The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 190: Before the Factional Strife Begins, the Chief Minister Abdicates.
When the Emperor heard the Grand Secretary say this, he was also incredulous, but at this moment, the Emperor could not stop the Grand Secretary.

So he said, "Minister Shen, please speak freely."

Before answering the question, the Grand Secretary looked like he was struggling, and after thinking for a long time, he finally said:
"Your Majesty, I was already aware of the wrongdoings of my good-for-nothing son before today."
This old minister only harbored a sliver of hope, thinking that after today, he could plead with His Majesty for leniency. Who could have foreseen things to develop to this point?

This old minister had no choice but to reveal this matter. This old minister has concealed it from Your Majesty; this old minister deserves death.

These words once again sparked endless whispers in the court.

Everyone thought that today's impeachment of the Prime Minister was a surprise attack by the Vice Prime Minister and his allies, intended to catch the Prime Minister off guard.

Unexpectedly, the prime minister already knew about his son's crimes.

However, this makes another thing illogical.

That is, since the prime minister knew that his son had made a mistake, why didn't he prepare a countermeasure in advance?

So much so that the Grand Secretary is now being impeached and needs the Emperor's help.

Moreover, the Grand Secretary planned to wait until after today to plead with the Emperor, so why did he choose to confront the Emperor in court when the Emperor was helping him delay the proceedings?

Furthermore, when the Grand Secretary proposed retiring to his hometown, the Emperor tried to persuade him to stay and said he would not hold the Grand Secretary responsible.

Why is the Prime Minister bringing this matter up now?

This not only did not help, but also burdened the Grand Secretary with the crime of concealing the truth from the Emperor.

The actions of the Prime Minister today are truly baffling.

The Emperor was probably confused as well, and asked with a puzzled look, "Minister Shen, since you knew, why didn't you tell me sooner? What you did is a crime of deceiving the Emperor."

Upon hearing the Emperor utter the crime of deceiving the Emperor, the Grand Secretary was not too afraid.

He said, "Your Majesty, this old minister also received a letter from my son last night and learned the whole story."

That's what he said, but nobody believed he only received the letter last night.

Everyone probably assumed that the Prime Minister already knew about what his son had done.

The chief minister, wanting to protect his son, dared not reveal these matters.

However, the Prime Minister did not expect that someone would impeach him today.

Tu Cheng-yu believes that today's impeachment made the Prime Minister realize that continuing to conceal the truth would lead to more trouble, which is why he spoke out at this time regardless of the consequences.

As Tu Chengyu was thinking, he heard the Grand Secretary continue:
"This old minister originally intended to report to His Majesty after the court session, but this matter involves Prince Su. For Prince Su's sake, this old minister has no choice but to explain this matter in front of His Majesty and his colleagues."

Tu Chengyu was still focused on gossiping about others, but before he knew it, the gossip had fallen on his own head.

Moreover, judging from the Prime Minister's words, this matter has had a significant impact on Tu Chengyu.

At this moment, the only thing Tu Chengyu could think of that would affect him and was related to the current impeachment was the information he had helped the Grand Secretary suppress from the interrogation in Jiangnan.

If the Prime Minister really meant this, Tu Chengyu found it absurd.

The reason he helped the Grand Secretary suppress the news was that he didn't want to clash with the Grand Secretary, which would cause discord between the Grand Secretary and the Crown Prince.

Secondly, He Lizhang had told him that the second-in-command and the second-in-command had colluded, and that Tu Chengyu's assistance to the chief minister was an indirect way of attacking the second-in-command and the second-in-command.

For this reason, Tu Chengyu risked not publicly reporting some matters concerning the prime minister.

After he did this, he and the Prime Minister became in the same boat on this matter.

It won't benefit either party if either of them leaks this information.

But judging from the Prime Minister's current demeanor, it seems he wants to bring this matter up.

Thinking of this, Tu Chengyu's face darkened.

Everyone else in the court looked at Tu Chengyu after hearing the Grand Secretary's words.

Even the older brothers standing next to Tu Chengyu turned their heads to look over.

The Crown Prince, the third prince, and the fourth prince all had worried expressions.

The second son's face showed an inquisitive expression.

As the emperor's father, he clearly showed displeasure when he heard that Tu Chengyu was involved in the matter.

He asked, "Minister Shen, I wonder what this matter has to do with Prince Su?"

When the Emperor said this, everyone could tell that his tone was not as gentle as when he was persuading the Grand Secretary; it had become much harsher.

