Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 400 White lies
Under the emperor's gaze, Cui Wensheng suddenly became nervous. He left his seat, quickly walked to the open space in front of the imperial desk, and knelt down with a plop. Cui Wensheng opened his mouth, barely calming himself, trying his best not to stutter: "Although I do not have any evidence yet, I am seven..." Cui Wensheng paused, then decided to go all out, "I am 100% sure! So I would like to ask the master for an order."

"What decree do you want?" Zhu Changluo asked.

"Arrest them!" Cui Wensheng's eyes were filled with sternness. "Catch those who left Beijing for Beitang and interrogate them thoroughly. We'll definitely get confessions and find evidence!"

"Oh, definitely." Zhu Changluo's expression unexpectedly softened. "What if we can't find out?"

"I dare to issue a military order. If I arrest the wrong person or wrongly accuse anyone, I will bring my head to you." Cui Wensheng said.

"I don't want your head. If you can't get anything concrete out of the interrogation, then you should leave the East Factory and go to the tomb of the late emperor to clean the toilets for those you have exiled." This meant agreement.

Cui Wensheng quickly kowtowed and said, "Master, I bow to you." He had come here today to request this imperial decree. Cui Wensheng had prepared several arguments, but soon after entering the palace, the emperor's conversation kept leading the conversation, leaving him with no chance to utter any of them. Now, after just two or three sentences, he had inexplicably received this imperial decree, leaving Cui Wensheng somewhat bewildered.

"Tell me, where does your 100% certainty come from?" Zhu Changluo asked.

Cui Wensheng was stunned for a moment, thought for a moment, and replied, "Your Majesty, long live the master. First of all, the timing of the shipwreck is too coincidental. The ship sank just a few days after those people arrived. It's hard not to be suspicious. Secondly, these people are very cautious in their actions and words. They almost never speak in public. Even in private, such as in a private room in a restaurant, they rarely speak loudly. Those who follow them can't even hear their original words. So until now, the Dongchang guards don't even know what they are doing in Beitang. This is very abnormal."

"Then what do you know?" Zhu Changluo looked down at Cui Wensheng.

"The report sent back from Cui Yuan said that they have contacted some local people. Most of these local people make a living at sea. One of them is the captain of the sunken ship." This was one of the key factors that made Cui Wensheng dare to come here to ask for the emperor's order.

Zhu Changluo nodded and asked, "After the ship sank, did the captain come back alive?"

Cui Wensheng shook his head and said, "No one returned alive. The entire ship vanished. Including the captain, there were six people in total, and not a single one returned." If anyone had returned, Cui Yuan would have arrested them and interrogated them. If they wanted to arrest servants of nobles and relatives, they would seek permission from the emperor, but if they wanted to interrogate civilians, they had no worries at all. As long as no one died, the news spread throughout the city, and they were impeached by the local civil servants, it wouldn't be a big deal.

"Since no one came back alive, how did your eldest son know that the ship had sunk? Did he see a floating wooden board with words engraved on it, or did he see someone's corpse?" Zhu Changluo asked again.

"That's not the case," Cui Wensheng replied. "Cui Yuan bribed a clerk at the Ministry of Finance. The clerk found the record of the shipwreck in the yamen's drifting register."

"What's your name?" Zhu Changluo nodded slightly.

"What's that?" Cui Wensheng didn't quite understand.

"I'm asking you what the clerk's name is?" Zhu Changluo said.

"If I remember correctly," Cui Wensheng recalled, "the clerk's name should be Jiang Yunchun."

"After the case is concluded, let Jiang Yunchun come to Beijing." Zhu Changluo raised the corner of his mouth and smiled, "Is that okay?"

"I obey your order!" Although Cui Wensheng didn't think Cui Yuan would lie to him, the emperor's inexplicable smile still made him a little scared. After all, he had only received a report and had never actually met the clerk named Jiang Yunchun.

Zhu Changluo nodded and glanced at the red pen, but he didn't pick it up. Instead, he asked, "So, is there something wrong with the Ministry of Finance, or to put it bluntly, Li Changgeng?"

