Chapter 129 The whole story, a strange combination of circumstances

Perhaps because it was August, the day passed exceptionally slowly.

Outside the governor's office, Governor Liang Menglong and a group of officials were waiting for the emperor's imperial edict.

The Sansi Yamen was not far away and also hurried over.

Liang Menglong calmly asked his attendants, "Have you gone to ask the King of Wugang?"

Among the members of the Huguang royal family, most of them are guilty.

To clean up the situation, we need the cooperation of Chu Fan.

What's more, there is a matter that has tarnished the family lineage, so someone from the Chu clan must come to receive the order and understand the emperor's will.

The attendants immediately smiled and said, "They said they have finished burning incense, bathing and changing clothes. They are halfway there and will be there soon!"

Liang Menglong frowned in dissatisfaction.

It's fine if he just changes clothes, but he also burns incense and takes a bath. It's not a sacrifice, who are he doing it for?
No wonder these royal family members were treated so badly that they had no power to fight back.

There is no need to worry about delaying the receipt of the order.

When Liang Menglong thought of this, he seemed to remember something.

He looked into the yamen curiously again and saw Feng Shiyu was still hesitating about something inside.

……

There was a lot of noise outside, but inside the governor's hall, it was very quiet.

Feng Shiyu, whom Liang Menglong had just been talking about, remained silent and confronted Li Zaiting in silence.

Ever since Li Zaiting asked the question "Do you harbor any resentment towards Your Majesty?", the atmosphere has been stagnant.

Li Zaiting did not press the issue, but just looked at Feng Shiyu quietly, waiting for his answer.

Feng Shiyu turned his head and looked aside, as if he didn't notice.

A long time passed.

Until the noise outside became louder and louder.

Feng Shiyu finally spoke.

He still didn't look directly at Li Zaiting, but turned his eyes away: "At that time, I reported to His Majesty, begging for forgiveness of my crime, saying..."

"Corrupt and cruel officials are only demoted for asking questions. As for the censors, they are only concerned about national interests. Once they anger the emperor, they are executed and exiled. This is the crime of madness and stupidity, but it is the crime of greed and cruelty. I beg to forgive the crimes of Hu Qi and others."

Feng Shiyu's words were in response to Li Zaiting's earlier question - whether he, Feng Huazhi, was resentful of the emperor.

This matter involves a series of events last year, including the burning of Ciqing Palace, the execution of Hu Qi, and the exile of Shen Yikuan.

At that time, there were many censors who submitted memorials to plead for Hu Qi, including Feng Shiyu.

Corruption will only result in demotion, but defying the emperor will result in execution or exile. Which is more serious?
Moreover, the censors who reported the incident based on hearsay were mostly concerned about the country. So what was their basis for doing so?

Feng Shiyu continued, "After the memorial was submitted, His Majesty wrote in red eight characters, saying that for the sake of the country, he must be killed."

"After the memorial was submitted to the cabinet, Lord Lu met me in person and comforted me, saying that we should tolerate each other for the sake of the country."

"Ying Feng also knows what happened later. Hu Qi was killed, and I was immediately banished to Huguang."

Li Zaiting listened silently without interrupting. This matter had been going on for so long last year, so he naturally knew everything about it.

It would be fine if others pleaded for Hu Qi.

But as Feng Shiyu was from Suzhou Prefecture, he was naturally regarded by the emperor as a native of Nanzhili.

Afterwards, he did not approach Shen Shixing, a royalist from his hometown, and took the initiative to express his willingness to support the work of the emperor and the cabinet.

If you don't express your political stance, you will naturally be seen as being in opposition, so it is only reasonable to demote the place.

Li Zaiting looked at Feng Shiyu with a complicated expression, "So, you are resentful towards His Majesty?"

Since the King of Min had previously been aware of the events in Huguang and that someone was fanning the flames, the imperial envoys involved in the situation would naturally not be unaware of it.

In fact, after the third son of Jing Fan inexplicably slid to his knees, Zhu Xizhong immediately informed Hai Rui and Li Zaiting.

For many things, there are always clues as long as you are willing to investigate.

When Feng Shiyu heard what Li Zaiting said, he couldn't help but laugh as if he had heard a joke: "I'm not so narrow-minded as to blame others for being promoted to a higher position."

He looked at Li Zaiting and said seriously, "Yes, I was the one who told Zhang Chucheng that the King of Chu's posthumous children might not be his biological children, and I was also the one who lured him to go and check it out."

Li Zaiting nodded expressionlessly.

Although there had been speculation before this matter came about, the meaning was naturally very different when it came from Feng Shiyu's mouth.

Feng Shiyu's eyes were filled with memories, and he continued, "After arriving in Huguang, I didn't care about anything else, except for some doubts."

