Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 240: Heavenly hearing and Tatar requesting an audience

"Do you want to call Luo Sigong over for questioning?" Li Yongzhen asked.

"Don't worry, I will go to the study and report to His Majesty." After thinking for a moment, Wei Zhongxian decided to go to the Southern Study to report the matter directly, and at the same time find out the details behind it indirectly.

"Are we going to alert His Majesty now?" Li Yongzhen was shocked. He instinctively thought Wei Zhongxian was going to use this incident to make a big fuss and target the Imperial Guards. "I think it would be better to call in Luo Sigong for questioning first," Li Yongzhen tactfully reminded him. "Luo Sigong was the one who reported the Tianjin Guard incident. He wouldn't take matters into his own hands, would he?"

As long as they don't touch the head of the guard, Luo Sigong, no matter how they deal with the Jinyiwei, it will only be a minor issue.

"What's the big deal? Isn't this what we do?" Wei Zhongxian stood up and folded the report and put it away.

Wei Zhongxian disliked his subordinate, Li Yongzhen. The position Li Yongzhen currently held was one Wei Zhongxian had intended for a close eunuch. Since he had risen to power so quickly from a humble position, he hadn't had time to cultivate close connections within the palace. Therefore, the position had remained vacant, and he had been in charge of it himself, which was nothing more than a bit of a chore. Unexpectedly, the Imperial Household Department, without even a word of warning, had simply transferred this person to fill the vacancy.

"There is one more thing." Seeing that Wei Zhongxian seemed to be about to leave, Li Yongzhen said quickly.

"There's more." Wei Zhongxian suddenly became impatient. But almost the next moment, he adjusted his mood. "Is it news from the Jinyiwei?"

Li Yongzhen didn't notice the fierce glint in Wei Zhongxian's eyes. "It was the Jinyiwei. When they reported the Tianjin incident, they also reported a sum of money for Liancai."

Ever since the Liancai Office posted a notice allowing eunuchs of rank five and above to voluntarily turn in their embezzled silver, the silver voluntarily handed over by officials has been jokingly referred to by the eunuchs as "Liancai Silver." The term "Liancai Silver" was not originally found in official documents, but has recently become a common term and has become a common official term.

"Where did it come from?" Wei Zhongxian asked.

"They'd reported the centurions' arrival in Beijing beforehand. This was a matter for the Imperial Guard to conduct an internal purge." The Emperor's order for the Imperial Guard to conduct an internal purge took place before Li Yongzhen joined the service. But he was conscientious, and soon after joining, he reviewed all the documents he could access.

"So that's it." Li Yongzhen reminded Wei Zhongxian, and he immediately remembered it, so he asked, "How many are there?"

"Fourteen thousand eight hundred and twenty-one taels of silver. Two hundred and thirty taels of gold. In addition, there are sixteen pieces of porcelain and twelve paintings and calligraphy." Li Yongzhen took out a bill.

Wei Zhongxian was bombarded with account books of tens of millions of taels daily, and had almost become desensitized to figures of tens of thousands of taels. However, Wei Zhongxian quickly guessed the connection between the two seemingly unrelated events, knowing that Luo Sigong was eager to distance himself from any involvement and subtly extricate the Jinyiwei from the incident of Shen Caiyu's escape.

"Write it down and have the people from the Inspection Bureau verify it. After approval, report it to the Imperial Household Department. Once the Imperial Household Department approves it, have the Embroidered Uniform Guard escort it directly to the transportation warehouse." Wei Zhongxian said calmly.

"Yes." Li Yongzhen nodded.

"Is there anything else?" Wei Zhongxian asked with a friendly smile.

"No more. Just these two." Li Yongzhen reminded again: "I think it is necessary to call Luo Sigong to ask him."

"If you want to ask, just call him over. I still have to go to the study." Wei Zhongxian walked quickly to the mirror, straightened his clothes, made sure that his clothes were tight and his hat was right, and there was nothing missing, then he strode out of the Western Factory.

"This..." Looking at Wei Zhongxian's gradually receding back, Li Yongzhen stood there helplessly.

------

There is now a new desk in the South Study, and including the two that have been empty and facing each other for a long time, there are five desks in total.

Liu Ruoyu's small square desk was placed closest to the door. Therefore, it was natural for him to be assigned the task of receiving and sending documents for the Southern Study. The so-called receiving and sending, of course, did not mean personally going to Huiji Gate to receive the cabinet's drafts; that was the job of the eunuchs on duty at Huiji Gate. Liu Ruoyu's job was to classify the memorials and reports from the outer court offices, such as the cabinet, ministry, temple, department, court, prison, and department, into piles according to the newly prepared categories, and then deliver them to his own desk, Wei Chao's, Wang An's, and even the emperor's desks.

