Top Scholar

Chapter 561 Liu Gong Mending the Sky
Autumn is a season when granaries are full, and the summer grain from Jiangnan and Huguang should, as usual, be continuously sent to the capital to fill the empty Taicang granaries...

This year, however, the country suffered a severe drought, leaving the land parched and the crops with no harvest. Famine broke out in various provinces, and bandits roamed freely. Not only were taxes collected less than 30 percent of the total, but the grain transport system also suffered unprecedented damage—the grain ships either capsized due to the dried-up waterways or were looted by famine victims and bandits, resulting in losses of up to 30 percent.

The amount of grain that finally arrived in Taicang, Tongzhou, was less than 20% of what it had been in previous years!

Although summer grain is not the country's main source of income, autumn grain is the real beneficiary. However, with the drought persisting throughout the year, and the summer harvest failing, hoping for a turnaround in the autumn harvest is wishful thinking!

This bleak situation enraged Liu Jin, who issued an edict to dismiss the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner, arrest him, and escort him to the capital for questioning!
But arresting the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner was useless. A severe crop failure in the autumn harvest was a foregone conclusion. The capital city had a million people, and the border troops in various towns were starving for food. If any of them ran out of food, even Eunuch Liu could not bear the responsibility.

Because the emperor's bottom line was that the capital city must not be in chaos...

Some might ask, how could the capital descend into chaos if the border troops were starving? Because in the Ming Dynasty, the emperor was responsible for guarding the nation's borders. Not only could the emperor not command starving soldiers, but the border troops would also resort to letting the Mongols into the pass to demand their unpaid wages…

This drove Eunuch Liu so anxious that he was practically peeing yellow urine, and he was smashing three to five teacups every day. Now, if a fly even flew in front of him, he'd want to stub its leg off...

He listened to the slander of Liu Yu, the Minister of War, who said, "By confiscating Liu Daxia's property, we can get two-tenths of the border expenses." He immediately dug up old accounts, found a random charge, and confiscated the property of this former official.

As a result, Liu Daxia's family had no surplus wealth and gained nothing. Liu Yu then claimed that this elder relative had transferred his property, so the Embroidered Uniform Guard arrested him and brought him to the capital, forcing his family to send rice to the border to atone for their sins.

Liu Daxia wasn't the only official to suffer. To alleviate the immediate crisis, Liu Jin revived the practice of fining officials with rice, using fines instead of punishment to force officials to "contribute to the military."

He decreed that from July of the third year of the Zhengde reign, any official accused of corruption, dereliction of duty, or failing performance evaluations would be required to pay silver and rice as atonement, with fines ranging from tens to thousands of shi (a unit of dry measure). Each punishment often implicated dozens of people. All the confiscated grain was sent to the imperial granary or border town granaries to replenish the supplies.

Officials of all ranks lived in constant fear, never daring to be late or leave early. While in the office, they kept their eyes wide open, afraid to make even the slightest mistake. Otherwise, how could their meager salaries cover the fines? Many officials had no choice but to borrow rice from grain shops to pay their fines.

We were among the first to take out loans to start working...

But no one dared to complain openly, because nowadays, secret agents were rampant in the court, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Eastern Depot, the Western Depot, and the Inner Depot had woven a terrifying net. If you dared to complain today, it would become evidence for Eunuch Liu to punish you by making you pay rice taxes tomorrow.

Some people asked, "Then what's the point of being an official? You should just resign and go home to rest." But this law was so harsh that it didn't even spare deceased officials... Censor Peng Cheng had already passed away, but his family was still ordered to pay 500 shi of rice.

While you're in power, you can at least try to make some adjustments and reduce the burden a little. If you're bold enough, you might even have a chance to salvage the situation. But once you go home, you're truly at the mercy of others.

Therefore, although officials were living in misery, there was no wave of resignations...

However, fines are ultimately a drop in the bucket; how could they possibly fill that terrifying financial hole?

