Chapter 723: A Battle of Wills

It was the turn of spring and summer in the ninth year of the Chongzhen reign.

While Liu Chengzong and Hong Taiji were locked in a battle of wits and courage beyond the frontier, the Chongzhen Emperor inside the Forbidden City was, as ever, locked in a battle of wills with his court officials.

In Beijing, everything went on as usual.

Even though the Later Jin army had already breached the border and fought their way to the outskirts of Changping, people had long since grown accustomed to frontier beacon fires, and the capital showed not the slightest sign of alarm.

In fact, the vast majority of people had no idea that the Later Jin had already broken through from Shanxi; they all went about their business as if nothing had happened, those fighting for power fighting for power, those scrambling for profit scrambling for profit.

Chongzhen, of course, knew the military situation.

He was anxious too, but his empire had far too many matters to deal with.

Besides, being anxious was useless.

After all, the Later Jin had only broken through from Xuanfu; to enter Shanxi there was Yanmen Pass, and to enter the capital region there was Juyong Pass. As for Xuanfu itself, in the court's conception, it was packed with troops, so what was there to panic about?

Just order Liang Tingdong to do his job well and that would be the end of it.

The urgency of this matter didn't even rank in the top three.

The first, of course, was the officially recorded "Zhang Zhi," Zhang Yichuan. Guided by local fellows from Fengyang Prefecture, this True Dragon Emperor had, in a mere ten days, overrun all five subprefectures and thirteen counties of Fengyang Prefecture, even setting fire to the old forest of the imperial ancestral tombs.

In Fengyang Prefecture city especially, during the few days Zhang Yichuan occupied it, the wealthy households were nearly slaughtered to the last.

Because the rich families in this city were the original tomb-keeping households and other local fellows from the time of the Great Ancestor Emperor, while those outside guiding Zhang Yichuan were the outsiders from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who had been relocated here during the Great Ancestor Emperor's era — the very people later known as the beggars of Fengyang Prefecture.

The conflict between the two sides was already immeasurably deep; guiding Zhang Yichuan and letting him plunder and slaughter the wealthy was their reward.

The impact of this event on Chongzhen was far greater than anything else. Dressed in plain mourning robes, he ran to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to weep bitterly, and then ordered the many troops south of the Yellow River to encircle and annihilate the Zhi bandits.

However, having suffered many defeats, Zhang Yichuan had already accumulated considerable experience. From the moment he entered Fengyang Prefecture, he realized he was losing control of his army.

After resting in Fengyang Prefecture city for just three days, Zhang Yichuan abdicated the throne.

He had no choice but to abdicate. On his march from Henan into the Central Capital alone, he had handed out over one hundred and thirty titles like Chief Regional Commander and Grand Marshal; anyone with about a hundred men was a Regional Commander or Brigade Commander.

After taking Fengyang Prefecture and acquiring the weapons and equipment of the imperial tomb guards, none of the various factions would submit to one another. Regional Commanders and Brigade Commanders alone were dying in infighting at a rate of two per day; if he stayed any longer, he would be killed too.

So he abdicated the imperial throne to a local Fengyang bandit named Wang Benren, then clashed twice with various peasant armies, seizing a good deal of military supplies and provisions. In the end, he led just over a thousand men and slipped into Gaoyou Lake.

In truth, up to this point, the matter was simply a case of a tower rising high and then collapsing — perfectly normal.

But then things took a bizarre turn. Here was Chongzhen, still wishing he could have Zhang Zhi's head displayed in a cage, paraded across the nine border garrisons, his bones ground to dust and ashes scattered.

Yet Zhang Yichuan was actually granted amnesty by the Prefect of Yangzhou, appointed as Commander of Gaoyou Garrison, put in charge of the Gaoyou naval forces, and transformed in the blink of an eye into a subordinate of the Great Ming's Chongzhen Emperor.

Zhang Yichuan truly became a water bandit. Although he couldn't swim, and most of his soldiers couldn't either, as soon as he arrived, he used land warfare to seize all the ships of Gaoyou Garrison, and even lured the lake's water bandits ashore and wiped them out.

