Chapter 847: Pursuing Illicit Gains to Compel Contributions

On the twenty-third, a dense mass of over a thousand civil and military officials gathered outside the Meridian Gate, each in full court attire with cap and sash, a sea of beasts in robes of office.

Among them were Grand Secretaries such as Chen Yan and Wei Zaode, senior ministers of the inner cabinet, as well as honored old nobles like the Imperial Father-in-Law Zhou Kui and the Duke of England Zhang Shize. There were also officials from the Six Ministries, the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review, and various supervising secretaries and other minor and middling officials. There were also literary officials like Wei Yunwen, Yang Changzuo, and Lin Zengzhi.

They had come to offer congratulations and also to gauge the new dynasty's intentions, to see whether they would be selected for service.

In particular, Grand Secretaries like Wei Zaode and Chen Yan were brimming with confidence. By virtue of their status as inner cabinet ministers and Grand Secretaries, each full of classical learning, they were certain they could be employed by the new dynasty and once again seek wealth and rank.

The Supervising Secretary of the Office of Military Scrutiny, Guang Shiheng, also stood composed. Back then, he had vehemently opposed moving the capital south, declaring that the sovereign should die defending the altars of state. As it turned out, after the city fell, the sovereign did indeed die for the altars, while he, Guang Shiheng, surrendered in the blink of an eye. So what? Surrender he did, and he was hardly the only one.

He, Guang Shiheng, was a man of great promise, and could just as well accomplish great deeds in the new dynasty, continuing to speak with righteous fervor and remonstrate passionately.

Seeing the somewhat strange looks cast his way by others, Guang Shiheng remained utterly unmoved.

The officials gathered, full of expectation, but though they waited from the hour of the Dragon to the hour of the Horse, not a stir came from within the Forbidden City. They buzzed with discussion, and whenever they encountered an official of the Shun dynasty, each forced a smile and bowed deeply, probing with questions. Then suddenly the short fellow Song Xiance arrived, and several people knelt to ask whether the new sovereign would hold court.

Song Xiance berated them: "That you have not been slaughtered is already a stroke of fortune. Can you not endure the mere trifle of waiting a while?"

The crowd, ashamed, assented.

Not until the sun dipped, that is, the hour of the Monkey, between three and five in the afternoon, were they finally summoned inside, but to the Hall of Establishing the Ultimate.

The three great halls of the Forbidden City were the Hall of Imperial Ultimate, the Hall of Central Ultimate, and the Hall of Establishing the Ultimate. Because the Hall of Imperial Ultimate had burned down and the Hall of Central Ultimate was the smallest, Li Zicheng chose to hold court in the Hall of Establishing the Ultimate. Before grand ceremonies, the Emperor often changed robes here; when an Empress or Crown Prince was invested, the Emperor also received congratulations here; and sometimes officials performed obeisance here as well.

As they entered the magnificent hall, every one of the officials took a deep breath. The moment that would decide their fates had arrived.

Entering the hall, they saw Li Zicheng seated high upon the throne, wearing a pointed white felt hat and a blue cloth riding coat. To his left and right sat officials like Niu Jinxing, Liu Zongmin, Li Guo, Yuan Zongdi, Liu Xiyao, Gu Junen, Song Xiance, Zhang Linran, and Song Qijiao.

Watching the officials enter, they all looked on, their faces full of exultation and high spirits. Niu Jinxing's face, in particular, was brimming with arrogance.

They cast sidelong glances at the entering civil and military officials of the Ming dynasty, their hearts filled with a myriad of emotions. As the saying goes, to be wealthy and honored and not return home is like wearing brocade and walking in the night. Though they had yet to return home, the feeling was even deeper. Think of those years when they toiled back in the countryside, hammering iron and tilling the fields — who would have thought that our old Liu family, our old Li family, our old Niu family would ever see a day like this?

