Chapter 96: Each with Their Own Schemes

No one had expected Ma Shiying to hold such a card in reserve. No matter how furious Hou Fangyu felt, he dared not commit the folly of openly defying the imperial edict before the crowd.

After hesitating a moment, Hou Fangyu gritted his teeth, knelt to the ground, and shouted his acceptance of the edict. Watching this man gnashing his teeth as he knelt at his feet, Ma Shiying felt a satisfaction beyond words—this chance to avenge his grievances was one he had waited years for.

Ma Shiying spread open the edict scroll and proclaimed in a solemn voice:

"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: The petty villains wreaking havoc in Jiangnan have all been misled by others. Let Minister of Personnel Ma Shiying, upon assuming his post, take charge of quelling the unrest and secretly investigate the chief culprits. Should the evidence be conclusive, he may act at his discretion in accordance with this edict and then report back to Us! Respect this."

Ma Shiying's face was wreathed in a malicious grin as he read the edict. By the time he finished, Hou Fangyu was beyond even anger—cold sweat pouring from his brow, he kowtowed repeatedly, then prostrated himself, clutching Ma Shiying's leg and wailing:

"Minister Ma, this has nothing to do with me! It was all these people's instigation! This has nothing to do with me!"

The edict was both clear and deliberately ambiguous—the four characters "act at discretion" contained far too much meaning, and signified something different to many people.

Hou Fangyu saw precisely that the Chongzhen Emperor had not issued an explicit order to execute the chief culprits, and realized there was a path to self-preservation within it. He immediately decided to abandon his friends of many years in exchange for his own survival.

As for Ma Shiying, he naturally understood the Chongzhen Emperor's intent as well.

First, this edict granted Ma Shiying absolute authority over the disposition of prisoners. With this imperial decree in hand, who the true chief culprit of this unrest ultimately was would be decided by Ma Shiying himself.

From Ma Shiying's understanding of the Chongzhen Emperor, it was no small matter for His Majesty to make such a decision of complete trust—it demonstrated genuine confidence in him after his reinstatement, and served as a reassuring reassurance.

Second, this edict was a double-edged sword for Ma Shiying.

The Emperor had not explicitly ordered anyone's execution, but if Ma Shiying insisted on treating a feather as a command arrow and killed someone or threw them in prison to torment them, that would be his own fault.

The scholars naturally could not take their grievances to the Emperor—but could they not retaliate against Ma Shiying?

The Chongzhen Emperor had used the same trick on Ma Shiying as he had on Wei Zaode. Ma Shiying was far too shrewd—the very day he saw the edict, he understood that the Emperor was forcing him to make a choice.

The chief culprit must die, that went without saying. If he could not handle this first task of his new post properly, Ma Shiying understood that he himself would be the one with no place to bury his bones.

He had heard something of the situation in the capital—Wei Zaode had succeeded as Chief Grand Secretary, but in truth no longer belonged to the Donglin Faction, cheerfully shouldering whatever blame the Emperor needed him to bear.

Following that, Feng Quan had entered the Grand Secretariat to assist in governance, Wang Shaowei had been restored to his former post, and the power of the Three Depots and One Guard was at its zenith. The Emperor's aim of building his own faction of loyalists could not be more obvious.

The Chongzhen Emperor had given Ma Shiying two paths, but for Ma Shiying himself, there was in fact only one road to walk: to follow the Emperor's wishes, break completely with the Donglin Faction, and kill an important member of the Fushe Society to demonstrate his loyalty.

Seeing Hou Fangyu's pleading face, and recalling his arrogant, haughty bearing when he had first entered, Ma Shiying could not help but roar with laughter and say:

"Fine indeed, Hou Fangyu, truly impressive! Now this official understands exactly what separates you from me!"

Hou Fangyu naturally caught the heavy sarcasm in those words. His face darkened, but he dared not flare up, merely hanging his head in silence.

At this moment, his very life was clutched in the hands of his former enemy. If he showed his temper now, he feared he would have no place to die.

"Very well!"

Suddenly, Ma Shiying gave a sly smile and nodded, saying:

"In that case, this official nearly wronged a loyal man! Tell me, then—who exactly is the mastermind who incited the scholars to defy the court?"

