How can one be Emperor Chongzhen without money?

Chapter 39 How can one atone for the crime of arms trafficking? (Please add to your favorites and continue reading)

Qionghua Island, Renzhi Hall.

The candlelight flickered in the draft, casting intermittent light on Tian Ji's pale face. He knelt on the cold, gold-brick floor, his prison uniform soaked with cold sweat, clinging to his skin, chilling him to the bone.

Emperor Chongzhen sat upright behind a large elmwood desk, holding a warm, lustrous rosewood thermos cup in his hands, steam rising from its rim. He lowered his eyes, as if admiring the way the tea leaves floated and sank within the cup, and after a long while, he slowly took a sip.

"Tian Ji," Chongzhen's voice remained gentle, "what are you planning to do by secretly hoarding five hundred muskets in Tongzhou?"

A "buzz" sound!
Tian Ji felt as if his head had exploded with boiling water! Tongzhou! Five hundred guns! The Emperor… how could the Emperor know?! That shipment was hidden extremely well. He had gone to great lengths, using the Ministry of War's pretext of "reporting losses," to painstakingly extract it bit by bit from the stockpiled old weapons, and then, through a few dared-not-speak-about assassins, transported it in batches to an abandoned granary cellar in Tongzhou! All this was to avoid the eyes and ears of the capital, and to find an opportunity to sell it at a high price to those wealthy merchants who smuggled goods between the border towns and Jiangnan!

How did the Emperor find out?
Cold sweat instantly streamed down his forehead. He abruptly bent over, his forehead slamming heavily against the gold brick with a dull thud.

"This sinful subject...this sinful subject deserves to die! This sinful subject was foolish! This sinful subject...this sinful subject was blinded by greed, coveting those petty gains..." Tian Ji's voice trembled uncontrollably, choked with sobs, "This sinful subject deserves to die! I beg Your Majesty to have mercy! Have mercy!"

Chongzhen put down his thermos, the bottom of which tapped lightly on the table with a soft "tap." The fact that Tian Ji had secretly kept a musket was, of course, discovered during a confiscation of property in his previous life! Goods and valuables disappear quickly, but muskets are something confiscated by those who raid homes.
"A paltry sum?" Chongzhen's voice deepened, like a muffled thunderclap. "Five hundred muskets—that's military supplies! What kind of person would need to buy five hundred muskets in one go? The slave chieftain of Jianzhou? Or the Hudun Rabbit Khan of Chahar?"

"No! No! Your Majesty, please understand!" Tian Ji was terrified, almost collapsing to the ground, his voice shrill and distorted, "This sinful subject dares not! Absolutely not! This sinful subject... this sinful subject only wanted to sell to the south... to those maritime merchants in the south... they... they travel by sea, they also need to protect themselves..."

"Southern maritime merchants?" Chongzhen's lips curled into a cold smile. "Tian Ji, you are the Minister of War. Once the arquebuses of the Ming Dynasty flow out of your hands, can you still control who they end up in? Today it's the maritime merchants, but what about tomorrow? The day after? Who can guarantee that these five hundred arquebuses won't eventually fall into the hands of the Jurchens and be fired at the soldiers of my Great Ming?!"

Chongzhen's voice suddenly rose, filled with thunderous fury, echoing in the empty hall:
"The weapons produced by the Ming Dynasty's Armory Bureau at the expense of the nation's coffers were sold by you, a mere soldier, and ended up in the hands of the Ming Dynasty's mortal enemy! Tian Ji! Tell me, can this crime... ever be redeemed?!"

Tian Ji felt a chill rush from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and his limbs and bones were frozen stiff.

It's over! Utterly over! Treason! This is a capital crime! The confiscation of his property and the extermination of his entire clan are imminent! He was filled with remorse, wishing he could slap himself repeatedly. Five hundred muskets, at most, would only earn him three or four thousand taels of silver, not even enough to send one "ice tribute" to Eunuch Wei! To risk the lives of his entire family for such a small sum—it was utterly foolish!

Overwhelmed by fear, his survival instinct drove him to kowtow again with all his might, his forehead striking the gold brick with a dull thud, almost drawing blood.

"It can be redeemed! It can be redeemed! Your Majesty! My sins can be redeemed!" He cried, tears streaming down his face, his voice hoarse. "I am willing to offer all my property! All of it! All my property to atone for my sins! I beg Your Majesty to have mercy! Give me a chance to atone for my sins! Give me a way to live!"

Emperor Chongzhen picked up the thermos again, but his gaze fell on Tian Jina's face, which was contorted with extreme fear.

"All of your family's wealth?" Chongzhen's voice returned to calm, revealing neither joy nor anger. "How much is it?"

As if grasping at a straw, Tian Ji hurriedly said, "This sinful subject...this sinful subject has 350,000 taels of silver in cash! 40,000 mu of farmland! Eighteen mansions in the capital, Nanjing, Yangzhou and other places! And...and many rare treasures! This sinful subject is willing to offer it all to Your Majesty! I only ask to atone for my sins!"

