Chapter 95: Ma Shiying, the Heavenly Official of Personnel in Nanjing

When the Chongzhen Emperor personally led the imperial campaign, one hundred thousand Ming troops crushed two hundred thousand Dashing Kingdom rebels, and incidentally routed the invading Jianzhou barbarians, taking over two hundred heads. When the news broke, the capital was shaken and the whole realm astonished.

At first, many felt the court was deliberately exaggerating. Liu Fangliang had led over a hundred thousand Dashing Kingdom troops, previously invincible wherever they went, with no local official army able to stand against them — how could they have stumbled at the capital's doorstep?

Since the Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli era, the Great Ming had seen no victory of this scale, whether against external foes or internal rebels. Some patriotic scholars shouted aloud in exultation — truly, this was martial achievement unseen in the realm for decades!

The so-called hundred-thousand-strong rebel army collapsed in a single battle, with tens of thousands beheaded. At a time like this, anyone who still claimed the Great Ming was doomed was talking nonsense — slap the bastard across the face first and argue later!

When the news reached Nanjing — especially when the Fushe scholars who were marching in protest against the Chongzhen Emperor heard it — they could hardly believe their ears. It was simply too incredible to credit.

Yet as time passed, matters developed ever further in the direction the scholars did not wish. Everyone who investigated for certain information ultimately confirmed one result: the victory announcement was genuine.

Whether willing to believe it or not, the Fushe scholars could foresee that with the court winning such a great victory, combined with the earlier edict abolishing the farming-guard system, a chain reaction across all the soldiers and generals of the realm was inevitable.

What was hardest to accept was that after this great victory, according to the Chongzhen Emperor's earlier promise, a large number of soldiers who had fought bravely in the vanguard would receive commendation, and from then on be stripped of their hereditary military household and tenant-farmer status, truly becoming free men.

This was a scene the landlords and scholars did not wish to see. If the Chongzhen Emperor truly distributed the guarantees he had promised, his prestige would rise enormously — and then who would still be willing to follow the scholars in protest marches!

"The August Ming unites all under heaven; though its civil and martial glories no longer match those of Han and Tang, its loyal heart remains. Righteous valor rises in display; those who leap about in rebellion, however strong, shall be slain! — In the intercalary fifth month, day jiashen, of the seventeenth year, the Great Ming Emperor Zhu Youjian records this pacification of rebels."

Hou Fangyu, standing in a courtyard residence, held a small slip of paper and read out a passage, then broke into a face full of cold sneers. "What a fine fatuous sovereign — he truly doesn't know his own measure! To say such words as 'no longer match those of Han and Tang' — he actually has the nerve to speak them aloud."

"Chaozong (Hou Fangyu's courtesy name) speaks truly. This fatuous sovereign merely won by luck a battle that was certain to be won, and now his tail is stuck up to the heavens, daring to compare himself with Han and Tang — truly knowing neither heaven's height nor earth's depth!"

After Hou Fangyu finished, several scholars immediately voiced agreement. Had an uninformed passerby seen the expressions on their faces, they might have thought the Chongzhen Emperor bore them some bone-deep, unforgettable grudge.

This courtyard was one of the countless lecture venues established under the Donglin Academy, and the Donglin Academy was a resounding name throughout Jiangnan — fully half the court's officials had come from it.

The younger generation of Fushe scholars were, plainly put, the successors the Donglin Faction had cultivated themselves, intending for them to enter court and govern after retirement.

In ordinary times, the scholars would gather here to discuss the great affairs of the realm.

If any news developed even slightly against their wishes, they would pull the old trick of "remotely steering the court from afar." After all, every grandee at court was of their Donglin Faction — what was there to worry about?

But ever since the Spring Festival of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the Chongzhen Emperor had seemed to go mad, throwing the capital into panic and unrest. It seemed he had truly been frightened into mental derangement by Li Chuang.

Whenever he thought of this, Hou Fangyu would sneer a few times. Letting such a man be emperor had been a mistake from the very start. Let him keep on like this, and the Great Ming would sooner or later perish at his hands!

