Chapter 157: Wen Tiren Steps Down

Since the battle had already begun, Zhu Cilang naturally would not let this opportunity slip by—he decided it was time to act!

That very day, Yang Tinglin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, submitted a memorial impeaching Chief Grand Secretary Wen Tiren, as well as Grand Secretary Xue Guoguan and others.

The next day, Feng Ying, Minister of the Ministry of Justice, submitted a memorial impeaching Wen Tiren. In this memorial, he bitterly condemned Wen Tiren for forming cliques for private gain, and to express his anger, he even employed rhythmic parallel sentences.

The ministers who supported the Crown Prince submitted impeachments one after another, especially the Donglin Faction, which had been crushed breathless by Wen Tiren. With the tough Lu Zhenfei leading the charge, impeachment memorials flooded the dragon desk at Wenhua Hall like falling snow.

Facing the impeachment from all sides, Wen Tiren could not fight back, because nearly all members of the eunuch faction remained silent. Only a few of Wen Tiren's diehard supporters tried to help him save face, and they were ganged up on by the assembled ministers.

From the moment Wen Tiren abandoned Tang Shiji, he had lost all his prestige. A leader who is not loyal enough will never have loyal subordinates.

Facing the overwhelming barrage of impeachments, Wen Tiren suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness. He decided to use his final move: resignation!

Grand Secretary Zhang Zhifa of the Grand Secretariat had a very close relationship with Wen Tiren. He did not betray his comrade-in-arms. On Wen Tiren's resignation memorial, he wrote the draft rescript: "Warmly console with imperial grace; resignation not permitted," and submitted it for the Emperor's perusal, to test His Majesty's intentions. If the Emperor did not object, it would mean Wen Tiren was safe.

Chongzhen glanced coldly at the memorial. He had initially wanted to order Wen Tiren executed to give the ministers an explanation, but after calming down for a moment, he ultimately did not deliver the killing blow. He merely wrote with a stroke of his vermilion brush: "Let him go!"

When the imperial decree reached the Huzhou Guild Hall, Wen Tiren was eating. Upon hearing the three words "Let him go," it struck him like a thunderbolt, and he was so frightened that the spoon in his hand dropped to the floor.

Wen Tiren was stripped of his position and honors, and sent back to his hometown to reflect. Qian Qianyi, though released from prison, was also stripped of his rank and sent home, no longer retained. It could be seen that Chongzhen had still been fairly decent to Wen Tiren.

Zhu Cilang could not understand why the Emperor, his father, would not kill that old bastard. Could there be some unspeakable secret between them?

Regardless, after being tormented by Wen Tiren for such a long time, how could Zhu Cilang allow him to return to his hometown so easily?

Zhu Cilang never accepted surrender from his enemies. His only requirement was one thing: death! Toward his enemies, he would never show the slightest mercy or softness.

Soon, Li Tingbiao had an audience with the Emperor and presented several confessions. During the investigation into the Crown Prince's poisoning case, the Embroidered Uniform Guard had uncovered several informants in the palace who had repeatedly passed information about inner court affairs to outer court ministers. Among those with the most informants was Chief Grand Secretary Wen Tiren.

Chongzhen was initially somewhat incredulous, but only after personally interrogating several eunuchs did he truly believe it. In an instant, his fury blazed to the heavens!

He had never imagined that Wen Tiren—whom he had shielded with all his might, trusted unconditionally, and favored above all others while bearing the pressure of the entire court—would truly be, as people said, forming cliques for private gain behind the scenes, even planting spies in the inner court!

In that moment, Chongzhen felt that his self-esteem and intelligence, which he had always prided himself on, had been subjected to tremendous humiliation. He flew into an uncontrollable rage and immediately ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to throw Wen Tiren into the Imperial Prison and confiscate his property!

Originally, Chongzhen had still harbored a trace of regard for Wen Tiren, but having someone arrange to spy on him in the inner court was something he could never tolerate. He even suspected that the old bastard was the one who had poisoned the Crown Prince!

Once this matter came to light, a flood of court officials began submitting memorials impeaching Wen Tiren, and his partisans rushed to draw clear lines of separation from him.

