Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 70 The Unfathomable Art of Emperorship

Zhu Youjian slowly raised his hand and pressed it down.

The thunderous shouts of "Long live!" gradually subsided, but the air was thick with the stench of greed and fervor, like a jar of strong liquor about to explode.

Zhu Youjian's gaze swept past the "veterans" who were driven mad by the reward money, and pierced straight at the seven thousand new recruits behind him like a sharp sword.

"You have no reward money."

His voice was icy cold, devoid of any emotion, like a piece of cold iron striking the hearts of every new recruit.

The recruits' faces instantly shifted from anticipation to astonishment.

"Because you have not rendered any service." Zhu Youjian's voice did not soften in the slightest. "My money was not squeezed from the national treasury, nor did it fall from the sky! It was flesh I ripped piece by piece from the necks of those traitorous Shanxi merchants! With blood! With flesh! With their screams of agony!"

He paused deliberately, allowing the bloody scene to be deeply imprinted in everyone's mind.

"My rewards, my silver, will only be given to one kind of people!" He suddenly raised his voice, "Those who have shed blood and risked their lives for me! For the Ming Dynasty!

He looked at the recruits whose heads were bowed in disappointment, and a cruel yet seductive smile crept across his face.

"What? You're already disappointed? Is this all you want? Just a little bit of silver in front of you?"

His voice seemed to have a magical quality, causing the slightly dejected recruits to involuntarily raise their heads.

"I ask you, what can silver buy? Fine wine? Women? But can it buy back the Liaodong lands that the Jurchens plundered from my Great Ming Dynasty?!"

"Can you buy back the dignity of my Han people who have been trampled underfoot by the Tartars?!"

"Can we buy back the glory that our ancestors won through countless battles, only to have it squandered by a bunch of useless civil officials and shameless merchants?!"

His three consecutive questions struck everyone's hearts like three heavy hammer blows! Even the veterans who received the reward money gradually froze their ecstasy, replaced by a deeper emotion.

"For over a hundred years! Ever since Tumu Fortress, our backbone has been broken!" Zhu Youjian's voice was filled with pain and anger. "Those barbarians on horseback are defecating on our necks! Those civil officials spouting classical phrases are sucking the blood of the people! Everyone tells me to be patient, to negotiate peace, and to consider the bigger picture!!"

He suddenly raised his voice and roared, "Bullshit!!"

"Before me stand the descendants of a people who once swept across the land and made all barbarians submit! In your veins flows the blood of our founding emperor, who drove out the Tartars and restored our land! It is the blood of our ancestors who protected China with the Great Wall and swords!"

"This blood! It once boiled in the bodies of our ancestors! They never yielded! Now, it surges in your bodies! Tell me! Are you willing to let it cool down?!"

"No—I—don't—want!!!"

More than 10,000 people seemed to be dry tinder that had been ignited in an instant, and they burst out with a deafening roar!

"Very good!" Zhu Youjian's eyes flashed with a mad light. "You might say, Your Majesty, I'm just a common soldier. I need to eat and support my family. Yes! You're right, living is important! But I want to tell you, there is something else in this world that is just as important as living! That is—dignity!"

"That means standing up, like men, and taking back everything that is rightfully ours!"

"What we need is not the pitiful charity of others! Wealth, prosperity, and peace are not achieved through begging and protests, but through iron and blood!"

"I don't want a bunch of useless cowards who only know how to collect pay! I want a pack of wolves who know how to use their swords to reclaim their dignity and wealth, for themselves and for me!"

"I ask you! Do you want the gold and silver from the Jurchens beyond the Great Wall?!"

"think!!!"

"Do you want the cattle and sheep of the steppe Tartars?!"

"think!!!"

"Those bloated, corrupt officials, do you want the money they've swindled from the people?!"

"think!!!"

"Follow me! Fight! Plunder! Seek revenge!" He abruptly turned his sword towards the army before him, letting out a final roar with all his might:

"For the Ming Dynasty! For me! For yourselves!"

"war!!"

"war--!!!"

"war--!!!"

A roar like an earthquake swept across the entire training ground, no longer a simple echo, but a fanatical vow that had been completely ignited!

……

Soon after, the veterans began to receive their awards in an orderly fashion.

Wang Ergou was a migrant worker from Chengcheng, Shaanxi. Now, he is a veteran of the New Army!
At the foot of Xuanfu City, his left arm was struck by a stray arrow.

At this moment, he was tightly clutching three heavy silver ingots, each weighing ten taels.

The cold touch of the silver and the burning heat of his palms created a strange contrast.

He put a silver ingot to his mouth and took a small bite.

The clear teeth marks sent a shiver down his spine, and tears welled up unexpectedly.

it is true.

This is not a dream.

He remembered his father's cloudy, resentful eyes before he died, and the scene of his mother being beaten to death for trying to get him a better steamed bun. The lofty ideals and righteousness spoken of by those scholars and literati had never allowed him to have a full meal.

But the emperor's silver, yes!
With thirty taels of silver, he could finally repair his parents' graves properly, marry Cuihua from the village entrance... and live like a human being.

Wang Ergou raised his head, his eyes brimming with tears, and looked at the figure standing beside the pile of gold and silver.

From this moment on, this person became his everything.

The emperor ordered him to kill someone, so he went and killed someone!
……

The Northern Garrison Command was the most feared place in the Ming Dynasty.

