bring down their people!"

"But... we recommended quite a few people, and some of them were personally appointed by His Majesty last year. In this way, we'll be dragged down with His Majesty!"

Li Jing frowned and said hesitantly.

This is a lose-lose situation, and he doesn't want to use it unless absolutely necessary. Most importantly, if the emperor is involved, they might incur his displeasure.

The scholar smiled and said, "You should know that victory can be achieved amidst chaos. If things go well, their losses will be even greater than ours."

Furthermore, if His Majesty sees that most of the people they recommended were the ones who got into trouble, he will be more hesitant to recommend them again in the future and won't agree so easily. That would give us an opportunity!

"That makes sense...!"

The scholar's words drew nods of agreement from everyone present.

The head of the Han family hesitated, "What about His Majesty? If we offend His Majesty because of this, I'm afraid it will be a loss that doesn't outweighs the gain...!"

"His Majesty merely appointed them; he did not recommend them. Moreover... don't you all find it strange that the people His Majesty appointed committed such strange crimes?"

"Huh? Now that you mention it, something does seem off. It seems like the crimes they committed were all related to smuggling from the imperial treasury and selling refined iron!"

Upon hearing what the scholar said, Li Jing's expression shifted, and he let out a soft exclamation. He quickly discovered a common point among them.

"Yes... so many people, all committing the same crime by coincidence, it's truly unbelievable!"

The scholar chuckled softly, deliberately drawing out the last part of his sentence, which made everyone's imagination run wild.

The Zheng family head, standing to the side, said with a grim expression, "That's right, someone must have framed us. I knew it! My three nephews aren't short of money, how could they possibly do something like beheading..."

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