Dream of the Red Chamber: Starting from Immortal Martial Arts

On February 20, the sixth year of Changwu, there was a court meeting.

Sensing the tense atmosphere in the capital recently, all officials, whether of the sixth rank or above in the capital or those reporting for duty in other regions, attended this court assembly.

For example, Jia Yucun, who returned to Beijing with Lin Ruhai's letter of introduction, had been appointed as the Prefect of Yingtian by Jia Zheng's recommendation, and deliberately stayed in Beijing to observe how things were developing.

As expected, after dealing with various trivial matters, Shen Weibing, the newly appointed Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of War, stepped forward from the ranks of civil officials, holding his official tablet, and knelt down, bowing: "Your Majesty, I have something to report. I impeach Wu Yingbo, Commander of the Capital Garrison, and General of the Jiangnan Camp, Jia Tang, for disregarding the law of the land and for using private law to punish civil and military officials of the Yangzhou Prefecture, the Salt Administration, and the surrounding prefectures. I beg Your Majesty to consider this matter."

Another official, Hao Tugao, the Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Rites, knelt down and shouted: "I also have something to report. I impeach Jia Tang for arbitrarily sealing off Yangzhou City and massacring tens of thousands of people in the city. This is truly an outrage against both gods and men, and his evil is beyond measure."

Wang Mo, the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief, spoke up, listing the following: "Your Majesty, this scoundrel disregards the laws of the land, indiscriminately kills, disrupts the local government's orders, holds military power, and arbitrarily seals off the city. I beg Your Majesty to rid the country of this scourge."

Li Wenjian, the Left Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, echoed loudly: "Your Majesty, this trend must be stopped, otherwise the court will be in chaos and the country will cease to exist."

As soon as he finished speaking, more than ten people stepped forward, knelt down, and shouted, "Eliminate this scourge for the country!"

The onlookers were all astonished; had the scholars of Jiangnan really stirred up such a commotion?

"Bullshit."

A loud shout interrupted the crowd. A military officer from the Beijing Garrison stepped forward and reported: "Your Majesty, this humble general reports that these despicable men are spewing filth. The cause is that they claim the common people plotted to harm high-ranking officials, poisoned noble ladies, stormed the residences of high-ranking officials, and colluded with the 'Fragrance Rebels.' These cowardly scoundrels have made up such a ridiculous story about such important matters."

"How dare you!"

Xu Fanghua, the Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial in charge of court ceremonies, shouted: "Openly roaring in the court, showing no respect for hierarchy and social order, and using vulgar and crude language, you are hereby sentenced to twenty strokes of the cane..."

"Remember your mother's head!"

Before he could finish speaking, another general stepped forward and shouted angrily, "Your Majesty, the noble lady of the Duke's mansion has been poisoned. Such a heinous crime has been misled by these motherless wretches. I believe they are all traitors and should be dismissed from their posts, their property confiscated, and their entire families exterminated."

At this moment, Qiu Liang, the commander of the Western City Military Command, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I have a memorial to submit. Censor Wang Mo and Li Wenjian, the Left Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, are exploiting the people, extorting and plundering, colluding with merchants, and causing chaos in the region. Xu Fanghua, the Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, is distorting the truth and forming a clique with Wang and Li for personal gain, disrupting the court. They should be beheaded and their heads displayed to the public!"

Qi Jianhui, the Vice Commander of the Imperial Guard, chimed in, "Your Majesty, Old Qiu is right. These three good-for-nothings are the best at making money."

Emperor Changwu smiled and asked, "When did you, a dignified Commander of the Capital Guard and Commander of the Western City Division, start doing the work of an inspector?"

Qiu Liang smiled shyly: "As a military officer of the imperial court, I am loyal to the country and cannot tolerate such deceitful and treacherous people."

As Qiu Liang finished speaking, the military officers stepped forward one after another, requesting that Wang Mo, Li Wenjian, and Xu Fanghua be severely punished.

Seeing this, some civil officials spoke up to help, while on the military side, some of the old relatives of the Jia family stepped forward again to confront them, starting a new round of suppressing attacks and insults.

Phrases like "fuck your mother" flew around the hall, while phrases like "grandparents and grandchildren serve" ran rampant, interspersed with a few "fuck your ancestors."

