How can one be Emperor Chongzhen without money?

Chapter 324 Concealing One's Strength and Biding One's Time, Turning Enemies into Friends

On the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month, at Dagongfang in Nanjing.

On this day, the residence bestowed upon Xu Da, the Prince of Zhongshan, was decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers, yet a tense and ominous atmosphere hung in the air.

Soldiers stood guard both inside and outside the mansion gates. They weren't the old guards from the Nanjing garrison; they were all cavalrymen transferred from the north. Tall and strong, they wore dark iron armor and red coats from the Imperial Guard, their eyes fierce, silently reining in their horses and standing in the cold wind.

This was a hundred iron cavalrymen from the Hetao region brought by Gao Yigong. The moment they stood there, the soft, gentle air of Jiangnan seemed to freeze.

Xu Yunzhen, the Duke of Dingguo, a distant relative of the Duke of Wei, along with several other Nanjing nobles still in office, including Chang Xuanzhen, Marquis of Huaiyuan, Liu Zuochang, Marquis of Anyuan, and Tang Guozuo, Marquis of Lingbi, were all "invited" to attend the ceremony. Qian Qianyi, the Minister of Rites, was also present. They were all dressed in auspicious robes, but their faces showed little joy; their eyes kept glancing outwards, watching the menacing northern cavalry outside the gate.

The ancestral hall was filled with the smoke of incense.

Xu Chengye, dressed in the imperial robes and cap bestowed upon him by the emperor, knelt before the memorial tablet of his ancestor Xu Da. The imperial envoy unfurled the yellow silk edict and read it aloud at the top of his lungs.

"...By special decree, all titles and ranks of Xu Hongji and Xu Yinjue are stripped, and they are to be handed over to the judicial authorities for strict investigation. The title of Duke of Wei shall be inherited by Xu Chengye, a member of a collateral branch of the Xu family. I hope you will perform well and restore the family's honor..."

Xu Chengye respectfully kowtowed and accepted the imperial edict and golden seal.

The ceremony was considered complete.

According to custom, a grand banquet should have been held. However, Xu Chengye turned around, cleared his throat, and spoke loudly to the clan elders and officials inside and outside the ancestral hall.

"Today, I, Xu Chengye, have been granted this title by the Emperor's grace, and I dare not fail to live up to it. In order to glorify the clan and consolidate our foundation, from this day forward, I will thoroughly investigate the accounts of all the land properties in this estate!"

A commotion immediately broke out below.

Xu Chengye ignored him and continued, "Except for the sacrificial fields and burial fields bestowed by Emperor Taizu Gao, which remain untouched, all other fields, including official fields, military farms, and civilian fields, that have been concealed or embezzled, will have half confiscated and handed over to the Grand Canal Salt and Grain General Bank once verified!"

These words were like cold water poured into a hot oil pan; they exploded with a whoosh.

Xu Chengye raised his voice: "The other half of the land that wasn't penalized, plus a portion of the estate land in the public treasury, will be distributed to the poor illegitimate sons of each branch of the household according to the Emperor's 'benevolent decree'! Each household will receive twenty to fifty mu, and will be issued 'perpetual land deeds' bestowed by the Emperor!"

"Xu Chengye! Have you gone mad!" a shrill female voice wailed. It was Xu Yinjue's unfortunate mother. "You're wasting our money! How can you face our ancestors?"

Several direct descendants of the clan also jumped out, beating their chests and stamping their feet in frustration.

"Xu Chengye! This won't do! How can ancestral property be so easily divided among collateral branches?"

"This is tantamount to destroying the family and courting its own demise!"

The ancestral hall was in complete chaos. Xu Chengye stood beneath the ancestral tablets, his face taut with tension.

At that moment, Gao Yigong made a move. He took a step forward, the armor plates on his saber rustling loudly. He didn't shout, but only gave a wink to a cavalry sergeant beside him.

The squad leader drew half of his gleaming saber with a "whoosh" and roared, "Silence!"

The ten cavalrymen behind him simultaneously drew their swords half an inch from their positions, their movements perfectly synchronized. A flash of cold light appeared, and a chilling killing intent immediately spread out.

