Chapter 32: Is This Me Consulting With You?

"There is one more matter I wish to discuss with you, my ministers."

The ministers were still in shock when they suddenly heard the Chongzhen Emperor speak these words. They looked at one another, then at each other again, all remaining silent, and in the end not a single one of them moved.

Who did they take for a fool? Heaven knows what schemes this benighted sovereign was hatching now.

The events of these past few days seemed to have affected His Majesty a bit too greatly. No one had expected that when the Chongzhen Emperor cast aside all regard for face, he could be quite this terrifying.

Good heavens—yesterday at the Chengtian Gate, government students and scholars had raised a commotion, forcing the depot and guard officers into speechless retreat, and even the Censor of the City Patrol had come forward on their behalf. What a thoroughly "righteous" affair it sounded like.

The scholars inside and outside the capital had been preparing to celebrate, but when word arrived, it sent a cold sweat down their spines—the three Donglin disciples who had led the protest were executed along with their entire clans to the ninth degree, and anyone who had struck the petition drum, whether Imperial Academy student, government student, or scholar, was dragged off by the depot and guard officers into the prisons for interrogation under torture.

Today, no sooner had court convened than the Chongzhen Emperor released yet another bombshell. The ministers' little hearts went pitter-patter with dread—if he kept this up, it would be no surprise if someone dropped dead on the spot in the hall.

During the Chongzhen reign, replacing Chief Grand Secretaries was nothing new. In the seventeen years since the Emperor had taken the throne, he had gone through fifty Chief Grand Secretaries, and none of them had come to a good end. But if one had to name the most unfortunate and most miserable of them all, it would have to be Chen Yan.

Stripping him of all rank and salary wasn't enough. Chen Yan, who had always believed himself to have served the state and sovereign with utmost diligence, could now truly not rest easy even in death.

"If I recall correctly, Cao Huachun has retired to Wuqing County in Tianjin to live out his old age. Send the decree—call him back."

Paying no heed to the ministers' various expressions of shock, the Chongzhen Emperor continued on his own:

"The events of late have taught me a lesson: none of you so-called ministers give me a moment's peace! And so, I find myself compelled to employ somewhat more forceful measures."

"From this day forward, the Western Depot and the Inner Depot shall be established! Cao Huachun is appointed to oversee the Western Depot, charged exclusively with investigating all subjects and officials of the realm as well as the Eastern Depot, holding the power of arrest; Fang Zhenghua, seal-holder of the Directorate of the Imperial Horses, is appointed to oversee the Inner Depot, investigating the Western Depot, the Eastern Depot, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, as well as all civil and military officials, meritorious nobles and their kin, and every government office—with its power of arrest revoked."

"From this day forward, the Eastern Depot shall investigate exclusively all civil and military officials, the myriad subjects of the realm, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, still holding the power of arrest; the Embroidered Uniform Guard shall investigate exclusively meritorious nobles and their kin, the gentry, merchants, and scholars. Henceforth, the Embroidered Uniform Guard may report directly to me without submitting memorials, and I shall set a precedent: the Embroidered Uniform Guard may arrest multiple persons on a single warrant."

Having said this, the Chongzhen Emperor looked at Wei Zaode, the new Chief Grand Secretary and Grand Secretary of the Wuying Hall, who stood at the head of the civil officials, and asked with a smile:

"What does Grand Secretary Wei think?"

"Er, well..." Wei Zaode instinctively moved to object, but when he looked up and saw the murderous intent blazing in the Chongzhen Emperor's eyes, and thought of his predecessor's miserable fate so vividly before him, he hastily bowed and said:

"Your Majesty is most wise. Your minister believes this is feasible."

As Chief Grand Secretary, Wei Zaode ought to have been the one to stand up for the Donglin ministers, but his answer at this moment was tantamount to opposing the Donglin Faction.

Anyone with half a brain could see that the situation of three depots and one guard had only briefly existed for four or five years during the Zhengde reign of Emperor Wu, and even in those four or five years, countless innocent literati and scholars had been persecuted.

The present Chongzhen Emperor, in his desperation, was grasping at any straw he could find, wanting to restore the three depots and one guard. You, the Chief Grand Secretary, ought to be opposing this with all your might! With the full court of civil and military officials behind you, what do you have to fear? Would Chongzhen dare to—?

As they cursed inwardly, the ministers suddenly remembered that the present Chongzhen Emperor seemed to have gone completely mad, and truly was capable of anything.

Who knew whether he might casually have Wei Zaode's entire clan executed to the ninth degree? That would mean the annihilation of his family and the confiscation of his property—ruin of name and reputation would be mere collateral damage, not something an ordinary man could bear.

Wei Zaode knew full well that the Chongzhen Emperor's leniency toward him was not born of a sudden conscience, but rather because he needed an obedient lackey at court. Whether he himself spoke up or not no longer truly mattered to the Emperor, for it would not affect the outcome in the slightest.

The restoration of the three depots had in fact been sealed as an inevitability from the very day the Chongzhen Emperor was assassinated. There was no other choice now—tomorrow the Chongzhen Emperor would force Wei Zaode to oversee the executions, precisely to drive him to the point of no return.

If he truly went through with it, one could well imagine what the "righteous men of resolve" in the Donglin Faction would think.

