Chapter 411: Who's Behind This?

But Cui Chengxiu couldn't let Wei Zhongxian do that. If Wei Zhongxian did it, Cui Chengxiu would have no way to account for himself.

Cui Chengxiu said, "Your Excellency, the situation is unclear right now and public sentiment is running high. If we arrest people wholesale, I'm afraid it will stir up even greater chaos."

Wei Zhongxian glanced at Cui Chengxiu, furrowed his brow, and a look of displeasure appeared on his face.

The matter blown out of proportion? Public sentiment running high?

That was exactly what Wei Zhongxian wanted — it would be best if such a situation arose. If it hadn't, he wouldn't have been able to proceed with his next steps anyway.

As for Cui Chengxiu, Wei Zhongxian understood him well.

This was a clever man. Under the current circumstances, Cui Chengxiu couldn't possibly fail to see what Old Wei intended to do. The reason he was saying such things now was simple: Cui Chengxiu had his own involvement in this matter and didn't want Wei Zhongxian to act.

Wei Zhongxian sank into deep thought. What should he do?

The simplest method was to disregard Cui Chengxiu entirely, act according to his own wishes, and do whatever needed to be done. Securing the greatest benefit was what mattered most; everything else could be set aside.

But he couldn't do that.

If he truly disregarded Cui Chengxiu, the two would become estranged. Wei Zhongxian had never had many people in officialdom to begin with, and even fewer in high positions.

If he lost Cui Chengxiu as well, he would have no one left.

After pondering for a moment, Wei Zhongxian turned to look at Cui Chengxiu and asked, "Then what do you suggest we do?"

Since you don't want me to act that way, you'd better come up with a plan for me — that was Wei Zhongxian's thinking.

Wei Zhongxian's words did not come as a surprise to Cui Chengxiu.

Cui Chengxiu thought for a moment and said, "Your Excellency, I think it would be best to memorialize Your Majesty on this matter and see what Your Majesty wishes to do."

Hearing this, Wei Zhongxian furrowed his brow.

Wei Zhongxian had some understanding of His Imperial Highness. If he went to seek instructions for everything, it would leave His Imperial Highness with the impression that he was incompetent and couldn't handle anything.

Wei Zhongxian hadn't come out to handle affairs in a long time, and to have stirred up such a mess on his very first assignment made him hesitate greatly.

Cui Chengxiu also knew what Wei Zhongxian was hesitating about, but he truly could not let Wei Zhongxian make arrests.

Cui Chengxiu continued, "Your Excellency, the situation is too serious now — both sides have already come to blows. This matter simply cannot be concealed. If we make arrests on our own authority, it may provoke discontent at court. When that happens, they will attack us from all sides. If such trouble is stirred up, Your Majesty will certainly be displeased as well."

Cui Chengxiu knew that if he wanted to persuade Wei Zhongxian, he could only work through His Majesty — otherwise, it would be meaningless.

Wei Zhongxian would not be deterred by anything else; the only thing that could make him hesitate was His Majesty's attitude.

Hearing this, Wei Zhongxian nodded and said, "Very well, I'll listen to you then."

Seeing that Wei Zhongxian had agreed, Cui Chengxiu immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you, Your Excellency."

Although Wei Zhongxian was more worried about His Majesty's attitude, Cui Chengxiu still put on a show of "you're doing this for my sake, and I'm deeply grateful." This was where Cui Chengxiu knew how to handle people.

Wei Zhongxian waved his hand toward Sun Yunhe, who was not far away.

When Sun Yunhe walked up to his side, Wei Zhongxian instructed, "Take your men and keep watch here. Nothing can go wrong. Wait for me to return."

"Yes, Your Excellency." Sun Yunhe acknowledged, then said in a firm tone, "Your Excellency, rest assured — this subordinate will not let you down."

Wei Zhongxian nodded, then beckoned to Cui Chengxiu and said, "Come along with me!"

With that, Wei Zhongxian turned and boarded the carriage.

Cui Chengxiu naturally dared not be negligent and hurriedly followed.

No one was more invested in this matter than Cui Chengxiu. If it was handled well, he would receive the credit and rewards; if it was botched, he would certainly be the one punished.

The two of them left Shoushan Academy and headed straight for the imperial palace.

At this moment, within the imperial palace.

Zhu Youxiao had already heard about the brawl among the students at the gates of Shoushan Academy.

After all, the matter had grown so large that it was impossible for word not to spread. The news was already buzzing everywhere, and the palace naturally learned of it at the very first moment.

