Chapter 8: Whoever Makes Us and the Common People Unhappy for a Moment, We Will Make His Nine Degrees of Kinship Unhappy

On this private visit outside the palace, Chongzhen saw both what he wanted to see and what he did not.

As for his earlier edict that taxes would never be raised, the common people everywhere were fervently spreading word that the Emperor was truly an enlightened sovereign through the ages, a good emperor rarely seen.

With the Eastern Depot agents and Embroidered Uniform Guard secretly fueling it, he was being hailed as far surpassing Tang Taizong or Song Taizong, a sage ruler rivaling the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.

Chongzhen understood in his heart that as long as this kept spreading, he would be an enlightened sovereign whether he was one or not.

He already possessed the greatest base of support — the barefoot men of the entire realm stood behind him, and to protect their own interests under the never-raise-taxes policy, they could tear apart any enemy standing in their way!

As for what he did not want to see, it was nothing more than that business with the Chief Grand Secretary's bank.

The sitting Chief Grand Secretary held shares in a bank, and the capital had come from the very same Eight Great Locust Merchants who would later serve the Manchu Qing. What unspeakable dirty deals lay behind this — one could figure it out just by thinking with one's toes!

Chongzhen was quite satisfied with his incognito inspection. He felt that if someone someday made a drama called *Chongzhen's Incognito Travels*, everything he had seen and heard today would be excellent material, and the ratings would surely shatter all records.

Chongzhen's good mood vanished soon after he returned to the palace.

The reason for Chongzhen's displeasure lay in Cao Huachun's report: "Your Majesty, according to reports from the children below, Minister Huang Liji's household holds roughly two hundred thousand taels of ready silver, most of it coming from his profit share in the Yongchang Bank, the rest being various tribute gifts.

If valuables are also converted and calculated, the total is approximately over six million taels."

"The Yongchang Bank has also been investigated.

It was primarily established with capital from Fan Yongdou and seven other great merchants of Shanxi.

Those implicated are not only Minister Huang; several other Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat, as well as various Ministers and Vice Ministers of the Six Ministries, are involved for sums ranging from tens of thousands to over a hundred thousand, even several hundred thousand taels.

This slave has already compiled it into a memorial, and requests His Majesty's sacred judgment."

The Chongzhen Emperor laughed in extreme fury: "Fine. Truly fine. My trusted pillars among the great ministers — truly fine! The eunuch faction and the Donglin Faction, all these mangy curs — truly fine! A mere dozen-odd ministers, added together, are richer than the Great Ming's national treasury!"

In the Chongzhen Emperor's view, the mere Jianzhou barbarians were not some mortal affliction of the heart, nor even an affliction of the limbs; at most, they were nothing more than a skin rash.

When the Great Ming was founded, it had beaten the Mongol Yuan into fleeing north and pressing west.

After the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang died, the dynastic founder Zhu Di also repeatedly led troops beyond the frontier, and likewise beat the Tartars until they knelt on the ground singing songs of submission.

If one spoke of awe-inspiring military might, in terms of war potential or actual combat strength, the Mongol Yuan of that time were far stronger than the Manchu Qing Tartars in every respect — and were they not still ground into the dirt all the same?

To put it plainly, the reason we now suffer setbacks against the Jianzhou barbarians is simply that the infantry lack the will to fight, the cavalry lack punch, and the firearms and cannons are prone to bursting their barrels.

In the final analysis, it all comes down to one word: money. With money, you get good sources of soldiers; with money, you build firearms and cannons to the best standards, and if the quality is poor, you melt them down and reforge them.

As long as you have money, you can do whatever you want.

But reality slapped Chongzhen in the face.

The Tianqi Emperor reigned for seven years, and Wei Zhongxian scraped together money like his life depended on it, yet the national treasury held only a few million taels of silver in total — and even so, the pay and provisions for the frontier armies were still in arrears!

Yet a single Chief Grand Secretary's household held six to seven million taels, enough to match two national treasuries!

Chongzhen's mood was so foul that he summoned no consort to attend him that night. He merely sat in desolation in the imperial study the entire night. Wang Cheng'en repeatedly urged him to rest, but Chongzhen paid him no heed. The next day, he went directly to the morning court session.

Generally speaking, those who can mix in the halls of power are all masters at reading expressions. The assembled ministers took one look at Chongzhen's face and knew trouble was coming — it was very likely that a major problem would erupt today.

After the assembled officials had finished performing their obeisances, the Chongzhen Emperor spoke directly: "Today, beloved ministers, whether you have memorials or not, do not present them. If you have memorials, you may submit them to the Directorate of Ceremonial later.

We have some words We wish to ask you beloved ministers today."

"Minister Huang, you are the sitting Chief Grand Secretary. We ask you: the Great Ming's national treasury — what were its total revenues last year? What was the surplus?"

