Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 108 A Solution to the Impasse That Surpassed All Court Officials
Three days later, Sun Chuanting and Sun Yingyuan's figures finally disappeared at the end of the white marble steps. Their straight backs were like two solitary arrows, shooting towards the dry wasteland in the northwest of the empire.

Zhu Youjian stood on the high platform for a long time, watching them leave.

The afternoon sun pierced through the thin clouds, bringing a weak warmth, but it couldn't dispel the chill that lingered in his heart.

He looked up at the sky.

It was a near-cruel blue, cloudless and so clear it was despairing.

For the literati and poets of Jiangnan, this might be a perfect day for composing poems, but for Zhu Youjian at this moment, and for the hundreds of millions of starving people in the north, this blue sky was a sharpest knife hanging over their heads.

One day, two days, ten days... day after day, it was always the same.

Before sending Sun Chuanting off to war, he passionately set out a three-step strategy: "preserve life, control the situation, and generate revenue."

Every word he spoke was weighty and every step seemed meticulously planned, brimming with confidence that he had a clear understanding of the course of history. He told Sun Chuanting not to be afraid of spending money or killing people, that he would be his support in the capital.

But when he was left alone to face the majestic palace and the desolate sky, his heroic spirit vanished like a castle built on sand.

These are ultimately just human affairs.

What he is now fighting against is "fate".

The phrase "Little Ice Age at the End of the Ming Dynasty" weighed heavily on his soul like an invisible mountain.

This is not a single, localized natural disaster, but rather a decades-long cycle of abnormal climate.

A self-deprecating, bitter smile appeared on Zhu Youjian's lips.

If God is truly determined not to send a decent drop of rain to Shaanxi for one, two, or three years, what can be done?
A chill ran down his spine, and Zhu Youjian sighed deeply before turning and walking back to the Qianqing Palace.

Everything is still unknown.

……

That night.

Inside the study, candlelight blazed, dispelling the last rays of sunlight streaming through the window.

The air was filled with the scent of fine ink sticks mixed with precious sandalwood, but Zhu Youjian could also smell the bloody stench of the words on the memorials.

Wang Chengen stood to the side, his face, usually so shrewd and composed, now clouded with worry and despair.

Before him, a huge sandalwood imperial desk was piled high with reports.

These reports were divided into two distinct stacks.

A stack of documents, delivered through the Office of Transmission, consisted of customary pronouncements from provincial governors, provincial treasurers, and viceroys.

The other stack consisted of heart-wrenching cries collected by agents of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot from remote villages, post stations, taverns, and even piles of corpses.

Zhu Youjian picked up the memorial from the governor of Henan, which he had read countless times by himself.

The memorial was still brilliantly written, and the language was still gorgeous. The opening praised the new emperor's "clear skies and bright sunshine, and his sage virtues shining brightly" after his ascension to the throne, as if even the heavens smiled when Zhu Youjian sat on the dragon throne.

Then, with an almost shy tone, he casually mentioned: "Henan Province is experiencing a slight drought this year, but the people are at peace. The autumn harvest may be reduced by one or two percent, but thanks to Your Majesty's divine power, there should be no major problem."

"hehe…"

A cold laugh of unknown meaning escaped from Zhu Youjian's throat. He tossed the memorial, which painted a rosy picture of peace and prosperity, onto a corner of his desk as if it were a dirty rag.

Zhu Youjian slowly raised his gaze and looked at the figure standing in the corner of the study.

The man had a sinister expression, yet under the emperor's gaze, he also displayed a subtle air of respect and fear.

"Wei Zhongxian".

Zhu Youjian's voice was calm and even, revealing neither joy nor anger, yet it made the powerful eunuch in the shadows stiffen.

"You have been in charge of the Eastern Depot for many years, boasting that your eyes and ears are all over the country. Then tell me, which one should be nailed to the national gate so that the people of the world can see: the memorial from the governor of Henan that says 'slight drought,' 'the people are at peace,' and 'there is no major problem,' or the report submitted by your Eastern Depot?"

