Chapter 222 I, Du Min, will surely be able to practice the Great Dao...
Prime Minister Zheng's eyes were filled with sarcasm. "You can't do it. If you had the ability, why would you have repeatedly tried to provoke me with your words?"
Prime Minister Zheng knew perfectly well that Du Min's commotion was intended to provoke him into stepping forward, so that the Zheng family of Xingyang would take the lead in cutting their losses and become the knife that overthrew the powerful families.
Du Min's thoughts were guessed, but his expression remained unchanged. He responded with a sneer, "Prime Minister Zheng, why don't you suspect that my beliefs have collapsed and I have turned my respect for you into hatred? The superior who once supported and encouraged me to work for the benefit of the people and the country is actually so despicable behind the scenes. This makes my respect for you a joke."
Prime Minister Zheng's eyes turned cold, and he retorted, "Don't fool yourself. What good are you anyway?"
Seeing that he had lost his composure, Du Min chuckled twice. "Whether I am a good person or not is for the two sages and the people to judge. But you, the prime minister, the prime minister of a country, the magnanimity of a clan, are all empty titles."
Having said that, Du Min turned and left.
The officials who had been eavesdropping scattered upon seeing this, some looking up at the sky, others looking down at their feet, none daring to look at Prime Minister Zheng's expression.
Prime Minister Zheng was left standing there, his hands clenched so tightly in his sleeves that they were almost bloodless. He wished he could drag Du Min back and bury him in the same coffin as that old scoundrel Xu.
"Prime Minister Zheng, why are you standing outside and not coming in?" Prime Minister Xu's second son came out to greet him with his servants.
Prime Minister Zheng nodded in greeting, then followed him into the mansion to the mourning hall to pay his respects. He made a brief appearance to offer incense, but left without even taking a sip of tea.
"Uncle, wait!" Li Shaoqing chased after him out of the mansion and got into Prime Minister Zheng's carriage. "Uncle, where are you going? Give me a ride."
"That's dedication! Where are you going?" Prime Minister Zheng asked.
Li Jingye sat down and smiled, "Wherever you go, I'll go."
Prime Minister Zheng glanced at him. Li Jingye was the grandson of Li Ji, a famous general who helped found the country. His grandmother was from the Zheng family of Xingyang. His grandmother and father were cousins, but both of them had passed away. The two families did not have much contact on weekdays. Although they were both officials in the same court, they rarely had private interactions.
"Return to the residence," Prime Minister Zheng instructed the coachman, brushing the incense ash from his sleeve. "Speak, what is it?"
"I heard you and Du Min had a fight outside the Xu residence? Have you two finally fallen out?" Li Jingye asked directly.
"Yes, we've finally severed ties with him," Prime Minister Zheng said without hesitation.
"What's the matter? How could he bear to turn against you? Or has something changed on the female saint's side? Could it be that the female saint is going to deal with you?" Li Jingye asked.
"It's to deal with the powerful families. His Majesty and Empress Wu want to reform the grain tax and levy taxes based on acreage in the future. They have ordered Du Min to investigate the acreage of land under the names of powerful officials and gentry landlords. This will probably be announced at tomorrow's court meeting," Prime Minister Zheng explained.
Li Jingye scoffed, "Wishful thinking. Even if Du Min had nine lives, it wouldn't be enough for him to investigate. He wanted you to step in and advocate for this? You didn't agree, and he turned on you?"
Prime Minister Zheng did not deny it.
"Fool," Li Jingye cursed.
The carriage slowed down, and Prime Minister Zheng knew they had arrived home. He asked, "Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?"
"Next time, I just remembered I have another errand to run." Li Jingye was in a hurry to deliver the message. He stopped the carriage, said goodbye, and then jumped off.
*
Meanwhile, the messenger representing the two sages who went out of the palace to offer condolences also brought back news of the argument between Prime Minister Zheng and Du Min outside the Xu residence. Upon hearing this, the female sage summoned Du Min to the palace.
