Chapter 58 The Twenty-First Reform!
Chapter 58
"You used that treasure to buy grain in Yunlai?!" Ye Xiren exclaimed in surprise, her eyes widening. "Will they give us grain?"
Given her current predicament, the sudden news that she could still buy food filled her with hope.
Jiang You looked back at her, his voice firm:
"Yes! If Daliang is destroyed by Northern Yan, Yunlai will not benefit in the slightest. If it were the old emperor in power, he might make a foolish decision, but the current King of Yunlai will not. If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold. Daliang is Yunlai's shield against Northern Yan."
The treasure is still on its way. His personal attendants will take the official letter ahead. If all goes well, Yunlai will not wait for the treasure to arrive before distributing the grain. Instead, he will immediately prepare provisions and have them delivered as soon as possible to alleviate the crisis.
"It will take at least five days for the supplies to reach Daliang. Whether Chizhan Lance's desire for peace is genuine or not is no longer the most important thing. The most important thing is that the two countries do not go to war before the supplies arrive."
Jiang You looked at the wooden box, his eyes reflecting a deep crimson, and instantly his face was covered in tears, overwhelmed with grief and indignation.
"But you actually killed Chi Zhanlan Ce, ruining my plans. With him dead, Northern Yan will definitely attack Huai'an Canal. How can we fight? The supplies haven't arrived yet. How can we defend ourselves?!"
The glimmer of hope that had just begun to emerge was extinguished again. How could he not feel despair and anger? If it weren't for General Yan standing before him, he would have loved to hack them to pieces to vent his hatred!
Ye Xiren opened her mouth, puzzled:
"Then why did you hide it?"
Jiang You was never a stupid person. As the prime minister who held immense power, he was often clever and decisive. When Chi Zhan Lan Ce mentioned returning the treasures on the third day of the third month, he immediately sent a letter of state to buy grain. It was not that he couldn't see the problem with Chi Zhan Lan Ce, but since he couldn't fight at the moment, he continued to negotiate.
If the situation hadn't been so dire, this Minister Chiang might have been able to play a much more significant role...
But why keep it from them?
"If Zhang Yuanmou can betray me, who can we trust in the court?" Jiang You's eyes flashed like lightning as he looked at her and asked, "It was I who forbade the Emperor from telling anyone that before the grain supplies were returned, there could not be even the slightest possibility that the Northern Yan people would find out!"
They were fighting for time and a sliver of hope. If someone like Chi Zhanlan Ce knew this, he would definitely try every means to extinguish their hope...
Jiang You and the Emperor absolutely will not allow it!
With Zhang Yuanmou in the lead, they didn't trust anyone, including the unparalleled Yan Danqing before them.
Unexpectedly, the two were capable of such a crazy act as killing Chi Zhanlan Ce, and the Northern Yan would immediately send troops to Daliang, rendering all their plans futile.
Jiang You looked at the two people standing side by side in front of him, pounding his chest, "Retribution, this is retribution!"
He once tried to frame the Ye family to eliminate dissenting voices and wanted to kill General Yan, who was loyal to the Great Liang. In the end, they also dashed his hopes. What goes around comes around.
Yan Danqing put down the secret letter in his hand and placed it on top of the other secret letters. The truth that he had been searching for for so long was now being revealed to them little by little.
He then asked, "We haven't found the grain that Chizhan Lance stole. Even if Yunlai sells us a batch, it'll only be enough to defend Huai'an Canal. What are you going to do with Xuzhou and Jiaozhou? What about all the refugees scattered everywhere?"
For him, the lack of food was not the end of the world, but what about the refugees? How many more people would die each day?
"That's why we need to negotiate!" Jiang You's voice trembled.
Just as Ye Xiren was about to retort, Jiang You slammed his hand on the table, his eyes filled with madness, and said, word by word:
"With Yunlai's assistance and you still alive and well, Northern Yan won't be able to easily conquer Liang! With Northern Yan's Crown Prince Chizhan Lance in our hands, as long as we give them enough benefits, I don't believe he won't agree!"
Ye Xiren was confused and looked at Yan Danqing with a puzzled expression.
Yan Danqing's pupils contracted, his eyes fixed on Jiang You: "You want to negotiate at all costs, even if Northern Yan has to take away vast territories of Great Liang, even if they have to make conditions that humiliate Great Liang... you just want to negotiate?"
