Chapter 622: Dividing the Money

Moving forward, Fan Qinluan was escorted to the vicinity of Zhangjiakou.

Here, along the southern side of the fort, at the foot of the Western Hills, a vast, crude camp had been set up, a dark mass packed with captured officers and soldiers, garrison troops, military households, women and children from the Upper West Road, Lower West Road, North Road, and Central Road under the Xuanfu Garrison's divisional defense circuits.

That day, after Lai Tianlu and others sent women and children to charge the formation, Wen Fangliang flew into a rage and led his troops in relentless pursuit, quickly capturing Lai Tianlu, his sons and brothers, along with Yang Tianfu, Li Jian'e, and others. After Wang Dou received the report and dispatched additional troops, even those soldiers and military households who had already fled home were likewise captured and brought back.

Large numbers of Pacification Commission officials also traveled to Zhangjiakou to conduct meticulous screening of those captured.

The verdicts on their crimes were divided into several categories: heinous, severe, moderate, and minor. The first two categories would certainly be executed; those in the moderate category would serve several years or months of hard labor; those in the minor category could serve a certain number of days of penal labor, and after signing their names, affixing their marks, and writing letters of repentance, they would be released to return home.

Screening over ten thousand people, densely packed together, was no simple task — the workload was immense.

For those captured, every one of them was anxious and uneasy. They had thought they were merely following along to charge the formation and swell the momentum, never imagining they would be seized by those fiendishly ruthless Jingbian Army soldiers. Many were utterly terrified about what fate awaited them.

"...Crime: moderate. Sentenced to three years of hard labor. Take them away!"

"My lord, show mercy..."

Amid wails of grief as if they had lost their parents, another batch of people was led away.

"Next batch."

"...Crime: minor. Sentenced to seven days of penal labor!"

The group of women kneeling breathed a sigh of relief — not so bad. Only seven days of penal labor, repairing barracks nearby, and while working they would even get full meals. They expressed boundless gratitude, each one weeping loudly: "We thank the clear-sky grand magistrate!"

"Yan Chungu!"

The Pacification Commissioner glanced at the register and, as this batch of women was about to be led away, called out to one of them.

The woman turned back in terror.

The Pacification Commissioner said: "Upon investigation, your daughter-in-law Sun Yuerong died charging the formation on the twenty-eighth day of last month. The Grand General is merciful and has provided a coffin, along with one dan of grain as compensation. Investigation shows your son died early, and now you alone remain in the household, so you shall receive the compensation on his behalf. Affix your mark."

The woman wailed loudly and kowtowed desperately: "Many thanks to the Marquis of Yongning."

The people nearby all watched her with envy, never expecting there would even be one dan of grain as compensation. In these times, a human life was worth at most one dou of grain, let alone one full dan.

Scenes like this were everywhere throughout the camp.

At that moment, a line of dejected officers and soldiers was escorted over — it was Lai Tianlu and the others, along with some of their core soldiers. They had already been interrogated and would be the first batch transported to the Eastern Circuit, where a public trial before ten thousand would be held.

As they passed by, the military households and commoners from the various cities and forts nearby all watched them coldly. All were prisoners alike, and Lai Tianlu and the others, once so high and mighty, had in their eyes already lost all authority.

Moreover, in the eyes of the onlookers, besides cold indifference, there was also resentment.

Having ended up like this, the military households and commoners dared not harbor any discontent toward the Jingbian Army, so the resentment in their hearts was instead transferred onto the heads of Lai Tianlu, Li Jian'e, and the others.

That woman Yan Chungu also stared with eyes blazing fire at Li Jian'e among the escorted crowd.

It was all because of this scoundrel — if not for his instigation, she and her daughter-in-law would never have come, and her daughter-in-law would not have died.

She suddenly let out a piercing shriek: "Give me back my family's Yuerong!"

She lunged forward in an instant, throwing herself before Li Jian'e, and while he was still alive, bit a chunk of flesh off his face.

"Ah!"

Li Jian'e screamed in agony. His hands were bound and he could not struggle, watching helplessly as that woman opened her mouth and bit toward him.

"It was all you, you scoundrel, who caused my daughter-in-law's death."

