How can one be Emperor Chongzhen without money?

Chapter 297 Alas, these are the loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty!

The secret room in the back hall of the Xiangyang government office had its doors and windows tightly shut.

It was already completely dark outside, and inside there was only an oil lamp lit, its flame flickering and illuminating three faces clouded with worry.

Tang Hui, the governor of Huguang, He Fengsheng, a retired Grand Secretary, and Qian Wenwang, the prefect of Xiangyang, sat around a round table, and no one uttered a sound for a long time.

The air seemed to freeze, with only the occasional crackling sound of a lamp wick popping, striking a chord in people's hearts.

Finally, He Fengsheng spoke first. The old man's voice was terribly hoarse, filled with an overwhelming sense of heartache.

"Giant parasites of the nation! They are all stupid worms that hollow out the country!"

His thin fingers tapped the table, making a soft, rhythmic sound.

"A 10/90 split? The prince takes 10%, and the servants take 90%? These murderers are insatiably greedy!"

He became increasingly angry as he spoke, his chest heaving with each word.

"The Prince of Xiang's estate owns hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land, yielding two to three hundred thousand shi of rent annually, but when it reaches the prince, only a fraction of that is left! This isn't just deceiving the master, it's deceiving the emperor, it's uprooting the Ming Dynasty!"

Qian Wenwang shrank back and whispered, "Please calm down, sir... Who would have thought that the Prince's mansion would be in such a state of rot..."

"Unexpected?" He Fengsheng sneered. "Now look what's happened. The Emperor used his methods to let those princes taste the sweetness. Those foolish princes who were kept in the dark will surely rush to curry favor."

He took a breath and looked at the other two, his eyes filled with worry.

"The King of Chu, the King of Xiang, the King of Jing, the King of Rong, the King of Hui, the King of Gui, and the King of Min and the King of Ji who haven't arrived yet, the eight princes of Huguang! The number of princes and generals under them is as numerous as hairs on a cow! The land they own is worth millions of acres! And the number of shops and businesses is countless!"

"If the Emperor truly gains control of this force, he will be able to establish a firm foothold in Huguang and will no longer allow us to speak as we please!"

He turned to Qian Wenwang and asked, "Prefect Qian, surely the old gentlemen in the southeast have given us a definite answer? Are we just going to stand by and watch the Emperor overturn all the rules of Huguang?"

Qian Wenwang was a relative of Qian Qianyi, and could be considered the eyes and ears of the southeast in Huguang. He shook his head with a bitter face.

“My lord, I sent someone to inquire... Elder Mu’s reply was only that ‘the situation is complicated, let’s wait and see,’ ‘the southeast is also in trouble’... nothing else.”

"Let's see? Is there a problem?" He Fengsheng snorted. "All he knows is how to protect himself! Qian Qianyi was reprimanded by the Emperor twice, and he's scared out of his wits. Even though he's scared, he's unwilling to give up his position as Minister of Rites, so he shamelessly continues to hold office... Donglin leader? What a joke!"

After he finished speaking, he looked at Tang Hui, who had remained silent. The Tang family was a prominent clan in Southern Zhili, and his attitude reflected the prevailing sentiment within the core circle of Southern Zhili.

“Governor Tang,” He Fengsheng’s tone turned serious, “the officials of Southern Zhili, you must give us an explanation, right? Do you really want to see the Emperor completely mess this up?”

Tang Hui raised his head, his face also solemn.

“My lord, it’s not that the officials of Southern Zhili don’t want to lend a hand…” His voice was not loud, but every word was clear, “It’s just that the Southeast itself is almost unable to hold on.”

He counted on his fingers: "First of all, things are not peaceful at sea. Japanese pirates are showing signs of emerging, and all the garrisons are demanding pay and food."

"Secondly, the Huai River flooded this summer and autumn, almost turning the area north of the Huai River into a sea, and the areas south of the Huai River and south of the Yangtze River were also affected. Disaster relief and dike repair—neither of these requires money."

He paused, his voice lower: "The most important thing is the third matter, the taxes in Southern Zhili are already crushing people..."

The words were left unsaid, but the meaning was clear. The wealthy families of Southern Zhili, feeling the fire hadn't yet reached them, still wanted to avoid trouble. Besides complaining, they brought up the Japanese pirates. They didn't even consider how many daughters of maritime merchants and pirates the Emperor had taken as concubines in the past two years!
The Japanese emperor knew more than those people!
Upon hearing this, He Fengsheng felt utterly disheartened. With the Southeast unreliable, they would have to shoulder the mess in Huguang themselves.

Just then, there was a knocking sound of three long and two short knocks coming from outside the secret room.

Qian Wenwang quickly opened the door. A middle-aged man dressed in a blue official's robe, looking flustered, rushed in. He was He Fengsheng's student who worked at the Prince of Xiang's residence.

"Master! Governor! Prefect!" The man, panting, didn't even bother with the formalities. "I just received confirmation! The six princes... the six princes have jointly submitted a petition supporting the Emperor's new policies!"

Despite being prepared, the three people in the room were still taken aback when the news actually came.

"Explain yourself!" He Fengsheng said sternly.

"Yes...yes!" The student swallowed hard. "The Sixth Prince has expressed his full support for His Majesty's implementation of the 'equalization of land tax and poll tax, unified taxation for officials and gentry, and collection and remittance by the government, with a tax of five liters per mu' in Huguang! The memorial has been written and will be sent to His Majesty soon!"