The last few words were almost spoken through gritted teeth.
Ye Xiren instantly understood and looked at Jiang You in disbelief.
Why did the Northern Yan conquer Daliang?
Undoubtedly, they want sufficient benefits. The best of the northern lands are already in their hands. Even if they take over the entire territory of Daliang, Northern Yan cannot swallow it up. Therefore, as long as they are given enough conditions that satisfy them, they can get the benefits of the conquest without fighting. Why wouldn't Northern Yan be happy to do so?
Such "peace talks" are indeed possible.
No wonder Jiang You and the others were willing to "believe" when Chi Zhanlan Ce brought up peace talks again, because they had already made up their minds... to turn the "fake peace talks" into "real peace talks" at all costs, even if it meant giving away endless benefits or humiliating the Great Liang!
Must the people of Daliang suffer such humiliation?
Beside her was a member of the Yan family, a family known for their generations of loyalty and bravery, who would rather die in battle than bow their heads in submission.
As expected, Yan Danqing clenched his fists, veins bulging on his forehead, eager to kill the man before him and stop him from leading the Great Liang down a path of humiliation.
“Yes, I want to negotiate with His Majesty.” Jiang You stood up and looked back at him.
Yan Danqing stepped forward, pressing closer: "This is an act that will humiliate the country and leave a lasting stain on our reputation! If we negotiate in this way, all the soldiers of Liang who have died on the battlefield in the past few years will have died in vain! The blood of those officials who defended the city to the last moment, and the innocent people of Liang who were slaughtered, is still on the ground, not yet dry. How can you, as the prime minister of Liang, say such things?"
"When a dynasty prospers, the people suffer; when a dynasty falls, the people suffer."
Jiang You stood behind the desk, his eyes sharp and unyielding: "It is precisely because enough people have died that we cannot let them die in vain, and we cannot let the innocent people who are still alive continue to die tragically. Bowing our heads now is so that we can raise our heads again in the future!"
Yan Danqing gritted his teeth, his hands gripping the table so tightly they left deep fingerprints. The two men faced off across the secret letter and the box on the table, neither willing to give an inch.
In their eyes, the other party was the one who would destroy the Great Liang and drag countless people of the country into an endless hell. At this moment, they only wished to get rid of the other party as soon as possible.
Ye Xiren sensed in them the life-or-death struggle between the pro-war and pro-peace factions, and it was like a large ship lost at sea about to capsize, unsure whether to go left or right...
Ye Xiren slowly reached out and covered Yan Danqing's hand, which was gripping the table. His tense anger, which was almost uncontrollable, was gently suppressed by her hand.
She then looked at Jiang You and asked:
"If you lower your head, how can you raise it again?"
When a building is about to collapse or a ship is about to capsize, whether the helmsmen are on the left or right, as long as they are all for the greater good, they must not fight amongst themselves. If there is a reason, they should try to persuade the other side.
Ye Xiren had clear, dark eyes and a calm voice, and she moved between the two of them.
In such a tense and stalemate environment, she had the ability to calm people down. Her soft voice eased the tension between the two, seemingly able to make them calm down from their stubbornness and develop a little more tolerance for each other.
Jiang You exhaled and looked at Ye Xiren: "Do you know that I was the one who knelt before Prince Yu and begged him to ascend the throne?"
Ye Xiren: "..."
I know that all too well.
Not only that, you also killed the young emperor and installed Liang Yue on the throne, all because a memorial from Liang Yue moved you. You had a long talk with him that night, and the next day, the young emperor died...
Of course, Ye Xiren knew that she wouldn't say anything now, because that was part of the cycle.
Jiang You slowly turned around, his aged figure appearing hunched over, as if he had exhausted all his strength, and walked step by step to the study curtain.
Anyone who has ever been to Jiang You's study will find it small and cramped. The study is divided into two halves, with the other half hidden by a curtain. People just assume it's a place where books are piled up and no one pays any attention to it.
"Back when the emperor was still Prince Yu, he wrote many suggestions in his memorial, and two words in particular resonated with me and were my lifelong wish."
“I had a long talk with him all night long, and afterwards, we, as ruler and minister, joined forces and devoted everything to the same goal and the same political views.”
