Chapter 14: Provocation

Censors' memorials had always gone straight to the Son of Heaven's ear, but this time, they had changed their strategy.

Led by Zhou Jianzong, more than thirty men surged forward in a crowd, entered the palace, and headed straight for Jingyang Palace, where Emperor Zhu Youxiao's imperial study was located.

"Out of the way! We want to see the Emperor!"

Zhou Jianzong, holding a memorial in hand and clad in full official robes, shouted loudly at the guards blocking the palace gate.

The guard's expression was icy cold, his tone even colder, as he stiffly pushed Zhou Jianzong back with the hilt of his blade, saying, "Without the Emperor's decree, no one may trespass!"

"Outrageous! Do you know who we are! Get out of the way!"

"If you delay our business, can you bear the consequences? The one we demand to see is the Emperor!"

"You must be lackeys of the eunuch traitors! If you don't step aside, don't blame us for impeaching you along with them!"

The guard's face darkened at these words. With a clang, his long blade left its sheath, and he bellowed, "Dare to trespass again, and you'll be cut down on the spot!"

These were all civil officials—men who could wield pen and sword on paper well enough, but when faced with actual cold steel, they still jumped in fright.

Yet Zhou Jianzong only grew more furious. He thrust out his chest and stepped forward, raging, "We act to purge traitors for the state and uphold the altars of the realm! How could we be cowed by mere blades? Even if our blood splashes three feet, we will fight to the death against the traitor Wei and the eunuch faction!"

Zhou Jianzong's words instantly stirred the hearts of his colleagues, who had been frightened and even beginning to think of retreat. They surged forward one after another, shouting loudly: "We act to purge traitors for the state—how could we fear life or death!"

With so many voices roaring together in a chaotic din, it carried considerable menace.

The guard's brow furrowed at once. At most, he could only intimidate these people; if he truly cut them down on the spot, ten heads wouldn't be enough to pay for it.

"Men! Men! Block them for me!" The guard bellowed, and at once several dozen palace guards in gleaming armor rushed out from the palace gate behind him, blocking the crowd outside with spears and swords both long and short.

"Let us go! Let us in!"

"You pack of eunuch traitor lackeys!"

"We demand to see the Emperor!"

The guard had his men hold them back, and even one leaf of the palace gate was shut. If these people forced their way in, heaven knew what might happen. He hastily sent someone to the imperial study to report to the Emperor.

The moment Zhou Jianzong and his men entered the palace, Wei Zhongxian—for whom this was his own home ground—learned of it quickly. He flew into a towering rage, yet at the same time his heart was seized with terror.

After all, he was only a eunuch, without power or influence of his own; his greatest reliance was the Emperor. If this crowd pressured the Emperor into driving him out of the palace, he feared he might not even walk out of the Forbidden City alive!

"Lord Wei, let us fight them to the bitter end!"

"Eunuch Wei, we absolutely cannot yield! Otherwise there will be no place left for us in this palace!"

"More than no place to stand—they want our very lives!"

"Exactly! We will never let this rest with them!"

"Let us go to the imperial study at once and fight them to the breaking point!"

Inside the Directorate of Ceremonial, a crowd of eunuchs burned with fury. They were even more afraid than Wei Zhongxian. The literati held no blades in their hands, but when they killed, they were more terrifying than any weapon!

Wei Zhongxian, like the rest of them, felt a sense of catastrophe looming. The Great Ming was said to be a realm ruled jointly by the Son of Heaven and the scholar-officials, and countless facts had proven that once this pack of scholar-officials was provoked to fury, even the Emperor himself would fear them three parts!

Wei Zhongxian's eyelids twitched without cease, his mouth went dry, and his heart pounded like a war drum—thump, thump, thump—with dread beyond measure. Yet he forced himself to calm down, sat in his chair, and gripped his teacup, grinding it with a grating squeak.

"Eunuch Wei, we cannot hesitate any longer!" Li Yongzhen said in a low voice from the side.

The others chimed in agreement one after another, save for one man who hid behind the crowd and spoke not a word, though a hint of worry colored his face—Liu Shimin.

Wei Zhongxian's face twitched incessantly, a murderous glint flickering in his eyes, yet he had not lost his reason. He pondered without pause.

Suddenly, Wei Zhongxian rose to his feet and shouted loudly, "Fine! Liu Chao, take your men and follow me—we go to see the Emperor!"

