Chapter 161: Ziyan Explains the Poem

Although Zhu Hao was unwilling to agree to Ziyan's unreasonable demand, he also knew that he could not break his word. At the same time, he was certain that Ziyan could not possibly make sense of the two poems either. Therefore, instead of rejecting her outright, he emphasized: "As long as Lady Ziyan can understand these two poems and explain their meaning to this Prince, I will grant your request!"

Hearing this, Ziyan completely ignored the deeper meaning implied in Zhu Hao's emphasis on "understanding these two poems." Excitedly, she said, "Husband, it's a deal! Don't go back on your word!"

Without waiting for Zhu Hao to reply, Ziyan glided gracefully toward Liu Rushi and Chen Yuanyuan. Approaching them, she reached out and snatched the two pieces of paper from Liu Rushi's hands. "You two little girls have looked at this for long enough," she declared. "It's time for this Princess to take a look!" She heavily emphasized the title "this Princess," clearly alluding to her status as Zhu Hao's Princess Consort and asserting dominance over the other two women.

Furious at her words, Liu Rushi and Chen Yuanyuan knew that Ziyan had indeed performed the traditional wedding ceremonies with Zhu Hao, leaving them with no grounds for rebuttal. They could only stomp their feet in frustration right where they stood.

Watching the three girls, all around his own age, gathered together while Ziyan lectured the other two with the air of an elder and assumed the role of the big sister, Zhu Hao couldn't help but smile wryly to himself. He thought, *I haven't even formally taken these three women yet, and they're already starting to establish a seniority ranking. This is truly not a good sign.* Imagining what it would be like in the future if he really did have three thousand beauties in his imperial harem, a wave of headache and helplessness washed over him.

Seeing that Ziyan was holding the two pages and staring at them for a long time with no intention of returning them, the initial panic of the two girls gave way to a restless eagerness. They prepared to step forward and snatch the poem-inscribed papers back from her hands.

Just as the two girls exchanged glances and moved to encircle Ziyan from both sides, ready to make their move and wrest the papers from her grip, Ziyan suddenly spoke up: "Husband, Ziyan has figured out these poems!"

Hearing this, the hands that Liu Rushi and Chen Yuanyuan had already extended froze midway in the air, motionless for a long time, as if struck by a legendary immobilization spell.

Zhu Hao was also slightly startled. Recovering from his surprise, he asked, "Lady Ziyan, you really understand them? Quickly tell this Prince, what do these poems actually mean?" The thought that someone might finally decode the two pages of poetry that had baffled him for so long filled him with excitement, and an eager, expectant look filled his eyes.

Meeting Zhu Hao's anxious gaze, and glancing at the hands of Liu Rushi and Chen Yuanyuan frozen in mid-air, Ziyan smiled triumphantly. "Actually, these two poems are not difficult to understand!"

Pausing slightly, she continued, "The first poem reads:
'The surging waters of the Zhe River suppress the mighty Yangtze,
The red sun in the east points straight to the center.
Within the forest, there was originally no greedy intent,
Yet ten thousand strings of cash have destroyed the mountain wall.'
This is the puzzle poem!"

The second poem reads:
'The first, fifth, and seventh characters first plot the scheme,
The twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth are the very source.
The eighth and fifteenth combine to reveal the cause,
Regretting the alliance by the twenty-first.'
This is the deciphering poem. By comparing the two poems, one can deduce their hidden meaning!"

Hearing this, Zhu Hao felt that certain parts were falling into place, yet he still couldn't fully grasp the whole picture. He asked, "How should they be interpreted then? I ask Lady Ziyan to explain it to this Prince in detail!"

Ziyan smiled faintly at Zhu Hao's request and calmly replied, "Husband, do not be impatient. Let Ziyan explain it line by line. The first line of the deciphering poem says, 'The first, fifth, and seventh characters first plot the scheme.' This means that the initial plot involves the first, fifth, and seventh characters of the first poem, read in sequence! Combined, they mean that the matter began with 'plotting to suppress Zhejiang'!"

Muttering to himself, Zhu Hao repeated, "'Plotting to suppress Zhejiang'? Suppressing Zhejiang for what? Flood control? Or does this Zhejiang refer to something else—could it mean the official circles of Zhejiang? But these people are all officials from Zhejiang themselves; they shouldn't want to harm their own! Then what does Zhejiang refer to?"

At this point, Zhu Hao suddenly recalled historical records stating that before Wei Zhongxian came to power, the Zhe Faction and the Donglin Faction jointly controlled the imperial court. Fang Congzhe, the Grand Secretary whom Zhu Hao had previously arrested, was the leader of the Zhe Faction. With this realization, Zhu Hao understood: this was saying the provincial examination fraud case had been plotted specifically to suppress the growth and influence of the Zhe Faction.

Thinking this, Zhu Hao silently reflected, *If I hadn't come down here to investigate the case personally, and had allowed these people who cheated on the provincial examinations to attain official honors—leaving aside whether they would eventually pass the metropolitan examination and enter the imperial court—even with this substandard quality, if just one or two lucky ones managed to pass the Jinshi examination, the Zhe Faction would likely find itself without any successors!*

Reflecting further, Zhu Hao thought, *No wonder history records that the Zhe Faction ultimately lost to the Donglin Faction!*

Having figured this much out, Zhu Hao had a clear idea of who the mastermind was. However, he still prompted Ziyan to continue, "How should the second line of the poem be interpreted?"

