Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 296 Zhu Youjian Cries
Geng Ruqi learned that the squad leader was not surnamed Cao, but was actually a relative of Cao Wenzhao. His name was Geng Zhong. He was a servant of Cao Wenzhao. The servants of border generals were mostly from the same hometown, elite soldiers, or surrendered soldiers.

During the Wanli era, Huang Jiashan, the Minister of War, reported: "The household guards of border generals are mostly elite troops. It is advisable to order each general to increase their numbers in preparation for autumn defense."

Household guards were actually private soldiers of generals recognized by the imperial court. The imperial court stipulated that the number of household guards of a general in a border town could not exceed 300, that of a deputy general could not exceed 200, and that of a guerrilla commander could not exceed 100.

In reality, however, the number of personal guards held by generals often exceeded the prescribed limits. Mao Wenlong was a prime example; he not only had a large number of personal guards, but also an astonishing number of adopted sons. Cao Wenzhao, on the other hand, was not particularly fond of adopting sons; he only had seven or eight in total.

Geng Zhong was not Cao Wenzhao's adopted son, but he had followed Cao Wenzhao for a long time. He was senior, capable, and respected by his subordinates, which is why he became the captain of this hastily assembled combat squad.

In the squad, only Cao Sandao and Cao Dazui were Cao Wenzhao's adopted sons, and thus addressed the deceased Cao Er as brothers. However, all fifteen of them were Cao Wenzhao's personal guards, so their relationship was very close. For Geng Ruqi, it was precisely because of their special status that he had no ability to deal with them quietly; he couldn't cover it up!

Cao Wenzhao was from Datong Town, Shanxi. His younger brother, Cao Wenyao, distinguished himself in the defense of Xuanda and was now serving as the garrison commander of the central route of Datong. Compared to the Cao brothers, Geng Ruqi, the governor from Shandong, was truly an outsider!
When Geng Zhong and his men made up their minds to avenge their comrades, they prepared for a surprise attack that would be a one-way trip, because there were only a dozen or so of them.

In their minds, a large temple like Shuangta Temple would have at least a hundred monks protecting it; and if they went to settle accounts with the county magistrate, the county garrison would have at least seven or eight hundred men.

Their initial worry was that if they all died, they wouldn't be able to achieve their goal of revenge. However, they completed the game in half a day without encountering any significant resistance along the way.

All fifteen were unharmed, the most seriously injured being Cao Dazui, who had a bump on his forehead. Their revenge was driven by sheer courage, but afterwards, they suddenly didn't know how to end things!
Geng Ruqi had wanted to go to the capital in the second year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, but he couldn't make it. In the current situation, as the governor of Shanxi, he shouldn't have abandoned his post, but he felt that this matter was too absurd and that submitting a memorial would only make things worse.

If he didn't personally go to the emperor and explain things clearly, he would be truly finished. He couldn't care less about anything else; in this urgent situation, he had to act expediently. Even if he was punished for dereliction of duty, it wouldn't be any worse.

The deeper reason is that memorials are official documents of the imperial court, passing through the Six Ministries, the Office of Transmission, and then the Grand Secretariat. By then, the matter will be completely public, leaving no room for maneuver. He still doesn't know the emperor's attitude—whether he wants to downplay the matter or handle it strictly as a matter of official business.

The magistrate certainly deserved to die, but Cao Er might not have been killed by him. Geng Ruqi had heard about these people's methods: when faced with a victim, they would first torture them into confessing, and then extort money from the victim's family to buy their life, thus maximizing their profits by killing two birds with one stone.

Then, while keeping the aggrieved party alive, they would give them a little more warning and see if they could make some more money; and finally, they would try to eliminate any future troubles. Therefore, Cao Er's death was too early and did not conform to procedure.

It's not hard to guess who actually killed him; it was simply the monks of Shuangta Temple who hired someone to eliminate any future trouble. Perhaps out of fear of Cao Er, or perhaps it was just habitual behavior, as a local tyrant with a large amount of wealth, he naturally had his own unique set of operating logic to deter those who coveted his power.

These border soldiers were rather naive and hadn't considered this possibility. They stormed into the county government office, killing the magistrate and a few clueless yamen runners, but letting most of the county officials escape.

At Geng Ruqi's command, all three shifts of yamen runners from Quyang County were brought back. His actions won the favor of Geng Zhong and others. Amidst their praise, Geng Ruqi hesitated whether to tell them that he had done this primarily for his own official position.

After being subjected to severe torture, the jailer confessed to poisoning the prisoners, and his confession successfully filled an important gap in the case file.

Since almost all the parties involved were dead, the information Geng Ruqi knew was all hearsay, and the case files were incomplete, making it difficult to reconstruct the whole story.

