Novelas PaiPai

Capítulo 32

Several censors and eunuchs were ordered to investigate the case within the palace. Since all four thieves were dead, there was no way to corroborate their stories, and the mastermind could not be found. Instead, the eunuchs in charge of guarding the palace were convicted. There were two eunuchs in the Imperial City Guard responsible for this: Yang Huaimin and Yang Jingzong. On the night of the uprising, Yang Huaimin was on night duty within the palace and should have been punished more severely. However, strangely, Yang Jingzong, along with the Imperial City Guard Commissioner and the Deputy Director of the Inner Palace, Deng Baoji, were all demoted and exiled from the capital. Yang Huaimin, though demoted, was retained in the palace and continued to serve as an inner palace guard.

The ladies privately discussed the matter, attributing the cause to the different masters they served. Yang Huaimin usually served Consort Zhang diligently, while Yang Jingzong and Deng Baoji were close to the Empress. I even overheard Wang Wuzi reporting to Lady Miao that Yang Huaimin had been very close to Xia Song, who had made arrangements for him and instructed him on how to respond, so the censors found no evidence of wrongdoing during the interrogation. Xia Song also claimed that Yang Huaimin had discovered the plot beforehand that night and should be treated leniently. Thus, Yang Huaimin's crime seemed lighter than the others.

Of course, this outcome was not acceptable to all ministers. The Censor-in-Chief Yu Zhouxun, the Supervising Censor Zhang, and the Censor He Tan jointly submitted a memorial impeaching Yang Huaimin, demanding that the Emperor demote him. They directly accused Yang Huaimin of condoning his subordinates' killing of a traitor in an attempt to silence them, thus leniently punishing him for dereliction of duty. They further pointed out that Yang Huaimin was staying in the capital at the time of the incident, constituting a serious offense of absenteeism, yet Deng Baoji and others were being granted official posts outside the capital, while Yang Huaimin remained there alone. "The punishment is so lenient, it is completely reversed, and this is especially infuriating to those both inside and outside the capital," they argued.

He Tan further hinted to the Emperor about Xia Song's protection of Yang Huaimin: "I also fear that those who have been acquainted with him may secretly rescue him and falsely claim that Huaimin has rendered meritorious service, and therefore he should not be demoted on the same level. I humbly request that such wicked opinions be rejected and that he be assigned to an outside post in accordance with the same principle, so as to conform to public opinion."

Finally, the current emperor adopted his advice and demoted Yang Huaimin to the position of Wensi Envoy and Prefect of Hezhou, banishing him from the capital.

As promised, the Empress rewarded the eunuchs who participated in capturing the thief, bestowing gifts or promotions. Even I was promoted to a high-ranking eunuch, a rare honor for a seventeen-year-old eunuch. However, news of Mr. Zhang's reward for entering the house and capturing the thief was delayed. I inquired further and learned that the Empress dared not make the decision herself, so I asked the Emperor for his opinion. The Emperor replied indifferently, "Promotion of eunuchs to positions above the rank of Attendant-in-Ordinary requires consultation with the Chancellors."

Presumably, His Majesty has little interest in discussing this matter with the ministers, hence the delay. However, this is not what Mr. Zhang is concerned about now.

Since he was injured, I have visited him every day. I have noticed that there are often imperial eunuchs coming and going from his residence, who are probably informing him of information related to the Empress.

I have already taken care of the matter concerning the Book of Han that he entrusted to me. According to the eunuch I sent, Scholar Zhang Fangping indeed stared at the page about Consort Feng for a long time. I told Mr. Zhang about this result, and he simply nodded, and has not asked me to do anything else in the past few days.

One afternoon, I went to see Mr. Zhang again and saw him coming out of his residence. He seemed to be in a hurry and looked anxious, which was very different from before.

I called out to him in surprise, and he nodded, but showed no sign of stopping. Just then, an eunuch came from the palace and stopped him to convey an imperial edict, saying that the Emperor wanted him to come inside and recount the details of the capture of the thief to the censor who was investigating the case, so that he could be rewarded for his merits.

Mr. Zhang paused and said to the eunuch who was delivering the imperial edict, “I dare not disobey His Majesty’s decree. However, it would be impolite to meet the censor in plain clothes. Please go back first, and allow me to go inside and change my clothes. I will go there shortly.”

The eunuch smiled at him, as if he had been prepared: "The censor has been waiting for a long time. If he does not see me bring back Mr. Zhang, he will probably blame me for dereliction of duty. Please go and change your clothes, sir. I will wait here. I hope you will understand and not keep the censor waiting."

