Chapter 345: Groundless

On the first day of the third month.

According to the rules of the New Policies, there should have been a routine Grand Court assembly today.

But at this juncture, the human resources of the Great Ming court were truly somewhat strained.

First, the various examination officials, having been shut inside the examination hall for half a month, were now frantically catching up on their backlog of work.

Second, the great purge had swept up nearly one in ten capital officials, causing obvious bottlenecks in the work of every ministry and bureau. So this Grand Court assembly was simply canceled outright.

Since the court assembly was canceled, however, Zhu Youjian's schedule naturally moved forward.

And his meeting with the outstanding exemplars among the new clerks was one of those items.

"So that is the reason your family moved to Northern Zhili."

After hearing the young man before him finish his account, Zhu Youjian could not suppress a long sigh.

"Y-yes... yes, Your Majesty. My late father... my late father, he..."

At this point, Qian Changle, standing below, had completely broken down, his face streaked with tears and mucus that would not stop.

Watching this young man weeping bitterly, Zhu Youjian showed not the slightest displeasure. He simply rose to his feet, walked around the imperial desk, reached out, and patted him on the shoulder. "It's all right... take your time. Catch your breath, then speak."

As he said this, Zhu Youjian drew a silk handkerchief from inside his robes and held it out.

"Wipe your tears away."

Qian Changle immediately scrambled to his feet in alarm.

He accepted the handkerchief, his mind buzzing.

This was an object bestowed by His Majesty!

How could he actually dare to wipe the snot and tears from his own face with this silk?

In his fluster, Qian Changle could only roll up the sleeves of his plain cotton robe haphazardly and scrub fiercely at his face, rubbing his skin bright red. Watching his awkward demeanor, Zhu Youjian did not urge him on.

He turned around, walked back behind the imperial desk, and sat down, quietly waiting for the other man to collect himself.

"Your Majesty... this subject... has collected himself..."

Qian Changle drew several deep breaths, struggling to suppress the sobs in his chest, and spoke with his head lowered.

Zhu Youjian set down his teacup, nodded, and said gently:

"That being the case, the court originally wronged your family."

"It rashly launched the New Policies without considering the plight of loyal and righteous men like yourselves."

"Then, when the reform reversed course overnight, those civil officials up top simply dusted off their hands and left. It was your family, down in the localities, that suffered the fallout, took the blame, and endured unjust treatment."

At this, Zhu Youjian's gaze flickered, and a note of appreciation entered his voice:

"After experiencing such circumstances, you are still willing to step forward and devote yourself to today's New Policies..."

"We are truly gratified."

"'A scholar in the wilderness, yet his heart holds the nation' — that saying captures the family tradition of your Qian clan."

At these words, Qian Changle's face instantly flushed bright red.

What "heart holds the nation"!

When he had come to sit the examination for these New Policy clerks, it had purely been because he could not stomach becoming an apprentice at a merchant house, so he had gritted his teeth and taken a gamble — nothing more.

Yet faced with the Emperor's such lofty praise, he had no idea how to begin explaining such a private, unseemly motive. To puncture the illusion — he felt the atmosphere was not quite right for it.

But not to puncture it — he felt he was betraying the Emperor's trust.

For a moment, Qian Changle simply hemmed and hawed, frozen on the spot, unable to force out a single word.

Fortunately, Zhu Youjian did not press further on this topic.

He could see the young man's embarrassment. Though he did not understand the reason, he smoothly shifted the conversation:

"So, what trade is your elder brother plying now?"

Hearing this question, Qian Changle felt as if he had been granted a great reprieve, and hurriedly answered honestly:

"To answer Your Majesty, is not the Shuntian Prefectural Office repairing the dirt roads in the southern quarter?"

"My elder brother, taking advantage of the lull before the busy farming season, gathered together all the villagers from our ward."

"He left a small group behind to help each other look after the miscellaneous farm work in the fields, and brought everyone else into the city to work as laborers." Zhu Youjian was briefly taken aback, then immediately understood.

Some kind of Ming-dynasty agricultural cooperative? How had this thing sprung up?

As an emperor who, after transmigrating, had truly rolled up his trouser legs and planted crops himself, although he had yet to experience a harvest, he had genuinely acquired a good deal of practical knowledge.

Right now was the beginning of spring.

Although it was not yet the busiest season for sowing or the autumn harvest, many overwintering crops already required attention and upkeep.

This upkeep work did not demand a large overall labor force, but it was extremely fragmented and required someone to keep an eye on it constantly.

This eldest brother of the Qian family was truly remarkable!

He had actually managed, within his own single ward, to organize a mutual-aid group with a hint of "collectivization" about it.

By leaving one group behind to maintain the crops, he freed up a large labor force to go into the city, work, and earn money.

Such coordinating ability and personal prestige — this was a formidable figure indeed.

"An excellent idea!"

Zhu Youjian could not help but praise him aloud: "Some people farm, some people work as laborers — under this kind of division of labor and cooperation, the overall benefit to your village must have risen dramatically."

At this, he suddenly realized something and looked at Qian Changle with a smile:

"What's this... did you apply the theory of the division of labor you learned at night school to your village?"