Looking at Chen Hong, Zhu Youxiao said, "Didn't you say your people could keep things under control? How did something like this happen?"

Zhu Youxiao's expression was very grim.

In Zhu Youxiao's view, this fight was completely meaningless and had only thrust the matter into the eye of the storm. The direction of public opinion he wanted was definitely not this.

"In reply to Your Majesty, someone was stirring up trouble." Chen Hong said through gritted teeth.

In fact, as far as Chen Hong was concerned, he was already furious beyond measure at the troublemakers, wishing he could arrest them all and have their heads chopped off. If not for these people, the matter would have been settled long ago — they were simply beyond comprehension!

"Tell me about it." Zhu Youxiao said calmly, without raising his head.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Hong acknowledged and said, "This servant's men were all prepared to coordinate with Director Wei and Cui Chengxiu."

"But who could have imagined that some students would start making trouble today? These people openly opposed the reform of the academy, and the two sides began arguing. After arguing, things spiraled out of control, and finally they came to blows. Neither side would yield to the other, and the result is the situation we see now. Failing to handle the matter properly is this servant's dereliction of duty!"

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and said casually, "There's no point in saying that now."

In his heart, Zhu Youxiao understood that this matter couldn't be entirely blamed on Chen Hong. He had indeed arranged people, and quite a few of them at that. But this wasn't how things were supposed to be done.

Those people who had suddenly appeared were clearly there to cause trouble. As for who was behind it all, that was still unknown for the time being.

But Zhu Youxiao knew it must be those who opposed the reform of the academies.

Every reform touched the interests of those who benefited from the status quo, and the academy reform was no different. On the surface, there didn't seem to be much benefit at stake, but in truth, the waters ran deep.

What were the academies of the Great Ming?

They had never been simple places for teaching and nurturing talent. Those people shouted their slogans to the heavens about spreading the way of the sages.

But in reality, that wasn't the case at all. To put it plainly, the academies were places where they criticized current affairs and passed judgment on court politics.

Of course, that was their own claim. Their true function was to form factions for private gain. The most typical example was the Donglin Faction.

Using the Donglin Academy as their base, they connected with one another and formed cliques for private benefit. Once they entered the court, they sought power and purged those who disagreed with them. One could say they stopped at nothing.

So the academy reform didn't touch monetary interests — it touched political interests.

It was hardly surprising, then, that someone had jumped out to stir up trouble now.

Zhu Youxiao had been able to keep the court under control and prevent any large-scale opposition from arising there. Pushing this matter through had been the result of his sustained efforts all along.

If not for the various measures taken previously, the court would probably already be in an uproar by now.

But if this matter at Shoushan Academy wasn't handled properly, the next wave would be the court itself erupting.

Zhu Youxiao kept mulling it over in his mind, trying to figure out exactly how this matter ought to be handled.

Soon enough, a young eunuch came running in from outside and went straight to Zhu Youxiao's side.

After bowing to Zhu Youxiao, the young eunuch hastily said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, Wei the Grand Director of the Eastern Depot and Grand Secretary Cui of the Censorate are outside requesting an audience."

Those two have come?

Zhu Youxiao was taken aback.

He wasn't surprised that Cui Chengxiu had come. After all, this matter was deeply connected to Cui Chengxiu.

What he hadn't expected was that Wei Zhongxian had also come — and together with Cui Chengxiu, no less.

In Zhu Youxiao's calculations, Wei Zhongxian should have made his move by now.

"Let them in." Zhu Youxiao waved his hand.

Since both Wei Zhongxian and the other had already arrived, Zhu Youxiao naturally had to see them. Besides, their timing was just right — he could assign the matter to them to handle. After all, things had already reached this point; there was nothing that couldn't be done.

Soon, Wei Zhongxian and the other man walked in from outside.

Upon seeing Zhu Youxiao, they hastily knelt and bowed.

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand to let the two of them rise.

Once they had stood up, Zhu Youxiao said directly, "You've come about the matter at the Shoushan Academy?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." The two of them quickly answered.

Nodding lightly, Zhu Youxiao said, "I already know about this matter. It's good that you didn't act rashly on your own. Since you've come, I'll give you your instructions."

"Some people need to be arrested, and some must not be. Arrest all those who incited opposition to the academy reform and bring them to the Eastern Depot for interrogation. Find out who's been stirring things up behind the scenes. They actually dared to openly defy the court's decrees — these people are utterly lawless!"

