Chapter 86: The Shanxi Merchants' Counterstrike

On the first day of the eighth month, the Shanxi merchants' collusion-with-the-enemy affair that had stirred up such a commotion all day suddenly took a dramatic turn.

Officials in court began to speak up for the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants, demanding severe punishment for the troublemakers, while a pack of censors and remonstrance officials seized the opportunity to impeach Feng Ying, the Minister of Justice and Prefect of Shuntian.

The grounds for impeachment were that he had shielded rumormongers and framed loyal merchants who had contributed to the state.

Before long, an even more shocking rumor spread through the capital, and its target was none other than the Crown Prince Zhu Cilang himself. The rumor claimed that the Troops and Horses Office of the Five Wards was secretly acting on the Crown Prince's orders to frame the Shanxi merchants and seize their wealth.

The evidence supposedly came from several street thugs the Troops and Horses Office of the Five Wards had arrested some time ago. These thugs claimed they had been threatened by jailers while in custody, and that the Crown Prince had privately summoned several commanders of the Troops and Horses Office of the Wu Cheng Ward.

For a time, the capital was flooded with all sorts of rumors favorable to the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants. Even the thugs, ruffians, and common folk who had gathered before the mansions of the Eight Great Merchants gradually dispersed, and the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants became, to all appearances, the weak and helpless victims.

The Grand Secretariat quickly seized the opportunity to intervene, dismissing several commanders of the Troops and Horses Office of the Five Wards. Even Feng Ying came under attack — some remonstrance officials submitted memorials requesting a retrial of the "Zheng Man case." Especially with Wen Tiren and other Grand Secretariat ministers fanning the flames, Chongzhen ordered Feng Ying, the Minister of Justice, suspended from office pending investigation.

The Zheng Man case, which Feng Ying had originally ruled did not warrant the death penalty, was ultimately retried, with the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Censorate conducting a joint tribunal.

The Zheng Man case seemed simple on the surface, yet it was rather complicated. Its origins lay in factional strife — last year, Wen Tiren had impeached Zheng Man, a conflict sparked by the struggle between the "Wen clique" and Wen Zhenmeng of the Donglin Faction.

In the earlier proceedings of the Zheng Man case, with Grand Secretariat minister Wen Zhenmeng shielding him from the front and the dutiful Minister of Justice Feng Ying and Wu Mengming of the Embroidered Uniform Guard handling matters according to law from behind, the case had been somewhat settled, ultimately ruled as not warranting death and placed under ordinary detention.

Now that Wen Zhenmeng had passed away, someone was raking up old grievances — clearly intending to drag Feng Ying down with them, and incidentally strip him of his powers as Minister of Justice and Prefect of Shuntian, preventing him from investigating the Shanxi merchants' collusion case. It was a move that killed two birds with one stone.

Why did the Chongzhen Emperor suspend Feng Ying pending investigation? This was actually Wen Tiren's brilliance. He exploited Zheng Man's crime of "caning his mother" to deeply provoke the anger that had been buried in Chongzhen's heart for years.

When Chongzhen was five years old, his birth mother, Lady Liu, had been beaten to death by order of the Ming Guangzong Emperor. Thus Chongzhen felt a profound abhorrence for such acts from the depths of his soul. Moreover, every dynasty ruled by filial piety — even a stepmother was still a mother.

As the emperor of a feudal dynasty, Chongzhen had to uphold this code of ethics and law. Therefore, in history, Zheng Man was executed by lingering death on Chongzhen's orders, sliced alive with three thousand six hundred cuts.

Within the Fan mansion in the capital.

The chief stewards of the Eight Great Traitorous Shanxi Merchants in the capital gathered together, feasting and drinking freely in the Fan mansion's great hall, accompanied by beautiful singing girls at their sides — quite the comfortable scene.

Amid the feast, Fan Yongshan laughed loudly: "That little Crown Prince actually dares to touch our Eight Great Families — he doesn't know his place!"

The chief steward of the Huang family chimed in: "That kid thinks he's so clever, but he doesn't realize that those thugs, in the face of gleaming silver, would sell even their own lives — why would they risk them for him?"

The chief steward of the Jin family said: "Money makes the mare go — that saying works on everyone. Are the common folk angry? Didn't they just pick up the silver and walk away grinning? As for the officials, don't even mention them!"

The chief steward of the Liang family laughed heartily: "Hahaha, now all five commanders of the Troops and Horses Office of the Five Wards have been dismissed and replaced with our people. That old fool Feng Ying is even more unlucky — there are people in court who've long wanted him dead. Let's see if they still dare to touch us, the Eight Great Families of Shanxi!"