"Cui Yuan's report only states that they bribed a clerk from the Ministry of Revenue. He doesn't mention that those people visited the Ministry of Revenue or met directly with Li Changgeng. Therefore, I dare not make any rash conclusions at this time. Moreover, the Ministry of Revenue is a large government office with many people coming and going every day. Li Changgeng may have learned about the shipwreck from a source that Cui Yuan is not aware of." Cui Wensheng swallowed his saliva, rolled his eyes, and added:
"Even that clerk named Jiang Yunchun is just an ordinary old scholar. There are more than a dozen clerks like him in the Ministry of Revenue. The embezzlement register itself is something that will eventually be submitted to the Ministry of Revenue for record. It's easy for a clerk to find it. Even if we must be suspicious, Jiang Yunchun can't be fully trusted. He may just be deliberately trying to please Cui Yuan for the money."

"Tsk." Zhu Changluo sneered, "When I ask you a question, just answer it properly. Why are you suddenly giving me a warning?"

"I'm a dull servant," Cui Wensheng asked cautiously, "May I ask, Master, what 'vaccination' means?"

Zhu Changluo rolled his eyes at him. "You're just putting this clerk down with all the talk you say. What do you mean by 'an extremely ordinary old scholar'? What do you mean by 'inevitably suspicious' and 'deliberately pandering'? If you keep going on, you're going to call him a liar, aren't you?"

Cui Wensheng stood there in a daze, his eyes wide. "I dare not."

"I advise you to stop using such petty tricks." Zhu Changluo leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. Then, with a flick of his wrist and a flick of his sleeve, his white fingers appeared. Pointing at Cui Wensheng, he slowly said, "You've been lying to me the moment you open your mouth. Think carefully about it: when did I issue the order to track you down? And think again: is that 'some time ago' you spewed out enough to make you run all the way from Beitang to the capital and back? If I don't expose you, you're not done."

The emperor's posture was relaxed, but Cui Wensheng was tense, his face pale. He put his head to the floor, unable to utter a word of defense.

"There are some things I don't want to reveal, and usually won't reveal them," Zhu Changluo shifted his gaze from Cui Wensheng to the eunuchs present, finally settling on Wei Chao. "Wei Chao!"

"I'm here!" Wei Chao jumped up from the chair as if he had been electrocuted.

"Tell me, why did Cui Wensheng lie to me in the beginning?" Zhu Changluo asked.

"Maybe it's to please the Lord." This time, Wei Chao's mind was quite quick. "It's always good intentions."

"Right." Zhu Changluo waved his hand downwards, tucking it into his sleeve. "Not all lies are meant to deceive the emperor; there are also good intentions. This bastard was just trying to please me at first, so I didn't expose him. He was happy, and I was happy too. Then, I casually mentioned it, and he started disparaging his informant. If the informant can't be trusted, then how can the evidence you've collected even be called evidence? The starting point of the entire chain of logic is broken."

Cui Wensheng suddenly shuddered and began to kowtow. "I am a stupid servant, a stupid servant."

"Alright!" Zhu Changluo stopped him lightly. "I understand. Stand up and answer."

"Thank you, master." Cui Wensheng got up from the ground tremblingly.

"Let me ask you, do you think this boatman would risk his life for someone else's commission?" Zhu Changluo asked. "Absolutely not!" Cui Wensheng said firmly. "The captain of the sunken ship must still be alive, and maybe even the ship is still there."

Zhu Changluo nodded, the teasing tone that threatened to turn into genuine anger vanished. "If they truly intend to start from Beitang and prevent the sea freight from being diverted, no matter what means they use, the ultimate goal is to prove to the court in some way that the losses from the Tianjin to Gaizhou sea route are greater than the loss of grain and supplies transported by land from Lushun, Jinzhou, and other places to Gaizhou. This isn't just about sinking one or two ships. Those who have drifted away may not have drifted away, and those who have died may not have died. As long as we can find these things and these people, and establish even a complete chain of evidence, it will be irrefutable proof."

"My lord is wise." Cui Wensheng hurriedly praised the emperor.

Zhu Changluo had nothing to say, and even less to listen to. He stood up, and the eunuchs immediately followed suit.

Zhu Changluo took half a step forward, then turned sideways and picked up the white paper with the three names on it. He walked in front of Cui Wensheng and placed it on the clean, dust-free table. "Go back, do what you want to do, and check everything you need to check."

"Your Majesty is wise!" Cui Wensheng looked down at the red characters that seemed to be leaping, and a smile with a hint of understanding and a hint of weirdness appeared on the corner of his mouth.

