I was compiling the daily records during the Wanli reign

Chapter 246 Feng Bao's Nemesis! Fifty thousand taels of silver, taken from the people and used for the people.

February 14th, noon.

The preliminary results of the robbery of ten cartloads of gold and silver on Chaoyangmen Street were posted in front of the imperial prison.

After a thorough investigation by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, it was discovered that the ten cartloads of gold and silver were embezzled by Zheng Sansi, the former Grand Eunuch of the Seal Bureau who had passed away, who colluded with several eunuchs from the Inner Transport Treasury by abusing his power.

Zheng Sansi's godson, Zheng Xing, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Seal Office, hurriedly transported the huge fortune outside the city in order to keep it all for himself.

Then, Zheng Sansi's other two adopted sons, the eunuchs Fei Qi and Wang You, discovered this and ordered men to drive oxcarts to ram the carriages carrying gold and silver, leading to the heinous incident of people near Chaoyangmen Street looting gold and silver.

Emperor Wanli, citing "this is a private matter within the inner court," ordered Feng Bao, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial and concurrently the Director of the Eastern Depot, to thoroughly investigate the matter, and instructed the outer court not to interfere.

In addition, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Shuntian Prefecture, and the Five Cities Garrison all dispatched a large number of soldiers to begin searching for the more than 20,000 taels of silver that had been lost on the streets.

Once the officials of the outer court learned that this was a scandalous affair involving "eunuchs in the inner court stealing from each other and dividing the spoils unfairly," they stopped discussing it.

Matters concerning the inner court eunuchs that did not involve the outer court were always handled by the Directorate of Ceremonial and the Eastern Depot.

Many officials were relieved that the ten cartloads of gold and silver were not the result of embezzlement and bribery by officials from outside the court; otherwise, the court would have certainly investigated corruption thoroughly and, in order to quell public resentment, would have found several typical cases and severely punished them.

At present, it is as easy for the imperial court to arrest a few officials who have committed embezzlement and bribery as to catch chickens from a chicken coop or sheep from a sheep pen.

After the common people learned the truth, they lost interest in discussing it.

In their eyes, it was perfectly normal for eunuchs to embezzle gold and silver from the imperial treasury, just as there would always be rats stealing grain in a granary.

……

The next day, afternoon.

Shen Nian presented several lecture notes he had recently written to the eunuch on duty at the Wenhua Hall.

Emperor Wanli was suffering from a rash and there would be no daily lectures for the entire month of February. However, at Zhang Juzheng's instruction, the lecturers were still required to hand over the lecture notes to Emperor Wanli.

After the young Wanli Emperor recovered from his illness, Zhang Juzheng would ask him questions about the content of the lecture notes to prevent him from neglecting his studies due to his illness.

After leaving the Wenhua Hall, Shen Nian walked slowly along a connecting corridor.

He likes to take a leisurely stroll and bask in the sun during February, a month when the weather is still chilly.

Just then, a young eunuch strode towards Shen Nian.

Shen Nian initially thought he was just passing by, but after the latter walked up to Shen Nian and observed that no one was around, he immediately cupped his hands and lowered his voice to say, "Minister Shen, I am Fang Ping, and I work in the Seal and Ribbon Office. You once taught me in the Inner Study. I have something important to report to you."

"Did I teach you?"

Shen Nian looked suspicious and had no recollection of the young eunuch who looked to be about fifteen years old and was quite thin.

"On the 18th day of the eighth month of the third year of the Wanli reign, you gave us your last lesson in the Inner Study Hall. You talked about the eunuch Zheng He and told us that if we don't know what kind of person we want to become in the future, we should first be good people!"

After saying this, the eunuch Fang Ping made the gesture that Shen Nian often used when he got excited while lecturing in the Inner Study Hall: he waved his right hand forward and then clenched his fist and pulled it back.

The reason why the eunuch Fang Ping was so eager to prove that he was Shen Nian's student in the Inner Academy was that the court had a rule that officials of the outer court were prohibited from having private dealings with eunuchs of the inner court. If Fang Ping did not prove his relationship with Shen Nian, the latter would probably not listen to him at all.

Shen Nian smiled faintly, acknowledging his identity, and immediately asked, "What is it?"

Shen Nian had promised his students that if they ever encountered injustice, they could seek his help.

The eunuch Fang Ping said, "Those ten carts of gold and silver on Chaoyangmen Street were not obtained by Eunuch Zheng from the inner transport treasury, but from bribery and corruption. I have evidence."