Ziyan smiled slightly and said, "Husband, you must already have the answer in your heart. But since you asked Ziyan to explain, I shall tell you. The second line of the deciphering poem states, 'The twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth are the very source,' which means the origin of this affair lies in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth characters of the puzzle poem. Piecing the overall meaning together, the source is direction from the center."

Nodding at Ziyan's explanation, Zhu Hao felt even more certain of his own deductions. Without revealing his thoughts, he asked, "And how should the third line be interpreted?"

Observing Zhu Hao's expression, Ziyan knew he had already guessed some of it. Yet, since he asked, she did not hold back and continued, "The third line of the deciphering poem says, 'The eighth and fifteenth combine to reveal the cause,' meaning the root cause of this affair lies in the eighth and fifteenth characters of the puzzle poem. Combined, the meaning is that the cause of the matter rests upon the two words 'Donglin'."

Nodding slightly, Zhu Hao thought to himself, *Indeed, it is this bunch of scourges from the Donglin Faction. It seems they will now stop at nothing to suppress their political rivals, daring to tamper even with the nation's imperial examinations. They are completely lawless! It appears high time to deal with them.*

Though his expression remained unchanged, Zhu Hao nodded slightly and said, "Ziyan, when you decoded the first line just now, this Prince had already basically figured out the meanings of the second and third lines. However, this fourth line has baffled me completely; I cannot fathom its deeper meaning."

Ziyan smiled faintly. "Your Highness, this fourth line is indeed interpreted somewhat differently from the first three. The fourth line of the deciphering poem says, 'Regretting the alliance by the twenty-first!' This refers to the meaning contained in all the characters following the twenty-first character in the puzzle poem, signifying that the author of the poem came to regret associating with these people."

Pausing for a moment, Ziyan went on, "All the characters following the twenty-first in the puzzle poem constitute the fourth line of the poem: 'Yet ten thousand strings of cash have destroyed the mountain wall.' These seven characters can be analyzed word by word. While 'cash' and 'wealth' might normally refer to a single matter, judging from the context contained within the fifty-six characters written by the poet, Ziyan believes that 'cash' and 'wealth' refer to two separate things. Ziyan analyzes that 'cash' probably refers to Qian Qianyi, the chief examiner of this year's provincial examinations."

Pausing briefly once more, Ziyan continued, "As for the character 'wealth,' it should be viewed in two parts, referring to the combination of talent and monetary wealth, covertly pointing to Qian Qianyi's corrupt practice of using the imperial examinations to trade official positions for money. 'Ten thousand strings' likely refers to the amount of the bribes received, while 'destroyed the mountain wall' represents the consequence—saying that it was precisely because of Qian Qianyi's actions that their grand endeavor fell short at the last hurdle! It is precisely for this reason that the deciphering poem speaks of 'regretting the alliance'."

Hearing Ziyan's explanation and piecing together the hidden meanings of the two poems, Zhu Hao now had a clear grasp of the cause and effect behind the Zhejiang provincial examination fraud case. The affair originated from the factional strife between the Zhe Faction and the Donglin Faction. The Donglin Faction wanted to weaken the influence of the Zhe Faction, so they targeted this year's Zhejiang examinations with the deliberate goal of ensuring that Zhejiang produced zero successful candidates of talent. The person who truly instigated the officials to do this was someone from the Donglin Faction at the center—that is, within the imperial court. Zhu Hao analyzed that this person was likely either Zou Yuanbiao or Zhao Nanxing, as these two were currently the undisputed leaders of the entire Donglin Faction.

The affair had originally stemmed from factional strife, and the manipulating officials were never supposed to take the opportunity to amass personal wealth. Had they done so, the plot would have been completely foolproof, leaving no flaws for any investigator to uncover. However, everything went wrong because of Qian Qianyi. Relying on layers of protection from within the court, he used the opportunity to amass massive amounts of wealth through corruption. This led to the appointment of Cheng Sanjian, a straw-filled blockhead, as the top provincial scorer (*Jieyuan*), which provoked great indignation among the scholars of Zhejiang, who then traveled to the capital to lodge a formal complaint and expose the entire scheme.

This explained why Zhu Hao had found vast quantities of gold, silver, and precious valuables in Qian Qianyi's residence, while finding no illicit wealth whatsoever in the estates of the other officials. Their original intention had never been to amass wealth, but solely to wage factional warfare.

Having figured all this out, Zhu Hao clenched his fists tightly. He felt an intense, burning hatred for both Qian Qianyi, who engaged in greedy corruption, and the Donglin Faction, who cared for nothing except factional strife!

Although most members of the Donglin Faction, aside from scoundrels like Qian Qianyi, may not have been personally corrupt regarding the imperial examinations, to Zhu Hao, these people—who cast aside the grand national plan of selecting talent for their own selfish ends and played politics with the imperial examinations—were all cut from the same cloth. In his eyes, there was no distinction between good and bad among them; they were all deserving of death!