Chapter 19: Cutting In Line (Seeking Favorites)

At the Northern Bastille Office, Zhu Cilang sat in the white-tiger grand chair in the main hall, holding a case file in his hand, reading it carefully.

Luo Yangxing and Li Tingbiao stood on either side below. The moment they returned to the Northern Bastille Office, their subordinates summoned them, saying that His Highness the Crown Prince had been waiting in the main hall for some time.

Luo Yangxing's heart skipped a beat. He had no idea what game the Eastern Palace was playing, but he could only steel himself and come.

"How much silver did Lord Luo seize?" Zhu Cilang asked calmly, his head lowered as he looked at a case file.

Luo Yangxing's heart tightened. He hadn't yet had the chance to ask Li Tingbiao how much silver he'd seized from Ma Xianxiang's household, so speaking first now would put him at a disadvantage.

But since the Eastern Palace had already asked, he had no choice but to speak: "To answer Your Highness, this humble officer seized a total of one hundred thousand taels of ready silver from Liu Rong's household, along with some valuable paintings and vessels, which I estimate to be worth around three hundred thousand taels."

Zhu Cilang raised his head to glance at Luo Yangxing, then lowered it again to continue reading the file in his hands. After a long moment, he said: "Liu Rong served as seal-holding eunuch of the Armory Bureau for over a decade, and all he managed to scrape together was three hundred thousand taels? Think again — how much did you seize?"

Luo Yangxing's heart chilled. The Eastern Palace was clearly still young, so why did he seem so mature and seasoned? A veritable old fox, through and through.

Luo Yangxing steeled himself and said: "To answer Your Highness, roughly four hundred thousand taels."

Zhu Cilang raised his eyelids once more and said: "I'll give you one last chance."

Luo Yangxing grew somewhat uneasy. He gritted his teeth and said: "In truth, it was five hundred and twenty thousand taels."

Zhu Cilang's eyelids twitched as he said: "It seems prying silver out of Lord Luo's hands is no easy feat. You may go."

"Yes!" Luo Yangxing wiped the sweat from his brow and took his leave.

Once out of the Northern Bastille Office, Luo Yangxing seemed to become a different person, appearing perfectly composed. He thought to himself: After all, he's still just a child. Does he really think tricks like that can bluff the exact figure out of me? Doesn't he know how many years I've served in the Embroidered Uniform Guard?

In the main hall of the Northern Bastille Office, only Zhu Cilang and Li Tingbiao remained.

Li Tingbiao bowed and said: "To report to Your Highness, this humble officer seized five hundred thousand taels of ready silver from Ma Xianxiang's household, with other antiques, paintings, and such estimated at another three to four hundred thousand taels."

Zhu Cilang looked at Li Tingbiao and said with a light smile: "Does Luo Yangxing know how much silver you seized?"

Li Tingbiao answered without hesitation: "This humble officer led his own men. He doesn't know, and I'm not clear on his exact figure either, though I'm certain it can't be less than mine."

Zhu Cilang nodded. He knew Luo Yangxing was greedy, but hadn't expected him to be this greedy. The second-in-command of the Armory Bureau could embezzle eight to nine hundred thousand taels — yet from Liu Rong's household, the top man, only five hundred thousand taels had been seized?

What was infuriating was that Luo Yangxing had initially reported only three hundred thousand taels, clearly trying to fool him. Still, Zhu Cilang didn't press too hard on the matter.

Zhu Cilang feared Luo Yangxing might pocket the seized goods for himself, so he had come specifically to the Embroidered Uniform Guard to cut him off, and incidentally to rap Luo Yangxing's knuckles, to keep him from growing too brazen.

After a private discussion with Li Tingbiao, Zhu Cilang planned to return to the palace and turn in early, since he would have to rise before dawn to attend the morning court session.

No sooner had the crown prince's procession left the Northern Bastille Office than Li Tingbiao was summoned by Luo Yangxing, who directly asked him how much he had reported to the Eastern Palace.

Li Tingbiao told him that he had reported a total of five hundred thousand taels to the Eastern Palace. This surprised Luo Yangxing somewhat, but pleased him even more, and he repeatedly praised Li Tingbiao for knowing how things worked.

This was also Zhu Cilang's deliberate arrangement — if Li Tingbiao's reported figure far exceeded Luo Yangxing's, it would indicate that Luo Yangxing had problems.

Zhu Cilang did not yet have evidence of Luo Yangxing's corruption, so he couldn't topple him in one stroke and elevate Li Tingbiao to the top position in the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Thus, he could only protect Li Tingbiao for now.

