Chapter 36: The Birth of a Great Ming Internet Sensation

“Why not deliver it yourself?” Chen Yujie asked, confused.

“I prepared this for Brother Cao originally, as compensation for getting him involved innocently. But he’s just an ordinary soldier; he definitely wouldn’t know these things. You’re different. You’re Vice Minister Xu’s nephew; your family has deep knowledge. Besides, you’re from the Songjiang family line; you’re more familiar with sea transport. And your involvement in the Tianjin rice planting project means you understand this best of all. It’s only logical that you present these Five Strategies to Pacify Liao. Consider this paying you back for spending so much silver today! As for Brother Cao, he’ll be the one to introduce you to Xiong Tingbi!” Yang Xin explained.

“You’re not afraid Xiong Tingbi might recognize you, are you?” Chen Yujie remarked.

“Brother Chen, that’s not very kind. What about my pride?” Yang Xin replied, sounding displeased.

“Hah! You are afraid of being recognized! But it’s wise to be cautious,” Chen Yujie said with a laugh. “You’re already saddled with charges. If they discover even more serious ones piled on top, there’d truly be no clearing your name. Injuring a few soldiers? No big deal. But kidnapping a high-ranking court official? That’s a whole other matter!”

“Brother Yang, what else have you done?” Cao Wenzhao asked, bewildered.

“I once held a sword to the neck of your Prefect Xiong.” Yang Xin admitted candidly.

“Huh?!” Cao Wenzhao’s jaw dropped.

At that very moment, their door was violently shoved open. Chen Yujie and Cao Wenzhao jumped wildly, whipping their heads around…

“Oh, you’re here,” Yang Xin said, acting as if nothing had happened.

Fang Tinglan stood in the doorway, her face dark, silently staring at him. Her eyes brimmed with disappointment. She walked gracefully to their table. All three men watched her carefully. The room fell utterly silent. In this heavy, frozen air, she gave a cold snort. Then, she pulled a rolled-up paper from her sleeve and flung it unceremoniously onto the table right in front of Yang Xin. Without saying another word, she turned and gracefully walked back out the door. Just as suddenly as she had arrived, she was gone. She hadn’t uttered an extra syllable the entire time.

Watching her retreating figure, the three men simultaneously released long breaths. Chen Yujie immediately wiped sweat from his forehead…

“I can’t shake the feeling things aren’t that simple between you and Miss Fang,” he said. “Did you two know each other before?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Ours is a purely innocent relationship between a man and a woman!” Yang Xin declared flatly.

He had heard Fang Tinglan’s footsteps long ago.

He had said it deliberately.

As he spoke, he unrolled the paper Fang Tinglan had thrown at him. His expression instantly became exaggeratedly wide-eyed, as if his eyes were trying to shoot out of his head and land on the page.

“Brother Chen, what the heck is this supposed to be?” he asked, horrified.

“This is it? Congratulations, Brother Yang! Your name is probably about to sweep the empire!” Chen Yujie exclaimed, a gleefully malicious smile spreading across his face as he scanned the text before him. “Those guys work fast! It’s only the second day, yet anonymous posters are already appearing! ‘It has been uncovered that there is one Yang Xin, a man originally without profession or fixed abode, his origins unknown. After committing murder and violence in Tianjin, he fled to the capital. There he spread lies to deceive everyone, attached himself to the powerful through immoral behavior, gaining access to the inner chambers of noble houses… Using the influence of eunuchs, he tyrannized the common people and acted lawlessly without restraint…'”

It was indeed a sheet of paper covered in writing.

It looked like it had been pasted onto a wall and forcibly peeled off; it was torn in several places. As for the content…

Well, it was basically a big-character poster!

Or, using the era’s term, an “anonymous accusation poster”.

It was fresh off the presses too. Judging by the paper and the ink, it couldn’t have been written more than four hours ago – right after Yang Xin had beaten up Deputy Commander Xu. The poster was filled with deliberately vague phrasings designed to provoke wild imaginations. It spun a tale of an escaped murderer who had snuck into the capital, then used some unknown methods to seduce women belonging to several powerful and prestigious families, gaining entry to their private inner chambers.

Inner chambers!

A man moving freely within the private inner chambers of noble houses!

And this escaped murderer had also managed, through sheer coincidence, to hook himself up with a powerful eunuch close to “someone” within the palace. This connection had led to an introduction to said “someone”, and through bootlicking, he had gained favor. Whether it was due to his skill at flattery or “other talents” was left to the reader’s imagination. Anyway, basking in this favor – he’d even been given gifts – he instantly became cocky. Backed by this powerful support, the escaped murderer immediately reverted to his savage nature. He committed every imaginable crime in the capital: harassing women, dining without paying, forcibly taking servant girls… you name it, he did it. His arrogance finally swelled to the point where he publicly beat court officials in broad daylight, brazenly creating one bloodbath after another. Dozens of injured bailiffs still lay at death’s door with nowhere to appeal for justice! Yet, sheltered by a powerful protector, this murderer continued to roam free.

Where was heavenly justice?

Where was the rule of law in Great Ming?

Reading it, Yang Xin himself even felt a surge of righteous indignation – this villain had to die, or there was truly no justice in heaven!

“Is this sort of thing… common?” he asked curiously.

