Da Ming: I told you to die for your cause, why are you actually going to die?

Chapter 203 Zhang Biao: Zhu Yuanzhang! I won't take the blame for this! [Seeking monthly votes]

Zhang Biao knew that Lao Zhu wouldn't compromise easily, and he didn't expect that a few scoldings would make him agree to audit the imperial treasury.

Therefore, Zhang Biao was very clear that in order to achieve his goal, he had to give Lao Zhu enough stimulation, just like in his "previous life".

Until he had to compromise with himself.

However, just as Zhang Biao was about to reach the palace gate and, amidst the complex gazes of the guards, let out a long sigh of relief, Old Zhu suddenly let out a low roar, like a wounded lion struggling in its death throes:
"stop--!"

Zhang Biao shuddered, but still said impatiently, "What is it now?! Kill me or torture me, just give me a straight answer!"

Old Zhu didn't respond immediately. His chest heaved violently as he forced down his surging blood pressure, trying to make a last-ditch effort to save face.

He took a deep breath, his voice filled with sorrow and accusation:

"Zhang Biao! You keep claiming to be working for the Ming Dynasty and fighting corruption! But look at the situation now! The court is in turmoil, officials are uneasy, and princes are filled with suspicion! This is all your doing!"

Having said that, he suddenly pointed outside the hall, as if he could point to the entire world:

"Do you know that while you were doing everything you could to stir up trouble in the capital, in Yunnan, chieftains were rebelling one after another, and war was breaking out again!"

"The imperial court needs stability, financial resources, and military strength to quell rebellions and pacify the regions! But what are you doing?!"

Old Zhu's voice grew louder and louder, carrying an air of authority that seemed to weigh down the weight of the world on his shoulders:

"At this time, what are you doing, auditing the vassal kings and even our private treasury! Do you think the world isn't chaotic enough already?!"

"Don't you call yourself 'Imperial Censor Zhang, the man of the world'? Are you just going to stand by and watch the borderlands crumble, the people suffer, and the Ming Dynasty be engulfed in war?! Where is your conscience? Where is your sense of responsibility?!"

This series of questions was like a heavy shackle; if it were an ordinary official, he would have been forced to kneel and beg for forgiveness by this "righteousness of the world."

However, Zhang Biao was not moved at all after hearing this. Instead, he laughed out loud as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world. The sarcasm in his laughter was almost overflowing.

"Hehe...hahaha..."

He laughed so hard he almost fell over, and even exaggeratedly wiped away non-existent tears.

"Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yuanzhang, to say you're stupid is an understatement!"

Zhang Biao addressed him by his first name without any politeness, his tone extremely contemptuous:

"You think that little mess in Yunnan is a sign of utter chaos in the world? That it requires the entire nation's resources to suppress it?"

He wiped the smile off his face, his eyes sharp as knives, and retorted with lightning speed:

"Do you know why there's always one problem that keeps popping up over there, with constant rebellions? It's because of your methods! Besides sending troops to suppress them and killing people to establish your authority, what else can you do?"

"Oh, and maybe they'll even lure their leader to the capital to be beheaded, euphemistically calling it 'using both kindness and force'!"

Do you know what "replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials" means?

Zhang Biao threw out this completely unfamiliar term to Lao Zhu, and before Lao Zhu could react, he mocked him:

"Oh, of course you don't know!"

"You only know how to make decisions about war, taxes, and killing or demoting people on a whim!"

"Of all the national policies of the Ming Dynasty, how many were truly decided after careful consideration and by drawing on the strengths of others? Weren't most of them simply decided by you alone, with everyone below blindly following suit?!"

"What good policies do your bunch of good-for-nothings know, besides trying to figure out what you're thinking, shouting 'Long live the Emperor!' and echoing your bullshit logic of 'might makes right'?"

"Can a place like Yunnan be governed simply by killing people? What we need is long-term stability and security!"

"The solution is to abolish those hereditary local officials and replace them with officials dispatched by the imperial court to govern the region!"

"It's about promoting education, farming, and commerce so that local people can live like human beings instead of being exploited by those 'local tyrants'!"

"We need to make them recognize themselves as citizens of the Ming Dynasty, not slaves of some local chieftain!"

"Do you understand these things? Have any of your many subordinates mentioned them to you? No!"

