Chapter 146: Kill

Han Kuang knew that, in truth, speaking these words at this moment was already highly inappropriate.

If anyone present impeached him for it, that would be a problem, but Han Kuang still chose to speak, because he felt Yuan Yingtai did not deserve to end up in such a plight.

This was a man who genuinely worked for the court; he should not receive such an outcome.

Yuan Yingtai raised his head and glanced at Han Kuang, his mouth full of bitterness. After a long silence, he muttered softly to himself, "Must it really come to this?"

Though Yuan Yingtai's voice was very low, Han Kuang heard it. Expressionless, he said, "Even if you don't speak, others will."

In fact, what Han Kuang was saying was telling Yuan Yingtai that someone had already opened their mouth and confessed—there was no need for him to keep holding out, and he couldn't hold out anyway; at this point, finding a way to preserve himself was already the best outcome, and there was no room to consider anything else.

Hearing this, Yuan Yingtai's face twisted even more, and the bitterness in his mouth grew. He too knew he could not bear it.

Four hundred thousand taels of silver—embezzling four hundred thousand taels of military pay was enough to have his entire family executed.

For a long while, no movement came from below the hall. Han Kuang waited quietly, knowing he had to give Yuan Yingtai time to prepare himself mentally.

After roughly the time it takes half a stick of incense to burn, Yuan Yingtai let out a heavy sigh.

He slowly began to speak: "After this silver reached Liaodong, there were actually seven hundred thousand taels. Of that, one hundred thousand taels were divided among the people of the Governor's office and the Military Commissioner's office. As for how it was divided, it's all recorded in my head. I can tell you—give me a brush and I'll write it down."

Yuan Yingtai said with some dejection, "I took twenty thousand taels of silver myself, but I didn't take that money home. Instead, I used it to purchase grain and fodder to make up the shortfall—all of that can be verified. In Liaodong, I have no shame before the sovereign above, and no shame before the people below."

Han Kuang simply looked at Yuan Yingtai, saying nothing for a long time.

He truly did not know what to say, and there was some sourness in his heart as well. Finally, he nodded and gave the order: "Someone, bring him brush and ink."

In fact, someone had already confessed long ago—that person was Wang Huazhen, the Governor of Guangning. Wang Huazhen had already spoken up while at the Eastern Depot.

So there was no choice; confessing was the best option. There were no other choices left for Yuan Yingtai.

Taking the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, Yuan Yingtai began writing and drawing on the paper—he was writing out from memory how the money in Liaodong had been divided.

The Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace

Zhu Youxiao reclined sideways on the daybed with an expressionless face; standing below him was Chen Hong.

At this moment, Chen Hong's face carried unease, his expression hesitant—he wanted to say something but kept stopping himself.

Glancing at Chen Hong, Zhu Youxiao sat up straight and said with a smile, "This has nothing to do with you, so why can't you say it? What are you afraid of?"

In his hands, Zhu Youxiao was toying with a blade—a Tang saber, or rather, a Tang saber in the later sense of the term.

In this era, it was simply a straight sword, crafted with excellent forging technique and made of the finest steel, so the blade was very fine, reflecting light in the sun.

His Majesty was toying with such a blade, occasionally giving it a light flick—how could Chen Hong not be afraid?

Hearing Zhu Youxiao's words, Chen Hong hurriedly said, "This servant is not afraid—this servant is afraid Your Majesty will be angered."

Zhu Youxiao said expressionlessly, "What am I angry about? If I really got this angry over everything, they would have infuriated me to death long ago. Enough, continue—what exactly happened? What did that Yuan Yingtai say?"

This time, Chen Hong dared not conceal anything further, and repeated Yuan Yingtai's words.

Zhu Youxiao said with a smile, "Well said! No shame before the sovereign above, no shame before the people below—truly well said."

After saying this, Zhu Youxiao slowly rose to his feet and walked expressionlessly to the doorway.

At this moment, he recalled a television drama he had watched in his later life, a drama called *Da Ming Dynasty 1566*.

In it, the Jiajing Emperor had once spoken these words: "Of one tael of silver, four mace go to them and twelve mace to the state treasury—I accept that; six mace to them and ten mace to the state treasury—I accept that too."

The context of this passage was that the court needed to raise military funds for Hu Zongxian, the state treasury was depleted, taxes could not be collected, and the court had no money to allocate military pay to the front lines. There was no choice but to let Yan Song and his lot go raise money, and whatever money they raised, the Emperor had to split with them.

What a great sorrow this was for an emperor?

But not doing so was impossible.

Because the court could not raise money, and the Emperor could not go down and raise money himself; if only the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard were sent to get money, killing back and forth would only stir up chaos. Someone always had to be found to raise money, or else this court could not be sustained.

Now, at his own time, the court had even more places needing money, and corruption was growing ever more severe.

A dignified Governor of Liaodong couldn't even avoid corruption himself—the silver that came into his hands was sent to buy grain and fodder, quietly making up for the grain shortfall, and all of this could only be done in secret; if it were brought into the open, he couldn't even continue serving as Governor.

One can see to what extent things had deteriorated.

Zhu Youxiao also understood—most officials of the court faced the same predicament as he did.

No one handles matters for you; once your order goes down, it becomes a scrap of paper at the lower levels. The higher-ups have policies, the lower-levels have countermeasures—if you want to collect money, they simply refuse to pay.

The Wanli Emperor once sent eunuchs down for the purpose of raising money—and what was the result?

The people sent down were beaten to death, not much money was collected, and instead they stirred up a stink—whose crime do you punish?

