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Chapter 591 Liu Moumou, the Eternal XX

The main hall of the Northern Garrison Command.

After serving tea, Su Lu asked Zhang Cai to bring the list of prisoners held in custody. Upon opening it, he was surprised to find that the list of prisoners was even more luxurious than that of the imperial court officials.

Han Wen, Zhang Sheng, Zhang Fuhua, Liu Daxia, Ma Wensheng...

No wonder I always felt that there weren't many outstanding figures among the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers; it turns out that the truly important people were all imprisoned in the imperial prison.

He was indeed sent on imperial orders to conduct questioning, but those orders were from six months ago. He was simply too busy. If it weren't for what happened yesterday, he doesn't know how long he would have been delayed.

Having confirmed that the person he was looking for was still in the imperial prison, Su Lu looked up at Zhang Cai and said politely, "This interrogation is confidential, so please arrange for anyone not involved to leave."

"Yes, yes," Zhang Cai replied without hesitation. As a top-level intelligence officer, he was extremely well-informed and knew that Secretary Su's words carried more weight with the Emperor than those of Eunuch Liu, so he was someone who absolutely could not afford to offend.

At Zhang Cai's command, all the officials and jailers guarding the imperial prison withdrew.

At the same time, the people from the inner factory quickly stepped forward, took over the entire prison, and strictly sealed off all passages to prevent anyone from approaching and eavesdropping.

After making the arrangements, Su Lu and his party entered the imperial prison under Zhang Cai's watchful eye.

The prison remained dark and gloomy, though not as damp as in other seasons, the thick stench of blood and decay remained unchanged. In the rows of barred cells, prisoners lay or sat, their bodies tortured beyond recognition.

Don't let their appearance fool you, their names will shock you! They were all once world-renowned figures.

Walking deep into the imperial prison, Su Lu glanced at the wooden plaque hanging on the cell door and stopped, saying, "This is the one."

The Imperial Guard immediately stepped forward and used the key given to him by the jailer to open the cell door.

By the dim light of the oil lamp, Su Lu glanced at the corner of the cell and saw an old man with disheveled hair, huddled in a pile of tattered cotton and straw. His clothes were tattered into strips, and he reeked of mildew, just like any other vagrant on the street.

"Ah, sir, is that you?!" Su Youcai exclaimed softly from behind.

The old man's head was clearly numb from the cold; only after hearing the sound did he laboriously move his eyes, and it took him a while to focus on Su Youcai. When he realized that the person was actually his son-in-law, whom he had always looked down upon and refused to acknowledge, his expression froze, and his face instantly became incredibly complex—

There was a sudden, unexpected shock; an unconcealable embarrassment; the awkwardness of being caught in such a disheveled state by someone once looked down upon; the conflict of wanting to ask for help yet being unwilling to lower oneself; and a hint of regret hidden in the depths of the eyes, something one would rather die than admit...

Su Youcai had never seen so many expressions on one person's face at the same time. He felt both relieved and heartbroken, but deep down he felt mostly at peace...

His father-in-law used to be like an insurmountable mountain, and he had to muster up courage just to look him in the eye. Now, that mountain that had loomed over him for so many years had finally disappeared, leaving only a pitiful old man waiting to be rescued.

"Father, go in first and we can talk slowly. When you're done, come out and wait for me." Su Lu felt no ripples in his heart, as if what he saw was nothing more than a stubborn rock. He turned and walked towards the interrogation room that had just been arranged.

~~
Song Xiaoyi had worked in the imperial prison for many years, and the interrogation room he arranged for Su Lu was the best one available.

The room contained a square table and three chairs. Silver charcoal burned quietly in a charcoal brazier. The morning sunlight shone through a small ventilation window, making this interrogation room seem like a paradise in a cold prison.

Su Lu sat in a round-backed chair covered with a tiger skin, taking a break to process a report from the Court of Imperial Sacrifices while waiting for the person he was to see.

