I am a temporary worker in Jinyiwei, how did I become a powerful official?

Chapter 224 Hai Rui's Counterattack

Lin Shisan was quite dissatisfied with his subordinates' surveillance of Hai Rui.

One of the commanders explained, "Hai Rui was, after all, someone who had criticized the late emperor. It is only natural for us, as imperial guards, to monitor him."

Lin Shisan said, "In the first year of the Longqing reign, when the court released Hai Rui, it defined Hai Rui's 'Memorial on Governance' as a direct remonstrance to the late emperor, not an insult to him."

"Effective immediately, all eyes and ears monitoring Hai Rui shall be removed."

The commander then said something that made Lin Shisan remain silent for a long time: "Third Manager, let me remind you, Hai Rui is Xu Jie's man."

Everyone in the court knew that the Embroidered Uniform Guard had now sided with Gao Gong and was an enemy of Xu Jie. Naturally, the Embroidered Uniform Guard needed to monitor Xu Jie's followers.

Was Hai Rui one of Xu Jie's men?

On the surface, yes.

When Hai Rui was imprisoned for submitting his memorial on public order, Xu Jie went to great lengths to rescue him.

After Emperor Shizong's death, Xu Jie strongly recommended Emperor Longqing to release Hai Rui without charge and reinstate him to his original position.

Just one day later, Xu Jie suggested to the Longqing Emperor that Hai Rui be promoted to Shangbaocheng (a high-ranking official in charge of imperial seals).

Two days later, Xu Jie suggested that the Longqing Emperor promote Hai Rui to the position of Left Vice Minister of the Court of State Affairs.

Xu Jie was not Hai Rui's maternal uncle; there is no such thing as love without a reason. He must have had his reasons for doing so.

Xu Jie knew that if he wanted to remain in his position as Grand Secretary for a long time, he needed to find a group of reliable henchmen in the court.

The thugs in the city are all big and burly, the kind who will draw their knives at the slightest provocation.

The enforcers in the imperial court were required to be eloquent and shrewd with their pens.

Now Xu Jie has gathered a group of thugs under his command, such as Zhan Yangbi, Hu Yingjia, Ouyang Yijing, Xin Zixiu, and Chen Fanglian.

Without exception, all of these people were either censors of the seventh rank or supervising officials of the seventh rank.

Don't underestimate them just because they hold low-ranking positions; their tongues are sharp. Take Ouyang Yijing, for example, who is known as the immortal in charge of impeachment in the Heavenly Court, or simply the "scolding immortal."

Dukes, Ministers of Rites, local generals, and Left Army Commanders were all dismissed, stripped of their posts, and stripped of their titles due to Ouyang Yijing's impeachment.

Ouyang Yijing once boasted in a drunken stupor: "I dare to impeach anyone within the territory of the Ming Dynasty—except the Emperor."

There are always people better than you, and there are always higher heavens beyond heavens; besides cursing immortals, there are always gods to curse.

Hai Rui was someone who dared to impeach even the emperor!
Xu Jie pondered: If I can win over such a fearless man as Hai Rui to my side, who in the court would dare to oppose me?
Therefore, Xu Jie hurriedly advised the two emperors before him to protect Hai Rui, release Hai Rui, and promote Hai Rui.

Lin Shisan remained silent for a long time before saying, "Hai Rui is neither Xu Jie's man nor Gao Gong's man; he is neither anyone's man. He is not even the Emperor's man."

The commander asked, "Please tell me, Third Manager, who is Hai Rui working for?"

Lin Shisan replied, "If we must say who Hai Rui is working for, he is working for the common people."

Lin Shisan, having just taken office, naturally wanted to establish his authority.

He shouted, "I'll say it again. Immediately remove all spies and informants monitoring Hai Rui and Hai Tongzheng. If anyone dares to monitor Hai Tongzheng without authorization in the future, I will gouge out their eyes!"

The six commanders knelt down in unison: "We obey the orders of the Third Manager."

Lin Shisan added, "Recently, our Northern Division needs to focus on collecting opinions from officials regarding the opening of customs and the sea. I need to understand the attitudes of all officials of the fourth rank and above in the capital towards the opening of customs and the sea."

A commander bowed and said, "Third Master, rest assured. The head commander has already conveyed the message to us commanders and centurions: the Embroidered Uniform Guard will do everything in its power to ensure the smooth opening of the sea."

