Chapter 1626: The Two Offices in All-Out Confrontation

The Eastern Capital, the Wude Office.

Whether it was an illusion or simply its nature, this imposing and grand government office always gave one a cold, gloomy feeling—a chill that even summer could not dispel.

This was the power center of the Wude Office, the command center for all Wude Office officials throughout the realm, where intelligence and information from every corner of the country converged daily for centralized sorting, analysis, and disposition.

At the head of the hall, the most eye-catching sight was the enormous mural of a fierce eagle chasing prey across the wilds. The exquisite screen wall exuded a sense of weight and grandeur, carrying with it a feeling of historical depth.

Seated high in the eagle-carved chair, hunched over the bronze desk shaped like a dog's head, Commissioner of the Wude Office Wang Yinwu was going about his daily work, reviewing the vast flood of intelligence reports. Of course, these reports gathered from below had already undergone preliminary sorting and analysis, and only those deemed valuable by intelligence analysts were submitted to Wang Yinwu.

What Wang Yinwu needed to do was to further analyze and filter these still-chaotic pieces of information, then determine whether to report them to Emperor Liu.

Having developed over so many years, the Wude Office had long since formed a mature and complete management system, the core of which was the collection and organization of intelligence.

This analytical system had also been further promoted only after Wang Yinwu assumed office. Unlike the Li Chongju era, the Wude Office under Wang Yinwu was more aggressive and more assertive.

After all, Li Chongju had something of a moral fastidiousness—he only wanted to fulfill his duties diligently and was unwilling to play the role of a petty informer. Add to that his naturally cautious nature and his fear of overstepping taboos, the Wude Office during Li Chongju's tenure was overall quite low-key, even existing in a state of self-imposed isolation and suppression.

Once Wang Yinwu took over, the situation began to change—not just internally, but externally as well. Especially when facing the Palace City Office, he began to contend at every turn, from the capital all the way down to the provinces.

Ever since Zhang Dejun, unwilling to see his power and influence confined to the capital region, began expanding nationwide—establishing outposts and planting agents in the seats of every circuit and in major cities—the contradictions between the two intelligence organizations had gradually sharpened.

Although both were intelligence organizations, their functions differed. Compared to the Wude Office's comprehensive scope, the Palace City Office was mainly responsible for monitoring public sentiment in the capital region and surveilling important figures—primarily inward-facing, confined to within the capital.

The Wude Office was different. It operated both internally and externally, and with its sights set on the entire realm, it treated the whole country as one chessboard, monitoring the entire world. In the eyes of Wude Office officials, the Palace City Office was ambitious and overreaching, encroaching upon their power and interests.

During Li Chongju's time, he basically sat by and did nothing about this situation, trying his best to avoid conflict between the two offices. Though there were frictions, the contradictions had not yet become intense—this was also the reason Li Chongju used his own status and prestige to suppress the Wude Office.

But even so, in the later period of his stewardship of the Wude Office, there were already people within the organization who felt dissatisfied with Li Chongju, especially with his style of doing things. After all, a leader who was forceful—particularly forceful externally—and could protect the interests of his subordinates was more likely to win support.

When Li Chongju voluntarily resigned back then, it may not have been entirely out of self-preservation or to avoid Emperor Liu's suspicions. The invisible pressure from within also made him feel he was no longer suited to hold the position of Commissioner of the Wude Office.

The change in circumstances came after Wang Yinwu took over. Unlike Li Chongju, Wang Yinwu did not have so many commendable achievements to his name. His foundation was insufficient, his footing somewhat unsteady. To put it bluntly, he was one who had risen through favor—succeeding Li Chongju had involved a great deal of luck.

Therefore, upon assuming the role of Commissioner of the Wude Office, if he wanted to command respect and control this vast institution, he needed to accomplish something. Wang Yinwu had, after all, climbed up step by step from within the Wude Office's own system. He understood its operational rules thoroughly and deeply grasped the mentality of the officials and clerks above and below.

