Chapter 44: You Dog of a Traitor!

After Tian Ergeng and Cao Huachun had left, Chongzhen spoke to Fang Zhenghua: "The men of the Directorate of the Imperial Horses — can their loyalty be assured?"

Fang Zhenghua replied: "In answer to Your Majesty, the Directorate of the Imperial Horses, from top to bottom, has long since been purged by your servant. Those who remain are all men utterly loyal to the imperial house and to Your Majesty. Even if ordered to die, not one would hesitate."

Hearing this, Chongzhen instead addressed Wei Zhongxian: "Investigate! Rouse all the men of the Western Depot and have them investigate together with the Inner Investigative Depot!

We want to see exactly who in this palace treats Our edicts as a joke! Whether they be imperial guards or inner eunuchs, no matter whose people they are, investigate them all to the very end! We shall dispose of them as the joke they are!"

After Wei Zhongxian too had received his orders and departed, Chongzhen rubbed his forehead, then spoke again to Fang Zhenghua: "Mobilize the men of the Directorate of the Imperial Horses and seal off the palace personnel. Apart from Wang Cheng'en, no one is to enter or leave."

After this round of deploying his men, Chongzhen sat down on his chair, feeling a splitting headache.

This Great Ming was far more complicated than he had imagined.

At the start of his transmigration, he had thought that settling the Donglin Faction would be enough. Reality first slapped him hard in the face with the commercial taxes he had no idea how to collect, and now the imperial palace itself was no longer safe!

Damn it all, this palace is like a sieve — what secrets could it possibly hold? The cement formula he had repeatedly ordered kept secret was known even to the Imperial Academy students!

And what was the matter with those bastards in the Imperial Academy of Medicine? Were they colluding with the Jianzhou barbarians or with the Donglin Faction? They had actually gone so far as to secretly poison the Emperor! Their hearts deserve death!

Had he not suspected that the Tianqi Emperor's death was abnormal and told Wei Zhongxian to be extra careful, those curs would probably have arranged for him to 'fall into water and drown' one day too, wouldn't they? Then they'd weep a few times and enthrone a new ruler?

Was this empire his, or was it the Donglin Faction's?!

That incident in the original history where the mob opened the gates — it was probably secretly pushed by someone because the original Chongzhen kept dismissing Grand Secretaries in his later years, wasn't it?

The more he thought, the more terrified he became. The Chongzhen Emperor felt his hands and feet turn ice-cold. Looking at the people in the palace, he now dared trust no one. Even the household slaves he had thought loyal — the eunuchs — were likely mostly unreliable.

Then it struck him: thank heaven, there was still that dog of a man, Wang Cheng'en. Though his ability was mediocre, he was utterly loyal to him.

While Chongzhen sat in the palace burning with anxiety, outside the palace there was no peace either.

The imperial physician Chen Renzhong had just returned home and was admiring a piece of calligraphy by his Song-dynasty ancestor, the Chancellor Chen Yizhong, sent over by Grand Secretary Zhou.

Though he himself had failed the examinations, he shared one thing with this ancestor Chancellor Chen: both were master physicians of the state.

He was just daydreaming that one day he too, like Chen Yizhong, could not only heal men but also heal the state, when he heard a clamor outside his study.

Before Chen Renzhong could bark a rebuke, the study door was kicked open. In strode two Embroidered Uniform Guard lieutenants and two Eastern Depot agents.

One lieutenant directly looped his chains around Chen Renzhong's neck and barked: "Physician Chen, your deeds have been exposed!" and began dragging him out.

When they reached the front courtyard, he saw his elderly mother, his lovely wife, and his young son all already bound together.

Even the virgin songstress from the Yihong Pavilion, whom he had only recently brought home, had been tied up by those Embroidered Uniform Guard brutes alongside the servants.

Seeing that not a single member of the Chen household had slipped the net, Tian Ergeng, who was leading the operation, gave a wave of his hand and barked: "Take them all to the Imperial Prison to await judgment."

