Chapter 54 A Special Decade Meeting

Page 1 of 3

Chapter 54: A Special Decadal Meeting

As the year-end approached, the number of prisoners in the Imperial Prison increased at a terrifying rate. The Ministries of War, Works, Justice, Rites, and Revenue, the Censorate, and even the Court of State Ceremonies, the Imperial Stud, and the Hanlin Academy were all represented. Who would have thought that even the usually lofty and immaculate Hanlin Academy would produce a thief?

At this rate, there would soon be hardly anyone left in the Ming Empire.

It would not be long before the Imperial Prison held a grand court assembly.

And on Little New Year, the prison received an especially important prisoner: Qian Yi, Minister of Personnel.

That was right. The Minister of Personnel had been locked up.

The moment Qian Yi entered, everyone was stunned.

They were utterly dumbfounded, their jaws practically lying on the floor.

Of all people, he should never have ended up here!

As Minister of Personnel, Qian Yi was the head of the civil officials and controlled appointments and selections throughout the realm. In terms of actual authority, even a man as honored as Yao Guangxiao or as powerful as Xu Jingchang could not compare with him.

Such was the terror of the Ministry of Personnel.

It had taken the Grand Secretariat more than a century to suppress the Ministry of Personnel completely. The Secretariat had only just begun to function, and there was still an enormous gulf between it and the Ministry of Personnel.

If a grandee of Qian Yi’s stature was thrown into the Imperial Prison, it was enough to bring the heavens down and split the earth apart.

Moreover, Qian Yi had always been cautious, strict with his subordinates, and incorruptible. Otherwise, Xu Zengshou would never have placed him first among his recommendations back then.

For such a man to be imprisoned, there were only two possibilities. Either he had been an unparalleled fraud and everyone had been deceived, or the authorities had truly gone mad with arrests, throwing everyone—good or bad—into prison.

If that was the case, the Ming Empire was in serious trouble.

Heads would roll, and rivers of blood would flow.

“Minister! Minister! You must say something!”

The court officials clung to the railings and stared at Qian Yi in disbelief.

“What exactly happened? Could even you no longer protect yourself?”

Qian Yi kept his face taut and said nothing. He merely walked in and began arranging his bed.

Naturally, the Minister of Personnel received certain privileges. He had a narrow cot three feet wide, with bedding that was neither new nor worn-out, but had been washed clean. The room even had fresh water and a latrine, both provided without omission.

There was even a small tea table. Compared with the others, he was living in luxury.

But however one looked at it, he was still in prison!

Gu Pu, Left Vice Minister of Works, had already been in the Imperial Prison for nearly ten days. He had been frantic with anxiety to begin with, and the sight of Qian Yi being locked up finally broke him.

He could not hold back his sobs. Tears streamed down his face.

“Heavens above! What is happening? Innocent officials are being implicated and imprisoned one after another. Even the Minister of Personnel cannot protect himself! Is there still any law in this court? Your Majesty, I have been wronged!”

At his cry, the others joined in.

“We have been wronged!”

Before long, the Imperial Prison sounded like the market outside the Confucian Temple, with everyone shouting over the others. Their cries rose and fell, shaking the very heavens.

Qian Yi had just finished making his bed and wanted to rest for a while. Seeing this scene, he was so furious that he nearly fainted.

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

I only want to rest for a little while. Why is that so difficult?

“Stop wailing as though someone has died. I brought this upon myself. I deserve it!”

Qian Yi’s words left everyone speechless.

What?

Minister Qian said that he had brought this upon himself?

Then what exactly had he done?

Why had he been arrested?

“Minister, please explain clearly. Otherwise, we simply cannot understand why even you have been brought here,” Gu Pu asked in a trembling voice.

Qian Yi had no choice but to let out a long succession of sighs. He had not wanted to speak of it, but after being harried by this crowd, he could hardly remain silent.

“I failed to calculate the Ministry of Personnel’s expenditures properly. Too much money was allocated.”