The sunlight here seemed a bit colder than elsewhere. The light struggled to squeeze in through the narrow cracks in the window, falling on the damp bluestone slabs and forming mottled, weak beams of light.

The air was filled with a faint smell of blood and the rusty smell of torture instruments.

This is the lair of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the dark side of the empire, the blood-stained hand behind all the glamorous court etiquette.

Today, Tian Ergeng, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, is leading his most capable officers, numbering several hundred and several thousand, standing silently in the empty courtyard of the Imperial Prison.

They were all dressed in brand-new flying fish robes, with embroidered spring knives at their waists, and each of them had a fierce build and sharp eyes like an eagle.

They are creatures accustomed to darkness, butchers walking on the edge of a knife, and fierce gods who can stop a three-year-old from crying!

At this moment, however, they were like a pack of the most docile hunting dogs, with all their claws and teeth tucked in, heads bowed, waiting for their master to arrive.

The owner did not come in person.

The one who has come to this filthy place is Wang Chengen, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial.

Wang Chengen's entourage was very simple, with only a few eunuchs carrying two black lacquered wooden boxes behind him. He himself remained as gentle and humble as ever, with a faint smile on his face.

But Tian Ergeng dared not be negligent in the slightest.

"This humble servant has met Governor Tian," Wang Chengen said gently.

"I dare not accept such praise! Your presence is an honor to our Northern Garrison!" Tian Ergeng quickly bowed, adopting an extremely humble posture.

The Imperial Guards behind him all bowed in unison.

Wang Chengen smiled and cut to the chase without further pleasantries, because the emperor had shown him that the most effective way to deal with these people was never through red tape.

"His Majesty has decreed..."

His voice wasn't loud, but as soon as he uttered the words "Your Majesty," Tian Ergeng immediately led everyone to kneel down in unison, their foreheads touching the ground.

"His Majesty said that the Embroidered Uniform Guard made great contributions in the Shanxi merchant case. Without you, those rats hiding in the gutter would not have been exposed so quickly. His Majesty remembers it all."

Wang Chengen's words were like a warm current, warming the hearts of the Imperial Guards kneeling on the ground.

They did the dirtiest and most tiring work, offended the entire court, and were most afraid that their merits would be forgotten by the emperor.

“However,” Wang Chengen changed the subject, “His Majesty also said that directly rewarding you with gold and silver would be too vulgar. You are His Majesty’s henchmen, so your rewards should naturally be different.”

He waved his hand, and the eunuch behind him carried the two black lacquered wooden boxes up and gently opened them in front of Tian Ergeng.

Everyone's eyes were attracted.

There were no gold bars or silver ingots in the box.

The box on the left contained ledgers with black leather covers.

In the box on the right were rolls of yellowed blueprints and land deeds, covered with various official and private seals, some of which were even messy due to repeated transfers and markings.

The Imperial Guards present were all stunned.

What kind of reward is this?
Tian Ergeng also looked bewildered. He cautiously raised his head to look at Wang Chengen.

Wang Chengen still wore that gentle smile on his face as he gently picked up an account book with his delicate fingers.

"Governor Tian, ​​do you know what this is?"

"Please enlighten me, Eunuch Wang."

“These are bad debts of Shanxi merchants,” Wang Chengen said casually. “These debts were ‘lent’ by those Shanxi merchants to various officials and lords in the capital. Some were ministers and vice ministers in the court, some were marquises and earls whose families had been in official positions for generations, and some were some incompetent members of the imperial family.”

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the astonished faces.

"These debts range from a few hundred taels to tens of thousands of taels. The Shanxi merchants either couldn't get them back or simply didn't want them back, so they became bad debts. But while they were bad debts in their hands, in His Majesty's eyes, these were the best debts imaginable."

Wang Chengen gently placed the account book back into the box, making a dull thud.

"His Majesty's Imperial Decree:"

His voice suddenly became solemn and dignified.

"These pieces of evidence, I hereby bestow upon you, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, all of them."

“You must collect all these debts, one by one.”

"Of the money recovered, 30% will be turned over to the imperial treasury, and the remaining 70% will be divided among you."

boom!
These words struck like a thunderbolt, exploding in the minds of all the Imperial Guards.

Their breathing instantly became heavy, and the fierce light that had just been suppressed in their eyes suddenly flared up like flames doused with oil, flashing with a greedy and excited green light!

Collecting debts?

Should we send the Embroidered Uniform Guard to collect debts? Or should we send them to collect debts from those high-ranking officials in the imperial court?

This...this is not collecting debts!
This is clearly His Majesty the Emperor personally handing them a stick to beat the dog!

A dog-beating stick that can be used legitimately to discipline the entire court!
In the past, they needed to find a pretext and fabricate charges to manipulate officials.

Now, it's not necessary!

"Lord Wang owes the Shanxi merchants three thousand taels? Someone, come to the Prince's residence and have a chat with him about his financial management insights!"

"I heard that the garden at Vice Minister Li's residence cost fifty thousand taels? Coincidentally, the Shanxi merchants happen to have a loan of fifty thousand taels in their accounts. Let's go and help them check it out!"

Just imagining that scene made these officers of the Embroidered Uniform Guard tremble with excitement.

The thrill of this power, the privilege of legally inflicting harm, is a million times more stimulating than a direct reward of a few hundred taels of silver!
Tian Ergeng's reaction was far more profound than that of his subordinates.

He understood the unfathomable imperial scheme behind this reward almost instantly, and his back was instantly soaked with cold sweat!
(End of this chapter)