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In the early hours of the morning, Fan Xian returned home and changed his clothing. He gave a few orders and took the carriage to the Royal Palace. When he arrived, it was already very lively outside the Palace gates. Officials gathered groups of two and three and were all whispering to each other about something.

He lifted the curtain to glance out and couldn’t resist shaking his head. It looked like last night’s events were already gossip. Naturally, he was at the heart of the officials’ discussions.

After a night without sleep and having dealt with so many things, his spirit was lacking. He accepted a towel soaked in ice water from Teng Zijing’s hand and rubbed it vigorously over his face. The skin on his face felt like it was being pierced by needles, but his spirit was finally roused a little. He yawned and stretched. After breathing out some muddied air, he disembarked from the carriage.

He walked along the moss-covered stones in the square before the Palace, drawing the gazes and discussions of countless people. Everyone was watching the Commissioner of the Overwatch Council in official robes.

This was Fan Xian’s first time attending a court conference after he went out as an imperial envoy to Jiangnan Road. Logically speaking, the officials in front of the Palace should come forward to exchange greetings and pleasantries with him. For some reason, the officials’ eyes were filled with caution. They only watched from a distance and didn’t come any closer.

The reason was simple. Although everyone the Overwatch Council killed and captured last night were lower-ranking officials, there were far too many of them and it involved countless court officials. These court officials were shocked, but they were also enveloped by anger. In the court conference, there was certain to be a number of memorials reporting Fan Xian. Since it was so, it was not good to exchange greetings.

Fan Xian did not walk with ease. He felt that he was almost about to become an isolated official that the officials would spit on. Although this was by his own creation, the feeling of not being acknowledged by anyone was like being boycotted by little girls in kindergarten. It made him feel aggrieved.

His face didn’t show anything. He smiled calmly and warmly as if he did not feel these fiery gazes.

When he arrived at the Palace gate, the guards and eunuchs still greeted him and bowed. Fan Xian looked at these lower-ranking, favor-currying men and felt his heart warm. He felt extremely comforted, thinking, In this world, it is indeed the handicapped who have a kind heart.

Turning his head, he saw the two leading figures of the civil officials with their noses in the air as if scrutinizing the heavens for abnormalities.

Fan Xian rubbed his nose. He was familiar with the white-bearded old man on the left and knew the middle-aged man on the right. He must be the initiator of the literature improvement movement many years ago, Hu the Scholar. Seeing these two leading officials of the Hall of Departmental Affairs treating him so coldly, Fan Xian knew that he had stirred up too much ruckus last night. In the eyes of these major officials, he had sufficient leaning to become a powerful and treacherous official. Adding to the Overwatch Council’s strange movements, this did indeed create a negative effect on court politics. Of course, these two leading officials of the civil officials would not be overly friendly with him, the head of secret agents.

However, he was not having this. Forcefully suppressing the resentment in his heart, he smiled mischievously and moved over. Standing beside Shu and Hu the Scholars, he also didn’t say anything. Rather, he strangely lifted his head and looked toward the sky.

For a time, the officials waiting to enter the court looked at this strange sight. Two Scholars and the wretched Commissioner of the Overwatch Council all had their necks stretched out and heads tilted, staring endlessly at the layers of cloud in the sky. They didn’t say anything. They only stood in silence.

...

...

After looking for an indeterminable amount of time, Shu the Scholar, who had an open and bright personality, finally could not resist anymore and huffed coldly, “Sir Fan junior, what are you gazing at?”

Hu the Scholar also pulled back his gaze from the sky. Although both of the scholars were clever people, they were not as thick skinned as Fan Xian. They could not endure too many strange gazes. He coughed and didn’t say anything.

Fan Xian smiled and said, “Whatever you two were gazing at is what I am gazing at.”

Shu Wu furrowed his brows. Gazing at him he began to speak and then stopped. He resisted for a moment, but in the end, he couldn’t hold back the anger in his heart and opened his mouth to scold him, “Do you know, because the Overwatch Council has great power, it has to do things in a calm and steady manner. Putting aside just why you did this and acted so wildly within Jingdou, how are the officials to conduct themselves? How will the court carry out business? You may not want the dignity of all gentlemen under heaven, but the court needs it. Tell me, you’ve taken away so many of the officials from the six departments, how will they carry out their tasks? Not even speaking about conducting business, the hearts of the officials are all chilled. Such muddle-headedness!”