Hou Fangyu could not believe his ears. Saved from the jaws of death! At such a moment, he had no thought for why the notoriously petty Ma Shiying had suddenly become so generous. He casually pointed behind him and shouted:

"It's him! It's him!"

Song Zhengyu stared blankly at the close friend who had been discoursing with him on matters of the world only moments before, pointing at Hou Fangyu, unable to speak. But Hou Fangyu was determined to strike while the iron was hot, and would never give Song Zhengyu a chance to react.

"Minister Ma, this Song Zhengyu is the mastermind! Arrest him and throw him in prison at once!"

Hou Fangyu's shameless conduct filled the other scholars in the courtyard with shock and fear. Though furious, no one dared step forward to speak—for no other reason than the fear that Hou Fangyu might point at them next. All were simply looking after their own skins.

Chen Zilong waited a long while, but no one came forward to speak a word of justice. Utterly disillusioned with these so-called "sworn friends" who pretended at loyalty, he stepped forward and drove his fist into Hou Fangyu's nose, cursing at the top of his lungs:

"Hou Fangyu, you shameless villain! I, Chen Zilong, was blind to have trusted you!"

Chen Zilong was one of the few Fushe scholars skilled in both letters and martial arts. When they gathered to debate, most scholars would affect refinement, waving folding fans as they chatted about heaven and earth—but he wore a long sword at his waist, standing out from the rest.

Having spoken, Chen Zilong turned to leave in a fury, unable to stomach remaining in this place that disgusted him. But he had not gone more than a few steps before several runners from the Troops and Horses Office blocked his way. Before he could say anything, Ma Shiying gave a faint smile and waved his hand:

"This official believes Chen Wozi has nothing to do with this matter. Release him!"

Watching the Troops and Horses Office runners step aside, Chen Zilong turned back to give Ma Shiying a long, deep look, but said nothing and strode straight out.

Afterwards, the runners of the Troops and Horses Office escorted the unlucky Yunjian scholar Song Zhengyu to be beheaded as a public example. On the way, one of the squad leaders could not puzzle it out and asked:

"Your Excellency, why not simply behead that Hou Fangyu directly?"

Hearing this, Ma Shiying chuckled:

"What would you understand? You have to let out the long line to catch the big fish. Hou Fangyu has lost half his life going back this time—sooner or later, he'll come looking for me again."

At this point, a look of extreme cruelty spread across Ma Shiying's face. "And when that time comes, this official will make him suffer worse than death!"

The squad leader wore an expression of sudden enlightenment, and Ma Shiying said no more, departing directly.

The other squad leaders had been burning with curiosity in the back, and now crowded around to ask that squad leader what His Excellency Ma had meant. But the squad leader shook his head in utter bewilderment, saying he hadn't understood a word of it either.

When the news reached the capital, the Chongzhen Emperor listened to the Depot and Guard agents recount every detail of what had happened in the courtyard, and in the end found it rather surprising—it seemed Ma Shiying was not nearly as simple as he appeared on the surface.

Still, that was fine. This Chief Grand Secretary of the Southern Ming who had died for his country in history ought to be a man loyal to the Great Ming. His loyalty was not in question—let him stir things up in Nanjing, and spare the Emperor the trouble.

With this thought, the Chongzhen Emperor casually picked up the memorial Ma Shiying had submitted and glanced through it. Before long, he burst out laughing.

It turned out that Ma Shiying, just as in history, had immediately recommended Ruan Dacheng for the post of Vice Minister of War of the Right upon his own reinstatement.

Ma Shiying feared being alone and helpless in Nanjing, so he recommended Ruan Dacheng as his right-hand man. The Chongzhen Emperor naturally saw through this little scheme, but whenever he recalled how Ruan Dacheng had surrendered to the Qing in history, it rankled him deeply.

After pondering for some time, the Chongzhen Emperor tossed the memorial to the ground and said to the attendant eunuch Li Chun at his side:

"Instruct the Directorate of Ceremonial—retain it without reply."

"Appoint former Nanjing Minister of Revenue Guo Shangyou as Vice Minister of War of the Right in Nanjing, to assist in managing the Capital Camps' military affairs. See to it at once!"