Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 375 Liaodong Branch and the Imperial Envoy Returning to Beijing

Wang An was a little hungry, so he ate a piece of mung bean cake with slightly cool tea.

"Do you want it?" Wang An handed another piece of mung bean cake to Cao Huachun.

"Thank you, Godfather." Cao Huachun was also hungry. He took the cake and swallowed it in just two or three bites.

"Is there any news from the East Factory?" Wang An raised his teacup and took another sip.

"There is no news yet from either the Tianjin Finance Department or Lord Wuqing." Cao Huachun knew what Wang An was referring to without asking any further questions.

"Tsk." Wang An frowned slightly. "Send someone to the East Factory to urge them. Forget it, it's only been two days. Let's wait a little longer."

Cao Huachun looked around, and after making sure that everyone in the hall was trustworthy and tight-lipped, he took the initiative to ask, "Is the matter with Lord Wuqing serious?"

"We don't know if anything happened, or how serious it is. We'll have to investigate thoroughly to find out. This could just be a simple gathering, or it could be something more." Wang An said quietly, "And there's a high chance it's something more."

"Son, cough!" Cao Huachun had eaten too hastily, and some tiny food residues got stuck in his throat, making it itchy. He covered his mouth and coughed lightly, "Son, I don't understand."

Wang An handed his teacup to Cao Huachun. "You put too many mung beans in, and they weren't ground finely enough, so there's a lot of residue. It's normal to have a lump in your throat. Drink some water to moisten it."

"Yes." Cao Huachun took the teacup.

As he drank, Wang An said, "It's normal for an invitee to plead sick and not attend. But it's abnormal for an invitee to not only plead sick but also to file a petition. And judging by the expressions of those three nobles, it seems they're trying to tell the palace that something's fishy with Marquis Wuqing." Wang An paused. "So, either Marquis Wuqing is up to something, or the Duke of Yingguo, the Duke of Dingguo, and the Earl of Yongning are up to something."

"Has there been no recent reports of close contact between the three lords?" Cao Huachun summoned a eunuch on duty and handed him a teacup. "Change it."

"Yes."

"We're on the same page." Wang An didn't want to continue the discussion, which was based solely on speculation. He asked, "Anything else?"

"One last thing." Cao Huachun closed the booklet and placed it on Wang An's desk. "The Cui Zhongqing delegation sent to Liaodong to entertain the troops has returned to Tongzhou. They will be able to enter Beijing tomorrow."

"Cui Zhongqing..." Wang An raised his eyebrows. "Cui Wensheng's son?"

"Yes." Cao Huachun said, "Cui Zhongqing is the second in command of Cui Dongchang."

Wang An nodded slightly and said, "We'll arrange a welcoming banquet, and then have the West Factory review it according to the regulations."

In order to prevent the eunuchs and imperial envoys sent from outside from arbitrarily exceeding their authority or accumulating private wealth under the banner of the palace, Zhu Changluo established a very strict monitoring process.

When the imperial envoys travel, they will be accompanied by an inspector from the Western Factory. This inspector will monitor the words and deeds of other members of the delegation, that is, the executive officers, and prepare a report.

In order to prevent the supervisors and executive officers from colluding with each other, after returning to Beijing to report, the executive officers would be audited by the Western Factory's External Inspection Department, while the supervisors would be audited by the Western Factory's Internal Inspection Department.

Moreover, the entire review process will be under the scrutiny of the Imperial Household Department, and the report generated during the review process will be submitted to the Liancaifang for material review.

Unless the entire imperial envoy team was in collusion, bribing all officials involved in the review process within both the Internal and External Inspection Bureaus, using "exposing corrupt officials" as a metric for rapid promotions, and ultimately allowing the Director of the Inspection Bureau and even the Junior Supervisor of the Clean Materials Office to become complicit in their corruption, there would be no possibility of overstepping their authority or amassing wealth. Under this supervisory structure, the emperor only needed to ensure that the Directors of the Inspection Bureaus were sufficiently clean and loyal to prevent most forms of corruption.

Furthermore, outside the inner court's supervisory system, there were also various civil and military officials in the places where the imperial envoys passed by. The imperial envoys' acts of exceeding their authority and amassing wealth could not bypass them, and were even directed against them.

"Yes." Cao Huachun replied.

"There is something for you to do." After listening to all the reports, Wang An began to assign tasks.

"Just follow your instructions." Cao Huachun immediately put on an attitude of listening attentively.

Wang An said, "The Emperor has ordered the establishment of local branches of the Sun Moon Bank in Guangning, Haizhou, and Gaizhou in Liaodong. You must arrange for withdrawals and transfers as soon as possible."