The Chongzhen Emperor's earlier meddling had in truth been aimed at squeezing out silver. Though its influence was broad, it had not touched the Fushe scholars' interests, so these men simply kept quiet and made their fortunes in silence.

But after the edict abolishing the farming-guard system came down, the landlords great and small throughout Jiangnan were the first to grow restless.

Blocking a man's path to wealth is like killing his parents!

The landlords of Jiangnan thought differently from those of the Central Plains and the capital region who had been ravaged by war. These men lived under the facade of "song and dance, peace and prosperity," caring only to protect their family property and fields, having long relied on tenant farmers and military lands to rake in silver.

If every soldier in the realm could shed hereditary military household and tenant-farmer status through military merit, then what the hell was left for them? With no one working the manor fields, even hiring laborers would cost a huge extra sum of silver — and that was all their own money!

At this rate, their families would sooner or later be squeezed dry by the court. The landlords had scattered great sums of silver about in ordinary times and could not let that go to waste, so they went to the scholars and Donglin officials.

Though the Fushe scholars appeared pure as a fresh breeze in daily life, as if all were rare incorruptible gentlemen of the realm, if you looked into them carefully, these scholars were not necessarily cleaner than the eunuch faction.

Take Hou Fangyu: the man frequented only the most upscale establishments throughout the Qinhuai district — the kind where entering the door cost several taels of silver. Famous courtesans that ordinary wealthy households fought over would sing for him alone, night after night of song and revelry; what he ate and used were things ordinary families could not afford in several lifetimes.

The other scholars were much the same — the more famous they were, the more unspeakable their secret dealings. If these scholars were truly as austere as they appeared on the surface, how could they have silver to spend all day composing poetry in pavilions and towers, discoursing on so-called affairs of the realm?

In this day and age, seeing is not necessarily believing. Though the scholars dressed plainly, that did not mean their purses were empty.

The scholars were in the midst of indignant discussion when the door was suddenly kicked open with brute force, and a squad of runners from the Troops and Horses Office strode in, murderous intent radiating from them.

Seeing this, Hou Fangyu frowned slightly but made no move — instead he picked up a cup of tea from the table and savored it, until he saw the man who strolled in last at a leisurely pace.

Ma Shiying, dressed in official robes, walked in clapping his hands, and said with a smile:

"Excellent! Worthy of the foremost of the Four Young Masters — truly surpassing bearing and grace. Ma here concedes defeat in admiration!"

Hou Fangyu had already learned that the Chongzhen Emperor had appointed Ma Shiying as Nanjing's Minister of Personnel. To him, this was merely one more of the Chongzhen Emperor's many fatuous acts.

Already extremely dissatisfied with this, Hou Fangyu gave no pleasant face in return, and said with a cold sneer:

"So His Excellency Ma the Heavenly Official has personally come to catch some petty thief and happened to pass by my Donglin Academy?" As he spoke, Hou Fangyu drained his tea to the last drop, deliberately showing the cup to Ma Shiying, then continued:

"I'm terribly sorry, but I accidentally drank all this tea. If His Excellency Ma wishes to beg a cup of tea, please go out the door and turn left — there's an open-air tea stall on the corner. It's quite suitable for you eunuch-faction types."

Ma Shiying kept one hand behind his back, seemingly hiding something. He was not a man of such great tolerance — ordinarily, hearing such words, he would fly into an immediate rage. Yet now his face only showed a smile that did not reach his eyes as he nodded.

Ma Shiying first cast his gaze around the courtyard and the scholars, then walked a few steps to stand before Hou Fangyu, looking down at him, before speaking with a beaming smile:

"Aiya ya ya! This place is not bad. If it were to be sealed up just like that, this official really would be rather reluctant to part with it."

Hearing this, Hou Fangyu slammed his teacup down on the table with a 'bang!', and pointed at him, saying furiously:

"Ma Shiying, don't you forget — without the intent of Minister Shi of the Ministry of War, you have no right to seal my Donglin Academy on your own authority!"

Ma Shiying seemed to have heard some enormous joke; the smile on his face grew even broader. Then his expression shifted, and he drew a golden-yellow scroll from behind his back, raised it up, and shouted with a cold smile:

"The imperial edict has arrived — hurry up and rise to receive it, won't you?"