Mr. Zhang reluctantly agreed, glancing at me as he turned to signal me to follow him, so I went inside with him. Once inside, he lowered his voice and told me, "Something terrible has happened. Wang Zhi, the Assistant Censor, has submitted a memorial saying that the thief had an affair with a palace maid in the Empress's quarters, and the root of the palace chaos may lie in this. He has asked the Emperor to investigate this matter, and I'm afraid he will incite the Emperor to establish an imperial prison to test the Empress and shake her position."

I was shocked and didn't know what to say. In the end, I could only ask, "Who is Wang Zhi?"

“Xia Song’s lackey, and Granny Jia also had dealings with him,” Mr. Zhang replied, then asked me, “Can you recognize Prime Minister Chen Zhizhong and Censor He Tan?”

I nodded and said, "I saw it from afar during the palace celebrations."

Mr. Zhang quickly found a scroll and handed it to me, instructing me: "The Emperor has secretly summoned Xia Song and Wang Zhi, and they are currently discussing matters in the Erying Pavilion. If anything goes wrong, he might order the palace to be locked up and an edict drafted. This is the edict of deposition that I copied when the Emperor deposed Empress Guo. Take this and wait in front of the Secretariat-Chancellery. Today, Censor He is there discussing the matter of guarding the Imperial City with Chancellor Chen. They will definitely come out around dusk. Run over there, pretend to fall, and drop the edict on the ground so they can see it. If they ask, just say that Chancellor Xia asked you to find it for him."

This was the first time I'd ever been confronted with fabricating a political lie, and I was dumbfounded. Mr. Zhang seemed quite apologetic, patting me on the shoulder and saying, "I'm sorry to have asked you to do this... but if you openly tell them about the Empress, it won't be good for either you or the Empress."

"Then, why did you say that Xia Shuxiang..." I stammered.

"Both Minister Chen and Imperial Censor He despise Xia Song's character." This was the only sentence Mr. Zhang used in his reply before changing his clothes and leaving.

I did as instructed and waited for Chen Zhizhong and He Tan in front of the Secretariat. However, I did not expect that Liang Shi, the Vice Privy Councilor, would also come out with them. I hesitated for a moment, but then I remembered that Mr. Zhang had said that Liang Shi suggested postponing the discussion on honoring Consort Zhang. Moreover, according to the tradition of the dynasty, the Privy Councilor and the Vice Privy Councilor usually do not get along. So, as planned, I ran over and pretended to fall. The imperial edict slipped out of my hand and unfolded, which indeed attracted their attention.

They slowly gathered around the imperial edict, glanced at it, and were all somewhat surprised. Chen Zhizhong immediately asked me, "What are you doing with this old document? Where are you going?"

I bowed my head and replied, "It was Minister Xia who wanted to check it and ordered me to find it from the Secretariat. I need to send it to him in a little while."

The three of them glanced at each other, remaining silent for a moment, but the exchange of glances they made in that instant made me feel that I had fulfilled my mission.

"Where is Xia Shuxiang now?" Chen Zhizhong asked later.

I told him, "Meet the Emperor at Erying Pavilion."

I thought that was enough, so I quickly stood up, picked up the documents, and hurriedly ran out of their sight.

Later, I hid near Erying Pavilion and watched Xia Song and Wang Zhi come out. Then, as I had hoped, I saw Chen Zhizhong, He Tan, and Liang Shi come to ask for an audience, and they went in one after another.

I returned to Yifeng Pavilion, but I was still restless and couldn't eat or sleep, so I found another excuse to go out. As I passed Kunning Palace, I suddenly heard Qiuhe call me from behind: "Huaiji, where are you going so late?"

I stopped and turned to look at her. She, who had been smiling, was startled: "What's wrong? You look so pale."

I hesitated, but in the end I briefly told her about what had happened that day, and instructed her to stay close to the Empress if anything major happened.

Qiu He was stunned, and it took her a long time to react before tears streamed down her face: "How could this happen..."

I wanted to comfort her, but I didn't know what to say. After a long while, I finally said, "Don't cry. It won't be good if the Empress sees you. You should go back now, and I'll go and inquire again. With your husband's advice, things shouldn't be hopeless."

I went to Erying Pavilion again and found it still brightly lit, presumably the emperor and his ministers were still discussing the empress's affairs. I then went to Mr. Zhang's place and waited a long time before he returned.

As soon as he saw me, he asked, "Did you show it to them?"

I nodded and recounted what had happened. He seemed slightly relieved when he heard that the three of them had entered the Er Ying Pavilion, and then led me inside to sit down and wait for news.

We sat there silently for a while, then I tentatively asked Mr. Zhang, "Why is Xia Song trying to undermine the Empress?"

"Have you heard of Xia Song before?" he asked.

I answered truthfully: "I've only heard that his head is worth two strings of cash."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhang couldn't help but smile, and I laughed along with him, which eased the atmosphere a bit.