The woman's expression was fierce and ghastly, her bloodied mouth terrifying beyond measure.

"Give me back my man!"

"Give me back my son..."

Spurred on by this woman, numerous other women likewise threw themselves forward, surrounding Lai Tianlu, Li Jian'e, and the others, shrieking as they clawed and bit wildly, tearing chunks of flesh from them piece by piece. For a time, howls of unbearable agony rose and fell in succession.

By the time the escorting Jingbian Army soldiers pulled them apart, several jin of flesh had already been torn from the bodies of Lai Tianlu, Li Jian'e, and the others, each one dripping with blood, their appearance horrifying...

One after another, Fan Qinluan, Lai Tianlu, Fan Yongdou, and the others were transported to the Eastern Circuit. The interest groups and networks of influence behind them had already abandoned them.

Even out of consideration for silencing them by killing them, a flood of officials in the capital and the provinces had raised calls that traitors who sold out the country were guilty of unforgivable crimes, and that these scoundrels should be tried as quickly as possible and executed early to give an accounting to the soldiers and civilians who had been harmed.

Throughout the various localities of Xuan-Da and even the rest of the Great Ming, everyone was likewise kicking them while they were down.

Some actively led the Jingbian Army to confiscate their clansmen's properties, hoping to gain some advantage; others seized the opportunity to swallow up their enterprises — after all, the commercial operations of each major family extended throughout the Great Ming, not merely within the three garrisons of Xuan-Da.

Fan Yongdou, for example, was also a major salt merchant with many properties in Jiangnan and Hebei. These places were not within the Jingbian Army's sphere of influence and were naturally carved up by local powers. Could Wang Dou possibly run all the way to Yangzhou or Suzhou to confiscate properties?

In the middle of the twelfth month, because of Wang Dou's insistence, Fan Yongdou and the others were to be tried publicly in Xuanfu Garrison. After court deliberation, officials of the Three Judicial Offices began their journey to the Eastern Circuit, accompanied by Minister of Revenue Ni Yuanlu leading officials from the Six Ministries, as well as Palace Eunuch Wang Dehua and others.

A joint trial by the Three Judicial Offices, watched by tens of thousands — the officials of the Three Judicial Offices all bore the heavy responsibility of silencing the accused by killing them, while also harboring hopes of reaping some spoils.

The officials of the Six Ministries, on the other hand, had come for the confiscated assets.

Over two million taels of gold and silver, plus vast quantities of commercial goods and material assets, fertile fields and residences — whose eyes would not burn with envy?

As capital officials, they bore the weighty entrustment of the Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet and the high officials of the Six Ministries, and would engage in fierce struggle with the local officials.

It was rather pitiful, when you thought about it. On paper, the Great Ming's annual fiscal revenue amounted to tens of millions of taels, yet this was composed of vast amounts of in-kind tax payments and commuted silver payments. Much of the material goods were never transported to the imperial court, and the Great Ming's tax accounting was extremely chaotic.

The localities needed to retain funds — this was a muddled account. The provisions and pay of many guard battalions and frontier garrison troops were directly supplied by the localities — an even more muddled account.

The summer tax and autumn grain were transported directly from one place to another, a certain prefecture supplying a certain guard, or in even finer detail, a certain household supplying a certain household, never passing through the Ministry of Revenue or the Ministry of War — oh, account books would be submitted upward.

Thus, although the Great Ming's wealth was vast, what directly entered the national treasury was little — often just some grain transported by canal and commuted silver payments. When later generations spoke of the Great Ming's annual revenue of a few million taels, they mostly meant the commuted silver that directly entered the national treasury.

If local revenues and all kinds of material goods were added up, it would amount to tens of millions, yet aside from looking good on paper, it held no meaning whatsoever.

Ni Yuanlu harbored earnest hopes. Lately, he had felt somewhat uneasy, sensing that during court deliberations, His Majesty's gaze upon the ministers was strange — like that of a starving wild wolf.

He hoped that the silver from these property confiscations, the portion that could be paid into the national treasury, would directly exceed one million taels. That would resolve the treasury's urgent crisis. Those material goods could also be converted into a portion of silver and submitted upward.

