Top Scholar

Chapter 583 Imperial Gift of a Golden Buddha
Before leaving, Zhu Houzhao specifically instructed Zhang Yong: "Your factory is only responsible for this and this... security and supervision of the Imperial Assets Committee. You must not interfere or embezzle!"

As he spoke, he emphasized, "These words may not be of any use to others, but you two will definitely understand—what Hongzhi is doing is a great undertaking to make the Ming Dynasty great again! You must cooperate fully and never hold him back!"

"Your Majesty, please rest assured. This old servant listened to the whole thing and was deeply moved. If Scholar Su succeeds in this matter, Your Majesty will be able to awe the world and enhance our national prestige, just like Emperor Yongle!" Zhang Yong said with tears welling up in his eyes. "This old servant will do anything, even sacrifice my life, to help Scholar Su accomplish this and pave the way for Your Majesty to become the Great Emperor!"

"Haha, I've always said that my second companion is sensible and understanding, but my eldest companion can't compare to you!" Zhu Houzhao laughed happily.

"Your Majesty flatters me. However, Your Majesty still needs to speak to Eunuch Liu properly..." Zhang Yongshun then pointed a finger at Liu Jin.

"Don't worry, I won't let him get involved. He's just a figurehead. Besides, if anything goes wrong, he can take the blame." Zhu Houzhao laughed loudly. "Speaking of which, hurry up and send that golden Buddha to Eunuch Liu. The reward should be given as soon as possible, otherwise it will be inconvenient to delay."

"Yes, this old servant has already ordered the Silver Workshop to repair it..." Zhang Yong hurriedly replied respectfully, "I will urge them to finish the work immediately, so as not to delay the Emperor's reward."

"Well, don't go then, let Zhu Shou deliver it." Zhu Houzhao said with a silly smile, "We can't miss such a fun scene."

~~
A few days later, Eunuch Liu summoned the Grand Secretaries to the Directorate of Ceremonial and personally announced the Emperor's decree to transfer 4.5 million taels of confiscated silver to the Inner Treasury and Outer Treasury.

The Grand Secretaries were naturally overjoyed and kowtowed in gratitude for the Emperor's benevolence. Although this huge sum wasn't directly allocated to the Ministry of Revenue's treasury, now that it was in the external treasury, it would eventually be used by the court. For the current impoverished treasury, it was a timely relief…

Liu Jin stood arrogantly in the hall, saying in a gruff voice, "Four million five hundred thousand taels is twice the amount of silver in the imperial treasury. Surely you gentlemen can't keep complaining about being poor to me?"

"Yes, yes, thanks to Eunuch Liu's help, the court's silver shortage has been relieved!" Yang Tinghe clasped his hands and said, "But the most troublesome problem now is still the food shortage - even with silver, we can't buy enough grain to provide relief to all."

"Alright, alright," Liu Jin waved his hand impatiently, interrupting him. "You have to spoil this joyous occasion, Lao Yang. You're really not as good as Lao Li."

"Yes," Yang Tinghe replied neither humbly nor arrogantly, "This humble official is far inferior to you, Master Yuan."

"Is the Grand Secretary still not well?" Liu Jin said in a deep voice, "Go and tell him that the Emperor will not agree to his retirement. Tell him to recover and come back to work as soon as possible. The cabinet cannot do without him for even a day."

"Hmph..." Jiao Fang, who was standing to the side, looked even more displeased than a donkey when she heard this.

"Yes." Yang Tinghe secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He was truly afraid that Liu Jin would seize this opportunity to elevate Jiao Fang to power. If that happened, Liu Jin would control both the Grand Secretariat and the Directorate of Ceremonial, and the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers would be filled with his cronies—it would be the end of the dynasty...

"As for disaster relief in various provinces, just allocate the money. Those who are capable can handle it, and those who are not can be replaced! The world is so big, there are always capable people like us. Why worry about not being able to solve this problem?" Eunuch Liu said proudly.

Since resolving the financial crisis, he has been in this state of arrogance, completely disregarding whether he actually did the deed or not.

Liu Jin's concept was very simple—since they made him take the blame, the credit should naturally belong to him!

The two scholars, not wanting to waste words with him, agreed in unison and then took their leave.

As soon as the two left, Jiao Fang became anxious: "Your Majesty, why did you have to keep Li Dongyang here? I'd be much happier as the Grand Secretary!"

“You’re having a good time, but we’re having a bad time…” Liu Jin looked at Jiao Fang with exasperation and said, “Old Jiao, a person can’t be like a donkey, remembering the good times but not the bad ones.”

"Can't we talk about changing the breed of livestock when we're a thousand years old?" Jiao Fang's face grew even longer, making her look even more like an old black donkey.

He certainly understood Liu Jin's meaning... The young emperor had grown up and did not want anyone to hold absolute power, not even his childhood companion.

Therefore, the emperor would never grant the position of Grand Secretary, the head of the civil officials, to Liu, the top eunuch. Even if it were a logical succession, the emperor would still find Liu incompetent.

Knowing something in one's heart is one thing, but being unhappy about it is another. He really wanted to advance his career—he was over seventy years old, yet he stubbornly refused to go home and hold his grandchildren, all for the sake of becoming the Grand Secretary.
Only by reaching the highest position in the court can one's official career be truly fulfilled...

"Alright, stop thinking about the good things." Eunuch Liu rolled his eyes at his old friend, who always seemed to be pushing his luck, and comforted him.

"The moon wanes after it's full; imperfection is part of life. Like our family, there will always be something missing..."

What a painful realization this is!
~~
Meanwhile, the two Grand Secretaries were walking back to the Wenyuan Pavilion.

