The mastermind behind the tax silver case was Vice Minister of Revenue Zhou... Xu Pingzhi slammed his palm down and shattered the tea table to pieces. He rose in fury, eyes bulging, mouth open to curse—but it was as though something had lodged in his throat.
Xu Xinnian glanced at his father, impotent in his rage, and asked grimly, "Is the news reliable?"
Xu Qian nodded. "Chu Caiwei of the Directorate of Celestials, one of the lead officials on the case, told me." He relayed her words in full.
Xu Xinnian raised his teacup, then set it down again. "So today's events were no accident—Zhou Li was deliberately striking back."
Nicely done. No wonder he'd passed the provincial examinations; the boy had a sharp mind, and Xu Qian was glad he'd proposed this talk. If it were only Second Uncle, the meeting would have been pointless—backed into a corner, his uncle would only say: if you're my brother, come cut the man down. Nothing to be done; he was a crude martial artist, good at fighting but utterly lost at scheming.
Xu Qian set out to test him. "Second Brother, what do you make of it?"
Xu Xinnian shot his cousin a look, evidently put out by the tone of examination. "Simple: strike first and strike hard, for he who strikes second strikes last."
Not bad at all. It was hard to imagine Xinnian speaking with such ruthless decisiveness.
Second Uncle, fancying himself the head of the household, felt he could no longer keep silent and berated his son: "Put away those arrogant notions. Setting aside that you're but a lowly provincial graduate—even as top scholar, you still couldn't offend a Vice Minister of Revenue."
His nephew shot him down with icy ruthlessness: "I think Second Brother is right." Xu Qian went on. "The man we've offended isn't Zhou Li, it's Vice Minister Zhou Xianping. Zhou Li may not dare retaliate, but what of the Vice Minister? We've ruined his scheme and injured his lawful son besides. So long as he has any spark of mortal blood, there's no reasoning how he should swallow it—and to his eyes the Xu household is hardly more than an ant."
Xu Pingzhi refused to yield. "We can't contend with him. You've befriended the white-robes of the Directorate, and Xinnian is a student of the White Deer Academy. Rely on those two connections and, keeping our heads down, no one will dare provoke us."
"Is that really so?" Xu Qian reminded him. "Second Uncle, the white-robes of the Directorate do not meddle in court politics."
Xu Cijiu took up the thread. "Wasn't I also a White Deer student when the tax silver case broke? My brother came home safe today only because Zhou Li lacked justification. But if the Vice Minister staged another tax silver case and had the whole Xu clan wiped out under the letter of the law, could the Directorate or Academy stage a jailbreak for us? Defy the laws of Great Feng on our behalf?"
Xu Pingzhi, feeling his authority as head of the family under assault, knitted his brows. "But what are we to do against a full fourth-rank official..."
I don't know either—I'm just a simple person from across the ages... Xu Qian turned to his handsome young cousin. "What do you think, Second Brother?"
Xu Xinnian was silent a long while, until Xu Pingzhi was nearly out of patience. "I've been turning something over," he said at last. "When the tax silver was seized, the Emperor flew into a towering rage—he sets great store by silver, and ought to punish the culprits severely."
"Aren't those two whelps already dead?" said Xu Pingzhi.
"Two possibilities occur to me. One: the Vice Minister has a backer behind him. Two: the Emperor has his considerations—say, a delicate balance to maintain. You said the Scrutinizing Secretary of Revenue impeached Zhou for embezzlement. Why not the other Vice Minister, or the Minister himself?"
A thought stirred in Xu Qian. "His political enemies are moving against him?"
Xu Xinnian inclined his head. "My teacher said the core of the art of imperial rule has always been balance. That the Emperor hasn't touched Zhou smacks of factional strife."
"Then what do we do?" Second Uncle asked by reflex.
Xu Qian stroked his chin. "Imperial tactics may serve at ordinary times, but the Capital Evaluation is at hand. Seize any handle against Zhou and there's a strong chance of bringing him down. The Evaluation is ancestral law—even the Emperor can't act on a whim. The Confucian art of slaying dragons rests on a single word: ritual propriety. His enemies won't let this rest."
Xu Xinnian was startled—never had he imagined so grand a word as "slaying dragons" from his rough-edged cousin.
...It's because I've watched too many period dramas! Xu Qian thought—though a good deal of it was the history he'd studied. History is the essence of human culture, and the most useless thing besides: the only lesson it teaches is that humanity learns no lesson from history. He had once scoffed at that, then seen its truth. As a student, his parents and teachers had urged him to study or regret it later, and nobody listened until the world dealt its hard knocks. His cousin, a boy who'd failed in business at sea, had once blurted the very same warning, then frozen in wonder at his own words.
Xu Xinnian lifted his chin, examining him. "So what does elder brother think we should do?"
You really won't accept defeat... Xu Qian kept his face composed. "Why would Zhou engineer the tax silver case? Certainly not for corruption—he could embezzle at any time. Why ride the crest of the Evaluation's storm? Unless he needs that silver urgently, to patch a deficit in his accounts, precisely to pass the Evaluation."
"So?" The corner of Xu Xinnian's mouth twitched up.
So we have to uncover the true reason he embezzled, crack the case, and leave Zhou no hiding place... Xu Qian was about to say it when he caught the knowingly amused smile in his cousin's eyes and held his tongue.
"I've got it!" Second Uncle slapped his thigh, spraying spittle. "We expose the matter and leave no hiding place for that fellow Zhou!" He was thrilled—his skull had finally flashed with brilliance.
Xu Xinnian gave a harrumph. "Does Father think that, as a Imperial Blade Guard Centurion, you may openly investigate a Vice Minister and read the Ministry's dossiers?"
Xu Pingzhi's face stiffened.
"It's impossible." Thank you, Second Uncle, for taking the fall.
Frustrated at losing the battle of wits, Xu Xinnian pressed on. "Then what should we do?"
Xu Qian tapped the table. "Drive out the tiger by loosing the wolf. We're not the main force against Zhou. We only need be the last straw that breaks the camel's back." As for just how, he hadn't worked it out yet.
"Not bad." Xu Xinnian nodded. "Let's step back. We needn't oppose the Vice Minister directly—a full fourth-rank official, with wits and tactics, isn't someone we can take on. But no man is without a weakness."
Xu Qian's eyes lit up. "Zhou Li!"
"Exactly. That rakehell is far easier to handle. If the grounds for impeachment are insufficient, we manufacture the crimes. Hand a blade to Zhou Xianping's political enemies and let them help us cut him down." A cruel glint flickered in Xu Xinnian's star-bright eyes. "With the Evaluation at hand, if the Vice Minister's son does something that cries out to heaven, then as his father Zhou Xianping will find it hard to dodge the blame. The Emperor may protect a man once, but not necessarily twice."
He frowned. "Still, the other side isn't stupid—frames and planted evidence may not carry the day."
As Xu Pingzhi heard his son and nephew trading remarks, he realized he'd been edged to the margin of this secret council, quite unable to get a word in. But layer by layer, his own thinking grew clearer, and at last he slapped the table in excitement: "My son Cijiu has the makings of a chief minister!"
And does your nephew not? Xu Qian threw him a sidelong glance, seizing the chance to rib Second Cousin. "Second Brother, this is why it's said empty talk from scholars ruins the state. Even you can't escape the old trap."
Xu Xinnian's mouth twitched. "Kindly enlighten me, elder brother."
Xu Qian was unruffled. "I can't hand you a ready plan, but I can offer a line of thought."
Second Uncle pressed him. "Quick, tell us."