"Because they know that you, Zhu Yuanzhang, love to hear things like sending troops to suppress the rebellion and killing without mercy! If you suggest any long-term solutions that require patience and wisdom, you will label you as cowardly and incompetent!"

Zhang Biao became more and more excited as he spoke, his finger almost touching Old Zhu's nose:

"And chaos reigns over the world? And countless lives are lost? Let me tell you, the greatest source of war is your mindless, reckless, and self-righteous way of ruling!"

"And the bureaucratic system you've cultivated, which only knows how to pander to superiors and accomplishes nothing!"

"The money in the national treasury and the energy of the Ministry of War should be used where they are most needed, and in places that can truly consolidate our rule and benefit the people!"

"Instead of doing things like you, sending troops to put out fires wherever there's smoke, which only treats the symptoms and never the root cause!"

"The same goes for the money in the imperial treasury!"

"The purpose of auditing them is to find out whether the blood of the Ming Dynasty was drunk by corrupt officials and parasitic princes, or whether it was used by you in this endless and inefficient cycle of force!"

"You're now pinning the blame for the Yunnan rebellion on me? That's utterly ridiculous! I won't take the fall for this!"

Zhang Biao's barrage of sharp retorts and sarcasm shattered the 'righteousness' upon which Zhu Yuanzhang relied for his position, and further denigrated his and his entire ruling group's governing abilities as utterly worthless.

Old Zhu was stunned by the scolding. His weathered face was a mixture of anger, shame, shock, and a hint of panic from being hit where it hurt, leaving him speechless for a moment.

"you you……"

He pointed at Zhang Biao, his finger trembling, and hesitated for a long time, only to find that his own rhetoric about 'stabilizing the overall situation' seemed so pale and powerless in the face of Zhang Biao's incisive criticism.

Seeing Old Zhu's speechless expression, Zhang Biao snorted coldly and finally said:
"Think it over carefully, Old Zhu! Are you going to continue clinging to your outdated ideas and waiting for things to fall apart, or are you going to have the guts to undergo radical reform?"

"And this audit is the first cut on the bone! As for where the knife will cut, that's up to you!"

After saying this, he didn't linger and turned to leave the Huagai Hall with long strides.

Old Zhu was left standing there alone, his face turning pale and then red, Zhang Biao's hurtful words echoing in his mind.

[Replacing native chieftains with appointed officials... for lasting peace and stability...]

[All they do is kill... they accomplish nothing...]

The greatest source of war... is our way of ruling.

These words, like a red-hot iron, burned into Old Zhu's heart.

For the first time, he felt an overwhelming sense of frustration, powerlessness, and humiliation in front of a subject, as well as an unprecedented and profound doubt about his own way of ruling, which he himself was unwilling to admit.

Gradually, only the panting sounds of Old Zhu could be heard throughout the entire Huagai Hall.

He was startled awake when a cool breeze, seemingly from nowhere, blew in from outside the hall.

Immediately afterward, he glanced around the hall and noticed Yun Ming and several guards standing helplessly in a corner. He frowned slightly, then coldly issued the order:
“Yunming…”

"This servant...this servant is here..."

"Anyone who dares to utter a single word about what happened today... will have their entire family executed..."

"The slaves obey the orders!"

Yunming and his guards knelt down with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly.

Seeing this, Old Zhu wearily closed his eyes, with only one thought in his mind:
If Zhang Biao, this scoundrel, is not eliminated, he will surely become a major threat!

But how to remove it... that's a bit tricky!

"Forget it! Let's ignore that wretched child for now!"

Old Zhu sighed helplessly, then recalled Zhang Biao's "reform of local chieftains and replacement of officials with centrally appointed officials" policy before he left. A sudden realization flashed through his mind, and he opened his eyes and said:

"Yunming! Summon Yu Xin, Tang He, Zhuo Jing, and Xu Yungong! Have them wait in the side hall!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Yunming immediately prostrated himself to receive the order.

But before he could get up to leave, he heard Old Zhu say thoughtfully:
"Furthermore! Issue an imperial decree! Promote Song Zhong, a commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, to the position of Vice Commander of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, to assist Zhang Biao in handling Anti-Corruption Bureau affairs!"

"promise!"

Yunming respectfully agreed, but his heart was filled with surprise.

Sending Song Zhong to assist Zhang Biao is like teaching a disciple only to have the master starve.

How will Imperial Censor Zhang respond?