Huang Liji immediately stepped out of formation and memorialized: "In reply to Your Majesty, last year was the sixth year of Tianqi. The national treasury's total annual revenue was somewhat over three million five hundred thousand taels.

After various expenditures, the surplus... the surplus... the national treasury still owes the frontier armies fifteen million taels in unpaid wages and provisions..."

"Fine.

The Great Ming's national treasury takes in three million taels a year. They all say the salaries of the Great Ming's hundred officials are low, yet your household, Grand Secretary Huang, holds over six million taels — and your ancestral home holds even more.

We wonder how the Grand Secretary would instruct Us?" Chongzhen could not be bothered to keep up the act any longer and tore off all pretense directly.

"Your Majesty, I... I..." Huang Liji could spin it no further. The Emperor already knew the approximate sum; it had certainly been investigated by the Depot and the Guard. Any further denial on his part would likely be useless.

"Wang Cheng'en, proclaim the edict."

Chongzhen could not be bothered to spare Huang Liji another glance and directly ordered Wang Cheng'en to announce the imperial edict he had drafted the previous night. As for it being rejected or someone refusing to obey — no matter.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard would teach them how to behave!

"By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: It has been investigated that the Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, Huang Liji, embezzled and corruptly amassed a total of over six million taels of silver, profoundly betraying Our trust.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Eastern Depot, together with the Court of Judicial Review, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Personnel, are hereby ordered to jointly confiscate his property.

All his ill-gotten gains from corruption shall be fully absorbed into the national treasury.

The criminal minister Huang Liji shall be flayed, his skin stuffed with straw, and hung at the Meridian Gate, and his punishment shall extend to the extermination of three degrees of his kinship! Let this serve as a warning to those who follow!

Thus decreed!"

As soon as Wang Cheng'en finished reading the edict, guardsmen of the Han General Corps immediately stepped forward and dragged away Huang Liji, who had collapsed limp on the ground, to be dealt with.

After pausing briefly and sweeping his gaze over the trembling ministers below, the Chongzhen Emperor spoke again: "Huang Liji — Our Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat. Just a few days ago, We still placed great hopes in him.

Today, We have no choice but to have him flayed and stuffed with straw!"

"In the Great Ming today — drought, floods, earthquakes — natural disasters across the land emerge one after another without end.

The common people within our borders cry out in hunger, and incidents of exchanging children for food occur from time to time! And in Liaodong, the Jianzhou barbarians rise in rebellion and wreak havoc — that, too, is a man-made calamity.

It can be said that the Great Ming has now reached its most perilous moment. The slightest misstep, and the outcome will be a fallen state and an exterminated people."

"But what of you?

You who stand safe on dry ground — though each of you is arrayed in stately caps and robes, in what way are you any cleaner than Huang Liji? Scrambling for power!

Snatching profit! Scheming!

Infighting! Not thinking of how to restore the Great Ming, but instead endlessly scooping silver into your own pockets!"

"Yue Wumu once said that civil officials must not covet wealth, and military officers must not fear death.

Yet look — look at Our trusted pillars among the great ministers! Every civil official thinks only of how to line his pockets; military officers who cling to life and dread death are everywhere!

The ennobled houses rot right along with them! You tell Us — which one of your noble titles was not earned by your forefathers risking their lives?

And now you squander the lingering blessings of your ancestors like this! What you compete over is not who has contributed to the dynasty, but who is greedier!

Who is more adept at scooping silver!"

"We did not sleep the entire night last night.

We sat in the imperial study the whole night, thinking: what has become of this realm? We ask Ourselves — We are not like Jie or Zhou, heedless of whether the common people live or die, nor are We like Han Wudi or Sui Yangdi, vainglorious and fond of grandiose projects."

"Yet why has the Great Ming ended up in this state today? Beloved ministers, you tell Us — is it that We lack virtue? We had just issued the edict that taxes would never be raised, and right on its heels, you put on such a fine show for Us. Hmm?!"

"They say that when the sovereign is troubled, the ministers should feel shame; when the sovereign is shamed, the ministers should die. Yet in you, We see not the faintest shadow of this! All We see are two words: greed!"

"If one of you rots, a whole patch of the Great Ming rots.

If all of you rot, then the common people with no food to eat will devour this entire court — Us along with you — in one bite! What treatment the ministers of a fallen state receive — every dynasty, every era, it is all written in the histories!

You are supposed to be well-read in the classics, yet you have all forgotten?!"

"We have one thing to tell you all today. If the day comes when the Great Ming falls, We will hang Ourself from that crooked-necked tree on Coal Hill behind the palace. But before that day comes, We will most certainly hang every last one of you from it first!"

"Think it over carefully. When the skin is gone, to what can the fur attach? If the Great Ming falls, before you find a new master, won't those barefoot men with no food to eat devour you first!"

"Think it over carefully. We have said all this. From now on, whoever makes Us and the common people unhappy — We will make his nine degrees of kinship unhappy!"

(End of Chapter)