Chapter 105: Finally, This Day Has Come

The atmosphere in the room began to grow heavy.

Though this was a conversation between two men, what it touched upon was far more than just the two of them — it involved tens of thousands of lives.

After a long silence, Han Kuang spoke up, asking: "What does the Grand Secretary want me to do?"

Hearing Han Kuang's words, a smile immediately spread across Liu Yijing's face.

He knew Han Kuang had yielded, for this had long been within his expectations.

Liu Yijing knew something of the relationship between Han Kuang and Gao Panlong and the others. This time, Gao Panlong and his associates had not consulted Han Kuang beforehand, which clearly showed they did not regard Han Kuang as one of their own.

Since Han Kuang was not part of the Donglin inner circle, there was room for negotiation, and that was precisely why Liu Yijing had come to Han Kuang.

As things stood now, his judgment had been correct — Han Kuang indeed no longer wished to remain entangled with Gao Panlong and the rest.

Naturally, Liu Yijing would not despise Han Kuang for this, because such matters were all too common in officialdom. Today you help me, tomorrow I help you, and the day after we fall out — everyone merely comes together for mutual benefit.

"Actually, there's nothing much you need to do — you only need to unite with some like-minded people." Liu Yijing said with a smile: "Things have already reached a point where they cannot be contained any further. All we need to do is make our stance clear."

Seeing the hint of displeasure in Han Kuang's gaze as he looked up, Liu Yijing hastily explained: "Of course, you don't need to be the one to step forward first."

Though Liu Yijing's words were tactful, Han Kuang was no fool and naturally read the meaning between the lines.

Liu Yijing's meaning was simple — we are going to kick them while they are down.

Not everyone in the Donglin Faction is in league with Gao Panlong and his lot, so you should unite with those who do not approve of Gao Panlong and his people, or those who oppose their reckless self-destruction, or simply find those who are timid by nature and dare not follow them into the fray. Unite these people to split the Donglin Faction apart, and the men you recruit will be yours alone.

Though this sounded like a good deal and seemed simple enough, it was nevertheless a task that would earn enmity, because you would soon become the leader of the Donglin traitors.

You must understand that no matter the era, no matter the group, a traitor is always more detestable than an enemy.

Liu Yijing wanted Old Han to do this — how could Han Kuang possibly be pleased? If it really came to that, he would rather not do it at all.

Liu Yijing himself was naturally aware of this problem, so he hurriedly spoke up to soothe him, and his meaning was quite clear: we don't need you to step forward — the ones stepping forward are our people. When things are nearly settled, you can then stand up and clean up the mess.

Though he said "clean up the mess," what it really meant was to gather those people together and keep them from putting up futile last-ditch resistance.

Hearing Liu Yijing say this, Han Kuang's expression finally improved considerably.

Gently nodding his head, Han Kuang said slowly: "In that case, I shall do as the Grand Secretary says."

With that, he rose to his feet, clasped his hands toward Liu Yijing in salute, then turned and walked out.

Watching Han Kuang's retreating figure, a smile appeared on Liu Yijing's face.

He slowly stood up, walked straight to the doorway, and gazed into the distant sky.

Liu Yijing let out a long breath.

He had finally waited for this day.

Back when Fang Congzhe was Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, he himself had been nothing but an errand boy. Later, when Fang Congzhe finally fell from power and he himself became Chief Grand Secretary, he still had no real authority.

The Donglin Faction had treated him as a transitional figure. Though he was unwilling to accept it, Fang Congzhe had already fallen — what could he possibly do about it?

But things were different now. His opportunity had come.

As long as the Donglin Faction fell, there would be no major factions left throughout the entire court.

Han Kuang would gather some people, but he would also have offended the Donglin Faction.

The other Grand Secretaries might have some men of their own, but their strength was not great — they could not compete with him, the Chief Grand Secretary.

Once things proceeded according to his design, he could rely on his position as Chief Grand Secretary to oversee all court affairs and balance the relations between all parties — and then he could truly be called a man of real power.

Thinking of this, how could Liu Yijing not be excited?

Having been an official for so many years, he had finally reached the day when he could hold the reins of government, putting into practice all he had learned and realizing his ambitions.

At these thoughts, the smile on Liu Yijing's face grew even brighter.

The Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youxiao was also standing at the entrance of the great hall at this moment, likewise gazing into the distant sky.

Unlike Liu Yijing's mood, Zhu Youxiao's feelings were neither good nor bad — at this moment he was very much at peace.

The matter had already been set in motion; Zhu Youxiao only needed to see it through to fruition.

"Your Majesty, here is a routine memorial." Chen Hong walked to Zhu Youxiao's side and spoke respectfully.

Zhu Youxiao was taken aback. A routine memorial had come?

Chen Hong said that the memorials sent to the Grand Secretariat these past few days contained little of substance — most of them were produced by the Donglin Faction. Their contents were all dull and tedious, either impeaching Wei Zhongxian or admonishing the Emperor.

Zhu Youxiao could roughly guess that the wording of the memorials in recent days had grown increasingly fierce. He just wondered who would be the first to cry out:

Fatuous ruler!

As for someone calling him a fatuous ruler, Zhu Youxiao felt the time was not yet right. But they had probably already noted it down in their little notebooks, and he estimated that by then he would once again be vilified terribly under their pens.

But Zhu Youxiao did not care.

This memorial that Chen Hong had brought up, however, did arouse a slight interest in Zhu Youxiao. You see, these past few days, the Directorate of Ceremonial had basically stopped sending memorials over.

Apart from memorials concerning state affairs, there was nothing else at all.

Even the memorials on state affairs were delivered together in a batch, not brought over individually.

Now Chen Hong had brought over a single memorial by itself — clearly there was something unusual about it.

Without the slightest hesitation, Zhu Youxiao reached out, took the memorial, and directly began to flip through it.

Only, what Zhu Youxiao looked at first was not the content of the memorial, but the signature at the end.

He wanted to first see who had written this memorial, and then look at what the content was.

However, upon seeing the signature, Zhu Youxiao was startled.

It truly was a name both unfamiliar and familiar.

Cui Chengxiu.

To say this person was unfamiliar — that was because Zhu Youxiao had truly never met him, and had even forgotten this person entirely, so naturally he could not be called familiar.

To say he was familiar — that was because Zhu Youxiao had heard this name before he transmigrated.

Cui Chengxiu, the head of the "Five Tigers" of the eunuch faction.

Cui Chengxiu rose all the way to Minister of War, concurrently Left Censor-in-Chief, and was enfeoffed as Junior Tutor — his influence overshadowed the entire court. This was a man who would dare anything for power, utterly devoid of scruples or shame — the prime choice for a harsh official.

A figure akin to Lai Junchen of the Tang dynasty; his end was also quite miserable.

After the Chongzhen Emperor ascended the throne, the eunuch faction was designated as the "treason case," and the court issued an edict for their arrest and punishment. Cui Chengxiu hanged himself, yet his corpse was still posthumously mutilated.

He probably knew himself that he couldn't survive, so he simply hanged himself hoping to keep his body intact. But even so, he still could not escape the fate of having his corpse mutilated.

Quite a character, after all.

Gazing at the routine memorial in his hand, Zhu Youxiao suddenly smiled.