Chapter 20: The Ministers Make Their Move

One of the Eight Inner Bureaus, the Armory Bureau, along with the Ministry of Works' subordinate Ordnance Bureau, had recently received large sums of silver and begun round-the-clock inventories of the various weapons still stored in the inner treasury.

While inventorying, they also had to gather together the armor and weapons that had long fallen into disrepair and lost all usefulness—what to do with these discards, whether to sell them or otherwise, was a matter to be settled after the inventory concluded.

The Armory Bureau was under eunuch command, right under the Chongzhen Emperor's nose, and the seal-holder of the Directorate of the Imperial Horses was Fang Zhenghua, who was reportedly also training soldiers—with things thus arranged, the other eunuchs dared not step out of line and could only work honestly.

The Ordnance Bureau was somewhat more troublesome. Eastern Depot Director Wang Cheng'en had specially dispatched depot agents to sit in oversight, precisely to prevent these men from embezzling the hard-won silver and wasting time without accomplishing anything real.

One must understand that corruption was something even the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang could not eradicate during his reign; now it had become even more deeply entrenched. With so many civil and military officials, those who could truly be called clean could be counted on one's fingers.

One of the purposes for which Emperor Chengzu established the Eastern Depot was to monitor the entire court. For two hundred years, depot agents had sat in every government office, and spies conducted open and covert investigations, reporting daily on conditions.

The depot and guard's power reached its zenith during the Zhengde era, when the Eastern Depot, Western Depot, Inner Depot, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard stood side by side, collectively known as the "Three Depots and One Guard"—virtually the entire court and country lay under imperial surveillance.

Of course, the Western Depot and Inner Depot existed only briefly and were soon abolished; only the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard endured.

In recent years the Eastern Depot had been disbanded, and the depot agents sitting in various offices naturally vanished without a trace. What Wang Cheng'en now wanted to investigate was not whether officials in these offices had embezzled silver, but exactly how much silver they had embezzled.

To ensure the emperor's decrees were faithfully carried out once issued, every office in the capital, large or small, needed Eastern Depot men watching openly and covertly—otherwise they would not behave.

In truth, even if Eastern Depot agents were spread throughout the capital, they still would not behave. Chongzhen was already considering restoring the Zhengde-era scene of the "Three Depots and One Guard" coexisting.

The present Great Ming was already terminally ill. Democracy was complete nonsense, utterly inapplicable—what was needed was an emperor whose word was law.

The Chongzhen Emperor was utterly disillusioned with the Donglin Faction. This time he was set on opposing the entire Ming court—only by pushing imperial power to its absolute peak could he accomplish what he wanted!

The Ordnance Bureau and Armory Bureau had been paralyzed for a long time. When they were suddenly ordered to work overtime these past half month, all sorts of bizarre incidents naturally occurred at first—truly enough to make one laugh and cry.

For instance, some gentleman who had served in the Ordnance Bureau for years did not even know how weapons were classified, nor could he name the various master craftsmen beneath him. When suddenly told to organize and classify weapons and armor, he was thrown into utter chaos.

Toward such men who occupied posts without doing their duty, the Eastern Depot agents showed no mercy. From time to time, rumors spread of some official being seized directly by Depot spies and taken to prison for interrogation over some matter.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard needed to present an imperial warrant when arresting someone, to show they acted on behalf of the Son of Heaven. The Eastern Depot, however, needed no such thing—so long as they had the Chongzhen Emperor's authorization, they could drag even the Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat straight into prison.

In other words, the Depot's agents carrying their official twin blades were virtually no different from an imperial sword bestowed by the emperor. The very words "Eastern Depot" had become synonymous with punishing first and trying later, arresting first and memorializing after, for the entire court and country.

For those Donglin ministers, this was precisely what made the Eastern Depot's agents so utterly terrifying.

Although those recently arrested were generally low-ranking officials, it still quickly drew the attention of the senior Donglin heavyweights—who knew whether they might be next?

