Chapter 333: A Stick and a Sweet Date

"Why is Warden Chen so certain? Within a month or two, with my Gao family's influence, I really can't get out?"

Gao Gao Shiliu refused to give up.

He kept telling himself: don't be fooled by a mere prison clerk. What would a prison clerk know about officialdom? He probably doesn't even know what officialdom looks like.

Chen Chen Guanlou saw right through the other's thoughts and smiled with certainty. "You think I'm talking nonsense, don't you?"

Gao Gao Shiliu said nothing, but his expression said it all.

Chen Chen Guanlou lowered his head and smiled. "Aren't you curious why I'm so sure you won't get out within a month or two? Do you know what statistics are? Forget it, it doesn't matter if you don't.

I'll just tell you this: in all these decades Your Majesty has held court, anyone who came in on a charge of disrespect or grave disrespect — not a single one got out of prison within a month or two. The very shortest still sat in jail for the better part of a year before getting out. And many of these prisoners came from decent families, with real talent, real scholarly degrees, proper official ranks — far above your purchased title. Tell me, on what grounds would you be the exception?"

Gao Shi—

"In the end, is it you who knows the Heaven Prison, or me?" Chen Chen Guanlou said with a half-smile. "You've definitely been taken in by someone. Sixteenth Young Master, let's not talk about past cases. Just look at this one — the person you've offended is none other than His Highness Prince Zhong."

"So what? He's only Prince Zhong, not the Crown Prince. He's already been deposed."

"Precisely because he's been deposed, His Majesty wants to deal a heavy hand to your Gao family, and Prince Yan will catch some of the backlash too."

"Why?"

"Because His Majesty wants to compensate Prince Zhong!"

"If he wants to compensate him, then why depose the Crown Prince?"

Chen Chen Guanlou sighed. "Deposing the Crown Prince and compensating Prince Zhong — the two don't conflict. Did you get hit when you were little? After your father beat you, didn't he give you a little sweet treat afterward? That's called hitting with a stick then giving a date — a crude trick for winning people's hearts. You're a merchant; when you deal with the stewards below you, you must often use similar tactics — a rap on the knuckles followed by a little sweetener."

"But that's the position of Crown Prince — how can it be compared to ordinary matters?" Gao Gao Shiliu was still unconvinced. Although in his heart he was already leaning toward Chen Chen Guanlou's reasoning, his mouth kept protesting.

"The essence is the same. Deposing the Crown Prince is the punishment; standing up for Prince Zhong is the sweet treat. You're a Gao family man, broad-minded and well-informed — how can you fail to see through something this simple?" Chen Chen Guanlou clicked his tongue twice.

In truth, Gao Gao Shiliu was blinded by a single leaf.

In fact, most of the court officials — including the Imperial Princes — were blinded by that same leaf.

Just as Gao Gao Shiliu said, everyone understood the principle, everyone knew how to use such tactics, but no one would think in the direction of deposing the Crown Prince.

That was deposing a Crown Prince — a matter that shakes the very foundations of the state. They'd even gone so far as to stage a military revolt. How could something so momentous be treated like a children's game — depose a person, then turn around and hand out sweets?

That's sheer madness!

Once deposed, you should simply crush them to the end, to prevent the Crown Prince's faction from rising from the ashes and stirring up trouble in court again, disrupting the order of governance.

Every dynasty throughout history has handled the deposition of a Crown Prince this way — you must beat them to death with one blow. Even if you don't finish them off in one blow, it's death by a thousand cuts.

Just deposed the man, then turn around feeling guilty and compensate him all over again — that's not how the game is played.

The rules of the game aren't like this; the foundations of the state aren't something to toy with.

Besides, playing this way makes the people's hearts fickle!

When people are panic-stricken, turmoil easily arises — extremely detrimental to stabilizing the situation and the hearts of all under heaven.

Only a muddle-headed, incompetent old emperor would do such a thing.

And yet, in recent years the old emperor has indeed been quite incompetent.

Gao Gao Shiliu gaped, momentarily at a loss for a rebuttal. "How could it be so? Has Your Majesty repented? Does he want to re-establish Prince Zhong as Crown Prince?"

"That shouldn't be the case," Chen Chen Guanlou said.

Gao Gao Shiliu instantly breathed a sigh of relief — as long as it wasn't, all was well. If Prince Zhong were once again installed as Crown Prince, he didn't dare imagine how chaotic the court would become. As the bird that stuck its neck out, even if the court didn't exile him, his clan would. They'd send him off to some godforsaken wasteland to suffer miserably for the rest of his life.

Just thinking about such an outcome made one's blood run cold.

"Your Majesty has suffered enough; presumably he won't establish another Crown Prince," Chen Chen Guanlou said.

"If no Crown Prince is established, how will the imperial succession proceed?" Gao Gao Shiliu refused to believe it.

"He can leave a secret edict, a succession decree, designating a particular Imperial Prince to inherit the throne."

Gao Gao Shiliu frowned deeply. "Doing it that way leaves endless trouble for the future! When a new emperor suddenly ascends the throne, he won't have a single trusted confidant by his side, let alone his own established faction. If someone deliberately stirs up trouble, there will surely be a period of chaos."

Chen Chen Guanlou teased, "You do have a lot to say."

"Hmph! Our Gao family settles on a main-line heir early on and cultivates a faction around that heir. That way, when the old gives way to the new, everything can proceed in perfect order, a smooth handover. Imperial succession and family succession work on much the same principle. Establishing a Crown Prince is, in essence, cultivating a mature faction for the future head of the household — ensuring a smooth transfer of power and stable, orderly succession. A succession decree is ultimately inferior to establishing a Crown Prince. His Majesty is truly muddle-headed. Before, when I heard people say the Emperor was growing more and more incompetent, I didn't believe them. Now I truly believe it!"

After believing it, Gao Gao Shiliu grew all the more panicked.

Because he realized Chen Chen Guanlou was very likely right — within a month or two, he probably wouldn't get out.

Before he came in, the things those people had said were likely just to pacify him, to shut him up, to keep him from babbling.

For a moment, he felt deeply despondent, furious, yet utterly helpless.

He was a son of the Gao family — everything started from the Gao family's interests, and the Gao family's interests came above all else. His sitting in prison was, in essence, taking the fall for the Gao family.

But to ask him to sit in jail for a year or two — his heart turned cold at the thought!

After a year or two behind bars, every position would be filled — his spot long since taken. By then, whatever was left for him would likely be some marginal, leftover scraps.

If he had a scholarly degree, with the credentials of having been imprisoned, he might even be reinstated to his original post, or even promoted and grow rich. These days, the officialdom especially welcomes people who have been in prison and remained "steadfast and unyielding."

Take someone like Zhao Mingqiao — after getting out, he was especially welcome in official circles. Even if his words and deeds were a bit radical, plenty of people would be tolerant of him.

This has to do with the scholarly atmosphere of recent years.

Because the old emperor is incompetent, cursing the old emperor and opposing him has become politically correct. Anyone thrown into the great prison for it who then manages to get out smoothly afterward is bound to gain enormous prestige.

Zhao Mingqiao did a stint of "advanced study" in the Heaven Prison, and after getting out, he went on a frenzy of prestige-grabbing.

Whatever he wanted to do, he had a wave of hot-blooded youths just like him backing him up. And these hot-blooded youths, every last one of them, were either rich or noble — either they had a good father, or they leaned on a powerful clan, or they had a formidable teacher, or they stood out for their exceptional talent, able to make themselves known throughout the land simply by flaunting their brilliance.