Wang Dehua, naturally, bore the heavy entrustment of the Chongzhen Emperor. For the one million taels of silver Wang Dou had promised him, he yearned day and night.

Wang Dehua likewise carried eager anticipation. From what he knew of Wang Dou, the Marquis of Yongning was very generous. Considering that he had been running back and forth in the middle of the twelfth month, surely he would give him some compensation for his trouble? Of that over two million taels of confiscated silver, he naturally wanted a share as well.

Harboring different objectives, Wang Dehua, Ni Yuanlu, and the others hurried toward the Eastern Circuit.

"No, no, no, no — what virtue or ability does your younger brother possess to dare take one million taels of silver? It is truly far too much. Five hundred thousand taels would be just fine."

"Brother Wang Pu, without your vigorous assistance in sweeping away those treacherous villains, how could it have been so easy? That one million taels is truly what you deserve."

"I dare not, I dare not — it truly shames this younger brother. Capturing the various villains was mainly the achievement of the Marquis of Yongning and the Jingbian Army. My Datong Army merely ran some errands; I truly dare not claim credit... Moreover, I have already shared in the grain, rice, and salt, and in the future Datong and Shanxi will have commercial revenues. Brother, you have truly given too much; five hundred thousand taels would be fine..."

Watching Wang Pu resolutely decline, Wang Dou said, "Very well, as you say. Hmm, as for Marshal Yang's side, the one hundred thousand taels of silver — I will provide that myself."

Wang Pu hurriedly said, "How could I let Brother bear it all alone? Half each is only right. General Li's side certainly won't forget Marshal Yang either..."

After Wang Pu took his leave with a face full of smiles, Wang Dou smiled faintly. It seemed Wang Pu had steeled his resolve and was standing together with him. Moreover, true to his merchant family background, his handling of people and affairs was indeed beyond reproach.

The confiscation of the great families yielded unexpectedly abundant rewards. The fifteen million taels in ready silver was only one part; all kinds of material goods, plus residences, lands, shops, and warehouses combined, converted to silver, would be no less than another fifteen million taels.

After the operation concluded, Wang Dou began dividing the money with Wang Pu, Li Yunshu, and the others.

Although they did not know the exact total, Li Yunshu and the other Shanxi garrison officers received a total of five hundred thousand taels of silver, every one of them beaming with joy. Truly, as Wang Pu said, they had merely run errands, yet they had been allotted so much silver.

Moreover, they also shared a portion of the grain, rice, salt, tea, and cloth that were far off in Shanxi Garrison, which converted to silver was likewise no small sum. Every one of them was fully satisfied and deeply felt the wisdom of cooperating with Wang Dou.

For Wang Pu, the silver gain was one thing, but most importantly, with the great families swept clean, the Wang family's commercial enterprises in Datong Garrison, and even Shanxi Garrison, would welcome vigorous growth — this was the hen that would lay eggs.

Wang Dou also intended to support Wang Pu in supplanting his position within the family. It happened that the Wang clan had erred and half their family property had been seized and confiscated — a perfect opportunity for Wang Pu's branch to enter.

The Three-Jin Commercial Guild, in Wang Dou's conception, would be led by merchants from the Eastern Route and Xuan Garrison, united with merchants from Datong Garrison and Shanxi Garrison, to establish a vast commercial guild integrating the commercial forces of the three garrisons. In this, Wang Pu was a very important chess piece.

However, intelligence had come that, aside from the original merchants of Xuan and Datong, merchants from the capital, Shandong, Shaanxi, and even Zhejiang were all eyeing this vacant blank territory like tigers watching prey, especially coveting the confiscated shops in prime locations.

As for the fertile fields and fine residences, not only locals in Xuan and Datong, but countless people from outside were also drooling with desire.

Perhaps, some of these people could be brought in.

Wang Dou sank into deep thought. With all matters settled and a great deal of wealth in hand, it was time to undertake new planning, continue perfecting the shogunate, upgrade weapons, and vigorously develop the territory.

He was already the Regional Commander of Xuan Garrison; it was time to spend some years upgrading the Eastern Route paradise into a Xuan Garrison paradise. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)