The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 4: Testing the Sword's Forging Power Among Ministers and Officials

As autumn fades and the mountains turn into a landscape of withered leaves, the verdant hills have been transformed into a scene of desolation.

The willow leaves are gone, only the branches remain.

Li Qi and his family of four, along with Princess Lin'an's maid, stood in the courtyard, surrounded by dozens of palace guards armed with knives.

"Boom!"

"Boom boom boom!"

There were more than a dozen corpses lying in the courtyard, all with broken bones and rotten flesh, completely unrecognizable as human, a sight that sent chills down one's spine.

Beside the corpse, more than a dozen people were being tortured. Black and red water-fire sticks were pounded heavily on their bodies, leaving them bloody and mangled, barely alive, like the third prince of the Dragon King whose tendons had been stripped off. Even their painful groans could hardly be heard.

Today's situation is that Eunuch Chen returned to the palace with Princess Lin'an's suicide note and recounted what he had seen and heard, which indeed enraged Zhu Yuanzhang.

He originally wanted to observe Li Qi further, but his daughter was pregnant, and some unscrupulous people were eyeing her.

So he immediately issued an imperial edict ordering Li Qi and his family to return to the capital, and at the same time sent people to Jiangpu to have the guards and the entire Jiangpu county government staff beaten to death.

This method of execution by caning was not a simple punishment; it involved breaking every bone in the body with each blow before finally stopping the patient's breathing. It was an extremely painful and cruel form of torture.

Princess Lin'an covered Li Mao's eyes and ears, gently comforting him, "Mao'er, don't be afraid, these people all deserved their fate."

Li Qi watched this scene helplessly, feeling neither the thrill of successful revenge nor the exhilaration of escaping from prison.

He kept reminding himself that this was the cruel reality of ancient times, where even death was not peaceful, and this was the consequence of losing a political struggle. He had to win every time from now on!
Li Qi walked over to Zhao Cheng, whose body was shaking like a leaf.

Zhao Cheng looked up and saw that the sun was behind Li Qi, and the heavy shadow made him look even taller and bigger.

"Zhao Cheng, who told you that I, the imperial son-in-law, have been exiled to Jiangpu County? And who instructed you to come and intimidate me? Tell me, and I will have someone give you a quick death and leave you with a whole corpse."

Tears streamed down Zhao Cheng's face. He knew he had no chance of survival and didn't want to suffer such a terrible torment before his death. Trembling, he uttered a name, "It was Yang Jing, the Minister of Justice. His subordinate told me about it and hinted that if I succeeded, I could be transferred to Yingtian Prefecture. However, he was very cautious and burned all the correspondence."

Li Qi could tell that Zhao Cheng wasn't lying.

Yang Jing!

An unexpected yet perfectly logical name.

Li Qi noted it down, pointed at the executioner, and said, "Give him a quick death."

After saying that, he turned and left. He didn't like to make threats and slap people in the face. The great terror of death was enough to make them feel endless regret.

Regret is the most painful emotion in the world.

Zhao Cheng was dragged away, and the palace guards swiftly killed him with a single blow. As for the other county yamen runners, they were all beaten to death with clubs. The glaring blood flowed in a winding stream outside the courtyard, staining the area red.

Next year, the babbling waters will be teeming with fish and shrimp.

……

Jiangpu is separated from Beijing by only a river, but for Li Qi's family, it felt like they had stepped from darkness into light.

No one could have imagined that, in such a short time, Li, who had been exiled to Jiangpu, would return to the capital.

Li Qi achieved a minor victory in a very difficult situation.

One will be a million bones.

Some paid a bloody price for it, such as the Imperial Guards who guarded them, and Zhao Cheng, the magistrate of Jiangpu County, who has already passed away.

The capital city is a place that can be described as a den of dragons and tigers, and those who are hiding behind the Hu Weiyong case are still eyeing it covetously.

