Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 153: Eunuch! How dare Er'an be so rude!

Forbidden City, Meridian Gate. Earlier.

Zhou Jiamo, the most senior official in the Ministry of Personnel, stood before the other four ministers, earnestly admonishing the censors, led by Zhou Chaorui. "Everyone, please go back. If you have anything to say, you can submit a memorial. Making a scene at the Meridian Gate is unbecoming!"

After receiving the emperor's personal approval, Fang Congzhe made a decisive decision and ordered the thirteen ministers present to split their troops into two groups as Ye Xianggao suggested to prevent the situation from escalating further.

"What's the use of submitting a memorial! The emperor is surrounded by treacherous ministers. We must report to the emperor in person and explain the pros and cons!" Zhou Chaorui was tough and spoke harshly.

The three most prestigious censors were absent. Yang Lian was far away in Liaodong, likely still unaware of what was happening in Beijing. Zuo Guangdou had been arrested by the Northern Pacification Office and imprisoned in the imperial prison. Fu Li, the hero who had once stood up against the Imperial Guards, had been on sick leave for three consecutive days. A colleague who visited him discovered that Fu Li seemed to have caught a severe cold, practically coughing his lungs out. He looked frail and on the verge of premature death.

The censors were leaderless, and the Ministry of Justice and the Imperial Academy briefly split into two factions. One faction, led by Zhou Chaorui, the Imperial Censors, united with a number of officials from the Dali Temple, from the Left and Right Junior Ministers to the Deputy Ministers, and very radically demanded the execution of the Jinyiwei who had murdered Zou Yuanbiao, calling for blood to be paid with blood. The other faction, led by Yuan Huazhong, the Imperial Censors, was relatively calmer and largely aligned with the Ministry of Justice officials, advocating first to determine the "real" cause of Zou Yuanbiao's death before seeking alternative solutions.

"Sir Zhang, Minister Huang. When can Zou Siqing be taken out of the prison of the Pacification Office? It's better for the factory guards not to investigate themselves. The three judicial offices are not for show!" As soon as Zhang Wenda, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and Huang Kezan, the Minister of Justice, appeared, they were immediately surrounded by a group of censors of the Censorate headed by Yuan Huazhong, as well as the doctors and chief officials of the various Qingli Divisions of the Ministry of Justice.

"Not so fast. It'll take some time," Zhang Wenda said vaguely. "Please be patient, everyone. The truth will eventually come to light."

Huang Kezan originally wanted to tell the truth, but when he heard the call for the execution of Tian Ergeng from not far away, he did not dare to say more, but lowered his head and said no more.

"Lord Liu, Lord Han," Minister of Revenue Li Ruhua walked up behind Liu Yirong and Han Yu and said sarcastically, "Things have come to this. I wonder if you two are satisfied?"

"Yu Chen and I never expected such a scene." Liu Yirong said tactfully with a sullen face, "Besides, no one wanted to see what happened to Zou Erzhan."

"Can it be ended?" Li Ruhua looked at Xu Guangqi beside him. "According to your plan."

"Zou Nangao's accident will make things more complicated," Xu Guangqi replied, "but the celestial phenomena are already determined. I'm afraid there will be some bloodshed."

"Blood is better than snow." Li Ruhua looked up at the sky and saw a rare clear sky.

Xu Guangqi nodded, then walked past Li Ruhua toward the officials, Liu Yirong and Han Yu following behind him like guardians. Minister of War Cui Jingrong and Minister of Works Wang Zuo, who considered themselves uninvolved and unwilling to participate, kept a subtle distance from the crowd near the Zuoye Gate.

The appeasement of Xu, Liu and Han was obviously much more effective than the persuasion of Zhou and Zhang. But just when the discussion had subsided and the Meridian Gate was about to be quiet, an official from the Ministry of Rites who stayed at his own office passed through the Daming Gate, Chengtian Gate and Duanmen successively and arrived at the Meridian Gate.

He ran to Xu Guangqi's side, panting, and before he could even catch his breath, he began to speak: "Bubutang, ha!" Icy air rushed down his esophagus into his lungs, freezing the warm, moist air in his alveoli. "Ha! Something's happened! The Jinyiwei have gone crazy and are ransacking houses!"

clang!
A solemn bell rang from Bei'an Gate, echoing through the palaces, awakening the soldiers watching the performance from the gatehouse. He put down his halberd, walked to the drum, picked up the hammer, and exchanged glances with another soldier standing symmetrically across three doorways. They nodded in understanding and simultaneously raised their right hands.
thump, thump, thump
A dull drumbeat echoed from the tower of the Meridian Gate. Shi Jikai, who remained in the duty room, shook his head with a helpless smile, while another cabinet member, sitting near the main seat, smiled with joy and satisfaction.