Just as the Huangji Hall was in an uproar, Xia Shouzhong came over and whispered to Emperor Changwu, "Your Majesty, the confiscated property of the Earl of Wuying has been inventoried. In addition to the salt tax going into the national treasury, an extra one million taels of silver was allocated to the Ministry of Revenue."

In addition, two million taels of silver, intended as a tribute to you, have been placed into the imperial treasury. Two million taels each have been deposited into the Ministry of War and the military government. General Xie has also presented several account books, saying that the proceeds from the confiscation of the property of the officials involved in the case are still en route to the capital.

"However, it was only officials who seized the items; no monk families were among the victims."

After saying that, he took out the account book and handed it to Emperor Changwu, and said, "General Xie also said that Wu Yingbo is currently resting in Yangzhou, but according to the secret agents, a secret realm has appeared in Zhuyu Bay and he has sent people to surround it."

Emperor Changwu remained expressionless and nodded slightly.

The crowd below gradually quieted down when they saw Xia Shouzhong whispering.

After carefully reviewing the account books, Emperor Changwu's face darkened with anger. He said, "Guards, order the Flying Eagle Division to confiscate the property and exterminate the families of the Prefectural Magistrate, the Vice Prefect, and the Right Attendant of the Ministry of Rites of Shuntian Prefecture."

It was also said: "Earl Wuying, Jia Tang, went south to collect salt taxes and quell rebellious bandits and evil people. He was rewarded with ten bolts of palace brocade, ten bolts of palace forging, and ten bolts of palace silk."

Lin Ruhai, the Imperial Censor and Salt Commissioner, was commended for his meritorious service and promoted to Governor of Lianghuai. He was further promoted to Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, concurrently holding the title of Right Vice Minister of War, and was granted the additional title of Senior Grand Master. His original post as Governor of Lianghuai was transferred to Governor of Yunnan.

"The cabinet ministers, the heads of the three ministries of war, civil service, and revenue, and the Marquis of Kuantai have come to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to discuss matters; the rest of the court has withdrawn."

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Emperor Changwu instructed Xia Shouzhong to pass the account books around for everyone to review.

Grand Secretary He Xinyi of the Zhongji Hall, who was also the chief minister of the cabinet and a representative of the northern scholars, took the account book and carefully reviewed it. He raised an eyebrow and said with satisfaction, "Not bad. With this money, this year will be much better."

Following the second assistant minister's inspection, Grand Secretary Sheng Yuxiao of the Jianji Hall took the account book and quickly browsed through it. He then handed it to Grand Secretary Meng Ziming of the Wenyuan Pavilion next to him and said, "Wow, even after deducting the salt tax deficit, there are still tens of millions of taels of silver distributed among various parties."

Meng Ziming chimed in, his tone wistful: "Huaiyang is rich."

Grand Secretary Liang Pei, who was standing to the side, changed his expression slightly when he saw Liu Hua's name on the roster, and said, "You can't say that, Grand Secretary Meng. If you keep acting recklessly like this, trouble will break out sooner or later."

Cen Shizhang, a Grand Secretary of the Wuying Hall, and Fang Zhuchen, a Grand Secretary of the Wenhua Hall, exchanged a glance and remained silent.

Minister of Personnel Su Xichen took the account book from Minister of Revenue Zhao Enxi, quickly read it, and sighed twice: "We must not do things that kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, nor can we allow officials to protect merchants and collude with evil to wreak havoc on the region."

Minister of War Niu Jizong curled his lip, saying that this was as good as saying nothing, and sarcastically said to Liang Pei: "Trouble? Colluding with rebels to assassinate high-ranking officials isn't trouble? The salt administration's deficit isn't trouble? If there's trouble, just send troops."

After reviewing the document, Zhai Zhengge, the second-generation leader of the Chongwu lineage, Marquis Kuantai, and Vice Commander of the Right Army, calmly said, "Agreed."

"Do you two mean that Wu Xun intends to lead troops to conquer various regions?" Liang Pei asked with a smile.

Seeing this, Emperor Changwu interrupted the three and asked, "Alright, what should be done with Vice Minister Liu Hua and several censors on the list, as well as several officials from the provincial administration? In my opinion, confiscate their property."

Niu Jizong and Zhai Zhengge remained silent, simply staring coldly at the crowd.

Second Grand Secretary Sheng Yuxiao pondered for a moment, then said, "Let's send Liu Hua down to a local area as a county magistrate, and the other relevant personnel..."