"Liaodong?" Cao Huachun was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Are you going to set up a Shandong branch? Where will the headquarters be located, Jinan or Liaoyang?"

Liaodong is a very special place. Ever since the Hongwu era, when prefectures and counties were abolished and only the garrisons remained, there has been no Provincial Administration Commissioner or Provincial Censorate, only a Military Commandery. It is a place governed purely by military means.

However, military officers, especially those with secure, hereditary positions, were extremely corrupt. Over generations, local livelihoods and military preparations rapidly declined. Therefore, starting with the Hongxi reign, civil servants were widely employed across the country to organize military documents and regulate local military affairs. Later, permanent positions such as military preparation governors, garrison governors, and patrol governors gradually developed.

These provincial officials served under either the Judicial and Censorate or the Provincial Administration Commissioner, typically holding titles such as Deputy Censor or Provincial Governor. However, Liaodong lacked either the Provincial Administration Commissioner or the Censorate, so these officials were forced to hold titles related to Shandong. After all, Liaodong and Shandong were one entity; instability in Liaodong would lead to chaos in Shandong. For example, Zhang Quan's official title was Deputy Censor of Shandong, responsible for military preparations for the Jin, Fu, Hai, and Gai prefectures, and also for overseeing horse administration and military farming.

However, Shandong's provincial governors and provincial judges had no jurisdiction over the provincial officials in Liaodong. They were nominally affiliated with Shandong's administrative and supervisory bodies, but in reality had little direct connection to Shandong. Provincial officials in Liaodong did not have to report to Shandong's administrative and supervisory bodies, and their promotions and dismissals were primarily decided by Liaodong, not Shandong. Their direct superior was the Liaodong Governor, who held the title of Duchayuan.

When Zhu Changluo was planning the bank's branch network, he considered establishing a separate branch in Liaodong. However, Liaodong's population and economic scale were still too small. Once the Ming-Jin War ended and the large number of foreign troops withdrew, the imperial court would no longer be pumping supplies into Liaodong, and the region's economic vitality would decline significantly. Therefore, after careful consideration, Zhu Changluo decided to incorporate the Liaodong branch under the Shandong branch, using the loose term "two capitals and thirteen provinces."

"The Shandong branch will not be established yet. The three Liaodong sub-branches will be temporarily affiliated with the Beijing branch. Wei Chao will issue orders regarding the arrangements with the Bank of China. You will need to send someone to liaise with them promptly." The emperor's words were enough to get everyone working overtime. The head office had to make personnel arrangements and work plans, as well as budgets for the cost of opening branches. The Imperial Household Department had to compile and review the personnel arrangements and budgets. "Yes," Cao Huachun nodded, then added, "Let me ask one more question. Didn't they say they would first establish branches in Northern Zhili, and then expand beyond after the Beijing branch was completed and sufficient pilot experience was gained? Why did they suddenly jump to Liaodong?"

Wang An thought for a moment, then, mimicking the emperor's words, said, "The purpose of establishing branches in Hai and Gai provinces is to recycle spot silver and accelerate the creditization of currency through silver bills for military pay and tax revenue. The establishment of a branch in Guangning may be to 'do business' with the Tatars."

"'Doing business' with the Tatars?" Cao Huachun asked. "Is it about the annual reward?"

"Well. His Majesty not only decided to continue to maintain the original annual reward, but also decided to purchase the money rat tail heads of the slaves from the Tatars at a price of fifty taels of silver." Wang An's expression was a little subtle.

Although Wang An had guessed long beforehand that the emperor would maintain the annual reward and use the fact that the enemy had not sent troops to help suppress the rebellion to maintain his negotiating advantage, he did not know how the emperor learned about the political situation on the grassland.

While the delicate relationship between the Chahar and Inner Khalkha tribes could be deduced logically based on the long-standing division and even hostility on the grasslands, the details of the interactions between Lindan Batur and Nurhaci, and even the killing of Lindan Batur's envoy by Nurhaci, were things Wang An had never seen or heard of.

When the emperor accurately revealed that Nurhaci had killed Kangkar Baihu, the envoy sent by the Chahar tribe to the Nu tribe, Wang An was no less surprised than Amudaihong Taiji. He had read all the old memorials regarding Liaodong that the emperor had reviewed, and he had even read many of them to the emperor himself. Yet, none of them mentioned these events.

Therefore, Wang An could only speculate that this information, which he had never encountered before, might have come from the secret memorials of Xiong Tingbi or Yang Lian. After all, these secret memorials were delivered directly to the right side room of the Qianqing Palace by eunuchs under Shi Fuming, and then presented to the emperor by Shi Fuming. Before the emperor took out the key and opened it, no one except the writer knew the contents of the secret memorials.