The emotions of the young come quickly and go just as fast.

Asked this by the Emperor, Qian Changle had by now completely forgotten his earlier grief and embarrassment. He scratched his head somewhat shyly and gave a simple, honest laugh: "Heh heh... Your Majesty sees all."

"But I only casually tossed out an idea. The one who truly gathered everyone together and went door-to-door persuading every household — that credit belongs to my big brother." Zhu Youjian laughed heartily and nodded repeatedly:

"You supplied the idea, your elder brother supplied the connections and prestige, and your fellow villagers supplied the labor and trust."

"And isn't this just another form of division of labor?"

He paused, then added with a hint of anticipation:

"Wait a while. The Crafts Institute has already begun field experiments recently."

"Once this batch of experiments is done, the court will issue a new, more detailed edition of the division-of-labor theory."

Qian Changle's eyes lit up, his face full of expectation:

"Great! Then I'll be waiting to see it when the time comes!"

Zhu Youjian smiled.

What a green lad — switching between 'this subject,' 'I,' and 'me' all over the place. You really can't tell whether he's an official or a commoner.

Only...

Zhu Youjian cast an inconspicuous glance at the mantel clock placed at the corner of the imperial desk.

Time was about right.

Zhu Youjian straightened his casual sitting posture, leaned slightly forward, and quickened the pace of the conversation.

"So... in your view, since the court launched the great purge, what changes have there been in the capital?"

Qian Changle, oblivious to the subtle shift in atmosphere, answered offhandedly:

"In reply to Your Majesty, the common folk in the city..."

Zhu Youjian nodded as he listened, then precisely lobbed one question after another:

"And what of the attitude of the subofficial clerks? We mean the old clerks, not the new ones."

"I see... And what of the merchants? We have heard that the markets have lately been so desolate—"

"What do the commoners in the outskirts think of the new policies being implemented in the capital?"

"By the way, have you recently gone to pay respects to your maternal uncle? Is the work at the postal relay station still as grueling as before?"

These questions, seemingly random, were in fact all extensions of the casual chat they had been having moments before.

For instance, Qian Changle had mentioned that his maternal uncle worked as a groom at a postal relay station, so Zhu Youjian naturally followed up by asking about the groom's affairs.

Moreover, Zhu Youjian's questioning was extremely skillful.

He only asked Qian Changle "what he saw," never "why things are this way," or "what do you think should be done."

This allowed Qian Changle to answer without the slightest psychological burden, recounting everything truthfully, one item after another.

Soon, the time allotted for this exchange was up.

Qian Changle, following the protocol taught by the Ministry of Rites, bowed respectfully and prepared to withdraw.

Only when he had backed out across the threshold did he suddenly realize with a start that his hand had been tightly clutching the imperial-gift handkerchief the entire time.

"Your Majesty..."

Startled, Qian Changle hastily straightened up and raised the handkerchief in his hand to indicate it, at a loss for what to do.

Seeing this, Zhu Youjian couldn't help but burst into hearty laughter and waved his hand casually:

"Take it back with you!"

"If you meet the girl of your heart someday, you can give it to her as a token of love. When the time comes, you can boldly tell her that We bestowed it upon her!" Qian Changle's face flushed red. He once again solemnly prostrated himself on the ground, kowtowed heavily in gratitude for the grace, and only then turned and withdrew.

Once the man was gone, the Warmth Chamber fell completely silent.

Zhu Youjian stood up, paced a few steps back and forth behind the spacious imperial desk, and vigorously stretched his somewhat stiff muscles and bones.

Only then did he turn his head to look at Gao Shiming, who had been standing in the corner the entire time.

"Companion, this is rather interesting..."

Zhu Youjian narrowed his eyes, his fingers habitually stroking his beard.

"Has that Wang Quan gone mad?"

"How dare he be so ostentatious at a critical juncture like this?"

The matter His Majesty was referring to was precisely a piece of folk gossip that Qian Changle had casually let slip moments earlier, in response to the question "We have heard that the markets have lately been so desolate."

Just before Qian Changle entered the palace, that great capital-debt merchant of Shanxi origin, Wang Quan, after paying the colossal fine of one hundred thousand taels, had clearly not left his residence for several days.

Yet this very morning, Wang Quan had, with great fanfare, summoned all the carriages and horses of his household and gone in a grand procession to the marketplace to make lavish purchases, spending gold like dirt, drawing people from half the marketplace to crowd around and watch the spectacle.

Normally, such marketplace intelligence would be compiled and reported by the Eastern Depot.

But the timing was truly unfortunate, falling precisely between the Eastern Depot's daily morning report and evening report.

So much so that Zhu Youjian had actually intercepted this news first from idle chat with a minor clerk.

Zhu Youjian furrowed his brow and spoke:

"Is he imitating Wang Jian of the Warring States period? Deliberately besmirching himself with a show of craving pleasure, so as to set Our mind at ease?"

"But the current situation, this whole scene, has nothing whatsoever to do with whether Our mind is at ease or not." Gao Shiming was silent for a moment, mentally marshaling all the relevant information.

Very quickly, he grasped the crux of the matter and spoke softly:

"Your Majesty, could this be a problem of the marketplace?"

