Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 345 Li Changgeng Enters Beijing

Legal regulations in the form of regulations were often issued by the imperial court for specific purposes. The typical process involved officials submitting memorials, the emperor decreeing a meeting for discussion, and the results being presented to the emperor. The emperor then approved and sealed the regulations, ultimately promulgating them. This kind of situation, where the emperor bypassed the outer court system without prior warning or discussion and directly issued regulations, was unprecedented.

Shen Guangzuo frowned as he continued to flip through the regulations, while Hui Jingao turned his attention to Zheng Shiyi behind him. "You are the Jinyiwei, right?" Hui Jingao asked.

Zheng Shiyi was startled and subconsciously glanced at the place where the badge was hung. "How did you know?"

"Haha, no need to look at your badge." Hui Jingao laughed. "I entered the palace in the 43rd year of the Jiajing reign. I've been here for almost sixty years. I can tell at a glance what kind of aura the Dongchang and Jinyiwei's imperial guards have." Hui Jingao's eyes roamed over Zheng Shiyi's face. "What happened?"

His question attracted Shen Guangzuo's attention. Shen Guangzuo stole a glance at Zheng Shiyi, trying to see what he would say.

Zheng Shiyi felt like he was in trouble lately. First, his mission was intercepted, then Zhang Wenda and Shen Guangzuo pushed him back, making it impossible to suppress any information. Now, he was being questioned by this old eunuch who was involved in business.

Even so, Zheng Shiyi was reluctant to reveal the news himself. He licked his dry lips and said something polite and perfunctory: "Once the case is fully investigated, I will report it to the palace. Don't bother with it. The palace's business is more important."

"Indeed, everyone has their own tasks. I am sorry for being so presumptuous." Hui Jingao understood Zheng Shiyi's meaning. He looked away and turned to Shen Guangzuo. "Prefect Shen, have you finished reading this?"

Shen Guangzuo had also withdrawn his gaze. "Not yet." This wasn't because Shen Guangzuo was deliberately delaying, but because the booklet contained many new terms he had never seen before. Even though he was well-read, he still needed to constantly connect the context to guess their meaning.

"You'd better hurry up, it's getting late," Hui Jingao urged. "You can stay at the government office and relax, but we have to go back for dinner." Shuntian Prefecture was one of the few government offices in the capital with its own residence for court officials. After the meeting, Shen Guangzuo only had to walk to the backyard to go home.

Shen Guangzuo ignored Hui Jingao until he finished reading the "Banking Regulations" and handed it back. Then he said, "Well, since it's written in the regulations, I'll follow it." While directly promulgating regulations was unprecedented, it didn't mean they were without legal force. Under the Ming Dynasty system, the emperor was the sole legislator; it was he who gave meaning to the procedures, not the other way around.

Shen Guangzuo wasn't prepared to directly challenge the rules; that would only exacerbate the conflict. Even if he wanted to submit a petition to dissuade them, that would be a matter for later. "Someone come!" he shouted, his emotions pent up.

"Da Zan Mansion." A yamen runner came over in response.

"Send this silver to the Taxation Department to weigh and verify its color." Shen Guangzuo ordered.

"Yes." The bailiff picked up the silver box and left the lobby, and a clerk from the branch followed him.

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Inside the Ministry of Revenue, Wang Ji, the Left Vice Minister in charge of seals, was working. Compared to the previous few days, he looked noticeably more depressed, as if he hadn't slept well.

There were footsteps coming from the direction of the door, but Wang Ji didn't take it seriously. The Ministry of Revenue was a large office with many officials, so it was not surprising to see some movement coming and going.

The footsteps grew closer, but Wang Ji still propped up his head, pen in hand, as he read the documents handed to him by the Qinglisi. When the footsteps stopped, the natural light in front of Wang Ji's eyes was blocked by the incoming person. He looked up and saw a man wearing the same third-rank civil servant uniform as himself, standing at the desk.

"Yes, it's reasonable." The visitor bowed and then asked, "Where is the Grand Tutor?"

Wang Ji was stunned for a moment before he stood up and returned the greeting: "You Qing. You're back so soon."

Li Changgeng, the Minister of Revenue, only began holding the title of Minister of Revenue in the 47th year of the Wanli reign, after the late Emperor approved the policy of diverting Liao military expenditures to the sea. Wang Ji himself had only arrived in Beijing the previous year to assist in the Ministry of Revenue. Prior to this, Wang Ji and Li Changgeng had had virtually no interaction. If Wang Ji hadn't known Li Changgeng had been summoned, he wouldn't have even guessed who was standing before him.

"The emperor has summoned me urgently, so I have to travel light." Li Changgeng looked around. "Where's the Grand Tutor? I have to pay my respects to him."

