Chapter 307: Tyranny, Divine Wrath, Heaven's Judgment

Wei Zaode had no great ability, but to have climbed to the high seat of Chief Grand Secretary in this chaotic and mixed court of the Great Ming, he naturally possessed his own surpassing qualities, and he also had unique insights when it came to judging certain matters.

Wei Zaode, who had originally flattered Chongzhen endlessly at court, keenly sensed that this matter was different from those of the past the moment the Chongzhen Emperor revealed even a hint of intent to move against the merchants, and he directly chose to abandon the cause.

For Wei Zaode to give up the high position of Chief Grand Secretary was like letting go of the fruits of decades of effort. The always timid Wei Zaode was this time extremely decisive, directly climbing out of the pit and onto dry land—how extraordinary this matter was could naturally be imagined.

The Chongzhen Emperor also knew that for a thousand years, every dynasty of Cathay had been this way—these local officials and gentry colluded with one another, one holding power, the other holding wealth, able to do whatever they pleased.

Yet things were always easier said than done. How easy could it be to rely on a single imperial edict to directly dismantle this interest group that had endured for a thousand years?

In the eyes of certain clear-sighted people, the Emperor's move was clearly no different from digging his own grave—one slight misstep would throw the nation's order into chaos. But how could the Chongzhen Emperor himself not understand all this?

Had the Great Ming not already fallen into such chaos, the Chongzhen Emperor would never have conceived the intention of smashing everything and rebuilding.

After returning home, the Wei residence immediately fell into chaos. Although Wei Zaode often remained silent and somewhat timid at court, he was after all the head of his household, and within his own residence he was still immensely authoritative.

According to reports from the Eastern Depot's listening recorders, it was said that after Wei Zaode returned that day, he glared and shouted down everyone in the residence, and ordered sundry objects to be piled up to block the residence gates—apparently fearing that the capital might descend into chaos.

The Chongzhen Emperor did not actually care how Wei Zaode fussed about in his own home; as long as he did not meddle in the matter of the merchant tax, he could enjoy his old age in peace. Otherwise, his entire household would surely never see the sun of tomorrow.

At this moment, the bewildered and flustered Donglin scholars finally remembered that a Chief Grand Secretary who had hung up his official cap and retired was resting in his residence, and that this Chief Grand Secretary had also once been a man of the Donglin—so they came calling at his door one after another.

Wei Zaode's surpassing quality lay in his ability to read the times, and indeed he did not make the Chongzhen Emperor regret keeping him.

According to reports from the Eastern Depot's listening recorders within the Wei residence, it was said that after Wei Zaode returned home he closed his doors and refused all visitors—even his usual disciples and former subordinates were flatly denied an audience. He posted four characters at the main gate: "This is not Donglin; no visitors received"—expressing his intent to no longer concern himself with any court affairs.

The listening recorders also said that those scholars lingered before the gate for a long while without leaving, and only when a Company Commander of the city defense forces ordered them driven away did they leave cursing, muttering something about Wei Zaode being nothing but a dog before the Emperor.

There were folk rumors that someone had discovered the corpses of these scholars lying in disarray, cruelly slain, on the night of the second day—and for a time, rumors spread everywhere.

Some said these scholars had loose tongues and deserved to be done in by the depot and guard agents; others said they might have been cruelly slaughtered by roving bandits at night—in any case, opinions differed, and all sorts of stories circulated.

In truth, ever since the establishment of the Three Depots and One Guard, every corner of the capital—even within its labyrinthine alleys—had fallen within the surveillance scope of the depot and guard agents. And the place where these scholars had been was precisely the responsibility of the Western Depot under Cao Huachun's supervision.

What exactly they experienced after they left—such a trifling matter would not be reported up to the Chongzhen Emperor. Perhaps even Cao Huachun had only given it a casual glance. Only the Western Depot squad leader responsible for that area would know the details.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard conducted its business in the open, earning respect through its splendid official bearing and extremely high status, while the Three Depots lurked in the shadows—whether the Eastern Depot, the Western Depot, or the Inner Depot, all had always believed in the truth of maintaining peace through fear.

