Top Scholar

Chapter 234 The Death of the Late Emperor
Zhu Zihe said, "The cabinet can't possibly be powerless against the Eight Tigers, can it? The three Grand Secretaries are all veteran ministers entrusted with the task, and they still hold the late emperor's edict. The emperor will have to listen to them for a few years first, won't he?"

"Well-behaved?" Pang Shanzhang chuckled. "More like eccentric. Our new emperor is quite unlike his father, doing the exact opposite of the late emperor!"

"The late emperor suppressed the eunuchs, but the current emperor relies on them—within half a year of his ascension to the throne, the number of clerks in the various bureaus of the inner palace has increased to several hundred. Whenever the emperor appears in public, they are always armed and armored, surrounded by a large entourage, as if facing a formidable enemy, showing off their power!"

"The late emperor was diligent in his duties and eager to learn, but he began to neglect his duties at the age when he was supposed to be studying. Half a year after ascending the throne, he would complain of missing the late emperor and being unable to sleep at night, having a headache today and leg pain tomorrow... He was inconsistent in his work."

"The late emperor was self-disciplined and observed propriety, but he disregarded etiquette and acted absurdly." The old headmaster smiled and pointed to the official records: "Turn to the back, there are a few mistakes summarized by the cabinet."

Su Lu and his companion quickly flipped to the next two pages and saw a memorial jointly submitted by several regents admonishing the emperor, summarizing his offenses as fivefold:

“First, attending court too late shows negligence in governance; second, watching craftsmen work is beneath one's dignity; third, rowing a boat on the lake shows disregard for personal safety; fourth, frequent hunting trips are too dangerous; fifth, eating food presented by eunuchs without inspection.”

"This is still giving the Emperor some face. In fact, he went even further. While keeping vigil for the late Emperor, he drank and caused chaos with the Eight Tigers, singing and dancing, and even summoned a Tibetan monk to bestow upon him the title of 'Grand Master of Initiation'..."

"Good heavens." Su Lu couldn't help but gasp. Wasn't this a real-life version of a funeral parlor party, a grand display of mourning?

"Then you scholars are in for a headache," Zhu Zihe said with schadenfreude.

"I'm afraid their headache isn't that the Emperor is being unreasonable, but that he's too opinionated," the old headmaster sneered. "Turn the pages further and read the memorials together with those of Liu Zhai, the supervising secretary of the Ministry of Revenue."

"Yes." The two did as instructed and turned to Liu Zhai's memorial, which read:

"The late Emperor was gravely ill. He summoned his cabinet ministers Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian to his bedside and entrusted them to Your Majesty. Now, his coffin has not yet been laid to rest, his virtuous words still resonate, yet many affairs of state are thwarted, and his decrees are not trusted."

Then he listed the young emperor's many faults, finally revealing his true intentions:

"...Recently, in responding to memorials and reports, favoritism has been used to override the law, and private interests have been used to obscure public matters. Cabinet ministers are not allowed to participate, and even close attendants are secretly interfering. I urge you to follow my late father's instructions, trust in experienced and wise officials, and consult the Cabinet on all matters, large and small, so that there will be no obstruction of affairs and no usurpation of power."

The implication is, "Your Majesty, how have you been allowing eunuchs to participate in state affairs without the cabinet's approval?"
I hope you will follow the late emperor's last will and trust the experienced Grand Secretaries. All political affairs, regardless of size, must go through the Grand Secretariat. This will ensure that you are not misled and that your power is not usurped by your close attendants.

Su Lu and Zhu Zihe finally understood why the old abbot was so happy. It turned out the emperor was showing signs of sidelining the cabinet—

The Grand Secretariat was ultimately not the prime minister's office; it was essentially the emperor's secretariat, its power derived from reviewing and responding to memorials from officials on behalf of the emperor. Now that the emperor was no longer showing them the memorials, or at least not showing them some, but instead having eunuchs do it for them, how could the Grand Secretaries not be furious?
Liu Zhai was merely Liu Jian's mouth double.

