Di Ming

Chapter 412 "Ba has generals, Chu has virtuous men."

However, after a brief moment of anger, Zhu Yin quickly calmed down and couldn't help but smile wryly.

"Brother Huaji, wait a minute!" Zhu Yin suddenly said, "The temple was burned down by the tax bureau, and the people were injured by the tax bureau, so let it be! It caused a major fire, let's see how they clean it up!"

"Not going?" Hao Yunlai asked in surprise.

Zhu Yin shrugged. "What's done is done. There's no point in Brother Huaji going now; he'll only be cleaning up after Eunuch Qiu. I bet he's betting on you going, and he's betting on me going too!"

“Once we go there, we’ll have to clean up the mess, whether we want to or not. It’s my own shrine, can I just stand by and do nothing? You’re the prefect, you can’t just stand by and do nothing either. In this way, the tax authorities who burned the temple and injured people can not only leave unscathed, but they can also use us as an excuse to cause trouble. We can’t fall for their trick! They’re deliberately forcing me to come forward, to give me a hard time in front of the people of Chongqing, and to slap you in the face.”

“Yes!” Hao Yunlai took off his official hat and sat down. “In my haste, I almost fell for his trick! Anyway, the temple has already burned down and people have been injured. If we go, we can only argue with the eunuchs and be forced to clean up the mess. Instead, we'll be led by the nose by him. We're not going!”

"Hmph, the temple area on the mountaintop isn't just your Prodigy Temple. There are many Buddhist temples, but there are also Dongyue Temple, Xuantian Palace, Wenchang Temple, Guandi Temple, City God Temple, Mountain God Temple, Chiyou Temple... twenty or thirty temples are crammed there, practically side by side. Plus, the river wind is strong on the mountaintop, hmph..."

Zhu Yin laughed and said, "If we don't put out the fire, the river wind will blow it up and it could spread to the top of Jinbi Mountain. Twenty or thirty temples could be burned to the ground and reduced to ashes!"

"Eunuch Qiu burned down my shrine, thinking we would definitely come to put out the fire. We deliberately refused to go, let him burn! So what if he burned down the whole Jinbi Mountain? Anyway, it's temple grounds, not residential houses."

"This one fire will ignite the fury of the entire Chongqing government, making Qiu Chengyun even more despised!"

"He tried to intimidate me, so I'll teach him a lesson he won't forget."

"Besides, the tax supervisor is extremely powerful. Even if you have the emperor's brother-in-law backing you up, you will still be humiliated by him to your face. Why give him a chance to retaliate?"

Zhu Yin knew better than anyone just how powerful the tax supervisors were during the Wanli era.

For two hundred years after the Yongle Emperor and before the Chongzhen Emperor, eunuchs were the true regional officials of the Ming Dynasty.

How powerful were these eunuchs stationed in the local areas? Historical records state that they "surpassed governors and officials, treated the three provincial governors like slaves," and that "generals were under their command, and provincial governors avoided their fierce attacks."

Historically, the governor of Huguang would bow and kowtow to Chen Fengbei, the tax supervisor, to pay his respects.

The dignified Governor of Huguang was treated like a servant in front of the tax supervisor. And this was not an isolated case.

The tax inspector publicly flogged civil officials of the rank of Assistant Surveillance Commissioner and Military Commissioner, and displayed them in shackles. After paying their respects and taking their leave, officials had to walk backwards out of the yamen, and could only turn around after walking more than ten steps.

Xia Liangxin, the governor of Jiangxi Province, was framed and dismissed from office simply for refusing to address the tax supervisor as "Your Excellency".

Such incidents as assaulting and insulting the provincial governor, forcibly occupying the governor's office, altering the governor's official documents, and treating prefects and magistrates as servants were not isolated incidents.

The tax supervisors were so powerful not only because the emperor indulged and protected them, and because they held imperial authority and a superior status, but also largely because they had a directly commanded guard force and could mobilize the garrisons, thus wielding considerable military power.

Many tax supervisors overstepped the bounds of propriety, usurping the ceremonial guards, residences, carriages, clothing, and music of princes and dukes, and even forcing local officials to build shrines in their honor.

