Hu Weiyong: I'm Going to Kill Liu Bowen

"Where is Zhang Shiping?"

Gu Zhengchen's brow furrowed tightly.

According to the Ministry of Personnel's official document, Zhang Shiping had been selected through the Recommendation System as Left Vice Minister of Ministry of Works, making him a high-ranking court official.

The Zhang Family and Zhao Family had attached great importance to this. Not only had they given Zhang Shiping and Zhao Ya'er a splendid wedding, they had also sent six servants along to the capital. They had traveled overland by carriage, staying at government-run relay stations along the way. Their safety should have been assured, so how had things come to this?

Zhao Ya'er covered her face and wept, unable to speak.

Seeing that neither of the two had any luggage, Gu Zhengchen guessed they had encountered Horse Thieves or the Salt Rebels. He turned to Gu Cheng and instructed, "Find two sets of clothes that fit her and bring them to the inn."

Gu Cheng agreed and turned to leave.

Gu Zhengchen settled Zhao Ya'er at the inn. Only after she had washed, changed, and regained her composure did he invite her over to ask what had happened.

Zhao Ya'er was overcome with grief, and her eyes brimmed with tears as she spoke. "Ten days ago, we reached Taoyuan. My husband, Zhang Shiping, remembered that the sage Zhu Xi had once visited the place, and wanted to retrace his steps. But he lost his footing and fell into the water..."

Gu Zhengchen sighed inwardly.

Scholars had traveled this way since ancient times, wanting to walk the roads famous people had once taken. Their thinking roughly amounted to, "I've felt the wind you felt-does that count as an embrace? I've walked the road you walked-does that count as meeting?"

Taoyuan boasted the beauty of "a thousand acres of blossoming peach trees, ten thousand rows of emerald willows." Zhu Xi had once left these verses there:

On a fine day, I sought spring's beauty beside the Si River,

The boundless landscape all at once renewed.

With ease, I recognized the east wind's face,

A thousand purples, ten thousand reds-all were spring.

The banks of the Si River referred to Siyang, which had been renamed Taoyuan under the Yuan.

Honestly, Zhang Shiping. Zhu Xi went looking for spring, and even he didn't fall into the river. You went in this season and somehow fell in just looking at peaches.

Zhao Ya'er wiped away her tears. "The servants went in to save him. Four drowned before they finally brought my husband ashore. We found someone to treat him, and at last he regained consciousness..."

Gu Zhengchen was deeply troubled.

Four lives for one!

Ah, northerners generally aren't good swimmers. Rescuing someone in the water takes enormous effort, too. Swallow a few mouthfuls in a panic, and you might lose your senses.

"Then Brother Zhang..."

Liang Family Jiajun was thoroughly puzzled. They had already brought him ashore. A few servants had died, but that was that. If Zhang Shiping was fine, they should have continued to Jinling. Why had she come to Suqian alone instead?

Zhao Ya'er seemed to have reached something too embarrassing to say. Haltingly, she stammered, "Two days later, my husband's health improved, and then... afterward... it was hot, so he bathed in cold water... then he couldn't manage anymore."

"Couldn't manage what?"

Gu Zhengchen blurted it out, then lowered his head, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Damn it, how could I say that out loud?

Whether from embarrassment or grief, Zhao Ya'er began crying even harder, covering her face with her handkerchief.

Liang Family Jiajun and Gu Zhengchen finally understood. Zhang Shiping was gone. He had not been killed by villains, but had suffered sudden death during intercourse-known in traditional Chinese medicine as "collapse syndrome," or "great bodily depletion."

Gu Zhengchen felt a pang of regret.

That Zhang Shiping, honestly. With an official career secured and a beauty beside him, he had so many years ahead. Why rush things? No wonder I don't remember any Zhang Shiping serving as Left Vice Minister of Ministry of Works during the Hongwu Era. He never even made it to the Ministry of Personnel to report for duty.

"What happened after that?"

Gu Zhengchen asked.

Afterward, Zhao Ya'er and the two remaining servants had discussed finding a boat to take Zhang Shiping's body back to Teng County. But they encountered the Salt Rebels on the road. All their belongings were looted, and both servants were killed.