Lin Shisan nodded in satisfaction: "Yes. Brothers, let's be frank. People always say that we, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, are a bunch of bloodthirsty butchers."

"This time, we're going to help the higher-ups accomplish this great thing that benefits the country and its people—opening up the seas and clearing away the name of the butcher!"

The debate over opening the sea to foreign trade officially began with the delivery of two memorials to the Ministry of Justice.

The two people who submitted the memorial were Xu Fuyuan, the Assistant Surveillance Commissioner of Guangdong, and Xu Zemin, the Governor of Fujian.

In his memorial to the throne, Xu Fuyuan said, "If trade is open, pirates will turn into merchants; if trade is prohibited, merchants will turn into pirates. If customs are opened and the seas are opened, the Japanese pirate problem will never be repeated."

In his memorial to the throne, Xu Zemin said, "I request that the maritime trade be opened up, and private traders be replaced by public traders."

The three officials in the Office of Transmission had a heated argument over the two memorials.

According to regulations, local officials' memorials to the emperor must first be collected by the Office of Transmission, which will then forward them to the cabinet and the emperor.

Yan Shifan's concurrent post included the position of Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review. This demonstrates the importance of this government office.

The current Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review, Liang Yisheng, was Xu Jie's contemporary. His official career was unsuccessful; he served as a prefectural or county official for forty-five years, and by the age of seventy-two, he was only a prefect in a remote prefecture in Guangxi.

When Xu Jie became the Grand Secretary, he saw the name of his old classmate in the official register of the Ministry of Personnel. With a stroke of his pen, he promoted him to the capital and made him the Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review.

Liang Yisheng was deeply grateful to Xu Jie. If Xu Jie said, "The sun rises from between your legs," Liang Yisheng would probably agree, "That's right, that's right, it burned my balls."

Liang Yisheng had two deputy ministers under him, one of whom was Hai Rui, the Left Vice Minister.

The Right Vice Minister of Justice was a student of Xu Jie, Huang Mengyang.

In Xu Jie's view, the three golden chairs in the Office of Transmission were all occupied by his people. He could decide whether to let the emperor and his cabinet colleagues see the local officials' memorials or not.

But he overlooked one point. He treated Hai Rui as one of his own. Hai Rui, however, did not regard him as a benefactor or a patron.

In Hai Rui's view, I was released because I was innocent. I was promoted because of my years of incorruptibility and conscientious service.

Holding two memorials in his hands, requesting the court to open up the seas, Liang Yisheng exclaimed, "This is outrageous! A provincial governor and a provincial vice-governor have actually submitted such memorials that openly incite the emperor to violate ancestral rules!"

"How could such absurd and nonsensical words be presented to the Emperor and the Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet, lest they offend their eyes?"

"In my opinion, the original proposal should be submitted and the seal returned!"

Huang Mengyang, the Right Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, said, "No, no! If the original memorial is returned, they will definitely find another way to cause trouble."

"Why don't we just bury the memorial? Neither seal it back nor send it forward."

Liang Yisheng stroked his white beard: "Wonderful, wonderful."

Hai Rui replied, "Whether the memorials submitted by local officials are right or wrong, they should all be submitted by the Office of Transmission. The Emperor and the cabinet members shall judge their merits."

"How could we, as officials of the Court of Judicial Review, allow it to be flooded on our own? Wouldn't that be blocking local channels of communication?"

Liang Yisheng said, "Brother Hai, you don't know this. It was Grand Secretary Xu's idea to suppress these two memorials."

Liang Yisheng also considered Hai Rui to be one of his own, a staunch supporter of Xu Jinglei's faction. Therefore, he spoke frankly to him.

Hai Rui's expression changed: "As the Grand Secretary, Xu should be even more bound by official regulations and memorial procedures. To arbitrarily suppress memorials from local officials is something that Yan Song and his son did when they were in power!"

"Does Grand Secretary Xu intend to become a treacherous minister like Yan Song?"

Upon hearing this, the hall fell eerily silent.

Liang Yisheng and Huang Mengyang looked at each other in bewilderment.

The two men had the same thought: "Great! We always thought Hai Rui was Xu Ge Lao's man, our ally."

Now that local officials have been speaking out about opening up customs and the sea, he has revealed his true identity—this fellow must be a mole sent by Gao Gong to serve Grand Secretary Xu!

