How can one be Emperor Chongzhen without money?

Chapter 10 Will this silver fall from the sky by itself?!
On the 28th day of the eighth month of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign (1627), at the end of the

Outside the Donghua Gate of Beijing, everything was a pristine white. Civil and military officials, nobles, and high-ranking eunuchs stood in a dense, silent mass. All eyes were fixed on the two slowly opening vermilion palace gates.

An unassuming carriage with a blue veil, escorted by three hundred white-robed armored warriors, drove out of the palace gates. The warriors wore plain white battle robes, carried round shields with yellow cloth coverings, and had steel swords and spears gleaming coldly at their saddles. Their horses were laden with stiff bows and eagle-feathered arrows. Each was sharp and capable, with piercing eyes. Most striking were the plaques hanging from their waists—"Imperial Guards" and "Imperial Bodyguards"—with their names and the date of their "favor" inscribed below. The officers' plaques were further divided into six ranks, from the lowest sixth-rank guard to the highest first-rank guard. These were the new emperor's henchmen, the confidants of the imperial faction!
Along the roadside, Duke Zhang Weixian of Yingguo and Duke Zhu Chunchen of Chengguo each led a hundred cavalrymen, dressed and armed just like the imperial guards. At this moment, they dismounted in unison and knelt on one knee: "Welcome, Your Majesty!"

On the other side of the carriage, Wei Zhongxian, Wang Tiqian, and Tu Wenfu led their men in kneeling obeisance. Five hundred elite imperial guards, armed with muskets and even more advanced firearms, carried arquebuses. Behind Tu Wenfu were three hundred loyal and brave cavalrymen—his original force of a thousand men had been largely taken by the young emperor to serve as his personal guard. Now, these eight hundred men, following the three eunuchs, shouted "Long live the Emperor!" A dark mass of heads, an atmosphere of grim solemnity permeated the area outside Donghua Gate. Chongzhen's guard this time truly deserved the title of "ironclad fortress"!
The carriage curtain was lifted, revealing Zhu Youjian's young face, taut and tense. His gaze swept over the "massive" guard, and he felt slightly relieved. With this force by his side, his journey to Jizhou felt much more confident.

Just as they were about to lower the curtain and set off, Wei Zhongxian, Wang Tiqian, Tu Wenfu, and a young man in a plain robe with a gloomy face scrambled to the front of the carriage, knelt down with a thud, and slammed their foreheads heavily against the cold bluestone slab.

"Your Majesty, your humble servants Wei Zhongxian, Wang Tiqian, and Tu Wenfu pay their respects!"

"This humble subject, Hou Xingguo, kowtows to Your Majesty!"

Hou Xingguo? Kebaba's son? What is he doing here? Zhu Youjian's heart stirred slightly.

Before he could ask, Hou Xingguo was already weeping uncontrollably: "Your Majesty! This humble subject begs for forgiveness on behalf of my mother, Hou Shi! My mother made a grave mistake in her folly, and this humble subject... this humble subject sold everything he owned and scraped together 338,513 taels of silver, which he has now deposited outside Donghua Gate! As for the remaining one million taels, this humble subject will surely raise it even if he loses everything he owns! I only beg Your Majesty to have mercy and allow this humble subject to use this meager amount to atone for even a fraction of my mother's sins!" He kowtowed repeatedly, leaving bloodstains on the bluestone slabs.

Immediately afterwards, Wei Zhongxian, Wang Tiqian, and Tu Wenfu each raised a memorial to the throne, their voices trembling as if they were being torn apart:
"This servant, Wei Zhongxian, is willing to contribute 300,000 taels of silver from my household funds to help the imperial court with its expenses!"

"This servant, Wang Tiqian, is willing to contribute 200,000 taels of silver from my household funds to help the imperial court with its expenses!" (This was actually his bribe money.)
"This servant, Tu Wenfu, is willing to contribute 150,000 taels of silver from my household funds to help the imperial court with its expenses!"

