Top Scholar

Chapter 504 A Ruthless Family

The two walked slowly along the winding stone path by the lake toward the entrance of the leopard house.

“How could Master not know?” Li Dongyang sighed, lowering his voice slightly, “Throughout history, dynasties have perished because of the word ‘annexation,’ and the bulk of the annexations in this dynasty were actually…”

As he spoke, he pointed to the official robes he and Su Lu were wearing, then stopped talking and said:
"Hongzhi, remember this: this topic is taboo in front of your colleagues. Only people like you and me, who come from military families, can talk about it in private."

He sighed and said, "But what can you and I, an old man and a young man, do? The entire court of officials, scholars, and gentry are all siding with the landlords. They're all deeply entrenched in this matter, a monolithic entity. Anyone who touches them is doomed; even the Emperor can't touch them! You know the late Emperor, and Emperor Xianzong, yes, alas..."

Su Lu's eyes widened, thinking to himself, "Holy crap, there's more to this than meets the eye?"
But Li Dongyang annoyingly interrupted, saying, "Now that we're facing a great calamity, how can we provoke them again? Let's deal with the immediate crisis first."

Su Lu remained silent. He knew that Li Dongyang was telling the truth, but he still felt somewhat resentful.

Seeing this, Li Dongyang looked around to make sure no one was watching before whispering in someone's ear, "I'll tell you something that's hard to talk about in the open... A little chaos in the world might not be a bad thing. Let those rebels and insurgents do things that we can't or dare to do. It's like a raging flood washing away the accumulated problems, and the Ming Dynasty might be able to hold on for a few more decades."

"..." Although Beijing in April was already quite warm, Su Lu still got goosebumps. He looked at Li Dongyang in shock, suddenly remembering that well-known saying from the Hongzhi era—

'Li Gongmou, Liu Gongjue, and Xie Gongyou Kantan!'

How could I forget his wisdom in strategizing to secure the country just because of his miserable state during the Zhengde era?

Let the rioters kill a group of landlords to alleviate the annexation that had accumulated over a century, and let the Ming Dynasty hold on for a few more decades. This is indeed great wisdom!
But that's truly ruthless. However, considering how ruthless my master was to himself, even disregarding his reputation as a scholar, which he valued more than life itself, it's quite reasonable that he would think of using this method to prolong the Ming Dynasty's life…

Thinking about it this way, Su Lu even felt that it was normal for him to take advantage of her repeatedly.

'Damn it, I'm so shameless...' Su Lu cursed himself inwardly and asked in a low voice, 'But isn't Master afraid that if he messes things up, he'll directly destroy the Ming Dynasty?'

"If things really go wrong, there's nothing I can do. This isn't something I wanted to mess things up; I was just trying to turn a bad situation into a good one." Li Dongyang sighed desolately, "The situation started to plummet uncontrollably two years ago, and I could only do what I could, but I'm just too weak..."

"However, I believe there won't be any problems. The legitimacy of our Great Ming Dynasty is unprecedented. A little chaos shouldn't damage its foundation." He then smiled and said...

"Moreover, heroes emerge in times of chaos! If the world were not in chaos, Yang Shizong and your master, these national heroes, would have been suppressed by Liu Jin and would never have a chance to rise again."

Su Lu nodded. Indeed, eunuchs would only cause trouble. To clean up the mess, they needed to call in a capable civil official…

However, this means that the civil service, which had been so hard-won, will inevitably rise again.

He felt a deep sense of regret...

As they spoke, the two left the lakeside and arrived at the entrance of the Leopard House, where there were many more eunuchs and guards.

Li Dongyang then raised his voice and patted Su Lu's shoulder with a smile, saying:
"Scholar Su, cherish this opportunity the Emperor has given you, do your best, I have high hopes for you."

"Yes. Your humble servant will keep in mind Master Yuan's teachings." Su Lu's eyelids twitched as he listened, and he suppressed the urge to kick this old fox into the lake. He respectfully saw off the slutty and despicable chief minister.