The midday court is about to begin.

Although the assembled officials were once again enraged by the latest news, upon hearing the drumbeat, the Censors of the Censorate and the Officials of the Honglu Temple, who were in charge of supervising official ceremonies, squeezed out from the crowd and shouted in unison, "Line up!"

Hearing this voice, the military officers who had been hiding in the six departments' direct rooms emerged. Few of them had truly come to court. Most had been chosen by their superiors to be "scapegoats" for the three daily sessions. The high-ranking military officers who had appeared voluntarily were mostly there to watch the fun. Only Duke Yingguo, Zhang Weixian, had come specifically out of concern for unforeseen changes in the court situation.

After the order was given, the civil and military officials immediately formed into two rows according to rank. Liu Yirong and Han Yu, the only two Dongke Grand Secretaries present, stood side by side at the head of the civil ranks, while Duke Yingguo Zhang Weixian naturally took the lead among the military officers.

Originally, the ceremonial officer of the Honglu Temple was supposed to take roll call. However, after the order was issued that "three court sessions a day, all officials from all government offices must report," this roll call no longer had any meaning. After all, it was impossible to call out the names of hundreds of people from top to bottom every time.

The drum beats alternated between slow and fast, and the doorways on the left and right gradually opened.

Woo! A majestic trumpet sounded, signaling the officials to enter the palace.

After the ceremony, the civil and military officials slowly marched through the three main halls in two columns. Everything seemed normal until they saw the Chief Minister Fang Congzhe and the Second Minister Ye Xianggao standing at the steps of the Qianqing Gate.

After all the officials had finished lining up in the square in front of the palace, Xu Guangqi, who was following closely behind Liu and Han in his capacity as the Minister of Rites, quickly approached Fang Congzhe and asked, "Why is the noon court still open?"

"Don't even think about suspending the court session to quell the situation. We haven't even seen the emperor." Fang Congzhe frowned.

"The guards at the gate wouldn't even let us through the Qianqing Gate!" Ye Xianggao's face looked ugly.

"What does the emperor mean?" Xu Guangqi lifted his chin lightly, as if he was lost in thought.

"I don't know. Even a few words would be helpful. In this atmosphere, I always feel that something bad is going to happen." Ye Xianggao shook his head.

The hall door was opened, but before the officials could enter, a senior eunuch in a crimson cloak and white fox fur sleeves stepped over the threshold and emerged. A gust of cold wind swept into the hall, lifting the eunuch's cloak, allowing those standing in the front row to clearly see the python crawling across his shoulders.

The eunuch was flanked by two other eunuchs who were also wearing red cloaks, but with a little attention one could notice that the red on these two eunuchs was darker.

While the lower-ranking officials were still speculating about this man's identity, the higher-ranking officials at the front of the line had already recognized the eunuch's face. This was Cui Wensheng, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the governor of the Eastern Depot, who had disappeared for a long time but had now been reinstated.

"How could it be him?" Ye Xianggao looked at Cui Wensheng, his foreboding growing stronger. "Isn't it usually Eunuch Wei?" Lately, the eunuchs had either been absent, like the emperor, or Wei Chao had been the only one to come.

After Cui Wensheng came out, the palace door was closed again, which immediately caused a commotion among the officials who had been keeping quiet.

"You can go back now." Cui Wensheng looked straight ahead without looking at anyone.

As if to ensure that all officials could hear clearly, the two eunuchs behind him repeated Cui Wensheng's words in their loudest voices after he finished speaking: "You can go back now!"

"It's over!" Fang Congzhe and Ye Xianggao looked at each other at the same time and said in unison.

Let the officials in for a normal noon court session, and then immediately send them back after they arrive. This is clearly intended to intensify the conflict!
As expected, all the officials erupted in protest. Initially, the ceremonial officers were able to stop them with their shouts, but soon, the only sounds lingering in the open space between Jianji Hall and Qianqing Gate were the howling of the wind and the clamor.

"What does this mean? Where is the emperor?" As the leader of the civil servants, Fang Congzhe naturally had to step forward to communicate.

Cui Wensheng's face was as gloomy as water, and he was unmoved. He didn't even look at Fang Congzhe.

This arrogant act immediately angered the hundreds of civil servants gathered. Yuan Huazhong, the Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate, was too far away to see or hear the scene, but the chaos in the area caused the noise to spread like waves and quickly reached his ears.

Yuan Huazhong pushed aside his colleagues and rushed from the rear of the team to the front, stopping just behind the ministers. He raised his right hand and pointed at Cui Wensheng's nose, cursing loudly, "Eunuch! How dare you be so rude!"

