Chapter 1206: Truly a Mortal Threat

When this decree came out, aside from being utterly dumbfounded, no one had a single word to say; many did not even react. Soon after, many noticed that the great figures of both the Inner Court and Outer Court all maintained silence regarding this decree. If the Inner and Outer Courts could not reach a tacit understanding, even an edict personally spoken and written by the Son of Heaven would not be carried out. Yet the issuing of this decree, from the Directorate of Ceremonial and the Directorate of the Imperial Horses all the way down to the Grand Secretariat, the Six Ministries, and the Censorate, actually went smoothly all along the way, encountering no obstruction whatsoever.

Where had the partisan strife between the Eunuch Faction and the Donglin Party gone? To suddenly mobilize and train a hundred thousand troops for a punitive campaign—how much silver would that cost, how many provinces and border garrisons would it involve? How could it be coordinated so easily? Had Wei Zhongxian gone mad?

Although it was the Tianqi Emperor's decree, everyone knew Wei Zhongxian was the one pushing behind the scenes. The scale of this army even surpassed the forces committed to the Battle of Sarhu against the Jianzhou Jurchens. It was said that half of last year's Liao levy would be spent on this. Just what was he trying to do?

The decree was issued, all the various procedures were completed, and after several days of eerie silence, the debate in the capital erupted completely. The Grand Secretariat and the Six Ministries were all questioning it; memorials from the Censorate surged like a tide. Everyone was saying that treacherous villains at court had lost their minds, that they were treating vital military and state affairs as child's play, and that the court must be purged of these villains before the bright and clear cosmos of the Great Ming could be restored.

Those upright officials with the authority to seal and return decrees, those great figures who could have raised objections and doubts during the drafting stage—at this moment, they were all criticizing while bitterly lamenting that they had been oppressed by treacherous villains and forced into actions against their will. There were even rumors that loyal eunuch directors of the Directorate of Ceremonial and other Inner Court offices were secretly weeping, looking for opportunities to kneel before the Tianqi Emperor and remonstrate.

The tide of verbal attacks seemed to boil over, yet once the decree was issued, the procedures that needed to operate had to begin operating; otherwise, one could be prosecuted for the crime of deceiving the sovereign. Agents of the Eastern Depot sat in oversight at the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War, as official orders mobilizing troops, grain, and fodder were dispatched by fast horse from the capital to every region.

Why was he doing this?

By this time, rumors were already spreading everywhere in the capital; every kind of talk had someone spreading it and someone believing it.

Among these rumors, some said Wei Zhongxian had been possessed by an evil spirit and had lost his mind. Others said he wanted to emulate the great eunuch Wang Zhen of the Zhengtong era, wanting to indulge in the thrill of controlling a great army, without even looking at what times these were.

Then, the most horrifying of these rumors was that Wei Zhongxian was plotting rebellion!

This rumor was told with great circumstantial detail, saying that after the court's great defeat, Wei Zhongxian's prestige had fallen to rock bottom, and even His Majesty had begun to distance himself from him. To preserve his own life and his family's, he had to make a desperate gamble.

Yet continuing the joint punitive campaign against the Xuzhou bandits was fraught with extreme difficulty. A great victory might offer a turning point, but even a minor victory would see him attacked and toppled by the censors and even his political enemies within the Inner Court. If he were defeated, it would directly lead to a state of eternal damnation—but given the court's current dire straits, could they hastily assemble a large army and win a battle they had already lost so disastrously?

From this, it was clear that aside from rallying these government troops to rebel, he had no other way out—every person who privately spread this rumor spoke with absolute conviction.

But the common folk of the marketplace were only half-convinced by these rumors, mid- and low-ranking officials treated them as a joke, and the upper-level eunuch directors and great figures did not believe them at all. Everyone who had contact with Wei Zhongxian felt that Eunuch Wei was very clear-headed, handling matters with his usual complete control and methodical order. What was different from before, however, was that Wei Zhongxian was very impatient.

