Chapter 375: Wang Zunde Backs Down

One reign, one set of ministers. The current Governor-General of Liangguang, Wang Zunde, was previously the Grand Coordinator of Guangxi. Because he had presided over a forceful bandit suppression campaign while in office, and had a reputation for incorruptibility, after Chongzhen ascended the throne he promoted him to Governor-General of Liangguang concurrently serving as Grand Coordinator of Guangdong.

From that long string of titles one can see that this gentleman's power was immense. However, there is a phrase called parity of authority and responsibility: since Wang Zunde held both military and civil authority over Liangguang in one hand, he was now responsible for resolving the scourge of Liu Xiang.

This is a long story: originally, Old Wang actually had no intention of resorting to arms.

Wang Zunde had initially been transferred from the post of Grand Coordinator of Guangxi. As for his political achievements, being an incorruptible official doesn't really count; the main one was the forceful bandit suppression. That is to say, when dealing with bandit troubles, Wang Zunde's governance philosophy leaned towards the relatively tough "suppression," rather than the weaker "pacification."

However, Old Wang's philosophy met a challenge after he arrived in Guangdong: back then, both Guangdong and Fujian were plagued by endless banditry, each had its own headache, and neither was better than the other.

Then things suddenly changed: from the north came a Xiong Wencan, who with a word recruited and granted amnesty to a group of "sea merchants" on Yizhou Island, and then overnight the Fujian coast became "seas clear and rivers calm," "no one picked up lost items on the road," and there were people helping old ladies cross the street.

This extremely stark contrast initially made the entire Guangdong officialdom somewhat uncomfortable.

Although criticisms that Xiong Wencan was "nurturing a tiger to invite calamity" and "allowing a band of sea bandits to grow powerful" never ceased, no matter how much they criticized, the Fujian coast was stable and peaceful, and Xiong Wencan, even in famine years, paid the court's full tax silver on time—these were all facts. Being able to earn a "Beloved Minister" from Chongzhen was something Xiong Wencan had genuinely bought with silver.

Guangdong officials quickly gathered the correct information from official documents, letters from Fujian colleagues of the same examination year, and merchants in whom their own families had invested: the Fujianese were indeed living better and better. The neighbor had not only cleared out bandit troubles but was also doing a booming business. Those fine gadgets recently popular in Guangzhou City were all originally created by that bunch from Yizhou!

Thus, the first wave of "murmurs" criticizing Wang Zunde's tough bandit suppression policy emerged: it seemed the summon pacification policy was also quite good? Why don't we give it a try too?

Wang Zunde immediately felt the pressure.

However, changing course was not so easy. Old Wang had always pursued an uncompromising hardline policy. If he changed it just like that, wouldn't that mean Old Wang had been a fool before?

So many things are this frustrating. Even in later generations, some wrong things must wait for a newcomer, a new leader, a new president, and so on to take office before they can be changed.

Wang Zunde actually did respond at the time—he convened Guangdong's high-ranking military officers to discuss bandit suppression matters, preparing to forcefully push through his governance philosophy.

However, he soon discovered that Guangdong was not Guangxi: the cost of suppressing pirates was far higher than suppressing mountain bandits. For instance, building a fleet and buying enough cannons—these upfront expenses alone could cost Old Wang his old life. As for whether the official army could handle the endless pirates after having the ships... only the devil knows.

And so the matter was awkwardly dragged on like this.

However, worldly affairs are fickle. Soon, Old Wang could no longer even drag it out, because Liu Xiang had arrived.

Everything has a limit. If the upper limit is exceeded, a qualitative change will definitely occur. Historically, Liu Xiang spent several years, using various methods including plundering, slaughtering, and kidnapping officials through fake recruitment and amnesty, before he thoroughly enraged the Fujian and Guangdong officialdom, incurring a targeted strike.

Now, due to the covert disruption of a certain malicious power base, the degree of damage suffered by Guangdong officialdom in just a few short months exceeded the threshold—cutting off someone's financial path is like killing their parents, the greatest enmity from ancient times to the present.