Wang Ji's tired eyes immediately darkened upon hearing this. "The minister is ill, and an exception has been made."

"When did this happen?" Li Changgeng was shocked.

Wang Ji thought for a moment and said, "Probably, it was the day when the Tongzhengshisi sent you the letter."

The letter Li Changgeng received contained nothing but an order for him to come to the capital immediately. He was already suspicious, and this response terrified him even more. "Why did the emperor summon me to the capital?" Li Changgeng asked calmly.

"Do you know Zhang Bingxian, who is in charge of the military in Jin, Fu, Hai and Gai states?" Wang Ji asked.

Li Changgeng was silent for a moment. "Are you talking about Zhang Yuheng?"

"Ah."

"I've seen the name, but never the person. What's wrong with him?" Li Changgeng and Zhang Quan were from different hometowns, different years, and their official careers did not overlap at all. It was not until Zhang Quan was transferred from the governor of Jiangxi to the minister of the Temple of Imperial Horses and concurrently the military preparation officer of Jinfu Haigai that the two had an intersection in official documents.

"He submitted a memorial," Wang Ji said as he rummaged through the documents on the table. "The memorial requested the emperor to issue a decree ordering the Liao grain and Liao military supplies destined for Lushun, Jinzhou, and other places to be sent directly to Gaizhou."

Before he finished speaking, Wang Ji retrieved Zhang Quan's memorial from the pile of documents and handed it to Li Changgeng. "Take a look for yourself." The memorial had originally been on Li Ruhua's desk. After Wang Ji was appointed to temporarily manage the department's printing business, this memorial, along with many other matters, had been transferred to his desk.

Li Changgeng took the memorial and opened it. Before he finished reading it, his heart began to beat faster.

Wang Ji observed Li Changgeng's expression calmly. "You Qing, why don't you have the food and money shipped directly to Gaizhou?"

"The water conditions in Gaizhou are complicated, and the sea is covered with reefs. It's not that I don't want to transport it, but those boatmen and sailors are unwilling to transport it." Li Changgeng replied.

"I see." Wang Ji couldn't discern any clues from Li Changgeng's expression, but he wasn't too surprised. If his emotions were clearly written on his face when he encountered something, then Li Changgeng's years as an official would have been in vain.

Li Changgeng closed the memorial and handed it back to Wang Ji, then immediately changed the subject, "Yes, Li. Are you in charge of the printing business now?"

"Yes," Wang Ji sighed, waving his hand to signal Li Changgeng to look at his piled-up desk. "Warehouses and warehouses, income and expenditure, land and household registration, taxes and salaries—all these things have to be taken care of. I'm already tired, my eyes are blurry, and my head is swollen after just one day's work. I really don't know how Li Butang has managed to get by all these years."

Before taking over the temporary printing duties, Wang Ji had only one main job: managing the storage of grain for the imperial court. This job was typically busiest in the summer and autumn, when grain was shipped from the south to the north. The rest of the year, it was relatively leisurely, consisting of opening warehouses and organizing transportation according to plan or temporary orders from superiors, and then organizing and archiving relevant records. If the chief official didn't allow him to assist with other matters, he could manage things by slacking off in the morning and working in the afternoon, without causing any major problems. However, after taking over the temporary printing duties, the amount of paperwork he had to handle increased several times, and he worked from morning till night, with only half of his work left.

"Take Zhang Bingxian's memorial, for example. Someone came to the palace yesterday and asked the Ministry of Revenue to sort out the documents and files related to maritime transport over the past year or so and send them in. It took me a lot of effort." Wang Ji raised the memorial in his hand and changed the subject. "I haven't had time to carefully read what's written on it."

"Haha." Li Changgeng's eyes twitched slightly, and he gave an awkward smile. He had already obtained all the information he wanted, and he didn't want to engage in any more meaningless entanglement with Wang Ji. So, Li Changgeng threw out the excuse he had prepared long ago: "That's reasonable. I still have to go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to reply to the letter. I won't bother you any more."

Replying to the Ministry of Internal Affairs informed the court that he had arrived in Beijing and was available for an audience at any time. Normally, the first place an official summoned to the court should have gone upon arriving in Beijing was the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, Li Changgeng did not follow this custom, wanting to be able to leave the Ministry of Revenue at any time without being tied down like he was now.

Wang Ji wanted to use this opportunity to test Li Changgeng's intentions, but since he had already said so, he could only reply, "Then go quickly."

"Goodbye." Li Changgeng bowed and said goodbye.

"Goodbye." Wang Ji returned the greeting and sat down.