As for the several hundred thousand taels that Li Tingbiao hadn't reported, Zhu Cilang naturally kept them aside. At this time, developing intelligence required silver most of all, and he planned to give those several hundred thousand taels to Li Tingbiao to vigorously expand his intelligence network.

When it came to concealing part of the wealth gained from household seizures, the Embroidered Uniform Guard was the most skilled — naturally, Zhu Cilang needn't worry about that.

The Eastern Palace's decree ordering the Embroidered Uniform Guard to investigate and seize the Armory Bureau spread throughout the court and the realm in no time. Many officials were astonished — had this truly been done by the crown prince, who was only a few years old?

Quite a few sharp-nosed officials spotted the problem immediately: this was the first time the Eastern Palace had issued an Eastern Palace decree, and with a single stroke, it had taken down one of the Twenty-Four Offices. What was the Eastern Palace trying to do? Some refused to believe it, but more officials were paying close attention to the matter.

Those officials or nobles with covert interests tied to the Armory Bureau severed their connections with it in the shortest possible time upon receiving the news, and destroyed some of the evidence.

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At the Duke of Cheng's mansion, in Zhu Chunchen's study.

Upon hearing the news about the Armory Bureau, Zhu Chunchen broke out in cold sweat. He secretly sent people to summon several ministers with whom he shared vested interests to discuss matters in private.

Zhu Chunchen said angrily: "What happened with the Armory Bureau? How did the Embroidered Uniform Guard just wipe it out?"

One of the ministers said: "Unclear. The Embroidered Uniform Guard didn't go to the Office of Scrutiny for a warrant — they went straight to make the arrests!"

"That Luo Yangxing is a real ungrateful wolf. Back then, Grand Secretary Wen recommended him to His Majesty for the top post in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and now he dares to make a move on our people!"

Back when Wen Tiren, Zhou Yanru, and the Donglin Faction's Qian Qianyi were contending for the position of Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru had formed an alliance, and at one point had grown quite close with Luo Yangxing.

In the end, both sides got what they wanted — they brought down Qian Qianyi, one became Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, and the other became Guard Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. A perfectly satisfactory outcome.

However, in officialdom there was never an impregnable alliance. What mattered more was profit — burning bridges after crossing, and undercutting each other were common occurrences.

Wen Tiren's faction struck first, submitting a memorial requesting that the Chongzhen Emperor revoke the Embroidered Uniform Guard's authority to investigate crimes. Though the Emperor ultimately did not accept it, he still imposed many restrictions on the Guard's powers, including the abolition of most of its functions — among them, surveillance of ministers.

That string of moves naturally offended Luo Yangxing. At the time, Luo Yangxing had just leapfrogged several ranks to become the top man of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and lacked the strength to wrestle with the Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat. He could only swallow his anger and secretly bide his time for an opportunity.

During that period, Luo Yangxing inevitably did some things to spite Wen Tiren. This time, when he went to arrest the two heads of the Armory Bureau, he didn't say a word — he just brought his men and did it.

Zhu Chunchen said: "That ungrateful wolf Luo Yangxing wouldn't dare act on his own. Word has it this was ordered by the Eastern Palace."

One of the ministers said: "The Eastern Palace is just a child. Why would he want to destroy the Armory Bureau? Could it be that the eunuchs of the Armory Bureau offended this young master?"

Zhu Chunchen sighed and said: "Whatever their reasons, the interests from the Armory Bureau are gone now, and saying anything more is useless. But this grudge is settled. Think of ways to deal with them!"

The several ministers nodded at his words, then began offering their schemes.

"The Embroidered Uniform Guard arrested people directly without obtaining a warrant from the Office of Scrutiny — showing no regard for the sovereign. On that ground alone, Luo Yangxing should be dismissed, and the Eastern Palace should be reprimanded as well!"

"Right, when the time comes, we'll submit memorials together and take the opportunity to have His Majesty abolish the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Let's see how arrogant he can be then!"

"Right, finish off that ungrateful wolf Luo Yangxing, and teach that little brat in the Eastern Palace a lesson — let him know that even the Emperor can't do whatever he pleases!"

One minister, seeing them discussing with such animated relish, finally couldn't help but cough and say: "Gentlemen, let me share some bad news with you all. His Majesty, citing the need to prevent leaks, transferred the authority to issue warrants to the Embroidered Uniform Guard back in the fifth year of Chongzhen. They no longer need to go through the Office of Scrutiny at all. So the Embroidered Uniform Guard committed no offense."

"What? Why didn't you say so earlier!" One of the ministers jumped up, pointing at him and shouting angrily.

The others were also somewhat furious — so we've all been scheming and congratulating ourselves for nothing, while you've been sitting there holding in your farts and watching the show?