Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 353 The Fourth Corpse

As soon as Wu Mingzhe finished speaking, an eunuch came over with an acceptance form.

"Minister Wang, please take a look." Wu Mingzhe handed it to Wang Ji. Then he said to Sang Bingzhi, "Go to the main hall and get the seal of the inner treasury."

"Yes." Sang Bingzhi quickly left the warehouse and walked towards the government office.

Wang Ji took the acceptance form, shook it flat, and saw that only part of the information was written on it. Wang Ji glanced at the eunuch who delivered the acceptance form and asked Wu Mingzhe, "Why is there so much blank space on this receipt?"

Wu Mingzhe smiled and said, "This wasn't written by him. This is the format document printed and distributed by the factory to each warehouse. These boxes and texts were all pre-printed using a woodblock. Just fill in the necessary information in the blank spaces."

In order to improve efficiency and reduce the workload of supervisory units, the Jingchang specially prepared a set of engravings for warehouses and banks, which needed to frequently receive and send materials and issue documents.

These documents all have a similar basic style: two pages, one on each side, with a line in the middle and the same content on both sides of the line.

"Oh!" Wang Ji suddenly realized. "I fill it out?"

"You're the carrier, and we're the receiver." Wu Mingzhe held out his hand. "I'll fill it out, and you can just look at it."

"Okay." Wang Ji handed the receipt back to Wu Mingzhe.

Wu Mingzhe took the receipt to the nearest table and filled in the blanks on both sides with the following information: "Ministry of Revenue Taicang Silver Treasury," "Received," "80,000 taels," "Cash," and so on. After completing this information, he wrote the date and his name at the end of the form.

"Minister Wang, please sign on both sides." Wu Mingzhe handed the brush to Wang Ji.

"Okay." Wang Ji took the pen and filled in his name in the "Carrier" column.

After Wang Ji signed, the West Factory representative came forward and filled in his name in the "Supervisor" column. Only then did Wang Ji realize that the young man with the stern face was Fang Zhenghua.

After Fang Zhenghua signed his name, all the necessary information was completed.

During this period, Sang Bingzhi, the director of the Inspection Bureau, had brought a box containing the seal of the Internal Transport Warehouse.

Wu Mingzhe opened the box and carefully took out a pure copper official seal. Beneath the seal was ink, ready to use. Wu Mingzhe pressed his palms together, and the seal landed firmly on the center line of the receipt.

"Pingzi, seal." Wang Ji waved at Tang Daoheng, who then pulled out a small seal that had been irritating him for a long time. This seal belonged to the person in charge of the Taicang Treasury and could only be used on receipts for sending and receiving silver.

"Eunuch Wu, can I borrow some ink?" Tang Daoheng took out the small seal from the cloth bag, but found that the ink he dipped when he went out had rubbed onto the cloth bag again.

"Borrow it." Wu Mingzhe smiled again and picked up the copper seal of the Neichengyunku from the base.

"Thank you." Tang Daoheng dipped the official seal in red mud and transferred the red mud to the bottom of the official seal in the inner transport warehouse.

After the ink dried, Wu Mingzhe folded the document in half along the engraved line. He could have torn it by hand, but out of caution, he used a thin-bladed paper cutter to cut the document in half along the engraved line.

"Boss Tang, this is yours." Wu Mingzhe handed the document on the right side of the engraved line to Tang Daoheng according to the convention of host on the left and guest on the right.

"Thank you." These two documents constituted a typical Kanhe. Just as in the private sector, if a dispute arose between the Ministry of Revenue and the Internal Transport Warehouse over a shipment, and they wanted to bring the case to the emperor, they would produce the Kanhe for verification. The Kanhe, with its seals placed across the seam, was called a "conformity." If it didn't conform, or if one of the documents was lost before the destruction date, someone would be in dire straits.

"Take it and put it in your bag. Don't wrinkle it." Tang Daoheng took the receipt and Wu Mingzhe gave Tang Daoheng another envelope.

Wang Ji had been an official for decades, but for the first time in his life, he felt the kind of efficiency that brought him both physical and mental satisfaction. There was no delay, and everything was perfectly organized. He was inexplicably moved.

"Open the door and go into the warehouse." Wu Mingzhe turned and looked at a eunuch who had been following him but had not said a word.

"Yes." The eunuch responded, and then took out a huge warehouse key from his arms.

There are ten silver vaults in Neichengyunku, named Jia to Gui. Each vault has a management officer with the title of Si Zheng, whose full name is "Si Zheng of the Silver Vault with a certain character in charge", and is directly managed by the Chief Supervisor of the Silver Vaults.

