"Oh? And what is your best strategy?" Emperor Chongzhen asked, staring at Li Banghua.
"I believe Your Majesty should hold the Capital firmly and send the Crown Prince to Nanjing to oversee the state. Should the Capital fall and Your Majesty sacrifice your life for the nation, the Great Ming Dynasty will still hold half the empire!"
*What the hell!*
Everyone in the great hall cursed inwardly at the same time.
Wu Mengming swallowed hard. Apart from him, no one dared to utter such rebellious words in the Emperor's presence. Li Banghua’s mouth was truly as foul and stubborn as ever!
"Audacious!" Before Emperor Chongzhen could speak, Wang Chengen immediately stepped forward. Pointing at Li Banghua, he raged, "How dare you, Li Banghua! You slander the current Emperor; by law, you should be beheaded!"
Li Banghua showed no fear and continued, "The Capital is the foundation of our dynasty; it must not be abandoned. Furthermore, Wu Sangui is marching a thousand miles to relieve the Capital. If Your Majesty abandons the city now, the Great Ming Dynasty’s last elite force will be handed over to others on a silver platter."
"As for the rebel bandits, their tyranny and bandit-soldiers cannot last. The Jiannu in Liaodong are the true heart-rot threat to the Great Ming Dynasty. With the Capital held, the Jiannu will not dare to drive in deep. If the Capital changes hands and the Jiannu use it as a base to march south, the Great Ming Dynasty will be in peril."
Emperor Chongzhen raised an eyebrow, unable to help but look at Li Banghua with new respect.
He had spoken brilliantly, analyzing the current situation of all factions and the future state of affairs with perfect clarity. It was exactly as it had been in history! This Censor-in-chief was a true talent.
"Then, Censor Li, tell me why the rebel bandits cannot last," Emperor Chongzhen continued, testing him.
"Yes." Seeing that the Emperor was not angry but rather pleased, Li Banghua finally let his guard down. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and continued, "Taxation is the foundation of the Imperial Court."
"The court’s tax revenue comes down to land taxes, corvée labor, and miscellaneous taxes. The rebel bandits claim to abolish land taxes; thus, the only taxes they can levy are corvée and miscellaneous taxes, and among the latter, commercial taxes are the most significant."
"Commercial tax comes from merchants. Along their path, the rebel bandits have bled and slaughtered the merchants and the gentry, killing seven or eight out of every ten."
"Without tax revenue, these rebel bandits can only keep looting. The day they can no longer seize money and grain, they will disperse on their own."
Emperor Chongzhen completely agreed with Li Banghua's point of view. Not just he, but historians all agreed. In that feudal era where agriculture was the foundation, a policy of equalizing land and abolishing grain taxes was doomed to fail. Statistics showed that seventy to eighty percent of the Ming Dynasty’s tax revenue came from land taxes. Abolishing that part was equivalent to digging one's own grave.
Highly satisfied with Li Banghua’s performance, Emperor Chongzhen stood up and gestured for Wu Mengming, Wang Zhixin, and Li Ruolian to leave.
Once they had exited the hall, Emperor Chongzhen approached Li Banghua and said, "Censor Li, your knowledge is indeed exceptional. I intend to appoint you as the Senior Grand Secretary. What do you say?"
*The Emperor wants me to be the Senior Grand Secretary?* Li Banghua felt a chill.
In the seventeen years Emperor Chongzhen had reigned, he had replaced nineteen Senior Grand Secretaries. Some were merely dismissed, others were beheaded. The power seemed immense, but the risks were equally high, and often he would have to be the scapegoat for the Emperor. Nowadays, no civil official was willing to fight for this hot potato of a position!
But—this was exactly the time to face the challenge head-on!
After a quick thought, Li Banghua saw this as an opportunity. He hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the affairs of the Cabinet are enormous and the rules complex. Traditionally, one must enter the Cabinet before being appointed Senior Grand Secretary; for me to take the position directly would be unconventional."
