Chapter 45: Game

  A gentle breeze swept past the window, blowing open Min's hat strings and releasing a hint of fragrance from his bath. He unfolded a white silk fan and stared blankly at it, lost in thought that drifted far away, completely unaware that a familiar figure had just passed by outside the bamboo fence.

  Li Peinan received the news from the two departments of the household, and was about to pass it on to Min An. As he walked over, he saw Min An sitting quietly by the window, seemingly lost in thought. He lowered his eyelids, pursed his lips, and under his black hair, a patch of white neck was exposed, contrasting with his tanned face. Li Peinan couldn't help but smile. However, Min An was immersed in his memories, and his profile looked so gentle, completely different from his usual rough appearance, which made Li Peinan take another two glances at him.

  Li Peinan took a closer look and discovered something. Min An was holding a plain white silk fan, which was the same as the nine-petaled lotus leaf incense burner he had arranged in the study last time. These were all small objects that Li Peinan had never seen before. From this, Li Peinan could conclude that these were things given to Min An by outsiders. The silk fan was originally a decorative item for elegant scholars and refined gentlemen, but now it was being repeatedly played with by Min An, showing that the person who gave him the fan was also a certain type of person.

  Li Peinan was preoccupied with the main issue and didn't intend to take advantage of Min An, so he kicked open the wooden door with a stern face and walked into the bamboo house with an air of coldness. Min An hastily put away his fan and greeted him.

  Li Peinan threw the documents copied from the Dali Temple at Min'an's feet and said coldly, "The petition you led a few days ago has been submitted to the imperial court. The Dali Temple received the petition and jointly conducted a joint investigation with the Duchayuan. This is the verdict of the trial. Take a closer look and see if there are any flaws."

  Min An picked up the judgment document and carefully read it, where he found that there was a "refutation" item inside, and immediately understood that his opponent had already made a move in the imperial court.

  A few days ago, Min Anzun, on behalf of Li Peinan, submitted a petition to the imperial court in his own name as a low-ranking clerk, accusing officials in Chu State of corruption. His actions were equivalent to formally launching the Chu State corruption case. At the same time, Li Peinan sent his confidant to deliver Wang Huaili's account book and Bi Si's handwritten testimony as evidence, which was enclosed with Min Anzun's petition in a cowhide paper bag and delivered directly to the emperor's hands, bypassing the Chu State government office. The move was quite drastic. Subsequently, the King of Chusou, following national law, sent the petition and evidence to the Supreme Court for review and appointed the Grand Coordinator of the Censorate to oversee the case. On the same day, the corruption case entered the two-court trial procedure. The regent king's swift handling of the case intimidated a group of officials below him. After the morning court session, the Supreme Court-led trial continuously summoned Chu State officials for questioning, triggering impeachment by the Peng Ma faction and sparking heated debates on the imperial court, with three factions forming to engage in political maneuvering.

  One faction was the Peng Ma Party, with Peng Yin Xin as the mainstay and his followers including the Secretary of State Ma Kai Sheng and other officials in Chu Zhou. They turned passive into active, on the one hand, inciting officials in Chu Zhou to jointly submit their resignations, and on the other hand, sending old ministers to drum into the palace to advise Empress Qi Lian, with tears streaming down her face, that it was impossible to shake the foundation of the national treasury - the rich and prosperous politics of Chu Zhou. The empress considered that if she were to fully investigate the case of corruption, she would have to replace half of the current officials in Chu Zhou, allowing the King of Chu Nan to install his own confidants in the sixty vacant official positions, so she made a decisive decision, instructing the three provinces' remonstrance officials to promote court discussions, thereby countering the king's edict.

  The empress who was invited out of the palace formed the second mastermind in the political situation. Behind her naturally stood the entire Qi Lian family and the old ministers reused by the former emperor.

  The faction that countered the above two factions was the Chusnan Wang faction, which had a large number of officials above the fourth rank in its web, playing a stabilizing role in the alternating impeachments and policy discussions. They were able to form a force against the Empress Dowager and the Pengma Party because they held two major trump cards: one was that the Crown Prince Li Peinan controlled the elite cavalry military power in the western border, forming a powerful deterrent on the periphery; the other was that the young master Fei Yichu came from a noble background, connecting the imperial courts of Huachao and Beili, and could borrow troops from Beili to launch a pincer attack with the Crown Prince in the northwest, which would inevitably take away half of Huachao's territory and shake the imperial court's rule. Of course, unless absolutely necessary, Chusnan Wang and his three sons would not start a war, let alone disturb the retired Emperor who was hiding on an island overseas giving orders that could not be disobeyed.

