Chapter 122: The Cabinet: Am I the Clown After All?

In the small world.

"When we go out later, stay behind me. Do not wander off," Zhu Zhanji, the Xuande Emperor, reminded him, not forgetting to look back.

Is this reasonable? I am already thirty years old!

"Yes, yes, yes." Zhu Qizhen nodded perfunctorily on the surface, while his hands were already itching for the "Virtue Tablet."

Emperor Xuande patted him, his expression complex, and he sighed silently. You clumsy fool, your amateurish disguises wouldn't even fool an eight-year-old.

He could not say anything. After all, this Lady Zhou had reduced his daughter-in-law, Empress Qian, to a blind and lame state, and she might even be the murderer who poisoned his foolish son—a poisonous woman who wreaked havoc in the inner court! Killing her would not be excessive!

...

At the Fengtian Gate.

Zhu Jianshen sat upon the Dragon Throne.

"I implore Your Majesty to abolish the Western Depot immediately. Wang Zhi enters and exits the critical border towns without restraint, arresting third-rank officials at will. This is sheer lawlessness! I beg Your Majesty to enforce the laws strictly and have this eunuch menace executed at once!" Shang Lu stepped forward, his plea resonant and powerful, his tone sharp, pressing directly upon the one sitting above.

"This wretch is rampant and unbridled. The household of Cabinet Minister Yang Rong was virtuous and upright, serving the people with devotion, yet Wang Zhi fabricated charges against them out of nothing, leading to the brutal murder of Minister Yang's grandsons and great-grandsons! The methods were unspeakably cruel! It is an affront to both man and god, a crime that cries out to heaven!" Cabinet Chief Peng Shi said coldly.

"Your Majesty, in the past, Wang Zhen monopolized power and threw the court into chaos, leading directly to the Tumu Crisis. The shame of the previous emperor is still fresh in our minds. I hope Your Majesty will not follow in his footsteps!"

One by one, the civil officials of the Cabinet stood out, speaking over one another, leaving the Emperor no room to reply. In the early years of the Chenghua era, these men bullied Zhu Jianshen for his stutter. In the court, they would discuss matters among themselves; often, before the Emperor could finish a single word, someone would cut him off. Before the Emperor could express an opinion, they had already made their own decisions, treating the Emperor as if he did not exist, a display of utter contempt. This was, in part, why Zhu Jianshen would leave the court as soon as he arrived.

A bunch of old fossils, bullying a teenager. How shameless!

Facing the endless stream of long-winded arguments from the civil officials, their moralizing, and their blunt attempts to coerce the sovereign, Zhu Jianshen uttered only two words:

"Denied."

"What?"

The officials were stunned for a moment, looking at one another, convinced they had misheard.

Peng Shi, full of suppressed anger, said sternly: "If a family as benevolent as the Yangs, praised by the people as righteous guardians, can be framed and jailed to death, what hope is there for the common people of the world!"

"As far as I know, the people of Fujian have written a petition in their own blood to plead for the Yang family! They pray to the heavens to wash away the injustice done to the Yang family. Your Majesty, do not let our Great Ming become a place despised by the masses!"

Suddenly.

"You scoundrels, shut your mouths!"

"Singing praises and painting a false picture of peace—you deserve to be beaten to death!"

An aged, angry roar erupted, echoing through the sky above the Fengtian Gate.

This voice did not come from the Emperor.

Yang Rong was trembling with rage, standing below Zhu Jianshen, glaring at the hundred officials.

"How arrogant!"

"Who are you, daring to overstep your bounds and stand below His Majesty!"

The civil officials were all skilled debaters, each more hot-tempered than the last, and they immediately began to berate him.

"Speak my name, and I shall startle you!"

Yang Rong’s heart ached with fury. Using my name to show off, yet they don't even recognize who I am!

He gritted his teeth and said: "I am Yang Rong!"

As one of the founders of the Cabinet and a figure worthy of being called a great Prime Minister of the Ming, his command of words was extraordinary. If he truly began to debate, he could easily hold his own against a crowd of scholars!