"Hahaha!"

For a moment, wanton laughter filled the hall.

After laughing for a good while, Fan Yongshan spoke again: "Let this wind blow for another half day. Starting tomorrow, keep throwing silver around — have those thugs spread the word everywhere that the Manchu lords— no, the Jianzhou barbarians, the Jianzhou barbarians' army has already approached Tongzhou, and the capital's grain will only last three more days!"

The chief steward of the Tian family immediately clapped in approval: "Fourth Master Fan is brilliant! When the time comes, our grain will sell like hotcakes again. This time, the Tian family will push the grain price to ten taels per shi — let's see whether these little sheep buy it or not!"

The chief steward of the Wang family said: "Is Second Master Tian being too merciful? The Wang family plans to push it to fifteen taels per shi."

"Hahaha!"

The entire Fan mansion was filled with lewd, wanton laughter and merriment.

In the Zhongcui Palace of the Forbidden City.

Zhu Cilang reclined on a lounge chair in his study, eating fruit that the palace maids Moqin and Moqi had peeled and fed to his mouth — equally at ease.

After listening to Li Tingbiao's report from across the room, he was somewhat surprised and said flatly: "Those thugs really are the type to value money over their own lives. Wealthy traitors are formidable indeed — they can even bribe their way into the Grand Secretariat."

Originally, Li Tingbiao had suggested using only the outer personnel of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to spread word of the Shanxi merchants' collusion with the enemy, but Zhu Cilang had insisted on using those thugs instead, wanting to turn their own tactics against them and slap the faces of the Eight Great Traitors hard.

He had very much wanted to see what wonderful expressions the Eight Great Traitors would make when harassed by their own former underlings — but instead, he was the one whose face got slapped.

Li Tingbiao said: "Since the people of Shuntian Prefecture and the Troops and Horses Office of the Five Wards have been restricted, should we have someone continue fanning the flames, or should this subordinate send men disguised as thugs to charge into their mansions and accidentally do away with them?"

Zhu Cilang gestured for the palace maid Moqi to hand a piece of watermelon to Li Tingbiao. Li Tingbiao thanked him and, without pretense, took the watermelon and ate it in small bites. After reporting for so long in the sweltering heat, he was parched — there was no point in putting on airs.

Seeing that Li Tingbiao had finished eating, Zhu Cilang finally smiled slightly and said: "Quietly doing away with them would be easy, but it would be utterly meaningless. What I want is their property!"

No kidding! As the last hard man of the Great Ming, how could I use such low-class methods? I've always been a man who never changes his name or hides his identity — the top dog of the capital, known as Brother Haonan.

Zhu Cilang continued: "These jumping clowns who ruin the state and harm the people think they can cover the sky with one hand in the capital by relying on their backers in court, but they've made one fatal mistake — pushing me out into the open!"

Zhu Cilang stood up, his gaze gradually turning sharp, and said: "They think that by exposing me, I'll be constrained by my own reputation and dare not touch them? How ridiculous! The more they think that way, the more I'll do exactly the opposite!"

"Li Tingbiao, deliver the Jianzhou spies connected to the Eight Great Traitors that the Embroidered Uniform Guard has captured, along with the prepared evidence, to Yang Tinglin, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice."

A sudden aura emanated from Zhu Cilang's body as he declared sternly: "Once that's done, transmit my Eastern Palace decree — order the entire Yongwei Camp to mobilize and seal off all of the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants' grain depots in the capital! The Embroidered Uniform Guard is responsible for confiscating their homes and shops and arresting officials connected to the Eight Great Traitors, limited to those of the fourth rank and below!"

"Transmit the operational orders to all departments a quarter-hour before the operation begins. Tonight, when the evening curfew drum sounds at the third watch's third quarter, that is when we strike — everything must be concluded before tomorrow's morning court!"

Zhu Cilang said with murderous intent: "During the operation and confiscations, anyone who resists or obstructs shall be killed without mercy — no matter who they are, what office they hold, even if they're from the Grand Secretariat itself, anyone who dares to obstruct shall be slain!"

Thanks to fellow reader "Shuiyun Sha" for the five hundred book coins tipped, becoming this book's first apprentice!

Last week, you brothers were really supportive — although the collection count wasn't high, because so many recommendation votes were cast, this book has a recommendation slot again this week!

A new week has arrived again. Starting Monday, I'm begging for recommendation votes — begging in every possible way, three hundred and sixty degrees!