Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 540 An unexpected old case
After the formalities, Yang Lian and his two companions took Yuan Keli and his two companions into the central military tent.

"How did Yuan Bingxian find our military camp?" Everyone sat down, the door curtain was lowered, and Li Guangrong spoke first.

"I settled the escorts at the post station and then went to the military headquarters, hoping to pay a visit to Yang Zhongcheng. The guard at the gate said Yang Zhongcheng was away, so he told me to try my luck at Li Zhenshuai's camp." Yuan Keli bowed to the three men again. "I apologize for the intrusion."

"Yuan Bingxian, you are too kind." Li Guangrong immediately returned the greeting.

"How dare I trouble you, Lord Huan, to pay me a visit?" Yang Lianqian said, his voice even a little apologetic. "Please rest at the post station. Send someone to pass on the message. I will come to pay my respects myself."

"Wen Ru is truly a disgrace to me," Yuan Keli said, taking the initiative to address Yang Lian by his courtesy name as a gesture of intimacy. "From now on, you all don't need to be so polite. Just call me Li Qing."

"How dare I?" Yang Lian bowed again in humility.

After a lot of pleasantries, the conversation gradually turned to the main topic.

"Duke Jiehuan has his troops prepared in Zhenjiang, why did he specially go to Yizhou?" After this tug of war, Yang Lian still did not change his words and called Yuan Keli by his courtesy name.

Yuan Keli didn't beat around the bush this time. When Yang Lian asked about his purpose, he got straight to the point: "When I was in Beijing, I knew that the court had a policy to pacify the barbarians and the slaves, and that the place where this policy was implemented was in Guangning. I took the liberty of coming here to understand the situation of the barbarians and Guangning's policy on pacifying the barbarians."

Yang Lian was startled for a moment, then smiled and said, "Coincidentally, we were just discussing this matter."

"Great! I hope you three can give me some advice." Yuan Keli also smiled.

"This..." Yang Lian hesitated.

"What's wrong?" Yuan Keli asked.

"I still don't know where this Brother Lu is doing?" Yang Lian asked instead of answering.

Yuan Keli immediately understood Yang Lian's concerns. He hesitated, too. After a moment's hesitation, Yuan Keli chose to speak the truth: "Let me formally introduce you. This is Captain Lu from the East Office of the Embroidered Uniform Guard."

"Jinyiwei?" Yang Lian was stunned. A lot of speculation immediately occurred to him.

Lu Wenzhao slowly stood up and saluted the three men with a smile. "I am Lu Wenzhao. I am trusted by His Majesty and currently serve in the East Office."

"Captain Lu, are you here on the orders of the emperor to bring Jie Wanyoufu to the capital to face charges?" Yang Lian glanced at Li Guangrong subtly and noticed that his expression was completely frozen.

"No." Lu Wenzhao shook his head and said, "After Wan Youfu, someone else will come to get the pardon. I am only accompanying Master Yuan Li Liao to take office. Wherever Master Yuan goes, I will follow."

Yang Lian was stunned again.

The embroidered robes accompanied him to take office, this was a bit too grand. It was too grand for a military governor to have.

"Now that we're talking about this," the two of them had no prior discussion, only a tacit understanding. Yuan Keli was afraid that Lu Wenzhao would let something slip under Yang Lian's questioning, so he took the initiative to take over and change the subject. "Then let's talk about how the investigation of Wan Youfu's case is going?"

"The interrogation records and Wan Youfu's confession were sent to the capital a few days ago," Yang Lian said, looking at Lu Wenzhao again. "Has Captain Lu not mentioned this to Lord Jie Huan?"

"I don't know anything about confessions and interrogation records." Lu Wenzhao told the truth.

Yang Lian suddenly understood. He roughly grasped what was going on: courier services took time, and before the report reached Beijing, Yuan Keli had already received his commission to command Zhenjiang. Meanwhile, the emperor was also interested in understanding the details of the smuggling case, and perhaps even inquiring further about the situation in Liao. So, he had the Imperial Guard accompanying him. It was called escort, but in reality, it was just a passing passage.

"In that case, let me briefly explain," Yang Lian said, his eyes squinting slightly, a thoughtful expression on his face. "After nearly a month of interrogation and investigation, the patrol office can probably confirm that Wan Youfu has been engaging in corruption and illegal activities since at least three years ago."

"Three years ago," Lu Wenzhao seemed to have thought of something, that is, the 46th year of the Wanli reign?

"Lu Shangcha is correct. It was the 46th year of the Wanli reign." Yang Lian had already mistaken Lu Wenzhao for an imperial envoy, so he changed his title. "At that time, Wan Youfu was only an eighth-rank official in the Ministry of Revenue, having received his position through his father's influence. He shouldn't have had the opportunity to commit widespread corruption. But in April of that year, Nurhaci launched a rebellion and captured Fushun, leaving the Ministry of Revenue severely short of officials. To quickly secure the horses needed to aid the Liao army and levy slaves, the court sent Wan Youfu on a mission. He took 120,000 taels of silver from the Imperial Household Department and went to Xuanda Market to buy horses. This gave him the opportunity to embezzle."

