Chapter 74: Aftermath

Listening to Chongzhen's gloomy, icy tone, his words piercing hearts like sharp swords, the crowd of senior eunuchs was scared out of their wits, sweat pouring like water.

Wang Dehua was also an old retainer from when Chongzhen was Prince Xin. After Zhu Youjian ascended the throne, he smoothly took over the great power of seal-holding eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, becoming the all-powerful inner chancellor. Over the years he had amassed a vast family fortune, and his close relatives had ridden on his coattails—his nephews and sons were basically all on the payroll of the Embroidered Uniform Guard in name, then used his fame and power to do business and make money. This was also an ordinary matter; fortunately they had not committed crimes or seized things by force, and could still be considered law-abiding.

Wang Dehua had followed Chongzhen for many years and naturally understood his master's temperament. He knew that although his temper was rash and quick to anger, he was still quite lenient with those around him. He would sometimes rage, but he had never spoken such heart-piercing words before. It seemed some rumor or other must have reached his ears.

Wang Dehua raised his head slightly and quickly glanced at Wang Cheng'en standing beside Chongzhen. He saw him with lowered brows and obedient eyes, staring at the ground as if the Emperor's anger had nothing whatsoever to do with him.

"It must be this bastard who passed word to His Majesty! I hear His Majesty trusts him even more these days, and his nephew has entered the Embroidered Uniform Guard as a substantive Centurion—what great favor that is! My own nephews, both inner and outer, are also in the Embroidered Uniform Guard at the Chiliarch level, but they have no real connection to the Guard at all, just holding the title. Unlike this bastard, hmph!"

Thinking this, Wang Dehua wiped the sweat from his forehead, kowtowed with a loud thump, and spoke: "This old servant reports to His Majesty—we old servants are all mutilated men, fortunate to have the honor of serving His Majesty's household, and are naturally unwaveringly loyal. This old servant is indeed somewhat greedy for wealth, but my loyalty to His Majesty's household is clear for all to see! The words Your Majesty just spoke have this old servant ashamed to the point of death. I do not know which slave dared to speak such treasonous words to Your Majesty, provoking such great anger! That damned slave—if this old servant finds out who it was, I will tear him limb from limb!"

Wang Cheng'en remained unmoved, still staring at his feet. Chongzhen sneered coldly: "Wang Dehua, I ask you—where is your loyalty? From what do you judge that what I just said was rumor? As seal-holder of the Directorate of Ceremonial, the entire imperial palace is under your jurisdiction. Upon hearing such a matter, you did not first investigate whether it was true—your first thought was instead to find out who told me! Reasoning from what you said, would it not mean that no matter what intelligence appears within the palace, it must be concealed from me? What is your intention, you slave!"

At the thought of what Wang Cheng'en had secretly investigated, Chongzhen's anger blazed even hotter. As he finished speaking, he casually grabbed the teacup from the table and hurled it at Wang Dehua. With a "smack," the teacup struck Wang Dehua square on the head, shattering into pieces, and blood immediately streamed down from the wound.

Wang Dehua was stunned for a moment by the teacup. Once he came to his senses, ignoring the blood streaming from his head, he kowtowed desperately and begged for mercy. The others were no better off—they had followed Chongzhen for many years and had never seen His Majesty fly into such a rage. They too kowtowed with all their might, and Wang Zhixin was so frightened he burst into loud sobbing.

Chongzhen bellowed: "Stop crying! Cry again and I'll have you dragged out and beaten to death!"

Wang Zhixin, who had been wailing loudly, heard Chongzhen's shout and his crying stopped abruptly, as if a duck's neck had suddenly been squeezed. His upper body heaved and jerked, tears still streaming down ceaselessly.

Chongzhen took a deep breath and let it out, his furious mood easing slightly. He said coldly: "Wang Dehua, in consideration of your being an old retainer from my princely days, I will spare you once today! I give you ten days to clean up all the shady affairs within the palace and root out those with treacherous intentions. I do not want people spying on me from behind! If anyone in the palace dares to collude with outsiders again, do not blame me for being ruthless!"

