I slaughtered my way through the border at the start, I am the Great Ming's Night Raider!

These files record twenty years of secrets of the Embroidered Uniform Guard—the court officials they monitored, the cases they investigated, the prisoners they executed, and... those deals that could never be made public.

The more I look, the colder my heart becomes.

"In the third month of the first year of the Jingtai reign, Li Xian, the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, accepted 5,000 taels of silver from a Shanxi salt merchant in exchange for securing the position of Prefect of Datong for his son... This was verified but not reported."

"In July of the fifth year of the Xuande reign, Zhou Chen, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, embezzled 30,000 shi of grain transported by the imperial treasury and resold it to grain merchants in Jiangnan... This was verified, but was not reported."

"In the twenty-second year of Yongle's reign, Wang Zhen, a secretary in the Ministry of War—not the one from the Eastern Depot—colluded with the Oirat Mongols and leaked information about border defense deployments... This was verified, but was not reported."

No report, no report, still no report.

Chen Yuan closed the last file and shut his eyes.

Cao Jixiang controlled the Embroidered Uniform Guard for thirteen years, and these cases were all suppressed.

Why?

These officials later became Cao Jixiang's cronies and the foundation of his immense power.

As for the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the "Imperial Guard" established by the founding emperor, which should have been the sharpest knife and brightest eyes of the court... it has rotted to the core.

Footsteps came from outside the door.

Chen Yuan opened his eyes and saw Liu Mian push the door open and come in.

"Commander Chen is still looking at the files?" Liu Mian asked, carrying a food box. "Isn't he going out to admire the lanterns on the Lantern Festival?"

"Didn't Commander Liu go either?" Chen Yuan stood up.

"I'm old, I don't like crowds anymore." Liu Mian placed the food box on the table, opened it, and inside were several side dishes and a pot of wine. "Want to have a drink with this old man?"

The two sat facing each other.

Liu Mian poured wine; it was the finest Zhuyeqing wine, clear and sweet.

"Commander Chen, you've been reviewing the case files for three days. What are your thoughts?" Liu Mian raised his glass.

Chen Yuan picked up his wine cup but didn't drink: "My takeaway is... the Embroidered Uniform Guard is sick, very sick."

"Oh?" Liu Mian raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"They didn't investigate what should have been investigated, they didn't report what should have been reported, and they didn't kill those who should have been killed." Chen Yuan stared at him. "Commander Liu, you've been in charge of the Embroidered Uniform Guard for seven years. Did you know about these things?"

Liu Mian remained silent for a long time before finally sighing, "I know."

"Then why..."

"Because I can't touch him." Liu Mian downed his cup of wine in one gulp. "When Cao Jixiang was alive, he was the Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial, the Director of the Eastern Depot, and the Emperor's confidant. Although the Embroidered Uniform Guard is said to be the Emperor's personal guard, in reality... they have to listen to him. If I were to touch those cases, I would be dismissed from my post the next day, or even... lose my life."

"And now?" Chen Yuan asked. "Cao Jixiang is dead, and the Empress Dowager is in power. Can we move now?"

Liu Mian looked at him with a complicated expression: "Commander Chen, you are still young. Matters in the court are not simply black and white. Many of the people on those files are still in office, some even holding important positions. To move against them is to move against the entire civil service and the very foundation of the Ming Dynasty."

"So you're just letting the parasites keep eating away?" Chen Yuan sneered. "Commander Liu, the soldiers on the border are bleeding, the people are starving, and these people are embezzling. What use is such a foundation?"

Liu Mian stopped talking and just drank.

The two drank in silence.

Outside the window, I could hear the hustle and bustle of the street, children's laughter, and the distant boom of fireworks.

That is the sound of a peaceful and prosperous era.

But Chen Yuan knew in his heart that this peace was a sham.

Like these files, they appear clean on the surface, but are filthy underneath.

"Commander Liu," he put down his wine cup, "The Empress Dowager sent me to the Embroidered Uniform Guard, not to retire. I need to reorganize and cleanse it. If you're willing to help me, we can do it together. If not..."

He paused for a moment, then said, "I can ask the Empress Dowager to grant you a dignified retirement."

