That evening, Mu Chun and his men all returned to the military camp thoroughly drunk. Mu Chun was simply carried back by the Yi people in a bamboo chair, with several woven bamboo boxes following behind.
Ma Ye had been eagerly awaiting the return of this precious darling who couldn’t be beaten or scolded. From afar, he smelled the pungent alcohol – this wasn’t drinking, it was practically bathing in wine vats.
The Yi people reluctantly slammed the four-man bamboo chair heavily onto the ground. “Here we are.”
Ma Ye helped Mu Chun stand up, the Yi people set down the boxes, picked up the bamboo chair and left.
“This is Lady She Xiang’s sedan chair, lent to me. Shows she really gives me face, doesn’t it?” Mu Chun drunkenly opened a box, revealing gold and silver vessels and women’s gleaming silver ornaments and such.
Ma Ye was stunned: “What is this? Hasn’t Lady She Xiang been refusing to pay taxes?”
“These are bribes the Western Waters Family sent me. Lord Ma took the hard approach, whipping and humiliating Lady She Xiang, yet she still wouldn’t agree to pay taxes. I figured force probably wouldn’t work,” Mu Chun swayed as he pulled out a silver wine pot, looking smug.
According to Mu Chun’s account, he’d taken his brothers to the Pacification Commissioner’s Office to demand tax payment. Lady She Xiang was too severely injured, lying in bed unable to get up, saying they’d discuss it another day.
Mu Chun had acted reasonable, saying there was no rush, everything could be discussed slowly.
Seeing Mu Chun’s flexibility, the Western Waters Family was overjoyed, setting out wine and banquets to entertain Mu Chun, even having the Yi people’s most beautiful girls dance for entertainment.
After three rounds of wine, Mu Chun “demanded bribes” from Lady She Xiang who was hosting him despite her condition: “The tax amount is huge, and it has to be paid every year. I’m the eldest son of Marquis Xiping Mu Ying, raised in the imperial palace since childhood. I know both His Majesty and the Empress well and can put in a good word. Feed me well, and I’ll speak favorably before His Majesty, ensuring your Western Waters Family never has to pay taxes…”
Ma Ye: No wonder Marquis Xiping never requested hereditary prince status for his eldest son. It wasn’t favoritism – the eldest son is a scoundrel and troublemaker!
Lady She Xiang said she didn’t have that much silver at the moment, asking him to drink first. At the banquet, Mu Chun noticed that all the wine pots, cups, and bowls used for entertainment were gold and silver vessels, and the Yi girls dancing for entertainment wore at least five pounds of ornaments on their heads and bracelets, even thick bracelets around their ankles.
“No money? Isn’t all this money?”
“So I brought back all these gold and silver wine vessels along with the dancing girls’ jewelry and bracelets. Otherwise, returning empty-handed would be so embarrassing!”
I have never seen such shameless audacity!
Ma Ye was truly eye-opened. “Did nephew strip off all the girls’ jewelry?”
Mu Chun shook his head: “I’m a man with principles. They all took them off willingly – I didn’t force anyone.”
Mu Chun opened the last four boxes. “These are the gold and silver jewelry Lady She Xiang gave me. This woman is really wealthy. She thinks it’s a bribe, but it’s actually tax silver. I’ll go again another day and definitely gain more. Taking a little each time adds up.”
Ma Ye gave a thumbs up: “Nephew truly has excellent strategy!”
Ma Ye waved his hand grandly, “Put these boxes in storage.”
“No way!” Mu Chun slapped the boxes shut and lay flat across the row of boxes. “This tax silver was obtained by me, so it goes into my private treasury first. I’ll find a reliable gold and silver shop to melt down all these gold cups, silver pots, jewelry and such, casting them into gold ingots and silver bars. Only then can I properly distribute military pay to the brothers. Otherwise, going begging with a gold rice bowl – what kind of propriety is that?”
Ma Ye laughed: “Fine, since the heavy responsibility of collecting taxes has been entrusted to nephew, everything will be arranged as nephew sees fit.”
