Top Scholar

Chapter 543 The Great Ming Dynasty's Good Brother

The Marquis of Jianchang's Residence.

Zhang Yanling was completely convinced by Jiao Fang and prepared to kill the kid surnamed Su: "Tell me, are you sending an assassin to poison him or ambushing him on the way?!"

"What nonsense are you talking about? He's the top scholar in the imperial examination, the emperor's number one favorite. Who would dare to harm him?!" Jiao Fang was speechless. This second son of the Zhang family was truly stupid.

Well, which member of the Zhang family isn't stupid?
“Even if you are the emperor’s uncle, killing him will result in you being stripped of your title and imprisoned. Even if you manage to save your life, you can forget about getting your land back.” He quickly dissuaded Zhang Yanling from this foolish idea.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Zhang Yanling asked in a muffled voice.

"If a problem can be solved through struggle, then there's no need for fighting and killing." When Su Lu became unafraid of him using a knife, Jiao Fang transformed into a peace advocate. He then offered a treacherous plan:

"You two brothers should have people spread the word throughout the capital tomorrow, saying that this year's unprecedented drought is a warning from heaven—because the emperor is dissolute and negligent in governing, close to treacherous officials, neglects the palace, and is unfilial to the empress dowager, which has angered heaven and caused this drought!"

"Holy crap..." Zhang Yanling stared at Jiao Fang in disbelief, thinking to himself that she truly deserved to be called the number one swordsman in the capital; when she got angry, she would even stab herself!
Then Jiao Fang added even more shockingly, "Also, tell the Empress Dowager to get serious too, to really go on a hunger strike for a few days, so she can stop secretly eating!"

“I didn’t eat…” Zhang Yanling quickly explained, “My sister is really on a hunger strike.”

"Come on, do you think I don't know what old women's tricks are?" Jiao Fang snorted. "If crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide are going to work, it's because the other person has feelings for you. If there are no feelings, just talking without doing anything is useless!"

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Moreover, if this goes on for too long, the fake hunger strike will be exposed, which will only make the Emperor despise the Empress Dowager even more!"

"Sigh..." Zhang Yanling sighed and nodded dejectedly, "Okay, I'll go tell my sister to go without a belly for two days."

He then asked, "And then what? You can't just starve to death, can you?"

"Don't worry, we will stand together in support of the Empress Dowager and put pressure on the Emperor." Then Jiao Fang said quietly, "When everything is ready, Eunuch Liu will take action to settle things!"

As he spoke, he smiled at Zhang Yanling and said, "When the time comes, the treacherous ministers around the emperor will become scapegoats, the emperor and the empress dowager will reconcile, and the marquis's land will naturally be returned."

Zhang Yanling's hope was rekindled by what he heard, and he nodded emphatically, "Okay, I'll listen to you!"

~~
Zhang Yanling then went to the neighbor's house across the street that very night to persuade Zhang Heling.

At first, the Marquis of Shouning refused, but he used Jiao Fang's arguments and finally persuaded his elder brother as well.

The next day, the two brothers went to visit the Empress Dowager together.

Normally, they could enter directly without announcing their arrival, but today, as soon as they entered Shou Kang Palace, they were stopped by the steward and told to wait a moment.

"What time is it? Wait for your mother my ass!" Zhang Yanling pushed aside the manager's sign blocking his way and entered the inner chamber through layers of curtains.

Then they saw his mother, Madam Jin, with her back to the door, holding a bowl and feeding the Empress Dowager bird's nest spoonful by spoonful.

The Empress Dowager was still holding half a piece of pastry in her hand, taking small bites with the bird's nest, with crumbs still stuck to the corners of her mouth...

Hearing the heavy footsteps, the Empress Dowager looked up abruptly, and Madam Jin hurriedly hid the bowl behind her back.

The mother and daughter, looking like thieves, blushed deeply. Only when they saw it was the two brothers did Mrs. Jin breathe a sigh of relief and scold them gently:

"You two rascals, how dare you barge in without even announcing your arrival!"

"We've come to see my sister. When did you inform us?" The two brothers stepped forward, bowed, and Zhang Heling said helplessly, "Sister, you've been on a hunger strike for five days now, why is your face even rounder?"

"Nonsense, if you just eat and don't move, how can your face not be round?" Now that she'd been caught, Empress Dowager Zhang stopped pretending and slowly finished the remaining pastries. "I originally intended to go on a hunger strike, but with Mother here, how could I be allowed to go hungry?"

Mrs. Jin took a handkerchief and wiped her mouth, saying, "Just pretending is fine, you're really not going to eat?"

“But this won’t fool the Emperor,” Zhang Yanling said. “It’s been five days, and the Emperor hasn’t made a move at all. He doesn’t seem to care about this at all.”

He lowered his voice and said, "This means the Emperor has spies in the palace, keeping an eye on things here."

"Really?" Empress Dowager Zhang exclaimed in surprise, "He's been spying on me?"

The Zhang brothers sighed in unison and said, "Sister, you're on a hunger strike! How can the Emperor not keep an eye on you? He must be incredibly careless!"

"Oh dear, wouldn't that be incredibly embarrassing?" Empress Dowager Zhang covered her flushed face, her eyes filled with grievance. "Sister, it's difficult for you too! At your age, how can you endure hunger? Besides, I was just trying to make a show of it, to give the Emperor a heads-up..."

"Just putting on a show isn't enough!" Zhang Yanling stamped his feet anxiously, his voice rising several decibels. "With the Emperor's heart of stone, he's not afraid at all unless it's real!"