--------

Xu Guangqi almost dragged his soul along, relying on instinct to move the distance from Qianqing Gate to Wumen.

After leaving the Meridian Gate, the lower-ranking officials began to salute him, the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan, and Xu Guangqi instinctively returned the greetings with a smile. After returning the greetings, he continued to move forward.

When he crossed the Jinshui Bridge in front of Chengtian Gate and arrived at the intersection of the central axis and the line connecting the left and right Chang'an Gates, Xu Guangqi stopped.

He didn't know whether he should continue to go south through the Daming Gate to leave the imperial city; or go east to the Ministry of Rites to continue working; or go west to the Tongzhengshisi, exchange the gift certificate in his arms for passing the test for a bloody gift, and then go to the Ministry of Rites to work, quietly waiting for the moment to return north to the Qianqing Palace to meet the emperor again.

Xu Guangqi's psychological defenses were shattered by the emperor's repeated attacks. The emperor seemed to have anticipated what he would ask and say, and had made corresponding preparations for his every reaction, guiding him step by step, and at the last moment he "voluntarily" accepted the memorial.

Xu Guangqi knelt and thanked the emperor. But ever since he left Qianqing Gate, he had been asking himself: Could he refuse this reward?

No.

This was not only deceiving the emperor, but also ignoring the facts. He had no choice but to accept it according to the law and etiquette.

But since he accepted it, why would he hesitate?
Xu Guangqi didn't know that he couldn't take a step forward.

"Zixian!" At this moment, a powerful voice, against the already sparse flow of people, quickly approached Xu Guangqi from the east. The voice grew louder as the person approached. When the person shouted for the fourth time, Xu Guangqi finally woke up from his dream.

"Li Qing?" Xu Guangqi turned around and found that the person who came was one of the examiners he had just separated from not long ago, Yuan Keli, the current Left Minister of the Ministry of Public Security.

When Yuan Keli approached, Xu Guangqi didn't even bother to greet him. Instead, he asked directly, "Did you come here specifically to wait for me?"

"Yes." Yuan Keli's expression told him what he was going to say. But since Xu Guangqi had asked, he could only nod in response. "I..."

Xu Guangqi asked again: "How did you know I would come out from here?"

Yuan Keli looked puzzled and asked, "Weren't you summoned by the emperor?"

"Yes," Xu Guangqi added, "What's wrong with that?"

"You refused to leave the palace when you met the emperor." Yuan Keli could vaguely sense the negative emotions lingering around Xu Guangqi. He slowed his tone and deliberately changed his rhetorical question into an affirmative one. "The imperial examination is over, and the Ministry of Rites still has to deal with the palace examination. These matters require your oversight, so I assumed you would head due south out of Chengtian Gate and return to your ministry, so I came here to wait for you."

"That's right." Xu Guangqi smiled softly. Yuan Keli couldn't tell if it was bitter or cold, but he was certain it wasn't joy. "So you're here to get this?" Xu Guangqi extended two fingers and gently tapped the hard cover of the memorial in his arms. However, because the memorial was tightly covered by layers of fabric, Xu Guangqi's two taps didn't make much of a noise.

Yuan Keli didn't even know what Xu Guangqi was referring to. "What do I need your heart for?"

Xu Guangqi glanced back and said, "You are not Gong." He stopped talking mid-sentence. "Hahaha," he laughed like crying and said, "It's really ridiculous. How could I have such an idea? I'm sorry, I'm really sorry."

Yuan Keli thought Xu Guangqi was just apologizing for his earlier rudeness, so he smiled and shook his head, asking, "Did the Emperor summon you to the palace to discuss the Jesuit matter?"

"Yes." Xu Guangqi let out a long sigh. "Just ask Li Qing whatever you want to know. I will tell you everything I know."

"Zixian, you really misunderstood me." Yuan Keli smiled lightly, not harboring any resentment for this misunderstanding. He pulled out two memorials from his bosom, one thick and one thin. "I'm not here to ask you anything, I'm here to inform you. I just don't know if these things are still useful to you at this moment."

"Memorial?" Xu Guangqi asked blankly.

Yuan Keli nodded.

"Whose is it?" Xu Guangqi asked again.

"Johann Adam Schall von Bell. The chief official of the Imperial Observatory." Yuan Keli patted the two memorials, not caring that he was still standing in front of the Jinshui Bridge of Chengtian Gate.

(End of this chapter)