"Didn't Wang Tiqian of the Eastern Depot report the day before yesterday that outside the residences of many capital-debt merchants, crowds of small creditors demanding repayment have been besieging the gates?"

"Those people are all afraid that if these great merchants are stripped of their property and exiled by the court, their own debts will be utterly irrecoverable. That's why they go block the doors every day." Zhu Youjian caught on as well and couldn't help clapping his hands in admiration.

"Eunuch Gao, you are as sharp as ever. That is indeed a real possibility!"

"Whether in commerce or in statecraft, the rule has always been: the man may fall, but the façade must not."

"If those outsiders truly come to believe that Wang Quan is about to fall, triggering a run, he might very well be doomed beyond redemption."

"His extravagant spending spree today, on the one hand, is to prove to the outside world that he still has ready silver on hand, to steady people's hearts. On the other hand, he is also indirectly announcing to everyone that he has already paid his fine and been let off by the court's new policies..." Gao Shiming seized the moment to offer a well-timed compliment, chiming in with a smile:

"This is precisely because Your Majesty's word is as weighty as nine sacred tripods, spoken and then honored in deed, that Wang Quan dares to stake his entire family fortune and his very life on such a gamble."

Zhu Youjian shook his head noncommittally, declining to accept the flattery, and directly changed the subject.

"Over at the Ministry of Rites, how is the progress of the juren candidate registration?"

Gao Shiming immediately wiped the smile from his face and replied gravely,

"This subject just went to the Ministry of Rites to inquire. At present, roughly seven hundred people have registered and are willing to study at the Imperial Academy."

Zhu Youjian could not help stroking his beard again, letting out a "Tch."

"The notice has been in the papers three days, and only seven hundred…"

"Forget it. Let them do as they please."

"Few people, there is a way for few people; many people, there is a way for many people. It makes no difference. The path is one they chose themselves."

He paced two more steps in place, halted, and raised his head to look out the door.

"The atmosphere in the capital has already turned somewhat foul."

"If this heavy pressure persists too long, hearts and minds and the overall situation will instead begin to shift — it is all too easy for things to reverse once they reach an extreme."

"In a moment, go and tell Li Guopu to push back the special rectification targeting petty officials a little further."

"Then have the Three Judicial Offices sort through the cases they still have pending, with the middle of this month as the deadline. Once the investigations are more or less done, wrap them up quickly." Zhu Youjian walked to the door of the warming chamber, pushed one half open, and drew a deep breath of the early-spring air.

"A bowstring cannot remain drawn forever."

"Tension and release in turn — that is the kingly way."

Fifteen days later.

The great purge officially concluded, and this metropolitan examination of the first year of Yongchang also reached its end.

The palace examination consisted of only a single policy essay, so just past noon, the palace examination was over.

But the end of the examination did not mean all the work was finished.

The various examiners needed to divide up these four hundred answer papers, read them through, then rank them and submit the rankings for His Majesty's final decision.

Indeed, the true chief examiners of the palace examination were not the Emperor, but the civil officials.

After all, these were a full four hundred examination papers. To have the Emperor read them alone and rank them one by one would likely take three or four days to complete. Moreover, the topic this time had been set by the Emperor himself, who explicitly required answers in the format of "statecraft official prose."

As a result, the length and informational density of the answers were even more beyond what traditional policy essays on current affairs could match.

And while the examiners were there racking their brains over the grading, in the warming chamber beside the great hall, a matter of even greater importance than the palace examination was underway.

— The final report on this great purge campaign was in progress.

Li Guopu rose to his feet and began,

"Your Majesty, the results of the special campaign against corrupt officials in this great purge are as follows:"

"On the original list, there were a total of one hundred and thirty-four corrupt officials."

"Of these, one hundred and twenty-seven have been convicted of embezzlement. The remaining seven were found to have no solid evidence against them…"

At this point, Li Guopu paused briefly and added,

"In truth, it is not that there is truly no solid evidence, only that time was tight, and because Your Majesty instructed that torture was not to be used, we relied solely on house confiscation."

"These seven men did not have their families in the capital, and most of their private wealth had long since been sent back to their home villages."

"The hidden gold uncovered from their residences amounted to no more than a few hundred or a thousand taels. If one were to force the calculation, it could still be made to match their accumulated salaries over the years…"

Zhu Youjian, seated behind the imperial desk, waved his hand casually, cutting off Li Guopu's explanation.

"It is nothing. Let it pass if it passes."

"For this first purge, do not be so strict. A measure of leniency is more conducive to the court's transition."

"Once the norms are established later, and everyone's proficiency and the officials' adaptability have all improved, it will not be too late to be strict."

Li Guopu nodded and offered no further explanation.

He naturally understood these principles; it was simply that as a minister, he was compelled to make the explanation.

And for the Emperor to be willing to personally endorse such a decision was all the more rare and commendable.

This young sovereign was, as ever, so willing to protect his ministers…

Li Guopu gathered his thoughts and continued his report:

"Of the one hundred and twenty-seven men convicted,"

"the one holding the highest office and with the largest confiscated sum was Huang Yuntai, Governor of Tianjin, convicted of embezzling one hundred and eighty thousand taels."