Grand Secretary Xue Guoguan was the cleverest. He stayed home writing a memorial of self-reflection, while vehemently denouncing Wen Tiren for ruining the state and disrupting governance. He wanted to bid farewell to the past and welcome a bright tomorrow.

There was no helping it—these days it wasn't easy to earn a living. Now that the situation was becoming clear, if not now, then when would one kick a man when he was down?

The capital, the Wen residence.

When Wen Tiren learned that the Emperor was going to throw him into the Imperial Prison, he was so frightened that he fell ill and took to his bed.

The Wen residence was in complete chaos, yet Wen Tiren's three sons were quarreling endlessly.

The eldest son, Wen Yan, said: "Second brother, third brother, you two stay in the residence to accompany Father. I'll take Mother back to our hometown in Zhejiang first."

"Why should we stay in the residence?" The second son, Wen Kan, and the third son, Wen Ji, immediately objected. Both of them knew clearly that the eldest was trying to make off with the valuables and flee first.

The eldest, Wen Yan, said seriously: "You two are court officials and cannot leave the capital without permission. I hold no official position, so of course I should be the one to accompany Mother back to our hometown."

"Court officials, my ass! We only got our positions as Secretariat Drafter through Father's merit—just names on a roster." said the second son, Wen Kan. He would never let his elder brother run off on his own.

During the Tang and Song dynasties, Secretariat Drafters were responsible for drafting imperial edicts and could participate in policy decisions. By the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had killed Hu Weiyong and abolished the Chancellor and the Secretariat. Zhu Di then established the Grand Secretariat system, and edicts began to be drafted by the Grand Secretariat, so Secretariat Drafters became completely useless hangers-on.

Not to mention that Wen Tiren's two sons had gotten their positions through nepotism. On ordinary days, they were even more useless than useless hangers-on—nobody treated them as actual officials at all.

The three brothers completely ignored Wen Tiren, who lay on the bed groaning for quite some time, and continued their noisy quarrel. The core issue was how to divide the property.

Just at that moment, the front gate of the Wen residence suddenly exploded, startling everyone inside into cries of alarm.

Amidst flying wood splinters and rolling dust and smoke, squad after squad of fully armed Embroidered Uniform Guard soldiers charged in. The moment they entered the Wen residence, they seized people on sight. Anyone who resisted or attempted to flee was executed on the spot.

Wen Yan jumped up immediately and cried out in terror: "The Embroidered Uniform Guard is here!" Having said that, he hastily prepared to slip out the back door and climb over the wall to escape.

The second son, Wen Kan, mocked him: "Big brother is truly as timid as a mouse. The Embroidered Uniform Guard is here to arrest our father and confiscate the property—it has nothing to do with us."

The third son, Wen Ji, nodded and added: "At worst, the Embroidered Uniform Guard will confiscate all the property in the residence. We two are court officials, and His Majesty hasn't implicated us."

Before his words even faded, a large number of Embroidered Uniform Guard soldiers had already flooded into the main hall and surrounded the two of them.

The crowd parted, and Li Tingbiao, with a face cold as frost, and Wu Mengming, Assistant Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, appeared before the two brothers.

Wen Kan clasped his hands in salute and forced a smile: "This humble official has long admired Your Excellency Li's fearsome prestige—"

"Clang!" A sword's cry rang out. Li Tingbiao's embroidered spring saber flashed, and Wen Kan's head flew into the air.

"You—!" The third brother, Wen Ji, froze in shock. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Li Tingbiao swing his saber in a backhand arc toward himself. And then—nothing.

Wu Mengming, the Embroidered Uniform Guard Assistant Commissioner bearing the Emperor's commission, was utterly stunned. He stammered: "Lord Li, you—what is the meaning of this?"

Li Tingbiao took a piece of dark silk cloth and gently wiped the blood from his embroidered spring saber, saying calmly: "The Wen family resisted arrest and fought against the Embroidered Uniform Guard—executed on the spot!"

Wu Mengming's heart sank, and he felt cold all over. This Li Tingbiao was far too arrogant—to spout such lies right in front of him!

Li Tingbiao paid him no heed and said calmly: "Still one missing. Search quickly. Don't let a single direct-line member of the Wen family escape. If one gets away, you'll pay with your own lives!"

"Yes!" The Embroidered Uniform Guard soldiers bowed in acknowledgment.

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