Chapter 717: Seeking Fame and Profit—The Way of Being an Official

Accustomed to having everyone at his beck and call, to exquisite food and meticulous service, Qin Huaijin, who had hidden outside for four or five days, returned to his grand Maritime Administration residence. There, he saw his young and beautiful concubines, used the exquisitely chosen luxurious utensils, and wore fine silk garments instead of plain clothes. Yet his heart was filled with fear and anger.

The regional officials claimed that he needed to rest after falling into the water, and with the assassination attempt earlier, the Guangdong governor unusually dispatched two hundred soldiers to surround his residence like an iron cage. Even servants were prohibited from going in or out for purchases; all food and necessities were delivered by special people. The eunuch in charge of the Maritime Administration was essentially a prisoner. Moreover, the servants serving him had been replaced with strangers, said to be sent by the inspector Yu Liang and the military commander Li Long. Due to his “illness,” not only could his concubines not enter freely, but he himself couldn’t even leave his room.

Lying motionless on the bamboo bed, he stared at the young servant dozing on a small stool by the door before finally making up his mind. After days of observation, he had figured out the identities of the four people who frequently entered his house. Suddenly, he banged hard on the bed and called out, “Someone!”

The young servant, who had been sleeping soundly, jumped up immediately, rubbed his eyes, and rushed to the bamboo bed, asking with a smile, “What orders does Lord Qin have?”

“Send a message for me.”

Hearing this, the servant looked troubled and quickly said with a smile, “My lord, it’s not that I refuse to obey. It’s just that Commander Li, Governor Zhang, and Inspector Yu have all given orders stating that you need to rest, that external matters must not disturb you, and that you shouldn’t worry about other things. Right now, the three government offices are thoroughly investigating the incident of you falling into the water and the assassination attempt. You needn’t worry…”

The servant spoke smoothly, but Qin Huaijin knew full well the tricks involved. His people were already in others’ hands, and the treasures he had taken out must have been lost. With both his people and wealth gone, and himself already on the verge of death, he wouldn’t be satisfied even if he went to the netherworld without a few people to take the blame. So, as the servant bowed and pleaded earnestly, he said with a fake smile, “If I remember correctly, you’re one of Inspector Yu’s men?”

“Yes…”

“Take a message to Lord Yu and say our family has something to say to him. He used to be the Deputy Minister of Equine Affairs; if he still wants to return to the court and advance further, he should come here to meet us, as we have a great contribution to offer him. He’s still young, and if he does well as the inspector, there’s a chance he could become the Minister of Punishments or the Deputy Censor-in-Chief upon returning to the court.”
After the boy rushed off in a hurry, Qin Huaijin finally chuckled. He sat quietly on the couch for a quarter of an hour before suddenly sweeping the plum blossom table beside him, knocking all the teapots, cups, and other items to the ground. The clattering noise immediately alerted those outside. Soon, a burly man rushed in. But unlike the previous boy, he wasn’t as agile and frowned at the mess: “Eunuch Qin, what do you mean by this?”
“Are you one of Marshal Li’s men?”
Faced with such a rough man, Qin Huaijin was naturally more direct. He repeated the plan and set another time, then watched as the burly man left, still full of suspicion. Only then did he bring his hands together, using his right thumb to pinch hard into the palm of his left hand.
Li Long and Yu Liang had both sent people to monitor him—so why wasn’t there anyone from Zhang Yue? Did that kid not want to gain anything from him?
Zhang Yue, as the Left Governor, was indeed a new official, and the heads of the military and judicial departments had only arrived a year earlier than him. It was inevitable they would be constrained at first, and it was only now that they were gradually gaining footing. They agreed to get involved this time because of fame and profit. At that moment, the heads of these three departments gathered in the signing room of the Guangzhou government office, listening to the clerks counting loudly with abacuses. The three officials of similar ranks had varying expressions, while Li Wenchang, the head of the Maritime Trade Bureau, appeared indifferent, as if nothing concerned him. The original master of the place, the prefect, was merely a guest, not daring to utter a word.

Li Long, the military commander, had been transferred from the frigid region of Xining to Guangdong and was not accustomed to the heat there—more importantly, Guangdong was not a border area with a small garrison, making it much harder to extract benefits compared to Xining. Thus, he constantly sought opportunities in places where more rewards could be obtained. Yu Liang believed he had been demoted to Guangdong and longed to return to the capital for promotion. Although his family was wealthy, it was managed by several branches, and they refused to spend money to help him in the capital. As for Zhang Yue… he was already extremely rich, but even he was dazzled by the four large chests of gold and two large chests of jewels.