Whether local troops or local bandits, they all scattered at the first encounter; a dozen or so armored cavalry could rout over a thousand scattered soldiers and stragglers.

The areas along the Grand Canal hadn't seen war in so many years; military preparedness had deteriorated to the point where in some places, troops could barely march in formation anymore. No one had ever seen such ferocious fighters.

Over there, he was invincible on land, and in naval warfare, since he had all the ships, he became the overlord of the lake.

The Prefect of Yangzhou, Han Wenjing, seeing that he couldn't be defeated in battle and not knowing his background or history, and in these troubled times not daring to report to the imperial court, thought he'd try offering amnesty.

He put forward the treatment of a Garrison Commander, thinking he'd ask an exorbitant price and then haggle down, just to see if this water bandit had any intention of accepting amnesty; if there was intent, they could negotiate further.

He never imagined that upon seeing the amnesty letter, Zhang Yichuan would be dumbfounded.

He thought to himself, there's actually an official who dares to offer amnesty to Us, the Emperor?

Then he pondered it and realized, no, what the Great Ming wants to capture is the Ancient Origin True Dragon Emperor Zhang Zhi — what does that have to do with me, Zhang Yichuan, the Gaoyou water bandit?

Anyway, he had money and provisions in hand. At this point, fighting his way back to Shaanxi through the Central Plains with just over a thousand men would likely mean dying on the road. Better to find temporary refuge in Yangzhou, so he agreed immediately.

In reality, Chongzhen was also baffled at this moment.

Because in the official documents, the leader of the Ancient Origin rebels had become Wang Benren.

Not only did the imperial court not know what was going on, even the many peasant army leaders in Fengyang Prefecture didn't know what was going on; they were too busy with infighting, who had time to care who the emperor was?

After research by the Ministry of War, people unanimously concluded that the so-called Ancient Origin True Dragon Emperor had always been named Wang Benren.

A man from Shaanxi, originally a Company Officer of the Sai Gate Fort in Yan'an Garrison, who faked his death in the third year of Chongzhen during a supposed bandit-suppression mission, shedding his old identity like a cicada shedding its shell, then deserted and carried out rebellion under the false name Zhang Zhi. After growing powerful in the Central Capital, he reverted to his original name.

Because in the Ministry of War's military registers, there really was a Company Officer Wang Benren at Sai Gate Fort who died in the third year of Chongzhen.

That man was always at odds with the newly appointed Battalion Commander, was sent out by Ren Quan'er to suppress bandits, and was killed by a stray shot from the roving bandits.

Chongzhen's second most urgent matter was to hurry up and send two people away.

One was the Prince of Tang, Zhu Yujian; the other was the Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion, Qian Shisheng.

Chongzhen's loathing for the always showy Prince of Tang was long-standing; he could barely hold back his disgust any longer.

This month, the Prince of Tang submitted yet another memorial, reporting a great famine in Nanyang, stating that there had been cases of mothers cooking and eating their daughters, and requesting relief from the court.

The matter deeply affected Chongzhen. Last month, he had approved famine relief for Shanxi province, where cannibalism had occurred, allocating only thirty-five thousand taels. This time, for just one prefecture, he allocated thirty thousand taels.

Because it was hard for the emperor to imagine what people starving to the point of cannibalism looked like, but he had daughters, and could imagine what circumstances would drive a mother to cook and eat her daughter.

However, although relief funds were allocated for the disaster, it made Chongzhen detest the Prince of Tang, Zhu Yujian, even more.

To the point of wanting him dead.

Since Nanyang is a prefecture, why was it the vassal prince, Zhu Yujian, who submitted the memorial when trouble arose?

Because all the capable officials and virtuous administrators of Nanyang Prefecture had been thrown into prison by the Prince of Tang wielding the Imperial Clan Law; naturally, when something happened, only he, the prince who normally didn't manage affairs, could submit the memorial.

Chongzhen believed this sort of creature was purely an enemy of the state and had to find a way to get rid of him.

