Chapter 311: Quelling the Revolt by Imperial Decree

The Eastern Depot — a name that made ordinary people turn pale at the mention — had now audaciously come for his own head.

Seeing Li Youcheng and his agents swaggering before him, Qian Qianyi let out a few cold laughs. He was hardly the only one present today — what was there to fear?

"Oh? This old man has kept his doors shut for several days now — never stepped past the front gate, never crossed the threshold. What crime have I committed?" Qian Qianyi chuckled, remaining seated in place, calmly watching how things would unfold.

At this, Li Youcheng fixed his gaze on Qian Qianyi and studied him closely, staring until the man's skin crawled. Only then did he sneer coldly: "Fine! No wonder they say you Donglin types love putting on a show — seems the talk wasn't wrong after all!"

"How dare you!" At these words, Qian Qianyi's expression changed abruptly. His hand slammed down on the table as he bellowed: "A mere Chiliarch, yet you dare show such utter disregard for rank and propriety before so many senior court ministers and nobles — what kind of conduct is this!"

"Just because you're from the Eastern Depot, do you think you can do whatever you please?"

Li Youcheng saw that the various grandees around him seemed stirred — especially Duke Wei, Xu Wenjue, who looked about to step forward and speak up for Qian Qianyi — and suddenly felt a moment of hesitation.

But on second thought — what was Duke Wei compared to anything? What was the Donglin Faction? Even the full assembly of court nobles in the capital kowtowed to His Majesty. With the Emperor as his backing, and the Divine Martial Army ready to suppress at any moment behind him, why should he fear these rotten melons and cracked dates?

His eyes rolled slyly, and Li Youcheng seized the thread of conversation, speaking without the slightest restraint: "Qian Qianyi, you've hit the nail on the head today! Being the Eastern Depot, of course we can do whatever we please!"

"You—!" Qian Qianyi glared with brows knit in fury, momentarily choked with rage.

The others, hearing Li Youcheng's words, also erupted in indignant condemnation. But Xu Wenjue, who had already taken a step forward, quietly drew his foot back upon hearing this, and even swallowed the words that had been on the tip of his tongue.

In his view, this man was nothing but a small underling — if he dared speak so boldly, he must have backing. The highest authority in the Eastern Depot was Wang Cheng'en, and whose backing did Wang Cheng'en have? None other than the current Son of Heaven.

In the eyes of the civil officials, these agents were cut from the very same mold as that benighted sovereign — if one had no shame, the whole lot had no shame. Faced with such scoundrels, their usual tactics suddenly proved useless.

Take this Li Youcheng — ever since he came to Jinling to run some Eastern Depot branch, how many innocent civil officials and scholars had he persecuted? But with Ma Shiying and Zhou Jingwu and others shielding him, the civil officials could only gnash their teeth in hatred, utterly powerless to do anything.

Now that Li Youcheng could openly say such things, it was clear that no matter how many caps they tried to pin on him, he couldn't care less. The man had no sense of propriety, honor, or shame left whatsoever — so what more was there to say?

Hearing the surrounding murmurs grow louder and louder, the agents grew wary and quietly gripped their sword hilts. Seeing this, Li Youcheng stepped forward and hurled his bloodstained blade directly onto the ground, saying coldly:

"Honored ministers and lords, this humble one is on official business here, so I'll dispense with the formalities."

"The capital's Tax Bureau and Salt Bureau offices have been bombed — the losses are severe! His Majesty is enraged; the entire court is shaken. Our Eastern Depot investigation has confirmed it was indeed the work of Qian Qianyi!" Having said this much, Li Youcheng seemed to adopt a 'what's done is done' attitude — since he'd already offended them, he might as well offend them to the hilt.

He sneered and pointed at the crowd of Donglin members clustered around Qian Qianyi, continuing:

"His Majesty has already issued the decree — the ten clans of the old villain Qian are to be exterminated! This master kindly advises you all: best mind your own business, because not a single one of you is getting away!"

"As for everyone else — if you've got nothing better to do and want to wade into this muddy water, this humble one couldn't stop you if he tried. But this matter isn't over! The court will naturally have its say later — that's beyond the likes of us to manage."

Having spoken, Li Youcheng produced the imperial warrant written personally by Chongzhen, and announced in a solemn voice:

"By imperial decree, Qian Qianyi is to be taken to Caishikou in Nanjing and executed by slow slicing! Any among you who still wishes to step forward and argue — you'll share the same punishment! Anyone else who wants their ten clans wiped out, step right up!"

