Chapter 40: Chapter 40
Before the gate of the Western Garden, Eunuch Feng and Lu Wenyu pulled on their reins and brought their horses to a halt. The moment they dismounted, several young eunuchs hurried forward to take the reins.
“Lord Lu, please. His Majesty is still waiting,” Eunuch Feng said with a gentle smile.
Lu Wenyu turned slightly and raised a hand. “Thank you for troubling yourself, Eunuch Feng.”
The two men proceeded together, passing several covered corridors and walking through several gates before Qingxuan Palace came into view.
When they raised their heads, they saw Emperor Yuan Zhuo standing beneath the eaves before the entrance to Qingxuan Palace.
The wind howled, and snowflakes swirled through the air, yet Yuan Zhuo still wore only a thin robe. His wide sleeves billowed ceaselessly in the wind, and his hair streamed behind him. He truly resembled an immortal who had attained the Dao and remained untouched by the mortal world.
When he saw the two approaching side by side, he descended the steps barefoot and went to meet them.
Eunuch Feng could not see Chen Jing anywhere behind Yuan Zhuo, and his heart tightened with alarm.
He was shocked that Chen Jing was not attending His Majesty, for that was a grave dereliction of duty. He was also terrified that the Emperor was standing in the snow in a thin robe. If His Majesty were harmed by the cold, Chen Jing would undoubtedly lose his head.
Eunuch Feng hurried forward several steps and knelt before Yuan Zhuo.
“This old servant has kept Your Majesty waiting. This old servant is guilty!”
Lu Wenyu immediately understood that Eunuch Feng was cleverly assuming the blame. He was no fool, so he also quickened his pace and knelt before Yuan Zhuo.
“Your Majesty, please forgive me! This old minister delayed your summons and deserves ten thousand deaths!”
“Enough, enough. How can you kneel in the snow? Rise. Both of you, rise.”
Yuan Zhuo took each of them by the hand. Only after they had stood did he smile and speak in a warm, intimate voice.
“One of you is my Grand Companion, who has weathered countless storms beside me. The other is my sworn brother in life and death, who once saved my life.”
“I came out to welcome my Grand Companion and my brother. What crime could either of you possibly have committed?”
“You are innocent!”
After the Emperor had set the tone, both men finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Each supported one of Yuan Zhuo’s arms, and the three slowly entered the palace.
The moment they stepped inside, the eunuchs closed the heavy doors behind them.
The charcoal braziers burned fiercely within. Outside, snow filled the sky and the bitter wind pierced to the bone, but not the slightest chill could be felt inside.
Yuan Zhuo leaned against the steps of the raised platform and tilted his head back.
“My Grand Companion, bring Wenyu a Warming Stool. He is already past fifty. His legs are no longer as strong as they once were, and he has grown so much thinner.”
“Wenyu has endured much hardship.”
“This subject has suffered no hardship. Your Majesty has endured the greatest hardship of all! Everything this subject possesses today was granted through Your Majesty’s favor!”
Lu Wenyu cupped his hands and bowed.
Eunuch Feng said nothing. He merely brought over a Warming Stool and placed it beneath Lu Wenyu.
“Lord Lu, please sit.”
He then withdrew to the side and stood with his hands lowered.
Seated upon the upper steps of the Ritual Platform, Yuan Zhuo waved a hand.
“My Grand Companion, bring yourself a Warming Stool as well. There is no need to be so restrained.”
After seeing Eunuch Feng sit, Yuan Zhuo rose instead.
With his hands clasped behind his back and his eyes narrowed, he said, “I have recently been rereading poetry. The Last Ruler wrote a poem to the tune of Breaking the Formation:
“For forty years, my realm and home endured,
Three thousand li of rivers and mountains.
Phoenix pavilions and dragon towers pierced the Milky Way;
Jade trees and jeweled branches formed misty bowers—
When had I ever known the clash of arms?”
“I suddenly recalled it today. I remember the upper stanza, but I cannot recall the lower stanza. Do either of you know it?”
Eunuch Feng and Lu Wenyu exchanged a glance.
Both saw confusion in the other’s eyes, along with a trace of fear.
How could they possibly not know the Last Ruler’s Breaking the Formation?
However, it was a poem in which a fallen ruler lamented the destruction of his kingdom. The Emperor could recite it, but how could they—one a household servant and the other a trusted minister—dare recite such words before him?
Would that not imply that the present Emperor was also destined to become a fallen ruler?
How was that any different from chanting funeral scriptures before a living man?
It was the sort of mistake that could cost them their heads.
“Enough. It is merely a poem.”
Yuan Zhuo naturally understood their concerns, so he smiled reassuringly.
“Besides, both of you have always been unwaveringly loyal. How could I not know that? Recite it.”
Lu Wenyu and Eunuch Feng turned slightly and exchanged another glance.
Eunuch Feng nodded firmly.
As a eunuch, it would be inappropriate for him to answer an imperial question concerning literature. Lu Wenyu could only straighten his back, rise, and lower his head.
“Your Majesty, the lower stanza reads:
“Then suddenly I became a captive minister;
Shen’s wasted waist and Pan’s graying temples wore away.
Most wretched was the day I fled the ancestral temple in panic,
While the court musicians still played songs of farewell;
I wept before the palace maids.”
“This subject’s learning is shallow. I know only the words and do not understand their deeper meaning. Your Majesty, please forgive me.”
“Yes, yes! ‘I wept before the palace maids.’ Not a single word was wrong.”
Yuan Zhuo clapped his hands in approval.
“Sit. Sit.”
He then spoke gently.
“The frontier is bitterly cold. Wenyu, you have worked hard.”