A moment later, the sound of chains dragging on the ground grew louder as the Imperial Guard opened the door and reported, "Sir, the person has arrived."

"Come in." Su Lu closed the folder and looked up at the old man who had been brought in. The man was tall, with disheveled hair and beard, prominent cheekbones, and injuries on his face, clearly having suffered considerable hardship. Yet, his back remained ramrod straight, and his eyes still held that pride etched into his very bones…

Su Lu waved his hand, and the Imperial Guards removed the old man's shackles.

The old man flexed his wrists, glancing at Su Lu, surprised that the official who had come to interrogate him was so young.

"What, young man? They're all too embarrassed to see me, so they sent you, a novice, to take the blame?" The old man's accent was somewhat similar to Li Dongyang's, but much more rugged than that of the scheming Master Yang Gang.

"I won't bully a kid like you. I'll just tell you the answer directly—I'm broke, no matter how many times you ask!"

Su Lu listened patiently as the old man rambled on for a while before slowly asking, "Are you Liu Daxia?"

"You come to interrogate this old man, don't you know who I am?" the old man laughed.

"Answer the questions properly, sir!" Song Xiaoyi, standing behind Su Lu, scolded, "You're no longer a first-rank official, stop acting like you're some senior!"

The old man squinted, showing no sign of fear: "It is indeed I."

"Please sit down." Su Lu ordered someone to bring him a long bench. After he sat down, Su Lu said in a deep voice, "I have come by imperial decree to ask you a few questions. Please answer truthfully and without any concealment." "Is it really His Majesty who wants to ask, or is Eunuch Liu falsely conveying the imperial decree?" Liu Daxia asked back.

“It is the Emperor,” Su Lu replied.

"Please ask," Liu Daxia nodded, his expression becoming serious.

Then Su Lu asked in a calm tone: "May I ask, back in the Chenghua era, when Your Excellency was the Director of the Department of Military Affairs in the Ministry of War, Emperor Xianzong intended to restart the voyages to the Western Ocean and ordered the then Minister of War to request Your Excellency the blueprints of the treasure ships and the navigation archives such as 'Zheng He's Voyages' from Your Excellency. How did you respond at that time?"

"..." Upon hearing this, Liu Daxia frowned and scolded in a fatherly tone, "What time is it? The Ming Dynasty is about to fall, and you're still thinking about sailing to the West? You've got the priorities backwards and are courting death!"

"Even if the Ming Dynasty is to perish, it will be at the hands of charlatans like you!" Su Lu's face darkened, and he launched into a tirade against Liu Daxia:

"You still have the nerve to say that you've put the cart before the horse? The Hongzhi Restoration you speak of, the righteous and upright court you boast of, is nothing but a bunch of so-called famous ministers' tricks to fool the court and the people!"

"He spouts sage doctrines but is full of selfish schemes and calculations. He's utterly incompetent at human affairs! He's completely useless at collecting taxes, but he's better than anyone at leading land annexations. He's helpless when faced with natural disasters and can't even protect the most basic livelihoods!"

“You…” Liu Daxia’s eyes widened. He had thought that a clueless newcomer to officialdom had arrived, but he never expected that he would be such a sharp-tongued and ruthless devil.

"What do you mean, 'you'?! In the past twenty years of so-called good governance, what part of it was actually earned by you? It was nothing more than sitting around and squandering the wealth accumulated during the Chenghua reign! As a result, when the current emperor ascended the throne, the official reserves were empty, the military reserves were stretched thin, the borders were leaking, the treasury was depleted, and there were holes everywhere in the country that could not be patched up! Is this the answer sheet for good governance that you 'wise ministers and famous officials' have delivered by working together?!"

"Pah! Shameless! The world is like this, and you still have the nerve to act like a big shot!" Su Lu was furious and slammed his hand on the table. "Take the chair away! Let him answer while standing!"

"Get up!" The Imperial Guard grabbed Liu Daxia and kicked his bench away.

