At first, people didn't pay much attention to this news. After all, both countries had their own militarists, and the militarists used common methods such as life, death, internal politics, anti-politics, rural politics, and so on. 1
However, when the Governor's Office announced the list of Gyeongo spies, not only did it cause a stir in Xiangzhou, but there was also controversy on the list.
This was because the identities of these spies were very strange. Some of them clearly supported Fang Yun. There were the core members of the Anti-Traitor Society, and Chai Ying was one of them. There were the prefects of Juyuan and Tangshan prefectures. These two prefectures usually called themselves governors and even claimed that all the government decrees were made under Fang Yun's instructions. They often attacked the Qing officials and Gyeongo.
There were the officials who "accidentally killed" the people who raised spiritual beasts, and the county deputy who punished the teachers for eating together. These people's identities were mostly related to recent major events.
After that, the Governor's Office announced the detailed evidence.
The prefect of Juyuan prefecture, Mi Jun, had a grandfather who was a Gyeongo spy and had been hiding in Jingguo for a long time. His whole family was under the command of Gyeongo's Marshal Office. As an outstanding spy, Mi Jun used all his means to transfer to Xiangzhou. On the surface, he opposed the Qing officials, but in secret, he constantly helped them.
After Fang Yun started the crackdown, Mi Jun received orders from Gyeongo to interfere with Fang Yun.
Mi Jun later confessed that Gyeongo had a clear method to attack Fang Yun.
When Fang Yun arrested spiritual beast traffickers, the Gyeongo spies sent people to kill the people who raised spiritual beasts. They pretended that it was an accident and destroyed the image of the officials who didn't fear danger and worked hard without complaint. They became murderers who killed the people.
When Fang Yun wanted to rectify the extravagant and wasteful atmosphere in the officialdom, the Gyeongo spies used Fang Yun's name to embezzle all the official's money and gifts. They caused resentment among the officials and resisted Fang Yun.
Fang Yun wanted to severely punish the officials, so the Gyeongo spies made a mountain out of a molehill. They labeled the minor faults of the innocent officials as major crimes, intensifying the conflict between the low-level officials and Fang Yun.
Fang Yun had said that scholars should debate and not resort to violence. Hence, Gyeongo sent Elementary Scholar Chai Ying to knock out the High Scholar with a rock. Then, Chai Ying used the excuse of protecting Fang Yun and eradicating the scum, and continued to smear his name.
Seeing the evidence released by the Governor's Office, many people broke out in a cold sweat. The battle between the two countries was too vicious. If the Governor's Office had not announced this, many people would not have known that Chai Ying, who repeatedly supported Fang Yun but beat people up, was actually a spy used by Gyeongo to smear Fang Yun's Literary Name.
However, when the old officials saw this, they only smiled indifferently. They believed that Fang Yun had an expert guiding him from behind. With Fang Yun's paper-like experience in the officialdom, he could not have seen through this, nor could he have held back all this time and suddenly made a move.
There were also some people who believed that Fang Yun was framing them. They were clearly the ones in the wrong and were trying to divert the attention of the entire human race.
In the end, Fang Yun could not take it anymore and went to the board to say that this was actually Fang Yun's plan to lure the snake out of its hole. In fact, ever since the officials had mistakenly killed the commoners who were raising their spiritual beasts, Fang Yun had suspected that someone was opposing the Governor's Office. There was even the possibility that there were external powers involved. However, he beat them at their own game and could not bear it. Soon after, the Gyeongo spies began a large-scale operation. Using Fang Yun's name, they reduced the benefits of officials, purposely punished teachers who were not extravagant and wasteful, and purposely beat up the provincial examinees on the day they entered the capital. All of these matters were connected.
Fang Shouye even pointed out that these were the methods used by lower-level officials against higher-level officials. However, although some officials were in high positions, they were either just mere figureheads and could not receive true and effective information. Or, they only had their own interests in mind and could not see through the sinister methods of lower-level and external powers. Or, even if they did, they thought these methods were useless. They did not know that three people would become a tiger. If these things accumulated enough, it was enough to destroy anyone in a high position.
