Ming Dynasty 1627

Chapter 21 If you can't be Hai Rui, why bother being Yan Song?
"But I wonder, among all these officials, how many are truly concerned about the country, and how many are concerned about themselves?"

The Emperor's words were piercing to the heart!
With a "whoosh," everyone in the hall knelt down.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger! We deserve to die a thousand deaths!"

Zhu Youjian ignored their apologies, treating them as mere theatrics.

He slowly picked up the three books on the imperial desk.

"What's even more ridiculous is that the accusations you made against Cui Chengxiu, Zhou Yingqiu, and others are indeed true, with numerous crimes among them."

"But in terms of numbers, I'm afraid it's not as many as I know."

"I have three lists in my possession."

"One of them... was written by Wei Zhongxian, who hanged himself the day before yesterday."

boom--!
Upon hearing this, the assembled officials below erupted in uproar!

"what?"

"Three lists of eunuch faction members!?"

"Besides Wei Ni, who else provided the list?"

"Who else could it be? Look at why those two are still alive!"

Uncontrollable gasps and gasps of shock mingled together.

Some of the officials who had previously rushed to impeach him were now ashen-faced.

Zhu Youjian coldly observed their reactions and continued, "These three lists differ from one another, but there is also a considerable number of overlaps among the individuals listed."

"Among them, there were seven major corrupt officials, fifty-seven medium-sized corrupt officials, and the remaining two hundred or so, although not as many as the aforementioned individuals, were still... none of them were not corrupt."

The hall fell into a deathly silence once again.

Everyone felt parched and their hearts were pounding.

Those within the eunuch faction were trembling with fear, but those outside the faction were also filled with unease.

Who knows exactly how explicit those three booklets are?

Who knows whether that treacherous Wei Zhongxian made baseless accusations before he died!
At this juncture, when the new emperor has just ascended the throne and is purging the court, what use would it be if he claimed to be innocent?

Those three thin booklets, at this moment, seemed to them like the Book of Death, a death warrant.

It was late autumn, and the sunrise was already rather late.

At this moment, the first rays of dawn finally broke free from the horizon and slanted in through the tall gates of the Wenhua Hall.

Within the beam of light, countless dust particles swirled and danced.

Above the imperial steps, the young emperor's face was shrouded in the boundary between light and shadow, obscuring his features and making it difficult to see clearly.

Only those eyes remained astonishingly bright.

He looked at the officials below with their varied expressions, and nodded slightly to Gao Shiming, the eunuch in charge of writing beside him.

"Proclaim the imperial decree."

Gao Shiming bowed and accepted the order, then took out a roll of yellow silk from his sleeve and slowly unrolled it.

His voice wasn't shrill; instead, it carried a steady quality, and in the deathly silent Wenhua Hall, every word resonated clearly in everyone's hearts.

"The emperor is destined to be carried by heaven, and the edict says:"

"Minister of War Cui Chengxiu, Minister of Personnel Zhou Yingqiu, Minister of Justice Xue Zhen, Minister of War and Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices Tian Ji, Minister of Works and Acting Director of the Bureau of Military Affairs Wu Chunfu, Left Vice Censor-in-Chief Li Kuilong, Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices Ni Wenhuan..."

With each name read aloud, the hearts of the officials in the hall sank sharply.

Those whose names were called looked ashen-faced and swayed precariously.

"...The above seven individuals have formed cliques for personal gain, embezzled public funds, and harmed the country and its people; their crimes are heinous! They are hereby arrested immediately, imprisoned in the imperial prison, and subjected to rigorous interrogation. This is my decree!"

After the imperial edict was read aloud, the hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

The words "Imperial Prison" were like a death warrant, sending chills down everyone's spine.

Just as the Imperial Guards were about to step forward to arrest the man, a calm, almost cold voice broke the deathly silence.

"Your subject, please allow me to explain myself."

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw that Cui Chengxiu was the first to stand up.

His face was pale, but his eyes remained sharp. He showed no fear of being imprisoned, but rather an indescribable resolve.

