Chapter 94: Chen Hong Is Regarded by Wei Zhongxian as a Great Enemy

Zhu Youxiao said nothing, simply watching quietly, waiting for Chen Kedao to give him an answer.

Zhu Youxiao believed Chen Kedao knew how to choose.

In this world, there were not many people who could refuse him.

Sure enough, after pondering for a long while, Chen Kedao stood up, bowed, and said, "Your student is willing to follow Your Majesty's arrangements."

Zhu Youxiao nodded, then broke into a smile and said, "In that case, this matter is settled."

He then turned his head to look at Chen Hong and instructed, "Handle this matter yourself. You have influence with the Embroidered Uniform Guard—have them take charge of this."

Hearing Zhu Youxiao's words, Chen Hong hurriedly replied, "This servant will arrange for someone to handle it immediately."

Chen Hong understood his master's words very deeply.

Could the master not simply order the Embroidered Uniform Guard to do it?

Of course he could. Luo Sigong, the Regional Military Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, was probably just waiting for the master to give him the order!

But the master chose to have him handle it instead.

There were two layers of meaning in this.

The first was a warning to him and Luo Sigong: I know what you are doing. I have not intervened, so do your job well. If nothing goes wrong, I will not pursue the matter; if something does go wrong, then there is nothing more to be said.

The second layer was actually giving support to old Chen.

If he wanted to cooperate with the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he would inevitably need to produce something to prove his usefulness. Who would cooperate with a useless partner?

If this matter were directly ordered by the master to the Embroidered Uniform Guard, then where would his own role be?

So now, with the master entrusting this matter to him, he could use it to leverage the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Of course, there was actually a third layer of meaning here, only it was buried deeper.

That was making him the scapegoat.

Once something went wrong, or the matter proved impossible, then he would be the one taking the blame.

The master was certainly never wrong; once things were botched, the fault could only be his.

There was risk here, but also opportunity.

Could he refuse?

He had no right to refuse.

So Chen Hong agreed very readily.

Zhu Youxiao nodded with satisfaction and said, "Nothing could be better than this. Alright, go carry it out!"

After the two had left, a young eunuch came in to report that Wei Zhongxian had arrived.

A smile appeared on Zhu Youxiao's face—Wei Zhongxian indeed could not sit still any longer.

Clearly, the Embroidered Uniform Guard had put great pressure on Wei Zhongxian.

This was also what Zhu Youxiao wanted to see; he could not allow Wei Zhongxian to dominate alone.

No matter how much you trusted a person, you could not hand everything over to them.

Everyone had selfish motives—even if they were utterly loyal to you and to the state, it was still the same.

Everyone in the court was contending; could one say they had not a shred of concern for the state and the people? Impossible.

It was just that everyone's selfish motives weighed heavier. People were all selfish.

Even if someone could handle the Liaodong matter brilliantly, if I had no part in it, what meaning did it hold for me?

That was how people with selfish motives thought.

That was why people had always been pulling the legs on the Liaodong matter.

The Liaodong matter could be handled, and could be handled well, but it must be handled by me; if it was not handled by me, then I would rather not handle it at all, or botch it; if it was botched, then it would be handled by me.

Zhu Youxiao had long seen through it—the so-called factional strife was not a struggle over policy lines, but a struggle over interests.

That was the essence of late-Ming factional strife.

Your interests were not my interests; the interests you gave me were not the interests I wanted.

As for the interests of the state and the interests of the emperor, those were pushed to the back, because those two kinds of interests were the same for everyone.

The Donglin Faction thought this way, and Wei Zhongxian thought this way too—there was no essential difference between the two.

Zhu Youxiao could not allow these people to think this way, nor could he allow them to act this way, so balance was the true way.

Only with balance could he make them act according to his own ideas.

With the Embroidered Uniform Guard arranged, the Eastern Depot side was now at a slight disadvantage.

Now, Zhu Youxiao wanted to add some weight to Wei Zhongxian's side.

Wei Zhongxian was still very sensitive, so he had come now.

Glancing at the young eunuch, Zhu Youxiao directly instructed, "Let him in."

Before long, Wei Zhongxian walked in from outside.

After seeing Zhu Youxiao, he hurriedly prostrated himself on the ground in salute, saying, "This servant pays respects to the master."

Zhu Youxiao nodded lightly and said, "Alright, rise!"

Only after Wei Zhongxian stood up did Zhu Youxiao continue to ask, "Is there something you came for?"

"Reporting to the master, this servant came today to report on the Liaodong case. Through this servant's interrogation and investigation, the case has been largely settled." Wei Zhongxian said hurriedly.

"Is that so?" Zhu Youxiao showed an expression of keen interest and instructed, "Then let's hear it."

"Yes, master." Wei Zhongxian quickly acknowledged, then said, "This servant interrogated those who impeached Xiong Tingbi. They confessed unreservedly to their crimes—they had indeed accepted bribes from Liu Guojin. After accepting Liu Guojin's bribes, they followed his words and impeached Xiong Tingbi."

"This servant then brought in Liu Guojin for questioning. According to his confession, the one who directed him from behind was actually Regional Commander Li Ruzhen—he had been instructed by Li Ruzhen to collude with these people in framing Xiong Tingbi."

Zhu Youxiao nodded, putting on an expression of sudden realization, and remarked with feeling, "So that's how it is! No wonder these people were so uniform in their actions. So they were colluding with each other, premeditated all along. They vainly styled themselves as upright gentlemen in ordinary times, yet they actually did such things! The Censorate serves as the ears and eyes of the Son of Heaven and the exemplar of integrity, yet it committed such a disgraceful deed—Zou Yuanbiao cannot escape blame!"

At this moment, Chen Hong had already quietly returned. With Wei Zhongxian coming to see the master, he could not rest easy not being by his side.

Wei Zhongxian glanced at Chen Hong, who had sneaked back, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

Seeing Wei Zhongxian looking at him, Chen Hong smiled at Wei Zhongxian, placed both hands before his lower abdomen, and stood there looking utterly harmless.

Zhu Youxiao witnessed this scene but said nothing, nor did he show any intention of driving Chen Hong away.

Wei Zhongxian knew that this Chen Hong would become his great enemy from now on.

It was all his own fault for being lax in his defenses, letting this fellow slip through a crack!

But thinking about it now was already too late; what also filled him with resentment was Luo Sigong, the Guard Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Luo Sigong, wouldn't it have been better for you to throw in your lot with this Old Wei? You just had to side with that old coffin-dweller!

Yet Wei Zhongxian also knew that this was not the time to dwell on such matters.

He had to handle the business at hand splendidly, so that His Majesty would think more highly of him. Otherwise, he might not even get past the trial right before him.

Hearing His Majesty turn his spearhead toward Zou Yuanbiao, Wei Zhongxian was no fool—he naturally knew what to say and what to do.

Since His Majesty had already ordered Zou Yuanbiao to remain at home, if he didn't pounce forward and take a bite himself, he would be doing himself a grave disservice.