The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 187 Each with their own schemes and preparations
The emperor, seated on his throne, was also puzzled as to why Gu Changyuan had so readily accused the Grand Secretary of a crime, so he asked:

"Minister Gu, what is the reason behind this?"

Gu Changyuan didn't mince words and said directly, "Your Majesty, the reason I say this is because this Wu Youwei is a descendant of salt workers, but the Grand Secretary secretly took him home from the salt field to raise him."

Everyone in the court knew that the descendants of the salt workers were wanted criminals by the Emperor Taizu and could not be easily pardoned. Therefore, the Grand Secretary's actions constituted harboring a wanted criminal.

Upon hearing Gu Changyuan's words, the Emperor seemed to understand the connection and turned to look at the calm-looking Grand Secretary.

The officials in the court were also shocked; who could have predicted that the Grand Secretary would do such a thing?

However, some people who knew the prime minister's identity were not surprised that he did such a thing.

The Emperor couldn't help but ask, "Minister Shen, is what Minister Gu said true?"

Everyone remained silent, waiting to see how the Grand Secretary would respond.

Unexpectedly, the Grand Secretary said directly, "Your Majesty, what Lord Gu said is true. This Wu Youwei is indeed a descendant of salt workers."

Hearing this, Tu Chengyu could no longer bear to look at him.

With the Prime Minister's blunt answer, wouldn't all the things he and He Lizhang had discussed to help him cover up be for nothing?

The Emperor seemed to find it hard to accept this fact, and asked incredulously, "Minister Shen, does this mean you really harbored a wanted criminal?"

Upon hearing this, the Grand Secretary remained calm and said, "Your Majesty, I did not intend to deceive you. It is simply that due to my humble origins, I have no choice but to do so."

The Emperor said coldly, "I'd like to hear what compelled you to harbor a wanted criminal."

The Grand Secretary replied, "Your Majesty, you are surely aware of my background."

The Emperor nodded, indicating that he understood.

Upon seeing this, the Grand Secretary turned around and looked at all the civil and military officials in the court, saying, "Among my colleagues in the court, some know about my background, but most probably do not."

Today, I would like to take this opportunity to speak with my colleagues. Strictly speaking, I and the salt workers of Jianghuai share the same lineage.

As soon as the Grand Secretary finished speaking, another round of voices rang out in the court.

No one could have predicted such explosive news today.

However, as everyone knows, starting from the time of Emperor Taizu, people from salt-working backgrounds were not qualified to become officials.

So how did the Grand Secretary become an official and rise to such a high position?

The Grand Secretary, listening to the hushed conversation, shook his head with a look of helplessness and said:

"I imagine my colleagues are wondering how I got to this position. I can tell you, although I come from the same lineage as the current salt workers..."
However, during the founding of the dynasty by Emperor Taizu, my ancestors had made some minor contributions, and therefore Emperor Taizu pardoned me, granting me the qualification to serve as an official.

Upon hearing this, everyone realized that the Grand Secretary had such a story behind him.

Given this, one can guess why the Grand Secretary would adopt the orphan of a salt worker.

As expected, the Grand Secretary said, "Because of the Emperor's grace, my Shen family originally had no connection with the salt workers."

But decades ago, Wu Youcai's father asked someone to come to my home and said that he was about to die and wanted to entrust his orphan to my Shen family to raise.

My father and Wu Youcai's ancestors were old acquaintances, and they couldn't bear to see young Wu Youcai left to wander in a place like the salt fields, so they arranged for someone to bring him back and raise him.”

The Grand Secretary's words, if we set aside the rights and wrongs in the court, are quite admirable.

But a wanted criminal is still a wanted criminal, and no matter how touching his story may be, it cannot change the fact that he violated the Emperor Taizu's decree.

After hearing his explanation, the Emperor asked, "So you admit to protecting a wanted criminal?"

Even at this point, the Grand Secretary remained calm and composed, and said:

"Your Majesty, although I took the orphans of the salt workers home to raise them, I did not harbor any criminals."

"Because my father had consulted with Emperor Taizong before adopting Wu Youwei, and only with Emperor Taizong's permission did he bring Wu Youwei home."

No one expected that things would take such a turn for the better.

No wonder he remained calm when he heard about these impeachments.

Tu Chengyu opened his eyes and glanced at the Prime Minister, inwardly cursing him as an old fox.

That old man is such a show-off.

Others might think that this is because the Prime Minister is lucky, and that something he did decades ago has saved him today.

Tu Chengyu was quite certain that this was a trap set by the Grand Secretary.

Because when Tu Chengyu was in Jiangnan, he had already discovered the secret of the Grand Secretary's background.