The thought flashed through his mind, and Yunming quickly turned around and left the Huagai Hall.

On the other side, while Zhang Biao and Lao Zhu were having a passionate argument, the one-armed Lao Zhou, the lame Lao Li, the blind Lao Sun, and the injured Lao Qian seemed to have turned into ghosts in the shadows of Beijing.

While using Zhang Biao's training materials to evade the eyes and ears of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, they operated silently according to Zhang Biao's "desktop instructions."

Moreover, as disabled veterans, they already have many circles of connections and are likely to gain sympathy from fellow soldiers, minor officials, and even some commoners from the lower classes.

After a few cups of wine and a few opening remarks like "Back in the northern deserts...", a lot of conversation can be started.

The "downlines" they recruit are all carefully selected.

Among them were honest farmers whose families were destroyed by corrupt officials, soldiers whose land was seized by powerful figures and who had nowhere to seek redress, and even low-ranking officers who were exploited and filled with resentment in the garrison.

These people may have limited abilities, but hatred and injustice are their greatest driving force.

Moreover, its small size makes it less likely to be noticed by the vast surveillance network of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

For the next period of time, information flowed like a trickle from the villages, garrisons, and government offices around the capital, through various clandestine channels, to the corner of an inconspicuous tenement house that Lao Zhou and his group had temporarily rented in the city.

Tonight, the moonlight is obscured by thick clouds, and only a small oil lamp flickers inside the room.

The four secretly met again to piece together the fragments of information they had each collected.

Although Old Sun's eyesight is poor, his hearing and memory are exceptional, so he is responsible for organizing and repeating the information.

Old Qian knew a few words and used crooked symbols and simple diagrams to record them on scrap paper.

Old Zhou and Old Li were responsible for analysis and judgment.

At first, it was just some expected corruption.

For example, how a village headman could create various pretexts to levy additional taxes and line his own pockets; how a garrison commander could embezzle military pay and resell military rations; how a county clerk could collude with local powerful figures to seize farmland...

"Hmph, as expected, all crows under the sky are black!"

Old Li spat, which aggravated his injured leg, causing him to gasp in pain.

"Don't worry, there's more to come."

Old Zhou's expression was solemn, and he gestured for Old Sun to continue.

As more information is pieced together, some seemingly unrelated corruption cases are gradually revealing disturbing clues.

The corrupt practices of some low-level clerks, local tyrants, and even military officers in garrisons seem to vaguely point to some higher-level, more secretive connections.

As these threads are roughly outlined, a picture far more terrifying and astonishing than mere corruption slowly emerges.

"According to the foreman whose mine was seized, the wealthy man surnamed Chen who occupied the mine would transport large quantities of refined iron and saltpeter to several villages at the border of Southern Zhili and Shandong every year through the canal transport gangs."

Ostensibly, it was for making farm tools, but the person who received the equipment acted mysteriously. Unidentified, robust men were frequently seen coming and going from the village, unlike ordinary farmers.

Old Sun's voice was extremely low, tinged with disbelief.

Old Qian drew a southward arrow on a piece of scrap paper, and labeled it with 'iron, saltpeter, private soldiers'.

"A minor canal transport official who was marginalized near Shuixi Gate revealed..."

Old Zhou's voice was a bit dry.
"They were once ordered to 'escort' several special 'goods,' all of which were grain and cloth, but their destination was the mountainous areas of Jiangxi and Huguang that had been unstable in recent years."

"The escorts were no ordinary merchants; they had fierce eyes and obeyed orders without question, like seasoned soldiers. Afterward, these soldiers were all warned not to tell anyone."

Old Qian's hands trembled slightly as he added "grain and cloth" after "iron and saltpeter," and a question mark appeared next to the southward-pointing arrow.

"There are even more bizarre ones."

The lame old Li was pale and breathing rapidly: "I contacted a fellow villager who had worked as a clerk in the Five Military Governor's Office. He said something inappropriate after drinking, that in recent years, the Ministry of War has been reimbursing the military equipment lost in the 'bandit suppression' operations of various garrisons."

Especially the number of bows, crossbows, and armor was astonishing, but many battles... weren't even that large!

"Those extra weapons just vanished into thin air!"

"And those who handled these reimbursement reports, besides the few officials in the Ministry of War, seem... it seems that there were also people in the Censorate and the Office of Transmission secretly making way for them!"

