Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 185 Talking Nonsense
"The reason I summoned you here today is precisely to resolve this matter for you!"

The sage gestured for Zhang Yue to rise and dispense with the formalities, then continued with a smile, saying, "Last night, Lord Huo was also uneasy and went to the palace to briefly explain the situation. It turns out that a young man in his household had a feud over a woman. Gongsun Zhang Dai is so charming that he caused Lord Huo's servant to admire and yearn for her, and even run off with her. Lord Huo is incompetent and has no ability to manage his subordinates. He was ashamed and angry, so he came to the sage's door to cause trouble."

When I first heard this, I was speechless. Zhang Dai, that young man, is indeed admirably talented, yet he's entangled in such a sordid matter; it's hard not to feel ashamed to speak out. Such a trivial matter has caused such a commotion—truly laughable and infuriating!

Upon hearing the sage's words, Zhang Yue's expression changed slightly again. Clearly, this was only Wang Maozhong's side of the story, yet the sage presented it to him as fact, blatantly showing favoritism towards Wang Maozhong and his son!

While the sage certainly needed Wang Maozhong to take charge of the Northern Army and had great faith in him, this complete favoritism still aroused suspicion. What was he so eager to cover up? He wouldn't even give himself a chance to explain, and was just forcing him to accept this so-called fact!

After returning home yesterday, he had considered the various situations he might face, but he still did not expect the sage's attitude to be so biased, seemingly not allowing anyone to use this as an opportunity to attack Wang Maozhong.

This attitude even exceeded the normal level of a monarch's favoritism towards his ministers. For example, Wang Maozhong had now taken control of the entire harem and was threatening the emperor with the emperor's wife and children, and even the emperor's own life and fortune, to make the emperor favor him. Zhang Yue was somewhat convinced of this.

The last time he was so shocked and felt such a huge sense of loss was when the coup ended and the sage finally seized power, and his first act was to banish all of them, the meritorious officials, from the court.

He harbored much dissatisfaction and resentment, but he also knew that arguing with the sage face-to-face was a poor strategy. The sage wasn't explaining anything to him, but merely demonstrating his stance on the matter.

If one disagrees with the sage, the situation will become even more difficult to salvage.

After a moment's thought, he feigned shame and bowed deeply, saying, "I am ashamed. In the past, while serving in the court, I only raised this young disciple in the countryside near Luoyang and did not discipline him properly. Last year, this disciple became famous and was praised by the people of the time. I was also pleased to have a successor."

However, this fellow, relying on his cleverness, often did not consult his elders on matters. If not for the Emperor's intervention, I would have been completely unaware of this detail. Thus, this fellow is truly unruly! It is right for Lord Huo's son to reprimand him, and I am ashamed to have investigated further.”

When the sage heard Zhang Yue’s resentful words, he couldn’t help but look embarrassed for a moment, knowing that he was one of the contemporaries who had praised this disciple last year.

At this moment, he wanted to downplay the situation and prevent it from escalating further, so as not to cause more trouble for others. Therefore, he chose to believe Wang Maozhong's obviously problematic statement, and now he couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

"Duke Yan need not feel ashamed or disappointed. His sons are still young and there is still room for discipline. Moreover, the cause of this matter is not Zhang Dai's fault. It is not a sin for him to be admired and praised. I have praised him many times recently. He knows how to admire young women and take in servants, which is not a lack of benevolence."

The sage spoke again, trying to soothe the situation: "The son of Lord Huo is indeed somewhat arrogant. If he were kind and magnanimous, why would his servants have abandoned him and gone elsewhere? To blame others for this is a lack of self-awareness."

"Having realized that he has made a mistake in favoring others, I cannot conceal or condone it. After learning of this matter, I am filled with shame and dare not appeal further. I have only one request to make of my sovereign. Please bring this person before Your Majesty, and Your Majesty may bestow upon him wise words on how to conduct himself. Let these words serve as the law, and if he ever makes a mistake again in the future, I will certainly punish him severely with a cane!"

Since the sage wanted to help him resolve his problem, Zhang Yue took the opportunity to ask the sage to give him further advice in person and help him discipline his grandson.

This request was also made out of trust in Zhang Dai. He himself could not question the words of the sage to his face, but Zhang Dai, as a rash young man, did not have as many concerns as he did. Even if he made a mistake, he could make amends.

After hearing this, the Sage pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "In that case, Duke Yan, please wait here for a while. Bring Duke Huo and his son in. Today, I will personally resolve the matter between your two families, settle old grievances, and help you get along peacefully!"

