Chapter 528: Direct House Search

After thinking through all the possibilities, Cao Bang's face instantly turned very ugly—his heart raced with fear, and he felt completely unsettled.

At the same time, he secretly resolved one thing: he could not stay here any longer. Regardless of the truth of the matter, he had received no information at all, and making any decision now would be foolish.

Originally, Cao Bang had called these people together today precisely to see whether they had any news on their hands.

In fact, Cao Bang had been keeping his eye on that fellow surnamed Ye the whole time. Now that the fellow surnamed Ye had run off, there was no one left he could find to get a read on the situation.

Cao Bang stood up directly and said with a calm expression: "I think what Ye Chi just said makes sense."

With that said, he turned to leave.

He hadn't originally planned to say anything more, but as he took a step, a thought suddenly struck him—if he didn't say something at this moment, it probably wouldn't be appropriate.

So Cao Bang clasped his hands toward the blue sky outside the window and said: "His Majesty is wise and martial. Since ascending the throne, the people have lived and worked in peace, and the signs of a great Ming resurgence have already appeared. As subjects of the Great Ming, we naturally ought to support His Majesty and support the court. We cannot do anything ungrateful, much less anything that betrays the court or His Majesty."

"The Han family brought this upon themselves this time. You should all take this as a warning. I called you here today to tell you that if you have done anything unlawful, go to the yamen and turn yourselves in immediately. Do not think about resisting the court or His Majesty."

Having said this, Cao Bang puffed out his cheeks, flicked his sleeves, and strode away.

Everyone present was completely dumbfounded. For a long while, no one reacted, and no one spoke.

No one could figure out what those two big shots were really up to.

Ye Chi first spouted all that vague, misty nonsense, then slipped away like he'd greased his feet; now Cao Bang was pulling the same trick?

But although these people were a bit slow to react, that didn't mean they had low IQs. Everyone present was a merchant, and their noses were extremely sharp.

If what Ye Chi had done still left them scratching their heads, Cao Bang's behavior made them smell something bad.

Though they lacked information and didn't know what exactly was going to happen, they knew it wasn't anything good. The Han family was finished now, and since no one had any good options at the moment, those with connections should each go find their own.

As for what Cao Bang had said—well, they'd just pretend they hadn't heard it.

If anyone was going to be punished for this, it would be Cao Bang and Ye Chi and their kind first. The things those great households did weren't something that small households like theirs could compare with. If the great households weren't going to the yamen, why should they?

Whoever actually went after hearing that would be the real fool.

The crowd dispersed in a hubbub.

Some people walked out with the crowd, among them a middle-aged man in his forties with a very grim expression. But unlike the others, he was genuinely grieved inside, yet not all that afraid.

Because he was himself a man of the Imperial Household Department, and he had also brought along a man from the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The two of them had come here to exchange intelligence with each other.

In the end, they hadn't done anything at all—they'd walked in, heard a load of flattery, and then everyone ran off?

Everyone knew how hollow that flattery was, but once news like this spread, it would naturally make people wonder. This was not a good thing for the Imperial Household Department man—clearly someone had leaked word.

Chen Zhao glanced at Zhao Yan, was silent for a moment, then asked: "What do we do now?"

Chen Zhao was the man from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, while Zhao Yan was from the Imperial Household Department.

Now that something like this had happened, Chen Zhao didn't know what to do either, and he kept worrying about getting a label slapped on him.

After all, he had come along with the Imperial Household Department man. Originally there was no problem, but the moment he arrived, the news leaked. If the two sides started shifting blame, he would definitely be branded with the crime of leaking secrets.

But Zhao Yan clearly couldn't be bothered with Chen Zhao, and certainly didn't share Chen Zhao's concerns.

Zhao Yan said directly: "What we need to do now is send the news back. As for how to investigate and how to handle it, that has nothing to do with people like us. So let's each go back and deliver the message."

With that, Zhao Yan turned and walked out.

Watching Zhao Yan's departing back, Chen Zhao let out a sigh, then turned and walked out in the other direction.

The two needed to deliver the news quickly and get the information out.

After the news reached the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Imperial Household Department, the atmosphere on both sides turned heavy.

Originally everything had been progressing smoothly, and the two sides had coordinated well. Xu Xianchun's side was conducting house searches and making arrests, while the Imperial Household Department took over on their end—the cooperation between the two sides could be called extremely seamless, and everyone was already preparing to celebrate their success.

But under circumstances like these, something like this had to happen?

After something like this occurred, if anyone's mood was good, that would be a ghost story.

Xu Xianchun and Huang Changzong didn't dare delay either. They rushed straight to Lichun Court to seek an audience with Zhu Youxiao.

Before meeting Zhu Youxiao, the two of them were also anxious and uneasy.

Inside the room, Zhu Youxiao was reclining sideways on the couch.

