Chapter 181: The Elder’s Plans

Chapter 181: The Elder's Plans

After finishing dinner with the elder, the others returned to their quarters, but Tong Sui and Xiao Zhen were asked to stay behind.

It was cold, and even with the charcoal fire, the room still felt cold and desolate. The barracks were modestly furnished, and the elder hadn’t ordered anything additional to be brought in.

By the light of a flickering candle, the elder took the central seat, with Tong Sui and his wife sitting on either side of him.

Xiao Mu turned to Tong Sui. "Is the estate still in Ningfang’s name?"

"Jingshan Ward is a prestigious district," Xiao Mu continued. "Many officials and wealthy merchants are trying every method to secure a residence there. After the Lin family moved away, could a loyal servant family alone hold onto the estate?"

Recently, both Xiao Mu and Xiao Zhen had been busy with military affairs and hadn’t had time to investigate the Lin family's situation. Even Tong Sui had only managed to free up time today.

Tong Sui relayed what the servant had said. "Since Third Sister-in-law hadn’t arrived yet, I didn’t go to knock on the door."

Xiao Mu nodded. "If it were an elder with close ties, they’d be happy to hear news of Ningfang. But since it’s a relative with whom we've had a falling out, the main branch of the Lin family had forcibly seized the estate of the second branch and naturally wouldn’t be happy that Ningfang is returning to Luoyang. Once they see Ningfang, they can’t deny it anymore, but why would they believe us just from our words? It would seem like we're desperately trying to reconnect with them."

Xiao Zhen said, "I tested Third Brother before he went south. He asked Third Sister-in-law if there were any relatives left in Luoyang. She said there weren’t. Perhaps she didn’t want to bring up old matters with Third Brother, or maybe she was afraid his fiery temper would cause trouble."

Xiao Mu said, "Before Ningfang arrives, the three of us should keep this matter to ourselves and not tell Third Brother."

Tong Sui said, "Now that Third Brother is in the military camp, he has no way of knowing what’s happening in the city. But once we move in, he might start asking around. The Lin family is a prominent family in Luoyang, and there’s been a public incident of the father disowning his son and the two branches fighting over the ancestral home. It wouldn’t be hard for Third Brother to find out, and many people in the city might know about it."

Xiao Mu said, "Before we move into the city, I’ll talk to him and have Fourth Brother keep an eye on him closely. Second Brother, if you were to meet the elder Lin in the city, what would you do?"

Xiao Zhen smiled. "He’s Third Sister-in-law’s uncle, so by relation, he’s our in-law. Before Third Sister-in-law comes to the capital, I won’t formally acknowledge him but should still show some respect as a junior."

Tong Sui thought to herself that Xiao Zhen had little emotional connection with her sister-in-law, Lin Ningfang. After all, Lin Ningfang was only close to her and Liu Chu in the Xiao family. The rest of the time, she rarely saw Xiao Zhen and Xiao Ye, and neither side would initiate conversations, remaining estranged.

But Tong Sui knew that no matter how indifferent Xiao Zhen was towards Lin Ningfang, she was still a part of the Xiao family. How could Xiao Zhen truly respect Elder Lin, who had colluded with Imperial Uncle Dou and bullied his younger brother’s family?

So, Xiao Zhen’s smile was certainly not benevolent.

When Tong Sui first married into the Xiao family, she had been able to handle the He family with grace and dignity, which showed she had some talent in dealing with people.

After a moment of thought, Tong Sui understood what Xiao Zhen meant.

Their family would definitely help Lin Ningfang reclaim her ancestral home, but how to go about it required some finesse. Scolding and quarreling in the streets—that’s the way of village people; even if you’re in the right, it looks wrong. Smart people have clever methods.

——

It had been ten days since Han Zongping ascended the throne, and now the people of Luoyang referred to him as the Xingping Emperor.

In these ten days, with the assistance of two Prime Ministers, the Xingping Emperor had successfully established a relatively complete civil and military administration.