"What did the Emperor say?" Zhu Zihe asked.

"This is just a report," the old mountain master said.

“I know, but I’ll still do what I’m supposed to do,” Su Lu said.

"Hoo hoo hoo, even the two Grand Secretaries, with all their scheming, never imagined things would turn out this way!" The old headmaster laughed so hard his chin trembled.

"They thought that by having the late emperor's last will and testament, which consisted of 'hundreds of words,' they could have the emperor completely under their control. But they ended up with an emperor who didn't take ancestral laws seriously, let alone the late emperor's last will and testament."

After a pause, the old headmaster chuckled again, "Moreover, the emperor is quite shrewd. He doesn't fall out with them. He agrees with everything they say, promising to correct his mistakes. But then he turns around and does whatever he wants, and everything goes back to the way it was before."

"I can't help but laugh whenever I think about how those elders were completely outmaneuvered by the fifteen-year-old emperor." The old abbot laughed so hard he wiped away tears.

“But the Eight Tigers are no saints either,” Zhu Zihe said softly.

“Of course, they are far worse than the ministers.” The old headmaster then suppressed his smile and said, “But it’s better for dogs to fight each other than for one to dominate.”

He then said seriously, "The struggle next year will be even more intense; let's wait and see."

"Yes," the two students replied.

At this moment, Su Lu pointed to a fault in Liu Zhai's memorial and asked:

"Zhang Yu and Liu Wentai's prescriptions were careless, leading to the late emperor's death. They were not immediately executed, and were allowed to present their defenses... Has the case of 'Liu Wentai causing the late emperor's death' not been investigated yet?"

"The trial is over." The old headmaster told them to turn to the last page, where they indeed saw the memorial submitted to the court by Dai Shan, the Left Censor-in-Chief, together with Zhang Mao, the Duke of Yingguo, Ma Wensheng, the Minister of Personnel, and others, regarding this case.

In short, because the emperor's medications were all recorded, this top-level investigation team quickly determined that Liu Wentai had once again given the emperor the wrong medicine...

Why use "again"? Because back then, Liu Wentai had already "prescribed the wrong medicine, leading to the death of Emperor Xianzong."

Logically speaking, it was already an act of great imperial grace that Liu Wentai was spared the execution of his entire clan. However, he was only demoted and was not even kicked out of the Imperial Medical Academy. Eighteen years later, he climbed back to the position of head of the academy.

Emperor Xiaozong was incredibly audacious to allow him to treat the emperor, perhaps thinking that a single physician couldn't possibly kill two emperors at the same time. And guess what? He prescribed the wrong medicine and killed the emperor again.

According to the investigation report, the incident unfolded as follows—

The key to Liu Wentai's ability to rise again was his skill in currying favor. He used the opportunity of procuring medicinal herbs to bribe the eunuchs, which is why he had a good relationship with all the emperor's close attendants.

In April, Emperor Xiaozong felt unwell after praying for rain. The eunuch Zhang Yu, hoping to gain credit, directly gave the emperor pills prepared by Liu Wentai.

Afterwards, the emperor's condition did not improve. Li Zongzhou, the head of the Imperial Medical Academy, and Zhang Lun, Qian Dun, Wang Pan, and others examined the late emperor and believed that the medicines used were not suitable for his symptoms, but they all chose to remain silent...

Even on the sixth day of the fifth month, when the late emperor entrusted his son to others, he was still taking the medicine prescribed by Liu Wentai. The three cabinet ministers all heard the eunuch Zhang say, "Your Majesty, one more dose will do the trick."

As a result, the late emperor passed away on the seventh day of the fifth month.

Therefore, the memorial suggested that Zhang Yu, Liu Wentai, and others should be sentenced to death in accordance with the law for "officials colluding with palace officials to commit fraud and submit false reports." The other medical officials who knew about the crimes but failed to report them should also be punished accordingly.