The problem was that Zhu Yujian had read the Imperial Clan Law too thoroughly, embodying the law with his entire being and escalating every issue to a matter of principle, which left Chongzhen helpless against him.

The other, Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion Qian Shisheng, also disgusted Chongzhen immensely.

To some extent, Chongzhen was in a state of helplessness regarding the current situation of the Great Ming.

This court appeared proper and orderly on the surface, yet it simply could not solve problems.

So he always liked to do things of a performative nature, his mindset akin to that of a regular doctor who can no longer save the patient and puts all his brainpower into collecting folk remedies.

Take, for example, the appointment of the first Chief Regional Commander of Henan, Zhang Renxue. At the time, he was a civil official wanting to transfer to a military post. The court officials all gave their suggestions: Zhang Renxue was brave in undertaking tasks, so the emperor could just give him an additional assignment to supervise military affairs; he'd be doing the same work, there was no need to transfer him to a military post.

Chongzhen wouldn't have it; that wouldn't have enough explosive performative effect.

He wanted to demonstrate that he did not adhere to conventional standards in employing talent, and with a wave of his hand, appointed Zhang Renxue as Chief Regional Commander of Henan.

Whether Zhang Renxue did a good job or not didn't matter — what mattered was letting everyone under heaven know that the current sage sovereign employs men without rigid conventions, hoping to attract some heaven-sent geniuses.

And indeed, things developed exactly in the direction the Chongzhen Emperor wanted. Now, every day, people outside the established order came to the palace gates, trying to make the emperor hear their voices.

For example, earlier this year, a military juren named Chen Qixin presented a memorial outside Zhengyang Gate, arguing that the root of the court's ills was employing men through the imperial examinations, and that the exams should be suspended in favor of recommending the filial and incorrupt.

The Chongzhen Emperor then specially appointed this fellow of military juren background as a supervising secretary in the Office of Scrutiny for Personnel.

The Chongzhen Emperor's logic was sound: theatrics were theatrics, but he couldn't treat the court's major policies as a joke.

You want to be a military commander? I'll give you troops to command and let you try. You think the examinations are flawed? Then you be a supervising secretary, oversee the Six Ministries, impeach and censure officials, and see exactly who has the problem.

But if you want a man with big ideas, that's easy — just don't be afraid when he actually shows up.

This month, a military student of Jiangnan origin named Li Jin submitted a memorial that blew the court apart.

Li Jin's memorial argued that good governance lies in enriching the state — only when disaster victims are saved and soldiers have provisions can the realm be governed. He therefore requested that His Majesty plunder the powerful gentry and great houses of Jiangnan, ordering them to voluntarily declare their wealth and contribute to military funds.

The cruelest part was that this Li Jin, in calling for the plunder of powerful gentry, had even specified the region — Jiangnan — and he himself was a Jiangnan native.

To be honest, when the Chongzhen Emperor read this memorial, he felt a thrill right then and there.

It was a thrill from the crown of his head all the way down to his heels — even his toes curled up.

I've damn well wanted to do this for ages — seize all the wealth among the common people!

Only reason had always told him that doing it this way wouldn't work, and besides, it couldn't be pulled off anyway.

If the court wanted money, it could perfectly well use more pleasant-sounding pretexts.

Like in the past, when donating salaries to aid military funds, the grand ministers took the lead and the court officials rose in response — the reaction was very good too.

Asking His Majesty to plunder the powerful gentry and great houses — was that even human speech? It sounded as if the civil and military officials were unwilling to give.

But when such a reckless fool actually popped up and sent a memorial to the court, the Chongzhen Emperor truly got a thrill from hearing it, and his mood was excellent.

Moreover, his trusted close ministers — men like Wen Tiren and Xue Guoguan — regardless of what they thought in their hearts, at least outwardly acted as if this matter, if it could really be done well, would indeed not be bad at all.

Xue Guoguan felt that he himself simply wasn't worth having his property confiscated — he truly had very little money.

It wasn't that he was absolutely incorruptible, but rather that his time in office had been short.

