Chapter 609: Decision

Old White Ox: Heading to Xiamen tomorrow, might be away on business for several days.

……

The Intelligence Bureau delivered a thick stack of intelligence reports. Everyone passed them around, and the hall filled with the sound of gasping breaths.

You don't know until you look, and once you look you get a shock. Even though everyone was mentally prepared, when they saw the various intelligence and name lists, many still found their hands trembling.

The treacherous merchant power is too great, and the officials and generals colluding with them are far too numerous. It can be said that in the three garrisons of Xuan-Da, over ninety percent of the officials, generals, and various local strongmen have ties to them. Especially in the cities and forts near the frontier, not one hundred percent, but ninety-nine percent are guilty of illicit private dealings, having been bought off by the great families.

The frontier army system of the Great Ming is such that guard battalion officers fill the various camp command posts. These officers inherit their positions generation after generation, passed down through the centuries, so their local power is deeply entrenched. Illicit trade beyond the frontier is one of their most important sources of wealth.

It can be said that in the frontier garrisons, the most heinously guilty are the military men. The civil officials and eunuchs are somewhat better; after all, they have terms of office and are generally transferred after a few years. At most, during their tenure they receive some dry shares, red envelopes, and such tributes, which gradually cease once the personnel are transferred away.

But those military men, inheriting their positions generation after generation, are like one local strongman and local bully after another. Besides the military families, there are also local gentry, merchants, mine owners, and other strongmen. For those near the frontier, illicit trade is likewise one of their most important sources of wealth.

These people share equally intricate and complex entanglements of interest with those treacherous merchants.

And the treacherous merchants and the great families are themselves immensely powerful. Within Shanxi itself, again not one hundred percent, but over ninety percent of officials and commanders have stakes with them. Beyond the borders of the province, elsewhere in the Great Ming, they also possess vast networks of connections.

Moreover, many of these merchant-strongman families are vigorously cultivating scholars, producing one official grandee after another from their own clans, forming privileged strata that tower above ordinary society.

For example, Senior Grand Secretary Gao Gong was originally from Hongdong in Shanxi. Senior Grand Secretary Zhang Siwei hailed from Yuncheng in Shanxi and had a strong salt-merchant background. The Viceroy of Xuan-Da, Wang Chonggu, was likewise from Yuncheng in Shanxi and also had a strong salt-merchant background.

Then, Zhang Siwei intermarried with Yang Bo, Wang Guoguang, and others, pushing them into the positions of Minister of Personnel and Minister of Revenue — these two also came from merchant family backgrounds.

Furthermore, Wang Chonggu's father Wang Yao, his uncle Wang Xian, his eldest brother Wang Chongyi, his cousin Wang Chongxun, his maternal uncle Shen Tingzhen, his brother-in-law Shen Jiang, and others were all merchants. Zhang Siwei's father Zhang Yunling, his uncle Zhang Xialing, his younger brother Zhang Sijiao, his father-in-law Wang En, and others were also Shanxi merchants.

Next, Zhang Siwei intermarried with Wang Chonggu. Zhang Siwei's mother was Wang Chonggu's second elder sister, while Wang Chonggu's eldest sister married Shen Jiang, the eldest son of the salt merchant Shen Tingzhen who resided in Puzhou. Zhang Siwei's three sisters-in-law came respectively from the then-great Shanxi merchant families of Wang, Li, and Fan.

One of Zhang Siwei's daughters-in-law was the granddaughter of Minister of War Yang Pu. Zhang Siwei's daughter married Ma Chun, the son of Grand Secretary Ma Ziqiang, and Ma Ziqiang's younger brother Ma Zixiu was a famous Shaanxi merchant.

Such complex relationships are enough to make one's head spin. These great clans, built through marriage alliances, combine politics and business, moving with ease and invincibility in commercial warfare and government affairs. There were once censors who impeached Wang Chonggu, Zhang Siwei, and others, stating that the salt laws were ruined by the monopoly of great merchants, with the powerful running rampant.

All these count as having Shanxi merchant backgrounds. Their hands reach out in all directions; everywhere in the Great Ming they have networks of intertwined interests. It can be said that if one side suffers, aid comes from all eight directions; if trouble arises elsewhere, they provide support.