Zhu Youjian sat upright in his carriage, listening to the series of numbers announced—thirty-three, thirty, twenty, fifteen… adding up to nearly a million! A complex mix of emotions welled up within him. In his previous life, when the rebel army besieged the city, he had set aside his imperial dignity and begged donations from the court's nobles and ministers. What did he receive? A drop in the ocean, leaving him only a laughingstock! If these people had been as "generous" then as they were today, how could the Ming Dynasty have fallen into such dire straits?

It seems that this "punishment money" approach is far better than expecting those self-righteous officials who spout benevolence and morality but whose wealth is of dubious origin to pay out of their own pockets! After all... not paying the punishment money can cost you your head!

Donating money is an act of kindness, atoning for sins is saving one's head. A person can be without conscience, but cannot be without a brain!
Having grasped this principle, Emperor Chongzhen nodded slightly, his voice low and gentle: "Good! I am very pleased that you are able to understand the national crisis and be so public-spirited!"

Emperor Chongzhen's gaze fell on Wei Zhongxian: "Wei Zhongxian's loyalty is commendable." He then turned to Wang Tiqian: "Wang Tiqian, you are diligent in your work and capable in raising funds. From this day forward, you will continue to serve as the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, and together with Xu Yingyuan, you will remain in the capital to guard the inner court and manage the household for me!"

Wang Tiqian trembled violently—he could be a grand eunuch again! The ecstasy of regaining what he had lost instantly overwhelmed the heartache of offering silver, and he cried out excitedly, "This servant...this servant kowtows to thank Heaven for its grace! I will surely do my utmost to live up to Your Majesty's expectations!"

Finally, Zhu Youjian looked at Hou Xingguo, who was still trembling on the ground, and his tone softened: "Hou Xingguo, Madam Ke's embezzlement is undeniable and cannot be tolerated by the law. However, you have shown great righteousness by returning all your ill-gotten gains, which shows you have a heart of repentance and atonement. I will consider your filial piety and pity. As for Madam Ke's crime, I may grant leniency once she returns all the embezzled funds. By returning the embezzled funds and atoneing for her sins, I can show leniency."

He didn't mention a pardon, only "leniency" and "turning a blind eye"—a pardon meant letting people go home, but not Madam Ke. She knew too much!

"This humble subject...this humble subject kowtows to thank Your Majesty for your divine grace!" Hou Xingguo suddenly looked up, his face a mixture of snot, tears, and blood, but his teeth were clenched tightly.

Zhu Youjian stopped looking at him and addressed Xu Yingyuan and Wang Tiqian, who were standing outside the carriage, in a loud voice that suddenly rose in volume and carried a decisiveness that pierced through the crowd: "Xu Yingyuan and Wang Tiqian! Immediately count these silver coins, escort them to the Inner Transport Treasury, and seal them in the treasury! Record them in the files, and there must be no error!" "Your servant obeys!"

"Furthermore, issue an imperial edict to Grand Secretary Huang Liji: Tomorrow, order the Ministry of Revenue to go to the Imperial Treasury and withdraw 500,000 taels of silver! This silver—" He slammed his hand on the carriage shaft, his voice booming like thunder, "half of it will be used to pay the back wages owed to the nine border garrisons! The other half will be urgently allocated to Shaanxi to provide disaster relief to the victims! Even a drop in the ocean is a drop in the ocean! Tell the Ministry of Revenue, tell the soldiers of the nine border garrisons, tell the people of Shaanxi—the silver will definitely be there! I keep my word!"

"We'll definitely get the money!"

These seven words, like a thunderclap, resounded throughout Donghua Gate! The civil and military officials, nobles, and high-ranking officials kneeling on the ground were all shaken to their core, cold sweat beading on their backs. They seemed to see the heavy silver chest leaving them, and even more so, they seemed to see a sword of judgment hanging over their heads, ready to fall at any moment!
Hou Xingguo, on the other hand, stared intently at the ground.

Jizhou, Santunying. Shuntian Governor's Office.

The air was thick with the stench of sweat, dust, and a suffocating feeling of despair. Wang Yingzhi, the acting governor, had a face flushed purple, his finger almost poking the nose of General Sun Zushou opposite him.