"Your Majesty always claims to be concerned about the country, and the cabinet earnestly teaches us to tolerate each other for the sake of the country. As a native of Nanzhili, my fellow countrymen have suffered losses, and I always can't help but wonder how much of the overall situation between Your Majesty and the cabinet is true and how much is false."

"So, I privately told Zhang Chucheng about Chu Fan's tainting of the royal family's bloodline."

"I want to see if he is like Hu Qi, who must be killed for the sake of the country."

"It's the same as Emperor Xianzong's punishment. If a member of the royal family breaks the law, they will be fined three cups of wine."

Facing Feng Shiyu's sincere petition, Li Zaiting's expression did not change much, he just remained gentle and calm.

This was very different from the anger he showed when he was in the capital, or even when he first came to Huguang.

The biggest experience he learned from this trip to Huguang was that one should always be reserved towards any colleague, no matter if they are in the same department or his teacher.

It is impossible for him to make the same mistake again in showing his likes and dislikes so easily in the past.

Things are the best way to train your mind, and looking at things in reverse will also help you see things more clearly.

Feng Huazhi's words are much more sophisticated than when he was still in the capital.

The unfinished meaning and self-exculpation are also completely unspoken.

Feng Huazhi did not report the matter directly, but instead lured the imperial envoy to investigate secretly.

This must be because the former was an official document from the provincial government, a public memorial, and the emperor could not deal with it even if he wanted to.

As an imperial envoy trusted by the emperor, Zhang Chucheng would certainly report to the emperor alone.

As long as the emperor is willing, let alone the story of Emperor Xianzong's handling of the Min vassal state, the Chu vassal state can even save itself the trouble of reflection this time.

It can be said that this was a deliberate attempt to lure the emperor into keeping quiet.

Feng Shiyu said that he wanted to see the emperor's overall situation, whether it was the country or the Zhu family, but in fact, he was probably eager to see the emperor's selfish desires.

This also means that once the emperor really favors the royal family, Feng Shiyu will definitely have some follow-up actions.

Trying to guess the emperor's mind and plotting against him is disloyal and unfilial!
But Feng Shiyu was magnifying the small things.

Feng Shiyu seemed to be telling everything, but in fact he was secretly trying to excuse himself.

After all, the prerequisite for testing the emperor is that Zhang Chucheng has to report the matter to the emperor so that Feng Shiyu can see the emperor's reaction.

According to this logic, he should be eager for Zhang Chucheng to return to the capital safely.

Therefore, Zhang Chucheng’s murder had nothing to do with him.

He kept a very humble attitude, but he managed to get rid of all the fatal problems.

"So you then secretly reminded Prince Dong'an that Zhang Chucheng was investigating the matter, prompting him to kill him?"

Li Zaiting seemed not to understand what Feng Shiyu meant. He just went along with what he said and made malicious guesses.

Feng Shiyu's eyelids twitched.

He smiled bitterly: "Ying Feng, since your majesty regards me as a fellow villager, how could someone like me who forms a clique for personal gain frame up my fellow clique members?"

"Besides, since I hope that Your Majesty knows about this matter, why should I cover it up for Prince Dong'an?"

"Most likely, Zhang Chucheng acted without concealment and left his mark, and he did not expect King Dong'an to be so cruel." Li Zaiting did not comment.

After being transferred to the local level, Feng Shiyu has made great progress in both his ability to govern a region and his pretense of being a seasoned official.

If Feng Huazhi could really get away with it so cleanly, then this matter should have been told to him as a clue when the imperial envoy came to Huguang, instead of pretending to be sincere and drinking with him by the river to test him.

So, even if he was really given the opportunity, Feng Shiyu didn't seize it well - no matter whether it was given by His Majesty in the past or by Li Zaiting now.

Li Zaiting thought of this and sighed in his heart.

He finally stopped asking questions and instead said to himself, "At that time, Huazhi wanted to use this to test Your Majesty. He was almost certain that Your Majesty had selfish motives and would protect the royal family and keep this matter secret."

"So, Huazhi had already made preparations in advance to embarrass His Majesty with this matter."

"He was unwilling to come forward himself, and was viewed with hostility by His Majesty, so Huazhi colluded with the King of Wugang and asked him to use the excuse of competing with the King of Dong'an for the position of the governor of Chu as an excuse to expose the matter and 'by the way' expose His Majesty's selfish intention to cover up the matter to the public."

"Unexpectedly, King Wugang had his own plans and secretly revealed Zhang Chucheng's affairs to King Dong'an."

"That's when the situation got out of your control."

He stared at Feng Shiyu and said word by word: "Feng Shiyu, is what I said correct?"

Li Zaiting's words included both the facts he knew and his speculation based on Feng Shiyu's previous statement.

He spoke in such a serious manner, as if he had witnessed it with his own eyes.

During this trip to Huguang, King Wugang kept a low profile, so naturally no one would suspect this person.