Yet the high officials and powerful nobles of the upper echelons, just like the common folk, could not see Eunuch Wei's motive for doing this.

Wei Zhongxian had entered the palace as a youth and endured over thirty years of hardship to reach his current position. The talk of him being illiterate or a crude village boor was all false. Wei Zhongxian's current ability was no less than anyone else in an equivalent position. But how could a person so capable and clear-headed make a move so detrimental to himself?

After much deliberation, their conclusion was simple: after such a crushing defeat, Eunuch Wei had truly gone mad.

Everyone knew that now was not the time to quibble with a madman, especially when this madman still held great power. It was best to make long-term plans. Moreover, Wei Zhongxian was about to leave the capital as an army supervisor. A eunuch director whose power, wealth, and status all came from the Son of Heaven was actually going to distance himself from the Son of Heaven's side—did he not realize the danger in that?

Just after this initial confusion and agitation passed, more news spread from the capital.

Why exactly did they want to mobilize troops for a joint campaign in the first place? Just what bandits were they going to suppress? Checking the memorials and documents from the past year or two, aside from suffering disasters, it seemed no major unrest had occurred in Xuzhou. The taxes and levies due had been paid without delay, official correspondence had not been interrupted, the local officials were still in place, and there was nothing abnormal.

It was not just Xuzhou; the neighboring regions were all the same. No local officials from the prefectures, subprefectures, or counties had ever reported any rebellion. The only major chaos was the uprising stirred by the Smelling Incense Sect, along with refugees caused by the Liao levy and famine. And no one said Xuzhou had experienced unrest. The sudden dispatch of troops was based solely on secret reports and correspondence from the grand coordinators of Shandong and South Zhili, and secret reports from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, all saying there were gatherings of malcontents in Xuzhou. But these were all isolated pieces of evidence. The grand coordinators, garrison eunuchs, and military officers of various levels in those areas all had close ties with Wei Zhongxian.

Urgent reports from the localities right before battle, and then the court dispatches troops—was there really a rebellion, or was this merely collusion to fabricate a pretext? But everyone also understood clearly that Wei Zhongxian's faction would not deploy a large army to fight in the heartland of South Zhili without reason. If they did that, it would not just be madness, but outright insanity.

Anyone with a mind to investigate a little would discover that a local strongman had entrenched himself in Xuzhou, committing murder and robbery, bullying the local government, monopolizing trade routes and the salt road, interfering with grain transport, and showing no regard for the law. There had been more than one clash with government troops. But no matter how one investigated, whether in reports from local authorities or in their mutual correspondence, there was never any mention of this Xuzhou strongman raising a banner in rebellion.

The actions of this Xuzhou strongman seemed shocking, but weren't all local strongmen across the Great Ming doing exactly the same? To speak more pointedly, weren't the clans of the various eunuch directors, great figures, and even the upright censors in the capital exactly this kind of local strongman back in their home regions?

There had to be a hidden story. It was likely the Eunuch Faction competing for profit with the common people or rooting out loyalists, using public office to settle private scores by deploying the army. As for why they suffered a great defeat, there were clues to follow. The Xuzhou and Pizhou region had always had a tough and fierce local populace; they would naturally fight with all their might to defend their homeland. As for what the government troops were like, everyone knew in their hearts. Such a great defeat was actually not surprising.

If this hidden story could be thoroughly investigated, Wei Zhongxian, who still enjoyed imperial favor, could be cast into the eighteenth level of hell, never to rise again. As for how to deal with Xuzhou, it would simply be a matter of arresting a few unlucky ringleaders of the unrest and executing them, while letting everyone else off lightly.

What bandits gathering tens of thousands, what casting cannons and forging armor, what privately lifting the maritime ban, what commanding thousands of elite Tatar cavalry—even the Tatars of the steppe and Jianzhou could not achieve such things. It was clearly an exaggeration, nothing more than a dispute over profit and a clash of tempers!

