Zheng Sansi, Chen Tingxuan, Minister Chen, and the other officials from the pro-peace faction who had caused the most trouble were all thoroughly scolded by Emperor Jianzhang. In the end, he had the Imperial Guard drag them all to the Left Shun Gate where each received fifty strokes of the rod.
This wasn’t punishment received for speaking frankly and offering counsel. Emperor Jianzhang made it very clear—this was discipline given to these people for disregarding the common people, being smooth-talking and flattering, inciting public sentiment, and bringing disaster to the nation and its people.
To curse at a civil official, nothing surpassed cursing them for bringing disaster to the nation and its people, being disloyal and ungrateful. Emperor Jianzhang did exactly that.
Tao Dinghu followed behind Grand Secretary Chang with a complex expression on his face. He sighed as he looked at Grand Secretary Chang. “Although Zheng Sansi and the others may have exaggerated somewhat, what they said isn’t necessarily without reason. The court can no longer withstand such a massive military campaign. What if we can’t win?” He followed Grand Secretary Chang step by step for a few paces, lowering his voice. “Teacher, these are a hundred thousand Tartar iron cavalry! Not to mention there are still Prince Gong’s and Han Zhengqing’s troops. So many people—they’re already almost breaking out of Xibei. What will happen in the future? Back in the day, Yeha Grandfather with just seventy thousand men could still fight to the gates of our capital. Let alone…”
Seeing Grand Secretary Chang frown but still not speak, he couldn’t help becoming somewhat anxious. “Although General Commander Cui is a god of war, he’s not omnipotent. Even a clever wife can’t cook without rice. Now that he’s trapped in Suzhou, what waves can he still stir up? If we let Prince Gong and Han Zhengqing collude with the Tartars and march north all the way, then…”
Grand Secretary Chang finally stopped and turned to look at him. “Then according to your meaning, we should negotiate peace? We should cede territory and pay indemnities, offer up our princesses, to seek stability?” He laughed once and looked at Tao Dinghu with a mocking gaze. “Back when Yeha Grandfather came to the capital gates, our Great Zhou never once ceded a single piece of land.”
Tao Dinghu’s face flushed bright red. He hastily waved his hand at Grand Secretary Chang. “No, no, no, Teacher, how could that be my meaning?” He looked at Grand Secretary Chang, his gaze clear and bright, speaking sincerely. “I’m afraid that with His Majesty using such thunderous methods to suppress officials who want to negotiate peace, combined with successive defeats in Xibei, it will cause people’s hearts to become even more unsettled. If this continues, sooner or later it will create great chaos…”
Grand Secretary Chang’s hair and beard had already turned white, yet his eyes were as clear and bright as a young man’s. He walked forward a few steps, and seeing Tao Dinghu follow, he laughed once. “There won’t be chaos. It can’t become chaotic.”
Seeing Tao Dinghu stunned, he slowly patted Tao Dinghu’s shoulder. “This time with the memorial Minister Chen submitted, it’s best if you know nothing about it.”
Tao Dinghu’s heart thumped. He wanted to ask more, but didn’t dare ask anything else. He knew his teacher’s temperament best—to remind him this far was already the limit.
He stood at the palace gate for a moment, blown by the cold wind for a long while. Just as he was about to board his sedan chair to return home, he saw the Zheng family’s servants guarding a carriage and calling out. Soon they lifted Zheng Sansi, who had already been beaten into a soft puddle of mud, onto the carriage.
He shook his head and cautiously avoided them. But when the sedan chair had traveled halfway, it was suddenly blocked and didn’t move for quite a while.
“What’s going on?” His mind was in chaos and couldn’t calm down. He was intent on quickly returning home to properly sort through the recent events, but this sedan chair hadn’t moved for the longest time.
