Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 148: Confiscation of Property
"Enough!" Fang Congzhe slammed his desk, a rare gesture. He looked at Shen and said, "Death is the greatest thing. In any case, the cabinet should issue the obituary as usual."

"Do we want the Ministry of Rites to choose the posthumous title?" Ye Xianggao climbed up the pole.

Shen was stunned for a moment, then realized that Ye Xianggao was using the posthumous title to make a final judgment. Minister of Rites Xu Guangqi was a prominent figure in the Donglin Party; how could he possibly choose an unfavorable posthumous title for Zou Yuanbiao? When the time came, the proposed posthumous title would be presented to the cabinet. As long as Prime Minister Fang Congzhe didn't explicitly object, it would likely be approved. If approved, the cabinet's stance would be firmly established as sympathetic to Zou Yuanbiao, and by extension, the Donglin Party.

"Sir, there's no need to be so anxious. The emperor hasn't made a decision on the matter yet. If the posthumous title proposed by then doesn't suit the emperor's wishes, then all this effort will be in vain." Shen smiled and used the emperor's will to put pressure on the cabinet members, while silently classifying Ye Xianggao as a member of the Donglin Party in his heart.

"Master Shen, I just want to ask you something." Liu Yirong restrained Han Yu, who was about to explode, and asked calmly, "Has Zou Erzhan been dismissed from his post and stripped of his official title?"

"Of course not. But being arrested by the Embroidered Uniform Guards and imprisoned in the imperial prison means he is suspended from duty awaiting trial," Shen replied.

"No matter where Zou Erzhan died, as long as he was not dismissed from office or stripped of his official title, he was a third-rank official of our Ming Dynasty. When an official dies in office, the cabinet should take the lead in issuing the obituary and drafting the posthumous title. There is no such thing as a waste." Liu Yirong politely retorted.

"Hmph. You pretend to do something but don't, and you're so timid. Lord Shen, why are you still staying here? Go home and farm. You can also save some salary for the court." Han Yu quickly calmed down and added in a sarcastic tone.

"I go home and farm? Wouldn't that just fulfill the wishes of those of you who want to have the final say?" Shen pretended to be irritated. If you don't get angry, I will. "Lord Liu, Lord Han! How about we resign together and go home together? We'll see whose share the emperor approves!"

"Shen Mingzhen!" Fang Congzhe scolded, "Can you just say you don't want the imperial court's famous instrument?"

In this matter, Fang Congzhe had to maintain the posture of a Donglin Party opposition leader on the surface, so while he scolded Shen, he used the word "you" to forcibly include Liu and Han.

"Okay, now's the time for a quarrel," Shi Jikai said, stepping in to mediate. "Zou Erzhan's body still lies in the cold prison cell of the Northern Pacification Division. Death is the greatest of all. We must find a way to send him home."

"Shicheng is absolutely right. Let's publish the obituary first, then send Zou Erzhan's body back." Ye Xianggao followed Shi Jixie's advice and didn't mention the posthumous title anymore. "What do you think, Prime Minister?"

"Well, let Jin Qing draft the obituary." Fang Congzhe nodded at Ye Xianggao, then turned to Han Yu. "As for the remains, the Cabinet should first submit a joint petition, requesting the Emperor's approval to return the remains. The Western Factory has already examined them, so the Emperor won't refuse. Afterward, Lord Han will go to the Pacification Office to retrieve Zou Erzhan and return him. How do you do that?"

"Thank you, Prime Minister!" Han Yu bowed and expressed his gratitude.

------

After Luo Sigong came out of the Forbidden City, he went directly to the Northern Pacification Office. But when he arrived, he was stopped by someone.

"Stop and show your identity." The standard soldier uniforms used by the Western Factory were no different from those of the Jinyiwei captains.

"Get out of here!" The accompanying guards had no idea what was going on and thought that the Northern Pacification Division was being arrogant and domineering, daring to stop the Chief Guard.

Unexpectedly, the executive officer ignored him and instead addressed Luo Sigong, who was dressed in a high-ranking military officer's uniform, saying, "Sir, the factory supervisor is working inside. This place is under the jurisdiction of the West Factory. No matter who you are, you must show your name and wait for announcement. If the factory supervisor doesn't allow you in, then you can't enter."

Luo Sigong took the badge from his waist. "Give it to the Wei Factory Supervisor." Luo Sigong didn't mind being respectful in front of the eunuch, but that didn't mean he would treat a soldier without even a rank the same way.

The Western Factory required all its employees to be literate, and for this purpose, they allocated a sum of money to hire a number of teachers. However, even though the executioner knew the identity of the visitor through the waist badge, he still did not let him in directly. "Okay, please wait."