Wei Zhongxian's body trembled violently, and cold sweat instantly seeped from his forehead, sliding down his once powerful face. He smelled a familiar scent, the scent of an emperor before he killed someone.

But he knew even better that what the emperor wanted to kill at this moment was not just people, but also the sense of security that permeated the entire Ming Dynasty bureaucracy.

Without the slightest hesitation, Wei Zhongxian immediately sprang from the shadows, knelt on the ground, his entire body pressed tightly against the cold gold bricks, and pleaded in a nearly hoarse voice:

“This old servant deserves to die! The Governor of Henan has deceived the Emperor and deserves to die a thousand deaths! The secret report I presented was written in blood and is absolutely true!”

Wei Zhongxian did not take anything out of his pocket again, because all the intelligence from his Eastern Depot had already been laid out on the imperial desk and had been reviewed by the emperor countless times.

"The flow has stopped."

When Zhu Youjian uttered those two words, he did not stand up. There was no surprise in his eyes, only indifference as if he had already known everything.

These two words had been like two heavy hammers repeatedly pounding on his heart during countless sleepless nights.

He tapped the secret report from the Eastern Depot on the table with his finger, which read "The Yellow River has stopped flowing," then raised his eyes, his gaze piercing through the candlelight and shining directly at the map hanging on the wall.

"Henan..."

He no longer needed to walk to the map, because every detail of it was already imprinted in his mind.

Zhu Youjian did not turn around, but his voice suddenly became sharp, like a icy sword piercing straight at Wei Zhongxian kneeling on the ground:
"Wei Zhongxian, listen to me! Think this through!"

"Your agents in the Eastern Depot only saw the Yellow River drying up and the corpses of the starving. But what I want you to see is what will happen after that! Henan is the heart of the country, a battleground on all sides, and also a major grain-producing region of my Great Ming! The chaos in Shaanxi is still within our grasp; but if Henan falls into chaos, it will be a threat to our very core!" The emperor's voice echoed in the empty study.

"Once the situation in Henan becomes unstable, millions of refugees could storm the capital region to the north! To the west, they could join the starving people in Shaanxi, putting Sun Chuanting in a pincer movement! To the south, they could disrupt Hubei and Hunan, cutting off the Grand Canal! To the east, they could devastate Shandong and threaten Dengzhou and Laizhou!"

Zhu Youjian suddenly turned his head, his eyes like lightning, fixed on Wei Zhongxian.

"Do you know why those so-called bandits are so dangerous? It's not because they can conquer cities and seize territories, but because once they gain power, they will plunge our Great Ming into endless internal strife! At that time, who will be the happiest? And who will be the most likely to take advantage of our misfortune? It will be those covetous Jurchens beyond the Great Wall! They are just hoping that we will fall into disarray so that they can reap the benefits and calmly enter the pass!"

"Therefore, before they gain momentum, we must find a way to open a channel in Henan, a torrent of public resentment that is about to burst its banks, and divert it elsewhere!"

These words were like thunderclaps from the heavens, each one striking Wei Zhongxian's head with devastating force!

He collapsed to his knees, his face ashen.

Shocked!

He spent his life manipulating power and believed he understood the world situation, but all his knowledge was based on factional struggles, balance, and interests.

When he presented the secret report that the Yellow River had stopped flowing, all he thought about was that the governor of Henan should die, and the credit he would receive for this intelligence.

He had never imagined, nor had anyone ever told him, that behind those four words lay such a clear and terrifying chain of logic, enough to bring down a dynasty!

What terrified him most was that the young emperor had not just found out, but had known about it all along!

Wei Zhongxian realized with horror once again that the emperor's decision to spare him and the Eastern Depot was not a temporary expedient at all!
At that moment, Wei Zhongxian felt a complex mix of fear and awe.

But strangely enough, for the first time, he felt that the shady things he did, the secret agents that were scorned by the court officials, seemed... seemed to actually be of some use to this crumbling Ming Dynasty!
To monitor all officials and gather intelligence!
It was no longer about framing political enemies, but about letting the person on the dragon throne see the true face of the people and the court!
Zhu Youjian ignored the turmoil in Wei Zhongxian's heart. He had already sat back down behind his desk, shifting his gaze from Wei Zhongxian's pale face to several other reports on the desk.