Li Changgeng left the Ministry of Revenue along the same path he had come. When he reached the gate, he met a eunuch. The eunuch, upon seeing Li Changgeng, immediately bowed and said, "Greetings, Wang Zuotang."

"I am not Wang Zuotang. Wang Zuotang is still sitting in the hall." Li Changgeng immediately shook his head and refused to be greeted.

It's no wonder the eunuchs mistook him for Wang Ji. In the entire Ministry of Revenue, only the Shangshu and Shilang officials, who sat in the main hall, were officials of the fourth rank and above who could wear red robes. Now that Shangshu Li Ruhua had left, the Ministry of Revenue hadn't yet appointed a Right Shilang. So the eunuchs easily mistook the third-rank official who appeared at the Ministry of Revenue for Wang Ji.

"Oh! It turns out you're from another department." The eunuch apologized hastily. "Excuse me."

"Haha." Li Changgeng put on a friendly smile. "I am indeed the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, but I am not Wang Weili."

"Who are you?" The eunuch was stunned.

"Li Changgeng, the Minister of Finance." Li Changgeng replied.

"It's you, sir." The eunuch saluted again.

"Sir, why did you come to my Ministry of Revenue?" Li Changgeng asked.

"Of course it's an imperial decree," said the eunuch.

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The reason why Zhu Changluo asked the eunuchs to go to the Ministry of Revenue to announce the decree was because the decree issued according to the normal procedure was blocked by a Censor of the Ministry of Revenue named Zhao Shiyong.

Zhu Changluo didn't want to waste time talking to Zhao Shiyong, and didn't even want to listen to him, so he bypassed the Household Department and sent the imperial edict with the emperor's seal to the Ministry of Households, asking Wang Ji to carry it out.

Zhu Changluo's grand plan was to start with lightweighting the currency, starting from the standard currency, silver notes, restoring the country's monetary credit, and ultimately transforming physical currency into credit currency. He would never allow anyone to hinder his steps.

In the Southern Study, Wang An, having finished reading, put down the report in his hand and said to the emperor, "Master, this is the last document concerning Korea."

"Put it back." Zhu Changluo thought for a moment and changed his tone, "Let's keep this one."

"Yes." Wang An put away the memorial, took out his pocket watch, and saw that it was less than 25 minutes before the afternoon. So he asked again, "Shall we move to Jingren Palace now?" Although it was not yet time to ring the bell to dismiss the court, the Ministry of Public Administration would no longer transmit any information to the palace at this time.

"Let's go home today." Zhu Changluo stood up, and the three eunuchs followed suit.

Rijing Gate is a side gate leading to the East Six Palaces. After exiting Rijing Gate and walking a short distance north, you will reach the alley leading to Jingren and Yanqi Palaces.

As Zhu Changluo and the three eunuchs in charge of ceremonies reached Rijing Gate and were about to leave the three imperial palaces, Shi Fuming, the eunuch in charge of the Qianqing Palace, quickly followed. Although Shi Fuming was the head eunuch of the Qianqing Palace, his core responsibility revolved around the emperor, not the palace. As long as the emperor was within the confines of the Forbidden City, he would follow him wherever he went.

But usually, Shi Fuming had little presence, because there was always a eunuch on duty beside the emperor every day. If the emperor had any instructions, he didn't need to pass them through him, but could directly inform the eunuch.

Apart from daily affairs, Shi Fuming's main task was to receive the emperor's orders from Liu Ruoyu, Wei Chao, or directly from Wang An, and then have his eunuchs pass them on. As long as no one dared to disobey the order, Shi Fuming didn't even have to reply to the study.

However, there are occasional exceptions.

After Shi Fuming caught up with the procession, he did not follow the three eunuchs of the Imperial Household Department. Instead, he walked around them and, under the gaze of the eunuchs, he walked to the side of the emperor and called softly, "Master."

"What's wrong?" Zhu Changluo turned his head to look at him.

"My lord, the Minister of Finance Li Changgeng has arrived in Beijing." Shi Fuming did not lower his voice.

"Why are you the one reporting this?" Zhu Changluo subconsciously glanced at Liu Ruoyu.

Liu Ruoyu noticed this look and quickly shook his head.

"Master, you are wise." Shi Fuming pointed to a eunuch at the end of the procession and explained, "The young man sent to the Ministry of Revenue to deliver the imperial edict met Minister Li at the yamen gate. When he came back to report, he told me about this matter. I felt it necessary to report the matter directly to the master."

"You're right." Zhu Changluo nodded. "Issue an order. Have Li Changgeng come to the palace early tomorrow morning."

"Yes." Shi Fuming hurriedly bypassed the three eunuchs in charge of ceremonies and went to convey the imperial edict.

(End of this chapter)