Chapter 86: Storming the Palace

Guards from the Three Major External Bureaus and the Imperial Guard surrounded the Right Chang'an Gate and the Dengwen Drum Tower, boxing in a throng of censors and scholars with drawn swords and an aggressive, menacing air. Yet the scholars and civil officials remained brimming with righteous indignation, shouting slogans, shoving, and acting as entirely oblivious to the imperial secret police as they could possibly be.

After all, they were scholars, men of letters, purist censors, and the very embodiment of the realm's "righteous spirit."

Moreover, they simply did not believe the imperial secret police would dare do anything to such a large crowd of them. If they could endure a few thumps of the "immortality-conferring staff" during a court beating, their reputations would instantly spread far and wide. Their names would reach the ears of the high ministers in the imperial court and the gentry across the land, earning them a reputation for "purity and integrity"—a lifelong "illustrious resume."

However, when the inner city gates began to slowly close and fully armed squads of Imperial Horse Bureau officers started appearing all around the perimeter, the scholars began to realize something was terribly wrong.

Was this any way to treat the petitions of scholars and censors? This was the tempo of putting down a rebellion!

The purist officials and scholars were instantly dumbfounded, their faces turning deathly pale. While the imperial court indeed currently favored scholars and censors, deeming remonstrance guiltless—at worst resulting in a few days in the imperial prison and a beating with wooden staves, which could actually win one a reputation for "fearing no power and upholding the Dao with one's body"—treason was an entirely different matter!

If not for the lingering hope that the Grand Secretariat and the grandees of the court would rescue them, the crowd might well have collapsed into a panic right then and there.

It was not as though the Grand Secretaries and senior ministers were unaware of the scholars' disturbance. After all, it was something they had tacitly permitted or even instigated, hoping merely to have the scholars charge into the fray and create pressure and public opinion to force the emperor to change his course and return to the righteous path of an "enlightened ruler." They had never dreamed of committing treason!

Yet did this posture look anything like handling a routine disturbance by scholars? Did the petitioning of civil officials and scholars require mobilizing the Imperial Horse Bureau? Did it require sealing off the nine city gates?

Right at that moment, news reached the Grand Secretariat that outside the Right Chang'an Gate, purist censors and certain scholars had beaten the Dengwen Drum only to be boxed in by a massive force of imperial guards. The Grand Secretaries were utterly dumbfounded. What kind of farce was this?

"Could there be some misunderstanding in all this?" Wang Ao, a newly appointed Grand Secretary, asked cautiously.

"But with the inner and outer gates now closed and communication cut off, how are we to know what has gotten into our Emperor Majesty?" Yang Tinghe retorted crossly.

"Something is definitely amiss. Come to think of even if the scholars beat the Dengwen Drum, it should never have made the inner court this nervous!" Yang Tinghe mused aloud. "Could those Eight Tigers have once again whispered poisonous slanders in the emperor's ear?"

"What do we do now?" Liang Chu was the most anxious of all. After all, he was the one who had proposed this whole affair. Now that it had blown up into such a massive mess, if anything went wrong, how could he answer to the imperial court and the entire country?

The moment Liang Chu's voice trailed off, every Grand Secretary turned their gaze to Li Dongyang. Who else could take charge when he was the Senior Grand Secretary and a veteran minister who had served under three emperors?

"No matter what, we must see the Emperor first. Everything else can be delayed, but the misunderstanding must be cleared up first. Otherwise, complications will arise, the misunderstanding will grow, and things will soon spiral completely out of control," Li Dongyang said, casting his gaze upon the remaining Grand Secretaries.

"We do need to see the Emperor first," Yang Tinghe nodded in agreement.

"But what about our remonstrance? If we just go like this, doesn't it mean admitting defeat?" Wang Ao had once served as the Censor-in-Chief, a stubborn man who would never turn back until he smashed head-first into a southern wall.

"We will remonstrate as we see fit, but we must not let the Emperor harbor misunderstandings or allow those treacherous villains to seize an opportunity. Besides, those officials and scholars must be saved," Yang Tinghe said, waving a hand.

Li Dongyang was just about to speak when Yang Tinghe beat him to it. Li Dongyang's lips moved, he let out a slight sigh, and he remained silent. Only Jiao Fang had not uttered a single word from beginning to end.