Local officials regarded eunuchs as if they were Yama, the King of Hell, and their official documents were often signed: "This humble official respectfully submits...This humble servant kneels to report..."

This was merely a tax supervisor, not a garrison eunuch. A garrison eunuch, on the other hand, wielded far greater power.

Historian Meng Sen wrote: "Local officials were ashamed of the humiliation of being castrated and feared unforeseen disasters, so they bribed each other to be spared, and then they took people's money to pay for it."

"Emperor Shenzong allowed tax collectors to run rampant, creating an unprecedented situation in three hundred years. The provincial, prefectural, and county governments all supported him."

The immense power of Wei Zhongxian, the "Nine Thousand Years Old," did not appear out of thin air, but was nurtured by the rampant eunuch environment during the Wanli era.

Hao Yunlai was merely a prefect, and his fearlessness towards Qiu Chengyun stemmed solely from the backing of Zheng Guojiu. But did other prefects possess such powerful connections?

Hao Yunlai laughed and said, "Especially Miaoyin Temple and Da Luohan Temple, which were both temples used to suppress Ming Yuzhen. The nanmu Guanyin statue in Miaoyin Temple was personally bestowed by the Empress Dowager. The golden statue in Da Luohan Temple was commissioned by Emperor Longqing. If these temples are also burned down, Qiu Chengyun will not be able to escape responsibility, hehe."

"On the mountaintop, there are also temples dedicated to Chiyou, Panhu, and Linjun, worshipped by the Miao people and other local tribes. If these local temples are burned down, the local people will hate Eunuch Qiu even more..."

At this point, his tone became somewhat hesitant, "But I am the prefect of Chongqing. Although the fire was started by the tax bureau, I did not go to put it out. If so many temples were burned down, I would also be implicated."

Zhu Yin said, “Brother Huaji, don’t worry. Although you are the prefect of Chongqing, you were not in the city when the fire spread. You went out to inspect the city, so you can naturally clear yourself of any wrongdoing. In addition, with Brother Yueying in the court, you are safe and sound. The only one who will suffer is Eunuch Qiu.”

Hao Yunlai laughed heartily: "That's right, I wasn't in the city when the fire spread!"

But his laughter was abruptly cut short. "No, that's not right. If so many temples are burned down, they'll definitely have to be rebuilt. How much money, grain, and labor will that require? In the end, wouldn't it be the people of Chongqing Prefecture who bear the burden? Absolutely not!"

Zhu Yin said calmly, "Why should the people bear the burden of reconstruction? Of course, it should be Eunuch Qiu who bears it. Anyway, he has plenty of money, so let him bleed. He ordered the fire to be set. If he doesn't pay, who will? If he doesn't pay, then you can write a letter to Zheng Guowang."

Hao Yunlai nodded and said, "Brother Zhihu is indeed very thoughtful."

After saying that, he stood up and said, "Come on! Young Tiger, I'll be your guide today and take you out of the city to enjoy the scenery!"

Zhu Yin smiled and said, "That is indeed my wish, but I dare not ask."

He then changed into a scholar's white robe and left the mansion with Hao Yunlai.

Madam Hao chased after them to the ceremonial gate and asked, "Husband, Uncle, the banquet is ready, but where are you going?"

Hao Yunlai laughed and said, "Madam, you know nothing. Zhihu and I went out of the city to patrol."

Zhu Yin cupped his hands in thanks, saying, "Sister-in-law, there's no need for you to go to such trouble. Thank you in advance."

Madam Hao watched the two figures walk away, filled with suspicion, and muttered, "Young Tiger is exhausted from the journey and hasn't even eaten since entering the city. Is he already going to patrol?"

Zhu Yin left the prefectural residence, beckoned to Emperor Kangxi, and whispered his instructions:
"Meet with your local family and tell them that there was a big fire today in the temple area on Mount Kimbeok, which will burn down more than 20 temples on the mountain. Fortunately, no one was killed. Understand?"

Kangxi nodded and accepted the order, "Your Majesty, rest assured. The fire will definitely start."

Zhu Yin whispered again, "Make them hand over the evidence of Eunuch Qiu's crimes as soon as possible, especially the account books."

Kangxi replied, "Yes!"

