Chapter 127 Something Happened
"Your Majesty is wise!" Xiang Ruzhen exclaimed. "What have we been working tirelessly for? It's to create a new order where everyone is equal! Failing the exam is failing the exam. No matter the reason she lost two points, she's still two points short. Just because she's my sister, does that mean you should give her a break? Isn't that favoritism?"
Lu Jinlan knew Xiang Ruzhen would take this seriously. If Xiang Ruzhen hadn't known, she would have done it under the guise of doing a favor. Ultimately, it was just a relative's child auditing a class—something that happens throughout history and across cultures. It was understandable and not that serious.
But since Xiang Ruzhen already knew, given the Prime Minister's meticulous and petty nature, Lu Jinlan felt it was best for her to ignore it.
So she nodded, "Yes, that makes sense, I think so too."
Xiang Ruzhen was afraid that Lu Jinlan would approve the matter because of her connections. She had prepared a whole host of arguments, but when she heard that Lu Jinlan didn't refute her, she turned to Guan Shanyue and asked, "Lord Guan, what do you say?"
Guan Shanyue blinked, secretly relieved that she had only stated the course of events in her memorial without expressing her own opinions.
At this moment, he changed the subject and said sincerely, "This humble official...this humble official also thinks this matter is inappropriate."
Guan Shanyue is a woman of many talents: a silver tongue and a sharp mind. Born into a merchant family, she is skilled in accounting and reading. Having spent years by Lu Jinlan's side, she has become increasingly adept at both.
She was always meticulous in her work, adept at navigating complex situations, and renowned in court for her intelligence and resourcefulness. She could come up with three ideas in the blink of an eye.
Xiang Ruzhen is upright, perfectly square, with sharp edges and corners. Guan Shanyue is slippery, like a pearl soaked in oil, very slippery.
She had initially assumed that since Xiang Ruwei was Xiang Ruzhen's younger sister, it wasn't a violation of the rules and Xiang Ruzhen wouldn't hold it against her. But seeing this demeanor, she realized Xiang Ruzhen was not only going to hold it against her, but seemed intent on pursuing the matter!
Just two days ago, Guan Shanyue was thinking that her younger brother Guan Chao had entered the Prime Minister's residence and become a concubine, which meant that the Guan family had secured a good marriage.
I heard from the cabinet that the Prime Minister has been going home early these days, taking official documents back to her residence to work, instead of hunched over her desk alone by the lamplight. It seems her gentle yet intelligent younger brother is quite to her liking, and she serves him very well.
If we're talking about kinship, Xiang Ruzhen should call her "sister," and she should at least give her some face.
Looking at it now, even her own sister is useless, and probably even her own mother can't say anything. She really doesn't show the slightest bit of human compassion. As for herself, this sister with her twisted ways, she should just clear herself off first.
Guan Shanyue immediately stated: "Lord Zhang asked me to handle this. At the time, I thought it was the Prime Minister's instruction, so I first wrote a memorial explaining the reason, so that the Prime Minister could review and verify it."
Xiang Ruzhen said angrily, "How could I do such a thing? It was Zhang Siyuan who acted on his own initiative."
Guan Shanyue hurriedly replied, "This humble official also had the same guess, but the more I thought about it afterward, the more something seemed amiss, so I came to report to Your Majesty."
Hearing this, Xiang Ruzhen finally felt a little better.
"That's more like it! Regardless of whether I instructed you or not, if you feel something is wrong, you should insist on reporting it to the Emperor. The Emperor will make a wise judgment."
Guan Shanyue breathed a sigh of relief, then heard Xiang Ruzhen say, "But this Zhang Siyuan is really muddle-headed. I promoted her because I saw that she was capable. How could she be so unable to distinguish between public and private matters? I think she must be punished so that the whole court and the public can take heed."
Guan Shanyue looked at Lu Jinlan with pleading eyes. Lu Jinlan couldn't bear it and said, "She meant well. You can just scold her a few times, why bother..."
Xiang Ruzhen pleaded, "Your Majesty, this trend should not be encouraged. This time it failed, but what if it succeeds next time? I think at the very least, he should be demoted."
Lu Jinlan thought for a moment, "The other day you said that the prefect of Xinping Prefecture in Yaozhou suddenly died of illness. It is not far from Mianzhou. So I will demote Zhang Siyuan by three months and let her serve as the prefect of Xinping for a period of time."
