Chapter 222: Blocking and Returning the Edict

The urgent memorials from Wuchang Prefecture and the Wuchang Centurion Station of the Embroidered Uniform Guard were passed around among the senior ministers before returning to the imperial desk, yet the hall did not erupt in righteous indignation or burning outrage. The civil officials had long harbored deep hatred for these bloodsucking princes and clansmen, so despite such a horrifying tragedy befalling the Chu princely establishment, most ministers regarded it with a schadenfreude-laden attitude: Look at your own Zhu family — what sort of creatures have they raised!

"How should this matter be handled? Let all my ministers deliberate — a plan must be produced without delay!"

Zhu Youjian had been quite shocked when he first heard the news, but he quickly calmed down; toward these clansmen whose blood ties to his own branch had long since thinned, Zhu Youjian felt no emotional attachment whatsoever — otherwise he would never have devised such a vicious scheme to send men to discipline them.

"Reporting to His Majesty, since the memorial proves true, your minister believes the most urgent task is to dispatch an official to Wuchang to manage the funeral of the Prince of Chu and confer upon him a posthumous title. This matter requires the Court of the Imperial Clan to take the lead!"

Chief Grand Secretary Wen Tiren memorialized.

This was only proper — regardless of the circumstances, the deceased must be laid to rest. The memorial from Wuchang Prefecture had taken over ten days to arrive, and the court would need to make thorough preparations before dispatching officials to Wuchang to handle the funeral, which would consume considerable time. It was already the third month, and the weather was growing warmer by the day. Though Zhu Huakui's corpse was preserved with large quantities of ice, it would still decompose given enough time, so the matter had to be expedited.

As for the specifics of how to deal with Zhu Yunhui, the heir of the Prince of Chu, for murdering his father, imprisoning his mother, killing his brothers, and raping the two commandery princess consorts — that belonged to the imperial family's domestic affairs, and as an outside minister, Wen Tiren had no authority to intervene.

"Zhu Yunhui's crimes are monstrous and he ought to suffer the ultimate punishment, but I consider that he is after all of Grand Ancestor's bloodline. Therefore, in accordance with the regulations for imperial clansmen, the Court of the Imperial Clan shall dispatch men to escort him to Fengyang and imprison him within the high walls, never to be pardoned for life. All his subordinates and accomplices shall be executed! Of the three sons of the late Prince of Chu, Zhu Yunhui cruelly slew two, and none of the three left descendants — the line of the Prince of Chu is thus extinguished. Hence, the princedom of Chu is abolished as of this day, and its properties confiscated! The Princess Consort of Chu and her household shall move to the Han Yang princely mansion, with their daily needs supplied as circumstances warrant! All titles within the Chu princely line are stripped, and their fine fields shall be distributed at ten mu per person to clansmen and to landless commoners of Wuchang, with taxes levied according to regulation starting next year; lakes and ponds and fishing grounds revert to public ownership, and no one may privately occupy them; shops and mines shall be handed over to the Four Seas Trading Company for operation. Imperial Son-in-law Gong Yonggu and Vice Minister of the Left of the Ministry of Revenue Zhou Zhiqian shall serve as principal and deputy envoys — once preparations are complete, they shall hasten to Wuchang Prefecture to handle the relevant matters!"

Zhu Youjian quickly set the tone for disposing of the Chu princely establishment; the specific arrangements would naturally be deliberated and carried out by Gong Yonggu and Zhou Zhiqian according to actual conditions once they arrived at Wuchang Prefecture.

Since the principal authority of the Chu princedom had perished, the remaining commandery princes, defending generals, and assisting generals within Wuchang city had lost their reason to exist — it was only fitting to abolish them all in one stroke and return a clear sky to the people of Wuchang.

The Chu princely mansion was a fat sheep indeed. Historically, in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, when Zhang Xianzhong breached Wuchang, the gold and silver seized from the Chu princely mansion alone amounted to over 1.8 million taels — not even counting the landholdings and shops. Zhu Yunhui's self-wrought ruin had delivered another windfall into Zhu Youjian's hands.

Zhu Youjian estimated that the Chu princely mansion and the various commandery princes of the Chu line together held no fewer than a million mu of land — all fine fields that paid not a single coin of tax.

If taxation began next year at the rate of one-thirtieth, calculated at one shi per mu of fine land, the Ministry of Revenue would gain several hundred thousand shi of grain each year — these exceptionally precious grains would give the disaster-stricken people of the north another chance at survival.

The Chu princely line had multiplied over more than two hundred years to over ten thousand people. Apart from those direct-line commandery princes and generals, the vast majority of clansmen lived in utterly miserable conditions. Now that they would each receive ten mu of land by headcount, at least their food and clothing should no longer be a problem. The lion's share of the remaining land from that million-plus mu went to the tenant farmers who had long rented and worked it — these tenants had been paying fifteen percent or more of their harvest to the princely mansion each year; with the rent reduced by two-tenths, the farmers' burden would be greatly lightened.