Zhu Yin secretly issued these two orders and then quickly went out of the Tongyuan Gate on the west side with Hao Yunlai.

In addition to Lancha and a dozen other guards, the entourage also included staff members such as Feng Menglong, Sun Chengzong, and Gao Panlong.

……

Just as Zhu Yin and Hao Yunlai were leaving the city, the fire at the Prodigy Temple grew larger and larger, spreading from the temple to the outer walls.

The city of Chongqing covers an area of ​​three li in circumference. Jinbishan Mountain is a mountain in the city, and many buildings in the city are built according to the mountain's shape, blending into the mountain scenery.

Jinbi Terrace on Jinbi Mountain is the site of the imperial palace of Ming Yuzhen, the ruler of the Great Xia Kingdom at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Today, it is a fort and barracks.

Zhu Yin's shrine, the Temple of the Child Prodigy, is located in the temple area on the mountaintop.

At this moment, a large crowd had gathered around the Temple of the Prodigy, including worshippers from the mountain and tax collectors who were setting the temple on fire.

The crowd was furious, but the burning of the Temple of the Prodigy was carried out by the powerful tax authorities, and they were helpless and dared not put out the fire.

They could only watch helplessly as the Temple of the Prodigy was slowly consumed by the fire.

Outside Miaoyin Temple not far away, a makeshift shed had been erected, surrounded by tax collectors exuding a menacing aura. In the center sat a plump eunuch, about thirty years old, dressed in an imperial robe with a python pattern and a jade belt around his waist, his expression full of the arrogance typical of powerful eunuchs.

This person was Qiu Chengyun, the eunuch in charge of the Directorate of Palace Attendants and the Imperial Commissioner in charge of Sichuan mining tax and other matters.

He spent twenty years in the palace, rising to the high position of Assistant Director of the Directorate of Palace Attendants. But in order to amass more wealth, he bribed the Directorate of Ceremonial with 100,000 taels of silver to secure a lucrative post in Sichuan.

In just four months in Sichuan, he amassed over 300,000 taels of silver, not counting other treasures. He handed over half to the palace and kept over 100,000 taels for himself.

Of course, he also knew that of the tens of thousands of taels of silver handed over, only tens of thousands of taels would go into his grandfather's private treasury; the rest would be divided among his colleagues in the palace.

With several months until the Lunar New Year, he planned to rake in another 300,000 taels. Next year, he planned to work even harder, aiming to earn one million taels, handing over 400,000 and keeping 600,000 for himself.

Of course, the 600,000 taels of silver in revenue next year is just gross profit. The annual salary and military expenses for the 3,000 guards alone will exceed 100,000 taels of silver. Some also needs to be distributed to subordinates, staff, and Sichuan officials who cooperate. But the annual net profit will still be at least 300,000 taels, making it a truly lucrative position.

But if they could confiscate Zhu Yin's property, the income would be far more than 1.2 million taels. He didn't know how much silver the Zhu family had, but he estimated it to be anywhere from several hundred thousand to over a million taels—a very fat sheep.

Some time ago, he received a secret letter from Gao Cai, instructing him to deal with Zhu Yin, preferably by accusing Zhu Yin of a new crime that would ensure his permanent downfall. Even if a new crime could not be found, he was to make Zhu Yin's life unbearable and force him to resign from his post.

Upon hearing that Zhu Yin had arrived in Chongqing, he ordered the burning of Zhu Yin's shrine under the pretext of destroying licentious shrines and temples, and the throwing of the wooden statues in the temple of the prodigy outside the temple for public trampling and burning.

The purpose of doing this was certainly not just to intimidate Zhu Yin. It was also to deliberately provoke him.

Upon hearing that his shrine had been burned and his wooden statue insulted, Zhu Yin would be furious and would certainly come to argue his case. Hao Yunlai, as the prefect, would also step in to stop it.

When Zhu Yin arrived, he publicly berated Zhu Yin for his arrogant enjoyment of incense offerings and his shameless possession of a shrine in the presence of the gods. He questioned Zhu Yin's qualifications to build a temple here, saying it was a transgression of etiquette and a desecration of the divine.
Then, he took the opportunity to force Zhu Yin to admit in front of the people of Chongqing that he had overstepped the bounds of etiquette and blasphemed the gods, thus destroying the people's worship of Zhu Yin as a child prodigy and top scholar, and letting the people see that the so-called Wenqu Star Lord was nothing more than that, and was not worthy of having a shrine or enjoying incense offerings.