It was fine to not speak of it, but once he started, he couldn’t stop. On the contrary, it was Hu the Scholar who gave Shu Wu a meaningful glance before Shu Wu stopped. However, he was still grieved and sorrowful, and couldn’t contain his anger.

Fan Xian was no longer just a tutor at the Imperial Academy. He was no longer just an empty prince consort title only able to roll around in Honglu Temple. Although the ranking of the Commissioner of the Overwatch Council was not high, he was also the imperial envoy. Although Shu the Scholar was now the leader of the civil officials, it was still unacceptable for him to point and scold at an imperial envoy in such a way.

“Don’t scold me anymore,” Fan Xian smiled and said. “No matter how you put it, you are an elder. To be so mean to a junior such as me is not good for the other officials down there to see.”

Shu Wu was in a great rage. However, he was also speechless in front of Fan Xian’s tired and respectful face and unable to scold. He huffed very coldly and shook out his sleeves. “Just wait for me to report you in the court conference today.”

Fan Xian gave a pained expression and bowed. “As expected, please be kind.”

Shu Wu wanted to be angry and rage and smile. Suddenly, the Palace doors opened. With the sound of the whip, the ritual music began. He walked in first with Hu the Scholar.

Since it was a great court conference, there were more officials than usual in court. Even so, Fan Xian’s official ranking was still not enough to be among those who attended. However, he had the identity of an imperial envoy to Jiangnan and was also coming to debrief, so he didn’t need a special edict from the Emperor.

However, officials also had to enter the palace by order of rank. Fan Xian could only be at the end. With him standing at the Palace door, a sinister chill naturally seeped out and made the officials walking past him shiver despite the warmth.

Earlier, when there were more people, they could group together and ignore Fan Xian. Now that they were walking toward the Palace in pairs, the officials assessed that their positions were far from that of Shu the Scholar. They calculated the royal favor Fan Xian bore and thought about his methods. Without any other choice, they could only greet him quietly as each of them passed him.

None of these officials dared to be overly irreverent toward Sir Fan junior, whom they had not seen in a year.

“Sir Fan junior, I trust you’ve been well since we last met?”

“Greetings, Commissioner Fan.”

Fan Xian responded to all with a smile. Although he knew he would certainly be disgraced by these people in court today, the vanity of being greeted at the palace doors felt good. He had to take advantage of the opportunity to scoop up some benefits in terms of face.

Now that he’d received the benefit in terms of face, all that he could gain in court was sour fruit.

Fan Xian stood at the very bank of the link and slanted his eyes to steal a glance at the Emperor on the dragon chair. He felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him. He looked at the Emperor’s calm expression and felt a stomach full of anger, thinking, You’ve certainly had a good rest. I’m about to drop dead from tiredness after doing your dirty work for you, yet I won’t even reap any benefits today.

As everyone expected, after the court conference began—before everything had time to settle and begin in an orderly fashion, and before a few governors standing below Shu and Hu the Scholars had a chance to present their memorials—the great battle to report Fan Xian and the Overwatch Council’s actions suddenly began.

Fan Xian didn’t listen to the specifics of what the reporting officials were saying. It wouldn’t be anything different to what Shu Wu had already said. The Overwatch Council did indeed have the duty to supervise the methods of governance, but an action such as his in which 30 odd officials were captured in one night was indeed something that hadn’t happened in many years. It could truly be said to have shocked the court.

He looked at those three road governors and was not surprised to see Xue Qing at the head. Qing Kingdom’s current territory was very large. There were another four roads that were further away and whose governors only returned once every two years. He watched rather curiously. Xue Qing was at Baoyue Brothel last night by edict to watch the fight. Logically speaking, he should have entered the Palace that night to report to the Emperor. He wondered what thoughts the Emperor had toward him.