As a result, the official documents and memorials sent to the Zongdu Yamen not only used increasingly fierce wording, but "flame posts" also appeared right after.

Flame posts do not only exist on later-generation forums. In ancient times, out-of-office officials and the gentry posting notices and submitting letters attacking the current ministers was routine. The so-called court disputes and factional struggles were all carried out through one sheet after another of posts, memorials, and memorials. Those out-of-office bigwigs of the Donglin Party would feel uncomfortable all over if they didn't post a few times to curse their political enemies.

This time, Wang Zunde was not only cursed out face-to-face via memorials by some retired officials in Guangzhou City, but he also received definite news: this group had already begun submitting memorials impeaching him for the crimes of "holding a post and eating idly, sitting by and watching a great villain brutalize the people."

Being visited and cursed out by a group of old cadres, and then having those old cadres jointly write letters to the central government—what is a leader to do? The leader is also very helpless... In fact, apart from appeasement, Wang Zunde could do nothing.

It is now the seventeenth century; the proportion of literati is very small, and the rights of out-of-office scholar-officials are far greater than those of retired old cadres in later generations. These people could, in a minute, through disciples and old friends, in-laws, party comrades, same-year examination graduates... and other connections, deliver memorials impeaching Wang Zunde to Chongzhen's desk, and incidentally manufacture a wave of public opinion to ruin Wang Zunde's reputation, leaving leverage for his political enemies in the court.

Wang Zunde knew that not responding was no longer an option. Looking at those official documents with increasingly fierce wording, he knew that if this continued, the first thing he would lose was the support of lower-level officials—soon, government orders would not leave the Governor's Mansion.

The second was the Emperor's favor.

Previously, this could be considered a personal dispute between himself and Xiong Wencan. However, now that things had developed to this terrible state, if he remained stubborn, Chongzhen's good impression of him would soon be changed by the impeachment memorials—after all, the excellent situation in Fujian was right there, and Chongzhen was not a blind man.

Thus, Comrade Wang Zunde, under the intense public opinion impact created by the Guangdong officials and gentry, had no choice but to convene the "Special Military Meeting to Strike the Liu Xiang Bandit Gang" at the end of June 1629, within the Governor's Mansion in Zhaoqing, where the Governor-General of Liangguang was stationed.

The level of this meeting was relatively high.

Attendees included, besides Governor-General of Liangguang and concurrent Grand Coordinator Wang Zunde, Left Administration Commissioner of Guangdong Lu Wenli, Right Administration Commissioner Wang Daoyuan, and Surveillance Commissioner Zhang Bingwen; additionally, there was a group of high-ranking generals and officers starting from Regional Commander He Rubin on down... the civil and military bigwigs of Guangdong officialdom were caught in one net.

Sitting in the main hall of the Zongdu Yamen, with a lean and clear face, a refined and scholarly appearance, and sporting a three-part black beard, Regional Commander He Rubin was now sitting upright in his official's hat chair, looking straight ahead, attentively listening to the dialogue among the civil officials in the hall.

He Rubin, who historically authored military works like "Records of Military Affairs," was without a doubt a scholarly general. And scholarly generals are naturally clever: deeply versed in the rules of officialdom, Commander He, just like those military officers seated below him, remained silent, diligently playing the role of a good listener.

In fact, if they were truly discussing major military and state affairs, Wang Zunde would never have convened so many high officials at once. First holding secret talks with advisors, then discussing individually with relevant parties one by one—that was the proper procedure for discussing major matters.

And this so-called "Expanded Military and Administrative Meeting" usually had only two purposes for the convener: one was to share responsibility, such as raising taxes province-wide; the second was to shift blame, such as when policy suddenly changed direction.

