Chapter 19: The Ministers Already Bristling with Fury

The Eastern Depot operatives had special names for their various duties. For example, those who monitored court officials, nobles and imperial relatives, attended major court trials, and witnessed the Embroidered Uniform Guard's interrogations of criminals were called "tingji" (listeners). Qi Yuan was one such listener. Besides these listeners, the most common were the investigators scattered throughout local government offices, known as "zuoji" (sitters).

There were also those called "da shijian" (reporting incidents) — clerks who recorded and reported to the Eastern Depot when some official made a move, or when a city gate captured an important criminal. Regardless of type, all operatives from top to bottom were ranked into the twelve branches of Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, and so on.

Li Ruolian was fairly knowledgeable about Eastern Depot affairs and showed no surprise on his face. He took the waist token, confirmed it was genuine, and helped the man up as he spoke:

"No wonder the Director has hardly left the depot these past days. Even you, steward of the Zhou household, turned out to be an Eastern Depot listener. Zhou Kui probably never dreamed of this, even to his dying day, did he?"

A bitter smile crossed Qi Yuan's face, a flicker of helplessness passing through — but it was quickly replaced by coldness. He rehung the waist token at his belt and said in a low voice:

"This subordinate was planted in the Zhou household as a listener before Your Majesty abolished the guards and depots. A few days ago I received a secret letter from the new Director, learning that Your Majesty had reestablished the guards and depots. I was truly overjoyed. Might I ask where Chief Li intends to begin the investigation this time?"

"No investigation needed — straight to confiscating the household!"

Li Ruolian clearly didn't want to dwell on that subject. Suddenly remembering something, he turned to look in the direction Qi Yuan had come from and said:

"Chiliarch Gao, take some men to the rear courtyard and see if anything's been missed."

Chiliarch Gao Wencai of punishments nodded, waved his hand, and led a dozen or so Embroidered Uniform Guard officers toward the rear courtyard. Seeing this, Qi Yuan felt extremely anxious inside, but he dared not show the slightest trace of it — he could only lower his head and stay silent.

Losing his future prospects over a woman wasn't worth it.

Qi Yuan's little movements were noticed by Regional Military Commissioner Li Ruolian, but he continued directing the Embroidered Uniform Guard in the confiscation without calling it out.

As the Embroidered Uniform Guard kept streaming into the Zhou residence, the Eastern Depot listeners planted inside one by one produced their waist tokens and revealed their true identities. Aside from Qi Yuan, who was of the Xu branch, all the rest were of the Hai branch.

Li Ruolian made a rough count — there were actually more than a dozen Eastern Depot listeners gathered outside the main hall.

These Eastern Depot listeners knew every large and small matter in the household. Qi Yuan even knew where Zhou Kui hid his most secret silver. The listeners led the Embroidered Uniform Guard officers on purposeful searches throughout the residence — a tremendous aid to the confiscation.

"What do you think you're doing!"

Zhou Kui kept shouting in the main hall. Watching chest after chest of gold, silver, and jewels being carried out of the inner treasury, he felt his lungs would burst with rage — but since his opponents were the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot, all he could do was stare helplessly.

These guards and depot men were like a pack of starving wolves. They didn't even spare the decorative vases set before the hall or the calligraphy scrolls hanging on the walls — they took everything they could get their hands on.

Before long, the once elegantly appointed main hall of the Zhou residence stood completely empty.

Zhou Kui's voice had gone hoarse from shouting, and he had little strength left — yet from beginning to end, not a single person paid him any attention. Some of them were even familiar faces.

Zhou Kui suddenly seemed to go mad and shouted:

"Li Ruolian, do you have an imperial warrant!?"

This time Li Ruolian was somewhat surprised and finally turned to look at him.

He hadn't expected this father of the Empress — a man who had once made his living as a street fortune-teller and healer — to know about imperial warrants. Li Ruolian gripped his sword hilt, kept his expression unchanged, and coldly smiled as he produced a warrant, saying:

"This is the imperial warrant. Don't stop — keep moving!"

Li Ruolian moved quickly. The moment he finished speaking, he tucked the warrant away. Zhou Kui could only make out several columns of dense small characters on it — as for what exactly was written, he had no idea at all.