“Three hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver… forty thousand mu of land… eighteen houses…” Chongzhen repeated softly, “Another big rat. The granaries of the Ming Dynasty are almost emptied by you big rats.”

He paused, his gaze sharp as lightning, fixed on Tian Ji's face.

"Alright then," Chongzhen's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable decisiveness, "You shall immediately hand over your 40,000 mu of land to be used as military farms." Tian Ji's heart tightened. 40,000 mu of fertile land—that was the foundation accumulated by his family over generations! But he dared not hesitate for a moment, repeatedly kowtowing, "This sinful subject obeys the decree! Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty!"

Emperor Chongzhen nodded slightly, but then abruptly changed the subject:
"As for the rest... Tian Ji, I think you're quite good at dealing in firearms."

Tian Ji was taken aback, looked up blankly, and did not understand the emperor's meaning.

Chongzhen leaned forward slightly, staring into his eyes, and said, word by word:

"Within five years, you must use your own money to procure 50,000 truly usable muskets for me. They must be handed over to my personal guards, and each one must be inspected to ensure it is usable, functional, and effective in killing the enemy! Not a single one can be missing! In addition, each musket must be equipped with ten catties of gunpowder and one hundred lead bullets. All of these will be inspected by the personal guards!"

Tian Ji was completely dumbfounded, thinking he had misheard. Fifty thousand?! Five years?! This...this was simply unbelievable! The Ordnance Bureau was already considered lucky if they could produce three hundred muskets a year without them exploding!
Chongzhen seemed oblivious to the shock on his face and continued:
"As for where these 50,000 muskets, 500,000 catties of gunpowder, and 5 million lead bullets will come from... I will give you two options."

He held up a finger:
"First, if you think those useless people in the Armory can still be saved, I will contract the Armory to you! The people will be the same; you'll have to figure out the materials yourself! Five years, 50,000 pieces, 500,000 catties, 5 million pieces, once you've produced them, your sins will be atoned for."

Tian Ji felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. Contracting the weapons and ammunition bureau? That was a bottomless pit! The artisans had either fled, died, or were mostly just waiting to die. Materials? The finest Fujian iron, refined charcoal, saltpeter—every single one was siphoned off at every level. Even if he poured all his remaining 350,000 taels into it, he wouldn't hear a sound!
Emperor Chongzhen raised his second finger:

"Secondly, if you think the Armory is utterly useless, then go to Foshan! I know there are private workshops there with excellent craftsmanship. I will issue an imperial edict to demote you to Assistant Minister of War, in charge of procurement. Take my token, go to Foshan, find those private workshop owners, negotiate prices with them, and sign contracts. My personal guards will inspect each musket you buy. Five years, fifty thousand muskets, not one less, not one missing, with gunpowder and lead bullets all in place, and your crime will be forgiven."

Chongzhen lowered his hand, picked up the thermos, and slowly sipped the hot tea, looking calmly at Tian Ji:

"So, Master Tian? Which path do you choose?"

Tian Ji knelt on the ground, trembling like a leaf in the autumn wind. Cold sweat soaked through his prison clothes, sticky and icy. Both paths were dead ends! Five years, fifty thousand twigs—this was simply an impossible task! The Armory? That was a dead end! The private workshops in Foshan? That might be a chance to survive, but those workshop owners were all shrewd; seeing him in such a predicament, they'd surely demand exorbitant prices! And…and if he messed up this mission, it would be adding insult to injury, a fate beyond redemption!

Overwhelmed by immense fear and despair, he opened his mouth, but his throat was too dry to utter a sound.

Chongzhen didn't urge him, but just watched quietly, his fingers gently tapping on the inside of the thermos, making a rhythmic "tap, tap" sound, like the beat of a death knell.

Time passes little by little.

Finally, as if using all his strength, Tian Ji pressed his forehead heavily and deeply against the cold gold brick, his voice hoarse and trembling with a sense of resignation:
"This sinful subject...this sinful subject...chooses the second path...this sinful subject...thanks to His Majesty...for the grace of saving you..."

Emperor Chongzhen nodded slightly: "That's right, it's about rebuilding. If this matter is handled well, I will have to rely on you to purchase a large quantity of firearms from Foshan! From now on, the purchases will naturally be funded by the imperial court. You will then be the imperial merchant who purchases firearms for the court, serving as an official while engaging in business! In addition, whatever amount of the wealth you embezzled before is left after purchasing this batch of muskets, gunpowder, and lead bullets is yours, and I will reward you with it!"

In fact, Emperor Chongzhen's arrangement for Tian Ji was not just to be a royal merchant purchasing military supplies, but to make him the "Superintendent of the Guangdong Customs of the Ming Dynasty." If he could truly guarantee the quality and quantity of the procurement tasks and complete them on time!
"Your Majesty, I thank you for your great kindness!" Tian Ji saw through Chongzhen's empty promises, and regardless of whether he could actually benefit from them, he still had to express his gratitude.

Chongzhen smiled and said, "By the way, you probably can't handle such a big matter by yourself. Three good men can help you think of something. Are there any accomplices in the theft and sale of muskets? Let's expose them all and atone for our sins together. Wouldn't that be great?"

(End of this chapter)