Fan Xian was truly very tired, so his attention wandered. But, there were many things that he could not avoid hearing because he didn’t want to hear it. The attack of the civil and military officials still endlessly surged into his ears. Gradually, the crimes also became more severe. For example, something such as having disdain for the court, immoral behavior, private use of national resources, creating a faction, and so forth.

In the Qing Kingdom court, the Overwatch Council and system of civil officials had always been at odds. Regardless of what factions there were within the civil officials, once they were faced with the Overwatch Council, they would appear to be united. It was so when Prime Minister Lin was present, and it was so now with the Scholars at the head. As long as the Overwatch Council, the Emperor’s special service, overstepped its boundaries, the system of civil officials would gather together and carry out a very powerful counter-attack.

Without question, Fan Xian overstepped his boundaries last night. At the court conference, it became a battlefield on which he was attacked.

What was particularly different from previous years was that the military side that has always had a close relationship to the Overwatch Council no longer maintained their usual silence. On the contrary, the two Deputies of the Bureau of Military Affairs also stood out and expressed their displeasure toward the Overwatch Councils’ tabooed actions.

Even the Emperor probably couldn’t endure the pressure of the uniform attack of the civil and martial officials, much less Fan Xian standing alone at the end of the line.

The atmosphere in Taiji Palace was no longer oppressive. On the contrary, it was filled with an impatient particular to winter. With Shu Wu at the head, the officials all raised their memorials, asking the Emperor to constrain the Overwatch Council and make the final holy decision on the matter.

The multitude of words all pierced Fan Xian’s heart and injured his spirit. Dirty water flew in all directions. The atmosphere was multifarious.

If it had been any other official in Fan Xian’s position, they would probably have long become angry beyond reason and jumped out to argue with those officials. At the same time, they would have gathered their courage to pull off the beards of those Imperial Censorates. However, Fan Xian continued to stubbornly maintain his silence. He didn’t speak or defend himself. Only the corners of his lips tilted up with a mocking smile as he watched the drama on the court conference.

Perhaps it was this hint of a smile at the corners of his lips that made someone uncomfortable, made someone feel that this son of his was overly impetuous and overly arrogant. An angry scolding came from the dragon chair, “Fan Xian! Do you have nothing to say?”

Fan Xian had long been forcefully fighting off his sleepiness. Suddenly, hearing these words, he quivered. Straightening out his official robes, he stepped out and bowed. “Your Majesty, last night, the First Bureau of the Overwatch Council sent for 32 officials to be questioned. It was all carried out according to Qing law and edict. o rules were overstepped in any way. Thus, I do not understand, why is everyone so excited?”

The Emperor smiled coldly and said, “In one night, you captured 32 people. You are truly very...are you saying that the Qing court is filled with corrupt officials?”

Fan Xian replied seriously, “I don’t dare to lie to Your Majesty...” His gaze swept across the officials in the Palace and said, severely, “This court is crawling with vermin. Thirty-two people are only a small portion. If Your Majesty will give the Overwatch Council special permission, I will certainly capture more corrupt officials.”

The officials felt a chill in his heart. Immediately after, a despicable expression rose on their faces. They thought to themselves, Your words are useless. What was the court? The court was the officials. There was no such thing as an incorruptible official. If you lock us all away, who will help the Emperor govern the world and guard the people? How could the give you this special permission?

As expected, the Emperor flew into a great rage and severely scolded Fan Xian. It was nothing more than scolding him for not thinking about the bigger picture, doing things rashly, fouling the Emperor’s heart...

Fan Xian’s heart was unhappy. Although he knew it was all an act, he was still unhappy and retreated resentfully back into line.

The court conference raised the deaths of the Second Prince’s Eight Generals, the death of Governor Yan’s only son, and the matter of the Eldest Princess’ strategist Huang Yi being poisoned and vomiting blood in bed because those people were not officials. Furthermore, they belonged to the darkness. No one was that stupid.

However, the events of last night were enough to incite the caution and anger of the civil and military officials, so even this attack needed the Emperor to take action to comfort.

