The Great Ming Security Bureau

Reform had never been something accomplished in a single leap. Zhu Yunwen had studied Marxism-Leninism and knew what it meant to "seek truth from facts."

Recklessly transplanting the experience and thinking of later ages wholesale into the Great Ming Dynasty would only leave them unable to take root in foreign soil, ending in a hasty failure.

Commercial matters could be set aside for now. Restructuring the imperial court was the most urgent task at hand.

Beneath its seemingly placid surface, the court had always seethed with hidden currents, and much of that turbulence came from the hereditary nobility.

These nobles were often the second generation of their houses.

There was no helping it. Zhu Yuanzhang had all but slaughtered the first generation, leaving very few survivors.

Tang He, the Duke of Xin, had survived, but illness had claimed him three years earlier.

Geng Bingwen, the Marquis of Changxing, was still alive, but he was already sixty-four that year, and his strength lay in defensive warfare. His loyalty was not much in doubt, but he was old, after all. He could no longer withstand the clash of blades or cow those young whelps.

For several days, Zhu Yunwen had been studying how to reform the Five Army Commandery. Without changing the military command structure, his dream of a powerful army would be difficult to realize.

The predicament of commanders who did not know their soldiers and soldiers who did not recognize their commanders crippled the army's fighting strength.

Zhu Yunwen fixed his gaze on the position heading the Left Military Commission in the organizational chart. There was a name there:

Li Jinglong.

Zhu Yunwen hated Li Jinglong for one simple reason: in history, Li Jinglong had been an utter idiot and a traitor.

During the Jingnan Campaign, the Jianwen Emperor had appointed Li Jinglong supreme general and sent him with five hundred thousand troops to attack Beiping's nine gates. Just as Commander Qu Neng was about to breach Zhangye Gate, Li Jinglong, afraid that Qu Neng would steal the credit, ordered a withdrawal, causing the operation to fail.

Later, in the Battle of Baigou River, Li Jinglong suffered a crushing defeat, abandoned everyone, and rode back to Nanjing alone.

As if that were not enough, when Zhu Di reached the outskirts of Nanjing, Li Jinglong became a shameless traitor. Together with Zhu Hui, the Prince of Gu, he opened Nanjing's Jinchuan Gate and let Zhu Di take the city with ease!

Zhu Yunwen knew this history very well.

Although Li Jinglong had not yet betrayed him, Zhu Yunwen had no fondness whatsoever for an incompetent fool, an idiot, and a potential traitor!

Had he not only just ascended the throne and held power for so little time, Zhu Yunwen would have wanted to kill Li Jinglong outright.

Shuangxi knocked on the door.

Zhu Yunwen stepped out of the side hall. Shuangxi respectfully presented a memorial and said softly, "Your Majesty, the Duke of Wei has sent a secret memorial."

Zhu Yunwen opened it and read carefully. When he reached the words "Li Zengzhi, Left Commander of the Front Army, left the city and headed straight for Yangzhou Prefecture," his gaze sharpened slightly, a chill creeping into it.

"Where has the Prince of Yan reached?"

Zhu Yunwen asked.

Shuangxi hurriedly replied, "He has passed Huai'an. By my reckoning, he should be nearing Gaoyou."

South of Gaoyou lay Yangzhou Prefecture.

A cold smile curled at Zhu Yunwen's lips. He had not even made contact with Zhu Di yet, but these military nobles had already rushed to do so ahead of him. Did they truly take him for a blind man?

Li Zengzhi was of little consequence, but Li Jinglong, who stood behind him, wielded considerable influence.

After all, Li Wenzhong's lingering prestige remained, and his former subordinates maintained close ties with Li Jinglong. Moreover, Li Jinglong was the Duke of Cao. Without some major offense, moving against him would not be easy.

Even an emperor, for all his power, had to consider methods, justifications, and consequences. Disposing of someone was not merely a matter of opening his mouth.

Even someone as overbearing as Zhu Yuanzhang had assembled a heap of excuses before killing Hu Weiyong.

