Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 656 Looking Before and After
"Kill him to silence him?" Li Gui's eyes flashed. "The Crown Prince wants you to kill Jiang Hongli?"

“And Kim Kyung-seo.” Li Erzhan nodded deeply.

"Really?" A look of doubt flashed in Li Gui's eyes.

Li Erzhan shrugged. "If you really don't believe me, there's nothing I can do."

"Why?" Li Gui asked. "Didn't you just say that the Crown Prince had never been involved in instigating treason?"

“I have said that. But the Crown Prince is a filial son.” Li Erzhan sighed.

"He wants to cover up his father's wrongdoings?" Li Gui understood immediately.

"Ah."

"Then why didn't you go to the Uijinfu first and kill Jiang Hongli and Jin Jingrui before leaving the capital?" Cui Mingji questioned.

“I’m not stupid.” Li Erzhan rolled his eyes at Cui Mingji as usual. “That proclamation specifically named Jiang Hongli, saying that he was instructed by Guanghai to betray General Liu and General Qiao. If I go to the Uijinfu to kill him now, wouldn’t I be throwing the blame on myself?”

"So you refused?" Li Gui asked.

"Of course not," Li Erzhan said calmly. "If I hadn't been detained by Your Excellency today, I would have certainly done everything in my power to ensure the Crown Prince's ascension to the throne. How could a treacherous minister like me refuse the future king's request in public?"

"Don't you think your words are contradictory?" Li Gui said coldly.

"Your Excellency, the Imperial Envoy has already entered the Gyeonggi Province," Li Erzhan explained with a smile. "If I could simply find an excuse to delay for a couple of days, or privately and subtly advise the Crown Prince, wouldn't that be enough to suppress this matter?"

"So," Li Gui shook his head slightly, "you want to use this to implicate the Crown Prince in the case of instigating treason?"

“That’s right! There were several palace servants present when the Crown Prince said those words!” Li Erzhan started gesturing wildly. “As long as we drag them out, we can pin the blame for ‘murder to silence’ on the Crown Prince. And me!” Li Erzhan pointed to himself.

"This minister, who has been advocating for military action and urging the king to fulfill his duties since the slave rebels raised the banner of rebellion, was terrified and at a loss after receiving this chaotic order! So he came to you, Your Excellency, who was ostracized and persecuted by Guanghai for being loyal to the Celestial Dynasty and the Emperor!" As he spoke, Li Erzhan waved his hand toward Li Gui in front of him.

"Upon hearing of this matter, Your Excellency acted decisively, immediately gathering your entire family to fight your way into the Righteous Forbidden City and rescue Jiang and Jin. This prevented them from being killed by the treacherous king and his son before they could receive divine punishment!"

Li Erzhan became more and more excited as he spoke, his words echoing throughout the Heavenly King Hall.

After the echoes faded, the dilapidated temple fell into a long silence. The silence, set against the darkness, made the already crumbling smile of the clay Maitreya statue appear even more eerie.

After a mundane bird call drifted across the rooftop, Li Erzhan spoke up: "Your Excellency, are you satisfied with my story of killing two birds with one stone?"

Li Gui turned to look at Cui Mingji. "Is it possible?"

"..." Cui Mingji didn't respond, but looked at Li Erzhan with a complicated expression.

"If you have any better ideas, I am willing to lend a helping hand." Li Erzhan glanced at Cui Mingji before looking away. In his eyes, Cui Mingji was just a brainless fool who would lose control at the slightest provocation.

“Alright.” Li Gui took a deep breath. “This might be a feasible method, but how can I trust you?”

“I can write it down. Now,” Li Erzhan said, suppressing his eagerness. “And I will not ask you to remove your mask immediately. Once Jiang and Jin are in our hands, and all the supporting evidence is ready, then you can be frank with me.”

Li Gui shook his head, seemingly about to agree. "Now, with the curfew in advance and martial law imposed throughout the city, how will we send messages to the people in the capital to storm the Uigeumbu if Gwanghae keeps the city under lockdown?"

Li Erzhan's eyes narrowed slightly. "Your Excellency need not worry. Zhang Rangning, the gatekeeper of Sujing Gate, is my protégé. Moreover, I have many incriminating facts against him. As long as I personally intervene, he will certainly open the door for us. Not only can he pass on messages, but he can even bring the rebel army outside the city into Hanyang." At the end, Li Erzhan added with a smile, "Of course, if possible, I would also appreciate it if Your Excellency could grant him an official position after you achieve great things."

"What dirt do you have on Zhang Rangning?" Li Gui asked.