Mu Chun pulled out a silver wine pot from the boxes and handed it to Ma Ye. “Those who see it get a share – take this to reward someone, Lord Ma.”
How could Ma Ye care about such things? He accepted it with a smile. Returning to his tent, his advisor asked Ma Ye: “Using tax collection to create division between the Eastern and Western Waters families, making them suspicious of each other, first destroying the Western Waters, then the Eastern Waters – that was our plan. But now the master has let Mu Chun take over tax collection. I fear complications will arise. This person is too unreliable, capable of thinking up any terrible schemes. With things in his hands, there are too many variables.”
Ma Ye gave the wine pot to his advisor as a reward: “I hope he continues maintaining his unreliable attitude, harassing the Western Waters Family daily, pressing for tax payments. When Lady She Xiang discovers she can’t satisfy Mu Chun’s greed and kills Mu Chun, we’ll have even better justification to avenge Mu Chun and destroy the Western Waters Family.”
The advisor praised: “The master is still most clever! The Emperor and Empress deeply love Mu Chun, regarding him as their own grandson. When the master achieves great merit avenging Mu Chun, he’ll surely earn imperial praise. The master is a kinsman of Empress Ma. Throughout dynasties, empresses’ fathers or brothers are enfeoffed as Dukes of Grace. The master is Empress Ma’s closest blood relative as her cousin, surely worthy of at least a Marquis of Grace title.”
The advisor was a secretary hired by Ma Ye, a provincial graduate who didn’t receive court salary but relied on Ma Ye’s support. Such employment relationships typically used the term “master.” “Eastern Master” was a more elegant way to address the employer, such as family tutors also calling their employers “Eastern Master.”
Ma Ye waved his hands repeatedly: “Don’t say that. Empress Ma acts low-key, seeking only stability, not family glory and wealth. The Empress wouldn’t agree to having a Marquis of Grace appear in court.”
The advisor said: “The harem must not interfere in politics. The master’s title would be granted by His Majesty, not the Empress. As long as the master eliminates both Eastern and Western Waters families, making all of Guizhou completely submit to the Great Ming, paying taxes and grain – this would be the great merit of expanding territory! By then, without the Empress saying anything, I have some old friends and academic connections in court who will jointly petition His Majesty to enfeoff the master as Marquis of Grace.”
Ma Ye was silent for a moment, then said: “Though the harem shouldn’t interfere in politics, His Majesty has always respected the Empress. Before any enfeoffment, he would definitely ask the Empress’s opinion first. If Empress Ma declines again, His Majesty won’t go against the Empress’s wishes and will probably just reward me with wealth and land as before.”
The advisor sighed: “Empress Ma is second only to one, above ten thousand others. Her reputation among the people is excellent, her standing in court is also good, and her position in the harem is rock-solid and unshakeable. Everyone says the Empress is virtuous and benevolent, but who can know the master’s grievances? The master has campaigned north and south, achieving considerable military merit. By rights, he should be enfeoffed as a marquis – at least as an earl, right? Even those Northern Yuan generals who surrendered to the Great Ming were enfeoffed as earls. Why has your enfeoffment been delayed? I feel indignant for the master!”
These words struck right at Ma Ye’s heart. This advisor had been with him less than a year but was capable – whether drafting official documents or devising strategies, everything suited his intentions perfectly. The idea to forcibly collect taxes and humiliate and whip Lady She Xiang had also come from this advisor.
After all, Ma Ye was a member of the Ma clan and couldn’t express dissatisfaction with Empress Ma before outsiders. He said: “The Empress is also thinking of the Ma clan members, worried that if external relatives become too powerful, His Majesty would become wary and bring calamity. Though our Ma family has never produced high officials or marquises, we’ve lived comfortably generation after generation, spending our days in stability, and no one dares bully Ma family members.”
