Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 47 New official takes office
After the Beginning of Winter, warmth became a luxury. Even though Beijing hadn't yet seen its first snow of the 48th year of the Wanli Emperor's reign, the Taiye Lake had already begun to freeze over. The thin, easily broken ice always evokes the transparent, membranous wings of summer cicadas. But forget the intrusive chirping; once you settle down and quiet your mind, aside from the human voices and the hum of the wind, the vast Forbidden City becomes devoid of all other sounds.

The talented woman Mi Mengshang sat in a side hall at the back of the main office of the Western Investigation Bureau, near the Taiye Lake. This was the office Wei Zhongxian had prepared for her. Although it was a side hall at the back, the decoration inside was even more luxurious than the main hall Wei Zhongxian used himself.

Mi Mengshang was holding a pen with a blank memorial in front of her.

With the West Factory newly established, the Internal Audit Department had little use. Conversely, the External Audit Department's workload was overwhelming, nearly overwhelming Wang Chengen's brains. Confiscated funds, accounts from the Zheng residence, confessions from suspects, witness testimony, requests for payment from the Ministry of Revenue, and demand for payment from the Ministry of War—the sheer complexity of the task at hand meant that even assigning the entire Southern Study's Accounts Clearing Team to Wang Chengen wouldn't be enough.

At the beginning, Mi Mengshang found her direct superior Wei Zhongxian, hoping that he could get some manpower to support the Waijisi, but Wei Zhongxian politely but firmly rejected her on the grounds that there were no civil servants in the Executive Bureau.

After a moment's reflection, Mi Mengshang understood the underlying situation: Wei Zhongxian was avoiding suspicion. Even if the Director of the Executive Bureau or the Western Factory's Commander couldn't find a civilian, wouldn't the eunuchs in charge of the Imperial Household Department be able to find one? He didn't want to, or perhaps didn't dare, interfere with the Inspection Bureau's personnel.

Therefore, Director Mi could only look up.

Wei Zhongxian's only supervisors were the eunuch Wang An and the Emperor Zhu Changluo. She first approached Wang An, but he explicitly stated that the Imperial Household Department only had leadership responsibility for the Western Depot and lacked personnel authority. Furthermore, as the palace's chief steward, he was not responsible for any requests for concubines beyond their daily needs. Thus, Mi Mengshang's path was blocked, leaving her with no choice but to appeal to the Emperor for help.

How should one write a memorial? Teacher Zhu hadn't taught her anything. Mi Mengshang had just picked up her pen when she got stuck on the first word because she didn't know whether to call herself "minister" or "concubine."

She got angry whenever she thought about this. Although Mi Mengshang had guessed that Zhu Changluo would give her a difficult and offensive job, she never expected that Zhu Changluo would actually treat her as a man.

On the day the Western Factory was founded, Zhu Changluo sent Wang An to summon her. He solemnly presented her with a set of clothes and told her to change into them quickly. Looking at the crimson fabric and the gold thread used for decoration, Mi Mengshang half-thought that Zhu Changluo had finally caught on, noticed her charm, and started showering her with gifts.

She was very good at imagining things, and she thought about the scene of putting on and taking off clothes in a flash, which made her face blush.

But once she put the clothes on, she realized it was completely different. The scarlet flying fish dress, gold thread soap pattern boots, and gold lychee belt, the clothes Zhu Changluo gave her were basically men's clothes.

She was so ashamed and angry that she wanted to find a hole to crawl into.

What was even more infuriating was that Zhu Changluo kept nodding his head when he saw her wearing the inappropriate men's clothing. While nodding, he kept saying things like "I've wanted to try it for a long time, it really looks good".

Just when she began to suspect that the lustful emperor, after having sex with seven women, had suddenly changed his mind and was interested in other men, Zhu Changluo unexpectedly gave her a gold-inlaid jade token. The token was engraved with the name "Mi Mengshang, Director of the Western Inspection Bureau."

It turns out that it is not for men to use, but for men to use.

"How should I write this memorial?" Mi Mengshang was so anxious that she scratched her head and sighed. "How about calling myself a concubine? That's definitely not okay. It's like mixing men and women. If it gets out, I'll be laughed to death."

After much deliberation, she finally wrote a rather straightforward memorial to Zhu Changluo, beginning with her title of concubine. Apart from the clichés praising the emperor's wisdom and understanding, she didn't waste any extra ink. The reply arrived the next day, consisting of only two sentences:
It is understood that when vacancies arise, specially educated eunuchs will be transferred from the Inner Academy to fill the vacancies. Now, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Justice have been temporarily ordered to send special personnel to assist.

If you have something to say, come directly to the Southern Study, don’t write a memorial.

Seeing the second sentence, Mi Mengshang's mind wandered again. She thought the emperor valued her greatly. After all, even the cabinet's chief minister, Fang Congzhe, had to report his request for an audience, yet she could go directly to the Southern Study. Then she thought her memorial was so poorly written that it annoyed him.

While I was worried about gains and losses, the special personnel from the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Justice arrived.

Mi Mengshang got the news and went out to greet them, and found that the team was led by two old men with white beards.

"I am Mi Mengshang, Director of the Inspection Bureau. May I ask who these two gentlemen are?"

Your humble servant? The Emperor lets a concubine manage such a confidential department. Aren't you afraid that the harem will interfere in government affairs?

Huang Kezan was stunned for a moment when he saw Mi Mengshang in her flying fish costume, thinking she was some newly promoted young eunuch. But as soon as he heard the name, he realized that this was not a eunuch, but a female official. Looking at Wei Zhongxian's expression, it was obvious that he was not treating his superiors like a subordinate, but rather a servant like a master. The answer was clear: this woman in front of him was no ordinary female official, but must be the emperor's new favorite concubine.

The emperor still couldn't change his impatient temper. As soon as his complexion improved, he began to let himself go again. Li Ruhua sighed silently in his heart.

"Minister of Justice Huang Kezan." Heaven, earth, emperor, relatives, and teacher, Huang Kezan naturally would not kneel down to Mi Mengshang, so he just reluctantly performed the salute as a colleague, but even so, he still felt disgusted.

"Li Ruhua, the Minister of Revenue." Li Ruhua's attitude was slightly better. After all, the procedures for withdrawing stolen goods and compensating his salary had not been completed. If the woman in front of him blocked him, he would be bombarded by low-level officials who needed money to live.

The officials from the two ministries came in person? Mi Mengshang sensed the hostility of the two ministers, but she didn't neglect them. She bowed and said, "Master Huang, Master Li. I'll leave the rest to you."

Huang Kezan brought with him three doctors of the fifth rank, three chief officers of the sixth rank, and several prison wardens of the ninth rank. They quickly began to interrogate the prisoners and witnesses.

But the Ministry of Revenue wasn't so quick. Li Ruhua also brought three doctors, three chiefs, and some clerks skilled in bookkeeping and auditing. But when they contacted the External Audit Office, they discovered they were using the so-called new numerals. Apart from Li Ruhua, who had purchased and carefully studied "Elementary Mathematics Diagrams" and had a certain level of decipherability, no one else could recognize these cryptic symbols.

However, Mi Mengshang had anticipated this situation, so she simply arranged for the officials of the Ministry of Revenue to organize the original documents in their own way to form traditional account books.

The "Account Clearing Team" then gradually constructed new ledgers based on the methods previously used to handle the accounts of the Imperial Household Department. The accounts of the twenty-four Imperial Household Departments were far from complete, but the first case of the Western Depot was more important, so matters there had to be put aside for the time being.

(End of this chapter)