Emperor Mingxi's face was as dark as water. So, Sima Jing's voluntary request to garrison the south was part of a long-laid plan!
No wonder, no wonder his Sima family ultimately succeeded. This twenty to thirty-year scheme truly showed immense patience and skill!
A glint of gold flashed in Dong Qianli's eyes. Soon, all the Sima family's wealth would flow into the state treasury, contributing to the construction of the Great Yan.
Even though His Majesty had forgiven those like them who had dipped their hands in a little and embezzled small sums, they had all secretly paid fines to atone. Now, encountering a colossal corrupt official like Sima Jing, he naturally had to guard the emperor's coffers well.
Bao Yuanjun, who had originally been anxious and furious, now stood there calmly and composedly. With the information revealed by the divine artifact, as long as his son could hold out until the emperor's men arrived, he would be safe.
"He spent tens of thousands of taels of silver to buy that glass tea set, and I thought he was genuinely wealthy. Turns out that money wasn't even his!
He's hailed as the richest man in Jiangnan all day long, yet the money isn't his own. I wonder how he feels about that, what's the size of the shadow in his heart?"
Emperor Mingxi steadied his mind and said calmly, "Minister Ji, what is your view? If I recall correctly, Sima Jing's annual 'Four Virtues' evaluations have always been 'Excellent'?"
[Is this emperor still trying to shield the Sima family? Even Shen Wanchuan, a mere front man for the Sima family, has more silver at home than the emperor.
The walls and floor tiles of his bedroom are filled with gold and silver underneath. It's no exaggeration to call it a house of gold and silver.]
Emperor Mingxi: A house of gold and silver? Excellent, all that will soon be mine!
He probably wouldn't be able to compete with Dong Qianli and other court ministers for Sima Jing's wealth, especially since he had mistakenly trusted him for so many years and had no face to contend for it.
But Shen Wanchuan's 'petty cash'... he could try to claim it for his private treasury. These officials should agree to that.
"Before knowing whether someone is friend or foe, he would find it hard to believe that his most trusted cousin would betray him. He would only think others were harboring ulterior motives, trying to drive a wedge between them."
[Master, do you know what Shen Wanchuan bought that expensive glass tea set for?]
"It couldn't be for Sima Jing to drink tea with, could it?"
[Of course not. The persona Sima Jing usually maintains is that of a clean and upright official. He even wore a seventy-percent-new old court robe when meeting Emperor Mingxi.]
Emperor Mingxi closed his eyes. Last year, when Sima Jing entered the palace to see him, he indeed wore an old court robe. When asked, he said it was his newest official garment.
Moved and pained on the spot, the emperor bestowed a large pile of gifts upon him before he left!
Emperor Mingxi gritted his teeth. Sima Jing must have been laughing at his foolishness in his heart back then!
[He naturally wouldn't drink tea from a teapot worth tens of thousands of taels. Although he indulged in luxury in secret, this item wasn't actually procured for his own use.]
"Then who was he going to give it to?"
[It was a New Year's gift for the Emperor of Dongyi. Didn't expect that, did you?]
The Great Yan's emperor and ministers: No, we certainly didn't!
Meanwhile, the Minister of Personnel, Ji Hongming, who was also muttering "unexpected" in his heart, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, it is true that Lord Sima's 'Four Virtues' evaluations have been Excellent every year.
However, I believe Lord Fengtang's impeachment is not contradictory to Lord Sima's excellent evaluations!"
Emperor Mingxi nodded. "Continue."
"Yes, Your Majesty. Privately, I believe that perhaps Lord Sima was unaware of the land encroachment incident. The Sima family is vast and complex; perhaps such encroachment did occur."
Ji Hongming first set the tone with this statement, firmly establishing that someone surnamed Sima was responsible, before gradually implicating the old fox, Sima Jing.
"But it's also possible other relatives acted under Lord Sima's name. Therefore, in my humble opinion, this matter requires thorough investigation!"
