Chapter 46 Chapter 45
Different from the happy scene of mother and son here, in the study room in the mansion, Gu Cheng was recalling the details of today's conversation with Mu Congmo, trying to find some clues from the emperor's words.
During the reign of the previous emperor, the government was in chaos, which gave the aristocratic families an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Over the years, the power of the aristocratic families has been deeply rooted. Three of the six ministries are headed by people from the aristocratic families. If he is counted, there are four officials in total.
The original Minister of Personnel was a boy from a poor family, but unfortunately he was a man of the previous emperor. Mu Congmo used the case of Prince Huai's rebellion to replace this position with Zou Yun, his confidant whom he had cultivated for many years. In this way, the emperor could make plans for the appointment and dismissal of officials in various places.
Now the three ministers of rites, war and works are all controlled by the aristocratic families, and since he has chosen to join the emperor's party, he should also show his sincerity.
The Ministry of Works' funds were handled by his Ministry of Revenue, and there were many things he could do with it, but doing so would be suspected of abusing his power for personal gain. He was not stupid enough to hand over his handle to his political opponents, and the value of a mere Ministry of Works was probably not enough.
As for the Ministry of War, it hadn't been on his radar from the beginning. Born into an aristocratic family, bearing a noble title, and serving as Minister of Revenue, he was already feared by the emperor. He had remained neutral over the years, thus avoiding the strife caused by the factions.
Since ancient times, military power has been the most taboo thing for emperors. If he took action to overthrow the Minister of War, how could the emperor not be suspicious of him?
The Ministry of War is in charge of the army, armor, weapons, and food transportation in the world. He knows that there are many problems in the Ministry of War, but doesn't the emperor know about these things?
After the current emperor ascended the throne, Daliang's army was strong and powerful. How could it be that in three years, it could not even conquer the small Northern Rong? It was simply that the people in the Ministry of War had embezzled a lot of military pay and food. The officials in the Ministry of War needed to be thoroughly cleansed, but it was not appropriate at this time, during his first collaboration with Mu Congmo.
He also did not consider those noble families with titles. Not to mention that the titles were conferred by Emperor Taizu himself and were hereditary, if the current emperor took action against them for no reason, it would only unite the noble families, and then they would become even more difficult to deal with.
Moreover, these people were old foxes who wouldn't reveal their true colors easily, so it wasn't easy to scheme against them. If Gu Shiyan had to wait a long time before being canonized as the Crown Prince, Liang Qiulan would be the first to disagree.
This left only the Ministry of Rites. While not as important as the other ministries, it was only responsible for matters related to rituals, laws, and sacrifices. However, it was also responsible for one thing: the imperial examinations.
If the emperor wanted to truly eliminate the aristocratic families, he would have to introduce more children from humble backgrounds into the court, and opening up the imperial examinations was the most important point.
If he could firmly control the Ministry of Rites, then the imperial examinations, which the emperor had been planning, would be halfway accomplished. Minister of Rites Gao Yan's family wasn't considered elite, but he had only seized the position by virtue of his seniority. Gu Cheng already had a plan in mind, and he decided to start with the Ministry of Rites.
Gao Yan is old, and his daily behavior can be said to be in strict accordance with etiquette, but when people get old, they will pay special attention to their offspring.
Hadn't Zheng Xiuyuan, the Duke of Han, joined the Huaiwang faction for the sake of his descendants? Gu Cheng already had a plan in mind, so he decided to use the Ministry of Rites as a token of his loyalty to the emperor.
A few days later, the most popular courtesan in the capital city mysteriously disappeared. The courtesan, weeping in tears, ran to the government office to report the case. Naturally, people were intrigued by the news, and the case became known to everyone in the capital.
The cause of the matter was this. Originally, this courtesan had been secretly trained by her and had learned a lot of skills to serve people. In addition, she was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and could even speak a few words of poetry and songs. Except for her low birth, she was not much worse than those noble ladies from aristocratic families in other aspects.
What's more, her body is soaked in various flower petals every day, and there is a subtle fragrance on her body. Her skin is as white as snowflakes, and you can even squeeze out water.
According to the mother in the brothel, she originally wanted to sell the courtesan's first night for a good price, but before she could sell her, the courtesan disappeared in her room out of thin air.
At first, she focused all her attention on training the new girl. In addition, the oiran was raised by her, and she had a quiet and well-behaved personality, so she was always at ease with her and ignored her.
She had heard the servants report that the food delivered to her room had not been taken in, but was left untouched at the door. At first, she thought she was dieting to control her figure, so she didn't take it seriously and even felt a little relieved.
