Chapter 883 - 889: Serving the Marquis of Hongdu County on His Departure

With Geng Songfu closing his doors to visitors and asking the Court for leave, not attending the assemblies for seven consecutive days, the once powerful Geng Faction, which could shake the political landscape with just a stomp, collapsed like a motley crew in a matter of days.

Most of the officials who once considered themselves part of the Geng Faction and depended on Geng Songfu had thoughts of switching factions. In these days, they frequently interacted with key figures in the "Jiangnan Faction" and "Jiangdong Faction."

The once bustling Geng Residence became extraordinarily deserted.

This led the nearby vendors who did business outside the residence to sigh at the fickle nature of the world.

On this day, Geng Songfu, dressed in official robes, emerged from the residence, yet there was no trace of dejection on his face. He boarded a sedan chair and headed toward the Imperial Palace.

...

In the Imperial Palace, within the Imperial Study.

Chen Mo received a secret letter from his brother-in-law Wu Changlin in River Sea.

The letter revealed that ever since the Maritime Trade Bureau confiscated the Nangong Family’s port, the Nangong Family appeared to comply and even cooperated with the Government Office in its work. However, behind the scenes, they secretly engaged in smuggling, with the seized goods alone valued at over one million taels, and considering those not caught, one can only imagine how much smuggling the Nangong Family did.

Chen Mo frowned slightly, his bright eyes fixed on the secret letter in hand. He was still able to tolerate the information detailed therein.

He could understand, although the port in Chaoping County was "privately constructed" by the Nangong Family, making it illegal, the Nangong Family had also invested a significant amount of gold and silver, turning the Chaoping Port into a cash cow. The Court took over as it wished and even appropriated the shipping routes opened by the Nangong Family. How could the Nangong Family be without any resentment?

Thus, as long as the Nangong Family doesn’t oppress the common people, during the early phase of the Xin Dynasty, Chen Mo was willing to turn a blind eye to this sort of behavior from the Nangong Family.

Wu Changlin’s approach also made Chen Mo quite satisfied; he merely reprimanded the Nangong Family verbally without taking substantial action.

But the latter part of the secret letter contained matters that Chen Mo couldn’t tolerate.

Wu Changlin discovered that the Nangong Family’s Private Army was supposedly disbanded in response to the Court’s orders, but secretly, Wu Changlin suspected that it was transferred.

This is because Wu Changlin couldn’t track where these disbanded soldiers ultimately went.

The reason it was regarded as a suspicion is that Wu Changlin didn’t have evidence at hand.

Besides, according to messages from the Fish Scale Guard returning from overseas, two years ago a small country named Boli suddenly had its regime toppled, and the investigation pointed to a connection with the Nangong Family, but similarly, no concrete evidence was found.

Later, the toppled Boli Kingdom continuously sent people to the surrounding sea areas of the Ancient Luo Kingdom, undertaking extensive efforts, seemingly looking for something, which resulted in many deaths.

Every so often, dozens of corpses would surface in that sea area.

"Boli Kingdom, searching for someone?"

Chen Mo couldn’t understand the connection between these matters, choosing to set this puzzlement aside for now; however, he would absolutely not permit the apparent disbanding and secret transfer of the Private Army.

He picked up the calligraphy brush nearby, lightly dipped it in the ink on the inkstone, personally replying to Wu Changlin.

At this moment, Jia Yin’s voice sounded outside the Imperial Study: "Your Majesty, Elder Geng has arrived."

"Quickly let him in." Chen Mo’s movement slightly paused, showing a cheerful expression and promptly spoke.

Soon, a white-haired, slightly hunched Geng Songfu in a bright red official robe walked in briskly: "Minister, Geng Songfu, pays respect to Your Majesty."

"No need for formalities." Chen Mo stood up, walked around the desk to Geng Songfu’s side, made a gesture of support in the air, and smiled: "Geng Aiqing, you have finally come to court. The court cannot do without you. Do you know how I longed for you to come to the palace to help me with concerns over these days?"

Saying this, Chen Mo glanced at Jia Yin, who was preparing to retire, and said: "Someone, provide Elder Geng a seat."

Jia Yin responded, hurriedly bringing over a Master’s Chair for Geng Songfu to sit.

"Thank Your Majesty." Geng Songfu bowed but did not immediately sit down, first explaining the reason for his absence from court, finally pleading guilty before Chen Mo: "Your Majesty, I am guilty."

Chen Mo was taken aback, having a guess in mind, smiled: "What guilt does Aiqing have?"

"I failed in my guidance, did not restrain my wife, allowing the elder brother-in-law of my wife to use my name to form factions privately, deceive the upper and lower ranks. I ask Your Majesty to judge me." Geng Songfu bowed deeply.

Chen Mo’s bright eyes fell on the earnest and serious elder, his expression subtly halted, pondered for a while then chuckled: "I thought Aiqing was going to speak of something else."

Chen Mo shook his head: "This matter, I have known for a long time, also aware it has nothing to do with Aiqing, Aiqing need not blame yourself.

Moreover, Aiqing at the time as the head of all officials needed to make use of people; if no one intervened, some would curry favor with Aiqing, this is human nature."

Regarding such private factions, Chen Mo initially thought of governing them.

But after carefully considering, he realized there was no way to completely eliminate such matters.

Where there are people, there is a social arena.

Just like where there is benefit, there will be groups.

What he needs to do is what all Monarchs must do, which is balance, allowing healthy competition between them, rather than outright suppression.

Because human hearts are complex, as you also do not know, the people newly nurtured may not necessarily perform better than those before.

People have personal ties, devoid of any personal desire, that would be a sage.

And a sage, one that rarely appears in a thousand years.

Geng Songfu shook his head, respectfully said: "They are people around me, had I detected it early, this forming factions privately situation would not have happened. I have the fault of oversight, I ask Your Majesty to judge me."