This scene also stirred complex feelings in the entering civil and military officials. In the past, those men upon the hall — the military officers were no more than blacksmiths, carpenters, grooms, and farmers by origin, and even the man seated high upon the dragon throne was but a post-station runner. As for the civil officials, the highest among them were merely Provincial Graduates, mostly down-and-out Licentiates who had never even passed the preliminary exams, while they themselves...

Yet the victor becomes king, the loser a bandit. Such is reality, and they could only submit!

After a single glance, the officials dared not look further, nor dared they think further. They respectfully formed their ranks, performed the three kneelings and nine kowtows, and thrice shouted "Long live Your Majesty."

Li Zicheng did not speak. Niu Jinxing stepped down and, with great ostentation, touched the top of each official's head with his hand, intoning: "One pair, two pairs, three pairs, four pairs..." He muttered as he touched each official's head one by one to tally the number. In the end, the count was over one thousand three hundred.

Li Zicheng looked at the dense crowd below and sighed: "If these men are so lacking in righteousness, how could the realm not fall into chaos?"

He also noticed that some among them had shaved their heads clean, looking just like monks, and frowned even more.

He said to Liu Zongmin, Li Guo, Gu Junen, and others beside him: "On the day the city fell, any official who could die was a loyal minister. As for the body, hair, and skin received from one's parents, one dares not harm or injure them. Those who shave their heads are even more unfilial and disloyal. What use is there in keeping them?"

Niu Jinxing also saw these shaven-headed men, all of whom were literary officials, such as Song Zhisheng and Lin Zengzhi. He roared: "Since you have already shaved your heads and become monks, why did you still register your names?"

His furious shout made these men tremble all over. Niu Jinxing, still not satisfied, ordered that the remaining hair of these shaven-headed men be plucked out entirely.

Then he threw the name register to the ground and, wielding his brush, marked names at will. Anyone who dared to respond slowly was immediately beaten with military cudgels, causing some to shriek in agony without end. The officials, hearing this, looked at each other, their faces drained of color.

Then Niu Jinxing ordered the herald to call out names. To each official who stepped forward to be presented, he would either laugh mockingly, or rage and curse, or remain coldly indifferent, his favor and wrath unpredictable, utterly smug, freely venting the frustrations of his own years of obscurity. Yet every one of these officials obediently followed orders, none daring to utter a sound, much less express their discontent.

Watching this, Li Zicheng grew ever more disgusted, and murderous intent welled up in his heart.

At this moment, the name called was that of Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion and Inner Cabinet Minister Wei Zaode. He straightened his court cap and slowly stepped out of the ranks. With the finest bearing and his most magnetic voice, he made obeisance: "Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion and Inner Cabinet Minister Wei Zaode pays homage to His Imperial Majesty. Your Majesty has quelled the chaotic age and restored it to righteousness, your virtue pacifying and your majesty overawing. You hold the talisman and govern the calendar, reverently following the Way of Heaven, as glorious as the Lord on High overseeing all. Now, humbly encountering His Majesty the Emperor, I gaze up to Heaven and look upon the sage, stirred and awed to the utmost. Your humble servant, filled with trepidation and fear, knocks his head and prostrates himself to submit: since the Emperor has rectified the great succession, all nations should submit as subjects, transformed by your conduct and flowing with your benevolence. I humbly submit that your grand counsel inspires and protects, that we may together bear the weight of Yao-like benevolence recreated."

As he spoke, he kowtowed repeatedly.

It took Li Zicheng a long while to understand what Wei Zaode was saying — it turned out he was seeking employment. He looked at the man below and said coldly: "Wei Zaode? Grand Secretary? Inner Cabinet Minister? It seems the Emperor treated you generously. Since you received the Emperor's great trust, you should have died for the altars of state. Why did you cling to life in disgrace?"

Wei Zaode sensed the ominous tone; his earlier speech had been for naught. Trying to divine Li Zicheng's thoughts, he hastily kowtowed and said: "If Your Majesty grants pardon, I will surely repay you with utter loyalty and devotion."

