Chapter 562: Steady as an old dog

"Having the Jixia Academy compete with the Profound Cloud Sect is a matter of great importance; this official must deliberate carefully."

Sun Daoning has always been as steady as an old dog and never takes risks easily. Without sufficient benefits, it is hard to provoke him to take a risk. Many times, he would rather choose to endure than act rashly.

Even if he missed countless opportunities because of this, he never regretted it.

He knows deeply the ups and downs of the officialdom; he doesn't fight for the morning and evening, only seeking steady upward progress.

Seeking stability has allowed him to avoid countless dangers. Those radical colleagues might have walked faster than him at certain times and been promoted higher than him. However, they all fell one by one, either in prison, exiled to the frontier, or already turned into a handful of yellow soil. Only he, steady and secure, reached the rank of Minister.

"Old Sun, are you actually capable or not?" Chen Guanlou was very disdainful.

This won't do, that won't do. This needs deliberation, that needs deliberation; he is neither decisive nor lacks courage. Cooperating with such a person is safe, but it's a bit stifling. Just taking hits without fighting back doesn't fit his style of doing things. He has always taken revenge on the spot. Only a gentleman takes ten years to take revenge.

But he is not a gentleman!

Sun Daoning is not a gentleman either, yet he insists on acting like one.

"You think everyone is like you, doing things without regard for consequences. Court struggles do not allow for the slightest mistake. One wrong move and the whole game is lost. This official can afford not to win, but I cannot afford to lose."

Chen Guanlou:...

Not winning is losing!

He looked at the sky; their concepts were different, and they couldn't communicate.

Forget it, forget it.

If you are not in that position, don't seek to govern. He only needs to keep an eye on the Ministry of Justice to get money and grain. The Ministry of Revenue has money, but in fact, the Ministry of Justice is not short of money either. So many cases pass through their hands, so many victims. Just speaking of the Heavenly Prison, the annual revenue is an astronomical figure.

It's just that some money cannot go through the bright path and must have a separate ledger. Otherwise, the Ministry of Revenue would have a reason to deduct the Ministry of Justice's annual budget.

"Tell me your third strategy."

Sun Daoning, from beginning to end, still sought stability.

Chen Guanlou was crisp and neat, "The third strategy is very simple: find someone to kill the man surnamed Zheng."

"No! Absolutely not. The officialdom has the rules of the officialdom; you absolutely cannot kill someone without going through the three judicial offices and without going through legal judgment. Once this opening is made, the court will surely be in chaos. I will pretend I never heard these words."

"Then pretend I never said it."

"The third strategy you just mentioned, you aren't just fobbing me off, are you?"

Clearly, the first and second strategies were so good, with both courage and strategy, and all aspects considered; why did it become so simple and crude when it came to the third strategy?

Chen Guanlou coughed lightly, his face not red and his heart not beating, without the slightest guilt, "Fobbing you off? Old Sun, you can doubt my starting point, but you cannot doubt my character. Why would I fob you off? I am your person; I am still counting on rising to the heavens with you."

"Whose person? Don't talk nonsense! You are the court's person, eating the public's rice. What exactly is the third strategy?"

"What is Zheng Daochong's martial path rank?"

"Fifth Rank!"

"Such a high rank, and still a court official; is this appropriate?"

In the court, there are basically no officials with a martial path rank as high as the Fifth Rank.

First, as Sun Daoning said before, the ups and downs of the officialdom and being entangled in trivial matters make it difficult to do two things at once. If you focus on the official career, you can't focus on the martial path. The higher the martial path rank, the higher the requirements, needing full devotion to comprehend the essence of the martial path. Being distracted is very easy to lead to deviation. The lessons of the past cannot be ignored. Of course, geniuses are an exception. However, geniuses all go to pursue the martial path and basically don't get involved in the officialdom.

Second, the unwritten rules of the officialdom. If the martial path rank is too high, go focus on the martial path and don't get involved in the rights and wrongs of the officialdom. Or go into the military. The court is a place to govern the world, not a place to compare martial path cultivation levels.

Zheng Daochong, with a Fifth Rank cultivation, serving as Vice Minister of Revenue, clearly broke the unwritten rules of the officialdom.

"You mean, attack Zheng Daochong from the perspective of martial path cultivation?" Sun Daoning had a flash of inspiration.

Chen Guanlou deliberated for a while; he didn't want to harm innocent people and said, "This strategy is not easy to walk; one careless move and you will set yourself on fire."

"I don't believe Zheng Daochong dares to kill." Sun Daoning was angry, patting the table in a rage.

"The best strategy is still the second one." Chen Guanlou said sincerely, "Let Xie Gechen and that group charge into battle; they have a good relationship with the Emperor, and one word from them in front of the Emperor is worth a hundred of yours. With them coming forward, as long as Zheng Daochong loses the Emperor's favor, the rest of the things will fall into place."

"I'm just afraid Xie Gechen and the others won't be willing to be the thugs."

"Then let the Jixia Academy be the thugs."

"No, no!"

It's not that it's impossible, but that it cannot be done.

Sun Daoning smiled bitterly repeatedly; Chen Guanlou thought too highly of him. What kind of virtue or ability did he have to order the Jixia Academy to be a thug?

Chen Guanlou smiled knowingly and said firmly, "The Jixia Academy has been infiltrating the court, and its influence on the court is becoming deeper and deeper. At this time, the Profound Cloud Sect suddenly runs out to get involved; guess how the Jixia Academy will feel, will they become vigilant? Don't think that these great sects of the current age have a good relationship. The ones who most hope for their peers to die are their peers. The Jixia Academy probably can't escape this rule and must be hoping for the Profound Cloud Sect to die."

"This official does not deny your statement. It's just... the risk is too high."

"Wealth is sought in danger."

"Seek your ass!" Sun Daoning broke his defense, "This official has just been appointed as Minister of Justice, and there are still many years until promotion. Making a fuss at this time won't do me much good. As for the Ministry of Revenue blocking the neck, I'll think of another way."

"Old Sun, the Heavenly Prison is so poor it can't even open the pot!"

"Nonsense! You just knocked a sum from Zhu Ruhai..."

"The spoils have already been divided."

"Nonsense. Where is there any dividing of spoils? What dividing of spoils? Don't talk nonsense. We are the court's people, eating the public's rice, and getting paid on time; what is wrong with that? You don't even know how to speak; it's simply absurd!"

Chen Guanlou:...

So this is it; officials all know how to be both a whore and build a memorial arch; it's self-taught, a basic means of the officialdom.

He can't build one.

Dividing spoils is dividing spoils; what is there that cannot be said? Saying it in private is open and honest! It's just that once you become an official, you have to put on airs after taking the money.

He secretly rolled his eyes, "In short, the Heavenly Prison has no money, and the money has all been drawn away by your Ministry of Justice. Why don't you change the rules and draw less? Leave a little more for the Heavenly Prison, at least let everyone have food to eat."

"The established rules cannot be changed." Sun Daoning was righteous and stern; he already had a particularly righteous square face, and once he put on his official authority, it was vivid and literal: upright and bright!

"The Heavenly Prison can't open the pot; Old Sun, I tell you, the first ones to starve to death will definitely be the prisoners. When a large number of prisoners die in the prison, don't come looking for trouble with me."

Chen Guanlou directly issued a threat.

Sun Daoning snorted coldly, "What is the situation in the Heavenly Prison? You can fool others, but can you fool me? Even if you don't allocate funds to the Heavenly Prison for ten years, the Heavenly Prison won't be short of money, and even less short of grain." ===== CHAPTER 563 =====