Chen Renzhong's elderly mother, nearly sixty, clutched her young grandson's hand and wailed: "My son, what crime have you committed?"

Chen Renzhong ignored her and said to Tian Ergeng: "What is the meaning of this, Sir Tian? Even if I, Chen, have given offense, does calamity not extend to one's family? Do you not fear that I, Chen, will appeal?"

Tian Ergeng smiled at this and said to Chen Renzhong: "Physician Chen, we are both men of understanding. Do not imagine anyone can fish you out of this. Your entire family, to the nine degrees of kinship, will likely not be spared."

Having said this, he turned to Mother Chen: "Old Madam, do not blame me, Tian, for being hard-hearted. Physician Chen dared to secretly use a poison like aconite in His Majesty's medicine — a crime equal to rebellion.

No one can save you now. If you are wise, persuade your son to confess everything clearly.

Otherwise, at your advanced age, and with this young grandson... I, Tian, will have no choice but to harden my heart!

Shall we?"

With that, he shouted to the assembled lieutenants: "Take them away!"

When they reached the gate and saw commoners gathering to watch, Tian Ergeng, ever adept at divining his master's will, shouted: "Embroidered Uniform Guard business! Clear the way!

Chen Renzhong's crime of poisoning the Sacred Son of Heaven has been exposed!" He then led the way toward the Imperial Prison.

The watching commoners, upon hearing this, exploded with a roar.

An old man nearly eighty tottered forward, spat a thick wad of phlegm at Chen Renzhong, and cursed: "The Son of Heaven relieved the people of surtaxes and decreed that taxes would never be raised — a wise ruler rarely seen in a thousand ages — and you poisoned him?

Have the dogs eaten your conscience?"

A young wife who had been out buying vegetables for the home, hearing this, fished an egg from the basket on her arm and hurled it at Chen Renzhong, cursing: "You dog of a traitor! If not for His Majesty, would any part of this city still be intact?

It would have been ravaged clean by the Jianzhou barbarians long ago! You must be afraid His Majesty would uncover your corruption, so you plotted to murder him!

I'll skip eating this egg today and smash you dead with it!"

The egg struck Chen Renzhong square on. Yolk and white, mixed with bits of shell, slid down from the top of his head, leaving him looking utterly wretched.

He could not understand. Why were these commoners not afraid when they saw the Embroidered Uniform Guard?

Why did they stand on the side of that fatuous tyrant and curse him? These commoners must be mad.

Indeed, what insight could these village bumpkins and farmwives have? They knew nothing of the Chongzhen Emperor's brutality, yet blindly sided with that fatuous tyrant.

It truly chilled his heart!

Tian Ergeng, however, paid no mind to what Chen Renzhong thought. Hearing the commoners curse Chen Renzhong, he knew this was exactly the effect the Chongzhen Emperor wanted. Inwardly delighted, Tian Ergeng thought that upon returning, he would surely be greatly praised by His Majesty.

Once back at the Imperial Prison, he first ordered the Chen household separated and locked up. Then Tian Ergeng and Xu Xianchun began the preliminary interrogation of Chen Renzhong.

Tied to the wooden rack, Chen Renzhong watched Xu Xianchun methodically lay out the instruments of torture one by one. Though terrified to death inside, he dared not open his mouth to confess — he was dead either way.

If he clenched his teeth, sooner or later someone would avenge him and make that fatuous tyrant Chongzhen meet the end he deserved!

Xu Xianchun looked Chen Renzhong over, knowing full well this man would not confess easily. He opened his mouth and smiled: "Physician Chen, do not harbor any fanciful notions. My reputation, I presume you have heard. Whether you talk or not makes little difference."

Someone actually tipped for extra chapters? Can We be toppled by mere money?

Holy crap, quick, help Us up — We must go write!

(End of chapter)