"..." Liu Daxia's chest heaved violently. He wanted to refute Su Lu, "What do you know, you little brat?" However, the Ming Dynasty was already riddled with problems in the early years of Zhengde's reign, and it looked like it was about to perish, which made it impossible for him to say such a thing.

Of course, those shameless people could blame everything on Liu Jin, but Liu Daxia couldn't be so shameless... His ancestral home was Dongping, Shandong, and his eleventh-generation ancestor, Liu Bao, was a general under Marshal Yue Fei. After Yue Fei was murdered, Liu Bao resigned from his official post and settled in Huarong. Although his descendants abandoned military service for civil service, they always identified themselves as descendants of Yue Fei's army.

Liu Daxia was the quintessential example of someone who took the fate of the nation upon himself and aspired to be a renowned minister. Looking back on his career after retiring, he felt he had done quite well…

Reality slapped him hard in the face, so how could he comfortably shift all the blame onto Liu Jin? Although he never admitted to being at fault, he was actually suffering greatly inside and often couldn't sleep at night.

Now Su Lu is like the little boy in "The Emperor's New Clothes," piercing the truth that Liu Daxia dared not admit, silencing Liu Daxia, who has an extremely high sense of morality.

"I will ask you one more time: when the then Minister of War requested the navigation records of Eunuch Zheng He from you, how did you respond?"

"I said I've already burned it," Liu Daxia finally answered properly.

"Who gave you the guts?!" Upon hearing this, Su Lu slammed his hand heavily on the table again, almost knocking over the teacup.

Liu Daxia recalled for a moment and slowly replied: "When I reported to Minister Xiang, he said that Sanbao's voyage to the Western Ocean cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and grain, and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians died. Even if he returned with rare treasures, it would not have brought any benefit to the country or the people. It was a wasteful and harmful policy that exhausted the people and wasted money!"

As he spoke, he regained his resolve, convinced that he had not done anything wrong: "Keeping those archives will only tempt future rulers to follow suit and increase the suffering of the people. It would be better for me to destroy them and uproot them."

"Minister Yu just believed your nonsense? And there's no punishment at all?" Su Lu asked incredulously.

"I have no selfish motives, I have only served the country and the people, what wrong have I done?" Liu Daxia said proudly. "How could the Minister punish me? On the contrary, he has even rewarded me."

"In other words, the Minister of War at the time was ordered by the Emperor to return to his ministry to retrieve the nautical charts. The physician in charge of keeping the charts claimed he had burned all the documents, but the Minister not only wasn't angry, he even rewarded the physician." Su Lu chuckled upon hearing this, looking at Liu Daxia with sympathy.

"You've been an official for decades, haven't you figured out what kind of background this Minister of War really has? You've been used as a pawn, and you're still gloating over it. You've wasted your life!"

"..." Liu Daxia's expression changed several times, and he hurriedly argued, his face turning red and white, "Don't try to sow discord. I've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice. We are like-minded people who care about the country and its people! You young people today wouldn't understand."

"Then may I ask where this fellow traveler is from?" Su Lu asked.

“Jiaxing, Zhejiang…” Liu Daxia’s face paled instantly, and he roughly understood what Su Lu meant.

Sure enough, Su Lu laughed and said, "If it were a minister who had never been to the South, I might believe you. But Jiaxing is bordered by the sea to the east, Qiantang River to the south, Taihu Lake to the north, and Tianmu Mountain to the west. The Grand Canal runs through the area. People in this place have been doing business with overseas countries since the Tang and Song dynasties. How could they not know how profitable maritime trade is? How could they believe your stupid words that voyages to the West are 'of no benefit whatsoever to the country and the people's livelihood'?!"

“I see you later served as the Guangdong Provincial Treasurer. Didn’t you ever realize that you were being made a fool of?” He ruthlessly exposed Liu Daxia’s pretense.

Looking at Liu Daxia's face again, the pride had vanished, replaced by deep shame...

P.S. Starting tomorrow morning, updates will resume at 7:30 AM...

(End of this chapter)