Chapter 225: Fighting the Landlords

When Zhang Shize, Duke of the Overcoming-Hardship Kingdom, learned that he was to be appointed Right Chief Censor, he thought the staff officer from the Military Order Guard Adjutant Office of the Marshal's Office who had come to deliver the decree was joking with him.

He was a noble of merit, and a military officer at that — how could he serve as Right Chief Censor? Weren't censors supposed to be civil officials who had come up through the imperial examinations?

"Duke of the Overcoming-Hardship Kingdom, in the past censors handled many matters — all gains and losses of government, all ills and benefits to army and people, they could speak of directly without evasion, and so only jinshi could hold the post. Now censors handle just one thing: catching corrupt officials. Using jinshi as censors would be wasting great talent on a small task."

Inside the Pingshan Hall of Daming Temple, Zhu Cilang was smiling as he explained the latest function of censors to Zhang Shize, who had come to decline the appointment.

"No jinshi?" Zhang Shize frowned and spread his hands. "But you still can't make me a censor, Your Highness. I don't know how to catch corrupt officials."

"Why not?" Zhu Cilang laughed. "You may not know how to catch corrupt officials, but you surely know how to be one, don't you? You served in the Capital Camps for so many years — did you never take a bribe? Did those old Shanxi salt commissioners, the Eighteen Zhi, and Wu Xiang never send silver to your household? Surely they did. You have experience being a corrupt official, so you'll certainly be very good at catching them!"

"I— I— I—" Zhang Shize's dark face went pale with fright at these words. His speech faltered, and he rose from his chair as if to kneel.

"Don't kneel, don't kneel. Duke of the Overcoming-Hardship Kingdom, don't be afraid." Zhu Cilang waved his hand with a smile. "Though We know you have embezzled quite a bit, you are a merit official of the Overcoming-Hardship! Your merits are great enough to offset those past offenses, so not only will We not pursue the matter, once we reach Nanjing We shall also grant you fields and a residence!"

Zhang Shize, Duke of the Overcoming-Hardship Kingdom, was a simple-hearted man. Hearing Zhu Cilang speak this way, he too felt his merits were considerable. He had helped the Crown Prince block the city gates, donated military funds to the Crown Prince, fought the roving bandits at Tianjin Guard, and protected His Majesty at Dagu. Among the great nobles who had fled south with the court, none had greater merit than his except Zhu Chunchen.

"What Thousand Years says is true." He chuckled and plopped back down into his seat. "This subject does have some small merit. Might I ask how much land and housing I might receive?"

He was a noble of Beijing; his fields and residences all lay around Beijing, and he had no property in Nanjing. He had also fled as a refugee, with little portable wealth on him, and he had a large family — he was beginning to eat through his reserves.

At his question, Zhu Cilang sighed bitterly: "Duke of the Overcoming-Hardship Kingdom, do you know that We are now up to Our ears in debt!"

"Debt? Since when has Your Highness owed money?" Zhang Shize was stunned. You're so rich — how could you be in debt? The several million you scraped together in Beijing hasn't been spent yet, and here in Yangzhou you've caught four salt commissioners, just waiting for their property to be confiscated! The other four salt commissioners were also scared into paying through the nose — six million taels a year in salt tax!

Once you usurp the throne, you'll surely be the richest emperor in the history of the Great Ming!

"Starting from the strongmen of the Marshal's Office, everyone can be allotted land! The minimum is fifty mu of paddy fields, and it increases rank by rank! Over sixty thousand men — without ten million mu it simply won't be enough! And the nobles and officials who followed us south must also be allotted land! Without several million more mu it won't be enough either!

Duke of the Overcoming-Hardship Kingdom, you must help Us find some fifteen or sixteen million mu in the southeast. Once found, the officers and men of the Overcoming-Hardship New Army will continue to defend the court, and your family's fields and residence can be secured."

"Th-this... Thousand Years means to move against the nobles of the secondary capital and the guard posts of the southeast?" Zhang Shize, Duke of the Overcoming-Hardship Kingdom, was honest but no fool — he understood perfectly well what Zhu Cilang intended.

Zhu Cilang waved his hand and smiled: "What 'move against'? We are most magnanimous — don't you know that, Duke of the Overcoming-Hardship Kingdom?"

Is that so? You, magnanimous? The Duke wore an expression of utter disbelief.

Zhu Cilang frowned a little too. How could this duke be so bluntly honest? But no matter — he himself was also a straightforward man who never spoke falsehoods.

"Duke of the Overcoming-Hardship Kingdom," Zhu Cilang said, his tone turning grave, "the assignment We now give you is to deal with the households of the commanders, vice commanders, assistant commanders, chiliarchs, and centurions of the eight guards and thirty-four battalions in the two prefectures of Huai'an and Yangzhou. This time We will not be as polite as We were in the two prefectures of Dengzhou and Laizhou! How much land the eight guards and twenty-four battalions hold is clearly recorded in the Fish-Scale Registers — not one mu less, all of it must be surrendered!

