Chapter 85: The Ancients' Remonstration Through Death

From start to finish, what Zhu Youxiao wanted to do was this one thing, not cleaning up the Donglin Faction.

No matter who held an important position, he would deal with them. This had nothing to do with who was in power; what he needed to do was select people who would listen to him.

This point had never changed.

As for what kind of person the one selected turned out to be, Zhu Youxiao had never thought about it.

During the Jiajing Emperor's reign, Yan Song and Xu Jie — who was good and who was bad?

As an emperor, one never distinguishes people by good or bad.

Didn't the Qianlong Emperor know what kind of person Heshen was? Why did he still use him? This is the art of imperial rule.

What Zhu Youxiao wanted to see now was whether this Chen Kedao was qualified.

If this was a qualified person, then naturally he would use him;

If this was not a qualified person, he would still use him, only the method of use would differ.

If Chen Kedao was qualified, then he could be sent out; if he was not qualified, then he could only serve as a decorative tablet.

The person had not been brought along, so Luo Sigong's trip this time had taken no short amount of time.

Meanwhile, inside the Eastern Depot.

Wei Zhongxian was joyfully looking at the confession before him; this confession came from Yao Zongwen.

Last time at the Court of Judicial Review, Wei Zhongxian had been badly burned by Yao Zongwen, coming within a hair's breadth of total ruin.

Fortunately, Feng Sanyuan had cooked up a case of faction-forming for personal gain.

This time, having obtained Yao Zongwen's confession, Wei Zhongxian could not only vent his pent-up anger, but also turn the tide and win back a round.

As for whether anyone would say he had framed Yao Zongwen, Wei Zhongxian simply did not care, nor did he think it mattered at all.

The whole matter depended on whether His Majesty believed it.

If His Majesty believed that Yao Zongwen had been framed by him, then everything was lost; if His Majesty believed him, then Yao Zongwen's confession was genuine.

Even if this confession really was written by himself, it would still be genuine.

As for whom His Majesty would believe, Wei Zhongxian was not the least bit worried.

That Yao Zongwen and the others had accepted bribes was already an established fact. His Majesty knew it clearly in his heart, and Wei Zhongxian knew it too; no matter how much the Donglin partisans tried to quibble, it was useless.

Setting down the confession in his hand, Wei Zhongxian raised his head and glanced at Sun Yunhe, then directly asked: "The man's all right, is he?"

These past few days, Sun Yunhe had been applying torture continuously, with very harsh methods.

Wei Zhongxian was still worried that Sun Yunhe might have killed the man. Wounds were fine, but if he really killed him, things would become very troublesome. Though he did not fear it, there was no need to invite such trouble.

Sun Yunhe also knew the gravity of the matter and directly nodded. "Rest assured, Director. The man is fine; I've already arranged for a physician to see him."

Wei Zhongxian nodded and said with a smile: "That couldn't be better. The case regarding the false accusation against Xiong Tingbi has now been interrogated to near completion. The facts are clear, and there is nothing more to say. The case can be closed."

"Next to be questioned is the case of faction-forming for personal gain. This time Yao Zongwen testified that they were instigated by Zou Yuanbiao to impeach Xiong Tingbi. You question the others and nail down this case. Also, in the prison of the Court of Judicial Review, Zhang Laosan passed along a message to them — pin that down on Yang Lian."

"Once these are done, we can arrest Zou Yuanbiao and Yang Lian, and from their mouths extract other matters. Then we can finalize this case of faction-forming for personal gain!"

Hearing Wei Zhongxian's words, Sun Yunhe's face was full of delight, and a bright gleam shone in his eyes.

If they could accomplish this, then the prestige and power of the Eastern Depot would be greatly enhanced.

"Rest assured, Director. Your subordinate will do his utmost and absolutely will not disappoint you!" Sun Yunhe bowed with clasped hands and said in a loud voice.

Watching Sun Yunhe's excited demeanor, Wei Zhongxian also laughed, his laughter very hearty, his face full of smug satisfaction.

