Chapter 83

Wanli leaned against the pillow, barely managing to sit up, a relieved smile still on his face.

"Good, Chen Ju, you said this Zhang..."

"Zhang Ke!"

"Yes, you said he’s a scholar, how could he lead troops into battle and kill nearly a hundred Tartars?"

Chen Ju smiled slightly and said, "Your Majesty, this old servant has heard a bit about it. I’ve been attending to Your Majesty these days and haven’t inquired much. I believe Supervisor Wang knows more about it."

With a light kick, the ball rolled to Wang Hailin’s feet. In fact, the moment Chen Ju mentioned Zhang Ke, his heart trembled, and his lips couldn’t help but twitch.

According to the Ming Dynasty’s rules, major achievements had to be verified by the imperial inspector within two months, minor ones within one month, then recorded and reported to the Ministry of War, and the rewards determined, which would take at least a few months.

However, the victory in Yizhou was personally orchestrated by Wang Huazhen and was delivered to the capital within half a month. As the chief eunuch and head of the Eastern Depot, Wang Hailin would be the first to know of any developments.

When Wang Hailin saw the good news, he was overjoyed. It was almost the end of the year, and he was worried about not having any good news to report to His Majesty. With this victory, the New Year would be much better.

Wang Hailin had already drafted the reward plan, but unfortunately, Wanli had been ill and unconscious for days, and he hadn’t had the chance...

It wasn’t until two days ago that his closest friend, the Liaodong supervisor He Bian, sent a trusted subordinate secretly to the capital, informing Wang Hailin of the entire case involving Zhang Feng.

Upon hearing this, the Grand Eunuch Wang Hailin turned pale with anger.

"Useless, all useless! Is He Bian’s head frozen? How can he not even handle a mere company commander? How can he be a supervisor eunuch?"

The little eunuch delivering the message trembled all over, desperately kowtowing, "Second Ancestor, Father didn’t expect that Supervisor Zhang would suddenly intervene..."

"Useless!" Wang Hailin said harshly, "How could he not expect it? When Hong Qingquan went to Liaodong, didn’t I tell him? His Majesty has suspicions about Liaodong and wants to investigate. How can there be any mistakes at this time? Letting a mere commoner overturn the case, I’ve never heard of such a ridiculous thing! It’s a disgrace to the inner court, incompetent, useless, and a waste!"

Wang Hailin cursed loudly, and the little eunuch trembled with fear, not daring to say a word.

After a long while, Wang Hailin finally managed to suppress his anger and said, "Isn’t that Zhu Jinhai crazy? Kill Xiao Wu Zi too, no witnesses, no way to catch the supervisor eunuch. If there’s an investigation, take a few officials and the Zhu family’s heads to atone, I think that’s enough! Learn from this, and be smarter next time!"

Wang Hailin’s plan was actually similar to what Zhang Ke had guessed. Cutting off the tail to save the life was the most normal choice.

The little eunuch kneeling on the ground hurriedly said, "Second Ancestor, Father said it was fine in the past, but this time, it can’t be investigated! Otherwise, otherwise..."

"Otherwise what? Can it implicate me?"

The little eunuch didn’t dare to speak, hurriedly pulling out a ledger from his chest and presenting it to Wang Hailin.

"Second Ancestor, please look at this!"

Wang Hailin took the ledger, frowning as he flipped through it. The more he read, the worse his expression became, turning from red to blue, and finally to a ghastly white!

Worthy of being the second-in-command of the inner court, his ability to change expressions rivaled that of a Sichuan opera performer!

It was no wonder Wang Hailin reacted this way. The ledger recorded the inner court’s procurement of supplies in Liaodong. Over the years, the palace’s demands were endless, and to satisfy its enormous appetite, Liaodong merchants and officials colluded, engaging in large-scale trade, selling salt, iron, porcelain, cloth, and cotton to the Jurchens and Mongols, with the inner court taking over 70% of the profits.

The huge profits from trade mostly ended up in the inner court and in Wang Hailin’s pockets!

In this case, demanding pearls and furs from the Zhu family was Wang Hailin’s idea. If investigated, he would also be in trouble.

"Hmph, is He Bian a pig’s brain? Telling them to send pearls and furs, they smuggle iron to the old slave! They’re digging their own graves, beyond saving! Are they all pig’s brains?"

The little eunuch’s head hit the ground with a thud as he cried, "Second Ancestor, the court forbids trade with the Jurchens, and the people have no choice but to resort to this!"

"Spit!" Wang Hailin spat at the little eunuch.

"Still have the nerve to plead for them? Can’t you see? Those merchants are ungrateful wolves, they’re threatening me!"

Wang Hailin had served Wanli for over ten years and understood his thoughts well. Wanli, who had been suppressed by Zhang Juzheng in his youth, had a strong competitive spirit. Winning the three major campaigns greatly satisfied his vanity.

Until the old slave rose to power in Liaodong, Wanli was already old and weak, but he still wanted one more glorious victory to cap his reign and leave a legacy of peace and prosperity for his descendants!

That’s why Wanli was eager to have Yang Hao lead the campaign.

Sarhu!

All hopes were dashed, and Wanli suffered an unprecedented blow, his health deteriorating rapidly.

Wanli had been emperor for nearly fifty years and was much wiser than his grandson Chongzhen. After failure, Wanli knew how to reflect and find problems. He vaguely sensed that there were serious issues in Liaodong, which is why he sent Hong Qingquan there.