"Let's go then!" Yang Tinghe finished speaking and stepped out of the Grand Secretariat first. The rest of the Grand Secretaries followed closely behind, leaving only Li Dongyang and Jiao Fang lingering in the rear.

"Lord Senior Grand Secretary, are we really going to force our way into the palace?" Jiao Fang deliberately lagged behind Li Dongyang, asking cautiously.

"Naturally!" Li Dongyang replied. Jiao Fang sighed, opened his mouth as if to speak, but ultimately said nothing, and could only follow his colleagues from the Grand Secretariat toward the Leopard Quarter.

By this time, the palace gates were already closed, and entry or exit was strictly forbidden to anyone. Yet the Grand Secretaries were the exception; they possessed imperial tokens that allowed them to pass freely. The gate-guarding eunuch took one look at the token and, not daring to obstruct them, cracked a gap in the door just wide enough to let the Grand Secretaries out of the palace.

When Li Dongyang and the others stepped outside the palace gates, they discovered to their shock that the heads of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministries, and even officials from every department and bureau, had actually turned up, forming a dense, pitch-black sea of people outside the Forbidden City.

Which of the Grand Secretaries like Li Dongyang was not a weathered veteran of the political arena? Seeing this formation now, their expressions changed entirely. If they brought this many officials along to the Leopard Quarter, this would no longer be entering the palace—this would be forcing the palace!

Walking at the front, Yang Tinghe already stood before the various ministers of the departments with a face ashen with fury, demanding in a low voice, "What on earth is the meaning of this? Do you lot not even understand this much?" Though his voice was hushed, it was fraught with rage.

How could the various department ministers not understand?

Zhang Hua, the Minister of Rites, said with a wry smile, "It is not of our own accord; we are truly driven to this by circumstance!" The other ministers all nodded in agreement.

"Driven by whom?" Yang Tinghe's words carried a murderous edge.

The ministers offered bitter smiles and looked back at the massive throng of officials trailing behind them.

"You—!" Yang Tinghe felt as though his lungs were about to burst with anger.

Yet neither the Grand Secretaries nor the high officials of the various ministries could stop them. No matter what individual motives brought them here, they all shared at least one unassailable justification: "To guide the ruler to become a Yao or a Shun is a matter of righteous principle!"

Yet this veil could not be torn away. Not the Grand Secretaries, nor the department heads, nor the civil officials of the various bureaus, nor the purist censors, nor even the Emperor could tear it away. No matter how much sordid plotting lay beneath, whoever tore away that veil would infringe upon the interests of every single scholar in the realm—for that was their very skin. Without that skin, by what right could they contend for power? By what right could they point fingers at others?

Just as the Grand Secretaries were preparing to leave the palace, Duke Cheng of Zhu Yi, Duke Ying of Zhang Mao, and Marquis of Yongcheng Xue Yihai were already kneeling before Zhengde, soaked in sweat.

"Do you intend to rebel?" Emperor Zhengde sat upon the dragon throne in the Council Hall, gazing coldly down at the three hereditary nobles who held the key positions of the Five Chief Military Commissions and the Capital Garrison.

His voice was soft, but to the ears of the three nobles whose fortunes were bound to the dynasty, it sounded no different from a thunderbolt from a clear sky! It instantly left the three ultra-ranked, generationally wealthy noble ministers numb to the scalp.

"Your ministers would not dare!" The three nobles kowtowed in unison to deny the charge, sweat already rolling down their brows in torrents.

By this point, Zhengde believed they were not planning a rebellion; if they harbored treasonous intent, they would never have dared to enter the palace now. Would that not be walking like sheep into a tiger's den?

"Then why are you colluding with the civil officials and forming cliques for private gain? What is it you are trying to do?" Zhengde demanded angrily.

"Your ministers are wronged! We beseech Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate!" The three nobles were now sweating through their embroidered official robes. Under no circumstances could they bear this accusation. If the charge stuck, the heavy penalty would be execution and the stripping of their noble titles; the light penalty would mean losing all their official posts and living under the Emperor's suspicion for the rest of their lives.

"What is happening at the Dengwen Drum? How on earth did a bunch of civil officials and scholars with no strength to truss a chicken manage to break through, beat the Dengwen Drum, and try to force Us into submission?"

"How would your ministers dare harbor such heinous and rebellious thoughts? We shall certainly investigate thoroughly and give Your Majesty a proper account!" the nobles declared with absolute finality. Having done no such thing themselves, what did they have to fear from an investigation?