The prime minister wanted to mitigate the risks associated with his background and prevent Tu Chengyu or others from exploiting it.

The safest approach would be to reveal what Emperor Taizong had permitted, thus preventing anyone from using this to attack the Grand Secretary.

However, the Grand Secretary concealed this fact and even sent people to negotiate with Tu Chengyu in a feigned manner, only to be extorted by Tu Chengyu in the end.

Now, Tu Chengyu is well aware that he is using his position to put on an act for his rival.

While they were in Jiangnan, they must have been asking Tu Chengyu to keep it a secret while they were also working hard to pass this information on to the enemy in order to lure them into a trap.

Judging from the situation in the court today, the trap he set has worked.

This not only provoked the enemy to launch a frenzied attack, but also made the enemy think they had caught him red-handed, causing them to give up looking for other weaknesses.

This deprived the enemy of the opportunity to impeach the chief minister at such a crucial moment.

Most importantly, after all this commotion, the Grand Secretary easily discovered the traitor hidden among his own men.

This move can be described as cunning and calculated.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration for Tu Chengyu to call him an old fox.

Moreover, Tu Chengyu observed that the Prime Minister maintained a calm and confident expression.

One can't help but wonder if all the charges Gu Changyuan just brought against him were within the old fox's expectations.

Will he be able to defuse all the impeachments against the prime minister today?

If that's the case, Tu Chengyu felt that if he ran away to help the Grand Secretary escape punishment, wouldn't his trip have been in vain?

However, the Crown Prince made it very clear last night that he had reached an agreement with the Grand Secretary, allowing him to come and help the Grand Secretary escape punishment.

Could it be that the Grand Secretary even deceived the Crown Prince, or that the Crown Prince lied to him?

Thinking about this, Tu Chengyu suddenly felt that the court today was too unpredictable.

Tu Chengyu had a lot on his mind, but in reality, it didn't take long.

The Emperor, having just recovered from the Grand Secretary's words, asked, "Minister Shen, this concerns Emperor Taizong; you must not speak carelessly." It's not that the Emperor didn't believe the Grand Secretary; the statement was simply too unbelievable.

If what the Grand Secretary said is true, Emperor Taizong once granted the Shen family the privilege of raising the orphans of salt workers.

This means that Emperor Taizong had disobeyed the sacred decree left by Emperor Taizu.

Although Emperor Taizong has passed away, he will still leave a bad mark on history.

Faced with the Emperor's question, the Grand Secretary calmly replied, "Your Majesty, this matter is of great importance, and I dare not speak recklessly. Emperor Taizong once issued a secret edict on this matter, and the Imperial Treasury should have a record of it. Your Majesty can easily find out by having someone check it."

Hearing the Grand Secretary speak so decisively, the Emperor was already 80% convinced. He asked the Grand Secretary to state the date the secret edict was issued, and then immediately dispatched a eunuch to the Imperial Treasury to check.

Although it will take some time to confirm whether the secret edict exists, the entire court already believes it to be true.

Because the crime of deceiving the emperor is no laughing matter.

In view of this, everyone turned their attention to Gu Changyuan, who was standing in the middle of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

People had different perspectives: some were excited, some were gloating, and of course, some were worried.

Faced with so many complex gazes, Gu Changyuan's behavior exceeded everyone's expectations.

He stood straight in the middle, looking straight ahead, his face calm.

He showed no sign of defeat after the impeachment failed, nor any fear of offending the prime minister.

Seeing his expression, the Emperor said, "Minister Gu, the charges against the Grand Secretary for harboring a criminal need to be determined after the records are checked. Please tell me about the other charges first."

Upon hearing this, Gu Changyuan said in a deep voice, "Your humble servant obeys the decree."

Then, he looked at Tu Chengyu again and said expressionlessly:
"Your humble servant would like to ask Prince Su, when you were suppressing the salt workers' rebellion, did you capture any Japanese slaves?"

"They did capture dozens of Japanese slaves." Everyone knew about the Japanese slaves, so Tu Chengyu had no reason to hide it.

Moreover, Tu Chengyu is not sure whether he is really here to help the Grand Secretary get acquitted.

Before figuring out the situation, Tu Chengyu felt it was best not to draw the fire to himself.

Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's answer, Gu Changyuan asked, "Has Your Highness been able to find out whether Wu Youwei has any connection with the Japanese?"

Upon hearing this question, Tu Chengyu thought for a moment and then answered truthfully:

"According to my men, the Japanese were sent by Wu Youwei to the salt workers to help them rebel."

Gu Changyuan, though flustered, quickly and calmly grasped Tu Chengyu's words and asked:

"Your Highness, does this mean Wu Youwei is involved in the salt workers' rebellion?"

