Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 17: Wei Zhongxian, Loyal to the Emperor and Patriot, and the Corrupt and Unlawful Embezzler of the Embroidered Uniform Guard

Wei Zhongxian not only remembered the contents of the memorials, but was also able to quickly retrieve copies of those memorials for Zhu Youjian.

Zhu Youjian flipped through the several relevant memorials in front of him, and in the end, he was utterly speechless.

These memorials came from different sources, but they all revolved around the same issue, and even included a memorial impeaching the accused.

Here, another unexpected figure appears for Zhu Youjian. Reviewing memorials is tedious and monotonous, requiring him to work from morning till night until he's sick of it, with no statutory holidays, and the work has a strong "workaholic" feel to it. For him, one of the few pleasures lies in unexpectedly encountering these important figures of the late Ming Dynasty amidst the folds of the memorials, which always gives him the thrill of pulling a gold medal in a gacha game.

Hong Chengchou, the Shaanxi Grain Supervisor, impeached Hu Tingyan, the Shaanxi Governor, for “concealing information about bandits and ignoring their presence.” Whenever local governments reported banditry, Hu criticized them for “making a mountain out of a molehill,” claiming that “bandits are just starving people who will disperse after the summer harvest.” Hu even punished those who reported such incidents with caning, which made local officials afraid to report the truth.

The memorials submitted by Hu Tingyan and Yue Hesheng, the governor of Yansui, were a mutual attempt to shift responsibility: Hu Tingyan accused the instigators of a "mutiny by border troops" under Yue Hesheng's jurisdiction, while Yue Hesheng countered that it was "starving people turning into bandits" under Hu Tingyan's jurisdiction.

"Hiss, could it be that Hong Chengchou rose to power while suppressing the Shaanxi peasant uprising?"

The civil officials of the late Ming Dynasty were quite remarkable. Although most of them were incompetent, a few, such as Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou, were military geniuses recognized by both sides.

However, Hong Chengchou spent the first half of his life fighting rebels for the Ming Dynasty, even killing the first rebel leader, Gao Yingxiang. But he suffered heavy defeats in battles against the Later Jin. Yet, this was not the end of it. After surrendering to the Manchus, he rose up again, ruthlessly tormenting the Southern Ming. He single-handedly brought down Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo, two key figures in the resistance against the Qing, making a significant contribution to the Qing's conquest of the Southern Ming regime.

"Go and summon a few Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet," Zhu Youjian said softly.

Since no one was specified to fetch him, Wei Zhongxian, eager to impress, rushed out first. Seeing that Wang Chengen's expression was not good, Wei Zhongxian forced a fawning smile at him.

It's quite remarkable that he's a full twelve years older than Wang Chengen and has held a high position of power for many years, where others usually have to fawn over him. Yet now he's so flexible and adaptable.

After Wei Zhongxian left, Wang Chengen approached Zhu Youjian, hesitant to speak. Zhu Youjian hated this kind of indecisive behavior. He thought to himself, "I'm the emperor! Shouldn't others be the ones to guess my intentions? You're just a eunuch, how dare you make me guess?!" So Zhu Youjian simply put down his imperial pen and quietly looked at Wang Chengen.

"Your Majesty, if I may be so bold as to speak, Your Majesty has just ascended the throne. If you allow the eunuch faction to rise again, I fear that the people will doubt the Emperor's authority and instead hand the reins to the wicked," Wang Chengen said, mustering his courage to advise.

Zhu Youjian was somewhat amused and exasperated after hearing this, thinking to himself, "You, a eunuch, are advising me to be wary of the eunuch faction?!"

"Understood," Zhu Youjian said. He didn't explain further to Wang Chengen, nor did he expose his little scheme. The competition for favor—for Zhu Youjian, that was advantageous. This was the third type of competition developed after the competition between females and males—the competition for castration.

"Eunuch, Eunuch Wei?!" Wei Zhongxian, who was walking briskly, suddenly heard someone calling him. He turned around and saw that it was Xu Xianchun, the Vice Commander of the Northern Garrison.

