Top Scholar

Chapter 256 The Show Begins!
Mr. Zhang went with Headmaster Zhou to complete the formalities, while Su Lu stayed behind to continue talking with the old headmaster.

The old headmaster laughed and said, "When Prefect Jia came to pay his New Year's visit, I told him that you and Zihe are my prized disciples."

"Really? That's great!" Su Lu said happily. With the old headmaster's words, no one in Luzhou could scheme against him.

"Hehehe." The old headmaster looked at Su Lu kindly and said, "Actually, even if I hadn't said that, your admission to the university would have been a sure thing. I'm just afraid that some people will think you have no background and take what you deserve."

"Yes, yes." Su Lu nodded emphatically and smiled, "The headmaster is the disciple's greatest support."

"Hehe, it's a pity that people grow old and mountains crumble. I'm eighty years old this year, I can't protect you for many more days." The old headmaster said, picking up a copy of the official document from the table and sighing, "It was just delivered yesterday, take a look."

"Yes." Su Lu hurriedly took it and unfolded it to take a look. First was Yang Yiqing, the governor of Shaanxi. Just as the old master had predicted, he had been promoted to the commander-in-chief of the three border regions to deal with the increasingly rampant invasions of the Little Prince.

Then came the news that Ma Wensheng, the Minister of Personnel, and Liu Daxia, the Minister of War, had both retired.

"Did these two ministers retire through normal means?" Su Lu asked.

"Based on age," the old headmaster nodded slightly and said, "Minister Ma is a year older than me, and Minister Liu is seventy this year."

"Amazing..." Su Lu couldn't help but exclaim. Ma Wensheng's ability to work until he was eighty-one was simply superhuman.

"Speaking of which, the court is full of veterans who have served three emperors, and the Grand Secretary, for example, has served four emperors." The old abbot said slowly, "It's inevitable that he'll rely on his seniority and not get along with the young emperor."

"So, they were sent home because they went against the Emperor?" Su Lu asked.

"Yes." The old headmaster nodded and said, "Minister Liu, following the imperial edict, requested the removal of the non-quota eunuchs guarding the four regions. The emperor only agreed to remove one. Minister Liu insisted that twenty-four should be removed, and also petitioned to reduce the number of eunuchs guarding the imperial city and the capital, but all of these requests were rejected."

"Soon after, Minister Liu petitioned to eliminate 683 military officials who had served as imperial assistants. As a result, the reduction was applied to 48 generals of the Han Dynasty, but the emperor stopped it again."

"After the New Year, Minister Liu again petitioned to investigate and punish the corrupt eunuch in charge of the garrison, which displeased the Emperor, who still refused. Seeing that his petition was not adopted, Minister Liu requested to resign several times. Of course, it is very likely that this was just a tactic of retreating to advance, but unexpectedly the Emperor granted it. The ministers wrote to him to persuade him to stay, but the Emperor remained unmoved."

"Using resignation to force the emperor to give in?" Su Lu recalled Fang Tangjing's voice and smile, as if saying, "Hit me, hit me!"

"At least during the Hongzhi reign, this was a common tactic, because the late emperor was particularly sentimental about the past," the old abbot said with a forced smile. "Otherwise, the entire court wouldn't be filled with old men in their seventies and eighties. But unfortunately, the new emperor doesn't buy into this..."

"It seems His Majesty has had enough of the old men's nagging," Su Lu said with a smile.

“Hehe, that’s right!” The old headmaster also laughed, “Since last winter, His Majesty has stopped attending lectures at the Imperial Academy, citing the cold weather. In fact, the palace has underfloor heating, and the Wenhua Hall is as warm as spring. When the lecturers are reading, they only wear a single layer of clothing, otherwise they would be covered in sweat and lose their decorum in front of His Majesty.”

"So this is just an excuse for the Emperor not wanting to listen to the lectures?" Su Lu asked. Having studied with the old abbot for so long, he had come to understand that the daily lectures at the Imperial Academy were an important platform for civil officials to educate the Emperor. The young Emperor spent his days flying falcons and riding horses, indulging in pleasure; one could easily imagine how the Grand Secretaries would lecture him.