But this continued for several days, and the maid who brought food felt something was wrong, so she pushed open the door and took a look. It would have been fine if she hadn't looked, but after she did, she found that the items in her room were scattered on the floor, there were traces of a fight on the floor, and the courtesan who was supposed to be in the room was nowhere to be found.
The maid who brought the food had never seen such a scene before. She was so panicked that she ran out of the room screaming. When she recovered, she remembered to tell the brothel manager. The brothel owner was named Man Niang, and in her youth she was also a famous prostitute in the capital.
Serving a man with beauty will not last long. She used the money she had saved over the years to redeem herself, and then bought a small building in the capital. When she was old and her beauty had faded, she opened a brothel and was only responsible for training those young and beautiful girls.
Because she used to be a prostitute and knew how difficult this job was, she was very tolerant towards the girls under her and never beat or scolded them. If someone wanted to leave, she would never stop them after paying the redemption fee. This was why she firmly believed that the courtesan Rui Niang would not leave on her own.
After all, the other party had been with her since she was a child, and she thought she had never treated her unfairly. She named her Rui Niang and truly treated her as her own daughter. When she learned the news, the first thing she felt was worry about the other party, and then she felt sad that her years of hard work had gone to waste.
She was momentarily bewildered. After hearing the news, she left the other girls waiting to be trained behind and stumbled to Rui Niang's room alone. Seeing the mess on the floor, she felt a bit lost. After calming down, she considered reporting the matter to the authorities, but that wasn't a simple matter; it involved many intricacies.
Not to mention the possibility that a high-ranking official was behind this, how many of the lowly yamen runners in the government would actually treat ordinary people like human beings? If they wanted the government to take this matter seriously, they had to make a big fuss about it, preferably one that everyone knew about and caused a sensation in the city.
Therefore, she thought of an excellent idea, which was to take the women in the brothel to the government office to file a complaint. She was a decisive person, and such matters could not be delayed at all. The longer the delay, the more danger Rui Niang would be in.
So as soon as this idea came to her mind, she called the girls together and told them to change into brighter clothes, dress up well, and preferably make themselves look pitiful, so as to arouse the men's desire to protect them.
Those girls were her own personal trainees, so they could naturally read her thoughts. They didn't say anything, but quietly went to their rooms to dress up. In fact, they were somewhat reluctant, ultimately jealous of Rui Niang for not having to entertain guests and being able to stay alone in her room, mixed with a bit of envy for her beauty.
But they had no choice but to agree to such a thing at this time. Today, it was Rui Niang who was in trouble, but tomorrow it might be one of them. Some of the dissatisfaction in their hearts disappeared.
As women themselves, they could best empathize with Rui Niang's despair. Putting themselves in her shoes, they began to worry about her. Sometimes, the bonds between women are strange. And their mother hadn't just sent them back to their rooms to change clothes to make a big deal out of this. If it were an ordinary brothel, with a murder case, who wouldn't be fearless enough to set foot there? Man Niang's move was incredibly clever.
This will not only make the matter a big deal, but also spread the reputation of their brothel. Just ask yourself, which man would not be moved when seeing a charming girl looking at you pitifully?
They had dressed themselves up, applying a touch of whitening powder to their faces, giving them a rather pathetic appearance. Their clothes were vibrantly colorful, a truly eye-catching sight. And so, this scene unfolded on the streets of the capital, with Man Niang at the forefront. Though her beauty had faded with age, her every smile and frown, etched into muscle memory over the years, still captivated the eye. Behind her followed a vast procession of beautiful women, each with their own distinct characteristics, drawing pedestrians to pause and stare.
It took the long procession half an hour to reach the gates of the capital's government office. Behind them were scores of other citizens who had come to watch the excitement. Suddenly, the once quiet government office had become a theater. A bailiff inside heard the commotion outside and was about to come out and reprimand them, but he was met with a group of women weeping bitterly. How could he bring himself to reprimand them?
His originally rough voice was deliberately lowered by him, sounding a little out of place. "Girls, if there is anything you need my help with, I will definitely not refuse."
When Man Niang heard him say this, she looked up at the crowd of onlookers gathered around. They had already surrounded the yamen. She knew that the best opportunity had come. She gathered her emotions in her heart and began her performance.
She suddenly knelt on the ground, hugged the yamen runner's feet with both hands, her face full of tears, her voice even a little hoarse: "Master, please save my daughter. You must save her."
The yamen runner had not yet recovered from the difference between the person in front of him, who had changed from a young girl to a middle-aged woman, and was then thrown into a state of confusion by Man Niang's sudden action. He didn't know where to put his hands and feet, and felt helpless.
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