Those commanders, vice commanders, assistant commanders, chiliarchs, and centurions, and those scholar-officials of military registration — if they are willing to cooperate properly, surrender their land, and move their entire households into the cities of Huai'an and Yangzhou to reside, then We shall not inquire how much they embezzled in the past. We shall permit them to keep their movable wealth, and We shall also permit them to sit the civil service examinations.

If they are unwilling to cooperate, then no more courtesies — what is to be done about the seizure of military farmlands is written out plainly in the Great Ming Code!"

He looked at Zhang Shize, Duke of the Overcoming-Hardship Kingdom. "Duke of the Overcoming-Hardship Kingdom, are you willing to lead a squad of Right Supervising Censors and Censorate officers on this assignment?"

"Thousand Years, what are Right Supervising Censors and Censorate officers?" Zhang Shize did not quite understand.

Zhu Cilang said: "The decree reforming the Censorate will be issued shortly. When it is, censors will be divided into two benches, left and right. The left bench investigates corruption among civil officials; the right bench investigates graft among military officers. The left-bench censors, apart from the Left Chief Censor, will all be filled by juren and xiucai, not jinshi. Moreover, they may not transfer to other posts — once they enter the Censorate, they remain censors until retirement. But their salaries will be generous, and those who handle cases meritoriously may also take a share of the recovered illicit funds!

The right-bench censors will be filled by sons of noble and guard families. Below the Right Chief Censor, once they enter the Censorate, they remain censors until retirement. Their salaries will likewise be generous, and they too may take a share!

As for the Censorate officers, they will be drawn from the army and will handle arrest, search, custody, and related duties. Their term of service will not exceed two years, during which they draw double pay; when the term ends, they return to the army."

As Zhang Shize listened to Zhu Cilang's explanation, cold sweat broke out on his forehead! The Crown Prince was going to use harsh officials to overhaul the bureaucracy!

He was surely going to gather a pack of northern juren, xiucai, and noble sons who had lost their family fortunes and been driven desperate by poverty, and set them to investigating the corrupt officials and nobles of the south. Whatever illicit funds they uncovered, they could take a share — and they would not be permitted to hold any other office.

Zhu Cilang smiled: "Duke of the Overcoming-Hardship Kingdom, We have no choice. Without an investigation, what would We give the soldiers of the New Army? What would We give loyal nobles and officials like you who followed Us south? Go first and speak nicely with those people. As long as they are willing to cough up the military farmland and residences they swallowed and come to Yangzhou to beg forgiveness, We shall ask nothing more of them!

As for you, Duke of the Overcoming-Hardship Kingdom, do not be afraid. You are Our loyal subject, and We will not permit you to be investigated. However fierce the right-bench censors may be, they cannot touch you! Duke of the Overcoming-Hardship Kingdom, are you loyal or not?"

The truth was that Zhu Cilang was not some people's crown prince who could not tolerate a grain of sand in his eye. He did not object to graft and bribe-taking; what he could not tolerate were officials who took money while still putting on an air of righteousness.

If you wanted to take money, you had to know how to be a dog! Obey obediently, do your work properly, and don't take too much. This Crown Prince would simply pretend not to see. After all, this is a feudal society, and corrupt officials are normal in a feudal society. If everyone were like Hai Rui or Bao Qingtian, what need would there be for democratic revolution?

"Loyal! This subject is most loyal — loyal to His Highness the Crown Prince alone!" How could Zhang Shize dare say he was not loyal? Say he was disloyal, and his life and family would be finished!

"Good that you are loyal. Go back and prepare. Once We have found you some helpers, go investigate the corrupt officials."

Zhang Shize then thought of something and his brow creased slightly: "Thousand Years, as this subject understands it, many of the commanders, vice commanders, and assistant commanders in the Huai'an and Yangzhou guards have connections in the secondary capital. If this subject investigates too harshly, I fear people in the secondary capital may leap out to shield them."

Two centers of power had now emerged in the southeast: Yangzhou and Nanjing!

Though the two sides had not yet torn off all pretense, it was already obvious that the nobles and officials of Nanjing did not submit to the temporary court at Yangzhou.

To this day, none of the great figures of the southern capital — Zhao Zhilong, Han Zanzhou, Xu Hongji — had come to Yangzhou to pay their respects!

Zhu Cilang smiled: "Then all the more reason to investigate! Once Huai'an and Yangzhou are done, we shall investigate the secondary capital! By then there will be plenty of corrupt officials lining up one by one for you to investigate. You had better work quickly.

By the way, We have found you a helper. His name is Ji Kun, a native of Yangzhou Guard with a juren degree. For now, give him a temporary post as a left-bench Supervising Censor. There are also many civil officials of military registration in the Huai'an and Yangzhou guards — let him investigate all of them!"

(End of Chapter)