"Buying heads?" Cao Huachun's voice pulled Wang An out of his wandering thoughts. "So they're giving the Tatars a reward for their first achievement?"

"Yes!" Wang An nodded and said, "You can understand it that way."

"Won't they just use some fake heads to make up the numbers?" In Cao Huachun's view, these Tatars were a group of barbarians who only knew how to burn, kill, and loot and had no credibility.

"I don't know. Examining heads is the job of the civil servants." Wang An shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

"Godfather is right," Cao Huachun nodded, finally asking, "How much silver should we transport to the three branches as reserves?" Only with a written approval stamped with the Imperial Household Department's seal would the bank and the Internal Transport Depot open their warehouses and issue loans. These approvals were usually handwritten by Cao Huachun himself and then given to Wang An for stamping.

"One million taels." Wang An said.

"One million! So much?" Cao Huachun was shocked. So far, the total amount of silver withdrawn and silver bills received by the entire banking system was less than one million.

"Yes." Wang An's tone remained flat. "300,000 taels of silver in cash, 100,000 taels for each branch as reserve silver. The remaining 700,000 taels will be in banknotes. 200,000 each for Guangning and Haizhou, and 300,000 for Gaizhou." Zhu Changluo's plan was for these banknotes to gradually replace the excess cash in Liaodong.

"Yes," Cao Huachun replied. "Son will arrange it right away."

Wang An glanced at the sky, then took out his pocket watch and checked it. "Let's have dinner first. It's getting late."

--------

The next morning, Tianjin Zhongwei, Caoyun Wharf.

Tianjin Governor Sun Chengzong, Deputy Director of the Right Bureau of the Imperial Household Department Jin Zhong, Doctor Mi Wanzhong of the Ministry of Works' Construction Department, Lu Shanji, Director of the Ministry of Revenue's Grain Administration, Mao Yuanyi, the Guerrilla Commander of the Governor's Battalion, and Shen Zhengping, acting as the Pacification Commissioner of the Pacification Department, along with a group of Central Guard officers, stood at the highest point of the dock, quietly gazing at the rows of ships. In front of them, five hundred officers and soldiers from the First Division of the First Department of the Governor's Battalion lined up in formation. They had all come to greet the returning imperial envoy.

As early as yesterday afternoon, the Tianjin authorities received a dispatch from a small boat in Cangzhou, informing them that the Jinyiwei, who were heading south to arrest people, had crossed the border and were about to arrive in Tianjin. So early in the morning, Sun Chengzong and his men were waiting here.

The standard of this reception was quite high. From the governor himself to the eunuchs and the captains of the Qianhu Suo, Sun Chengzong had brought all the middle and senior officials that could be found in the entire Zhongwei.

No one had any objections to this. Selling out a Jinyiwei was a way to build good relationships. Moreover, many of them were counting on these Jinyiwei to let them go.

"Zhongcheng, look!" Mao Yuanyi pointed at a government ship at the end of his sight and shouted, "That ship is flying the flag of the Jinyiwei."

"Which ship?" Although Sun Chengzong was not old and his eyesight was blurry, he was almost sixty years old after all, and his eyesight was obviously not as good as Mao Yuanyi, a young man in his thirties. And Mao Yuanyi was pointing to more than one ship.

"It's that ship." Mao Yuanyi almost stood on tiptoe.

"Yes, I saw it." In fact, Sun Chengzong still didn't see it. He tugged at his official robe and straightened his official hat. "Let's go, let's go down."

"Okay." Mao Yuanyi nodded, and the other officials followed.

A quarter of an hour later, the official ship, flying the Jinyiwei flag, arrived at the dock. Lu Wenzhao, deputy captain of the Jinyiwei's Eastern Division, and several of his military officers, already fully dressed, stood proudly at the bow, swords in hand.

Pulled by the boatmen, the official ship docked steadily at the pier. The gangplank was lowered, and the Jinyiwei immediately lined up and disembarked.

Sun Chengzong personally led his men to greet them, much to Lu Wenzhao's delight. Undeterred, he quickly approached Sun Chengzong and the other officials, clasping his hands and bowing. "Your humble servant, Lu Wenzhao, greets Sun Zhongcheng. Greetings to Lu Zhushi, Mao Zanhua, and Shen Zhenfu." Lu Wenzhao had an excellent memory; he could remember everyone's face after just one encounter. But Lu Wenzhao noticed that among these familiar faces were two he had never seen before. Judging by their attire, one was a fifth-rank civil official in a green robe and white pheasant, while the other wore eunuch robes and a typical three-peaked hat.

Lu Wenzhao didn't know how to address the two men, so he just bowed and said, "Greetings to this eunuch, and greetings to this official."

(End of this chapter)