Seeing Wei Zhongxian's imposing bearing, the crowd's morale soared at once. They straightened their robes one after another and, like a tide, made their way toward another gate of Jingyang Palace.

When so many great lords suddenly stormed the palace during their day of rest, the guards and eunuchs on duty were no fools. Trembling with fear, they rushed to the imperial study to report to the Emperor.

Zhu Youxiao had heard the news by now as well. His face changed color several times, and only after a long moment did he say slowly, "Dismiss them all..."

Then he hastily asked, "Have they been stopped?"

"They've been stopped—they're all outside Jingyang Palace." The young eunuch said hurriedly.

Ministers leading court officials to blockade the Emperor was hardly a rare occurrence in the Great Ming—it happened from time to time—but every such incident was a major affair for both the court and the palace. This time, it seemed it would happen to Zhu Youxiao as well, or at least so it seemed to the young eunuch.

"Good, as long as they're stopped." Zhu Youxiao breathed a slight sigh of relief and sat down on the dragon throne, his expression somewhat dazed. He was not his grandfather, the Wanli Emperor, who could skip court for twenty years and still keep the court situation firmly in his grasp. Since ascending the throne, he had never once enjoyed that kind of feeling.

"Your Majesty! Eunuch Wei has barged in with a crowd of men!" Suddenly a young eunuch stumbled in, fell to his knees, and cried out.

Zhu Youxiao was startled at first to hear someone had barged in, but then, upon learning it was Wei Zhongxian, his heart relaxed somewhat. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Then... let Lord Wei come in."

"Yes, Your Majesty." The young eunuch scrambled back to his feet and ran out.

Zhu Youxiao looked at the wood carving before him, only half finished, and found it utterly dull. He sighed with worry in his heart—there was not a single easy day.

"Your Majesty! We have been wronged!" Wei Zhongxian fell to his knees and wailed the moment he entered, while a whole crowd of men knelt in a disorderly mass outside the imperial study, shouting of their wrongs in unison.

Zhu Youxiao was taken aback. He quickly stood up and said, "What grievance does Lord Wei have? Rise and speak."

Though Zhu Youxiao did not know the specific details, his heart was a clear mirror—it was simply that the pure-stream faction was displeased with his employment of eunuchs. But this was a practice handed down since the Yingzong Emperor, and he saw nothing wrong with it. If not for these inner servants, would he, the Emperor, truly become a solitary man with none around him?

Wei Zhongxian knelt prostrate on the ground, his voice mournful and indignant, wailing as if in unbearable agony: "Your Majesty, we are eunuchs—no sons, no daughters, nothing before or after us to rely on. We live solely by handling Your Majesty's affairs. Your servant believes he has been devoted and diligent, never once overstepping his bounds in the slightest. Yet now the outer ministers all demand to drive every one of us out of the palace. Your servant's life or death is of no consequence, but in the days to come, who will serve Your Majesty with wholehearted effort? If outsiders plot treachery, who will stand before Your Majesty to shield you from blade and spear? Your Majesty, the palace cannot be without eunuchs. We may leave the palace, but you must never allow the outer ministers to run rampant, deceiving the sovereign and defying the throne..."

Zhu Youxiao felt somewhat comforted hearing the beginning, but the latter part sent chills down his spine—his entire face changed color.

Wei Zhongxian, in truth, kept glancing up from time to time to gauge the Emperor's expression. Seeing this, he cried out even louder: "Your Majesty, they even want to drive Madam Fengsheng out of the palace! Not content with hounding us inner servants to death, they have not spared the affairs of your harem either..."

"They go too far!"

Zhu Youxiao slammed the table violently and rose to his feet, his face flushed crimson, bloodshot veins swelling in his eyes. Madam Ke was his reverse scale. The last time she had been driven from the palace, he had been filled with boundless guilt. Now that this pack of pure-stream officials had come back for another round, he absolutely could not tolerate it!

Zhu Youxiao's face shifted rapidly. He paced back and forth several times behind the imperial desk, then suddenly fixed his gaze on Wei Zhongxian and shouted loudly: "The Censor Zhou Jianzong and his men are insolent and unruly—trespassing upon the palace and showing contempt for their sovereign. Let the Eastern Depot seize them and deliver them to the Provost's Office for rigorous interrogation!"