Of course, this theory was also full of questionable points. If the goal was to crush a local strongman, no one would mobilize a large army without good reason, and Wei Zhongxian was not the type to use public office for private revenge over a moment's anger or petty profit.

Besides, these powerful nobles asked themselves honestly: could their own families have inflicted such heavy losses on this court army of tens of thousands? Probably not.

However, no one cared about these questionable points now. Everyone only noticed two key facts: there was no rebellion in Xuzhou and Pizhou, meaning no force there harbored an irreconcilable hatred for the Great Ming; and, this opportunity could be used to bring down Wei Zhongxian.

The Donglin Party had been suppressed and banished throughout the latter half of the Wanli era. They had barely managed to use the opportunities of the Red Pill Case and the palace coup during the imperial succession to return to court and seize control of the situation, only to be so oppressed by Wei Zhongxian that they could barely breathe. Now, who cared about any questionable points? The first priority was to overturn the game. Once this leader of the Eunuch Faction was toppled, the upright and pure officials would return to court. Then, with the court filled with righteous men, the world would naturally be at peace and all nations would submit. This mere local strongman would surely also turn his heart toward righteousness and repent with a sudden awakening.

The wind direction in the capital had become very subtle. Wei Zhongxian was ostentatiously managing the affairs of dispatching troops for the punitive campaign, official documents were being issued continuously, the national treasury began allocating silver, and the localities were making all sorts of preparations. Yet the attacks and obstructionist behavior had greatly diminished. Some upright officials even began to cooperate, albeit inconspicuously. But undercurrents surged fiercely; every faction was in contact and maneuvering. Communication between the capital and the localities had increased severalfold, even tenfold, compared to usual. Even the eunuch directors of the Inner Court were networking and maneuvering.

However, everyone knew this subtle calm would not last long. It was already late in the first month; in just over another month, more than half of the assembled troops would have gathered. But in just over another month, the grain transport season would begin. If a major war truly broke out, this year's grain transport would likely be cut off and ruined again, affecting the moneymaking schemes of countless people. This was absolutely intolerable.

"Has Wei Zhongxian gone mad? He still wants to fight?" As soon as the decree's contents came out, they were relayed by fast horse to Xuzhou. Seeing the decree's contents, Zhao Jin was also greatly astonished.

This joint punitive campaign of tens of thousands of government troops had already been nearly annihilated. Because Wei Zhongxian was the driving force behind it, he would also be implicated in this great defeat. Anyone with even a slight understanding of the court situation could imagine the endless attacks, and even the Tianqi Emperor's trust would weaken. Merely dealing with these circumstances would be enough to overwhelm someone. Moreover, Zhao Jin and his companions had also considered the grain transport issue.

Cutting off grain transport, cutting off the capital's supplies, would trigger a political earthquake, not to mention that cutting off grain transport would sever the financial lifelines of many people. From the several clashes that had already occurred, it could be seen that Wei Zhongxian also feared this widespread public wrath. So why was he now recklessly determined to fight to the end?

"Could it be that this Eunuch Wei thinks our Xuzhou is a mortal threat to the Great Ming, and is determined to exterminate us completely?" Wang Zhaojing asked aloud. After saying this, he paused for a moment, then smiled and shook his head, saying, "We are indeed a mortal threat now, and indeed deserve to be exterminated completely."

I'm here searching the mountains and scouring the seas; with me asking for votes so endlessly time and again, I'm probably going to clean out everyone's monthly tickets too. There are still a little over three days until the end of the month. Ninety miles is only half of a hundred-mile journey; it's best not to relax during these last few days.

It's the end of the month, everyone, dig through your pockets and see if you still have that second, third, fourth, or fifth monthly ticket. Cast it for Great Ming Wufu!

Thank you, everyone. You might find these vote-soliciting single chapters annoying, but Old Bai quite likes them. First, it's a way to communicate with everyone, and second, the monthly votes go up, haha.

Thanks again, everyone. I'm going to sleep for a bit...

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