Chapter 32
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Upon learning of Lord Chu Xun’s return, Gu Yuanbai was overjoyed.
Lord Chu Xun entered the hall, weary and dusty, and Gu Yuanbai personally rose from behind his desk to greet him, helping Lord Chu Xun up and speaking warmly, “Lord Chu, you’ve worked hard.”
Two months of toil and danger condensed into gratitude with the Emperor’s words. Lord Chu Xun’s eyes welled up with tears as he replied, “I did not disappoint Your Majesty’s trust. The reasons for the spring floods are detailed in this memorial.”
Gu Yuanbai glanced at the memorial, letting Tian Fusheng take it, but did not rush to read it. Instead, he rewarded Lord Chu Xun with a seat and some tea, allowing him to rest before casually flipping open the memorial.
Lord Chu Xun was tasked with resolving the spring floods and identifying the officials who hid information. His main focus was naturally on the floods, and as expected by Gu Yuanbai, when Lord Chu Xun arrived in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, there was already a risk of breaches due to sediment accumulation and days of continuous rainfall.
Fortunately, Lord Chu Xun’s theories on water management were not just empty talk. He immediately discussed water management plans based on the terrain, patrolling and adjusting day and night until the minor floods were successfully passed.
Apart from flood control, the other task was investigation. Lord Chu Xun’s low position was not without reason; his methods were straightforward, and he did not know how to adapt when given orders by the Emperor. Gu Yuanbai asked him to investigate the sources of the hidden information, but he only focused on that, almost bringing several disasters upon himself due to his directness. However, Lord Chu Xun didn’t persist, immediately going to the local commander and dispatching troops to arrest those local officials who intended to resist to the end.
“The commander is still on the road with those officials; they should arrive in the capital in another two days,” Chu Xun said.
After Gu Yuanbai finished reading the list of officials on the memorial, he nodded with a smile and asked, “Lord Chu, have you found any collusion between these local officials and the officials in the capital?”
Lord Chu Xun replied guiltily, “I’m incompetent and have not found any.”
Gu Yuanbai’s expression remained unchanged. He comforted Lord Chu Xun for a few words, then seeing his exhausted appearance, allowed him to return home to rest.
After Lord Chu Xun left, Gu Yuanbai caressed the memorial with a deepening smile, then suddenly slammed it on the table, his smile disappearing as he said coldly, “Tian Fusheng, send someone to invite the Deputy Censor-in-Chief.”
***
The Deputy Censor-in-Chief’s eyelids twitched when he learned he had been summoned by the Emperor.
As he knelt before the Emperor, this ominous feeling intensified.
Since the arrest of Qi Wang, he had been uneasy, but after waiting for many days without any action from the Emperor, he thought the Emperor hadn’t found out. What was happening now?
The Emperor held a cup of tea, leisurely sipping, still the shuangjing green tea, which Gu Yuanbai favored.
As the Emperor leisurely drank tea, the Deputy Censor-in-Chief knelt with fine beads of sweat on his forehead.
Such silence made his heart feel abnormal, with his heartbeat quickening to the point where breathing became difficult. The Deputy Censor-in-Chief lowered his head, constantly speculating, and finally made up his mind, “Your Majesty, the Minister pleads guilty!”
Gu Yuanbai finally looked up at him, removed the tea leaves from the teacup, and said mildly, “What crime do you have, Minister Feng?”
The Deputy Censor-in-Chief’s large beads of sweat dripped from his temples. He respectfully said, “I should have monitored the officials, but I have been negligent lately, causing many mistakes. The Minister is guilty of many, and any one of them requires Your Majesty’s forgiveness.”
“Oh?” Gu Yuanbai’s tone became colder, “If the Deputy Censor-in-Chief is so guilty, what has become of the entire Imperial Censorate?”
The Deputy Censor-in-Chief’s breath stagnated, and his heart slowly sank into the abyss. “This….”
Gu Yuanbai took a sip of tea and said calmly, “Go and bring Qi Wang.”
The Deputy Censor-in-Chief’s heart skipped a beat.
Soon, someone brought Qi Wang into the hall. The hardships of recent days had aged Qi Wang by at least twenty years. He looked dispirited, and the three days of starvation had left him gaunt, with none of his former grandeur and nobility.
