Chapter 389
Chapter 389: The Capital Deep In Spring
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The rain kept falling . The flowers in the Jingdou gardens had long bloomed, fell, and mixed into the mud .
As for the investigation of the Ministry of Revenue, the Palace was still waiting for a result . This placed a burden on the court officials . They understood clearly that whomever wanted to topple the Ministry of Revenue had to fall first . Without even needing the far away Sir Fan junior to speak out, Sir Fan senior in the capital had showed enough trump cards .
The investigation went back and forth . No one wanted it to fall on them . Who would want that kind of stupid thing? Furthermore, the Crown Prince had already been a stupid example .
In officialdom, the most powerful was the Emperor's words . Second, was the so-called unwritten rules . The Ministry of Revenue was swaying between these two . No matter how much it swayed, it refused to fall .
Fan Jian refused to resign and resolve this matter . Even though rumors came from the palace saying that the Emperor was prepared to offer nobility as a show of his compensation, the Fan family still held out . For a moment, the officials in the capital couldn't help but feel great admiration for Fan Jian's confidence .
In reality, Fan Jian was not holding out with all his might . After the Ministry of Revenue had implicated enough officials and the Crown Prince began to turn his gaze to other things, such as self-preservation or dragging a few of his brothers under the water, the Minister of Revenue had not returned to the Ministry of Revenue yamen . Rather, he began to leisurely drink tea in his manor, went to the residence to look at the mountains and rivers, and occasionally went to friendly manors to have a chat .
It was not appropriate for him to visit other manors because the Ministry of Revenue investigation was at a critical juncture . He did not want to bring trouble to others . Others also did not dare to be too close to him .
King Jing's manor was an exception . He was the empress dowager's own son, her youngest son, and the Emperor's own younger brother . All these years, he had been silent, well-behaved, and planted his flowers . The Palace all knew what this attitude showed so never bothered him much .
Fan Jian and King Jing had always been on good terms . It was normal to visit his manor . On the other hand, given King Jing's personality, there was nothing he was afraid of .
One day, Fan Jian entered the Palace and talked deeply and sincerely with the Emperor in his royal study for a whole night . He sincerely confessed his thoughts to the Emperor .
He analyzed it from all directions and believed it was best for him to continue in the post of Minister of Revenue . On this question, he did not conceal anything from the Emperor . He was reluctant to give up his post, not to zealously continue fighting[JW1] . In this seemingly simple, but really very complicated situation, Fan Jian analyzed himself and the court piece by piece . He urged the Emperor to withdraw his order to investigate the Ministry of Revenue . This was the best choice for the Qing Kingdom . It was the bright and honorable path . Such raising of the virtuous, even if it was oneself, such straightforwardness and uprightness, even the Emperor was slightly surprised .
The next day, it was said King Jing also went into the Palace . It was rumored that this preposterous King talked for a long time in the empress dowager's Hanguang Palace and even argued with the old matriarch . As for the content of their argument, no one knew .
…
…
That night, the empress dowager and the Emperor watched the highlights of the opera . As they were eating melon seeds, the empress dowager told the Emperor the story of King Jing entering the Palace . The Emperor smiled and didn't say anything .
The empress dowager's meaning was clear, it was the same as when Fan Xian first entered the capital . The Fan family has done a lot for the Li family, so they couldn't be treated too unfairly . Besides, if the youngest were to come to the Palace every day and make a fuss, this wouldn't look good…most importantly, the matriarch knew that her grandsons had probably all done some ugly things in the Ministry of Revenue . The investigation of the Ministry of Revenue had gotten to the royal family . What was the royal family to do with their dignity?
Minister Fan had always thought that the Emperor would care more about face than the officials, but he had not expected that the first to be ashamed would be the empress dowager . However, the effect was much the same .
The next day, the edict came down . Although, in order to protect the court's propriety, it did not explicitly withdraw the imperial edict to investigate the Ministry of Revenue . Using the excuse of state affairs, the Emperor moved most of the officials in the joint investigation unit back to their original departments . Without question, the intensity of the investigation against the Ministry of Revenue weakened greatly .
The officials collectively let out a breath . As the saying went, you are fine, I am fine, we are all fine . It was court that tried not to offend each other . Why make it so that parties could not co-exist?
Everyone knew in their hearts that the reduction in intensity of the Ministry of Revenue investigation certainly had something to do with the fuss King Jing had made in the Palace . Thinking of this, the officials couldn't help feeling it was a bit odd .
Fan manor ha always been friendly with Jing manor, which was known to all . However, now was not like the past . At the beginning of autumn last year, there seemed to be some problems between the two families . First, Fan Xian and the Second Prince's battle implicated King Jing's heir, Li Hongcheng . Later, the lady of the Fan family was, to the shock of everyone, accepted as a disciple by the Northern Qi Imperial Advisor, Ku He, and the marriage between the two families came to nothing .
But King Jing entered the Palace? Have the two families repaired the relationship as it was before? The civil and military officials all sighed, feeling more and more that Fan Jian had unfathomable depths .
However, at the same time, the Emperor announced a confusing personnel appointment—the Imperial Censorate He Zongwei was promoted to Imperial Censorate of the Left and added to the unit investigating the Ministry of Revenue .
