Yin Zhuli was a restless soul. Once she became familiar with the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue, she spent much of her time wandering about outside. Zhao Yu, the Minister of Revenue, knew she had powerful backing and did not dare to question her frequent absences, which only made her more pleased with her freedom. At the time, the Ministry of Works had applied for an appropriation of six hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver to repair the Royal Ancestral Temple. Yin Zhuli took to strolling by the site whenever she was free. After a few visits, she caught the attention of the site foreman. He was a vigilant man, and seeing Yin Zhuli frequently striking up conversations with the craftsmen, he began to keep a wary eye on her.
Yin Zhuli lingered around the construction site for half a month, drinking tea and wine nearby every day until people began to feel uneasy. On this particular day, she went even further, bringing along Minister Zhao Yu, Vice Minister Chen Guangtian, and Inspectors Liu Qimin and Zhang Jizu to have tea. When the workers finished their shift, she struck up a conversation with a bricklayer. While they were chatting, a group of men suddenly rushed in and surrounded the three of them. Without a word of explanation, a chaotic brawl erupted with the sounds of crashing and thumping.
Yin Zhuli was unharmed, but her Minister, Vice Minister, and Inspectors fared rather poorly. Zhao Yu had no idea such thugs existed; after receiving a mysterious beating, he immediately clutched his bleeding head and shouted, "How bold! In broad daylight, you dare to assault court officials!"
"Oh! Court officials, you say!" A man finally stepped out from among the thugs. He was short and stout with a greasy face, waving a gold-painted folding fan and looking as though his eyes were on top of his head. "Where did you sightless fools come from, daring to meddle in your master's business?"
He acted with utter impunity. Zhao Yu and the two inspectors looked at Yin Zhuli in total confusion. "What business did we meddle in?"
Yin Zhuli spread her hands and shook her head. "Weren't we just here for tea?"
"Stop playing dumb with me!" The newcomer likely thought Zhao Yu looked the most dignified and was therefore the one in charge, so he delivered a vicious kick to him. As Zhao Yu cried out in pain, the fellow sneered. "You've been loitering here for days, haven't you? What exactly have you found out?"
Before Zhao Yu could speak, Yin Zhuli spoke up quickly: "We haven't found anything at all, Great One! We only know that the bricks for the temple renovation are only blue bricks on the outside while the insides are just rubble; that the Phoebe zhennan furniture is actually made of golden teak; and that although the tiles were reported as chicken-blood red, they are actually just matte black. We really only know that much, Great One!"
By the time she finished, Zhao Yu, the Vice Minister, and the two inspectors felt their guts turn green with regret. Why had they come out to drink tea with her? *Chancellor Yin, are you trying to get us silenced forever?*
Sure enough, the stout fellow aimed another flying kick at Zhao Yu. "It seems we can't let you live." He crouched down and spoke with murderous intent to the wailing Zhao Yu. "You dare come here to cause trouble? Do you know who took on this contract? If I told you, it would scare you to death!"
The group was both furious and indignant. They were high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Revenue; wherever they went, people showed them respect. When had they ever suffered such humiliation? Yin Zhuli, however, seemed quite interested. "Then why don't you tell us and give us a good scare?"
The man's arrogance swelled even further. "Hmph. Men, seize these people and take them back first."
When the five of them were hauled away, Zhao Yu and Vice Minister Chen Guangtian knew this matter would not end well. The plaque above the manor's gate bore three large characters: Prince's Mansion. It was the residence of the County Prince, Shen Dingyang. Shen Dingyang was a cousin of the late Emperor Shen Wanyan, making him a grand-uncle to Shen Tingjiao.
The fat manager led them in through the back door and began his interrogation one by one. "Squat against the wall, all of you! You!" He pointed at Inspector Liu Qimin. "Speak first. Who are you, who sent you, and what is your purpose?!"
Liu Qimin felt utterly helpless. "He and I," he pointed to Zhang Jizu, "are Fourth-Rank Inspectors of the Ministry of Revenue."
The fat man paused slightly. "Ministry of Revenue?" He quickly recovered and pointed at Chen Guangtian. "Heh, and you?"
Chen Guangtian squatted honestly in the corner. "Vice Minister of Revenue, Chen Guangtian."
The fat man showed no fear at all and pointed at Zhao Yu. "And what rank are you planning to... invent for yourself?"
Zhao Yu was enraged. "What do you mean 'invent'? Your grandfather here is the Minister of Revenue, Zhao Yu!"
The fat man clutched his stomach and roared with laughter. "You? Minister of Revenue? Look at your pathetic state! Haha, Minister of Revenue... are you going to tell me next that this wench is the Right Chancellor, Yin Zhuli?"
