Xie Wenzhao looked at the three concubines of his on the shore, and at Meng Fu, who had already turned around and left with a sword in her hand, falling into deep suspicion—
Whose people were they, exactly?
Did they still remember whose concubines they were?
Sun Yulian saw that Xie Wenzhao was still soaking in the water and reminded him aloud, “Lord Marquis, Furen has already left, how about you come up first?”
Xie Wenzhao didn’t speak. His expression was extremely gloomy. In the past, if Hua Xiaoling and the others saw him like this, they would certainly be terrified for quite a while. But after being scolded by Furen these past few days, they no longer found this look of Lord Marquis’s anything to be afraid of.
It was still Furen in a rage who was scarier.
Xie Wenzhao knew that he currently had no way to deal with Meng Fu. Just now when he mentioned the government office, it was merely a casual threat. Not to mention that deep down, he still wasn’t willing to truly harm these women in his rear courtyard—just this matter alone, if it spread, it would be too shameful. The entire Imperial Capital would laugh at their Xuanping Marquis Manor.
He raised his hand to wipe his face, then turned and climbed up the shore from the other side of the pool, and just like that, dripping wet, walked toward his Songxuan Hall.
All along the way, the servants who saw him had surprised expressions. Xie Wenzhao didn’t pay them any mind. After all, he did look rather wretched right now. It wasn’t until he entered his own bedchamber and was about to change clothes that he finally noticed—there was actually still a lotus leaf on his head. That lotus leaf was vividly green, purely green, full-of-life green.
Xie Wenzhao felt that lately he had really been utterly unlucky. He raised his hand and took the lotus leaf off his head, then let out a long sigh. He and Meng Fu simply couldn’t communicate. From now on, he might as well treat it as if there was no Meng Fu in the manor.
Xie Wenzhao called for a servant to prepare a bucket of bathwater for him, but then saw the servant holding a thick stack of account books in his arms. In that instant, Xie Wenzhao only felt the world spin around him, and thought he was a bit dizzy.
Then he really did faint, collapsing straight to the floor.
The servant at the door was startled, and the account books in his arms scattered all over the ground. He quickly rushed over, shouting, “Lord Marquis! Lord Marquis—”
Songxuan Hall immediately fell into a state of utter chaos.
But all of this, whether it concerned Li Yue or Meng Fu, had nothing to do with them anymore.
After Meng Fu returned to the palace, she picked out all the memorials submitted over the past few years about raising the status of military officials and reviewed them one by one. These past few years sounded like there should’ve been many, but in reality, the ones she could find were few and far between—and a few of them were even written by the same person.
Ever since the founding of Da Zhou, this was the national policy. A few years ago, due to the defeat at the Northern Frontier, there were indeed people who proposed selecting more military officials for promotion. However, the officials in court dragged their feet on this matter for years, and in the end, nothing was decided. Later, when Li Yue went to the Northern Frontier and reversed the losing trend of Da Zhou, this matter was gradually no longer brought up. Most of the court officials felt that the current situation was just fine.
In the court, almost everyone with a voice was a civil official. Naturally, they wouldn’t feel that this policy of favoring the civil over the military was inappropriate. They originally looked down on military men, thinking them brainless—and if the country were really handed over to them, it would surely be doomed.
But the affairs of the world were not a game where one could follow a set of rules all the way to the end. Civil officials had their uses, and military officials had their areas of expertise as well. Take the matter of military training, for example—the plans written by those Ministry of War officials looked proper and detailed, quite like the real thing, but Li Yue only needed one glance before he felt like cursing.
At first Meng Fu didn’t quite understand either, but after listening to Tang Mingqi and His Majesty’s analysis, she came to understand—the thoughts of those long-seated officials in court were far too naive. They sounded good, but in practice, soldiers simply wouldn’t obey every commander in the way they envisioned.
This move by His Majesty was one of opposing the civil official faction. Even though Meng Fu had a bit of a plan in mind, she knew that accomplishing this wouldn’t be easy. She would probably have to tussle with the hundred officials for a while.
As she expected, the next day at morning court, when she brought up the prepared few reforms, the officials below, led by Wei Jun’an and Liu Changlan, immediately voiced firm opposition to these reforms.
The officials hadn’t expected that His Majesty would play so big as soon as he started. At the beginning, when they heard His Majesty say he wanted to promote some military officers, they began using their brains to think about how to persuade His Majesty to drop this idea. Right after that, they heard His Majesty say that if there weren’t suitable candidates, then some officials would first be selected and sent to the Northern Frontier for proper tempering, then transferred back to the capital. Some officials didn’t dare open their mouths anymore, afraid that if they made a sound, it would provoke His Majesty into fury and, in a fit of rage, he might directly send them to the Northern Frontier. And when they finally heard that one-fifth of the court officials would be cut down, the officials were completely dumbfounded.