Li Zicheng shouted sternly: "Disloyal and unrighteous, serving Qin in the morning and Chu in the evening — with men like you, how could the Ming dynasty not perish? Get out!"

Wei Zaode's heart pounded with terror, cold sweat instantly streaming down. He hastily retreated.

Grand Secretary Chen Yan had originally intended to seek employment just like Wei Zaode, but seeing this scene, he no longer dared to speak.

When the roll call ended that day, Niu Jinxing selected ninety-two men and dispatched soldiers to escort them to the Ministry of Personnel under Song Qijiao for assignment. The Supervising Secretary of the Office of Military Scrutiny, Guang Shiheng, was among them. Not only were the numbers few, but all high-ranking civil and military officials of the third rank and above were uniformly rejected for employment.

Those not selected were each guarded by two cavalrymen with drawn blades, held under escort. As the officials were in the grip of terror, an imperial edict suddenly arrived: "Escort them to the Western Four Archways." Immediately they were chained together with iron links, five men to a string, their faces turning ashen. Even Grand Secretaries like Chen Yan and Wei Zaode trembled like chaff in a sieve.

Then the cavalrymen spurred their horses, driving the officials like sheep and swine. If anyone walked slightly too slowly, the flats of blades rained down indiscriminately, beating the officials until they wailed without end. Some even collapsed to the ground unconscious and were trampled into bloody pulp. The men were scared out of their wits, and many even broke down in loud wails.

Before they reached the Western Four Archways, another imperial edict arrived: "All former dynasty criminal officials are to be sent to the residence of General Liu for disposition." The mounted column immediately turned and drove the officials toward the former imperial in-law residence of Tian. The officials suffered the same ordeal as before.

But when they were escorted there, Liu Zongmin was in the midst of revelry with courtesans and had no time to deal with them. He merely ordered the soldiers to keep watch and await a later date.

At the same time, that day, the Shun army was also seizing scholar-officials all over the streets and throughout the city. Even those merely walking along the road were arrested, like chickens in a boiling pot. Not only that, many ennobled nobles and eunuchs who had not gone to offer congratulations were also driven over. Men like Wang Dehua, Wang Zhixin, and Wang Xiangyao, who had already defected, were prominently among them.

They were all changed into prison garb. Every one of these once haughty high officials was locked in pitch-black rooms, and the guards gave them no food, leaving them to starve for a full day and night. That day and night, who knows how many officials and gentry collapsed, wanting only to flee this hellish place.

On the twenty-fourth, the "Confiscation and Supply Suppression Bureau" was formally established to pursue illicit gains and compel contributions, with Liu Zongmin in charge and Li Guo and Liu Minzheng as his deputies. Li Guo was Li Zicheng's nephew, and Liu Minzheng was Li Zicheng's childhood friend, a blacksmith by trade. Li Zicheng naturally trusted these two completely, hence placing them in high positions under Liu Zongmin.

That day, Liu Zongmin tested the new ankle-press on two men, his attendant clerks, on the Celestial Street. They died the next day, which pleased him greatly.

On the twenty-fifth, Liu Zongmin finally emerged in the afternoon. The civil and military officials, who had been confined and starved for a day and a night, were summoned for roll call. Liu Zongmin called out each name and ordered every official to contribute funds for their self-redemption. The silver demanded was based on rank: a first-rank official was to give no less than ten thousand taels, while minor officials like supervising secretaries were to give no less than one thousand taels. Those who paid were released; those who did not would be subjected to severe torture.

That same day, the Confiscation Bureau also used name cards to summon the capital gentry Liu Yuyou, Sun Chengze, and others, demanding they contribute silver — for instance, forty thousand taels from Liu Yuyou and twenty thousand taels from Sun Chengze — and threatening them: "Better be quick. If you delay two days, you will not be treated so leniently."

