Ming Dynasty: Moral blackmail? I, Emperor Chongzhen, have no morals!

Zhu Jian straightened his back and clapped his hands lightly.

A eunuch emerged from behind a screen on one side of the Wuying Hall, slowly approached Zhu Jian, and waited silently with a bow.

Wang Dehua looked up at the newcomer, his eyes narrowing: "Wang Huamin!"

"He and his men are now registered under the Eastern Depot!" Zhu Jian said softly.

Wang Huamin, the biggest spy chief during the Chongzhen reign, disappeared from the historical record after the Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself. There is no record of where he went; he vanished without a trace!

He was the one who investigated Xue Guoguan, one of only two Grand Secretaries of the Ming Dynasty to be executed. The reason was that when Emperor Chongzhen and Grand Secretary Xue Guoguan discussed the problem of official corruption, Xue Guoguan blamed the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard for everything. Wang Huamin, who was standing nearby at the time, did not offer any defense.

Subsequently, officials were dispatched, and within a short time, Xue Guoguan's shady dealings were uncovered and reported to the emperor. Ultimately, Grand Secretary Xue Guoguan was executed by the emperor for corruption and abuse of power.

"Greetings, Eunuch Wang!" Wang Huamin said with a smile.

Wang Huamin's smile was terrifying, like a ghost, in Wang Dehua's eyes, sending a chill down his spine. If it were just a single eunuch, he wouldn't be bothered, but this eunuch was in charge of the Imperial Workshop...

And this Wang Huamin was none other than Liu Jin during the Chongzhen era...

"Wang Dehua, go back and tell the Eastern Depot to interrogate him quickly!!"

"This servant obeys the decree!"

Wang Dehua quickly got up and left, keeping his head down the whole time and not daring to look back.

After Wang Dehua left, Wang Huamin stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, Eunuch Wang was not involved in this matter!"

After listening, Prosecutor Zhu nodded slightly.

Wang Huamin was originally in Nanjing as a eunuch left behind in the palace. When Zhu Jian saw Wang Huamin, his eyes lit up. This big secret agent of the Chongzhen era was actually left behind in Nanjing and would be transferred to Beijing later.

Zhu Jian then instructed Wang Huamin to organize a force and establish the Inner Depot, which was sent to the Imperial Horse Administration in Beijing, though it was not officially registered... If it had been registered, the entire court would have opposed it, as the Inner Depot was far too terrifying for these civil officials...

"What about the two dukedoms' residences?"

"The Duke himself doesn't know the exact details; it was all handled by his son. Reselling grain was a tactic used by the Duke's government and the other marquises. If it weren't for this year's poor harvest, they should have already paid it back!" Wang Huamin said, recounting his investigation over the past period.

These nobles profited by reselling grain from the national granary when prices soared during shortages and returning it when prices fell during bumper harvests. However, in recent years, increasingly severe crop failures and soaring grain prices have created a growing deficit that can no longer be plugged…

Prosecutor Zhu shook his head: "The matter is too minor, and it involves too many people, making it difficult to handle!"

After a moment of silence, he continued, "I will have the Director of the Eastern Depot personally lead a team to investigate the civilian granaries in Tongzhou. Do you think the granaries will continue to catch fire?"

"Yes!" Wang Huamin said without hesitation.

After listening, Zhu Jian nodded slightly: "Go back. Let Wang Dehua manage the Eastern Depot!"

"Yes!" Wang Huamin said, then took two steps back and slowly left.

Zhu Jian discovered that Wang Dehua was too gentle in his methods and somewhat hesitant in his actions, so he had no choice but to establish a tougher agency.

In chaotic times, harsh punishments are necessary, but while the Eastern Depot is good for maintaining stability, it's far from being harsh enough. If the agency weren't so strong, it might have fallen into disgrace, especially since it's been dealing with merchants, princes, and minor local officials lately...

Two days passed in a tense atmosphere, but the troops in the city remained in place to maintain order.

The food problem is extremely serious right now. Officially, tens of thousands of bushels of grain have been burned, and major grain merchants have raised prices, but ordinary people can only buy less to survive and avoid starvation...

Inside a teahouse, Xu Changwei, the young master of the Duke of Dingguo's mansion, and Zhu Zechang, the young master of the Duke of Chengguo's mansion, drank fragrant tea, gazing at the soldiers and horses in the city with worried expressions.

"Brother Xu, have you considered this matter poorly?" Zhu Zechang asked. He was now filled with regret. Even if they were found to have been smuggling grain, they could simply pay the court more money. But the court showed no sign of letting it go. In their view, the Eastern Depot had already uncovered the connection, yet no one had gone to the Duke's residence to report the matter and impose punishment...

Although their fathers didn't know the specifics, they were at least blamed for lax management. Now, the emperor hadn't reprimanded them, and the situation was spiraling further out of control!

"Brother Zhu, yesterday I sent five thousand taels of silver to the Directorate of Ceremonial, but the eunuch there refused to accept it!" Xu Changwei said with a sigh.

"Should we send our father to the palace to apologize to His Majesty?" Zhu Zechang asked often.

In his view, they were all meritorious officials in the Jingnan Campaign, and Xu Changwei was even a descendant of Xu Da, the Prince of Zhongshan. The emperor should have some consideration for their past relationship and not go so far as to exterminate them all.

"If you repay the granary with ten times the amount of grain, His Majesty might lessen the punishment, but what about what happened to your second and third brothers? Does the Emperor really not know?" Xu Changwei said, glancing at Zhu Zechang...

"It's just a few refugee women who died, it's not a big deal! If it weren't for giving their parents food, they might all have starved to death!" Zhu Zechang said nonchalantly.

His second and third brothers bought many women from the refugees for their amusement, but most of these women were thin and weak, and several of them died within a few days. The servants in the mansion would carry them out of the city and bury them somewhere. The people in the government were unaware of this, and even if they did, they would not care.

After all, who would offend the prestigious British Duke's mansion for the sake of a few vagrants?

Xu Changwei shook his head: "Not necessarily. The current emperor has even killed the vassal kings, why would he care about nobles like you and me?"

"What does Brother Xu mean?" Zhu Zechang asked curiously.

After Zhu Ze finished speaking, seeing that Xu Changwei remained silent, his expression changed drastically. He pointed at Xu Changwei and stammered, "You...you...you wouldn't be planning a rebellion, would you?"

"There are 30,000 troops inside the city, and tens of thousands more outside!"

In Zhu Zechang's view, rebelling was tantamount to courting death. The emperor in the city had tens of thousands of troops, and even the Beijing garrison and other government offices that they originally controlled had been taken over by the army. Even if they did rebel, they could not gather many people and would not be able to fight against these troops.

"The Crown Prince is in Nanjing! Why don't we, the nobles, go to Nanjing and help the Crown Prince ascend the throne?" Xu Changwei said.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Zechang quickly shook his head: "We have no connection with the Crown Prince. Even if we go to Nanjing, the current Governor of Southern Zhili is Yang Sichang, the Second Grand Secretary of the Cabinet. He is the Emperor's loyal dog!!"

"So we're just going to sit here and wait to die?"

"Let me think about it, let me think about it!!" Zhu Zechang paced back and forth in the room after hearing this.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Zechang suddenly stopped in his tracks: "No! I must go back to the manor and discuss this with my father first! I need to get him to go to the palace to apologize!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Changwei sighed deeply, "There's no other way!..."

Rebellion is out of the question; the only option is to go to the palace to plead guilty... The rest is up to the emperor to decide...