After some thought, Zhu Yunwen burned the secret memorial and told Shuangxi, "Some people's appetites are never satisfied. They want to swallow more, without even considering whether their bellies can digest it."

Shuangxi lowered his head, not daring to respond.

"Never mind. Let them be. What have the princes and their heirs in the capital been busy with?"

Zhu Yunwen asked.

Shuangxi hurriedly answered, "Your Majesty, the princes have been fairly quiet these past few days. Zhu Gaoxu, the Prince of Gaoyang, has been rather more conspicuous. He has visited certain houses of pleasure with Li Zengzhi."

"Heh. Still in the first days of mourning, and he cannot endure even this little loneliness. It seems Zhu Gaoxu has his shortcomings too..."

Zhu Yunwen smiled faintly.

If a man could not even control his own desires, his achievements would never endure.

Accomplishing great things required willpower, wisdom, and ability, but also self-restraint-the knowledge of what one should and should not do!

"However..."

Shuangxi hesitated.

"However, what?"

Zhu Yunwen asked.

Shuangxi hurriedly dropped to his knees and said, "Your Majesty, this servant has only heard rumors..."

"Speak. If they are wrong, I will not blame you."

Zhu Yunwen reassured him.

Shuangxi said, "Your Majesty, this servant has heard that the Prince of Ning has been associating closely with the Duke of Cao, and has even spent these past few days drunk at the Prince of Qiyang's Residence. But this servant does not know whether it is true."

Zhu Yunwen chuckled and said, "What else have you heard?"

Somewhat uneasily, Shuangxi said, "I have heard that the Prince of Ning is skilled at making connections and has close ties with the military nobles..."

Zhu Yunwen waved a hand and said, "Find out who told you this. Arrest him and interrogate him."

"Ah?"

Shuangxi stared at Zhu Yunwen in astonishment.

Zhu Yunwen looked at Shuangxi with a rather cold gaze. "You are my eyes and ears. What you hear and see is often what others want you to hear and see. Go investigate. Someone wants to use the Prince of Ning to divert my attention, so find out who is being so clever!"

Cold sweat poured off Shuangxi. He prostrated himself and did not rise.

It seems I need to put the Embroidered Uniform Guard back into service.

Zhu Yunwen sighed inwardly.

He could not learn everything through the Five Army Commandery or the ministers of the Grand Secretariat. These men all had their own interests and networks of connections.

If someone deliberately concealed something, he would be nothing more than a deaf and blind man sitting deep within the palace.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard had been Zhu Yuanzhang's creation. Its predecessor was the Palace Guard Office, later reorganized as the Personal Guard Command, which oversaw the Ceremonial Guard Office and managed the emperor's ceremonial escort and bodyguards. In Hongwu Year 15, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the Personal Guard Command and the Ceremonial Guard Office and established the Embroidered Uniform Guard in their place.

In the early Ming, the Embroidered Uniform Guard's principal duties were to "attend and guard the imperial person, patrol, investigate, and apprehend." It answered directly to the emperor and possessed authority broad enough to arrest anyone, even imperial relatives. Once someone was arrested, it could conduct its own interrogations without involving the Three Judicial Offices.

During the Hongwu reign, the Embroidered Uniform Guard in their Flying Fish Uniforms had been the nightmare of countless ministers.

One sentence in the "Treatise on Punishments" of the History of Ming proved how terrifying the Embroidered Uniform Guard had been: "The cases of Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu implicated nearly forty thousand people."

Much of this guilt by association had been single-handedly "manufactured" by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, though Zhu Yuanzhang's paranoid disposition and tacit approval had certainly played their part.

In Hongwu Year 20, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

But after Zhu Di later came to power, the Embroidered Uniform Guard was restored and, alongside the renowned Eastern Depot, became one of Great Ming's most terrifying secret police organizations.

Zhu Yunwen knew the ministers would inevitably oppose restoring the Embroidered Uniform Guard. They were weary of, and frightened by, those dark, lightless days. But neither would Zhu Yunwen allow himself to be without obedient eyes and ears.