Wang Dehua was the first to contribute silver, and he offered a full fifty thousand taels in one stroke. Among all the eunuchs, he was the most astute. When Li Zicheng entered the city, he had also been the first to lead three hundred inner-court attendants to welcome him at the Desheng Gate. Sure enough, Liu Zongmin was greatly pleased and released him immediately.

Hearing of this, Li Zicheng was also very gratified and reappointed him as Chief Eunuch Administrator of the palace. By this time, Li Zicheng had dismissed the palace eunuchs, leaving only a little over a hundred, and Wang Dehua was put in charge of these hundred-odd men.

With Wang Dehua taking the lead, the various officials successively contributed silver. The former Imperial Father-in-Law, the Marquis of Retainer, Zhou Kui, in his terror, contributed an astronomical sum: five hundred thousand taels of white silver.

It should be known that on the tenth day of the third month, when his son-in-law, the Chongzhen Emperor, had asked Zhou Kui to contribute funds, the Emperor had repeatedly pleaded by decree, yet Zhou Kui was only willing to give ten thousand taels and even wanted his daughter, Empress Zhou, to intercede on his behalf. Now, in one breath, he offered fifty times that amount.

As the officials' contributions grew larger and larger, Liu Zongmin beamed with delight. However, after Grand Secretary Chen Yan contributed forty thousand taels, the situation suddenly changed.

It turned out that to avoid missing any hidden illicit silver, the "Confiscation and Supply Suppression Bureau" allowed people to make secret reports. For each case reported, the reward ranged from fifty cash to fifty taels of silver. Chen Yan's household servant, coveting the reward, informed on Chen Yan. Half-believing and half-doubting, Liu Zongmin sent men to dig up Chen Yan's mansion, and sure enough, gold and silver were everywhere. A mere forty thousand taels was just the tip of the iceberg.

Liu Zongmin flew into a towering rage and decided to extract silver through severe torture. Some of those who had been released were arrested again, including the Imperial Father-in-Law Zhou Kui and others.

At the same time, he massively increased the ransom amounts, declaring: Grand Secretaries and Ministers were to pay one hundred thousand taels; officials of the ministries, courts, capital bureaus, and Embroidered Uniform Guard commanders, seventy thousand taels; supervising secretaries, censors, and Ministry of Personnel directors, fifty thousand or thirty thousand taels; Hanlin academicians, ten thousand taels; ministry clerks, calculated in the thousands; the rest varied accordingly; for ennobled relatives, there was no fixed sum.

"Ah..."

A scream of unbearable agony rang out. Grand Secretary Chen Yan, clamped in the ankle-press, passed out at once.

At this moment, he was fastened in the ankle-press. This device was over three feet long, made of poplar wood, standing over five inches off the ground, threaded with iron bars, with three sets of binding clamps tied to each bar. When clamping a person, the press was stood upright, one man holding it steady, positioning it above the victim's toes. Another rod was placed to the left of the foot to prevent the victim from moving. Then a large lever, six or seven feet long and over four inches in circumference, was used to violently strike the shin from the right side, causing blood to flow and spatter the ground.

It is said that the ten fingers are connected to the heart, and the same is true of the toes. Moreover, the ankle-press had various combinations of rods — it could clamp hands, feet, or even thighs. Nothing was more excruciatingly torturous.

By now Chen Yan had already suffered unbearable torment. Whether the bones of his fingers, the bones of his toes, or the bones of his thighs — all were broken everywhere. His whole body was a blur of blood and mangled flesh. Drop after drop of fresh blood welled from his wounds, streaming all over him, streak after ghastly streak of blood shocking to behold.

In particular, the clothes on his body were completely red, and the area around his thighs was a sheet of crimson.

He hung there limp and boneless. Then a basin of cold water splashed over him, jolting him awake again. The searing pain surging from his wounds made him wish he could die on the spot, or at least pass out directly — yet that was nothing but a vain hope.

This former Grand Secretary of the Inner Cabinet, this Grand Secretary, let his tears roll down in streams. Sobbing, he pleaded, "This humble official truly has no more silver. I beg you, my lord, spare me."