All the crying and fussing stopped instantly.

Gao Yigong scanned the crowd, his gaze sweeping over the pale-faced nobles and relatives, and slowly spoke, his voice low, yet each word striking like a hammer blow: "By imperial decree, assist the Duke of Wei in implementing his new policies. Anyone who dares to disobey or deliberately cause trouble will be treated as a traitor and executed without exception!"

"Understood!" the hundred cavalrymen responded in unison, their voices so loud they seemed to shake the rooftops.

The ancestral hall was deathly silent, both inside and out. The women who had been crying and making a scene earlier covered their mouths in fright. The elders of the clan trembled uncontrollably.

Xu Chengye took a deep breath, looked at the silent crowd, and said in a deep voice: "The former Duke of Wei's mansion, having served as a garrison noble for so many years and leading 100,000 troops in Nanjing, couldn't even guard its own gate and had to be rescued by the Imperial Guard! Can this kind of bloated, useless, and laughable situation continue?"

"The Emperor is doing this to remove the poison from the bone, to remove the rotten flesh and promote new growth! He is removing those rotten trees that are sucking blood from the family and bringing shame to the family, and turning hundreds and thousands of Xu family members with land and a promising future into the true foundation of the family in the southeast! This is the real power!"

He looked at the illegitimate children standing in the corner, dressed in tattered clothes, their eyes shining with excitement and longing.

"Clear the land and distribute it, let's do it tomorrow! The Ministry of Revenue and the Embroidered Uniform Guard are waiting. Anyone who dares to play tricks or hide land will be punished according to the law!" That night, the Duke of Wei's mansion was brightly lit.

Xu Chengye, along with the Ministry of Revenue official and the Imperial Guard commander, began examining the old account books. Gao Yigong's cavalry stood guard outside the courtyard.

Several clever stewards who had previously managed Xu Hongji's estate tried to deceive him, but Xu Chengye examined their past records and found numerous inconsistencies. The Imperial Guards immediately locked them up and dragged them away. The others immediately became obedient.

The next day, the first dozen or so of the poorest illegitimate sons, trembling with fear, pressed their fingerprints and received the "Perpetual Land Deeds" stamped with the emperor's jade seal. Holding the light yet heavy paper, some of them burst into tears on the spot and kowtowed towards the direction of the palace.

After the Nanjing nobles who were invited to attend the ceremony returned home, they reportedly held a meeting with the elders of their clans overnight to discuss countermeasures.

Many people in Nanjing are destined to have sleepless nights as the Lunar New Year approaches.

The twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month.

Xu Chengye stood at the gate of the newly renovated Duke's mansion, listening to the sporadic sounds of firecrackers from the street. Gao Yigong's cavalry barracks were nearby, their flags fluttering in the north wind.

He carried a list of clan members who would be sent to the "Tax Administration Department of the Training Institute" in Huai'an as the first batch of students after the spring.

A fast horse galloped out from in front of the mansion gate, a flag tucked on its back, heading towards Huai'an. It was a messenger, carrying news of the new policies being implemented by the government.

The sky grew even darker, as if it were about to snow.

……

Around the same time, several inconspicuous blue sedan chairs quietly turned into the "Rongmutang" on the banks of the Qinhuai River in Nanjing. This was the Nanjing residence of Qian Qianyi, the Minister of Rites and a leading figure of the Donglin Party.

In the main hall, the charcoal brazier burned brightly, yet it couldn't dispel the somber expressions on the faces of the people seated there. Among them were Zheng Sanjun, the Minister of Revenue in Nanjing and a veteran member of the Donglin Party, known for his integrity and uprightness; Tang Hui, the former Governor of Huguang; and Zhang Pu, the leader of the Fushe Society. The host, Qian Qianyi, sat in the main seat, holding a hand warmer, his face calm, but his eyes concealing worry.

"Elder Mu, about the matter of the Duke of Wei's mansion... what exactly is the Emperor playing at?" Tang Hui spoke first, his tone urgent. "Treating hereditary nobles like this, is this the behavior of a wise ruler? It's simply..."