Once Zhu Yin is utterly defeated, he can be manipulated at will.

As for Hao Yunlai, he was there to put out the fire and clean up the mess. Once he arrived, he was inevitably implicated.

To Qiu Chengyun's surprise, more than 45 minutes had passed since the fire was started, and the entire Shen Tong Temple was about to be engulfed in flames, but Zhu Yinhao Yunlai still hadn't appeared!

What's going on? Haven't the two received the message yet?

That shouldn't be the case. The prefectural government office is just down the mountain, only about a mile away. The two of them should have arrived long ago.

The river wind was blowing fiercely on the mountaintop. If the fire continued to burn without being put out, it would soon spread to other temples.

Just then, a young eunuch rushed over, knelt down and reported, "Godfather! Prefect Hao and Marquis Jiangning are not in the city now; they have gone out to inspect the area."

"What?" Qiu Chengyun's expression changed drastically. "They left the city? They don't know the Temple of the Prodigy was burned down?"

The young eunuch smiled wryly, "Perhaps they really don't know. They just left the city; maybe they haven't had time to receive the news?"

Qiu Chengyun was stunned for a moment, then realized, "What? They didn't receive the message in time? They must have deliberately not come! Despicable! Utterly despicable!"

Qiu Chengyun knew perfectly well that the other party had seen through his plan.
A grand play had been arranged, and the audience had arrived. But at the last minute, the actors failed to show up!

Not only did they fail to achieve their goal, they also had to clean up the mess themselves.

Did he order the fire to be set, and then order it to be put out?

Unexpectedly, Zhu Yin was so composed, acting like an old fox at such a young age. No wonder he was a genius prodigy who quelled the rebellion in the Northwest and fought against the Japanese pirates in Goryeo.

Qiu Chengyun's gaze was gloomy, and his face was ashen. The surrounding eunuchs dared not utter a sound.

The military commander stepped forward and reported, "Your Majesty, the fire has grown very large. May I ask if we should put out the fire?"

Qiu Chengyun cursed angrily, "Damn it!" and was about to order the fire to be put out when someone suddenly exclaimed, "It's terrible! The fire is spreading rapidly, and the neighboring house is on fire too!"

Qiu Chengyun suddenly stood up, gritting his teeth and stamping his foot, saying, "How could it burn so fast? This is unbelievable! What are you standing there for! Put out the fire!"

However, before anyone could put out the fire, fire broke out in the neighboring temples around the Temple of the Prodigy, fueled by the wind.

The monks, Taoist priests, and temple keepers rushed out of the temple, chanting Amitabha Buddha, Infinite Heavenly Venerable, and God of Literature. Many of the monks were even complaining of their suffering.

In the blink of an eye, nearby temples such as Miaoyin Temple, Da Luohan Temple, Xuantian Palace, and Wenchang Temple were licked by flames and burned fiercely.

"Oh no! Oh no!" Eunuch Qiu cried out in a panicked and furious voice, "Fire! Fire! Quickly, put out the fire!"

But by then the fire had already spread far and wide, and there was no time to stop.
Although Eunuch Qiu brought several hundred guards, this place is on the top of Jinbi Mountain, with no river, making it difficult to draw water. How could they possibly put out such a large fire?
Because they didn't know the fire could spread and were counting on Hao Yunlai to put out the fire at the Divine Child Temple, they didn't bring any firefighting supplies.

Upon hearing Eunuch Qiu's order, they could only rush down the mountain in a swarm, preparing to fetch buckets and basins of water to carry up the mountain to put out the fire.

That would be even too late.

Seeing the fire raging like a tiger, the entire temple area was engulfed in flames, turning into a sea of ​​fire, and many pilgrims and monks had no choice but to leave the mountaintop.

Even Qiu Chengyun had no choice but to go down the mountain.

Among the pilgrims surging down the mountain, someone suddenly shouted:
"The Temple of the Prodigy was burned down because it angered the God of Literature, and was punished by the gods, which is why it was burned down!"