Behind the curtain was a completely different study!
Their study was small, neat, and orderly, conforming to the contemporary beliefs of the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues. The bookshelves contained books such as the Analects, the Book of Rites, and the Classic of Filial Piety.
Inside, in the study, were annotated versions of "The Book of Lord Shang," "Han Feizi," and "Mencius" from various dynasties... and even many forbidden books from the Great Liang Dynasty, which were unorthodox and heretical!
Once the curtain is split in two, it becomes two different worlds.
Rows of bookshelves, and maps drawn on the walls.
The memorials were filled with official documents, each bearing the name of an official in its proper place, while the names of some officials were simply crossed out.
The sheets of scrap paper in the study were covered with countless "treasonous" words: officials to be killed, clerks to be promoted, policies to be changed, and strategies to be implemented...
Ye Xiren and Yan Danqing were both shocked by what they saw.
The two slowly stepped in, glancing at the books on the shelves, the various documents and records piled up. Some of these were notes taken by Jiang You and the Emperor during their discussions, while others were questions and conclusions drawn from conversations with the common people.
This contains all that their prime minister had acquired in his lifetime.
【political reform】
The handwriting was elegant, carrying a wild ambition that seemed to leap off the page. On the desk, regular script and cursive script, messy and orderly, written carefully and drawn casually... were all piled together, densely packed with the two characters "reform"!
"The state of Great Liang today is not the result of a single day's mistakes, and its recovery will also be a long and arduous process." Jiang You slowly walked in, carefully picking up the fallen paper, his voice calm.
"The excessive number of officials, the excessive expenses, and the deep-seated problems have made the Great Liang like a rotten body. To heal it, you have to scrape the bone and remove the flesh. Without removing the rotten parts, you will never be able to get better completely."
He placed the paper on the shelf, weighed it down with a paperweight, and then braced himself against the shelf to steady himself. "This year's spring imperial examination will be personally set by His Majesty and me. We want to select truly capable low-level officials who can serve the court. Once the Northern Yan army withdraws, we will send them down to the entire Daliang, and little by little, over several years, we will completely change this country from the inside out!"
Ye Xiren turned around to look.
[This year's imperial examination is different from previous ones; Minister Jiang had said before that those who pass this year's examination will be directly appointed to official positions.]
The phrase suddenly flashed through her mind. It seemed like she had heard it at the entrance of the examination hall on the first day of the third month. At that time, she thought it was just because the court was short of people. But now, it was clear that the Emperor and Jiang You's plan was beginning to take shape!
They have worked on this for a long time and made countless preparations...
Ye Xiren was overwhelmed with complex emotions. She must hate the person in front of her. No matter what, this person had joined forces with Lu Qian to massacre the entire Ye family several times, even if he himself was unaware of it.
If there were no cycle, would the Ye family still exist? Is she still alive?
Lu Qian is dead, but this person is still alive.
But sitting in this "unorthodox" study, watching his cloudy eyes fixed on his "plan," muttering about his "long-cherished wish," his face filled with despair and collapse...
Ye Xiren suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness again.
Jiang You closed his eyes, two streams of tears falling down his face, his voice choked with sobs: "His Majesty and I were of one mind and shared the same aspirations, but why wasn't he the emperor a few years ago, and why wasn't I the prime minister?!"
"With the ongoing war and the Northern Yan eyeing us covetously, we must desperately block all news and dare not make any rash moves. We even dare not deal with those treacherous officials in the court, for fear of shaking the foundation of the country and affecting the war on the front lines."
"If the war continues, we will have no way to settle the people. Even if it means undergoing painful treatment, we must keep the Great Liang alive!"
"As long as we cease hostilities, we can take advantage of the time to settle the people and implement reforms. Give His Majesty and me five years, no, three years. As long as the reforms are implemented for three years, and the country becomes prosperous and the people are strong, how can my Great Liang, which has bowed its head, not raise it again?"
"Heaven did not grant him a long life! Heaven did not grant him a long life!"
Chi Zhanlan Ce is a cunning fox, followed by a pack of wolves eyeing him covetously. How could they possibly have the time? Who would give them the time?
Why does Heaven treat the Great Liang like this!
"The strong will prevail, the weak will perish; such is fate, and we are ultimately unwilling to accept it!"
