Chapter 52: The Petition Drum

At the Petition Drum Office.

Yang Xin, under the gaze of many, struck the Petition Drum before him. The drumbeat, symbolizing a commoner’s right to appeal to the highest ruler, echoed through the spacious square before the Gate of Heavenly Succession…

“Alright, a few strikes are enough!” Tianqi said helplessly.

“Can I strike it a few more times?” Yang Xin said.

The Assistant Commissioner on duty beside the drum looked embarrassed.

“Can he strike it a few more times?” Tianqi asked.

“Imperial Eldest Grandson, there is no rule saying exactly how many strikes are allowed. It’s just that the petition has been submitted, so technically, there’s no need to strike it anymore,” the duty Assistant Commissioner said.

It was his first time seeing someone so addicted to striking the Petition Drum.

“Then let him strike it a few more times! You can’t even behave while striking a drum. You made ‘The General’s Order’ come from the Petition Drum. Is there anything you can’t do? With such skill, why not learn to write your characters properly? Assistant Commissioner Chen, come with me into the palace to submit this petition. As for the rest of you, keep an eye on him. If anything happens, I will hold you responsible. Assistant Commissioner Xu, I leave this place to you. If anyone dares to arrest him again, beat them out!” Tianqi said to Xu Xianchun.

The latter was actually summoned by Nine Thousand Years Old. The Xu Mansion steward had met Nine Thousand Years Old on the way. Nine Thousand Years Old, on his way to the palace, encountered Xu Xianchun. Fearing there wasn’t enough time to arrive promptly, he asked Xu Xianchun to go and stall. Old Xu knew Yang Xin had connections with Tianqi. Given his age, it was necessary to show his worth to Tianqi, so he readily agreed and ran off to perform his act of righteous speech.

Clearly, he succeeded. He made himself a person trusted by Tianqi.

As for protecting Yang Xin, that was hardly worth mentioning. This Petition Drum Office was guarded by the Imperial Guard. It was originally managed by Censorate Officials, but later, people often committed suicide here after striking the drum to prove the truth of their accusations. So, they had to dispatch a large number of Imperial Guard to watch the place.

The person in charge was also changed to an Assistant Commissioner from the Six Offices of Scrutiny.

This Petition Drum Office, provided for commoners specifically for direct appeals to the Emperor, was not like the one in the Great Qing where anyone daring to strike it would first receive thirty strokes of the rod.

In the Great Ming, it was actually struck frequently.

And the reasons were varied. Some came to appeal wrongful convictions, some applied for honors for chastity and martyrdom, some requested to serve their husband’s sentence, and during the Jiajing era, there were even cases where family members of a condemned prisoner came to strike the drum on the execution day. The most outrageous was during the Hongzhi era. Several hundred volunteers, who had already castrated themselves but had no way to enter the palace, actually came to strike the drum, protesting the Emperor not giving them a chance to serve in the palace, strongly demanding to enter and become eunuchs.

Hongzhi was so angry he had the Imperial Guard arrest them all and throw them into prison.

“Brother Yang, are you really planning to go to Liaodong?” After Tianqi left, Xu Xianchun pulled over a chair and sat down beside Yang Xin. Amidst the drumbeats of ‘The General’s Order,’ he looked at Yang Xin and said.

Yang Xin finally stopped.

Yang Xin placed the drumstick on the drum and let out a long sigh.

“Feels good!” he said.

“What else can I do? Even His Majesty the Emperor’s verbal decree was useless. Even the Imperial Eldest Grandson personally stepping forward was useless. Is there any other way to save my life? Rather than let those civil officials send me to the execution ground for beheading, I might as well go to Liaodong and fight to my heart’s content. Even if I die on the battlefield, I won’t suffer this indignity!” Yang Xin continued.

“You’re a true man!” Xu Xianchun said, raising his thumb in praise.

“However, I do have a plan to teach you. With your skills, you are suited for covert assassination. Later, I’ll write a letter for you to take to Commander-in-Chief Li. Have him find a few Household Servants familiar with the Jiannu situation to guide you into the Jiannu nest. Whoever it is, as long as you assassinate someone of some status, then Commander-in-Chief Li can record a merit for you. With merit, you can absolve your crime. Even killing several ordinary Jiannu will do. They are easy to recognize anyway. Five or six heads are enough.

Old or young, any will do.

Pick off those who are alone. With your ability, killing them is easy. Just have Jiannu heads. That way, Commander-in-Chief Li will also look good. As for the civil officials, Xiong Tingbi is the Liaodong Provincial Governor. Cao Wenzhao is his personal guard. They won’t make things difficult for you in such matters. What does the court know? It’s just whatever is reported from the front line. Moreover, no matter what status you kill, the court can use it for propaganda in the Capital Gazette. The official army often does this sort of thing,” he added.

“Thank you, Assistant Commissioner Xu. If I, Yang, can return alive from Liaodong, I will definitely repay this kindness in the future,” Yang Xin said.

This was also an option.

He did not plan to develop within the Ming Army. He just wanted to gain some military achievements to shut the civil officials’ mouths.

In fact, there was no way to advance within the Ming Army.

The Great Ming was not short of capable fighters at this time. Cao Wenzhao and his nephew, Zhou Yuji, Man Gui, Zhao Shuaijiao—which of them couldn’t fight? Could the Qi Family Army at the Hun River battle not fight, or could the White Pole Soldiers not fight? The Great Ming was not lacking in capable fighters at all. But these people were useless. The Qi Family Army at the Hun River battle achieved a one-to-one exchange ratio with the Jiannu, and this was the Qi Family Army that had greatly declined decades after Qi Jiguang’s death. If the entire Ming Army were of this standard, the Jiannu could only kneel and sing surrender. The Great Ming didn’t need any Spanish Tercio, Maurice Square Formation, or Gustavus Adolphus. They just needed to restore exactly what Qi Jiguang had decades ago, adding at most the Red Barbarian Cannon.