On the civil official side, only Xiao Gufu and Sun Wei from the Xiao family had entered the Ministry of Revenue. The former was appointed as a sixth-rank chief, and the latter as a ninth-rank clerk. Although there were higher-ranking officials from the old Luoyang administration above them, everyone knew whom the Xingping Emperor favored more. As long as the officials who had supported the emperor performed well, promotions would just be a matter of time.

On the military side, the Xingping Emperor appointed Feng Ji as the commander of the Eastern Camp of the Imperial Army, and Lu Gong as the commander of the Western Camp.

These commanders were all first-rank military officials. The Eastern and Western Camps would each command 150,000 infantry, while the Southern Camp, which the Xingping Emperor decided to newly establish, planned to train 50,000 elite cavalrymen.

Zhao Jin and Luo Xiao were appointed as deputy commanders of the Eastern and Western Camps, both holding first-rank positions. Xiao Zhen, naturally, served as the deputy commander of the Southern Camp under his father. Given that Xiao Mu was getting older, Xiao Zhen would effectively handle the actual work in the Southern Camp. Once his father could no longer manage it, Xiao Zhen would be promoted to the full command position, showing how much the Xingping Emperor favored Xiao Zhen over the other younger generals.

The Eastern, Western, and Southern Camps were all located outside Luoyang. Within the city, there were also 23,000 imperial troops, with 20,000 stationed in three inner-city camps and 3,000 responsible for guarding the imperial palace.

The commander of the Imperial Guard is also a first-rank official position. The Xingping Emperor chose Fan Zhao for the role. While Fan Zhao may lack strategy, he is brave, and his loyalty to the Xingping Emperor is as clear as the sun and moon. Their relationship is like that of father and son.

The new dynasty had just been established, and council meetings were held every day.

On the 18th day of the 12th lunar month, the Ministry of Revenue submitted a summary of the sales of vacant shops in the three markets.

The newly appointed Chief Eunuch, Liu Gonggong, delivered the report to the Xingping Emperor.

The Xingping Emperor opened it and swiftly skimmed through it. He found that over two hundred shops had been sold for nearly 130,000 taels of silver. Among the buyers, 70% were civil and military officials. Among the officials, 50% were military officers who had fought alongside him.

The military officers had just received their rewards in silver. Even the more capable centurions could easily afford 500 taels at once.

The Xingping Emperor smiled and turned to Fan Zhao, who stood behind Xiao Mu. "Fan Zhao, I see you bought three shop locations, one in each of the three markets. Since when did you turn into a businessman?"

Fan Zhao stepped forward and smiled awkwardly. "Your Majesty, I don’t know much about business, but I can rent them out."

Xingping Emperor: "Then why didn’t you buy more shop locations?"

Fan Zhao: "I wanted to buy more, but the Left Minister reprimanded me. He said that Your Majesty sold the shops to quickly revitalize the three markets and that we should leave more for the merchants. If I bought too many, it would only slow things down, so I only bought three."

Xingping Emperor: "The Left Minister understands my intentions better. But you, Fan Zhao, only bought three locations, while all the officials combined bought over 170 shops. You only left over 70 shops for the merchants. What’s happening here? Are you all tired of being officials and want to do business or collect rent instead?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the civil and military officials who had bought shops and were present immediately knelt down.

Fan Zhao looked back and, seeing the Xingping Emperor angrily throwing the report on the floor, realized he had made a big mistake and quickly knelt down as well.

Seeing that 70% of the court officials remained standing and only one of his personally ennobled generals had knelt, the Xingping Emperor felt somewhat reassured. He said to the Minister of Revenue, "Return the silver to the officials and gather the merchants again to purchase the shops. Anyone who dares to interfere with the merchants' bidding or forces them to sell at a lower price afterward will be punished for disobeying the imperial edict."

"We, the officials, humbly acknowledge our guilt and will not dare to repeat such mistakes!"

——

After the court was dismissed, the civil and military officials gradually left the main hall and soon split into three groups.

The old courtiers from Luoyang and the new ministers formed two major factions.

The old courtiers were further divided into two sub-groups based on whether they had bought shops in this event.