Jiang You shook his head, exhausted, and sat slumped on the ground, leaning against the full bookshelf behind him. These were all his insights and aspirations from the past half of his life... Unfortunately, they would all be buried with him.
Fate has its own destiny. Neither he nor Liang Yue appeared at a good time. When they were able to govern, they had to exhaust themselves just supporting the front lines. Defying fate has always been just a legend. He and Liang Yue did their best, but they couldn't save the crumbling empire.
It's all about timing and fate.
The room fell silent, save for Jiang You's mournful cries.
He was leaning precariously against the bookshelf, about to collapse along with all the books and files on it. Ye Xiren and Yan Danqing instinctively reached out at the same time, one on each side to support the bookshelf.
The two exchanged a glance, and everything was understood without a word.
Yan Danqing had already examined everything in the study. Now, looking at Jiang You, she lowered her eyes and spoke calmly:
"If that's the case, then go and negotiate."
“I agree with your idea, but I do not agree with your choice of the path of peace talks. War between the two countries is unavoidable. The only way to achieve peace is to drive Northern Yan out, not to expect them to show mercy! As long as I live, I will make Northern Yan’s blood wash my red-tasseled spear.”
He did not believe that Jiang You was entirely right, but he no longer denied Jiang You's and the Emperor's beliefs and accepted their predicament.
Faced with a formidable enemy, they can join forces.
If Jiang You wants to negotiate, then let him negotiate. This will help stabilize Northern Yan first. He and Xixi will then look for a way out. They have suddenly learned so much information today, and they need to digest it and think of a way to break the deadlock.
There is still a cycle; we haven't reached a dead end yet.
Given the current situation in Daliang, they dare not make any mistakes, but Ye Xiren and Yan Danqing have opportunities to try and fail time and time again.
"How can we negotiate? Chi Zhanlan Ce is already dead!"
He paused, then suddenly raised his head, his eyes unfathomable, wide and bloodshot, his expression crazed and stubborn: "No, it wasn't you who killed him. Chi Zhan Lan Ce is already dead. You can't die too. Just say I killed him. I killed Chi Zhan Lan Ce. It has nothing to do with you. This is what I owe you, what I owe you!"
"Yan Danqing, go to the Huai'an Canal now, do whatever you want..."
He had fallen into despair.
“I won’t leave. I haven’t found a way to break out of this predicament yet. I will not leave Nandu and return to Huai’an Canal.”
Yan Danqing placed the bookshelf securely, then took Ye Xiren's wrist through her sleeve and left.
“Jiang You, you and His Majesty are not wrong, but this is not the responsibility of the two of you. You alone cannot save the collapsing edifice. Since we have reached a dead end, we must unite as one and spare no effort.”
It is to fight to the death at all costs to drive out Northern Yan, not to negotiate peace at all costs that would result in the loss of sovereignty and national humiliation!
Yan Danqing pulled Ye Xiren along and gave her a wry smile: "March 5th. Although we learned a lot of bad news today, there is also some good news."
Ye Xiren understood him, nodded emphatically, and smiled.
The Emperor and Prime Minister Jiang are not disloyal to them. As the Emperor and Prime Minister, these two most important people in the Great Liang are not their enemies, nor are they incompetent or foolish. They have their own responsibilities and aspirations, and their own principles. They are the forces that can be united, and this is the best news.
Moreover, now that the truth has been revealed, the two "enemies" that were thought to be weighing on us can now be turned into our help, so there must be a way to break the deadlock!
As for reform, that was something to do after we won. She didn't understand politics, and Yan Danqing was only responsible for fighting and driving the Northern Yan out of the Liang territory.
Jiang You didn't understand. He looked up blankly, his eyes filled with confusion beneath his messy hair. Chi Zhanlan Ce was already dead, and Bei Yan was about to attack Huai'an Canal. How could there still be hope?
"How can you visit someone's home for the first time without bringing a gift?"
"I personally went to the West Market to buy a fresh pig's head, but I haven't had time to process it yet. Your Excellency, please remember to have the kitchen prepare it as soon as possible, lest it spoil. Meat prices are high right now!"
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Author's note: Ye Xiren: Here's a head for you.
Jiang You: Heads?
Yan Danqing: Pig's head.
Jiang You: …………
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