There were imperial guards, civil officials, and nobles.

Those people, sitting high in the halls of power, looking down upon the world, could make the Ming Dynasty tremble with a stomp of their feet. They were far beyond the reach of him, a mere idle man without any official position.

Those people were hidden in the shadows, like dark statues, except for the one of Yang Jing, the Minister of Justice, which was bright.

Li Qi went ashore and helped the pregnant Princess Lin'an off the boat. Looking back at the rolling Yangtze River, he felt a surge of pride.

[Li Shi escaped exile, achievement points +100, current achievement points: 100]

In just a few months, everything has changed.

However, Li's return to the capital was still a historic moment, and the system celebrated it. The 100 achievement points were enough to exchange for a basic item in the system shop.

If used properly, it can also break the deadlock.

Since you didn't kill me in Jiangpu, then it's your turn to die!
……

Only a very few people knew that Li Qi and his family of four had returned to the capital, such as Princess Huaiqing, the half-sister of Princess Lin'an, and Crown Prince Zhu Biao, who personally handled the matter.

Upon returning to the capital, the first thing they did was find a place to stay. Since Princess Lin'an had her own residence, the emperor did not arrange any new accommodations for them.

However, in order to keep a low profile, the family has no plans to move there for the time being.

When the Korean government's residence was confiscated, it had already been sealed off and taken back to the government, so naturally it could not be returned.

However, not all of Li's property was confiscated by the state.

In ancient times, the country was governed by filial piety, and cutting off someone's family line was a very serious matter.

To demonstrate the imperial court's respect for filial piety, the Ming Dynasty Code clearly stipulated that ancestral property (such as sacrificial fields, ancestral halls, and tombs) usually enjoyed special exemptions when property was confiscated.

Even after Yan Song's family was raided during the Jiajing reign, the ancestral hall and sacrificial fields of the Yan clan were still managed by members of the Yan clan.

In Dream of the Red Chamber, Qin Keqing once advised Wang Xifeng to take advantage of the family's wealth to acquire more ancestral land and sacrificial land, so that even if the family declined in the future, there would still be hope for revival. This is a manifestation of this law.

The Li family owned a two-courtyard house in the capital, which was classified as an ancestral hall in the official records and was never confiscated.

The family quietly moved into the Li residence.

This place was much more comfortable than the farmhouses in Jiangpu. Everyone was tense and quite tired, so they went inside to rest.

There are no secrets that stay hidden forever, and the fact that Jiangpu County Magistrate Zhao Cheng and more than a dozen Imperial Guards were beaten to death could not be kept from the people behind them.

Fortunately, it was the end of the year, and officials in various departments of the capital were extremely busy, leaving no time for important figures to spare.

This was because the important officials of the Six Ministries and Nine Courts had to enter the palace before the end of the year to hold a meeting before the emperor to report on their work throughout the year. In the twenty-third year of Hongwu's reign, the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review were naturally the busiest, with the Ministry of Justice, which was in charge of major cases, handling the most affairs.

For a time, Yang Jing, the Minister of Justice, only knew that Li Qi had returned to the capital, but he was unaware of the inside story or what had happened in Jiangpu County.

The night was dim in the residence of the Minister of Justice.

Yang Jing, a high-ranking official of the second rank and Minister of Justice, was secretly plotting with two or three others in a dark room. This Yang Jing was no ordinary person.

He was originally from Shanyang County, Huai'an Prefecture, and was born in the Jianghuai region, a place known for its rich literary tradition.

He became a Jinshi in the eighteenth year of the Hongwu reign and was selected as a probationary official in the Ministry of Personnel. In the nineteenth year of the Hongwu reign, he was promoted to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

While Zhu Yuanzhang's ruthless killing of those with higher ranks was certainly a factor, his own abilities were also exceptional.

In May of the 22nd year of the Hongwu reign, he was promoted to Minister of Revenue, becoming the chief financial steward of the Ming Empire.