So Eunuch Liu decided to reorganize the salt administration again, trying to squeeze some profits out of the salt tax, but of course, he wouldn't see any results in the short term...

Having exhausted all other options, even the usually autocratic Eunuch Liu lowered his stance and took the initiative to convene a meeting of cabinet ministers...

~~
Wenyuan Pavilion.

When the three Grand Secretaries heard that Eunuch Liu had invited them to a meeting, they were all stunned.

Jiao Fang had previously submitted a memorial requesting to resign, and although the emperor persuaded him to stay, he has been feigning illness ever since and hasn't come to work for a long time.

But this isn't a bad thing; at least it has improved the cabinet's environment considerably...

"Has the sun risen in the west? Eunuch Liu actually took the initiative to discuss matters with us?" Li Dongyang said incredulously after the eunuch who delivered the message left.

Nowadays, the cabinet has long been reduced to Liu Gonggong's secretariat. All memorials from home and abroad must first be reviewed by Liu Gonggong, and he makes all the important decisions. The cabinet simply copies them without having any opportunity to express their opinions.

Of course, they weren't entirely just figureheads, because those memorials that were unimportant in Eunuch Liu's eyes still needed to be drafted by them. And in terms of sheer number, they were the majority…

Wang Ao stroked his beard and sneered, "What other reason could there be? No money, no food, they can't keep up."

Yang Tinghe put down his pen and said calmly, "It's as if we can clean up this mess."

"We might as well give it a try." A glint of light flashed in Wang Ao's eyes as he lowered his voice and said, "Perhaps we can use this opportunity to regain some of our power?"

Yang Tinghe shook his head: "He summoned us to discuss finances and military supplies, not the official system and responsibilities."

“Alas, all things in the world ultimately come down to human affairs. A finance meeting can also be a personnel meeting,” Wang Ao said. “It all depends on human effort.”

"Let's play it by ear," Li Dongyang nodded.

The three now have a harmonious relationship, thanks not only to Jiao Fang but also to Su Lu—Li Dongyang is his grandmaster, Wang Ao is his mentor, and Yang Tinghe is his fellow townsman and senior. With this shared connection, getting along is naturally much easier.

"Let's go and meet this Eunuch Liu." Seeing that it was almost time, Li Dongyang stood up first. Wang Ao and Yang Tinghe had already stood up, and with the help of their attendants, they straightened their official robes and put on their black gauze hats.

The three Grand Secretaries walked out of the Huiji Gate, only to see Jiao Fang appear in a palanquin... This was an honor that Liu Jin had obtained for him after he turned seventy.

Even the Grand Secretary has to walk, but Grand Secretary Jiao can sit in a palanquin and enter and leave the palace.

"Oh, Grand Secretary Jiao," Wang Ao said with a sneer, "are you cured of your illness?"

Jiao Fang, with a face as thick as a city wall, showed no embarrassment whatsoever: "I am paid by the emperor, and I must be loyal to him. I can't just stay at home all the time."

In fact, Liu Jin had specifically sent someone to invite him. The two had been in cahoots for many years, and over time, feelings had developed between them, creating a deep bond.

As time went by, his initial anger subsided. Liu Jin was at his wit's end, and he thought of that damned old black donkey again, the idea king of the eunuch faction.

Besides, without Jiao Fang keeping an eye on things in the cabinet, Liu Jin was afraid of being sold out by these three old foxes and then helping them count the money. So he specially ordered his brother-in-law to prepare a gift and invite Grand Secretary Jiao to come out of retirement on his behalf.

Jiao Fang had been waiting for this opportunity, and she came running right away...

The three Grand Secretaries were in a bad mood, not only because they looked like lackeys beside Jiao Fang, but also because they had originally planned to ambush the uncultured Eunuch Liu. Now that Jiao Fang was there, they had to abandon their plan, lest they make things worse…

This is the beauty of Su Lu's insistence on keeping Jiao Fang.

The four of them, each with their own thoughts, went together to the office of the Directorate of Ceremonial, where Eunuch Liu and the other eunuchs were waiting for them.

