No sooner had Song Liang issued his decree than the Grand Secretariat intercepted it.
Cheng Qu hurried to Zhaoyang Palace with the decree concerning the reorganization of the Twelve Guards. The first words out of his mouth upon seeing Song Liang were an earnest cry of protest.
“I hear Your Majesty intends to merge the Twelve Guards and abolish their left and right commander posts. This must not be done!”
Imperial decrees had to undergo review by the Grand Secretariat before receiving the seal of the Directorate of Ceremonial. Song Liang had long expected the secretariat’s officials to come wailing.
“Why not?” he asked lazily.
“The Twelve Guards are descendants of meritorious officials and noble houses. Their ancestors rendered distinguished service to the dynasty. If Your Majesty abruptly abolishes their posts, it may unsettle the nobility and shake confidence at court. I beg Your Majesty to reconsider!”
“Their ancestors’ distinguished service has allowed them to enjoy comfortable lives for all these years. That is enough.”
Song Liang glanced at him.
“Besides, I think years of indulgence have made them unruly. They even dare ignore the commands of their emperor. How is that any different from treason?”
Cheng Qu was momentarily speechless.
He knew the young emperor had waited on the parade ground in the bitter wind for six hours. With a sigh, he said, “I understand Your Majesty’s anger. But the Twelve Guards truly cannot be touched.”
After a pause, he added, “At least, not yet.”
“I know Your Majesty is eager to assume personal rule. But your enemy now should not be these nobles, nor the Grand Empress Dowager. It is the Prince Regent, Xie Yun.”
Cheng Qu continued his painstaking appeal.
“The Grand Empress Dowager may hold the imperial seal, but she does not bear the Chen surname. She is a woman of the inner palace and must ultimately depend upon Your Majesty. Those nobles, too, are loyal to the Chen dynasty at heart. Have you considered that without them, the imperial guards will fall entirely into Xie Yun’s hands? What position would that leave Your Majesty in?”
“So you are telling me to endure it? Even if the Twelve Guards disrespect me, even if the Grand Empress Dowager keeps delaying my assumption of personal rule, I must deceive myself into believing that at least they are serving the Chen dynasty loyally?”
Before Cheng Qu could respond, Song Liang spoke again, as though something had just occurred to him.
“I suddenly recall that one of your nieces’ husbands serves as left commander of the Tengxiang Guard, one of the Twelve. Is that correct?”
Cheng Qu immediately dropped to his knees.
“I beg Your Majesty to judge fairly! My loyalty is solely to you. I have no selfish motives!”
“I imagine the Prince Regent and the Grand Empress Dowager once said much the same to the late emperor.”
Song Liang regarded him with a faint, ambiguous smile.
“Devotion to one’s sovereign is not proven by declarations. It is proven by deeds.”
“I have never forgotten how you helped save me in Hanshui City, and I intend to entrust you with important responsibilities. But you are an intelligent man. Surely you understand that offering coal in a snowstorm is worth more than adding flowers to fine brocade.”
“…”
Cheng Qu’s gaze shifted slightly.
He raised his eyes to meet Song Liang’s and ventured, “How confident is Your Majesty?”
“Eight chances in ten.”
“…”
Cheng Qu was surprised.
Eight in ten?
He almost wondered whether the young emperor was bluffing. Even the Grand Empress Dowager could not easily move against the Twelve Guards. Where did his confidence come from?
“Could Your Majesty reveal a little of your plan?”
“Plans succeed through secrecy.”
Song Liang smiled pleasantly at him.
“How can you expect to hear the plan before joining us? If you switched sides at the last moment, wouldn’t I lose everything?”
Cheng Qu gave an awkward smile.
Of course he understood the principle. But over the past few days, they had witnessed enough of the young emperor’s methods to know better than to underestimate him.
That was why, upon seeing the decree to reorganize the Twelve Guards, they had quietly withheld it while sending Cheng Qu to Zhaoyang Palace to sound him out.
They could not afford to miss a good opportunity or choose the wrong side.
Yet the young emperor was too shrewd. He would not reveal a thing. His position was unmistakable: unless they climbed aboard, they would learn nothing.
It left Cheng Qu in a difficult position.
If they joined him, they risked discovering that he was merely bluffing, borrowing the appearance of strength he did not possess. Should he fail, the Grand Empress Dowager’s faction would gain grounds to attack him. He might lose his chance to rule in his own right, or even be deposed.
But if they refused and the young emperor won, they might be among those he settled accounts with afterward.
Song Liang did not urge him to answer. Instead, he offered reassurance.