"Wang Chengen, read it!"

“Yes…” Wang Chengen picked up the first secret report with trembling hands and read it aloud in a dry voice:
"Secret report from Beizhili... In the western mountains of Wanping County, some people dug up 'Guanyin soil' to eat... After three to five days, their bellies swelled up like drums, and they died screaming in agony. The dead lay piled up on the roadside..."

"boom!"

Zhu Youjian slammed his fist on the imperial desk, his knuckles turning white from the force.

He had already borne this humiliation and anger alone, and now it erupted again, even more fiercely!
"Guanyin clay!" he roared. "Right beneath my feet, right here in this capital region! This is the peaceful and prosperous era that those learned regional officials have given me!"

Before Wei Zhongxian could react, his gaze had already turned to the next report.

"Keep reading!"

“A secret report from Shandong.” Wang Chengen’s hands trembled as he presented the memorial. “The Shandong Imperial Guard reports that ‘there is no wheat in the summer drought, and the land is barren for thousands of miles.’ The people have no harvest. To make matters worse, a locust plague has followed the drought! Some reports say that the locust swarms have darkened the sky and devoured all the crops.”

"Bang!" Another loud noise.

"Locust plague!" Zhu Youjian suddenly stood up. "Summer drought means no wheat, severe drought means rice famine. Is this going to force the people of Shandong to become like the refugees in Henan?!"

He descended the imperial steps, approaching the kneeling Wei Zhongxian step by step, looking down at him with a hoarse and icy voice: "The hole in Henan hasn't been plugged yet, and the pot of water in Shandong is about to boil! Tell me, from south to north, from west to east, which part of this world is safe and sound?!"

Wei Zhongxian collapsed to the ground, fully aware of the emperor's purpose in summoning him today.

Zhu Youjian slowly walked back to the dragon throne and sat down again.

The atmosphere in the study was eerily silent.

……

In the midst of this extremely oppressive atmosphere, a series of hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the hall.

Tian Ergeng, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, strode into the hall, covered in dust and exuding a menacing aura. He knelt on one knee three steps away from the imperial desk, his movements clean and efficient.

"Your Majesty! I have successfully fulfilled my mission!"

Weary and tired, Tian Ergeng knelt on one knee, his voice slightly hoarse from excitement and exhaustion, but his eyes shone with the excitement of completing the mission.

"Having finished handling the case of the grain merchants in Jiangnan by imperial decree, I dared not linger for a moment. I immediately took His Majesty's secret edict and traveled to Fujian to have a secret meeting with the newly appointed 'Five Tigers Guerrilla General' Zheng Zhilong. I have now successfully persuaded him and personally escorted him to the capital overnight! At this moment, he is waiting for an audience outside the Meridian Gate!"

In an instant, it was as if the first ray of dawn pierced through the deep darkness in the imperial study.

Zhu Youjian suddenly raised his head.

It was neither an accident nor a surprise.

It is waiting.

The imperial pardon granted by Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan was merely a way to cloak this maritime behemoth in the guise of the imperial court.

And Zhu Youjian was waiting for the moment when this outer garment was put on!

Only in this way could he bypass all procedures and conduct this secret investigation in the name of the emperor!

The heads and silver of the grain merchants in Jiangnan were still warm, the anger of the refugees in Henan was raging, and disasters were coming one after another in Shandong... All these seemingly unsolvable deadlocks, these chaotic fragments, began to be reassembled and pieced together in Zheng Zhilong's mind at a crazy speed after the name of Zheng Zhilong appeared, forming an unprecedented and absolutely beyond the imagination of all the court officials!

"it is good…"

Zhu Youjian stood up, his voice low but carrying a hint of barely suppressed excitement.

"finally come!"

"Issue the decree!" His eyes burned with fierce light as he swept over the three astonished figures in the hall. "In the Wenhua Hall, I want to see him immediately!"

(End of this chapter)