Ming Dynasty: I, Yan Maoqing, am truly radiating auspicious energy!

Chapter 200 Keep an eye on this thing emitting blue smoke for me [Seeking monthly votes]

Feng Jinzhong's sudden change in attitude.

This immediately made Yan Maoqing realize that even though there were significant problems between the Bureau of Armory and the Imperial Horse Administration.

Feng Jinzhong's trip to the Imperial Horse Administration just now probably shows that he and Cao Zhen have already come up with a plan to get out unscathed, which is why he has become so fearless!
Of course, this strategy will likely have some impact on them as well.

Therefore, he would not use it lightly until the very last step, which is why he first agreed to mix together a batch of old-style muskets that had been replaced to try and make do with them.

This shows that they don't want things to come to that point either...

So, what exactly is the solution?

Yan Maoqing put himself in Feng Jinzhong's shoes, carefully considering how he would embezzle and break the law if he were Feng Jinzhong, having abandoned his conscience and bottom line.

First came the procurement.

Royal procurement is official procurement, which means that suppliers have to come and bid.

Those who can win the bid either bribe him or are his own relatives and friends; the money must stay within the family.

This is the first transaction;
Then there's the loss.

Just like the "fire loss" that occurred during the process of local governments in this era collecting tax silver and melting it down to hand over to the imperial court.

There must be losses during the manufacturing of weapons and armor, right?

This is the second one.

Moreover, this second purchase can complement the first one, since after the losses, more purchases will be needed.

Next came the issue of salaries paid without working.

It's not impossible to fill some vacancies among artisans, just like in the army, where four hundred artisans are reported as eight hundred.

At worst, we can squeeze the craftsmen to rush the work. As long as something is made, it won't be so easy to tell the difference.

They could also find excuses to deduct the craftsmen's wages.

Thus, all the extra craftsmen and the wages withheld went into his pocket.

This is the third entry;
Next came the warehouse.

The warehouse offers even greater room for maneuver and potential profits.

Firstly, some weapons and armor have a limited storage life, while others are damaged by uncontrollable factors, such as leather goods, bows and crossbows, gunpowder, and matchlocks. These can all be used to balance accounts.

Secondly, as a supplier of weapons and armor to various units, they could also collude with the commanders and generals of various armies to balance accounts through a left-hand-to-right-hand transaction.

If the hole is too big, and someone from above comes to investigate, and the accounts cannot be balanced...

Then it's still possible...

Thinking of this, four large characters suddenly flashed through Yan Maoqing's mind:

"A fire dragon burns down the warehouse!"

Although Yan Maoqing did not know whether such a saying existed in the Ming Dynasty, he learned about this term from books and TV dramas in the Qing Dynasty.

But he knew that such methods of settling accounts must have existed since ancient times, and that they appeared more and more frequently in the later stages when corruption among court officials was more serious.

But if the Bureau of Armory were to stage a "fire dragon burning the granary," that would involve gunpowder...

Yan Maoqing suddenly thought of a major event that would happen about eighty years later—the Tianqi Explosion!

It could also be called the Wanggongchang Explosion.

The explosion was initially thought to be a mysterious natural disaster.

The affected area stretched from Shunchengmen Street in the east to Xingbu Street in the north and Pingzemen in the west, a distance of three to four li.

Tens of thousands of houses collapsed, and tens of thousands of people were injured or killed.

Even the Qianqing Palace, where Emperor Zhu Youxiao of the Ming Dynasty was having breakfast, shook. Zhu Youxiao quickly fled to the Jiaotai Hall, but his attendant was killed by flying gravel on the way.
The Crown Prince Zhu Cijiong, who was less than one year old, was also frightened by the explosion and died shortly afterward.

At that time, the struggle between Wei Zhongxian's "eunuch faction" and the Donglin Party was at its most brutal, and many Donglin Party members were imprisoned and persecuted by Wei Zhongxian.

Influenced by the concept of the interaction between Heaven and humanity.

After the incident, Zhu Youxiao, under pressure from all sides, had no choice but to issue an edict of self-reproach the next day, forced to admit that it was a warning from Heaven.

Many key members of the eunuch faction were intimidated by the emperor's power, and a serious split occurred within their ranks.

Many members of the eunuch faction submitted memorials requesting leniency in punishment, thus sparing some members of the Donglin Party from suffering.

However, this only exacerbated his contempt and aversion to the scholar-officials, intensified his distrust of the bureaucratic class, and led him to more explicitly support the actions of Wei Zhongxian and others, rely more heavily on Wei Zhongxian, and consolidate his imperial power...

Thinking of this, Yan Maoqing suddenly gasped.

He is currently unsure whether Feng Jinzhong and Cao Zhen will resort to such extreme measures.

