Chapter 37 – The White Bird is in the Lake
“All for the sake of Gyeongguk.”
“All for the sake of the Kingdom of Qing?”
Yuan Hongdao rode in the carriage, heading towards the fiefdom of Elder Princess Xinyang, but in his heart, he felt a hint of absurdity at these words that he had guarded deep within his heart for many years.
Many years ago, when the Eldest Princess began to fall in love with the present Lord Chancellor, at that time, as the first covert members of the second division of the Supervisory Academy, Yuan Hongdao accepted Chen Pingping’s arrangement, had a new identity and a new life, and gradually became close friends with Lin Ruofu, who was not yet very prominent at that time.
At that time, it was just a chance meeting of two scholars.
At that time Lin Ruofu was full of vigor, Yuan Hongdao calm and simple, and experienced all kinds of coincidences arranged in the hospital, and finally became the so-called “close friends”. With the passage of time, Lin Ruofu in the support of the Princess, in the officialdom all the way smooth, while Yuan Hongdao is willing to stay in Lin Ruofu’s side as a guest, even when Lin Ruofu countless times hinted that expressly allows him to become a party of the parental officials, he just a faint smile, refused.
Because of this, Lin Ruofu regarded him as the only pure friend in his life. It was just that the Chancellor hadn’t thought that this friend, right from the start, was carrying another mission.
Yuan Hongdao actually gradually adapted to this kind of life, because the courtyard had not been able to arrange any missions for him, the only few people who knew his identity had also kept their distance, and the only thing Yuan Hongdao helped the Supervisory Yuan with during these years was just to round up a lie on behalf of the Supervisory Yuan after Cangshan Alibi House’s Second Prince Lin was killed, planting the stolen goods to Dongyi City.
Precisely because it was his word, Lin Ruofu believed it.
Yuan Hongdao had only betrayed Lin Ruofu once in his life, and it was that one time that was enough to make Lord Chancellor quit the court in disgrace. This was His Majesty’s intention, via the Supervisory Academy, for him to carry out specifically.
Perhaps it was the betrayal of his old friend that really made Lord Chancellor see this human world clearly, so on the second day his entry into the palace became unstoppable, and even Fan Jian’s repeated hints he ignored. For the future of the Lin family, the chancellor has all been deposited in the son-in-law Fan Xian, naturally not willing to in-laws into this mess.
In the middle of March, the Minister of Rites, Guo You’s death, the Minister of Justice, Han Zhiwei’s relegation, the Lord Chancellor pleaded guilty to old age, His Majesty retained to no avail, gave silver to return home.
All the initiatives of the Metropolitan Police Department on the case of Wu Bo’an went up in smoke, and that Wu did not know where to go. His Majesty has a decree, He Zongwei talent and virtue are all good, into the palace to be rewarded, the grace of the decree to exempt from the examination to be appointed as the imperial historian of the metropolitan inspectorate.
“Why?” Fan Xian sat on the carriage, gently flicking the piece of paper in his hand, this was the internal report of the Supervisory Academy that passed on the dynamics of the court, and as the Tisan, even though he was far away from the northern border at this time, he received the news from Kyoto only a few days later than the rest of the world.
His father-in-law was certainly not a good official in the pure sense of the word, and the title of treacherous prime minister was not for nothing, but Fan Xian still felt it was absurd that the prime minister of a country had been defeated in the official struggles of the kingdom of Qing just like this, without a word!
Fan Xian must consider the future, although the prime minister’s father-in-law does not seem to have helped himself much in this year, but he is clear, including the chun exam case, including many things, the reason why the court in the civil officials have been maintaining a tolerant attitude towards themselves, are in the face of the father-in-law, in addition to the two Shangshu adults who have been unlucky, he has never met a real challenge in the officialdom of the State of Qing.
The object of Fan Xian’s questioning was the generation of eloquent Sean who was unable to dance while wearing chains.
“Why?” Xiao En analyzed somewhat indifferently, “Because you made a move, the Emperor of Qing Guo took the opportunity to weaken the civil power, but just two shangshu, how can you satisfy an emperor’s appetite, you are the son-in-law of the chancellor, and now your reputation is so great, in the future, if the emperor really wants to let you run the supervisory court, then today, for safety’s sake, the chancellor must also step down quickly. ”
“As for how to step down ……” Sean mockingly laughed: “An emperor who wants to make a subject step down can have countless ways, not to mention that your emperor has always been a strange person who likes to use the Supervisory Yuan. ”
The reason why he said that the Emperor of Qing was a weirdo was because the power of the Supervisory Yuan was too powerful, yet the Emperor still trusted Chen Pingping immensely, which was originally an anomaly.
Fan Xian shook his head and said, “There is something fishy about this case. Even if the father-in-law is heartbroken over the death of his second brother and wants to cut off Wu Bo’an’s children and grandchildren, there are still plenty of methods available. As for sniping Wu in the capital and coincidentally letting the second prince and Li Hongcheng run into each other, such a stupid method of action is too far from father-in-law’s ability.”
“There are traitors around the Chancellor.” Sean said faintly, “As for whether it is the Eldest Princess’s people or your Emperor’s Majesty’s people, there actually …… isn’t much difference.”