A servant’s voice came through the sedan chair. “We’ll have to wait a bit…” The butler muttered in a lowered voice. “Master, something’s happened. Imperial Guards and people from Shuntian Prefecture have come to Minister Zheng’s residence…”
With a whoosh, the sedan chair curtain was thrown open. Tao Dinghu looked at the Zheng residence in front of him, where people were constantly going in and out and which was surrounded impenetrably by Shuntian Prefecture bailiffs. He swallowed with difficulty.
Something had happened. He thought of Grand Secretary Chang’s final reminder and was shocked into staring wide-eyed.
Could it be that today those pro-peace people…
“Quickly take a different route!” he shouted in alarm. “Change roads!”
With great difficulty reaching home, he had no time to catch his breath. Seeing Yin Zicheng enter the residence gate excitedly just now, saying something about house raids, his eyelid jumped. He called him into the study and immediately asked, “What happened? What were you just saying about house raids?”
Yin Zicheng looked at Tao Dinghu in surprise. “Uncle-in-law, you don’t know? Spies came to the capital.” Seeing Tao Dinghu’s face heavy as water, he scratched his head. “They’re spies sent from Prince Gong and Marquis Jinxiang, specifically to confuse people’s hearts and come to bribe. Minister Zheng’s and Minister Chen’s homes have both been raided.”
Tao Dinghu only felt a buzzing in his head. Coming to his senses, he immediately ordered the household to close doors and shut gates. “Don’t go out to inquire about anything!”
One moment the pro-peace faction’s Minister Zheng and others had just been beaten with rods at the Left Shun Gate, and the next moment their homes were raided with claims they had colluded with Prince Gong. The court and the public were in an uproar.
But this time the Imperial Guard wasn’t impeached by anyone for fabricating charges and framing people, because this time they truly caught them red-handed with the evidence.
From Minister Chen’s home they really did search out a person of unknown identity. In the end, he was identified by the Han family members and Vice Minister Wang who had long been imprisoned—they finally recognized that this was Han Zhengqing’s trusted confidant.
Why would Han Zhengqing’s trusted confidant appear in the home of pro-peace faction’s Minister Chen? It went without saying.
And a murder case that occurred at the residence near the Huang Daxian Temple was also proven to be related to this spy apprehended at Minister Chen’s home.
The day before the Lantern Festival, on the fourteenth of the first lunar month, Emperor Jianzhang ordered that Minister of Revenue, Minister Chen, and Chen Tingxuan and several others be stripped of their positions and imprisoned. Everyone in the pro-peace faction at court was in danger.
Empress Dowager Lu heard this with fear and trepidation. Upon seeing Emperor Jianzhang, she couldn’t help but sigh. “If Your Majesty does this, I’m afraid those below will all think Your Majesty is entrapping them… Even with evidence they won’t believe it anymore…”
People always loved to overthink. Rumors that originally couldn’t be spoken aloud had now intensified further. Word had already spread throughout the capital—everyone felt that Prince Gong perhaps truly had suffered framing and was only forced to escape from the capital.
“Originally it didn’t need to be this coincidentally timed…” Empress Dowager Lu coughed several times, very worried for Emperor Jianzhang.
Emperor Jianzhang grasped her hand, his complexion alarmingly pale, yet his spirits were surprisingly good. “No need to worry. The point is to let them make a commotion, to let those below overthink.”
Empress Dowager Lu didn’t quite understand these words. She wanted to ask more, but Emperor Jianzhang had already gripped her hand tightly. “No matter what happens, don’t panic.” He lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear. “However difficult it gets, think about how we still got through the matter with Prince Tai back then…”
Empress Dowager Lu was made even more frightened by his words, staring wide-eyed. But Emperor Jianzhang had already hurriedly gone out—the military situation in Xibei changed in the blink of an eye. Emperor Jianzhang had already gone many days without closing his eyes.
She felt that Emperor Jianzhang’s words were strange. Clutching an anxious heart and extremely uneasy, she was about to have someone go ask again, but what came instead was news that Emperor Jianzhang had collapsed into unconsciousness.