Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 194: Imperial Horse Administration Transfer Seal

"You are you, and they are them. I called you here because I don't want to punish you." Zhu Changluo shook his head and said, "Mi Mengshang has reviewed the financial status of the eunuchs in charge of seals in various government offices. Although you also accept tributes and regular payments, it's not excessive. Those who lead troops often take some unused wages, and Luo Sigong also takes some, but you don't. You are competent. After my father passed away, you protected me and helped me ascend the throne, and you have made great contributions." Zhu Changluo paused before continuing, "You have been competent and meritorious, so how can I bear to punish you?"

The more benevolent the emperor's attitude became, and the more he praised Shang Jingying's achievements, the more ashamed Shang Jingying became. He was a devout Buddhist and was renowned in the palace for his integrity and uprightness. He and Chen Ju, who also believed in Buddhism, were once known as the "Chen Shang Twin Buddhas."

"It's the father's fault for not educating his child. I'm guilty, I'm guilty." Shang Jingying kowtowed with each sentence, breaking the flesh on his forehead with just a few clatters. Blood mixed with tears quickly filled the furrows on his face. Blood and tears splattered, finally dripping onto the white paper and black words scattered across the floor.

"Stop knocking! Stop!" Zhu Changluo, moved by pity, shouted, then ordered, "Wang An, Wei Zhongxian. Help him up."

"Yes." Wei Zhongxian quickly glanced at the emperor, then immediately put on a sad expression. "Grandpa Shang, our Lord is deeply concerned about you. Please get up quickly."

"Old Eunuch Shang, please get up quickly." Wang An saw Shang Jingying like this and immediately thought of his eldest son, who wanted to imitate Wei Zhongxian and force the harem concubines to death. He couldn't help but feel worried. He also looked towards the main seat, but not at the emperor, but at Mi Mengshang who was sitting next to him.

Mi Mengshang's brows furrowed in a pang of reluctance, completely unaware that she had once lingered at the gates of Yongyou's cold palace. She wondered how the emperor would deal with the pitiful old eunuch before her. The emperor had promised her that Zhao Nanxing's life would not be taken, yet Zhao Nanxing died anyway. Although all the evidence pointed to Zhao Nanxing's suicide, she still had a vague feeling that the story was more complicated. However, she sincerely hoped that it was that simple.

"Shang Jingying, you are a good servant. Considering your years of service to our father and your dedication, I will give you a reward." Zhu Changluo's attention was focused on the distraught Shang Jingying, completely unaware of the shifting gazes in the study. "The fate of Liang Yong and Chen Feng is up to you. And no matter what you choose, I will have someone provide for your retirement."

"How dare I accept such a great favor? I am willing to die together with my two rebellious sons. I only ask Your Majesty to leave me and my two rebellious sons with an intact body." Shang Jingying wanted to kneel down again, but was held back by Wang An and Wei Zhongxian.

Zhu Changluo did not respond to Shang Jingying's request, but called out, "Han Benyong."

"I'm here." Han Benyong walked to Shang Jingying and knelt down.

"From today on, you will be in charge of the seal of the Imperial Stables." Zhu Changluo ordered.

"I obey your command!" Han Benyong felt a mixture of emotions, but excitement was the most important. Therefore, he responded very loudly.

"Wang An." Zhu Changluo called again.

"I'm here." Because he had to hold Shang Jingying back, Wang An just lowered his head and waited for orders.

"Take Liang Yong and Chen Feng out from Cui Wensheng and hand them over to the custody of the Imperial Household Department." Zhu Changluo ordered.

"I obey your order." Wang An accepted the order.

"Master! Long live the emperor! This cannot be done. This cannot be done. The country has its laws, and the family has its rules. In order to correct people's hearts, please help me and kill my own relatives for the sake of justice." Shang Jingying knew that the emperor was going to show mercy outside the law, so she pleaded in a sad voice.

"That's it. I have made up my mind. Han Benyong should send Shang Jingying back to the Imperial Stables and hand him over to Yang Songquan. Let him keep a good look at him. If Shang Jingying commits suicide, I will sentence Yang Songquan to death as well." Zhu Changluo gave the final order.

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The Ming Dynasty established Imperial Stables in both the northern and southern capitals. The headquarters of the Imperial Stables in Beijing was located northeast of the Forbidden City, separated from the east wall of the imperial city by only a river.

The Imperial Horse Administration's main task was to build warehouses and store forage, and to manage the imperial horse administration. It administered three forage farms: the Li Caolan Farm, the Zhongfu Caolan Farm, and the Tianshi'an Caolan Farm, collectively known as the "Three Farms."

In addition to raising horses, the Imperial Stables also kept monkeys. Li Rihua, the current Junior Secretary of the Imperial Household Department, wrote in his self-entertainment miscellany, "Purple Peach Xuan Youzhui," that the Imperial Stables kept ten small monkeys, each fed a dou of white rice and two and a half jin (2.8 jin) of red dates daily. The reason the Imperial Stables kept monkeys was because the "Horse Classic" stated that raising female monkeys could ward off horse plague. Zhao Nanxing, in a research article, wrote, "The Horse Classic states that keeping female monkeys in stables wards off horse plague. Monthly menstrual discharge occurs, and horses eating these monkeys will never get sick again." This is the basis for "Journey to the West."

