Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 326 Undercurrent
"Where did this come from? Why don't you take it to the doorman?" Zhang Wenda asked, but still took the Islamic calendar from the shop soldier and signed on it.

"Your Excellency, this is from the Liaodong Military Governor's Headquarters," the soldier replied. "The headquarters requires that the items be delivered directly to the officials of the Censorate."

"Xiong Feibai actually sent me a package." Zhang Wenda was a little surprised.

Although Xiong Tingbi held the title of Left Censor-in-Chief, officially serving as Zhang Wenda's subordinate, he had never proactively sent any correspondence to the Censorate in this capacity since his time in Liao. The reason for this was simple: Xiong Tingbi didn't need to go through the Censorate's procedures to remove someone. He possessed the imperial seal, and even if he didn't use it to execute someone, he could have removed the official from office, pending a report, and then petition the emperor to replace him.

"Where is the thing?" Zhang Wenda handed the signed and stamped Islamic calendar back to the shop soldier, thus completing the necessary signing procedure.

"Master Zhang, please wait a moment. I'll get it for you right away." The guard put away the almanac and, after inspecting it, took out two packages of different sizes from his backpack and placed them on Zhang Wenda's desk, saying, "Master Zhang, this is all."

"Huh? So many?" Zhang Wenda muttered to himself.

"Is there any problem?" asked the soldier.

"Nothing, go ahead." Normally, the case files sent to headquarters by the censors assigned to various locations would be no thicker than one volume. Zhang Wenda thought: Xiong Feibai might have sent the evidence as well.

"Then I'll take my leave." The soldier put on his backpack, turned around and left. The jingling sound of the bells gradually faded away with his footsteps.

Zhang Wenda opened the package and looked at the square wooden box. A bad feeling immediately arose in his heart.

When the Ministry of War inspected the first merits sent from the front, in addition to the Jieshizhong of the Military Department, the Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate also had to be present. Zhang Wenda had seen this square box many times in his youth.

Seeing something often doesn't mean you like it. Zhang Wenda instinctively felt a sense of rejection in his heart, so he shouted, "Someone come!"

The voice echoed in the main hall, and soon two yamen runners came up to meet them.

Coming to the main case with them was another official present, the newly appointed Left Censor-in-Chief Li Zongyan.

Li Zongyan, a native of Ruyang County, Runing Prefecture, Henan Province, achieved Jinshi in the Bingxu year of the Wanli reign (14th year of the Wanli reign). In the 22nd year of the Wanli reign, thanks to the efforts of then-Prime Minister Wang Xijue, the emperor's eldest son finally left the imperial court to study, a difficult step forward in national affairs. At the end of his tenure as county magistrate, Li Zongyan was selected as an Imperial Censor of Zhejiang Province under the Metropolitan Censorate. Upon his arrival in Beijing, he completely overturned the previous emperor, Wanli.

Shortly after arriving in Beijing, Li Zongyan joined forces with two other fellow Henan natives, Imperial Censor Li Bengu and Imperial Secretary Fei Bixing, to submit a memorial advising the emperor to enthronize the Crown Prince. They bluntly stated, "Deposing the eldest son and enthroning the youngest is not Taizu's way." The harsh language in the memorial infuriated the late emperor, who ordered the Imperial Guard to arrest and severely punish these three individuals for "slandering the emperor and betraying their integrity." Fortunately, court officials intervened, sparing them life.

The final verdict was that Li Zongyan and three others were caned in court, demoted, and returned home. He remained in his hometown for twenty-five years until the new emperor ascended the throne last year and issued an edict to reinstate former officials who had been demoted due to the "dispute over the foundation of the state." Only then was Li Zongyan promoted to the position of Junior Secretary of the Imperial Household Department. At the beginning of this year, the emperor issued a series of edicts to fill senior positions in various cardinal departments, and Li Zongyan was "transferred" to the Censorate to serve as Chief Censor.

"Chief Justice." The yamen runner clasped his fists and waited for orders. Li Zongyan stood aside, waiting.

"Open this box and take out everything inside." Zhang Wenda pointed to the wooden box, stood up from his seat and walked to Li Zongyan.

"Yes." The yamen runner opened the box. Seeing what was inside, he was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Zhang Wenda and said in a trembling voice, "General, there's a human head in here."

"It really is a head." Zhang Wenda's eyelids twitched.

Li Zongyan leaned forward slightly and looked down at the head envelope, but all he saw was a bunch of hair buried in salt. He wondered, "Why would someone from Liaodong send a head to the Censorate?"

Although the Ministry of Justice and the Imperial Guards had to send people to supervise the verification of the heads, this process was carried out in the Ministry of War.

"It might be some evidence." Zhang Wenda looked at the yamen runner who opened the letter and ordered, "Bring it out."

