Chapter 39: Confiscating the Household and Exterminating the Clan

Guang Shiheng heard the commotion downstairs and immediately smiled, looking at Zhu Cilang and his party with eyes full of pity.

Before long, a clatter of footsteps came from the staircase, and a civil official in his forties, wearing a black gauze hat that was low in front and high in back and a bright red official robe, arrived on the second floor of Dezhuang Hotpot, surrounded by a large crowd of yamen runners.

"Brother Guang, I heard your son was beaten too. Who has such audacity, to commit violence in broad daylight in the capital? Have they eaten leopard gall and grown tired of living?" Before the man even arrived, the voice of Dong Xinghuai, Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, came through.

When Dong Xinghuai arrived furiously before Guang Shiheng, his gaze swept over Zhu Cilang and the others, and the very next moment he froze completely.

Zhu Cilang, however, said with a smile: "So you are the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture?"

"Ah!"

Dong Xinghuai let out a startled cry. At this moment, every expression on Dong Xinghuai's face vanished instantly, replaced by a look of bitter distress. This time, he had been thoroughly screwed over by his own son and that damned Guang Shiheng—he never expected the other party to be His Highness the Crown Prince.

Seeing Dong Xinghuai's expression, Guang Shiheng was puzzled. How had this surnamed Dong suddenly gone soft? He subconsciously asked: "Lord Dong, do you know them?"

Dong Xinghuai ignored him, slightly hunching his back, and said respectfully to Zhu Cilang: "Your servant Dong Xinghuai, Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, pays respects to His Highness the Crown Prince, may you live ten thousand years."

With Dong Xinghuai's bow, the entire second floor of Dezhuang Hotpot immediately knelt in a row. Those yamen runners who had been so overbearing, originally intending to seize people the moment they arrived, now instantly wilted, prostrating themselves on the ground and trembling slightly.

Zhu Cilang nodded but did not speak. He shifted his gaze to Guang Shiheng.

After hearing Dong Xinghuai's words, Guang Shiheng was also suddenly startled, and then seeing everyone kneeling on the ground, he hastily knelt down.

Zhu Cilang said with a half-smile: "Dong Xinghuai, just now your son said he was going to fetch reinforcements and told me to wait. I have kept my word and waited until now. When may I leave?"

Hearing this, Dong Xinghuai was nearly in tears. His own foolish, dim-witted son had put him in such an awkward position. To have given birth to such a son—he must have suffered eight lifetimes of bad luck.

A forced smile appeared on Dong Xinghuai's face, and he waved his hands and said: "My worthless son was impertinent and offended Your Highness. Your Highness's lesson was well given. If Your Highness is still not satisfied, I will immediately return home, bind him up, and have him kneel to death outside the Meridian Gate to atone to Your Highness."

Zhu Cilang was somewhat speechless at Dong Xinghuai's shamelessness. The Meridian Gate was the front gate of his old Zhu family, through which countless officials passed every day to attend the morning court. Having his idiot son kneel to death there—what kind of spectacle would that be?

This soft knife was truly irritating. Zhu Cilang felt thoroughly disgusted inside. He waved his hand and said: "Go stand over there!"

Zhu Cilang then looked at Guang Shiheng and said: "Guang Shiheng, what about your son's matter? Do you still want me to cut off my own right hand to atone?"

Guang Shiheng knelt there, brows furrowed tightly, not saying a word.

Seeing the awkwardness of the scene, Dong Xinghuai stepped in to change the subject: "Your Highness, today's matter was merely a small misunderstanding. I hope Your Highness..."

"Nonsense! Your son spoke ill of me behind my back and even dared to threaten me to my face. Your family's matter isn't over yet!" Zhu Cilang pointed at Dong Xinghuai and bellowed.

Dong Xinghuai's body trembled, and he immediately shut his mouth, his face pale, nearly collapsing to the ground in fright. Speaking ill of and threatening the Crown Prince—this was the crime of despising the imperial clan, offending one's superior, and gross treason, a great offense of disrespect punishable by beheading. If severe, it could mean the extermination of one's entire family and the execution of all nine kin!

Moreover, he knew well the Crown Prince's methods. In the past, two chief eunuchs of the Armory Bureau had been brought down by him, and it was said they had long since died in the Imperial Prison. Dong Xinghuai decisively abandoned Guang Shiheng, obediently standing beside Zhu Cilang, and dismissed all the yamen runners who had arrived.

Zhu Cilang looked at Guang Shiheng and said: "Even if I were utterly worthless, I am still the foundation of the state as Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace. For a subject to criticize the sovereign, for an inferior to slander a superior—is this the way of proper order? How have you disciplined your son?"

