Chapter 228

And the other was a memorial of remonstrance that directly stabbed at the Son of Heaven for violating ancestral precedents and arbitrarily executing high ministers.

As long as Hai Rui signed his name on this memorial and affixed his official seal.

This memorial would then become Hai Rui's own words.

And this memorial was a token of loyalty, yet it might not emerge until some unknown time.

Perhaps on some future day, when Hai Rui's official career was soaring, it would appear, becoming a sharp blade that would take Hai Rui's life!

Hai Rui hesitated not a single instant.

Immediately, he used his official seal on both memorials and signed his name.

Looking at Hai Rui's signature and the memorials.

The two men seemed to have let out a huge sigh of relief.

Immediately, they rose and clasped their hands, saying.

"My Lord Hai, please keep this memorial to present to the Grand Secretariat; we two shall now go to raise the silver!"

Hai Rui nodded slightly.

After watching the two men leave the relay station.

He immediately rose and walked toward the room next door.

And sitting in the room next door was none other than Zhu Qi, one of the Thirteen Treasures of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!

Gazing at the statue-like figure before him.

Hai Rui clasped his hands slightly and said.

"Master Qi, did you hear everything just now?"

Zhu Qi replied without changing his expression.

"The Grand Commander has issued an order: our mission here is solely to protect My Lord Hai and obey My Lord Hai's commands; all else is beyond our concern!"

Hearing Zhu Qi's reply.

Hai Rui looked at Zhu Qi, clasped his hands, and said.

"In that case, I beg Master Qi to do Hai a favor."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Qi immediately rose, clasped his hands, and said.

"Please instruct, My Lord Hai."

Hai Rui gritted his teeth coldly and said.

"Follow these two closely and investigate thoroughly where their silver truly comes from!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Qi was momentarily stunned, then looked at Hai Rui with some disbelief and asked.

"My Lord Hai, then what will you do?"

Hai Rui suddenly said.

"If it benefits the state, I shall not shun the axe or the halberd!"

138, Hai Rui: This is not heaven dropping a pie; this is heaven dropping a canteen!

Hearing Hai Rui's words.

Zhu Qi's figure visibly trembled.

Hai Rui's frame was thin, his ten fingers like withered tree branches; from whatever angle one looked.

He was absolutely powerless to bind even a chicken.

Yet through their time together, Zhu Qi had witnessed far too much from Hai Rui.

Hai Rui was not a sage like Wang Yangming or Confucius.

He could even be said to possess ordinary talent.

Otherwise, he would not have spent his entire life in the imperial examinations, stopping only at the level of Juren.

Hai Rui can be said to be a microcosm of the myriad ordinary people under heaven.

In the original history, on the fourteenth day of the tenth month of the fifteenth year of Wanli, Hai Rui died in office; the Ming people passed final judgment on Hai Rui.

"Loyal as an ant, filial as a beast."

This was nothing more than saying Hai Rui was an extreme person.

But open the record of Hai Rui's life.

Judging from Hai Rui's actions, his conduct was hardly extreme.

Not only was his handling of affairs not extreme; even in dealing with Hu Zongxian's son's "bribe solicitation," Hai Rui's method of handling it could even be called smooth.

But after Hai Rui, virtually all scholar-officials strove to mold Hai Rui into a negative example.

They fabricated numerous baseless matters, such as "Hai Rui killing his daughter."

In reality, Hai Rui had only three daughters, and all had reached adulthood, left the family, and married.

And the reason Hai Rui was so feared by the scholar-officials.

Was due to only one thing.

— Selflessness.

The so-called ants, the so-called beasts, were nothing more than saying Hai Rui was "selfless."

A snowflake bears no guilt, but when a snowflake falls into mud, then that snowflake has guilt.

Hai Rui cared not for his posthumous reputation, nor did he care how much power he held.

In the three reigns of Jia, Long, and Wan, where a wise monarch sat on the throne and fierce ministers filled the court, Hai Rui was the one who truly comprehended Zhuangzi's "Free and Easy Wandering" and put it into practice.

Having nothing to rely upon, one attains freedom and ease!

Those two merchants, thinking they had seized Hai Rui's vital point, seized Hai Rui's official career, seized Hai Rui's life and safety.

Little did they know that at this moment, Hai Rui's mind held only one thought.

This isn't manna from heaven — it's a whole kitchen dropped from the sky!

At this moment, Hearing Hai Rui was so excited he could barely speak.

After all the painstaking casework, he was still afraid he couldn't pin down a charge.

Now all he had to do was sign his name.

And he could uproot everyone behind it!

Isn't this case a little too easy?!

Zhu Qi exchanged a glance with Hearing Hai Rui, then rose without hesitation, led a squad of Embroidered Uniform Guards, and at once charged out of the relay station, closely tailing the two men.

No matter how wealthy these great clans of the southeast were,

two million taels of silver was no small sum.

And the Xie clan of Dongshan could never possibly produce that sum on their own!

……

……

Inside the ancestral hall of the Dongshan Xie clan.

Xie Qian's three surviving sons held tea cups, looked at the shopkeepers from the various families before them, and laughed as they said

"Gentlemen, my Xie clan has already settled this Hearing Hai Rui."

"Two million taels of silver — my Xie clan puts up a hundred and fifty thousand taels. That's not too much, is it?"

The Dongshan Xie clan was a great house of the southeast; among these "private market" clans, not a single one did business on a larger scale than the Xie clan.

But for your Xie clan to put up only a hundred and fifty thousand taels — isn't that a rather ugly way to gobble up the profits?

Hearing the Xie clan's words, the heads of the surrounding families were inwardly unwilling,

Yet they had no choice but to pinch their noses and accept the bill.

Two million taels of silver to protect this mountain of gold and silver business — far better value than letting the court open a Maritime Trade Office and levy taxes year after year!

Once each family had settled the amount they would pledge,

The Xie clan head slowly set down his tea cup and said with a sigh

"Ten days. Everyone gather the silver as fast as you can — let's get this Hearing Hai Rui out of the way and go back to our lives."

Hearing the Xie clan's words,

Someone immediately asked in puzzlement

"Old Mr., haven't we already got that Hearing Hai Rui by the throat? What is there still to fear? Why not just send that memorial straight into the Grand Secretariat and let this fellow surnamed Hai have the silver in hand but no life to spend it — wouldn't that be better?"

The Xie clan head gave a cold snort and said sharply

"Do you take the present Son of Heaven for a fool?"