"Yes." Although the yamen runner didn't want to touch this thing, he still followed the order of the chief censor, reached out and grabbed the hair and pulled the head out.

"Hiss!" Li Zongyan gasped as he looked at the salt-covered head. Li Zongyan, whose career as an imperial censor was measured in days, had never before observed a severed head so closely.

"This head." Zhang Wenda frowned, looking it up and down. "Get all the salt off the face," Zhang Wenda ordered another yamen runner.

"What should we do?" The muscles at the corners of the bailiff's eyes twitched slightly.

Zhang Wenda retorted unhappily, "Don't you wash your face this morning? Wipe it with a handkerchief!"

"Oh! Good." The yamen runner immediately fetched a wet rag and wiped away the salt grains as Zhang Wenda instructed. Soon, a face that looked neither Han, nor Northern Tartar, nor Jurchen barbarians emerged.

"This face is so strange." Li Zongyan felt that he had seen a similar face somewhere, but he really couldn't remember it for a while.

"This is the head of a Western barbarian. There is an official in the Imperial Observatory who belongs to the same category as this head." Zhang Wenda said.

"Oh!" Li Zongyan suddenly realized. "So it's them." Westerners were rare these days, especially in the north. When Matteo Ricci first arrived in Nanjing in the 23rd year of the Wanli reign, Li Zongyan had been driven out of Beijing and returned to Henan to live in unemployment. If the emperor hadn't allowed these Westerners to come to Beijing to pay tribute, Li Zongyan might never have seen a European in his life. "Why would General Xiong send such a head?"

"You'll know after reading this." Zhang Wenda patted the tightly bound case files. Then he said to the yamen runner holding the head, "Put it back."

The yamen runner did as he was told and then asked, "Does the Chief Justice have any other instructions?"

"Take this letter away and put it in an unused room." Zhang Wenda said.

"Yes."

At 2:02 PM, the Ministry of Civil Affairs delivered another batch of transcribed memorials to Huiji Gate. If nothing unexpected happened, this would be the last batch of memorials the Ministry of Civil Affairs would submit today.

After a while, the memorials arrived at the duty room, where Han Yu sorted them by topic. Han Yu mechanically did this mentally demanding task until he saw a memorial titled "Memorial on the Atlantic State's Evil Words and Misleading the Public."

Han Yu was stunned when he saw the title, then realized the seriousness of the situation. In the entire Ming Dynasty, only Liaodong had an interpreter from the Atlantic Ocean.

Han Yu glanced around and saw that the other three cabinet ministers in the hall were not looking at him, so he opened the memorial and began to read.

This sight gave Han Yu a startling shock. The memorial not only detailed the Atlantic Country interpreter's deceitful actions, but also outlined the Liaodong government's verdict: The Atlantic Country interpreter, Mendoza, was beheaded by Liaodong Governor Xiong Tingbi, using the royal banner and a banner, and then reported to the emperor. The executioner was Liaodong Inspector Yang Lian, and the head and evidence were collected by Shenyang Inspector Sun Chuanting. While the memorial was being presented to the Holy Lord, the Governor's Office had already sent the evidence to the Censorate.

The signatures at the end of the article are Xiong Tingbi and Yang Lian.

Han Yu really wanted to discuss this matter with Liu Yirong immediately, but Liu Yirong had gone to the Ministry of Revenue and had not returned yet.

At this time, the benefits of hard labor came into play. Han Yu continued to sort the memorials into piles and assigned this one to Ye Xianggao's pile.

After the piles were divided, Han Yu gave some of the memorials to Shen first in order of distance, and then walked to Ye Xianggao, piled the memorials on the table, and gently touched the one on top with his fingertips.

"Okay." Ye Xianggao was working tirelessly, completely unaware of Han Yu's hint. So, Han Yu could only call out softly, "Second Assistant."

"Hmm?" Ye Xianggao stopped writing and looked up. After meeting Han Yu's gaze, he followed his line of sight to the memorial.

Ye Xianggao was immediately shocked when he saw the title on the cover. He widened his eyes and subconsciously glanced at Shen.

After the memorials arrived, Han Yu said nothing more. He returned to his desk, picked up the last pile of memorials, and placed them on the desk of Prime Minister Fang Congzhe. "Prime Minister, this is Li Hubu's resignation." Han Yu handed Fang Congzhe the first volume on the pile.

Upon hearing this, Fang Congzhe immediately put down the pen in his hand.

"Is Li Maofu ill?" Fang Congzhe took the memorial and flipped through it quickly. At the same time, Ye Xianggao was also reading the "Memorial to the Atlantic State on the Evil Speeches and Misleading the Public."