It turns out that Xia Song once led an army on a western expedition. When he first arrived at the border, he was full of ambition and wanted to quickly kill Yuan Hao and destroy the Xia Kingdom. So he posted a notice on the frontier offering a reward: "Whoever brings Yuan Hao's head will be rewarded with five million strings of cash and the title of King of Xiping." Yuan Hao heard about this and sent someone into the border city to sell reed mats, pretending to lose them. One end of the reed mat was tied with Yuan Hao's notice. A Song person in the city picked it up and unfolded it, only to find that it read: "Whoever brings Xia Song's head will be rewarded with two strings of cash." Xia Song learned of this and hurriedly ordered Yuan Hao's notice to be hidden. However, the story had already spread and become a laughing stock among the people, and it was often talked about in the palace.

"Xia Song's lyrics are merely empty talk about Liangzhou songs, lacking any real talent for governing the world, and he is also jealous of the virtuous and capable." Mr. Zhang explained the reasons in detail from the beginning: "A few years ago, Prime Minister Fan Zhongyan led a group of virtuous officials and scholars to implement new policies. Xia Song had already been appointed as the Privy Councilor by the current emperor, but he was impeached by the censors, who said that he was treacherous and cowardly in the war against Xia. The current emperor then transferred him to be the prefect of Haozhou. Most of those censors belonged to the faction of the new policies, and Xia Song held a grudge. He instigated the eunuch Lan Yuanzhen to slander him to the current emperor." This refers to Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, Yu Jing, Yin Zhu, and others forming a clique and mutually supporting each other. However, the current emperor paid little attention to this, so he devised another scheme to frame the ministers of the new policies. At that time, Shi Jie, a lecturer at the Imperial Academy, wrote a widely circulated "Ode to the Virtuous Deeds of the Qingli Emperor," praising the current emperor's appointment of the ministers of the new policies as "the advancement of many virtuous men," while describing Xia Song's failure to be appointed as the Privy Councilor as "the departure of a great traitor." Xia Song naturally hated Shi Jie for this, and his scheme to frame the ministers of the new policies began with Shi Jie.

"Shi Jie?" I've heard that name before and know a little about him. "Does it mean he corresponded with Fu Bi and drafted the decree to be abolished?"

Mr. Zhang sighed, “That’s obviously fake. In the fourth year of the Qingli era, Xia Song instigated a literate maid in his household to imitate Shi Jie’s handwriting and alter Shi Jie’s letter to Fu Bi. He changed ‘doing the things of Yi and Zhou’ in the letter to ‘doing the things of Yi and Huo.’ Yi refers to Yi Yin, and Zhou refers to the Duke of Zhou. Both were originally virtuous ministers who assisted the emperor, but with his alteration, the Duke of Zhou was changed to Huo Guang, who was a powerful minister who had deposed and installed emperors. Then, he also forged a draft of an edict to depose the emperor, saying that it was written by Shi Jie for Fu Bi, and deliberately circulated it and ordered someone to report it to the current emperor.”

This is naturally something a ruler should avoid most. I began to understand why the current emperor did not later support the ministers of the new policies as he had at the beginning.

"In fact, even the current emperor didn't believe Fu Bi would do such a thing, but it's inevitable that a shadow would remain in his heart," Mr. Zhang continued. "As a result, not only Fu Bi, but even Fan Zhongyan, seeing this, dared not remain at court and requested to leave the capital for an outside post. Shi Jie was demoted to the position of Vice Prefect of Puzhou, but died before taking office. Not long after, Wang Gongchen and others used the Su Shunqin incident at the Imperial Academy to conduct a trial, demoting all the talented scholars in the academy who supported the new policies. This also affected Su Shunqin's father-in-law, the Prime Minister Du Yan, leading to his dismissal. Han Qi submitted a memorial speaking in defense of Fu Bi and was also dismissed from his position as Vice Privy Councilor. Later, even officials who offered advice, such as Ouyang Xiu, Cai Xiang, and Sun Fu, were successively sent to other posts under various pretexts, and the new policies came to an abrupt end. Last year, Xia Song finally got his wish and returned to become the Privy Councilor."

Listening to Mr. Zhang recount the past, I finally pieced together the outline of the Qingli Reforms. Before, I only thought that the ministers of the reforms were outstanding in their literary talent and unparalleled in their abilities. Even if I lamented their ups and downs in their official careers, it was just a simple sentimentality after reading their poems and essays. I never expected that behind the wonderful words of those talented men who wrote about the wind and moon, there were so many stories of factional struggles and intrigues.

But I still didn't immediately grasp the crux of the matter: "But what does Xia Song's attack on the Empress have to do with these things?"

"Didn't you notice?" Mr. Zhang pointed out, "The Empress Dowager is quite sympathetic to the ministers of the new policies."