Alone and penniless, Zhao Ya'er had no way to transport a corpse home. With the heat causing the body to stink, she had no choice but to bury him beneath an unnamed earthen mound. She planned to beg her way back to Teng County and have the Zhang Family send someone to recover his remains.

She said nothing about her own ordeal, but her ragged clothes made it easy to imagine.

After hearing her story, Gu Zhengchen and Liang Family Jiajun felt a weight of sorrow. A living man and a promising official career had vanished just like that.

The world was fickle, its winds and clouds changing without warning. Life was often like that.

Liang Family Jiajun sighed and offered her some comfort, then remarked, "Our journey has been quite dangerous too. If the Patrol Office hadn't intervened, we might also have lost every coin and been unable to take another step. This realm still isn't at peace..."

Jinling, the Central Secretariat.

A middle-aged man in a crimson robe slammed his fist against the desk, making the teacup tremble. "You insist on keeping the realm in turmoil, don't you, Liu Ji!"

Censor-in-Chief Chen Ning looked at Hu Weiyong behind the desk. The man had a high nose bridge, a firm mouth, and bright, piercing eyes. Even sitting motionless, he exuded an indescribable menace.

Little wonder. Just a few days earlier, the emperor had appointed Hu Weiyong Right Chancellor. Now he truly controlled the Central Secretariat-below one man and above ten thousand!

Yet someone had chosen this very moment to challenge his authority: none other than the Earl of Sincerity, Liu Ji, also known as Liu Bowen!

The political structure of the Early Ming followed the Yuan system.

The court had established the Central Secretariat to oversee government affairs. Memorials submitted to the emperor by central offices and local prefectures, subprefectures, and counties had to be "reported to the Central Secretariat." Every decree and edict issued in the emperor's name also had to pass through it.

Yet Liu Bowen, relying on the special treatment accorded to a meritorious founding official, had not sent his memorial concerning "the rebellion of Zhou Guangsan, a hundred-household commander of the Mingyang Military Guard in Qingtian County," to the Central Secretariat. Instead, he had handed it directly to Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. This showed utter disregard for the newly appointed Right Chancellor, Hu Weiyong, and had left Hu looking like a fool before the emperor, unable to answer a single question. How could he not be furious?

Hu Weiyong reined in his anger and turned his shadowed gaze on Chen Ning. "The emperor has issued orders for me to discuss suppressing the rebellion in Qingtian County with the Censorate and the Dadu Commander's Office. Send word summoning Minister of War Le Shaofeng, Minister of Justice Wu Yun, the Deputy Commanders of the Dadu Commander's Office-Zheng Yuchun, Lu Zhongheng, and Hua Yunlong-and Assistant Commissioner of the Grand Commandant's Office Tang Shengzong, along with the others, to deliberate here."

Chen Ning nodded slightly and sent someone to convey the message. Minister of Justice Wu Yun arrived at the Central Secretariat first.

After learning what had happened, Wu Yun ground his teeth. "That Liu Bowen! If he's gone home, he should stay there and enjoy his retirement. Why does he keep poking his head out? Is he afraid people will forget him?"

Chen Ning chuckled. "He's old. He's no longer the man he was."

Hu Weiyong's face remained cold. Seeing that there were no other eyes or ears nearby, he lowered his voice. "In the Fifth Year of Hongwu, Liu Bowen bypassed the Central Secretariat and petitioned the emperor to establish a Patrol Office in Tanyang. The emperor agreed. Now that hundred-household commander Zhou Guangsan has rebelled in Qingtian County, Liu Bowen has once again bypassed the Central Secretariat to petition the emperor. Unless this man is removed, we cannot establish the rules! If everyone follows his example, what purpose will the Central Secretariat serve?"

"Chancellor Hu, you mean we should send someone to..."

Wu Yun raised a hand and drew it across his neck.

Hu Weiyong fixed his gaze on him, then shook his head. "He is the Earl of Sincerity and has rendered service to the realm. There is only one man under heaven who can kill him. What we must do is place a knife in that man's hand-and give him a reason!"

Wu Yun tapped the desk. "That won't be easy."

