Chapter 256: What? The Eunuch Faction Has Infiltrated the Donglin Faction Itself?

When he came to the Grand Merit Arch again, the scenery was unchanged, but Zhu Guobi, waiting for his audience, was in a very different frame of mind.

The last time he had come, he had been an honored guest, able to join a pack of Nanjing nobles and meritorious officials who did not know the height of heaven or the depth of earth in plotting how to deal with the Crown Prince, His Highness the Army-Pacifying Prince.

But now he was a prisoner, a criminal of the eunuch faction! Of the nobles and meritorious officials who had once held forth with him, some were already dead — Xu Hongji, Zou Cunyi, Liu Yunji, Fang Yiyuan, Jiao Mengxiong, Zhang Guocai, Huang Jiuding, Liu Zuochang, Tang Guozuo, Guo Zuoyong, Li Zushu — these eleven great nobles had already been executed in the first batch!

And those who had not died were either waiting to die, or were cooperating with the Embroidered Uniform Guard in the confiscation of their own households with the best possible attitude of confession — this was not confiscation, this was buying their lives! If they performed poorly, they would be sent to Dayuan Island. That place was known as a gate of death where "of ten who go, six die"!

Yet Zhu Guobi now very much wanted to go to Dayuan Island to live out the rest of his days, because he felt his crimes were truly too great! And his family fortune was too small, truly insufficient to atone for his crimes! To receive the punishment of exile to Dayuan Island would already be a joy beyond his hopes.

Who could blame him — he was a noble sent from Beijing, and most of his family property had been lost in the north. Although he had worked very hard at graft after arriving in Huai'an, the amount was ultimately limited, and compared with his great crimes it was hardly worth mentioning.

But compared with those nobles and meritorious officials in Nanjing, he did have one piece of luck. He was the only one of his family here in Nanjing; his brothers, nephews, and his son all lived in Beijing. Among them, one brother and two nephews had broken out southward with Zhu Cilang and were now heroes of the hard times.

They were heroes, so of course they did not need to help confiscate Zhu Guobi's household to atone for his crimes (confiscating one's own brother's household was, after all, an insult; Zhu Cilang would not treat heroes that way), and they would not be implicated by Zhu Guobi. It was said that the Crown Prince intended to let one of them inherit the title of Marquis of Funing.

So Zhu Guobi, eager to perform well, had drawn up a list of his own property and now carried it with him, ready to present it to Zhu Cilang when he saw him, to atone for his crimes.

He did not ask for full atonement; to atone his way to a place on Dayuan Island would be satisfaction enough. Just thinking about it made him want to weep.

The place where Zhu Cilang personally tried Zhu Guobi was set in the Yongchun Pavilion beside the Grand Merit Hall. It was a rather elegant little courtyard, planted with many evergreens, furnished with several strange stones brought from Lake Tai, and containing a newly renovated two-story building. The furnishings inside could not be called luxurious, but care had been put into every detail, giving one a sense of comfort and ease.

Zhu Cilang had made this place his "Upper Study" for handling government affairs. Every day before the noon court (held at the prefectural academy) began, he would read memorials here for a while, and sometimes he received visitors here.

When Zhu Guobi was escorted in by Chen Shifang, the eunuch superintendent of the Eastern Depot, and several armed eunuchs of the Eastern Depot, Zhu Cilang was in conversation with the newly appointed Commander of the Nanjing Capital Camps, Zhu Chunchen, and with his eldest senior fellow apprentice, Zheng Sen.

Incidentally, Zhu Cilang differed from those previous Ming emperors who had been propped up by the civil official bloc — he had a reliable inner circle: the nobles, meritorious officials, civil officials, and military officers who had "walked the Long March" with him, plus those heroes and loyal volunteers of the hard times who had joined as the traveling court moved south, and even the salt merchants who had only come aboard in Yangzhou — all of them he found quite useful. So the role of eunuchs under Zhu Cilang was not very great.

But he still kept the fearsome Eastern Depot — no longer using it to investigate treason cases, however, but turning it into a bodyguard force for watching the house and guarding the courtyard. The former head of the arquebus eunuchs, Chen Shifang, was appointed superintendent, a group of arquebus eunuchs served as the backbone, and finally the Purified Army here in Nanjing was incorporated into the Eastern Depot. This formed a eunuch armed force that, together with the Eastern Palace guards, was responsible for the security of the Grand Merit Arch and the West Garden.

And the four "eunuch-faction ringleaders" — Zhao Zhilong, Han Zanzhou, Zhu Guobi, and Zhang Shenyan — were all held under guard by the Eastern Depot — merely held, not interrogated. This Nanjing eunuch-faction treason case was the responsibility of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

"The criminal subject Zhu Guobi respectfully wishes His Highness the Crown Prince golden peace! The criminal subject has already drawn up a list of treasonous property, and requests Your Highness to look it over."

Zhu Cilang was taken aback. "A list of treasonous property? You are a Beijing noble — how much treasonous property could you have in Jiangnan?"

