Observing the stern-faced Jin Yi Wei officers before him, Guan Sheng loudly commanded, "Equip yourselves and depart!"
The Jin Yi Wei officers grew even more tense.
Not even informing them of the destination beforehand, but instead ordering everyone to bring full gear – this was practically unheard of since the founding of the Great Ming.
However, there was no choice. The internal regulations of the Jin Yi Wei were even stricter than military law. As the saying goes, a higher rank crushes a lower one. If Guan Sheng, a Jin Yi Wei captain, did not disclose the destination, the Jin Yi Wei officers could only prepare their equipment and follow Guan Sheng.
Only after circling around and completely surrounding the Xu family mansion did the Jin Yi Wei officers understand what was happening and why Captain Guan was making such a fuss.
The intelligence Luo Fangbo had gathered was not wrong. Wenchang Trading Company, managed by Xu Zhendong, was indeed backed by the Great Ming imperial court.
More importantly, Xu Zhendong's connections within the Great Ming court were incredibly complex. The magistrate of Xiangshan County treated him as a brother, and the prefect of Guangzhou Prefecture was his honored guest. Furthermore, Xu Zhendong had several nephews serving in the military, one of whom had even reached the rank of regiment commander. If even a sliver of news leaked, who knew what the consequences would be?
Seeing his Jin Yi Wei officers surround the entire Xu family mansion, Guan Sheng couldn't help but take a deep breath and say sternly, "Break down the door! Arrest them! No one escapes!"
The Jin Yi Wei officers following Guan Sheng saluted in response. Then, a few officers stepped forward, ran a few paces, and charged towards the gate of the Xu family mansion. With a shout, they collectively rammed their shoulders into the main gate.
"Bang!"
With a deafening crash, the main gate of the Xu family mansion fell to the ground, kicking up clouds of dust. Guan Sheng led the way into the mansion and shouted, "Jin Yi Wei conducting an investigation!"
As Guan Sheng spoke, the Jin Yi Wei officers behind him rushed into the mansion. Anyone attempting to escape or resist was immediately subdued by the officers.
Soon, Xu Zhendong and his family were brought before Guan Sheng.
Xu Zhendong glared at Guan Sheng with an displeased expression and sneered, "I wonder what grave offense I, Xu, have committed to trouble the Jin Yi Wei with such a visit?"
Guan Sheng responded with a cold laugh, retorting, "Have you forgotten Xingtai Trading Company, opposite Wenchang Trading Company?"
After speaking, Guan Sheng waved his hand, ordering his men to take Xu Zhendong away.
This case was quite significant, considered the largest and most complex corruption case since the founding of the Great Ming.
Although Wenchang Trading Company nearly monopolized half of Guangzhou Port's maritime trade, Xu Zhendong never embezzled a single coin through Wenchang. Instead, using the name of a distant relative, he directly opened Xingtai Trading Company opposite Wenchang.
Xingtai Trading Company sold all sorts of goods, but its best sellers were rusted iron nails. Large nails cost one hundred taels, while smaller ones ranged from one to ten taels.
Merchants who bought iron nails from Xingtai had their goods processed faster. Those who didn't buy nails had their processing delayed.
For merchants engaged in maritime trade, the phrase "time is money" was no joke. If their shipments were delayed for several months due to not buying rusted iron nails, how much money would they lose?
As for reporting Xu Zhendong… those merchants also feared that reporting him would only lead to someone even more corrupt, so Xu Zhendong lived quite comfortably.
More importantly, aside from the rusted iron nails, Xu Zhendong was otherwise upright. He politely refused all invitations for meals and never accepted gifts. He was also fair in valuing merchants' goods, always giving the correct ten taels for items worth ten taels. If there were any issues with the goods, Xu Zhendong acted impartially, returning money or handling the situation as it should be.
In any case, these few taels or tens of taels were a discreet transaction. Even the Jin Yi Wei had monitored him for several months before gradually finding extremely subtle clues.