Upon seeing Gu Yuanbai, Qi Wang was filled with both hatred and fear. He tried to maintain his dignity as an imperial uncle, but upon seeing the Deputy Censor-in-Chief kneeling nearby, his eyes widened in shock, and he began to tremble.
Two middle-aged men in their forties or fifties knelt before him, both sweating profusely. Gu Yuanbai continued to drink his tea unhurriedly.
“Your Majesty,” Qi Wang couldn’t hold back any longer. Trembling with fear, he asked, “What is this about?”
“You dare to ask me why I summoned you?” Gu Yuanbai glanced at the Deputy Censor-in-Chief, whose body shook under his gaze. The Deputy Censor-in-Chief tried to remain calm and said, “Your Majesty, I…”
“The Censorate,” Gu Yuanbai interrupted him, speaking each word deliberately, “is supposed to supervise local officials and the entire bureaucracy. It is my eyes and ears, upholding the law. I trusted you, Lord Feng, because during the late emperor’s reign, you often submitted reports correcting my mistakes. I believed that you were a loyal and upright minister, a model for all officials.”
The Deputy Censor-in-Chief’s heart pounded as he trembled with fear.
“But it seems you are not as good as I thought,” Gu Yuanbai’s voice grew colder. “Instead of watching the officials, your eyes are on me. Your hand has reached out to Wan Taifei. What, a Deputy Censor-in-Chief position doesn’t satisfy you? You want to go further, maybe even drag me off the throne?”
The Deputy Censor-in-Chief was terrified, his entire body cold.
He had never seen Gu Yuanbai like this.
The Emperor treated his officials well, was open to criticism, and had a reputation for wisdom. The Deputy Censor-in-Chief knew the Emperor was not simple.
But he realized how terrifying he was only after Gu Yuanbai sent troops to surround Qi Wang’s mansion.
That day, the doors of officials’ houses throughout the capital were tightly shut, and the wails from Qi Wang’s mansion echoed down the street. The Deputy Censor-in-Chief trembled in his own residence, his teeth chattering in fear.
But by then, everything that needed to be done had been done. The ship of thieves had already set sail, and the person holding the helm could neither change direction nor abandon ship.
“I, I…” The Deputy Censor-in-Chief’s voice trembled. “I didn’t…”
“You did!!”
Gu Yuanbai hurled the tea cup in his hand, shattering it beside the Deputy Censor-in-Chief. The splashes of water from the cup stained both the Deputy Censor-in-Chief and Qi Wang, who were already dizzy with fear.
The guards outside the door and the palace attendants all knelt down, and the entire palace fell silent. The Deputy Censor-in-Chief felt his breath suffocating, his heart nearly stopping with fear.
Gu Yuanbai’s face was full of anger, his lungs burning with fury, his breathing becoming heavy. He calmed himself, his expression blank; the more the Emperor behaved like this, the more fearful the people below him became.
Qi Wang’s legs had already gone weak, and he collapsed to the ground, trembling with fear.
The piece of hollow jade found in Qi Wang’s mansion was thrown in front of them.
As they looked at the hollow jade pendant and the Emperor’s expressionless face, both Qi Wang and the Deputy Censor-in-Chief completely collapsed to the ground, filled with despair.
The Emperor rarely got angry, especially at the officials of the Imperial Censorate. Because the officials of the Imperial Censorate had the duty to check on the officials, what the Emperor needed from them was their willingness to speak up, not their fear. In order not to scare them, the Emperor’s attitude toward the officials of the Imperial Censorate was always very friendly.
This was the first time the Deputy Censor-in-Chief and Qi Wang had seen the Emperor so angry.
Both of them turned pale with fear, their eyes hollow. At this moment, the Emperor threw another memorial in front of the Deputy Censor-in-Chief with a cold tone, “Read.”
Trembling, the Deputy Censor-in-Chief picked up the memorial and opened it. It turned out to be a list of local officials surrounding the Yellow River during the minor flood season.
After he finished reading, Gu Yuanbai spoke again, “The Deputy Censor-in-Chief colluded with local officials, accepted bribes, and used these ill-gotten gains to bribe Qi Wang. Qi Wang and the Deputy Censor-in-Chief colluded and conspired with traitors, inciting local officials to oppress the people. How hateful! The Imperial Censorate is meant for oversight, but it indulged in corruption. How many good officials are left in the Imperial Censorate? These local officials dared to collude with officials in the capital for evil deeds. How many of them are clean?”