Gao Shiming couldn't help but look at Zhu Youjian.

Zhu Youjian waved his hand, signaling the guards to step back for the time being.

He wanted to see what this leading eunuch official of the old era really had to say.

Choi Seong-soo walked into the hall and bowed deeply to the throne.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. Your humble servant has absolutely no intention of currying favor with the traitor Wei."

His voice was steady, with a unique pause characteristic of a civil official.

"When the late emperor was alive, he relied on the eunuch as if he were his right or left hand, and often said, 'I am with the eunuch.' The favor he showed was unprecedented in history. The Wei family had countless members who were granted the titles of duke or earl. Everyone in the world knew that being close to the eunuch was to be in accordance with the emperor's wishes."

"My close relationship with Wei Zhongxian is not due to personal friendship, but rather to the interests of the state. I am not a subject of Wei, but a subject of the late Emperor!"

Zhu Youjian sighed inwardly, thinking that the officials of the Ming Dynasty were indeed no pushovers.

Then Cui Chengxiu continued speaking loudly.

"The late emperor's lifelong wish was only for the magnificence of the three main halls and the peace of Liaodong."

"When I was in the Ministry of Works, I worked day and night on the construction of the three main halls, exhausting all my energy and effort to ensure that the construction was not delayed and that the national treasury had a surplus."

"His later transfer to the Ministry of War was precisely to share the Emperor's burdens, clean up the ills in Liaodong, and restore the prestige of the Ming Dynasty!"

"My actions have been in accordance with the late Emperor's trust and the court's salary; I have been wholeheartedly devoted to the public good. What crime have I committed?"

A murmur rippled through the hall, and many people wore strange expressions.

Although everyone knew he was talking nonsense, his words, which started with the late emperor, were extremely malicious.

The new emperor is not someone who cannot or should not be changed, but rather someone who should not act on his own, as this is fundamentally incompatible with the existing system of the dynasty.

However, he deliberately distanced himself from the impending public outcry among his ministers, choosing instead to personally intervene.

Then he was destined to personally face the sword of filial piety and brotherly love.

The four cabinet ministers, standing nearby, watched as things progressed in this way, their expressions complex and unreadable as they looked at each other.

However, Zhu Youjian, sitting on the throne, merely chuckled softly.

"Who told you that I arrested you because of your association with Wei Zhongxian?"

Upon hearing this, Cui Chengxiu suddenly looked up, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

Zhu Youjian ignored him and continued speaking to himself.

"When the late emperor passed away, the eunuch Wei Zhongxian was heartbroken and deeply regretted his past actions, which had ruined the country and led to rampant corruption in the court and the country."

"After he hanged himself, only this list remained, along with the words, 'I only hope that the country will be peaceful and prosperous.'"

He paused, picked up a booklet from the imperial desk, waved it at the crowd, and a mocking smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"What, you all think this is the so-called 'list of eunuchs'?"

"wrong."

"All that's written here is the word 'corruption'."

The courtiers were in an uproar once again!

"What? Not on the list of eunuch faction members?"

"How could that be! That's clearly a list of eunuchs! Corruption is no big deal these days, why would a list be needed to prove it?"

"But His Majesty didn't say it was a list of eunuchs; he only said the word 'list'!"

Choi Seong-soo's expression finally changed completely.

He then realized that this was not a typical "new emperor ascends the throne and eliminates the eunuch faction" drama.

Wei Zhongxian's death was actually defined as "suicide by hanging"!
Was last night's raids on the homes of the Wei faction, the Ke faction, and the imperial guards solely due to the charge of corruption?

He suddenly raised his head and looked at Tian Ergeng, who had been standing silently beside the emperor from the beginning, but he could not see the slightest fluctuation on that indifferent face.

Zhu Youjian ignored the discussions among his ministers, but gave Gao Shiming a wink.

Gao Shiming understood, stepped forward, and sneered at Cui Chengxiu:
"Minister Cui is truly selfless and devoted to the public good; what crime has he committed!"