The advisor said: “Master, currently the most powerful external relative in the harem is Consort Guo Ning. Both her brothers are marquises. Does His Majesty distrust the Guo family? No – he still trusts the Guo family and even lets Marquis Wuding Guo Ying command the Imperial Guard. This is just the harem. Master, look at the princes’ consorts – which doesn’t come from a prestigious family? Duke Weiguo Xu Da has three princesses as daughters-in-law in his family. Prince Zhou’s consort is the daughter of Duke Songguo Feng Sheng, Mu Chun’s second aunt. Prince Chu’s consort has two brothers who are also marquises. They’re all external relatives – why can Consort Guo Ning’s and the princesses’ families be enfeoffed as dukes and marquises with hereditary succession, while the family of a nation’s empress must keep their tails between their legs?”
Ma Ye fell silent again: Yes, why? Others can be enfeoffed as marquises – why can’t I? It’s not about fearing His Majesty’s wariness of powerful external relatives at all, but Empress Ma sacrificing the Ma clan members for her own reputation of virtue…
The seeds of resentment already had roots, now growing wildly. Ma Ye clenched his fists tightly, suppressing himself.
The advisor read expressions and knew the timing was right for a fatal blow: “Never mind others – just look at that yellow-mouthed child Mu Chun. He just arrived and dared shoot an arrow to hit the master’s whip, claiming the master disturbed his afternoon nap, nearly making the master lose face. Why? Because his father is Marquis Xiping, while you’re just a commander who isn’t even an earl.”
Ma Ye’s clenched fists smashed onto the table, shaking the teacup water into splashing. “How dare that brat deceive and humiliate me!”
The advisor provoked Ma Ye further: “When the world slights you, slanders you, deceives you, humiliates you, how should you respond? Ignore them. Endure one more year. When the master pacifies Guizhou, expands territory, gains great fame, and is enfeoffed as marquis and minister, then we’ll see about them.”
Now, under the advisor’s fanning flames, Ma Ye’s actions became increasingly radical, planning genocide to seek merit and rewards. Meanwhile, on the other side, the leaders of the Eastern and Western Waters families ruling across the river – Lady She Xiang and Liu Shuzhen – took Mu Chun to tour the Yi mountain settlements.
Today was the Yi people’s various mountain settlement tribes’ “market day,” when everyone brought surplus food or textiles to sell.
Though called buying and selling, half the people were actually engaging in the most primitive bartering – trading grain for textiles, textiles for mules and horses, etc. The other half used some kind of small white objects as currency for transactions.
Mu Chun was stunned. He rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things: “These are… shells?”
“Yes.” Lady She Xiang, sitting in the four-man bamboo chair, said: “Our place is remote with difficult mountain paths, far from the ocean. Shells are rare items, used instead of copper coins from the Central Plains. The land here is barren with limited harvests. Whether we can be self-sufficient depends on heaven’s favor – only with good weather can we get a full meal. We’re poor beyond what you Central Plains people can imagine. If you hadn’t seen it personally, would you believe we use shells as money?”
Liu Shuzhen handed Mu Chun a bag of shells, half-joking, half-bitter: “If you force us to pay taxes, we’d hand over piles of shells. His Majesty would probably think we’re deceiving the throne.”
Ahead was a group of vendors selling salt, iron pots, kitchen knives and other daily necessities. They were all dressed like Central Plains people, using Sichuan dialect, broken Yi language, and gestures and eye contact to trade with the Yi people. They accepted broken silver.
Lady She Xiang said: “If a family has any surplus, they exchange it for gold and silver to buy salt and iron goods at high prices. We have iron ore here but lack iron smelting skills. These prices are still fair – in deep mountains, prices could be a hundred times higher. Lord Mu, they already struggle to bear court military service and corvée labor. Making them pay taxes truly leaves no way to survive. With no way to live, they can only gamble everything on rebellion.”
Liu Shuzhen consoled: “She Xiang, it may not come to such a fight to the death. We must trust Lord Mu.”