Historically, when the Donglin partisans proposed abolishing taxes, the Shanxi merchants rose up in unison to echo them. When the Embroidered Uniform Guard cavalry went to Suzhou to arrest the Donglin leader Zhou Shunchang, the great Shanxi merchant Zhang Guoji, who was then in Suzhou, contacted various merchants and prepared to bribe the cavalry to spare Zhou Shunchang from suffering.

Of course, while sharing breath and branches, the various merchant groups also fight endlessly over local interests.

For instance, during the Longqing peace negotiations, Wang Chonggu, Zhang Siwei, and their ally Zhang Juzheng, representing the Shanxi merchant families, vehemently opposed the hardline military proposals of people like Wu Shangxian and Ye Mengxiong, strongly advocating for amity with the Mongols rather than war. In the aftermath, the Shanxi merchant faction gained the upper hand.

With such immense power and networks, no wonder the great families are emboldened and fearless, not taking Wang Dou seriously.

Of course, thinking deeper, are not the Fan, Wang, Jin, and other great families themselves their interest spokesmen? During the commercial war, these official-merchant great clans had voiced sympathy for Fan Yongdou and his ilk.

"There are too many treacherous scoundrels. If we truly follow the old precedent of the Eastern Route, I fear all the officials and generals of Shanxi would have to be exterminated…"

Putting down the intelligence report in his hands, Zhong Xiancai spoke a worried line, clearly concerned for Wang Dou.

If he truly did this, no matter how he defended himself, those with ulterior motives could proclaim that Wang Dou was in rebellion, instantly making him a treasonous minister and bandit, losing the mantle of righteous cause.

Moreover, connected to the great families are also the various princes, dukes, marquises, counts, and other ennobled imperial clansmen. The Great Ming raises its princes like pigs, so out of boredom, aside from vigorously producing offspring, the imperial clansmen engage in all-pervasive money-grubbing. They have a stake in many industries in Xuan-Da, and participating in smuggling and the like is trivial for them.

The administrators, the Eastern and Western Supply Offices, the attendants, and the captains within the various princely estates are also tightly colluding with the great families. Does he truly intend to bring the killing down upon the princes' heads?

Among those colluding with the great families and targeting the Eastern Route this time, there is yet another kind of person faintly showing their silhouette: the private coiners. After the mid-Ming, especially during the Wanli reign, private minting of copper coinage was rampant among the populace, and the official mints of the two capitals and various provinces likewise engaged in massive illicit minting of private coinage.

These private coins are mostly controlled by eunuchs or powerful ennobled military men, who mix large quantities of light, debased coins into the official coinage to pad the numbers and reap profits. Wang Dou's promotion of grain certificates, which bypasses even silver, let alone copper coins, has invisibly harmed the interests of the private coiners and the powers behind them.

If he truly unleashed a slaughter like on the Eastern Route, the officials of the entire Great Ming would have to be exterminated. If that were the case, Wang Dou would become the mortal enemy of countless people and countless privileged strata. Perhaps many gentry-officials would come to view Wang Dou as a more terrifying foe than the Chuang bandits and the Tartar bandits.

Thereafter, one misstep, one wrong move, and the outcome would be utter annihilation, his entire clan exterminated.

Gao Shiyin snorted, stood up, and said: "So what if we kill them all? Who under heaven is a match for our Jingbian Army? Rather than keep those filthy wretches around to cause trouble, better to just slaughter them now."

He added: "As the Grand General said back then, only the force of a thunderbolt can cleave through the clouds and sun, restoring clear skies to Xuan-Da."

Shen Shiqi immediately stood up as well and shouted: "Correct! I, your subordinate, endorse Brother Gao's opinion."

Han Chao and Wen Fangliang both shook their heads. Advisor Qin Yi said: "Absolutely not."

He rose.

And saluted: "Grand General, there is a saying: if the name is not correct, the words will not flow smoothly. At present, the Grand General is merely the Regional Commander of Xuan Garrison; it is inappropriate to overreach beyond your jurisdiction, lest you invite criticism and further arouse His Majesty's suspicions."