Emperor Chongzhen smiled faintly. "My word is the rule."
Seeing this, Li Banghua hesitated no longer, kneeling to thank him. "I, Li Banghua, thank Your Majesty for your immense grace."
"Don't thank me so soon. I haven't finished yet. Li Banghua, are you afraid of death?"
Li Banghua paused, thought for a moment, and said earnestly, "If Your Majesty commands me to die, I am not afraid."
"Why?"
"In this life, I have few ambitions. To reach the pinnacle of officialdom, to possess vast wealth, or to leave my name in the history books."
"Today, Your Majesty has appointed me Senior Grand Secretary; the ambition of reaching the pinnacle has been realized. To be a man whom Your Majesty would execute is to be guaranteed a place in the history books. I do not care if it is a good reputation or a bad one; only the mediocre are forgotten by history."
Li Banghua’s words struck a chord in Emperor Chongzhen. He stood in place, quietly observing this elderly official, nearly seventy years of age. At that moment, he had only one thought: Li Banghua was the man he had been looking for.
However, there was one more thing to confirm.
Emperor Chongzhen turned around, his voice solemn. "I need an authoritative minister—one who can suppress the Imperial Court."
"I will grant him immense power, second only to the Emperor. Officials, eunuchs, nobles, clansmen—whoever he wants to kill, he can kill. I will not interfere. As long as he can bring in silver and his greed is not excessive, I will not interfere."
"As long as I live, I will guarantee his glory and wealth."
"But!"
"If I die, that man’s fate may be even more miserable than that of Yan Song!"
"He may leave his name in history for eternity, or he may be reviled for ten thousand generations, or perhaps he will be both praised and blamed."
"Can you handle that?"
Wang Chengen looked at Emperor Chongzhen in disbelief, feeling that the figure of the Emperor before him was a stranger. *Is His Majesty planning to devolve power?* Since his ascension, the thing he hated most was an authoritative minister. Moreover, in these times of internal rebellion and external threat, would delegating power now only increase the risks to the Great Ming Dynasty?
Li Banghua raised his head. His aged cheeks were full of wrinkles, but his eyes were bright and piercing. He stood up seriously and knelt again to kowtow. "Please be assured, Your Majesty. I do not want to be Yan Song; I only want to be Zhang Juzheng."
"Good! Censor Li, you may withdraw for now. I must hold court."
"As you command!" Li Banghua exited the side hall.
Only when Li Banghua had walked out of the hall did Emperor Chongzhen withdraw his expectant gaze.
He did this for two reasons. First, since his ascension, Emperor Chongzhen had killed too many people—eighteen officials of the second rank or higher, and over a hundred below that rank. The Cabinet was even worse; in his seventeen years of rule, he had changed nineteen Senior Grand Secretaries. Among them were corrupt officials and loyal pillars of the state; some were greedy, others selfless. Often, a new Senior Grand Secretary would be replaced before he had even established a foundation, resulting in edicts failing to leave the Capital, and the country falling into ever greater chaos. Those lucky were dismissed; the unlucky were executed. Did it make sense? It did not! Consequently, everyone in officialdom lived in fear.
By the late reign of Chongzhen, the Donglin Faction had lost its real power, and the factional strife in the court had entered a stagnant stage. Where did the conflict go? It would not disappear; it only shifted. Part of it moved to the provinces, and another part turned into a conflict between the monarch and his ministers. They opposed whatever the Emperor wanted to do. Only in this way could they manifest their value.
The purpose of putting Li Banghua in a position of power was to restart the factional strife in the court, shifting the conflict between monarch and minister into factional conflict. He needed to use Li Banghua’s hands to raise money and kill people! Where would the money come from? Short-term through raiding the homes of the wealthy, long-term through taxation. Whom to kill? Dissenting civil officials, corrupt courtiers, the fabulously wealthy nobility, and merchants who betrayed the nation!
Emperor Chongzhen composed himself and ordered, "Wang Chengen, summon the officials to the court for a policy discussion."