Chapter 13: Clashing Blades

Zhou Jianzong had contacted dozens of court officials, and this naturally could not be hidden from Wei Zhongxian, who had already built up considerable power.

At this moment, in the Directorate of Palace Eunuchs, a large crowd had gathered. There were Li Yongzhen, Wang Tiqian and other minions of the Directorate of Ceremonial, as well as Censors like Ni Wenhuan and Tian Ji, and even Minister of Rites Gu Bingqian among them!

These people were almost all of Wei Zhongxian's power at this point, and every one of them was furious, scrambling over each other to shout at Wei Zhongxian.

Wei Zhongxian's face was hideously contorted; several cups already lay shattered on the floor, and he was still panting heavily, looking as though rage was consuming his heart.

"Your Excellency, this time the pure-stream faction wants to wipe us all out—we absolutely cannot sit idle and wait for death!"

"Exactly! We can also write a memorial, impeaching them for forming cliques for private gain and harboring treasonous intentions!"

"Your Excellency, this matter absolutely cannot be dropped lightly—we must argue it out clearly before His Majesty!"

"Right, send someone at once to have the Lady return to the capital as quickly as possible—we can't let these rotten pedantic scholars ruin the state and harm the people!"

Wei Zhongxian was of humble origin and completely illiterate. At this moment, flustered and agitated, with the instinctive feeling that disaster was imminent, he couldn't help but look toward the one among them with the highest scholarly attainment—Minister of Rites, Gu Bingqian.

Gu Bingqian was a jinshi by examination. Many of the current Grand Secretaries in the Grand Secretariat had retired, and with the help of Wei Zhongxian and Madam Ke, his call to enter the Grand Secretariat was the loudest. Moreover, according to history, in the second half of this year he would enter the Grand Secretariat, and the year after next he would become a Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat!

Gu Bingqian actually did not think much of Wei Zhongxian, but this man was shrewd and quick-witted, deeply favored by the Emperor, and on top of that there was the Lady Who Serves the Sage—even he, the Minister of Rites, could not catch up in flattering them. Moreover, to fulfill his lifelong wish of entering the Grand Secretariat, he absolutely needed the help of Wei Zhongxian and Madam Ke!

Because he was not of the Donglin Faction, nor of the Zhejiang faction, the Suzhou faction, or the Shanxi faction!

He glanced at the crowd, gave a low cough, and said: "This time the Censorate has submitted a collective memorial. We absolutely must not meet them head-on, or we will surely lose. But neither can we do nothing, or we will play right into their hands."

"If you have a plan, just say it—what's with all the showing off!" Liu Chao immediately stepped out and shouted coldly. Like Wei Zhongxian, he had never studied, and hated nothing more than these scholars mincing words and showing off their book learning, as if they were a cut above everyone else.

A flash of annoyance passed through Gu Bingqian's eyes. He looked at Wei Zhongxian and bowed slightly, saying: "Your Excellency, urgently summoning the Lady back to the capital is like using distant water to quench a nearby fire. Right now our only options are, first, to submit a memorial of rebuttal—though the wording must not be too angry—and second, for you to lead your colleagues from the Directorate of Ceremonial to present the matter in person before His Majesty!"

The so-called in-person presentation meant pleading tearfully. Inner court officials were more fearsome than outer court officials precisely because they always had ways to see the Emperor at any time.

This plan hit exactly what Wei Zhongxian wanted. His greatest reliance was the Emperor's trust, and this joint impeachment by court officials had filled him with terror—the first person he thought of was the Emperor, Zhu Youxiao!

"Good! Li Yongzhen, Wang Tiqian—call together the rest of the Directorate of Ceremonial and the other directorates and offices. Once their memorial arrives at the Imperial Study, we'll all go see His Majesty together!" Wei Zhongxian suddenly stood up, his expression abruptly returning to calm, then looked at Gu Bingqian and said: "I'll trouble Lord Gu to write a memorial for us and deliver it to the Grand Secretariat."

"It is my bounden duty." Gu Bingqian stood up, his voice low and solemn.

Because of Zhu Xu's stirring of the pot, the two sides, already locked in fierce confrontation, now seemed poised to fight to the death!

After finishing his discussion with Big Cao and Little Cao, Zhu Xu sat back in his reclining chair, sipping his tea and smacking his lips with relish: "What a pity—if I had Huan'er's pastries, this moment would be perfect. It's all the Empress's fault, she's far too stingy."