And so, while adjusting personnel and further optimizing the intelligence collection and analysis mechanisms, the greatest change he brought to the Wude Office was that it hardened its stance—especially against the Palace City Office.

For Wang Yinwu, this was a difficult choice. What Li Chongju dared not do, he did; the people Li Chongju dared not offend, he offended all the same. It was almost a method of leaving himself no retreat.

Especially regarding the Palace City Office—that Zhang Dejun was a man close to Emperor Liu, having served at the imperial side for a full ten years. That was something Wang Yinwu, who had climbed up from the bottom, could never compare to.

But Wang Yinwu was no fool either. At least one thing he saw clearly: Emperor Liu had replaced the Commissioner of the Wude Office because he wanted him to bring some changes to the organization.

At the same time, he did not believe that Emperor Liu had no objections to the Palace City Office's overstepping and boundary-crossing practices. And as one of Emperor Liu's most important claws and fangs, if it lost its edge and was no longer sharp, then what value did it have?

No matter how things changed, the fundamental principle remained: the most crucial thing was to always align with Emperor Liu's psychology and obey Emperor Liu's will. Wang Yinwu could not claim to have hit Emperor Liu's thoughts perfectly, but he had indeed guessed a few points correctly. Thus, his bold and aggressive approach could be considered a success, and his position as Commissioner of the Wude Office grew more and more secure.

Under these circumstances, over the past ten years, the conflicts between the Palace City Office and the Wude Office had grown increasingly fierce—setting traps for each other, attacking each other, pulling each other's legs, fighting with great relish.

And the facts proved that although Zhang Dejun was a trusted confidant who had come from Emperor Liu's side, his influence truly could not reach into the Wude Office. At the very least, trying to bring down Wang Yinwu as Commissioner of the Wude Office was extremely difficult.

Once the Wude Office began its all-out confrontation with the Palace City Office, the pressure felt on the Palace City Office's side increased day by day. Especially in the provinces, many Palace City Office officials and clerks discovered that their work on the intelligence front was becoming increasingly difficult to carry out. The past smooth sailing had turned into a treacherous path under the Wude Office's targeting.

This had at one point made Zhang Dejun furious and humiliated. He had lodged complaints with Emperor Liu more than once, but to no avail. As for the struggles between the two offices, the Emperor adopted a laissez-faire attitude of watching from the sidelines, as long as it was kept within certain bounds.

Of course, Emperor Liu's psychological bottom line was especially hard for Zhang Dejun to bear. All his current glory and power depended on Emperor Liu's favor and partiality. When that partiality became "fair," it was hard to adapt.

At a gathering with the Wude Office's capital-region officials, Wang Yinwu had once publicly declared that he would "shut" the Palace City Office back within the capital region—inside the capital, they would contend as equals, but outside the capital, that was still their territory.

These words were arrogant and overbearing, flaunting his personality, but they were extremely rousing. This was also the reason Wang Yinwu was more beloved than Li Chongju. And when these words reached Zhang Dejun's ears, they enraged the old eunuch, cementing his determination to bring Wang Yinwu down.

Even Li Chongju had never dared to provoke him, Grand Official Zhang, like this. Who did this Wang Yinwu think he was? And so, over these years—especially in recent years—aside from continuing to curry favor with Emperor Liu, Zhang Dejun had devoted most of his energy to Wang Yinwu and the Wude Office.

The various chiefs and sub-chiefs within the Palace City Office, whether to cater to their superior's wishes or for their own interests, were also united in purpose, actively and diligently gathering evidence of Wang Yinwu and the Wude Office's violations of law and regulations.

Likewise, the Wude Office side was also tit for tat. By now, whether it was the Palace City Office or the Wude Office, their archives had accumulated a great deal of unfavorable intelligence and evidence against each other. But disputes were disputes, struggles were struggles—without the possibility of a decisive blow, both sides held their fire for the time being.