It was only after finding Xu Zhendong's account books in the Xu family mansion that Guan Sheng discovered Xu Zhendong had amassed millions of taels unknowingly. Moreover, hundreds of officials were involved with Xu Zhendong, including officials from the Guangdong Provincial Administration and officers from the Sixth Army.
Holding a copy of the ledger provided by Guan Sheng, Chen Cheng, the Censorate Inspector from the Guangdong Censorate, and Liu Xiangyuan, the Supervisory Censor from the Guangdong Surveillance Bureau, were stunned. Ultimately, they had no choice but to report the matter further up.
Upon receiving the news, the leaders of the Censorate and the Surveillance Bureau directly brought the matter to Zhu Jinsong's attention—as it involved officers from the Sixth Army, the Censorate and Surveillance Bureau alone could no longer handle it!
Subsequently, investigators from the Censorate, Surveillance Bureau, Ministry of Justice, Dali Temple, and the Five Military Commissions began to have a headache.
Did Xu Zhendong embezzle?
One could say he did, or one could say he didn't.
If Wenchang Trading Company were a private enterprise directly managed by the Ministry of Revenue's Maritime Customs Department, Xu Zhendong's actions would not have been a significant issue.
To be precise, Xu Zhendong's behavior could only be classified as abusing power for personal gain.
However, the critical issue was that Wenchang Trading Company was not an ordinary business, and Xu Zhendong had implicated too many officials.
After repeated interrogations, the senior officials, discovering the problem only grew larger, could only push the matter back into Zhu Jinsong's hands once again.
Zhu Jinsong, without hesitation, threw the problem to the Ministry of Justice.
Did the Great Ming Law have provisions for such a situation?
Of course, it did.
Since the Great Ming Law had provisions, then according to those provisions, punishments would be meted out. Those to be flayed alive would be flayed alive, those to have their property confiscated would have it confiscated, and those to be exiled would be exiled, along with public announcement of their crimes in their hometowns, and their descendants being barred from holding office for three generations.
As for the involvement of certain officers from the Sixth Army of the Former Military Commissions, Zhu Jinsong saw no problem with it.
Firstly, the Great Ming's military system was more akin to that of China. The notion of generals "holding significant military power" was entirely unfounded.
Secondly, Zhu Jinsong himself was an emperor who had risen through military might. As long as Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, was alive, no subordinate generals would dare to cause trouble. Even if someone dared, how many troops could they mobilize? How many civilians could they sway?
Do not speak of "reasonability trumping law." Since law was disregarded, there was no room for reasonability.
This also served as a warning to other officials throughout the empire, preventing those foolish enough from repeating the same mistakes.
Officials are all in need of discipline.
Especially with the arrival of Luo Fangbo and Jiang Wubo, the complete incorporation of Lanna into the Great Ming was a foregone conclusion. The Great Ming would certainly dispatch officials to the Lanna Provincial Administration in the future. Lanna, being isolated overseas and possessing an excellent port, required preventive measures for these officials, lest they truly turn Lanna into another Jiaozhi.
Of course, for Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, Xu Zhendong's trivial matter was not a great concern. What truly troubled Zhu Jinsong was the matter of Lanna's incorporation.
Zhu Jinsong was not worried that Luo Fangbo's stance on the Xu Zhendong incident would affect the incorporation. Rather, he was troubled by the situations in both Lanna and Old Port.
Lanna had a port, and Old Port, having served as a major supply base during Zheng He's voyages, also possessed an excellent port.
Now that Lanna belonged to the Great Ming, the Great Ming naturally had to develop Lanna's port properly.
Then the question arose.
What would be done with the port of Old Port after it was reclaimed and designated as the Old Port Provincial Administration?
Abandoning it was out of the question. Developing it vigorously might conflict with Lanna's port.
As the saying goes, the palm and the back of the hand are both flesh. The Great Ming could not abandon Old Port's port for Lanna's, nor could it abandon Lanna's port for Old Port's.