He Zongwei was, back then, talented and famous in Jingdou, on par with Hou Jicheng, one of the Fan's four disciples . Because he had always been on good terms with Guo Baokun and had connections with the Board of Rites, he had delayed his steps going into official service to avoid talk . He waited until the spring examination in the fifth year of the Qing calendar but was forced to give up the examination due to the death of a relative .
So, this famous and talented individual never participated in the imperial examinations . In people's hearts, his luck was indeed extremely bad .
On the other hand, He Zongwei's luck was extremely good . That year, he was on good terms with the Guo family, met the Crown Prince, and his fame in the capital took off . Later, in the spring of the fifth year of the Qing calendar, he was "coincidentally" implicated in the matter of the previous Prime Minister's fall . In the end, he was spotted by the Emperor and jumped over layers and layers of processes and directly bestowed the title of Imperial Censorate by imperial edict .
Everyone knew that this was only because He Zongwei was a person good at swaying from side to side, and he stood on the right team . For one moment, he stood on the Crown Prince's side, and in another, he stood on Xinyang's side . However, now he had become the Imperial Censor of the Left .
Such a young figure, yet he made it to such a position . People couldn't help but be shocked and speechless . Why did the Emperor have such a great appreciation of this person?
Actually, it was not like there wasn't precedent for such a thing . Fan Xian was younger than He Zongwei, held a higher position, had more power, and was more famous .
The problem was that everyone now knew that Sir Fan junior was secretly a prince and was famous for both his martial and literary accomplishments . It was not strange for him to have the position he did today . But, what was it about He Zongwei?
Some of the gossipy officials couldn't help secretly laughing that perhaps the Emperor had found another illegitimate child .
No matter how the officials or people guessed, in the end, this old talent of Jingdou, who had long been hidden in the Second Prince's carriage, in the Eldest Princess' manor, and in the Imperial Censor's study, was finally about to officially step onto the stage of history and would radiate light and heat for many years .
Young, handsome, talented . He had status and the Emperor's approval . He Zongwei stole everyone's gaze like a newly risen sun, while Fan Xian was probably the black hole that would swallow the sun . No one would believe that last year, Fan Xian had punched this now popular member of the court black and blue .
This was He Zongwei's lifelong humiliation . He knew that Sir Fan junior far held him in true contempt . Now that the Emperor thought highly of him, then he had to do things for the Emperor .
…
…
The situation that left the Crown Prince in terrible shape was finally being resolved, although, he still had to find a way to smooth over that 400,000 liang of silver . Last night, in the Hanguang Palace, the empress dowager thoroughly scolded her grandson before telling him that the Emperor was not in a good mood . While great-grandmother was able to help protect him once, it did not mean she would be able to do so again .
The Crown Prince was regretful . In the two years after Fan Xian entered the capital, he had been doing well . He was well-behaved and quiet, and even played around with women less . However, the person he was two years ago was rather preposterous and had left a number of loose ends, which were easy to grab .
Thinking of this, he began to feel hatred for the Minister of Revenue who had grabbed these loose ends tightly and caused him such pain . That Fan family!
Compared to the Second Prince that he had hated with intensity in the past, the Crown Prince decided that within the next few years, his biggest enemy was, without question, the Fan family . Regardless of whether it was the senior or the junior .
The matter of investigating the Ministry of Revenue had already forced the Eastern Palace and Fan family into close combat . This time, the Fan family had taken the advantage . Regardless of whether or not the Crown Prince wished to resolve this peacefully, given Fan Jian intelligence, he knew that after the Crown Prince inherited, the Fan family would have to suffer the consequences .
The Crown Prince was not the Emperor . He did not have feelings for the old woman far away in Danzhou .
As for Fan Xian, because of the Ye family matter all those years ago, this was an irreconcilable hatred . The Crown Prince did not have hope that Fan Xian would stand on his side, in fact, he did not even have hope that he would not oppose him in the matter of inheriting the throne .
Since the main dilemma had been established, all the other problems were minor ones . All the past unhappiness could be wiped away by the wave of a hand . So, when his trusted aide sent word that the Second Prince had invited him to meet on the Liujing River, the Crown Prince thought for a moment and then agreed to the suggestion .
He smiled coldly and knew that that second elder brother of his also realized that if they were to defeat Fan Xian, it would not be enough to depend on their own power . There was only one chair . Whether it was the Crown Prince's or the Second Prince's, everyone could draw their daggers and fight for it after . At the moment, they had to ensure that this chair did not end up beneath the Third Prince's butt .
In the current situation, these two sons of the Emperor had to abandon their former hatred and band together . They had to unite all the power they could to be able to strike at that bastard far away in Jiangnan .
On Liujing River, the spring was as heavy as a woman's glance . It was gradually becoming warmer . Summer was coming .
On a pleasure boat, the Crown Prince and the Second Prince drank and laughed, enjoying the scenery and the beauty . It was like there had not been any unhappiness between them these few years .
The Second Prince actively extended his hand and naturally expressed his position first . He first expressed his apology for the dishonorable action of Minister Yan Hangshu, who had struck while the Crown Prince was down during the investigation of the Ministry of Revenue .
Of course, he would not say it explicitly . Although the Emperor was sometimes a bit stupid, most of the time he was quite clever . He only needed a slight hint to understand .
The Crown Prince also sighed, saying that after Fan Xian entered the Palace, his pressure on him had lessened .
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login