Chapter 232: 230 The Emperor and the Empress

Wang Tiaoding was still young — he certainly hadn't lived enough yet. How would he dare speak the truth?

He immediately cupped his fists and said, "This Zhao Yan is indeed a man of outstanding talent, rarely seen in the age. Yet his nature has two flaws: one is obstinacy, the other is benevolence."

Chongzhen asked, puzzled, "Benevolence is a flaw too?"

Wang Tiaoding explained, "This benevolence is the benevolence of a woman. Does Your Majesty know that Zhao Yan's military edge grows sharper by the day, yet he is still confined to half of Jiangxi?"

Chongzhen grew somewhat angry — what did he mean, confined to half of Jiangxi? Was seizing half of Jiangxi still too little?

Chongzhen did not respond, so Wang Tiaoding could only continue, "The officials and officers under his command are all seething for battle, eager to expand their private territories and win promotion. Yet Zhao Yan, with his woman's benevolence, every time he launches a major campaign, must do so only after the summer harvest or autumn harvest, and halts his troops after two months at most. He says that deploying too many troops will surely make the common people's lives harder by the day. Is this not the benevolence of a woman? With his prestige and military strength, he could have swept across Jiangxi two years ago."

"Rubbish! The court has troops aplenty and generals in abundance — Jiangxi is not his to seize just because he says so!" Chongzhen flew into a rage.

Wang Tiaoding hastily bowed his head, not daring to speak further.

In truth, Chongzhen already believed these words, and combining them with the assessments of Chen Yuding, Liu Tongsheng, and others, he sketched out a vivid image of the rebel Zhao in his mind.

As Chongzhen imagined him, Zhao Han was a Confucian scholar who believed in "benevolence and righteousness." Because of his own experiences, he bitterly hated the court and the great clans, yet cared deeply for and protected the common people. Thus, Zhao Han forcibly took the great clans' landholdings and distributed them to ordinary folk. Even when he could have seized all of Jiangxi, he feared that too much warfare would harm the people's livelihood, so every campaign lasted only a month or two — he would take a bit of territory and stop when the gains were good. He never forced the common people to pay extra taxes just to expand his territory.

This was a rebel with ideals, with morals, with a sense of responsibility — the complete opposite of men like Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

Seeing Wang Tiaoding prostrate on the ground, Chongzhen reined in his fury and asked, "That is his woman's benevolence — then what do you mean by obstinacy?"

Wang Tiaoding said, "Zhao Yan handles matters with an obstinate adherence to fixed rules. He holds the Great Ming Code as his supreme standard, and anyone who breaks the law is punished severely without leniency. There was once a juren who had long since submitted with his entire clan, and who worked diligently and tirelessly — one could call him an honest and upright official. Because he got drunk and insulted a prostitute who had left the profession and reformed, Zhao Yan sentenced him to death by strangulation according to the Great Ming Code. This incident utterly lost him the hearts of the gentry, and many fled with their entire clans."

Chongzhen actually began defending Zhao Han: "How can that be called obstinate? In handling affairs and holding office, one ought to follow the rules!"

Wang Tiaoding said, "Your Majesty, those who achieve great things do not fret over trifles. For the sake of one reformed prostitute, he killed an honest and upright official, causing many of the gentry to flee. This is truly obstinacy."

Chongzhen said angrily, "It is you scholars who refuse to follow the rules that have brought the realm to such a state! They deserve to die, deserve to die!"

To the image of Zhao Han in Chongzhen's mind, "stern and impartial" was now added.

Benevolent, righteous, caring for the people, stern and impartial — how fine it would be if such a man came to serve as an official for me. What a pity that he has become a rebel instead. It is all the fault of Jiangxi's corrupt officials, who drove a moral, rule-abiding scholar to revolt!

Chongzhen asked again, "Are there many scholars in Jiangxi who have joined the rebels?"

Wang Tiaoding answered, "There are also sons of great clans who have joined the rebels, but most are impoverished scholars. Jiangxi's literary culture flourishes, and many sons of poor families study. Such scholars have no hope in the examinations, no path to serve the country, no means of livelihood — and Zhao Yan also gives them land, so they swarm to become rebel officials. Although Zhao Yan is obstinate, he employs men without rigid conventions. Prostitutes, pimps, household slaves — all may serve as officials and clerks. It is rumored that the one who manages his money and grain is of household slave origin."

"Does this household slave manage the money and grain well?" Chongzhen asked curiously.

