The Emperor Reigns Them All

After Zhang Xingjian left the Chang'an Office, the more he thought about, and the more he got angry. Finally, he was irrepressible and he sent people to call together the well-known officials in the Chang'an Office to discuss something at his manor. In fact, they were going to discuss how to deal with Li Ye and avenge him because of the humiliation he had suffered today.

When the officials were almost there, Zhang Xingjian could not wait to say to the people who were seated: "Li Ye caught Li Yao. After today's incident and to avoid more trouble, he must interrogate Li Yao as soon as he arrives at the Chang'an Office tomorrow to get the result as soon as possible. We must stop him and not let him succeed!"

There were about ten people. The Chief Advisor's of Six Institutions were present. The Chief Advisor of the Judiciary Institution asked, "Vice Magistrate, what's your plan?"

Zhang Xingjian gritted his teeth "Li Yao is now in prison. Li Ye needs the cooperation of the Judiciary Institution when he interrogates Li Yao tomorrow. He must pass through Facao. At that time, you do everything possible to stop Li Ye and do not cooperate with him. Li Ye is the newcomer and there's no one around him to help. If the Judiciary Institution doesn't cooperate, Li Ye will not do it!"

The Chief Advisor of the Judiciary Institution nodded and said, "Vice Magistrate, you can rest assured. This one is on me!"

"Very good!" Zhang Xingjian nodded. "As long as Li Ye can't handle this matter properly, he will gain no prestige in the Chang'an Office." After that, he looked at the Chief Advisor of the Military Institution. "If Li Ye wants to manage the affairs of the cultivators in the Chang'an Office, he must have the manpower to mobilize. Starting tomorrow, you can't loan people to Li Ye to help him, let him be alone!"

The Chief Advisor of the Military Institution held his fist of one hand in the other and said, "Vice Magistrate, you can rest assured. When Li Ye comes to borrow people, I'll tell him that all my men have already been dispatched. They have their own business and no one has the time!"

"Good! It's a deal!"

Next, Zhang Xingjian arranged some other things in order to make sure that it would be difficult for Li Ye to work in the Chang'an Office.

After he arranged everything, Zhang Xingjian's anger subsided. He got up from his seat and resumed his high spirits. Looking around the crowd, he said with excitement, "The Chang'an Office is our office, not Li Ye's. It's time for Li Ye to understand who the lord of the Chang'an Office is!"

With this, he snorted, "Today Li Ye insulted me so much, I must get revenge. He is the Grand Prince, so I cannot harm him. But, it's easy for me to make him feel difficulty working in the Chang'an Office. At that time, I believe that he will bow to me!"

"Vice Magistrate, you're so clever!" The group stood up and made an obeisance by cupping one hand in the other before their chests.

The next day, Zhang Xingjian arrived at the Chang'an Office early. Unfortunately, he ran into Li Ye outside the gate. He hummed coldly and then left, giving a flick of his sleeves.

Li Ye felt the alienation from officials at all levels when they called the roll that morning. Yesterday, he was politely greeted by many people. Now when they saw him, they avoided him as if he were the god of the plague.

Later, he ordered Wang Li to fetch something from the Warehouse Institution. But, Wang Li left and returned with empty hands. He felt helpless and angrily reported to Li Ye, "The officers of the Warehouse Institution said that what you want has been used up!"

Li Ye, who was sitting and drinking tea, wasn't concerned and just smiled.

Wang Li was annoyed and said, "You just want some common brush pens, ink, paper, and ink stones. How are they out of these ordinary things? They are deliberately putting obstacles in your way. They must have been ordered by someone!"

Li Ye put down his tea bowl and motioned Wang Li to calm down, as he said casually, "Maybe they really don't have any."

Wang Li was dismayed. He hesitated for a while and said, "Vice Magistrate, I felt strange as soon as I entered the Chang'an Office today. The officials at all levels seem to have been instructed to isolate you."

Li Ye smiled. "You are overthinking."

Wang Li was stunned. But, seeing Li Ye's firm attitude, he knew that he could not say anything else. So, he made an obeisance by cupping one hand in the other before his chest and left.

When Wang Li went out, shaking his head and sighing, he muttered to himself, "Yesterday, when I saw His Highness treat people properly and strike back against Zhang Xingjian decisively, I thought that he had been a shrewd person. Unexpectedly, his thinking is too simple and he can't see through such a simple thing. All from the officers of the Chang'an Office are isolating him and putting obstacles in his way. Obviously, it's Zhang Xingjian's instruction... Alas, the Chang'an Office is in charge of Xu Shaomu. Maybe because His Highness can't find a solution, so he's pretending not to know."