Cao Huachun and Cao Wenzhao were both speechless. The only person in the entire Great Ming daring to casually make such remarks about Her Majesty the Empress was probably this one.

Cao Wenzhao looked at Zhu Xu, who wore a thoroughly contented and comfortable expression, and said thoughtfully: "Your Highness, are we really just going to let this run its course and do nothing?"

"Mm, we'll leave it alone for now." Zhu Xu casually popped a pastry into his mouth and shook his head slightly—still far inferior to Huan'er's skill.

Although Cao Huachun did not fully understand Zhu Xu's intentions, he vaguely realized that His Highness Prince Hui was supporting the pure stream, or rather the Donglin Faction. After a moment's thought, he offered: "Your Highness, if His Majesty issues an edict and has Lord Zhou and the others arrested, what should we do?"

Zhu Xu smiled slightly. Cao Huachun's concern was quite reasonable, for there were already many precedents. Moreover, according to history, Zhou Jianzong's second impeachment of Wei Zhongxian ended with him being thrown into the Embroidered Uniform Guard's prison, tortured severely, and demanded to hand over evidence of faction-forming crimes and his partisans—in the end he died miserably in prison.

And the failure of Zhou Jianzong's first impeachment had directly shown Wei Zhongxian the weakness of the pure stream: they considered themselves lofty and pure, understood nothing of flexibility, and only knew how to submit memorial after memorial, rallying all the court officials to pressure the Emperor—when in reality they were outwardly strong but inwardly weak, holding no real power.

This was also the beginning of Wei Zhongxian's arbitrary exercise of power and chaos in government. From then on, nothing could restrain him—he was called Duke Wei, enjoyed living shrines, and no one in the realm could compare!

'But this time, your calculations are about to go wrong.' Zhu Xu said silently to himself with a beaming smile.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard was now in the hands of Luo Yangxing. Wei Zhongxian and Madam Ke's minions had all been sent out by Luo Sigong under various pretexts, and Luo Yangxing himself had gone to GX and would not return for half a year. Moreover, Wei Zhongxian had not yet taken concurrent charge of the Eastern Depot. Most critically, the Eastern Depot had no prison—all prisoners had to be sent down to the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Provost prison. Without the help of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Wei Zhongxian would find it hard even to see people, let alone extract confessions under torture.

In this way, a relatively fair confrontation would form: the Donglin Faction against the eunuch faction. The Donglin Faction had enormous power, both in and out of court, while the eunuch faction had the violent institution of the Eastern Depot—and the final victory or defeat lay in the hands of the Emperor, Zhu Youxiao.

But without evidence of crimes, the Emperor could not do much to so many officials.

In other words, even if Zhu Xu made no further moves, Wei Zhongxian and the eunuch faction would inevitably suffer a major blow this time! Such a blow would be hard-pressed to break Wei Zhongxian or the eunuch faction's bones, but psychologically, Wei Zhongxian would come to realize the power of the pure stream and would not dare to be excessively reckless.

"By the way," Zhu Xu thought for a while, then suddenly said to Cao Wenzhao: "Have the Wu sisters take a look at what illness the Empress has."

Although Zhu Xu guessed that Empress Zhang was pregnant, it still needed to be confirmed before he could rest easy.

Cao Wenzhao immediately acknowledged with a "yes" and said: "I'll send someone to notify them in a moment."

"Next, we just sit back and watch the show." Zhu Xu stood up, stretched, and said with a look of pure satisfaction.

With the Censorate taking the lead, dozens of court officials jointly impeaching Wei Zhongxian—this was the first time since the Tianqi reign began, and it naturally alarmed all parties. Shortly after, word came out of the Directorate of Ceremonial that the eunuch faction was also preparing to impeach Zhou Jianzong, listing dozens of people as his partisans, intending to settle the matter once and for all with the pure stream.

This time, not only were both sides sharpening their weapons, each determined to destroy the other, but even the court officials on the sidelines were filled with dread.

The most intense factional struggle since the start of the Tianqi reign in the Great Ming court was about to begin.

And at this moment, the popular uprisings in SX were growing ever more intense, and the pacification campaigns across SNet were split evenly between victories and defeats. In the north, the Manchus were full of sharp vigor, looking longingly toward the warmer south.