It's unclear whether the Grand Secretary failed to notice the change in the Emperor's tone or simply didn't care about the Emperor's attitude.

He said the same thing as before: "Excuse me, my son sent a letter yesterday saying that the Prince of Su found out some of the things he did when he was in Jiangnan."

My son once sent someone, in the name of an old minister, to plead with Prince Su for leniency. However, Prince Su upheld the law impartially that day and did not grant my son's request.

Today, when they impeached the old minister, they implicated Prince Su in the process. To avoid damaging Prince Su's reputation, the old minister had no choice but to speak out.

He spoke so eloquently, as if he were truly thinking of Tu Chengyu's best interests.

But Tu Chengyu almost gritted his teeth when he heard this.

In court today, Gu Changyuan began by asking Tu Chengyu for relevant evidence.

However, Gu Changyuan kept his distance, questioning only those related to the Grand Secretary, and not asking any further questions about matters involving Tu Chengyu.

This meant that Tu Chengyu was only worried at first, but later stopped paying attention to it.

Besides Gu Changyuan, Zhao Hanquan, who also came out to impeach Tu Chengyu, had no intention of making things difficult for him.

Therefore, if the Grand Secretary truly cared about Tu Chengyu, he should have accepted the Emperor's delaying tactic and refrained from saying it aloud in court.

But he just had to say it.

However, at this point, Tu Chengyu no longer believed that the Grand Secretary was acting recklessly.

He clearly sensed that the Grand Secretary wanted to escalate the impeachment proceedings in court.

For this reason, he risked offending the emperor by dragging Prince Tu Chengyu into the mess, and he might even lose his position as chief minister.

The Prime Minister's willingness to pay such a high price must indicate that his purpose is not simple. However, Tu Chengyu still didn't understand what the Prime Minister wanted to achieve.
After hearing the Grand Secretary's words, the Emperor said to Tu Chengyu, "Is what the Grand Secretary said true? Did you really have private contact with them during the interrogation of the case?"

When the emperor said this, his tone was very unfriendly, as if he was dissatisfied with what Tu Chengyu had done.

At this point, what else could Tu Chengyu do? He could only carefully say:

“Your Majesty, when we were in Jiangnan, some people did come to me under the name of the Grand Secretary, but I did not engage in any private dealings with them.”

Since the Grand Secretary had just said that he had not violated the laws of the dynasty, Tu Chengyu went along with him and said that he had not agreed to it privately.

The emperor still seemed displeased with Tu Chengyu's answer, and he said coldly:

"Since someone was contacting you privately, why didn't you explain this clearly in your report to me? I always thought you were reliable, but now it seems I was still quite naive."

The emperor's words, seemingly a reprimand of Tu Chengyu, actually brought up the matter Tu Chengyu had submitted in Chinese.

This move was meant to tell the entire court that Tu Chengyu had not concealed the matter simply because he had met with others in private.

This is why Tu Chengyu was only angry and not worried after hearing the Prime Minister's words.

Because Tu Chengyu had already submitted a report to the emperor about the events before returning to the capital, he had not concealed anything from the emperor.

Therefore, upon hearing the emperor's question, Tu Chengyu harbored no resentment and replied:

"Your Majesty's words are correct, I will remember them."

The father and son, working in perfect harmony, caught the hot potato thrown by the Grand Secretary perfectly.

However, the other ministers in the court may not have thought the same way.

Before this, very few people in the court knew about the things the Grand Secretary's son had done.

Prince Tu Chengyu had investigated these matters.

The matter was being investigated by a prince, but few people in the court had heard of it.

If there hadn't been a deliberate attempt to conceal it, this wouldn't have happened.

From this, it can be deduced that Tu Chengyu was involved in this matter concerning the Grand Secretary.

Although he had submitted memorials to the emperor, it did not mean that he had not colluded with the Grand Secretary; he simply helped the Grand Secretary prevent the matter from escalating.

Those who stand in the imperial court are mostly intelligent people. They only need to think carefully to guess that Tu Chengyu is definitely not so innocent.

This means that although the emperor and the chief minister cleared Tu Chengyu's name on the spot, in private, everyone still believed that Tu Chengyu had abused his power for personal gain.

Thinking of this, Tu Chengyu was still filled with anger, even though he knew in his heart that he had indeed done it.

This wasn't anger at being found out about favoritism, but rather anger at being stabbed in the back by the Grand Secretary.