After hearing this and recalling what Eunuch Feng had said at the Lu Residence, Lu Wenyu would have wasted his past twenty or thirty years in officialdom if he still could not understand the Emperor’s meaning.
Following Yuan Zhuo’s lead, he sat down, and the tension gripping his heart finally eased.
“Thank you for Your Majesty’s concern. This subject merely escorted military provisions. It could hardly be considered hardship.”
“The frontier is bitterly cold, and the soldiers defend it amid ice and snow. They are the ones who truly suffer. This subject cannot compare to them.”
“Indeed.”
Yuan Zhuo’s voice was drawn out and contemplative. He rose and said, “Half the soldiers live or die before the battle lines, while beauties continue to sing and dance beneath the commanders’ tents.”
“The frontier is under pressure, yet fat rats gorge themselves in the rear.”
“It would be one thing if they merely embezzled some silver, but they even murdered the Imperial Envoy I dispatched!”
Lu Wenyu already knew most of the details concerning the Imperial Envoy case, so he hurriedly declared his position.
“Such audacious criminals exist? This subject begs Your Majesty to issue an Imperial Decree and permit me to arrest them personally!”
Yuan Zhuo smiled.
After circling around the subject for so long, he had finally achieved his objective.
He beckoned to Eunuch Feng.
“My Grand Companion, Wenyu does not know the full details. Bring Li Zhen’s memorial from the table and let him read it.”
Eunuch Feng now understood Yuan Zhuo’s intention as well. He immediately resumed the role of an attentive servant.
First, he retrieved Li Zhen’s memorial. Then he adjusted the angle at which he held it so that Lu Wenyu’s back faced the candlelight and the words were clearly illuminated.
The memorial contained no more than two hundred characters.
Lu Wenyu read ten lines at a glance and finished it within moments.
Yet the farther he read through those few short lines, the more frightened he became.
Jianghu sects had conspired with local officials to murder an Imperial Envoy.
Both matters fell within the scope of his responsibilities.
Cold sweat rose across his back, and his mouth became dry.
Before Eunuch Feng could react, Lu Wenyu had already dropped to his knees.
“Your Majesty, this subject neglected his duties and failed to investigate, allowing this tragedy to occur. This subject begs Your Majesty to punish him!”
“Rise. This was not your fault.”
Yuan Zhuo paced with his hands behind his back, his voice deep.
“I knew that certain people in the Jianghu had become restless. I simply never imagined that they would be audacious to this extent.”
“What is past is past, but what lies ahead may still be remedied.”
“You cannot remain uninvolved in the Jiangnan case.”
“These officials are being held in Bianzhou Prison. After the New Year, travel there and coordinate with the Directorate of Ceremonial in advance. Investigate the matter thoroughly, then submit a memorial to me.”
Lu Wenyu cupped his hands.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
He returned to the Warming Stool and raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
The palace really is rather warm!
Yuan Zhuo returned to the platform and leaned comfortably against the armrest.
He posed a question and answered it himself.
“Why did the Last Ruler lose his kingdom? Because he failed to discipline those beneath him!”
“I am not a man who has never known the clash of arms.”
“I do not wish to weep before palace maids, nor do I wish my descendants to weep before palace maids!”
“The Jianghu has become far too unrestrained!”
“They wish to climb above my head and commit every manner of evil. I granted them a few additional mu of farmland, and they dared to conspire with local officials and assassinate an Imperial Envoy!”
“If I grant them even greater favor, will they come and dismantle my Golden Throne Hall next? Will they claim a few Glazed Roof Tiles for themselves as well?”
“They would not dare,” Lu Wenyu said with his head lowered and eyes downcast.
Yuan Zhuo sneered.
His expression seemed angry yet not angry, pleased yet not pleased. His voice was filled with mockery.
“Is there anything they would not dare to do?”
“They even dared to kill an Imperial Envoy!”
“Since they neither appreciate nor desire my favor, I can reclaim it.”
“Whether Buddhist or Daoist, I will take back seven-tenths of the land granted to them by imperial favor. Handle everything else as you see fit, then submit a memorial to me afterward.”
“Distribute the reclaimed land among the nearby common people. Compile proper registers and record every allocation. There must be no mistakes!”
“Lu Wenyu, I am entrusting this matter to you. The Eastern and Western Depots will assist you.”
“I know that the Embroidered Uniform Guard lacks manpower. I grant you special permission to expand its ranks. You may decide how many men to recruit.”
“No matter what it takes, you must teach the Jianghu the meaning of war—and the meaning of discipline!”
“There is no need to rush that matter yet.”
“The officials in Jiangnan are the more urgent concern. They cannot be delayed.”
“Wenyu, go to Jiangnan first and investigate the case thoroughly.”
“Determine who took bribes and who did not. Determine how much they embezzled, how much they spent, and where the remainder is hidden.”
“Investigate everything clearly and submit a memorial. There is no need to send it through the Three Judicial Offices or the Grand Secretariat. Present it directly to me.”
“Everything confiscated during the investigation is to be placed temporarily in the Bianzhou Grand Storehouse.”
“Whether it is used for military supplies or transferred to the national treasury will be decided after you receive my Imperial Handwritten Order.”
“Write the names of every implicated person in a separate memorial and submit it as well.”
“I refuse to believe that throughout the vast lands of Jiangnan and the entire Imperial Court, there is not a single honest official!”
Eunuch Feng and Lu Wenyu exchanged a glance.
Their eyes were filled with shock.
Neither of them had expected the matter to grow so vast.
The heavens over Jiangnan were about to change!
Not daring to hesitate, they hurriedly descended the steps, knelt, and kowtowed.
“Your Majesty is wise!”