Plotting in the Dark Chamber to Decide the Fate of the World

After the morning court session, the capital appeared calm on the surface, but surging undercurrents churned beneath, much like an active volcano on the verge of eruption.

In the southern part of the city, inside the secret chamber of the private residence of the Vice Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, Zhang Wuji.

The sandalwood in the interlocking incense burner was burning vigorously, yet it could not dispel the biting cold that filled the room. The core backbone of the aristocratic faction—two cabinet ministers, the Minister of Rites, the Minister of Personnel, the Minister of Works, and the Right Vice Minister of War, Zhao Fengchun, who had just been utterly humiliated in the royal court—all wore expressions as dark as water.

Zhang Wuji sat in the seat of honor. His usually well-maintained face now seemed to have aged ten years. He kept his eyes closed, slowly rolling two heavily patinated walnuts in his hand, the friction producing a teeth-setting crunching sound.

How long can Feng Xiang hold out in the grand prison? Zhang Wuji suddenly opened his eyes, his voice hoarse.

The Minister of Personnel shuddered all over, swallowed hard, and whispered, To reply to the Vice Grand Secretary, this... is hard to say. Those eunuchs of the Eastern Depot are living kings of hell, with an endless array of methods for flaying skin and pulling out tendons. Although the Right Censor-in-Chief has tough bones, in his hands... he holds all the ledgers of the disappeared grain reserves and illegally annexed private lands across the southeastern provinces. Once he fails to endure and opens his mouth...

He cannot open his mouth! Zhang Wuji violently smashed the walnuts in his hand onto the table, his gaze sweeping over the crowd like a venomous snake. If he confesses, everyone sitting here, along with the Jiangdong aristocratic families and prominent clans behind you, will all be sacrificed to the young emperor's 'New Deal' banner!

Zhao Fengchun wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said tremblingly, Does the Vice Grand Secretary mean... to silence him? But that is the Heavenly Prison. The Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot take turns guarding it day and night, making it impenetrable!

Even if it is impenetrable, we must poke a hole through it! Zhang Wuji gritted his teeth, a flash of painful reluctance in his eyes. Mobilize the thirty-two 'hidden stakes' we planted in the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Tell them that after the deed is done, the aristocratic families will provide for their families for three generations!

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the room gasped. Those thirty-two hidden stakes were the trump cards that the aristocratic faction had spent countless amounts of gold and silver, and even sacrificed their own collateral legitimate daughters, to plant within the imperial spy agencies. Today, they were going to sacrifice all of them just for one Right Censor-in-Chief?

Vice Grand Secretary, is this price too... The Minister of Works showed a look of reluctance.

Stupid! Zhang Wuji sharply cut him off. Only by severing the tail can we survive! As long as there is no evidence left by the dead, the young emperor cannot touch our foundation! Although we lost a battle in the court today, do not forget that the personnel power of the Great Zhou is still in the hands of the Ministry of Personnel!

Zhang Wuji turned his head and stared fixedly at the Minister of Personnel, lowering his voice, Didn't the emperor want to decentralize power? Didn't he want the Six Ministries, the Court of Judicature and Revision, and the Censorate to establish government offices at the local level? Fine! The chief officials of the provincial departments, prefectural bureaus, county offices, and township branches all require the verification seals of the Ministry of Personnel! We will make our move right here! We will stuff all the disciples and proteges of our aristocratic families into these newly built grassroots government offices! In name, it is the court's administrative reform, but in reality, we will make every inch of this world's grassroots land flow with the blood of our aristocratic families!

The Vice Grand Secretary is brilliant! Hearing this, the crowd's previously gloomy eyes instantly lit up with a greedy light. Indeed, no matter how shrewd the emperor was, wouldn't he ultimately have to rely on these local aristocratic families?

At the same time, inside the residence of the Grand Secretary in the northern part of the capital, another secret plot was underway.

The Grand Secretary, representing the humble-born officials, sat in a grand chair, looking at the Minister of War Tie Zhan, the Minister of Revenue Qian Shoucai, the Minister of Justice Li Xian, as well as the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, the Chief Minister of the Court of Judicature and Revision, and others below.

Today in the Fengtian Hall, we completely tore up our faces with Zhang Wuji and his gang of aristocrats. Tie Zhan slapped his thigh heavily, his rugged face full of excitement. Satisfying! Truly damn satisfying! I've long been sick of looking at those aristocrats who occupy the latrine without taking a shit!

The Minister of Revenue, Qian Shoucai, was not as optimistic. He rubbed his thin fingers, his brows tightly furrowed, Tearing up our faces is a small matter, but our current situation is not good. The aristocratic families have profound foundations, and their disciples and former subordinates are spread all over the local regions. We officials of humble origins are already weak in the royal court. Once we go to the local areas, I'm afraid we will be completely marginalized by them.

That is exactly why we must tightly grasp the authority of the 'General Taxation Bureau'! Zhuge Huaijin suddenly stood up. Gentlemen, the emperor has handed the General Taxation Bureau over to the Cabinet, which means he has handed it to us! This is the financial power of the world! We have also had enough of the aristocrats' bird shit! Since we have torn our faces, then we shall pursue and attack fiercely!

The Grand Secretary walked into the middle of the crowd, his voice low but highly inflammatory, Next, the General Taxation Bureau will establish vertical taxation bureaus in various provinces, prefectures, and counties. This is a godsend opportunity! We will use the taxation power to viciously audit the accounts of the aristocratic families, squeezing out all the land they have annexed and the commercial taxes they have evaded! At the same time, we will insert the children of our humble families, those scholars who studied hard but were squeezed out of official positions by the aristocrats, into the taxation bureaus everywhere! We will use our money bags to smash the official seals of the aristocratic families and expand our advantage in the middle and lower local levels!

Let's do it! At worst, the fish dies and the net breaks! Li Xian and the others echoed with bloodshot eyes, gnashing their teeth.

The two factions in the royal court were both grinding their teeth, preparing to viciously pierce their fangs into the grassroots territory of the Great Zhou during the upcoming official system reform.

However, they could never have dreamed that the young emperor sitting on the dragon throne was currently looking down upon them, preparing to flip the entire chessboard.

Night fell, Ganquan Palace.

Wang Hao dismissed everyone and stood alone in the center of the grand tent. With a thought, he opened the system panel.

Ding! Nanshan Camp check-in successful!

Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Eerie Artifact — [Transmission Mother Nest]!

Accompanied by the mechanical voice of the system, the space inside the grand tent twisted. A massive object crashed to the ground, causing the floor to tremble slightly.

Wang Hao's pupils shrank slightly as he carefully observed the Eerie Artifact before him. It was too bizarre. Its exterior actually looked like an extremely ancient bronze old-fashioned television set, but its volume was outrageously huge, occupying a full twenty square meters of space.

The left side of the mother nest had a deep inlet resembling a black hole, while the right side was a funnel-shaped outlet. Right in the center was embedded a matte black display screen, and on the right side of the screen was a huge speaker horn.

At this moment, the mother body was stationary, but that black display screen was actually flowing with unknown ghostly blue data streams. The speaker emitted an extremely faint electric buzzing sound, like countless insects vibrating their wings in the dark night, making one's scalp tingle just listening to it.

Wang Hao immediately checked the instruction manual sent by the system. The more he read, the more rapid his breathing became, and his eyes erupted with uncontrollable ecstasy.

How was this some Eerie Artifact? This was simply an otherworldly version of an encrypted radio station combined with a WeChat base station! This would be extremely beneficial to his future layouts, one could even say it was like adding wings to a tiger.