Framing someone took skill. You could hardly rush up to the emperor and say, "Your cousin started this rumor. I see you can't stand the sight of him either, so let's kill him together. You get some peace, I get a promotion, and nobody has to get beaten or strung up in a tree. Everyone wins..." Uh, not only would that fail, you would throw your own life away for nothing.
First, His Majesty's thoughts were unpredictable. He was suspicious by nature, yet extremely clever. You absolutely could not let him realize that he, the emperor, was being used... so the ripples of the affair had to arise without leaving any trace.
Second, everyone knew His Majesty wanted sole control over rewards and punishments. But why, so far, had so few people gambled wildly on helping him strike at the grandees who spoiled his mood? Because everyone knew those grandees could crush you themselves. If things went wrong, their retaliation would follow. At best, you would lose your office; at worst, you would die without a grave.
Take Zhang Wenda and Zhang Han. Zhang Wenda had already gambled successfully, yet still died under murky circumstances. Zhang Han, meanwhile, had made his gamble in the teeth of pressure from the entire Southern Office. Only by staking his life, prospects, and reputation together had he secured an escort of Crouching Dragon Guards into the Southern Office.
Plainly put, man proposed, Heaven disposed. You needed to lay the proper channels beforehand, but the gambler also had to be steady, precise, and ruthless at the crucial moment, killing with a single blow.
Boys out in the world had to know how to protect themselves.
The ripples began with a routine expansion of the investigation after a banquet on the rear slopes of Mount Li