When the common folk did not know the truth, they would spread wild rumors; the fiercer the rumors spread, the more fearsome the reputation of the depot and guard agents became, and more people would be afraid and terrified, and the local bullies in the shadows would act more carefully. This was the truth every agent believed.

"Only by making those petty villains fear one's reputation will they stay peaceful, reducing unnecessary troubles, and only then can the current Emperor's throne sit steady." This was the code of conduct for every agent serving under the Three Depots.

The depot and guard agents were the Son of Heaven's eyes, acting on his behalf to observe the realm, and also the Son of Heaven's sword, acting on his behalf to purge the wicked and treacherous.

In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the restored Three Depots and One Guard also possessed powers that checked one another. Only when the Emperor's throne sat steady would their posts as depot and guard agents be more secure—otherwise, everything would turn to smoke and cloud.

While reform was being launched with great fanfare in the capital, the agents of the Three Depots in the shadows were also mobilized to full capacity—if anyone spoke any ill words about this reform, they could be certain to see his corpse the very next day.

The literati and scholars in particular were the key targets of the agents' surveillance. As for street ruffians and hooligans, that was the work of local yamen constables—after all, everyone had their own tasks, and overlapping duties would only create chaos.

The surveillance intensity of the depot and guard agents penetrated everywhere; nearly every person captured or killed had been betrayed by someone they trusted most deeply. Thus, whenever the depot and guard agents were mentioned, no one failed to feel their hair stand on end.

Some who had been nearly frightened into mental breakdown by the depot and guard agents even believed that, should the Chongzhen Emperor merely nod, they could make any person in the capital vanish from this world without a sound in a single night.

The common folk were different from the court ministers and the gentry-merchants inside and outside the capital—they were simply discussing matters. As long as one did not deliberately wade into this murky water, the depot and guard agents rarely bothered with the trivial squabbles of chickens and dogs among the common people.

During the initial period of upheaval, the various forces loyal to the Emperor strained every effort to maintain order in the capital. The new troops selected from the various guards at Tongzhou outside the city even marched into the military camp on the western side of the city under Wang Xiantong's leadership and were stationed there for three days.

This tense situation lasted for seven or eight days, until the entire households of the several merchants who resisted most fiercely were pacified by the new troops of the Tongzhou guards as if they were roving bandits—only then was the capital declared stable.

Of course, at least on the surface, that was how it appeared.

At the yin hour of the twenty-first day of the first month in the nineteenth year of Chongzhen, the moonlight was still bright and clear, and the sky was just beginning to lighten.

Within the camp of the Tongzhou guards' new troops, silence reigned. Soldiers of the city defense forces stood on every gate and wall of the capital, carrying out their routine rotation of guard duty according to lots drawn.

Through the great streets and small alleys of the capital, squads of constables from the Shuntian Prefecture and the Five Wards Troops and Horses Office, carrying waist sabers and yawning, would pass from time to time—everything seemed no different from usual.

"Chief Wang, time to change the guard!" A Company Commander of the city defense forces walked over with a loud laugh.

Hearing this, Chief Wang nodded and waved to signal his men below to complete the handover. Hearing the order, those soldiers all breathed sighs of relief, thinking only of hurrying back for a good long sleep.

"Handing it over to you—these days are out of the ordinary, keep your eyes open!" Chief Wang called out.

"Haha, no need for you to say that—the brothers' eyes are all wide open!"

The words had barely left his mouth when the soldiers were still changing the guard, yet beneath their feet the earth shook and the mountains swayed. Suddenly a rumbling sound came from the east of the city, gradually spreading to the southwest corner. In the northern sky, chaotic clouds flew across; amid the great noise, a rolling column of black smoke shot up into the sky, and several houses immediately collapsed—a truly horrifying sight.

"What's happening?"

"What's going on!?"

The city defense soldiers on every wall instinctively assumed the enemy was attacking and mobilized one after another. The constables on the ground and some early-rising common folk also reacted in various ways—it felt like the arrival of doomsday.

Before long, a signal rider came galloping from the eastern great camp, waving a small flag and shouting at the top of his lungs:

"City-wide martial law! City-wide martial law!!!"