“That’s right.” The old abbot nodded. “But how could the Grand Secretaries agree to that? The Emperor never summons them alone and often refuses to attend. If the lectures are also suspended, they will never see the Emperor again. So they keep submitting petitions to the Emperor to resume the lectures.”

"The Emperor kept postponing the sessions, from today to tomorrow, and from tomorrow to the day after, until after the New Year, and still refused to resume the Imperial Lectures. The Grand Secretaries continued to submit memorials relentlessly, and their tone became increasingly impolite. The Emperor simply stopped responding, and the conflict between the Emperor and his ministers became more and more acute!"

"At the beginning of this month, another shocking event occurred!" The old headmaster pointed at the official in charge of the palace and said:
"The Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Censorate submitted memorials, but these were blocked by palace eunuchs who conveyed the Emperor's intentions, ordering the cabinet ministers to draft accordingly!"

"Isn't this just replacing the draft with an imperial edict? If the cabinet agrees, it will be completely sidelined!" Su Lu exclaimed in shock.

As mentioned before, the most important power of the cabinet was to answer the emperor's memorials and draft imperial edicts, which was the so-called power of drafting edicts.

The emperor now wants to draft his own edict and have the cabinet copy it. If Liu Jian and his group agree, the cabinet will revert to its original form as a purely secretarial institution…”

"That's right. The Emperor's attitude of treating the Grand Secretariat as nothing has thoroughly enraged the Grand Secretaries! Grand Secretary Liu and others brazenly exercised their power of rejection, stating that they could not comply with the imperial decree. They returned the Emperor's four edicts and drafted a separate memorial. This memorial was published in full by the Court of Judicial Review..."

'Good heavens, this is a real challenge!' Su Lu thought to himself, never expecting that the legendary, invincible 'power of rebuttal' used to confront the emperor would actually be used by someone!

He quickly turned to the page the old headmaster had mentioned, and there he saw Liu Jian and others strongly advising against it, saying:
"Unscrupulous merchants have corrupted the salt administration, military officials have abused their power, soldiers on the northern expedition have been granted official positions without merit, and the Imperial Censorate has abused its power by employing scoundrels—all of this should be severely punished! Now Your Majesty distrusts your ministers and trusts petty men. You intend to destroy a century-old system for the sake of personal favors of one or two individuals! How dare we, your subjects, comply? We hereby submit four memorials, sealed and presented as originally intended!"

"What intense emotions these are!" Su Lu couldn't help but exclaim, "Just from the words alone, one can see the Grand Scholars' burning anger!"
"Yes, they've completely broken off relations." The old headmaster nodded, chuckling, "Who would have thought that before the late emperor's body was even cold, his trusted ministers would be fighting with his successor?" The old headmaster's mindset had completely changed; he no longer dared to worry about the country and its people, choosing instead to be a purely amused person, hoping to live a few more years...

"And then what happened?" Su Lu asked with great interest. This was the episode he most wanted to read since he started reading the official records.

"The cabinet's memorial, which was almost a coup, has still sunk without a trace, and the emperor has left it unanswered." The old headmaster laughed and said, "As for the cabinet's reaction, you'll see it when you turn to the last page."

Su Lu quickly flipped to the bottom of the official archives and saw that the three elders of the Grand Secretariat had submitted another memorial:
'This concerns matters concerning the salt administration and rewards for merit, detailing the advantages and disadvantages. We have been waiting for several days, but have not received your reply. If your words are correct, they should be implemented. If they are incorrect, you should reprimand us. Instead, they have been left unanswered, as if they never existed. The administration is divided, and the blame lies with us…'

To put it simply, what's wrong with you? Say something! What's with treating us like we're invisible?!
Su Lu suppressed a laugh and continued reading the scholars' words of grief and indignation:
The Song Dynasty Confucian scholar Zhu Xi once said: "If one holds a position for a day, one should perform one's duties for a day. If one is not in office for a day, one should not dare to hold that position for a day—I humbly beg Your Majesty to consider this and grant me retirement!"