  Peng Ma Dang Yu was able to see through the pros and cons of the situation, so from a legal standpoint, he strongly argued his case in the grand trial at the Temple of Justice. They first questioned the credibility of the indictment, but when the Minister of Justice showed that Min An had a clean background, especially highlighting that Min An was the son of Min Chang, the former governor of Jinzhou with a good reputation, and had remained in the countryside thinking of serving the imperial court, they cut off any further questioning. Li Pei Nan considered it carefully and followed the usual practice of using someone without power or influence, Min An, as the plaintiff, also to avoid giving people something to talk about. As for the official documents and certificates he issued to Min An, such as the proof of his position and other items, they would naturally be submitted to the Ministry of Justice after the case was concluded, allowing Min An to take advantage of the opportunity to rise through the ranks in the Ministry's selection process.

  Peng Ma Dang saw that the original method of refuting the plaintiff was not working, so he began to argue about the flaws in the evidence. They insisted that Wang Huaili had died on duty while suppressing a prison riot and should be remembered by the imperial court for his great contributions. The imperial court could only provide consolation to his family members and could not investigate his criminal responsibility. After reading the memorial submitted by Li Peinan, Chu Nan Wang knew that what Peng Ma Dang said was true, so he had to follow the previous example and handle it in the same way. In the rebuttal statement submitted by the Minister of Justice, he circled the words "cannot pursue the responsibility of Wang Zhixian" and acknowledged Peng Ma Dang's first counterattack.

  Peng Ma's party "seized the victory and pursued it", and in the second piece of evidence, namely Bi Shi's testimony, they found a large number of ambiguous words and phrases, requiring Bi Shi to confront them in court. However, Bi Shi had been missing for many days and would not appear in court. Peng Ma's party was dissatisfied with the trial by the Grand Justice Temple, and even if it meant risking being beaten, they wanted to loudly curse in the great hall, one can imagine what kind of scene this solemn public trial ended up as.

  After several rounds of commotion, the outcome that Chu Nan Wang could handle was extremely slim. The officials were either found guilty of "neglecting court discipline and law" or "lacking etiquette in court", and were punished with a few dozen heavy blows, fined a hundred taels of silver, demoted, or cangued for two months as a warning. However, the corrupt officials still stood at the forefront of the civil and military officials. Chu Nan Wang deeply felt that facing such a palace, he could not use drastic means to make big waves in political struggles. He had to use gentle force repeatedly to achieve results. He sealed up the yellow leather account book, which was the only evidence, and wrote a letter overnight to Li Pei-nan, criticizing him for being incompetent and only providing his father with superficial evidence that could not withstand rebuttal. Unexpectedly, Li Pei-nan sent a reply letter by express horse, mercilessly mocking his father's soft methods, saying that even with solid evidence of corruption, he could not make a conviction. He also provided a clever plan: to use the case of Ma K'ai-sheng, the second-in-command of the Peng-Ma party, as an entry point. If they followed Chu Nan Wang's weak and timid approach, Li Pei-nan said in his letter, it would be impossible to achieve anything. However, they could still divide and conquer the lower-ranking officials within the Peng-Ma party, inducing them to recommend corrupt officials listed in the account book, and then prompting those officials to reveal other corrupt officials, one by one, until ten or a hundred people were implicated, ultimately uncovering the festering sore of corruption in the officialdom. Chu Nan Wang was furious after reading the letter and couldn't sleep for a night. He had no choice but to admit that his eldest son's strategy of using both soft and hard tactics was correct. After some thought, he excused himself from the officials of the three provinces, returned to Chu Zhou, and secretly met with Ma K'ai-sheng's family members. To the outside world, he raised the banner of "urging the crown prince to attend to government affairs" to confuse Peng Yin-xin and the palace informants.

  The King of Southern Chu returned to the Prince's mansion in Chu Prefecture to rest, and the first round of verbal sparring over the corruption case in the imperial court came to an end. The second round of new evidence was presented, and the Ducha Yuan would preside over the re-examination. If the Ducha Yuan's second trial had no objections, according to national law, the corruption case in Chu Prefecture would be closed from then on, and it would never be reopened or pursued against any officials involved.

  King of Chus southern kingdom and others are waiting for the second opportunity, Peng Ma party is also actively responding. They gathered a large number of staff to think of ways to plug the loopholes, and sent an urgent letter requesting the county magistrate of Xianhua County, Minzhou Prefecture, to send a leader to preside over the situation. Very soon they received a reply from Zhu Youcheng: My son has already set out for Chu State, if he can get his support, you can rest assured that everything will be fine. After this, Zhu Youcheng cut off all contact with Chu State and the imperial court.

  Zhu You became an official for over a decade, using his position to nurture commerce. He was cautious and prudent, not seeking advancement, only wanting to solidify his foundation. He would never take bribes or embezzle silver, nor would he let the names of his family members appear in account books. Even if the imperial court were to investigate, they would only find evidence of Zhu's family members helping with tasks outside the province, but no proof of his interactions with Peng Ma's party. Even if the court found the appointment letters issued by Peng Ma's trusted officials, it would only prove their connection and result in a private punishment for "improper conduct", which would not shake the foundation of Zhu's official-commerce empire. Zhu You was able to hide so deeply because he had foresight, only willing to contribute manpower and strategies, and resolutely refusing to embezzle official silver or exploit the people.