His desire to downplay the matter was not due to excessive favoritism towards Wang Maozhong and his son, but mainly because he did not want this incident to further involve the issue of the Crown Prince's official appointments.

While the Crown Prince certainly had his own staff, the Emperor deliberately downplayed the matter. The officials he appointed to the Eastern Palace were mostly people with whom he had an unusual relationship.

For example, Consort Wu Hui's two elder brothers, Wu Zhong and Wu Xin, had served as the Crown Prince's Household Steward and Crown Prince's Attendant in their early years. They resigned due to the mourning period for their mother, and their positions were then awarded to the sons of Wang Maozhong. At the same time, Zhang Yue's son, Zhang Ji, held the position of Crown Prince's Tutor, and other eunuchs served as generals of the Crown Prince's Six Guards, and so on.

Whether these personnel appointments were fulfilled or not was secondary; the key was to prevent the crown prince from forming his own personal staff. To avoid these people developing too close a relationship with the crown prince, the emperor simply allowed them to hold official positions but not reside in offices to perform official duties, and even limited the number of times they could pay homage to the crown prince.

Last night, Du Xian criticized Wang Shouzhen and others for being unworthy of serving as officials in the Eastern Palace. This undoubtedly touched on a taboo topic that could not be discussed in depth, which is why the emperor adopted such a cryptic attitude.

He feared that Zhang would escalate the situation in the southern province, so he summoned him to the palace early in the morning. Now, he was taking the initiative to resolve the feud between the two families, mainly because he was worried that Wang Maozhong would continue to be relentless and make the matter drag on endlessly.

After meeting the Emperor last night, Wang Maozhong was so uneasy by the Emperor's attitude that he stayed at the North Gate early this morning, not daring to go anywhere. After being summoned by the Emperor, he rushed over again. When he saw Zhang Yue already sitting in the hall, he couldn't help but look suspicious.

Both were preoccupied with their own thoughts and did not engage in any in-depth exchanges. After exchanging a few pleasantries, they returned to their respective seats.

Another half hour passed before the eunuchs entered the ward and led Zhang Dai and Wang Shouzhen to the inner palace.

After ascending the hall to pay homage to the emperor, Zhang Yue suddenly glared at Zhang Dai and angrily shouted, "You wicked disciple! Who gave you the audacity to seduce and harbor Huo Gong's servant! Huo Gong has already reported this matter to the emperor. What excuse do you have? Quickly bow to Huo Gong and beg for forgiveness!"

The Wang father and son were somewhat uneasy, but upon hearing Zhang Shuo's stern rebuke, they immediately felt reassured. It seemed that Zhang Shuo still respected the Emperor's favor towards their family and chose to admit his guilt. Zhang Dai had also been pondering this when he arrived. He had clearly planned to escalate the matter step by step yesterday, so why was he summoned before the Emperor today? Hearing his grandfather's rebuke, he immediately understood that the Wang father and son had preemptively accused him.

In the presence of the Sage and the Wang family, Zhang Yue couldn't easily convey too much information, which left Zhang Dai unsure of the extent to which Wang Maozhong had distorted the matter. However, seeing that his grandfather had accepted the matter without arguing, it was clear that he was under considerable pressure.

So he didn't rush to refute, but turned around and bowed before Wang Maozhong's seat, tears welling in his eyes but saying nothing.

Wang Maozhong was filled with resentment towards this boy for ruining his plans. Seeing his appearance, he couldn't help but sneer, "If you had known this would happen, why did you do it in the first place? The madman showed off his wicked talent and beauty a few days ago, and lured my servant to run away with him. If you had returned him voluntarily instead of hiding him in the house, you wouldn't be suffering like this today, and your grandfather Zhang Yangong would have lost all face!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai understood. He wiped away his tears and said, "Lord Huo has misunderstood. I am weeping for Lord Huo. Lord Huo was shrewd for half his life, but unfortunately, he had such a son. If he hadn't realized this sooner, his family would have been ruined and he himself would have been dead soon!"

"You scoundrel's outrageous words!"

Wang Maozhong never expected that this kid would be so arrogant as to curse him to his face. He immediately slammed his fist on the table, stood up, glared at him, and shouted angrily.

Inside this hall, Zhang Dai was naturally not afraid of what Wang Maozhong might do to him. He turned around and bowed to the sage, saying, "If I had not been summoned by the sage, I would not have known that there were people in the world who were so audacious as to distort the truth and deceive the emperor!"
Your humble servant is unworthy, yet knows shame; I would never dare to commit such an act as eloping with a slave. The truth is, Wang Shouzhen hosted a banquet for me at his residence. During the banquet, I advised him on governance, noting that a great disaster would inevitably be followed by a great epidemic, and instructed him to stockpile veterinary medicine for disease prevention. Wang was pleased and gifted me the slave as a reward. If even a single word of this is false, I am willing to suffer the most severe punishment!