"Your subject Du Min pays respects to Your Majesty."
"Du Qing, how did you fall out with Prime Minister Zheng? I thought you understood my intentions."
“Your Majesty’s intention is clear. However, this reform of taxing by the acreage has affected the interests of powerful families. This means that I am now on the opposite side of Prime Minister Zheng and other powerful officials. If I continue to feign compliance with Prime Minister Zheng, I will not gain any benefit. The harmonious relationship between teacher and student will only appear fake, and Prime Minister Zheng will look down on me,” Du Min explained.
"What good would it do to fall out with them? What are your plans?" the female saint asked.
"I believe Prime Minister Zheng is an official who still has compassion for the people. I want to try and see if I can sway him once, perhaps turning his pretense into reality." Du Min planned to use a psychological tactic, betting that Prime Minister Zheng still had conscience and ambition. He firmly believed that no one could resist pursuing a good reputation. Even the treacherous Prime Minister Xu, on his deathbed, chose not to plead for his son's life to protect his reputation, let alone this Prime Minister Zheng, who was only in his early fifties. He didn't believe that Prime Minister Zheng would be content with mediocrity. He had already risen to the position of Prime Minister, and the constraints of his family on him were now negligible.
The female saint laughed at his naivety, but the falling out was already a fact, a situation that Prime Minister Zheng was happy to see, and there was no way to repair it, so he could only let it go.
"Fine, do as you please." The female saint recalled the official document she had received the day before and asked, "When are you going to pick up your promotion document?"
"I beg Your Majesty to safeguard this for a year." Du Min made a tough decision. If he couldn't drag Prime Minister Zheng down with him this time, he would at least bring him down. He was already a third-rank prefect. Once he repaired the waterways of Huai Prefecture and achieved some success in land redistribution and household division, he might just become prime minister himself.
"Alright." The female saint agreed. "Tomorrow morning court will discuss the matters of taxation by acre and household division. Minister Du, I will send a carriage to pick you up tomorrow. You will also attend the morning court."
"Your subject obeys the decree." Du Min kowtowed, both excited and nervous. Tomorrow, he, Du Min, would appear before all the civil and military officials, but unfortunately, he would be scolded.
Being able to be scorned by all the officials is a skill in itself; what poor scholar could have such luck? Thinking this, he became excited again.
Du Min strode out of the palace and hurriedly returned to the post station to deliver the news to Meng Qing.
After discussing it, the uncle and sister-in-law decided to proceed as originally planned.
"Our primary objective is to drag Prime Minister Zheng into this mess, to make him turn against the powerful clans. If this fails, we must compromise directly. Don't touch the powerful clans; survival is paramount. Don't be greedy. If you can get the merchants to buy enough land from the landlords and gentry, you'll have achieved your political success," Meng Qing instructed. "Tomorrow's morning court will definitely be divided into two groups. One group will support the two emperors' decrees. Remember their faces; they might be helpful to you later. The other group will be the powerful clans and imperial family who strongly oppose them. If the conflict spreads to you, don't argue or resist them. Just shout out two points of view: for the country and for the people. Dividing households can increase grain taxes and national treasury revenue—for the country; investigating land acreage and supporting merchants in redeeming their land—for the people. Stand on the moral high ground of loyalty to the emperor and love for the people to question them; they're guaranteed to have no rebuttal."
“No, I want to argue. I want to expose the ugly faces of the powerful officials so that I can ridicule Prime Minister Zheng later,” Du Min said.
Meng Qing: "...As long as you're not afraid of getting beaten up."
"What are you planning to do?" Du Minfu was experienced in being beaten, and he wasn't afraid as long as it wasn't meant to kill him.
“When we get back to Huaizhou, I’ll hire a few more bodyguards to protect you,” Du Li said.
"We need to hire more." Du Min knew his next few years wouldn't be easy. "By the way, Second Sister-in-law, have you written to Meng Chun?"