It took two full days to conduct this assessment. To accurately estimate the value of the jewels, the government office even invited three experienced clerks from Guangzhou’s Kaiyuan Pawnshop. Finally, the old clerk, who had been writing furiously, rubbed his wrist, stood up, held up the still-damp list, walked around the table quickly, and bowed deeply, saying, “My lords, we have completed the calculation. Everything has been recorded in a list…”

Li Long, a true warrior, interrupted impatiently, “Stop beating around the bush. Just give me the numbers!”

The old clerk glanced at Zhang Yue and Yu Liang. Seeing that neither of them spoke, he steadied himself and declared loudly, “In total, there is eight thousand taels of gold. The various jewels and ornaments are also worth roughly the same amount in gold. Additionally, the ivory, rhino horns, peacock feathers, and other items found in the locked cottages by the dock can only be estimated—roughly another thousand taels of gold.”

Hearing this, Zhang Yue frowned. The clerks did not use coins or banknotes to calculate the value of these items because the amounts were so large that it was difficult to convert them at once. Gold and silver were still the standard currency among the people, with the official exchange rate being one tael of gold for four taels of silver, and one tael of silver for one guan of coins or eighty guan of banknotes. However, this official rate meant nothing in private gold and silver shops or on the black market. The current market rate was one tael of silver for 1,500 copper coins or 200 guan of banknotes, while one tael of gold could exchange for at least ten taels of silver. During the Yongle era, due to frequent wars, the rate even reached fifteen taels per tael of gold.

“Tsk tsk, truly very wealthy!” Li Long said, though inwardly he felt both envy and anger. After eight years in Xining, he had managed to amass only about 10,000 taels of silver after taking advantage of various loopholes and embezzling funds from military equipment and uniforms. Yet, a dead eunuch who had worked at the Maritime Administration for a few years had earned more than he had through hard work on the battlefield. What was the value of his own military achievements then?

Yu Liang came from a family of scholars and officials. Though this amount also stunned him, what concerned him more was another matter, so he immediately asked, “Since everything has been verified, the three of us should submit a joint petition. Previously, we submitted petitions together; I wonder how we should proceed this time? Logically, the Censorate is responsible for investigating and impeaching…” He stopped speaking there, and Zhang Yue took over, saying, “Due to the case involving the governor of Suzhou earlier, the emperor issued an order forbidding imperial censors from interfering in government affairs without authorization. But since this matter is serious, I urge Lord Yu to meet with the current imperial censor and discuss it with him. We still need to involve that censor when submitting our joint petition. Since Marshal Li is in charge of the military command and personally led his troops to crack such a conspiracy, followed by Marshal Li, with Lord Yu in the middle, I, as a newcomer, naturally should take the last place.” Hearing Zhang Yue’s plan, Li Long and Yu Liang then remembered that there was also an imperial censor in Guangdong. Although the Censorate was not as powerful as before, Gu Zuo was said to be difficult to deal with. After carefully considering Zhang Yue’s words, both found them flawless. Thus, Li Long readily agreed, while Yu Liang habitually expressed modesty before leaving. Before departing, both couldn’t help but glance at the sealed gold and jewels before exiting one after the other. The military command, the provincial judicial office, and the Guangzhou prefecture were not under the same authority, but Zhang Yue was the direct superior of Governor Li. So after those two left, Zhang Yue stayed behind. In the three halls where Governor Li usually spent his time, seeing his anxious expression, Zhang Yue casually chose a chair to sit on and signaled that he need not be formal. “These items will be temporarily stored in the prefectural office. Judging from Marshal Li’s intention, he will surely send someone to guard them, so you don’t need to worry about responsibility. However, all the clerks involved in compiling the records and the court officials hired must be taken care of.” “Yes, I understand.” “Have the people from Judge Lu revealed anything new?” Mentioning this, Governor Li became somewhat uneasy. Previously, due to overnight interrogations and the lack of effective torture tools, although confessions were obtained, he still felt uneasy. So as soon as he returned to the prefectural office, he instructed Judge Lu to use severe torture to interrogate them again. Yet no matter how many times it was done—breaking two bamboo boards, using finger clamps and other methods—only the same old confessions came out. To prevent the key prisoners from dying, he had no choice but to secretly summon a doctor again.

