Chapter 119: Stirring Up Even Bigger Waves

Raising his head to glance at Sun Shenxing, Gao Panlong asked, "Sun Chengzong is indeed quite suitable, but how do we handle the other matters? We can't just recommend him for the Grand Secretariat and leave it at that, can we?"

Glancing at Gao Panlong across from him, Sun Shenxing gently stroked his beard, his expression grave, and only then spoke in a lowered voice: "Actually, there is a way. Things have reached this point — nothing short of cutting off one's own arm will resolve it."

In fact, in Sun Shenxing's view, if Gao Panlong had listened to Han Kuang's advice early on, how could things have come to this?

From the very beginning of the case's outbreak, instead of thinking about protecting anyone, they should have simply acted according to His Majesty's wishes — punished whoever deserved punishment, penalized whoever deserved penalty.

His Majesty handing the trial authority of the case to the Three Judicial Offices was in fact a test for everyone. It's just that within this test, everyone disappointed His Majesty.

When Yang Lian and the others were arrested and taken into the Eastern Depot, that was the moment — as Han Kuang had said — they should have cut off their own arm.

But in the end, everyone didn't do that, and continued protecting Yang Lian and the others.

As a result, the situation began to spiral completely out of control.

If they must cut off the arm now, then they would inevitably have to resort to even more drastic measures.

Hearing Sun Shenxing say this, a hint of joy immediately appeared on Gao Panlong's face.

This was the best words he had heard in all these days.

Moreover, from his understanding of Sun Shenxing, this was not a man who boasted. His own earlier remarks had also been telling Sun Shenxing: if you want to seize power, that's fine; you can even ask me to help you, that's also fine. But there is one thing you must accomplish — if you want to get through this crisis, you have to help us get through it too.

Now it seemed Sun Shenxing truly had a way.

Gao Panlong couldn't help but speak with some urgency: "What should we do?"

Sun Shenxing stroked his beard and said with a smile: "The current situation is very difficult — His Majesty no longer trusts us. The cases of Zou Yuanbiao, Yang Lian, and the others are already as solid as iron mountains of evidence; changing them won't be easy. Since we can't break the deadlock here, let's switch to another approach — insert ourselves from a different angle, and perhaps we'll achieve unexpected results."

Gao Panlong listened in a fog, somewhat bewildered, and asked: "So what exactly should we do?"

"Actually, it's very simple. When they were accused of forming factions for private gain, there was one very important charge — that they privately released Fang Congzhe. To investigate this matter, the Embroidered Uniform Guard has already brought Fang Congzhe to the capital. What His Majesty intends to do is already quite clear — His Majesty intends to reopen the Red Pill Case." Sun Shenxing said with an expressionless face.

Hearing Sun Shenxing's words, Gao Panlong's eyes lit up, feeling as though a blockage had suddenly been cleared, and said with slight excitement: "We start from there?"

Sun Shenxing nodded, and without waiting for Gao Panlong to urge him on, immediately continued: "Right now the other side stands on high ground accusing us, which is very disadvantageous for us. So we need to drag them all into the water — that way the water gets muddy. Once the water is muddy, many things become easier to handle. 'Fishing in troubled waters' — that's exactly the principle."

"We can have people submit routine memorials impeaching Fang Congzhe and impeaching Li Kezhuo. The charges must be severe — say they colluded with the inner palace and conspired to murder the sovereign. Once this news spreads, it will inevitably stir up a huge uproar."

"Much of the news in court will be suppressed, and those who want to target us won't be able to stir up any waves. Using an even bigger matter to crush the current matter — this is the best approach."

"At the same time, we should deliberately or inadvertently implicate several Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat in the case — especially Chief Grand Secretary Liu Yijing. That way, the Grand Secretaries will have no mind to target us; they'll first have to explain their own affairs clearly."

"Compared to our charge of forming factions for private gain, their charge of murdering the sovereign is far more serious. Additionally, this time we absolutely must drag the inner palace into it as well. Isn't Noble Consort Zheng still alive? Use her as the talking point — claim she colluded with outside officials to murder the sovereign."

Gao Panlong glanced at Sun Shenxing — from start to finish, he had never realized that this Sun Shenxing could be so ruthless!

Once this case was stirred up, how many people would be dragged in?

He even wanted to reach his hand into the inner palace?

This was practically playing with fire. If it wasn't handled well, it would be courting disaster — directly burning oneself to death.

But Sun Shenxing didn't care. He felt his plan was certain to succeed.

The reason was simple: the main issue this time wasn't any case at all, but rather the re-ranking of all court personnel after the new Emperor's ascension — especially the re-ranking of important positions.

Some people needed to go up; some people needed to come down.

But right now there were many people who didn't know which way the wind blew. Not only did they not want to step down themselves, they even wanted to promote their own partisans and push all of them up.

The reason the Donglin Faction became the target of everyone's criticism, became the bird that stuck its head out, was precisely this. Among all the people, the Donglin Faction had done this matter the most aggressively.

Although His Majesty was cleaning up the Donglin Faction, in truth His Majesty wouldn't let those in the Grand Secretariat off either — it was just that the time to clean them up hadn't come yet.

If he now dragged these people down into the fray, His Majesty would certainly agree, and would also take the opportunity to clean them up.

In this way, Sun Shenxing would win himself a chance to catch his breath.

At the same time, it would let His Majesty know that they were useful, and that they were willing to follow his orders and work.

In this way, he would have room to survive, and His Majesty certainly wouldn't pursue them relentlessly. When things reached the end, both sides would inevitably suffer losses, but a balance could be achieved.

As for reaching toward the inner palace — that was giving His Majesty an opportunity to purge the inner palace, to see whether His Majesty had that intention.

If His Majesty had that intention, then he would certainly seize this opportunity; if His Majesty didn't, then it didn't matter either.

Seeing Gao Panlong staring at him without speaking, Sun Shenxing continued: "Once the matter blows up, the court will need a person of high virtue and prestige to preside over it. At the very least, the case must be investigated thoroughly and clarified, to wash away the grievances of some people."

"At that time, we'll vigorously promote Sun Chengzong. Sun Chengzong is His Majesty's teacher and enjoys His Majesty's deep trust — there should be no problem at all in his obtaining this position."

"Throughout the entire trial of the case, we must handle it strictly and severely. Whether they are our people or others, anyone implicated must be dealt with strictly and severely, establishing for Sun Chengzong an image of uprightness, impartiality, and absolute fairness."

"The current situation is that our people are inside, while their people are up above watching the show. As long as we drag them in — even if we kill a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of our own — it's still a good thing for us."

"If we don't drag them in, then no matter how many we kill, they're all our own people, and in the end we'll be the ones killed. Only by making them feel the pain will they behave themselves."