Chapter 74
Chapter 74
The entire court went numb.
The ministers stood frozen in shock, feeling as though something had scoured their minds clean.
Even Yang Qinghui had never imagined his corruption and perversion of justice could be explained through such “hidden motives.” He immediately adopted the expression of a man bearing humiliation for a greater cause and stepped forward heavily, bitterness filling his every word.
“This old subject believed that the world would find my conduct impossible to understand and had long prepared to suffer its misjudgment. I truly never expected the Second Prince to see through the painstaking design behind my actions… This old subject, this old subject… Ah…”
His throat choked with emotion. He shook his head, struggling to continue, his face both tragic and heroic. “Everything was for the people of Jian’an. This old subject dared not betray the late emperor’s trust or disappoint Your Majesty’s great hopes. My only choice was to enter the game myself and play my life as a piece, preparing against the disasters and suffering Jian’an may face next year…”
Xie Chengze was moved to tears and raised his sleeve to wipe them away. “Minister Yang is righteousness itself!”
The officials who had defended Yang Qinghui also seized the moment and shouted, “Minister Yang is righteousness itself! Why must you suffer so?”
Only Censor Chen of the Censorate looked furious. “Turning black into white and confounding right and wrong! Nothing but the braying of donkeys and barking of dogs – utter absurdity!”
He stormed forward and rebuked Xie Chengze. “Yang Qinghui’s actions were blatant corruption and perversion of justice! Now he dresses up his crimes with empty claims of preparing for future hardship, seeking to escape responsibility, while the assembled officials rush to echo him and take the lie for truth. It is the greatest farce under Heaven!”
“The Second Prince is an imperial scion of Jian’an, supported by all the people. Your Highness ought to distinguish right from wrong and severely punish the treacherous. How can you shield such a corrupt man, set a vile example for every official, and leave endless harm behind?”
His ringing words poured every ounce of his anger and disappointment onto Xie Chengze. Then he turned to Emperor Jian. “Your Majesty! This old subject boldly petitions you to order the Censorate to investigate Yang Qinghui’s corruption and perversion of justice with the utmost rigor. You must not treat this lightly and nurture evil through indulgence, lest the principles of government be ruined and the court’s good name stained!”
Emperor Jian fell silent for a moment.
He had never imagined Xie Chengze would step forward to shield Yang Qinghui. In the past, if evidence of corruption lay before him, Xie Chengze would certainly have denounced Yang Qinghui in the harshest terms and rushed to demand a thorough investigation into every past crime.
Why was he suddenly trying to absolve Yang Qinghui now?
Were they secret conspirators, or did Xie Chengze have some other purpose…?
As Emperor Jian considered the question, Xie Chengze’s astonished voice suddenly rang from below. “Censor Chen, did you just yell at me?”
Emperor Jian: ?
Censor Chen: ?
Wait. Who yelled at you?
“Was anything this prince said wrong?” Xie Chengze demanded stubbornly. “Tell me, if Minister Yang had not embezzled and diverted that silver, where would we find disaster-relief funds when famine strikes next year?”
Censor Chen was old, but his mind remained keen. “Whatever the circumstances, the law of the land is strict. Yang Qinghui had no right to abuse his authority! Why does Your Highness not consider how many innocent people suffered behind his corruption? Were the people who starved to death not human lives?”
Xie Chengze looked unconcerned, his tone overbearing. “If the court were not incompetent, why would Minister Yang have needed to trade old lives for new ones? It was all for the continuation of the Jian’an Dynasty!”
“Has Your Highness never considered that if those suffering people had survived to farm and pay taxes, the treasury would never have become so empty?” Censor Chen rebuked him, bitterly disappointed.
“Ridiculous!” Xie Chengze swept his sleeve and sneered. “How could the farming taxes of a handful of commoners ever replenish our vast state treasury?”
He mocked in a ringing voice, “Censor Chen has spent so long at court that he has never gone among the people to see the misery in which they live! On this journey to Yizhou, this prince saw nothing but corrupt officials and impoverished people. Farming could not even fill their bellies. How could it ever fill the treasury with silver?”