Wei Zhongxian's expression turned ugly, and he said in a cold tone, "So it's Vice Commissioner Xu. May I ask what business you have with me?"

There was a reason for his actions. The reason he treated Xu Xianchun badly was because when he was in power, Xu Xianchun had come to him and relied on his connections to get the position of Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. However, after the new emperor ascended the throne, perhaps feeling that Wei Zhongxian was about to fall, he avoided him like the plague and began to outwardly comply with his orders but inwardly disobey them.

"But none of you expected that His Majesty not only didn't touch me, but even planned to give me an important position like Emperor Tianqi did. Now you're rushing over to curry favor, but it's probably too late." Wei Zhongxian sneered inwardly. He was already plotting how to kill Xu Xianchun, this fickle villain. Since he could give it, he could take it back.

Seeing Wei Zhongxian's obvious displeasure, Xu Xianchun's expression changed slightly, but he still approached with a fawning smile. He pulled out a stack of brand-new silver notes from his sleeve and said, "His Majesty ordered us to thoroughly investigate Li Chunye's corruption. I have already led men to search his house and found countless antiques, paintings, gold and silver jewelry, land deeds, and farmhouses, worth approximately 100,000 taels of silver. This 10,000 taels of silver is a small token of our appreciation, and we hope that the Grand Eunuch will not refuse it."

"Oh?! Only 100,000 taels? How much do you plan to give His Majesty?" Wei Zhongxian casually picked up the silver notes and said indifferently.

Xu Xianchun finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Wei Zhongxian accept the silver notes.

When asked by Wei Zhongxian, he replied, “I dare not take more than that, but my brothers have worked so hard, they deserve some compensation, right? So I plan to report to His Majesty that it is 80,000 taels.”

However, there's a minor problem now that requires the Eunuch's attention. A few old, lazy civil officials are blocking our Northern Garrison Office, demanding we send the money we've obtained to the Ministry of Revenue's treasury for confiscated goods.

"Heh." Wei Zhongxian chuckled, taking Xu Xianchun's words as a joke.

How could he openly discuss with him how to deceive the emperor? Did he think that if he dared to deceive the emperor, he wouldn't dare to deceive him, a mere eunuch?

He could confiscate property and still hand over the bulk of the proceeds. After managing the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard for so long, how could he not know what kind of people were under his command?!

"Openly bribing this governor?! Xu Xianchun, keep this money for your coffin." With that, Wei Zhongxian threw away the stack of silver notes that Xu Xianchun had given him.

Silver notes from Shanxi banks, printed in layers of red, blue, and black, rained down on Xu Xianchun's head, their fluttering light highlighting the deathly pallor of his face.

Watching Wei Zhongxian's departing figure, Xu Xianchun's expression gradually changed from initial panic to sinister.

He muttered to himself, "Wei Zhongxian, you want to talk to me about bribery?! The little bit of money I embezzled isn't even a fraction of what you have. You're much more ruthless than me. I've been a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard for so many years, I'm not someone to be trifled with. If you want me dead, you won't have it easy either!"

Xu Xianchun squatted down and picked up the silver notes one by one. This was ten thousand taels of silver! He wasn't so rich as to throw away ten thousand taels of silver in a fit of anger without feeling any pain.

He originally planned to go see their leader, Tian Ergeng, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, after meeting with Wei Zhongxian.

He felt that things had really gone wrong for him; he had finally managed to make some money, but he had to spend a large portion of it on bribes and favors. Since Wei Zhongxian didn't want it, he could save himself the biggest expense.

He wasn't qualified to meet the emperor directly at his level, so he decided to give Tian Ergeng a larger share and think about how to use Tian Ergeng to convey a message to the emperor to bring down Wei Zhongxian.

He did a lot of dirty and shady work for Wei Zhongxian, how could he not have left any evidence?

Hahaha, I've signed a contract, brothers! I've finally lived up to your investment.

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(End of this chapter)