Then they could sweep through the Jiannu.

Militarily, it could be said the Great Ming had no problems. From weapons and equipment to tactical systems, from the level of generals to army composition, everything was fine. At this time, the Ming Army was also a mercenary force. The 590,000 field armies of the Nine Garrisons were all mercenaries.

Eighteen taels of Silver annual salary.

And this was only the basic military pay. It was higher when stationed or fighting outside. During the Joseon period, the highest average expenditure per person reached thirty taels. At this time, the annual military pay for the Nine Garrisons combined reached over ten million taels. Even during the Chongzhen era, military pay of over three taels per month was already common. The highest record was during Sun Chengzong’s time: increasing the army by twenty thousand cost nearly two million a year, averaging nearly one hundred taels per person.

But all this was ultimately useless.

Because it was illusory. As Chen Yujie said, this money was just thrown into the money box. In reality, it was all divided up from top to bottom, from civil to military, from eunuchs to merchants. How much actually reached the soldiers depended entirely on conscience. The Great Ming was not short of elite soldiers and fierce generals, nor of equipment and tactics. What it lacked was a government that could make these effective, a government that could make this over ten million taels of military pay and 590,000 mercenaries truly effective. Relying on the current civil officials, who would unanimously gang up just because a legitimate first-rank military officer didn’t pay a visit to a legitimate third-rank civil official, this Great Ming was bound to collapse sooner or later.

Therefore, internal reform within the court was most crucial.

And the only hope for internal reform lay with the combination of Tianqi and Nine Thousand Years Old. So, Yang Xin’s real direction of development was still to join the glorious Eunuch Faction. Although the Eunuch Faction was not good either, the difference between the Eunuch Faction and the Donglin Faction was merely the difference in interest groups. The former were land gentry, the latter were industrial and commercial gentry, but in essence, both were man-eating wolves. And the core of their struggle was merely over whom to tax. The national finances were insufficient; the old tax system was not enough. They had to find new sources of income…

So, whose pockets should they reach into?

The Eunuch Faction wanted to reach into the industrial and commercial gentry, continuing to maintain the privileges of the land gentry.

The Donglin Faction said their tax evasion, hidden fields, false registration, and tax shifting were the key reasons for the financial shortfall. Why should they make up the gap and be the fools? They also wanted not to pay taxes.

They were all birds of a feather.

However, the core of the former was in the north.

And this empire would face a great drought sweeping almost the entire country.

The latter’s core area of control was in the south, in this empire’s richest provinces, which also had the strongest disaster resilience. Regardless of for whom, the Eunuch Faction’s goal ultimately happened to be the most reasonable approach for the empire facing this natural disaster. Targeting the richest provinces, maintaining or even providing relief to the taxes of the poorest provinces, shifting the nation’s increased burden onto those who were continuously absorbing Silver from overseas, rather than squeezing the bones and marrow of those already in famine. Saying the Eunuch Faction saved the country is indeed an exaggeration. The Eunuch Faction and the Donglin Faction were birds of a feather. But their principles were indeed beneficial to the country.

Yang Xin silently looked at the opposite Gate of Heavenly Succession. Then a familiar face appeared in his view…

“They really don’t give the Imperial Eldest Grandson any face!” he exclaimed.

It was Zuo Guangdou.

Not just Zuo Guangdou, but over a dozen officials in blue robes, including the still miserable Censor Liu.

That guy was looking over here. Yang Xin happily raised his hand in greeting. Immediately, Zuo Guangdou also turned his head, looking at him as if at a clown, but soon turned back. The group directly entered the Gate of Heavenly Succession.

“They’re all Censors from the Censorate. They must be going to see the Emperor!” Xu Xianchun said.

“Only now do I realize that what they say about the Emperor’s words being like golden edicts, weighty and unchangeable, is actually false. At least, the emperors of our Great Ming Dynasty still fall short of those eight words!” Yang Xin lamented.

“His Majesty the Emperor is indeed too lenient with the remonstrance officials!” Xu Xianchun said.

But just then, Xiong Tingbi’s figure appeared. Cao Wenzhao, following beside him, also turned to look over here. Seeing Yang Xin, he immediately said something to Xiong Tingbi, who then turned to look at Yang Xin.

Then they stopped.

Immediately, Xiong Tingbi urged his horse over.

Xu Xianchun hurried forward to bow in greeting. Xiong Tingbi returned the salute from his horse.

Xiong Tingbi was now an official in red robes, or rather crimson. Great Ming official robe colors were crimson, blue, and green. First to fourth rank were all crimson. His appointments as Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief of the Ministry of War and grand coordinator of Liaodong were formally issued only yesterday. Previously, he was a Left Assistant Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, a legitimate fifth rank. But now he was a legitimate third rank. Even disregarding the distinction between civil and military officials, purely by rank, he already surpassed Xu Xianchun and was on the same level as Wang Keshou, the still-unretired Governor-General of Ji-Liao.

“Were you the one who proposed the ‘Five Strategies to Pacify Liaodong’?” he asked, looking at Yang Xin.

Clearly, he hadn’t recognized this fellow yet.

“Yes,” Yang Xin said.

“And how did you come to know these things?” Xiong Tingbi said.

“If I said a deity taught me, would you believe it?” Yang Xin said.

Xiong Tingbi nodded, then stared at Yang Xin’s face.

A faint sense of foreboding suddenly arose in Yang Xin.

Xiong Tingbi suddenly smiled.

“If you knew today would come, why did you do what you did back then?” he said, smiling very happily.

Having said that, he turned around and left, leaving behind a horrified Yang Xin as he rode off.