There was actually a bit of a twist regarding the 120,000 taels of silver for the horse.

At the beginning, the emperor ordered the Imperial Household Department to send the 3,000 horses in foster care to Liu Jing, Chai Guozhu, Guan Bingzhong and other generals who were coming to support Liao, so that they could quickly form combat power and provide aid to Liao as soon as possible.

The Imperial Household Department certainly did not dare to neglect it, and upon receiving the emperor's order, they immediately took action and quickly allocated 3,000 horses to Wang Keshou, the then Governor of Ji and Liao.

When Wang Keshou, the governor of Ji and Liao, received the horses sent by the Imperial Household Department, he did not give them directly to Liu Jing, Chai Guozhu, Guan Bingzhong, and other generals stationed in Ji to await the arrival of Liao. Instead, he allocated the horses to the Miyun and Jizhou garrisons. He then exchanged an equal number of battalion horses from the Miyun and Ji garrisons for the three generals.

Wang Keshou orchestrated this maneuver because he discovered the horses sent by the Imperial Household Department were pampered stallions—in his own words, "never accustomed to hard work." This maneuver gave the three generals 3,000 ready-to-use war horses. However, even with these horses, the three generals remained in Jizhen, refusing to leave. The reason was simple: 3,000 horses were not enough.

After the Emperor's persistent efforts, the towns were short of both pay and horses. The three generals left their towns with only a handful of personal soldiers and retainers, practically empty-handed.

Wang Keshou, the governor of Ji and Liao, was only too willing to accept a replacement and was unwilling to allocate Jizhen's own horses to the Liao generals. The reason was simple: Jizhen itself was short of horses, and allocating horses to Liaozhen would jeopardize Jizhen's own defense. After all, the Chahar tribe had only been defeated, not destroyed.

Therefore, Wang Keshou submitted a memorial to the emperor to explain the current situation and requested that the money from the Imperial Household Department be used to purchase more "barbarian horses" to fill the shortage.

The memorial was submitted and approved. The emperor ordered the Imperial Household to pay 120,000 silver taels for the horses to the Ministry of Revenue, and to go to the Xuanda market to buy horses.

The decree was sent to the Imperial Household Department. Zhao Shizhen, then the Junior Secretary of the Imperial Household Department, immediately submitted a petition to the emperor, complaining that the Imperial Household Department had been in arrears and borrowed money for many years, leaving little in stock, and could only allocate half, or 60,000 yuan, to the emperor.

Needless to say, even if someone were to collect the outstanding debt, it would be impossible to collect it immediately. So, could the government office that borrowed the treasury funds be asked to pay back the money? Obviously not, because the debt would ultimately be charged to His Majesty the Emperor. And even if it was charged to His Majesty, it would be useless; he would simply say "no report" and dismiss it.

Fortunately, Zhao Shiyan's memorial was not ignored. Although the emperor still withheld funds from the imperial treasury, he did agree to the Ministry of War's proposal on the matter, which was to use 60,000 from the newly issued Liaoyang funds from the Ministry of Revenue to make up a total of 120,000 and hand it over to Wan Youfu for emergency use.

After these twists and turns, Wan Youfu was finally able to take the total of 120,000 silver coins for horses collected from the Ministry of Revenue and the Imperial Household Department, and go to Xuanda City to buy Yi horses from the Tumed tribe under the command of King Shunyi.

"Is Wan Youfu short of the imperial court's horse?" Lu Wenzhao asked.

"Not really. Simply short-changing the horses would have been too obvious. The court had to pay a minimum amount for the horses it had to buy, no matter how much money it gave. If Wan Youfu had dared to deliver below that minimum, he would have been discovered." Yang Lian shook his head. "As far as buying the horses itself is concerned, Wan Youfu did a great job. He quickly completed the task assigned to him by the court. Within a month, 5,000 barbarian horses arrived at the customs and were delivered to the generals. It was precisely because of this successful imperial mission that Wan Youfu was promoted to the position of Tongzhi of Yongping Prefecture, and then to the position of Bingbei Dao of Guangning Prefecture." The Minister of Revenue was an eighth-rank official, while the Tongzhi of Yongping Prefecture was a fifth-rank official. Wan Youfu's leap was a significant promotion.

"Then how did he do it?" Lu Wenzhao asked.

"He lowered the price and took advantage of the difference," Yang Lian said. "Wan Youfu and his men raised their offer to the court and lowered it to the Prince of Shunyi. He pocketed the difference himself."

"Twenty-four taels per horse is still an average price?" Yuan Keli was a little surprised. According to him, raising horses in the interior of the country would cost more than ten or twenty taels a year, which was more expensive than raising two servants.