Liu Zongmin, who had been glaring at him, suddenly leapt up. He roared in fury, "You donkey's balls, you corrupt Ming officials are the most dishonest! You say you have no silver, and then we torture out another five hundred taels of gold and two huge measures of pearls... There's definitely more silver! Keep torturing him for me, you bastards..."

Again, a piercing, wretched howl rang out. The torturer smashed a great cudgel against his shins. Chen Yan wished for nothing more than to die on the spot.

……

The Top Graduate, Grand Secretary Wei Zaode, could never have dreamed, even in his wildest nightmares, that such a day would come. Had he known beforehand what this day would bring, he would either have fled the capital early, or defended the city to the bitter end. Everything felt like a dream. Yet the searing pain in his fingers told him this was no dream.

He screamed in abject misery, while across from him he heard Liu Zongmin roar his interrogation: "You served as a Grand Secretary of the Inner Cabinet — how could you let the state fall into such chaos?"

Wei Zaode answered instinctively, "I am but a bookworm, unversed in affairs of state. The late Emperor was without the Way, and so things came to this."

Liu Zongmin erupted in fury: "You, a mere bookworm — the Emperor raised you to Top Graduate, and within three years of office promoted you to Grand Secretary of the Inner Cabinet. In what way did the Emperor wrong you, that you dare slander him as a fatuous ruler without the Way?"

He descended from the hall himself and struck Wei Zaode dozens of heavy slaps across the face with all his might. Seeing this, the soldiers applying the torture wrenched the ankle-press even harder. Wei Zaode howled in piercing agony as all ten of his fingers snapped.

Liu Zongmin again pressed him for silver. Wei Zaode wept and sobbed, "This humble official has been in office only a short while and has not yet had time to engage in corruption. Apart from ten thousand taels of silver, I truly have no more."

He offered Liu Zongmin a suggestion: the Emperor's private treasury held quite a lot of silver; a thorough search would surely yield something. Liu Zongmin flew into a towering rage: "I've turned the imperial palace upside down — the Emperor's gold and silver amount to no more than three hundred thousand taels, not even as much as that wretch Chen Yan had. And he died with such staunch integrity that even I, your father, have to admire him... You treacherous scoundrel — first you slander him as without the Way, then you smear him as greedy. You are utterly depraved and insane! Men, put the brain-hoop on him for me..."

……

The sizzling sound of flesh and skin searing rose into the air. Zhou Kui, Marquis of Retainer and State Father-in-Law, opened his mouth in agony worse than death. Behind him was a bronze pillar heated by scalding oil. At this moment he was bound tightly to that pillar, subjected to the punishment of the burning pillar.

Tears of blood streamed from his eyes. Everything was finished. In just these two days, he had watched with his own eyes as his wife and his daughters-in-law, after being put to the ankle-press, hanged themselves. His eldest son, his second son, his nephew — all had perished after brutal torture.

He had handed over a colossal sum of seven hundred thousand taels of silver in total — this was already his entire family fortune. Yet Liu Zongmin was still not satisfied and continued the interrogation under torture.

How ironic all of this was — as if mocking his own stupidity. He recalled how, that very day, his son-in-law had sent the eunuch Xu Gao to seek his help, saying, "The great cause is lost. What use is it to hoard vast properties?"

Back then he had dismissed it with a shrug. Now there was only regret that pierced to the very marrow of his bones — he should not have been so miserly about contributing funds, and thus let the bandit rebels enter the city.

His tears rolled down in streams. Murmuring and sobbing, he said, "Your Majesty, your old minister regrets it so..."

In his final moments, he dimly heard Liu Zongmin's roar: "It's already seven hundred thousand taels — there's definitely more silver! Torture him again... Right, his flesh and skin are already roasted through. Use the iron comb!"

"Your Majesty, your servant regrets it so."