When he hurried forward a few steps to get a closer look, a stern-faced Embroidered Uniform Guard centurion drew his blade and blocked his path, the warning unmistakable.

Zhou Kui plopped down on the ground, unable to say another word.

The Zhou residence was considerable in scale, and its possessions were beyond counting. Led by the Eastern Depot listeners, the Embroidered Uniform Guard confiscation team found itself overwhelmed. Reluctantly, Li Ruolian had a centurion summon additional manpower from the Provincial Military Commission.

By the time the confiscation was complete and everything had been secured, it was already close to noon — half a day had passed.

That night was destined to be a busy one. At the Northern Provincial Military Commission's yamen, the lamps burned bright until nightfall, with people constantly coming and going.

Clerks registered every item into the ledgers and tallied the total of silver and grain, while centurions, chiliarchs, and ordinary Embroidered Uniform Guard officers served as laborers, carrying the endless stream of gold and silver into the inner treasury for safekeeping.

As expected, at the morning court assembly the next day, the assembled ministers were indeed completely bristling with fury.

Though there had been no court sessions these past few days, the capital — already seething with turmoil — had grown even more dangerous and terrifying beneath the surface. Wang Aoyong had been stripped of his post in court and his property confiscated, and hot on its heels, the infamous guards and depots had been reestablished.

Two days earlier, the Chongzhen Emperor had summoned several senior ministers to the Warm Pavilion for an audience. They reportedly returned having been pressured into donating a sum of silver. As everyone knew, Second Grand Secretary Wei Zaode had donated the least this time — less than three thousand taels. Slightly better than him was the father of the Empress, Zhou Kui, who had squeezed out ten thousand taels from his miserly grip.

Yesterday the Embroidered Uniform Guard had confiscated Zhou Kui's household with an imperial warrant. When he heard about it, Second Grand Secretary Wei Zaode was actually the most panicked man in the entire court. He tossed and turned all night and never fell asleep — whenever he closed his eyes, he could see Embroidered Uniform Guard officers in flying-fish robes with embroidered spring sabers coming to confiscate his home.

Wei Zaode couldn't help wondering whether there might be some connection between donating silver and having one's household confiscated.

Wei Zaode wasn't the only one thinking this — the assembled ministers all harbored the same doubts. Wang Aoyong was one thing, since he was merely an insignificant minor figure; if the Emperor disposed of him, so be it. But Zhou Kui was the father of the current Empress — the biological father of the Empress herself!

If the Chongzhen Emperor could confiscate even his own father-in-law's household, then what couldn't he bring himself to do?

In recent days, many censors and remonstrance officials from the Six Offices of Scrutiny had been instigated by others to impeach the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard for harassing the people. But once their memorials entered the Warm Pavilion, they vanished like stones dropped into the sea — all were withheld without response.

It seemed the Chongzhen Emperor was determined to shield the guards and depots, and the assembled ministers found themselves at a loss.

Beyond that, the Chongzhen Emperor's moves on the military front were also substantial. First, the Capital Camps had changed commanders twice within half a month. Wu Xiang had been stripped of his position entirely, and the million-tael military funds for Wu Sangui's relief expedition still had no resolution.

The new commander of the Capital Camps was the man the assembled ministers least wanted to see — the Duke of Ying, Zhang Shize.

This leader of the nobles and imperial relatives in the Zhili region was, like Wang Cheng'en and Li Ruolian, one of the most loyal royalists. His conduct after taking command of the Capital Camps was vastly different from Wu Xiang's — one could even say they were polar opposites. He was making moves every single day, and they grew increasingly aggressive.

It was said that on the first day of the reforms, Zhang Shize stripped to the waist and personally demonstrated, having the Grand Han Generals flog three camp soldiers to death for disobeying military discipline.

Of those three camp soldiers, one came from a family with some background. But compared to the Duke of Ying's household, that family was as different as clouds and mud — they didn't even dare let out a single extra fart.

And so, in just a few days, Zhang Shize used his iron-fisted methods to cow the Capital Camps into submission. Then, with the silver donated by the senior ministers during the Warm Pavilion audience, he largely resolved the problem of phantom soldiers on the payroll, and the vacancies were quickly filled.