He had finally waited for this day.

The Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Chen Kedao standing before him, slightly taken aback.

It was because this Chen Kedao was completely different from the image he had imagined.

In Zhu Youxiao's mind, even if Chen Kedao was not an elegant, refined scholar, he would at least have the image of an old pedant.

The result was completely the opposite of what Zhu Youxiao had thought. Chen Kedao was a middle-aged man in his thirties, short in stature, looking a bit over one meter fifty — probably not past one meter sixty.

Moreover, his complexion was somewhat dark, and his body was gaunt and thin. No matter how one looked at him, he had no image of a learned master.

"Chen Kedao," Zhu Youxiao called his name once, paused, then asked: "Do you hold any scholarly honor?"

This point was extremely crucial for Chen Kedao.

If Chen Kedao held a scholarly honor, then when using him, Zhu Youxiao would have more options — he need not be confined to commoner circles, but could also grant him an official rank, making matters twice as effective with half the effort.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, your student is a juren." Chen Kedao spoke.

Zhu Youxiao nodded. Having a juren honor was enough.

In this era, a juren had already reached the standard for becoming an official.

Only, for many people, a juren's starting point was too low, and the ceiling was also low. Rather than coming out to be an official, it was better to stay home and farm.

Becoming a local gentry member was the best choice for a juren.

After all, the officialdom was full of jinshi; you were naturally a head lower than them, and being an official was not easy.

Of course, the Great Ming was not without officials who rose from juren status to high positions; the most typical example was Hai Rui.

In the twenty-eighth year of Jiajing, Hai Rui took the provincial examination and passed as a juren. His first post was Instructor of Nanping, Fujian; he was later promoted to County Magistrate of Chun'an, Zhejiang, and Xingguo, Jiangxi, where he implemented land surveys, equalized taxes, repeatedly redressed wrongful cases, and struck at corrupt officials, winning deep popular support. He successively held the posts of Subprefectural Judge, Bureau Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, Bureau Secretary of the Ministry of War, Director of the Seal Office, Left and Right Transmission Commissioners of both capitals, and Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief.

Hai Rui struck at powerful tyrants, dredged river channels, built water conservancy projects, strongly advocated severe punishment of corrupt officials, forbade favoritism and bribe-taking, and implemented the Single Whip law, forcibly compelling corrupt officials to return seized farmland to the people. Thus he earned the reputation of "Hai the Clear Sky."

Yang Lian's being named the foremost incorruptible official — Zhu Youxiao thought nothing of it; in comparison, Hai Rui's incorruptibility was what Zhu Youxiao admired.

Not only did he admire it, he respected it from the bottom of his heart — a respect compounded across two lifetimes.

Hai Rui advocated taking not a single needle or thread from the people, going down to the grassroots and villages with his own provisions; when officials came down to inspect, local officials receiving them had to follow fixed regulations for food and drink; he eliminated official entertainment on public funds and strictly forbade lavish eating and drinking.

It could be said that Hai Rui's thinking was ahead of its time, even epoch-making — and that was precisely where he was not accepted.

Zhu Youxiao remembered very clearly: after Zhang Juzheng fell from power, the Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun had always valued Hai Rui's reputation, and in the first month of the following year summoned Hai Rui to serve as Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief of Nanjing.

On the way to take up the post, he was reassigned as Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel in Nanjing.

Hai Rui was already seventy-two years old at the time. He submitted a memorial saying he was aged and near death, wishing to emulate the ancients' practice of remonstrating through death, citing the penal laws of the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming — flaying off a person's skin and stuffing it with straw to make a sack — as well as the provision that those who perverted the law and took bribes amounting to eighty guan would be sentenced to death by hanging, saying that such methods should be used to punish corruption.

His other plans and discussions of state affairs were extremely practical and to the point.

The only fault was urging the Emperor to use harsh and cruel punishments, which contemporary critics considered to be wrong.