Too much money?

Everyone found that astonishing.

They had been imprisoned because their accounts did not balance and they had committed the crimes of tax evasion and embezzlement. How could the Minister of Personnel have been arrested for spending too much money?

Could it be that he had diverted it to his own family?

With no alternative, Qian Yi gave them a detailed account of what had happened.

The root of all the trouble still lay with Xu Jingchang!

Of all the matters in the Ming court, Xu Jingchang was responsible for eight out of ten.

When the commercial tax was first introduced, Xu Jingchang had proposed increasing the allowances of certain officials and had entrusted Qian Yi with deciding the details.

Qian Yi knew that the salaries set by the Hongwu Emperor were somewhat meager. After four years of the Jingnan Campaign, prices had soared and the country was no longer what it had been at its founding. To make matters worse, paper currency was depreciating at an alarming rate. Many officials were still paid in paper money, and some impoverished men of the upright scholarly class had to borrow privately simply to get through each day. Their circumstances were truly miserable.

As Minister of Personnel, it was his duty to increase their allowances somewhat and allow everyone to live with a measure of dignity.

One could not expect a horse to run without giving it grass.

After weighing the matter carefully, Qian Yi decided that the first allowance should be a general living subsidy, primarily intended to offset the high prices and housing costs in the capital. Every official serving in the capital needed this money to settle down and make a living.

Second, capital officials were generally jinshi graduates, and many came from the Hanlin Academy. Even men who had been respected in the provinces as successful examination candidates were treated as nobodies once they reached the capital.

As for officials who had entered through the Imperial College, they were relics of the Hongwu era and ought to be preserved with care. After all, once they were gone, there would be no more of them.

If one had not entered through the proper civil-service examinations yet still wished to mix in the capital’s official circles, one might as well go on dreaming!

Accordingly, it was also reasonable to grant an educational allowance based on each official’s qualifications. Hanlin officials would receive eighteen ounces of silver a year; second-rank graduates, fifteen; third-rank graduates, twelve; and successful provincial candidates and Imperial College students, five. It was, in its way, an expression of imperial grace.

Those two allowances would be universal. A third would be awarded as a prize for conscientious service.

As for travel allowances, servant allowances, and subsidies for brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, Qian Yi cut them all. The state had not found things easy, and everyone needed to practice a little economy.

Before the end of the year, Qian Yi had finally finished calculating the salaries and allowances of all the officials. He submitted the figures to Zhu Di—and was met with the emperor’s fury.

Zhu Di was so angry that his hair seemed to stand on end. Pointing at Qian Yi’s nose, he gave him a furious dressing-down.

“Qian Yi, I entrusted the Ministry of Personnel to you and placed my complete confidence in you. Is this how you serve me? Look at these figures yourself! The total cost of official salaries is fully twice what it was in previous years. Even after deducting the rewards granted since my accession, it is still forty percent higher!

“Forty percent more money! The number of officials has not increased, and they are not doing any more work, yet they are receiving so much more! I have exhausted myself imposing the commercial tax, while who knows how many people have cursed me in private as a foolish emperor. Then you submit a single lighthearted memorial and demand another forty percent! Tell me, what exactly are you plotting by taking so much money to buy the loyalty of the officials?”

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

Qian Yi was drenched in sweat from the scolding and could only kneel on the floor.

To be fair, Qian Yi showed real integrity. Xu Jingchang had stirred up the matter, but Qian Yi was the Minister of Personnel and the man who had actually drafted the proposal. He did not attempt to shift even the slightest share of the blame, nor did he mention Xu Jingchang at all.

Zhu Di was furious. He held the rake with which he gathered money, yet beside him stood a bottomless chest. With a Minister of Personnel like this, no amount of money he earned would ever be enough.

Thus, in a fit of rage, Zhu Di had Qian Yi thrown into prison on Little New Year.

There he would keep company with the other disgraced officials.