He said: "One cannot grow fat on a single mouthful. The affairs of Xuan-Da can be gradually addressed in the future. The matter at hand is to narrow the scope, targeting only the treacherous scoundrels of the Fan, Kang, and other families, along with certain backers behind them. Once Xuan Garrison is well managed, then we can plot for Datong. There is no need to rush the affairs of Shanxi for the moment."

Ye Xizhi also stood and said: "This student agrees with Advisor Qin's proposal. The great families' collusion with the enemy and betrayal of the nation is a matter of solid evidence. They schemed against the Eastern Route; our counterstrike is entirely justified. As for the remaining treacherous scoundrels, dealing with them later is not too late. We hold leverage over them; we can advance or retreat freely."

He was in high spirits. With Feng Dachang's downfall, Zhong Zhengxian was to be transferred to the command headquarters, and his own voice was loudest for the post of Chief of the Personnel Office of Bao'an Department. Taking over in the future would allow him to further unfold his learning.

Wen Fangliang flipped through the intelligence in his hands: "Even if we target only the great families, it will be beset with difficulties. Their influence, one might say, pervades Shanxi and everywhere in the Great Ming. In this Eastern Route commercial war, many have openly jumped out in support. Those directly implicated number dozens of civil officials, military officers, merchants, and strongmen. If the Grand General moves against them, public opinion outside the Route and beyond the garrison will likewise be unfavorable to us. After all, these official-merchants are most adept at turning black into white."

Wang Dou paced back and forth in the hall and asked the Director of the Intelligence Bureau, Wen Daxing: "Has the Intelligence Bureau distributed handbills and posters exposing the true faces of these scoundrels — their collusion with the Tartars, their illicit dealings beyond the frontier, their planting of spies and agents? What have been the reactions and responses from all sides?"

Wen Fangliang said: "The Propaganda Section has already dispatched personnel in all directions. In the capital region, Baoding, Zhending, Xuan-Da, and even to Henan, Huguang, Jiangnan, and other places, they have distributed large quantities of handbills. Judging from the reactions, the common folk are somewhat stirred and filled with righteous indignation. However, many literati, military men, and merchants remain indifferent and dismissive, even proclaiming this to be slander."

"Some supervising censors in the capital have again impeached the Grand General on this account, claiming… that the Grand General is recklessly audacious, greedy, and domineering; that after throwing the capital into chaos, he now seeks to wreak havoc on the provinces — that he is a great scoundrel of the nation. They say: when one wishes to condemn, what lack is there of pretext? The scoundrel Wang merely uses greed as an excuse. They utterly ignore the evidence of the various scoundrels' crimes on the handbills."

Everyone in the hall was indignant. These supervising censors, it seemed, were set against the Grand General, truly a fearless wave crashing forward one after another. And they were utterly shameless, their selective disregard having reached the pinnacle of mastery.

Wang Dou merely nodded. This reaction from all sides was within his expectations. It was just like the fans and supporters of later ages, or the struggles between political parties — they always selectively view the side favorable to themselves and ignore the side unfavorable to them.

Even if you slap the evidence right in their face, where it clearly says "one," they will deliberately read it as "two."

Trying to persuade people of different standpoints, especially those with stakes involved, is impossible. He merely wanted a just cause for his actions, a nominal justification, and that was all.

Watching him merely pace, Han Chao now also spoke: "The Viceroy of Xuan-Da, the Provincial Governor of Xuan Garrison, the Provincial Governor of Datong, and the various military governors such as Ji, Zhu, and Wei are also rushing to the Eastern Route. The extermination of the treacherous merchants involves too much; I fear they too will find it hard to make a firm decision, and may even strongly urge restraint."

"Commander Yang may also hold a dissenting opinion."

Everyone spoke one after another, and the atmosphere in the hall was heavy. Unlike the past affair on the Eastern Route, exterminating the great families was indeed no small matter and required cautious handling.

Wang Dou asked Wen Daxing: "Where are the scoundrels responsible for the concrete affairs, such as Fan Sanba and his ilk, right now?"

