Chapter 152: Internal Rectification

In the garden, with spring warmth returning, the flowers had already begun blooming one after another.

Pang Chunlai came over leaning on his walking stick — the stick seemed more for probing the way, lest he fail to see clearly and trip over a stone.

"Please sit, sir." Zhao Han helped him pour tea.

Pang Chunlai sat down but did not pick up the teacup. He came straight to the point: "Those scholars need to be dealt with — not just the Jishui scholars, but also the literati of Luling and Anfu counties. The gentry of the three counties are converging. Ever since the roving bandits ran rampant through the Southern Metropolitan Region, they truly believe you can succeed."

This statement seemed contradictory. The northwestern roving bandits were rampaging across the Southern Metropolitan Region, ripping away yet another fig leaf of the imperial court. The Ji'an literati thought Zhao Han could succeed, and so they sincerely wished to join him — but why then did these people still need to be disciplined?

No contradiction!

The gentry were attempting to steal the fruits of rebellion. This is not to say they wanted to overthrow Zhao Han — they needed Zhao Han to lead — but they wanted to seize more power for themselves.

Zhao Han asked, "What is your view on this case, sir?"

Pang Chunlai said, "It must be severely punished. Otherwise, the authority of the Regional Commander's headquarters will be utterly discredited. The propaganda officers were dispatched by the headquarters, dispatched by the Great Unity Society — what do they think they're doing, pulling this sort of thing?"

"Anything else?" Zhao Han asked again.

"Nothing else. That is my position: severe punishment is imperative!" Pang Chunlai said.

Zhao Han had Xiyue see Pang Chunlai out, then brought over a fresh teacup. Soon after, Li Banghua came in.

Li Banghua looked somewhat weary and sighed, "As for Brother Pang, I actually had no wish to argue with him."

Zhao Han asked, "What is your thinking, Mr. Li?"

Li Banghua said, "Insulting a woman is of course improper, all the more so when she is a female propaganda officer — but under no circumstances should the ultimate penalty be applied. By now, the scholars of the three counties have already given their allegiance; only a scattered few still harbor ill intentions. In such a situation, we cannot let a single case cause the scholars of three counties to become estranged and disaffected. A small impatience spoils a great plan. I believe we should remove him from his post as town chief, order him to pay compensation in silver, and further fine him ten mu of land as a warning."

"I understand," Zhao Han said.

After seeing Li Banghua off, Zhao Han could not help but sigh.

Whether it was Pang Chunlai or Li Banghua, both left Zhao Han deeply disappointed.

Pang Chunlai stood from the perspective of the Regional Commander's headquarters and the lower-rank scholars, harboring deep wariness toward the gentry class. His insistence on severely punishing the offender was purely to uphold the authority of the headquarters, and also to strike at those gentry attempting to seize power.

Li Banghua, on the other hand, focused on "stability and unity," still believing that upper-rank scholars were more worthy of reliance and would be needed to govern the realm in the future. Since the scholars had already given their allegiance, they should seize the moment to accelerate development and quickly take the entire Ji'an Prefecture.

There was also Li Banghua's own painstaking effort in this — it was precisely his tireless personal persuasion that had gradually won the three counties' scholars over to accepting Zhao Han.

But neither Pang Chunlai nor Li Banghua took the victim seriously at all!

A reformed prostitute — even if she had become a propaganda officer, so what? It wasn't as if she hadn't been slept with before; being slept with one more time was no great matter. The other party was, after all, a juren.

Chen Maosheng was then invited in. The moment he entered, he said heatedly, "He must be executed by strangulation according to the Great Ming Code! Is a reformed prostitute not a woman of good standing? If a woman of a respectable family had been violated, see what these scholars would say! And besides, she was a propaganda officer — these scoundrels don't take propaganda officers seriously at all! If this man is not strangled, how can the propaganda corps carry out its work in the future?"

"Very good," Zhao Han said with satisfaction.

Chen Maosheng had finally looked at the problem from the victim's standpoint, rather than viewing it purely through the lens of political stratagem and the larger picture, as Pang Chunlai and Li Banghua had done.

Or rather, Chen Maosheng could feel it in his own flesh — he himself had been slept with by the gentry countless times. If some gentry member still dared to come sleep with him now, the bastard would certainly fight to the death.

In Chen Maosheng's view, a reformed prostitute also had dignity, and a reformed prostitute also did not wish to be violated.

After seeing Chen Maosheng off, Fei Chun was invited in.

Zhao Han asked, "What is your thinking?"

