My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 395: Publicity breeds enlightenment, integrity breeds prestige

Among the five city gate patrol censors, the one with the greatest authority was the East Gate patrol censor.

The Imperial Censor of the Eastern Gate, whose full name was the Imperial Censor of the Chaoyang Gate, was responsible for the security of the eastern part of the capital. Since the Tonghui River wharf, which was the main route for the capital's grain transport, had to enter the city through the eastern part, he was also responsible for the security of the grain transport around the capital.

Xiao Lin, the current Imperial Censor in charge of patrolling the East Gate, is forty years old this year. He is a senior censor in the Censorate and has not openly sided with any power. He is also the one who most opposes Su Ze's memorial.

The Imperial Censor patrolling the city at the West Gate was next in rank.

Chen Dabing, the current Imperial Censor of the West Gate, was a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the same year as Shen Shixing. He was considered part of Zhang Juzheng's faction and was also one of the opponents of Su Ze.

The Imperial Censor patrolling the South Gate was named Li Si, a protégé of Gao Gong, who also opposed the establishment of a separate Inspectorate this time.

Finally, the Imperial Censor patrolling the North Gate was named Wang Xiang, who was also a protégé of Zhang Juzheng, but he did not explicitly express his opposition.

Adding Wang Renzhong to the mix shows that politics is extremely complex.

Even within the same camp, people can make completely different decisions based on their own interests.

Moreover, the teacher-student relationship in the Ming Dynasty was actually just so-so, far from being as close as that in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and even less comparable to the relationship between the master and the retainer in the Han Dynasty.

Zhang Juzheng was Xu Jie's disciple, and in the struggle to overthrow Xu, Zhang Juzheng did not side with his teacher.

Originally, this teacher-student relationship was reciprocal: the teacher provided political resources to the student, and the student helped the teacher to strengthen his political power.

A master would naturally not allow his disciple to sacrifice his future.

Among the five imperial censors who patrolled the city gates, those who opposed Su Ze included protégés of both Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng.

Some of Zhang Juzheng's disciples did not oppose him.

People will naturally make different choices based on their own interests.

Now it's up to the system.

Xiao Lin returned home. He had served as the Imperial Inspector of the East Gate for many years and was the most senior among the Imperial Inspectors of the Five Gates.

According to the rules of the Censorate, the most senior censor is naturally the leader.

Xiao Lin was extremely disgusted by Wang Renzhong's overstepping his bounds and organizing the joint signature of the other five city patrol censors.

His opposition to Wang Renzhong's memorial stemmed not only from his unwillingness to relinquish his supervisory power, but also from his retaliation against Wang Renzhong's "disregard for rules."

Shortly after Xiao Lin arrived home, Chen Dabing, the Imperial Censor in charge of patrolling the city, suddenly visited.

The night was deep. In Xiao Lin’s study, the light from the whale oil lamp should have illuminated the entire room, but Xiao Lin was an honest official and reluctant to use too much lamp oil. He turned the wick down very low, making the entire study very dark.

Looking at Xiao Lin's shabby study, Chen Dabing couldn't understand why such a senior imperial inspector had ended up like this.

"Lord Xiao, Su Ze's memorial to establish a special Inspectorate is clearly intended to divide our power! Lord Hai has just taken office, and Wang Renzhong, in order to show off and stand out, is being used as a pawn without even realizing it!"

Xiao Lin sat upright behind the desk, his face ashen.

As a senior censor, Xiao Lin was very meticulous.

Chen Dabing's visit was ostensibly to discuss countermeasures, but his words were full of resentment towards Hai Rui and Su Ze, and disdain for Wang Renzhong.

Xiao Lin became wary and tentatively said:

“Censor Chen, be careful with your words. Vice Censor-in-Chief Hai’s reform of officialdom was approved by His Majesty and tacitly approved by the Grand Secretary. As censors, you and I should take this as a guide.”

"Su Hanlin's memorial was only about the matter at hand, and was not directed at us, the Five Gates Patrol Censors, so how can you say that he was being used as a pawn?"

Seeing Xiao Lin's businesslike attitude, Chen Dabing's feigned indignation faded, replaced by a sincere and open demeanor:

"Lord Xiao, we've worked together for many years. Of the five gates of the outer city, the east and west gates are the most lucrative..."

"Our positions are coveted by everyone in the court. Without someone to protect us, how can we sit securely?"

"If you want someone to take care of you, then you'll have to go through all sorts of comings and goings."

"With the sword of the sea hanging over our heads, and copper boxes set up in front of the patrol station, people are submitting letters indiscriminately. If they find out about 'minor matters'... little by little, what will become of our reputation? What will become of our future?"

He leaned forward, his voice almost a whisper:

"I do have an idea."

Xiao Lin knew the main event was about to begin, so he pretended to listen attentively and said:
"Appreciate further details!"

Seeing that Xiao Lin was interested, Chen Dabing smiled and said:

"The fact that Hai Da is so strict has caused quite a bit of discontent within the police force."

“We will first make our position clear and crack down hard for a while, then let the police cause trouble. Once things get out of hand, we will step in to suppress them.”