Thorough investigation was the key. You can't wrap fire in paper. If a real investigation was launched, he believed that as long as the Sima family had been active enough, there would inevitably be loopholes.
Wasn't there also a living witness, Bao Qianjun!
As Emperor Mingxi seemed to be weighing the matter, Yue Fuguang's voice came to his ear: "He couldn't possibly be sending the gift on behalf of the emperor, could he? Is the Sima family colluding with Dongyi?"
[Of course not on behalf of the emperor. They've been colluding for a long time. You know about the pirates on the seas? The reason they could never be eradicated is because they were the Sima family's enterprise!
Turning piracy into an industry—impressive, wouldn't you say?
They robbed merchant ships, causing many coastal traders to avoid landing there, allowing their business to monopolize the area.
Otherwise, how could Shen Wanchuan develop so rapidly in just a few years, faster than in the previous decade or so?
It all started when Sima Jing took office; with a protective umbrella, he prospered!]
"Although the Great Yan's fall was primarily due to Xiqiang, Beili, and Nanyue, Nan Zhao and Dongyi also meddled extensively.
As the saying goes, when a wall is about to collapse, everyone gives it a push; when a drum is broken, ten thousand beat it. Dongyi came to take a swing, so what role did the Sima family play in that?"
The emperor and ministers of the Great Yan also wanted to know what exactly Sima Jing had done.
[After Emperor Mingxi's sudden death and the new emperor's ascension, the Great Yan was already like a rapidly sinking ship. Sima Jing had long foreseen the dynasty's demise and saw his family's opportunity.
By then, besides the pirates at sea, they also controlled part of the coastal garrison. If the garrison and the pirates share the same master, how could they possibly be eradicated!
The new emperor, like his father, saw many court officials purged, but he indeed placed great trust in Sima Jing.
After the new emperor's rise, Sima Jing's power grew greater, his position more secure. In Jiangnan, except for not changing the surname, he was no different from an emperor.
Later, he vigorously and secretly recruited private soldiers in Jiangnan. By the time Xiqiang and other states attacked the Great Yan, the Sima family was ready to raise troops at any moment.
When the foreign armies were about two days' march from the capital, Shangjing, he opened the ports and let the Dongyi people in.
His own private soldiers mixed among them, looting and killing local wealthy households to accumulate wealth. Afterwards, he assumed the righteous persona of resolutely expelling foreign enemies and protecting the local people's safety to drive the Dongyi away.
For this, he won the local people's adoration. Subsequently, after the Great Yan fell, the Sima family, after being 'repeatedly and earnestly entreated' by local gentry and commoners, 'reluctantly' raised the banner of rebellion, and the Great Wei was established.]
"The local people didn't know their land, money, and grain all ended up in the Sima family's pockets. Those 'repeatedly entreating' people were plants from the Sima family, right?"
[The lands were bought or forcibly seized by wealthy merchants like Shen Wanchuan; the money and grain were plundered by pirates; the people were killed by the Dongyi.
What does that have to do with the Sima family who saved them? As for those repeatedly entreating, they were led by Shen Wanchuan...]
The unspoken words were clear enough. It was all a show put on by the Sima family for the world. The Great Yan's emperor and ministers also understood it was merely a political performance by Sima Jing. If they were in his place, they would do the same.
"This Sima Jing is quite something. The persona he built is far more solid than those of modern young idols—it never crumbles!"
[Indeed. For this persona, for the stability of his Sima family's future reign, and to eliminate future troubles, one can see how much he could endure for the throne from the fact that the first emperor of Great Wei was his son, not himself.
Although we look down on that shabby chair, it seems mortals are quite fond of it. Men and women alike, given the chance, all want to sit on it.]
Sima Jing, however, restrained himself. He steadfastly considered himself only a subject of the Great Yan Dynasty. Thus, in his 'loyalty to the sovereign and love for the country', he refused to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor.