"The remaining officials, in bits and pieces, sum to a total of over six hundred and seventy thousand taels in convicted embezzlement."

Zhu Youjian nodded, unsurprised by this amount.

First of all, what exactly was "convicted embezzlement"?

In this era, there were neither bank statements nor any variety of invoices and reconciliation slips.

To truly investigate exactly how much a specific official had embezzled was exceedingly difficult.

Therefore, generally speaking, apart from cases with concrete instances and specifically verified illicit gains, such embezzlement amounts were typically arrived at by estimation.

And the underlying logic of this great purge still followed the promise Zhu Youjian had issued upon his ascension — the "Feast of the Torn Tassels." That is, all illicit gains predating the first day of the tenth month of the seventh year of Tianqi would not be pursued.

But for illicit gains after that date, every single coin would be accounted for with absolute clarity.

So the amount actually calculated was certainly far smaller than the true sum these officials had embezzled over their entire lives, or even just over this period. Moreover, the convicted amount was the sum used for sentencing; the recovered amount was what was actually collected.

Much of the illicit gains had not necessarily all been converted into land or silver.

They might have become calligraphy, paintings, or antiques that were very difficult to value, or luxury carriages and clothing that depreciated very easily.

More often, these illicit gains were themselves meant to be reinvested into the network of personal connections within officialdom — for socializing, for paying tribute upward. Thus, the final recovered amount was bound to be even less than the convicted amount.

If the convicted sum was eight hundred and fifty thousand taels, it was entirely possible that only five hundred thousand would actually be recovered.

But Zhu Youjian was indifferent to all of this.

From the very beginning, fiscal revenue from the anti-corruption effort had been incidental.

Shaping the political atmosphere and fostering a climate of clean governance — that was the focus.

Li Guopu turned a page and continued,

"Li Zhizhong is currently grading papers in the front hall, so this subject will deliver his portion on his behalf."

"Within the capital, there are forty-three major capital-debt merchants with substantial assets."

"Of these, we have definitively identified thirty-nine who continued to defy the ban and issue capital debt after the New Year."

"After setting fines according to the scale of their assets, the total penalty amounted to eight hundred seventy thousand taels of silver. All has now been paid in full and deposited in the treasury."

Zhu Youjian's eyebrows rose, and his heart instantly felt as refreshed as if he had just drunk an ice-cold soda, bubbling over with satisfaction.

If the money confiscated from the officials was an uncertain long-term gain,

then what the merchants had handed over was solid, tangible cash flow.

In fact, according to estimates by the tax office, the total assets of this group of capital-debt merchants absolutely exceeded ten million taels.

But there was one rather awkward issue.

Capital-debt merchants did not necessarily deal exclusively in capital debt.

For example, Wu Cheng'en, who successfully got out of the business—aside from lending capital debt, he was also a leading figure in the capital's jewelry trade, and he concurrently managed legitimate businesses in salt and textiles.

This made it very difficult to clearly define how much of those ten million in assets was black money squeezed out through capital-debt exploitation, and how much was white money earned from legitimate trade. Unless every capital-debt merchant was rounded up, their homes searched, and their account books seized and checked entry by entry, it could never be fully calculated. Therefore, the fines this time, rather than being based on "the amount of capital debt issued in violation of regulations,"

were better described as "atonement silver for past engagement in capital debt."

Once this money was paid, the past was wiped clean.

As long as you did not touch capital debt in the future and did not participate in the dangerous game of corrupting the officialdom of the Great Ming, you were a friend of the Yongchang Emperor, and everyone could continue to do business happily together.

As for those capital debts already lent out?

Find a way to balance the books yourselves.

In any case, the Yongchang Emperor's blade would only cut deeper and deeper, more and more ruthlessly with each stroke.

When the time came, whoever still had dirty blood on them would have to endure round after round of great purges.

Li Guopu finished his report, bowed with clasped hands, and sat down.

Gao Shiming signaled to Liu Ruoyu, who immediately rose and stepped forward from the ranks.

"Your Majesty, the internal purge of the Inner Household is divided into two parts: within the palace and outside the palace."

"The sweep within the palace this time was relatively small in scale, with only seventeen individuals of various ranks taken."

"The highest-ranking among them was Zhou Shizhi, the seal-holding eunuch of the Needlework Bureau, from whom two thousand three hundred eighty-two taels were recovered."

"From the remaining officials of various ranks, a total of seven thousand eight hundred twenty-six taels was recovered."

Hearing the name "Zhou Shizhi," Zhu Youjian fell silent for a moment.

He let out a long sigh, and a look of pain appeared on his face with practiced ease.

"Zhou Shizhi..."

"We still remember when We were at the Prince Xin Residence, he served Us with great diligence when dressing."

"We never expected that just as the new policies began, he would fall behind."

"Enough. After all, he is an old hand from Our princely residence. Give him a dignified exit."

"Allot him one hundred mu of farmland on the outskirts of the city, and have Wei Liangqing teach him how to farm. Henceforth... pay him no further mind."

—This was a lie.

During his time at the Prince Xin Residence, Zhu Youjian had been extremely lacking in any sense of security.

Apart from Zhou Yu, he had suspected virtually everyone around him without distinction.