~~
The office of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs had already been set up with two rows of seats facing each other from east to west.

After exchanging greetings, the Grand Secretary in his python robe and the eunuchs in their python-embroidered robes sat down on either side of him.

Liu Jin invited Li Dongyang to sit to his right, and the two of them sat at the head of the table, looking at their respective subordinates in the hall.

"I have invited you all here today," Eunuch Liu began. "It's not for anything else, but for one thing—the Taicang granary is running a deficit! The grain in the Tongzhou granary is less than 20% of what it used to be! There are a million mouths to feed in the capital, and the border troops in various towns are pressing for grain and pay every day. If we can't come up with a solution soon, the capital will descend into chaos!"

He sighed sadly, "His Majesty entrusted the entire nation to my shoulders, but I am incompetent and have failed His Majesty's trust..."

“How can you blame it all on Eunuch Liu?” Jiao Fang immediately chimed in, “These past few years have been filled with natural and man-made disasters, and it’s all thanks to Eunuch Liu that the situation has been stabilized. I believe that no one else could have done a better job than him.”

"Yes, yes, yes." The three Grand Secretaries could only nod in agreement. "It will only get worse."

Liu Jin nodded slightly to Jiao Fang with satisfaction, thinking that he was indeed the same old friend.

Jiao Fang smiled knowingly. It's back, everything is back.

"Alright, enough of this small talk." Liu Jin coughed again, looking at the Grand Secretary with anticipation, and said, "Please, everyone, offer your suggestions on how to relieve the court from this predicament."

When they were given suggestions, the four Grand Secretaries fell silent...

Liu Jin had no choice but to call out, "Grand Secretary Jiao, you have many ideas, why don't you throw out a brick to start the fire?"

Jiao Fang's lips twitched. "Fine, I'm a piece of junk." But she didn't dare to be negligent, and bowed slightly before saying in a deep voice:

"Eunuch Liu's strategies are brilliant; the rice-fining method and the investigation and confiscation of corruption are already the right remedies. In my humble opinion, all we need to do now is to intensify our efforts—first, to strictly supervise the local garrisons, governors, and three provincial officials to ensure that the overdue taxes are collected."

"The local officials have far from being able to squeeze every last drop of profit out of the area." He paused and said coldly, "As long as they are given a deadline to catch up, and those who fail to make up the difference by the deadline are made to pay it out of their own pockets. Let them worry about it; it's better than us worrying about it here."

"Furthermore, we must rectify the salt administration with swift and decisive measures. Those big salt merchants and salt administration officials are all bloated with greed. If we squeeze them, they'll be rolling in money!" After recuperating at home for several months, Grand Secretary Jiao returned still full of fighting spirit.

"Third, borrow grain from wealthy households. If they refuse, find a pretext to confiscate their property. Even if they do borrow, they don't have to repay it! The country's current predicament is directly related to them. If they don't pay, who will? Anyone who has concealed property will be implicated. With these three measures combined, the predicament will surely be alleviated!"

"Hmm, Elder Jiao is right." Liu Jin was extremely pleased to hear this. It had to be this damned old black donkey, he really lived up to expectations!

As he spoke, he asked the other three Grand Secretaries, "Master Yuan, what are your thoughts, the other two Grand Secretaries?"

The three exchanged glances for a moment. Li Dongyang spoke slowly, his tone heavy yet restrained:
"Your Excellency, Grand Secretary Jiao's plan, though seemingly swift and decisive, is actually adding insult to injury, like cutting flesh to heal a wound. The severe drought in the region has already caused widespread suffering. If we force local officials to pay back taxes, they will only exploit the people even more. In that case, popular uprisings will break out everywhere. Not only will we not be able to pay the taxes, but we will also have to waste military funds to suppress them. It is truly a losing proposition!"

He stood up, cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, and earnestly pleaded, "Sir, oppressive government is more ferocious than a tiger. At this time, the priority should be to ensure the well-being of the people, rather than resorting to forceful taxation."

(End of this chapter)