However, once this method is used, it can indeed settle all the accounts at once.

After all, the twenty-four offices of the inner palace were not far apart, all located in the northeast of the palace. If an explosion occurred, the Imperial Horse Stable would also be affected, and any grievances between the two sides could be settled in the process.

And it wasn't just the Bureau of Armory and Imperial Horse Administration; the accounts of other eunuch offices were the same...

Also.

Yan Maoqing's current status is somewhat similar to that of Wei Zhongxian during the Tianqi era.

When such an event occurs, the civil service can also use the concept of "interaction between Heaven and man" to spread the story that the success was a warning from Heaven to the emperor for being incompetent and to the rise of treacherous officials.

They then dragged Zhu Houcong into the mess, forcing him to issue an edict of self-reproach and reclaim the privileges of the Western Depot.

They even had to bring out Yan Maoqing to appease the anger of heaven and the resentment of the people!
If things develop this way, it will no longer be a matter of retiring and returning to one's hometown.

If Zhu Houcong hadn't protected him with the same fervor as Zhu Youxiao protected Wei Zhongxian, his fate would likely have been death by a thousand cuts...

this moment.

Yan Maoqing suddenly felt that if he were Feng Jinzhong, he should do the same!

After all, by doing this, Feng Jinzhong could completely settle the accounts and only bear the responsibility of negligence, which was better than having too many problems discovered and having to report to Zhongguanfen.

And it can also drag the Emperor and Yan Maoqing down with it.

This not only served the interests of all palace officials but also the interests of the civil service group, allowing the court to return to its original state of "peace and tranquility."

In this situation, the eunuchs and civil officials would uphold the theory of "interaction between Heaven and man" in order to achieve their own goals.

They will certainly seize the opportunity to push for the incident to be defined as a "disaster" as a warning from Heaven, which would then be another way of defending his "oversight," and he might even be able to reduce his responsibility for oversight in the end...

"..."

Thinking of this, Yan Maoqing felt a chill run down his spine.

He couldn't be sure at that moment whether he had such thoughts because he was too suspicious, too scheming, or "judging others by his own standards," and was overthinking the situation.

But since we've already thought of all this...

Even if it's a hypothetical enemy, it's still an enemy, so we must never let our guard down!
Yan Maoqing firmly believed that this matter must be guarded against!
Therefore, the way he looked at Feng Jinzhong changed imperceptibly in an instant, revealing an unprecedented seriousness and importance.

He felt that the best course of action now was to temporarily stabilize Feng Jinzhong's position.

At least we shouldn't push this old eunuch to the brink of despair, but rather try to gradually strip him of his power by slowly boiling him like a frog in water.

After letting him "retire" and thinking that everything has been settled smoothly, we can suddenly launch a counterattack. At that time, creating a situation where a "retired veteran" is left in disarray should be much less risky.

And he could tell too.

If this old eunuch is not transferred away, he will continue to obstruct the manufacture of flintlock muskets, and the craftsmen will still have concerns, making it difficult to achieve their goals!
and so……

"Snapped!"

Yan Maoqing suddenly took off his official hat, jumped on it, and stomped on it twice, turning it into a two-dimensional figure. "???"

Feng Jinzhong and the young eunuch were both startled, not understanding what had suddenly gone mad at Yan Maoqing.

"Shh!"

Yan Maoqing took the hairpin off his head and frantically scratched his head with both hands, quickly turning into a disheveled mess.

"Minister Yan?"

Feng Jinzhong subconsciously took two steps back and couldn't help but call out. The little eunuch also helped him back.

"His!"

Yan Maoqing pulled hard on his court robe, tearing several large holes in it and causing the peacock badge on his chest to droop halfway down.

He then lay down on the ground and started rolling around like a madman.

He quickly got covered in mud and dust from the gunpowder yard, and also wiped his clean face a couple of times.

"..."

Feng Jinzhong and the eunuch were even more dumbfounded. They had never seen such a crazy third-rank official in their lives. Could it be that he had some kind of hidden illness?
next moment.

"Hitting someone! Beating someone!"

Covered in dust, disheveled, and dressed in rags, Yan Maoqing suddenly burst into a loud wail, wiping away tears as he limped away.

"Eunuch Feng of the Armory openly assaulted His Majesty's Imperial Envoy! Is this a slap in the face of me, Yan Maoqing? This is a slap in the Emperor's backside!"

"I, Yan Maoqing, walked all the way from the Bureau of Armory back to the palace to file a complaint with the Emperor!"

"Let all the officials in the government see just how powerful Eunuch Feng of the Armory really is, that he doesn't even put the Emperor's decree in his eyes. I, Yan Maoqing, will not let this matter rest with you!"

"Hitting someone! Beating someone!"