This scolding was far more effective than the chaotic clamor of the officials and Fang Congzhe's polite questioning. It instantly brought Cui Wensheng's distant gaze back to his surroundings. He looked at Yuan Huazhong and asked contemptuously, "Who are you? How dare you be so presumptuous in front of this prison!"

"Eunuch! Listen carefully, I am Yuan Huazhong, a Jinshi who graduated from the regular examination in the 35th year of Wanli, and the current censor of the Censorate!" Yuan Huazhong was very excited.

"Huh, so it's you!" Cui Wensheng sneered, staring intently into Yuan Huazhong's eyes. "I thought there was some new flea."

Cui Wensheng was a man who held grudges. He clearly remembered that when the "corruption case" broke out, in addition to Zuo Guangdou and Wei Dazhong who were imprisoned in the imperial prison, there were several other censors who submitted petitions requesting his execution. He wrote down the names of these people, one of whom was Yuan Huazhong.

"I want you to apologize to Lord Fang immediately!" Regardless of his stance on other issues, Fang Congzhe, as the cabinet's chief minister, was always the leader of the civil service. Therefore, compared to the insult to himself, Yuan Huazhong was more concerned about Fang Congzhe's reputation.

"What if I don't?" Cui Wensheng still didn't look at Fang Congzhe, but just stared at Yuan Huazhong.

"Then I will submit a memorial to denounce you!" The memorial was the only weapon in the hands of the censors.

"Hahaha!" Cui Wensheng laughed a creepy laugh. "Yuan Yushi, you've already reported me. Have you forgotten?"

"You're Cui Wensheng?" Yuan Huazhong finally realized. "So many beasts died that day, but only you, the most damned eunuch, survived. God is truly merciless."

"Prime Minister Fang, I will tell you what is going on." Cui Wensheng took a step forward. The two young supervisors of the East Factory behind him immediately understood and came over to help him take off the white fox fur sleeves, and then knelt down.

Only then did people realize that under the sleeves were not only Cui Wensheng's arms, but also a scroll of imperial edict with a golden cover.

Cui Wensheng shook his hands and unfolded the imperial edict, shouting in a resounding voice that carried the power of heaven and earth: "Imperial edict!"

As soon as he shouted this, Cui Wensheng's aura changed immediately.

"Long live!" Yuan Huazhong's face darkened and he knelt down.

Immediately afterwards, starting with Fang Congzhe, all the civil and military officials knelt in unison. Even though the noise was chaotic, it was easy to make out that the last two words uttered by each person were "Long live!"

Cui Wensheng had no prior knowledge of the decree's contents. The emperor's order to him was simply to order the civil officials to leave, and to have the decree read aloud if they refused. He was delighted: Even Fang Congzhe had to kneel, and you, a worthless seventh-rank official, had the nerve to refuse!

"Since I ascended the throne, I have had countless concerns, but they all boil down to one thing: to reform the old system, rectify current malpractices, and revive the declining order! The rules for court meetings have been reformed several times since the reign of Taizu, each approach focused on practical simplification. During the Zhengtong era, the three court sessions were combined into one, and the 185 required matters were reduced to eight daily. When my father was young, the daily court sessions were changed to the third, sixth, and ninth days of each ten-day period. With these two established precedents, how can you claim that my reforms are unprecedented? From this day forward, the three court sessions per day are abolished, as well as the single court session per day. The court meetings will be restored as per the decree issued in Huangji Hall on the first day of the winter month of the 48th year of the Wanli reign. I decree this."

After reading it, Cui Wensheng put away the imperial edict and returned to his simple identity as the governor of the East Factory: "The noon court is over, you can go back!"

None of the officials accepted the offer. They hadn't come to court to discuss matters related to the court meeting. After a moment's silence, everyone understood the implication: the emperor was clearly using the cancellation of the noon court as an excuse to drive away the officials and give a cold shoulder to Zou Siqing's death! This would absolve the Jinyiwei, who had made this mistake and even escalated it.

"Prime Minister Fang, you still haven't accepted the order. Are you going to disobey it?" Cui Wensheng shouted sternly and took another step forward.

Fang Congzhe had no objection to the content of this decree itself, but it should not be brought out now, as it would only cause harm.

"We want to see the Emperor!" Fang Congzhe hadn't even opened his mouth when the first voice after the imperial decree was heard from the kneeling crowd. Like a single stone, a thousand ripples erupted. Immediately, the roars of the officials intensified as Cui Wensheng's expression grew increasingly ferocious.

"This is a rebellion, come here!" Cui Wensheng shouted.

(End of this chapter)