Wang Tiaoding answered, "Having been given heavy responsibility despite his lowly status, this household slave is overwhelmed with gratitude toward Zhao Yan and exhausts every effort in his official duties. In both conduct and work, he emulates Zhao Yan: he holds money, grain, and tax revenues in his hands, yet he acquires no property, takes no concubines, keeps no servants, and lives solely on his official salary. Countless sums of money and grain pass through his hands, and he takes not a fraction."

"I too am diligent in governance and frugal — why then are all the hundred officials corrupt, while under Zhao Yan's rule there are so many honest officials?" Chongzhen was extremely interested in this and asked, "How does Zhao Yan rectify local governance?"

Wang Tiaoding answered, "Zhao Yan employs men regardless of their origin. Even a juren serving as an official must start as a minor clerk. Merit is always rewarded, fault always punished. Every year there are corrupt officials — the serious cases are condemned and beheaded, the lesser ones are exiled to labor as miners."

Chongzhen's brow furrowed tightly, and he grew even more baffled. He too rewarded merit and punished fault — how was it that the entire civil and military officialdom was full of the corrupt?

Chongzhen truly could not understand. He was diligent and frugal, never undertaking large-scale construction; when the palace halls leaked, he could not bear to spend money on repairs. Every previous Ming emperor had taken money from the state treasury for private use, yet he drew from his own privy purse to support the troops. In selfless devotion to the state, he was the foremost of all Ming emperors.

How was it that such a good emperor as himself had brought the country to such a state?

Even Heaven itself punished him — the finances were already strained, and this year a nationwide catastrophe struck, so that even in prosperous regions like the Southern Metropolitan Area and Zhejiang, people were eating people.

Abruptly, Chongzhen lost all desire to talk. He waved his hand and said, "You may go."

Wang Tiaoding dared say no more and was led out of the Forbidden City by a eunuch.

Chongzhen went to Empress Zhou's quarters. He said not a word, only sat there in a daze.

Empress Zhou sighed inwardly. She came up behind Chongzhen and silently pressed his shoulders and pounded his back. She dared not say much, for speaking was useless anyway. In history, when Beijing was besieged and Chongzhen ordered the empress and consorts to commit suicide, Empress Zhou finally spoke her reproach: "I married you eighteen years ago, and you never listened to a single word I said — that is how we have fallen to this day."

Empress Zhou had hinted to Chongzhen that he should move the court south, but Chongzhen simply pretended not to understand.

"Am I a ruler destined to doom his kingdom?" Chongzhen suddenly spoke.

Empress Zhou dared not speak the truth, nor dared she point out Chongzhen's faults. She only consoled him: "Your Majesty is diligent and loves the people — you are certainly no ruler who dooms his kingdom."

Chongzhen stared blankly at the candle flame and murmured, "The Southern Metropolitan Area and Zhejiang suffer a great disaster — people eat one another. The Jiangxi rebel actually wished to join hands with me to stabilize grain prices, yet I have been pressing these two regions for tax levies all along. Am I less than even a rebel? But if I do not levy taxes, how do I train troops, how do I suppress the bandits?"

Empress Zhou consoled him, "Your Majesty, do not worry — you can dispatch capable ministers..."

"Where are there any capable ministers?" Chongzhen cut her off abruptly. "The entire civil and military court is full of the greedy and base, worse than even the household slave under the rebel Zhao! That household slave manages money and grain for the rebel Zhao with tireless diligence, not taking a fraction. And my grand ministers? Do they think I do not know? Of the grain and pay for the Nine Border Garrisons, before it even leaves the capital, half has vanished to who knows where. Civil officials and military officers embezzle the silver, and the eunuchs I send to supervise the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works embezzle the silver too. Not one of them obeys — they all deserve to die! Take that Wang Yongzhong — I sent him to guard Jiangxi, not to collect taxes, and he was beaten to death by merchants because of his extortionate levies!"

Empress Zhou did not know how to console him. She only ached for her husband, who had lived these years far too wearily.

How she wished her husband were not the emperor, but still the Prince of Xin he once was. She would sit before the dressing table, and the Prince of Xin would sneak up and tug her hair; she would startle at the movement and whip her head around, her hair slapping the Prince of Xin across the face. The eunuchs would be too frightened to speak, but the Prince of Xin would burst out laughing.

The Prince of Xin back then — how cheerful and amusing he was. Yet now the emperor was irascible and quick to anger.

"Deserve to die, deserve to die!"

In the middle of the night, Empress Zhou was jolted awake. Listening more closely, she realized it was the emperor talking in his sleep.

