Chapter 156: Old Zhu Di: In all my nine imperial campaigns, I have never witnessed such a spectacle!

"Well, never mind me, you guys go ahead. I'll catch up with the Grand Ancestor shortly." With those two remarks, Zhu Youjian vanished right where he stood.

Leaving Zhu Youtang utterly dumbfounded.

"Come, follow your father to the Wenhua Palace." Zhu Jianshen reached out and gently pulled him along.

Your father is going to take you to let off some steam.

"Mm."

A long-lost sense of security welled up inside Zhu Youtang. Though he was a grown man in his thirties, his lips quivered, and he almost burst into tears.

...

Wenhua Palace.

Zhu Houzhao, dressed in a crown prince's informal attire, stood at the very front with a flamboyant posture.

The group of civil officials following behind him, with their restrained poise and scholarly demeanor, looked more like a gang of street thugs trailing a boss.

Seeing this unruly crown prince, the civil officials felt quite a headache, yet they were quite satisfied with him in certain aspects. For instance, the prince seemed utterly apathetic toward state affairs, making him prime material for a sage monarch.

He was even more suitable than the reigning emperor.

After all, Zhu Youtang was incompetent yet loved to meddle, whereas the Crown Prince was entirely different—he simply loved to play and had never once touched upon state affairs.

He was prime material to be a Ming dynasty emperor!

As long as he didn't stir up trouble, he could live to be a hundred.

Ma Wensheng, the Minister of Personnel; Liu Daxia, the Minister of War; and Li Dongyang, the Minister of Revenue, walked at the very front, while Senior Grand Secretary Liu Jian actually lagged half a step behind the three of them.

Li Dongyang whispered softly, "The Crown Prince has summoned us so urgently; no doubt His Majesty's condition has worsened, and unable to hold on any longer, he is preparing to entrust the orphan to our care. It is a pity that our frequent admonitions to His Majesty have not earned his favor. Senior Grand Secretary Liu is undoubtedly the trusted minister chosen by His Majesty for this grave task."

These words were a thinly veiled sarcasm, implying that Liu Jian was only capable of flattery to win the Emperor's favor.

Senior Grand Secretary Liu remained silent. The Cabinet under his charge only ever handled matters within its proper bounds and had never once actively suppressed the Six Ministries.

Li Dongyang offered a insincere smile and cupped his hands. "Let's patch up our relationship now; when the time comes, I shall have to rely heavily on Lord Liu's patronage!"

Liu Jian's voice was aged yet resonated with deep strength. "Utter another word of nonsense, and this old man will beat you to death right here in the imperial court. Feel free to try me, Li Dongyang."

Li Dongyang froze.

*You old codger, why aren't you playing by the rules?!*

He forced a smile. "Lord Liu..."

Liu Jian showed him no courtesy whatsoever, shouting out, "Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince! Li Dongyang is disrupting court discipline!"

Zhu Houzhao walked over, his gaze peculiar as he stared straight at him. "Does Lord Li wish to reason with Gu?"

Li Dongyang took half a step back, his expression cautious. "Please don't play games, Your Royal Highness; this old minister's health is poor."

Xie Qian, the Minister of Rites, frowned and said, "For Your Royal Highness to constantly rely on brute force to threaten court officials—what kind of decorum is this? It damages the dignity of our great nation."

"This minister also hopes Your Royal Highness will inform us: has His Majesty's sacred health improved?"

***

Swish!

At these words, the gazes of more than half the civil officials present snapped over, fixing directly upon him with strange looks.

"Hmph!"

Zhu Houzhao let out a cold snort. "My Imperial Father has already recovered. I'm afraid you lords are destined to be disappointed."

*Impossible!*

This was the collective initial thought of the civil official faction, including Liu Jian. Although Liu Jian had not participated, he could still guess a thing or two, and precisely because of this, a rift had formed between him and Li Dongyang and others whom he had personally recommended to enter the Cabinet.

Yet he had never informed Zhu Youtang, because the name Wang Zhi carried far too much lethality for the civil officials. Even with him pulling strings behind the scenes, his annual illicit income was a staggering sum, and naturally, he was afraid too.

Therefore, while there were different factions among the civil officials, once their collective interests were threatened, they formed a complete, irresistible giant that even the emperor could not handle.

After all, for the Brocade Guard to arrest someone, they still needed the seals of the Three Judicial Offices. If the Ministry of Punishments—controlled by the civil officials—refused to stamp the document, even the Brocade Guard could not make an arrest.

And Zhu Youtang had practically crippled his own limbs: the transmission officials had been abolished, the Eastern Depot had no confidants of his, the Western Depot no longer existed, and officials across all offices relied entirely on recommendations from the civil officials.