Moreover, this investigation also brought to light many trivial matters unrelated to the case, leaving Geng Ruqi in a dilemma of whether to intervene or not.

He felt that he had wasted so many years as the governor of Shanxi. Shanxi seemed normal on the surface, but things were not so good when you looked closely. Peel back the rosy surface and Shanxi was already riddled with problems.

This wasn't the first time the magistrate of Quyang County had abused his power, nor was it the first time the monks of Shuangta Temple had committed crimes; the two sides had collaborated many times before.

A thorough investigation of Quyang County uncovered several prominent families within the county, revealing a series of murders. The Shuangta Temple was massacred, and the twin pagodas were burned down. However, the Shuangta Temple was not just about two pagodas; they also owned a residential area covering more than ten acres, and thousands of acres of land under their names, much of which was registered under the names of local gentry.

It involves the families of deceased high-ranking officials of the court, and also has unclear relationships with current officials; upon investigation, it also involves the encroachment on the garrison land. Quyang County was originally used to settle the garrison, and the surrounding fields were all garrison farmland.

The investigation even went so far as to implicate Prince Jin, revealing that some of the monks at Shuangta Temple were actually members of a collateral branch of his family. And the magistrate of Quyang County was no ordinary man either; he had bought his position!
Geng Ruqi stayed in Quyang County for three days, arresting dozens of people and taking away three large cartloads of case files. Geng Ruqi felt he was still too young and needed more experience. After several days, he was exhausted; he truly couldn't understand these matters. Let whoever wanted to be the governor of Shanxi be it; he didn't have the ability!
Geng Ruqi entrusted the military affairs of the two towns in Shanxi to Qu Jiazhen, the general of Datong, and instructed him to be vigilant and guard against border troubles. He also ordered Cao Wenyao, the deputy commander of the central route of Datong, to temporarily garrison Taiyuan City and told him what had happened there. He then asked Cao Wenzhao to write a letter to his family to explain the situation and avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.

When they set off, Geng Ruqi not only took Geng Zhong and fifteen others with him, but also asked Gong Qiong to come along. Gong Qiong looked as if he had lost his parents and asked him if he could not go. Geng Ruqi replied with a forced smile, "No."

Geng Zhong and the others had their weapons and armor confiscated, but they were not shackled or escorted in prison carts. The crowd was puzzled, and Geng Ruqi explained: "If you wanted to leave, you would have left long ago. You wouldn't have waited for me to come."

Since that's the case, why should I humiliate you with shackles and prison carts? You are indeed guilty, but you are also loyal and brave soldiers who fought for your country and deserve respect.

His words deeply moved Geng Zhong and the others, but Geng Zhong was not good with words and only managed to say after a long pause, "Sir, you are a good official."

Geng Ruqi smiled bitterly. He felt he was no good official, and even thought he shouldn't have been an official at all. These three days of handling the case had been immense mental torture for him. He couldn't help but ponder, and finally came to a conclusion: the Ming Dynasty was doomed!

His feelings towards Geng Zhong and the others were complicated; he didn't know whether to hate them or be grateful to them. If this group hadn't directly killed the people blocking his way, exposing all sorts of ledgers, letters, and other evidence to him without any concealment, he wouldn't have been able to investigate so smoothly or uncover so much if he had followed normal investigative procedures. Seeing how kind Geng Ruqi was to them, Geng Zhong became even more demanding, hoping that they could be allowed to bury Cao Er and his wife before going to the capital.

Geng Ruqi shook his head, indicating that these two were also important evidence and needed to be brought to the capital together. He explained that the weather was cold now, and the bodies wouldn't decompose so quickly. He provided coffins and flatbeds for them, assuring them that they would be properly cared for.

……

On the fifteenth day of the tenth month of the fourth year of the Chongzhen reign, Zhu Youjian was eating hotpot and humming a song in the inner palace after finishing his morning meeting when he suddenly heard that Geng Ruqi, the governor of Shanxi, was requesting an audience outside the palace gates.

Zhu Youjian was dumbfounded, and slices of cooked mutton slipped from his lips: Why would the governor of Shanxi come back at this time of year, when it's neither a holiday nor a festival? Could it be that the Jurchens have invaded from Shanxi?!
However, upon closer examination, Zhu Youjian felt it was unlikely. If there was a war in Shanxi, Geng Ruqi would certainly be organizing resistance and would not have been able to escape to Beijing.

Although Beijing and Shanxi are very close, and it would only take a few days at a fast pace, Zhu Youjian thought and thought, but he couldn't figure out what Geng Ruqi was up to.

"Wang Banban, did Geng Ruqi say what he wanted to see me about?" Zhu Youjian asked casually, but he didn't expect to get an answer, because if Wang Chengen knew, he wouldn't ignore such crucial information.