Zhu Guobi said hurriedly, "I do have some! This subject is a corrupt official, and has much treasonous property to offer the court in atonement!"

"Oh. Bring it here and let me see."

Huang Xiaobao, who attended Zhu Cilang, took the list, which was filled across three pages, and handed it to Zhu Cilang.

"So much? What is the total?"

"In reply to Thousand Years, not counting this subject's property in Huai'an, in Jiangnan alone there are 3,000 mu of farmland, seven residences, and 530,000 taels of ready silver."

"That much silver?" Zhu Cilang was somewhat surprised. "How did you manage to embezzle it?"

"The criminal subject swallowed 200,000 taels of tax silver that was being prepared for shipment to the treasury, and also embezzled more than 200,000 by eating empty payroll slots and withholding military pay. The rest came from using grain-transport boats for private trafficking."

"What? Eating empty slots and withholding military pay can yield that much? The grain-transport troops have that much fat on them?"

"The grain-transport troops of course do not have that much. This subject, this subject was also ordered by the traitor Xu Hongji to supervise and reorganize the Nanjing Capital Camps, and took a little on the side."

"What? You had your head hanging from your belt in rebellion, and you still did not forget to embezzle?" Zhu Cilang was rather speechless. Shaking his head, he looked over Zhu Guobi's property list, and the very first asset on the list baffled the great Crown Prince.

"What is 'Kou's White Gate'? Is it a piece of real estate?"

"It is not real estate. It is, it is..." Zhu Guobi's face reddened, his head lowered, the very picture of shame.

"It is a woman!" Zheng Sen answered for him from the side. "It is Kou Baimen, one of the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai."

"Oh." Zhu Cilang nodded. "Then keep her to bestow on someone."

He was not very interested in the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai. Earlier, when he had seized Wu Sanmei, he had overlooked Chen Yuanyuan; later, when coming south from Dagu, he had seen Gu Hengbo; and at Qian Qianyi's place he had met Liu Rushi.

These three were all top names among the Eight Beauties, far more famous than Kou Baimen, but in Zhu Cilang's eyes they were just so-so. For looks, none compared with Fei Zhen'e; for figure, none compared with Wu Sanmei; for dignity, none compared with Ning Xiangyu.

"Junior fellow apprentice, Your Highness," Zheng Sen said to Zhu Cilang in a low voice, "this woman is famous throughout Jinling. She cannot be bestowed on just anyone."

Zhu Cilang looked Zheng Sen over with a smile. "Senior fellow apprentice, is it that you want her?"

"No, no." Zheng Sen shook his head repeatedly. "Junior fellow apprentice, Your Highness, I, I have never thought of it."

"Then how should that woman be disposed of? Public auction?"

Zheng Sen quickly shook his head. "She must not be auctioned. Junior fellow apprentice, Your Highness, if you wish to get on good terms with the Donglin talents, you need a bridge. This Kou Baimen is the bridge that can connect you with the Donglin talents."

"Oh. A socialite. A club." The Crown Prince nodded, then said two words that Zheng Sen did not quite understand. "Fine, handle it as you see fit."

Hearing Zhu Cilang and Zheng Sen speak of Kou Baimen so lightly, Zhu Guobi's heart ached until tears came. She was the "goddess" in his eyes, and he had offered her up like this, yet they did not even take it seriously!

"Zhu Guobi," Zhu Cilang said, his tone now heavy, "do you want to live or die?"

"To live! The criminal subject wants to live!" Hearing this, Zhu Guobi's heart surged with joy.

"Then are you a ringleader of the eunuch faction?"

What? A eunuch-faction ringleader?

Zhu Guobi was stunned. He was Wei Zhongxian's enemy! He had even been stripped of his title for being close to the Donglin Faction and opposing Wei Zhongxian, and had only been given important posts after Chongzhen took the throne.

How had he become a eunuch-faction member? And a ringleader at that?

"The criminal subject, the criminal subject..." He hurriedly cast a pleading look at Zhu Chunchen, and seeing Zhu Chunchen nod, he gritted his teeth and said, "The criminal subject is a ringleader of the eunuch faction!"

"Then why did Wei Zhongxian strip you of your title?"

Why indeed?

Zhu Guobi thought to himself: I'll have to make something up.

"Because, because Wei Zhongxian wanted the criminal subject to infiltrate the Donglin Faction!"

Promising! Zhu Cilang nodded repeatedly and said with a smile, "Right, right. You must be the spy planted inside Donglin! Tell me, what was your purpose in infiltrating Donglin?"

What purpose?

Zhu Guobi thought hard and said, "The criminal subject was to gather intelligence on the Donglin Faction for Wei Zhongxian."

"Is that all?" Zhu Cilang's expression had darkened.

"There is more, there is more..."

"What more?"

What more? I don't know!

Zhu Cilang snorted, thinking: How can you be so stupid!

"Are you recruiting accomplices for the eunuch faction within the Donglin?" Zhu Cilang demanded sharply.

"Yes, yes," Zhu Guobi answered, his voice trembling.

(End of Chapter)