Lin Shou, the current Right Deputy Minister of Personnel, stood in the middle of the small group of old courtiers, surrounded by several worried-looking civil officials.

"What are we going to do? The emperor has only been on the throne for a little over ten days, and we have already angered him."

"No one said we couldn’t buy them before."

Shops in prime locations in Luoyang could fetch up to 1,000 taels. Now, with the government selling them, the merchants didn’t dare to compete with the officials. The prices were half of what they would have been during a prosperous period. Even though these officials had already handed over large sums of ill-gotten silver, 300 to 500 taels were still small amounts for them.

"Minister Lin, what do you say?"

Lin Shou shook his head and sighed, "The emperor is wise. We are still not doing enough. Let this serve as a lesson, and we must correct our mistakes."

Not wanting to stay with this group, Lin Shou quickened his pace.

He was quite a seasoned official and hadn’t intended to participate in this matter. It was his wife who, seeing others buying shops, went behind his back to buy one.

Worried that the new emperor might hold this against him and affect his official rank, Lin Shou's steps were somewhat disordered. He missed a step and was about to fall.

Before Lin Shou could react, a pair of strong hands steadily supported him. He looked up, pale and startled, to find that the one who had helped him was the newly ennobled Marquis of Yong'an, Xiao Zhen.

The old courtiers of Luoyang had already thoroughly inquired about the backgrounds of these new nobles. Lin Shou knew that the Xiao family had originally been a declining family of a thousand households. They had followed the new emperor out of luck and had indeed gained their current high positions and substantial salaries through some ability.

"Thank you, my lord, otherwise I might have met my end here."

Glancing down, Lin Shou sincerely expressed his gratitude upon seeing there were still dozens of steps below.

Xiao Zhen smiled and said, "It was nothing. Lord Lin, you're too kind. You look so worn out; is something wrong with your health?"

Lin Shou wiped his forehead with his sleeve and said with embarrassment, "I suppose it’s because I overslept and didn’t eat breakfast for fear of delaying the court meeting, so my legs feel a bit weak now."

Xiao Zhen, who was about to let go, said, "Then allow me to help you down."

Lin Shou, honored and surprised, said, "I wouldn’t dare trouble you, my lord. I’ll walk slowly; it won’t be any trouble."

Xiao Zhen insisted on helping.

The officials before and after noticed this scene. The new officials puzzled over why Xiao Zhen would extend such courtesy to an old corrupt official, while the senior officials secretly speculated when Lin Shou had established a relationship with the Marquis of Yong'an.

In any case, Xiao Zhen helped Lin Shou down to the level ground.

Lin Shou thanked him repeatedly before leaving. Not far away, he heard the loud voice of Marquis Zhongyong, Qi Heng, "Xiao Zhen, why did you go out of your way to help him? You’ve never been so humble and respectful in front of me."

Lin Shou eavesdropped carefully, hearing Xiao Zhen reply, "Since you’ve always looked down on me, why should I lower myself? Lord Lin treats me with respect, so I return it with courtesy."

Qi Heng said, "Rubbish, you’ve never been so courteous to other officials, yet you treat this Lin fellow specially."

There was no sound after that.

Lin Shou had no choice but to leave with the same doubt.

Upon returning home in the Jingshan Ward, he told his wife, Tang Shi, about the incident.

Tang Shi said, "Maybe you’re reading too much into it. The Marquis of Yong'an might have just helped you out of goodwill."

Lin Shou said, "Impossible. The Marquis only shows humility before those so-called upright officials. He has never been lenient with us. There must be some other reason for his sudden kindness toward me."

Tang Shi, tilting her head, pondered and muttered, "What reason could there be? The Xiao family now has more wealth than us and higher positions. Although you still hold a position in the Ministry of Personnel, it’s precarious. He wouldn’t seek favor just to promote his own people. If it’s to form connections with prominent families in Luoyang, the Xiao family should be courting those with unmarried daughters. We have only three sons, all of whom are married, and our oldest granddaughter is only eight, too young to be engaged."

Lin Shou, leaning back in his chair, felt a headache from trying to fathom Xiao Zhen’s intentions.