Chapter 873: Not Everyone Is Pleased

These two matters made the civil officials and scholars at court and across the land feel that integrity had prevailed, but what the court did next stirred up waves yet again. The Directorate of Ceremonial and the Directorate of the Imperial Horses began dispatching grain commissioners and tax commissioners to Tianjin, Linqing, and Jining, to supervise and urge this year's tribute grain shipment to the capital, and to audit the tribute grain and warehouse accounts.

Ever since the Yongle Emperor's reign, it had been customary for the Son of Heaven to dispatch eunuchs to the provinces to oversee and expedite affairs, but every instance had provoked enormous uproar. Civil officials and local gentry would fight to the death without cease, and it was common for the dispatched inner-court agents to be beaten to death or to vanish without a trace. Then, in the court, the attacks and recriminations would rage on without end, and this practice was regarded as the worst of all misgovernment.

Thus, the Wanli Emperor's final edict had specifically mentioned recalling all the tax and mining commissioners from every region, which was seen as a deathbed repentance. Barely a year of quiet had passed—how could it all be starting again?

Although commissioners were sent to only three places for now, if three could be sent now, then thirty, three hundred, three thousand could be sent later. Moreover, people would realize that using inner-court agents to carry out tasks and squeeze the regions below was far more efficient than using civil officials. Even though the eunuchs also embezzled and took their cut, compared to the customary profit-sharing skimmed layer by layer through the official bureaucracy, the savings were enormous. And since a eunuch's life, death, glory, and disgrace all hung solely on the Son of Heaven, they acted with far fewer scruples—swift and ruthlessly efficient.

Many assumed the upright officials would raise a huge storm this time, but to everyone's surprise, although some submitted memorials, some filed impeachments, and some used fierce language, no one organized a concerted effort. In fact, during the joint deliberations between the Directorate of Ceremonial and the Grand Secretariat, hardly anyone even brought it up.

Since no one organized, it meant the grandees at court and the relevant factions tacitly approved of the matter, even though it certainly infringed upon their own interests and those of their disciples and allies.

News traveled fast along the Grand Canal, and word from Tianjin, Linqing, and Jining flowed downstream, quickly reaching the Southern Metropolitan Region.

The eunuchs sent from the imperial palace were, as before, accompanied by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and their departure from the capital had been quite secret. By the time the relevant parties in those places realized what was happening, the official granaries along the canal were already under heavy guard by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The account books invariably showed shortfalls, claiming the warehouses held no grain, yet in reality they were piled full. At this time of year, private grain stocks had not yet begun to be moved out and were openly and legitimately stored in the official granaries. This in itself was nothing—merely a custom handed down over many years.

The arriving grain commissioners would take their cut, of course, but they also made things perfectly clear: this grain would be counted as official grain and shipped to the capital, and the court would not investigate past or future dealings. But if anyone insisted on resisting, then the old accounts would be thoroughly examined, the warehouses would be sealed directly, a case would be filed, and their property would be confiscated.

Faced with rules like these, everyone understood what to do. Moreover, the fact that no word had come down from above beforehand also made them understand their patrons' stance.

The only place where a heavy hand was used was Jining. Several major grain merchants, who in truth had little connection to the canal transport system, were forcibly charged with seditious conspiracy and had their properties seized and families arrested. Of course, those in the know understood that behind these grain merchants stood a certain powerful figure from the Prince of Lu's household—they had simply been targeted.

Grain flowed in an endless stream toward the capital, and the capital granaries, which had not really been short of grain to begin with, began to fill up again. The vague unease that had lingered in everyone's minds because of the severed canal route now vanished like smoke.

Originally, the canal's disruption and the rioting mobs crying out for justice had nothing to do with the newly risen grandee, Eunuch Wei Zhongxian. Yet Eunuch Wei was exceedingly zealous about state affairs and proactively reached in. It was just that what His Excellency did struck people as making a mountain out of a molehill. A mere rabble of rioters could have been swept away by the local troops of the Southern Metropolitan Region—why mobilize the northern army from Baoding Garrison, and on top of that, send two thousand troops from Shandong? Was this a lust for grandiose achievements or simply a waste of money and men?

Since he was prepared to use ruthless measures, that was one thing, but he should not have simultaneously made preparations for offering amnesty. It was said that a deeply implicated accessory in the capital had been treated generously all along. You, Wei Zhongxian, have been handling affairs for decades—how could you be so oblivious to what is important? On one hand, you want to waste money and men by launching a massive military campaign, and on the other, you prepare to offer amnesty, damaging the court's dignity. Has your brain gone bad, or do you simply not understand?

To begin with, his actions in destroying Wang An and arbitrarily designating the Seal-holding Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial had already greatly displeased others. Now, with this, several factions within the inner court were ready to move and topple Wei Zhongxian. The Emperor indeed trusted him, and his relationship with Madam Ke was indeed close, but if you handled your assignments poorly, the Emperor would replace you just the same. He was not the only trusted confidant who had followed the Emperor from his princely residence into the palace. Everyone had been ready to launch their attack, but they never imagined that Eunuch Wei would handle everything so flawlessly.

The official troops dispatched claimed a great victory over the bandit army, with over a thousand rioters beheaded and the bandits scattered in rout. But everyone had ways of knowing the real news: the government troops had suffered a crushing defeat. Eunuch Wei's caution had been absolutely correct. Moreover, with the Jianzhou Jurchens causing trouble in the northeast and the She family rebellion erupting in the west, the rioters were merely crying out for justice. Offering amnesty truly satisfied everyone and took the bigger picture into account, allowing the court to deal with the real rebels and traitors.