Therefore, the ports of Old Port and Lanna must have their respective focuses and ideally complement each other.
In addition to the port issue, another problem was quite troublesome—both Lanna and Old Port had a large number of indigenous residents.
While the situation in Old Port remained to be seen, the indigenous residents of Lanna…
These were the later Indian monkeys.
For Zhu Jinsong to accept Indian monkeys becoming subjects of the Great Ming would be as absurd as a freckled man being born into the Bordered Blue Banner.
Therefore, Zhu Jinsong was contemplating how to acquire the land without the monkeys.
A reliable excuse or method was needed.
Besides these, there was another, even more pressing issue before Zhu Jinsong.
The King of Ryukyu, Shang Hao, also wished to submit.
This matter traced back to King Shang Ning.
Ever since King Shang Ning, the seventh king of the Ryukyu Kingdom's Second Sho Dynasty, was forced to sign the "Fifteen Articles of Submission" with Satsuma, Ryukyu had been in a state of "dual allegiance to the mainland (Satsuma Domain)."
In the forty-first year of Wanli, King Shang Ning was further forced to cede the Amami Islands to Satsuma Domain.
However, Satsuma only gained Ryukyu's people, not its heart.
The claim by many Japanese scholars that most ancient Ryukyuans learned to use Japanese script is sheer nonsense.
Fei Xin, who served as a translator and educator during Zheng He's voyages, recorded in "Hsing-cha Sheng-lan": "The sons and younger brothers of the ministers, and the talented among the common people, were taught to read Chinese books, in preparation for their future roles as long-term scribes and translators. The rest merely learned barbarian script from Japanese monks."
This translates to: only Ryukyuan nobles and exceptionally talented commoners were eligible to learn Chinese characters, to be groomed as officials for the future. The remaining commoners were not qualified to learn Chinese characters and could only learn the barbarian script from Japanese monks.
The Sho clan of Ryukyu had always sought the help of the Great Ming. However, during the later years of the Wanli era, the Seven Campaigns had nearly emptied the national treasury. Coupled with constant natural disasters and human calamities, and the Jurchen threat in Liaodong, the Great Ming could only adopt a policy of indifference.
When the Great Ming collapsed, Ryukyu once again sought the help of the Qing Dynasty. As for the nature of the Qing, it goes without saying. Even during their strongest years, the Qing never cared about Ryukyu's fate. They merely accepted Ryukyu's tribute, never mentioning assistance for Ryukyu's restoration.
After Zhu Jinsong defeated the Qing Dynasty, the almost despairing King of Ryukyu, Shang Hao, saw hope.
The Great Ming Daddy had bounced back!
Unfortunately, just as Shang Hao was planning to send envoys to the Great Ming for tribute and to request the Great Ming's help in his restoration, Satsuma forcibly relocated Shang Hao and the Ryukyuan royal family to Satsuma Domain.
This continued until the Great Ming signed the "Seven Articles of Amity Between the Great Ming and Japan."
After the signing of the "Seven Articles of Amity," the current Tokugawa Shogunate's Tokugawa Ienari and the current Emperor Kan'en of Japan reached an agreement to move Satsuma to Akita.
Tokugawa Ienari and Emperor Kan'en, in the name of the Shogunate and the Emperor, relocated the Shimazu clan of Satsuma Domain from the island of Kyushu to Ezo.
Ryukyu King Shang Hao, who was under Satsuma's watch, was naturally released.
Tokugawa Ienari was not foolish. Since he had already decided to submit to the Great Ming in exchange for Japan's survival, he would not provoke the Great Ming Daddy for the sake of Ryukyu.
Then, Shang Hao quickly sent people to the Great Ming, intending to seek complete incorporation—being a vassal state was ultimately not secure enough, and one might be bullied again someday.
It was safer to rely on the Great Ming Daddy's household!
And thus, it was Zhu Jinsong's turn to start a headache.