Chapter 75: Pacifying the Realm, Summoning a Minister

With a creaking, groaning sound, the Capital Camps soldiers finally arrived in the nick of time before the gunpowder barrels were about to explode again, pushing cart after cart of rice and flour.

"They're here, they're here! Everyone wait a moment, the porridge will be ready soon!"

The steward breathed a sigh of relief, wiped his sweat, and stepped forward to greet them, thinking to himself that they'd finally arrived—otherwise these unruly folk would have torn his porridge station apart.

The runners from Shuntian Prefecture and the Troops and Horses Office around him felt the same way, for the refugees were simply too numerous; if chaos broke out again, there would be no stopping it. After a brief exchange, they all went forward to help the capital soldiers unload the grain.

This outcome counted as a win for everyone—the porridge station officials kept their posts, and the common folk only needed to wait a steady moment longer before they could eat steaming hot porridge.

At this point, the farce could be considered concluded. As the capital gradually stabilized, activity bustled everywhere.

Besides the five-city porridge stations gradually resuming their distribution, the almshouse had also been reopened under the Chongzhen Emperor's strict decree, and officials under the supervision of the guards and depots began registering and screening the refugees one by one.

In this interval, special personnel were sent to clear out the almshouse's subordinate courtyards that had been piled up with refuse for years, the intention being to house refugees. For these refugees, having any place that sheltered them from wind and rain was enough—whether it was crowded or not didn't matter.

But with so many refugees inside and outside the city, most of them could not be traced to any real information at all, so the court naturally had requirements for those who could enter the almshouse.

The Chongzhen Emperor had explicitly decreed that since the almshouse was still in its reopening phase with limited resources, those who wished to secure a place within it had to meet certain conditions.

For instance, one had to have at least three living relatives, and among them there had to be a child before one could be registered. Once registered, it was equivalent to having an "identity card"—one would receive appropriate relief from the court, at the very least having food and clothing, so as not to starve or freeze to death.

That said, inspecting the almshouse's subordinate courtyards and buildings should have been a straightforward matter, but the process was not exactly smooth.

Ordinarily these courtyards sat empty and nothing seemed amiss, but when they were needed and people went to check, they discovered that most of the houses and courtyards had already been seized by powerful households and magnates—they were no longer under the court's name at all.

Most of the property deeds the court had granted to the almshouse were held in the hands of the capital's magnates and powerful families, and quite a few were entangled with important court ministers.

Mindful of this, the almshouse officials, being low in rank and humble in position, had no recourse, and in the end could only report the matter upward and await disposition.

Still, to alleviate the pressing emergency, the almshouse forcibly opened less than three-tenths of its buildings, which could be considered a preliminary stabilization of the capital's morale after the great upheaval.

At the Wei residence, Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode looked at the eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial who had come to deliver the edict, his mouth twitching.

Whenever these eunuchs came, nothing good followed. The Chongzhen Emperor's decree was exactly the same as last time—the Deposed Consort Kang was to be beheaded at the Western Vegetable Market.

But that was not the point. The point was that the supervising executioner appointed by the sacred decree was none other than Wei Zaode himself.

Wei Zaode's heart was bitter. Last time, supervising the execution of Chen Yan had stirred up an extraordinary uproar among the scholar-officials; now he had already become a member of the eunuch faction that everyone reviled, and now he was to supervise the execution of Li Kangfei again. The Chongzhen Emperor was driving him to the brink of ruin—after this affair, it seemed the reputation of being a diehard loyal lackey was unavoidable.

"Your minister Wei Zaode receives the decree! Long live His Majesty, ten thousand thousand years!"

Wei Zaode sighed. He still accepted this direct palace edict, courteously saw the eunuch out the door, and gave him a few taels of silver as a token of respect, then walked back into the room, sighing endlessly.

"My lord, if you don't want to go, then don't go."

"My lord, you are the Chief Grand Secretary. This direct palace edict lacks your draft rescript—there would be no harm in not complying."

"Foolish woman's mercy!" Wei Zaode was already in a foul temper, and hearing this only made him angrier. He rapped the table a few times in frustration at her failure to understand, and said:

"In principle, that's true. But you are but a woman—what would you understand?"

