Military Generals Taking Sides

The civil officials, who had just been spitting in the faces of the eunuchs, suddenly fell silent. Everyone's eyes turned in astonishment toward the ranks of the military generals and nobles. According to the rules of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the civil and military paths were strictly separated. As long as it didn't involve military power or army provisions, these old military leaders always rested their eyes and played deaf and dumb in the imperial court.

Had the sun risen from the west today?

Zhao Fengchun, the Right Vice Minister of War, was the first to react. Taking a deep breath to suppress his anger, he turned to face the Duke of Ying. He gave a slight bow, but his tone carried an undisguised warning. My Lord Duke, this is a dispute over the imperial court's system of governance! The post stations and carriages fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. This is the ancestral law established by the founding Emperor. This matter seems to have nothing to do with you military generals and marquises, right? I ask the Lord Duke to speak cautiously and not overstep your bounds!

Overstep my bounds?

Xu Chengzuo, the Duke of Ding, suddenly took a step forward. His burly physique, like an iron tower, instantly closed in on Zhao Fengchun. He did not care for etiquette like the civil officials; instead, he pointed a thick finger directly, almost poking the nose of the Minister of War.

Bullshit! Xu Chengzuo cursed without any hesitation, his gruff voice echoing through the spacious hall and making people's eardrums ache.

Zhao Fengchun's face instantly turned ashen, and the civil official faction erupted into an uproar.

Vulgar! How can you use such filthy language in the imperial court!

Lord Duke, please conduct yourself with dignity!

A disgrace to decency!

To hell with dignity! Xu Chengzuo snapped his head back, his tiger-like eyes wide open. He glared fiercely at the clamoring civil officials as if looking at a bunch of clowns. You sour pedants who only know how to flap your lips, now you want to talk to me about ancestral laws? Fine! I'll spell it out for you today!

He grabbed Zhao Fengchun by the collar of his official robes and sneered, Vice Minister Zhao, it's true that your Ministry of War oversees the Carriage Bureau, but where do the horses used in the post stations come from? They are painstakingly bred in our border military stud farms, only to be forcibly taken by your Ministry under the guise of requisition! Have you ever paid a single copper coin for them?

Forced to stand on his tiptoes, Zhao Fengchun flushed red and retorted, That is imperial expenditure, a coordinated arrangement...

Coordinated my ass! Xu Chengzuo threw him aside and strode to the center of the hall. Facing Wang Hao, who was seated on the dragon throne, he dropped heavily to one knee, his voice filled with grief and indignation.

Your Majesty! Have these civil officials no shame? Seventy to eighty percent of the post station couriers in the world are disabled veterans who retired from our military guards! They bled for the Great Zhou on the battlefield, lost arms and crippled legs, and were placed in the post stations just to earn a bite to eat. But what is the result? The Ministry of War cries about deficits year after year, and the couriers' wages and provisions are delayed for three whole years!

Xu Chengzuo whipped his head around, glaring murderously at the civil officials. So many of my hundred-battle veterans can't even get a full meal at the post stations and starve to death! What's even more hateful is that you so-called pure officials abuse the post stations' fast horses and carriages just for your wives to buy a box of rouge or your concubines to visit their maiden homes! Using public resources for private gain, taking bribes and demanding kickbacks! You've hollowed out the post stations, and now you come crying poverty and wailing before the Emperor? You bloodsuckers, do you still have the face to claim the post stations belong to you?

Upon hearing these words, the entire Fengtian Hall fell deathly silent.

Many lower-ranking civil officials subconsciously lowered their heads, their eyes darting away. Because what Xu Chengzuo scolded them for was the truth; the post stations of the Great Zhou Dynasty had long become a free logistics company and luxury inn for the civil official faction. This was an open secret.

Trembling all over, Zhao Fengchun pointed at Xu Chengzuo. You... you're spouting malicious slander! The post station deficits are due to natural disasters and human calamities, as well as poor tax revenues from the provinces...

Since you can't manage it well, then don't occupy the latrine without taking a shit! Zhang Jing, the Duke of Ying, stepped forward at the right moment to support his good brother.

He took a deep look at Sun Li, the Seal-Holding Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, who was standing to the side with his eyes narrowed the entire time. Then, he bowed to Wang Hao on the dragon throne. Your Majesty, I am a rough man and do not understand the grand principles of governing a state. I only recognize one stubborn truth: whoever can ensure that the brothers who serve the Great Zhou loyally get enough to eat, and whoever does not hold the imperial court back, should be the one in charge of this duty!

Raising his voice, Zhang Jing also glanced at Tie Yi, the Minister of War, who was currently acting like a turtle pulling its head into its shell. Since the Ministry of War has deficits every year and needs the imperial court to subsidize it with silver, and since Eunuch Sun and his people have signed a military pledge, can take responsibility for their own profits and losses, and can even hand over privy funds to the state treasury, then this General Post Office should be managed by the Directorate of Ceremonial! I recommend that the Inner Court take over the post stations!

We second the motion! We implore Your Majesty to hand over the jurisdiction of the post stations to the Directorate of Ceremonial!

Clatter! As Zhang Jing's words faded, the military generals and nobles on the right side of the hall, led by several dukes and marquises, uniformly dropped to one knee.

The civil officials were completely dumbfounded.

This could be called the most absurd spectacle since the founding of the Great Zhou. The military faction and the eunuch faction, who had always been as incompatible as fire and water and mutually despised each other, were actually wearing the same pair of pants at this moment! Those martial artists, who were usually aloof and guarded against like dogs by the civil officials, were actually helping the ball-less eunuchs seize state power!

Meanwhile, the Second Grand Secretary, Zhang Wuji, stood at the very front of the civil officials, his eyes blazing with fire. He did not look at his exasperated colleagues, nor did he look at the murderous military generals. He slightly raised his head, staring straight at the young Emperor sitting upright on the dragon throne.

Zhang Wuji closed his eyes, and a profound sense of powerlessness submerged him like a freezing tide.

He had lost, utterly and completely.

It was not until this moment that this old fox, who had lived through three reigns and prided himself on his infallible calculations, finally saw through the chain of lethal traps the Emperor had laid from last night to today.

It was too ruthless! Too brilliant!

First, the Emperor had tossed out a General Taxation Bureau with real second-rank power. Using the incredibly tempting poisoned apple of power decentralization and vertical management, he had accurately struck the weak spot of the Senior Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, Zhuge Huaijin, and the officials from humble backgrounds, forcefully smashing an unbridgeable rift into the monolithic civil official faction.

Immediately after, the Emperor released Sun Li and his group of starving eunuchs. Retreating in order to advance, they forcefully seized control of the post stations, drawing all the remaining attention of the civil officials and using them as targets.

And finally, the most fatal blow—the military generals entering the fray!

Zhang Wuji understood these nobles too well; they would not act without an incentive. How could the military generals help the eunuchs for no reason? Combined with the news of the Emperor secretly summoning the Five Military Commissions into the palace last night, Zhang Wuji instantly guessed the truth.

Land! Or money! The Emperor must have thrown out a massive bargaining chip last night that the military faction could not refuse! Having taken the bait, they were now indebted. Today, these military leaders were the trump cards in the Emperor's hand, used to suppress the civil officials' counterattack!

How was this a court discussion? This was clearly the Emperor throwing all three factions—the civil officials, the military generals, and the eunuchs—into a Gu poison jar!

Using interests as bait, the Emperor made the eunuchs bite the civil officials and the military generals suppress them, while the civil officials were still scheming against each other over the jurisdiction of the General Taxation Bureau.

All three factions were dancing in the palm of the Emperor's hand!