Mu Chun swore to heaven: “Though I don’t understand why Ma Ye acts this way, I can guarantee His Majesty absolutely has no intention of exterminating the Yi people. Under heaven, all is the king’s land; within the four seas, all are the king’s subjects. The Yi people are also His Majesty’s subjects. Even Northern Yuan people, as long as they’re willing to abandon darkness for light, His Majesty treats equally.”
Lady She Xiang’s back ached severely: “But Ma Ye is Empress Ma’s nephew and also the Guizhou Guard Commander. He commands heavy troops and can destroy us anytime under pretexts. Lord Mu has only over a thousand trusted followers. How long can the bribery excuse hold off Ma Ye?”
Mu Chun said: “You know Zhuge Liang, right? I’ll try to learn from him and stage an empty fort strategy here – claiming to enjoy eating, drinking and playing in the Yi settlements, too happy to think of returning, not going back to the military camp. Then I’ll disguise myself and rush back to the capital to report this matter to His Majesty, having His Majesty issue an edict recalling Ma Ye for accountability.”
But Liu Shuzhen shook her head: “Lord Mu is our anchor. If you leave, Ma Ye will find ways to test the situation. If the truth leaks and he becomes furious, Ma Ye will still flatten the Yi settlements. By then, His Majesty’s edict would be beyond reach. Lord Mu, we need you here to deal with Ma Ye and buy time.”
“Lady Liu makes sense.” Mu Chun scratched his head, caught in a dilemma. “But someone must go to the capital to file an imperial complaint.”
Liu Shuzhen’s gaze became determined: “I’ll go. I’m a third-rank Pacification Commissioner appointed by the Great Ming court, with official seal, official robes, and enfeoffment documents. The eunuch who delivered His Majesty’s enfeoffment edict also knows me.”
Lady She Xiang shook her head: “No, Ma Ye originally planned to target our Western Waters Family first. If you leave, Ma Ye will surely turn his attention to your Eastern Waters Family. With great enemies at the gates and the Eastern Waters Family leaderless, wouldn’t that be even more dangerous?”
Liu Shuzhen said: “When the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold. Without completely bringing down Ma Ye, I can’t sleep or eat peacefully. This time I’ll take no one – a thousand-mile solo ride. With all the Pacification Commissioner’s Office officials, trusted followers, and guards present, Ma Ye won’t suspect anything.”
Indeed, apart from the severely injured Lady She Xiang, no one was more suitable than Liu Shuzhen herself to go to the capital and file an imperial complaint.
Liu Shuzhen meant what she said. She secretly took her official seal, official robes, enfeoffment documents, and Mu Chun’s letter with his private seal, riding solo for thousands of miles. Seven thousand li of roads, clouds and moon, traveling day and night toward the capital.
Liu Shuzhen disguised herself and rode without stopping, only resting briefly when changing to boats for water travel. In just half a month, she reached the capital.
Following Mu Chun’s guidance, Liu Shuzhen first went to the Embroidered Uniform Guard office, using her official seal and enfeoffment documents to request entry, seeking Mao Qiang, Emperor Hongwu’s confidant.
Then, with Mao Qiang’s introduction, she changed into official robes and had an audience with Emperor Hongwu.
Emperor Hongwu listened to Mao Qiang’s report with deeply furrowed brows: “If it were anyone else daring to commit such genocidal acts seeking merit through reckless advancement, I would simply issue an edict recalling them and let the Ministry of War handle them according to military law. But Ma Ye is the Empress’s own nephew…”
Emperor Hongwu thought it over and said to Mao Qiang: “Go summon Hu Shanwei. Tell her everything exactly as it happened, then have her bring Lady Liu to see the Empress.”
Emperor Hongwu gave Empress Ma face – how to handle Ma Ye still depended on the Empress’s wishes.
Hearing Mao Qiang speak of such major military and state affairs, Hu Shanwei was first shocked, then worried: “The silkworm room assassination attempt – the Empress’s wounds just healed, and she’s barely had a few peaceful days. Now nephew Ma Ye has caused such great trouble, forcing Lady Liu to ride thousands of miles to file an imperial complaint. The Empress will surely be both angry and disappointed, with depression affecting her health.”