Therefore, today's so-called meeting, before officials of He Rubin's rank, had long held no secrets—frankly, it was a "face-saving meeting." Old Comrade Wang Zunde, under heavy pressure, wanted to soften, to be forced to admit that the neighbor Old Xiong's summon pacification policy had won the final victory, so the old man was in a bad mood and wanted to call everyone together to lay stepping stones for him.

Matters that a bunch of military men could figure out, how could several high-ranking civil officials not understand? Besides, these few had also been plagued by Liu Xiang recently until their heads were splitting. Now seeing that Old Wang was finally intending to change course, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. As for helping Old Wang lay stepping stones for his descent... that was too simple. As literati, who doesn't need a little face? Long live mutual understanding.

Thus, in the main hall of the Governor's Mansion, several civil officials began their chorus as soon as they started:

"Now that Liu Xiang's power is great, one province alone is actually hard-pressed to control him. In this official's view, the Supreme Commander might as well send documents to Fujian, inviting the two Grand Coordinators to discuss this matter together, which would be best."

"Now the Provincial Treasury is empty. If the Supreme Commander intends to raise troops to suppress the bandits, the Provincial Administration Commission fears it may be beyond its capacity."

"That Liu Xiang was actually driven over by Fujian's Grand Coordinator Xiong. In this official's view, Grand Coordinator Xiong cannot escape involvement in this matter. He must send some troops over to jointly suppress the bandits—that is the proper reasoning."

... The several civil officials spoke one after another, and before anyone knew it, all the stepping stones had been laid, and the responsibility had been shifted to Xiong Wencan, who hadn't cleaned up the bandits thoroughly. Now they were just waiting for Supreme Commander Wang to nod once, and today's matter would be settled.

However, Supreme Commander Wang still had to struggle and put on a show. After listening to all the high officials' opinions, he glared and fixed his eyes on the scholarly general, that certain He: "Commander He, regarding this Liu Xiang affair, you, as Regional Commander, do you now have a strategy for suppressing the bandits?"

He Rubin hadn't expected an extra scene. Fortunately, he was battle-hardened, so after a flash of wit, he immediately replied: "Grand Commandant, it is not that our army is incapable; it is truly because Liu Xiang is too cunning and never confronts the official army head-on... If Fujian's Grand Coordinator Xiong could slightly send some fast ships to assist... perhaps... that would also be good."

"Enough! Enough!" Hearing this, Grand Governor-General Wang deeply flung his sleeve robes, rose, and left: "Since you all speak with one voice, this old man will comply with you."

The years-long dispute over bandit suppression between Fujian and Guangdong, with a sigh from Wang Zunde, finally drew its curtain and opened a new chapter.

Not long after this meeting, an official document requesting joint bandit suppression, issued in the name of He Rubin, Regional Commander of Guangdong, quietly arrived at the Fujian Regional Commander's Office.

And the recently appointed new Fujian Regional Commander was a fierce man. This person was named Xie Hongyi, the top martial scholar of the Wanli Era. Xie Hongyi had previously served as Fujian Regional Commander during the Tianqi era and had followed Grand Coordinator Nan Juyi in organizing and participating in the Ming state's Battle of Penghu to drive out the Dutch—at that time, the one leading troops to attack Penghu was Yu Zigao, who was only the Vice Regional Commander of the Southern Route; the one commanding from the rear was actually Xie Hongyi.

After this, Xie Hongyi had once been dismissed from office and returned home for a period due to factional struggles. At this time, another attribute of his came into play: this gentleman was not only the top martial scholar and a Regional Commander, but also a famous dramatist of the Late Ming, the author of the Kunqu opera script "Butterfly Dream"... truly adept with both pen and sword.

When Writer Xie saw this official document sent from Guangdong, having just taken office, he was still a bit puzzled, so he honestly forwarded the document to the Grand Coordinator's Office.

Then, when Old Xiong saw this document, he couldn't help but laugh repeatedly. He saw through the tricks of Guangdong officialdom at a glance: that old goods Wang Zunde had softened! Hmm, attendants, quickly invite Cao Jiangjun to the mansion to discuss matters.

"Aye!"