Wen Daxing replied: "They are all frantically fleeing beyond the Eastern Route, but their every move is under the surveillance and control of the Intelligence Bureau."

Wang Dou said flatly: "No matter. They cannot escape."

He gave a cold snort: "Fan Sanba — he was involved in inciting the Eastern Route affair back then. Now he reverts to his old ways? Truly, he does not know the meaning of death!"

Looking at the concerned people in the hall, Wang Dou smiled faintly and said: "These clownish buffoons, bringing calamity to the nation and the people, yet they think themselves powerful and influential, able to cover the sky with one hand, and thus emboldened. In truth, they are all outwardly fierce but inwardly cowardly. In my mind, they are merely this."

He extended his own little finger and waggled it, then pointed it diagonally downward. Everyone in the hall burst into laughter, saying the Grand General's analogy was vivid.

Wang Dou continued: "So what if they have power, influence, and deep connections? Do they think they are safe just because they are not in Xuan Garrison? Never mind that they are hiding in Datong, Shanxi, and elsewhere — even if they dared to harm the Eastern Route and then flee to Jiangnan, this general would still have them arrested and brought to justice!"

His expression gradually turned stern again: "Correct. This operation will only arrest the major treacherous merchants. At that time, there will be a public trial and sentencing… and incidentally, the confiscation of their family properties. For now, it will not implicate others. When the time comes, the armies of the three garrisons will act in unison, dispatching troops to the treacherous merchants' lairs in Zhangjiakou, Jiexiu, Datong, Taigu, Taiyuan, Pingyang, and other places!"

"During the operation, military discipline must be strictly enforced. There shall be no harassing or plundering of the local areas. We must also keep a close watch on the allied troops from the remaining garrisons…"

"Of course, when making arrests and confiscating property, anyone who resists, defies, or obstructs — all shall be killed without exception. From common civilians and their soldiers and officers, all the way up to Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet, the Prince of Jin, the Prince of Dai — whoever dares to stand in the path of the great army shall all be shot dead by volley fire or stabbed to death by the spear formation!"

Everyone in the hall grew visibly excited. Wang Dou continued, "As for the various Military Governors like Ji and Zhu, I will do my utmost to persuade them and obtain their consent. It would be best if we act together. I will also send dispatches to the Shanxi Provincial Governor and the Regional Commander…"

He gave a cold snort. "If they do not agree, then we shall simply treat them as the United Nations and pay them no heed."

Everyone was momentarily stunned. What nation was the United Nations? They had never heard of it.

But seeing that the Grand General was continuing to speak, they hurriedly focused their attention and listened carefully.

Gazing at the assembly, Wang Dou's expression at that moment seemed to be reminiscing about something, but it quickly returned to stern severity. "Gentlemen, this world is very vast and very splendid. There are too many things to be done, and our lives are far too short. The great Jin merchant houses, and those bureaucratic scum, are merely petty clowns leaping on the beams. Creatures of that ilk are not worth our spending too much effort on, nor wasting too much energy. We shall use the swiftest speed and the most thorough method to simply raze them flat! Ten thousand years is too long — seize the day and the hour!"

He barked an order: "The time of the operation is set for the fourteenth day. At that time, we shall draw a total of over twenty thousand troops from the three garrisons to participate. Use their blood to break through these layers of gloomy clouds and overcast days!"

Everyone in the hall rose to their feet, their blood boiling with fervor. A grand spectacle was once again about to unfold.

The strategy advisor Qin Yi and the others also set their minds at ease. Dealing solely with the treacherous merchants was indeed the best policy at this moment, and it would provoke somewhat less backlash. At the same time, everyone felt that the Grand General's words were, at every moment, filled with philosophical depth, and they always gained something from them.

Zhong Xiancai flicked the edge of his wind cloak and great fur mantle, looked at Wang Dou, and his eyes flickered a few more times.

Finally, Wang Dou looked toward Wen Daxing. "Before the operation begins, first arrest Fan Sanba and the others. Now that the trade war is over, they no longer have any value. Hmph, after wreaking havoc upon the Eastern Route region, they still think they can swagger away scot-free? No way!" (To be continued.)