Mao Qiang said: “His Majesty said Ma Ye is subject to the Empress’s disposal.”
Hu Shanwei sneered: “What kind of person is the Empress – who doesn’t know? If this matter is true, Ma Ye will surely die.”
The last two sentences Hu Shanwei dared not voice: His Majesty knows this full well but is merely using borrowed knives to kill, wanting Empress Ma to clean house herself.
Though Hu Shanwei worried about Empress Ma’s health, she also knew this matter concerned Guizhou’s peace and tens of thousands of lives, and couldn’t be delayed. She immediately returned to Kunning Palace to report.
Empress Ma had been in good spirits lately, reading by the window. Hearing this, the book in her hands fell to the floor as she murmured: “Why is this happening? Throughout all dynasties, I believe no empress has ever restrained external relatives as I have. How can problems still arise?”
Hu Shanwei picked up the book and served ginseng tea: “Your Majesty, please calm your anger. Guizhou Pacification Commissioner Liu Shuzhen is already waiting outside for an audience.”
Empress Ma didn’t drink the tea: “Military matters are urgent. Quickly help me change clothes and summon Lady Liu for audience.”
To meet court officials, Empress Ma had to remove her casual clothes and put on proper court dress to show respect for the official.
Liu Shuzhen possessed the wisdom to lead the Eastern Waters Family and the courage for a thousand-mile solo ride. Meeting Empress Ma, though inwardly anxious and worried the Empress might protect her own and shield Ma Ye, she maintained outward calm, using fluent official language to describe how Ma Ye used tax resistance as pretext to arrest Lady She Xiang, strip her clothes, whip her back, enrage the Yi tribes, causing both Eastern and Western Waters families to be furious, making Guizhou’s situation severe with conflict ready to explode at any moment. Currently, Mu Chun used bribery as excuse, daily visiting the Eastern and Western Waters families, actually delaying the worsening situation.
After speaking, Liu Shuzhen presented Mu Chun’s personal letter. Hu Shanwei received the letter and presented it to Empress Ma, finding it truly hot to handle.
Not because of Mu Chun’s letter – Hu Shanwei had recently begun studying and understanding politics under Empress Ma’s guidance to see clearly the relationships between harem and court, her vision no longer limited to the harem. She thus knew that southwestern native officials’ inheritance rules weren’t restricted by gender, and native officials governed local indigenous people without paying taxes, only performing normal military service and corvée labor.
If taxes were to be collected, it must be initiated by the Ministry of Revenue in charge of taxation, establishing regulations, then issued by imperial edict – not something a guard commander could decide.
Empress Ma read it, her hands trembling slightly. She closed the letter: “Hu Siyan, accompany Lady Liu to Guizhou Pacification Commissioner’s Office. Carry my edict summoning Lady She Xiang to the capital – I want to question her personally. On this trip to Guizhou, also bring gifts I’m bestowing to appease both Eastern and Western Waters families, and command Ma Ye to bind himself and come to the capital together with Lady She Xiang for confrontation, awaiting the Ministry of War to investigate and punish according to military law.”
Empress Ma had always advised Emperor Hongwu not to punish people based on personal emotions, leaving everything to appropriate departments to handle according to law for fairness and public acceptance.
She held herself to the same standard – despite her fury, she remained calm and self-controlled.
Hu Shanwei was deeply impressed.
Liu Shuzhen was overjoyed: Empress Ma was indeed as Mu Chun said – understanding reason, fair and just, absolutely not sheltering clan members.
On departure day, Empress Ma brought Hu Shanwei to Qianqing Palace’s imperial study, making a request to Emperor Hongwu: “Hu Siyan is going south to Guizhou. We don’t yet know the current situation there. If Ma Ye becomes desperate and doesn’t heed my edict, please grant her something to ensure orders are carried out.”
Emperor Hongwu asked: “What item?”
Empress Ma bowed once: “An imperial sword personally bestowed, with authority to execute first and report later.”