The leg bones of Wang Zhixin snapped with a crack. As he passed out from the excruciating pain, all he could think, overcome with regret, was this. As the Grand Eunuch commanding the Eastern Depot, he had handled cases with injustice and excess, securing his younger brother and nephew positions as Embroidered Uniform Guard Company Commanders. Wang Zhixin's household had always been wealthy, yet he had been miserly about contributing funds.

When the Emperor demanded that the ennobled and the eunuchs contribute military funds, he had grudgingly scraped together a mere ten thousand taels of silver. Now Liu Zongmin demanded he hand over three hundred thousand taels of silver. He had already surrendered two hundred thousand taels; the rest he simply could not scrape together. Perhaps what awaited him was the fate of being crushed to death alive.

From the darkened room rose the sound of "wu wu wu" weeping — weeping saturated with the deepest agony and despair. Zhang Shize, Duke of Yingguo, lay curled on the ground. From head to toe, he no longer looked human. As a state duke, he was a prime target of Liu Zongmin's attentions.

He had endured the ankle-press, endured the burning pillar, endured the brain-hoop, and even the "red embroidered slippers" that severed a person's hands and feet — this left his entire body... And before all this, his wife, his sons, his daughters — all had already been tortured to death.

What awaited him was the same fate: to be beaten to death alive.

And to die in such a wretched, humiliating way.

He, Zhang Shize, was a hereditary duke. His ancestor Zhang Yu was a famed general of the Jingnan Campaign. After the Yongle Emperor ascended the throne, he named him the foremost meritorious minister of Jingnan, posthumously enfeoffing him as Duke of Rongguo and Prince of Hejian. Then his ancestor Zhu Neng led tens of thousands of troops to pacify the Annan rebellion and was invested as Duke of Yingguo, with the title hereditary and undiminished, passed down generation after generation. Even when Liu Jin or Wei Zhongxian held power, the family remained steady and secure — no one dared touch them.

But now...

Zhang Shize wept "wu wu." In a low voice he said, "When defending the city, I should have died in battle. When the city fell, I should have died for my principles. Your Majesty, your humble minister is ashamed before you."

"Your humble minister is ashamed before you."

"Your humble minister is ashamed..."

He murmured on, and when his breath finally ceased, his eyes still stared wide open.

……

Liu Zongmin's "Military Tax Suppression Bureau" reaped bountiful results. The illicit silver obtained rose steadily higher, soon surpassing seventy million taels of silver — a staggering figure.

In truth, the amount far exceeded even this, because not everyone's illicit wealth was pursued by Liu Zongmin. Many officials were either held under ankle-press in various encampments or held under ankle-press in the prisons. Every guard and soldier could apply torture at will. How much silver was concealed in the process is hard to say.

Under cruel torture, multitudes of officials and ennobled were interrogated to death. The entire family of State Father-in-Law Zhou Kui died out. The entire family of Zhang Shize, Duke of Yingguo, died out. The family of Xu Yunzhen, Duke of Dingguo, died out. The Grand Eunuch Wang Zhixin was tortured to death. Grand Secretary Wei Zaode suffered the brain-hoop punishment, his brain matter flowing out as he died; his son was then seized and tortured to death, and his daughter was forced into camp prostitution.

To escape calamity, numerous officials offered up their wives and daughters, who were made to sing and be fondled, toyed with and humiliated in every way by the bandits. For instance, Yang Rucheng offered a beautiful maidservant and was spared, though not kept in office. Zhang Xin was not tortured himself, but his wife and children were tortured; he paid ten thousand taels of silver and was released. Those who were young and fair-skinned even served as catamites to avoid disaster.

In any case, from the twenty-fifth day onward, those who were employed wore tall hats and bright clothes, strutting proudly along the streets of Chang'an. Those who were not employed were crushed under ankle-presses for their money. The sound of wailing and weeping pierced the streets and wards with its misery. Officials, ennobled, and imperial in-laws — their persons and their wealth alike were utterly exhausted.