Top Scholar

Chapter 592 You're just a fool!

The interrogation room of the Northern Garrison Prison.

Whether it was because Su Lu had repeatedly hit a nerve or because his deepest wounds had been exposed, Liu Daxia simply shut his mouth and began to mutter to himself.

Seeing that Liu Daxia was completely shut down by his rebuttal, Su Lu calmly smiled and said, "How about this, there is a Guangdong Provincial Governor imprisoned in the imperial prison. Let's invite him over for a chat and see if you can learn about these things from your position."

After saying this, he nodded slightly. The Imperial Guards guarding the door immediately went out and soon brought in a short official who was in his forties or fifties.

From the moment Liu Daxia entered the interrogation room, Su Lu never got up, but as soon as the short official entered, he immediately stood up to greet him.

The shackles on the official had long been removed. Su Lu then invited him to sit to his left, personally brewed him a cup of hot tea, and served him two plates of delicate pastries, asking him to have some refreshments...

Such drastically different treatment was clearly something Su Lu had done on purpose. But Liu Daxia saw it and still rolled his eyes sourly.

The middle-aged official was flattered, but seeing that his respected senior had no seat, he became even more uneasy. Holding his teacup, he bowed and said, "Lord Liu is standing, but I am sitting. This is extremely inappropriate."

"What's wrong with that?" Su Lu snorted and said, "You two, one is a meritorious official and the other is a criminal, so you should be treated differently!"

Then, turning to Liu Daxia, whose face was even darker, he said, "Let me introduce you. This is Lord Wu Tingju. Before he was imprisoned, he was serving as the Right Provincial Governor of Guangdong."

After saying that, Su Lu smiled amicably at Wu Tingju and said, "Prefect Wu, since you know Liu Gongbao, you should know that he also served as the Right Provincial Governor of Guangdong in his early years, right?"

"Of course I know." Wu Tingju said with great respect, "Lord Liu was the Right Provincial Governor of Guangdong in the second year of the Hongzhi reign. During his tenure, he was an honest and upright official who eliminated harm for the people, built water conservancy projects, and mediated clan conflicts. The elders and folks of Guangdong even built a shrine for him, and they still praise him to this day."

"Hmph..." Liu Daxia let out a soft snort through his nose, still having the nerve to act arrogant.

"What are you humming about? Stand there and reflect on your actions!" Su Lu glared fiercely at Liu Daxia, then turned to Wu Tingju and said in a gentle tone:

"Minister Wu, please tell me why you were imprisoned in this imperial prison?"

He pushed the plate of snacks towards Wu Tingju and said gently, "Eat and talk at the same time. You must have suffered a lot in prison."

Wu Tingju thanked him again, then picked up a pastry and put it in his mouth. The soft, sweet taste touched his tongue, and he was so satisfied that he almost shed tears. He quickly took a deep breath, embarrassed, and laughed self-deprecatingly, "Indeed, it's been a long time since I've eaten anything soft since I was imprisoned."

Su Lu nodded understandingly and said solemnly, "Lord Wu, please stop calling yourself a criminal. I have read your case file. Liu Jin tortured you for several days but could not find any evidence. In the end, he could only use your 'misguided return to your hometown to hold a funeral for your mother' to convict you, but you still did not confess."

"I cannot accept this. I was in Chengdu at the time. Upon hearing of my mother's death, I immediately wrote a letter requesting permission to observe the mourning period. Then, I returned to my hometown to attend the funeral as is customary. Otherwise, would I have been forced to wait at the post station for two months until the court granted my permission before setting off?!" Wu Tingju, who was usually very mild-mannered, became agitated when he mentioned the charges Liu Jin had leveled against him.

“Lord Wu’s actions are not problematic and are within the scope of possible solutions,” Su Lu said confidently. “I will certainly help you appeal, but now please tell me the reason for your imprisonment.”

"Yes." Wu Tingju calmed down for a moment before slowly saying, "The reason I was imprisoned is because I imposed a tax on foreign ships that came to Guangdong for trade... I levied a tax of 20% on each ship's goods, and that's what stirred up a hornet's nest."

Wu Tingju was the first official in the Ming Dynasty to dare to impose tariffs on overseas merchant ships, which is why Su Lu respected him so much.

He then said to Su Lu, "Sir, you probably haven't been to Guangdong and don't know the situation there. In the inner city of Guangzhou, there are always foreign ships from various countries anchored at Xianzibu, and there are never fewer than thirty or forty of them."

Su Lu feigned curiosity and asked, "Where did those foreign ships come from? What are they here for?"

"There are merchants from Southeast Asia, merchants from India, and a few years ago there were also merchants from the Arab world, but they've become less common in the last two years. In their place are Portuguese merchants sailing large galleons," Wu Tingju explained in detail.

"They all come to the Ming Dynasty to do business, bringing pepper, sappanwood, spices, coral, pearls, and the like from Southeast Asia, and buying our silk, porcelain, and all kinds of jewelry and precious objects. With this buying and selling, they can make a hundredfold profit!"

"Wow, so many?" Su Lu exclaimed in surprise, but his eyes held a half-smile as he looked at Liu Daxia standing there. Old Master Liu's expression was incredibly interesting, no less so than Old Master Wang's earlier.

Su Lu then asked, "With such a lucrative business, can the locals resist participating?"

“Of course not.” Wu Tingju shook his head and said, “The local bigwigs in Guangdong saw that this business was extremely profitable, so they all invested money… However, the imperial court had a ban on foreigners and did not allow Chinese people to go to sea to do business. So these bigwigs went to trade under the guise of foreigners, but in reality, the ship owners were mostly Chinese.”

