Chapter 187: Borrowing Money

Wang Dou and Xie Xiuniang came to the flower hall in the rear hall. Wang Dou did not know what the young madam wanted with him, but since she had come to his door, he had to see her if only for the sake of Department Magistrate Li Zhenkun.

When they entered the hall, they saw the young madam sitting there quietly, lost in thought.

Seeing Wang Dou approach, she rose and curtsied deeply, saying, "This humble woman greets Garrison Commander Lord Wang. May Your Lordship be well."

Wang Dou said, "Young madam, you are too courteous. Please rise."

He made a gesture of helping her up from a distance.

As if a surge of inner force was sent forth, the young madam rose with the motion.

Wang Dou glanced at her. Today the young madam wore a sable coat, which set off her elegant and noble bearing, full of the charm of a young married woman. A woman from an official family like her, nurtured from childhood by what she saw and heard, had flawless poise and deportment. Wang Dou and his wife could certainly not compare with her.

Wang Dou sat down, picked up a cup of tea and took a sip, and said, "Young madam, your visit to my humble home brings light to this simple dwelling. May I ask what important matter brings you here?"

The young madam's face showed embarrassment, and she looked toward Xie Xiuniang.

Xie Xiuniang gave her a reassuring smile. On ordinary days in the department city, Xie Xiuniang greatly admired the young madam's elegance and had deliberately tried to learn her poise and deportment. But such elegance is something that must be cultivated from childhood, and though Xie Xiuniang studied hard, she made little progress. Today, with the young madam coming to ask a favor, Xie Xiuniang was most willing to help, but of course she had to obtain her husband's consent.

She explained to Wang Dou: it turned out that the young madam's father-in-law, Department Magistrate Li Zhenkun, had recently suffered the worst luck imaginable. He considered himself diligent, and his recent governance of the department city had been quite effective. The Great Ming's triennial performance evaluation was about to arrive, and by all rights, given the conditions under his jurisdiction, this evaluation should at least have earned him a rating of "competent." Unexpectedly, word came that the Ministry of Personnel's evaluation of him was most likely to be "incompetent."

Upon hearing this news, Li Zhenkun was stunned. Only after working through various connections in the capital did he understand the reason. The matter was connected to the new Minister of Personnel, Tian Weijia.

In the tenth year of Chongzhen, the Minister of Revenue, Hou Xun, was imprisoned for misconduct. The then Minister of Personnel, Zheng Sanjun, deliberately gave a light sentence. Chongzhen was furious and imprisoned Zheng Sanjun as well. The succeeding Minister of Personnel was Tian Weijia. Tian Weijia had always been on bad terms with Zheng Sanjun. After taking office, he seized the opportunity to purge Zheng Sanjun's faction. As Li Zhenkun's luck would have it, Tian Weijia considered him a disciple and former subordinate of Zheng Sanjun. The officials of the Ministry of Personnel, gauging Tian Weijia's intent, decided to trip Li Zhenkun up in this evaluation.

Calamity had fallen on Li Zhenkun from nowhere. He thought it over and could only use this upcoming audience in the capital as an opportunity to pull some strings.

For these civil officials, there were three evaluations every nine years. Every third year, during the Grand Review year, they had to go to the capital for an audience and evaluation. This included all senior officials of the Provincial Administration and Surveillance Commissions, as well as the chief and deputy officials of prefectures, departments, and counties. They all had to arrive in the capital, and starting from the sixteenth day of the twelfth month of that year, the Court of State Ceremonial would successively present them for audience.

For the Great Ming's military officers, however, there was an evaluation every five years, called the Military Administration Review. Apart from Regional Commanders and Vice Regional Commanders everywhere who submitted their own merits and faults for the Emperor's decision, the rest were evaluated jointly by the Viceroy, Provincial Governor, and Regional Inspector Censor. At year's end, a confidential report on the worthiness of military officers was drawn up, compiled into a register, and submitted to the Ministry of War for review and memorial. Finally, it was presented for the Emperor's decision. Both provisions and military administration were in the hands of civil officials, which was also the reason for the low status of military officers after the mid-Ming period. The advantage was that the Great Ming's military officers did not need to go to the capital for audience and evaluation.

Tian Weijia was greedy by nature; as long as there was money, things were easy to handle. Friends in the capital sent word that if money was spent, this calamity could be averted. Li Zhenkun considered himself incorruptible and diligent in his work, yet this was the result. To keep his official position, he had no choice but to use the audience as a chance to pull strings.