  The greatest benefit that Zhu Yucheng helped Peng Ma Party gain was to obtain a convenient "salt certificate" from Minzhou to the capital, allowing the Zhu family's merchants to operate salt and iron camps without any obstacles. In eleven years, the people of Zhujiacun became wealthy salt merchants, with their reputation spreading throughout the hundred counties of Minzhou. Seeing that things were going well, Zhu Yucheng decided to help Peng Ma Party one last time by blocking Lou Zi before completely letting go. Therefore, when faced with Peng's new request, he only threw out a reply asking for his son Zhu Muzi's opinion.

  Peng Yin Xin hastily dispatched people to search for Zhu Mu Si's whereabouts, but unfortunately, no one had seen Zhu Mu Si's face before. After several days of searching, they encountered difficulties. Peng Yin Xin sent a flying letter to contact Zhu Yu Cheng, but he knew that Zhu Yu Cheng had abandoned his post and secretly cursed him for a long time. At this moment, a trusted aide came over and said that he had seen Wu Mei in the streets of Changping Prefecture, Wu Mei was once a fellow student of Zhu Mu Si's, and should be able to recognize Zhu Mu Si's face.

  Peng Yinxun was searching for a past memory, and unexpectedly ran into Zhu Muzi, who was a bright and handsome young noble with a tube of frozen milk wine in his hand. He stood on the street, smiled slowly, and gave Peng Yinxun immense comfort.

  "We've been waiting for you for a long time." Zhu Muzi said calmly.

  Peng Yin Xin bowed his head and cupped his hands in greeting before the young master: "Young Master knows I've come?"

  "I have come to Changping Prefecture precisely to settle this matter. If you want to overthrow the King of Chusou, you must first eliminate the power of the Crown Prince; in that case, you will have to listen to all my plans."

  "I promise."

  Just as Zhu Muzi was quietly helping Peng Yinxin block the re-examination of the Chu State corruption case, the refutation verdict from the palace also reached Li Peinan's hands. The two groups were in a stalemate, struggling and guessing each other's intentions, thinking of ways to probe into each other's movements.

  Both sides were cautious enough to prevent Li Peinan from finding the unknown surname Zhu's military advisor who had set him up, and also prevented Zhu Muzi from predicting Li Peinan's next move. For Li Peinan, he had already made preparations in advance, inciting his father King Xiang to go to Chu State to counterattack Ma Chao; for Zhu Muzi, he could only respond to the situation, trying to turn the disadvantage into an advantage, using a big case to disrupt Li Peinan's rhythm.

  Two people across the border are engaged in an invisible game of chess, both quietly waiting for the right moment.

  Min An picked up the verdict and examined it carefully, immediately sensing the difficulty of the chess situation. Li Peinan looked at him, waiting for his conclusion. Min An replied: "The verdict is flawless, completely following the law, young master wants to submit new evidence, must think of another way."

  "Uh-huh."

  Min An hastily asked: "Young Master, have you come up with a plan?"

  "Yes." Li Peinan then briefly explained his plan, including urging his father to come to Chu State.

  Min An put his mind at ease and thought of another matter, asking if the mastermind behind the murder of Wang Huaili and three others had been found. Like Li Peinan, he didn't know who the military strategist sent by the Zhu family was, but they both believed that this person was crucial, and not finding him would always be a hidden danger.

  "Can't find him, he disappeared with Bi." Li Peinan's reply was also brief.

  Min Andou asked boldly: "Does the young master's wharf have any news?"

  Li Peinan glanced at Min An: "The whistle office is only responsible for connecting messages from various states and counties, and is not responsible for finding witnesses."

  "Oh."

  Li Peinan deliberately waited a bit longer, thinking that Min An would not be able to withstand the intense training for several days in a row and would grab his clothes as usual. However, Min An, who was only a foot away from him, just stood with his head down, seemingly lost in thought, causing Li Peinan's face to turn cold again as he walked out the door.

  Two days later, after Min An finished his polo training in the afternoon, he received another message from Hua Cui on the wall: Old Dad had gone to Changping Prefecture to do business with Xuan Xu, and it was said that he had already made a small profit, which could be added to Min An's dowry. She was worried about Old Dad and wanted to follow him there too, telling Min An to take good care of himself.

  Min An held the letter handed over by Hua Cui, returned to the bamboo house. After reading it, his mind became more and more restless. His master had already indicated in the letter that he would be married to Xuan Xu, and the wedding would take place a month later.

  The master has always disregarded the parents' matchmaking words. In his eyes, the Min family's wealth is scattered and its people are gone, he is the final decision-maker of the family, even several masters of Min An cannot shake his position.

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