"General Sun! You...you're foolish! Indecisive and soft-hearted! When the mutiny first broke out, it was just a motley crew of three to five thousand. If you had followed my advice and suppressed it with swift and decisive measures, how could it have led to this disaster? You've been slow to act, watching the rumors spread and the mutiny grow bigger and bigger! Look! Look outside!" He suddenly pushed open the window and pointed to the gate.

Sun Zushou followed the gaze, his face turning ashen. As far as the eye could see, inside and outside the Three Garrisons Camp, were countless dusty, gray military tents! What had initially started as a few battalion commanders protesting for pay had now escalated; every able-bodied soldier in the entire Jizhou Garrison had flocked there. Outside the gate, the open ground teemed with people like ants, a cacophony of vulgar curses, howls of hunger, and cries of despair surging forth like a torrent against the crumbling walls of the camp. Looking around, the number of rebel troops gathered here far exceeded thirty thousand. Of the one hundred thousand troops officially registered in Jizhou Garrison, nearly thirty percent had already assembled here!

“Lord Wang!” Sun Zushou’s voice was hoarse, filled with deep exhaustion. “It’s not that this humble general is unwilling to suppress the rebellion! It’s the court… the court has been in arrears on pay for a full thirteen months! My brothers also have parents who raised them, and they also need to eat and wear clothes! For thirteen months, there has been no harvest, and their wives, children, and elderly parents are crying for food! The court is in the wrong, and it is only right and proper for my brothers to ask for their pay! If we forcefully suppress the rebellion now, and swords clash, all the good sons of the Ming Dynasty will die! If this incites a mutiny in the entire army, and the 100,000 tigers and wolves of Jizhou rebel together, who can bear the consequences? Who can stop this monstrous wave?!”

"Woman's view! Stupid!" Wang Yingzhi was so angry he almost laughed out loud. He slammed his hand on the table. "Sun Zushou! You call yourself a general?! You only see the 100,000 mouths in your Jizhou garrison needing food? Let me ask you, how many troops does the Ming Dynasty have? Nine border garrisons and thirteen towns, with 590,000 registered! If all 590,000 mouths were to be paid their full salaries, how much silver would that cost a year? Eight million! And that's a conservative estimate! There's also the Beijing garrison, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the land and naval forces in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, adding up to another 400,000 to 500,000! If they all demanded pay, how much silver a year would it take to fill this bottomless pit?!"

He was panting heavily, his eyes bloodshot: "What kind of state are we in now? Natural disasters and man-made calamities, war raging everywhere! How much silver can the Taicang and the Imperial Treasury collect in a year? At most, we can't even scrape together the 'ten million' part of that ten million! How can we fill such a huge hole? Just take your Jizhou garrison, thirteen months of unpaid wages, that's over a million taels! Apart from the Guan Ning Army, which has the Liaodong military pay to support them, which of the other garrisons isn't drowning in debt? If we have to make up for it all, we'll have to come up with ten million taels at once! Ten million taels! General Sun, tell me—" He suddenly leaned closer to Sun Zushou, "Do you think this silver will just fall from the sky?!"

Sun Zushou was rendered speechless by this series of cold, hard numbers. He was well aware of the court's difficulties, but the soldiers under his command were also his brothers…

A deathly silence fell over the hall.

In the suffocating silence, a soldier stumbled in, his voice trembling with excitement:
"Report! Your Excellency Governor and General! By order of the Governor-General, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zu Dashou of Liaodong Garrison has led 3,000 elite cavalry and is now outside the camp!"

"What?!" Wang Yingzhi was stunned at first, then his eyes flashed with wild joy, and the gloom on his face vanished. "Good! Good! Just in time! Heaven is helping me! The Madman Zu has arrived. Let's see how these rabble soldiers can be so arrogant now!"

He turned sharply to Sun Zushou, his eyes sharp as knives: "General Sun! With General Zushou's arrival, our army to quell the rebellion is now as powerful as a tiger with wings! The time has come! Issue my order: muster the standard battalion and join General Zushou's elite troops in Liaozhen to prepare for battle! Tomorrow morning, I will personally go to the front lines and use swift and decisive measures to wipe out the rebel army in one fell swoop! Success in this battle will be the day you and I rise to prominence!"

(End of this chapter)