After saying this, the eunuch Fang Ping took out a document from his bosom.

"Minister Shen, for the past six months I have been serving Eunuch Zheng Sansi. In order to protect himself, he recorded all the officials who bribed him in this ledger. All that money of his was obtained through embezzlement and bribery, not by embezzling from the Imperial Treasury. For us eunuchs, embezzlement and bribery can save our lives, but embezzling His Majesty's money, no matter how much, is a capital offense!"

"While sorting through Eunuch Zheng's belongings, I unexpectedly found this account book. I...I...don't know who to give it to, so I can only turn to you!"

After saying this, the young eunuch handed the account book to Shen Nian.

Shen Nian knew that this ledger was of great importance, so he took it, stuffed it into his sleeve, and said to Fang Ping, "Fang Ping, just hand this ledger over to me and pretend you know nothing about this. Otherwise, your life will be in danger. Go quickly!"

"Yes!" The eunuch Fang Ping bowed to Shen Nian again, then quickly walked forward and disappeared around the corner in a short while.

Shen Nian stuffed the account book in her sleeve further inside, then strode towards the Hanlin Academy.

……

A quarter of an hour later.

Inside the Hall of Lecturers at the Hanlin Academy.

Shen Nian closed the door, bolted it, sat down at the table, and then took out the account books.

"On the 23rd day of the sixth month of the 39th year of Jiajing, Zhou She, an assistant director of the Military Arsenal Department of the Ministry of War, paid 3,000 taels of silver to inquire about the vacancies and transfers of the directors of the four departments of the Ministry of War."

"On the 16th day of the third month of the 40th year of Jiajing, the Commander of the Shaanxi Commandery of the Right Army General Command paid 8,000 taels of silver to order the Seal Supervisor to affix yellow paper to the performance evaluation documents to increase the false merits."

……

"On the 12th day of the eighth month of the first year of the Longqing reign, Xie Dong, the chief clerk of the Huguang Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, purchased two blank salt and tea contract certificates for five thousand taels of silver."

"On the 16th day of the third month of the second year of the Longqing reign, Bai Wenzhong, the left councilor of the Jiangxi Provincial Administration Commission, spent 10,000 taels of silver to order the Seal Bureau to make a copy of the seal of the Ministry of Personnel in order to falsely report performance evaluations."

……

"On the fifteenth day of the fifth month of the second year of the Wanli reign, Xu Ziyue, a salt merchant from Sichuan, paid eight thousand taels of silver and obtained five empty salt permits from the Seal Bureau."

"On the 23rd day of the seventh month of the fourth year of the Wanli reign, Wang Kun, the clerk of the Henan Provincial Administration Commission, paid 5,000 taels of silver to order the Seal and Seal Supervisor to delay the issuance of the seals and documents required for the new Director of the Administration Commission, Gao Da, to take office, so that he would be punished for being late."

……

Shen Nian stared at the bribery information in the ledger, her expression growing increasingly grim.

A mere fourth-rank official in charge of imperial seals and documents was able to commit so many heinous crimes.

The powerful Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs was far more rampant and lawless than them.

"Turning a case of embezzlement and bribery by eunuchs into a case of embezzling gold and silver from the Imperial Treasury, Eunuch Feng really has a clever way of doing things!" Shen Nian murmured.

The fact that such a matter could be manipulated in this way, with eunuchs taking the blame at every turn, is something only Feng Bao possessed the ability to do.

Shen Nian immediately understood why Feng Bao had done this.

If this matter is characterized as embezzlement and bribery by eunuchs in the inner court, the twenty-four departments of the inner court will definitely be impeached and attacked by officials of the previous dynasty.

The Twenty-Four Offices of the Inner Court were the main dens of corruption and bribery among eunuchs, and could not withstand investigation. He dared to control them in this way in order to protect his adopted sons and grandsons.

Shen Nian hesitated for a moment, then picked up the ledger and prepared to leave.

If he were to hand over this ledger to the cabinet or to the officials of the censorate, the twenty-four departments of the inner court would definitely be subjected to a storm of investigation.

"Deceiving the court, concealing the truth, and avoiding investigation—they deserve to die!"

After saying this, Shen Nian was about to push open the door and leave when she suddenly stopped.

“No, that’s not right. Feng Bao couldn’t be that stupid. There are many officials in the Imperial Seal Office who have been bribed. If they hear about this, they will definitely suspect the source of the gold and silver that Zheng Sansi obtained. If even one of them leaks the information, Feng Bao will be guilty of deceiving the emperor. He couldn’t be that foolish!” Shen Nian murmured.

