Chapter 65 (2/2)
The Tang Dynasty had never been heavy on secular customs, even if it was the daily interaction between a ruler and his ministers. Officials often wouldn’t need to kneel and kowtow, and only needed to clasp their hands in a salute – especially in a generation of His Majesty the Emperor widely known as tolerant. Ordinarily when a ruler and his ministers met in the Hall of Political Discourse, His Majesty would even brush off the courtesy of the clasping hands salute.
But today the tolerant king suddenly exploded in thunderous anger – the group of Tang Dynasty ministers once again found that His Majesty didn’t ordinarily want them to kneel because he was happy; when he wasn’t happy, the Hall of Political Discourse became terrifying.
On the Imperial Seat the middle-aged man naturally was the Tang Dynasty’s Emperor – on secular things in the Hao Tian World, he was the most powerful in the world. He gazed at the ministers kneeling on ice cold gold bricks in front of him, calmly showing a trace of a mocking gaze slowly as it brushed over everyone’s face – Commander of the Middle, of the Frontier, and a general Huai Hua – these were all military chiefs. The Right Deputy Minister, a.s.sistant Minister of the Center, the old and young of the Ministry of Revenue, Magistrate of the Capitol, a.s.sistant Minister of the Yellow Gate, ChangAn City’s Two Statues, and also his own younger brother sitting in a chair, and also those fellows so old they didn’t look human. In the end, in regards to this matter, how much did they know?
“One gang that is able to take over the river transportation business, and able to transport grains under guard, so what? You are all high officials in the Court, and can handle official matters with one word. Who knows how many people would tremble frightened? So what if some Chao XiaoShu dares to not listen to you? Are you all truly a group of morons? Could you have never thought of the reason?”
It was like the Tang Dynasty’s His Majesty the Emperor looked at the group of grandchildren mixed up in a mosquito net as he looked at his own ministers. Using his right hand, he stroked the slight pain on the back of his head, because he was so angry and disappointed he even had the urge to laugh out loud. He glared at the group, using strength to strike the gavel, and reprovingly said, “You all want to see who the backing of the ChangAn’s number one gang is? And now you know, know that it is Us. Do you feel that you have become the world’s biggest morons!”
“Fish Dragon Gang! Fish Dragon Gang! You all have extensively read books your whole life, and are officials used to seeing wind and rain. That actually not a single one thought of the four words, ‘fish dragon concealed dress’? If it wasn’t My intent, who in ChangAn City would dare to use this name as their gang name? We are very disappointed at you all. Not disappointed that you disregarded the laws and bullied the common people, but disappointed in your stupidity! Morons! Such a simple matter, yet to actually not understand it after watching for so many years, if you all aren’t morons, who is!”
With the chaotic battle of a rainy spring night in ChangAn City, indeed at the very end, success forced out Chao XiaoShu’s cards. However once this card was revealed, suddenly the wind and rain disappeared without a trace – because this card simply was too powerful; powerful till it only needed one word, and could define everyone as a moron, and then begin to settle the scores.
The ministers kneeling on the Palace floor feeling wronged and aggrieved didn’t know what to say. Silently thinking of the years gone by, no one had discovered the Fish Dragon Gang and the Palace had any kind of connection. Moreover, you are the unspeakably n.o.ble true dragon, the Son of Heaven, while the Fish Dragon Gang was just a little carp in a dark gutter of ChangAn. The distance was hundreds, thousands of miles, completely not an existence of the same world. Who would’ve thought that these would actually be connected?
This was like a county clerk’s teacher wanting to trouble a small worker of the back kitchen. As a result of the noise in the end, the clerks unexpectedly discovered this office was covered by the Ministry of Revenue! But the problem was, a fellow covered by the Ministry of Revenue, how could he become a little worker of the back kitchen!
If Chao XiaoShu was a friend Your Majesty had met among the common people years ago and had become friends, then why in all these years would he always be soaking in the JiangHu, this smelly gutter? With just one word, how could they not be able to find 4 or 5 shortages of officials in the Empire and give the position to him? This was the stupidity of the king’s ministers. This was purely Your Majesty treating us as idiots and playing with us.
Kneeling onto the ice cold gold bricks, and restlessly sitting in the chair, the powerful ministers of the Tang Dynasty were entirely with bellies full of discontent, but right now no one dared to jump out and argue a few words with that man in the Dragon Chair.
For these influential people of the Empire, fighting or speaking of subduing Spring Wind Pavilion’s Old Chao was a small matter, and the result was coming across the biggest mountain under Heaven. Inside they were clear this would inevitably end badly, and more importantly was that their subordinates in charge of these matters used the Court like they were a military strength – this already touched His Majesty’s limits. What bureau should handle this?
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