Zhao Yu looked at Yin Zhuli, then at the man laughing hysterically. Finally, he leaned in and said through gritted teeth, "But that... wench... really is the current Right Chancellor and Empress Wenxu, Yin Zhuli!"
The fat man laughed so hard he nearly lost his breath, his flab shaking for a long time before he finally shouted, "Why don't you say she's the Empress Dowager while you're at it! Dammit, stay here quietly. I'll send you on your way later tonight!"
***
Shen Dingyang had been pacing in his room for fifteen minutes. When he had glimpsed the people inside from outside the window, he had nearly collapsed in a faint. He had delivered several vicious kicks to his manager. "Useless trash! Why didn't you ask clearly before seizing them? You dare to drag just anyone into this mansion!"
The fat man could no longer act arrogant; he looked aggrieved. "Prince, your servant never imagined that a random grab would actually net Empress Wenxu. But My Lord, by rights, the Ministry of Revenue shouldn't be sticking their noses into our project anyway."
Shen Dingyang was waiting for the Minister of Works, Chen Min. He snorted coldly. "Enough nonsense. Go prepare a lavish gift immediately. Hurry!"
When Chen Min arrived, he was handed this hot potato. Having headed the Ministry of Works for many years, he was a shrewd and seasoned fox. He knew that if this matter truly came to light, the consequences would be dire. "Prince, you do not understand this woman's temperament. She intentionally sought out this trouble; this grudge is firmly set. Moreover, once our dealings are unearthed, none of us will escape. In my view, if no one else knows her whereabouts, it would be better to..." He made a throat-slitting gesture. "There are plenty of people in court who want her dead. As long as we do it cleanly, you are the King's uncle; even the King will be unable to do anything to you."
Shen Dingyang wiped away his sweat, still uneasy. "But the King's feelings for this woman are obvious to all. If something happens to her, he will surely investigate thoroughly. Murdering the Mother of the State... that's a crime that gets nine generations executed! I was planning to send a lavish gift..."
"Prince, your fortune is not greater than hers," Chen Min said, knowing full well the gravity of the situation, but his own life was far more important than anyone else's. "Once the matter of the construction project is exposed, we are all dead men!"
Yin Zhuli, Zhao Yu, and the others were locked up for the entire afternoon. Zhao Yu began to feel unsettled. "Chancellor Yin, by all rights, the Prince should have come to invite us out by now. I am somewhat acquainted with him. For him to delay until now, I fear..."
Yin Zhuli was playing a game of magic squares with him. Seeing his agitation, she merely reminded him, "Focus. You're about to lose!"
Zhao Yu hadn't known how to play magic squares before; he had learned it from Hao Jian. In officialdom, serving one's superior was an art, and catering to their hobbies was a necessity. By late afternoon, Shen Dingyang had still not appeared. Instead, servants brought in a table of sumptuous food and wine. Just as the meal was delivered to the room, the Imperial Guards surrounded the Prince's Mansion.
Yin Zhuli ordered the entire meal to be packed up and had Zhang Qing send men to inspect it. As expected, the food was found to contain lethal poison. Zhang Qing took Shen Dingyang and Chen Min into custody on charges of intentionally attempting to murder high-ranking court officials.
This incident caused a massive uproar in the court. The various ministers formed an unprecedented alliance. The reason was simple: Yin Zhuli knew too much, and she held the "tails" of everyone in her hands. If they stood by and watched her take down a Prince, who would be next?
Grand Situa Zhuge Chongming arrived at the Prince's Mansion with a crowd of officials, his voice cold. "Yin Zhuli, though you are the Right Chancellor, the authority the King gave you was only to concurrently manage the Ministry of Revenue. You do not oversee land or taxes, yet you come to investigate the affairs of the Ministry of Works. Is this not an overstepping of your authority?"
The officials vied to agree with him. Yin Zhuli sneered. "Lord Zhuge, if I were you, I would investigate clearly before speaking. First, I did not interfere in the affairs of the Ministry of Works. Do you know where the Prince mysteriously seized me and my officials? At the time, I was merely drinking tea with my subordinates at the Taibai Tea House." She flicked her fingernails and said unhurriedly, "The King ordered me to manage the Ministry of Revenue, but did His Majesty ever issue a decree forbidding Yin from drinking tea at the Taibai Tea House? Or must one be dragged back to a Prince's mansion and secretly poisoned for doing so?"
Zhuge Chongming was left speechless. The ministers finally understood—she wasn't just playing; she was playing for high stakes.
Fang Yan, the Minister of Justice, attempted to smooth things over. "Chancellor Yin, perhaps this is all just a misunderstanding. The Prince is a member of the royal family; how could he do such a thing?"