*You recommend my son, and I'll recommend your son.*

Even Liu Jian's son, despite lacking scholarly honors, was a Secretary in the Imperial Chancellery—a post he had simply demanded from the Hongzhi Emperor.

To be an official, one had to look at bloodlines.

*It's a trap!*

This was the second thought of the civil officials. A brief commotion subsided back to normalcy. Could the divine doctor Liu Wentai really not be trusted?

His profession was regicide, and his track record was verifiable.

Suddenly.

A gentle yet powerful voice rang out.

"Who instigated Liu Wentai to poison the Emperor? Step forward yourselves, and We will spare the lives of your clans outside the third degree!"

Ma Wensheng, Minister of Personnel; Li Dongyang, Minister of Revenue; Liu Daxia, Minister of War; Xie Qian, Minister of Rites; Min Gui, Minister of Punishments; and Yang Shousui, Minister of Works—the immensely powerful heads of the Six Ministries—were all left utterly dumbfounded.

"Emperor Xianzong?!"

Li Dongyang was startled. He had served in the Hanlin Academy since the Tiansun reign and spent all twenty-three years of the Chenghua era there. How could he not be familiar with this emperor who appeared benevolent and gentle, yet possessed a ruthlessness and decisiveness of terrifying proportions?

All officials of the third rank and above had climbed step by step out of the Chenghua era, and at least a large majority of the hundred officials in Wenhua Palace were veterans of three or four reigns; naturally, their eyes and minds were not clouded by age.

"Your... Your Ministers..."

Xie Qian shouted coldly to stop them, "My lords, hold your horses!"

"The late Emperor passed away eighteen years ago at the age of forty-one. If the late Emperor were still alive, he would be sixty years old today, yet the person before us looks no older than thirty!"

A fierce glint flashed in Li Dongyang's eyes. "Impersonating the late Emperor is a crime punishable by death! His entire clan must be exterminated!"

"Impudent! How dare you treat Us as nothing!"

Zhu Youtang was consumed by shame and fury, roaring, "My Imperial Father has manifested himself in the court, yet you dare publicly slander him! Do you know my father better than I do?!"

***

"Li Dongyang, you are arrogant! Whose clan do you intend to exterminate? There are a hundred thousand descendants of my Zhu family; do you wish to overthrow the dynasty?!"

*What on earth is Liu Wentai playing at?!*

*How can the reigning Emperor's complexion possibly look this good?!*

Li Dongyang frowned. "This minister wouldn't dare! His Majesty is deluded by evil spirits and can no longer distinguish right from wrong; he must be severely executed immediately!"

Xie Qian, Liu Daxia, and the others stepped forward, their tones chillingly detached. "We second the motion. He must be severely executed immediately!"

Based on a single sentence from this person who looked so astonishingly like Emperor Xianzong—regardless of whether it was truly the Emperor's intention or not—he absolutely had to be gotten rid of. The people implicated in the affair of Liu Wentai were simply far, far too many!

Just as his voice fell.

A squad of the Brocade Guard split into two and streamed in from both sides.

A chilling, murderous atmosphere filled the entire Wenhua Palace.

"Audacious!" Zhu Houzhao blazed with anger, delivering a slap so fierce to Commander of the Brocade Guard Mou Bin that the man's ears rang, his face flushed crimson, and he grew dizzy.

Mou Bin was a rare oddity among the successive commanders of the Brocade Guard. While other commanders threw people into prison and subjected them to brutal torture,

he, on the other hand, made sure every official dragged into the imperial prison came out plump and well-fed.

This had driven Zhu Youtang to strip him of his post twice.

Yet Mou Bin had backing; the entire civil official faction supported him, rendering even the Emperor's decrees to dismiss him useless.

"Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness, calm your anger! We must guard against malevolent villains resorting to violence!" Mou Bin squeezed a fawning smile onto his swollen face.

Then, ignoring the furious Emperor, he turned his gaze to Zhu Jianshen, who stood quietly aside, and said viciously, "Impersonating the late Emperor is a heinous crime! Take this man down for me!"

"You... you all—rebel! This is sheer rebellion!"

Over a hundred Brocade Guard operatives moved to make the arrest. Zhu Youtang was so furious his chest felt ready to burst. His attempts to shield his biological father were useless; he was surrounded and forced to his knees by a group of Brocade Guards, unable to move.

Zhu Jianshen's expression showed not a trace of panic.

Because at this moment.

The murderous aura inside Wenhua Palace grew even denser, to the point where even a faint smell of blood could be detected.

"How utterly audacious! We reigned over nine dynasties, yet We have never witnessed such a spectacle."

A light chuckle echoed within Wenhua Palace, laced with a hint of intrigued amusement.

***

*(Recovered from a severe illness; tomorrow I will resume two chapters daily and try for three. My apologies to all my esteemed patrons, bowing low in kowtow!!)*