Di Ming

Chapter 52 Inn
As soon as the news broke that the Imperial Guards were investigating a case, all the patrons in the hall stopped drinking and looked in their direction.

Secret agents were everywhere, covering all major waterways and cities.

Any "seditious remarks" are immediately reported and the perpetrators are arrested; suppressing free speech is a routine practice.

At this moment, as the Imperial Guards stepped in to investigate, the once bustling restaurant fell into complete silence.

Qi Jiguang remained indifferent, observing coldly, clearly showing his strong aversion to the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

When Zhu Yin met his ancient counterparts, he secretly felt contempt.

You secret agents, besides suppressing speech, imprisoning thought, suppressing dissent, fabricating charges, creating prisons, using torture to extract confessions, and extorting money—

What else can they do?
You guys don't know anything! You're just targeting your own people.

Do you have intelligence on the Mongol tribes? Do you have intelligence on the Southeast Asian countries? Do you know the situation in Japan?

Not to mention the Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese who came to colonize the East and disrupted the Ming Dynasty's tributary system.

You can't even get the major domestic intelligence on things like the chieftains in the southwest, smuggling along the coast, local taxation, and the concealment of people?

Like your master, you are both incompetent and greedy.

Your master keeps so many of you lackeys, but he's no different from a deaf and blind man, easily deceived by those inside and outside the circle.

You guys are a disgrace to this industry.

If you were competent, how could you have allowed the Mongols to roam freely for two or three hundred years, only to eventually let the Jurchens outside the Great Wall become powerful? How could you have so easily lost the Three Proclamations and Six Comforts?

You don't even know who the ruler of Japan is. You didn't even try to stop the coup in the Kingdom of Joseon; you only found out much later.

A bunch of useless idiots.

Of course, the responsibility doesn't lie with you, but with your masters.

Ning Caiwei's face was also as cold as ice. Although she wasn't good at history, she knew what the Imperial Guards did.

Maintaining rule is understandable, after all, it's a machine of violence. But can't we stop focusing solely on trivial domestic issues and the plight of our subjects?

The Age of Exploration has been going on for over a century, and Western powers are practically under our noses. Japan is about to "do something big" in a few years. Can't you guys be a little more professional?
Nothing.

A group of parasites who are all bark and no bite, all bluster and no substance.

Just as everyone was worried about the "arrogant" scholar, they saw him put down his wine cup, glance at the secret agent of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and look at the ivory tablet with a mocking expression.

"Which garrison are you from? Or are you from the East or West Division of the capital?"

His tone was full of contempt, as if he didn't even care about the East and West Divisions of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

"Oh, you're not from the East or West offices, so you... aren't a thing. Hahaha!"

He was already intoxicated, and not only did he curse without fear, but he also laughed loudly and unrestrainedly.

Strangely, the two young scholars drinking with him at the same table also wore smiles and disdainful expressions, showing no fear whatsoever.

"You..." The secret agent from the Imperial Guard who was handling the case couldn't help but become serious upon seeing how arrogant this person was.

Although he was very angry at being called a scoundrel, his momentum actually weakened.

The drunken scholar chuckled mockingly and said:

"Do you think this is still the beginning of the nation? Or do you think that bastard Lu Bing is still alive?"

"Do you really think you can just run wild in this Ming Dynasty? Don't you know who's in charge? Huh?!"

He took out the scholar's academic credentials, the floating ticket, and the supervisor's certificate from Beiyong, and flashed them in front of the secret agents of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

"Did you see that clearly? My surname is Zhao."

“My grandparents (prefects) of Yanzhou, Zhao Fengwu, were my uncles. My great-grandparents (provincial governors) of Shandong, Su Zaiting, were my fathers-in-law.”

"Zhao Zhigao, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, is my grandfather. Do you understand?"

The Jinyiwei spy looked at his official credentials and the Northern Yong Bureau certificate, and his legs went weak.

This young scholar was actually the grandson of Zhao Zhigao, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the son-in-law of Su Zaiting, the Provincial Governor of Shandong, and the nephew of the Prefect of Yanzhou!

A civil official like the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel is someone you can't afford to offend, let alone a mere bannerman or even a commander in the capital.

With just a word from the officials, even a high-ranking official like Qi Shaobao was dismissed and stripped of his salary, let alone a commander.

"So it's Young Master Zhao, I..." The Jinyiwei spy immediately revealed a servile smile.

He quickly picked up a wine glass from the table next to him, filled it with wine, and said, "I have offended you, I was blind to your greatness, I will punish myself with three cups!"

Without waiting for the other person to speak, he downed three cups in a row.

"Get lost," Young Master Zhao said indifferently.

"Yes." The secret agent of the Embroidered Uniform Guard bowed and left in a disheveled state with his subordinates.

As soon as he left, many people burst into laughter, and their eyes were filled with awe as they looked at Young Master Zhao.

Zhu Yin's small face also revealed an undisguised look of disdain.

I despise the corrupt and cowardly secret agents of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and I also despise my father for being the son of a high-ranking official.

All of these were wonders of the late Ming Dynasty, but in reality, they were birds of a feather.

He wasn't surprised at all by this scene. The authority of the Embroidered Uniform Guard had been declining ever since its commander was beaten to death by civil officials in the imperial court.

As the power of civil officials grew, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, which had struck fear into the hearts of officials in the early Ming Dynasty, began to behave timidly in front of them.

In an effort to revitalize the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Chenghua Emperor established the East and West Offices, but to no avail.