“Reporting to my lord, although Judge Lu did his best in the interrogation, those men were stubborn and insisted on their previous confessions.”
“Perhaps they truly know nothing.”
Zhang Yue shook his head thoughtfully. Zhang Qian was already quite old, and taking up the position wasn’t urgent, so he wouldn’t rush here immediately— it would take a month or two before he arrived. Until then, Qin Huaijin could assign Li Long and Yu Liang to handle things. One of them was greedy for profit, the other for fame; surely they would keep a close eye on those people.
An ex-eunuch with no backing and despised by the emperor—wasn’t he the perfect candidate for them to profit from and gain fame? Having just arrived with no support, he would inevitably rely on those two. Since both had weaknesses, things would be much easier.
If a newly promoted scholar were to replace a county magistrate, it would be difficult for him to manage the county’s affairs, and the same applied to officials like prefects and governors. During the Yongle era, there was still a system of recommendation, and it wasn’t uncommon for commoners to be promoted to positions such as counselors or even governors. But after the late Yongle period, such cases became increasingly rare until they disappeared altogether. The reason was that someone with no background couldn’t survive in the complex administrative system. Thus, as the youngest governor in the dynasty, Zhang Yue hadn’t made any mistakes in his official duties even after a month in office, which surprised some of his subordinates.
That evening, after finally finishing his tasks, Fang Jing returned to the back courtyard office and happened to meet Zhang Yue returning from outside. He couldn’t help but grumble, “Third brother, it turns out you sent me to Guangdong just to use me as a scribe! As for Li Guoxiu, Rui Yixiang, and the others, although they haven’t yet passed the exams, they’re fully qualified to be county clerks or registrars.”
After all, in these times, advisors and mentors weren’t very popular. But this was also a good thing—no need for officials to rely solely on legal or financial advisors, as in later generations, where they only knew how to make money!
Zhang Yue thought this in his heart, but spoke earnestly, “Any literati with ambitions either aim to pass the imperial exams and enter government service, or they focus on studying at home, or they open schools to teach. In this office, there are only those clerks. Don’t underestimate them—if ignored, they might pull off outrageous things. Now that you’re familiar with the format of official documents and the key points of the six departments’ records, when you become officials yourselves, you won’t be deceived by your subordinates.”

“It’s precisely because of what Third Brother taught them that they all work so hard!” Fang Jing remembered how those guys from the clan school regarded Zhang Yue as a god, and he couldn’t help but turn to look at Zhang Yue again before muttering, “I used to think the same way too, but before I left, Elder Wan reminded me that though Third Brother seems honest on the surface, he’s actually very shrewd—you can only believe half of what he says…”
“Why does Old Wan always undermine me… Never mind him. When you see your brother later, thank him for me. Thanks to him sending Xi Er to deliver the message and calming Qin Yi down, things went smoothly.”
“Hey, of course! My brother is the most capable!”
The Zhang family’s official residence was peaceful, and quite a few people had gathered at the Xiang family’s official residence as well. Normally, if an official was too ill to handle duties, they should step down to recover, but Xiang Shaoyuan had always been popular among his subordinates over the years, and since he didn’t interfere with anyone’s work, no one wanted another new governor to appear out of nowhere. So the subordinates kept this matter hidden and often came to visit him—just as they did that day.
Using the excuse of visiting him, they chatted about how Zhang Yue had been handling things since taking office. Xu Tao sighed and said, “Governor Zhang is certainly capable, but he’s too stubborn. He prefers to involve outsiders rather than let us get involved in some matters. For example, when Qin Huaijin fell into the water and the people at the Guangzhou government office were attacked, we were left out of it…”
Before he could finish, he saw Xiang Shaoyuan, sitting on the large bed, coughing repeatedly, so he stopped talking. He thought Xiang Shaoyuan would remain as indifferent as before, but after coughing for a while, the man said something unexpected.
“Not letting you get involved isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If Li Long and Yu Liang think they can profit or gain fame by meddling, they’ll likely end up suffering. For now, let’s not talk about that. The Dragon Boat Festival has just passed, and rain is on the way—we need to be extra careful. Send people to check the grain stores in various places just in case.”