The Deputy Censor-in-Chief and Qi Wang suddenly looked up.
They had never done any of these things!
With a cold gaze, Gu Yuanbai continued in a calm voice, “Do you plead guilty?”
“I…” The Deputy Censor-in-Chief’s head was buzzing with pain.
Gu Yuanbai said coldly, “In light of your voluntary confession and disclosure of these corrupt local officials, I can spare you from death.”
After a long time, under the Emperor’s icy gaze, tears streamed down the Deputy Censor-in-Chief’s face. He slowly raised his hand, bowed deeply, and knocked his head heavily on the ground. “I plead guilty.”
The hat given to him by the Emperor completely stripped away the Deputy Censor-in-Chief’s dignity. After confessing to the crime, a Deputy Censor-in-Chief was corrupt. It was obvious what would happen next.
The entire Imperial Censorate, the entire local officials, would be investigated by the Emperor.
But the Emperor only gave them one way out.
The Emperor spared them from their planned actions; they didn’t have to die, they didn’t have to be implicated, but the price was worse than death.
Their whole families would be exiled, their original hometowns stripped away, they would be banned from participating in the imperial examinations, and they would be branded as criminals for generations, leaving a lasting stigma.
Qi Wang, seeing the confession from the Deputy Censor-in-Chief, moved his stunned gaze to Gu Yuanbai.
Meeting Gu Yuanbai’s gaze, he suddenly shivered.
With a cold snort, Gu Yuanbai began issuing decrees.
The Deputy Censor-in-Chief was dismissed from office, stripped of his status as a resident of the capital, and his family was banished to a desolate place in southern Guangnan for three generations as laborers, forbidden from returning to the capital or participating in the imperial examinations for three generations. Qi Wang’s title was stripped, he was reduced to a commoner, his lineage was cut off, and his estate outside the capital was restricted, never to step foot in the capital again for three generations or participate in the imperial examinations.
As for the Imperial Censorate, with such a massive case of corruption, the Emperor no longer trusted it and would reorganize it. As for those local officials caught by Chu Xun, who colluded with officials in the capital, they were not only guilty of concealing information but also sentenced to death.
The sentences would be carried out, the exiles would be exiled.
More importantly, the Deputy Censor-in-Chief confessed to colluding with various local officials.
What did this mean?
Gu Yuanbai could barely suppress a laugh.
This meant he could launch a grand anti-corruption campaign.
And this time, he could use thunderous methods, use military forces, and investigate deeply. It was well known that anti-corruption activities were always a means for rulers to get rid of certain people.
The Imperial Censorate.
Finally, it would truly become his eyes and ears.
***
After the edict was issued, the court was shocked.
Everyone in the Imperial Censorate was frightened, and the Imperial Censor, who was about to retire, took on such a heavy responsibility. Every day and night, he lamented that he was one step too late, bringing himself to such a precarious situation.
Qi Wang and his entourage had already been driven out of the capital. They were all aristocrats raised in luxury and wealth. Being driven away, they all looked lost. Whether they were old or young, they suddenly felt homeless.
The guards looked fierce as they drove them to the estate where there was nothing. From now on, they were not allowed to step out of the estate, to be confined until death.
The youngest son, Gu Wen, who had never suffered a bit during the difficult days of his father and brothers in prison, anxiously clutched his mother’s clothes, wailing, “My pearls! My pearls!”
His mother wiped away her tears without saying a word. The Emperor had expelled them from the prince’s mansion, and aside from the clothes on their backs and a few pieces of jewelry, what else did they have?
Qi Wang’s expression of despair turned into one of blankness; he didn’t understand how a deliberate misinformation at the beginning could lead to this current situation.
It wasn’t until he heard the cries of his youngest son that he snapped back to reality. Qi Wang grabbed his youngest son by the neck, his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets. “I’ll strangle you, I’ll strangle you! It’s all your fault! It’s all because of you!”
The chaos of crying and struggling mixed with the sobbing of adults and the wails of children was unsettling.
Qi Wang’s elder sons watched this scene with a chill in their hearts.
A family accustomed to luxury, leaving behind the prestige of the royal family, could they still survive in this destitute estate?
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