The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 90 A Twist of Fate Leads to a Break Between the Cabinet Ministers
Before Physician Tang could refute, Gu Changyuan spoke to the Emperor again:

"Your Majesty, I am now certain that Imperial Physician Tang is indeed suspected of concealing Tu Yanzong's illness and deliberately plotting to harm a member of the imperial family. I beg Your Majesty to investigate thoroughly."

The emperor did not speak, but looked at Physician Tang.

Upon hearing this, Physician Tang was so frightened that he knelt down and said:

"Your Majesty, I am innocent! How could I have done such a thing?"

"What Lord Gu just said was all his speculation."

“The fact that the sinner Tu Yanzong has taken the pills does not mean that he has given up the medicine that I prepared.”

"Your Majesty, I request that you send someone to fetch this pill so that I may see what ailment it is used to treat."

The emperor nodded in agreement to his request, then said to the eunuch who had come to the prince's residence to deliver the imperial decree that day:
"Did they bring the pills they mentioned?"

Upon hearing the emperor's question, the eunuch who was on his way to deliver the imperial decree quickly took a wooden box from a junior eunuch and ran to deliver it to the front.

He raised the wooden box high with both hands and said:
"Your Majesty, this servant found this wooden box in the warm room of the Prince's residence. It contains pills. I don't know if this is what Imperial Physician Tang is looking for."

Because only Tu Chengyu had ever seen Tu Yanzong take the pills, the emperor said:

"Let His Highness Prince Su identify this item."

Upon hearing this, the eunuch held up the wooden box and brought it to Tu Chengyu, then pushed open the lid to let Tu Chengyu identify it.

Tu Chengyu glanced at the wooden box and the pills inside, and said, "That's right, it's this pill."

Then the emperor said, "Since it is this pill, take one and give it to Physician Tang so he can examine it."

The eunuch ordered the physician to take a pill from the wooden box and hand it to Physician Tang.

The imperial physician Tang took the pill, examined it carefully, smelled it, and finally pinched off a tiny bit to taste.

After a long while, Imperial Physician Tang finally raised his head and said to the Emperor:

"Your Majesty, I have already investigated and confirmed the matter."

The emperor said, "Now that you know, tell everyone what disease this pill treats?"

Physician Tang said, "Your Majesty, this is not a medicine, but a pill made by a Taoist priest."

The emperor said, "So, this thing can't cure diseases?"

The imperial physician replied, "Yes, Your Majesty. The effect of this substance is only to improve the health of the person who takes it in the short term."

"Once the effects of the drug wear off, the person who took it will be the same as before, or even worse than before taking it."

"Even healthy people should not take such pills frequently, and those who are physically weak should not even touch them."

"For someone like the criminal Tu Yanzong, who is bedridden for many years, taking such pills is no different from taking poison."

"Therefore, I believe that Tu Yanzong's feeling that I have not cured his illness may be related to this pill."

The emperor said, "You mean, his illness relapsed because he took the pills?"

"But they thought it was because you hadn't cured him, and suspected you were hiding your illness, so they wrote a letter impeaching you."

Imperial Physician Tang replied, "Your Majesty is wise."

The emperor, however, did not simply listen to him. Instead, he turned to Gu Changyuan and asked:

"Does Minister Gu have any questions?"

Gu Changyuan said, "Your Majesty, this is merely a guess by Physician Tang."

"In my opinion, the situation may be quite the opposite."

"Perhaps the sinner Tu Yanzong saw through the fact that Imperial Physician Tang was deceiving the patient about his condition, and had no choice but to have someone make this pill for him to temporarily save his life."

"After that, he submitted a memorial impeaching the emperor and asked His Majesty to do his bidding."

The emperor listened to his speech but had not yet spoken.

Shen Weiyan, who had been silent for a while, spoke first, saying, "Your Majesty, I request to speak with Lord Gu."

The emperor said, "I grant permission."

After receiving the decree, Shen Weiyan said, "Lord Gu, the criminal Tu Yanzong ambushed and attempted to assassinate Prince Su in the Prince's mansion. Judging from his actions, he is clearly determined to die."

"A man who attempted to assassinate a prince of the current dynasty is now asking His Majesty to avenge him. Don't you find this absurd?"

Gu Changyuan said, "Perhaps it was your scheming that forced him to take such action."

Shen Weiyan then asked, "'Your' schemes, who are you referring to when Gu Daren says 'you'? And what schemes have they devised?"

Gu Changyuan said, "You are the Imperial Physician Tang and Grand Secretary Shang mentioned in the memorial. The scheme you mentioned is that they conspired to conceal the illness of the criminal Tu Yanzong and intended to put him to death."

Shen Weiyan said, "Why do Grand Secretary Shang and Imperial Physician Tang want to kill him?"

Gu Changyuan said, "I don't know either. Only after investigation can we find out."

Shen Weiyan said, "You don't even know the reason, yet you want to investigate the regent of the State Council based solely on an impeachment memorial from a criminal."

"Or do you want to speak up for the sinner Tu Yanzong?"

Gu Changyuan said, "Don't make false accusations. I am inquiring about this case on His Majesty's orders."

Shen Weiyan said, "His Majesty sent you to investigate a case, not to exonerate a criminal."