"If you are truly dedicated to public service, why would you embezzle and accept bribes? If you are truly doing your job, why would you appoint your cronies indiscriminately and disregard our dynasty's official selection system?"

"You keep talking about doing things, but do you dare to make a bet with me right now? Let's send people to ransack your mansion and see if the gold and silver in there are truly the result of three generations of your ancestors' honest accumulation?"

Gao Shiming's voice grew increasingly cold as he stared at Cui Chengxiu, reciting each word slowly and deliberately:

"Cui Chengxiu was from Jizhou, Zhili Province."

“Great-grandfather Cui Jing was a student of the Imperial Academy.” “Grandfather Cui Rong was not an official.”

"Father Cui Jiusi, a Confucian official."

"In your Cui family, spanning three generations, has even one member been a wealthy merchant who commands immense wealth? And where did your vast fortune come from?"

He paused, a malicious and gleeful smile playing on his lips.

"Could it be true, as the children's rhyme in the capital goes—'The Cui family's gate faces south, and gold and silver roll in'?"

Cui Chengxiu ignored Gao Shiming's mockery and frantically racked her brains.

Just a moment later, he took a deep breath, raised his head, looked directly at Zhu Youjian on the throne, and his voice suddenly rose.

"Your Majesty has just ascended the throne, and all the subjects of the land are eagerly awaiting your arrival, hoping that Your Majesty can bring order to the realm and sweep away the evils of the late emperor's reign, when the eunuch faction ran rampant and imperial edicts were used to distort the law!"

"Yet today, Your Majesty intends to arrest and question a high-ranking official of the second rank in the court by imperial decree, without consulting the relevant authorities, based on the words of a eunuch!"

"May I ask Your Majesty, how is this any different from what happened when the traitor Wei was in power?!"

"Even if I am guilty of a crime punishable by death, I should be punished according to the law and handed over to the three judicial departments for joint trial to uphold the law of the land! Only in this way can we show the world that our Great Ming is still a country with clear laws and regulations, not a private empire that can be decided by a eunuch's word!"

When these words were spoken, everyone in the hall was shocked!

Many civil officials wore complex expressions.

Although Cui Chengxiu's words were an attempt to exonerate himself, they also expressed the sentiments of the entire court—their fear and disgust towards the imperial edict and the secret police.

For a moment, the atmosphere in the hall became subtle, and several censors were eager to speak, seemingly about to step forward and second the motion.

Zhu Youjian shook his head and sneered, about to get up and speak.

Right now!

"presumptuous!"

A thunderous roar erupted from the ranks of the military officers.

The white-haired and white-bearded Duke of England, Zhang Weixian, suddenly stepped forward, his tiger-like eyes wide open, glaring angrily at Cui Chengxiu.

"How dare the traitor Cui Chengxiu bark so arrogantly before His Majesty!"

Although he was old, he still had a booming voice.

"You keep talking about the laws of our ancestors, but do you know that the greatest law of our Great Ming Dynasty is the relationship between ruler and subject, and the order of rank and status!"

"The ruler is the guide for his subjects; this is the natural order and human relations, the foundation of the nation!"

"Today you use clever words and a flattering demeanor, under the guise of law and order, to commit acts of treason. Do you intend to shake the foundations of the nation and overthrow the state?!"

He looked around and saw that the old minister, who had served three dynasties, seemed determined to die in the palace, which instantly cleared the minds of some wavering civil officials.

What ancestral laws, what procedural justice, what rampant eunuchs—these can all be said at any time.

But today, on the very first day this new ruler drew his sword, to say that would be tantamount to courting death!

Even death is not the end; one might also be labeled a member of the eunuch faction, thus missing out on the next wave of political developments in the court.

—You should know that what's more painful than buying when prices are falling is missing out on a rally!

The censors who had been eager to try just moments before all lowered their heads and remained silent, trembling with fear.

Zhang Weixian's gaze was sharp as a knife. He swept his eyes across the entire room, his voice booming like a bell, dominating the entire audience.