Although the main task of the Imperial Stables was to raise horses, its most important job was to work with the Embroidered Uniform Guards to form the so-called "Nei Cao" (internal guards), responsible for the protection of the Forbidden City except for the imperial harem.

When Wang Pingjing, a captain of the Southern Division of the East Depot's Foreign Service Bureau, led a 300-man detachment to surround the Imperial Horse Administration's headquarters, the eunuch Chen Feng, the head eunuch of the stables, had just served him his first cup of tea since entering the yamen. Fortunately, he was able to finish the first sip of the tea.

"Which government office are you from? What do you want to do? Do you know where this is?" Yang Songquan, the eunuch who took the lead in confronting the Eastern Depot men, asked three questions in succession.

Yang Songquan was Shang Jingying's eldest son and the only one of his three adopted sons who had never been assigned abroad. Whenever Shang Jingying was away for various reasons, Yang Songquan would take charge of the department's affairs. His role was similar to Cao Huachun's, but because Shang Jingying didn't spend nearly the entire day with the emperor like Wang An did, Yang Songquan wasn't as busy. More often than not, Yang Songquan shouldered the responsibilities of Chief Secretary of the Imperial Horse Administration, rather than Executive Vice President.

"I am Wang Pingjing, the Southern Captain of the East Factory's Military Affairs Bureau. May I ask your name, sir?" Because he didn't know who the visitor was, Wang Pingjing's attitude was still very gentle.

"Yang Songquan." Hearing the word "East Factory," Yang Songquan's brows knitted together. "What does Cui Wensheng want to do?"

The court generally believed that Cui Wensheng had secured the emperor's favor and changed his status by offering him aphrodisiac drugs. Consequently, few of the powerful eunuchs in the Twenty-Four Yamen truly regarded Cui Wensheng with favor. Furthermore, unlike his godfather, Shang Jingying, who always maintained a neutral stance, Yang Songquan was a strong defender of the righteousness of the state. He highly respected the ancestral law of establishing the eldest son as the heir, believing that if the empress had no children, the throne should be passed to the eldest son in accordance with heaven's will. He was considered a subtle princeling. This further disdained Cui Wensheng, a member of the Zheng Palace.

"It's Eunuch Yang." Wang Pingjing certainly didn't know Yang Songquan, but that didn't stop him from saying, "I've heard a lot about you." If possible, Wang Pingjing didn't want to have any unpleasantness with this second largest government office in the inner court, which was almost on par with the Imperial Household Department.

Wang Pingjing bowed deeply and said, "It's not that Director Cui wants to do anything. Rather, the Eastern Depot has been ordered to arrest three of your yamen's eunuchs: Chen Feng, the head eunuch of the stables; Lu Kun, the assistant eunuch; and Liang Yong, the eunuch who oversees the Fourth Guard Battalion. Could you please, Eunuch Yang, bring them out?"

"Why?!" Yang Songquan was incredulous. In his impression, his fellow disciples Chen Feng and Liang Yong had always been law-abiding and had never done anything unethical in Beijing. At most, they were just extravagant and indulged in luxury.

"An investigation by the Imperial Household Department has confirmed that Chen, Lu, Liang, and others have engaged in serious acts of 'collecting more than they pay' and 'embezzling and concealing tax silver' in their mining tax duties. The Imperial Household Department has reported this matter to the Emperor." Wang Pingjing bowed toward the Qianqing Palace, which faced southwest. "I, your humble servant, am ordered to arrest these individuals. Please, Eunuch Yang, grant me this assistance." Although he had been granted the power to execute them on the spot, this only applied to the eunuchs implicated.

"Where is my godfather?" Yang Songquan remembered that his godfather had been sent to the Forbidden City not long ago, and he couldn't help but panic.

"I don't know about that. Your Majesty is wise and will definitely not wrongly accuse me." Wang Pingjing shook his head and repeated what he had just said: "Please help me, Eunuch Yang."

"Please wait a moment, I will go in and bring them out now." Yang Songquan sighed.

"Then I'll trouble you, Eunuch Yang." Wang Pingjing breathed a sigh of relief. In return for his kindness, he waved his hand and ordered, "Let's go out and wait."

The thousand-man team responsible for capturing the five tax-collecting eunuchs, Zhang Yu, Ma Tang, Hu Bin, Pan Xiang, and Qiu Chengyun, split into five teams at the intersection of Jiaozhongfang, Zhaohui Jinggongfang, Baodafang, and Renshoufang, and each team, led by their own team leader, rushed to the target location.

He Mengzhun, the Eastern Thousand Household, led a team along Andingmen Street to a deserted mansion in Jiaozhongfang. This was Ma Tang's residence.

"Knock! Knock! Knock!" He Mengzhun raised his head slightly, and then several guards came up and knocked roughly on the door.