Especially after failing to find Wang Cheng'en in the Prince Xin Residence, he had become even more paranoid, not daring to make a single move that deviated from the character and status of "Zhu Youjian."

He had guarded against those eunuchs as if they were thieves; where would any damned affection from the princely residence come from?

Saying this now was merely putting on a slight show of leniency. For him, using Zhou Shizhi as the sacrificial chicken to re-tighten discipline within the inner court was the real priority.

In many novels, right at the start, the emperor launches a grand anti-corruption campaign, and afterward, the ministers all seem to be instantly reformed, becoming utterly incorruptible.

How could that be possible?

There are the foolish, the greedy, and even more who harbor a luck-driven mentality, thinking they can resume their plundering once the storm passes.

This world will never lack for parasites.

Anti-corruption can never be a one-off vanity project.

It must be sustained relentlessly, transformed into a normalized sword of justice hanging overhead.

Only when the day comes that an official of this realm, upon receiving a bribe, does not react with habitual indifference but with hesitation, can it truly be said to have shown initial results.

Yes, one does not even hope for fear; if they merely hesitate for a moment, the anti-corruption campaign can already be considered a major victory.

Liu Ruoyu nodded to show he understood, then continued his report:

"The largest sums of corruption in this Inner Household purge were outside the palace."

"The Armor Factory, the Fuel Factory, the Silver Bureau, the Armory Bureau, and other such places in the capital, having remained outside the supervision of the new policies and having been inadequately cleansed by the Inner Household previously, were rife with corruption."

"A total of seventy-four offenders of various ranks were apprehended, and a total of one hundred thirty-two thousand nine hundred ten taels was recovered."

Zhu Youjian nodded, pondered for a moment, and then spoke:

"For all the vacancies created, order the personnel of each bureau and factory to compete openly for the posts."

"In the style of statecraft documents, they shall clearly list the current failings of their bureau, how they plan to reform it after taking over, and what results they expect to achieve. All of this is to be itemized clearly and submitted to the Directorate of Ceremonial for review."

"After review, it will be sent to Us for final decision."

In practice, this still kept these places outside the new policies, the aim being to maintain an absolute focus of attention.

Gao Shiming immediately stepped forward, clasped his hands, and said:

"Your Majesty, rest assured. A draft plan for this initiative already exists, and we expect to complete the initial screening by the end of this month."

Zhu Youjian nodded and signaled for the next person to step forward.

Wang Tiqian glanced at Tian Ergeng, then stepped forward and began:

"Your Majesty, this second phase of internal anti-corruption and anti-graft purges within the Depot and Guard was led by the Eastern Depot."

"A total of two hundred ninety-three corrupt members of various ranks were investigated and punished."

"Of these, forty-two from the Eastern Depot, two hundred forty-seven from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and four from the electrical system."

"The total amount of illicit funds recovered comes to thirty-eight thousand one hundred seventy-two taels, and the full sum has now been collected."

Zhu Youjian swept an unobtrusive glance at Tian Ergeng, then nodded with satisfaction toward Wang Tiqian.

"Good. The work has been swift. Keep it up."

"We hope that one day, in the eyes of the people, the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard will no longer be mere bywords for brutality and viciousness, but institutions that can be trusted to uphold law and discipline."

"When that day comes, the Anti-Corruption Court can truly be established."

"The two of you must cooperate in good faith, and carry out this historic transformation for Us, and for the Great Ming."

At the words "Anti-Corruption Court" and "historic transformation," Wang Tiqian and Tian Ergeng's expressions turned solemn. They knelt together and declared in ringing voices, "Your subjects will spare no effort in service until our dying breath!"

The Depot and the Guard — in truth, for much of the time, their roles and functions were entirely overlapping.

If one had to name a difference, it could only be said that the Eastern Depot's function was purer: it was simply the Emperor's eyes and ears.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard, on the other hand, was a hodgepodge, owing to historical legacies.

It had inherited weapons manufacture, was responsible for escorting imperial processions, served as a posting for officials appointed by grace of imperial favor, and now had even acquired an additional function managing the electrical system.

An organization this bloated, with such chaotic functions — where everything was thrown in like a labor dispatch company — was bound to be reformed sooner or later.

But it was indeed not the highest priority.

Zhu Youjian then turned his gaze to the next person.

Zheng Zhihui stepped forward and began:

"Your Majesty, the investigation of the imperial estates and imperial shops has yielded preliminary results."

"The accounts of the six imperial shops have been fully audited, and seventy-one thousand two hundred eighty-two taels of illicit funds have been recovered."

"However, the matter of the imperial estates cannot be resolved so quickly."

"The supervising eunuchs are each conducting their own investigations, and so far only a few imperial estates on the outskirts of the capital have been cleared."

"Without additional manpower, I am afraid... the entire clearance may drag on until the end of the year."

At the mention of the imperial estates, Zhu Youjian could not help but raise a hand and rub his brow.

The imperial estates — before he took them over, they had looked like a juicy piece of meat. Only after actually getting his hands on them did he discover they were nothing but a goddamn pitfall. When he first ascended the throne, he had sat in Qianqing Palace with paper and brush and done his own calculations.

