Chapter 161: The Evil Book

The book explicitly states that the Chongzhen Emperor had been controlled by the eunuch faction since the seventeenth year, favoring powerful eunuchs and employing the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot to brutally persecute the upright scholars of the Donglin Faction, and that he first addressed Eastern Depot Director Wang Cheng'en as "Seven Thousand Years."

Beyond this, the book groups Wang Cheng'en together with Western Depot Director Cao Huachun and Inner Depot Director Fang Zhenghua as the "Three Tigers," calling this the much-rumored "Three Tigers in Power" period of the Great Ming.

With vigorous propaganda from Donglin partisans, the Great Ming court was painted as utterly benighted — worse even than the days of Wei Zhongxian, the "Nine Thousand Years."

For a time, all of Jiangnan was said to have "not a single place unaware of this matter," and the Fushe's influence reached its peak, even overshadowing the surveillance organs that the Three Depots and One Guard had established in Jiangnan.

At this very moment, the "Three Tigers" that Donglin claimed had plunged the Great Ming court into darkness were standing before the Chongzhen Emperor trembling in fear — which shows just how skilled those Donglin monkeys are at spreading rumors.

After this, the Chongzhen Emperor could not help wondering whether Wei Zhongxian, that "Nine Thousand Years" touted as wielding power over the entire court, had also looked this pathetic before Tianqi.

What angered Chongzhen even more was that Zhang Cai and his cohort of Fushe talents had done far more than this.

They traveled everywhere, contacting a large number of private printing houses to publish and distribute the book, and while their reputations soared they took on disciples widely, cultivating ties with powerful figures of every stripe — including Xu Wenjue, the current Duke of Wei in Nanjing — and with Jiangnan gentry.

The New Year had barely passed when these so-called talents of the Great Ming handed the court such a difficult problem, yet what left Chongzhen most speechless was that although what these people did was excessive, it did not actually violate any existing law.

Despite what the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang had said about "government students not being permitted to discuss state affairs," and although certain people in the Great Ming had uttered words like "matters of military and state — government students are not permitted to offer opinions," there was in fact no explicit written regulation.

To put it plainly, these Donglin monkeys had learned their lesson. Knowing that the Chongzhen Emperor dared to kill without mercy, they no longer staged dramatic death remonstrances; instead they hopped around before his eyes to provoke him, all without breaking the law.

If it were the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the Emperor would have simply had them dragged to Nanjing and executed. After all, the Ming was nearly finished by then — he did such things only because he knew he was going to hang himself and wanted to drag the Donglin Faction down with him.

But now the Great Ming had barely achieved some stability. If he were to go on a reckless killing spree, chopping heads until they rolled like rivers across the land, there would be only one possible outcome: under the scholars' propaganda, the people of Jiangnan would be gripped by panic, and the common folk would completely lose hope in this court.

And the landlords, wealthy merchants, gentry, and scholars had money, manpower, and a voice. Add in those civil officials like "the water is too cold," and they would even have power. Raising the banner of rebellion in the south and setting up a second court would hardly be difficult — finding a prince who wanted to be emperor would be simple enough.

You don't want the job? Fine, we'll go ask the next one.

The Great Ming was already caught between two enemies, and the Chongzhen Emperor had barely managed to survive into the eighteenth year. If anything went wrong in the south, only Beizhili, Shandong, and Xuan-Da would remain — at that point there would be nowhere left to scrape by, and he could just transmigrate back and continue his miserable life as a code monkey.

At that point, he would truly have lived too long and single-handedly played the Ming to death.

Even if the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the agents detected the Donglin Faction's moves, those cowards had been watertight this time, and the Depot and Guard presence around Nanjing was weaker than in the capital anyway, so no handle could be found in the short term.

Without solid evidence, the Chongzhen Emperor could hardly just have them all arrested like last year, could he?

Even if he arrested them all at once and slaughtered them until blood flowed like rivers, how would he explain it to the people? You punish them for their crimes, but the common folk do not see what crime a group of great talents committed by worrying about the country.

You are the Emperor, but can a man no longer write books and air his grievances in private? What kind of reasoning is that!

