Chapter 125: A Sharp Counterattack

Zhu Youxiao casually picked up a few more routine memorials and flipped through them—their contents were largely the same, nothing out of the ordinary.

But even written as they were, these memorials were deadly serious. The subject they revolved around was simple: regicide.

The Donglin Faction played this game with such practiced familiarity that Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but concede the point.

The Donglin Faction had blown the matter of Fang Congzhe completely out of proportion—the crime of murdering the late emperor was simply too heavy a charge. In all the world, who could bear such a weight?

No one could bear it, and Zhu Youxiao himself was no exception.

The most critical thing was that they had backed him into a corner. Given the Donglin Faction's abilities, he had no choice but to investigate this matter—after all, it concerned the murder of the current emperor's own father.

In the mainstream values of this era, filial piety was absolutely paramount. If someone said someone had killed your old father and you did nothing about it, you wouldn't even deserve to be called a person, let alone be emperor.

The enmity of a murdered father, the hatred of a stolen wife—how could one endure such things?

If he pretended not to see it, there was no telling what kind of outcry the Donglin Faction would raise.

If he pushed them too far, they would likely stop at nothing. One must never overestimate their bottom line—the scholar-officials of the Great Ming had no bottom line at all.

Glancing at the trembling Chen Hong beside him, Zhu Youxiao casually tossed the memorials onto the dragon desk and said with a smile, "Look how scared you are."

"Yes, Your Majesty. This servant has always been timid." As he spoke, Chen Hong made a gesture of wiping sweat from his brow.

It wasn't just an act—his forehead was indeed covered in beads of sweat. Whether it was from running fast and getting hot, or from cold sweat of fear, he himself wasn't quite sure.

Zhu Youxiao understood Chen Hong's worry.

Chen Hong was genuinely afraid. This time, the Donglin Faction hadn't just implicated a number of court officials—they had also dragged in the palace eunuchs.

The Emperor of the Great Ming had been killed inside the palace, making all these eunuchs suspect. Clearly, this move was meant to counterattack Wei Zhongxian—there was a good chance they would use this matter to attack him.

At the same time, this also implicated the mother of the Prince of Fu—that is, the noble consort most favored by Grandfather Wanli—Noble Consort Zheng.

Many of the memorials claimed that Noble Consort Zheng had murdered Emperor Taichang.

After all, there had been the matter of the succession dispute back then, and the entire court knew one thing: when Grandfather Wanli was on his deathbed, he had left an edict wishing to make Noble Consort Zheng the Empress.

Zhu Youxiao knew a fair amount about his Grandfather Wanli's affairs. Of course, most of what he knew came from his previous life.

Grandfather Wanli had been Zhang Juzheng's student, taught by Zhang Juzheng from childhood, and also suppressed by Zhang Juzheng to no small degree.

So once he came of age and gained power, he directly took revenge against Zhang Juzheng. Zhu Youxiao wouldn't presume to judge whether that was right or wrong.

But he mainly disagreed with Zhang Juzheng's reforms, because their limitations were too great.

Zhang Juzheng's Single Whip law had not achieved the effect of apportioning the land tax by head—in the end, the pressure still fell on the common people.

But Zhang Juzheng had re-surveyed the empire's farmland, which reduced the burden on the people and increased much of the court's revenue. That was where he had done well.

Zhang Juzheng had also implemented the Assessment Law, giving the court some control over local officials.

As for Zhang Juzheng's merits and faults, Zhu Youxiao would not comment. Nor did he wish to comment on the things Grandfather Wanli had done.

Because if he had been in that position, he might well have done the same.

Many people said that Grandfather Wanli attacked Zhang Juzheng because he had been suppressed by him as a child, or because Zhang Juzheng was a hypocrite.

As for what the truth really was, Zhu Youxiao didn't want to investigate.

He only considered things from the perspective of an emperor: when a new emperor ascends the throne, yet the great power of the court is held by others—that is something no new emperor could ever accept.

It was just that Grandfather Wanli's approach was improper, or rather, he lacked experience and was fooled by others. Zhang Siwei and his lot seized power by toppling Zhang Juzheng.

The calculations involved were actually quite complex—Grandfather Wanli wanted to take back power, while Zhang Siwei and the others wanted to hold power, so the two sides hit it off perfectly.

But what happened afterward surprised everyone. People in Zhang Siwei's household died one after another, until finally he himself died as well.

From a conspiracy-theory perspective, who knew who was behind it all? Whether his family members really died the way the history books recorded—that couldn't be said for certain either.

Of course, none of this had anything to do with Zhu Youxiao—it was just that the current regicide matter implicated his grandfather's favored consort.

In the Donglin Faction's memorials, they described in detail how Noble Consort Zheng bore a grudge against Emperor Taichang because he had not honored the late edict by making her Empress Dowager. Thus she conceived the idea of murdering Emperor Taichang—sending him beautiful women and providing all sorts of aphrodisiacs to let him indulge in wine and pleasure.

Once Emperor Taichang's health collapsed, Noble Consort Zheng colluded with eunuchs in the palace and Li Kezhuo outside the court to feed Emperor Taichang a poisonous medicine, directly killing him. This was a conspiracy of regicide.

In these civil officials' imaginings, the plot was full of twists and turns with wide-reaching implications, drawing countless people at court into its web. The most heavily implicated was the former Chief Grand Secretary, Grand Secretary Fang Congzhe.

The Donglin Faction claimed in their memorials that Fang Congzhe and Noble Consort Zheng had colluded with each other to murder the late emperor.

Fang Congzhe wanted to monopolize power and had gathered a large number of his own people outside the court. The late emperor saw through his scheme, which was why he promoted these Donglin men—but before the late emperor could investigate him, Fang Congzhe had already killed him.

The whole story was told convincingly enough. Zhu Youxiao's fingers tapped lightly on the armrest.

There were still treacherous factions in the palace and treacherous ministers at court, so this matter required a thorough investigation. That was the gist of the Donglin Faction's memorials.

Zhu Youxiao sneered repeatedly, leaning back on the couch with his eyes slightly narrowed, running through everything in his mind. In the end, he had to admit with admiration that the Donglin Faction was not only bold—their methods were also extremely clever.

If this case were stirred up, there was no telling who might end up dead.

The whole affair had been well calculated by the Donglin Faction—they had even calculated the emperor himself into their scheme.

Now that something like this had happened, as the son, he had to do something—he couldn't possibly pretend not to know about it. That was exactly what the Donglin Faction wanted.

They wanted to muddy the waters of the court, even throw his own harem into chaos. Their moves were ruthless and experienced, and their angle of attack was viciously chosen.

Zhu Youxiao rose gently to his feet and walked expressionlessly out of the great hall, standing on the steps to gaze at the distant sky.

The weather today really was quite nice, with clouds drifting and curling in a leisurely manner—only Zhu Youxiao's mood was no longer as pleasant as it had been moments before.

So an unexpected turn had indeed come.

This factional strife, once begun, would never end.

Even if he had prepared thoroughly, the other side wouldn't just sit and wait for death. Their counterattack was sharp enough.

Things had become interesting after all.