After these words were spoken, the dilapidated house fell silent.

All that remained were the faint crackling of the oil lamp wick as it burned and the heavy, suppressed breathing of the four men.

Refined iron, saltpeter, grain, cloth, estates suspected of training private soldiers, weapons of unknown whereabouts, supplies transported to rebellious areas, and... a 'protective umbrella' that provided them with convenience in the court!
All these clues, no longer isolated cases of corruption, were like cold puzzle pieces, ultimately piecing together a conclusion that chilled their very souls—

[There are people in the imperial court, possibly high-ranking and powerful figures, who have been secretly funding, and possibly even manipulating, rebellions across the country on a long-term, systematic basis!]

[They weren't simply engaging in corruption; they were fostering bandits to bolster their own power! They were using the Ming Dynasty's treasury and resources to continuously create and maintain unrest in various regions to achieve some ulterior motive!]

Perhaps it's to maintain military power, perhaps it's for factional struggles, perhaps there are deeper motives... but in any case, this is undermining the foundation of the Ming Dynasty!

"My God..."

Old Qian's charcoal pencil fell from his hand again. He felt ice-cold all over, and his lips trembled.

"This...this isn't just greed...this is...this is undermining the Ming Dynasty, trying to plunge the world into perpetual chaos!?"

Colluding with the enemy and aiding the bandits!

Wreak havoc on the world!

This is far more insidious and vicious than simply colluding with foreign enemies!
The levels involved are absolutely beyond their imagination!
A chill that penetrated to the bone instantly gripped the four of them.

They were just a few veterans who wanted to seek justice for their fellow villagers and themselves in the fight against corruption. How did they end up uncovering such a shocking conspiracy that could turn the entire court upside down and cause bloodshed?!
Panic, like a cold, giant python, coiled around their hearts, almost suffocating them.

They could almost see countless eyes hidden in the darkness, coldly watching them through the cracks in the dilapidated house.

"Stay calm! All of you, stay calm, you bastards!"

Old Zhou gripped the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) tightly with his one arm, his knuckles turning white, and squeezed out a voice through gritted teeth: "Whoever panics will die first!"

Old Li slammed his fist into his injured leg. The intense pain cleared his muddled mind somewhat, and he growled:

"Yeah, right! What's there to be afraid of! A head lost is just a scar! We've seen it all on the battlefield!"

Although Old Sun was blind, his senses were even more acute. He listened intently to the sound of the wind outside and the distant barking of dogs, his voice hoarse:

"This matter... is far too significant, and the implications are far too complex. If we, with our mere ant-like strength, were to act rashly... we would be utterly destroyed."

Old Qian was panting heavily, as if he had just been pulled out of the water, his clothes soaked with cold sweat.

He picked up the charcoal pencil, not to take notes, but to furiously and repeatedly erase the key clues involving 'funding the rebellion' and 'the machinations of the court'.

Until only a blot of black ink remained on the scrap paper.

"Brother Zhou is right!"

Old Qian's voice trembled with the shock of surviving a disaster: "This... we can't afford to take it, and we shouldn't take it!"

"Just pretend you don't know! Keep it to yourself! Our current targets are still those corrupt officials and clerks who are openly corrupt, those petty clerks and powerful figures who bully us!"

"If we verify these facts and hand them over to Lord Zhang, it will be a great achievement!"

"That's right! We should do what we can first!"

"Yes, we mustn't alert them!"

"This pool is too muddy and too deep. If we small bodies go in, we'll disappear into the shadows!"

The survival instincts they learned on the battlefield enabled them to make the most realistic and wisest choice quickly after extreme shock and fear.

That is to set aside this groundbreaking discovery and continue to focus on the original goal.

They carefully sealed away the verbal information that had been erased or hadn't yet been recorded in their hearts, as if it were a Pandora's box that could never be opened.

Then, they forced themselves to refocus their attention on the 'routine' compilation of evidence regarding grassroots corruption.

However, the atmosphere inside the room was completely different.

It felt as if an iceberg was pressing down on everyone's heart, heavy and cold.

They knew that they might have inadvertently glimpsed the tip of an iceberg of a massive conspiracy shrouding the Ming Dynasty.

The road ahead will become even more treacherous, and every step will require treading on thin ice.

Please vote for me with your monthly tickets!

(End of this chapter)