"Th-this this..."

At these words, the fifty or sixty Donglin grandees collapsed limply to the ground. Many looked to Qian Qianyi with pleading eyes, crying out: "Qian lao, save us!"

"Qian lao, you must come up with something!"

"Hold on!" Qian Qianyi's mind reeled. He stared at the imperial warrant in Li Youcheng's hand, then suddenly raised his hand and shouted, adding: "Let this old man see that warrant!"

"See it then!" Li Youcheng chuckled, thinking nothing of it, and casually handed the warrant over.

In his heart of hearts, Qian Qianyi simply could not believe that the young Chongzhen emperor — who had once relied on the Donglin to purge the eunuch faction — would actually have the nerve to exterminate his ten clans. Did he know just how many people his ten clans numbered? It was the entire Donglin of the realm! He didn't have the guts!

But when he read it over and over again, the warrant was perfectly proper — not only bearing the Grand Secretariat's seal, but also the signatures of the capital's Punishment Section officials and the endorsements of various Censors — everything was in order. There was simply no fault to be found.

In the end, Qian Qianyi still couldn't bring himself to believe that what was written on it was the truth. His body trembled like a sieve, all trace of his earlier presumptuous elder's air gone.

The other Donglin members, tense with anxiety, scrambled and snatched the warrant to read it themselves. After reading it, they felt the world spin and darkness fall — wails and lamentations broke out all around, cries of "tyrant!" and "tyranny!" and the like.

After the Donglin officials had read it, the warrant was passed from hand to hand among the crowd. After Xu Wenjue read it, he knew even more certainly that the matter was beyond salvaging. Faced with Qian Qianyi's gaze, he shrank back in cowardice, unable to meet his eyes, fear gripping his heart.

There, on the warrant, was written a single line of small characters, light as a feather.

"By this decree: henceforth, warrants shall be issued directly to Li Youcheng, Criminal Chiliarch of the Eastern Depot, to apprehend and punish suspects promptly on site, without awaiting departmental countersignature, to prevent leaks. At the request of the eunuch director of the Directorate of Ceremonial holding the brush."

In truth, the Eastern Depot never needed to produce an imperial warrant or oral decree to make arrests, nor explain any reasons — they had always simply seized whomever they wished. Perhaps because this matter was of grave importance, Wang Cheng'en had considered everything, leaving the Donglin Faction absolutely no chance to overturn the situation or resist.

"Qian lao? Nothing more to say? Good — take him away!" Li Youcheng grinned gleefully, radiating swagger. But after what had just happened, no one around dared say another word.

"Where are my servants? Come protect your master at once!"

By now Qian Qianyi was clearly a cornered dog driven to desperate measures — struggling constantly, crying out again and again.

When the master of the house was in peril, the servants had not been fed for nothing. The steward immediately led a number of household servants, who produced privately hoarded swords and spears, and charged forward to clash with the agents.

Li Youcheng hadn't expected things to develop to this point — he had only brought a dozen or so agents inside, and felt a pang of alarm.

Though the agents could each take on several of these servants who didn't even know basic martial arts, the enemy simply had too many numbers. At the outset, several agents were killed in the sneak attack, and with the chaos of the scene — various civil officials rushing forward to join the fray — the agents suffered constant setbacks, gradually retreating into the courtyard.

The civil officials drove Li Youcheng and his agents out of the residence. Just as they thought they had seen the light of day again, they saw Zhou Jingwu in full armor, leading Divine Martial Army soldiers to surround the entire estate.

Seeing this scene, Zhou Jingwu smiled, and said to Ma Shiying beside him with some admiration: "The Heavenly Official's prediction was correct — Qian Qianyi indeed had weapons secretly stored in his residence. Truly brilliant."

Hearing this, Ma Shiying smiled faintly, feeling rather pleased with himself. Waving his hand, he said: "You flatter me, you flatter me. Suppressing these rebels still requires the Divine Martial Army under the Commissioner-in-Chief's command. I am but a civil official — I cannot wield sword or spear."

"Hahaha, the Heavenly Official understands well!" Zhou Jingwu laughed heartily, then waved and asked: "Battalion Commander Zheng, there's a disturbance at the Qian residence — what should be done?"

A Battalion Commander in armor hurried over upon hearing this, and waved his hand as he shouted the order:

"The Divine Martial Army acts on imperial decree to suppress the rebellion — anyone bearing weapons shall be treated as a rebel!"