They say the common folk were roused to fury and beat the man to death out of righteous indignation—you couldn't even find the culprit if you tried.

The people scatter at a single shout—who do you go arrest?

The local officials, let alone turning a blind eye, might well be the very ones behind it all—what can you do about that?

Can you arrest and execute those local officials?

Even if you did execute them, so what? The next one to come up would still do the same. He dared not resist the great environment of officialdom—if he truly resisted, he would die even more miserably.

Rather than that, it was better to go along with the corruption. If the Emperor wanted to punish you for a crime, at worst it would be for incompetence and obtuseness—dismissal from office would be the extent of it.

Zhu Youxiao smiled bitterly at himself.

The Great Ming had truly reached such a state, and this was the first time he had truly, genuinely felt it. This feeling chilled him to the bone—both furious and helpless.

Turning to glance at Chen Hong, Zhu Youxiao said with a smile, "What do you think should be done with those people in Liaodong?"

What people in Liaodong?

The officials of Liaodong—whether of the Governor's office or the Military Commissioner's office, or the generals of Liaodong—they were all embezzling the court's silver from top to bottom. How should they be dealt with?

If Yuan Yingtai was dealt with, should they be dealt with too?

If everyone were dealt with, what would happen to Liaodong?

Abandon the Governor's office? Abandon the Military Commissioner's office? Or abandon the generals at every level of Liaodong?

If he did that, wouldn't it be equivalent to handing Liaodong over to Nurhaci on a silver platter?

Zhu Youxiao was not distressed over the silver—he was thinking about what to do, where exactly to strike first.

If Liaodong was like this, what about the rest of the Great Ming?

Jiangnan, the lair of the Donglin Faction—once his imperial edict reached Jiangnan, how much effect could it truly still have?

Not to mention now, even in later generations, aren't there plenty of places that end up in a complete mess?

Documents sent down from above get distorted into a complete mess when they reach the lower levels—is that rare?

The higher-ups have policies, the lower levels have countermeasures—is that rare?

Letting out a soft sigh, Zhu Youxiao slowly slid the blade in his hand back into its sheath.

Zhu Youxiao knew—he had known these things all along; otherwise, he wouldn't be doing things the way he was now.

He turned his head to glance at Chen Hong.

By this time, Chen Hong was already kneeling on the ground, not saying a word.

This was not something Chen Hong dared to answer; he also knew what His Majesty was talking about.

"Alright, get up. Shameful!" Zhu Youxiao walked over to Chen Hong's side and gave him a light kick, speaking in a teasing tone, as if none of what had just happened had ever occurred.

Chen Hong climbed up from the ground, speaking with concern in his voice: "Your Majesty, are you alright?"

"What could possibly happen to Us? I am the Son of Heaven; nothing will ever happen to Us." As he spoke, Zhu Youxiao walked back to the couch and sat down, leaning back lazily, reaching out to tap lightly on the armrest.

"Don't worry about them; let them handle it!" Zhu Youxiao said with a smile.

Chen Hong knew this matter was far from over. He understood his own sovereign too well—there was absolutely no way things would pass so easily.

But this was something he absolutely could not get involved in, or he would be finished.

Indeed, this matter was not over, and Zhu Youxiao could not simply let it go—it was just that for now, there was nothing he could do about it.

But he could take out a little notebook and write all of it down, and later he would collect from them one by one.

These accounts he would settle with them line by line; when the time came, no one would get away.

The palace continued on as calm as ever. After Zhu Youxiao's anger had cooled, everything returned to its original state—bright sunshine, pleasant scenery.

"Your Majesty, Zhao Nanxing, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, has arrived." Chen Hong walked to Zhu Youxiao's side and bowed in salute.

"Let him in." Zhu Youxiao said expressionlessly.

Before long, Zhao Nanxing walked in from outside.

There was no expression on Zhao Nanxing's face either. Upon seeing Zhu Youxiao, he knelt down directly, holding a dossier in his hands as he said: "Your servant pays respects to Your Majesty."

"Rise. My dear minister, why such a grand ceremony?" As he spoke, Zhu Youxiao sat up straight and asked with a smile: "My dear minister, is there something you've come for today?"

"Your servant has thoroughly audited all the accounts of the Ministry of Works. Indeed, as others have reported, there are irregularities within the Ministry. Your servant has come to confess his guilt. These are the case files from your servant's investigation; please review them, Your Majesty." Zhao Nanxing stood up and continued speaking expressionlessly.

This time Zhu Youxiao said nothing, and the expression on his face turned serious. He gestured for Chen Hong to bring the documents over.

Chen Hong walked quickly to Zhao Nanxing's side, took the dossier in both hands, and delivered it into Zhu Youxiao's grasp.

Zhu Youxiao picked it up and flipped through it quickly, then spoke: "So this is what my dear minister has uncovered?"

It wasn't that Zhu Youxiao was surprised—it was that he couldn't believe it.

Were they really trying to fool the Emperor like this?

The documents did indeed uncover some corruption, but it could only be described as a superficial touch—it only reached as far as a Bureau Director of one of the four bureaus. Wasn't that simply absurd?

Zhu Youxiao shifted forward in his seat, looking at Zhao Nanxing with a very unfriendly gaze, doubts rising unbidden in his heart.

Was Zhao Nanxing so bold as to truly turn a blind eye to him?

At this very moment, Zhu Youxiao harbored murderous intent toward Zhao Nanxing.

A minister like this—killing him wouldn't even be excessive.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this is what I have investigated." Zhao Nanxing spoke up.