However, careful people noticed that although many officials had been brought to Baling on the sixteenth, the number of people on the list of spies this time was not even one-third of the total. Then how would the other two-thirds be dealt with?
On the nineteenth of the tenth month, most of the people who had been 'invited' to Baling by Fang Yun left in succession. Some had already handed in their resignations, some had been demoted by one rank. However, each of them had written a letter of apology, confessing that because they were dissatisfied with some of Fang Yun's policies, they had purposely used Fang Yun's name to do evil, making even more lower-level officials hate Fang Yun.
There was still a group of officials who had not left Baling because they had already been imprisoned. The Judicial Sector and the Monitoring Department were currently searching for evidence of these officials' crimes.
When the ins and outs of this matter had been collected and written into an article on the list, everyone suddenly understood. Before Fang Yun had reorganized the government, he had already predicted that the lower-level officials would use small methods to resist him. Thus, he had always pretended not to know, and then caught all of them in one fell swoop.
The people who had previously accused Fang Yun all admitted their wrongs. Many of them felt ashamed, admitting that they had been stupid and underestimated Fang Yun's methods.
In Fang Yun's study, Dong Wencong bowed deeply to Fang Yun and did not rise for a long time. "This lowly official was ignorant and did not know of Sir's brilliant plan. Please punish me."
"This official deliberately concealed this matter from you. The fault does not lie with you," Fang Yundao said.
Dong Wencong straightened his body and said seriously, "If Sir had told me in advance, perhaps they would have found some clues. Perhaps it was precisely because this lowly official was also kept in the dark that they were certain Sir could not see through this matter. Thus, they increased the intensity of their actions. More and more people were involved, and in the end, you caught all of them in one fell swoop. Let's not talk about those Gyeongo spies for now. Since there are members of the Left Minister's faction among these officials, we Xiangzhou officials can use this opportunity to jointly submit a memorial to impeach Mount Liu. This lowly official believes that this matter is closely linked and meticulously planned. If Sir had not made preparations beforehand, we would only have thought that a few officials were dissatisfied and would not have made any other guesses. The only one capable of doing this is probably Mount Liu. "
Fang Yun nodded. "Your guess is correct. Although the one who gave the order was Gyeongo's Marshal Office, the true mastermind is definitely Mount Liu. This is because only Mount Liu can formulate a plan against Xiangzhou and me. Those Gyeongo people can't be so meticulous. Mount Liu really is old but firm. If I had not seen through this matter, Xiangzhou would definitely have lost control and developed in an unpredictable direction. In the end, although the cause was me attacking the spiritual beast traffickers and reorganizing the government, the one who truly threw Xiangzhou into chaos and caused the people to suffer was Mount Liu. By then, I would have already failed and been forced to leave Xiangzhou. No one would have spoken up for me. Everyone would have pushed the blame for Xiangzhou's chaos onto me alone. Afterwards, Mount Liu stepped forward to turn the situation around. The humans would only remember that Mount Liu saved them from disaster, but they would not know that he bore at least half of the responsibility, perhaps even more. "
Dong Wencong said, "Just what have you experienced? Why are you able to see things more clearly than us officials?"
Fang Yun extended his hand and patted the ancient history of demons on the table. He said, "History has always been repeating itself. There is nothing new under the sun. You can see the whole leopard from a single spot. You have yet to become a scholar. Once you become a scholar and grasp the power of investigation and knowledge, then use sincerity and righteousness to dispel your selfish desires, everything you encounter will be as clear as the lines on the palm of your hand. "
Dong Wencong gently shook her head. "Other than a few scholars of various schools with profound knowledge of the Divine Path, even if the scholars of the other schools were able to see through this matter, they would have already reached the end of the matter. I still believe that Sir must have had a unique experience. "
(To be continued.)
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