According to intelligence from Eastern Depot spies, after learning the Chongzhen Emperor would hold court today, at least a dozen of these gentlemen had run off to Huixiang Tower for a "banquet."

At this moment, seated upright on the dragon throne, Chongzhen looked at the assembled ministers below and indeed noticed a difference—a very great difference.

Compared to the last court session, their court robes were noticeably more tattered, as if they were a pack of beggars.

Even Chief Grand Secretary Chen Yan wore court robes leaking wind from every side. Most people's court robes were old and worn, and some had even smeared a bit of black ash on their faces.

That such a scene should appear in the Great Ming's court hall filled the Chongzhen Emperor with utter disappointment—it was simply absurd and laughable.

"I beg to report to Your Majesty: after returning home the day before yesterday, your minister felt he had failed Your Sacred expectations. I had someone sell off my household possessions and happened to scrape together ten thousand taels of silver. Today I donate it all—I humbly beg Your Majesty to accept it!"

Second Grand Secretary Wei Zaode, wearing old court robes, was the first to step forward and memorialize.

Wei Zaode ordinarily scarcely uttered a word. Today, possessed by some unknown devil, he was so proactive that even Chen Yan looked at him with surprise.

"No need. Keep your silver for your own use, my minister—I have enough silver for now."

The Chongzhen Emperor had been borrowing money just days before. Today, when Wei Zaode voluntarily donated silver, he should have gladly accepted—yet who would have thought he would decline? The assembled ministers were all baffled.

Chen Yan secretly glanced behind him and coughed twice.

"Your Majesty! Your minister Guang Shiheng has a memorial to present!"

"Speak, my minister."

"I beg to report to Your Majesty: last night, passing through Qipai Street, I encountered a mother and child in great misery. After extensive inquiry, I learned the two had been bullied to this state by depot agents!"

"Your Majesty, since the Eastern Depot was reestablished, its agents have run rampant through the streets, so much that common folk are filled with resentment. I beg that Wang Cheng'en be executed to apologize to the realm!"

Supervising Secretary of the Bureau of Military Personnel Guang Shiheng's voice was loud and clear—he practically shouted these words at the top of his lungs in the court hall. Having spoken, he kowtowed repeatedly, even drawing a trace of blood on the palace floor.

Seeing the moment was right, Chen Yan took a step forward and said with a bow:

"I beg to report to Your Majesty—your minister seconds the motion~"

"We ministers second the motion!"

The assembled ministers, as if having conspired beforehand, all chimed in one after another. The faint echoes lingered upon the great beams of Huangji Hall, leaving one's heart hollow and uneasy.

After a long while with no reply from above, Chen Yan wondered whether the young emperor had been frightened stupid again. Confidently, he secretly raised his head to look—but in the next instant, his expression changed drastically.

There sat the Chongzhen Emperor, expressionless, his right hand alternately clenching and relaxing.

Chen Yan lowered his head in terror. He understood clearly that no matter what thoughts this emperor was entertaining at the moment, Chen Yan could not detect even the slightest trace of retreat in him.

"Execute Wang Cheng'en? Playing this game with me?" After a moment, the Chongzhen Emperor let out a cold laugh. His eyes suddenly sharpened, piercing straight at Guang Shiheng as he roared:

"Guang Shiheng! What exactly were you doing last night? I'll give you one last chance—say a single wrong word, and your life is forfeit!"

Guang Shiheng had even imagined the Chongzhen Emperor shrinking back in fear. At this moment he was secretly gloating, thinking that this time his reputation among the scholar-officials would greatly increase—everyone would praise him as an upright minister of pure character.

"Ah?"

Guang Shiheng was clearly caught off guard. He raised his swollen, red forehead and stammered for a long while without producing words.

Seeing this, the Chongzhen Emperor let out another cold laugh, naturally understanding what he was worried about:

"You dare not speak? Fine, then I'll speak for you! Was it you at Huixiang Tower yesterday? As a heavy minister of the court, instead of striving for advancement, you went to a place like Huixiang Tower—who were your accomplices? Speak!"