Chapter 128: One Routine Memorial Detonates the Ming Officialdom

Reading the imperial edict did not take very long.

Although this was a direct palace edict, no one serving at court dared to lightly refuse a direct palace edict.

Because refusing this direct palace edict meant you were refusing the Emperor. No one dared do such a thing, unless they were truly thick-headed.

"Gentlemen, the edict has been delivered. I shall take my leave now." Chen Hong said with a smile, cupping his hands toward the two men, then turned and walked out.

Liu Yijing and Han Kuang did not try to detain Chen Hong; some words were not appropriate to say at this moment.

Once Chen Hong had left, Liu Yijing and Han Kuang sat back down.

The content of the edict was not extensive, nor did it say very much. For two senior court grandees, understanding it naturally posed no problem.

In this edict, His Majesty appeared to say nothing at all, merely instructing them to consult the opinions of the assembled ministers.

In fact, His Majesty had already said everything. Was this really asking them to consult the ministers' opinions?

This was asking them to take a stand. Plainly put, it was asking the ministers on their side to declare their position—to declare support for a thorough investigation into the Donglin Faction case.

Whether it was the Donglin Faction's false accusation against Xiong Tingbi, or their collusion with Li Ruzhen, or their forming of partisan cliques—in short, all of it had to be investigated.

Were these cases no longer being investigated?

Not at all—these cases had been under investigation all along. Wei Zhongxian over at the Eastern Depot had never stopped.

Then why was His Majesty forcing their side to take a stand?

The meaning was obvious: he was not going to let them reap the benefits for free.

"It seems His Majesty has seen through our intentions." Liu Yijing said expressionlessly.

Han Kuang waved his hand dismissively and said directly: "From the very beginning we never planned to keep this hidden. Even if we didn't speak of it, someone would remind His Majesty. This was within expectations. We simply didn't anticipate that they would fight back with such utter disregard for decency. Now I fear we have no choice left."

Speaking of this, Han Kuang felt a burning resentment in his heart.

The whole affair was botched by Zou Yuanbiao and the rest of you—there was nothing more to say about it.

If you hadn't refused to listen to me back then, how could things have come to this pass today?

And now, at this point, instead of admitting defeat obediently, you go and stir up something like this. Now everyone is in trouble.

"The question now is: what do we do?" Han Kuang asked.

Liu Yijing let out a soft sigh, and said with a slightly helpless tone: "Do we still have any choice?"

Hearing Liu Yijing's words, Han Kuang fell momentarily silent.

Indeed, they had no choice left—and this was precisely why His Majesty had done this. He did not need fence-sitters and waverers; he needed people willing to charge to the front.

"Then let everyone write their routine memorials!" Han Kuang said, word by word.

Though these words were few in number, to the two men before him they weighed heavier than a thousand jin.

Struggles at court had always been a matter of maintaining the facade of unity while never breaking it outright. Behind the scenes, both sides traded blows and fought to the death, but unless absolutely necessary, they always left some leeway—so that when one side ultimately lost, there would still be room to turn things around.

The reason he had previously had his subordinates write those impeachment memorials was, to a large extent, precisely for this purpose.

Once matters could no longer be sustained, those people would become sacrificial pawns, and after the pawns were traded off, both sides would reach some kind of agreement.

He had wanted to force the Donglin Faction to surrender, to make them yield their positions.

The Donglin Faction's counterattack was the same—wrapping themselves in a grand banner and a tiger skin, blowing the matter up to enormous proportions, making his side cautious, and then at some level the two sides would reach a reconciliation, so as not to fight to the death.

In the end, whichever side suffered the smaller losses would then be able to gain something.

This was struggle conducted within limits both sides could bear—but His Majesty did not want it that way.

His Majesty had seen straight through the intentions of both factions, and so he had sent this edict to the Grand Secretariat.

It looked like merely an edict seeking consultation, but in reality it was telling them to strike hard once more, to apply thorough pressure on the Donglin Faction.

If they truly did this, the Donglin Faction would inevitably fight back with desperate fury.

The two sides really would end up battered and bloody—clearly that was how the final result would play out. His Majesty naturally wanted this as well; otherwise he would not have stirred the pot from the middle.

The problem now was that both sides were locked in confrontation. To return to peace, one side would have to soften and yield.

The problem now was that the referee did not want either side to yield—he wanted both sides to keep fighting, and the more fiercely the better.

If you no longer wanted to fight, then the referee would help the other side beat you—he might even beat you to death outright.

"Grand Secretary, I need to go make arrangements." Han Kuang rose to his feet, cupped his hands toward Liu Yijing, turned, and walked straight out.

Watching Han Kuang's retreating figure, Liu Yijing sighed helplessly, a bitter smile appearing on his face.

Things had finally come to this state after all. From now on, no one would dare underestimate His Majesty again.

Originally he had wanted to pick up an easy gain, using the hands of His Majesty and Wei Zhongxian of the Eastern Depot. But now things were different—he had been pushed directly to the very front, and there was no way to avoid moving forward.

In the final analysis, it was his own greed that had done this. If he had not been so greedy, things would not have come to this state. But the road could no longer be turned back—there was only the way forward.

Everyone throughout the court was waiting. Everyone knew the whole affair still lacked a flashpoint.

When would this flashpoint come? No one knew, but everyone knew it was close.

It was at this moment that a routine memorial was delivered to the Grand Secretariat.

Once this routine memorial came out, it instantly detonated the entire Ming officialdom.

Many discerning individuals had already realized—the flashpoint everyone was missing had finally arrived.

This flashpoint thoroughly detonated the current court, and thoroughly detonated the entire situation. No one could stand apart from it any longer.

This routine memorial was submitted by Yu Maohueng, the Left Chief Censor of the Censorate—which showed just how weighty this memorial was.

One must understand that throughout the court and beyond, impeachments were extremely common, but basically an official of Yu Maohueng's rank would never be deployed—after all, not just anyone could get him to file an impeachment.

It was like in later generations: when dealing with a village head at the local level, there was no way the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection would be dispatched.

The Censorate had so many censors, and the various offices and circuits of the court had so many remonstrance officials—when would it ever be this Left Chief Censor of the Censorate, Yu Maohueng's, turn to act?

If he acted, it could not possibly be a small matter, and his routine memorial naturally drew the attention of countless people.

Several Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat read Yu Maohueng's routine memorial together. After only a few glances, everyone's expression changed. Suppressing the shock in their hearts, they stiffly read through the entire memorial to the end.

This was a very long memorial with a great deal of content, but the core argument was already written in its title: the Memorial on Academies and Factions.

Yu Maohueng directly linked academies with factions, ruthlessly tearing away this fig leaf of officialdom, exposing everything to the open air.

PS: For friends suffering from a book drought, check out Ruigen's *Counting the Distinguished Figures* — absolutely worth a read!

Ruigen is a master of officialdom fiction, and now he's writing historical officialdom cultivation stories — still just as brilliant!