Zheng Sanjun stroked his beard, shook his head and sighed: "Alas, His Majesty has been getting more and more impatient lately. Even if nobles have made mistakes, they should be persuaded slowly according to etiquette and law. How can he just strip them of their titles and confiscate their property like that? And what's with this 'granting favors and distributing land'? It's just stirring up trouble among clansmen and is unbecoming of His Majesty!"

"You two uncles only see the surface!" Zhang Pu, young and impetuous, his eyes flashing with a sharp light, said, "Stripping titles and confiscating property are just means! The Emperor is using Xu Chengye as a tool to clean up the Wei State Duke's mansion, but his real intention is to establish a money bag like the 'Huguang Treasury Office' in our southeast! My people in Huai'an have reported that the training institute has newly established a 'Tax Administration Department,' which specifically recruits illegitimate sons of noble families! Don't you understand? This is to transplant the Huguang system to Southern Zhili exactly as it is!"

He became increasingly agitated as he spoke: "We'll establish an independent tax office in Nanjing, under the Ministry of Revenue and the Provincial Administration Commission, using a group of noble sons and illegitimate children who don't read the classics and only recognize the emperor as our henchmen. We'll plant the roots of tax collection directly in the cities and villages, in every acre of land and every shop! At that time, all our gentry's land, businesses, and any contributions or registered households will be exposed under this new law! What's the ultimate goal? Isn't it just that phrase... 'Officials and gentry pay taxes together'?!"

Zhang Pu's words directly exposed the truth. Zheng Sanjun and Tang Hui's faces turned pale instantly. They could criticize the emperor for being too harsh on the nobles, but if the new policies ultimately targeted the gentry's tax exemption rights, that would be a matter of life and death for them!

Qian Qianyi, who had been silent until now, finally spoke slowly, his voice filled with weariness and a desolate sense of having seen through everything: "The Emperor's will is set, and it is not something we, as his subjects, can guess at, much less something that... the opinions of the Qingliu faction can change."

He looked at the three men and said, word by word, "The Emperor has achieved some minor success in Huguang, and now he's just repeating the same approach. Do you really think that the Emperor is making such a big fuss just to deal with those few stupid nobles like Xu Hongji?"

He answered his own question, pointing out the key point: "No. The Emperor is 'recruiting dogs'."

"In the past, His Majesty had no obedient 'dogs' in the Southeast. The nobles were pampered and couldn't be roused by their old guard dogs; we scholar-officials were like wild dogs in the mountains, each with our own agendas. Without henchmen, His Majesty naturally couldn't control the Southeast. So now, His Majesty is going to personally train a new pack of sharp-tongued, single-minded wolfhounds who will only recognize him as their master!"

"We use the sons of noble families who are not born into noble families because they are familiar with the local area and are suppressed, so it is convenient to use them; we establish independent tax offices to bypass the old offices that we control; we go all the way to the bottom to keep the money and grain firmly in our own hands. Today we can give the Xu family's sons who are not born into noble families 'perpetual land deeds,' who can guarantee that tomorrow we won't give thousands of tenant farmers 'imperial land deeds,' so that they can directly pay grain to the emperor?"

Qian Qianyi looked out at the gloomy sky: "The Emperor seems to be 'ignoring' you, Zheng Sanjun, in the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing, Zhang Pu, who manipulates public opinion, and me, who is dealing with things here... It's not that he's being lenient; it's just that the time isn't right yet. Or rather, we... are still 'useful' for now. He still needs our help to collect taxes from the southeast!"
His tax-collecting dogs can't replace us yet. He needs to get rid of those old nobles who are blocking his way first. Once he has enough new 'dogs' and his tax base is stable..."

He didn't say the rest, but a chill had already seeped into everyone's bones.

"So... we're just going to wait?" Tang Hui's voice was dry.

Qian Qianyi smiled wryly: "Just waiting won't do; we have to back down!"

"Submit?"

Qian Qianyi nodded emphatically: "The Emperor's sword is sharpened to its finest point. To stick one's head out is suicide. We must bide our time and turn enemies into friends!"

(End of this chapter)