~~
Inside the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs of the Forbidden City.

As soon as Jiao Fang entered, she saw Eunuch Liu smashing teacups again...

With a crisp snap, tea, porcelain shards, and tea leaves splattered everywhere, landing on his python robe.

"My goodness! Which bastard has provoked Eunuch Liu like this?" Jiao Fang bent down and dusted the tea leaves off his robe.

"That idiot Li Dongyang! How dare he openly slander me in front of the Emperor!" Liu Jin said angrily.

Although he was restricted from going directly to the Leopard Chamber to listen to lectures due to the influence of Zhang Yong and Gu Dayong, every word and sentence in the 'Dragon and Tiger Lecture Hall' would reach his ears immediately...

The morning lessons were alright, nothing more than clichés and empty rhetoric about loyalty to the emperor, patriotism, court etiquette, and rules. But in the afternoon, the true colors were revealed—Li Dongyang actually openly slandered him in front of the emperor!

"How exactly did he smear you?" Jiao Fang asked.

"He actually told the Emperor the truth about the country!" Eunuch Liu gritted his teeth in frustration. "How could he tell the truth? How dare he tell the truth?!"

"Exactly! The country is in such a state right now, we're trying to cover it up, and he dares to uncover it!" Jiao Fang, though finding it amusing, expressed her shared indignation:
"Besides, what's the use of telling the Emperor? Besides upsetting him, wouldn't it just be insulting Eunuch Liu?"

"Who says otherwise?" Liu Jin roared, "What did he mean by that? Does he really think I can't understand? The subtext is—the world is in such a state because of the sins committed by me and my eunuchs!!"

"Exactly!" Jiao Fang nodded and quickly slapped her lips. "I mean, Father-in-law is right... Father-in-law has only been in power for two years at most, and the Ming Dynasty hasn't even lasted twenty years in its current state. How can we be made to take the blame for everything?"

"That's exactly right!" the eunuchs said in unison. "We're the ones cleaning up the mess for those civil officials, but it's become our fault!" "We thought Li Dongyang was different from Liu Jian and Xie Qian, but it turns out they're all cut from the same cloth!" Liu Jin was so angry that he picked up two teacups and smashed them on the ground, successfully avoiding the strange saying that 'two broken bowls bring disaster, two broken bowls bring financial ruin'.

"Damn it!" Although he wasn't very educated, he had a beast-like intuition when it came to politics. Without needing anyone to analyze it for him, he sensed that Li Dongyang's actions were about to shake up the very foundation of his tyrannical rule.

"Oh, so you're only seeing his true colors now, Father-in-law?" Jiao Fang pouted, with a 'I told you so' expression on her face. "You blamed me for not giving the Grand Secretary face when I scolded him before, but now you know, right? He's a damn bastard!"

"That's right, from now on we should curse them to death!" Wei Bin cheered in agreement.

"And that grand-disciple of his, that kid who hasn't even grown his hair yet, actually dared to ruin Eunuch Liu's important plans. I'm not one to stir up trouble, Eunuch Liu, if I were you, I wouldn't be able to swallow this!" Jiao Fang continued to provoke trouble.

"What? Are you upset that Scholar Su didn't get a class with you?" Liu Jin smashed the teacup, her anger level almost depleted, and her intelligence took over again.

He glared at Jiao Fang and said in an unfriendly tone, "If you weren't like a mad dog all day, biting him whenever you could, would Li Dongyang have been forced to turn against us?"

Jiao Fang hurriedly retorted, "Father-in-law, you're joking. How could that old fox Li Dongyang change his allegiance just because of a few words from my mother? He's been criticized by scholars all over the world, but I haven't seen him become irreconcilable with them."

“Old Li wasn’t like this before.” Gao Feng interjected quietly from the side. He and Li Dongyang had always had a good relationship. He said to Jiao Fang, “The imperial examination incident can’t be blamed on him. You guys messed it up. How can you blame him for everything?”