The "Imperially Decreed Regulations for the Administration of the Internal Transport Treasury" stipulated that if a treasury engaged in a problem similar to embezzlement, the chief treasury supervisor, the deputy treasury supervisor, and the treasury supervisor would be severely punished, with no upper limit. The eunuch in charge of the seal was also held responsible for leadership. In exchange for the punishment, the treasury supervisor received an additional allowance to maintain integrity.

Now, Jiaku to Xinku were all packed, with only Renku and Guiku having some space. This time, the 80,000 taels were to be received by Renku.

As the Renkusi was opening the door with a key, Fang Zhenghua, a dispatched officer from the Western Factory's External Inspection Division, immediately walked to the door and stared intently at the eunuchs in charge of the transportation, to prevent them from doing anything shady when entering the warehouse.

During the deposit process, Wang Ji approached Wu Mingzhe. "Eunuch Wu, it's getting late. Now that the inspection is complete and the silver has begun to be deposited, isn't it time to give us the banknotes?"

"Oh! I forgot to tell you, here's what's going on," Wu Mingzhe said apologetically. "The Neichengyun Warehouse only accepts cash and doesn't issue invoices. Take the receipt my warehouse issued to the Ministry of Revenue to the Sun Moon Bank headquarters. Once they see it, they'll give you the 80,000 taels in silver."

"Aren't the Sun Moon Bank and the Neichengyunku from the same government office?" Wang Ji asked in confusion.

"No," Wu Mingzhe shook his head. "Although our treasury and the bank are both directly under the Imperial Household Department, the two government offices are not subordinate to each other. Furthermore, the bank's rank is higher than our treasury."

"What do you mean?" Wang Ji thought that the bank was a subsidiary of the silver vault.

"The bank's president is Chief Wei," said Wu Mingzhe.

"I see." Wang Ji immediately understood. "Then where is the headquarters of Sun Moon Bank?"

"Do you know where the office of the old capital governor is?" Wu Mingzhe said, "The Sun Moon Bank's headquarters is located there."

"I don't know." This was Wang Ji's first time coming to the imperial city to deal directly with the inner court. If it weren't for the soldiers of the Zhishang Guard leading the way, he wouldn't have been able to find this place.

Wu Mingzhe thought for a moment, then turned and pointed northwestward toward Wansui Mountain. "Let me put it this way: the right gate of Wansui Mountain faces the west gate of the bank's headquarters."

"This..." Wang Ji looked embarrassed.

Wu Mingzhe smiled dumbly and waved to Sang Bingzhi. "Okay, Director Sang, take Minister Wang to the bank to get the bill."

"Yes."

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Just as Wang Ji and Tang Daoheng followed Sang Bingzhi to the Sun Moon Bank headquarters to collect the banknotes, in the Shuntian Prefecture's signature room, Prefect Shen Guangzuo also found time to complete the draft of his memorial opposing the bank's establishment. Shen Guangzuo read the draft twice, revising some of the wording before standing up and walking to a shelf of blank leaflets. Based on the length of the draft, he prepared to select an eight-leaf blank leaflet. But before he could find it, Tan Shijiang, the Shuntian Prefecture prosecutor in charge of the prefecture's criminal history, rushed into the signature room in a panic.

"Dazan Mansion!" As soon as he entered the door, Tan Shijiang shouted loudly at Shen Guangzuo's back. "Another death."

Shen Guangzuo was startled by Tan Shijiang's noise. He didn't turn around immediately, but instead frowned and continued to search for the blank leaf. "Is it still someone else?"

"Yes, it's still the middleman." Tan Shijiang's voice was visibly trembling. He didn't want to deal with this kind of case at all, so he had the case file sent to the Jinyiwei as per custom. But his immediate superior insisted on handling this matter, so Tan Shijiang had no choice but to investigate it. But now, before he could find anything useful, a fourth murder case had occurred.

Shen Guangzuo finally found the Eight-Leaf Fold. He turned and looked at Tan Shijiang. "Where did you find it this time?"

"It's near the Thousand Buddha Temple." said Tan Shijiang.

Shen Guangzuo from the Thousand Buddha Temple asked again, "Who reported this?"

"A small flag officer from the North City Military Command. The Military Command has surrounded the area, and the city inspector is also there." Tan Shijiang replied.

"Let's go and take a look." Shen Guangzuo sighed and threw the blank leaf on the draft memorials.

Thousand Buddha Temple, whose full name is "Thousand Buddha Zen Temple for Protecting the Country and Repaying Gratitude", was built forty years ago in the ninth year of the Wanli reign. It was built by Feng Bao, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department at the time, at the order of the Buddhist Empress Dowager Cisi, for the famous monk Pianrong from Western Shu who traveled to the capital as a place of meditation.