The blood from Wang Dehua's head flowed down his cheeks to the floor, where a small pool of blood had already formed. Hearing Chongzhen's words, his heart relaxed with a great sigh of relief. He had thought that in this rage His Majesty would send him off to guard the imperial tombs, and then the wealth and honor he and his family had enjoyed for years would instantly dissipate. When the wall falls, everyone pushes it—there were plenty in the palace who envied and resented him, and given the chance they would devour his family clean. He secretly resolved that this time, no matter who was implicated, he would show not a shred of mercy—he absolutely could not lose His Majesty's trust.

He kowtowed several times with loud thumps and said: "Let His Majesty be informed—this old servant will surely handle the task well, so that His Majesty may rest easy!"

Chongzhen snorted coldly: "I do not listen to slogans; I want results! Get up and stand aside!" Wang Dehua kowtowed once, obediently rose, and bent over as he withdrew to one side.

Looking at the few still kneeling on the ground, Chongzhen continued to bark: "Wang Zhixin! Do you think that by putting on a pitiful act, I will soften and spare you? I know that within this palace, when it comes to greed for wealth, if you, Wang Zhixin, claim second, no one dares claim first. There is no silver you dare not take, no one's money you dare not accept! I have heard that in the years since I ascended the throne, you have amassed several hundred thousand taels of silver—is that true or not?"

Wang Zhixin, sobbing and sniffling, replied: "In answer to His Majesty—this old servant has never liked anything else in life but silver. Over these years, aside from what my family relatives earned through their businesses and presented to this old servant in filial piety, I have indeed accepted quite a lot of silver I should not have taken. This old servant deserves death. When I return, I will present all this silver to His Majesty!"

Chongzhen was so angry he laughed. He cursed: "You old dog! Am I some fatuous ruler who covets other people's wealth? Among the civil and military officials and nobles of the court, there are plenty with vast fortunes—do I need to force them all to donate their riches? I will not pursue past matters for now. Though I am poor, I will not force others against their will! What I want to ask you is—was Du Xun, the former eunuch garrison commander of Xuanfu, your protégé?"

In his mind, Wang Zhixin suddenly understood everything. Du Xun had garrisoned Xuanfu for years and had extracted no small amount of benefit from the eight households of Zhangjiakou Fort involved in this affair; his filial tribute to Wang Zhixin was the most generous of all his adopted sons. Last year, after the Emperor recalled him, out of consideration for his obedience and filial piety, Wang Zhixin had through Wang Dehua placed him in the Directorate of Ceremonial as an attendant eunuch. Du Xun was naturally endlessly grateful to his adoptive father and followed his every word. The fact that this had not been mentioned before the court officials just now meant His Majesty was afraid of airing the family's dirty linen in public. It seemed this adopted son of his was doomed—if handled well, he would spit out the silver and be sent to guard the imperial tombs; if handled badly, it would mean the loss of both his life and his wealth.

In a flash of thought, Wang Zhixin had already reasoned through the whole matter. He kowtowed once, straightened his upper body, and said: "In answer to His Majesty, Du Xun is indeed this old servant's protégé. At the time, I saw that he was clever and sharp, and his conduct in dealing with others was passable, so I took him as an adopted son. He garrisoned Xuanfu for several years, and during that time he did not forget to send this old servant festival gifts, though we had little other contact. Last year Your Majesty recalled him, and as it happened there was a vacancy for attendant eunuch in the Directorate of Ceremonial. The seal-holder saw that his literary skill was proficient and his talent usable, and so placed him in the Directorate to serve. Your Majesty, Du Xun is also Your Majesty's servant—if he has violated the laws of the realm, this old servant will go back and beat him to death!"