The court mostly turns a blind eye to corrupt practices by eunuchs.

After all, what eunuchs pursued was almost entirely power and money, and the court had tacitly accepted this as a common practice.

Bribing eunuchs was like giving kickbacks to the emperor's servants, and when the young Wanli Emperor found out, he did not punish them severely.

Embezzlement is not a capital offense, but deceiving the emperor is definitely a capital offense.

Eunuchs deceiving the emperor is something no emperor can accept.

Shen Nian believed that Feng Bao would never deceive the emperor because of this matter. Soon, Shen Nian understood.

"He must have discussed this with His Majesty, classifying this case as embezzlement of gold and silver from the Imperial Treasury. This gold and silver can not only be deposited into the Imperial Treasury, but also exempt the Three Judicial Offices from investigating the Imperial Treasury's finances, and prevent public resentment from boiling over. This is exactly what His Majesty hopes to see!"

"That old fox Feng Bao is truly cunning! The fact that his subordinate eunuchs embezzled money did not make His Majesty wary of him. On the contrary, His Majesty felt that he was willing to take the blame for lax management and even dereliction of duty for the sake of the inner treasury and the stability of the court. He was a loyal and capable servant!"

……

Based on Shen Nian's understanding of Feng Bao, he would definitely try to bring the young Wanli Emperor onto his side.

Shen Nian thought for a moment, then returned to her seat.

If Feng Baoruo does this, and Shen Nian then exposes the account book, the young Wanli Emperor will certainly not admit it, since he has already issued an imperial edict.

Shen Nian was very clear about the young Wanli Emperor's personality; the latter was most likely influenced by Empress Dowager Li and became increasingly greedy for money.

Shen Nian felt that if he handed this account book to Zhang Juzheng, Zhang Juzheng would most likely also realize Feng Bao's scheme.

Given his character of prioritizing the overall situation, he might not admit that the ledger is genuine.

In fact, if the officials who bribed the officials in the account books were arrested and brought to the three judicial departments for trial, the truth could be revealed quickly. However, Emperor Wanli would certainly not allow it, and Zhang Juzheng would even oppose it.

Because the current new policies require the assistance of the Twenty-Four Offices of the Inner Court, if the Inner Court and the outer court are in chaos, many things will become very difficult to handle.

this moment.

As Shen Nian flipped through the account books, the thought of eliminating the Twenty-Four Offices of the Inner Court welled up in her mind.

The so-called "killing".

It was not about abolishing these government offices, but rather ensuring that the inner court was not allowed to interfere in politics.

Currently, the Twenty-Four Offices of the Inner Court wield excessive power, and their influence will become even more terrifying once the young Wanli Emperor assumes personal rule.

Their corrupt and bribery-driven practices have distorted the administration of the court. Without removing their power, the new policies and reforms could collapse at any time.

This is a huge malignant tumor hidden in the imperial court.

Shen Nian looked at the ledgers, pondering what to do next.

Those ten cartloads of gold and silver were related to the young Wanli Emperor.

Shen Nian's reliance on an account book not only fails to defeat Feng Bao, but also creates enmity between them, and even causes the young Wanli Emperor to distance himself from Shen Nian.

Shen Nian was very clear about her position in the young Wanli Emperor's heart.

When he is useful, he is Minister Shen; when he is useless, he is nothing more than a court official.

Most emperors are cold-hearted by nature.

In the eyes of the young Wanli Emperor, Zhang Juzheng, Yin Zhengmao, Shen Shixing, Shen Nian, and others were all long-term servants of the Zhu family.

The Ming Dynasty practiced a system where the country was ruled by the family.

There is no such thing as "the monarch and the scholar-officials jointly governing the world," and Shen Nian yearns for this kind of political system.

At this moment, Shen Nian made the account book public.

It would bring no benefit to the imperial court, the new policies, or Shen Nian himself.

After pondering for a moment, Shen Nian decided to put the account book away for now, and wait until the right time was found and there was enough evidence to remove the inner court's power to interfere in politics before taking it out.

“Fang Ping might just be the one to deal with Feng Bao!” Shen Nian murmured.

After pondering for a moment, Shen Nian still felt somewhat unwilling.

He murmured, "We cannot allow His Majesty to develop such a greedy habit. If 50,000 taels of silver were put into the Imperial Treasury, His Majesty would be very happy. But that 50,000 taels of silver is all the hard-earned money of the people. It should not go into the Imperial Treasury, but into the National Treasury!"