Seeing that the Embroidered Uniform Guard was no longer effective in intimidating people, Emperor Chenghua had no choice but to create the Western Depot.

It wasn't until the Jiajing era that the Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) regained its prominence for several decades, thanks to the old Taoist priest's extreme favoritism towards Lu Bing, the commander of the Jinyiwei.

By the late Ming Dynasty, civil officials had intensified their suppression of the secret police and imperial guards. Even though the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, the head of the secret police and imperial guards, held the power to approve imperial edicts, the power of the secret police and imperial guards continued to decline.

Later, when Wei Zhongxian came to power, the power of the secret police and the imperial guards increased dramatically. But that was just a last gasp, a madness before death.

With Wei Zhongxian dead, the Imperial Guard and the secret police were completely trampled underfoot by the civil officials and could never recover.

The conclusion of "A History of Intelligence in Ancient China" is that the reason why the Ming Dynasty's secret police and secret police declined was that, although they had the emperor's strong support, they were extremely reactionary.

In other words, the things it does are rarely beneficial to the country and its people, but mostly bring disaster to the country and its people.

Its main activities are controlling thought, suppressing speech, and cracking down on dissent; it rarely provides valuable domestic or foreign intelligence.

Even intelligence on neighboring hostile forces was rarely collected or investigated, leaving the Ming Dynasty in a very passive position regarding its domestic and foreign policies.

Zhu Yin suddenly felt like laughing. Many people use those few isolated cases to exaggerate how powerful the Imperial Guard's intelligence capabilities were. Do they really understand the Imperial Guard?
The Imperial Guard was not a true intelligence agency, but rather a personal guard. Their intelligence work was also quite amateurish.

Although the Ming Dynasty had a massive secret police force, its intelligence capabilities were not improved compared to those of the Tang and Song Dynasties; in fact, they regressed.

Even in the late Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty knew what was happening in Tibet, Khitan, Japan, Goryeo, Arabia, and India.

The Song Dynasty was also very professional in its intelligence gathering on hostile forces.

However, by the Ming Dynasty, despite having a large-scale secret police force, the military strength of the local chieftains was unclear. Foreign wars suffered from a severe lack of intelligence support, and the country was riddled with spies, resulting in the repeated leaks of major secrets.

The intelligence agency I want to establish must replace the role of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

At this moment, Young Master Zhao continued, "Where were we? Oh, we were talking about the emperor's neglect of his duties."

"If we really want to govern by doing nothing, that would be a good thing. The court will be managed by the ministers. As long as there are upright officials in the court, the world will naturally be at peace."

"But His Majesty wants to neglect state affairs and enjoy pleasure, and he doesn't trust the outer court, favoring only eunuchs and courtiers. How can the affairs of the country possibly be in good condition?"

Another person said, "Brother Zhao is absolutely right!"

"Your Majesty is mistaken!"

Zhu Yin shook his head inwardly. "Just listen to you? That might only make things worse."

Aren't you the ones who do coastal smuggling and the abolition of commercial taxes?

You, Zhao, are from Zhejiang, aren't you? Your Jinhua County is a wealthy county, yet your total commercial tax revenue in the sixth year of the Wanli Emperor's reign was less than seven taels!
The commercial tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty was less than one-tenth of that of the Southern Song Dynasty, which was confined to a corner of the country. Who was behind this?
Even if we follow the ancestral system of paying one-thirtieth of the tax, it would still be far more than that!
...

The food and drinks at the canal wharf were very expensive. The group ordered more than a dozen dishes and two pots of Shaoxing wine, which cost Ning Caiwei a full five taels of silver.

After finishing their meal, the group found a large inn nearby and booked five rooms, agreeing to stay only one night. The food, lodging, horse feed, and bean cakes cost them nearly ten taels of silver!

Otherwise, why would people say that going out is difficult every day? Every little movement costs money.

too expensive.

Zhu Yin and the Ning sisters, along with Black Tiger, lived in the Bingchen Room.

At night, while Ning Caiwei was taking a bath behind the screen, Zhu Yin secretly took a cigarette from the medicine box, had Galo hold the door for Ning Caiwei in his place, and then slipped out of the room.

He walked past a guest room and came to a corner.

I've been in the Ming Dynasty for half a year now.

Behind this place is a pavilion with several large vats, as well as water guns and water cannons made of large bamboo tubes, which are Ming Dynasty versions of fire-fighting equipment.

The large water tanks were filled with water. Next to each water tank was a water gun or water cannon.

This location is the highest, so if the inn catches fire, water guns and cannons with a range of several meters can cover the entire fire site from above, leaving no blind spots.

Therefore, this place is relatively remote.

Zhu Yin put his hand into the large water vat, looking quite content.

Just then, he suddenly heard someone talking behind the pavilion.

Zhu Yin listened carefully, and it turned out to be:

“...In the Dingyou room lived a young man with fair skin, tender flesh, red lips and white teeth, count him.”

"There's also a young woman living in Jia Yin's house, and her father and brother live next door. She can also be taken advantage of."

"...The boy and girl in Bingchen Room are very well-matched, like a golden boy and a jade girl. In particular, the little girl not only looks like she's from a painting, but also has unbound feet. The Songpu ship owner will definitely offer a high price for her. It's several hundred taels of silver, a guaranteed profit."

"Then the cost of this voyage will be recovered."

"Do you want to do it or not?"

"Dry!"

(End of this chapter)