Next, amnesty was one thing. The Xuzhou rioters had not raised a rebel banner, nor had they killed officials or civilians, nor plundered property. But they had cut off the canal for so long that shipping the tribute grain to the capital in time was already impossible. When the time came, public morale would be unstable, public opinion would erupt in an uproar, and the upright officials would surely attack like a tidal wave. You would have no way to explain yourself to His Majesty.

Yet Eunuch Wei was also decisive and ruthless. He actually managed to reach a tacit understanding with the various court factions, sending people to shift grain from various places and fill the shortfall in the capital, without causing too much damage to the interests of any faction.

Looking at the entire affair from start to finish, everyone deeply admired Eunuch Wei's cunning and methods. Although the court had lost both face and substance in the process—suffering military defeat, allowing the rioters to run rampant in Xuzhou and the Southern Metropolitan Region, and having to risk sending grain and tax commissioners to squeeze the regions—this was still the best that could have been done.

Had it been anyone else, two-thirds of Shandong and half of the Southern Metropolitan Region would probably now be in ruins. If they had first sought instructions and waited for the rioters to grow before sending reinforcements, the troops that could have been mustered would have been limited—probably four to six thousand government soldiers from the Northern Metropolitan Region and Shandong—and they would still have returned in disastrous defeat. Then, when news of the She family rebellion in Sichuan arrived, the court's armies would have been completely tied up. By then, any offer of amnesty would likely have been met with escalating demands from the rioters. The tribute grain would still not have reached the capital, and the idea of sending men to Jining, Linqing, and Tianjin to scrape together grain probably would not have occurred to anyone. By that point, things would truly have been beyond salvaging.

Yet Eunuch Wei, from beginning to end, accomplished all these things with an exquisite sense of proportion, finding ways for everyone above and below to gloss over the matter. This demonstrated his cunning and his skill.

For the Tianqi Emperor and those around him, Wei Zhongxian's display of such ability meant he was worthy of trust and could be entrusted with directing the Directorate of Ceremonial. For the other factions, a figure who could handle matters so thoroughly and arrange things so meticulously was not someone to make an enemy of lightly.

The position of Eunuch Wei Zhongxian, the Supervising Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, within the inner court was suddenly stabilized. Whether friend or foe, everyone acknowledged that Wei Zhongxian was qualified to sit in that seat.

Of course, as for the truth of the matter—those who did not know only saw these surface appearances, and those who did know would say nothing at all.

Duan Anping, brought back from the battlefield, proved to be reliable. This reliability was not demonstrated by him kowtowing and weeping bitterly upon seeing Mu Shulan, but by the fact that his family and children arrived in Xuzhou almost at the same time as the main force of the Zhao Character Camp returning there. And among Mu Shulan's trusted confidants, someone could confirm that Duan Anping's family was not an impersonation.

Truly ruthless men who act without regard for their families do exist, but Duan Anping was clearly not one of them. His background and experiences were well understood here, and with his family as hostages, he was considered completely trustworthy.

In the tenth month of the first year of the Tianqi reign, Zhao Jin and his companions finally gained a detailed and thorough understanding of the Shandong Smelling Incense Sect and the sect as a whole. This was not solely Duan Anping's doing; most of the information came from the prisoners. Under severe torture and a mix of threats and inducements, few possessed the resolve to die as martyrs for their faith, and they would say whatever needed to be said.

Zhao Jin and his companions had originally thought that everyone in the Smelling Incense Sect was loyal and that it was full of fanatical followers. On the battlefield, the sect might be no match for them, but its covert activities could cause enormous trouble. The information Mu Shulan had brought also suggested this. But this time, they learned something different.

Among the assembly masters and incense masters under Xu Hongru, the leader of the Shandong Smelling Incense Sect, many no longer had any interest in expanding the congregation or plotting great undertakings. They were more concerned with enjoying wealth and luxury, with how to pass their positions down through the generations, and with how to obtain an official status. Quite a few had purchased titles, and quite a few were sending their sons to study for the civil examinations.

These captured men had not even endured severe torture before they spilled everything they knew. Once a man has family and property, he no longer has the will to fight to the death. Many swore venomous oaths on the spot, willing to act as inside agents for the Zhao Character Camp, and told everything they knew. Because they agreed so readily, the Internal Guard of the Zhao Character Camp even suspected it had to be a trap—the Smelling Incense Sect was notoriously skilled in the use of espionage.

After obtaining these confessions, the Zhao Character Camp's infiltration of Shandong became much easier. They knew where to go and whom to contact, far clearer than the complete ignorance they had operated under before. Once the Internal Guard verified the confessions, they immediately dispatched agents into Shandong.

The ability to effectively infiltrate the Shandong Smelling Incense Sect allowed Zhao Jin and his companions to breathe a sigh of relief. This was even more gratifying than the successful amnesty and maintaining the current situation with the court. It is easy to dodge a spear in the open, but hard to guard against an arrow from the shadows. A hidden enemy like the Smelling Incense Sect was the most troublesome, keeping them on edge at all times.

But half a month after the agents were dispatched, most of them returned in a wretched state. They had been completely unable to infiltrate or go undercover. Everything the prisoners had confessed was already completely useless. Those who made it back were fortunate; nine out of ten of those who did not return had likely met with disaster.

This sudden change caught the entire Internal Guard completely off guard. They immediately dragged the prisoners out for interrogation again. Under the circumstances, they could not afford to hold back, and over a dozen were beaten to death in the process. Yet the confessions they obtained were no different from the last time. Even many of the things Duan Anping had told them had already changed.

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