Thousand Buddha Temple and the Shuntian Prefecture Office were both located in the northern part of the capital, relatively close to each other; even with all the twists and turns, the distance was no more than five miles. At the tolling of the bell, the sedan chair carrying Shen Guangzuo and the donkey carrying Tan Shijiang, escorted by a cavalry of yamen runners, arrived at the crime scene near Thousand Buddha Temple. However, this scene was closer to the northern city wall of the capital than to the Thousand Buddha Temple.

When Shen Guangzuo and Tan Shijiang arrived at the scene, Yang Zhang, commander of the North City Military Command, and Fang Zhenru, the new censor who inspected North City, had already arrived.

Shen Guangzuo's arrival surprised them a little, but when he stepped out of the sedan chair, Fang Zhenru and Yang Zhang immediately came to greet him. "Greetings to Mr. Shen Zan and Mr. Tan Tui."

"Alright, alright." Shen Guangzuo returned the greeting perfunctorily and walked towards the courtyard where the crime occurred, asking, "Where's the body?"

"It's still hanging in the east wing." Yang Zhang quickly followed and gave instructions.

"Who discovered the body?" Shen Guangzuo stepped over the threshold and entered the small courtyard. Tan Shijiang, Fang Zhenru, and Yang Zhang followed him in.

In addition to the soldiers from the Military Command, there were three people standing in the yard: two elderly people and a child. Yang Zhang stretched out his hand, pointed at one of the elderly women, and said, "That's the old woman."

Shen Guangzuo looked in the direction indicated and saw that the two old men immediately knelt down, while the frightened child stood there motionless. But soon, he was also pulled down to his knees by the old men.

"Get up and follow me." After saying that, Shen Guangzuo went towards the room where the crime occurred.

The two elders and the young boy were clearly unwilling to follow and look at the corpse, but the soldiers in the yard didn't care. The roughnecks didn't bother to talk nonsense and simply grabbed their arms and dragged them towards the wing room.

The child started crying, and a soldier raised his arm to slap him. A strong slap could have knocked someone unconscious, but before the soldier could swing his hand, his arm was grabbed by the quick-eyed and quick-handed patrol officer. "What are you doing?"

"Shut up this little bastard. Otherwise he will scream and disturb the adults' peace." The soldier said with a flattering smile.

"Even if you want someone to shut up, you can't hit them. Besides, they're just a child." Fang Zhenru glared at Yang Zhang. Yang Zhang smiled awkwardly and turned to glance at the old man.

"My dear grandson, please stop crying." The old man came over to comfort the child. The child couldn't stop crying, so he simply covered the child's mouth.

The wing room was very small and could be seen in its entirety with just a glance, and the corpse was hanging on the main beam supporting the room.

Without looking closely, Shen Guangzuo could determine with a quick glance that this was a typical case of hanging: eyes bulging, eyes fixed, tongue sticking out, and limbs twisted.

Directly below the body was a small square table, and to the side and front of the body was a kicked-over stool. Shen Guangzuo walked around the table and found that the deceased was fully dressed, with no signs of his belt or pants being untied or removed.

"How can you be sure that this is a middleman?" Shen Guangzuo turned to look at Tan Shijiang.

"The old man said it himself." It was Yang Zhang who answered.

"Tell me." Shen Guangzuo looked at the old man.

The old man slumped to his knees. He had never dealt with a high-ranking official in red before, and he was terrified of getting into trouble. "Sir, your Excellency," he said, flustered, his mouth opening and closing, unable to form a complete sentence.

"You say!" Shen Guangzuo looked at the old woman again.

"Sir." Although the old woman was trembling, she could at least speak. "This is my guest. When he came to stay, he said he was from the palace. Since he was from the palace and had no beard, we mistook him for a father-in-law."

"Call the coroner." Shen Guangzuo said to Tan Shijiang.

"Yes." Tan Shijiang took the order and left the yard.

Shen Guangzuo asked the old woman again, "You said he was a guest, so when did he move in?"

"At the beginning of this month." said the old woman.

"Did you know each other before?" Shen Guangzuo looked around the room.

"I don't know him." The old woman knelt there and answered.

"Then why do you let him live here?" Shen Guangzuo opened the cabinet beside the bed and found a lot of neatly folded clothes inside.

"Why? He rented it." The old woman instinctively glanced at the corpse, but seeing the horrible appearance, she immediately retracted her gaze. "I have an empty house at home, and he wanted to live there. So we rented it."

"Renting? Have you signed the contract?" Shen Guangzuo rummaged through the cabinets, but there was nothing there except clothes.

"No." The old woman shook her head.

At this moment, the old man suddenly interrupted. "Master! We are illiterate. So we planned to ask a scholar to write the deed for us, but the man died before the deed could be signed."

(End of this chapter)