Empress Zhou's tears suddenly gushed forth. She dared not cry aloud, only wept silently, holding her husband's hand, wanting to give him some comfort.

Early the next morning.

Chongzhen received urgent military intelligence: Li Zicheng had surrounded Chengdu. This struck him as utterly inconceivable, because the intelligence from a few days earlier had reported Li Zicheng surrounding Hanzhong.

In a mere nineteen days, Li Zicheng's main force had swiftly crossed the Qinling Mountains, traveling from Hanzhong to outside the walls of Chengdu!

How were the bandit-suppression troops supposed to pursue that?

Yang Sichang's "ten-sided net" strategy leaked like a sieve — the government troops could do nothing but eat dust behind the roving bandits.

Xiong Wencan, however, was still quite effective. Not long after he went to serve as Supreme Commander of the Six Provinces, he actually managed to "induce the surrender" of Zhang Xianzhong.

Only, Zhang Xianzhong's surrender was even more absurd than Zhao Han's.

The fellow had been wounded in battle and it was inconvenient to keep running around. Since he was idle anyway, he might as well put on a show for the court. While accepting amnesty on one hand, he drilled his troops and prepared for war on the other — and still found time to hire someone to lecture him on Sun Tzu's Art of War.

Truly — Zhang Xianzhong had begun to study, or more precisely, to listen to books being read.

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And he did not listen to Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but specifically had scholars lecture him on serious military strategy and tactics.

Chongzhen issued stern orders for the frontline troops to enter Sichuan immediately to suppress the bandits, then sent men to retrieve Wang Tiaoding's dossier.

A child prodigy who became a xiucai at eleven, passed the jinshi examination while still young. While serving as County Magistrate in the Northern Metropolitan Area, his achievements included bandit suppression, city-wall construction, pacifying the people, and promoting agriculture — his evaluation was rated excellent. Damn it, this man was a talent!

Those bastards in the Ministry of Personnel — why had they not transferred such a capable minister to serve in the central government?

Wang Tiaoding waited and waited, delayed for over half a month, before finally receiving the Chongzhen Emperor's reply.

The Minister of Revenue of Nanjing and the Left Vice Minister were imprisoned and indicted. The Right Vice Minister of Revenue of Nanjing, Li Xuan, was promoted on the spot to Nanjing Minister of Revenue, granted the imperial sword, and given full authority to oversee famine relief in the Southern Metropolitan Area and Zhejiang.

As for joining hands with the Jiangxi rebel Zhao to stabilize grain prices — not a word was said about it. Chongzhen could not afford the humiliation.

"Ah!"

Wang Tiaoding sighed. Though he had expected this, he still felt disheartened.

Without the court coordinating with Jiangxi, grain prices could never be forced down, and Zhao Han was powerless to do anything about it either. Even if Jiangxi grain merchants were compelled to sell their stocks quickly, the Jiangnan merchants would inevitably hoard and refuse to release their goods.

Moreover, Wang Tiaoding could no longer leave the capital. He had been appointed by Chongzhen as Supervising Secretary of the Office of Scrutiny for Personnel.

Wang Tiaoding was utterly speechless. What damn use was this post?

Remonstrance officials in the late Ming fell into just two types. One type built their reputations by denouncing others; the other attacked political enemies by denouncing others. Those who genuinely offered counsel and proposals were exceedingly rare — and Chongzhen basically never listened, which made Supervising Secretaries who discussed affairs seriously rarer still.

The original function of the Six Offices of Scrutiny's Supervising Secretaries was to serve as lubricant and overseer between the Grand Secretariat and the Six Ministries.

During the Jiajing reign, the balance of power between the Grand Secretariat and the Six Ministries broke down, and the Six Offices fell into an extremely awkward position. During Zhang Juzheng's reform period, the Six Offices' power surged dramatically, and from then on they became the Grand Secretariat's running dogs.

Chongzhen, in turn, repeatedly tormented the Grand Secretariat, with the result that the Grand Secretariat, the Six Offices, and the Six Ministries utterly lost their proper functions. Apart from factional struggles, nothing whatsoever could get done.

Some ministers wanted to accomplish things, but at court there was simply no way to do so, because the three great organs of power had fallen into functional chaos.

What Chongzhen truly ought to do was adjust the Grand Secretariat, the Six Offices, and the Six Ministries, and redefine the scope of their functions, so that the court's operations could at least return to some semblance of normality!

(End of chapter)