He finished reading and continued turning the page, only to find that the story ended there. Frustrated, he said, "Why did it end here? It leaves you hanging in the air, so annoying!"

"To find out what happens next, you'll have to wait for the next month's official report." The old abbot laughed. "In all my years, this is the first time I've ever seen someone so addicted to reading the official report that it's even more so than reading a novel."

“That’s true.” Su Lu agreed wholeheartedly, instantly understanding the readers who were following the story.

"To be honest, I'm scratching my head, almost wanting to write a letter to Grand Secretary Li to ask what's going on, but considering that it would take about the same amount of time for this round trip, I'd better not be a nuisance," the old headmaster said, always eager for drama.
"Why don't you guess what the situation will be like next month?"

"In my opinion, His Majesty will most likely try to persuade the three Grand Secretaries to stay," Su Lu said after a moment's thought.

"What makes you say that?" the old headmaster asked with a smile.

"The two Grand Secretaries, Liu and Ma, have just retired. If the three Grand Secretaries were to go, the court would be empty," Su Lu guessed. "The Emperor has only just ascended the throne; he probably hasn't found replacements yet, has he?"

“We have the people, but the time is indeed too short. His Majesty probably isn’t ready yet.” The old headmaster nodded and said, “So this time, he will most likely persuade them to stay.”

He paused for a moment, then sighed softly, “But for a subject, to have a falling out with the emperor to this extent, even if he is persuaded to stay, it is meaningless.”

"Indeed." Su Lu wholeheartedly agreed; a Grand Secretary was ultimately not a Prime Minister. "Does the Old Master mean that even if the three Grand Secretaries don't leave this time, they won't stay in the Cabinet for long?"

“I didn’t say all of them.” The old headmaster shook his head and asked again, “Take a guess, if only one of the three Grand Secretaries is left in the end, who will it be?”

"..." Su Lu thought for a moment and said, "I heard people say that the three elders of the cabinet are 'Li Gongmou, Liu Gongjue, and Xie Gongyou Kankan'. If the rumor is true, then the one who will be left in the end should be Li Gongmou."

"Oh? What makes you say that?" The old headmaster's eyes lit up, and for the first time sat up straight, staring intently at Su Lu.

“Lord Liu is the one who makes the decisions. If he doesn’t leave the cabinet, it’s the same as not changing the person, and it doesn’t solve any problems.” Su Lu then said clearly, “Since Lord Xie is the best at talking, he will definitely be at the forefront and the one who will be most hated by the Emperor. If he doesn’t leave, the Emperor will not be appeased.”

"Hahaha! Well said!" The old mountain master clapped his hands and laughed loudly, "Hongzhi is truly a genius. The question that I pondered all night before finally understanding, you have just scratched the surface."

"I'm just guessing," Su Lu said with a smile. "Even if I guess right, it's still just wishful thinking."

"Being able to keep it a secret is a skill in itself." The old headmaster waved his hand and asked again, "Let me ask you another question: Do you think the cabinet will quiet down next, or will it continue to make moves?"

“It definitely won’t stop.” Su Lu didn’t need to guess; he said decisively, “Once the arrow is released, there’s no turning back. I won’t be able to enjoy my retirement in peace until I’ve completely destroyed my political enemies!”

"The political enemy you're referring to is..." the old headmaster asked softly.

“The Eight Tigers!” Su Lu said in a deep voice, “The conflict between the Emperor and his ministers has always revolved around the eunuchs—and now it’s very clear that the Emperor wants to rely on the eunuchs to control his ministers. Now the Eight Tigers and the Cabinet have become locked in a life-or-death competition!”

"Hmm." The old headmaster nodded in agreement, "The two sides have been fighting for so long, it's practically a fight to the death. How can the Grand Secretaries retire in peace if they don't take down the Eight Tigers?"

He laughed and said, "Then let's wait and see how things develop."

P.S. The next chapter hasn't been checked yet. I saw some brothers have objections to this, so let me explain briefly: I only manage to finish three chapters a day by meeting deadlines, so I don't finish until after 11:30 PM. Then I check them immediately without a second's delay...

(End of this chapter)