At the time, he had estimated the returns based on a fifty percent land rent, an average yield of one dan per mu, a grain price of one tael of silver, and two harvests every three years.

Now, as the new policies were implemented and his understanding of local conditions and agricultural realities gradually deepened, he had suddenly realized just how absurdly wrong his original projections had been.

How could the average yield per mu be one dan? If it reached seven dou, that was Heaven granting you a meal!

How could the grain price be one tael? Barring a famine, at harvest time a dan went for only four to five qian. Even in the lean season, seven or eight qian was the absolute ceiling!

As for two harvests every three years...

If agriculture in Northern Zhili were really that advanced, he, Zhu Youjian, would not need to exhaust himself pushing local agricultural reforms. Trapped deep within the palace — truly trapped deep within the palace.

Out of touch with reality, the figures he had calculated were off by a hairsbreadth at the start and a thousand miles by the end.

Now, recalibrating all the data — calculating on a yield of six dou per mu, a fifty percent land rent, and a grain price of seven qian of silver —

the actual revenue those 1.7 million mu of imperial estates around the capital could provide plummeted straight to 360,000 taels.

And that still did not factor in the collapse of grain prices during bumper harvests.

What was even more fatal was: what did 1.7 million mu of land actually represent?

The total registered farmland in Northern Zhili was roughly fifty million mu. The imperial estates accounted for about 3.4 percent.

That sounded like a tiny proportion, did it not?

But the entire cultivated land of Yongping Prefecture added together was only 1.83 million mu!

In other words, the area of these imperial estates was only slightly less than all the registered farmland in Yongping Prefecture.

And if he, Zhu Youjian, wanted to securely collect that 360,000 taels of revenue,

he would have to set up a massive administrative apparatus for these imperial estates, equivalent in scale to the entire governance of Yongping Prefecture!

Including rent-collection teams, accounting offices, oversight systems to prevent underlings from embezzling, and so on...

If His Majesty the Yongchang Emperor actually had reliable grassroots personnel of that caliber in hand, where could he invest them that would not earn a paltry three hundred-odd thousand taels? Why insist on banging his head against this mess?

So in the end, the imperial estates had become a chicken rib.

Tasteless to eat, yet a pity to discard.

Zhu Youjian lowered the hand that had been rubbing his brow and spoke in a flat tone:

"Understood. Set this matter aside for now."

"After the palace examination concludes, We will have the Northern Zhili New Policies Group take the lead in launching a project."

"When the time comes, the County Magistrates of each locality will be brought in directly to assist in the reorganization of each imperial estate."

As for what these estates would actually be used for after the reorganization?

He would figure that out after he had straightened out everything else first.

Until then, the imperial estates were a domain that simply did not warrant the investment of his precious political attention.

Whatever extra could be collected, so be it. He would leave it entirely to fate.

He turned his head and looked toward Zhang Zhiji.

"Your turn. Report."

Zhang Zhiji hastily cupped his hands, rose, and reported:

"Your Majesty, in this special campaign against organized crime, a total of one hundred thirty-four gambling dens large and small have been swept away, and eighty-two thousand nine hundred eighteen taels in gambling capital have been confiscated on the spot."

"A total of seven hundred ninety-two street toughs and idlers from the various market wards have been arrested..."

At this point, Zhang Zhiji's voice faltered, and an awkward smile appeared on his face.

"However..."

"However, the Shuntian Prefecture jail is truly at its breaking point — it is overflowing with prisoners."

"This subject estimates it will still take quite a long period before all these people can be fully interrogated."

Yet the matter was far from as simple as Zhang Zhiji made it sound.

In executing the new policies, the most taboo thing was using vague phrases like "quite a long period."

Before coming to report, Zhang Zhiji had actually made a special trip to find Zhang Zibing, the Vice Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, hoping to confirm exactly how long "quite a long period" was.

The result…

What greeted him was only an official boot that Zhang Zibing flung at him — unwashed for days and reeking to high heaven.

Zhang Zibing had been working around the clock for days and nights, nearly driven mad; how could he possibly give him any specific deadline?!

Zhu Youjian let out a long sigh.

"Gambling…"

"This matter is truly difficult to handle, yet it cannot be left unhandled."

"Petty gambling among the commoners in the capital is still a minor matter. Its proliferation within the ranks of the army — that is the major matter."

"The latest inspection report Sun Chuanting sent — your Grand Secretariat and the Ministry of War have all read it."

"Along the Ji-Liao defense line, soldiers are destitute and impoverished, sparking mutinies, and sometimes the cause is debts incurred through gambling."

Zhu Youjian shook his head, feeling somewhat helpless at how addicted the Ming people were to gambling.

He understood very clearly in his heart.

The spread of gambling is, in essence, an external manifestation of a society lacking channels for upward mobility.

When the common people and hereditary military households at the bottom discover that diligent labor and the use of intelligence cannot make them wealthy — when even eating their fill becomes a distant hope — human instinct will naturally place its hopes on that one-in-ten-thousand chance of turning the tables at the gambling table.

So this crackdown on gambling, from its root cause, would certainly be far weaker in effect than the crackdown on corruption.