"Now that I am here in the palace, let's see who dares to hold such a view!"

No one in the hall dared to respond.

Xue Zhen, the Minister of Justice who had just been mentioned, had originally intended to add a few words in agreement.

Overwhelmed by Zhang Weixian's imposing aura, his legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

The tide is gone.

Cui Chengxiu looked at the collapsed Xue Zhen, at the silent officials, and then at the expressionless young emperor on the throne. The last glimmer of light in his eyes finally went out.

He reached out and took off his official hat, gently placing it on the ground.

Then he bowed deeply.

After doing all this, he spoke for the last time, his voice filled with deep resentment.

"I studied diligently for many years and in the forty-first year of the Wanli reign, I passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi, ranking 135th in the third class."

"At that time, I was already forty-two years old. Where was the youthful idealism of my younger days?"

"I was initially unable to enter the Hanlin Academy due to my age."

"Later, he served as an observer in the Censorate. After his term expired, he was appointed as the Censor of Henan Circuit and later as the Inspector of Huaiyang..."

"What I see is that the entire court is corrupt and the land is rotten."

"From the capital to the provinces, everyone comes and goes for profit."

"The world is in such a state; how can I, a mere criminal, be the only one to suffer this fate?"

Upon hearing this, the entire court fell silent.

Studying books until old age is every scholar's nightmare.

Everyone knows that scholars of the Hanlin Academy are distinguished and noble, but how could everyone be a chosen one of heaven?

Most people are just average, and after passing the imperial examination, they simply drift along with the tide.

Choi Seong-soo's final defense, though seemingly non-existent, was in fact a defense nonetheless.

Zhu Youjian finally made a move.

He sighed softly and stood up from the dragon throne.

Countless gazes immediately turned to Zhu Youjian on the throne.

"The corruption in our dynasty has been a long-standing problem. It is caused by factors such as low salaries, the prevailing atmosphere among scholars, and even more so by the scourge of human greed."

His voice was soft, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly.

"Do you think I don't know these things?"

He descended the imperial steps, slowly walking towards Cui Chengxiu in the hall.

"But what I don't understand, Choi Seong-soo..."

Zhu Youjian stopped in front of him and looked at him calmly.

"Even if you don't want to be Hai Rui, why do you have to be Yan Song?"

Zhu Youjian's words were like the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Cui Chengxiu's body swayed violently, and his face instantly turned ashen.

He wanted to argue further, but found that all his words were stuck in his throat, and he couldn't utter a single word.

yes……

With so many others going along with the corrupt practices, why did he become the leader of the Five Tigers and the core of the eunuch faction?
If you don't want to be a loyal and upright official, does that mean you have to become a treacherous and powerful minister who will be remembered with infamy for eternity?

All his explanations seemed so pale and powerless in the face of this question.

A long time, a long time.

Cui Chengxiu's once straight spine finally collapsed.

He knelt down before Zhu Youjian, the newly appointed young emperor, his forehead striking the cold gold bricks heavily.

"Your Majesty is wise... Your humble servant confesses his guilt."

Zhu Youjian waved his hand.

The Imperial Guards rushed forward like wolves and tigers, dragging Cui Chengxiu and the other seven away.

Silence returned to the hall once more.

Zhu Youjian slowly walked back to his desk and picked up the three thin booklets.

The officials in the hall were immediately agitated with barely suppressed excitement.

The courtiers no longer underestimated this young emperor and were now extremely cautious.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on those three lists, as if their lives, fortunes, and futures were held within them.

Is your name in there?
Or... is there the name of a political enemy?

　[Historical Materials in this Chapter]

　　Cui Chengxiu's resume is all true. Many of the core members of the eunuch faction who were promoted quickly and became well-known were based on Cui Chengxiu.

　　First, those who were ranked third or second in the imperial examinations generally did not have a bright future.
　　Secondly, his family wasn't wealthy or well-connected; he got in through hard work, so his future prospects weren't very bright.

　　Third, being older often means a less promising future.

　　Of course, not everyone is like this, it's just quite common.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)