Chapter 45: The Hundred Crafts Institute

The hall instantly fell silent. Everyone knew the situation was awkward, because things were hard to handle from here on.

When the Eastern Depot had interrogated them, the evidence was conclusive, and Liu Guojin and Yao Zongwen had confessed without reservation.

But now, in the hall of the Three Judicial Offices, they had all retracted their confessions. What to do? Continue the interrogation?

Then probably everyone else would retract their confessions too.

Then close the case? Produce a conclusion that Wei Zhongxian had framed the remonstrating officials? Then what would His Majesty think?

Not to mention anything else — everyone involved in this trial would catch the fallout.

His Majesty would think you had deceived the throne, and might even suspect that you people were colluding with Liu Guojin and Yao Zongwen. Even if there was no collusion, at the very least you were incompetent, unable to even see a case through clearly.

Jiang Xu, the Junior Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, already wore a helpless expression. Who had he offended to deserve this?

Whether Liu Guojin and Yao Zongwen and the others had framed Xiong Tingbi, or Wei Zhongxian had framed Liu Guojin and Yao Zongwen — he neither cared nor minded. But now that things had come to this, he feared he would be unable to swallow what he had bitten off.

Yang Lian was now furious as well, barely suppressing himself from exploding on the spot. His face was as black as the bottom of a pot. He knew he had miscalculated this time, and the men of the Donglin Faction had miscalculated as well.

In the eyes of the Donglin men, this matter was very simple: you few take the guilt upon yourselves, then arrange a dismissal from office and be done with it. Let Li Ruzhen bear the greatest crime — add his sitting idle while Tieling fell, and a man like that could be directly sentenced to death and beheaded. You're happy, I'm happy, everyone's happy, and this matter could be dissolved to the greatest extent.

But as things stood now, that was simply impossible. These men actually refused to admit guilt — they had all retracted their confessions. What to do?

Yang Lian truly wanted to hang these men up and flog them!

But torture — that wouldn't do! The Eastern Depot could use torture without restraint, but if he used it, would he still want his reputation?

Not only could he not use torture, he had to remain courteous and polite. What to do? Thinking of this, Yang Lian slapped the gavel heavily and said directly: "Liu Guojin and Yao Zongwen have retracted their confessions. This case requires a full reinvestigation. That is all for today. Court adjourned."

Having said this, Yang Lian stood up and walked straight out, clearly unwilling to stay there even a moment longer.

Wei Zhongxian watched Yang Lian's retreating figure and immediately smiled. He rose unhurriedly to his feet and said with a smile: "That's it? Truly clean and crisp. This servant cannot delay — I must go to the palace at once and report to His Majesty."

The Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youxiao expressionlessly looked at the thing he had made, and nodded in satisfaction. Setting everything else aside, the craftsmanship he had inherited from the Tianqi Emperor was truly beyond reproach.

"Your Majesty, Wei Zhongxian has arrived." Chen Hong came to Zhu Youxiao's side and said softly.

"Let him in." Zhu Youxiao nodded.

Before long, Wei Zhongxian walked in from outside, respectfully performed the rites to Zhu Youxiao, and only then spoke: "Your Majesty, the interrogation at the Three Judicial Offices is finished. Liu Guojin and Yao Zongwen retracted their confessions. They say it was this servant who framed them, that their fingerprints and signatures were not given of their own accord — that in the dungeons of the Eastern Depot, the factory lord knocked them unconscious and then used their hands to sign and fingerprint the documents."

Wei Zhongxian concealed nothing, directly relating the entire course of events to Zhu Youxiao. The expression on his face did not change in the slightest — extraordinarily calm, as if he were not speaking of his own affairs at all.

Hearing Wei Zhongxian say this, there was not the slightest trace of anger on Zhu Youxiao's face.

He glanced at Wei Zhongxian, then waved his hand and said: "Let them be! When they hold court, you go and sit in on the hearing. The job was done well. I am rather curious how you got them to retract their confessions — tell me about it."

Yes, that was right — the retraction of confessions by Liu Guojin and the others was Wei Zhongxian's doing. Of course, the one directing from behind was Zhu Youxiao.

"To answer Your Majesty, it was actually quite simple. This servant told them that as long as they were willing to retract their confessions in this matter, this servant could guarantee their lives — and even that staging a comeback in the future was not impossible. On the night before the Three Judicial Offices took custody of them, this servant told them that if any of them dared refuse, this servant would have them die silently of illness in the dungeons of the Eastern Depot that very night."

"Even if they went out and did not retract their confessions, and let the charges be confirmed, though this servant could not have them sentenced to immediate execution, he could still have them sent to Liaodong to serve in the army."

"Liaodong is now Xiong Tingbi's territory. Let them think for themselves about the consequences of going to Liaodong. So they all agreed to this servant."

Zhu Youxiao laughed again upon hearing Wei Zhongxian's words — laughed until he could not contain himself. It was a long while before he recovered, and he pressed further: "And what about Li Ruzhen?"

"This servant told Li Ruzhen that as long as he was willing to pay tribute to this servant every year, this servant would guarantee his life, and even that he could be restored to his former office. If he would not listen to this servant, then even if he managed to pass this time, the Liaodong matter was not yet finished — he would still be thrown in prison and sentenced to death, and this servant would find a way to fix a capital crime on him." Having said this, Wei Zhongxian suddenly fell to the ground with a thud, knocking his head against the floor: "This servant deserves ten thousand deaths."

Zhu Youxiao knew why Wei Zhongxian said this. The reason was simple: he had used the Emperor's name as his pretext.

How could Wei Zhongxian have accomplished those things on his own? Wasn't it by using the Emperor to beguile Yao Zongwen and the others?

But Zhu Youxiao did not mind this in the slightest. If you want people to do things for you, can you really forbid them from invoking your name?

He waved his hand, signaling Wei Zhongxian to rise.

After Wei Zhongxian had stood up, Zhu Youxiao instructed: "Let this matter rest as it is. When they hold court, you go and sit in on the hearing."

"This servant understands." Wei Zhongxian acknowledged. Seeing that Zhu Youxiao no longer looked at him, he bowed and said: "If Your Majesty has no further instructions, this servant takes his leave."

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand, and Wei Zhongxian withdrew.

Once Wei Zhongxian had left, Zhu Youxiao turned to look at Chen Hong and gave his orders: "Have the Western Park cleaned out, then go find some craftsmen. Good ones — craftsmen of any trade will do — and send them all to the Western Park. Tell them I intend to establish a Hundred Crafts Institute, and the reason is that my skill has not improved much lately, and I wish to exchange ideas with these craftsmen."

If he wanted to gather craftsmen for research, taking the proper path would not work — who knows how many people would remonstrate against you and throw obstacles in your way.

The simplest method was to walk the path of the fatuous ruler: when those above have a fondness, those below will carry it to excess.

Once his Hundred Crafts Institute was established, he would find a few with excellent skill and reward those who recommended them. Then officials across the entire realm would be scouring for good craftsmen on his behalf.

That was far faster than searching for himself — just like the Jiajing Emperor with his alchemy, how many people gathered fine materials for him.

It was the same as Zhu Youxiao's method of gathering craftsmen — only their purposes differed. Of course, in this way, his reputation would stink again, and he would be sprinting headlong down the road of the fatuous ruler.

But Zhu Youxiao did not mind. These days, it was not easy to be a wise ruler, because the judges were the literati — you had to play by their rules.

But could he play by their rules?

Might as well give up on the treatment!