“If keeping people alive were enough to make them farm diligently and pay taxes, then would producing endless children not fill the Jian’an Dynasty’s coffers with gold and silver? What need would we have for court officials like you? You might as well go home and make babies!”
Xie Chengze continued his furious attack. “Year after year, disaster relief quenches only the thirst of the moment and never the hunger of the future. The people still cannot eat their fill or survive the winter cold! Yet you are content with the status quo. You only copy the outdated relief methods of fallen dynasties, dodge the fundamental problem at every turn, muddle through your days, and ruin the realm of Jian’an!”
“If Minister Yang had not embezzled Yizhou’s relief funds this time, how would Prefect Liang have been driven to scour historical works and geographical records, rack his brains, and devise the Land of Abundance Plan? Not only did it solve Yizhou’s floods, it may one day bring prosperity to the entire Jian’an Dynasty!”
“And if Minister Yang had not embezzled Yizhou’s relief funds, how would this prince have discovered that all of you are so useless, nothing but decorations at court? A local official, once pushed, at least understands that practice matters more than theory. But your minds hold nothing but the stench of copper and excrement! Not only do you fail to appreciate Minister Yang’s strategy and precious sacrifice, you press him at every step, imprisoned by decaying laws and incapable of adapting!”
Xie Chengze’s sophistry left Censor Chen’s head buzzing. He pointed at the prince and stammered, “Y-You… This is sophistry!”
“A prince who cannot argue sophistry is no good prince, just as an official who will not improve is no good official!”
Xie Chengze lifted his head confidently. “What use are any of you standing here? You do not know how to improve farming tools, use mountains and rivers for agriculture, connect every corner of the Jian’an Dynasty, or make the dynasty develop sustainably. If that is the case, you might as well follow Minister Yang’s example in corruption and perversion of justice, force local officials beyond their limits, and make them clean up the mess for you!”
Yang Qinghui: ?
Was it his imagination? Why did something feel increasingly wrong?
Censor Chen’s face reddened under Xie Chengze’s barrage, yet he had to admit that if the court officials were truly useful, how could the people have been reduced to suffering and destitution?
“Then what exactly does the Second Prince mean?” Censor Chen demanded in embarrassed anger. “Are we to disregard Minister Yang’s corruption and perversion of justice entirely?”
Yang Qinghui also looked toward Xie Chengze. Xie Chengze winked at him: Don’t worry! This prince is on your side!
Only then did Yang Qinghui relax.
The Second Prince was unquestionably one of his own people.
As that thought crossed his mind, Xie Chengze challenged Shen Yuan. “Vice Minister Shen, you keep insisting Minister Yang is implicated in far more than the Yizhou corruption case. Do you have any other evidence proving he has always been corrupt?”
Shen Yuan fell silent. His eyes flickered as he glanced at Xie Chengze, then he slowly said, “This subject suspects…”
“Aha!” Xie Chengze immediately cut him off, as though he had found the perfect flaw. “Based on nothing but suspicion, you seek to frame a loyal pillar of the court. Does Lord Shen intend to treat every colleague at court as someone he may speculate about and investigate at will, trampling their official standing into stepping-stones for his own meteoric rise? The present court cannot withstand such turmoil from Lord Shen!”
Yang Qinghui felt thoroughly delighted.
The Second Prince had said it perfectly! Crush that arrogant Shen brat!
To his surprise, Shen Yuan remained unruffled and said calmly, “This subject has no intention of making baseless conjectures. But Minister Yang just admitted with his own mouth that he entered the game and embezzled silver to prepare for future hardship. That is equivalent to confessing his corruption. He should therefore be handed to the Censorate for an audit of his assets, the embezzled silver should be traced, and every unlawful gain confiscated to replenish the state treasury.”
“Uh…” Xie Chengze choked, momentarily speechless and bewildered. Then he looked anxiously at Yang Qinghui: Buddy! I think we overplayed our hand. What do we do now?!
Yang Qinghui: ?
Yang Qinghui: !!!