The autumn wind was bleak, causing the beards of the two Grand Secretaries to flutter.

Wang Ao stroked his beard and asked calmly, "Now you should know which side Hongzhi's heart is on, right?"

Yang Tinghe nodded and said, "Understood."

"Now that you know this, don't say those disheartening things again!" Wang Ao snorted.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes," Yang Tinghe replied repeatedly, then suddenly remembered something and asked, "What about the warehouse there? How much has been stocked?"

Wang Ao hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, "I heard it's also four and a half million taels."

"That's too much!" Yang Tinghe frowned upon hearing this. "How can the palace expenses be the same amount as the entire court's expenditures? Isn't one million taels enough for the emperor's expenses?"

Wang Ao frowned and said, "If you think it's too much, why don't you go and persuade the Emperor to use less? Why are you yelling at me?" Yang Tinghe looked helpless: "I can't see the Emperor, can I..."

"You call yourself the Imperial Tutor!" Wang Ao sneered, his voice tinged with annoyance. "I know what you mean. You want Hongzhi to persuade the Emperor again, don't you?"

He grew angrier and angrier, saying, "Hongzhi is just a minor Hanlin scholar who can serve the emperor only because he is favored by him. How could he possibly care how much money the emperor spends? Are you only happy when the emperor kicks him out of the Leopard Chamber?!"

"How could that be? All the civil officials are now counting on Hongzhi," Yang Tinghe quickly denied.

"Good to know. As Master Yuan also said, Hongzhi has already made a great contribution by securing this huge sum of money for the court! No one should make things difficult for him anymore!"

After a pause, Wang Ao raised his Dragon-Subduing Wood Staff and said, "From now on, anyone who dares to gossip about him will have their legs broken!"

"Alright, alright, I won't say anything more." Yang Tinghe had no choice but to raise his hands in surrender, saying helplessly, "Mr. Zhenze, a man as refined as you shouldn't be like Grand Secretary Jiao!"

"Because I've found that sometimes taking action is better than talking!" Wang Ao said righteously, leaning on his cane. "Some people just deserve a beating; talking is useless."

"..." Yang Tinghe dared not continue the conversation.

~~
That evening, the streets inside and outside Xizhimen were deserted as crowds thronged both sides of the street, craning their necks and eagerly watching the spectacle.

On the main street, two rows of soldiers stood at attention with their hands on their swords, clearing a passage several feet wide.

A troop of imperial guards led the way, carrying gongs that resounded loudly. Following them was a grand and imposing royal procession, carrying flags and umbrellas. But everyone's attention was fixed on the enormous Buddha statue—

Eight burly generals carried a gilded protective frame, with bright yellow silk curtains hanging on all four sides. On top stood a golden statue over ten feet tall, which shone even brighter in the setting sun. Its majestic appearance was so imposing that one dared not look directly at it.

As people watched the scene unfold, they discussed it with great interest, their chatter rising and falling in waves.
"My goodness, this golden Buddha is so big, it must be over ten feet tall!"

"Look at this Buddha's eyebrows and eyes, don't they look just like Eunuch Liu?"

"What do you mean 'looks like'? It's clearly it! This is the golden statue in the Garan Shrine of Dainen Temple!" someone knowledgeable exclaimed.

"I'd heard it was modeled after Eunuch Liu, and now I know it's true!" Everyone exclaimed in surprise.

"Is it even possible that it's fake?"

"Oh dear, Eunuch Liu is truly righteous, even turning his own relatives against him, and he even ransacked the Buddhist temple that he was protecting!"

"So what exactly did he protect as a protector in the end?"

"It seems that being the Grand Eunuch for the Emperor is still a more promising career!"

"Hahaha!" Everyone burst into laughter.

"The Emperor didn't shortchange Eunuch Liu. All the other Buddha statues were to be melted down to fill the national treasury, but this one was spared, and delivered to his door with such grand pomp. This imperial favor is truly unique!" someone said with great envy.

"That's true." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Some of the more astute individuals suddenly noticed something unusual: "It's really strange how such a large golden Buddha could be moved by so few people, and it seems so effortless?"

"Could it be that there are gods and Buddhas protecting them, and the Six Ding and Six Jia secretly supporting them?" The common people had their own explanation:

"That must be it! The idol possesses divine power!"

~~
On the other side, Liu Jin had already been notified to return home and led his entire family, young and old, and everyone in the household to stand outside the gate of the new residence to welcome him.

Sun Cong, the brother-in-law beside him, asked in a low voice, his face full of confusion, "Brother, what does it mean that the Emperor sent such a grand golden Buddha?"

Liu Jin looked up at the approaching procession and declared proudly, "His Majesty said long ago that this is a reward for our family!"

As he spoke, he added with emotion, “Now that the national treasury is empty, all the golden Buddha statues in the temples are destined to be melted down, but this one in our family is the only one that the Emperor specially ordered to be returned with great ceremony—because it is the same as our family’s, so the Emperor couldn’t bear to destroy it! This is a favor that no one else can ask for! Do you understand?”

His brother, Liu Jingxiang, shrank back and pursed his lips, saying, "I feel like the Emperor is making fun of you. You were the protector of the Great Nengren Temple, and now that the temple is gone, they've sent you, their 'protector Buddha,' to their home. Isn't this just making fun of you?"

"Shut up!" Liu Jin glared fiercely at his foolish brother.

At this moment, the ceremonial procession approached, and he quickly stopped talking, leading his whole family to pay homage to the golden Buddha bestowed by the emperor!

P.S. I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish the next chapter. I'll check tomorrow morning...

(End of this chapter)