Chapter 355: The Anti-Corruption Journey

Zhao Yan understood the situation perfectly well—this Chen Sihai was likely sent by His Majesty to keep an eye on him. If he showed the slightest sign of misconduct, he would probably be taken down by Chen Sihai on the spot.

Under such circumstances, Zhao Yan truly did not dare to offend Chen Sihai. Along the entire journey, he had been cautious, afraid of being dragged into something.

Now that he was back in Jinan city, Zhao Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief. Here, he felt a measure of security, and the worry that had weighed on his heart for days finally settled back down.

After getting off the carriage, Zhao Yan shook his slightly stiff hands and feet and took a deep breath. The air of Jinan city was truly the best!

Seeing that Chen Sihai had also gotten off the carriage, Zhao Yan adjusted the muscles on his face, pulled out a smile, and walked over, saying with just the right amount of warmth: "Lord Chen has endured a long and tiring journey. Now that you have arrived in Jinan, allow me to fulfill my duties as host and hold a welcome banquet to wash away the dust of travel for you."

Chen Sihai glanced at Zhao Yan, nodded, and said: "Lord Zhao is too kind. Working for His Majesty and serving the court loyally can hardly be called tiring."

After saying this, Chen Sihai looked around.

Seeing two officials not far away, he turned directly to Zhao Yan and asked: "Are those two the Provincial Administration Commissioner and the Judicial Commissioner of Shandong?"

"In answer to Lord Chen, they are indeed Zhao Kui, the Provincial Administration Commissioner of Shandong, and Zhou Fusheng, the Judicial Commissioner of Shandong." Zhao Yan nodded and said.

"Then let us go meet them." Chen Sihai said expressionlessly.

With that, he walked forward.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard officers behind Chen Sihai hurried to follow.

Having the Embroidered Uniform Guard escort him on this trip was an extremely high honor that Zhu Youxiao had granted Chen Sihai. After all, the Embroidered Uniform Guard were the Son of Heaven's personal troops and imperial guards—giving them to Chen Sihai showed just how much Zhu Youxiao valued him.

Zhao Kui and Zhou Fusheng both wore worried expressions as well.

This time, His Majesty had summoned Zhao Yan to Jining but had not summoned the two of them, and at the same time, His Majesty had also sent an imperial commissioner. This was hardly good news for Zhao Kui and Zhou Fusheng—or rather, it was bad news, bad enough to be called terrible.

Now that they saw Chen Sihai walking over, how could Zhao Kui and the others not be worried?

Without the slightest hesitation, Zhao Kui and the others hurried forward to greet him.

Just as they were about to say something, Chen Sihai on the opposite side had already spoken: "Men, take them into custody. Remove their official hats, strip off their official robes, and escort them away to be locked up."

No one had expected Chen Sihai's first words to be something like this.

Seeing the people closing in, Zhao Kui and Zhou Fusheng both shouted at the same time: "What are you doing? I am the Provincial Administration Commissioner (Judicial Commissioner) of Shandong—you cannot arrest me like this! I want to see His Majesty! I want to see His Majesty!"

As for the shouts of Zhao Kui and the others, Chen Sihai seemed not to hear them at all.

As the Governor of Shandong, Zhao Yan also had not expected Chen Sihai to do this—it could be said that Chen Sihai's actions had exceeded his imagination.

At the same time, Zhao Yan gained a deeper understanding of Chen Sihai: these people truly had no scruples whatsoever. These men of the surveillance agencies favored by His Majesty were each even more arrogant than the Embroidered Uniform Guard—they arrested Provincial Administration Commissioners and Judicial Commissioners as easily as if it were nothing.

This inevitably made Zhao Yan think of the words "harsh officials." So he took a step forward and said directly: "These two lords are senior officials of Shandong. Would it not be inappropriate to arrest them like this?"

"There is a secret edict from His Majesty here." Chen Sihai took out an imperial edict, turned, and handed it to Zhao Yan, saying: "Before meeting them, I did not dare show this edict to you, my lord. It is not that I do not trust you—it is that I feared news might leak out. Now that the men have already been arrested, it is naturally fine to show it to you."

Although Chen Sihai had said it was not that he did not trust him, but rather that showing it to him might leak information, in plain terms it still meant he did not trust him. However, this was not the time to worry about such things. Zhao Yan quickly took the edict, read it through rapidly, and the expression on his face relaxed slightly.

This edict was indeed for the arrest of Zhao Kui and the others. Since there was an edict, that meant it was not Chen Sihai's personal action.

This let Zhao Yan breathe a sigh of relief. His Majesty arresting two senior officials of Shandong was nothing at all.

"Next, I will conduct a thorough investigation of the Shandong officialdom and get to the bottom of the case of reselling disaster relief grain. I hope the Governor will cooperate." Chen Sihai looked at Zhao Yan and said slowly: "This is a task assigned by His Majesty—there can be no mistakes whatsoever."

Zhao Yan could tell that Chen Sihai was warning him. However, Zhao Yan was not too worried inside. Although he was the Governor of Shandong, he had not been deeply involved in this matter, because he had arrived relatively late. There were many things he did not know, and he had not yet been corrupted or won over by the Kong family.

In this disaster relief operation, when the grain arrived, Zhao Yan had only distributed it to the Provincial Administration Commissioner's office.

As for how the Provincial Administration Commissioner had specifically handled the disaster relief grain, Zhao Yan was not very clear. Of course, this was also a dereliction of duty—he would certainly be investigated afterward, and punishment would certainly come as well.

However, Zhao Yan was also well aware that his coming to Shandong was actually to consolidate the rear—in plain terms, he had come for military purposes. So since taking office, Zhao Yan's energy had been focused entirely on this aspect: building warships, repairing military equipment, and preparing to support Jizhou and Liaodong.