"Anyway, Yaozhou is a city that was transferred from Jiang State. That place is a mixed bag and difficult to manage. Letting her take care of it is a small punishment to teach her a lesson. If she manages it well, she will be reinstated in three months. After all, she did a good job in Mianzhou."
When the imperial decree was passed down, Zhang Siyuan wished he could bang his head on the ground in despair.
Why did she have to cause trouble? Now look what happened, her flattery backfired, and she's been kicked all the way to Xinping Prefecture.
Zhang Siyuan realized she was in the wrong, angrily packed her bags, and left the capital that very night, muttering through gritted teeth, "I'm going to follow the rules exactly, not a single detail will be missed. This time I'll be even more ruthless than the Prime Minister, I won't give anyone any face!"
*
Less than half a month later, news came from Yaozhou that something had happened.
As night fell, Zhang Siyuan sent an urgent message to the palace, saying that several small clans had formed rebel groups in Yaozhou and were gathering in the Xinping Prefecture area, where they were quite rampant.
Xiang Ruzhen said, "Yaozhou has a special geographical location. After it came under the jurisdiction of our Hua Kingdom, many people from the Jiang Kingdom did not move out of the city. There are also trade routes there, connecting to several small countries. In recent years, our Hua Dynasty has been prosperous in trade, and many small tribes from beyond the Great Wall admire our dynasty's prosperity and have moved in, so the population is very complex."
"Because of the language barrier, local officials have difficulty governing. I have been trying to find ways to govern for the past few years, but the results have been minimal, which is due to my incompetence."
Lu Jinlan said, "This is not your fault. Ethnic issues are difficult to manage in any dynasty and cannot be resolved overnight. Moreover, the situation in Yaozhou is complicated, with various problems concentrated in one place, making it even more difficult to solve."
Jin Yun Ning hurriedly said, "Your Majesty is right. Lord Zhang's urgent report said that this group of rebels is composed of seven or eight small tribes, including the Ji Yun, You Sang, and Man He tribes. Although they only number three to five thousand, they have made a great show of force. I think we need to understand the various reasons behind this and make a long-term plan."
Yan Wuxin studied the urgent report for a long time before speaking up, "I remember this Ji Yun clan. The Emperor sent a young man to participate in the selection process. However, that young man wasn't qualified enough and was eliminated in the initial screening. Why the sudden rebellion?"
"I was just thinking of leading troops to wipe out this group of rebels, but Zhang Siyuan emphasized in his report that the rebels were hiding in the mountains. The area is full of mountains, and it would be really difficult for the army to get in."
Xiang Ruzhen frowned and said, "It's one thing for a small clan to rebel, but there's also a woman named Xu Lin involved, helping the rebels write their proclamation. It's utterly lawless. Xu Lin has already been imprisoned by Zhang Siyuan. What does Your Majesty intend to do with her?"
Lu Jinlan flipped through the manifesto in front of him and laughed, "Don't all look so gloomy. You're just a small group of rebels."
"In your view, it is our army that cannot enter the mountains and cannot suppress the rebels. In my view, it is the rebels who are incompetent, and have been causing trouble for so long that they do not even dare to leave the mountains."
"You think it's a bad thing for Hua Ren to get involved, but I think it's a good thing."
Yan Wuxin hurriedly asked, "What's so good about it?"
Lu Jinlan glanced at Xi Mo, "Are the princesses waiting outside for me to check their studies?"
Xi Mo said, "Your Majesty, I have been waiting outside for a quarter of an hour."
Lu Jinlan said, "Let them in."
Lu Andong, Lu Anbei, and Lu Anxi started school at the age of four and have been studying for two or three years now. Lu Jinlan then handed them the manifesto, using it as an opportunity to give them a test.
“Some small tribes have gathered to rebel. This Huaren named Xu Lin helped the rebels write a manifesto. After you read it, what are your thoughts?”
After the three children passed the document around for a while, the eldest princess, Lu Andong, spoke first: "Your Majesty, I think this person is exceptionally talented and passionate, and her writing is excellent. It is certainly a grave mistake for her to help the rebels write their manifesto. However, if the court had discovered her earlier and allowed her to work for the court, this situation would not have occurred. Xu Lin is certainly at fault, but the court has also made a mistake."
The Third Princess Lu Anxi said, "She may be talented, but she helped the rebels, which shows that she is muddle-headed and cannot be used by the court. Your subject reads her articles, and although the writing is good and the reasoning seems reasonable at first glance, they are all wrong upon closer examination."