That's a very strong statement.

It was practically an ultimatum.

Liu Mian stared at him for a long time, then suddenly laughed: "Commander Chen, do you know why I've been able to sit in this position for seven years?"

Please advise.

"Because I know how to be firm," Liu Mian said. "I know when to be firm and when to be soft. When Cao Jixiang was in power, I was spineless, so he let me live. Now that the Empress Dowager is in power, I should be firm... but there is a limit to how firm I should be."

He stood up, walked to the bookshelf, pulled out an ordinary-looking account book, and placed it in front of Chen Yuan.

"What is this?"

"Cao Jixiang's real account books," Liu Mian said. "What you see in those files is just the tip of the iceberg. The real big stuff is in here."

Chen Yuan opened the account book.

The first page made him gasp in shock.

The record shows that over the past three years, Cao Jixiang embezzled a total of 4.7 million taels of silver through various channels, including salt permits, tea permits, canal transport, and border trade.

Four million seven hundred thousand taels!

This is equivalent to two years' worth of the Ming Dynasty's national treasury revenue.

"This money..." Chen Yuan's voice was hoarse.

"Cao Jixiang spent some of it himself, some was distributed to his cronies, and some..." Liu Mian lowered his voice, "flowed to Jiangnan and into Zhu Zhanqi's pocket."

Chen Yuan suddenly looked up: "You mean..."

"That's right." Liu Mian nodded. "Cao Jixiang and Zhu Zhanqi have long been in cahoots. Cao Jixiang paved the way for him in the court, while Zhu Zhanqi amassed wealth for him in Jiangnan. They each got what they wanted, and their goal was...that position."

It turned out to be the case.

That's why Cao Jixiang orchestrated such a grand scheme before his death, and that's why Zhu Zhanqi was able to secretly develop his power in Jiangnan...

"Why didn't you produce this evidence sooner?" Chen Yuan asked.

"Because the time wasn't right," Liu Mian said. "When Cao Jixiang was alive, bringing it up would have meant certain death. When Cao Jixiang had just died, the court was unstable, and bringing it up would have caused great chaos. Now... the time has come."

He walked to the window, looking at the brightly lit streets outside: "Commander Chen, I'm fifty-eight this year. I've been in this position for seven years, seen enough conspiracies and schemes, and done enough things against my conscience. Now that a new dynasty has begun, it's time for reckoning. You're young, decisive, and the Empress Dowager trusts you... You'll be the villain. And you'll get a share of the credit."

Chen Yuan understood.

Liu Mian is relinquishing power, and also... entrusting his son to someone else.

"What does Commander Liu want?"

"A respectable retirement, a peaceful old age." Liu Mian turned around, "And... save my son's life. He works in the Nanjing garrison and has some dealings with the Duke of Cheng, but his crime doesn't warrant death."

transaction.

Another transaction.

But this time, Chen Yuan was willing to do it.

"Alright." He nodded. "As long as your son cooperates with the investigation, I can protect him."

"Thank you." Liu Mian bowed deeply, then took out a bunch of keys from his pocket. "These are the keys to the Embroidered Uniform Guard's secret vault. There's much more inside... enough for you to cleanse the court three times over."

Chen Yuan took the key; it was cold and heavy to the touch.

"Furthermore," Liu Mian added, "you need manpower to investigate Zhu Zhanqi in Jiangnan. The Embroidered Uniform Guard has informants in Jiangnan, and their names are in the secret vault. Also... the Green Dragon Society can be used, but be careful. Wei Qinglong is quite ambitious."

"You know about the Green Dragon Society?"

"I know everything that happened in Nanjing," Liu Mian smiled. "Although the Embroidered Uniform Guard is rotten, its eyes and ears are still there. Commander Chen, remember this: the imperial court is like a battlefield, and so is the martial world. Sometimes, people from the martial world are more reliable than those in the court, but they are also more dangerous."

He walked to the door, then turned back: "By the way, be careful with Yang Rong. His son, Yang Shiqi, has had contact with Zhu Zhanqi. Although it may not be collusion, it's worth investigating."

After saying that, he pushed open the door and went out, disappearing into the shadows of the corridor.