Chapter 120: Chapter 108: Power Shift; Unification of the County Town
Annihilation of the Clan!
Hearing those four words, the color drained from Chang Wuli’s face as he stood in the ranks. His heart, already in his throat, nearly leaped out of his chest!
His eyes were fixed on Elder Zheng’s back, and he also noticed the Sovereign’s grim expression.
Of the two accusations, the latter was far more serious. It involved the Sovereign and the laws of Da Liang, and that spelled real trouble!
’This useless animal! He couldn’t even handle one simple task without getting caught! And he still dreams of a position at Court? What good is he?!’ Chang Wuli raged inwardly.
If Elder Zheng didn’t step in now, the Chang Family was finished!
Just then, Elder Zheng shifted slightly. It seed he was rely tired of standing, simply moving his feet to redistribute his weight. The gesture was perfectly ordinary.
The light in Chang Wuli’s eyes dimd.
"Your Majesty. This subject also has a morial to present."
At that mont, a Standard Third Grade official nad Yang Rong stepped out from the opposing ranks. He clasped his hands in a salute to Emperor Liang and said:
"Your Majesty, according to Lord Lu’s earlier report, the refugees have co almost entirely from the jurisdictions under Guang’an Prefecture in Linchuan Prefecture. With such a vast number of them, no County Town could possibly take them all in. To do so would an that not only would the refugees perish, but the town’s own citizens could not survive. I trust all the lords here would agree on this point, would you not?"
Several officials in the back ranks nodded, while others remained unmoved.
Chang Wuli was nodding furiously.
The officials who had just presented their accusations were all of the Fifth and Fourth Grade.
Now that a Standard Third Grade official had stepped forward, he knew there was hope!
Clearly, Elder Zheng had just given the signal!
"Your Majesty." Yang Rong saluted again, his expression grave. "To my knowledge, in order to protect the people of its County Towns, Guang’an Prefecture has been driving away and even killing refugees who approach!
But we must rember, these refugees are the very people under their jurisdiction!
The three counties of Wuxi, Yuxi, and Liu Xi, for instance, have all adopted a policy of expulsion and slaughter. It would be one thing if they simply failed to provide aid or shelter, but they are killing them all! Furthermore, the three counties of Luoxi, Tai Ning, and Wuye have sealed their gates, allowing no one in or out, completely disregarding the lives of their people. The actions of these six counties have forced countless commoners from their hos, turning them into refugees! Are the people in the County Towns human, but the people in the villages under their rule are not?
They claim a shortage of grain, yet the County Towns and the Commandery City all have granaries. For the past two years, Your Majesty has shown constant concern for the people, allocating provisions and disaster relief funds on countless occasions. But has that grain simply vanished? Or has it been embezzled by others?
I ask you all: Who forced these refugees to travel a thousand li over mountain roads to Xiangyang when they never had to? Who created this tragic scene of starvation stretching for a thousand li? The villagers of Jade Peak County had not yet been driven from their hos, so what is the cause of their countless dead and wounded, of nine out of every ten hos lying empty?
Though the Jade Peak County Magistrate was at fault, his cri does not warrant death. In fact, he deserves credit for sheltering the refugees and providing them with congee and water. Seizing grain is a cri, yes, but he still used it on the refugees. Did he use it for personal profit through trade?
He may have been driven by personal ambition, but that ambition was tied to saving refugees. The circumstances are understandable; it is not a major cri!
Your Majesty has often said that desperate tis call for desperate asures. If we are truly to assign bla, then the Governor of Guang’an County, who sat by and watched as six counties drove out and slaughtered their own people—that is a great cri! The County Magistrates of those six counties, who embezzled grain and funds and killed the populace—that is an even more heinous cri!"
"Your Majesty!"
Yang Rong turned back to Emperor Liang, his face filled with sorrow as he saluted and said:
"After two years of great drought, the local people were already living in hardship. Yet now we have these individuals who feign compliance while defying Your Majesty’s will, driving out and killing your subjects! This has led the people to voice their resentnt toward the Court and Your Majesty, cursing you for lacking virtue! This concerns the prestige of the imperial family and the stability of the Da Liang Kingdom’s foundation. I implore Your Majesty to issue a decree to deliberate on their cris!"
’Excellent!!’
Chang Wuli’s heart surged with excitent!
This was exactly the kind of countermove he expected Elder Zheng to arrange! He had to fight the urge to burst into applause.
The other officials listened, their hearts pounding with fear. None dared to step forward and rebut him.
These were known facts, but Yang Rong had laid them bare, magnified their scale, and tied it all to His Majesty. Any attempt at rebuttal was now useless.
This was what scholars excelled at. Yang Rong’s thods were not particularly sophisticated, but he had successfully seized the moral high ground.
Instantly, many eyes turned to the third old man on the left—the representative of the Tang Family.
The Zhu Family’s ally!
The Eighteen Gate Valves were divided into the Five Veins—
The Zhu, Tang, Jiang, and Luo!
The Zheng, Qin, Pei, Land, and Shen!
The Ouyang, Sima, Shangguan, and Gongsun!
The Liu, Ji, Feng, and Baili!
And the Su!
The Su Family was aligned with Emperor Liang; throughout the generations, their won had almost always included an Empress and Noble Consorts. They would never ally with other Gate Valves.
The Liu, Ji, Feng, and Baili belonged to the neutral faction. As Gate Influence also entrusted with important duties by Emperor Liang, they were categorized as one group.
Only the first three veins ford alliances among themselves.
The Governor of Guang’an County was from the Luo Family, a Noble Family subordinate to the Tang Family. The six County Magistrates also belonged to the Zhu and Tang Family factions.
With that single maneuver, Yang Rong had dragged both the Tang and Zhu Families into the mire.
The implication was obvious: if one was going to fall, they would fall together, and they would take a few others down with them to cushion the blow.
For a mont, everyone aside from the Su Family and the four neutral powers was simply enjoying the show.
While the officials below hesitated, content to watch the drama unfold, Emperor Liang’s face was a mask of fury from his dragon throne, but inwardly he was perfectly calm.
He had long since seen through the tricks of these old foxes. He had originally planned to wait until after *that business* was concluded before dealing with these Noble Families who were exploiting the drought to cause trouble.
But today, soone had handed him an opportunity on a silver platter, and he was happy to stir things up a bit. His gaze flickered to the foremost man on the left—the old man with half-closed eyes who looked as serene as a ditating monk.
He abruptly hurled the two morials to the floor, his face a mask of rage.
"What a fine master of a county! What a fine official acting on the people’s behalf! All for the sake of their own petty interests, they commit filthy deeds and treat human life as worthless! With conduct like this, what right do they have to be officials of my Da Liang Kingdom! Draft an edict..."
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