Fueled by anger, Tu Chengyu initially intended to disregard everything and exchange a few words with the Prime Minister.

However, the emperor seemed to have seen through Tu Chengyu's thoughts and, before Tu Chengyu could speak, said to the chief minister:

"Lord Shen, has the matter of Prince Su been clarified now?"

The Prime Minister seemed to realize just then that his words had affected Tu Chengyu.

He quickly said, "Your Majesty, this old minister was foolish and said such inappropriate things. I beg Your Majesty's forgiveness."

If he really felt he shouldn't have said those words, he should have shut up much earlier.

Instead of explaining it like this now.

It gives the impression that an actor with no acting skills is deliberately putting on a show.

Instead of helping Tu Chengyu explain himself, it only fueled his suspicions.

But everyone knows that a cunning old fox like the Prime Minister wouldn't be such a superficial actor.

So he must have done it on purpose.

By now, the emperor probably already knows that the Grand Secretary is going to cause trouble in the court.

So the emperor asked, "Lord Shen, there's nothing I should or shouldn't say. In court, it's always best to make things clear. Does Lord Shen have anything else to add?"

"This old minister kowtows to Your Majesty," the Grand Secretary said upon hearing this, first thanking the emperor for not punishing him, and then continued:
"Although I was unaware of today's impeachment beforehand, I am still guilty of failing to properly supervise and conceal the matter."

Moreover, after this incident, this old minister suddenly realized that he was truly old, senile, and incapable of assisting Your Majesty in handling state affairs.

Therefore, this old minister once again implores Your Majesty to allow me to resign from this position of Grand Secretary and return to my hometown to enjoy my later years.

Even now, the Grand Secretary is still bringing up the matter of retiring to his hometown.

If he only mentioned it once, perhaps it was a strategic retreat to leave himself room to maneuver.

But the fact that it's being brought up again now makes it seem like he might actually be considering resigning as prime minister.

Perhaps everyone had thought of this, for the loudest discussion of the day broke out in the imperial court.

This forced Xia Shouzhong to step forward once again and tell everyone not to make a fuss in the court.

At this moment, the emperor was displeased because the chief minister had spoken recklessly and implicated Tu Chengyu.

However, they still wanted to retain the prime minister, even though he wanted to resign.

The emperor said, "Minister Shen, today's impeachment has not yet been verified, why should you take it to heart?"

Moreover, these past few days have been a time when the Yellow River has breached its banks and flooded the south of the Yangtze River. The court needs a veteran minister like you to hold the fort. How can you so easily leave us?

The emperor spoke with heartfelt sincerity, his desire to persuade the emperor to stay evident in his words.

The Grand Secretary seemed quite moved after hearing this.

However, he didn't verbally agree.

He said, "Your Majesty, this old minister does not wish to leave when the court needs manpower, but this old minister knows his own situation..."
He can hardly be of any help to the court anymore. Rather than occupying the position of Grand Secretary and hindering everyone, it would be better for him to step down early and let someone who can truly serve His Majesty take his place.

As the saying goes, things shouldn't be done more than three times. If something is mentioned three times in a row, even if others are unwilling, they will eventually agree to the suggestion.

Therefore, when the emperor heard this, he knew that the chief minister was truly determined to leave.

So he didn't try to stop her, but simply asked softly, "Minister Shen, have you thought it through?"

Upon hearing this, the Grand Secretary took a breath and said, "Your Majesty, this old minister's mind is made up. I hope Your Majesty will grant my request."

Upon hearing this, the emperor's face clearly showed a sense of dejection, as if he had suffered a great blow.

The emperor said to the chief minister, "I was originally planning to finalize the selection of the imperial envoy for disaster relief today, but with you leaving, Minister Shen, this matter will have to be delayed again."

From this statement, all the officials could tell that the emperor still valued the chief minister highly.

So much so that because of the Prime Minister's departure, even the things he personally decided on yesterday have to be overturned.

The people on the side of the second prime minister wanted to stand up and tell the emperor that even without the prime minister, they could still help him handle state affairs, and there was no need to postpone it.

However, seeing the mutual respect and understanding between the emperor and his minister, the people on the vice minister's side wisely refrained from stepping forward.

Tu Chengyu, the protagonist of the incident, felt that the development of events was absurd beyond belief.

He couldn't understand what the Grand Secretary was trying to do.

Could it be that all the unreasonable actions taken in the court today were for the purpose of smoothly retiring and returning to one's hometown?
(End of this chapter)