Thinking of this, Wang Li bowed his head and left. "I'm afraid the future life in the Chang'an Office will be tough."

After 8 o'clock, Zhang Xingjian, who had been smiling and listening to what the officer had done to Li Ye, was called by Xu Shaomu.

Xu Shaomu stood at the window, looking at the locust tree in the yard, mind wandering. Zhang Xingjian called him a few times after entering the house, then Xu Shaomu responded.

"Brother-in-law, why did you call me?" Zhang Xingjian sat directly on the chair and leaned against his body, in a dandiacal pose.

"How many times have I told you? Call me Magistrate while at the Chang'an Office!" As soon as he saw Zhang Xingjian's behavior, he felt angry. Because Zhang Xingjian came from a noble family and Xu Shaomu came from a poor family, Zhang Xingjian had never respected his brother-in-law.

Zhang Xingjian ignored him. "There are no outsiders here."

Xu Shaomu moved his lips as if he wanted to say something, but at last, he perished the thought of reasoning with him. Xu Shaomu came from a poor family, so his wife's family had made a lot of efforts to help him become the Magistrate of the Chang'an Office. Although he didn't think that was the decisive factor, he still had to keep his tail down when he was facing people from his wife's family.

After calming down, Xu Shaomu asked Zhang Xingjian, in a deep voice, "Are you going to deal with Prince An?"

"He fought with me in public yesterday. How can't I avenge?" Zhang Xingjian got angry as soon as he mentioned this. Yesterday when he fought with Li Ye, Xu Shaomu was in the Chang'an Office, but he did not come out to help, which dissatisfied Zhang Xingjian.

In Zhang Xingjian's opinion, Xu Shaomu would not have become the Magistrate of the Chang'an Office without the support of his family. Xu Shaomu preferred to put on official airs in front of him, which made Zhang Xingjian unhappy. He thought that Xu Shaomu was ungrateful.

"Stop now. Tell your subordinates to be polite to Prince An from now on." Xu Shaomu looked solemn. "In short, treat him as an ancestor!"

"What did you say?!" Zhang Xingjian was so angry that he couldn't help but pound on the table.

Xu Shaomu sneered and looked at Zhang Xingjian. "Do you think it's my cowardice that prevented me from coming out to help you yesterday? Do you think that I am helping the outsider today?"

"Don't you?" Zhang Xingjian sneered. "Don't think that I don't know what you're going to do. There's no way!"

In Zhang Xingjian's view, Xu Shaomu did this in order to make him lose prestige, and also to suppress him in the name of Li Ye. He wanted to make him unable to stay in the Chang'an Office, and then get rid of the constraints of him and Zhang's family.

In a word, Xu Shaomu was powerful and wanted a real master.

Zhang Xingjian and Xu Shaomu appeared harmonious. When, in fact, they hated each other. In Zhang Xingjian's view, such poor pupils as Xu Shaomu would turn into an ungrateful person once they were in a high position and held power.

Xu Shaomu was not angry. He just looked at Zhang Xingjian coldly. "I can tell you now that if I had helped you yesterday, I'm afraid that the Magistrate of the Chang'an Office will be replaced these days! Of course, it won't be you who gains this position!"

Zhang Xingjian was stunned. "What do you mean? Isn't it Wei Baoheng's order to deal with Li Ye?"

"Whoever it is. It was His Highness who appointed Prince An as the Vice Magistrate of the Chang'an Office!"

Zhang Xingjian said with a sneer: "So what? As long as we do not drive Li Ye out of the office, we will not be disobeying His Majesty's will. Anyway, His Majesty seldom manages political affairs. It's Duke Wei who manages all the affairs. If Duke Wei wants Li Ye to be idle in the Chang'an Office, who dares say no?"

Xu Shaomu retorted, "Although Duke Wei is the prime minister, the Chang'an Office is run by Duke Lu and Duke Lu told me that from now on the Chang'an Office is up to Prince An!"

"How... How's that possible?" Zhang Xingjian lost his wits. "Have Duke Lu and Duke Wei always been on the same side? What's wrong with this? An internecine struggle?"

Xu Shaomu spoke cryptically, and without expression: "I can't say clearly about the struggle above. But you can think about it yourself and I'm reminding you that Kang Chengxun has been assassinated.

After that, Xu Shaomu waved his hands. "This matter is not negotiable, otherwise you and I will suffer! If you think you can't bow to Prince An, I advise you to go home for a period of time in the name illness to avoid embarrassment."

The muscles on Zhang Xingjian's face twisted and he cringed.

After a long while, he roared and left.