Chapter 5: Every Effect Has Its Cause

“Insolence!”

“You wretched boy!”

Li Xuanzhen’s words had barely left his mouth before they set off a chain reaction throughout Zichen Hall.

Right Chancellor Zhang Wenzhen glared at him.

All six vice ministers roared, pointing at his nose and denouncing his audacity.

Cui Zheng, Vice Minister of Justice, shouted loudest. Veins bulged in his neck, and his court tablet nearly jabbed Li Xuanzhen in the face.

The Vice Minister of Rites followed close behind, spraying spit. The Vice Minister of War trembled with rage, as though Li Xuanzhen had dug up his ancestral graves.

The three dukes did not join in, but shock covered their faces.

Li Zhenbei’s mustache bristled. His eyes bulged. He was a hair’s breadth from striking his grandson on the spot.

He had been the one to shout, “You wretched boy!”

To dare question the sovereign! The Duke of Liang’s household was probably…

Ah!

So this was what family misfortune looked like.

Whatever nonsense Li Xuanzhen had committed before no longer mattered beside what he had just said to the emperor.

That was outright disrespect to the throne.

What did he mean, the emperor seemed to be shielding Zhao Ji?

What did he mean, this was not the conduct of a wise sovereign?

He wasn’t protesting his innocence. He was grinding the emperor’s dignity beneath his heel on the hall’s golden bricks!

Kneeling on the floor, Li Zhenbei felt his head buzz.

He had brought a coffin to court to force the emperor to yield by staking his own life.

Before the emperor could yield, this wretched grandson had gone and set his temper alight.

Finished.

They were all finished.

Three generations of his household’s honor might well be ruined by this brat today.

Li Xuanzhen ignored the six vice ministers and the other three dukes. Instead, he helped his grandfather to his feet and whispered, “Trust me.”

Li Zhenbei frowned.

Then, inexplicably, a sense of trust rose within him.

Somehow he felt that this legitimate grandson of his could resolve the trouble before them.

Absurd, really.

No one knew the boy’s character better than he did.

On the dais, Emperor Jingyuan frowned and watched the audacious Li Xuanzhen coldly.

He had heard the six vice ministers’ roaring. He had also heard the old duke call his grandson a wretched boy.

Yet his narrowed gaze remained fixed on Li Xuanzhen.

Condemned by everyone, the wastrel still stood straight. There was no fear on his face, no guilty unease, not even anger.

Only certainty.

It seemed the boy had confidence in his position.

Emperor Jingyuan wanted to hear what else he could say.

Li Xuanzhen turned, saluted toward the dais, and spoke respectfully.

“Your Majesty, I believe all things have their causes and their consequences.”

The shouts and rebukes gradually faded.

“I freely admit to both offenses yesterday,” Li Xuanzhen continued.

“But while I brought about the result, I was not its root cause.

“I accept Your Majesty’s punishment. Before receiving it, however, I beg you to uncover the person who set these events in motion. Only then can I accept my punishment willingly.”

To give him his due, he delivered that speech with neither servility nor arrogance.

Right Chancellor Zhang Wenzhen, the three dukes, the six vice ministers, and even Li Zhenbei all felt there was some reason in it.

As emperor of Great Li, Jingyuan had cultivated formidable self-restraint.

The boy had offended him. Yet a sovereign should possess the breadth of the sea, able to contain the whole world, his expression unchanged even if a mountain collapsed before him.

A mere wastrel, however presumptuous, was hardly enough to make him lose his temper.

He gave a light snort and spoke slowly.

“Then let Us hear it.”

Li Xuanzhen rejoiced inwardly.

That was the very permission he had been waiting for.

Now he could truly go after Zhao Ji.

If things went well, he might even force the person behind him into the open by attacking from the side.

Above all, however, he wanted to establish what role the emperor himself had played.

Drawing a deep breath, he turned to Zhao Ji and said coldly, “Marrying the princess, throwing a banquet at Hundred Flowers House—I admit to both.

“But isn’t it time Young Master Zhao paid the ten taels of gold he promised?”

The high officials stared, bewildered.

At a time like this, the boy was still clinging to ten taels of gold?

Was the Duke of Liang’s household that short of money?

The six vice ministers exchanged looks. None could fathom what he was planning.

Zhao Ji was equally lost. This was plainly no occasion to discuss a wager.

Only Right Chancellor Zhang Wenzhen’s expression shifted briefly.

He had guessed the broad shape of the boy’s intention.

What breathtaking nerve!

Ordinarily, ten taels of gold would buy these wastrels no more than a few drinking sessions.

Here in Zichen Hall, tied to the words “marry a princess,” that gold became irrefutable evidence.

It proved that yesterday’s affair at the Imperial Academy involved planning, bait, and someone pulling the strings.

If Zhao Ji had laid the trap with ten taels of gold, he was the one who had caused it.

And if Zhao Ji was the cause, where did that leave the Duke of Zhao’s household?

Zhao Ji’s face flushed, then paled. His hands clenched tightly inside his sleeves.

Nothing was happening as he had expected.

Zhang Wenzhen withdrew his gaze, the corners of his mouth lifting faintly.

The younger generation was not to be underestimated.

Great Li had enjoyed ease for too long. It had become a stagnant pool.

At court they fought for advantage; in secret they pursued their sordid little schemes. Everyone hoped to be the oriole waiting to snatch the spoils from the others’ struggle.

Today, a single wastrel had churned up the water.

Zhang Wenzhen stepped forward and saluted.

“Your Majesty, I believe the Duke of Liang’s grandson speaks reasonably.

“All things have cause and effect. We cannot punish only the man who brought about the consequence while leaving its instigator unpunished.”

The six vice ministers were jolted by the Right Chancellor’s words.