"In this way, the court can see the harm of oppressive policies, and the officials can see our capabilities."

"If we, the five imperial censors patrolling the city, can unite as one, Grand Secretary Gao and Grand Secretary Zhang will have to think twice. They might not be willing to let Hai Rui so recklessly strip us of our power!"

Xiao Lin's heart sank suddenly. Chen Dabing's words were hardly a discussion of countermeasures.
It was clearly an attempt to pull him into resisting the inspection, and it also implied that under the guise of "mutual support," they were actually binding their interests together and jointly covering up their embezzlement!
Chen Dabing's method was indeed quite ruthless.

This is a classic case of "the higher-ups meant well, but deliberately misimplemented it."

Chen Dabing was very dissatisfied with the fact that the police had not conducted any investigations.

He deliberately pretended to enforce the law strictly, inciting opposition at the grassroots level, and then instigating them to bring the police force to a standstill, thereby paralyzing the security of the capital.

This method was used to counter Hai Rui's policies.

Once the goal is achieved, he will then step in to appease the people, thus making him appear as the good guy and impressing the court with his competence.

The reason Chen Dabing sought him out was because he only had control over the security of the capital region. To gain the attention of the court, he needed the cooperation of the censor in charge of the core area of ​​the eastern city.

Xiao Lin suddenly stood up, a surge of anger at being humiliated and a tremendous sense of risk rushing to his head.

He served as the Imperial Censor of the Eastern Gate for many years. Although he was somewhat domineering and power-hungry, and occasionally failed to properly manage his subordinates, he knew Hai Rui's character well and was also clear about the current political climate in the capital.

Chen Jing, the Imperial Censor who opposed Su Ze, is now nowhere to be found.

Moreover, Hai Rui is intolerant of any wrongdoing and is not even afraid of the former Grand Secretary. If I were to go against Hai Rui like this, wouldn't I be courting death?

However, Xiao Lin suppressed his anger.

He looked at Chen Dabing, that fool who actually delivered himself to his doorstep.

Xiao Lin decided to probe for information about Chen Dabing, and pretended to be interested, saying:

"Please tell me in detail, Mr. Chen!"

Knowing that Xiao Lin coveted power and position, Chen Dabing assumed that Xiao Lin had taken the bait and thus revealed his entire plan.

It turns out that he had already conspired with Li Si, the city patrol officer of the South Gate, before he came.

In addition, Chen Dabing also colluded with several censors of the Censorate, who were dissatisfied with Hai Rui and wanted to use this method to oppose Hai Rui's policies.

Why is it customary for a new official to make three bold moves upon taking office? These three moves are meant to establish the new official's authority. However, if these three moves fail to gain traction, then any future major actions the new official might take will be met with indifference from subordinates.

You failed to make any significant impact in your first three attempts to take office, so what can you possibly accomplish?
The censors who were dissatisfied with Hai Rui were naturally happy to undermine him, hoping to cause chaos in the capital and force the court to order Hai Rui to stop, thus truly destroying his prestige.

However, Chen Dabing still had connections, and he kept his mouth shut, so Xiao Lin was unable to find out.

But that's enough.

He hadn't slept all night. As dawn broke, Xiao Lin, barely having washed or tidied himself, hurried to the Censorate with bloodshot eyes.

He deliberately avoided the crowds and went straight to the office where Hai Rui worked. After the young censor standing at the door announced his arrival, Xiao Lin took a deep breath, straightened his slightly disheveled official robe, and pushed open the door to enter.

Hai Rui was still wearing his brand-new Vice Censor-in-Chief's robes, sitting upright behind his spacious desk reviewing documents. He didn't even raise his head, his face as gaunt and stern as iron.

Since Hai Rui arrived in Beijing, he has lived almost entirely in the Censorate.

Hai Rui reviewed the documents of the Censorate over the years and obtained the personnel files of all the censors in the Censorate from the Ministry of Personnel. He spent his days reviewing these materials.

"Your humble servant, Xiao Lin, the Imperial Inspector of the East Gate, has important matters to report to Lord Hai!"

Hai Rui put down the documents in his hand and said to Xiao Lin:

"Is Lord Xiao here to oversee the affairs of the Imperial Censor?"

After struggling all night, Xiao Lin's mind was now very firm.

If it were just Hai Rui, he might have considered fighting back. Xiao Lin was also an honest official, and since they were both honest officials, who was afraid of whom?

But if Su Ze were added to the mix, Xiao Lin would lose his confidence.

There was no other way, considering Su Ze's record in the Censorate.

Did Hai Rui and Su Ze join forces?
Xiao Lin knew that Chen Dabing was doomed to defeat!

“My lord! Last night, Imperial Censor Chen Dabing, who patrols the city at the West Gate, came to my residence. He claimed to be discussing Su Tong’s proposal to establish additional patrol and inspection offices, but in reality, he used offensive language and coerced me into conspiring with him to oppose the Censorate’s supervision!”

Upon hearing this, Hai Rui showed little expression, as if this was something he had already anticipated.

Now Xiao Lin was even more certain that he had made the right choice!
Yes, if Hai Rui were so easy to bring down, he wouldn't be the Great Sword of the Ming Dynasty!
He even cursed the emperor back then, but now he's the Vice Censor-in-Chief.