Unfortunately, the required silver was considerable, and Li Zhenkun could not produce it all at once. Borrow "capital debt"? Those usurers devour people without spitting out the bones. After much thought, Li Zhenkun thought of Wang Dou and hoped to borrow some money from him. Ashamed to ask himself, he had his daughter-in-law come forward.

After hearing Xie Xiuniang's words, Wang Dou secretly shook his head and sighed. He knew that in the late Ming, corruption was rampant among officials in all ministries, especially in a key department like the Ministry of Personnel, where bribe-taking was the norm. The promotion or demotion of officials often depended not on the quality of their administrative achievements, but on the size of their bribes. The triennial audience of provincial officials was a prime opportunity for capital officials to make money, and people of the time called the audience year "the year capital officials collect rent." Because new officials all needed to bribe capital officials, a group of usurers specializing in lending to newly appointed officials and those attending audience had emerged in the capital, known as "capital debt."

Although Li Zhenkun had various shortcomings, on the whole he was still a good official, yet he had come to this pass. Wang Dou could not help but sigh with emotion. They were colleagues; if he could help, he would.

Then, after hearing Xie Xiuniang mention the amount Li Zhenkun wanted to borrow, Wang Dou was greatly startled: "One thousand taels of silver?"

If it were a few dozen or a hundred taels, Wang Dou could consider it, but one thousand taels was no small sum, and he himself was short of funds...

Wang Dou fell into thought. Seeing his expression, the young madam rose gracefully and said, "My family's lord has been deceived by villains. I beg Your Lordship, for the sake of being colleagues, to lend a helping hand."

Xie Xiuniang said, "Husband, Sister Wanyun is at the end of her rope. Her brother, serving as Garrison Commander of Mashuikou, sold all his family property to raise the silver, and it is still far from enough. If Husband has the ability..."

"Oh, her brother is the Garrison Commander of Mashuikou?"

Wang Dou made a prompt decision and said with a smile, "I am colleagues with Department Magistrate Li. Magistrate Li is diligent in governance and loves the people; I, Wang Dou, have always admired him. Now that the magistrate is in trouble, as a colleague in the department city, how can I, Wang Dou, stand by with folded arms? Very well, I will provide this one thousand taels of silver."

The young madam was overwhelmed with gratitude. She curtsied deeply and said, "This humble woman thanks Your Lordship."

That very day, Wang Dou gathered one thousand taels of silver and gave it to Li Zhenkun. In the Great Ming, one catty was sixteen taels, so one thousand taels of silver weighed several dozen catties. Seeing this silver, Wang Dou reflected that if his own succession to office was to go smoothly, he too would need to bring a good deal of silver to the capital to smooth things over with the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Personnel.

After receiving the silver, Li Zhenkun invited Wang Dou to a banquet that very evening. When Wang Dou met Li Zhenkun, he saw that his expression was both grateful and ashamed. Wang Dou did not mention the matter of the loan, but simply chatted and laughed with Li Zhenkun. Seeing that Wang Dou was considerate of his face, Li Zhenkun was even more grateful. He asked about Wang Dou's trip to the capital to assume his new post, and said, "I will be leaving for the capital shortly for the audience. Traveling with me will be colleagues from the various garrisons of Xuan-Da, as well as the Grand Coordinator and the various superior officers of the Provincial Governor and Regional Inspector. Why not have Lord Wang travel with us?"

Wang Dou thought it was a good idea. For this audience and evaluation, the officials of the three garrisons of Xuan-Da would be led by Viceroy Lu Xiangsheng, along with the Provincial Governors of the three garrisons, and the department magistrates and county magistrates of the various departments and counties. Traveling with them would allow him to better get acquainted with and understand all kinds of people, and he could also meet Lu Xiangsheng and deepen their relationship. It was indeed a good opportunity, and he agreed on the spot.

A few days later, Li Zhenkun went first to the garrison city to assemble with the various officials. Wang Dou took his personal general Xie Yike and a few guards to wait at Jiming Post. On this trip, he brought a considerable amount of wealth, and one horse was laden with heavy silver. Besides this, Wang Dou also brought his military registration verification, which served as the identity certificate for guard battalion soldiers at the time and could be used as a travel permit.

Two days later, in the soughing cold wind, Wang Dou saw a vast procession of official sedan chairs of all sizes, one after another, coming in great numbers.