"Reporting to His Majesty, regarding Your Majesty's earlier edict that all civilian vessels on the canals, apart from official ships, be taxed — after the Grand Secretariat transmitted the order to the Ministry of Revenue, Supervising Secretary Hu Dake of the Revenue Section rejected it, on the grounds that it violates ancestral institutions, damages official dignity, insults the scholarly class, and competes with the people for profit. Your minister dares to ask whether His Majesty will withdraw the edict and reconsider the matter?"

Second Grand Secretary Wang Yingxiong stepped forward and memorialized.

The supervising secretaries of the various sections in Great Ming were the quintessential example of low rank wielding great power. Though their grade was only the seventh, they had the authority to block and return imperial edicts and Grand Secretariat directives — an important mechanism of mutual checks between large and small in the Ming officialdom.

The supervising secretaries of the various sections in Great Ming were charged with attending upon the emperor, remonstrating, filling omissions, recovering oversights, auditing, and blocking or returning imperial edicts; correcting memorials submitted by all offices; supervising the six ministries; and impeaching all officials — complementing the censors.

Upon hearing Wang Yingxiong's report, Zhu Youjian understood at once: this Supervising Secretary Hu Dake of the Revenue Section must have been instigated by someone before daring to employ his rarely used power to block and return the imperial edict. The reason was simple — the edict's contents had trampled upon the interests of the gentry of Jiangnan.

For the gentry of Jiangnan, the matter of all vessels except official ships paying fees could still be grudgingly accepted — but the edict's sudden designation of the customs houses as the collection points for commercial taxes was utterly intolerable.

The current customs house fee system operated on a toll-like basis similar to road tolls in later ages. For example, a fully loaded merchant vessel departing Suzhou with a large cargo bound for the capital, over a voyage of more than three thousand li, would pay only a little over three taels in passage fees at each customs house — the eight major customs houses together collecting roughly twenty-five taels.

Such a pittance was utterly negligible for merchant vessels carrying cargo worth over a thousand taels, and for the court, even ten thousand vessels would yield only a few hundred thousand taels of silver.

But this time the court planned to levy commercial taxes at the customs houses on top of the existing fees — at a rate of one in twenty — which was absolutely unacceptable to the gentry of Jiangnan.

This meant that a vessel carrying two thousand taels of goods would pay one hundred taels in tax at a single pass — was this not simply the court reaching into their own pockets? Great Ming had enjoyed its mandate for over two hundred years — when had there ever been such a fatuous and unprincipled sovereign? Were they trying to drive us to rebellion?

Yes, the imperial armies needed military pay and provisions to suppress bandits and resist the slaves, and maintaining the court's operations also required money and grain. But shouldn't these additional levies fall upon those poverty-stricken peasants tilling the fields? How could they strike at us — the very pillars of the state? Was there no justice left? No — this fatuous sovereign's reckless whims must be resolutely resisted. This Great Ming ought to be jointly ruled by us gentry and the emperor; it could not be left to his arbitrary folly.

"At present the court requires vast sums of money and grain to relieve the disaster victims, and the military pay and provisions for the imperial armies face enormous shortfalls. Levying commercial taxes is an arrow already on the string — it must fly. Merchants themselves do not engage in production; they profit merely through distribution and transport. Levying commercial taxes only trims their margins slightly. My mind is made up on this matter — there is absolutely no possibility of withdrawing the edict!"

Zhu Youjian's stance was resolute.

"At present, all the salt profits of the realm already belong to His Majesty and the court — the returns are already immense. If commercial taxes are forcibly levied, I fear public sentiment will surge, threatening instability in Jiangnan. Such competition with the people for profit will be difficult to justify before all; in the future, under the historians' brushes, His Majesty's reputation will suffer! Though merchants do not engage in production, without their goods flowing north and south, from whence would the realm's daily necessities come? Does His Majesty intend to prohibit their circulation entirely?"

Wang Yingxiong's great accusatory hat had already been flung at Zhu Youjian — clearly, the Second Grand Secretary stood firmly on Hu Dake's side.

The former Chongzhen Emperor had placed great weight on his own reputation, ever fearful of leaving stains upon the pages of history. Thus, even when he conceived measures that would benefit the state and the people, because they trampled upon the interests of certain blocs, he ultimately lost the argument amid everyone's citations of classics and impassioned oratory.

But the Zhu Youjian of today was no longer the Chongzhen of old. At Grand Secretary Wang's childish invocation of the annals of history, Zhu Youjian simply snorted through his nose in derision.

A name in the annals of history?

History is but a young maiden — only the one who wins her has the right to dress her up in finery.

And I am the one who holds that power.