Just at this moment, Guang Heng's screams came again from downstairs. Hearing them, anger surged once more in Guang Shiheng's heart. He stood up, bowed to Zhu Cilang, and said:

"Whether my son spoke ill of Your Highness, I do not know. I only know that Your Highness ordered people to throw my son downstairs, crippling him. I will memorialize His Majesty on this matter and let the Emperor decide. Your servant has much official business to attend to, so I shall take my leave!" Guang Shiheng showed no respect at all, tossing out these words before rising to depart.

Seeing Xu Sheng about to make a move to drag him back, Zhu Cilang waved his hand and let Guang Shiheng leave. He understood that no matter what, he could not kill someone in the street—that would have a bad influence.

Watching Guang Shiheng's retreating back, Zhu Cilang's eyes turned cold, and he said: "To despise and threaten the imperial clan is a crime worthy of death. Li Tingbiao, take the Embroidered Uniform Guard and confiscate this bastard's household. Execute all the male members, and send the womenfolk to the Bureau of Music!"

Dong Xinghuai's heart trembled. This Crown Prince was truly a hard man—he intended to wipe them out completely. Fortunately, he had just abandoned Guang Shiheng.

Zhu Cilang then looked at Dong Xinghuai and said: "I have heard that the Prefects of Shuntian Prefecture are all hard-boned men who fear no power and enforce the law impartially. And a man like you can be Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture? Submit your own resignation, or else I won't mind sending your son on his way under the charge of great disrespect!"

Dong Xinghuai's body trembled, and he hastily knelt to give thanks for the mercy.

That very day, a large crowd of Embroidered Uniform Guard surged into the Guang residence. They cut down the male members on sight, and even Guang Shiheng, who had returned to the Guang residence together with his son Guang Heng, was executed on the spot.

The entire Guang residence ran with rivers of blood, filled with wails and cries—a scene too miserable to behold. The Embroidered Uniform Guard led by Li Tingbiao all wore expressionless faces, though inwardly somewhat excited. After several years, the fearsome reputation of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was once again on the rise.

Li Tingbiao turned the Guang residence upside down in his search, yet only found several tens of thousands of taels of silver, which left him speechless. He had thought it would be a big fish, but it turned out to be a rotten shrimp.

Not that it was surprising—Guang Shiheng had only just entered the position of Supervising Secretary in the Bureau of Military Appointments a few years ago, and hadn't had enough time to rake in money.

Even so, adding the charge of corruption was already a foregone conclusion. Several tens of thousands of taels of silver—even if he served as an official for a hundred years, he couldn't have saved that much.

On the afternoon of the day the Guang residence was confiscated, many ministers wept outside the Meridian Gate, crying to the palace that the Crown Prince was without virtue, that he had arbitrarily killed court officials, and that being so young with such a killing heart, he would likely not be a wise sovereign in the future.

"Is it the Donglin Faction?" After receiving the news, Zhu Cilang was somewhat annoyed. Unclear about what these weeping ministers were up to, he had Li Tingbiao investigate in secret.

An hour later, Li Tingbiao sent word that those targeting the Crown Prince were not the Donglin Faction, but had been instigated by Wen Tiren.

After learning of Guang Shiheng's "fall in battle," Wen Tiren was somewhat frustrated. Not only had his "chariot" failed to take down the Crown Prince, but he had also lost a "mouth cannon."

Having suffered a loss, how could Wen Tiren easily admit defeat? Seizing on the heat of the matter, he had his lackey Tang Shiji stir up the Censors and remonstrating officials to go weep at the Meridian Gate and push a wave of pressure.

As the Left Chief Censor, Tang Shiji was the boss of those Censors. With orders from his superior, combined with the old grudge from the porridge stall in front of the Tang residence, he led a group of remonstrating officials to the Meridian Gate that very day, full of vigor, to stir up trouble.

From the intelligence Li Tingbiao had sent, Zhu Cilang spent a long time sorting out the current situation in the court.

The Donglin Faction represented the interests of the southeastern landlords and merchants. Although Zhu Cilang took silver from the wealthy merchants, it was given willingly as donations, and he had also indirectly raised the status of merchants. The Donglin Faction had no reason to open fire on him.

Moreover, under Wen Tiren's suppression in recent years, the Donglin Faction could barely hold their ground in court anymore. Even Qian Qianyi, the big shot of the Donglin Faction, had been thrown into prison by Wen Tiren last year to eat prison food.

So the Donglin Faction could not possibly join Wen Tiren in firing at him. If anything, when necessary, they might even stand on his side.

Of course, don't think that just because Wen Tiren crushed the Donglin Faction he was a good man. That bastard Wen Tiren was a complete mediocrity. His war against the Donglin Faction was mainly because when Qian Qianyi had competed with him for the position of Chief Grand Secretary years ago, they had fired at each other—two dogs biting each other.

The current Ming court was basically a mess of factional struggles led by Wen Tiren, bickering endlessly and doing nothing of substance. If Zhu Cilang wanted to get real work done, he would have to pull out these poisonous nails one by one.