A Bloodbath Triggered by the Name "Zhuge Village Man"

The smell of gunpowder inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony instantly intensified to its peak.

Wang Hao sat on the dragon throne, his body leaning slightly forward, resting his chin on one hand. Although he remained expressionless, he secretly wished he could have Wei Zhongxian fetch him a handful of melon seeds.

Argue, curse, bite each other! I am more than happy to be your referee.

"Minister of Revenue, stop spewing venom!" Second Grand Secretary Zhang Wuji knew he had to step into the fray. If he let these mad dogs from humble backgrounds keep biting, his side would collapse before the cake was even divided.

He stared coldly at Zhuge Huaijin. "Lord Zhuge, you want the humble-born disciples to rise to power simply to form cliques for your own selfish interests and cultivate your personal power as First Grand Secretary! Your Majesty, this old minister impeaches First Grand Secretary Zhuge Huaijin for abusing his power for personal gain, vainly attempting to monopolize local political power and undermine imperial authority! His intentions are punishable by death!"

Zhang Wuji's move was incredibly venomous, directly directing the flames of war toward imperial power in an attempt to provoke the Emperor's suspicion of Zhuge Huaijin.

However, he underestimated Zhuge Huaijin's resolve, as well as the madness of the humble-born officials.

"Zhang Wuji, stop spitting blood here!" Left Censor-in-Chief Yao Qi, the highest-ranking official of the Censorate, jumped out like a vicious wolf that had smelled blood. He pulled out a thick stack of memorials from his sleeve and held them high.

"Your Majesty! Since the Second Grand Secretary mentioned abusing power for personal gain, then today, even if it costs me my old life, I will completely expose the ugly faces of the noble-born officials in this court!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the noble-born officials' camp instantly fell into chaos, and Zhang Wuji's eyelids began to twitch wildly.

Left Censor-in-Chief Yao Qi held up the thick stack of memorials, his eyes bloodshot, looking exactly like a death squad soldier ready to take his enemies down with him. The Censorate was already the Great Zhou's concentration camp for trolls, and Yao Qi was a fighter jet among trolls. He had endured for so many years, waiting for an opportunity to completely tear down the noble families.

"Your Majesty! I impeach Minister of Personnel Ma Feng! During the three-year capital evaluation, he accepted massive bribes from local officials, openly putting price tags on official posts and selling titles! The position of Jiangzhou Prefect was actually sold by him for eight hundred thousand taels of silver to an illiterate landlord! His crimes deserve death!"

Yao Qi's voice exploded in the hall, startling Ma Feng so much that his legs went weak and he almost knelt down.

"I impeach Minister of Works Zheng Wen! Last year, when repairing the Great River dam, the imperial court allocated three million taels of silver. He actually colluded with local noble families, passing off shoddy materials as good ones, using sand and mud instead of glutinous rice mortar! This caused the Great River to burst its banks, flooding tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land and leaving corpses of the starved everywhere! He bears half the responsibility for the Jiangnan flood disaster!"

Minister of Works Zheng Wen's face instantly turned pale, cold sweat soaking through his heavy official robes.

"I also want to impeach Minister of Rites Zhao De! Full of benevolence, righteousness, and morality, but in reality, a beast in human clothing! Relying on the power of his noble family, he forcibly enclosed civilian land in the suburbs of the capital to build a villa, driving thirteen peasant households to their deaths. He even secretly kept Yangzhou 'thin horses' for his own debauchery! A disgrace to scholars, his crimes are unpardonable!"

With every item Yao Qi read out, a high-ranking noble official trembled. These dark secrets were gathered bit by bit by the Censorate over the years. In the past, because the noble families were too powerful, they were kept firmly at the bottom of the chest. But today, borrowing the residual might of the Qingyun Sect's annihilation, Yao Qi exposed them all in one breath!

Wang Hao sat on the dragon throne, listening with great relish, secretly clicking his tongue: Good heavens, I knew these noble officials were corrupt, but I didn't expect them to be so creative. Selling official posts is one thing, but they even dared to embezzle all the money for repairing river dams? These dog-like things, when their homes are confiscated later, they will definitely explode with a lot of gold coins for me!

"Nonsense! Spitting blood!"

Second Grand Secretary Zhang Wuji saw his trusted generals being named one by one. If he didn't fight back, the noble families would be wiped out in one fell swoop today. He fiercely waved his sleeve, pointing at Yao Qi and shouted angrily, "Yao Qi, as the Left Censor-in-Chief, you dare to fabricate charges and frame imperial officials at the grand court assembly! Do you really think you humble-born officials are clean?!"