Their opponent was Liu Bowen, a man versed in astronomy and geography, with countless achievements in strategy and in helping the emperor rise to power. Though the emperor distrusted him and had granted him only the title of Earl of Sincerity after the dynasty's founding, he was a seasoned political operator with a ruthlessly discerning eye. In the early years, his clashes with Li Shanchang had left the Huaixi men struggling to breathe. Had the emperor not secretly lent them a hand, and had Liu Bowen not been too blunt and insufficiently reverent toward imperial power, he might never have left Jinling!

Though he had lost his influence and was no longer at court, he had always acted cautiously, leaving no handles for others to seize. Finding a knife that could kill him would be difficult!

Chen Ning pointed at the documents on the desk. After pondering for a long while, he said, "The Tanyang Patrol Office and the rebellion of the Mingyang soldiers. If we link those two matters..."

Wu Yun's eyes lit up. "Since we're putting a knife in the emperor's hand, we must find something he finds utterly intolerable. Only then will he strike. Perhaps we can use these two matters."

Hu Weiyong lifted his teacup. "What do you mean?"

Wu Yun narrowed his small eyes slightly. "Chancellor Hu, if Liu Bowen knew that Mingyang was the most important strategic crossing, yet chose to establish the Patrol Office in Tanyang, that suggests he had another aim. I've heard that Liu Bowen is looking for a burial site. If that site happens to be in Tanyang, and Tanyang happens to possess the aura of kingship..."

Hu Weiyong gave Wu Yun a long look. This Minister of Justice certainly knew how to deal out punishment!

Handled this way, Liu Bowen's death was assured!

Hu Weiyong smiled. "Liu Bowen, aren't you supposed to divine the future on your fingers? Then I'll turn your own strength against your lifeline! Let's see how you survive this time!"

Before long, Zheng Yuchun, Lu Zhongheng, Hua Yunlong, Tang Shengzong, and the other military officers of the Dadu Commander's Office arrived at the Central Secretariat to discuss suppressing the Mingyang soldiers' rebellion.

Despite Hu Weiyong's repeated attempts to provoke and persuade them, the military officers showed little response.

Lu Zhongheng glanced at Hu Weiyong, plainly displeased. "Once His Majesty issues an edict and the troop-dispatch tally, we'll go put down the rebellion. Why deliberate here and waste words?"

Seeing that the officers had no interest in deliberations, and with dusk approaching, Hu Weiyong invited them all to drink at the Gathered Worthies Tower.

Built by the government, the Gathered Worthies Tower stood on a high terrace with double eaves, spacious and elegant.

As soon as the wine and meat reached the table, Hua Yunlong, Lu Zhongheng, and the others let themselves loose, calling and shouting in a lively uproar.

Lu Zhongheng glanced at Hu Weiyong. Why insist on discussing things in your lousy Central Secretariat? We might as well have come straight to this restaurant. You're the Right Chancellor now, yet you don't know how to arrange anything.

Hu Weiyong urged them to drink until the men from the Dadu Commander's Office had eaten and drunk their fill. He then stood at the entrance and watched their servants collect them one by one before returning upstairs.

Watching Hu Weiyong sink into thought, Chen Ning stepped forward and asked quietly, "Chancellor Hu, they're men of the Dadu Commander’s Office, military nobles. If word of such lavish hospitality reaches the emperor, won't it arouse his suspicions?"

Hu Weiyong smiled calmly. "Something done with imperial permission breaches no taboo. Besides, the Central Secretariat has no authority to deploy troops."

Chen Ning glanced around and said cautiously, "These men fought their way up alongside His Majesty and rendered great service. Now they have wealth and honor, and they're enjoying comfortable lives. If you want to use them, I'm afraid not a single one will be of any use!"

Hu Weiyong's pupils contracted, his eyes cold as ice. "Old Chen, you're drunk."

Chen Ning raised his wine bowl and drained it. "Chancellor Hu, I'm your man. There are things you shouldn't hide from me! This time we'll dispose of the Earl of Sincerity. Next time, we can dispose of..."

Hu Weiyong cut Chen Ning off and rose. "Leave the Earl of Sincerity to Wu Yun. As for you, keep an eye on the officials arriving in the capital through the Recommendation System. They've only just come from the provinces to court, so they're bound to be overzealous, ignorant of the rules, and prone to overstepping. Rein in those who need it, recruit those worth recruiting. Any talented men must serve me. If they won't, transfer them out of Jinling!"