"If any officials were involved in this brawl, you must report them to me."

Hearing Zhu Youxiao's words, Wei Zhongxian broke out in a cold sweat of fear, and shot Cui Chengxiu a look of deep gratitude.

Fortunately, Cui Chengxiu had stopped him in time and kept him from acting directly — otherwise things would be in a terrible state right now.

His Majesty clearly didn't want to arrest those who supported the academy reform, even though these people had also been making a fuss before. With His Majesty's words, the meaning of these past incidents became clear.

Wei Zhongxian said, "Rest assured, Your Majesty. This servant will see to it at once and will definitely find out who's been causing trouble behind the scenes."

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "Alright, go handle it."

After bowing, Wei Zhongxian and the other man withdrew, hunched over.

Watching their retreating figures, Zhu Youxiao let out a sigh.

Is the backlash coming again?

Having touched so many people's interests, could it be that this time they're planning something big?

Or is this the aftereffect of Shandong?

That was possible too, he thought. What Zhu Youxiao had done in Shandong, many people had been unable to stop, since it could be considered principled and measured. But these people were panicking inside, not knowing what to do, and now they wanted to protect their own interests.

Zhu Youxiao gave a cold snort.

These people were thinking far too well of themselves!

After leaving the palace, Wei Zhongxian's face was filled with excitement.

He turned to look at Cui Chengxiu and said, "Thanks to your advice — otherwise we would have suffered a loss this time."

"Serving the Grand Director is my duty." Cui Chengxiu said with a smile.

Upon returning to the Shoushan Academy, Wei Zhongxian didn't hesitate in the slightest. He immediately summoned Sun Yunhe before him and said, "Go separate the crowd and make them pick sides. Who supports the academy reform and who doesn't — you must make it perfectly clear."

"Yes, Grand Director." Sun Yunhe quickly agreed.

Soon, shouts rang out all around as the people in the middle were told to split apart.

Sun Yunhe had the loudest voice and bellowed, "Those who support the academy reform, stand on the right! Those who don't support the academy reform, stand on the left! Hurry, hurry, hurry, go!"

Wang Linsheng stood in the crowd, his expression somewhat agitated. He felt that he had rendered a great service this time.

Soon, Wang Linsheng walked over to the right side, raised an arm high, and said, "Everyone who's with me, come over here!"

Wang Linsheng's words immediately gave many people a target, and they swarmed over to stand behind him.

The crowd quickly split into two groups — but one thing was rather awkward.

The side supporting the academy reform had far too many people — half more than the other side. The side not supporting the reform looked far too small.

Seeing this, Wei Zhongxian furrowed his brow.

Clearly, some people had realized things weren't looking good and had slipped from the opposing side over to the supporting side.

As a result, the numbers on both sides naturally became unequal.

One had to understand — when Wei Zhongxian had come in, the two sides had been fighting fiercely, with neither holding an overwhelming advantage. It could even be said they were evenly matched. That meant the two sides should have had roughly equal numbers.

But now, those supporting the academy reform actually made up two-thirds. This was not a good sign — someone must have crossed over on their own. And among them, there might well be the instigators.

As for the one-third on the other side, many of them were probably fools who'd been singled out. Wei Zhongxian had seen too many scholars who'd read themselves stupid — these people had no cunning, their minds were rigid, they only recognized their own reasoning, and you couldn't talk sense into them at all.

He was putting people in prison to find out who was really causing trouble. If he arrested a bunch of stubborn-minded scholars and came up with nothing, then this assignment would be botched.

What use were these stubborn-minded scholars anyway?

Wei Zhongxian had no regard for them whatsoever.

But since these people had all gone into hiding, things naturally became difficult to handle.

Wei Zhongxian's face darkened, turning ugly in an instant. He turned to look at Cui Chengxiu and asked directly, "What should we do now?"

Cui Chengxiu was also somewhat helpless.

Clearly, the instigators had run off. These people were cunning — they had guilty consciences to begin with, so they didn't dare stand out in the open. Naturally, this was the situation that resulted.

This was rather difficult to handle.

For a moment, Cui Chengxiu had no particularly good solution either. After thinking it over, Cui Chengxiu said, "Why not ask Ruan Dacheng? He's been here the whole time — he might have a better idea."

Wei Zhongxian thought for a moment and said, "Then summon him."

Cui Chengxiu didn't dare delay. He hurried off to find Ruan Dacheng and brought him directly before Wei Zhongxian.