Chapter 112: Yu, Are You Content With This?

Yu Maoheng's expression darkened as he glanced at this routine memorial.

He naturally understood the contents of this memorial—it was written by a Censor named Zhu Tongmeng.

This matter had stirred up some commotion before, but it hadn't caused any major waves.

Yu Maoheng himself was also a Censor in the Censorate, so he knew about this matter. But he never imagined that at this particular moment, His Majesty would actually bring out this memorial.

He naturally knew about today's events. Chen Kedao's lecture had been disrupted. Although this had only just happened, it was already spreading like wildfire.

In fact, officials throughout the government all had some understanding of this matter.

Everyone was waiting to watch the show, waiting to give Chen Kedao a hard time.

But smart people knew that this involved far more than just a dispute between two schools of thought.

Behind this entire affair was a massive struggle over interests.

Whether someone was pushing for Chen Kedao to lecture His Majesty, or there was some other reason, the result was that he had carved out a place for himself with His Majesty.

Those in power absolutely would not permit this, so they wanted to strike at Chen Kedao—striking from both the academic and physical directions.

On the surface, they were attacking Chen Kedao as a person, but in reality, they were targeting the people behind Chen Kedao, and implicitly targeting His Majesty.

In the eyes of the current officials at court, those who targeted the Donglin Faction and those who organized Chen Kedao's lectures, though not the same group of people, all shared the same goal.

So this time they could not retreat—they had to crush Chen Kedao.

Since he was keeping an eye on matters over there, news of anything that happened would naturally reach him immediately.

Chen Kedao's scholarship frightened many people, so those who were frightened would resort to more drastic measures.

A riot breaking out at the lecture site—that was one such drastic measure.

It was just an unorganized move; no one had anticipated it would happen this way. Nor was it the work of the big players in power at court.

But after this incident, some powerful figure from the School of Principle was certain to make a move—this signified that the struggle was escalating.

A simple academic dispute had risen to a dispute over political direction.

Academic disputes were between scholars of civil society groups, but disputes over political direction were struggles between ruling factions.

Although no one had articulated this concept, that was the reality of the situation.

Although the Emperor possessed power, when it came to what ideology should govern this nation, the ones who had the final say were not His Majesty, but the Donglin Faction and others at court.

This was actually similar to the struggle between the Huang-Lao school and Confucianism in the Han Dynasty, and it also meant struggles between various Confucian factions, with no means left unused.

So the struggles to come would only grow more intense.

A great trend of factional strife had already been set in motion.

Yu Maoheng naturally saw this clearly, and he truly did not want to get involved in these matters.

Although he was also a disciple of the School of Principle, he was also an official, well-versed in the art of self-preservation.

This struggle was absolutely not going to be a simple affair—people were definitely going to die.

So Yu Maoheng had not planned to participate. Earlier, he had intended to seek an out-of-capital post, and even planned to resign if that failed. But then His Majesty summoned him to the palace—the out-of-capital appointment was off the table, resignation was out of the question, and he was directly promoted to Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

Clearly, His Majesty wanted to drag him into the battlefield.

Yu Maoheng was also frustrated—what exactly did His Majesty see in him? He didn't think he was that outstanding.

As things stood now, matters were sliding in an even worse direction.

The content of this memorial by Zhu Tongmeng was very simple: academies across the realm were flourishing in their lectures, attacking current governance and wreaking havoc on the localities. In fact, it could be summed up in just a few words—the literati using their learning to subvert the law.

Although these few words were simple, in this era, no one truly dared to say them.

This Zhu Tongmeng had too much nerve. He hadn't felt it before, but now that feeling was coming over him.

His Majesty had given him Zhu Tongmeng's memorial—the purpose went without saying. It was to have him model his own memorial after this one.

Thinking back to how he had been promoted to Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, all of this had been prepared in advance.

Giving him this memorial was naturally not so he could write one alone—it was so he could lead his subordinates in writing memorials.

Many people in the Censorate were anxious and unsettled right now, looking for a way out. Some wanted to seize the opportunity to get promoted, following his example.

Once he leaked this intention, many fence-sitters would submit memorials in support, and many who wanted to make a name for themselves and rise in rank would do the same; at the same time, many would oppose it.

The Censorate would first split apart—and after the split, what then?

Yu Maoheng hardly dared to think about it.

Whose intention this was had already become quite obvious. This was His Majesty's intention.

Was it that His Majesty himself thought this way? Or had he been persuaded by Chen Kedao? Or perhaps persuaded by the eunuch before him?

Yu Maoheng could not know.

But these were no longer the issue. The issue was what he himself should do—whether to accept this memorial.

If he accepted it, he would have to act according to His Majesty's instructions. Once he fired this first shot, he would have placed himself in opposition to the entire School of Principle.

At that point, he would have no choice but to embrace Chen Kedao's doctrine; otherwise, he would have no place to stand. He would become a leading figure, a standard-bearer for Chen Kedao's school of thought, and naturally would suffer the most attacks.

He would probably be branded directly with the label of treacherous minister. The stake that sticks up gets rotted first—he was afraid he would be targeted. The pressure on Chen Kedao would shift directly onto him. They would think of killing him first.

Thinking of this, Yu Maoheng let out a helpless sigh.

If he did not accept, His Majesty would probably find someone else.

And as for himself—not only would his official career be ruined, his life might not be spared either. This gave a person no way out. Once one was in the game and became a pawn, one had to have this awareness.

Chen Hong was not anxious either. He sat there quietly, drinking the Censorate's tea.

He examined the Censorate's teacup as if it were some work of art, as if the Censorate's tea were some peerless brew.

Chen Hong's utterly carefree demeanor made Yu Maoheng's teeth ache just looking at him.

The simplest approach was to take the memorial, then play dumb. And wait for His Majesty to deal with him.

"Yu, are you content with this?" At that moment, Chen Hong spoke up from the side.

Hearing these words, Yu Maoheng was taken aback.

He hadn't expected Chen Hong to say such a thing to him, and he could roughly guess what those words meant.

After a moment's hesitation, he still asked, "What does Your Excellency mean by that?"

Chen Hong cast a thoughtful glance at Yu Maohang, a smile spreading across his face.

Whether Yu Maohang was genuinely confused or merely feigning ignorance, Chen Hong set down his teacup, straightened himself, and his expression turned serious.