The Xu residence had been rather quiet these days.
Prime Minister Xu was in an extremely bad mood, and everyone in the residence could see it. As a rule, Prime Minister Xu had always had the final say in the entire household. From top to bottom, apart from that eldest young master who ran wild outside and never came home, there was not a single person who dared to provoke the Prime Minister when he was in a foul mood.
At the same time, everyone vaguely knew that the Xu family had recently offended the Emperor. Even the officials in court did not dare associate with the Xu family too freely. The Prime Minister’s residence, which had once been crowded with visitors, had now become deserted.
Today, when word came that a eunuch from the palace had arrived with a message, the atmosphere throughout the Xu residence became even more tense.
It was probably not good news.
The servants of the Xu residence were all somewhat uneasy. In private, they whispered among themselves, wondering what had happened in the residence this time.
But although they discussed it among themselves, they tacitly stayed far away from the study.
Because at this moment, Prime Minister Xu was discussing matters with his eldest son, Xu Zongwei, inside the study.
The atmosphere inside was oppressive.
“Father, this…” Xu Zongwei stood before Prime Minister Xu’s desk. “The arrangements in Jiangnan were supposed to be flawless, and you know that yourself. It’s just that that boy, Cong’an, somehow went and caused so much trouble, allowing the Fifth Prince to seize the evidence…”
“I told you long ago to bring Cong’an back. Who told you to drag your feet like this?” Prime Minister Xu glared furiously at him.
Xu Zongwei hurriedly said, “I had already ordered his food and clothing allowances reduced. Originally, it wouldn’t have taken long to force him back, but…”
“But you simply couldn’t control your wife!” Prime Minister Xu roared. “You dragged it out until now, and didn’t it end up causing a catastrophe?”
Xu Zongwei did not dare argue back.
But he also knew that his father’s anger was actually quite unreasonable. There was only one male heir in the entire younger generation of their Xu family, Xu Cong’an. Who in the entire family did not spoil and indulge him? Since childhood, Xu Zongwei had felt that the child was being raised far too indulgently. But the boy’s constitution was poor, and even his own father spoiled him terribly.
A few months ago, when Xu Cong’an secretly ran out of Chang’an to play, Xu Zongwei had wanted to force the boy back, but he also had to take his wife and parents into consideration. If he were even slightly strict, let alone his wife making a scene, even his mother would cry bitterly at him, mourning her precious grandson.
Xu Zongwei was now the Minister of Revenue, and his duties were already complicated and numerous. On top of that, Xue Yan had been stirring up trouble fiercely in court throughout the past year, leaving him stretched too thin. He could only turn a blind eye.
On the surface, he reduced his son’s allowances, but allowed his mother and wife to use their private funds to make up the difference. Little by little, he had instead allowed Xu Cong’an to spend half a year playing around outside.
He had never expected that all that playing would end up causing such a huge disaster.
Xu Zongwei stood silently beside the desk.
Prime Minister Xu forced down a couple of mouthfuls of tea, temporarily suppressing his anger, and spoke again.
“Now is not the time to settle accounts. Fortunately, we still have Eunuch Lingfu. His Majesty has only just received the news, so there is still room to turn things around.”
Hearing this, the heaviness on Xu Zongwei’s face did not diminish in the slightest.
“What do you mean, Father?” he asked.
After all, the charges against the Xu family were now solidly established. An official in Jinling had embezzled money, and all of it had gone to the Xu family’s son. Combined with the trouble that had broken out in Shandong some time ago, there was already enough to cost both him and his father their lives.
On top of that, according to what Lingfu had told them, Xue Yan had also traced the matter to the Yunnan Prince and seemed to have found clues indicating that the people causing unrest in Jiangnan had been sent by the Yunnan Prince.
The Xu family’s financial dealings with the Yunnan Prince had not begun only recently. At present, the soldiers under the Yunnan Prince were practically like private troops raised by the Xu family.
Although the Emperor might not be able to determine immediately who had been funding the Yunnan Prince, it was only a matter of time. The Xu family had embezzled such enormous sums of money, and transactions of such magnitude could not possibly leave no traces.