The Emperor, sitting in the dragon chair, coldly said, “Concerning the matter of Fan Xian being attacked in the outskirts of Jingdou, what have you all found?”

Everyone was silent. The officials of the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Justice stood out with trembling bodies and repeatedly begged for forgiveness.

Fan Xian had no choice and also stepped out to beg for forgiveness. It wasn’t his fault that his Overwatch Council was also one of the groups involved in the investigation. However, this was rather absurd. He had been attacked by someone. He hadn’t found who it was, yet he had to beg for forgiveness.

The Emperor gazed at Fan Xian and furrowed his brows, “I heard that the last witness died last night in prison. Is this true?”

Fan Xian was startled, he had not expected for the Emperor to receive the news so quickly.

All the military officials across revealed a glimmer of a deeply hidden smile and joy. They waited to see how Fan Xian would explain this matter.

...

...

The Emperor did not need too much explanation. All of the mulling over had mostly been done, and the Emperor made the decision alone. He issued the edict he had already prepared a few days ago.

The first portion of the Overwatch Council gave rise to a feeling of disbelief in the civil and military officials because...the Emperor limited the Overwatch Council’s power.

The Overwatch Council’s ranking would not be lowered. While their power would be greatly limited, particularly the First Bureau stationed in Jingdou, they still maintained their power to capture people. Now, there were detailed rules for the time limit after having seized someone. In particular, the criminals who overlapped with the Supreme Court, their questioning had to be completed within 48 hours.

Which was to say, the First Bureau no longer had the power to secretly question the capital’s officials.

At the same time, the edict also set some general limits on the Fourth Bureau stationed in each province. The specific rules were to be drafted by Fan Xian after he returned to the Council, which was to be later discussed in a court conference.

These two changes looked very small but, in reality, it was like they had put a countdown on the Overwatch Council, bringing them a great deal of inconvenience when they did things in the future.

Hearing these edicts, Fan Xian’s heart was as disgusted as if he had eaten flies. He still had to step out and thank the Emperor for his favor.

The civil and martial officials were all overjoyed. At most, they had wanted the Emperor to demote Fan Xian, slightly limit the Overwatch Council, and give their captured innocent subordinates an escape. They had not expected for the Emperor to actually handle it so seriously. If this trend continued, the Overwatch Council’s power would be gradually weakened.

Thus, cries of “long live the Emperor” rang out from Taiji Palace and the officials quietly said that the Emperor was indeed wise.

Then, the second portion of the Emperor’s edict made the civil and martial officials feel that although the Emperor was wise, he was still too protective of his shortcomings.

It was made clear in the edict that the officials captured last not were limited by the previous regulations. They were entirely handed to the Overwatch Council to interrogate. After which, they were to be handed to the Supreme Court to convict and set a punishment. At the same time, the Emperor used this opportunity to greatly express his rage. He angrily scolded the officials in the Palace for not strictly managing their subordinates, disappointing the grace of the country, only knowing to form factions, and being very shameless.

After the edict came down, the officials were all fearful and didn’t know what to do with themselves.

Because the investigation of the attack in the valley was not going well, the Jingdou guards were seen as being pointless and part of the corrupt officials case. The Right Deputy of the Bureau of Military Affairs, Qu Xiangdong, was demoted. Qin Heng of the Jingdou garrison was removed and replaced by the previous deputy general of the Western expedition, while Qin Heng was moved into the Bureau of Military Affairs. At the same time, the vice minister of the Ministry of Justice was replaced, the Deputy of the Supreme Court was replaced, and the imperial censor of the Imperial Censorate was replaced.

The people who took their places were all the young officials who entered the Palace a few days earlier.

The officials all paled in surprise. The Emperor’s iron fist had truly caught everyone unprepared. If it were not for the recent clashes in Jingdou, it would be impossible for such a large-scale change of personnel to go so smoothly. Everyone knew that this was definitely not over yet and couldn’t resist stealing a glance at the young man standing at the very back of the line. A complicated emotion welled in their hearts as they just realized that Sir Fan junior’s ruthless actions last night was actually foreshadowing the edict in court today.