"Last time I supervised the execution of Chen Yan, word spread through the scholar-official ranks that I, Wei Zaode, was of the eunuch faction! I know all too well what methods those former colleagues of mine possess. If not for the guards and depots protecting me day and night, I would not have survived to this day!"

Just as he said this, an old servant rushed in from outside the door in a panic, saying:

"My lord, those Capital Camps soldiers have run out of patience—they sent me in to urge you along."

Hearing this, Wei Zaode took a sip of tea. In that instant, he seemed to have resigned himself to the matter. He stood up, brushed off his backside, and said:

"Very well then! At this point, what is there left to think about? If I'm to be a lackey, then a lackey I shall be!"

Walking along the road to supervise the execution, Wei Zaode still could not figure it out.

In the past, public executions in the Great Ming had always been held at the West Four Archways. When the Chongzhen Emperor had held public executions before, they had also been there. Why had it suddenly changed this year to public execution at the vegetable market?

Wei Zaode was different from Chen Yan. Chen Yan had been most skilled at flattery and sycophancy, which was how he became Chief Grand Secretary, whereas Wei Zaode's talent lay in glib speech—his ability to divine the imperial will was inferior to Chen Yan's.

He pondered the entire way, yet could not understand what the Chongzhen Emperor's intention was in doing this. Finally he plopped himself down in the supervising executioner's seat, yet suddenly felt something was different.

By all rights, Wei Zaode's reputation should have long been dragged through the mud by the Donglin scholars, but the common folk watching the execution at the vegetable market did not throw rotten eggs or spoiled vegetable leaves at him—some children were even shouting something like "Wei Qingtian."

Wei Zaode was no fool. Those three words, "Wei Qingtian," were clearly directed at him. He immediately felt rather pleased with himself, thinking that supervising executions was not so bad after all.

This was already the second time, and the Donglin Faction did not seem to have done anything to him. His reputation even seemed to be improving, and the Chongzhen Emperor, who had always been harsh and ungracious, had this time unexpectedly protected him vigorously at court.

Thinking of this, Wei Zaode happily waved to the surrounding commoners, coughed a couple of times, cast the wooden token to the ground, and shouted loudly:

"The hour has come! Verify the identity—carry out the execution!"

"Your Majesty, Wei Zaode had a smile on his face while supervising the execution. It seems the old servant's men shouting 'Wei Qingtian' got through to him—he's secretly pleased with himself."

"Mm." The Chongzhen Emperor nodded and smiled, then asked:

"Has the chaos within the city been pacified?"

Wang Cheng'en immediately replied with the utmost respect:

"Reporting to Your Majesty, Earl Wei Xiao has sealed off all the capital's gates with the Divine Martial Army, Eunuch Fang is holding the gates of the Imperial City with the Tengxiang Four Guards, and the Duke of Ying and the Count of Xinjian have both already led the Capital Camps to quell the unrest."

Ever since the Divine Martial Army had taken over the defense of the capital's gates and city walls, no further disturbances had arisen. Even amid such great chaos within the city, Earl Wei Xiao, Zhou Jingwu, still stood vigilantly at his post.

The Chongzhen Emperor had great trust in this elite force.

"By the way, the patrolling censors of the Five Cities Troops and Horses Office are all dead now—it's time to replace them with a new batch."

The Chongzhen Emperor paced back and forth in the warm pavilion, hands clasped behind his back, and said:

"In the past, I was deceived by those of the Donglin Faction. These five men were all dismissed—let them take up the posts of patrolling censors of the Troops and Horses Office. And this one called Chen Qiyu—do not keep him guarding the frontier. Send mounted couriers at once to recall him to the capital, and have him come to the platform to see me!"

"This old servant obeys the decree."

After this great upheaval, all five of the original patrolling censors of the Five Cities Troops and Horses Office had "died for the country," sacrificing themselves heroically. When the Chongzhen Emperor heard of this, his heart bloomed with joy, but on his face he wore an expression of profound grief, and without pause he arranged for new officials to take office.