These two men underestimated Hai Rui.

Liang Yisheng stroked his beard: "Hai Rui, what is your background?"

In the Ming Dynasty, seniority was the most important factor in interactions between officials. Seniority did not refer to the rank of an official, but rather to one's academic background through the imperial examinations.

The former Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) and the latter Jinshi are together; the former Jinshi is the senior.

Among those who passed the imperial examination in the same year, the one who ranked higher was the senior.

The practice of ranking officials based on seniority is a long-standing bad habit in officialdom.

Liang Yisheng's words were clearly intended to insult Hai Rui.

Hai Rui replied, "I was a candidate for the provincial examination in Guangdong in the 28th year of the Jiajing reign (1549)."

Liang Yisheng squinted: "Do you know what my background is?"

Hai Rui replied, "I don't know."

Liang Yisheng said proudly, "I am a Jinshi who ranked sixth in the second class of the imperial examination in the second year of the Jiajing reign!"

"The third-ranked scholar that year was Xu Jie, the Grand Secretary!"

"You weren't even born when I passed the imperial examination! You were still wearing open-crotch pants when I passed the highest level of the imperial examination!"

"Besides, you don't even have the title of a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations). Do you think my knowledge is inferior to yours?"

"Submitting such a seditious memorial will only give those with ulterior motives in the court an opportunity to stir up trouble. Flooding it is the best way to deal with it!"

Huang Mengyang chimed in, "Absolutely, absolutely."

Hai Rui, always known for his outspokenness, stood up and said, "Even if you were a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the second year of the Jiajing reign, or even the Zhuangyuan (top scholar in the imperial examination) during the Hongwu reign, you cannot disobey the imperial edicts and official regulations!"

"The core function of our Office of Transmission can be summed up in four words: communication between higher and lower levels! How can we stifle free speech?"

Liang Yisheng retorted angrily, "Don't forget, I am the head of this department. You are merely my assistant! You accuse me of obstructing free speech? I would say you are disrespecting the law!"

"As long as I remain the Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review, you can forget about sending these two memorials."

Huang Mengyang originally wanted to say, "You shouldn't even think about sending it out."

Before the word "get out" could even leave his lips, Hai Rui had already taken the two memorials into his hands and shouted, "I'll send these memorials to the cabinet right now! Let's see who can stop me!"

Liang Yisheng and Huang Mengyang were dumbfounded.

Only after Hai Rui had walked far away did the two realize what had happened.

Liang Yisheng said, "Brother Huang, I am old and frail and cannot catch up with Hai Rui. You should go after him quickly."

Huang Mengyang said, "Director Liang, I think we should just let it go. Hai Rui is so angry that he even dares to curse the late emperor. If we try to stop him, we'll only make a fool of ourselves."

"With Chief Minister Xu holding the fort in the cabinet, the sky won't fall!"

Hai Rui strode away from the Office of Transmission and handed the memorial to the Imperial Household Department in the Qianqing Palace.

During the Jiajing reign, the Grand Secretariat's offices were located in the Western Garden. Following ancestral custom, the Longqing Emperor of this dynasty resided in the Qianqing Palace. Naturally, the Grand Secretariat's offices were also moved to the Zhilu (a type of office) within the Qianqing Palace.

Once the two memorials reached the cabinet, they were no longer something Xu Jie could simply suppress.

Because the cabinet isn't a Xu family establishment; it has Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng. Coincidentally, today the Longqing Emperor also issued an edict to transfer Chen Yiqin, a lecturer from the Yu Prince's residence, into the cabinet.

Gao Gong, Chen Yiqin, and Zhang Juzheng can be referred to as the "Former Imperial Academy Lecturer Faction".

When Xu Jie saw this memorial, his face turned green!
He questioned Hai Rui: "Why did your Office of Transmission submit such an absurd memorial to the Cabinet?"

Hai Rui said solemnly, "Reporting to the Grand Secretary, Liang Sitang and Huang Youtang disagree with my decision to submit these two memorials to the Cabinet."

"However, in my opinion, regardless of whether the memorial is right or wrong, the Office of Transmission has no right to block the channels of communication."

Xu Jie was furious, his teeth itching with rage. He cursed inwardly: "That Hai Rui! I saved you, I promoted you. I thought you would be grateful."

