Chapter 154: All Too Familiar

end said nothing. He sighed and left the study.Late that night, Li Chen was once again woken from his sleep.Despite the burning sensation in his eyelids, Li Chen still took the top-secret intelligenc...Chapter 154 At Your Fingertips

"Your servant thanks Your Highness."

Zhao He Shan suppressed his thoughts and bowed respectfully.

With a wave of his hand, Li Chen said nonchalantly, "You are Ruier's father. Although under etiquette you are not considered kin as her mother is not officially wed to me, at present, I have only Ruier in this palace, and she is dearly loved by me. As her father, if you were attacked and harmed by wicked people, this palace would certainly not stand idly by."

"Speaking, Li Chen flipped open a secret decree from the table. He looked at the densely packed information about Zhao Heshan listed above and said calmly, “Zhao Heshan is a distant cousin of Zhao Xuanji, within five degrees of kinship. In the first year of Emperor Daxing, he passed the imperial examinations as a jinshi and entered the Hanlin Academy as a compiler. A year later, he was transferred to a local position and served as the magistrate of Huaihe County. After three years in office, his performance was rated as excellent by the Ministry of Personnel, making him stand out among his fellow jinshi."

After being recommended by Zhao Xuanji, who was then the left servant of the Ministry of Officials, you were appointed as an Imperial Attendant. A year later, you were promoted two ranks and served as the magistrate of Su City, a wealthy region.

"After five years of training in Sucheng, during the tenth winter of the Great Reign, he was transferred to the Ministry of Public Works in the capital as the Right Censor."

In the thirteenth year of Emperor Da Xing's reign, he was transferred to serve as the left minister of rites. In the fifteenth year of Emperor Da Xing's reign, he was transferred to serve as the right minister of personnel.

“This resume, from your entry into the Hanlin Academy through the imperial examinations to your service in local positions, holding administrative posts at both county and prefectural levels, and then moving on to the central government with experience in both the Hanlin Academy and serving the emperor directly, covering two of the six major departments.”

“This palace had people investigate who you served with in the Ministry of Government and Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Officials when you held the positions of Left or Right Servant. I found that all those who served alongside you during those times—the Minister of Government and Personnel, Minister of Rites, and Minister of Officials—were nothing but Zhao Xuanji’s left and right arms. And every time you made a crucial leap in your career, it was Zhao Xuanji who vouched for and recommended you.”

"It's evident that your entire career path has been meticulously orchestrated by Zhao Xuanji. barring any unforeseen circumstances, after serving as the Right Servant of the Ministry of Personnel, you are highly likely to be transferred to another ministry as a Minister, directly entering the rank of high-ranking officials. If you had continued on this trajectory until today, perhaps you would have been the foremost official under the cabinet."

However, just fifteen years later in the winter, after you were transferred to the right servant of the Ministry of Civil Affairs half a year ago, you were suddenly demoted to the prefect of Hejian. You went from the third rank all the way down to the seventh rank, back to that tiny sesame seed official position. Your fifteen-year career vanished overnight. This palace is very curious, what happened that year

When Li Chen spoke, Zhao He Shan showed no expression.

He listened quietly, then bowed and said, “Your Highness, it's just a difference in political ideals.”

Li Chen said indifferently, "The ideological dispute led you and Zhao Xuanji, your mentor and relative, to part ways. Even fifteen years of hard work was wasted without hesitation"

"With a light sigh, Zhao Heshan said with a melancholy expression: 'All that happened in the past, I have long since forgotten. It's just that there were ideological conflicts between me and the chief minister from the beginning. At that time, I was naive and still held a sliver of hope that I could persuade him. Later, our contradictions and disagreements became increasingly serious, coinciding with the struggle for power between ministerial authority and imperial authority.'"

“Although I held the rank of a third-rank official at the time, in this struggle, I was nothing more than cannon fodder. The Chief Minister went with the flow and pushed me out to shield the emperor's anger. I pondered, after all, this third-rank official attire was also obtained for me by the Chief Minister. It might as well be returned to him, so that we are both even.”

But...

"But you soon discover that without Zhao Xuanji's support, even though everyone knows he has abandoned and despised you, life is not easy even in the small county town of Hejian. You can even say it's difficult to take a single step, wouldn't you agree" of them was Zhou Changshou, a confidant who had followed King Ning for many years. However, this man was unknown outside and few people knew him. The other two were Zhou Ping'an and an unidentified p...