Fei Chun said, "Our grain trading house has already been set up, and grain depots have been built in several places. But the landlords who surrendered voluntarily did not have their grain confiscated — this has left a hidden danger. It is already the second month, the lean season when the old crop is exhausted and the new has yet to ripen. The peasants who received land after last autumn's harvest, though not yet starving, are still somewhat tight on grain. In Luling, Jishui, and Anfu, the grain merchants of the three counties are colluding, hoarding grain and refusing to release it, deliberately trying to drive up grain prices in the cities — the same trick they've used year after year."

Zhao Han was somewhat surprised that Fei Chun would bring this up.

Fei Chun said, "In grain trading matters, when Mr. Li was in charge, those grain merchants and landlords still showed some deference. After Mr. Li stepped down and I took full charge of the grain trade, these bastards started making trouble. To stabilize grain prices, I released half the stored grain from the depots! The gentry of the three counties, having had their land confiscated and no longer able to lend at usurious rates, can only manipulate the grain market to make money. Even if it means offending the Regional Commander's headquarters, they'll do it. The convergence of the three counties' scholars is led by those whose families have the most grain — we must use this case to deal with them properly!"

One's position determines one's views. Fei Chun was in charge of money and grain, so what he saw was a money-and-grain crisis.

After seeing Fei Chun off, Fei Ruhe was invited in.

"You're aware of the matter, I take it?" Zhao Han asked.

Fei Ruhe nodded and said, "I know."

Zhao Han asked, "What is your view?"

Fei Ruhe gave a cold laugh. "Most of the propaganda corps members are from Luling County — they're the core group who joined us very early on. To bully them is to bully us outsiders, to bully the brothers and sisters who rose up with us from the very start!"

Well, this fellow was even more direct — right off the bat he laid out the conflict between the founding faction and the Jishui faction.

Next, Xiao Huan was invited in.

"What's your view, Daliang?" Zhao Han asked.

Xiao Huan directly produced a document. "Commander, please take a look."

Zhao Han opened it and glanced over it, and his face immediately filled with cold sneers.

Zhao Han's civil affairs secretary Liu Fang had a younger brother who married a daughter of the Zou family of Jishui.

Zhao Han's military affairs secretary Huang Shunde had a nephew who was betrothed to the Liu family on the outskirts of Ji'an city.

Zuo Shan, the registrar of the Regional Commander's headquarters, had a son betrothed to the Xiao family of Luling.

Huang En, the record-keeper of the Regional Commander's headquarters, married a niece of the Zhou family of Jishui as his second wife.

The list was very long, fully enumerating over thirty names. Among them, eight were from Zhao Han's own Regional Commander's headquarters — those gentry were simply pervasive, leaving no crack unpenetrated!

Once Zhao Han truly became emperor, countless high-ranking figures would be bound by marriage ties to the gentry of the three counties.

These gentry already had many of their own sons and younger brothers serving as officials under Zhao Han. In the future, wouldn't the entire court be theirs to command?

Zhao Han asked, "These people on the list — are there any signs of corruption?"

Xiao Huan shook his head. "None. Corruption inspections are tight; no one dares reach out a hand anymore. However, in forming marriage ties with the gentry, they accepted many gifts from the brides' families. Though the gentry have lost their land, the money and grain in their households are still plentiful."

"What do you think should be done?" Zhao Han asked.

Xiao Huan answered, "Everyone on the list should be dismissed from office!"

Zhao Han shook his head. "That's too crude."

These people truly had not broken any law; it was merely normal marriage arrangements — how could they be dealt with in one sweeping stroke?

Moreover, some hope had to be left for the gentry, to at least give them something to look forward to. Otherwise, they would simply smash the pot to pieces and give up entirely.

…

The next day.

Huang Shunde was summoned to Pang Chunlai's office and saluted respectfully: "Chief Clerk Pang, I hope you are well."

Pang Chunlai's actual post was Chief Clerk of the Personnel Section at the Regional Commander's headquarters — the equivalent of Zhao Han's Minister of Personnel.

Pang Chunlai smiled faintly. "Chief Clerk Huang, you have been working hard."

"Serving the Regional Commander is no hardship," Huang Shunde said hastily.

Pang Chunlai said, "Here is your transfer document. From now on you will serve at the Anfu County yamen."

When Huang Shunde saw his new posting, all hope drained from him in an instant. Stammering, he said, "I… I, Chief Clerk Pang — where did I go wrong?"