Li Erzhan seemed to hesitate for a moment, but soon a calm expression appeared on his face. "It's alright to tell you. Zhang Rangning committed adultery with his father's concubine, which is like that of a beast. If I hadn't suppressed this scandal, he would have been imprisoned long ago."

Li Gui's lips twitched. "Let's leave it at that for now, and then we'll discuss it further."

"Please proceed, Your Excellency." Li Erzhan bowed respectfully. "But if I may be so bold as to offer a word of advice, time is of the essence. The Imperial Envoy has already arrived in the capital region. Once he enters the capital, he will inevitably take control of all the government offices in Hanyang. At that point, some things will become impossible to accomplish."

"Hmph." Li Gui didn't respond further, just chuckled and turned to leave.

The Cui brothers followed behind him, their eyes displaying different expressions.

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After leaving the Heavenly King Hall, Li Gui and the Cui brothers went to the meditation room in the backyard.

As a dilapidated ancient temple that had not been repaired for a long time, there were naturally no cushions available for the four of them to sit on in the meditation room. They sat on the floor, around a dim oil lamp, as if they were meditating.

"What do you three think?" Li Gui's gaze swept over the three brothers' faces. "Master Mozhai put on a very good show. Even I'm starting to think of you as that 'Sir'," the eldest, Cui Laiji, chimed in, offering a compliment.

"It's just some underhanded and unorthodox methods that can't be brought to the table," Li Gui said with a smile, waving his hand.

“Lord Mozhai.” Cui Mingji lowered his head, staring intently at the steadily flickering flame on the lamp wick. “I still don’t think Li Erzhan is trustworthy.”

"Why?" Li Gui raised an eyebrow, and the smile that was already faint slowly faded.

“The contrast in this old thief’s behavior is just too great,” Cui Mingji said. “Before leaving the palace, he was Guanghai’s lackey. After we captured him, he immediately offered to cooperate in less than an hour. Don’t you find that strange?”

Before Li Gui could speak, Cui Laiji interrupted, saying, "Perhaps Li Erzhan has long harbored rebellious intentions. Previously, he and Zhang Luoxi Gong joined forces to pressure Guanghai, but to no avail. Now, the Crown Prince has publicly declared his intention to kill someone to silence them. I even suspect that his departure from the capital this time might be a pretext to raise an army and force the emperor to abdicate."

“Second Brother,” Cui Mingji said, looking at Cui Laiji. “Li Erzhan is a cunning and treacherous man. We have no idea how much of what he says is true and how much is false. If we rashly believe him, we will only be led by the nose.”

“I do think Rujing’s words make sense.” Li Gui nodded to Cui Laiji. “Ever since the disastrous defeat in the Northern Expedition, Gwanghae has been suppressing Yi Erzhan, even forcing Zheng Renhong to resign. Moreover, as far as I know, Park Seungjong has been making connections for a long time, preparing to launch a massive anti-Yi movement. If the Celestial Empire hadn’t suddenly mobilized its troops, the Censorate would probably have launched an offensive this month. Given Gwanghae’s cold-heartedness, it’s not surprising that Yi Erzhan has developed disloyal intentions.”

"Previously, Zhang Luoxi Gong actively colluded with Li Erzhan to persuade him to kill Jiang and Jin, right?" Cui Mingji's gaze towards Li Gui held a more complex expression. "Furthermore, if I remember correctly, it was Brother Dunshi who was constantly persuading Zhang Luoxi Gong to ally with Li Erzhan."

"Ziqian, don't overthink it." The deep night concealed the fleeting panic in Li Gui's eyes. "Everything my son and I have done is for the sake of the nation and the cause of the restoration. Just imagine, if Guanghai had accepted Zhang Haogu's advice, would our Joseon have suffered such an unprecedented humiliation in its 230-year history?"

Li Gui spoke righteous words, but he didn't actually care much about North Korea's international reputation.

In Li Gui's view, since the king had already committed the outrageous act of colluding with the enemy and nearly reducing Joseon to a land of beasts, Joseon had no face left to show. Even if the king could suppress all dissent in the court and the public and cover up the truth in the historical records, those who experienced history firsthand would use their own pens and paper to restore the truth of history.

In reality, Li Gui had always hoped that the emperor, thousands of miles away, would issue an imperial edict blaming Korea, so that they could more quickly unite the people and gain a legitimate reason to overthrow the king.

Initially, he approached Kim Sang-gung and Park Seung-jong to expose the alliance between Lee and Jang, precisely to preserve the pretext for the Celestial Empire to punish Joseon and to rally the disillusioned populace. His reason for first having Lee Si-baek persuade Jang Man to cooperate with Lee Il-chan was to leverage the king's stubbornness to defeat Lee Il-chan as well. In Lee Gwi's view, compared to the supposedly magnanimous Park Seung-jong, the cunning and treacherous Lee Il-chan posed a far greater obstacle to the rebellion.