Upon hearing this, the sage's face turned ashen, and he pointed at Wang Shouzhen, saying in a deep voice, "Wang Shouzhen, is what Zhang Dai said true or false?"

"This, this, Your Majesty, the plan is true, but... but the matter of giving me a slave is not true. I was still hungover that day, and Zhang Liu... he had already led me away, and I did not agree to it!"

Wang Shouzhen's forehead was also covered in cold sweat, and he hurriedly kowtowed and said.

Their conversation was purely private, and there was no signed or sealed evidence. However, there were some consistent behaviors regarding the hoarding of veterinary medicine, which Wang Shouzhen dared not deny, but she insisted that she had not given any servants to Zhang Dai.

"Have you benefited from the plan he taught you?"

The sage spoke again.

Upon hearing this, Wang Shouzhen dared not answer rashly, but instead glanced at his father as if asking a question. Seeing this, Wang Maozhong quickly stood up and said, "The new spring is cold, and even if an epidemic breaks out, it will be difficult for it to spread. It is common knowledge that there is an epidemic after a disaster, and it is not some brilliant plan."

Preparing medicine for epidemic prevention is helping others and oneself; how could one dare to use it for profit? If Zhang Dai takes this as a favor and uses it to curry favor, his heart is truly dark and despicable! Even if I hadn't given any reward for this, I would vehemently demand its return, and I must not support such thoughts of profiting from the disaster!

"Lord Huo is mistaken! Everyone is driven by profit, and everyone is trying to save the people from the epidemic. As long as what is gained is within limits, no one can blame them. The favors and rewards you have received are unparalleled in the world. To criticize others for this and treat them unfairly will eventually lead to a situation where no one in the world will be willing to help with the epidemic. Do you, Lord Huo, intend to save the world by relying on your own efforts?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai immediately raised an eyebrow and asked Wang Maozhong.

Wang Maozhong, who had enjoyed the emperor's favor for many years, was certainly not a fool. Upon hearing this, he immediately said, "I am in charge of the North Gate. My job is to ensure the safety of the palace guards and the peace of the imperial residence. All other matters are beyond my duty. What right does Zhang have to blame me? Today, just talk about the matter of luring my runaway slave. Don't mention anything else! If you still want to argue, bring the runaway slave here for interrogation in the palace!"

"Zhang Dai, what else do you have to say?"

The sage was getting impatient. He had intended to resolve the matter by turning a big issue into a small one and a small one into nothing. If Zhang Dai had simply bowed his head and apologized to Wang Maozhong, or even just given him a perfunctory response, he would have stopped the matter and stopped letting it escalate. But the boy was completely oblivious and insisted on continuing to pester him.

"If you have nothing else to offer, why don't you quickly apologize to Lord Huo! The true saint is at leisure, and he will not listen to your clever words and flattery, your sowing of discord!"

Zhang Shuo chimed in, saying that if they had no other effective way to refute the Wang family's unreasonable demands, and given the Emperor's intention to appease them, it would be best to temporarily back down. Continuing to argue would only further contradict the Emperor's wishes.

Zhang Dai's mind was racing. He knew that the key point today was not whether or not the slaves had escaped, but to win over the emperor's attitude. Only by winning over the emperor could he strike at the Wang family.

For reasons unknown, the emperor intervened in this matter, bypassing legal procedures. Shouldn't the focus now be on determining Wang Shouzhen's guilt? Why bother arguing about whether he himself had taken in runaway slaves?

"These two slaves were indeed given to me by Wang Shouzhen. I regret that I accepted them rashly without any proof, and now I have been falsely accused! Yesterday, when I was leading Wang Shouzhen from the Jinwu Guard to Henan Prefecture, he was afraid that I would harm him, so he explained the reason."

A former official from the Northern Gate secretly assisted Wang Shouzhen in committing illegal acts in Chang'an, a fact unknown even to Lord Huo. Now, this official is using this to coerce Wang Shouzhen, who intends to bribe him with his daughter to appease him. Fearing Lord Huo will discover the matter, he has come to me demanding the return of the bribe. Such a perverse and treacherous act is unacceptable; I am ashamed to conceal it for him!

Since the father and son were clearly going to spout nonsense and act like scoundrels, Zhang Dai was not afraid of them. He made up lies without hesitation and directly accused Wang Shouzhen of forming cliques and engaging in illegal activities in the North Gate without his father's knowledge.

(End of this chapter)