"Stop knocking, be quiet, the master is still sleeping." A voice inquired from inside the door, but it didn't open immediately. "Who is it?"

"Open the door! There's something important." The guard closest to the gate shouted.

"Hey! Who are you? Do you know who this belongs to?" A servant in a gray cotton robe opened the door a crack. He just stuck his head out and before he could show his displeasure, he was pushed to the ground and sat down.

"Who the hell are you? What are you doing?" The servant jumped up from the ground and glared at He Mengzhun, who was wearing the uniform of a fifth-rank official. "You fucking insignificant official, do you even know whose mansion this is?"

"I know, Ma Tang." He Mengzhun kicked the bossy servant to the ground. Then he shouted, "Seal the mansion!"

After saying that, He Mengzhun pulled the servant up and asked coldly, "Where is Ma Tang?"

"You... who are you anyway?" He Mengzhun's attitude made the servant put away his previous arrogance.

"If you had uttered that word 'mother' again, I would have had your mouth beaten to pieces, and then your teeth pulled out one by one." He Mengzhun slapped the servant's face with a fake smile. "The East Factory is arresting them."

"Master!" Hearing the word "Dongchang", the servant suddenly became weak. He instinctively wanted to kneel down, but He Mengzhun pulled his collar like a chicken, so he couldn't kneel down.

"Take me to find Ma Tang." He Mengzhun ordered.

"Okay! Okay! Okay! Please come this way, sir." The servant waved his hand and led the way.

He Mengzhun let go of his hand, rolled his eyes again, and cursed: "Humph. Dog."

If He Mengzhun had not just started learning to read and write, he would have cursed him as "a coward with a fierce appearance."

When the servants brought He Mengzhun and several guards to the main house, Ma Tang was awakened by the sudden noise in the yard. At this time, Ma Tang did not realize the seriousness of the situation and thought that the servants had forgotten the rules and were making noise at home.

"Sir, this is it." The gatekeeper even changed his address. "Ma Tang must still be inside now."

He Mengzhun waved his hand. The guards around him immediately came over to push the door. But it was locked, and they couldn't move it.

"Kick." He Mengzhun was in no mood to have anyone knock on the door again.

Bang! The latch was obviously of good quality; Fanzi kicked it, but it didn't come loose.

Although the door was not open, Ma Tang was awakened by the noise. He withdrew his climbing stick from his left and right hands, sat up, and shouted, "Who's going crazy outside?"

Bang! Ma Tang's response was an even more violent kick on the door.

"Are you looking for death?" Ma Tang was furious. He lifted the quilt and supported himself on the edge of the bed. He stepped over the equally naked boy and landed on the ground.

Bang! This time, the four soldiers used their combined strength to forcefully break the thumb-thick hardwood bolt.

"Ma Tang, I'm Dong." He Mengzhun hadn't finished his words when he was amused by the lewd scene in the room. "Oh! No wonder it's almost noon and he's still not getting up."

Two naked figures lay on either side of Ma Tang's bed. Both were quite beautiful, but a closer look revealed that they were not a pair of girls, but a man and a woman. They had been bought by Ma Tang to warm his bed and satisfy his strange and perverted psychological needs. "Ah!" The boy and girl were originally lying on their backs in a daze, but when they saw the ferocious He Mengzhun, they immediately huddled in the corner, cuddling together.

"Eunuch Ma. Enjoy yourself." He Mengzhun's face was full of contempt, and he did not hide his disgust at all.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" The fat on Ma Tang's face trembled as his lips moved. It wasn't clear if it was from fear or the cold. Ma Tang grabbed a pure white silk lining shirt from the hanger and pulled it on. The lining shirt was very light-transmitting, making Ma Tang look like a piece of high-quality lard wrapped in rice paper.

"East Factory. We're here to arrest you." He Mengzhun lifted his clothes and revealed his badge.

"Why did you take me?" Ma Tang felt his head buzz and he could no longer think. His eyes went dark and he fell backwards, his face pale and horrible.

"I'll give you half a minute to get dressed." He Mengzhun didn't intend to answer, nor did he need to. Unlike the Jinyiwei's arrest of external officials, the emperor never needed a joint signature to arrest eunuchs who were his servants.

"And you two, put on your clothes too. The East Depot is counting Ma Tang's assets, including his people." He Mengzhun pointed at the boy and girl huddled in the corner, and suddenly felt something was wrong. "Are you brother and sister?" The sunlight filtering through the door allowed He Mengzhun to see the boy and girl's faces clearly. This immediately squeezed his already furrowed brow into a "川" shape.

"Sister and brother." The doorman, desperate to survive, came up to He Mengzhun, his face full of flattery. "Eunuch Ma particularly likes to sleep with men and women like this. He even likes to watch them sleep."

"You bastard who goes against human ethics!" He Mengzhun kicked the dumbstruck Ma Tang to the ground, then dragged him out of the main room like a swollen dead dog that had been soaked in dirty river water. "Put a pigskin on this fat pig. He still has a good life to enjoy, don't let him freeze to death."

(End of this chapter)