They had never expected Zhang Wenzhen to involve himself personally.

In their experience, Great Li’s Right Chancellor had always guarded his reputation carefully. If something concerned neither him nor the affairs of the realm, this man who had occupied his post for twenty years would have nothing to do with it.

Twenty years. Long enough for the hair at his temples to turn from black to white.

Zhang Wenzhen had risen from humble beginnings.

Twenty years ago, he had fought his way through a host of aristocratic rivals, the most unlikely dark horse of that year.

Yet the late emperor had personally selected that dark horse as Right Chancellor.

For a time, his brilliance had eclipsed every other promising young man.

Over the twenty years that followed, he had walked as though on thin ice and along the edge of an abyss. Step by painstaking step, he had made his position in Great Li’s court secure.

Under the late emperor, he had patched the fabric of government.

After Emperor Jingyuan’s accession, he had patched imperial authority.

Everyone called Zhang Wenzhen “Great Li’s mender.” No one knew how many hands that mender’s needle had pierced.

The Duke of Liang’s household, in particular, had felt it.

Ever since Li Cijiu became General Who Pacifies the North, Zhang Wenzhen had opposed the household at every turn.

His purpose was obvious: to curtail its military power.

Li Cijiu was his first target.

The reason was simple.

The four great garrisons outside Tai’an held a total of one hundred thousand troops.

The Western and Eastern Garrisons accounted for twenty thousand infantry; the Southern and Northern Garrisons, thirty thousand elite cavalry.

Command of the Northern Garrison lay in Li Cijiu’s hands.

Together with the fifty thousand troops of the Realm-Guarding Army on the northern frontier, the Duke of Liang’s household possessed eighty thousand cavalry.

Eighty thousand cavalry.

Great Li had three hundred thousand armored troops nationwide, but only one hundred and twenty thousand cavalry.

A single ducal household controlled two-thirds of them.

What if…

That “what if” was why Emperor Jingyuan had not dared move against the household in ten years.

It was also why Zhang Wenzhen had opposed it at every turn for twenty.

So when Zhang Wenzhen spoke in Li Xuanzhen’s defense, Li Zhenbei’s expression changed.

The old duke looked up and met the chancellor’s gaze.

With Zhang Wenzhen having spoken, the emperor could hardly dismiss him out of hand.

Li Zhenbei’s face betrayed neither pleasure nor anger. Inside, however, his thoughts were in turmoil.

Today’s events had completely exceeded his calculations.

He had brought a coffin to court intending to exchange his old life for a way out for his grandson.

Instead, the brat had dragged in the Duke of Zhao’s household.

And those of Lü, Chen, and Wu as well.

All five great wastrels were here in Zichen Hall.

Emperor Jingyuan shifted his gaze from Li Xuanzhen and studied the others in turn.

Zhao Ji stood behind the Vice Minister of Justice, white as paper.

Lü Feng, Chen Tu, and Wu Zhaoxu were held beside their fathers, afraid even to raise their heads.

Moments earlier, the three old dukes had been beating their sons and spraying spit. Now they stood with their hands lowered, each more docile than the next.

The emperor found it almost funny.

These old foxes swaggered around Tai’an, each more overbearing than the last. Before the throne, each was a better actor than the next.

Beating their sons?

They were putting on a performance for him.

They understood perfectly that if they beat the boys hard enough, he would find it difficult to impose another severe punishment.

Emperor Jingyuan smiled.

“Very well.

“Li Xuanzhen, you said all things have cause and effect.

“Then tell Us: if Zhao Ji caused yesterday’s events, how should We deal with the matter?”

Li Xuanzhen saluted.

“Your Majesty, I believe that without a cause there can be no consequence.

“I have nothing to say in defense of my offenses, nor do I dare make excuses.

“Whatever punishment Your Majesty imposes, I shall willingly accept.

“But the instigator must receive a punishment more severe than mine.

“Otherwise, I cannot accept it in my heart.”

Good heavens!

The high officials in Zichen Hall felt another tremor of alarm.

The boy’s nerve was every bit the equal of his grandfather’s.

Li Zhenbei had already shown disrespect by bringing a coffin before the throne. His grandson had simply backed the emperor into a corner.

Anyone with eyes could see what lay behind today’s affair.

The emperor plainly intended to use yesterday’s offenses to blunt the Duke of Liang’s power.

If he handled it well, both Li Zhenbei and Li Cijiu would pay dearly.

The price would be Li Cijiu’s military command and the old duke’s prestige within Great Li’s armies.

But Li Xuanzhen’s speech had implicated everyone involved yesterday.

Zhao Ji really had offered ten taels of gold as a prize.

And Li Xuanzhen was far from the only noble youth involved.

Lü Feng, Chen Tu, and the Duke of Wu’s only son, Wu Zhaoxu, were all parties to the affair.

If the emperor punished Li Xuanzhen, he could hardly spare the other three.

Moreover, as the instigator, Zhao Ji would have to suffer more severely than the other four young noblemen.

The capital’s five famous wastrels were all here.

Now it truly was Emperor Jingyuan’s turn to have a headache.

He felt confident he could deal with Li Xuanzhen alone.

Once all five of Great Li’s dukes were involved, however, even he felt his strength fall short of his will.

The five ducal houses had intermarried for generations. Their connections were tangled and deep.

The army, the court, the provinces, salt and iron, grain transport: their people were everywhere.

Move against one household, and the other four would close ranks.

Move against all five, and he would shake the foundations of the state.

The emperor’s fingers began tapping the armrest of his throne again.

While he hesitated, the old eunuch outside the hall announced shrilly:

“Your Majesty, Lord Wei of the Prison Pacification Bureau requests an audience.”

All six vice ministers’ faces changed at once.

How had a matter this small managed to involve even the Prison Pacification Bureau?