As expected, Wang Chengen shook his head and replied, "Lord Geng only said that he has a very important matter to report to His Majesty in person."

Zhu Youjian's heart skipped a beat: "So mysterious, could it be that the princes of Shanxi have rebelled?!"

Shanxi had three princely branches: the Prince of Jin, the Prince of Dai, and the Prince of Shen. Zhu Youjian was not exactly friendly to these princes. Whether it was asking them for money to build his brother's mausoleum, or later canceling their tax-exempt privileges, these actions were all aimed at pissing at the princes' vulnerabilities.

To be honest, Zhu Youjian had already mentally prepared himself to send troops to quell the rebellion. But to his surprise, several years passed and the princes remained quiet. Not a single one caused trouble, and even the Prince of Tang, whom he had sent out to cause trouble, disappeared without a trace.

As the saying goes, "When a child is quiet, he must be up to something," Zhu Youjian felt that his uncles were definitely plotting something big!

While Zhu Youjian was still lost in thought, Geng Ruqi had already been brought before him by Wang Chengen, as he had instructed.

Geng Ruqi didn't look like a typical Shandong man. He was rather short and thin, more like someone from the southwest. However, his features were still quite defined, with a high nose bridge, deep-set eyes, and dark circles under his eyes. Hmm? Zhu Youjian felt something was off!

He was certain this was his first meeting with Geng Ruqi, yet the man's eyes instantly reddened, as if he had suffered some immense injustice. Geng Ruqi suddenly knelt on the ground, crying out, "Your Majesty, I am guilty, I would gladly die ten thousand times over! Please punish me, Your Majesty!"

"Huh?!" Zhu Youjian had summoned so many ministers to his Happy Dining Hall, and this was the first time someone had burst into tears and slid to their knees upon meeting him. "How much injustice has he suffered!"

Zhu Youjian felt a pang of sympathy and quickly stepped forward to help him up, comforting him, "It seems you've suffered, my dear minister. In Taiyuan, you must have been wronged by the Prince of Jin, right? Don't worry, even a prince cannot arbitrarily bully an official of the court. Tell me what happened, and I will certainly give you justice!"

Now it was Geng Ruqi's turn to be confused. Without even wiping away his tears, he looked up and said, "This has nothing to do with Prince Jin. No, it can't be said that it's completely unrelated."

"So, is there any connection or not? What exactly do you want from me?" Zhu Youjian was speechless.

“Your Majesty…” Geng Ruqi opened his mouth, but suddenly felt his throat was stuck. He took out a scroll from his bosom, raised it above his head, and changed from a standing to a kneeling position. He lowered his head and remained silent.

"Damn it, are they going to reveal their true colors?" Zhu Youjian turned to look at Wang Chengen. Wang Chengen quickly stepped forward, snatched the scroll from Geng Ruqi's hand, and handed it to the emperor. In fact, Geng Ruqi had already been searched before entering the palace; he wouldn't make such a basic mistake.

The emperor untied the rope from the scroll, letting it roll away under gravity. Geng Ruqi frowned, glancing at the emperor's reaction. He saw the emperor's face, which had initially held a slight smile, gradually turn serious, then ashen, and finally collapse completely.

Zhu Youjian used both hands to quickly retract the scroll, but he couldn't wait any longer. He grabbed the scroll that wasn't fully rolled up and slammed it hard into Geng Ruqi's face.

"You bastard! This is really weird, the timeline is converging, right? Is your life so cheap, Geng Ruqi?! I've already saved you once, and you still come back? What kind of person are you who has to die?!" Zhu Youjian cursed at Geng Ruqi.

Still not satisfied with his outburst, the emperor proceeded to punch and kick Geng Ruqi, who dared not retaliate. He understood the emperor's rage; he had been just as furious when he first learned of the matter. However, he couldn't comprehend the emperor's words at all—what did he mean by "already saved him once"?! Nevertheless, he did agree with the emperor's insult about his worthless life; he felt his life had indeed been utterly unlucky.

Geng Ruqi was not young, so Zhu Youjian did not dare to hit him too hard. After venting his anger, Zhu Youjian helped him up from the ground and pointed to the dining table next to him, saying, "Since you're here, let's eat first."

Following the emperor's gaze, Geng Ruqi discovered several pretty women sitting behind the bubbling, steaming soup pot. They must be imperial concubines. Geng Ruqi dared not sit there and quickly declined.

However, Zhu Youjian had no mood to argue with him. He picked up the files from the ground, staggered back to his seat, pushed aside the bowls and plates in front of him, and smoothed out the crumpled papers on the table.

He looked at the contents of the file again. He had read it too quickly in his anger and hadn't looked carefully. Now, however, he couldn't bear to finish reading it. As he read, Zhu Youjian was overcome with grief and burst into tears!
(End of this chapter)