This time Zhu Youxiao wasn't pillowing his head on Chen Yu'er's thigh, but rather his entire head was cradled in Chen Yu'er's arms.

Chen Yu'er picked up a fresh fruit from the table beside her and placed it into Zhu Youxiao's mouth.

After hearing what Xu Xianchun and the other man had to say, Zhu Youxiao turned his head to look at the two of them, then sat up and said: "You know, in this world, there are always some clever people—or people who think they're cleverer than others—who always try to guess what others are thinking, hoping to grab all sorts of benefits."

"But the benefits of this world can never be fully taken, and no one can always guess what another person is thinking."

"This Ye family is very interesting. Their home is in Shanyang County, which is in Huai'an—a transportation hub and a key point for grain transport. All the salt from the two Huai regions has to pass through there. You can see just how much profit they've reaped by holding that geographical advantage."

"The former Minister of Revenue Ye Qi was truly a good official. His family had lived there for generations—there's no way he didn't know what the situation was like there—yet he still proposed that policy to the court. Although the Ming salt administration was indeed in a sorry state back then, with the emperor squandering without restraint and court nobles hoarding salt quotas on a massive scale."

Zhu Youxiao spoke in a flat tone, but everyone below dared not raise their heads.

After all, Zhu Youxiao was talking about his own ancestors. Interrupting such talk was out of the question—even listening to it was a crime.

But these men were all Zhu Youxiao's confidants, and they understood what he meant. Clearly, the Emperor was extremely, extremely displeased with these people.

"And what was the result? The Emperor trusted Ye Qi and let him carry out reforms—what did he reform?"

"The frontier generals originally had grain to eat, and could even collect a bit of bribes from the salt merchants to live well. But then their source of income was cut off. The frontier soldiers had no salt and no grain—life was hard!"

"But who got fat? These merchants got fat! Look at their Ye family—even now they're playing clever. Why weren't they this clever back then? Clever people should do clever things. Playing at being clever?"

"Go arrest that Ye Chi. Send a squad to Huai'an, deliver orders to the Grain Transport Governor-General, and have him send men to search the Ye household and seal up all their businesses as well. Oh, and send someone to keep an eye on the Grain Transport Governor-General—I don't want to see any tricks."

Having said this, Zhu Youxiao looked at Xu Xianchun and the other man and instructed: "Huang Changzong. Have your people get ready to take over the grain transport at any moment."

"Xu Xianchun, send your people over to keep watch—don't let anything or anyone slip through."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Xu Xianchun and the other man hurriedly acknowledged.

Zhu Youxiao then turned to look at Qi Yuanfu and said: "Send your people to Nanjing immediately. Tell Lu Xiangsheng there to send men to Huai'an, and also have Duke Chengguo Zhu Neng send men as well."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Qi Yuanfu acknowledged respectfully.

None of them had expected Zhu Youxiao to be so swift and decisive—he hadn't even stated a charge or conducted an investigation, and he'd directly ordered arrests, and a house search at that.

But none of them dared to step forward and object.

Zhu Youxiao knew his approach was too high-handed, and there was no reasoning to be had with them. The rotten things they had done were exactly that — there was nothing worth investigating.

As Emperor, he truly ought to respect procedural justice; acting this way would instead create a very bad impression.

But Zhu Youxiao understood clearly in his heart that he could not afford to go around in circles with them here.

In the future, that region would be run by them as tight as an iron bucket — the entire area south of the Yangtze and the two Huai prefectures, from high and low officials down to the most minor clerks, and even the common folk among the people, all of it would be run by them as tight as an iron bucket.

If he sent people to investigate slowly and work at it gradually, whether they could even bring it down was uncertain; and even if they did, who knew how long it would take.

Zhu Youxiao would not invest such enormous time and manpower costs here, nor was he willing to bother contending with them — he might as well just strike directly.

Troops pressing in force, a powerful show of strength — arrest the people, confiscate their households, and every charge imaginable would follow.

After thoroughly pacifying these people in the south, it would not be too late to re-establish the rules. With them around, there was nothing to establish anyway. They had their own set of rules, and he had his — whose would anyone listen to?

As for no one daring to engage in commerce, Zhu Youxiao was even less worried. Although the Imperial Household Department's strength was still insufficient, it had already accumulated considerable power; if he wanted to expand, plenty of people would surely join. It was simply not a problem — he had no need of those people.

Eight years — he had endured a full eight years!

How had he gotten through these eight years? How could he possibly still be irresolute and hesitant with them now?

Moreover, this was a struggle over the grand tide of events. He had too much to do and no time to waste. When emperors of every dynasty needed money, they never held back when cleaning house. Emperor Wu of Han had acted far more ruthlessly than he, and had been even harsher in dealing with people — it was merely a matter of whether one had the men in hand.

Take the ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang, for instance — the reasons he used for convictions were often utterly absurd.