Chapter 52 of 100

Chapter 52

16 min read3,941 words

Chapter 51

The next morning, when the Minister of Personnel, He Mei, proactively proposed to the emperor in the court assembly to reorganize the Ministry of Personnel, all the ministers in the hall were stunned.

Subsequently, not only did the emperor agree to the old minister's proposal, but he also significantly weakened the entire Ministry of Personnel. This unbelievable turn of events left the ministers even more incredulous.

The Ministry of Personnel, as the most powerful department among the six departments of the Menxia Province, had always held the authority to select, promote, evaluate, demote, and supervise officials in the Great Wei Dynasty. It was undeniably the foremost of the six departments.

However, after the imperial edict was issued, the once prestigious Ministry of Personnel was completely brought down to the level of the other five departments, losing its special status.

In contrast, the newly established Censorate became the current hottest focus. After all, the functions of this new department were almost entirely taken from the Ministry of Personnel.

Apart from the Censorate, the Ministry of Rites was the second beneficiary of this incident, as it gained the authority to oversee the imperial examinations. In the future, the local preliminary examinations in the Great Wei Dynasty would be directly handled by the Ministry of Rites, with no further involvement from the Ministry of Personnel.

The Ministry of Personnel suffered a significant blow.

"What is going on here?"

The other five ministers and vice-ministers of the Menxia Province looked at each other, finding it hard to believe that just yesterday, the Ministry of Personnel was the foremost of the six departments, with authority that the other five could not match. But after just one night, the giant among the six departments was not only knocked down but also found itself in a difficult situation.

Indeed, the first task of the newly established Censorate was to cooperate with the officials of the Ministry of Personnel to reorganize the internal system of the Ministry, including the review of the seventeen examiners who were already imprisoned in the Dali Temple prison.

"It seems the Ministry of Personnel won't be able to lift its head for at least two or three years..."

The other five ministers and vice-ministers could not help but feel a sense of schadenfreude. After all, the Ministry of Personnel had always been too superior, as if it stood above the other five departments. Now, this once superior giant was dragged into the mud, and even among the officials, many held a schadenfreude attitude.

Faced with the seemingly consoling but actually probing words of these colleagues, Minister of Personnel He Mei could only force a smile.

This Minister of Personnel was very clear that the talk of major cheating in the imperial examinations and the chaos within the Ministry of Personnel were merely excuses for the emperor to weaken the entire Ministry. He even began to suspect that the emperor's initial promotion of Luo Wenzhong as the chief examiner of the imperial examinations was to use the hands of the Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongrun, to uncover the cheating and other hidden issues within the Ministry, and then use this as an excuse to order the reorganization of the Ministry, thereby stripping it of nearly half its power and transferring it to the newly established Censorate.

Because Minister of Personnel He Mei had already verified that the chief examiner of this imperial examination, Luo Wenzhong, the Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel's Wenxuan Department, and his son, Luo Rong, had a grudge against the Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongrun. Otherwise, how could the Eighth Prince, who was rumored to be indifferent to court affairs, have the leisure to interfere in the imperial examinations and the internal affairs of the Ministry of Personnel?

Precisely because he understood this, Minister of Personnel He Mei did not dare to plead for his department. He already knew that the Ministry of Personnel's defeat this time was not due to Luo Wenzhong or the Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongrun, but rather the current emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty.

The emperor found the Ministry of Personnel too powerful.

Afterward, the news of the Ministry of Personnel's imperial examination having over a hundred identical answers inevitably spread, causing a great uproar among the candidates who were waiting in the capital for the results of the imperial examination.

However, before these candidates could make any protest, the court issued a new announcement: the emperor ordered the Ministry of Rites to re-conduct the imperial examination.

Yes, it was simply ordered the Ministry of Rites to re-conduct the examination, without explicitly stating the punishment for the examiners of the previous examination or the investigation of the cheating candidates.

This left many people puzzled.

Their confusion stemmed from their lack of understanding of the emperor's intentions. Who would have thought that the emperor did not care about punishing anyone, but rather wanted to weaken the Ministry of Personnel as a whole.

This was a difference in perspective leading to a difference in understanding.

After the morning court assembly, the emperor, as usual, proceeded to the Chui Gong Hall to review the memorials with the three Secretaries of the Chui Gong Hall.

It was clear that the emperor's mood was very good today. It was hard to imagine that he could still smile so broadly in the face of such a major cheating scandal in the court, and his laughter was particularly hearty.

"It seems the winner is Your Majesty..."

The three Secretaries exchanged glances, secretly marveling.

To be promoted to the position of Secretary by the emperor, the abilities of He Xiangxu, Lin Yuyang, and Yu Ziqi were beyond doubt.

In fact, they had felt puzzled a few days ago.

For example, the unprecedented promotion of an unknown official from the Ministry of Personnel to the chief examiner of the imperial examination.

And then, the unprecedented proposal of a prince accompanying the examination, which ultimately went to the Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongrun.

Were these coincidences really coincidences?

Now they understood that behind this incident, the emperor had been the mastermind, using the grudge between Luo Wenzhong and the Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongrun, to deliberately provoke the Eighth Prince to interfere in the imperial examination conducted by the Ministry of Personnel, and then, after the Eighth Prince uncovered the cheating and other issues, to use this to weaken the Ministry of Personnel.