For example, Wang An was responsible for reviewing the direct reports from the Prime Minister and the Nine Ministers, as well as the reports from the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Rites. Wei Chao, on the other hand, was responsible for reviewing the reports from the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Works, the Five Temples, and the Ministry of Transport. Liu Ruoyu was responsible for coordinating with the Ministry of War and other miscellaneous government offices, such as the Imperial Observatory, the Ministry of Music, and the Ministry of Imperial Treasures. The emperor was solely responsible for the reports from the Military Government, the Five Military Commands, the Censorate, and the Six Departments. Reports were only submitted to the inner court for review when comments were needed.

As for the inner court administration, Wang An remained the sole director, assisted by the four great eunuchs. Each eunuch could report any urgent matters directly to the emperor at any time. Of course, even those without urgent matters could pay their respects in the Southern Study or attend to the emperor's daily needs in the Qianqing Palace. The study's door was always open, allowing anyone to visit for any occasion.

When Wei Zhongxian arrived at the Southern Study with the Jinyiwei's memorial, Wei Chao was sitting at his desk, reporting on a memorial from the Taichang Temple. The Taichang Temple was the institution in charge of ancestral temple sacrifices, but it also had a junior minister in charge of the Siyi Hall. This Siyi Hall, affiliated with the Hanlin Academy, was essentially an agency specializing in translation.

"The envoy from the Chahan tribe, Hudun Tuhan, arrived in Beijing yesterday and presented his credentials. The Tatar embassy translated the credentials into Chinese overnight. This is a matter of great importance, and I beg Your Majesty to make the final decision." Wei Chao heard the door open and subconsciously glanced at it. Seeing that the visitor was Wei Zhongxian, he immediately felt a strong sense of contempt and disgust.

Wei Zhongxian stepped forward, ready to kneel and kowtow, but Zhu Changluo waved his hand, interrupting him. "Go sit in your seat."

"Yes." Wei Zhongxian quickly knelt down, kowtowed, and stood up again, which was also a highly simplified salute.

"Tell me what Lindan Batur meant." Zhu Changluo gestured for Wei Chao to continue. "Get to the point."

During the Ming Dynasty, there was no single official translation for the various northern tribes. For example, the Chahar tribe was variously translated as "Chahan," "Chahan'er," "Chahan'er," and "Cahan'er" in various official documents. Its leader, Borjigin Ligdan Batur, also had multiple titles. Frontier military officers sometimes referred to him by his title, "Hutuktu Khan," representing longevity, as "Hudun Tuhan." Other times, they referred to him by his given name, "Lingdan," or "Lingdan Batur Taiji."

Therefore, when Zhu Changluo saw the words "插汉部虎顿兔笨", "脑毛大" and "炒花" in Xiong Tingbi's report, he had no idea what he was talking about.

It was not until Wang An, who reported the incident to the emperor at the time, presented him with records and maps from previous years and outlined the court's knowledge of the basic situation of the frontier tribes and their leaders that Zhu Changluo realized that the so-called "Hudun Tuhan" actually referred to the last recognized Great Khan of the Mongol homeland, Borjigin Lindan Batur. From then on, he insisted on referring to this Mongol Khan directly as "Lindan Batur."

Wei Chao paused for a moment, then echoed the emperor's words, changing his address to "Lindan Batur, respectfully congratulates Your Majesty on your succession to the throne." There was a long, auspicious message following this, but seeing the emperor clearly didn't want to hear it, Wei Chao simply omitted it. "Lindan Batur hopes to maintain friendly and neighborly relations with the Ming Dynasty, and to continue mutually beneficial trade. Furthermore, the envoy, Naomao Da, also hopes to enter the palace to see Your Majesty and pay his respects to His Majesty." Zhu Changluo waited a moment, and when Wei Chao showed no sign of speaking again, he asked, "Is that all?"

"That's all. That's it in a nutshell." The official letter was not long to begin with, and the scholars in the Tatar Pavilion did not add anything to it when translating it.

Zhu Changluo asked again: "What is the cabinet's opinion?"

"The draft opinion is to give them gold and silver, maintain mutual trade, preserve relations, and continue to use the Chahan tribe as a buffer for the Liaodong region. As for whether to allow them to meet the emperor, the cabinet asks the emperor to make the final decision." In the previous emperor's reign, it was impossible to enter the palace to meet the emperor.

"Have the Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple reward and entertain him according to regulations. As for an audience?" Zhu Changluo didn't have the Wanli Emperor's habit of staying at home for decades without seeing outsiders. "You can allow him to have an audience, but first have the Imperial Academy of the Tatar Pavilion ask what this Amudai wants to say."

"I obey your order." Wei Chao took note of the emperor's order and glanced at Wei Zhongxian.

"What are you doing here?" Zhu Changluo turned around and looked at Wei Zhongxian.