"..." Jiao Fang pretended not to hear and said to Liu Jin, "Eunuch, this is really not a matter of being angry... Have you thought about it? If the Emperor really believes his nonsense, he will definitely blame you. They even set up this ridiculous 'Dragon and Tiger Lecture Hall,' isn't that obviously trying to steal your jobs?!"

"Yes, this is intolerable!" Wei Bin slammed his hand on the table and said, "That damned Dragon Tiger Troupe must have been created by them at the Emperor's behest!"

"Sigh..." Liu Jin sighed deeply, propping his forehead with his hand and said, "How could I not want to deal with them? But if Li Dongyang falls, who will take over the responsibilities of the entire court? If things really get out of control, do you think we can rely on an old man in his seventies like you, or that bookworm Wang Fuzi?"

"Ah, this..." Jiao Fang blushed. He came today hoping to take the opportunity to kick Li Dongyang out and replace him, but he didn't expect Liu Jin to look down on him.

"What is this? We can't rely on that treacherous Yang Tinghe, can we?" Liu Jin said, troubled.

“That’s even worse. He’s in his prime and has been itching to cause trouble for a long time,” Gao Feng hurriedly said.

When Yang Tinghe was mentioned, Liu Jin became more wary. "Besides, we didn't get away with it last time we tried to take action against Yang Tinghe. We've been having a string of bad luck lately, so we can't afford to mess with the Grand Secretary again."

Then he sighed again, "Besides, that person has a good grand-disciple who is currently favored."

Jiao Fang immediately gritted her teeth in hatred: "It's all that little beast's fault! Ever since he came to the capital, not a single thing has gone smoothly for him..."

Upon hearing this, Wei Bin and Gao Feng almost lost their composure. That kid surnamed Su was simply Jiao's nemesis; first, he snatched the top scholar title from Jiao Huangzhong, and then he exposed the false image of Jiao Ge Lao as a brave and fierce leader.

I heard that the young man invited all the ministers of the cabinet to the Longhu Lecture Hall, even those who were sitting on the sidelines in Nanjing, but he didn't invite Jiao Fang, which made Grand Secretary Jiao quite embarrassed...

If this were a minister with any sense of shame, he would have immediately submitted a memorial requesting his resignation. After all, the lecturers at the Dragon Tiger Academy were invited in the Emperor's name.

"That little thief is now a favorite of the Emperor, his title of Six Top Scholar is well-known. For us to provoke him now would be incredibly foolish!" Liu Jin's eyes flashed with a sinister light as he coldly said:
"He loves to jump around, doesn't he? Let him jump around. One day he'll jump into a pit! When that happens, we'll definitely stomp on him hard and make sure he never gets out of there again!"

"So, we can't do anything to him for now?" Jiao Fang said disappointedly.

"Hmph, don't worry, it won't be long." Liu Jin sneered, "He offended the Emperor today by discussing national affairs with Li Dongyang! Gu Dayong even released dogs to scare them. These Dragon Tiger Guards are disliked by eunuchs and don't align with civil officials. Now that kid has displeased the Emperor, he'll be hated by everyone sooner or later!"

“That’s right, just wait and see!” Wei Bin and Gao Feng said in unison.

"Sigh..." Jiao Fang sighed dejectedly. "I came all this way for nothing."

“It wasn’t a wasted trip.” Liu Jin said in a deep voice, “You’ve come at the right time. Help me figure out how to get through this current crisis.”

"I'm old and useless," Jiao Fang pouted, feigning arrogance.

“You’re old, but you’re not stupid.” Liu Jin wasn’t buying it. He said in a deep voice, “Let me tell you something, Jiao. If we can’t turn this game around, we can just wait to be pushed back by the enemy every day and be slowly checkmated!”

"Of course I have a way, but what benefit would I get?" Jiao Fang muttered.

"Good my ass! Haven't I given you enough benefits?" Liu Jin grabbed two more teacups.

Boom!

(End of this chapter)