"Take her writing about the Empress Dowager favoring a demon servant, for example. The Empress Dowager has already banished Chu Yingzi to the Cold Palace. Her writing this falsehood is a slander against the Empress Dowager. How could the Empress Dowager tolerate her?"
Lu Anbei chuckled, and everyone looked over in surprise. Lu Jinlan asked, "Anbei, what are you laughing at?"
Lu Anbei said, "Your Majesty, I think my Third Sister is very simple-minded and thinks about things in a very straightforward way, so I couldn't help but laugh for a moment."
Lu Jinlan said, "Then you tell us."
Lu Anbei said, "Your Majesty, as the Son of Heaven, possesses boundless power. What is there to be intolerant of in mere writings?"
Lu Jinlan slightly raised her eyes. "And then?"
Lu Anbei said, "As my third sister said, the criticism of Mother Empress in the article is untrue and is slander against her. However, I believe that this matter did happen after all, and it was not deliberately fabricated by Xu Lin. Perhaps when she wrote this article, she did not know that Mother Empress had already punished Chu Yingzi."
"As for the other attacks against the Empress Dowager in the article, such as rebellion, they are nothing more than rumors spread by the people. The reason why her article caused such a sensation is that some people already believed the rumors. I think this is a good opportunity to use the Xu Lin incident to shatter the rumors and set the record straight."
"As my elder sister said, Xu Lin is a talented person. Mother Empress has only recently ascended the throne, so this is a good time to show the world your love for talent. The fact that someone who once slandered Mother Empress can be employed by you further demonstrates Mother Empress's magnanimity and thirst for talent."
"This person may seem unusable, but if Your Majesty can transform the unusable into the useful, and turn those who criticize you into those who praise you, wouldn't that demonstrate Your Majesty's exceptional wisdom?"
"Right now, Xu Lin's followers are still cheering for her. If the Empress Dowager were to win over Xu Lin and have her personally slap those people in the face, it would be much more satisfying than if we were to arrest them and behead them all."
"It's just beheading. Even if someone's head falls to the ground, there will still be people who are not convinced. The saying goes, 'To kill a man, you must first destroy his spirit.' So why don't we destroy his spirit first? If there are still people who are not convinced after destroying his spirit, then we can behead them... It's not too late."
Lu Jinlan leaned back on the dragon throne, listening with a smile to Lu Anbei's childish pronouncements on the affairs of state. After she finished speaking, Lu Jinlan looked smugly at the senior officials, "What do you all think?"
Jin Yun Ning said, "The Second Princess's words are all pearls of wisdom; we admire them greatly."
Lu Jinlan smiled and said, "My thoughts are similar to Anbei's, and there are two other points."
"Think about it, these small tribes must lack capable people. Otherwise, how could they let the Hua people participate in a rebellion, and even have them write the manifesto? Are those people on the mountain just a rabble?"
"From another perspective, these rebels are loosely managed and not very vigilant; they are not a united front. If one person can get involved, then other people can get involved too."
Xiang Ruzhen immediately understood and hurriedly said, "I am willing to go personally and send people to infiltrate the rebels. I will definitely wipe them out in one fell swoop. I will not return to the capital until the rebels are destroyed."
Lu Jinlan said, "I will also go there in person. I want to see what's going on in Yaozhou."
Upon hearing this, Jin Yun Ning quickly tried to dissuade him, "Your Majesty, you have only recently ascended the throne. To leave the capital with such a large entourage for a small border prefecture will cause unrest among your subjects. Besides, what if Your Majesty encounters danger?"
Lu Jinlan said, "There's no need to make a fuss. I'll go incognito and quietly. By the time everyone finds out, I'll already be back. Nothing will happen."
Jin Yun Ning quickly looked at Yan Wu Xin. She had hoped that Yan Wu Xin would help persuade the Emperor, but when Yan Wu Xin received her gaze, he said, "If you all go, then I will go too."
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Author's Note: Character designs have been uploaded! Lu Jinlan in Emperor's everyday clothes, Xiang Ruzhen in Prime Minister's official robes, and Yan Wuxin in Grand Commandant's official robes—super cool! Due to size limitations, the images were compressed during upload. Please send the high-resolution images to @西銏沄. Also, the incognito adventure has begun! New map unlocked!
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