Pang Chunlai sighed. "As the Regional Commander's military-affairs chief clerk, don't you think you talk too much? And you like to show off. The Regional Commander put up with all that — he considered you an old retainer. But you — your nephew got engaged to the Liu family, didn't he?"

"Getting engaged to the Liu family is a crime too?" Huang Shunde could not understand it at all. To him, forming a marriage alliance with a great clan was something to be proud of.

"Without even this much sense, how could you serve as military-affairs chief clerk at the Regional Commander's headquarters?" Pang Chunlai said coldly. "Go to Anfu County and do your work well. If you do it well, you can still be promoted. The Regional Commander still remembers you in his heart."

Huang Shunde walked out of the office in a daze, only to see Liu Fang waiting outside — apparently about to be called in for a reprimand as well.

It struck Huang Shunde suddenly: Liu Fang's younger brother had also married into a great clan!

Boundless terror swept over him. Huang Shunde understood at last — he had blundered unwittingly into a political struggle.

The resentment in his heart vanished in an instant. Huang Shunde had no thought left but to get to his post in Anfu County as soon as possible, so as not to be dragged into disaster. Right — his own nephew was not yet of age, only betrothed to the Liu family. He must go back at once and break off the engagement. Perhaps there was still time to make amends!

Liu Fang, however, could make no amends. His younger brother had already married a daughter of the Zou family — right when Zhao Han was personally leading troops on the surprise raid into Yuanzhou.

Liu Fang truly could not even cry. He was a scholar of the lowest stratum, the kind who could not even pass the xiucai examination. His family was desperately poor. By being shrewd in his work and unafraid of hardship, he had risen step by step to become a civil-affairs secretary at the Regional Commander's headquarters.

If Zhao Han could win the realm, Liu Fang could at the very least become a Minister of the Six Ministries, and entering the Grand Secretariat as a grand secretary was not out of the question either.

And now, just because his younger brother had married into a great clan, his whole future was destroyed?

In a single day, eight officials at the Regional Commander's headquarters were all transferred and demoted. The matter drew everyone's attention.

Those with quick minds swiftly summed up the common thread: every one of them had formed marriage ties with a great clan!

As for officials outside the Regional Commander's headquarters, Zhao Han did not move against them for the time being, nor could he be bothered to — he simply noted them down in his little book.

That he did not move did not mean those involved were not afraid. The signal was far too clear.

What followed was a wave of divorcing wives on a massive scale, and those who were merely betrothed hurried to break off their engagements. The gentry involved were infuriated and flocked to the county yamens to file lawsuits, arguing that their daughters were being divorced without any justification whatsoever.

The twenty-eighth day of the second month.

Xiao Huan, bringing officials and clerks and accompanied by Li Zheng with five hundred soldiers, traveled by boat straight to the Zou family residence outside the east gate of Jishui.

"The back gate, the side gates — surround them all! No one is to be let through!" Xiao Huan barked the order.

The Zou household was thrown into panic. An old man, supported by others, came out. "Chief Clerk Xiao, what… what is the meaning of this?"

Xiao Huan produced a document. "By order of the Regional Commander's headquarters: the Zou clan outside the east gate of Jishui has sabotaged the land-redistribution policy. In the tenth month of last year, they donated over six thousand mu of clan land to Qingyuan Temple as temple land — and never once reported this to the authorities! What is your Zou family trying to do?"

The old man hurriedly explained, "You must understand, Chief Clerk Xiao — I am a devout Buddhist…"

"Spare me your words. Qingyuan Temple is being seized and searched as we speak," Xiao Huan said coldly. "If you are a devout Buddhist, you can share a cell with the abbot of Qingyuan Temple. The two of you can explore the Dharma at your leisure — in prison!"

Qingyuan Temple, outside the county seat of Jishui, was the ancestral temple of the Qingyuan school of the Chan sect of Buddhism.

Not only that — when Wang Yangming had served as an official in Jiangxi, the very first place he gave lectures was Qingyuan Temple, using the Buddha hall as his lecture hall. For this reason, Qingyuan Temple wielded great influence not only in Buddhist circles, but its fusion of Chan and Confucianism also earned it the deep respect of the scholar class.

As for the Zou clan outside the east gate — the late Zou Yuanbiao had disciples and students all across Ji'an. Even Li Banghua was a student of Zou Yuanbiao.

What were these people plotting, colluding together like this?

Even if they had done nothing improper, they had to be crushed as a warning example!

Seeing the Zou clan's household being confiscated, Li Banghua was so alarmed that he rushed to see Zhao Han. "Regional Commander, you are using too much force — how can you govern like this!"

(End of chapter)