Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 520 The nature of ginger and cinnamon becomes spicier with age.

When Zhang Dai returned home, he saw his grandfather Zhang Shuo chatting with Wang Han and several other students in the hall, so he went in to pay his respects.

"Does Liu Lang share the business with the sons of Prince Xin'an, Prime Minister Pei, and others?"

Upon meeting Zhang Dai, Wang Han couldn't help but ask a question.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai nodded: "There is such a thing. Not only me and a few other men, but also my tutor Pei, the Wei brothers from the Xun family, and several others, were reclaiming wasteland and planting tea in the south of the city. Why does Lord Wang ask about this? Could it be that this matter has also been impeached?"

"Indeed, when I was about to leave the Censorate in the evening, I passed by the palace courtyard and saw the Palace Attendant Censor Li Zhou summoning several guards and soldiers to ask about related matters. I secretly asked around and learned that he was going to do something bad to Liu Lang."

Upon hearing Zhang Dai's reply, Wang Han said solemnly, "Li Zhou has been making frequent moves recently, repeatedly mentioning matters concerning Prince Xin'an. Now, I intend to include this matter in his memorial, not only impeaching Prince Xin'an, but also accusing Liu Lang and several other men of abusing Prince Xin'an's power to enslave the border soldiers who are resting in the frontier..."

"Is there such a thing?"

Zhang Dai was stunned when he heard this, never expecting the other party to attack from this angle.

The censors' impeachment of ministers was not, as commonly imagined, a secret process of observation and data collection followed by a sudden memorial submitted without anyone's knowledge, like a lone hero taking someone's head in the midst of a vast army.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Zhou, when cruel officials were rampant, this situation might still have occurred, but it was usually not called impeachment, but rather informing.

A genuine impeachment requires following certain procedures, and the process of collecting evidence does not need to be particularly secretive.

Take Zhang Dai's impeachment of Xue Tao as an example. Xue Tao's various misdeeds were not a secret at all, and there was no need to collect them carefully. Zhang Dai even slammed his fist on the table and shouted that he would impeach him, and he also publicly solicited evidence of Xue Tao's crimes.

It wouldn't be a big deal for Xue Tao to find out, because he simply didn't have the power to stop these things from happening, nor could he possibly cover up all his past misdeeds in a very short time. Unless he could eliminate Zhang Dai before Zhang Dai could impeach him.

Similarly, Li Zhou didn't need to keep his impeachment of Prince Xin'an and himself a secret. The process of gathering information was also a process of building momentum and a game of strategy. Especially when impeaching a minister of Prince Xin'an's caliber, once the impeachment memorial was successfully submitted, Prince Xin'an had essentially lost half the battle.

For example, when Zhang Yue was impeached in the fourteenth year of the Kaiyuan era, he had already sensed the impending incident a few days before it happened and tried to block it, but he still failed and was severely punished.

"Is it possible for Sixth Brother to extricate himself from this matter? Minister Yuwen has been pressuring Prince Xin'an very much lately, and Minister Pei has also failed to win his favor. Therefore, he wants to use this matter to exclude Minister Pei so that the memorial can be submitted. Sixth Brother, because of this, I'm afraid you will inevitably be implicated!"

Wang Han then spoke up, saying that although he held the higher official position of Imperial Censor, each censor was relatively independent in exercising their power of supervision and impeachment, and other censors could not interfere at will.

In Wang Han's view, this was not a part of Li Zhou's original plan to impeach Prince Xin'an. Therefore, he mistakenly believed that this was a temporary addition to bypass Pei Guangting and Zhang Dai, so that Yuwen Rong could directly accept and process the memorial.

Since Zhang Dai was not the main target, as long as they withdrew from the matter, even if the impeachment charges were upheld, the impact on Zhang Dai could be minimized.

"Withdrawing will be difficult. I was the one who started this whole thing, and I can't just walk away easily. Besides, Li Zhou is probably targeting me with his actions. Even if I show weakness, I can't get around this."

Upon hearing Wang Han's words, Zhang Dai frankly confessed.

Wang Han was naturally surprised to hear this, and quickly asked, "You have only been in the Censorate for a short time. Where did you come to have a grudge against Li Zhou, so that even when he was hunting a big fish, he still did not forget to set a trap to capture you?"

“I have no grudge against Li Zhou. I think this matter must have been instigated by Prime Minister Yuwen, because I was planning to impeach Prime Minister Yuwen for embezzlement and bribery.”

Zhang Dai chuckled dryly again. He was just a mere Palace Attendant Censor; why should he offend him? If he was going to offend someone, he should offend someone powerful.

Upon hearing this, not only were Wang Han and the others dumbfounded, but even Zhang Shuo was somewhat bewildered and asked with a surprised expression, "What have you done to offend Yuwen Rong this time?" The use of the word "again" was quite clever!
Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai couldn't help but mutter to himself, "How did I offend him again? Isn't it all a remnant of your previous conflict? Otherwise, given Yuwen Rong's appreciation of me, I'd probably already be on a military expedition, wielding power and authority!"
He immediately recounted how Li Linfu and others intended to seize his Feiqian business through a run on his funds. Clearly, the sequence of events was that he deliberately leaked the information to the Wu family, who then informed Li Linfu. Li Linfu immediately reported this to Yuwen Rong, who then promptly ordered his henchmen to prepare to deal with him.

