As the Song family had predicted, Old Master Chen’s case was indeed tried with extreme speed. Meng Jiming had always been very aware of which way the court winds blew. Now it was obvious that Old Master Chen’s faction was about to completely collapse. Having previously registered himself in Emperor Jianzhang’s book, he handled this case with utmost dedication—he even had people weigh exactly how heavy the gold box Old Master Chen had given was and reported it in detail.
A court official who disregarded human life while using his position for personal gain, who interfered in local governance and attempted to threaten and bribe a prefect—these charges could be considered grave, or not so grave, depending entirely on how Emperor Jianzhang judged them.
When Emperor Jianzhang’s verdict of immediate execution came down, Meng Jiming wiped the sweat from his forehead. Fortunately, he’d been sharp-eyed and clear-minded this time and hadn’t run off to cause trouble for anyone—otherwise, wouldn’t he have been digging a pit for himself?
The Minister of Revenue, however, had been quite unhappy recently. Everyone said Huangjue Temple was an imperial temple with considerable offerings and extensive landholdings—it should have been dripping with wealth. Yet what was confiscated from Huangjue Temple amounted to merely sixty thousand taels of silver, far below expectations. As for Old Master Chen’s estate, needless to say, the old fox had probably made preparations long ago. Someone who could give away gold boxes containing Tang Mingzhao’s handwritten works—his household had only yielded thirty thousand taels of silver upon confiscation. It was truly incomprehensible. These past days, he’d been rather listless even at court. The Ministry of Revenue never had enough silver to begin with. The autumn harvest tax revenue looked substantial when collected, but once allocated to the northwest and Fujian, they were stretched thin again. What’s more, this year there was also the Jiujiang incident. The Minister of Revenue was so worried his hair was turning white.
When court adjourned, he walked alongside Song Chengru. Seeing his dispirited appearance, Song Chengru laughed: “Recently two households have been raided—how is it you still look so lifeless?”
The Minister of Revenue’s surname was Zheng, his given name Sansi. At this moment he wasn’t thinking things through thrice at all. He gave Song Chengru a bitter smile: “Master Song still teases me. Who knows where Huangjue Temple’s and the Chen family’s silver went? When giving gifts, they spent it like flowing water, yet what was confiscated amounts to only this pittance. What can this accomplish? Jiujiang has reported a shortfall of two hundred thousand! How is one to fill that?!”
Speaking of this, he couldn’t help cursing that the Jiujiang Prefect and the Jiangxi officialdom were birds of a feather. Last year the Yuzhang Prefect had come to the capital shamelessly begging for one hundred thousand taels of silver for the Poyang Lake floods, yet in the end nothing was accomplished. This year Poyang Lake flooded just the same, and houses still had to be rebuilt. Jiujiang wasn’t any better—last year they’d approved a total of two hundred fifty thousand taels for embankment repairs and ancestral hall construction, yet not even a splash was heard. This year another incident occurred, and they’ve reported needing another two hundred thousand taels for post-disaster reconstruction. It was truly… Zheng Sansi complained inwardly, feeling the Jiangxi officialdom was utterly rotten to the core.
However, after thinking this through thrice, Zheng Sansi knew this couldn’t be mentioned. After all, right now this entire scapegoat had been pushed onto Cui Yingshu. This Left Vice Minister of Works truly had bad luck. Who told him to go to Jiangxi? Even good officials in that region learned bad habits once they went there. They all colluded to embezzle vigorously—none could remain untainted. If Cui Yingshu wanted to do practical things for the common people, wouldn’t that obstruct others’ paths? With such a ready-made scapegoat available, whom else would they frame if not you?
Song Chengru had also served as Minister of Revenue and seemed to deeply empathize: “Exactly. Everyone treats the Ministry of Revenue as a money pouch, yet the Minister of Revenue can’t generate silver. You’re already worried now—how will you get through year’s end? Both Fujian and Zhejiang have military conflicts, and the northwest needs salary payments at year’s end. It’s not too late to worry then.”
Zheng Sansi immediately felt a toothache. When others served as Minister of Revenue, they might not have been dripping with wealth, but at least their days were prosperous. Only he was unlucky—as soon as he took office, incidents occurred one after another. Fujian had rampant pirates, and military expenses absolutely could not be reduced. If reduced even slightly, wouldn’t Guo Huaiying’s group come to the capital and tear people apart alive? That scoundrel dared do anything. The northwest was even more urgent—if salaries were privately withheld and the censors discovered it and submitted an impeachment memorial, there’d be no way to survive. Combined with the Yellow River floods these past two years and the current Ma Yuantong rebellion, the Ministry of Revenue lived hand to mouth every single day.
They no longer dared engage in those previous diversion schemes. Forget those below—even he as Minister received little tribute silver. It was truly infuriating. Most infuriating was Jiujiang—in the past when they approved one hundred thousand taels, at least they’d leave three or four thousand silver to grease palms and make arrangements. Now whatever amount they reported had to be fully approved, otherwise they’d cause trouble. The entire Jiangxi officialdom would raise hell together. He was truly fed up with those bastards’ nonsense!
“I heard Vice Minister Cui has already entered the Ministry of Justice?” Zheng Sansi ground his teeth and asked Song Chengru: “I wonder what direction Vice Minister Cui’s case will take.” As he spoke, he shook his head: “If you ask me, Vice Minister Cui isn’t that sort who embezzles and perverts the law. The Jiujiang embankment breach happens every year—this time Vice Minister Cui’s timing was just unfortunate…”
Song Chengru smiled faintly and said no more. Returning home, he changed into regular clothes, dined with Old Madam Song, then brought Song Chuyi and Song Jue to the study.
Master Chang and Master Ying had already been waiting. Seeing them, they quickly rose to greet them. After mutual acknowledgments, they sat down again.
“Xiao Yi spoke correctly—everyone actually knows the truth about the Jiujiang matter in their hearts, only no one has pierced through it.” He recounted what Zheng Sansi had said when they met today: “That group is insatiably greedy, their appetite growing year by year. Even the customary tribute to the Ministry of Revenue has ceased. Greedy to this extent, they no longer regard even the Ministry of Revenue. Zheng Sansi harbors a bellyful of resentment toward them.”
If Zheng Sansi felt this way, the entire Ministry of Revenue probably had wagging tongues too. What kind of place was the Ministry of Revenue? A place that dealt with silver. What person there was an easy mark? Once or twice without tribute and they’d already make things difficult for you—what about three, four, five times? Previously there was no opportunity, but once they seized one, wouldn’t they trample you to death?
Master Chang glanced at Song Chuyi, the whiskers on his chin bobbing: “Miss Six means to incite the Ministry of Revenue people to jump out and cause trouble?” He shook his head again: “I fear this is inappropriate. Minister Zheng is extremely good at assessing situations…”
With circumstances clearly unfavorable to Cui Yingshu now, even if he knew his interests were damaged, he wouldn’t come forward to offend the Jiangxi officialdom.
“No.” Song Chuyi shook her head slightly, concise and to the point: “We don’t need them to take the lead in causing trouble. They only need to submit the account books from all these years of Jiujiang’s reported embankment repairs and disaster relief expenditures at the critical moment. And on this point, Minister Zheng has already promised Grandfather. At the appropriate time, he’s willing to extend this helping hand.”