Wang Hailin knew this well. He looked at the ledger again and asked calmly, "What does He Bian plan to do?"

"Father thinks that if they investigate, let them go ahead. As long as they find out that the Zhu family was acting on behalf of His Majesty, everything was ordered by the palace, they won’t dare to investigate further..."

"Rubbish!"

Wang Hailin suddenly kicked the little eunuch, sending him rolling.

"He Bian, that pig, if he implicates His Majesty, it will disgrace the emperor, forcing him to investigate thoroughly! When that happens, his head will roll, and I can’t protect him!"

Not just He Bian, if the investigation revealed the dark side of Liaodong, it would touch on Wanli’s greatest sore spot.

A dragon has its scales, and touching them means death!

Even if the dragon was old, sick, and confused, a single thought could still crush him to pieces!

Wang Hailin sat in a daze for a while before saying, "Go tell Supervisor He to quickly destroy all evidence. Don’t play any small tricks, implicating the palace is courting death! I’ll do my best to suppress the case and keep it from His Majesty."

Wang Hailin waved his hand impatiently, dismissing the little eunuch like a fly. Sitting in his chair, his triangular eyes shot out angry glares, and his fists clenched tightly.

"Old Ancestor, you’ve been low-key all these years, but you’ve held onto the lucrative position of the Jiangnan weaving bureau, leaving me to watch and not touch! And Liaodong, which I can touch, is a hot potato, what a well-calculated move!"

Each word seemed to be squeezed out from between Wang Hailin’s teeth, deep in thought.

"Someone, go to the cabinet, I want to see Grand Secretary Fang!"

...

Wang Hailin and Fang Congzhe had already agreed to suppress the Liaodong incident temporarily, not mentioning the case or Zhang Ke’s achievements. As long as the storm passed or Wanli’s condition worsened, these few ants would be nothing to Grand Eunuch Wang!

With just a false charge from the Eastern Depot, they could be easily eliminated, everything would go smoothly. Just as he was about to step out of the ghost gate, Chen Ju pulled him back to life!

That old, harmless-looking ancestor was ruthless, perfectly embodying the saying that a biting dog doesn’t show its teeth!

"Wang Hailin, hiding a defeat is one thing, but why is a victory hard to talk about? Is there something you can’t say?"

"Your servant dares not!" Wang Hailin could only grit his teeth and say, "Reporting to Your Majesty, this servant received a report a few days ago. Indeed, a group of civilians from the Chaohua tribe returned to Dacheng Castle, and the Tartars followed. The new village head, Zhang Ke, led the civilians to build a water fortress and fight the Tartars with ice, killing and wounding over a hundred, and cutting off nearly a hundred heads. Wang Huazhen has already reported to the court, and this servant thought to wait until the heads were delivered to the capital, verified, and then report the victory to Your Majesty!"

Wanli nodded, "Good, some people say Liaodong is harsh, but this Zhang Ke can cleverly use the weather, he’s a rare talent. Liaodong lacks soldiers and generals, and such talent should not be wasted. Have you thought about how to reward him?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Chen Ju suddenly knelt before the dragon bed, hurriedly saying, "Your Majesty, in this old servant’s view, don’t reward Zhang Ke. Just pardoning his brother’s crime would be enough!"

"Crime? What crime? What did his brother do?"

Wanli’s gaze quickly swept over Chen Ju and Wang Hailin. No one was smarter than an emperor, and these two eunuchs were acting too strangely! Wang Hailin, who usually vied for credit, was silent, and Chen Ju, who usually kept quiet, was being meddlesome!

What was this Zhang Ke involved in?

Finally, Wanli’s gaze fell on Grand Secretary Fang Congzhe.

"Grand Secretary Fang, tell Me what’s going on."

Fang Congzhe had already felt Wanli’s intense gaze and hurriedly prostrated himself.

"Your Majesty, this old minister has just received a report from the Liaodong governor Xiong Tingbi and the supervisor Hong Fuchao, mentioning a miscarriage of justice."

"Miscarriage of justice? Tell Me about it!"

"Yes! General He Shixian’s company commander, Zhang Feng, was ordered to patrol the border and caught a smuggling convoy of iron and medicine. Zhang Feng seized the convoy. Three days later, Governor Zhou Yongchun and others personally inspected it and found that the carts were full of grain. Merchant Zhu Jinhai hanged himself. Zhou Yongchun then charged Zhang Feng with extorting the merchants and causing a death!"

"Hmm!" Wanli asked, "Is this Zhang Feng Zhang Ke’s brother?"

"Yes, when Zhang Feng was sentenced to death, Zhang Ke and Supervisor Hong Fuchao arrived in Shenyang, citing the need to report the execution of a military officer to the court, and prevented the execution. In the following two days, Zhang Ke found several suspicious points in the case, and caught the merchant Zhu Jinhai, who had supposedly hanged himself, as well as the participating officers He Guangxian and Supervisor He Bian’s subordinate Xiao Wu Zi, who are now under arrest and being interrogated..."

As Fang Congzhe spoke, he glanced at Wanli, who was turning red with anger, his teeth grinding.

"Good, really good! Afraid I lost badly enough, sending iron to the Jurchens, really great!"

Wanli shouted, and his body fell straight back.

"Your Majesty! Quickly call the imperial physician!"

...

Thank you to vladi迷r, 小凸凸, and 150... for your generous donations! I am deeply grateful! Additionally, the book review area, QQ group number, has been pinned to the top, welcoming all book friends, available all day...

i1153

Previous page AD starts

Previous page AD ends