One could say he was a jinshi from the late Wanli years, so he wasn't young, but he had only served five years as a local prefectural judge. After that, he became a circuit censor, rotating through the Offices of Scrutiny for Revenue and War, and finally rose to chief supervising secretary of the Office of Scrutiny for Justice — he became the head.

And that was still only a rank of principal seventh grade.

Later, because he had impeached many Donglin partisans back when Wei Zhongxian was in power, after the Chongzhen Emperor ascended the throne and punished the eunuch faction, he went home.

When he returned to court, he was still serving as a chief supervising secretary in the scrutiny offices. It was only last year that he was finally promoted.

To put it bluntly, Xue Guoguan was in an oversight agency whose specialty was rising through denouncing others — with what could he have amassed a family fortune?

Not to mention his hometown was still in Hancheng, the Ming dynasty's last bastion in Shaanxi. Whenever Liu Chengzong was in a bad mood and dispatched troops, his family home would be plundered — no need for the court to exert any effort at all.

Wen Tiren's thinking was even clearer. He was already the Senior Grand Secretary — was a Senior Grand Secretary afraid of having his property confiscated?

Most Senior Grand Secretaries ended up having their property confiscated.

He had long since accepted this premise in his mind.

For others, however, it wasn't so easy to accept.

Especially Grand Secretary Qian Shisheng.

A man of Jiaxing — indisputably Jiangnan.

Qian Shisheng submitted a memorial: Recently, petty men seeking advancement through pretexts have been too numerous. This Li Jin advocates that the gentry and powerful families declare and surrender their wealth to the government — he intends to implement the law of confiscation. This is the chaotic governance of a decaying age, and he dares to speak of it to His Majesty, utterly without scruple!

Moreover, this man detests the rich for annexing the common people, yet the wealthy households in the cities are also the source of the poor's food and clothing. Now, to blame the rich for military turmoil and confiscate their property — once this proposal is raised, desperate and lawless men will rise one after another to make trouble for the wealthy, and great chaos will begin from this.

A man like this must be thrown into prison and severely punished — have the Ministry of Justice arrest and interrogate him!

But the Emperor would not listen, and Wen Tiren also disagreed.

Wen Tiren understood the Chongzhen Emperor very well. He knew that for the Emperor, this memorial was merely pleasant words to hear, a mental indulgence — a matter with no room for practical implementation whatsoever.

Right now, everyone was discussing Li Jin's memorial, but if you truly fought over this matter, the one thrown into prison would probably not be Li Jin, but you, Qian Shisheng.

So he altered the draft rescript in which Qian Shisheng wanted Li Jin imprisoned, and told Qian Shisheng: Though this man's head is full of twisted fallacies and his mouth full of reckless nonsense, His Majesty is currently broadening the channels of speech. Your words are too harsh, and the punishment too severe — speech should not be criminalized.

Qian Shisheng, fully aware yet feigning ignorance, said this matter would shake the foundations of the state and must be contested.

In truth, by this time, the court officials were all guiding the Chongzhen Emperor.

One faction of officials, led by Wen Tiren and Xue Guoguan, believed that these chaotic times called for severe laws, for harsh and unsparing conduct.

This aligned with the Chongzhen Emperor's own inner inclination.

The other faction — men like Qian Shisheng and Tang Kaiyuan — guided the Chongzhen Emperor to stop dispatching officials to press for military funds, to treat officials with conciliation, to govern the masses with leniency, to preside with simplicity, to hold his heart with emptiness, and to issue governance with equanimity.

This, on the other hand, was the external face of the Chongzhen Emperor's theatrics.

The political views of these two groups were completely opposed, as incompatible as fire and water.

And the Chongzhen Emperor — he could accept both, making him seem like a schizophrenic.

In truth, the Chongzhen Emperor was in the midst of figuring out how to get money, and had Xue Guoguan pushing the matter forward — there was no way he would follow Li Jin's suggestion of outright robbery.

Their calculations, too, were ones a normal person could accept.