Wang Dehua, standing to one side, glared at him furiously, wishing he could kick the old bastard to death: If it weren't for you old dog bringing Du Xun to deliver twenty thousand taels of silver to me, would I have let him into the Directorate of Ceremonial? This time you've dumped the shit bucket on my head—I'm not done with you!

Chongzhen chuckled: "The Embroidered Uniform Guard has already confiscated his property by now. What use is keeping such a servant who bites the hand that feeds him? I sent him to garrison one of the nine key frontier towns precisely to monitor the local officials and generals, to guard against those with treacherous hearts—who would have thought he would instead collude with them! Wang Zhixin, take men to the Directorate of Ceremonial, seize him, and beat him to death immediately! You will supervise the execution!"

Wang Dehua and the others all shuddered inwardly. To personally seize his own adopted son and watch him beaten to death—Wang Zhixin's prestige would be destroyed in an instant. After this, who would dare to attach themselves to him?

Wang Zhixin naturally understood this reasoning, but at this moment he could not afford to worry about much else—first he had to preserve his own household. Once this matter was settled, he would beg His Majesty to let him retire to Tianjin. With all the money he had embezzled over the years, becoming a wealthy gentleman would be more than sufficient. There was no place for him in the palace anymore; better to extricate himself early while His Majesty had not yet exterminated him completely. Without another word, he kowtowed, rose to his feet, and retreated backward out of the great hall with a bowed back, instructing the young eunuchs to summon several executioner eunuchs, and headed straight for the Directorate of Ceremonial.

After Wang Zhixin left, Chongzhen glanced at Cao Huachun, Gao Qiqian, and Liu Gao, who were still kneeling, and spoke: "The realm of the Great Ming is in turmoil, and rumors say the Zhu family's empire is in danger of collapse. Some servants in the palace have begun to harbor other thoughts. I tell you all—as long as I am here, the Great Ming will not fall! If anyone harbors petty schemes and I discover it, I will exterminate his entire clan! Get out and attend to your duties!"

Wang Dehua and the others practically crawled and rolled out of Zhaoren Hall, each inwardly admonishing themselves that they absolutely could not engage in any of those shady dealings from before. Keeping the wealth and honor they had now was enough. Whoever tried to pry into palace affairs again would be their enemy—they would fight them to the death!

A few days later, a fast rider delivered the imperial edict to Sun Chengzong. At the command, on the plaza before the Governor-General's yamen in Xuanfu, heads rolled daily, with crowds of onlookers gathering as if at a market fair. After several consecutive days, several hundred heads had fallen. Then, batch after batch of the convicts' family members were escorted by government runners south to Lingnan and Qiongzhou. Whether they died of illness or starvation on the road, or perished from not adapting to the climate after arrival—that was heaven's will. When they had been living in glory and lording it over others, they probably never dreamed in their wildest fantasies that such a day would come.

As for the confiscated silver, Chongzhen left Sun Chengzong three hundred thousand taels, requiring him and Zhu Zhifeng to follow Sun Chuanting's example: open up wasteland for military farmland in Xuanfu, train troops to protect the people, recruit new soldiers, make up the arrears in military pay and provisions owed to the troops, promote those who were loyal to the state and upright in daring to fight, comprehensively eliminate the old malpractices of the Xuanfu army, purge the rotten apples from the ranks, and forge a strong army with strict discipline that obeyed commands. Anyone who paid lip service while opposing in deed, or conspired to resist superior orders, Sun Chengzong had the authority to execute.

In the secret letter to Sun Chengzong, Chongzhen required him to send men to guard all the confiscated goods, seal all the implicated shops, and have the shopkeepers and clerks report daily to the local authorities, awaiting the arrival of a trading firm called Sihai to take over these assets and personnel. This vast quantity of materials was of considerable value—when the time came, the Sihai Trading Firm could directly use these goods for trade, saving a great deal of silver. Chongzhen would not need to inject further capital into the firm either; once this batch of goods was sold off, the Sihai Trading Firm's principal would no longer be lacking.