If he relied solely on the Five Army Commandery, the Grand Secretariat, and the remonstrance officials, other voices might never reach him.

Zhu Yunwen did not revere violence, but he needed an organization like the Embroidered Uniform Guard to gather information and provide him with more detailed intelligence.

Considering the formidable resistance that directly restoring the Embroidered Uniform Guard would encounter, Zhu Yunwen decided to establish a new department, one under his direct control, responsible for investigating all kinds of intelligence throughout the Great Ming Empire. Its name would be:

The Great Ming Security Bureau!

Establishing the Great Ming Security Bureau merely involved reorganizing and redeploying the emperor's personal guards, so it required no approval from the Grand Secretariat or the Six Ministries. To prevent panic among the Grand Secretariat and court officials, however, Zhu Yunwen deliberately issued an edict whose gist was:

The Great Ming Security Bureau would primarily be responsible for preventing and combating acts that endangered the security of the Great Ming Dynasty, conducting covert operations against its enemies, safeguarding Great Ming, and preserving the stability of the realm.

As for gathering intelligence, investigating military affairs, and listening for news, those naturally also served the security of the Great Ming Dynasty.

To prevent the Great Ming Security Bureau from acquiring excessive power and acting recklessly, Zhu Yunwen ordered that, without permission from him or the Grand Secretariat, it must not arrest, detain, or interrogate any official on its own authority.

In other words, the Great Ming Security Bureau had the authority to investigate and conduct operations, but not to arrest or interrogate. If an interrogation was necessary, it had to work jointly with the Three Judicial Offices rather than conduct it independently.

Compared with the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Great Ming Security Bureau had already had its fangs removed.

Even if the Grand Secretariat wished to object, it could find no grounds to do so. Some court officials expressed concern and prepared memorials in opposition, but before those memorials could be submitted, the Grand Secretariat intercepted them. They might well be burned the next day.

There was no other reason: the emperor had given the Grand Secretariat and the Six Ministries face, so they had to preserve his dignity in return, did they not?

Even Fang Xiaoru, who championed civil governance, voiced not a single word of displeasure at the establishment of the Great Ming Security Bureau.

Fundamentally, there was no difference between the Great Ming Security Bureau and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Both were independent intelligence and protective organizations answerable to the emperor.

In character, however, the Embroidered Uniform Guard had been a ravenous wolf slipped free of its leash, lunging at anyone it saw and biting until death ended the struggle. Once it killed one victim, it sank its teeth into the next. The Great Ming Security Bureau was different. It was more like a horse whose reins remained in someone's hands. It could neigh and run, but in the end, it would not bite.

Fang Xiaoru did not oppose an organization like this, for it was a sovereign's instrument.

If the leading figures said nothing, no amount of shouting from those below would matter.

On the Tenth Day of the Seventh Month, Hongwu Year 31, Zhu Yunwen issued a public edict establishing the Great Ming Security Bureau.

The Great Ming Security Bureau stepped onto the stage of Great Ming's history, becoming a heavy, blunt sword in Zhu Yunwen's hand. Its edge remained unseen, yet nothing could withstand it!

On the Sixteenth Day of the Seventh Month, outside Yangzhou Prefecture.

Seeing Li Zengzhi approaching in the distance to welcome him, Zhu Di smiled and said to Qiu Fu beside him, "These people still have their uses."

Qiu Fu glanced at Li Zengzhi and replied with a smile, "Your Highness is quite right."

The distance between them closed.

Li Zengzhi dismounted and called loudly, "Li Zengzhi, Left Commander of the Front Army, greets the Prince of Yan!"

Zhu Di hurriedly dismounted and called, "Commander Li, please rise at once. After more than a month on the road, seeing family here in Yangzhou Prefecture is a great comfort."

Seeing that Zhu Di put on no airs and even called him family, Li Zengzhi broke into a broad smile and hurriedly extended an invitation. "Uncle, I have made all the arrangements in the city. Please come and rest a little before continuing to the capital."