However, political affairs always follow traces - among the powerful people, whoever benefits the most is the most suspicious.

So who would benefit from inducing King Dong'an to do such a stupid thing?

Of course, a single piece of evidence is hard to prove.

But it was too obvious that someone was secretly fanning the flames in this incident in Huguang.

Due to the accusation by the Prince of Wugang, the three sons of Jing clan were instructed to betray at a critical juncture.

Especially since they themselves hadn't found out about Chu Fan's substitution of a cat for a prince, and it was actually exposed by Hu's family members themselves!

The throne of King of Chu was vacant, and the bloodline of several princes of Chu was in doubt. It immediately became a mystery as to who would take the throne of Prince.

Comparing the two, it is hard to think of any other person except King Wugang.

When Feng Shiyu heard the three words "King of Wugang", his eyebrows twitched and he fell silent again.

Just when Li Zaiting thought he would have to wait for another half an hour.

Feng Shiyu sighed, looking dejected: "Ah..."

"I still don't have enough contact with them. The brains of these royal family members really can't be guessed by common sense."

"In order to defeat King Dong'an, King Wugang leaked Zhang Chucheng's secret investigation to King Dong'an without telling me, and I watched him commit such a stupid act."

"When I found out, I was shocked and angry, but it was too late to regret!"

According to common sense among royal families, it was just a case of committing adultery with relatives, and there would not necessarily be substantial punishment.

In order to completely overthrow King Dong'an, King Wugang took advantage of the situation and made things a big deal.

In addition, this trend can be used to expose the story of the raccoon cat replacing the prince in front of everyone in a more disgusting manner, and put it on the right track.

In this way, not only will the management of government affairs be almost certain, but even the decision on who will inherit the throne of King of Chu will have to be reconsidered.

It may even be that King Wugang was just adding fuel to the flames and was not afraid even if it were known to others.

This is also why Feng Shiyu said "克" - the culprit himself was the King of Dong'an, and the King of Wugang just allowed him to commit the crime.

By the same token, what Feng Shiyu did could not be considered a crime. At most, it could be said to have violated a taboo - leaking clues to the censors who heard the news was part of his job.

At most he was hated by the emperor. After all, he was already hated by the emperor.

So Feng Shiyu hardly struggled and finally accepted the matter.

He looked at Li Zaiting who was not going to give up, and could not help but persuade him: "Yingfeng, the imperial edict has been sent outside, and the matter of Huguang has been settled."

"If you are so angry that you want to punish King Wugang, you might as well wait until we return to the capital to discuss it."

When the court does things, it always has to follow the rules.

Now that everyone has been reassured, we must not stir up trouble again and make the officials worried.

Besides, what crime did King Wugang commit?

Leaking a piece of information is not even enough to constitute instigation.

Even if we take a step back and say that the imperial edict has arrived, what else can we do to put an end to this matter?
Li Zaiting looked up at the sky, and his deceased classmates seemed to be reflected in his eyes.

He murmured, "How is this different from stabbing someone and killing them? It's not me, it's the weapon."

……

Outside the Governor's Office.

After burning incense, bathing and changing clothes, King Wugang came to the governor's gate in a sedan chair.

"Your Highness."

"Governor Liang."

King Wugang greeted the Governor Liang Menglong and officials from the Sansi Yamen with a smile.

Immediately, he stood side by side with Liang Menglong, on his left and right.

King Wugang looked around and took in the officials present.

Then he asked curiously, "Governor Liang, why is there no one from the Provincial Government Office today?"

I don't know who he is looking at.

Liang Menglong explained politely, "Some time ago, there was an earthquake in Jingzhou Prefecture. Governor Xu and Councillor Zheng went to help with the disaster relief themselves. Today, Councillor Feng is here to receive the order."

Although he was forced to follow Hai Rui, he still had to give him the face he deserved in front of others.

King Wugang suddenly realized, said "oh", and looked around again.

Liang Menglong then remembered something.

He quickly ordered his attendants, "Quick, go in and ask Councillor Feng to come out to receive the decree. The angel has arrived."

The people on both sides bowed and accepted the order.

King Wugang saw this, nodded secretly, and then stood at the gate together, waiting eagerly.

It won't take a while.

The angel finally appeared at the end of the street.

Crowded.

Flags, eunuchs, and ceremonial guards all vied for attention.

The officials and clan members present hurriedly straightened their clothes.

While tidying up, Prince Wugang couldn't help but take a look inside the governor's office.

Just at this moment, Feng Shiyu came late and walked out.

They both looked up at the same time and their eyes met.

King Wugang gave him a questioning look.

Feng Shiyu quickly looked away and walked out with an expressionless face.

It was not until Feng Shiyu passed by King Wugang that the latter heard a cold snort: "You will suffer for your own sins."

(End of this chapter)