Yin Zhuli did not yield an inch. "Then what Lord Fang means is that I, Yin, beat my own subordinates, locked them and myself in the Prince's Mansion, prepared a table of food for myself, and then poisoned my own meal?"
Seeing that she truly left no room for maneuver, Fang Yan fell silent. Zhuge Chongming and the others refused to let Zhang Qing take Chen Min and Shen Dingyang away. These two knew a great deal; they were all grasshoppers on the same string. If they were implicated... The scene was incredibly tense until Shen Tingjiao personally arrived at the Prince's Mansion and had the men taken to the Ministry of Justice.
This was a hot potato. Shen Tingjiao understood that the officials were all interconnected in a complex web. Yin Zhuli had done something he had always wanted to do but never dared. However, because of this, how could the court officials ever let her off?
Using this case, Yin Zhuli brought to light the corruption in the Ancestral Temple renovation. Shen Tingjiao immediately sent men to the temple. Upon re-evaluation on-site, it was discovered that for a project allocated six hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver, the actual expenditure was less than eighty thousand. He finally began to see where his money was going. And even when Yin Zhuli went to investigate personally, they had dared to attempt a poisoning—how far had these people's audacity grown?
With ironclad evidence, Shen Dingyang could not deny the charges. Shen Tingjiao deliberated with his ministers for two days. The original plan was to confiscate his property and demote his entire family to commoner status, while Chen Min was to have his estate seized and be sent into exile. However, when Shen Tingjiao saw the sheer amount of wealth the two had amassed, he flew into a rage and used his vermilion brush to mark them for immediate execution. More than forty officials in the Ministry of Works were implicated in the case; the staggering amount of money involved shook the capital.
Shen Tingjiao ordered a rigorous investigation, but He Jian advised him: "Your Majesty, it is not wise to investigate this any further. I suggest Your Majesty immediately enact a new legal code and grant amnesty for all past instances of bribery and corruption among officials."
Shen Tingjiao was still in a towering rage. He slammed the table and shouted, "How can we not prosecute? Teacher, did you see that Chen Min, a mere Minister of Works... his family fortune was actually..."
He Jian interrupted him, his tone grave. "Your Majesty, do you know why the Empress was so insistent on leaving Da Xing before? It was because she knew too much. Now that Chen Min and Shen Dingyang have been sentenced to death, how can the other officials not be terrified? Your Majesty, if eight or nine out of ten officials in your court have accepted bribes, how can you possibly purge them all?"
Shen Tingjiao's anger did not fade, his expression resolute. "Then I shall kill all these vermin!"
He Jian sighed softly. Being a shrewd and experienced figure, he immediately thought of a way to persuade Shen Tingjiao. "Your Majesty, in the Western Han Dynasty, there was a famous minister named Chao Cuo. Emperor Jing favored him greatly, yet during the Rebellion of the Seven States, he was still executed at the market to appease others. A ruler must know when to advance and when to retreat. If an improper move incites a military mutiny, the situation will be beyond human control. And the ministers will not hate you; they will only hate Empress Wenxu. It is easy to dodge a spear in the light but hard to avoid an arrow in the dark. Once they are driven to desperation, the Empress's life will be in grave danger!"
Shen Tingjiao's expression shifted slightly, the fire in his eyes gradually dying down. He loathed the insatiably greedy, seeing his land wither and his people suffer while those in high positions lined their own pockets. He wished he could slaughter them all! But He Jian's words struck his vital weakness: Yin Zhuli...
Seeing his furrowed brow, He Jian softened his tone. "Your Majesty, do you truly think it was a coincidence that the Empress started with the Prince of Dingyang? The Prince is your cousin; by striking at your own family, you intimidate the officials internally and earn the reputation of a wise ruler who punishes kin and stranger alike externally. If Your Majesty uses this as an excuse to massacre the court, would that not contradict the Empress's original intention?"
Shen Tingjiao leaned back on his dragon throne, contemplating for the time it takes an incense stick to burn before saying, "Chao Xi, immediately summon all officials of the third rank and above in Chang'an to the palace for a meeting. I wish to redefine the legal code of Da Xing."
Chao Xi left to carry out the order. Shen Tingjiao stepped down from the throne, walked slowly to He Jian, and bowed deeply to him without saying a word.
Once the proposal to revise the legal code was raised, it immediately received the support of the ministers, especially the clause regarding amnesty for past crimes, which put everyone at ease. Consequently, the impact of Shen Dingyang's case gradually faded. As the ministers heatedly discussed the new laws, Yin Zhuli stood quietly in the front ranks of the civil officials, dressed in her purple court robes. Shen Tingjiao looked at her from time to time, and she offered him a faint smile from below the throne, her gaze as clear as the moonlight of years past.
Shen Tingjiao looked away. The lonely, high-set throne was no longer cold and desolate.
***