Judging from the previous situation, Li Gui's plan was very close to success. Li Erzhan was constantly being ostracized, and his supporters were being eliminated one after another. If there were another large-scale anti-Li movement, Li Erzhan would very likely be dismissed by the king. But unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes. The new emperor was not satisfied with just issuing an edict to punish him, but instead directly launched a military campaign to punish him.

As the saying goes, one force can overcome ten techniques. Faced with the emperor's irresistible will and power, his supposedly brilliant schemes were nothing but bubbles that burst at the slightest breeze.

"So," Cui Mingji swayed slightly, his expression unreadable, "that Lord Mozhai has decided to join forces with this former enemy to undertake a great undertaking?"

“I’m not qualified to make the decision. I just think Ru Jing’s words make sense.” Li Gui said to Cui Mingji, looking at Cui Laiji.

"Now that things have come to this, why not give it a try!" Cui Laiji said eagerly. "If we haven't obtained Jiang and Jin by the time the imperial envoy arrives in the capital, then Li Erzhan's capture will have been in vain."

“It’s not like we captured him for nothing. We can just kill him and avenge those who died unjustly at his hands!” Cui Mingji said.

“What’s the point of killing him now?” If Choi Myung-gil had only suggested taking this opportunity to ambush and kill Li Erzhan, Choi Rae-gil would have readily agreed. But now, Choi Rae-gil is even fantasizing about the rewards he would receive after successfully joining the emperor’s cause.

"Second Brother! Revenge itself is meaningful!" Cui Mingji harbored a two-birds-with-one-stone plan: to kill Li Erzhan after obtaining Li Erzhan's letter.

Even if the letter alone couldn't take away Jiang and Jin, and the uprising was already ruined anyway, killing Li Erzhan would still be a gain. But to Cui Mingji's surprise, Li Erzhan not only didn't kneel down and beg for mercy or obediently sign, but instead cleverly changed his stance, persuading both his brother and Li Gui, the advocate of the uprising.

“Those things can be done later.” The lamplight reflected in Cui Laiji’s eyes, but it seemed like a raging flame. “Someone like Li Erzhan will never gain that gentleman’s true trust. We can simply play along with him for now and then find an opportunity to kill him later.”

"As the old saying goes, 'Opportunity knocks but once,' if the emperor really makes Guanghai's son the king, then that person will truly never have another chance to sit on that throne!" Cui Laiji actually said this last sentence to Li Gui.

"Lord Mozhai, Second Brother, I only have one question: how do you intend to ensure that Li Erzhan will not betray us again? With that so-called written agreement?" Cui Mingji persisted.

When Cui Laiji said, “As long as that person can sit in that position,” he couldn’t help but think of what Li Erzhan had said to Li Gui earlier, and the way his eyes looked when he spoke.

"I mean before that!" Cui Mingji interrupted his brother rather rudely, a hint of anger emanating from Li Erzhan. "If that person truly receives the Emperor's investiture, he will naturally fear no evil spirits. But what if, before that, Li Erzhan turns against us and supports his granddaughter's husband, stabbing us in the back?"

“I think this might not be a big problem,” Li Gui said as he thought. “That imperial envoy has already reached the capital region and will soon be heading to the capital. Once he arrives, he will definitely hold the power of life and death over our country for a long time. As long as we don’t offend him, we’ll be fine. Moreover, our defection is in line with the Emperor’s intention to punish the guilty. Even if Li Erzhan turns back, that imperial envoy will not act against us according to Li Erzhan’s wishes.”

"What happens after that?"

"Ha!" Cui Laiji sneered. "You were looking ahead just now, and now you're worried about the consequences?"

"This is a matter of life and death, what's wrong with hesitating!" Cui Mingji glared at his brother. "If that person doesn't get that position, Li Erzhan will definitely settle scores with us after the imperial envoy leaves. We might as well kill Li Erzhan now. That way, even if the great cause fails, we can still retreat and hide."

“Ziqian certainly has foresight. But there are no certainties in this world, and so-called perfect planning is nothing but wishful thinking. For example, I curried favor with Park Seung-jong and used his connections to send Li Yinshu to Changtan to raise troops, but before he even arrived, he encountered the Ming army with their proclamation. Life is unpredictable, and many things can only be dealt with one step at a time. Sigh, let's not discuss this anymore,” Li Gui said, supporting himself as he stood up. “I will go and tell Your Excellency about this matter, and I ask for your decision.”

“I’ll go too!” Cui Mingji stood up as well.

(End of this chapter)