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Nearly two quarters of an hour later, Liu Yirong returned to the cabinet duty room. The cabinet members were all busy with their own matters, so he didn't bother them. Instead, he went straight to Fang Congzhe and said straight to the point, "Prime Minister, there's nothing special going on over there. Minister Li is simply ill. This morning, the emperor sent a messenger to the yamen to summon Minister Li to the palace, presumably to discuss the diversion of grain and salary. But since they couldn't find him, the messenger went to Li's house."

"I know." Fang Congzhe handed the memorial he had just read to Liu Yirong. "I just received it."

Liu Yirong waved his hand. "I went to the Li family. I saw it with my own eyes."

"How is Li Maofu's health? Can he still return to the department to carry out his duties?" Fang Congzhe asked.

If possible, the cabinet would, as usual, vote to retain Li Ruhua. Even though the emperor had already sent a note to the cabinet, this necessary formality was still necessary to demonstrate the cabinet and the emperor's importance to the minister.

"It's terrible. Li Hubu is asleep in his bed, and I didn't speak to him." Liu Yirong's eyes flickered with regret and sorrow. "But Li Zhifu told me that Li Hubu's death might be coming this year." Although Li Tingyuan was younger and had yet to achieve fame, Liu Yirong still addressed him by his courtesy name, rather than his given name.

"Alright." Fang Congzhe nodded. "Jinqing, Yuchen, Mingzhen, all of you, stop for a moment. Ji Hui, go back and sit down too."

Ye Xianggao was still distracted by the memorial. When he heard Fang Congzhe's call, his heart skipped a beat. But his nervousness didn't show on his face. He silently put down his pen, raised his head, and looked at Fang Congzhe along with the other two.

"Do you all have any important matters on your hands?" Fang Congzhe asked first.

Ye Xianggao hesitated for a moment, then shook his head like everyone else.

"Okay." Fang Congzhe said solemnly. "The Emperor wants the Cabinet to work with the Ministry of Justice to recommend ministers for new posts. What talents do you think should be on the list?" Fang Congzhe turned to look at the Second Assistant, Ye Xianggao.

"Prime Minister, I believe Li Daofu is well-suited for this position." Ye Xianggao had begun pondering the matter the moment he received the note from the Southern Study. Quickly collecting himself, he said, "Li Daofu served as Governor of Fengyang and other places, and was in charge of the grain transport. Last year, during the national council in Hongde Hall, Li Maofu proposed revamping the national grain transport system, and the emperor approved. Therefore, I believe there is no better person than to reappoint Li Daofu as his successor."

Li Sancai, courtesy name Daofu, was appointed Right Censor-in-Chief in charge of grain transport in the 27th year of the Wanli reign (1644-1716). He was also appointed Governor of Fengyang and other places. Fengyang was the central capital of the Ming Dynasty and the site of the Zhu family's ancestral tombs. However, this place was of high rank, of little use, and of a small population. The so-called Fengyang Governor's primary jurisdiction was actually over "other places," namely Huai'an Prefecture and Yangzhou Prefecture. For this reason, the Fengyang Governor is often referred to as the Huaiyang Governor, or simply Huaifu.

Fang Congzhe's eyes narrowed after hearing this. He didn't say anything, but instead looked at Liu Yirong and asked, "Ji Hui, what do you think?"

"First Minister," Liu Yirong echoed Ye Xianggao's suggestion. "I think what the Second Minister said is absolutely right. Li Sancai is indeed a suitable talent."

"Where is Yu Chen?" Fang Congzhe narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I think we can promote Wang Weili, the current Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, to the position of Shangshu." Actually, Han Yu also wanted to recommend Li Sancai, the Governor of Huai. But the list couldn't include just one person, so he recommended Wang Ji instead.

This recommendation is very tricky. As long as Wang Ji and Li Sancai are placed together and there are no external interference factors, Wang Ji will most likely not be promoted. This is because Wang Ji was the governor of Fengyang before the new emperor ascended the throne and summoned him to Beijing, but his reputation in this position was far inferior to that of Li Sancai.

These days, when the term "Huai Fu" is mentioned, the first person that comes to mind is most likely not the incumbent Fengyang Governor, but Li Sancai, who was dismissed over a decade ago. Back then, Li Sancai was instrumental in regulating the Huai River, successfully suppressing the local mining supervisor and tax collector, and suppressing the civil unrest instigated by the evil Zhao Yiping. This made the title "Huai Fu" practically his own.

Moreover, less than half a year after the new monarch came to power, he pulled out the eunuchs who had previously collected mining taxes and gave them a severe reprimand. Against this background, Li Sancai, who had suppressed the mining supervisors and tax collectors, was pushed out, and Wang Ji could only be a runner-up.

(End of this chapter)