"Luo Sigong reports. Tianjin Wei Commander Shen Caiyu has fled for fear of punishment." Wei Zhongxian stood up, walked to the open space in the middle and stood still, and reported.

"Heh." Zhu Changluo thought something big had happened. He chuckled faintly, put down his pen, and stretched. "If he runs away, just find a way to catch him back. Do you really need to come here to talk about such a trivial matter?"

In Zhu Changluo's view, sending the Jinyiwei to Tianjin to find a reason to dismiss the three guards was a trivial matter at the executive level. For such a small matter, the executive department only needed to get the desired result within the specified time. As long as the process was not too outrageous, he didn't even bother to ask.

Wei Zhongxian was surprised by the emperor's reaction. He was stunned and felt disappointed.

"Is there anything else?" Zhu Changluo looked at the pile of memorials on the desk and sighed softly.

"Yes. Luo Sigong also reported a sum of silver. He said it was a tribute from thirty-two hundred households. It was nearly fifteen thousand taels of silver." Wei Zhongxian immediately took out the bill and gestured to present it. "This is the detailed list submitted by Luo Sigong."

"Were these two things reported together?" Zhu Changluo asked thoughtfully.

"Yes," Wei Zhongxian added, "Since the sixth day of the first lunar month, the centurions from various northern prefectures have been reporting to Luo Yangxing. But it wasn't until today that Luo Sigong reported on the silver issue for the first time."

"Captain Luo is worried someone might take advantage of this opportunity to stir up trouble and make random accusations," Wei Chao's voice drifted faintly, causing Wei Zhongxian's eyes to twitch. He had sensed Wei Chao's obvious hostility more than once recently.

"Huh." Zhu Changluo hadn't initially seen anything wrong with Wei Zhongxian's words, but after Wei Chao's interjection, he immediately realized Wei Zhongxian's shrewdness. Wei Zhongxian spoke only the facts, without making any subjective assumptions, yet he cleverly inserted a hint of sarcasm into his words. "Wei Zhongxian, what do you think?" Zhu Changluo chuckled.

"With these two things happening simultaneously, Luo Sigong might be trying to cover up something." Wei Zhongxian's mind raced, and he immediately found a response. "The Western Depot has summoned Luo Sigong for questioning, but I don't think it's necessary to bring him before the Emperor for a hearing. We can make a decision after the Western Depot has investigated this matter." With this move, he immediately handed over the power of investigation to the Western Depot.

"It's good to knock on the door a bit," Zhu Changluo nodded. But then he added, "Go back and ask. After you're done, tell Luo Sigong. If he wants to prove his innocence, then arrest the person who leaked the information. Investigate the Cabinet, the Six Ministries, the Governor's Office, the Criminal Department, or any other government office. Whoever you find is the real culprit. Don't hesitate."

Wei Zhongxian's eyes flashed, and he thought: Since it involves the cabinet and the six ministries, this matter must be serious.

So Wei Zhongxian bit the bullet and tactfully argued, "What if the investigation reaches the palace?"

"Huh! Could he possibly find his way here?" Zhu Changluo pointed to his head and asked in a bad tone.

"That's not what I meant." Wei Zhongxian hurriedly explained: "What I meant is that the Jinyiwei has no right to investigate the palace, and it's best not to open this loophole, just in case..."

"That's easy!" Wei Chao interrupted Wei Zhongxian and said, "If the investigation leads to the palace, we can report to the Imperial Household Department and have Cui Wensheng arrest the perpetrators. Isn't the East Factory doing the same job anyway?"

Wei Zhongxian looked at Wei Chao in astonishment, and the muscles on his face twitched frequently.

At this moment, Wang An, who had been sitting still like an old monk, finally spoke. "That's right. There's no need to split the work between two government offices. If Luo Sigong can't figure it out, we can bring in the Eastern Depot." With that, he lowered his head and returned to his work.

"Liu Ruoyu, what do you think?" Zhu Changluo suddenly asked.

Liu Ruoyu jumped up from her seat as if pricked by a needle. "The servant is here!"

"What are you talking about? I'm asking you what you think?" Zhu Changluo said with a smile.

"Hiss!" Liu Ruoyu just wanted to watch the show and didn't want to have any opinions. He subconsciously looked at his senior brother Wang An, but Wang An, who noticed his gaze, turned his head away heavily.

Liu Ruoyu had no choice but to use all his brainpower to analyze the current situation. Finally, he said, "I think the case should be investigated by the Jinyiwei, but we can let Wang Chengen of the Western Factory follow the investigation throughout." After that, Liu Ruoyu added, "This is the responsibility of the External Inspection Department."

Zhu Changluo observed the expressions of the four eunuchs and suddenly laughed out loud, "Okay, okay, okay. Let's do as Liu Ruoyu says."

(End of this chapter)