"Pah!"

Disdainful hisses rose from the floor. Such a low-level trick! The Emperor really had the gall to pull this. The old man claiming to be "Wenmin Gong" would surely follow up by saying the Yang family deserved their fate... What a pathetic tactic!

Peng Shi looked cold: "Impersonating the great sage Wenmin Gong and insulting high-ranking officials of the court—your crime is punishable by death!"

Fine! If you don't recognize me, that's fine! You all recognize my grandson, right?

Yang Rong bowed respectfully and chanted: "I humbly request Your Majesty to grant the Profound Mystery, and summon my grandson to this place!"

Zhu Youjian nodded in consent.

Yang Tai of the Jingtai era opened his eyes, dazed, and then became terrified, kneeling immediately: "Grandfather, you aren't dead?"

*Slap!*

"You scoundrel!"

"Even if I were dead, I would be so angered by you unfilial descendants that I would come back to life!" Yang Rong struck him hard across the face and roared.

Shang Lu, Peng Shi, Wan An, and the others looked at each other in confusion. They did not recognize Yang Rong because they were not of the same era. Even for Shang Lu, Yang Rong had died five years after Shang Lu took his provincial exams. By the time Shang Lu arrived in the capital, the grass on Yang Rong's grave was already three feet high.

But they all knew Yang Tai!

Serving as an official in the Ming Cabinet, especially for those from the south, who wouldn't pay their respects to the home of the "old leader" whose students and subordinates were scattered everywhere? To climb to such a position, they had spent years currying favor and building connections.

Shang Lu frowned: "He cannot be Minister Yang. Wenmin Gong passed away long ago, and Yang Tai was also brutally killed by Wang Zhi. These two are impersonating court officials and should be executed!"

Truth or falsehood did not matter. They were people who were already supposed to be dead, so they could just die again. What "Wenmin Gong" or "Yang Tai"—none of it mattered! What everyone was truly concerned about was that their own families had dirty hands, and they were afraid that if Wang Zhi came for them, their entire clans would be wiped out.

They claimed that "an upright person does not fear a crooked shadow," but among the grandees in the temple, who was truly upright?

"Arrogant! Bold Peng Shi, today I shall petition His Majesty to thoroughly investigate your nine generations! Do you dare!"

Yang Rong laughed in anger. What was the Cabinet? Who knew them better than they knew themselves? Since the Yang family of the Chenghua era was already gone, they were like people without shoes fearing nothing; he would go head-to-head with them. Whoever backed down was a coward!

These words rang in Peng Shi's ears. Wasn't this the equivalent of saying "I am going to bet my life against yours"?

Peng Shi paused, his voice softening considerably, and he cupped his hands: "Wenmin Gong, please calm your anger. The junior simply could not believe that your wise spirit had manifested. I meant no harm, I hope you understand!"

"The family of Wenmin Gong was a house of virtue, yet they were persecuted and slaughtered by the powerful eunuch Wang Zhi. We could not bear it, which is why we came to speak for justice!"

"Bullshit!"

"The Yang family committed every evil, oppressed the people, and ran rampant in the countryside—their crimes are unforgivable! You yellow-mouthed child, how dare you babble!" Yang Rong rolled up his sleeves and cursed.

Yang Tai’s brain crashed several times as he listened. The scene was incredibly bizarre. Outsiders were racking their brains to argue for the Yang family, while his grandfather was exposing his own nine generations, trying to ensure the Yang family’s total ruin... What on earth was going on?

Shang Lu, Peng Shi, Wan An, and the others were completely bewildered. The current situation was: The Emperor sent Wang Zhi to investigate the Yang family, driving two of the family's key figures to their deaths. The Cabinet was trying its best to exonerate the Yang family. The Yang family was trying its best to admit guilt! The Emperor and the Yang family were like a willing hitter and a willing victim. The Cabinet seemed to have become the laughingstock!

"No, something is wrong!" Yang Tai scratched his scalp frantically, his head feeling like it was about to explode. He felt as if he were growing a new brain!