Zhang Wuji turned his head, looking at Minister of Revenue Qian Shoucai, sneering repeatedly. "Lord Qian, you keep saying the state treasury is empty, accusing the noble families of not paying taxes. Then do you dare to tell His Majesty why the military pay for the Northeast army the year before last was delayed for three months? Do you dare to say how much interest you earned by misappropriating that five million taels of military pay to lend at usurious rates in the capital's money shops during those three months?!"

Qian Shoucai's originally smiling fat face suddenly stiffened, a trace of panic flashing in his small eyes. This was also out of his hands; the late Emperor spent so much of the state treasury's money, how could he fill these holes without thinking about making money generate money?

"And you, Minister of War Tie Zhan!" Zhang Wuji turned to bite at the fiery-tempered military general. "You scold my noble family disciples for being arrogant, extravagant, and debauched, but you connived with the border army to kill civilians and claim military merit, using the heads of barbarian herdsmen to pass off as the heads of barbarian soldiers to exchange for military merit. Do you dare say you didn't know about this?!"

Tie Zhan's face turned red, the veins on his neck bulging one by one. "Zhang Wuji, you're farting! That was the subordinates hiding it from me; I already chopped off that Regional Commander's head!"

"No matter who did it, you, the Minister of War, cannot shirk the blame!" Zhang Wuji was unforgiving, finally aiming his artillery fire at First Grand Secretary Zhuge Huaijin. "Lord Zhuge, you are full of benevolence and righteousness, pleading for the common people. But how did that worthless nephew of yours pass the provincial examination?"

The Hall of Supreme Harmony instantly descended into a mutual tearing match.

One side frantically exposed the other's corruption, bribery, and disregard for human life; the other side fought back desperately with the other's misappropriation of public funds, killing civilians for merit, and forming cliques. The usually aloof, high-and-mighty Grand Secretaries and Six Ministers, full of classical quotes, transformed into shrews cursing each other frantically over two green onions in a vegetable market.

What propriety, what dignity, all turned to dog shit in the face of solid official positions and interests!

Wang Hao watched these ministers pulling off each other's underwear, not only not angry, but very happy.

This is right! If you don't expose each other's dark secrets, how can I legitimately grasp your vulnerabilities? The darker you are, the safer I, the "wise ruler" sitting on the dragon throne, am. However, the heat is about right; it's time to add some strong seasoning to completely crush the noble families' psychological defenses.

Just as the two sides were arguing until their faces were red, almost coming to blows, a previously silent official standing in the humble-born camp slowly stepped out at the front of the hall.

This person had an ordinary appearance; it was exactly Wang Hao's imperially appointed second-in-command of the newly established second-rank powerful government office—Left Vice Minister of the General Taxation Administration, Yuchi Liang.

"My lords, have you argued enough?"

Yuchi Liang's voice was not loud, but mixed with true qi, it instantly suppressed the clamor in the hall.

He ignored Zhang Wuji's murderous gaze, walking straight to the center of the hall, and pulled out a black account book from his chest. This account book looked ordinary on the outside, but in the eyes of the noble-born officials, it seemed like a death warrant from King Yama.

"This humble official is untalented, following the orders of the First Grand Secretary. During this period, this humble official has done nothing else but lead my subordinates to thoroughly investigate the agricultural lands, shops, and mines under the names of the families of all the noble lords present here, inside and out."

Yuchi Liang opened the account book and read expressionlessly: Vice Chancellor Lord Zhang, the Zhang family has concealed 1.2 million mu of fertile land under its name in Bingzhou, illegally opened three iron mines, and evaded taxes equivalent to 16 million taels of silver.

Minister of Personnel Lord Ma, the Ma family controls forty-two salt wells in Shuzhong, forged salt certificates, smuggled illicit salt, and evaded taxes amounting to 11 million taels of silver.

Minister of Rites Lord Zhao...

As Yuchi Liang's flat, straightforward voice echoed in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the high-ranking officials of the noble families—who had just been arrogant and domineering, ready to fight to the bitter end with the officials from humble backgrounds—were completely silenced. Everyone looked ashen.

Corruption, bribery, and selling official titles—although these crimes were severe, the law rarely punished the masses across past dynasties. The noble families stood united, and even the Emperor would not dare kill them all.