“You are concerned for Great Yao. You also fear that I will offend the nobility, violate ancestral institutions, and expose myself to criticism. I understand your good intentions.”
Cheng Qu nodded repeatedly.
“Exactly, Your Majesty. Exactly.”
“Then how about this? I ask nothing of you. Simply act as though you never saw this decree.”
Cheng Qu froze.
“All imperial decrees must be reviewed by the Grand Secretariat. How could I pretend not to have seen it?”
“Quite easily. The decrees you speak of concern affairs of state. But I have not yet assumed personal rule, and the Twelve Guards are my personal guards. I am merely reorganizing my own guards. That hardly qualifies as a major affair of state. Naturally, you may act as though you never saw it.”
“…”
Cheng Qu opened his mouth, apparently stunned by the sophistry.
“But reorganizing the Twelve Guards is a matter of great importance. I am only one member of the Grand Secretariat. I cannot make that decision—”
“Then send it to someone who can.”
Song Liang smiled gently.
“Follow the usual procedure and send it to the Prince Regent’s residence.”
Cheng Qu’s eyes widened.
“To the Prince Regent’s residence?!”
Wouldn’t that be the same as approving it?
Everyone knew the Prince Regent coveted the throne. If the Twelve Guards—or even the imperial guards as a whole—were reorganized and the old noble families expelled from their ranks, he could hardly ask for anything better!
“The Prince Regent oversees the Grand Secretariat. If the secretariat cannot reach a decision, then by established procedure, the matter should be sent to him. Whatever he decides afterward has nothing to do with you. Those nobles cannot blame you either. Doesn’t that satisfy both sides?”
Song Liang narrowed his eyes.
“Or are you determined to wade into these muddy waters and oppose me?”
“I would not dare!”
“…”
Song Liang said nothing. He placed the materials Helan Ze had sent the previous night on the desk.
“These are a few things I found privately. Take a look.”
Puzzled, Cheng Qu accepted the thick stack of papers.
One glance was enough to change his expression.
The Twelve Guards and their commanders, the noble families behind them, and their connections at court—nearly a hundred people in all.
From grave offenses such as selling offices and titles, murder, and theft, to lesser misconduct such as abandoning duty posts and frequenting brothels, each person’s offenses were listed in detail.
Some dated back as far as five years.
Clearly, this evidence had not been gathered overnight. Someone had been laying the groundwork for a long time.
The more Cheng Qu read, the more alarmed he became.
What official in high office dared claim to be entirely without fault? Who knew whether the young emperor also possessed evidence against him and his allies?
And how had the emperor obtained all this?
Had the late emperor left behind another hidden safeguard?
His thoughts raced.
“Although I am Chief Grand Secretary, this matter is of great importance. I must still discuss it with the other members of the secretariat.”
“Of course.”
Song Liang knew Cheng Qu’s visit had been arranged by Chancellor Yin’s faction.
“I only hope you will not keep me waiting too long and delay matters.”
Cheng Qu repeatedly assented, then hurriedly took his leave.
【You seem very confident. Aren’t you afraid Xie Yun will ignore you?】
“He finds me annoying. He isn’t stupid,” Song Liang replied leisurely.
“The poisoning incident effectively severed my ties with the Grand Empress Dowager and the Qin family. That makes my appeal to Xie Yun highly credible. He has no reason to fear that I will secretly join forces with the Qins to stab him in the back.”
“Besides, as Cheng Qu said, my main targets this time are the nobles. That benefits Xie Yun. He won’t turn down a good opportunity delivered right to his door.”
In fact, Song Liang suspected that if Helan Ze had not interrupted them last time, Xie Yun would probably have agreed on the spot.
At the thought, he clicked his tongue regretfully.
“The mood was rather good last time. I wonder what he’s doing now…”
At the Prince Regent’s residence, Xie Yun was examining three handwriting samples on his desk.
The first was the proclamation the emperor had personally written and left with the Imperial Clan Court upon ascending the throne.
The second was the secret letter the young emperor had sent Cheng Qu after returning from Hanshui City.
The third consisted of annotations in the storybook Xie Yun had taken from beside the young emperor’s bed.
According to his earlier suspicions, comparing these three samples should have produced one of two results.
Either the latter two differed from the proclamation, proving that the young emperor who returned from Hanshui City was an impostor.
Or all three matched, meaning the emperor had been genuine all along. His earlier conduct would then have been a matter of concealing his abilities and biding his time, only now beginning to reveal his edge.
Yet a third possibility had emerged.
The handwriting in the young emperor’s secret letter to Cheng Qu was identical to that of the proclamation.
But the annotations in the storybook were unmistakably written in an entirely different hand.
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