"I wrote it. I sent the letter before I went to the Prime Minister's residence to find you the day before yesterday." In the letter, Meng Qing instructed Meng Chun to quickly transport the money back to Huaizhou. Du Min was in Huaizhou and had the support of the people. If he personally carried out the government's orders in Huaizhou, it would not be difficult to extract land from the gentry and landlords.
Du Min looked at his elder brother and sister-in-law, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Second sister-in-law and second brother, you two should leave Luoyang and return to Huaizhou tomorrow morning. Please take the news of the grain tax reform back with you."
"Let your second sister-in-law go back first. I'll stay and keep you company. If anyone tries to stop you on the way back, I can help you," Du Li objected.
"Alright, we don't need your selflessness right now." Meng Qing waved her hand. "You're the apple of our eye, we can't let anything happen to you."
Du Min's heart was overflowing with joy, and he couldn't help but smile.
"I'm going back inside," he said, embarrassed, and fled.
Meng Qing scoffed.
“Your son probably hasn’t even heard you say that they are the precious gems of our family,” Du Li said.
“They know without me saying it that they are the apple of my eye.” Meng Qing got tired of sitting, so she stood up and said, “Let’s go out for a walk.”
Seeing that the sun was about to set, Du Li went back inside to get Meng Qing a cloak, as it was still a bit chilly in the early mornings and evenings of March and April.
*
At dawn the next day, while the sky was still tinged with blue, the carriage to pick up Du Min arrived. Du Min hadn't slept much all night, but he was in excellent spirits. He stepped out of the thin mist, carrying his official hat, and boarded the carriage, heading straight for the palace.
After he left, Meng Qing and Du Li also got up. The couple stood in the courtyard, looking at the sky and watching the rising sun emerge from the clouds and climb inch by inch.
At the hour of Si (9-11 AM), the noisy morning court session ended. Du Min mingled with the fiery crowd and walked out of the Golden Palace. Ignoring the footprints on the hem of his robe, he strode after Prime Minister Zheng.
Prime Minister Zheng was surrounded by powerful officials, and when they saw Du Min, their faces turned so gloomy they could drip black water.
“Prime Minister Zheng, can you see it? The two sages are determined to reform.” Du Min ignored the expressions of those around him. “You said yesterday that I couldn’t accomplish anything. I’ll show you. I, Du Min, will definitely be able to practice the Great Way.”
"I'll wait and see," Prime Minister Zheng said expressionlessly.
Du Min cupped his hands and addressed the others present, "Gentlemen, please forgive me."
Nobody paid him any attention.
Du Min didn't care. He smiled and walked away.
Prime Minister Zheng also wanted to leave, but he was held up by powerful officials who kept asking him for advice. He didn't return to his residence until sunset.
"Master, the gatekeeper received a letter from Lord Du. Would you like to read it?" the steward asked.
Prime Minister Zheng hesitated for a few seconds, then took the envelope and tore it open. Two lines of text came into view: "Today in court, you proposed a derogatory posthumous title for Prime Minister Xu—'Miu'—which was rejected by the two emperors. Between the aristocratic families and the royal family, who will get what they want? Between you and me, who will get what they want?"
Prime Minister Zheng tore up the paper and gave the order, "From now on, the Prime Minister's residence will not receive Du Min. If there are any more letters from him, burn them immediately."
The housekeeper should be.
The letter was torn up, but the words on it lingered in Prime Minister Zheng's mind. After Prime Minister Xu's posthumous title was decided, he recalled two lines from the paper: "Between the aristocratic families and the imperial family, who will get what they want? Between you and me, who will get what they want?"
Prime Minister Xu was given the honorable posthumous title of "Gong" and was posthumously granted the titles of Grand Master of the Palace and Grand Governor of Yangzhou by His Mausoleum. He was buried in the Zhaoling Mausoleum.
The royal family got what they wanted.
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Author's Note: There will be one more update tonight.
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