When the execution arrived at the main hall, Wei Zhongxian was sitting at the main seat, leisurely drinking tea. As he drank, he looked through the things that the Northern Pacification Office had dug out from other small shrimps.

"Sir, the factory supervisor!" The executioner walked up to the case and handed over his badge. "The head of the Imperial Guard is here."

"Luo Sigong?" Wei Zhongxian turned his head to look at Tian Ergeng who was standing beside him. "Why is he here?"

Wei Zhongxian was the type of person who would be suspicious beforehand. From his perspective, the Northern Pacification Division had suppressed the news. If the Western Depot hadn't been keeping tabs on the Imperial Guards and even bribed and planted spies in various confidential offices, he wouldn't have been able to learn of Zou Yuanbiao's death so quickly.

However, Tian Ergeng's interrogation of Zou Yuanbiao went against Luo Sigong's will. Tian Ergeng had no reason to block the news but reported it to Luo Sigong.

"I don't know." Tian Ergeng shook his head, confirming Wei Zhongxian's speculation.

"Go and invite him." Wei Zhongxian handed the badge back.

After a while, Luo Sigong arrived.

"Greetings to Director Wei." Luo Sigong bowed slightly and saluted.

"Lord Luo, how are you?" Wei Zhongxian had met Luo Sigong once and even accepted money from him, so he naturally recognized him. He closed the document in front of him, stood up, walked over to Luo Sigong, and bowed in return. "What brings you here, Lord Luo?"

Because the emperor only asked him to convict Zou Yuanbiao and said nothing else, Luo Sigong had no idea of ​​the emperor's attitude towards the Northern Pacification Division, and therefore did not rebuke Tian Ergeng for disobeying orders and even causing a death. He only glanced at him sinisterly and said, "Although I rarely come here, the Northern Pacification Division is still the territory of the Jinyiwei. The emperor sent me an errand, so I came here."

When Tian Ergeng heard "The Emperor has sent an errand," he immediately panicked. He took two steps to Luo Sigong, knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "Your humble servant greets the Lord Chief Guard."

"How dare I accept Lord Tian's kneeling kowtow?" Luo Sigong turned sideways.

When meeting someone higher up, the Jinyiwei generally only kneeled on one knee and clasped their fists, regardless of the number of ranks between them. Kneeling on both knees was usually reserved for private salutations. Tian Ergeng's public kowtow wasn't directed at Luo Sigong, but at the "imperial messenger." Therefore, Luo Sigong's unfriendly evasion at this point hinted that "the higher-ups aren't prepared to forgive you." It was a safe way to leverage power.

"Since Lord Luo is here on imperial orders, please take a seat." Wei Zhongxian didn't know what imperial order Luo Sigong had received. He wanted to ask, but finally held back.

"The factory supervisor has also received the emperor's order. How dare I sit down?" Luo Sigong declined to take a seat, then asked, "Is the factory supervisor Wei going to take away Mr. Zou's remains?"

Luo Sigong was subtly reminding him: Now that you have checked everything you need to, you can leave now. You have nothing to do here. Then, Luo Sigong smiled and added: "Just now, the emperor asked why it was Wang Shaojian who went to the study."

Wei Zhongxian's face darkened; he had been intimidated by Luo Sigong. "Of course, the Western Factory will take away Lord Zou's remains."

"Director Wei, please do as you please." Luo Sigong also waved his hand, but in the direction of the imperial prison.

After Wei Zhongxian left with the people from the Western Factory and the coffin containing Zou Yuanbiao's body, Luo Sigong took the main seat and said to Tian Ergeng, who was still kneeling, "Tian Ergeng, what on earth do you want to do?"

Through the conversation between Wei Zhongxian and Luo Sigong, Tian Ergeng learned that Wang Chengen and Luo Sigong had met the emperor together. However, Tian Ergeng did not know what Wang Chengen had reported to the emperor in front of Luo Sigong. So he could only vaguely say, "I was temporarily bewildered."

"Do you really want to sit in my seat?" Luo Sigong took a step forward more blatantly.

"I dare not!" Tian Ergeng hurriedly apologized, "I swear I have no second thoughts to you, sir!"

The officers and soldiers of the Northern Pacification Division who were also involved in the interrogation heard this and had strange expressions on their faces. The same thought popped up in their minds at the same time: This is too shameless. He had just falsely accused Lord Luo of having an improper personal relationship with the Donglin Party in the Western Factory, and now he could say such words without batting an eyelid.

But even though they thought about it, they still didn't dare to fart.

Because Tian Ergeng had no concrete evidence, Wang Chengen's speculation that the Jinyiwei had an improper personal relationship with the Donglin Party was something he needed to tell the emperor, but he couldn't say it in front of Luo Sigong. And since Wang Chengen didn't say it, Luo Sigong didn't know either.