“Common? It’s practically routine! You don’t understand these censors’ methods,” Chen Yujie replied. “They report based on hearsay. They don’t have any obligation to distinguish truth from lies. As long as there are rumors floating about, they can memorialize the throne. Even if it’s false? They aren’t punished. It’s beautifully simple. When they decide to attack someone, they just hire writers to compose anonymous posters. They paste them up in public places, or arrange for people to spread deliberately fabricated rumors. Once rumors circulate widely enough among the common folk? Boom. They can memorialize based on what they’ve ‘heard’. They bear no responsibility. ‘Reporting hearsay’ – if they heard someone say it, it’s their duty to report it. Who said it? Is it true? Not their problem. Not their responsibility. And it’s not just about manufacturing local opinion. Because when a censor memorializes the throne based on hearsay, the emperor still has to read it. The outcome of the emperor’s decision, after being reviewed by the Six Offices of Scrutiny, goes to the Office of Transmission. The Office of Transmission distributes it to all government offices and sends out the Capital Gazette to officials nationwide. So, very quickly, officials in every provincial and prefectural government headquarters know what the censors reported and how the emperor responded. At the same time, local gentry interested in politics will send someone to copy the reports via personal connections at these offices. So, the gentry nationwide also find out. They then disseminate it again to the populace. In the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region, it’s not just hand-copied anymore; some people even specialize in this business. They use connections at the offices to copy the latest Capital Gazette releases from the Office of Transmission, print them, and sell them to gentry across the country. That’s how a topic, quite possibly invented entirely by the censors themselves, becomes a nationwide scandal overnight. Then, it’s not just the original censor piling on. Grand Coordinators, Circuit Inspectors, Censors throughout the provinces – all of them might memorialize based on this ‘widespread rumor’. Then? The lie becomes established fact. This tactic is ancient. This is why censors sometimes deliberately seek a Court Beating. Because the moment they get punished at court, their story is guaranteed nationwide distribution via the Gazette. Every official and every gentry member learns their name. Next time they submit a memorial, everyone pays attention instantly when they see the name. Whatever they accuse will be seen by the gentry as righteous. Even if it’s pure invention again.” Chen Yujie explained.

It was like fighting for the headlines! This was creating a Great Ming ‘Internet Sensation’! Just using ancient tactics!

“Doesn’t anyone review any of this?” Yang Xin asked.

“The Six Offices of Scrutiny. The Six Offices are supposed to review which memorial contents get forwarded for distribution. But in your case, Brother Yang, the Six Offices are definitely hand-in-glove with the censors. Now that this poster is out… Expect memorials from censors tomorrow morning. No doubt the emperor will ignore it. He almost certainly will. Our current emperor ignores trivial little affairs like this, or even memorials from Grand Secretary Fang. But that doesn’t stop the rumor mill. Because censors memorialize using formal tiben documents. These go first to the Office of Transmission. Tiben documents are submitted in duplicate: one copy goes to the Directorate of Ceremonial via the Office of Transmission; another copy goes to the Six Offices themselves. Ostensibly, a tiben deliberately kept by the emperor – liuzhong – doesn’t get reviewed by the Six Offices and hence doesn’t get published in the Gazette. But during this transmission process? Intentional leaks happen. Honestly, the Office of Transmission has just become the Office of Leaks these days! The contents of a tiben kept by the emperor are often already common knowledge around the capital before the emperor even sees it. There’s nothing His Majesty can do. There are publishing houses dedicated entirely to this leak business. So, Brother Yang, by tomorrow, your name will be plastered all over the Capital City. Every official, every gentry member will have heard of you. Within five days? Your name will spread across Shuntian Prefecture, then all Northern Zhili, then nationwide! You’re going to be famous! And along the way? People will embellish the story. Everyone in the empire will know Daming’s capital has birthed its very own Lao Ai.” Chen Yujie finished.

“Lao Ai?!” Yang Xin exclaimed, stunned.

“Look at these two words right here: ‘immoral behavior’. ‘Entered and exited noble houses with immoral behavior’. See why Miss Fang looked that way? This is their favorite tactic, Brother Yang. The easiest way to grab attention. And it won’t just be Miss Fang caught up in their gossip. Wang Wanqing will be dragged in too. You traveled together in a carriage, remember? Grand Secretary Fang is actively despised by the censors. After serving all these years as Chief Grand Secretary – even as the sole Grand Secretary for two years – countless people want him gone. Vice Minister Wang probably isn’t worried. At worst, he’ll have to call off plans to find a husband for Wang Wanqing in the capital right before officially retiring; once he returns to Huguang, it’ll fade. But Miss Fang? You’ve got her stuck in the mud because of this. Though these rumors likely won’t deal her real harm, she’s certainly going to suffer some reputational damage.” Chen Yujie elaborated.

“Don’t these people fear angering Grand Secretary Fang?” Yang Xin asked.

“Anger? Of course they don’t fear it!” Chen Yujie scoffed. “Censors in Great Ming aren’t afraid of the Chief Grand Secretary. They aren’t even afraid of the emperor himself! Last year, when that courtesan’s death was pinned on Fang Shihong, they launched a fierce attack against Grand Secretary Fang already. It only ended when His Majesty personally issued an edict. Back then, the City Patrol Censors led the charge. Whether Fang Shihong actually killed the courtesan is one thing, but those censors leveled accusations first. Next, public rumours spread that he killed her, and finally, censors flocked to besiege Grand Secretary Fang. It’s practically the same playbook they’re using against you now. Oh, right! That time? The lead censor pushing the attack was none other than Xue Zhen – the current Western Censorate Inspector! The very man whose close associate, Deputy Commander Xu, you just beat up! So, looking back, that Deputy Commander Xu showing up today morning might actually have been sent there purposefully to provoke a reaction…”

Chen Yujie trailed off thoughtfully.

“…But this time,” Yang Xin interjected, his voice dropping low and icy, “they’ve managed to infuriate me.”