Moreover, the Emperor was already preparing to send troops against the Yunnan Prince. Once the Yunnan Prince was captured and brought back to court, would he really keep his mouth shut for the Xu family?
The day the Emperor uncovered the truth would be the day the Xu family was wiped out.
However one looked at it, this was a dead end.
Prime Minister Xu looked at Xu Zongwei.
“Just now, Lingfu also brought another piece of news. I haven’t told you about it yet,” he said.
Xu Zongwei hurriedly asked, “What is it?”
Prime Minister Xu slowly said, “The Jun family’s daughter is carrying an imperial heir, and she is already more than three months along. His Majesty is overjoyed and has already made her a Noble Consort.”
Xu Zongwei was shocked.
“Wasn’t she already unable to bear children?”
“I heard she has a capable maidservant at her side now, one who won’t be swayed by money or pressure and is also highly skilled in medicine,” Prime Minister Xu said. “They kept this hidden very tightly this time. They only let the Emperor know once the pregnancy had stabilized at three months.”
At this, Prime Minister Xu raised his eyes and looked at Xu Zongwei.
“You should understand that whether it is Xue Yan or the child in the Jun family’s daughter’s womb, if either of them ascends the throne, the Xu family’s fate will not be any better than it is today,” he said.
“Now, before all hope is completely lost, the only way is to put ourselves in a desperate situation and fight our way back to life. Only then can we preserve the Xu family and allow it to flourish for several more years.”
“But Father, what are we supposed to do?” Xu Zongwei hurriedly asked. “The forces we worked so hard to arrange have already been exposed by the Fifth Prince. We can’t produce anything else for the moment…”
“We still have one final trump card,” Prime Minister Xu said.
Xu Zongwei’s expression changed drastically.
“You mean…” He paused for a long time before finally forcing the words out with difficulty. “The Fourth Prince?”
All the arrangements they had made were based on the fact that there was an imperial prince in the palace. They were the prince’s faction, while the prince was their backer.
But this trump card could not be used lightly.
When could it be used?
…Only when the dynasty changed hands.
Xu Zongwei stared at his father in shock.
His father merely looked at him, his expression calm as usual. Yet Xu Zongwei saw the bloodshot veins in his father’s eyes, and the madness concealed beneath that calm.
It was the madness and determination of a gambler driven to the end of the road, staking his entire fortune on one final gamble to see whether he would win or lose.
——
Qingping Emperor had made up his mind to send troops. However, when to send them and which troops to deploy still required careful consideration.
The military commanders of the previous dynasty had repeatedly rebelled, throwing the entire realm into fear and unrest. Thus, when Great Yong was founded, the founding emperor deliberately suppressed military commanders and cultivated civil officials.
This custom had continued through several generations of emperors and remained so to this day. Looking throughout the court, the military commanders with any real authority were mostly those stationed on the borders. Finding a military commander who could actually speak before the Emperor was truly difficult.
Moreover, the Xu family had already lost Qingping Emperor’s trust. When summoning people to discuss matters, Qingping Emperor also had to consider their relationship with the Xu family. Anyone who was too closely associated with the Xu family could not be chosen.
Although the intelligence Xue Yan had sent did not explicitly identify the Xu family as the ones funding the Yunnan Prince, the confessions stated that officials in the court had been working together with the rebels from within and without.
Combined with the Xu family’s two recent cases involving enormous amounts of embezzlement, even if Qingping Emperor did not want to suspect them, he had no choice but to wonder whether the Xu family was the one secretly collaborating with the Yunnan Prince.
Thus, after going back and forth, Qingping Emperor still summoned a group of civil officials to discuss arranging the troops that would travel south to suppress the vassal rebellion.
As soon as the civil officials arrived, they began arguing endlessly.
When it came time to actually use military force, the disadvantages of emphasizing civil officials and suppressing military commanders became apparent. Great Yong had fortresses in every direction, and the number of soldiers stationed at each was fixed, making them difficult to move casually. Moreover, they needed to send troops quickly and could not allow the Yunnan Prince to discover it in advance, so they needed to mobilize troops stationed relatively close to Chang’an.
The civil officials argued back and forth, but could not come to a conclusion.