None of the common people are fools, and the scholars have learned from their falls — no one is stupid enough to charge out and offer his head to your blade anymore.

Anyone thinking of simply chopping heads should wake up: this eighteenth year of Chongzhen still belongs to the Great Ming, not to the Tartar Qing.

Weighing these factors, the Chongzhen Emperor could not simply order arrests and executions. But with this foul anger unvented and no way to deal with the Donglin monkeys, he felt something was missing.

As the saying goes, one fears not the thief who steals but the thief who covets — and all the more so when the one eyeing him was the reigning Emperor. Once Chongzhen calmed his mind and looked at the problem from the Emperor's perspective, he suddenly found things had become much simpler.

I am the Emperor. I have ten thousand ways to make you die; simply ordering your arrest would be far too childish.

Even in misfortune there was luck — heaven never seals off all roads. Last year Chongzhen had massively strengthened the Depot and Guard, and at least in the capital region their authority was now very great.

The Chongzhen Emperor understood the Donglin Faction's little scheme perfectly well — they merely wanted to use this damned book to continue "steering the court from afar." After mulling it over, Chongzhen decided to hand the entire matter over to the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

He was the Emperor, and he still had a military review to prepare for — putting on a grand show was a matter of utmost importance in life. Why should he spare any attention for their wretched book? The Depot and Guard were not idle either.

You want to "steer the court from afar"? But I won't give you the slightest notice — let's see how you steer now.

Li Ruolian had served as Regional Military Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard for a year now. At first he had felt some discomfort, but after being transferred between the Northern and Southern Provost Offices, the men around him had all become familiar faces, his work went smoothly, and his mindset had long since shifted.

He went to the Warm Chamber, exchanged a few words with the Chongzhen Emperor, and then slapped his chest, accepting the task.

If the Fushe wanted to write books and spread ideas, then the cure should match the disease. Li Ruolian was direct about it — that very day he led the Embroidered Uniform Guard straight to the Yongshun Book Hall on Xuanwu Gate Street.

The court had no excessive demands on printing, so the printing industry flourished throughout the Ming. Besides the official printing sites, private printing in the localities was even more prosperous — in Beijing alone, there were several dozen printing houses with established names.

The Yongshun Book Hall was one of the more famous among those dozens, but that was not the main reason Li Ruolian chose it.

The Yongshun Book Hall was controlled by the Donglin Faction, staffed with Donglin scholars, and reportedly connected to some high official of the current court. Smashing it would be as thrilling as raiding a drug den in later ages.

At dusk that day, the Donglin scholars who had spent the whole day attacking the government stood at the door holding books, discussing as they walked, looking as if they still had more to say.

Just then, a clatter of chaotic footsteps came from the street corner in the distance — it was Li Ruolian leading a squad of more than thirty Embroidered Uniform Guard officers, advancing with menace. Among them were several Centurions and Chiliarchs wearing flying-fish robes and bearing embroidered spring sabers.

"What do you think you're doing?" A scholar pointed at Li Ruolian with the book in his hand and stepped forward.

"Doing?" Li Ruolian gave a cold snort, snatched the book from the scholar's hand, and barked: "What is this — a chronicle of a benighted sovereign? Utter treason! Take them all away!"

At these words, the Embroidered Uniform Guard officers drew their waist sabers, subdued the scholars outside, then charged into the Yongshun Book Hall and began smashing things without a word of explanation.

"Honored officer... honored officer, mine is a small business. And printing books — that's a good thing everyone in the world enjoys. I haven't broken any law, have I...?"

"You're the shopkeeper here, I take it?" Li Ruolian planted his embroidered spring saber upright and sat down squarely in the middle of the hall, looking at the man as he said:

"No law broken? Slandering the reigning Son of Heaven is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of kin. And you, as the shopkeeper of this hall, actually dared to print books for these traitors — you must have eaten a bear's heart and a leopard's gall! Take him away with the rest!"

Li Ruolian raised the book in his hand and shouted loudly: "Smash this place! From now on, anyone in the capital found printing this evil book will be dealt with exactly the same way!"

The Embroidered Uniform Guard officers exchanged glances, then clasped their fists and roared in unison:

"We obey the Guard Commander's order!"