The thinking was clear: the court's finances were now failing, but money was needed, and the annual deficit wasn't all that much. With so many wealthy households in the realm, they could perfectly well borrow money first to solve the problem.

It had even been put on the agenda: borrowing from outer officials, to be handled by Xue Guoguan; loans from imperial relatives and nobles, to be decided by the Chongzhen Emperor personally.

Li Jin's memorial was a dog catching a mouse.

Qian Shisheng was even more neurotic — he actually bothered to meddle with a dog catching a mouse.

Originally, the Chongzhen Emperor had merely listened for the thrill. The world must have such people who come right out ready to flip the table, so that the Emperor could then get things done through normal means.

Any fool knew that the emperor could confiscate a wealthy subject's property if that subject committed a crime.

But he could not confiscate property simply because a subject was wealthy — would the court still have legitimacy then? His Senior Grand Secretary was not Liu Chengzong, after all.

What truly infuriated the Chongzhen Emperor in this matter was: so a man isn't even allowed to speak? Just for submitting a letter to me, you want to throw him into the Ministry of Justice's prison?

In this situation, clearly you are the petty man blocking the channels of speech.

If I truly followed your thinking and threw Li Jin into prison, in the future, could others' suggestions still reach my imperial presence? And even if they could, would anyone still dare to speak?

Most critically, if you had a core skill like Wen Tiren's photographic memory, that would be one thing.

You earned your jinshi degree, spent most of your life in Nanjing, never did any real work, got by in the jianghu solely on having many friends, and once in the Cabinet, you spent all day buzzing in my ear with correct but useless platitudes.

I can act, but you can act even better than I can!

The Chongzhen Emperor had always detested this type of person most of all.

I need people who can solve problems, yet you, you prick, spend every day telling me the problem lies in my moral character and nature — isn't that a joke?

Even if the problem does lie with me, even if I am the root of the problem, then just treat the symptoms without curing the root — at least treat the symptoms!

Your grandmother's!

This time, after the Li Jin affair, the Chongzhen Emperor was even more fed up with him, and never would he have expected that Wen Tiren would actually come to report that Qian Shisheng still wanted to argue, insisting that Li Jin must be imprisoned, and was threatening to resign.

"Let him go!"

The Chongzhen Emperor was already in a rage and opened his mouth to send Qian Shisheng home, but the moment the words left his lips, he stopped: "Wait."

The Emperor had the eunuchs search through the imperial desk, and from the mountain of memorials, they pulled out a memorial from Liang Tingdong.

"Take a look. Liang Tingdong says Liu Chengzong has moved his troops to the border outside Ji Garrison, and says that in times of emergency, the court could provide a hundred thousand dan of provisions to hire him to assist in the suppression. Send Qian Shisheng — isn't he the Minister of Rites and Eastern Pavilion Grand Secretary? He spends all day chanting scripture at me."

"Send him to chant scripture at Liu Chengzong. Teach him to govern the masses with leniency, to preside over subordinates with simplicity, to hold his heart with emptiness, and to issue governance with fairness."

Wen Tiren was utterly dumbfounded, not knowing how to respond to this: "Your Majesty, this..."

"Go tell him I don't want to see him."

The Chongzhen Emperor waved his hand, indicating he was speaking in anger, then looked at Wen Tiren and said: "Didn't the Grand Marshal say before that Liu Chengzong is blocking the border, making it easy for the eastern brigands to enter the border but hard to leave, and that we must guard against Shenyang sending troops to link up inside the Zunhua-Yongping border?"

"Perfect timing. Xue Guoguan says Liu Chengzong plans to sell grain to Hancheng for Shanxi's disaster relief — he does have a heart of benevolence and righteousness. Send Qian Shisheng beyond the border to negotiate with the Liu clan: tell them not to sell the grain."

The Chongzhen Emperor let out a long breath as he spoke, as if this matter was the only thing recently that had put him in a good mood: "I will transfer a hundred thousand dan of grain from Tongzhou beyond the border, and he will transfer a hundred thousand dan of grain to Hancheng for disaster relief. What does the Elder of the Pavilion think?"