strictlysupreme Chapter 1319
Chapter 1319
Fu Youwen's series of counter-questions.
This question really stumped Liu Sanwu, forcing him to stop and fall silent. Although he was a great Confucian scholar and a member of the Qingliu faction, he was not unaware of the prestige of being the head of the Six Ministries. Without vision, perspective, and insight, one could never have climbed to this position.
A long time passed.
Liu Sanwu stubbornly, but with less confidence, said, "Your Majesty has indeed handled many things very well, but to say that everything is perfect... Why is Your Majesty so obsessed with alchemy? Why is Your Majesty squandering the hard-earned surplus of funds from last year?"
Fu Youwen's expression froze slightly.
Then he immediately spoke on Zhu Yunwen's behalf: "As for the matter of squandering money and grain at will..."
"We won't hide anything from you, Grand Secretary Liu. To be honest, His Majesty also told me very firmly that this move was an arrangement with ulterior motives."
"As for the deeper meaning, His Majesty did not tell me."
"There's also dredging waterways and repairing dikes... Although these measures are indeed somewhat immature, His Majesty is thinking of the people and the common folk."
"Obsessed with alchemy..." Speaking of this, Fu Youwen did find it a bit difficult to explain, since everyone had witnessed it. So after a pause, Liu Sanwu said "randomly," "Perhaps there's some hidden secret. His Majesty has always been good at using deceptive tactics and tricks, don't you think?"
Fu Youwen never imagined that a casual remark he made would soon become a self-fulfilling prophecy. He even felt that his fabricated "excuse" was not very convincing.
So he immediately tried to cover for Zhu Yunwen on this matter: "Besides, His Majesty is young and intelligent. He has made many outstanding achievements since he ascended the throne. It is only natural that he wants to live a long and healthy life! In any case, whether he is obsessed with alchemy or not has little to do with today's events."
After being persuaded and coaxed by Fu Youwen for a while, Liu Sanwu seemed to finally be more receptive to what Fu Youwen said.
The expression on the old man's face changed from eager to hesitant.
Fu Youwen nodded and said, "Yes! That's right!"
"Let's keep going! Let's keep walking!"
Fu Youwen, holding Liu Sanwu's hand, advised him with a smile, "You old codger, you've been confined to your own residence by His Majesty for quite some time now, but Yingtian Prefecture is a place where things change in an instant. There are many things you don't know! Let me tell you in detail!"
Although Liu Sanwu did not completely believe him, he was clearly persuaded by him.
She reluctantly let him pull her along, and the two talked as they walked further and further apart.
……
Another place.
Inside an extremely inconspicuous and secluded residence within the city of Yingtian Prefecture, no one would have imagined that a network of spies and agents with close ties to Beiping City was hidden.
"Hongzhi! Hongzhi! News has arrived! Finally, news has come back from the north!" Inside the study, a man in blue robes, his face beaming with joy, practically ran in.
And inside the study.
A middle-aged man, ostensibly engrossed in reading, had a furrowed brow, as if burdened by many worries. Upon hearing footsteps and sounds outside the study, his eyes lit up, and he immediately stood up: "How is it? Has the master had any thoughts?"
These two men were another mole planted by the monk Daoyan within Yingtian Prefecture. The middle-aged man who was originally in the study was named Luo Hongzhi, while the other man who ran in was named Wang Chen.
As the saying goes, even a cunning rabbit has three burrows, so Monk Daoyan was naturally not at a loss just because two of his men had been killed.
Wang Chen, the man who returned from outside, said, "I just received the news and haven't had time to look at it in detail yet. But given the current situation, even someone as wise and resourceful as Master is probably not optimistic... The young emperor's prestige is growing day by day, while Master has been subjected to a lot of suppression and obstacles from unknown forces recently. Our situation... is difficult, extremely difficult!"
As Wang Chen took the intelligence he had just obtained from his chest, even though he had finally gotten the information from Monk Daoyan, his expression was somewhat dejected and ashen—he felt that there was no light ahead.
Luo Hongzhi frowned and took a deep breath.
She couldn't deny what Wang Chen had just said, so she sharpened her gaze and looked at the intelligence report in Wang Chen's hand: "Just because we can't see the solution doesn't mean our master can't see it. Let's see how our master deals with it first."
Wang Chen's expression brightened: "Okay."
After saying that, the two of them, as usual, huddled together, opened the envelope, took out the information inside, and read on with serious expressions.
After the two carefully read through the intelligence report that came from Beiping Prefecture.
Wang Chen and Luo Hongzhi couldn't help but show excitement on their faces. They looked at each other with joy and admiration in their eyes: "You saw a chance to kill in a desperate situation! You are truly worthy of being our master! You saw through the scheme of the charlatan behind the young emperor at a glance, and you also saw through the young emperor's impatient, impulsive, and uncontrollable nature!"
"In this way, all we need to do is follow what our master said and tell the truth about this matter to Duke Lan Yu of Liang, Duke Chang Sheng of Kaiguo, Marquis Zhang Yi of Heqing, Marquis Zhu Shou of Zhulu, and other dukes, marquises, and military officials. Let them understand the young emperor's scheme, and the nobles of Huaixi will naturally fall into chaos!"
"Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! Master truly lives up to his reputation for mastering the art of slaying dragons!"
"..."
What the monk Daoyan was trying to say was, in short, that he had concisely explained the results of his analysis and the opportunities he had seen to the two people present, and gave them orders for the next step of the operation. This gave Wang Chen and Luo Hongzhi, who had been overwhelmed and depressed for a long time, a glimmer of hope, as if they had seen the dawn in a desperate situation.
The two exchanged a glance.
Then Wang Chen's eyes sharpened, and he said, "Now that the young emperor and holy king are becoming increasingly prominent, and something that should have happened long ago has been delayed for so long, this matter should be addressed sooner rather than later."
Luo Hongzhi nodded in agreement and said, "What you say makes sense! However, neither of us needs to be too anxious or worried, after all, this time is completely different from the last time."