Chapter 220

Jiajing slowly waved his hand.

Signaling Chen Hong to withdraw.

After Chen Hong had gone, Jiajing gazed at the palace walls in the distance and could not help but let out a long breath.

The scholar-officials.

Are the extension of imperial power.

The Son of Heaven rules the people of the realm by controlling the scholar-officials.

But what Jiajing now had to do was overturn the table the scholar-officials ate from.

Naturally, he could not count on the scholar-officials to obediently comply.

To achieve his own ends, he could only force these fierce ministers throughout the court to do the things he wanted them to do!

Only by putting forward a treacherous minister.

Would the scholar-officials of the entire court have reason to mobilize, spreading among the common folk an atmosphere of a treacherous minister in power and a foolish ruler on the throne.

Only in this way.

Could this matter be made known to every man and woman.

The more vigorously the scholar-officials curse, the more thoroughly the common people will come to understand this matter.

When the benefits are fully reaped.

The more foul these scholar-officials will become in the eyes of the common people!

This, is the kill by praise!

At the same time.

Xu Jie in the midst of the Grand Secretariat's duty quarters looked at Yan Song, who sat to one side eating with his head lowered.

He had already sensed that something was amiss.

And matters often cannot bear close scrutiny.

Xu Jie was likewise a man who had been tossed about in the sea of officialdom for half his life.

The more he examined it, the more Xu Jie realized that Jiajing had likely already, right before his eyes, dug an unheard-of great pit for him and those fellow townsmen of his who ran their "little businesses"!

In the end, Xu Jie broke the silence.

When everyone in the Grand Secretariat's duty quarters was despising Yan Song.

He walked over to Yan Song's side.

"Grand Secretary Yan, the men of the Wucheng Military and Horse Office were not dispatched by you, were they?"

Hearing Xu Jie's words.

Yan Song did not make a sound.

He merely gave Xu Jie a look laden with meaning.

Just one look.

The two old foxes completed their exchange of information! Three.

135, Zhu Di: If you don't know how to speak, then shut your mouth!

Looking at the helplessness in Yan Song's eyes.

Xu Jie immediately reacted.

The true mastermind behind all this was not the Yan father and son.

But the one in the Western Park.

That Son of Heaven who truly held in his hands the power of life and death over the realm!

Thinking of this.

Xu Jie could not help but feel a chill run down his back.

What exactly did the Son of Heaven intend to do?

Open the seas?

Does opening the seas require going to such lengths?

Since that day in court when Jiajing publicly burned the ancestral injunctions, how many people had already died, one way or another?

Thinking of this.

The restless Xu Jie simply took his leave directly from the few men in the Grand Secretariat's duty quarters and hurriedly departed the Grand Secretariat.

And at this moment.

At Xu Jie's residence, a large number of censors and Hanlin scholars from the southeast had long since gathered.

Clearly, upon learning that those several censors had "taken their own lives."

The purist faction throughout court and country could no longer contain themselves.

Originally, Jiajing had smashed their rice bowls.

Now they had also seized the greater righteousness on their side.

In the past, even without justification they would wrangle for every advantage; now that they had justification, they would not be scholar-officials if they did not stir up court and country into total upheaval.

They would not be civil officials!

"Grand Secretary Xu, you've finally returned. We have already deliberated and decided. We do not fear the treacherous villains. Tomorrow we shall go to the Western Park and lay our grievances before the throne. We must make Your Majesty rescind the decree, punish the treacherous villains, and avenge the various gentlemen!"

Xu Jie, his face dark and gloomy, looked at the students before him and said through gritted teeth in a low voice,

"By rights, this old man should not stand in your way."

"But there are some words this old man must say: do not wade into these troubled waters!"

The two Hanlin scholars before Xu Jie looked at him in astonishment and asked,

"Honored teacher, what words are these? Have you forgotten the Four Sentences of Hengqu?"

"Gentlemen, they all died for the Great Righteousness!"

Xu Jie, his face dark, glared at the few before him and growled.

"Yes! They died for the Great Righteousness, but have you not seen? The reason they died is that someone wants to force you to step forward!"

"Hear my words: wait and watch; we still have other trump cards."

"Even if that old thief Yan Song holds power over the world, how many more years can Yan Song live?"

"Wait a little longer; be patient!"

With these words, Xu Jie was practically laying his heart bare to these Censorate officials and Hanlin academicians.

Relying on the prestige he held among the Pure Flow in daily life.

The entire Pure Flow, who had been eager to act, immediately pulled back.

The world never lacks intelligent people.

And so-called conspiracies never lack those who can see through them.

Under Xu Jie's persuasion.

These Censorate officials and remonstrators, whose minds had long been heated, finally calmed down.

"Mr. Xu... we understand."

"Did those gentlemen die in vain?"

Xu Jie looked at the crowd before him and comforted them.

"Those who achieve great deeds do not bind themselves to trivialities! We are not fighting for a moment, but for ten thousand generations!"

"When one sits securely on the lotus throne, one can simply reap the fruits; how can one lose one's composure?"

Xu Jie is the undisputed head of the Pure Flow.

Likewise, Xu Jie is also the one among the entire court's Pure Flow who sees most clearly.

He knows.

Yan Song is already in his eighties this year.

Even if he had sworn brotherhood with the King of Hell.

How many more years could he live?

As for Jiajing, even if he opened the seas, as long as the entire court of civil and military officials does not agree.

Let the situation remain stalled and drag on.

He is a Daoist Priest who eats elixirs and cultivates day and night; how many more years can he live?

Just wait quietly.

Wait until Prince Yu ascends the throne.