Chapter 21: Chongzhen on the Brink of Madness

At the moment Li Ruolian shouted that something was amiss, Fang Zhenghua and his apprentices circled around the Chongzhen Emperor, keeping a vigilant watch on their surroundings.

Fang Jia searched the middle-aged man for concealed weapons, but after a moment, he shook his head at Li Ruolian.

"Waaah..."

Seeing this, the three children began to wail. The middle-aged man, appearing at a loss, was filled with panic. Passersby at the entrance of the alley glanced over upon hearing the cries but quickly hurried away, fearing they might be drawn into trouble.

Chongzhen observed all of this. The numbness of the common people filled him with sorrow. He then asked, "Li Er, what is the situation?"

Hearing the Emperor’s inquiry, Li Ruolian whispered, "My lord, since the reign of the founding Emperor, our dynasty has maintained a system of travel permits and clearance passes. According to the Great Ming Code, any soldier or civilian traveling more than a hundred miles must carry a permit. Those without one are treated as deserters if soldiers, or as illegal border crossers if civilians, punishable by ninety strokes of the cane."

Li Ruolian turned to the man. "Weizhong is nearly two thousand miles from Beijing, and there are seven checkpoints along the way. It is impossible for refugees to reach Beijing—that is the first point."

"Secondly, how could you have traveled two thousand miles with three children? Do you really think we are so easily deceived?"

"I advise you to tell the truth, or we shall hand you over to the authorities."

Upon hearing Li Ruolian’s explanation, the others realized the gravity of the situation. The man’s face was filled with hesitation, uncertainty, and terror.

After a moment of silence, he spoke a few words to the children in a low voice. Then, looking nervously toward the alley entrance, he whispered, "My lord, I am not lying to you. We truly fled from Shaanxi."

"In July of this year, an uprising broke out in my hometown of Baishui County... a rebellion. A man named Wang Er gathered hundreds of famine victims to attack Chengcheng. They killed the county magistrate, Zhang Douyao, and opened the granaries to feed the people."

"The whole county was in chaos. We took advantage of the confusion to find the official seal, forged travel permits, and escaped."

"Only after we fled did we realize that the permits were essentially useless. Aside from the checkpoints outside Beijing, the passes elsewhere were either unmanned or manned by a few people who were just going through the motions. A few copper coins were enough to pass. Sometimes, when a large group traveled together, we didn't even need to pay; we just charged right through."

"Those of us who were young could still escape, but the elderly could only wait for death. Of the thirty people who left with us, fewer than ten remain. The rest died of starvation or disease along the way."

"These three children are the descendants of fellow villagers. If it weren't for them, I would have wanted to die long ago."

As he spoke, the man broke down in sobs. Tears flowed down his cheeks, carving furrows through the dust on his face.

Li Ruolian frowned, seemingly assessing the truth of the man's words. His expression grew grim; if what the man said was true, the Embroidered Uniform Guard had been derelict in their duty. Fang Zhenghua whispered a few words to Fang Jia, then continued to keep a watchful eye on the surroundings.

Chongzhen’s expression turned completely dark. He had not expected the refugees to be so bold as to kill a magistrate and open the official granaries.

But could one say this was the fault of the people?

No, absolutely not!

When farmers are starving to death, what else can they do but rebel? If they don't rebel, they starve; if they do rebel, they might still die. Since death is inevitable either way, they might as well rebel—at least they might get a few full meals before the end.

The founding Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, only decided to rebel because he was starving to death. By what right did the Zhu family claim the exclusive privilege to rebel, while forbidding others from doing so?

While they were speaking, Fang Jia returned with a large bag of steamed buns and a large teapot.

The three children behind the man, previously weak, instantly perked up. Their eyes fixed hungrily on the buns in Fang Jia's hands as they swallowed hard. But seeing the glint of the blade in Li Ruolian's hand, they clung tightly to the man’s arms.

"Li Er, put away your sword. Don't frighten the children!"

Chongzhen took the teapot from Fang Jia and poured a bowl for each of them. "Sir, drink some hot water first to soothe your stomachs. Eat slowly later so you don't choke. There are plenty of buns today."

As he spoke, Chongzhen handed the buns to the children.

Li Ruolian and Fang Zhenghua watched this, exchanging a look of surprise and relief. They realized they had followed the right Emperor. A true sovereign of the nation, showing no disdain for such surroundings, no contempt for the filthy refugees, and even speaking with such gentle concern.

After everyone had eaten two buns, Fang Zhenghua whispered, "My lord, I have already sent Fang Jia to scout the area. If there are other victims, we can verify this information with them as well."

Chongzhen nodded. "Sir, this matter is grave. We must confirm the facts. If what you say is true, we will not hold you accountable. But if you have reported lies, do not blame the law for being heartless."

He then turned to Li Ruolian. "Li Er, arrange lodging for them."

After Li Ruolian’s men led them away, Fang Zhenghua remarked, "Your Majesty is truly kind-hearted, possessing the character of Yao and Shun."

"Hardly. These are my subjects. If I had governed the country well, there wouldn't be so many victims. Everything is my fault." Chongzhen waved his hand. "Let us go. Let us see what else is out there."

An hour later, the group encountered four more waves of refugees, all from Shaanxi, all from different areas, and all providing accounts consistent with what the first man had said.

Shaanxi was in complete turmoil.

Throughout the journey, Chongzhen’s expression remained calm, but Fang Zhenghua knew that the master of the Ming Dynasty was on the verge of an explosion.

After returning to the palace in secret, Chongzhen had Wang Chengen inform the court officials that the audience was dismissed. Having been stood up by the Emperor, the ministers could only bury their frustration in their hearts.

"Your Majesty, you have finally returned!"

Back in the East Warm Pavilion, Wang Chengen’s heart finally settled. Before he could even catch his breath, he heard Chongzhen’s command.

"Da Ban, go to the Directorate of Ceremonial and bring over all the memorials from the last three months. Check them one by one to see if there are any reports of famine victims or civil unrest in Shaanxi."

Half an hour later, thousands of memorials were laid out in the Palace of Heavenly Purity. He had requested all of them rather than just those from Shaanxi to ensure the ministers would not discern his true intent.

"Your Majesty, from the first day of the seventh month of the seventh year of Tianqi until yesterday, there were twenty-nine memorials from Shaanxi. Only the Shaanxi Censor Wu Huan submitted one on the eleventh of August."

Chongzhen took the memorial from Wang Chengen and scanned it quickly. It read:

"Your subject has inspected Shaanxi. Since last year, there has been no rain. The vegetation is withered and scorched. Between the seventh and eighth months, the people have been fighting to eat wild weeds and roots..."

The memorial clearly recorded the natural disasters, human suffering, and civil unrest in Shaanxi, concluding with: "Death by hunger or death by banditry—it is the same. Instead of sitting and starving to death, why not die as a bandit? At least one can die with a full stomach."

The response written on the memorial was even more ridiculous: "These are merely starving people; once next spring arrives, they will settle down on their own!"

However, looking at the date of the response, Chongzhen understood why.