But tax evasion! And massive tax evasion amounting to tens of millions of taels! This was not only digging at the foundation of the Great Zhou Dynasty, but it also directly touched the reverse scale of the money-grubbing little Emperor sitting above!

In Wang Hao's dictionary, you could call him a tyrant, but he would absolutely never allow you to touch his money!

Lord Zhang, Yuchi Liang closed the account book, a mocking expression on his face. There is no problem with everyone fighting for the chief positions of the six provincial departments, six bureaus, and six offices. As long as you lords make up the hundreds of millions of taels of silver owed to the state treasury, you will be innocent and deserve promotion.

A naked threat!

The officials from humble backgrounds looked at Yuchi Liang, their eyes full of admiration. They knew this was the Emperor's ultimatum to the noble families, delivered through Yuchi Liang's hands. If they wanted to keep some official positions, they had to cut off their own flesh! Only Zhuge Huaijin felt a bit disgusted in his heart. When did I ask you to investigate this? Do not use my banner randomly; would it not be better to just say the Emperor ordered you to investigate?

Zhang Wuji trembled with anger, his eyes fixed on Zhuge Huaijin, teeth grinding loudly. He knew that the noble families had lost today. They had lost to that sudden battle of extermination, and even more so to this deeply hidden, scheming Emperor!

But how could he, Zhang Wuji, the dignified leader of the noble families, swallow this foul anger? He did not dare curse the Emperor, so his heart full of humiliation and fury instantly poured down onto Zhuge Huaijin's head!

Zhuge the Peasant! You push people too far!! Zhang Wuji completely lost his mind, pointing at Zhuge Huaijin's nose and cursing loudly. Stop using the Emperor's power to throw your weight around! Do you think you have definitely won?! You are nothing but a lowly breed born with mud on your legs! My noble families have a millennium of heritage; how could a bunch of sour, pedantic scholars like you shake us!!!

Zhuge the Peasant!

These words echoed in the silent Hall of Supreme Harmony, like a rolling thunder directly striking the top of Grand Chancellor Zhuge Huaijin's head.

Although the Great Zhou court had always been fiercely contested and trading insults was common, everyone was a well-read, first-rank official. Even when cursing, they focused on quoting classics and making veiled attacks. For someone like Zhang Wuji to directly attack the current Grand Chancellor in front of the Emperor and all the officials, using the most vulgar and insulting terms about his background, was absolutely a first in history!

The word Peasant not only stung Zhuge Huaijin but also stung all the officials from humble backgrounds.

Zhuge Huaijin's originally straight back suddenly stiffened. His old face, full of the marks of time, first showed astonishment, then instantly turned the color of pig liver, with veins bulging on his forehead like earthworms.

He came from a poor background. In his youth, to study, he had knelt in the snow to beg to borrow rare books. After passing the imperial examinations, he was suppressed by the noble families and powerful clans for decades, his hair turning white before he finally reached the position of Grand Chancellor. What he hated most was the arrogance of the noble families, acting so high and mighty, treating those from humble backgrounds like dirt!

Zhang Wuji... what, what did you call me? Zhuge Huaijin's voice was trembling.

Zhang Wuji was also consumed by anger at this moment, completely devoid of reason. He even took a step forward and sneered, What? Did I say something wrong? You were born a country peasant. Even wearing this scarlet official uniform cannot cover up the smell of mud in your bones! You want to sever the foundation of my noble families, today I will let you know...

Slap—!!!

An extremely crisp, loud slap, even carrying a bit of an echo, forcefully interrupted Zhang Wuji's words!

The entire hall fell dead silent.

Everyone's eyes nearly popped out of their heads and fell to the floor. Even Wang Hao, sitting on the dragon throne watching the show, was so shocked that his mouth opened slightly, the teacup in his hand almost slipping from his grasp.

They saw Grand Chancellor Zhuge Huaijin—this seventy-year-old civil official who usually paid the most attention to etiquette and rules, always speaking of the ways of the sages—now acting like a street ruffian. He swung his arm in a full circle and delivered a fierce, solid slap right across Vice Chancellor Zhang Wuji's well-maintained old face!

Zhang Wuji was slapped silly.

His head was knocked to the side, his topknot instantly coming undone, and five bright red finger marks appeared on his left cheek at a visible speed. He stood with his mouth agape, his brain buzzing, completely unable to believe what had just happened.