"According to the interrogation, that is indeed the case." Now that they already knew about Wu Youwei's relationship with the Japanese, Tu Chengyu did not believe that Gu Changyuan was unaware of the relationship between Wu Youwei and the rebellious salt workers.

"Thank you for your answer, Your Highness. I have finished asking my questions." After hearing Tu Chengyu's reply, Gu Changyuan turned to the Emperor and said:

"Your Majesty, this is the second charge against the Grand Secretary: colluding with the Japanese invaders and instigating a rebellion among the salt workers."

As far as I know, this rebellion of the salt workers in Jianghuai was instigated by Wu Youwei. Moreover, he colluded with the Japanese pirates and openly allowed them to participate in the rebellion on our country's territory.

The Grand Secretary has just admitted that Wu Youwei grew up in the Shen family, therefore I cannot help but suspect that the Grand Secretary was aware of this matter.

Gu Changyuan's words were reasonable and well-founded. Now it remains to be seen how the Grand Secretary will respond.

After Gu Changyuan finished speaking, the Emperor, still acting as if he were a detached listener, looked at the Grand Secretary and asked:

"Minister Shen, what is your explanation?"

The Grand Secretary remained calm and said unhurriedly, "Your Majesty, I am unaware of what Wu Youwei has done."

Unlike before, the prime minister did not admit it; this time he directly denied it.

Gu Changyuan was clearly dissatisfied with the Grand Secretary's answer. He said, "Grand Secretary, Wu Youwei grew up in your Shen family. Do you think you can just brush off the matter with a simple 'I don't know'?"

The Grand Secretary shook his head and said, "Lord Gu, you are unaware that although Wu Youwei grew up in my family, he left the Shen family to establish his own household after he came of age. His actions have nothing to do with me."

"Although he has established his own household, he still maintains close ties with your Shen family," Gu Changyuan said, pressing on with the Grand Secretary. "According to the information I have received, Wu Youwei sends a large sum of money to your household every year, and he also uses the Grand Secretary's name to do business."

The laws of the dynasty stipulated that officials and their families were not allowed to engage in business.

However, where there's a policy, there's a countermeasure. These officials usually send their relatives or servants they've trained to do business.

This phenomenon was most severe among officials in the Jiangnan region, but it was something everyone knew but was unwilling to mention.

Now, in order to bring down the Grand Secretary, Gu Changyuan has openly brought this matter up in court.

The Grand Secretary continued slowly, "Lord Gu, this is a trumped-up charge. How could I, in the capital, know that someone in Jiangnan was doing business under my name?"

As for the matter of Wu Youwei's filial piety, I can clearly tell Lord Gu that this is not true.

The prime minister spoke with such certainty that it seemed to be true.

However, Gu Changyuan clearly didn't believe it, but instead of pressing the issue, he asked other questions:

"Your Excellency, there is a wealthy merchant family named Yin in Jiangnan, who are said to be relatives of yours. Is this true?"

Upon hearing the name Yin, Tu Chengyu's heart stirred, and he immediately thought of Yin Weixing.

Of course, according to He Lizhang, this Yin Weixing was a relative of the Grand Secretary, and many of the things that happened that day were done by this Yin Weixing.

It now appears that Gu Changyuan has also grasped this clue and intends to use it as a starting point to target the Grand Secretary.

This kinship is certainly known to many people, and the Grand Secretary would probably not dare to openly deny it.

Sure enough, upon hearing Gu Changyuan's question, the usually calm Prime Minister frowned for the first time.

He said, "There is such a relative, but I wonder if they are related to Lord Gu?"

Gu Changyuan said, "This wealthy merchant's son is named Yin Weixing. I wonder if the Grand Secretary remembers him?"

The Grand Secretary said, "Judging from the name, he is indeed a relative of my Shen family. What, has the Yin family also committed a crime? Does Lord Gu intend to pin it on me?"

No one would be happy to be repeatedly questioned and reprimanded by someone in court as the Grand Secretary.

Even a shrewd and calculating prime minister couldn't help but speak up and fight back.

Gu Changyuan, however, was unaffected by the Grand Secretary's influence; he continued speaking at his own pace:

“The Prime Minister is right. The Yin family has indeed committed a crime, and it is indeed related to the Prime Minister.”

The Grand Secretary had only made a casual sarcastic remark to Gu Changyuan, but Gu Changyuan seized on the Grand Secretary's words and directly confirmed them to the Grand Secretary.

In that instant, Tu Chengyu clearly saw the Prime Minister's face turn extremely ugly.

(End of this chapter)