Chapter 1776: Our Savage Emperor

The Shanxi Battalion, the Bai family's old residence, outside the second gate.

Li Zicheng and Shen Tingyang stood guard at the entrance with a squad of gold-helmed, gold-armored front-tent warriors. Without the Emperor's verbal decree, no one was allowed inside!

Xu Yingyuan, the brush-holding eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, knelt outside the open second gate, looking utterly grief-stricken — here he was, a grand eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, and instead of working himself to the bone for the Great Ming at year's end, he had come to the house of the head Shanxi merchant. What for? To collect bribes?

Furthermore, Lady Xu was the goddaughter of Madam Ke, and Xu Yingyuan was Lady Xu's godfather — so what exactly was the relationship between Madam Ke and you, Xu Yingyuan? A godfather and godmother ought to be husband and wife!

And also, Lady Xu is suspected of colluding with foreign powers and betraying the nation! And that memorial which leaked out through her hands can be traced back to having left the hands of Xu Yingyuan — are you, Xu Yingyuan, also colluding with foreign powers and betraying the nation?

The moment he thought about the questions the little Emperor would ask when he came out, Xu Yingyuan could not help but start calculating how many indulgences he would need to buy. His crimes seemed rather serious — without a hundred thousand or eighty thousand, could he possibly redeem them?

And what's more, the little Emperor had already taken Lady Xu into the Bai family's inner residence for nearly a full hour! What were the little Emperor and Lady Xu doing in there? When they came out, would Lady Xu become Noble Consort Xu?

If Lady Xu became Noble Consort Xu, then the two hundred-some thousand taels of bribes he had just collected — would he have to cough them back up?

Two hundred-some thousand plus a hundred thousand or eighty thousand — that was three hundred-some thousand taels. Xu Yingyuan was nearly crying himself to death just thinking about it!

Just as Xu Yingyuan was shedding tears, hurried and dense footsteps suddenly came from behind him, along with waves of shouting.

"His Majesty — is His Majesty here?"

"Your Majesty, your old subject Huang Liji requests an audience!"

"Your Majesty, your subject Wang Zaijin requests an audience!"

"Your Majesty, your subject Zhang Fengyi requests an audience!"

"Eh? Isn't this the Factory Director? Factory Director, why are you kneeling here?"

"Yes, Factory Director, why are you kneeling toward this gate? What's inside?"

"Factory Director, are you... are you remonstrating?"

"Factory Director, are you opposing His Majesty's seizing of the woman, and therefore—"

"Factory Director, you are giving fearless face-to-face remonstrance — we are in awe, in awe..."

"Factory Director, you are going to go down in history!"

It turned out the court ministers had finally found their way to the Bai family's old residence in the Shanxi Battalion — the area outside Beijing's Zhengyang Gate was a bustling place, with countless shops and merchant houses on both sides and streets thronged with traffic. The little Emperor had ridden through the streets with several hundred gold-helmed, gold-armored cavalry — how eye-catching! Plenty of people on the road had seen it. A group of ministers went out through Zhengyang Gate, asked around, and immediately learned the little Emperor had gone to the Shanxi Battalion.

Once they reached the Shanxi Battalion it was easy to find — there were front-tent cavalry standing sentry along the main street, and Vice Minister of War Zhang Fengyi went up personally to ask. Those front-tent soldiers did not conceal anything (Zhu Youjian had not told them to), and told them everything in full detail.

Only then did they learn that the little Emperor had gone to the Bai family's old residence to seize people and seize money... Once they knew, they naturally felt as though the sky were falling.

The Great Ming had not produced a fatuous ruler, nor a tyrant, but a savage Emperor! He did not follow any rules, directly seizing money and seizing people — what kind of Central Plains emperor was this? He was simply a steppe great khan who killed without blinking and robbed with even less hesitation!

This Emperor had looked passable when he first arrived — how had he now become even more outrageous than his elder brother? What was more outrageous was that the Tianqi Emperor had been a frail short-lived ghost. But this current His Majesty was the foremost warrior of the Great Ming, who had single-handedly defeated the Mongols' number one champion and could fight his way in and out seven times amid ten thousand Later Jin troops!

A warrior Emperor like this would most likely live very long — warriors have strong bodies; otherwise how could they be warriors? And a warrior Emperor with martial skill that high had no fear of assassins either. Anyone capable of assassinating him would be good enough to serve as a great general in the army — why would they still be an assassin?

Moreover, this Emperor clearly did not trust eunuchs, did not trust the ennobled nobility, and kept only his own front-tent personal troops around him...

What sins had the officials and common people of the Great Ming committed, to keep encountering emperors each more bizarre than the last!