Fan Xian was not sure, “To be able to force father-in-law to step down, there must be very tangible evidence, father-in-law is a careful person, how could he possibly allow a traitor from an enemy force to have access to those important things?”
Where did he think that the one who betrayed his father-in-law was that Mr. Yuan Hongdao Yuan, and even more so, he did not guess for the time being that there was a shadow of the Supervisory Board behind this matter.
Sean laughed somewhat quickly, “Hidden in the middle of the night, how much do you young people know?” He was qualified to say this, back then, the civil unrest in the dynasty of Qing was planned by this old man, if it wasn’t because of the sudden death of the two princes, perhaps the world now, would have long since lost the name of Qing.
Fan Xian’s eyes slightly jumped twice, in the conversation with Xiao En these days, he found that although the other party had been imprisoned for many years, and was not clear about the distribution of power in the court of Qing, but Fan Xian slightly explained, Xiao En could clearly find out where the problem was, and even this Chun Exam case, what kind of punishment those capital officials involved would receive were all guessed exactly.
Sean once said that the prime minister will definitely step down because of this matter. But this matter is not half a omen, and the chun exam case is not involved in the House, and the chancellor’s relationship with the rupture into hatred of the Princess is far away in Xinyang, so Fan Xian not much believe …… did not expect to be actually said by him, Fan Xian can not help but be a little shocked at the other side of the venomous vision, and this is to know that there is no falsehood in the name of the name.
Fan Xian sighed and looked at this old man, suddenly said, “I feel more and more curious, why didn’t the Supervisory Court kill you immediately after they caught you in the first place.”
“Because I have a lot of useful things in my head.”
“Then at least you could have hit harder.” Fan Xian said, “Like chopping off your five limbs.”
“What does five limbs mean?” Sean was a bit curious, “There’s a limit to everything, and when things exceed the limit of what I can tolerate, I figure that at least I still have the ability to kill myself, whereas you …… aren’t willing to pay such a price.”
Fan Xian raised an eyebrow and thought about it, it was indeed true, and after getting up and bowing to him, he got out of the carriage.
He stood at the edge of the carriage, looking at the fresh reeds slowly drifting by the lake in the distance, and vaguely understood what His Majesty the Emperor really meant. The court was in need of new blood, the so-called flowing water does not rot, the Chancellor had stayed in that position for too long, and his own sudden rise in Kyoto had made the matter of the Chancellor’s stepping down even more of a priority.
There was no noble in the palace that would allow the head of the hundred officials, Lord Chancellor, to have a son-in-law who was in charge of the Supervisory Court. If His Majesty really intended to reuse Fan Xian in the coming year, he would have to let the Chancellor leave …… or else he would suppress Fan Xian, but Fan Xian knew in his heart that that strange His Majesty would not really suppress himself.
The waves behind the Yangtze River pushed the waves before it, and if Fan Xian himself was considered to be the wave at the back, then the prime minister was undoubtedly the wave at the front that was powerless to beat the shore, and he had to say goodbye to this stage of history to make enough space.
This is just a very normal metabolism in the officialdom, see the chancellor left quite dashingly, think long expected the end of the story, but Fan Xian thought of staying in Kyoto Wan Er, and thought of that naive and clumsy Dabao who threw in the towel with himself for no reason, his heart is still a little worried, and a faint color of worry went up on his brow.
“I hope father and Chen Pingping can keep the rest of the Lin family.” He frowned at the reed that was still yellow, wondering why it refused to turn green. His heart suddenly thumped, and he began to think about the role that the Supervisory Court had played in this matter.
For no reason at all, Fan Xian felt a trace of anger, as the Supervisory Court’s Tisan himself, he simply didn’t believe that the courtyard would be unaware of his majesty’s intentions, and then associating it with the poison on Siri Li Li’s body, he suddenly felt a bit chilly.
Chen Pingping was just constantly removing the stumbling blocks on Fan Xian’s path forward, even if the other party was Fan Xian’s loved one, this means of removal seemed unusually cold, unusually ruthless, and would not even consider Fan Xian’s feelings at all.
In the afternoon, after many days of traveling, the delegation finally approached the Great Lake at the border of the two countries. The Great Lake had no name, it was just called the Great Lake – because it was exceptionally large. Fan Xian looked at the ten thousand hectares of blue waves in front of him, and when he was attacked by the breeze coming from the lake, the whole person was much more awake, and a sunny and beautiful smile appeared on his face again.
Although the delegation caravan had already arrived at the big lake, it would still take several days before they could travel around the lake to the east and truly enter the territory of Northern Qi. Fan Xian was clear that if Sean really wanted to make a move, it should be within these few days.
In the distance, there are waterfowls flying comfortably against the lake surface, their long bird edges gliding in the water, closing their beaks sensitively after bumping into fish, flying towards the lake shore, and then stepping on the non-stop bouncing fish with their fine claws, lifting their necks to the sky after holding them, and then swallowing them with a gulp, looking incredibly relaxed and at ease.
Fan Xian suddenly moved, stepped toward the carriage that had not been there for many days, lifted the curtain and entered, looking at the slightly stunned Si Li Li girl who revealed a complicated expression, smiling slightly.