The current emperor skillfully turned everyone involved in this matter into pawns to weaken the Ministry of Personnel, including the Eighth Prince, who was known to be a child prodigy.

"This must be a blow to the Eighth Prince..."

Lin Yuyang and Yu Ziqi exchanged glances, inwardly sighing with a bitter smile.

Although it might sound disrespectful, they still felt that the emperor's move was a bit unfair. After all, no matter how smart the Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongrun, was, he was still a fourteen-year-old child. Using political means to achieve his goals through the power of the throne was understandable when dealing with officials, but using it on a fourteen-year-old child seemed a bit like bullying.

Although it was not wrong to occasionally discipline the Eighth Prince, doing so in this manner was rather cruel.

During lunch, the Grand Eunuch Tong Xian reported to the emperor on the latest movements of the Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongrun.

"Your Majesty, the Eighth Prince has left the palace."

"Where did he go?" The emperor already had an answer in mind, knowing that his son had a favorite woman outside the palace.

Sure enough, Tong Xian replied in a low voice, "According to the Inner Attendant Supervisors, the Eighth Prince went to the Fangshui Pavilion."

"Did he go to see that Miss Su? Ha!" The emperor smiled slightly. He was well aware that his move would make his stubborn and proud son feel defeated, so he had ordered Tong Xian to have the Inner Attendant Supervisors keep a close eye on Zhao Hongrun, to prevent him from doing something rash.

After all, the last words the emperor had whispered in his son's ear were quite damaging.

"Hmm... Convey my imperial edict: the Eighth Prince, Hongrun, has performed well in the imperial examination, assisting the court in uncovering the cheating. He should be rewarded, and from today, the monthly salary of the Wenzhao Pavilion should be restored."

"Is this a carrot after the stick?" Tong Xian smiled bitterly and subtly reminded, "Your Majesty's good intentions might be misunderstood as an insult by the Eighth Prince..."

"Ha!" The emperor smiled slightly and shook his head. "You underestimate him. In my view, that rascal will accept my gift and then think about how to turn the tables... Instead of dwelling on this defeat, he will choose to fight again. That's his nature. However..."

"However?"

"However, I don't know when he will recover. This blow to him was quite significant..."

"Do you know you deliberately provoked him last night?"

Tong Xian was somewhat amused and exasperated.

Meanwhile, the Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongrun, had indeed arrived at the Fangshui Pavilion to meet Miss Su of the Cuixiao Pavilion.

Miss Su was very happy to see Zhao Hongrun after so many days. After all, he was the first man in her life, and women often have special feelings for their first love, even if Zhao Hongrun was six years younger than her.

It's worth noting that because of the previous incident where the prince was kidnapped, the guards this time dared not stay far from him. Ten guards accompanied Zhao Hongrun to the Cuixiao Pavilion, and the scale of the guard detail made Miss Su pause for a moment.

Fortunately, Miss Su gradually guessed that her young man probably had an extraordinary background, so she did not mind that he had ten guards protecting him.

She gave some silver to the young maid, Lü'er, to ask the managers of the Fangshui Pavilion to prepare a table of food and drinks to entertain Zhao Hongrun's ten guards in the outer room, while she invited Zhao Hongrun to the inner room and prepared a table of food and drinks there as well.

"Has the matter you mentioned a few days ago been resolved?"

After the food and drinks were served, Miss Su virtuously poured a cup of wine for Zhao Hongrun. She noticed that the "Mr. Jiang" of today seemed somewhat dejected and dispirited.

"Yes, it's resolved." Zhao Hongrun lay on the carpet in the inner room, his hands behind his head.

As Miss Su observed, his mood was indeed somewhat low.

It was undeniable that his interference in the imperial examination had achieved its purpose. Luo Rong would definitely not pass this examination because his father, Luo Wenzhong, was implicated in the cheating scandal. Even if the examination was retaken, the officials of the Ministry of Rites would not allow Luo Rong to pass.

As for Luo Wenzhong, he would most likely be removed from his position as the Langzhong of the Wenxuan Department of the Ministry of Personnel. If he was lucky, he might start again as a minor official or be assigned to a local post. If he was unlucky and the Censorate found that he was indeed involved in the cheating, he would be stripped of his official status, and both he and his son might lose their scholar status.

In this calculation, only the Dali Temple prison official, Pei Kai, had not yet been punished by Zhao Hongrun, but Zhao Hongrun suddenly lost interest in this. He no longer cared about what would happen to Luo Wenzhong.

The cause of all this was his father, the emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty, Zhao Yuansi.

The third battle of the father-son conflict began without Zhao Hongrun's knowledge and ended without his awareness.

He lost, lost inexplicably, and lost with a sense of acceptance.

Unlike the previous two childish father-son conflicts, this time, the emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty showed him what it meant to play the game of adults, what it meant to wield power, and what it meant to use imperial tactics. Compared to this, Zhao Hongrun's previous childish resistance was insignificant.

Feeling dejected and dispirited was inevitable, but besides these feelings, Zhao Hongrun also gained a different kind of insight.

"I don't know what that feeling is... Manipulating everything from behind the scenes, controlling everything..."

Cup after cup, he silently drank the wine, listening to the music Miss Su played to soothe his mood. Zhao Hongrun felt a subtle stirring in his heart.

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