"How long has this phenomenon lasted?" Su Lu asked deliberately.

“Since the establishment of the Guangdong Maritime Trade Office during the Northern Song Dynasty, it has never been interrupted,” Wu Tingju said.

Su Lu glanced at Liu Daxia again and saw that the old man's face was already flushed with embarrassment. He then asked in surprise, "So, your successive governments allowed them to pretend to be something they're not?"

“There’s no other way. Guangdong is mountainous with little land and densely populated. The people have a long tradition of going to Southeast Asia to make a living. If we don’t let them go to sea, they will rebel.” Wu Tingju sighed. “Lingnan is far from the emperor’s reach, so the most important thing is to avoid trouble. Therefore, local officials can only ignore the imperial decree and tacitly allow them to go overseas.”

"You haven't levied taxes on them either?" Su Lu asked again.

“Taxing them requires acknowledging their legal existence. Do we dare to acknowledge that? No. Therefore, we can't tax them,” Wu Tingju said helplessly.
"Officials have all turned a blind eye to this. I didn't want to cause trouble, but the court has been waging war against Guangxi for years, and 70% of the military supplies have to be provided by Guangdong. The treasury has long been depleted. The Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi is still pressing hard and even wants to use military law. I was forced to do this, so I decided to impose taxes on foreign ships to relieve the immediate crisis."

"And the result?" Su Lu pressed.

"The taxation did indeed solve Guangdong's urgent problem. In just six months, we collected over 800,000 taels of silver, which not only covered the war in Guangxi but also filled our own financial hole," Wu Tingju said with a self-deprecating smile.

"But I have offended those wealthy and powerful families because of this. Although they still make a lot of money after taxes are levied, the imperial court has not collected taxes for more than a hundred years. I was so ignorant and insisted on setting a precedent. How could they tolerate me?"

Su Lu nodded; this was standard procedure. The fact that the Cantonese didn't kill him only showed that they understood his predicament…

Wu Tingju sighed again, "The garrison eunuch Pan already had a grudge against me, so I was dragged into this mess by them. I accepted their bribes and then fabricated evidence against me. That's how I was arrested and taken to Beijing..."

Su Lu poured Wu Tingju a cup of tea to calm him down, then turned to glance at Liu Daxia, whose face was ashen, and said sarcastically, "Look at him, he is also the Right Provincial Governor of Guangdong. Being in that position, he knows the government well and has a clear understanding of the situation of foreign ships in Guangzhou. You, on the other hand, don't even know that there are dozens of foreign ships anchored in Guangzhou."

He paused for a moment, then said sarcastically, "This is all? You dare call yourself a capable minister who can govern a peaceful era?"

Liu Daxia was so embarrassed and felt like he was dying, but he was a stubborn man who was both tough and argumentative. After a long while, he finally said in a low voice, "Private trade among the common people is one thing, but the Emperor sending people to sail to the Western Ocean is another. Making money through private trade doesn't mean that sailing to the Western Ocean won't lose money. Don't forget, our Celestial Empire has always been generous in its exchanges, and the money and grain it loses each time is more than ten million."

"Give and take? No profit?!" Su Lu sneered, tossing a yellowed ledger into Liu Daxia's arms. "I have a ledger for the Inner Transport Warehouse here, take a look for yourself!"

"You keep saying that each voyage costs a fortune, but the accounts clearly show that the profits from each voyage were tens or even hundreds of times that amount! See? It's not just private individuals making money through smuggling; the nation's fleet is also profiting from voyages!" His gaze was sharp as a knife, piercing Liu Daxia.
"Instead of what you say, each time it's incredibly costly and results in huge losses! Otherwise, wouldn't it have been enough for Emperor Yongle to just go to the West to demonstrate the nation's power? Why go on and on, sending out the fleet as soon as it returns? Is he addicted to losing money? No, he's addicted to making money!"

"Why do you people refuse to let the imperial court send voyages to the Western Ocean again? It's simply because you're afraid the imperial court will regain control of the sea routes and cut off the financial lifeline of the powerful clans and gentry behind you! They don't want the imperial court to do this business; they just want to pocket the huge profits for themselves!"

"You, you dare to slander me like this..." Liu Daxia's face turned purple, and he almost vomited blood as he roared, "I have always been an incorruptible official, and I have never sought an official position or purchased a piece of land for my descendants! Liu Jin listened to slander and sent his spies to search my house, but they found nothing. My Liu family has always valued farming and scholarship. How can we abandon our principles for wealth? That would bring shame to our ancestors!"

“My lord…” Wu Tingju could no longer bear it and spoke up for Liu Daxia, saying, “Lord Liu’s strictness in managing his family is unparalleled in the world. After his son failed the imperial examination, the late emperor wanted to grant him an official position several times, but Lord Liu refused with stern words. Lord Liu also resolutely refused all the land bestowed upon him. He is consistent in word and deed. Please judge for yourself, my lord!”

"I see." Su Lu's expression softened slightly, but his tone became even sharper. "Then you're just a complete fool who's been used as a pawn. You've been sold out and you're still counting the money with those people!"

These words struck Liu Daxia like a heavy hammer blow to the heart. The damage to Liu Daxia was far greater than the previous accusations that he was acting as a protector.

"Pfft..." Liu Daxia could no longer hold back and spat out a mouthful of blood.

(End of this chapter)