Shen Nian's biggest worry was that young Wanli would develop a habit of being obsessed with money.

In his memory, after the young Wanli Emperor assumed power, he became addicted to plundering money, causing chaos in the court and widespread suffering among the people.

He thought for a moment, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration and decided to put the gold and silver that shouldn't belong to the inner treasury in the right place.

Shen Nian immediately opened the door and walked outside.

……

The following day, early morning, in front of the Wenhua Hall.

Feng Bao stood in front of the palace gate, head held high, like a proud and smug rooster.

Emperor Wanli was diagnosed with a rash and was unable to meet with officials.

Feng Bao was responsible for relaying memorials and messages. Many routine memorials drafted by the cabinet could be approved by Feng Bao without having to be presented to the young Wanli Emperor.

Just then, Yin Zhengmao and Shen Nian strode over.

Upon seeing Yin Zhengmao, Feng Bao immediately turned his face away, intending to have a young eunuch attend to him.

"Eunuch Feng, the main reason I'm discussing things with Ziheng today is to coordinate with you. Come, take a look at the memorial, and let's discuss how to report to His Majesty!" Yin Zhengmao said with a smile.

Yin Zhengmao was very shameless and enjoyed provoking Feng Bao.

"What are you saying, Grand Secretary Yin? The memorial you and Minister Shen jointly submitted has no need to be discussed with me. I'll just take a look so I can report to His Majesty!" Feng Bao revealed a forced smile.

After saying this, Feng Bao accepted the memorial handed over by Yin Zhengmao.

He opened the memorial, took a close look, and his expression changed drastically. Before he had even finished reading it, he said with a gloomy face, "Grand Secretary Yin, Minister Shen, the Wanli People's Mirror was originally printed with funds from the Imperial Treasury. Why should the Imperial Treasury have to pay another 50,000 taels of silver?"

Yin Zhengmao smiled and said, "Eunuch Feng, you still haven't finished reading the memorial! Printing is a separate matter. The folk arts section of the Wanli People's Mirror involves many agricultural crafts and inventions. The functions of these tools cannot be shown by illustrations and text alone. After discussing with the Hanlin Academy, I think we should manufacture some samples and send them to the provincial governments to be distributed in conjunction with the Wanli People's Mirror. These agricultural crafts and inventions will cost at least 50,000 taels of silver a year!"

Shen Nian added, "Eunuch Feng, the Ministry of Revenue can actually provide the 50,000 taels of silver, but considering that the Wanli People's Mirror is a publication established by His Majesty for the people of the Ming Dynasty, in order to show His Majesty's compassion and care for the people of the Ming Dynasty, and in order to let the people of the world thank His Majesty and pray for the long-lasting prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, we suggest that the 50,000 taels of silver should be provided by the Imperial Treasury."

"The imperial treasury has no money!" Feng Bao said irritably.

In recent years, the imperial treasury has been exploiting the national treasury, and since Yin Zhengmao took over the Ministry of Revenue, he has become increasingly stingy, and now he has even begun to exploit the imperial treasury.

This greatly angered Feng Bao.

"No money? Didn't we just confiscate ten cartloads of gold and silver? This gold and silver wasn't in the inner court's expenditure plan for this year. Wouldn't it be perfect to use it as funds for agricultural and technological inventions and tools?" Yin Zhengmao said.

"So...so that's what you were planning. You didn't have 50,000 taels, you only had a little over 20,000 taels of silver!"

"Eunuch Feng, if Zheng Sansi has ten cartloads of gold and silver, he must also have houses, fields and shops, plus his three adopted sons. If we just confiscate their property, surely we can find at least 20,000 taels of silver?"

Upon hearing this, Feng Bao was taken aback.

He suddenly realized that Yin Zhengmao and Shen Nian might have doubts about the outcome of the robbery of ten cartloads of gold and silver.

He didn't want to make a big deal out of it.

If the truth were to be revealed, under the combined attack of the madman Yin Zhengmao and the group of officials in the Censorate who hated the Inner Court to the bone, the young Wanli Emperor would have no choice but to compromise.

Although the young Wanli Emperor will protect him, the twenty-four departments of the inner court will definitely suffer a severe blow.

Feng Bao was not afraid of Zhang Juzheng.

However, they were somewhat afraid of Yin Zhengmao and Shen Nian, who never acted according to common sense.

Feng Bao thought for a moment, then stopped arguing with the two men. He held up the memorial and said, "You two should go back and wait for news. I will report the situation to His Majesty truthfully, and everything will be decided by His Majesty!"

(End of this chapter)