In May of the 23rd year of the Hongwu reign, he was appointed Minister of Justice. In other periods, this would be considered a demotion, but in the Hongwu era, when major cases were frequent, it was a sign of being given an important post.

Thus, Yang Jing became the presiding judge in the case involving Li Shi and Hu Weiyong, holding the power of life and death over tens of thousands of people, and was extremely powerful for a time.

The magistrate of Jiangpu County was ordered to commit suicide by imperial decree. The Li family returned to the capital, and he was filled with anxiety ever since he learned of this.

At this moment, the accomplices gathered together, and Yang Jing immediately brought up the matter, "Princess Lin'an and Li Qi have been summoned back to the capital by His Majesty. His Majesty would actually allow the family members of the mastermind of the rebellion to return to the capital at this critical juncture. His Majesty must have a deeper meaning in doing this. Could it be that His Majesty has changed his mind?"

In Yang Jing's view, if the emperor wanted to eliminate the lingering poison of Hu Weiyong's rebellion, he could not show any sign of softening his stance, and recalling the orphans of the Duke of Han's family was a signal to the outside world.

Mao Xiang, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who suddenly launched the Hu Weiyong case, was killed by the emperor after he confiscated the Han family mansion. The current emperor is used to do things like discarding a donkey after it has served its purpose, killing people from both sides.

The man to his left said in a deep voice, "Lord Yang is overthinking it. If His Majesty hadn't given his approval, Li Shanchang wouldn't have died. Our Emperor has always prided himself on being wise and infallible, and he would never go back on his word."

I disagreed with your decision to have Zhao Cheng, the magistrate of Jiangpu County, force him to commit suicide.

His career is ruined, he poses no threat, and we can let him fend for himself. Now, the fact that His Majesty, out of consideration for the princess, allowed him to return to the capital has become a problem.

The man in the black robe on the left also said, "We all know Li Qi. He's just an average-looking guy. He can't possibly guess what's going on behind the scenes. There's no need to worry unnecessarily."

Let's see what he does next. Besides, the three of us were just going with the flow back then; it was the Embroidered Uniform Guard who really took action.

Although Mao Xiang is dead, there are still others in the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Those lackeys and henchmen are not easy to deal with, and Li Qi could find himself imprisoned again at any time.

Yang Jing said coldly, "If you don't cut the weeds at the root, they will grow back in the spring breeze. How many heroes and great men have died because of this? It's just a pity that my plan failed, otherwise there would be nothing to say."

Both of them knew that Yang Jing had a strong personality, so they said nothing more.

Yang Jing knew that everyone else was hiding behind the scenes, but he had made a mistake with the magistrate of Jiangpu County, which was a big hidden danger.

If Li Qi were truly just an ordinary commoner, that would be one thing, but the fact that he was able to return to the capital proves that he still has the ability to reach the emperor directly, and that is the most dangerous thing!
……

The study in the Li family's villa was illuminated by candlelight.

Li Qi wrote the two characters "Yang Jing" heavily on the white paper, his force penetrating the back of the paper.

He stared at the name, his eyes unblinking. Yang Jing was plotting against him, and he was naturally plotting against Yang Jing as well.

Most people know that the Hu Weiyong case involved founding dukes and marquises because Zhu Yuanzhang had doubts about the founding heroes and wanted to kill them.

But in reality, this was not just Zhu Yuanzhang's will alone.

After the magistrate of Jiangpu County confessed to the name, Li Qi did not have much doubt. One reason was that he already believed that Yang Jing was likely one of the masterminds behind the extermination of the Li clan.

The evidence is the date when Yang Jing was promoted to Minister of Justice – “May of the 23rd year of Hongwu”!
"The investigation into the Hu Weiyong case began in the 20th year of the Hongwu reign, but it was not until May of the 23rd year of the Hongwu reign that the emperor made up his mind to settle accounts with the Han family. At this time, Yang Jing was transferred to the Ministry of Justice and became the presiding judge in the Hu Weiyong case involving the Li family. He was in charge of the life and death of tens of thousands of people and was very powerful for a time."