"Oh. Where's Xu Xianchun?" Luo Sigong snorted and stopped chasing him. After all, business was more important.

"In reply to your question, Xu Xianchun has gone to the document library," Tian Ergeng replied.

"The case library, what is he looking for?" Luo Sigong asked.

"Director Wei wanted to review the records of previous years, so he asked Xu Xianchun to take the executors of the Western Factory there." Tian Ergeng replied.

"The Western Factory wants to check the files of the Pacification Office!" Luo Sigong suddenly became alert. "Which category, which year?"

"I don't know. You have to ask Xu Xianchun." Tian Ergeng shook his head.

"Damn it! It never rains but it pours!" Luo Sigong cursed angrily, "If the Jinyiwei follow in the footsteps of the Dongchang, it will be thanks to you bastards."

"Sir, please calm down!" Tian Ergeng hurriedly lowered his head.

"When Xu Xianchun returns, have him list the documents transferred from the Western Factory by time and category and send them to headquarters." Luo Sigong rapped his knuckles on the table. "You won't disobey me this time, will you?"

"I dare not." Tian Ergeng knelt on one knee and clasped his fists.

Luo Sigong looked down at Tian Ergeng for a long moment before speaking again, "You've tried Zou Yuanbiao to death, but did you come up with anything useful?"

"Lord Zou didn't say a word. He's a real man." Although Tian Ergeng likes to hear people scream, he is not a complete pervert.

"Where are the others?" Luo Sigong took two deep breaths and calmed down. "It's not like you can only focus on this old man, Lord Zou, right?"

"Of course not," Tian Ergeng replied. "The evidence is right here on the desk in front of you. Supervisor Wei was just looking at it."

"Oh." Luo Sigong picked up a document casually, and while reading it, he asked in general terms: "Who did they probably drag out?" Luo Sigong only cared about what the emperor ordered, but he did not intend to tell Tian Ergeng his true intentions.

If Tian Ergeng knew that the emperor was going to convict Zou Yuanbiao, he would most likely become arrogant again, and even lead the Northern Pacification Division to disobey his orders again. Therefore, in Luo Sigong's opinion, it would be better to keep the Northern Pacification Division in a state of panic for the time being.

As for how the hammer will hit in the end, Luo Sigong himself doesn't know.

"To reply to your question, sir. Most of the people who were arrested were very tough, and the torture time was not very long, so most of the prisoners were the same as Lord Zou." Tian Ergeng was rudely interrupted by Luo Sigong before he finished speaking.

"Stop talking nonsense. I'm not asking you who has confessed and who hasn't, but which accomplices have been implicated in the confessions you've signed!"

"You can see for yourself, there's really not much to gain." Tian Ergeng sighed. "People like Zuo Guangdou and Wei Dazhong said it was a personal act, that they just wanted to prevent the emperor and his ministers from meeting each other from ever happening again. Such confessions are meaningless, so they weren't asked to sign. And those who mentioned conspiracy and admitted to forming a clique for personal gain didn't name any important Donglin cadres, but only implicated their friends or familiar colleagues. The censors were of very low rank, and many of them had never even met Lord Zou. If we could pry useful information out of their mouths, Lord Zou wouldn't have suffered so much."

Luo Sigong didn't pick up the topic about Zou Yuanbiao, but instead asked, "Do you want me to tell the emperor that no one is behind them, and the censors are simply worried about state affairs?"

This question and answer unintentionally exposed the crux of the matter. The Donglin Party was not a tightly organized political party. Core members like Zhao Nanxing and Zou Yuanbiao had no need, and would not, gather the censors in a room to assign tasks. They only needed a subtle hint to spur hot-headed individuals like Zuo Guangdou and Wei Dazhong, who were both concerned about state affairs, to charge into battle.

Tian Ergeng didn't know Luo Sigong was here to convict Zou Yuanbiao, a dead man, but his intuition told him that something was amiss with Luo Sigong: Luo Sigong had been here for so long, and apart from the initial beatings, he had been asking about the case, and hadn't mentioned disposing of the Northern Pacification Office. It was obvious that he wanted to continue investigating the Donglin Party case. Luo Sigong, who had been soft-hearted, suddenly became hard-hearted, which was obviously related to the imperial envoy he led.

After a little thought, Tian Ergeng came to his own conclusion: the task given to Luo Sigong by the emperor was to thoroughly investigate the case in order to save the Northern Pacification Office.

Tian Ergeng then suggested, "In any case, these people must have been exchanging letters. Sir, we can raid their homes. If we can find the letters, we can uncover their influential accomplices and prove they were conspiring to force the emperor to abdicate."

Luo Sigong thought for a moment and replied, "Don't cause any more deaths."

(End of this chapter)