"Come and see, everyone! Eunuch Feng from the Bureau of Armory has assaulted the Imperial Envoy! We can't live like this anymore!"

"This, this, this..."

Feng Jinzhong was completely stunned. He had lived most of his life and had never seen an official act like this before. He was at a loss for what to do.

Isn't this the kind of trick women use when they're throwing a tantrum? And shouldn't this kind of behavior be considered staged injury?

Are you not planning to live in the Ming Dynasty anymore?

at the same time.

Startled by Yan Maoqing's howl, many heads popped out from various rooms and duty rooms, curiously looking in the direction of the sound and discussing among themselves.

They've lived this long and never seen anything like it.

A high-ranking official in the imperial court, wearing a scarlet robe, and even an imperial envoy, was beaten so badly.

Just as Yan Maoqing wailed, this wasn't a slap in his face, it was clearly a slap in the emperor's backside!

"..."

Before Feng Jinzhong could recover, Yan Maoqing had already stormed out of the military camp, wailing and crying.

"Eh?"

The coachman waiting outside the yamen saw this familiar scene and his heart skipped a beat.

If he remembered correctly, the last time his master was beaten was in the palace.

This time it seems a bit milder; at least I didn't have a nosebleed...

That won’t work either!
What kind of thing is this? His master is usually kind to everyone, even the servants at home. He's not someone anyone hates. How come he gets beaten up wherever he goes?

Besides, his master is now a high-ranking official of the third rank. Does that mean he can just beat up anyone he wants?
"master……"

The driver felt he should do something.

The only uncertainty was whether to help his master into the carriage first, or to storm the Ministry of War's office alone to seek justice for his master.

"I'll walk back to the palace like this. I'm going to file a complaint with the Emperor and ask him to do me justice!"

Before the coachman could react, Yan Maoqing had already flicked off her tattered sleeves and walked ahead, sobbing.

……

After a while.

"hiss--"

Feng Jinzhong finally came to his senses, but his brows were furrowed and his face was full of confusion.
"What is the purpose of Yan Maoqing's sudden madness?"

"Even if this matter becomes widely known and reaches the Emperor, he will simply summon us to explain. What can he do to me? Does he think he can just believe his side of the story?"

"Besides, what can we do even if we can't explain it clearly?"

"Given our family's rank, at most we'll be demoted or flogged as a warning. It'll be a minor matter, and we'll just let it go. What big deal could it be?"

"But he will lose his prestige because of this and be ridiculed in the future. No matter how you look at it, he is at a loss, isn't he?"

The young eunuch didn't understand either, but simply bowed and echoed in agreement:
“What Godfather says is true. I really can’t understand him either. I can’t figure out what he’s thinking.”

"However, judging from his past deeds, he seems to be abnormal in this regard, and cannot be judged by common sense."

As he spoke, the little eunuch nodded his head.

Feng Jinzhong seemed to have finally found a reasonable explanation, and nodded slightly:

"Strange things happen every year, but this year there seem to be more than usual. How could the Emperor possibly take a fancy to such an outlandish and eccentric madman..."

……

The Hall of Nourishing Heart.

"what?"

Zhu Houcong was taken aback upon hearing Huang Jin's report, his face showing astonishment.

"You mean, after Yan Maoqing left, he went to the Armory and was beaten by Feng Jinzhong?"

"Your Majesty, it is absolutely true."

Huang Jin didn't know how he felt at that moment, so he could only answer truthfully.

“A messenger came to report that Yan Maoqing, disheveled and ragged, walked back to Donghua Gate from the Bureau of Armory, crying and wailing. He told everyone he met that he had been beaten by Feng Jinzhong and had now entered the palace. He was on his way to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to see the Emperor and file a complaint.”

"Impossible! Feng Jinzhong would never dare to do that!"

Zhu Houcong slammed his hand on the dragon table and said with absolute certainty,

"That thing emitting blue smoke must have another purpose. I know what kind of shit he's going to take the moment he sticks his butt out!"

"He must have gone to the Armory after receiving the order, and then, in my name, demanded weapons and armor from Feng Jinzhong for use in training troops."

“Feng Jinzhong is also a slippery person. I made an excuse to displease him, and when I couldn’t pressure him, he threw a tantrum and trampled on my face. He wanted to use me to deal with Feng Jinzhong!”

"..."

Huang Jin kept his eyes down and remained silent, choosing not to engage.

Zhu Houcong pondered for a moment, then continued:

"Order someone to throw this scoundrel out of the palace. I will not see him."

"Give Feng Jinzhong a sinecure and make him hand over the silver seal of the Armory. You will temporarily take charge of the Armory. Go and keep an eye on this smoking thing and see what it's up to this time!"

(End of this chapter)