The fact that Yang Jing was behind the magistrate of Jiangpu County, coupled with the timing of this transfer, is no coincidence. Li Qi is 80% certain that Yang Jing is one of the masterminds behind the scenes.

"Then the next step is to figure out how to bring down this one of the Nine Ministers of the court."

In the early Ming Dynasty, the six ministers, the commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review, the chief justice, and the left censor-in-chief were collectively known as the "Nine Ministers," who stood at the pinnacle of civil official power in the Ming Dynasty. Each of them was second only to the emperor and above all others.

Only princes and the left and right commanders of the Five Armies Commandery could rival them.

In other eras, without any official position, it would have been a pipe dream for him to try and overthrow such a giant; he wouldn't even have been qualified to become cannon fodder.

After all, during the Ming Dynasty, even the cannon fodder who charged into battle were censors of the Censorate, proper officials.

But this was the Hongwu reign!
The Hongwu reign, a time when officials were killed as easily as chickens.

In the political struggles of the Hongwu reign, official positions and ranks were the least important things.

A commoner can overthrow a duke or marquis.

A peasant woman can implicate a high-ranking official.

The slander of a servant could lead to the execution of a duke and twenty-one marquises.

In this era, no evidence was needed to convict someone. As long as someone reported it, there was the whistleblower's testimony, and the emperor approved it, a conviction could be made.

By the twenty-third year of the Hongwu reign, almost all the founding ministers had been eliminated. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely powerful, and he alone dominated the world.

Moreover, he was very fond of doing things himself, so during the Hongwu reign, countless officials used the emperor's hand to eliminate political enemies.

The saying "Law is the will of the ruling class" was fully embodied during the Hongwu reign.

Whoever can obey the emperor's will and then change their stance and position will be able to win indefinitely!
Hu Weiyong couldn't see clearly, Li Shanchang couldn't see clearly, Lan Yu couldn't see clearly, and so they died.

Or perhaps they deliberately ignored the potential dangers for the sake of immediate huge profits, and thus they died.

Li Qi would never make that mistake!
Is it difficult to kill a Minister of Justice?
It's difficult, after all, such a person can't be successfully framed by ordinary people. Moreover, Yang Jing had just solved the major case of Hu Weiyong, and at this time, the emperor's tolerance for Yang Jing was at its highest.

But it's not difficult at all!
Those in power today only remember grudges, not favors. No matter how great your achievements, they will only say "it should be this way." If you make even the slightest mistake, your family will be wiped out and your clan exterminated.

By the twenty-third year of the Hongwu reign, there had been five Ministers of Justice before Yang Jing. Only the first one died a natural death; the other four were all executed.

All it takes to kill Yang Jing is to put him on the opposite side of Zhu Yuanzhang.

This was far too easy for Li Qi, who was well-versed in various events during the Hongwu era!

After a moment's thought, Li Qi recalled a rather famous case that occurred during the Hongwu era. The case seemed simple on the surface, but in reality, it involved the military reforms and political climate of the Ming Dynasty.

Below Yang Jing's name, he wrote some scattered words: "Anfeng County, Yangzhou Prefecture", "Mongol", "Ming Dynasty", "Military Household".

After thinking for a moment, he remembered the Five Military Commissions and the Ministry of War, and wrote down on the next line: "Guard Posts", "Military Farms", and "Finance and Taxation".

No one could understand the meaning of these scattered characters, but Li Qi's eyes were full of cold light. To him, these characters were excellent materials for forging swords.

Using this material, forge a sharp sword to pierce your political enemies!

Once this sword is drawn, even high-ranking officials will perish!

The flickering candlelight cast a chilling light on Li Qi's eyes.

(End of this chapter)