“How absurd. Must every case in this realm be tried by this official personally?” Liu Chaoming said. “Since the forty-seven tuntion cases have already been filed, someone in the court should naturally take them over. What you say is not wrong—reform cannot be achieved overnight. But with years of continuous warfare, the national treasury is empty, and the tuntion system has been expanded again and again. If we don’t eliminate these hidden troubles at the very beginning of the new policy’s implementation, they will surely become deep-seated ailments in the future.”
“The crux of the matter is that the Embroidered Uniform Guard was not dispatched by His Majesty, but by you, Lord!” Su Jin said.
She looked at Liu Chaoming, her tone growing deeper and slower: “Actually, I know why you moved the Imperial Guard without requesting the Emperor’s command—because you did it deliberately.”
“When the Great Sui dynasty was first established, though the Embroidered Uniform Guard was an Imperial Guard, they were more like special envoys. Not only did they have the authority to try cases, but they also established an Imperial Prison, placing themselves above all officials. The disasters they caused left mountains of white bones—half of them died in the Provincial Office.”
“Three years ago, when Zhu Yushen ascended the throne, his greatest support apart from you and a few ministers like Shu Yu was the two institutions of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the eunuchs.”
“Since ancient times, when a new emperor ascends the throne, he must establish his authority. Zhu Yushen’s position on the throne came inexplicably to begin with, so he was bound to use the Embroidered Uniform Guard and eunuchs as his eyes and ears, to eliminate dissenting voices in the court and countryside. This is just like when Emperor Jing’an ascended the throne years ago—he elevated the status of the Golden Cavalry Guard again and again, even disregarding military regulations to temporarily command the Military Governor’s Office. This is the inertia of emperors.”
“But you feared that if things continued this way, the status of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and eunuchs in the court and countryside would grow heavier and heavier, until the situation became irreversible. So you used the tuntion system to find an opportunity. While the Embroidered Uniform Guard still obeyed your commands, you sent them to secretly investigate tuntion cases. They would gain merit while simultaneously committing the grave crime of not following the Son of Heaven’s orders.”
“And once the Embroidered Uniform Guard made this move, it also caused Shu Wenlan to expose himself. He desperately wanted Zhu Yushen to rely heavily on eunuchs. Thinking he had caught your weakness, he constantly obstructed the tuntion cases, never expecting it would backfire on him.”
“On one hand, you were unwilling to let Shu Wenlan achieve his wish of establishing eunuchs as ministers. On the other hand, you also didn’t want to see a repeat of the past scenes of the Embroidered Uniform Guard terrorizing and killing officials.”
“So, with both the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Shu Wenlan suffering mutual losses, this result is what you wanted most, isn’t it?”
Su Jin said: “Now the evidence against both the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Shu Wenlan is laid bare before all civil and military officials. Even if Zhu Yushen wants to use them in the future, he’ll have to give up because of this matter. Did you calculate to this day from the very beginning of these events? Did you stake your own career and life on this gamble?”
“That day when you told Shiyu that nothing would happen to you, it wasn’t really that nothing would happen—it was that you had already looked past the consequences.”
“You just didn’t expect that in the end, Zhu Yushen would actually preserve your position as Chief Grand Secretary, but instead stripped you of your Censor’s robes.”
“Are your feelings now a mixture of everything? The one you’ve wronged most is probably the Old Censor, isn’t it?”
Liu Chaoming said: “How is whether this official has wronged the Old Censor any concern of yours?”
A hurricane seemed to rise in his eyes, as if blowing away the deep fog. The mockery, hurt, and indignation originally hidden in the depths all floated to the surface: “Back then, the Old Censor sought righteousness with all his heart, sought good governance with all his heart—what did he get in return? Imprisoned in the Imperial Prison, his legs rotted away, dying in melancholy, never achieving his aspirations in life. And as for the realm’s deep-seated ailments, was there even half a bit of relief under Zhu Jingyuan’s rule?”
“In extraordinary times, one must take extraordinary measures. Right now, the general situation of the realm is at a critical juncture of breaking with the old and establishing the new. We must move the capital, reform the system. There will certainly be those who take advantage of the chaos. Now there are already eunuchs working in the Six Ministries. If we cling to the law, should we wait until the realm is clear, then bury another hidden danger? The word ‘eunuch’ can be managed in this generation because the ruler on the throne is still wise. But who knows if it won’t brew into a great disaster in future generations?”