But however weak, this foul wind must be struck down.

Because this is not only a public order problem, but also one of the breeding grounds of corruption.

Compared to the lower-class commoners gambling for money, the degree to which Ming officials are addicted to gambling is in no way inferior.

In later ages, there was a saying: "The Ming fell because of Madiao."

This statement, in Zhu Youjian's view, was not entirely without reason.

Zhu Youjian turned his head to look at Li Guopu.

Li Guopu immediately understood. He stepped out from the ranks, cupped his hands, and replied: "Your Majesty, regarding the decree banning gambling among officials, this subject has been communicating with Minister Yang of the Ministry of Justice these past few days."

"We will basically continue to use the existing statutes on gambling in the Great Ming Code and punish offenders according to the law."

"But as for the timing of its promulgation, your subjects must deliberate on it."

"After all, new policies have been issued in rapid succession lately. Decrees coming out too frequently, with the hundred officials' nerves stretched taut, is ultimately not a good thing."

"After our discussion, we feel that perhaps postponing this prohibition to the second year of Yongchang before issuing it would be more appropriate."

Zhu Youjian nodded and readily approved this prudent suggestion.

The Grand Secretariat's suggestion to delay the promulgation was not out of worry that officials would resist in order to preserve their "hobby" of gambling.

After all, a ban on gambling occupies the moral high ground.

Never mind the Great Ming Code.

Even within the various local clans, any family descended from a line of scholars explicitly established rules banning gambling.

And the weapon the civil official bloc most relies on to oppose the emperor is precisely morality.

So the possibility of this kind of resistance simply does not exist.

What the Grand Secretariat was more concerned about was the problem of enforcement.

In executing the new policies, once a rule is set, it must be carried through to the end and yield tangible results.

That sort of thing — issuing a thunderous decree, only for those below to pay lip service while defying it, until in the end no one cares and no one bears responsibility — the Yongchang court must do as little of that as possible.

Each report was settled one by one.

The great hall fell silent for an instant.

Luo Yangxing, Guard Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, as the last person, walked out from the ranks with an embarrassed expression.

He dropped to his knees with a thud, his head bowed deeply.

"Your Majesty… on this subject's side, I have failed to live up to the sacred expectations!"

"The various bands of bandits around the capital region, the moment the thunderbolt operation began, all vanished without a trace."

"Apart from barely capturing seven gangs of insignificant thieves in the first few days,"

"in these several days since, scouring the capital region's surroundings, there has been… there has been not a single gain!"

Luo Yangxing's voice carried a tremor he could not suppress.

This was not fear, but shame.

Every department that reported before him had won, won, won — how many people captured, how much silver confiscated.

Yet when it came to his turn, he immediately dropped the ball and met with ignominious defeat.

The bandits of the capital region, aside from genuine murderous brigands who killed and plundered and the local ruffians in the market wards,

in truth had only two main sources:

Hereditary military households, and grain-transport laborers!

No further words were needed. The moment these two names were brought up, one naturally understood what a massive, systemic problem this was.

Bandits… were never merely a problem of bandits, but a problem of the age itself.

Zhu Youjian looked at Luo Yangxing kneeling below, and his face did not show much disappointment.

"Rise. There is no need for this."

"When we drafted the sweep plan earlier in Qianqing Palace, did we not already anticipate this situation?"

"The Patrol and Arrest Battalion has only undergone a preliminary round of reorganization. The soldiers inside are already entangled in complex relationships with the people of the capital region's guard stations, bound by kinship and ties." "The moment you set the arrest plan, word probably reached the bandit dens right on your heels."

"It is quite ordinary for such circumstances to arise."

"Be patient, do not act rashly. Sift slowly, purge slowly — the public order of the capital region can, in the end, be swept clean."

Luo Yangxing cupped his hands, rose, and silently withdrew back into the ranks.

The Emperor had not rebuked him, had even spoken gently to reassure him.

Yet Luo Yangxing felt as though the skin of his face had been peeled off and flung to the ground to be trampled — a scorching, searing pain!

He understood the reasoning well enough, and the situation was indeed complex.

But the great cleansing campaign had been launched with grand fanfare — eight major plans all deployed at once!

And in the end, the area he, Luo Yangxing, was responsible for had performed the worst!

Worse, far worse, than he had ever imagined!

He had originally thought that even if the criminals had inside informants, with his methods he could at least guarantee capturing a double-digit number of gangs to deliver results.

He had never expected to catch a mere seven scattered bands of petty thieves!

How could this not fill him with shame and fury? How could he face the trust the Emperor had placed in him?

If things went on like this, how could he still deserve to be called one of the "Five Sons of Statecraft"?!

Luo Yangxing clenched his teeth to the breaking point, a raging fire blazing in his chest.

He swore that once today's meeting ended and he returned, he would take the Patrol Battalion, that nest of thieving scoundrels who ate his bread and betrayed his interests, and subject them to yet another thorough and merciless purge!

No! A purge alone would not suffice!

He would do as His Majesty had done in establishing the Liaodong Demonstration Camp — first carve out from within the Patrol Battalion a core unit of absolute loyalty!

In this unit, from top to bottom, he would not employ a single man native to Shuntian Prefecture!