It's over. Qian Wenwang's legs went weak, and he slumped into the chair. Tang Hui closed his eyes, pinching his brow hard with his fingers.

Only He Fengsheng, after the initial shock, revealed a fierce glint in his old eyes. He slowly stood up, his hunched figure stretching long under the lamplight.

“Good…good…” his voice was hoarse, “It’s not just five liters of grain per mu, but also the integration of poll tax into land tax, the joint taxation of officials and gentry, and the collection and delivery of taxes by the government…this is going to completely eradicate our roots!”

He turned his head sharply and stared at Tang Hui and Qian Wenwang: "We can't just sit here and let people smash the pot that belongs to the Ming Dynasty!"

"Sir, what's your idea?" Qian Wenwang asked quickly.

He Fengsheng walked to the wall, looked at the map of Hubei and Hunan, and pointed his finger heavily at the location of Xiangyang.

"What will the Emperor rely on to accomplish this? He will rely on the support of the people, the smooth implementation of his decrees, and the stability of the regions! Let's remind him of these three things! Let him know that without the scholar-officials, he can't accomplish anything!"

He turned around and lowered his voice:

"The first move is to make things clear!"

"Isn't he asking for 'five sheng per mu'? Let's help him spread this news throughout Huguang! Let those scholars and clerks go to teahouses, taverns, and fields to tell everyone—the Emperor is going to increase taxes! One shi of rice is worth more than one tael of silver, so five sheng is seven or eight fen of silver. How much more than before? Let everyone, whether they have land or not, hear this. How are they supposed to live like this!"

Qian Wenwang nodded: "This... isn't exactly nonsense."

"This wasn't just making things up!" He Fengsheng sneered. "This is simply telling the truth!"

He stroked his beard and continued, "The second trick is to let everyone know how precious food is these days."

“Write to the grain merchants and gentry you know in Jiangnan and Sichuan, and tell them that the harvest in Huguang is bad this year and there is a shortage of grain. Our local grain shops and rice stores should also raise their prices, saying that the emperor has increased taxes and the canal transport is not smooth, so that the cost is high. Let the price of rice in Xiangyang and Wuchang rise!”

Tang Hui frowned slightly: "Hoarding and speculating... what if the Emperor finds out..."

"Who told you to hoard grain?" He Fengsheng interrupted him. "We're just 'following the market'! It's the Emperor's increased taxes, land surveys, and the combined efforts of officials and gentry that have created panic and caused grain prices to rise! What does this have to do with us?"

He smiled sinisterly and said his third move: "The third move is to follow the rules."

“Governor Tang, you are the governor, in charge of the province’s administration. When the Emperor’s new policies and regulations are issued, you should follow the rules! Summon the provincial treasurer, the provincial judicial commissioner, and the prefects of each prefecture for a ‘detailed discussion’ and ‘examination of each clause’, dragging out the correspondence for months! When the prefectures and counties below come to inquire, you should say, ‘The meaning from above is not yet clear, and we need to consult again!’”

“Prefect Qian, you are a people-friendly official. When the Emperor wants to survey the land, you should report, ‘We don’t have enough manpower, and the registers are lost.’ When it comes to implementing the policy of ‘officials collecting taxes and fees,’ you should say, ‘The people have concerns, and we need to persuade them slowly.’ In short, be cautious!”

He looked at the two men and said, "Also, immediately send men on horseback to Sichuan to meet with Governor-General Zhu Xieyuan and General Qin Liangyu of Shizhu! Explain the situation to them and ask them to jointly submit a memorial, saying that Sichuan is a poor place and that raising taxes again might cause trouble!"

"Go and contact the chieftains in Pianyuan, and have them submit a petition saying that there is little land in the mountains, the people are suffering, and they will not be able to survive if taxes are increased! In short, we must muddy the waters!"

He Fengsheng took a breath and then announced another move:
"The most crucial move..."

"I will contact the officials in the capital and the censors from Huguang, as well as the censors in Nanjing, and together we will submit a memorial to impeach the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Tang for 'interfering in government affairs as members of the imperial family and violating ancestral rules'!"

He paused, lowering his voice even further: "If that's the case... and the Emperor is still determined to do it..."

He Fengsheng's gaze swept over Tang Hui and Qian Wenwang, and he said, word by word, "Then we officials from Huguang will jointly submit a petition requesting to retire and return to our hometowns!"

Upon hearing this, the air in the sealed room froze completely.

Qian Wenwang gasped, his face turning pale. Tang Hui also suddenly opened his eyes.

Mass resignation! This is the most ruthless tactic a civil official can use against the emperor!

“This…this…” Qian Wenwang’s voice trembled.

"This is the last resort!" He Fengsheng said resolutely. "We will not take this path unless absolutely necessary. But we must make the Emperor understand that we, the scholar-officials who are loyal to the Ming Dynasty, are also determined to fight to the death!"

He glanced at the two men, his tone icy: "If Hubei and Hunan fall into chaos, the whole country will be shaken. If the scholar-officials lose their loyalty, the Ming Dynasty will perish! His Majesty... he can't afford to gamble."

The plan was decided, and the three of them remained silent, sitting quietly without saying another word.

(End of this chapter)