Gu Changyuan was so angry that he felt like jumping up and down, because Shen Weiyan kept trying to exonerate Tu Yanzong by calling him a scapegoat.

He said, “Although he is now a criminal, he is still of royal lineage. If anyone is plotting against him, I must find out the truth.”

Shen Weiyan said, "If you want to find out the truth, you can't use a criminal's memorial as evidence."

Shen Weiyan's words struck Gu Changyuan's weak spot.

The reason Gu Changyuan is taking the lead today is to confront the regent minister of the State Affairs Hall as a vice minister.

It was because he had received news that Tu Yanzong, the former Crown Prince's son, would personally impeach Shang Yuanfeng in court today.

Impeaching a regent minister while being a member of the imperial clan would inevitably attract the emperor's attention.

At that time, Gu Changyuan could use his identity to find other evidence that had been prepared in advance and overthrow Shang Yuanfeng, the Grand Secretary, in one fell swoop.

But what he didn't expect was that Tu Yanzong, the former crown prince, was not only the mastermind behind the assassination of Prince Su.

Moreover, he was accidentally killed by Prince Su today.

As a result, Tu Yanzong, the most important witness, was unable to come forward to confront and testify.

Not only could Gu Changyuan not bring down Shang Yuanfeng, but he might also be accused of slandering a cabinet minister.

This explains why Gu Changyuan kept bringing up the matter even though he knew Tu Yanzong was dead.

He wanted to use this method to show the emperor that he was only dealing with the matter at hand, not the person.

They spared no effort in order to fulfill the emperor's orders.

He also told the bigwig behind him that although he had no merit today, he had worked hard.

He hoped that the powerful figure behind the scenes would take pity on him and help him out when Shang Yuanfeng retaliated.

The emperor looked at the silent Gu Changyuan and said, "Minister Gu, do you have anything else to say?"

Gu Changyuan said, “Your Majesty, the main witness is now dead, and I cannot find any other evidence. I am powerless to help impeach Grand Secretary Shang today. Please punish me, Your Majesty.”

The emperor said, "The witness's death was an accident, and you are not to blame. You may leave now."

After Gu Changyuan withdrew, the emperor asked all the ministers:
"Is there anything else you want to say?"

As soon as the emperor finished speaking, the civil and military officials exchanged glances discreetly, but no one came forward to respond.

After a long while, a man emerged from among the high-ranking officials of the Council of State Affairs. He walked to the middle of the Imperial Street and addressed the Emperor:

"Your Majesty, your subject Shang Yuanfeng has something to say."

The emperor said, "Minister Shang, please speak."

Shang Yuanfeng said, "Today I have been impeached by many officials in the court, and the charges against me are numerous."

"Although there is currently insufficient evidence to convict me."

"However, the charges of impeachment do involve the crime of plotting against a member of the royal family."

"Therefore, Your Majesty, I request that you suspend my duties until the truth is ascertained, and then I shall resume my duties."

Shang Yuanfeng's current act of confessing his sins is in accordance with the unspoken rules of the imperial court.

In the imperial court, if a minister is impeached for a minor offense, the matter can be resolved with just a word from the emperor.

If it is a serious crime, regardless of whether the matter is ultimately investigated and clarified, the impeached minister must stand up and request to be dismissed from office to show that he is not someone who covets power.

At this point, the emperor would usually speak up to persuade the impeached minister to stay and continue his work.

Of course, there are doubts about this: what if the emperor particularly disliked a minister? Could the emperor then grant the minister's request to resign and remove the disliked person from the court?

So when Shang Yuanfeng came out, everyone looked at the emperor to see what he would do.

Should they retain him as is customary, or should they seize the opportunity to dismiss Shang Yuanfeng and pry open a crack in the seemingly impenetrable Council of State?

The emperor did not keep them waiting any longer, and immediately after Shang Yuanfeng finished speaking, he said:
"Since the evidence is insufficient, how can I dismiss the regent without cause? Minister Shang, you can focus on your work."

After listening, Shang Yuanfeng bowed deeply to the emperor and said:
"Your Majesty, I thank you. From now on, I will serve Your Majesty with utmost devotion."

Although the civil and military officials did not witness the dismissal of the regent minister, they did witness the complete breakdown of the Council of State.

Everyone knew that the emperor had the upper hand again in this round.

It should be noted that the current regents in the Council of State are all remnants of the retired emperor.

These senior officials are all highly experienced, and their disciples are spread throughout the court and the country.

Although they sometimes fight because of their own interests, they keep it within a certain range and discuss things together.

Especially when facing the new emperor, they have been like an ironclad unit for the past six months, making it impossible for the new emperor to do anything to them.

However, since Shang Yuanfeng was almost kicked out of the Council of State today, he will inevitably break with the cabinet minister who plotted against him.

After breaking with the other cabinet ministers, Grand Secretary Shang would inevitably have to side with the emperor in order to maintain his position in the Council of State Affairs.

This was already evident in Shang Yuanfeng's words of gratitude to the emperor.

Many officials sighed inwardly, thinking that Shang Yuanfeng was truly lucky.

In this seemingly hopeless situation, the emperor first secretly helped them, and then Prince Su directly killed the most crucial witness.

A major impeachment case meticulously planned by a certain bigwig was thus hastily concluded.

(End of this chapter)