Among this group of civil officials, however, there was one official who had hardly spoken at all. He merely nodded and shook his head along with the others.
The others argued until their mouths were dry, while Qingping Emperor became increasingly irritated from listening. No one noticed that this official seemed vaguely uncomfortable, though it was difficult to tell exactly why.
Only Lingfu kept his eyes fixed on him intermittently.
Lingfu knew who this man was.
He was originally part of the Jiang family’s faction and had also come from Linjiang Academy in Jinling. This man had originally been extremely upright, but some time ago, because of matters involving his children, the Xu family had seized a weakness they could use against him.
Today, this man had been arranged here by the Xu family.
The man looked around and happened to meet Lingfu’s gaze.
He paused and shifted his eyes away slightly.
Just then, the group of arguing civil officials temporarily fell silent.
Qingping Emperor rubbed his brow and sighed.
“Minister Li.” He took a sip of tea and happened to look toward that official. “I’ve noticed that you haven’t said much. Do you have some thoughts?”
The official trembled as he stood and knelt before Qingping Emperor.
“I have an idea,” he said, kowtowing. “I make so bold as to offer my opinion. I ask Your Majesty to forgive me.”
“Go ahead,” Qingping Emperor said.
The official paused. His entire body was tense under Lingfu’s gaze, making it look as though he were nervous because of the idea he was about to propose. There was no obvious flaw in his appearance.
“There are troops at Qinmen Pass, north of Chang’an. They can be used,” he said.
For a moment, the entire room fell silent.
Qingping Emperor’s brows drew tightly together. After pondering for a moment, he said, “Minister Li, do you know whose troops those soldiers at Qinmen Pass belong to?”
“First, this subject knows that every soldier and every army under Heaven belongs to Your Majesty,” the official said, bowing his head to the ground. “The soldiers at Qinmen Pass belong to General Xu Zonglun, but first, General Xu Zonglun is merely a son whom Prime Minister Xu adopted from another branch of the family, and he is not close to Prime Minister Xu. Second, General Xu is utterly loyal. When Your Majesty personally led the expedition that year, he even risked his life to save Your Majesty. Third…” The official hesitated before continuing boldly, “Your Majesty has kept the Xu family’s embezzlement concealed for the time being. Presumably, Your Majesty has also not yet made up your mind and does not know how to deal with them.”
Qingping Emperor looked at him silently.
He had indeed gotten everything right.
Back then, he had also known something about Prime Minister Xu’s family affairs. Prime Minister Xu had few children and had never had a son, so he adopted the child of his own brother. That child was Xu Zonglun. But only two years after Xu Zonglun came into the family, Prime Minister Xu’s wife gave birth to his biological son, Xu Zongwei.
Prime Minister Xu devoted himself to raising Xu Zongwei and paid no attention to Xu Zonglun. If not for this, Xu Zonglun would not have gone to the frontier before he had even reached adulthood.
And Xu Zonglun had indeed once risked his life to save Qingping Emperor.
Thinking of him, Qingping Emperor fell silent.
Although he hated the Xu family’s embezzlement of funds right under his nose, at present he could not find another powerful family to replace them. The stability of the court had always required balancing the various forces. The greatest taboo was suppressing one side and allowing another to grow too powerful.
Qingping Emperor remained silent for a long while.
“Continue,” he said.
Hearing this, the official continued with his forehead against the floor.
“Your Majesty might as well give the Xu family an opportunity and let them send troops to pacify the Yunnan Prince. If they perform well, Your Majesty can punish them afterward, but spare their lives. In the future, they will certainly fight to the death to repay Your Majesty.”
The entire room was silent. Qingping Emperor did not speak, and no official dared to contradict him.
The official continued, “If Your Majesty is still uneasy, General Xu Zonglun can serve as the deputy commander, without authority over decisions. Then Your Majesty can appoint someone you trust as the commander-in-chief.”
Those words struck directly at Qingping Emperor’s heart.
After a moment, he put down his teacup.
“Do as you have suggested,” he said. “Someone, issue the imperial decree. Summon the troops stationed at Qinmen Pass to Chang’an immediately. I will personally see them off.”