Xiao Lin had also heard that when Hai Rui was in Yingtian Prefecture, the officials of the ten prefectures of Yingtian hated him to the core, but none of them could do anything about him.

He also heard that the officials of the ten prefectures of Yingtian were most pleased when Hai Rui was promoted from governor of Yingtian to vice censor-in-chief.

Hai Rui said, "Please continue, Imperial Censor Xiao."

Xiao Lin recounted Chen Dabing's plan, and then said:
"Chen Dabing is greedy, and I fear he has many old cases. Now that the Inspectorate is about to be established, he is filled with anxiety and has even conceived this treasonous idea!"

Hai Rui nodded and said:

"Censor Xiao is a man of great integrity and a pillar of our Censorate."

“Wang Xiang, the Imperial Censor in charge of patrolling the city at the North Gate, just came out of my office. He has already reported Chen Dabing.”

Immediately afterwards, Hai Rui took out a box and handed it to Xiao Lin.

When Xiao Lin opened it, his scalp tingled instantly, as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water over his head, and his whole body felt frozen to the bone!

That was a list detailing more than ten crimes committed by Chen Dabing, including abusing his power by tacitly allowing caravans to smuggle contraband across the border, condoning his subordinate police officers to extort merchants and travelers entering the city, and setting up checkpoints to collect kickbacks!

Each piece of evidence has preliminary witness testimonies or physical evidence, including the time and place! The evidence is detailed and shocking!
In particular, several police officers who had close ties with Chen Dabing wrote down their confessions. The evidence in this box was enough to get Chen Dabing imprisoned and punished!
Hai Rui then said:

"In fact, after the Censorate set up its box, the number of accusations inside and outside the capital was about the same, and the number in the inner city was even more than that in the outer city."

"However, I had taken away all the reports from the inner city in advance and have been investigating them for the past few days. Most of the reports are true."

"As for the remaining reports, many of them have been dealt with at the four gates of the city, but the patrol battalion under the jurisdiction of Chen Dabing, the censor of the West Gate, is the most reluctant to evade responsibility."

"So I investigated further and indeed found some problems."

Xiao Lin broke out in a cold sweat.

It turned out that there were just as many problems within the city, but in order to lull everyone into a false sense of security, Hai Rui deliberately pulled out the letters of complaint from the inner city. At first, he thought it was because Wang Renzhong was not doing his job well!

Then, Hai Rui observed the reactions of the various censors based on the results of the rectification.

Chen Dabing thought himself clever, but he ended up on Hai Rui's blacklist early on.

Just as Chen Dabing was preparing to deal with Hai Rui, Hai Rui had already collected all the evidence against Chen Dabing.

How to do this?
Hai Rui said:

"Su Zilin's statement in his memorial, 'The decay of flies is no less harmful than that of tigers,' resonates deeply with me."

"Su Zilin didn't say one more thing: to get to the root of the problem, we must also fight the tiger!"

"Otherwise, getting rid of a few flies is just treating the symptoms, not the root cause!"

"If the Censorate is to get things done, it must first turn the blade inward and clean up the cancer within the Censorate itself."

"If a person who is a judge is not upright, how can he command the respect and fear of his fellow officials?"

“One of our predecessors in the Censorate once said, ‘Fairness breeds clarity, and integrity breeds authority.’ Today, I would like to present this saying to Censor Xiao.”

"This box contains information about the problems of your East Gate Patrol Battalion. Go back and take a good look at it."

"As for Chen Dabing's matter, I will naturally handle it."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Lin knew that Chen Dabing was doomed.

I underestimated the sharpness of Hai Rui, the great sword of the Ming Dynasty.

That's right. When Hai Rui submitted his memorial on maintaining order, Yan Song was in power.

That was the most intense period of political struggle in the Ming Dynasty; a slight misstep could lead to death.

Hai Rui served as the governor of Yingtian Prefecture, which was the most prosperous region in the Ming Dynasty. There were countless retired high-ranking officials and local gentry.

However, Hai Rui managed to suppress these people and even conducted land surveys and prevented flooding in Yingtian Prefecture.

Hai Rui had probably seen all of Chen Dabing's tricks before, but Chen Dabing still thought his plan was very clever.

Two days after Su Ze submitted his memorial on May 14, Hai Rui submitted another memorial impeaching seven censors of the Censorate, including Chen Dabing, the Censor-in-Chief of Ximen City.

All seven men were involved in corruption, and Hai Rui submitted all the evidence along with his memorial.

The Longqing Emperor was furious after reading it and ordered the Six Ministries and the Court of Judicial Review to investigate thoroughly.

With such irrefutable evidence, the Six Ministries and the Court of Judicial Review merely went through the motions, and Chen Dabing and six others were dismissed from their posts and imprisoned in the Imperial Prison.

The memorial requesting the establishment of a special circuit for inspecting and supervising officials was approved by the emperor, who ordered Hai Rui to establish a special circuit for inspecting and supervising officials within the Censorate, specifically to investigate corruption cases within the police force.

(End of this chapter)