In military affairs, he had made no mistakes; it was only in civil administration that he had not managed much. So even if he were punished, it would not be too severe.

But Zhao Yan also understood Chen Sihai's attitude and knew that now was not the time to be stubborn.

So Zhao Yan quickly said: "Lord Chen, rest assured. All the officials of Shandong, high and low, will do their utmost to cooperate—there will absolutely be no mistakes. When I return, I will issue strict orders to them, so that Lord Chen will have no obstacles whatsoever."

"Let us hope so." Chen Sihai nodded and said.

Chen Sihai could not touch Zhao Yan, the Governor, but that did not mean he was afraid of him. If Zhao Yan stirred up any trouble at this time, then he would take the opportunity to bring him down—of this, Chen Sihai was confident.

As for arresting the Provincial Administration Commissioner and the Judicial Commissioner, Chen Sihai had not given it a second thought.

According to the Embroidered Uniform Guard's investigation and the various signs over this period, all of it indicated that Zhao Kui and Zhou Fusheng were the two most deeply involved in this case—they could even be said to be among the masterminds.

Arresting Zhao Kui and the others first would make the investigation easier. If they were left in their original positions, the difficulty of investigating would be much greater. Some people would not dare to speak, some would harbor hopes of getting lucky, and so things would become very troublesome.

By arresting Zhao Kui and the others first, the difficulty of the subsequent investigation would be greatly reduced. Chen Sihai had not even discussed this with His Majesty—His Majesty had already ordered him to do it.

In this matter, Zhu Youxiao saw things clearly and thought them through.

This was like the shuanggui procedure of later generations—first arrest the people, keep them from destroying evidence and causing trouble on the outside, and then continue the investigation.

He believed that at that time, many people would kick someone who was already down—as the saying goes, when a wall is about to collapse, everyone gives it a push. Then it would be much simpler to get to the bottom of their affairs.

Glancing at Zhao Yan, Chen Sihai said: "However, there is one matter in which I must ask for your assistance, my lord."

"May I ask what it is?" Zhao Yan quickly inquired.

"Nothing much—you simply need to place Jinan city under martial law. We need to arrest a few people." Chen Sihai said in a casual tone.

Of course, it was only his tone that was casual when he said it. When it actually came time to make the arrests, it would not be so casual. This time, the people Chen Sihai was moving to arrest were members of the Kong family, and at the same time, he would also arrest members of the Wenxiang sect. Not a single place could afford any mistakes, or else things would become very troublesome.

Chen Sihai was very clear on this point, so he would have Zhao Yan cooperate, but he would absolutely never trust them.

Even if Zhao Yan himself were trustworthy, his subordinates might not be. Jinan city was probably fraught with hidden dangers right now, and he could not afford to act recklessly.

If he acted recklessly and threw Jinan city into chaos, even His Majesty would not let him off. So Chen Sihai was careful, careful, and even more careful.

After hearing these words, Zhao Yan did not say much—he simply nodded and said: "Lord Chen, rest assured. Whatever matters arise, just say the word. The Shandong Governor's office will do its utmost to cooperate."

Chen Sihai only nodded and did not say anything more.

Anyone could say such words, but even if they were said, no one knew what would actually be done. If he truly trusted Zhao Yan with all his heart, he would probably end up dying a miserable death.

"The business is done. Let us enter the city." Chen Sihai said with a smile.

"Very well. Lord Chen, this way, please." Zhao Yan said with a smile at his side.

The two of them left, but the officialdom of Jinan was thrown into an uproar.

No one had expected that the imperial commissioner's very first act upon arrival would be to arrest the Provincial Administration Commissioner and the Judicial Commissioner—this was absolutely a terrifying move.

If these two big shots had been arrested, how could the others possibly be safe?

Many people felt uneasy—if the matter were to blow up, they would certainly be implicated; others felt secretly delighted—these two fellows had finally fallen, and if they hadn't, there would have been no chance for advancement; still others felt that Shandong had finally seen the clouds part and the sun emerge, that the corrupt officials hanging over the heads of Shandong's common folk had finally been arrested.

For a time, the officialdom of Jinan was gripped by anxiety and fear.

It was under these circumstances that Chen Sihai began his anti-corruption campaign in Jinan city.

Meanwhile, in Jining city.

Zhu Youxiao stood on the steps basking in the sun, stretched lazily, then picked up his teacup and took a sip before leaning back once more in his rocking chair.

Come to think of it, it had been quite some days since he had enjoyed such leisure.

Ever since arriving in Shandong, he had been busy the whole time—there were simply too many vexing matters.

Now he finally had some free time. The grain for disaster relief was sufficient, and there might even be a surplus. Various sums of silver had been gathered, enough to cover his expenses for some time to come.

This put Zhu Youxiao in a very good mood.

The Prince of Lu's manor had contributed a great deal of money and had also given Zhu Youxiao a portion of its farmland to use for settling the disaster victims.

As for striking against land annexation and fully equalizing land distribution, Zhu Youxiao had never even considered it.

In this era, land annexation was the overriding trend—irreversible. Unless one launched a thorough bottom-up revolution and carried out a full land reform. If that were the case, then he himself, as Emperor, was the biggest landowner in the realm, and he would be directly casting himself into the dust to be buried.

The Great Ming's problem was not land annexation but tax evasion; it was the suffering of the common people at the bottom, squeezed far too harshly; it was low productivity; it was low grain yields; it was the fact that the people had no livelihood other than farming.

Simply equalizing land distribution would not accomplish much. A natural disaster, a man-made calamity, or even a serious illness in the family would cause the peasants who had received land to sink back into tenant farming once again.

It was nothing more than the same cycle repeating itself over and over.