And now the realm was still in such chaos — internal rebellions and external invasions one after another, natural disasters worsening year by year — and on top of all that, to be saddled with an emperor like this was truly too dreadful to contemplate!

Fortunately, the Great Ming still had loyal subjects. The loyal subjects naturally could not stand by and watch the Emperor continue down the wrong path, so they all swarmed to the Bai family's old residence. The old residence had long since been controlled inside and out by the front-tent soldiers. But the front-tent soldiers guarding the main gate had received instructions and did not stop this group of Great Ming loyal subjects, letting them straight in. The Bai family's old residence covered a large area, and it took quite a while to walk from the main gate to the second gate. When they reached the second gate, they spotted Eunuch Xu kneeling there, weeping.

The loyal subjects had no idea that Eunuch Xu was a bad eunuch, and assumed he too was remonstrating, so they all went up to ask.

Hearing these loyal subjects' words, Eunuch Xu could not even cry — his crimes were already so great, and if these civil officials now turned him into a good eunuch who gave fearless face-to-face remonstrance, and the Emperor found out, would he not be cleaved in two with a single stroke?

"Xu is not remonstrating. Xu is pleading guilty..." Eunuch Xu hurriedly spoke up to defend himself. "Xu is guilty!"

"Factory Director, what are you saying? Could it be that His Majesty has punished you for your fearless face-to-face remonstrance?"

"Yes, Factory Director, if you are punished for this, then you truly deserve to go down in history..."

"Factory Director, your lofty integrity — we are in awe, in awe!"

Zhu Youjian himself was no good sovereign, and most of the civil officials he employed were evidently no good people either (most of them were of the eunuch faction — what good people could there be among them? Even Wang Zaijin and Sun Chengzong were unwilling to stick their necks out too far at this time). They did not even look at how wretched Eunuch Xu's situation was, but kept egging him on — they wanted to package Eunuch Xu as a model of fearless face-to-face remonstrance and push him out to test the waters!

If that savage Emperor chopped Eunuch Xu up with one stroke, then they would not remonstrate. If Eunuch Xu came out unscathed, then they might as well step forward and speak up in remonstrance!

Eunuch Xu was a grand eunuch as shrewd as a monkey, and of course he knew these treacherous ministers had no good intentions — they wanted to roast him over the fire!

Just as Grand Eunuch Xu was about to defend himself, Zhu Youjian's voice suddenly came from inside the second gate: "Heh heh, all here, are you? We were just thinking of going to find you — didn't expect you'd come on your own... Good! Good! Good!"

Although Zhu Youjian said "good" three times in a row, his tone grew colder and colder, making Xu Yingyuan tremble uncontrollably — this Emperor was truly ferocious!

"Y-Your Majesty, this slave is guilty!" Xu Yingyuan hastily pleaded guilty!

"Hahaha, it's the New Year — why plead guilty?" Zhu Youjian had already appeared before the crowd with a smile, accompanied by the widow Xu, whose cheeks were flushed and hair somewhat disheveled.

"This slave is guilty..." Seeing the widow Xu's appearance, Xu Yingyuan felt slightly relieved. "This slave should not have shown the copy of the Prince of Dai's alarmist memorial to this slave's goddaughter, Bai Xu-shi."

Zhu Youjian nodded: "That was indeed your fault. Bai Xu-shi was also muddle-headed, passing this false news to Fan Yongdou, the Shanxi merchant of Zhangjiakou who colludes with foreign powers! We returned to the capital this time precisely to deal with this matter. Bai Xu-shi has just confessed and declared that this affair has nothing to do with the Bai family, and that she alone bears responsibility. Therefore We have confiscated her into the palace and assigned her to the Laundry Bureau as a slave!"

As he spoke, he turned to the widow Xu with a smile. "Lady Xu, the officials of the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate are all present now. Do you wish to cry injustice?"

The widow Xu said: "This slave has no injustice. This slave willingly accepts punishment!"

Zhu Youjian nodded and said with a smile: "Very good. You are now Our slave, attending at Our side... being nominally registered with the Laundry Bureau will suffice."

At this, the ministers outside had nothing more to say — the widow Xu had committed the crime of colluding with foreign powers and was confiscated into the palace as a slave. As a slave, she was of course Zhu Youjian's property! Whether she washed clothes or warmed his bed was no business of outside officials! The Emperor's slaves could of course be promoted for meritorious service — from slave to palace maid, from palace maid to female official, from ordinary female official to one of the Six Chief Matrons, and before long she could be enfeoffed as Lady of State Service!

Seeing that the outside officials had nothing to say, Zhu Youjian smiled and said: "The Prince of Fu has already arrived at Nanhaizi. We are going to receive him — all you ministers, come with Us!"

(End of Chapter)