Wei Zaode understood that by that point, he would have bid a complete farewell to the Donglin Faction. All the literati and scholars under heaven would believe that his position as Chief Grand Secretary had been won by flattering Chongzhen, and he might well earn himself the eternal "illustrious name" of "the Sycophant Chief Grand Secretary."

Now, other than committing himself fully to this path of no return, Wei Zaode had no recourse whatsoever. Fleeing was out of the question—the other party was the Emperor. A starved camel is still bigger than a horse; he might as well resign himself to fate.

Still, judging from Chongzhen's performance yesterday outside the Chengtian Gate, he seemed to have a fairly thick skin. He hadn't even executed Wang Cheng'en after the man had voluntarily taken the blame—so perhaps he himself would be all right too.

Setting aside Wei Zaode's churning emotions and his utter unwillingness to stick his neck out for the ministers, it was not long before a remonstrance official could no longer sit still. The other officials, seeing this, expressed their spiritual support.

You, Wei Zaode, may have become the Emperor's lackey, but there were still loyal and upright men in this realm!

"Your Majesty, your minister has a memorial to submit!"

"Speak."

The speaker was Zhang Yi, a remonstrance official of the Six Offices of Scrutiny, a jinshi from the Tianqi era. He first bowed in salute, then immediately spoke in a loud voice:

"I submit to Your Majesty: the Inner Depot was privately established by the treacherous eunuch Liu Jin. Its various agents wielded the power of life and death at their whim, tyrannized at will, and murdered the innocent to claim merit. In the five years of its existence, it persecuted countless loyal and upright men. If it is re-established, who can guarantee that Fang Zhenghua will not become the next Liu Jin!"

"The three depots and one guard—in name they are the Son of Heaven's instruments of surveillance, but in truth they are nothing but a pack of foxes borrowing the tiger's might, a gang of partisan lackeys running rampant! Even petty quarrels among common folk over chickens and dogs draw the depot and guard officers sticking their noses in, meting out harsh punishments at every turn and throwing the people into great turmoil. Whenever the depot and guard officers go out, they are followed by a great retinue, and even high ministers of state yield the road to them. I ask Your Majesty: where then is the dignity of the Son of Heaven?"

The Chongzhen Emperor looked at this remonstrance official and thought to himself that at last someone had managed to say something with some substance. He replied calmly:

"My establishment of the three depots was forced upon me by petty villains. What you say is but a one-sided view. Were it not for the Eastern Depot, where would the six million taels of military funds to fight the bandits in Shanxi have come from? Without troops to resist the enemy, where would the Great Ming be? Were it not for the Embroidered Uniform Guard officers, the immense wealth amassed in the residence of the Emperor's father-in-law would have remained unknown to me—would I not still be kept in the dark, smugly pleased with those three thousand taels that came from the inner palace?"

"Were it not for Fang Zhenghua saving my life, I would likely have already met an untimely death and ascended to heaven—how then could I be sitting securely on this dragon throne, receiving your deliberations and congratulations?"

Having said this, the Chongzhen Emperor swept his gaze over the ministers below the steps and gave a cold snort:

"Speaking of which, I suddenly recall there is still a matter I have not yet dealt with. Wang Cheng'en, has that madman who committed the offense of lèse-majesté confessed anything?"

Wang Cheng'en's expression did not change in the slightest as he replied respectfully:

"I report to Your Majesty: before his death, the madman confessed without reservation. On the day of the incident, it was the former Regional Military Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Luo Yangxing, who privately deployed the palace guards, leaving the palace gates wide open. Chief Grand Secretary Chen Yan was also among the conspirators!"

The assembled officials watched Chongzhen and Wang Cheng'en play their duet of one singing and the other harmonizing, and none was so lacking in tact as to step forward and court death. The madman had not been heard from since entering the Eastern Depot's prison—he had likely long since died. Whatever he "confessed" was whatever Wang Cheng'en said it was.

This Wang Cheng'en was the present Emperor's most loyal lackey. What he said was certainly the Emperor's will. At a time like this, watching the fire from across the river, anyone who spoke up in defense of these doomed men would be asking for a shorter life.

The ministers at court had been stunned senseless by the four consecutive rounds of executions and punishments meted out yesterday and today. Before they could even recover, they received the decree establishing the Western Depot and the Inner Depot, and were immediately struck with yet another wave of sheer terror.

Ever since the Chongzhen Emperor had recovered from his grave illness, it was as though fortune had arisen from misfortune—he seemed to have grasped the true meaning of life and been reborn into a different person entirely. The Vice Minister named Wang Aoyong, whose household was the first to be confiscated, had actually turned out to be the luckiest of them all—at least the fellow was still alive, however miserably.

What followed was rather more harrowing: household confiscations, executions of entire clans to the ninth degree, and even those tortured to death with heavy punishments directly in the Eastern Depot—all of it coming in an unending stream. And Chen Yan had simply been saddled with a charge and sent to Caishikou to be beheaded. Thus was born the most miserable Chief Grand Secretary in all of history.

The entire capital had been plunged into a storm of blood and gore by the assassination case. Even the court itself exuded a faint aura of murderous intent. In terms of sheer cruelty and brutality, the Chongzhen Emperor was now approaching the founding Hongwu Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang himself.

But when it came to the thickness of his skin, the present Chongzhen Emperor was unmatched by any. What was face compared to one's life?