Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 32 Death Struggle
Cui Wensheng didn't know, or didn't have time to know, that Zuo Guangdou had submitted a memorial to impeach him. The impeachment memorials that poured into the Forbidden City like an avalanche overwhelmed him and the East Factory.

He didn't know what had gone wrong. The city had been peaceful the day before, with nothing unexpected happening except for a few wealthy individuals taken to the East Depot dungeons who died from torture. How could he wake up one morning and find every censor in Beijing impeaching him and the East Depot?

His first instinct was to investigate the source. Cui Wensheng figured that by finding the original impeachment petitioner, he could determine which forces were opposing him. Then, he could contact the opposing faction to express dissenting opinions, thereby muddying the waters. As long as public opinion wasn't overwhelmingly against him, he could explain himself to the emperor.

At the same time, Cui Wensheng summoned all those who had taken money from the East Factory and ordered them to quickly return all the money they had taken from the confiscation of property. If they could take it out, they should take it out immediately. If they had spent it, they should borrow money! In any case, they had to make up the original amount as soon as possible.

"Don't be reluctant. Spend the money first to save your life and your job. You can always get it back if you lose it. If you die, you'll lose everything!" He threatened at first, then immediately turned to comforting: "I've copied the Zheng Mansion's account book. Everyone listed in it is a wealthy family. As long as you can survive this, money will surely roll in!"

Under the overwhelming pressure, Cui Wensheng's coercion and inducements worked wonders. Within a day, most of the embezzled funds had been returned, boosting Cui Wensheng's confidence. He believed this money would surely allow him to successfully negotiate with the emperor.

When Cui Wensheng learned that the source of the impeachment was the censor Zuo Guangdou, he almost exploded with anger. This man was not only a member of the Donglin Party, but also a close friend of Yang Lian.

"Are these people sick? Why do they keep biting me?" Cui Wensheng thought he had never offended this group of people.

Despite his anger, Cui Wensheng still had to get down to business. He sent letters to all parties except the Donglin Party, hoping they would express some dissenting opinions. Cui Wensheng's request was simple: he didn't need these parties to offer him protection; he just wanted them to point out Zheng Yangxing's cunning and the difficulty of the house seizure operation.

But without exception, all these letters fell on deaf ears. He didn't receive a single reply, not even a single rejection. This made his efforts to maintain composure begin to collapse.

So, he decided to find a scapegoat as his last resort. Zou Kaiyun, the highest-ranking official under the factory director, was undoubtedly an excellent choice. He had someone forge Zou Kaiyun's handwriting and used it to open accounts at major banks in Beijing. No matter who investigated, Zou Kaiyun would be unable to defend himself.

After completing all this, Cui Wensheng took his generous gifts and sought an audience with his immediate superior, Wang An. If he could bribe Wang An to speak for him, his chances of success would greatly increase. Cui Wensheng prepared nearly 200,000 taels of silver for this bribery, which he had ordered Zheng Lian to erase from the account books and was the maximum amount he believed he could safely embezzle.

When he re-entered the Forbidden City, the anxiety he had felt because no one had replied to his letter instantly disappeared. The emperor did not order anyone to arrest him, and the people he met along the way still kowtowed to him respectfully.

Cui Wensheng was just about to hand Wang An the gift. He was sure Wang An wouldn't refuse. After all, Wang An had already accepted it once, and this bribe was more than three times the amount he had received the previous time. He suddenly envied Wang An, "Who can blame him for being favored by the emperor? He can earn two hundred thousand just by talking. Same people, different fates."

He muttered to himself as he walked, and soon arrived at the headquarters of the Imperial Household Department.

"Is the ancestor here?" Cui Wensheng entered the main hall, but didn't see even a ghost.

"Replying to the eunuch, the ancestor, the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, and the eunuch Wei Chao are not here." Because both eunuchs have the surname Wei, the person who replied could only call them by their full names.

"Okay, where did the ancestor go? Did he go back?" Cui Wensheng didn't care about the whereabouts of the two Wei eunuchs, he just wanted to know where Wang An was.

"He should be serving the Emperor in the Qianqing Palace."

"It's so late." Cui Wensheng continued to ask, "Has the old ancestor come back?" "He hasn't come to the Imperial Household Department all day today. He must be very busy." The eunuch replied.

"Of course I'm busy." Cui Wensheng's mood suddenly turned bad.

Cui Wensheng was caught in a dilemma. Wang An remained in the Qianqing Palace even after dinner time, which indicated that there were numerous impeachment memorials against him and that they had not been dismissed by the emperor.

If he went to the Qianqing Palace to cry and beg for mercy at this time, he would most likely run into a gun. If he didn't go, when the emperor found out that he didn't go to the palace to apologize after entering, but left because he couldn't find Wang An, then this small matter would become a big one.

After much deliberation, Cui Wensheng decided to go to the Qianqing Palace and cry for mercy. "I hope Wang An can be more understanding and help me."

After taking a few deep breaths, Cui Wensheng simply took big strides and walked towards the Qianqing Palace.

"Cui Wensheng, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot, requests an audience!" Upon arriving at the southern study of the Qianqing Palace, Cui Wensheng immediately kowtowed and requested an audience.

Unlike what Cui Wensheng had imagined, Zhu Changluo was now accompanied by not only the eunuch Wang An, who held the seal, but also Mi Mengshang and her account-clearing team.

After completing her studies, she immediately became a teacher. Wang An found her six eunuchs, all under twelve years old on average, from the Imperial Library (where eunuchs were taught). They all shared a common trait: intelligence, eagerness to learn, and obedience. Under Mi Mengshang's fourteen-hour daily bombardment of knowledge, these children soon reached the stage of "starving their teacher to death."

Even Zhu Changluo couldn't help but sigh that compared to Wang An's carefully selected eunuchs, Mi Mengshang was much dumber. This really pissed Mi Cairen off, but she had no choice but to swallow this loss.

The accounting team, still in its early stages of development, was currently conducting a comprehensive audit of the annual accounts of the twenty-four yamen. Zhu Changluo had ordered them to quickly determine the estimated and actual annual expenditures of each yamen, and to identify any individuals who had tampered with the accounts.

Zhu Changluo needed a lot of money to prepare for the upcoming war and the reforms he was planning. The only ways to save money, from ancient times to the present, were to increase revenue or reduce expenditure. Increasing revenue was difficult, and often required a lot of time and effort, and had to be done step by step.

Relatively speaking, it was much easier to cut costs, because the largest unit of expenditure in the world was the imperial capital. As long as he could get the exact figures, Zhu Changluo could start to make changes.

The "Dongchang Corruption Case" was just the prelude to this drama.

The cabinet's response somewhat surprised Zhu Changluo. He had expected the Donglin Party to align with the officials' opinions and advocate for Cui Wensheng's execution. When his own opinion was unclear, then Prime Minister Fang Congzhe would not choose to contradict public opinion. Regardless of how it was expressed, the cabinet's opinion was to execute Cui Wensheng.

But Han Yu ultimately persuaded the entire cabinet single-handedly. Therefore, their response did not include "according to family rules," but only "according to precedents."

Compare with the precedent? This is really like someone offering a pillow when you are sleepy.

(End of this chapter)