Although the charge brought by the other party is absurd, one only needs to go to the tea garden to see the working conditions, mental state, and remuneration of the soldiers who were resting in the border region, and it will be clear that there is no such thing as using the prestige of Prince Xin'an to enslave the soldiers who were resting in the border region.

But as the saying goes, if you want to find fault, you can always find a pretext.

This isn't about right or wrong, but about taking the initiative. Once the case is successfully filed, it's their people who will push for the trial. The main focus of the case will still be the handling of Prince Xin'an, a high-ranking member of the royal family.

As for the minor details involving Zhang Dai and the others, they are not the focus at all. Who would spend a lot of time investigating them thoroughly? Even if the people of the south of the city have strong opinions, I will not arrange for their summons, interrogate them, or accept their testimonies. I am going to torture you to death. What can you do about it?

"This Yuwen Rong is truly arrogant and hateful. Why did he drag my grandson into his power struggle with the ministers? Since he condoned his son's provocation first, isn't it only natural for my grandson to retaliate? Since he was aware of this, he didn't say a word, but instead plotted to harm me even more. How can I let him get away with this!"

After listening to Zhang Dai's account, Zhang Shuo was immediately filled with indignation and shouted angrily.

Although it was only natural that Zhang Dai, a mere censor, would be punished by the prime minister for impeaching him, there was still a problem, which was also an unspoken rule in officialdom: Zhang Dai was not an ordinary censor without any connections or backing.

Zhang Dai had this plan because Yuwen Rong's son had provoked him first. However, before submitting the memorial, there was still an opportunity to stop it, such as through friendly and thorough communication to resolve the dispute.

While Zhang Dai may not have the clout to make Yuwen Rong back down, he has a grandfather, and their current relationship isn't one of sharp, irreconcilable conflict.

However, Yuwen Rong did not choose to communicate. Instead, he planned to take care of Zhang Dai and Prince Xin'an at the same time. This clearly showed that he felt he had the strength to take advantage of them and did not need to show goodwill or back down.

Hearing Zhang Shuo's curses, Zhang Dai sighed inwardly that Yuwen Rong was really too arrogant. In his current state, he wondered who in the entire court could be taken seriously by him.
I'm afraid that in his mind, if it weren't for his handling of national affairs and finances, even the current emperor would have to eat chaff and wild vegetables, let alone hold a birthday party! Otherwise, it's really not enough to explain where his confidence comes from.

Zhang Dai had no intention of involving his grandfather in this matter, so he hadn't discussed the personnel coming and going with his grandfather in detail these past few days. But Yuwen Rong was so domineering; he didn't even send anyone to ask Zhang Dai if he really wanted to do it, and directly arranged for his men to prepare to make a move.

"What is the attitude of the Duke of Bohai? If Bianzhou Feiqian really has a cash flow problem, will he directly take back this business?"

Zhang thought for a moment and then asked again, "Right now, they can't get involved in the personnel struggles in the court. For example, after killing Yuwen Rong, they can't arrange for one of their own people to be the prime minister. The gains and losses of the Bianzhou flying money are their core interests."

Zhang Dai quickly added, "I have already visited the Duke of Bohai, and there will be no further trouble. However, the Duke of Bohai is deeply dissatisfied with the recent matter of confiscating property from temples and monasteries by Prime Minister Yuwen. He has instructed me to convey to Prime Minister Pei that although the inner court is not in a position to interfere in matters of the outer court, the current situation is indeed causing unease among the people."

“Pei Guangting is a man of deep cunning; he won’t act without absolute certainty. We need to give him another push to get him motivated.”

After thinking for a moment, Zhang said again, "We'll do as much as we can for the benefit. Although I also deeply resent Yuwen Rong's attitude and actions, I won't charge into battle for Pei Guangting in a fit of anger."

After pondering for a moment, he looked at Wang Han and said, "Ziyu, I will draft a memorial tonight, saying that I have recently heard some people discussing that the progress of confiscating the property of temples and monasteries is not going smoothly because the monks and Taoists each have their own reliance on others. For example, the two immortal ladies, Jin Xian and Yu Zhen, are both devoted to Taoism because of their imperial status. If the Ministry of Rites were to move them to places like Fenjiang to demonstrate the power of the law, then the monks and Taoists would no longer dare to harbor any illusions. This is a fallacy! The two immortal ladies are pure of heart and have few desires, and are self-disciplined in their devotion to Taoism. How can they be disturbed because of this..."

Zhang Dai listened to his grandfather's instructions and his eyes lit up. He then sighed in admiration. These old foxes who had survived the Wu Zhou era were indeed cunning and treacherous. Their methods were truly dirty!

Whether such discussions actually exist is debatable, but by setting up a target and attacking themselves, they've essentially pinned the blame on Yuwen Rong. After all, this policy was strongly promoted by Yuwen Rong, so others naturally wouldn't bother to speak up for him.

The two princesses hadn't offended anyone, yet Yuwen Rong instructed his cronies to relocate them to another state as a warning to others, to make way for his policies. How could this be tolerated!

(End of this chapter)