He would recruit them all from other provinces — ruthless characters who had seen blood and had no entanglements!

Tribal bandits? Guard-station troops? Canal laborers?

Luo Yangxing hung his head low, his eyes already bloodshot with rage, and in the depths of his gaze surged a frenzied killing intent.

I don't care who stands behind you —

every last one of you will die!!

Leaving aside the fury seething in Luo Yangxing's heart for the moment.

Seeing that the many agenda items had at last all been reviewed, Zhu Youjian was about to rally the spirits of this core team that had toiled for an entire month.

The true large-scale rewards would not come until the seventh month of this year; until then, rallying cries and painted promises were still indispensable.

But just then, from outside the Warm Pavilion, came the sudden sound of fine, hurried footsteps.

A young eunuch, head lowered, hurried in and knelt:

"Reporting to Your Majesty — the examiners have finished ranking the palace examination answer sheets."

The palace examination of our dynasty has always tested only a single policy essay.

And the policy question for this session, the first year of Yongchang, had been personally set by Zhu Youjian.

The question was very simple.

So simple that many candidates, while preparing in the capital, might well have guessed it and even privately tried writing several versions.

"If you were the Governor of the province where you reside, how would you launch the new policy reforms?"

"List all the current ills of that locality, rank them by priority, and then explain the reasoning behind your ranking."

"Finally, choose one of the top three ills and write out your complete administrative plan for it."

At the very end of the question followed two lines of annotation:

"Write in the statecraft official-document format. Do not use empty rhetoric; do not cite the classics."

"If the place of your long-term residence is not your native registered place, state this at the opening and then write your essay based on your place of long-term residence. Registering under an adopted locality is a long-accumulated abuse of our dynasty, but in conducting oneself and handling affairs, one should answer with public-minded integrity. We specially grant that this act shall carry no offense."

Direct and to the point, seeking truth from facts, well-versed in worldly affairs, open and aboveboard.

Without the slightest doubt, one hundred percent the "Yongchang style."

Within the great hall, Chief Grand Secretary Huang Liji, his body slightly bowed, presented three examination papers onto the imperial desk.

"Your Majesty, these three are, by the collective deliberation of all the examiners, the provisional first-rank selections."

Having said this, he pointed to two further stacks of papers arranged in order beside them and added:

"These two stacks are the provisional second-rank and provisional third-rank selections, awaiting Your Majesty's sacred judgment."

Zhu Youjian leaned back in his chair, inwardly unable to suppress a wry smile.

A Chief Grand Secretary was indeed a Chief Grand Secretary.

That single word "provisional" was pure bureaucratic mastery.

He did not expose it, but casually picked up the three papers of the first rank.

Zhuangyuan: Liu Ruozai.

Bangyan: He Ruizheng.

Tanhua: Guan Shaoning.

He did not recognize a single one...

But that was only to be expected.

The palace examination was, after all, merely for ranking; the true selection had already been settled at the metropolitan examination stage.

The roster of these four hundred presented scholars — he, the Emperor of the Great Ming, had long since committed it to memory.

To speak frankly, among these four hundred men, the only name he had seen in the history books of later ages was Shi Kefa.

Now that the three jinshi of the first rank did not include Shi Kefa among them, it stood perfectly to reason that he recognized none of them.

Zhu Youjian, a faint smile on his face, unhurriedly opened the three papers and let his gaze pass over each in turn.

Liu Ruozai, a native of Huaining County, Anqing Prefecture, South Zhili.

He Ruizheng, from Xinyang in Runing, Henan.

Jing Shaoning, from Wujin County in Changzhou Prefecture, Southern Metropolitan Region.

Frankly speaking, the papers were written competently but unremarkably.

After all, unless one is a born prime-ministerial talent, or has spent a great deal of time conducting on-the-ground investigations into local conditions and the ills of officialdom,

within the extremely dry and pragmatic framework of "statecraft essays," it is truly very difficult to write something that makes a reader's eyes light up.

There is no other reason: the flesh of current-affairs policy discourse is classical exegesis and literary grace, but the flesh of statecraft essays is data and experience.

The latter, without time, resources, and practical training, is very hard to genuinely acquire.

This is also the fundamental reason why, in Zhu Youjian's mind, he did not take this palace examination too seriously.

He did not actually insist on using this single palace examination to sift peerless geniuses out of these four hundred men.

What he valued more was putting them through a complete training system established by the court, so that over the course of half a year or a year, this group would receive sufficient tempering and improvement.

Yes, in this year's training, what he sought was still not the selection of geniuses, but rather ensuring an average elevation of this cohort of jinshi.

To put it in extreme terms, even if the four hundred men standing here today were not the outstanding ones who had fought their way out of fierce competition,

but rather the four hundred failed candidates who ranked at the very bottom of this metropolitan examination, they would still be sufficient for Zhu Youjian's subsequent plans. — Of course, if those four hundred men really had been selected, the Yongchang Emperor would certainly have been displeased.

Because those four hundred men would most likely all be "old codgers" past fifty, whose stamina could not possibly endure the ravages of the New Policies.

Zhu Youjian casually set those three answer sheets lightly to one side.

"Let me look at the others..."