"Why bother putting out the fire! The fire was deliberately started by the eunuchs, why bother trying to put it out!"

Upon hearing this shout, Qiu Chengyun roared angrily, "Who's spouting nonsense! Arrest them all! Catch them and beat them to death!"

But when the guards went forward to search, they saw a dense crowd and had no idea who had shouted.

Looking at the towering flames on the mountaintop, Qiu Chengyun could only say angrily, "It's beyond saving! Right now, we can only wait for it to burn itself out!"

At this point, he cursed Zhu Yin a thousand times over in his heart.

……

Just as the summit of Jinbi Mountain was engulfed in flames, Zhu Yin, Hao Yunlai, and the others had already spotted the Daba Mountains.

The dark blue ridges of the Daba Mountains resemble the patterns on a tortoise's shell, and the mighty Yangtze River seems to break in half once again here.

On the cliffs of Baiyan Mountain, ancient plank road logs still hang precariously.

Hao Yunlai pointed to the mountain rocks and said to Zhu Yin, "That is the top of Goose Ridge. There are also rope grooves left by the Ba people of the pre-Qin period when they carved the wall. That red spot is said to be the blood that Manzi spat out when she committed suicide."

Zhu Yin nodded and said, "Ba has generals, and Chu has righteousness. If the King of Chu were to obtain a minister like Ba Manzi, what use would the city be!"

Hao Yunlai laughed and said, "Zhihu's words have a hidden meaning. Is he using the past to satirize the present?"

He pointed and said, "Not far away at the foot of Qixinggang, there are many skeletons of the Linjun tribe, which have not yet completely decayed. It is said that beneath the canyon, there is a bronze dragon-suppressing box buried by Zhang Yi when he built the city, and inside the box is a totem of the Fish-Duck King."

"The people of Shu are actually better storytellers than the people of Chu. An old salt merchant also said that the spirit of Linjun lives here, riding a white tiger to chase the salt spring, which is why we have salt to eat."

Zhu Yin looked at the cliffs and mountains, and saw the ancient Han Dynasty gate reliefs on the stone steps. He seemed to see the ancient people whose backs were bent by the weight of salt, walking on the plank road and shouting work songs on the river rocks.

Standing by the river, Zhu Yin gazed at the surging river and seemed to see again the giant axe of King Yu splitting the Kuimen Pass, and Zhuge Liang setting up the Eight Trigrams Formation at Fotu Pass.

The passes in the Daba Mountains from the Three Kingdoms period still seem to echo with the shouts of Han soldiers. And there's also the scene of Liu Bei entrusting his son to Zhuge Liang in Baidi City.

Zhu Yin said, "Chongqing is a place with many stories. Not only many, but any one of them is very profound."

"Let's not talk about the distant past, but about the nearby one. Diaoyu City, where the Mongol Khan Möngke was killed, is located in Chongqing!"

That's right, Möngke Khan was killed by the Song army in Chongqing.

Hao Yunlai climbed a rocky outcrop, looked back towards the prefectural city five miles away, and sighed:

"With such a large fire, the temple area on the mountaintop must have been burned down. What a pity, who knows how much money it will cost to rebuild it."

Zhu Yin chuckled, "Temples are like this, let them burn down. I won't even feel bad about it myself."

Just then, a startled cry came from behind the rock wall; it was a woman's voice.

Without a second thought, Lancha stepped in front of Zhu Yin. Immediately afterwards, a group of guards surrounded Zhu Yin.

Immediately, a woman rushed out in a panic, shouting, "Dead people! So many dead people! Murder!"

The woman, who appeared to be a Miao girl, was now pale with fright.

When Hao Yunlai and the others turned around the cliff, they saw dozens of corpses lying haphazardly in the rocky cave by the river.

The sheer number of corpses was one thing, but what surprised everyone even more was that the corpses were dressed as soldiers.

Zhu Yin could tell at a glance that these soldiers had only recently died, no more than a day ago.

"It was my soldiers who sent them out!" Hao Yunlai's face changed drastically. "Who did this? They actually ambushed and killed the government officials and soldiers! Are they trying to rebel?! How dare they!"

(End of this chapter)