Qian Yi had not been arrested for tax evasion or embezzlement, but he was by far the most important figure swept up in this latest storm. By comparison, Wang Zhong, the Marquis of Jing’an, was practically insignificant.

With the Minister of Personnel himself behind bars, something had to be done. Otherwise, no one could justify the situation.

At Xu Jingchang’s Office of Transmission, the Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi, Duke Yao Guangxiao of Rong, Minister of Revenue Xia Yuanji, Minister of War Liu Jun, Minister of Works Luo Qian, and several other senior officials had gathered.

“Director Xu, at this point, there is no use saying more. Minister Qian has been thrown into prison. We are going together to see His Majesty and request a pardon for him. You will go whether you wish to or not,” Xia Yuanji said in a grave voice.

Xu Jingchang rolled his eyes.

“What? Are you planning to take me hostage?”

Xia Yuanji gave a cold laugh.

“You have guessed correctly. Things have come to this. Every one of the Six Ministries has had numerous people arrested, and you have even taken six of my offices of clerks away from me. Now Minister Qian has been arrested as well. We have no choice but to fight to the death, even if it means mutual destruction!”

“Give me a break! I took six offices from you, yet the Ministry of Revenue is still functioning perfectly well. That only proves you had too many redundant employees. Things are better this way!”

“You are talking nonsense!” Xia Yuanji cried. Having thrown caution to the wind, he said, “I proposed imposing the commercial tax in the first place to fill the state treasury. And what has happened? Everyone is living in fear, officials are being imprisoned one after another, and the entire country has been thrown into chaos. I have no choice but to confess my guilt to His Majesty, call for the commercial tax to be abolished, and restore everything to the way it was.”

Xu Jingchang replied bluntly, “If you do that, His Majesty will abolish you first and make you take responsibility for the failed policy!”

Xia Yuanji lifted his head high.

“Since ancient times, who has escaped death? Let my loyal heart shine through the annals of history!”

Xu Jingchang was truly speechless.

Could he please stop dragging the words of Minister Wen out and disgracing them?

At that moment, Yao Guangxiao suddenly coughed.

“Director Xu, whatever the original intention behind the tax may have been, the realm is now in turmoil. If you have a solution, you might as well present it. Otherwise, this old monk can only submit a memorial to His Majesty and request that these harmful policies be abolished.”

Xu Jingchang fell silent for a moment and looked around at the assembled officials. In the end, he could only let out a long sigh.

“If you gentlemen want to solve the problem, come with me to the Imperial Prison.”

Everyone stared blankly for a long while.

Yao Guangxiao took the lead.

“Very well. This old monk will be the first.”

With him at the front, the officials followed Xu Jingchang into the prison.

This time, everyone was present: the ministers of the Six Ministries, the senior officials of the Nine卿, and the clerks, assistant clerks, and section chiefs beneath them.

Xu Jingchang surveyed the crowd and suddenly said, “This may as well count as a decadal meeting of the Office of Transmission. Minister Qian should have presided, but I shall take his place. Minister Qian, I assume you have no objection?”

Qian Yi did not even look at him. He simply faced the wall.

Xu Jingchang smiled helplessly.

“Gentlemen, we must reorganize the entire fiscal and taxation system. The Ministry of Works must hand over its levies on bamboo and timber so they can be collected alongside the commercial tax. The frontier markets must also be brought under the Maritime Trade Office and all of it classified as customs duties.

“As for the Ministry of Revenue, apart from the land tax and the poll tax, all the miscellaneous taxes must be handed over as well. In short, we must make our taxation clear and orderly. We cannot allow revenue to leak everywhere and leave holes throughout the system. Otherwise, we will never be able to answer to His Majesty.”

The officials glanced at the people in the prison, then looked at one another.

Luo Qian, Minister of Works, spoke first.

“I will accept my bad luck, but let me make one thing clear: from now on, the court must provide me with an adequate budget for major construction projects. If an important undertaking is delayed, I will not take responsibility for it.”

The End