“Shiyu admires your iron-fisted methods, but must you always burn your bridges like this in your actions?” Su Jin said. “In what you’ve done this time, you’ve left yourself no way out at all.”
Liu Chaoming said: “I never had a way out to begin with. As early as in Jingyuan’s reign, I had already moved the Embroidered Uniform Guard. If Zhu Yushen or anyone else wants to hold me accountable for this matter, I have no way to defend myself. Since that’s the case, why not do it thoroughly and ruthlessly? If I don’t burn my bridges, wouldn’t I be leaving Shu Wenlan an opening to exploit? As things are now—I, Shu Wenlan, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard have all suffered losses. How is this not the best outcome?”
“Mutual losses—that’s only speaking in terms of internal politics!” Su Jin said. “But what about the court? What about the realm?”
“Didn’t you ask why Shiyu came today?”
“Because I feel disappointed, and I find it regrettable.”
“Setting aside the grievances between you and me over these years, not mentioning the internal struggle for succession—from when Shiyu entered office in the eighteenth year of Jingyuan until this very day, you are the best Censor I have ever seen!”
“I hoped that the tuntion cases—whether forty-seven or ninety-four—would be tried by the Imperial Censorate under your governance. I hoped that these common people’s grievances would be redressed by you.”
“These cases involve such broad implications, touching upon the new policies and the officials and gentry. It’s not that I don’t trust other officials, but in the entire court, besides you, who else could overcome all difficulties and handle this efficiently and decisively?”
“I don’t want you to easily remove these crimson robes, because when Shiyu removed mine back then, my heart was full of regret. Because the Imperial Censorate no longer had the Old Censor. If you also remove yours today, wouldn’t that also be an injury to this realm?”
Liu Chaoming looked at Su Jin. His expression gradually calmed. The earlier wind ceased, the hurt and indignation dissipated, transforming into an indescribable deep silence.
After a while, he looked away: “Su Shiyu, I am but one person. How can one person’s strength change this realm?”
“You’re right—my actions were indeed biased. When we parted ways back then, over these years I’ve also asked myself about right and wrong, asked myself whether I was obstinate and opinionated, whether I overcorrected, whether I failed to distinguish right from wrong. But along this journey, right and wrong, black and white have long been indistinguishable. Perhaps I really did deceive you back then, even deceived myself. In my early years, carrying on the Old Censor’s aspirations, I wholeheartedly wanted to be a good censor. But seeing his rotted legs, his deathbed regrets, I actually didn’t want to repeat his old path of being upright and unyielding yet powerless.”
“Perhaps for me, iron-fisted methods, gentle benevolence, ruthless resolve, false righteousness—these are all just means.”
“Having walked the censor’s path my entire life, I’m afraid I’ve never walked the so-called righteous path. But I’ve exhausted myself to this point. Taking off these crimson robes fills my heart with regret and resentment. Even if I’ve failed my teacher, I can only fail him.”
Su Jin said: “When I parted ways with you back then, my heart was truly filled with bitter resentment and unwillingness. I questioned you about that single word ‘righteousness.’ Over these years, when things grew quiet, I’ve also examined my own heart.”
“You say you’ve never walked the righteous path, but what is this so-called righteous path? Later I thought—perhaps in chaotic times, there is no true righteous path at all.”
“Back then, the court situation changed every few months. You and I each served our own masters. What was wrong today might become right tomorrow, and what was right tomorrow might become utterly inexcusable the day after.”
“The court situation is a whirlpool. I was swept into it, unable to extricate myself. It wasn’t until later, during my exile, that Shiyu learned to step back and look at past events. Actually, for observers, for the poor common people, the Fourth Prince and the Thirteenth Prince, the Seventh Prince and the Crown Prince—they’re all members of the Zhu family. Among them, it’s actually all the same who becomes emperor. We fought for years, for life, for death, for struggle, for schemes—but to this realm, it was all just passing clouds.”
“What is most important for those who serve as officials, who serve as ministers—that was actually lost later, lost after being thoroughly swept into the strife following the former Crown Prince’s death.”
“To say it was lost isn’t entirely accurate—one would still do what should be done, but clouds and mist obscured the moon, making it unclear.” When Su Jin reached this point, she smiled self-mockingly. “Actually, in some matters regarding your methods, even to this day Shiyu doesn’t agree, even hates them. But in our parting of ways, speaking only of those two words ‘initial aspiration’—you’ve done better than Shiyu.”