"Yes." Yang Lian turned to look at Yuan Keli. "The price of horses outside the Great Wall depends almost entirely on the weather. As long as the grasslands aren't hit by disasters and the horses are thriving, the price can even be unimaginably low. According to Wan Youfu's own confession, he purchased horses from the various northern barbarian tribes at a price of fifteen taels of silver per horse. But the total price he offered to the court was twenty-four taels per horse. He calculated it very accurately. The court's bottom line was thirty taels per horse. As long as he didn't exceed this price and met the generals' needs to go out of the Great Wall to aid Liao, that is, provide at least four thousand horses, the court would not send anyone to relieve him of his duties, nor would they send anyone to investigate."

"If Wan Youfu does this, isn't he afraid that the envoy of King Shunyi will let the cat out of the bag when he comes to Beijing to pay homage?" Yuan Keli asked.

"He's not afraid," Yang Lian sighed. "Because the official in charge of selling horses on Prince Shunyi's side also inflated the price of the horses."

Yuan Keli was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized and said, "In other words, the price offered by the Shunyi King is even lower than fifteen taels?"

"Yes." Yang Lian nodded. "That's Wan Youfu's own confession. He said that when the horses were being sold, the Right Wing tribes had a large population of horses, but there wasn't much demand for them. The Shunyi court's expectations even dropped to ten taels of silver per horse."

Ever since Altan Khan accepted the Ming Dynasty's title of King of Shunyi, the Tumed tribe's demand for war horses gradually waned. Without warfare, horses were a useless beast, consuming much food, producing little, and remaining delicate, inferior to either cattle or sheep. After the war ended, the Tumed tribe's primary motivation for raising horses was to sell them to the Ming Dynasty to earn foreign exchange, which they could then use to purchase Ming salt, tea, silk, porcelain, and the limited ironware they were allowed to export. If the Ming Dynasty didn't buy them, the Tumed tribe wouldn't even have kept many horses.

"In other words, of the difference of fourteen taels, the envoy of King Shunyi who handled this matter took five taels, and Wan Youfu took nine taels?" Yuan Keli asked.

"We still don't know what price the Shunyi King's envoys gave the royal court, but it's certain that the two sides colluded, each getting what they wanted and holding leverage. If it weren't for the smuggling incident that led to this in-depth investigation, the Ming court and the Shunyi Royal Court wouldn't even be aware of the collusion between the two sides. Besides, Wan Youfu couldn't get nine taels per horse." Yang Lian explained:

"First, in order to facilitate the transaction and ensure the horses arrived at the designated destination within a month, Wan Youfu also offered a substantial bonus to the envoys handling this matter. According to the Wan family servants who handled this matter, this bonus cost over 2,400 taels. To be fair, this was considered public expense and can be excluded from the stolen money. Secondly, the price of the horses also included the fodder and grain the generals needed to take the horses out of the customs. Even after deducting these two amounts, Wan Youfu and his men embezzled at least 30,000 taels from this assignment."

"They," Lu Wenzhao took over the conversation, "this matter really involves other people. Is Governor Wu in it?"

Although Lu Wenzhao wasn't specifically assigned to investigate the Wan Youfu case, upon hearing he'd been assigned to tour Liaodong with Yuan Keli, he immediately did extensive research and gained some understanding of potential suspects. The Governor-General Wu he was referring to was Wu Chongli, then-Governor of Xuanda Prefecture in Shanxi. In May of the 46th year of the Wanli reign, Wu Chongli, as Governor-General, assumed responsibility for Xuanfu's affairs. In other words, in June of the 46th year of the Wanli reign, when Wan Youfu went to the Xuanda market to buy horses, Wu Chongli was in charge of both military and political affairs in Xuanda.

"It's a land mission. Governor Wu is suspected of being involved, but whether he's actually involved is still uncertain." Yang Lian thought for a moment, then explained as rigorously as possible, "According to Wan Youfu's own confession, he did have courteous exchanges with Governor Wu during his mission. He also found an excuse to give Governor Wu a gift of two hundred taels, as well as gifts like writing brushes, ink, folding fans, and other ornaments."

"Governor Wu also responded with appropriate gifts. However, from the time Wan Youfu took the silver for the horses to Xuanda, to the time the horses were delivered to Jizhen, and then to Wan Youfu's return to Beijing to report, he and Governor Wu only met twice. We interrogated the Wan family's servants and did not obtain any further confessions about Governor Wu."

"I personally think that this matter can be investigated more thoroughly. It would be best to send officials to Yanzhou Prefecture to conduct an investigation. I have also written this suggestion in the official letter to the Censorate." In the 47th year of Wanli, Wu Chongli, who was 67 years old at the time, resigned from his post due to mourning and is currently unemployed in his hometown of Ningyang County, Yanzhou Prefecture.

"Where are the others?" Jinyiwei's instinct prompted Lu Wenzhao to continue asking. He loved these kinds of cases that could easily become a big deal, even if they probably had nothing to do with him.

Yang Lian took a deep breath and frowned as he said, "If we dig deep and get to the bottom of this, we can arrest everyone, big or small. We can indeed uncover quite a few people involved in the case, but at this point, it's better not to implicate too many people."

(End of this chapter)