“Yes, sister,” Zhang Heling also advised, “We are now in a predicament. If you secretly eat, not only will you not frighten the Emperor, but you will also become a laughing stock for ‘saying one thing and doing another.’ The only way now is to be determined to starve yourself to the point of delirium, so that the whole court and the public will know, so that the censors will come to advise you, so that the whole world will talk about the Emperor’s filial impiety, and so that the Emperor will truly feel the pressure. Only then can we bring the Emperor back!”

"Are you even human?" Madam Jin, overflowing with maternal love, scolded, "What do you mean by being so hungry you're delirious? What if your sister really starves to death?!" "I'm just comparing myself to that..." Zhang Heling quickly shrank back and said, "I've already asked the imperial physician. This person can last for ten or eight days on just water without eating. If my sister lies still like this, she won't die for half a month!"

"Really?" Mrs. Jin was convinced. Clearly, her love for her daughter was far less than her love for her son…

"Don't worry, sister, we're family. Would we ever harm you?!" Zhang Yanling, the good younger brother of the Ming Dynasty, advised again, "If this is really the only way to end things, you can't just lie here indefinitely, can you?"

That statement hit the nail on the head, leaving the Empress Dowager speechless...

After a long silence, Empress Dowager Zhang exhaled a long breath, finally hardening her heart, and said in a deep voice, "So be it! For the sake of my reputation, for the sake of our Zhang family, I'll risk everything!"

Having said that, she called out to the steward and said sternly, "Remove all the food and snacks from the hall! Not a single one is allowed to remain!"

The steward dared not delay and quickly led the palace servants to remove all the food. Then he heard the Empress Dowager make a firm decision:
"From today onwards, not a single grain of rice or a single pastry is allowed to be brought into the Shou Kang Hall!"

"Your Majesty, please reconsider... People need food to survive, how can we really not eat?" The steward hurriedly knelt down and begged. "At least have some porridge?"

"Drink only water!" Empress Zhang had extensive experience with 'fasting' and knew that while not eating was manageable, not drinking water could truly kill a person.

~~
But Empress Zhang did not expect that she was too old to endure hunger like she had when she was young.

In just two days, she became so hungry that she saw stars, her face turned ashen, she could barely sit still, and she felt dizzy as soon as she moved.

She rushed to relieve herself that day, her vision went black, and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious. The palace servants panicked and quickly carried her to bed, summoning the imperial physician to treat her.

The imperial physician knelt before the bed, took the Empress Dowager's pulse through the curtain, and then solemnly reported to Madam Jin:
"Her Majesty the Empress Dowager's pulse is weak and her qi and blood are deficient. If this continues, I'm afraid... I'm afraid it will damage her very foundation!"

"Quickly, persuade Her Majesty to eat!" The steward was about to lose his composure. What kind of family is this?!

"Should we just forget about it, daughter?" Madam Jin panicked, as her wealth and status depended on the Empress Dowager.

"I won't eat..." Empress Dowager Zhang said weakly, "If the Emperor doesn't come, I'll go and complain to the late Emperor..."

I'm so hungry I'm hallucinating...

~~
There are no walls that are completely airtight, and the high and thick palace walls are especially prone to drafts.

The news that the Empress Dowager was actually on a hunger strike quickly spread throughout Beijing, and people were discussing it with great interest on the streets and alleys. The whole country was in an uproar!
Now Li Dongyang could no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb. He quickly led the court officials to draft a sincere memorial, requesting the emperor to visit the Empress Dowager immediately so that the mother and son could reconcile and avoid a major disaster!

Of course, given the nature of these civil officials, they certainly wouldn't stick to the facts. Instead, they listed more than a dozen reasons why the emperor had to show respect to the Empress Dowager, urging him not to act unilaterally.

Jiao Fang had been waiting for this opportunity. He had already rallied a considerable number of eunuchs to submit a memorial together. On the surface, they were also advising the Emperor and Empress Dowager to reconcile, but the memorial linked the Emperor's "filial impiety and disobedience" with the "warning of a severe drought," making it extremely aggressive!
In an instant, memorials of advice and remonstrance flew into the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs like snowflakes!
Rumors began to circulate among the people, with everyone talking about how the emperor's filial impiety caused the severe drought, and public opinion was escalating...

Zhu Houzhao, relying on the fact that he had planted a spy in Shou Kang Palace and knew that the Empress Dowager had been secretly eating, had not taken this hunger strike farce seriously.

But now that he learned the Empress Dowager was serious this time, refusing to eat anything, and that his informant had reported that she had fainted, the Emperor panicked and didn't know what to do...

Moreover, Eunuch Liu had spies in both palaces, so he naturally knew that the Empress Dowager had fainted from hunger and the Emperor was extremely anxious.

He said that if anything happened to the Empress Dowager, he could reap the benefits.

But if he, as the Grand Eunuch, remained silent and did nothing from beginning to end, watching the Empress Dowager starve to death in the palace, how could he escape responsibility? At that time, even if the Emperor blamed Zhang Yong, he would not let him off!

Let's not let the two sides fight and the third party benefit.

At this critical juncture, he had no choice but to advise the emperor...

But how can we persuade him? Should we do what Jiao Fang suggested and take the opportunity to stab Zhang Yong in the back?

This idea is just too tempting.

But wouldn't this backfire?

But such an opportunity is too rare; once it's gone, it's gone forever...

Two little devils were fighting in his mind, making Eunuch Liu feel like an ant on a hot pan.

P.S. I'll revise this later and ask for your votes...

(End of this chapter)