The Emperor approved the report.

~~
"So, are you satisfied with the result?" the old master asked, testing his two disciples.

"Not satisfied." The two shook their heads together.

"Tell me," the old headmaster said. He had spent the entire second half of the year cultivating the two men's political acumen.

Being an official isn't about pursuing scholarship, it's about engaging in politics...

"This report is incomplete; it seems to be hiding important information." Zhu Zihe said in a deep voice, "Even if Zhang Yu and Liu Wentai used the wrong medicine at the beginning, the Imperial Medical Academy Director, the Chief Physician, and several famous doctors had already diagnosed the wrong medicine. Why didn't they dare to say so? Why didn't they change the medicine? Why did they just stand by and watch the late emperor go from taking the wrong medicine to his death?"

“Indeed, if something happens to the late emperor, they will all be in deep trouble.” Su Lu asked, puzzled, “What kind of pressure did they face that made them choose to suffer in silence?”

“That’s right.” The old headmaster nodded slowly and said, “It is indeed extremely terrifying when you think about it carefully… Zhang Yu, Liu Wentai, and the doctors of the Imperial Medical Academy are all inner court officials. It is more likely that they were pressured by the inner court.”

“There’s another point,” the old headmaster added slowly, “There are ministers in the court who are secretly protecting Liu Wentai, so they didn’t convict him under the main charge of ‘mishandling imperial medicine, which is a great disrespect,’ but instead judged him according to the law on ‘collusion between officials and eunuchs.’ This undoubtedly downplayed their crime of killing the late emperor and even left an opening for exoneration later.”

The old headmaster, who had once served as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice in Nanjing, immediately saw through the trickery involved.

“However, Liu Cai also strongly demanded that they be executed as soon as possible.” Zhu Zihe asked in confusion, “It was Ma Wensheng, the Minister of Personnel, who initially requested an investigation into this case.”

"That's normal. Different strokes for different folks, let alone court officials. Everyone has their own thoughts. Some want to protect Liu Wentai, while others wish him dead," the old headmaster said, seemingly used to it.
"There are probably many people who want Liu Wentai to die soon. On the contrary, those who don't want him to die are the ones who want to know the truth."

Su Lu and Zhu Zihe couldn't help but smile wryly; reading the investigation report only made them more puzzled.

"Will the truth ever come out?" Zhu Zihe asked softly.

"Never again," the old headmaster concluded directly. "From now on, people will only know that there was a quack doctor named Liu Wentai who prescribed the wrong medicine and killed two emperors. Isn't that absurd?"

“Of course it’s absurd,” Zhu Zihe said. “It’s utterly ridiculous.”

"But that's the official statement, and it won't change," the old mountain chief said with a sneer.

“No, there is one person who will definitely investigate this.” Su Lu said slowly.

"Who? The Emperor?" Zhu Zihe asked.

“That’s right. For both moral and logical reasons, the Emperor must know the truth. Even if he can’t conduct a public investigation, he will dig deep into the matter privately.” Su Lu said, “Otherwise, he will be unable to eat or sleep peacefully, and he won’t even dare to stay in the Qianqing Palace!”

“That makes sense, but for the sake of the bigger picture, the Emperor often has no choice but to accept it,” the old headmaster said softly.

"Then it depends on whether Liu Wentai lives or dies," Su Lu said in a deep voice. "The authorities have sentenced him to death. If the Emperor executes him, it means he doesn't want to investigate anymore. If the Emperor doesn't kill him, it means he hasn't given up yet."

As he spoke, he asked, "Where is Liu Wentai being held now? It shouldn't be the Ministry of Justice's prison, right?"

“It’s the Northern Garrison’s Imperial Prison.” The old headmaster nodded slowly, having fully understood Su Lu’s meaning, and said calmly, “Then let’s wait and see.”

Clearly, the old mountain chief didn't have much hope...

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(End of this chapter)