What exactly was His Majesty trying to do!
They had originally planned in their hearts how to persuade His Majesty, but His Majesty didn’t follow the usual script. As a result, they didn’t even know which reform to try and talk His Majesty out of first.
The officials in the court suddenly went huala-la and knelt down in a large group, speaking in unison: “We beseech Your Majesty to think thrice, we beseech Your Majesty to think thrice!”
Meng Fu calmly said, “This is what I decided after thinking thrice.”
Wei Jun’an had originally, in order to compete with Liu Changlan for favor, decided to go along with everything His Majesty said and to show sufficient loyalty in front of His Majesty. But this time, His Majesty was playing too big.
Wei Jun’an’s submissiveness in front of His Majesty was mainly for the sake of winning benefits for the Central Secretariat. If His Majesty were to promote a bunch of military officers, then the power of the Central Secretariat would surely be weakened. In that case, what meaning would there be in gaining His Majesty’s favor?
He swept a glance from the corner of his eye at Liu Changlan not far away—this old fox could really keep his cool. Even at a time like this, he still looked calm and composed. But now Wei Jun’an no longer had the mind to compare who could keep calmer. This was a major matter that concerned the vital interests of all their colleagues. He had to step forward and save his fellow officials from fire and water.
Wei Jun’an stepped forward and raised his voice to advise: “Your Majesty, this matter absolutely must not be done!”
Meng Fu lowered her eyes. The reaction of the court officials now was all within her expectations. She said to Wei Jun’an: “Beloved Subject Wei may say why it must not be done.”
These days, Meng Fu had always spoken quite cordially with Wei Jun’an. Now that he couldn’t tell the joy or anger in Meng Fu’s tone, Wei Jun’an’s heart immediately rose up with alarm. He couldn’t help but think that it might be even scarier now than when His Majesty used to glare and scold them every day.
But when His Majesty was cordial, it truly made Wei Jun’an happy. Even when he got married back in the day, he hadn’t been this happy. Chatting and laughing with His Majesty made him feel like a worthy minister who had met a wise ruler. When he received His Majesty’s praise, he would feel his blood boiling with excitement, and would make a vow in his heart to devote himself to His Majesty, sparing no effort until death.
But devoting himself didn’t include these current matters.
Wei Jun’an forced himself to speak: “Your Majesty, since the founding of our Da Zhou, it has always been this way. The Sacred Ancestor took history as a mirror, observed the gains and losses of past dynasties, and left behind the ancestral teaching of governing the country through civil administration. Now, more than two hundred years have passed. Our Da Zhou’s cultural prosperity is thriving, all under heaven is at peace, rituals and laws are in proper order, and it is a scene of great flourishing. Why would Your Majesty suddenly wish to install military officials in the court? Furthermore, to hand over full military authority to the local commanders—if those generals develop disloyal intentions and stir up rebellion, even if it won’t shake the foundation of our Da Zhou, the common people would still suffer. The one who seizes the world, always does so by the military. Where military power exists, it rises; where military power leaves, it falls. Your Majesty, please think thrice!”
The concerns raised by Wei Jun’an were ones that Meng Fu had thoroughly studied in the past few days. She had also talked them over with His Majesty. His Majesty didn’t actually want to govern through military power. In the many years since Da Zhou’s founding, although their wars had always been fought terribly, they had done quite well in areas such as cultural thought and economic development. So he merely wanted to slightly balance the relationship between civil and military officials. For over two hundred years, Da Zhou had only honored civil administration and not martial prowess. In the past, when they needed to resist the foreign tribes at the Northern Frontier, they recruited soldiers multiple times. The result, however, was an excessive number of useless officers and soldiers—the army was like a block of tofu, collapsing into pieces at the lightest bump.
As for those past dynasties that had been overthrown, most of the time it was because those in power had some problems, causing the country to slowly decline into hardship. The people and soldiers weren’t fools. Why would they choose to leave behind peaceful days to do something where they could lose their heads?
If they didn’t have the ability to hold the country steady, then being overthrown was only what they deserved.
Li Yue didn’t really care how many generations the Li family’s emperors would last after him. What he cared about was solving all the problems he could see while he was the emperor.
This world has always been occupied by the capable. From ancient times to now, it hasn’t been rare for imperial princes to rebel. So why didn’t the Sacred Ancestor also strip the princes of all their power? Just because the princes were all of Li family blood, does that mean that when they fought each other it wasn’t a threat to the empire?