That's why I assigned you to the Ministry of Justice, to work with Liang Yisheng and Huang Mengyang to safeguard local discourse for me.

And now, you've betrayed me at this crucial moment!
Hai Gangfeng, just you wait! I'll make sure you're dead, or I'm not a Xu!
Xu Jie was not a fortune teller. He didn't know that in less than two years, it was still uncertain who would kill whom.

Gao Gong secretly rejoiced: Lin Shisan was right!
Gao Gong mistakenly believed that Hai Rui was Xu Jie's man, and that the Office of Transmission was a monolithic entity of Xu's faction. If he wanted to find his protégés and old friends to submit Hai Rui's memorial, he could only turn to the censors in the capital.

Because local officials' memorials had to go through the Office of Transmission, while the memorials of censors could reach the emperor directly.

After searching around, Gao Gong was shocked to discover that, having spent half his life in aloofness, he disdained associating with officials who dared to speak out. There wasn't a single person of his renown in the Censorate or the Six Ministries.

It was Lin Shisan who sent a messenger to Gao Gong to guarantee that Hai Rui was definitely not a member of Xu Jie's faction.

Only then did Gao Gong feel reassured and boldly write to Xu Fuyuan and Xu Zemin, instructing them to fire the first shot of the new sea voyage.

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng exchanged a glance. They picked up the memorial that Xu Jie had slammed onto the table.
The two memorials were like two giant rocks, stirring up a huge wave in the court.

Xu Jie's faction had many henchmen (censors). These professional insulters submitted memorials one after another, denouncing Xu Zemin and Xu Fuyuan as the number one bastards.

The officials said that Xu Zemin and Xu Fuyuan were corrupt and bribe-taking, and committed all kinds of evil deeds in the local area.

The memorials from the two corrupt officials were naturally not worth considering.

At dusk, at the Lin family's old house in Goujibo Hutong.

Gao Gong's student, Qi Kang, the chief clerk of the Ministry of Personnel's Examination and Evaluation Department, sat opposite Lin Shisan.

Qi Kang said, "My master has encountered a thorny issue."

Lin Shisan asked calmly, "Oh? What is it?"

Qi Kang said, "You must have already heard about the accusations made by the censors against Xu Zemin and Xu Fuyuan."

Lin Shisan said, "I've heard about it. If the two men cannot clear their names, their two memorials will be shelved."

Qi Kang said, "My master has decided to send people from the Ministry of Justice to Fujian and Guangdong to investigate and confirm that Xu and Xu are honest officials."

"But Fujian and Guangdong are too far away. A round trip would probably take more than half a year."

"Within the imperial court, the pro-sea faction is weak, while the ancestral rule faction is strong. If the matter drags on for too long, it will be detrimental to the pro-sea faction."

"Not to mention, of the three judicial departments, my master only controls the Ministry of Justice. The Court of Judicial Review and the Censorate are both under Grand Secretary Xu's control. If Grand Secretary Xu sends people from the Court of Judicial Review and the Censorate to Fujian and Guangdong, Xu and Xu will probably be unable to clear their names even if they jump into the Yellow River."

Lin Shisan pondered for a moment: "I have a plan that can clear Xu and Xu's names before tomorrow's morning court session."

After saying that, Lin Shisan whispered a few words to Qi Kang.

Upon hearing this, Qi Kang slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "What a brilliant plan!"

Lin Shisan said, "I just don't know if you can make the decision for Elder Gao and agree to let me do this."

Qi Kang said, "There's no time to lose. Please make a decision quickly! I know my master's character. He will definitely agree."

Lin Shisan said, "Alright! I'll go to the Northern Garrison Command to gather manpower right away."

Lin Shisan rode a fast horse to the Northern Garrison Command and summoned all the commanders and centurions on duty that night.

The duty officer rubbed his eyes and asked, "Third Manager, is there an urgent matter at this hour?"

Lin Shisan said solemnly, "I have heard it all! There have been reports from undercover agents that Xu Zemin, the governor of Fujian, and Xu Fuyuan, the vice commissioner of the Guangdong Provincial Surveillance Commission, are both corrupt officials."

"These two men have served as officials for generations, and their ancestral homes are all located in the capital. You must immediately gather your men and head to their ancestral homes to investigate the stolen goods!"

(End of this chapter)