Let the Civil Servants Tear Each Other Apart

"Hahahahaha!"

Hearing this, Wang Hao suddenly burst into loud laughter.

"What a convenient 'catching a cold'! What a convenient excuse to avoid meeting!" Wang Hao abruptly stopped laughing, his eyes as sharp as blades. "Zhang Wuji is trying to show Zhuge Huaijin who's boss. Does he think that by winning over the Grand Secretariat and undermining the Chief Minister, he can force me to bow my head?"

"Your Majesty, should this servant send the agents of the Eastern Depot to the Zhang Manor to 'check' on the Vice Minister's condition?" A ruthless glint flashed in Wei Zhongxian's eyes as he made a throat-slitting gesture.

"Fool!" Wang Hao cast a cold glance at him.

That single glance made Wei Zhongxian feel as if he had plunged into an ice cave. He dropped to his knees with a thud. "This servant deserves death! This servant overstepped by trying to guess Your Majesty's will, a crime worthy of ten thousand deaths!"

"Zhang Wuji is a veteran minister of three reigns, the leader of the purist faction, and the spokesman for the noble families. Killing him now would force all the scholars and aristocratic families in the world to rebel. What I want is the enduring peace and stability of the Great Zhou Dynasty, not chaos."

Wang Hao stood up and walked slowly to the window. Looking at the rising sun bursting forth on the horizon, his tone revealed the calm of someone in complete control. "What about Zhuge Huaijin? How did he react?"

Wei Zhongxian wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and quickly reported, "To answer Your Majesty, Lord Zhuge seemed to have anticipated this and didn't utter a single word of complaint. As soon as he entered his duty room, he immediately ordered the sealing of all the account books and memorials of the Six Ministries from the past six months. Right now, he is inside with a few trusted aides, frantically auditing the accounts. It is said... it is said that they have uncovered quite a few bad debts and deficits."

"Excellent!" Wang Hao slapped his hand against the windowsill, his eyes full of praise.

Zhuge Huaijin indeed did not disappoint him. This stubborn old man who couldn't tolerate even a grain of sand in his eye was exactly the catfish—no, the mad dog—that Wang Hao had deliberately thrown into the civil official faction!

"Does Zhang Wuji think he can give him the cold shoulder by avoiding him? Zhuge Huaijin is directly cutting off his retreat, taking the knife to the rotten accounts from the past six months when Zhang monopolized the court!" Wang Hao turned around and looked at the kneeling Wei Zhongxian. "Pass on my oral decree: no one from the Inner Court or the Embroidered Uniform Guard is allowed to interfere in the struggles of the Grand Secretariat!"

"Your Majesty means..." Wei Zhongxian seemed to half-understand.

"My meaning is very simple. The upcoming imperial court will be an arena for Zhuge Huaijin and Zhang Wuji. That stubborn donkey Zhang Wuji will be quite busy for the next few months. Zhuge Huaijin will definitely bite down hard on those corrupt and rotten accounts and not let go. Within the civil official group, it will soon turn into a dog-eat-dog bloodbath!"

Wang Hao walked back to his desk, looking down at Wei Zhongxian from above. His voice was kept extremely low, yet every word struck like a thunderbolt. "As for your Depot and Guards, I want you to completely pull back and retreat into the shadows. Aside from closely monitoring the movements of the Grand Secretariat and the Sixteen Noble Families, halt all other operations. Without my decree, you are not allowed to bite."

Wei Zhongxian's body trembled as realization dawned on him. His Majesty was going to sit back and watch the civil officials tear each other apart and exhaust their strength! Meanwhile, the Emperor himself would be the supreme referee, only stepping in to tip the scales when they were about to beat each other to death!

"Your Majesty is infinitely wise! This servant will definitely restrain his subordinates and absolutely not ruin Your Majesty's grand plan!" Wei Zhongxian kowtowed deeply, the awe in his heart reaching its absolute peak.

"Enough, stop flattering." Wang Hao pulled out a previously drafted secret edict from the desk and casually tossed it onto the floor tiles in front of Wei Zhongxian. "Go and handle two important matters."

Wei Zhongxian held up the secret edict with both hands and listened respectfully.

"First," Wang Hao pointed at the confiscation list, "from these 1.2 million acres of confiscated fertile land, pick out the 500,000 acres in the best and most fertile locations around the capital! They will serve as a reward for the outstanding officers and soldiers in the recent reorganization of the Infantry Guard! As for how exactly to distribute it, have the Chief Military Commission draft a plan, with the Directorate of Ceremonial supervising the entire process. The only requirement is that it must reach the hands of every brave, rank-and-file soldier who dares to fight!"

Wei Zhongxian gasped. 500,000 acres of fertile land, just given away as a reward like that?

"Do not feel heartache over this bit of land." Wang Hao saw through Wei Zhongxian's thoughts and snorted coldly. "I want all the military households in the empire to open their eyes wide and see that as long as they follow me, as long as they are absolutely loyal to me, not only will they have meat to eat, but they can also bring honor to their ancestors and build up an estate! The loyalty of the army is fed with real gold, silver, and land, not just shouted out with empty words!"

With the reward of these 500,000 acres of land, the hearts of the 330,000 imperial guards would be thoroughly bound to Wang Hao. If anyone dared to touch the Emperor, these land-owning soldiers would tear them apart alive!

"This servant understands! I will definitely handle it flawlessly!" Wei Zhongxian replied excitedly.

"The second matter." Wang Hao's eyes suddenly turned dark. He leaned forward slightly, staring into Wei Zhongxian's eyes. "Use all the hidden networks of the Eastern Depot to secretly recruit a group of talents proficient in arithmetic and criminal law from the civilian population. Look especially among poor scholars, accountants, and even litigators who know the laws inside and out. Do not make a fuss. Gather them secretly in the imperial estates on the outskirts of the capital and keep them under strict control."

Wei Zhongxian was stunned. "Your Majesty, recruiting these people... what use is it?"

"Do not ask what you shouldn't ask." Wang Hao straightened up, hands behind his back, his gaze penetrating the glazed tiles of the imperial study as if seeing the magnificent, sweeping map of the future empire.

"At the court assembly in a few days, I will use the vacancies in the Five Wards Military Command and the Bureau of Carriages to play a grand game of chess that neither Zhang Wuji nor Zhuge Huaijin will be able to understand. These people will be the sharpest knives in my hands in the future!"

Although Wang Hao's voice was light, it carried an unparalleled, world-swallowing dominance that made the very air in the imperial study tremble slightly.

"This servant obeys the decree! I will go and do it right away!" Wei Zhongxian did not dare to ask another question, scrambling out of the imperial study.

The rising sun finally broke free from the constraints of the clouds, casting golden sunlight over Wang Hao's young and majestic face.

He stood by the window with his hands behind his back, looking down at the vast complex of imperial palace buildings beneath his feet, his heart surging like boiling water.

Three hundred and thirty thousand tiger-wolf troops in his grasp—this was his shield.

The depot guards and hounds lying dormant in the shadows—these were his eyes.

The Chief Minister and the Vice Minister crushing each other—this was his board.

Tens of millions of taels of silver and millions of acres of fertile land—these were his trump cards!

This originally doomed endgame of the Great Zhou Dynasty had finally been completely brought to life by his heavy-handed moves!

"Zhang Wuji, noble clans and wealthy families... prepare to face a dimensional strike from a new era."

Wang Hao murmured softly, a hunter's smile curving at the corners of his lips.

"My reign over the world has only just begun."