Minister Li from the Ministry of Justice, who had come to confiscate the property, was a close confidant of Gao Gong. He first ordered his soldiers to block all the gates of the Lu residence, large and small, allowing no one to enter or exit.
For noble families, the most important thing was dignity—they could not disgrace their father's reputation. Even if they were to be imprisoned, they must enter with grace.
Lu Yi, the head of the Lu household, suppressed his fear and, dressed in plain clothing, ordered the servants to open the main gate. He led his younger brother Lu Cai and brother-in-law Yan Shaoting to greet Minister Li.
Minister Li raised the imperial edict and declared, "I am here by the Emperor's command to inspect the Lu family's assets."
Upon hearing this, Lu Yi knelt on the ground with his brother and brother-in-law, facing the direction of the Forbidden City, and shouted "Long live the Emperor" three times, thanking His Majesty for his grace. Whether it was thunder or rain, it was all the Emperor's favor.
Minister Li continued, "By decree! Lu Yi, Assistant Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and Lu Cai, Hundred-Household Commander, have trespassed upon imperial favor, hoarded wealth, concealed the spoils of Shi Fan, and harbored Yan Shaoting in their home, betraying the late Emperor's grace. They are hereby stripped of their official positions. So ordered."
Lu Yi and Lu Cai had long been prepared and presented their court robes and official seals to Minister Li. From that moment on, both brothers, like Yan Shaoting, were reduced to commoners. According to custom, commoners must kneel before officials, so Lu Yi, Lu Cai, and Yan Shaoting knelt upright before Minister Li.
True to their noble upbringing, even in kneeling they maintained elegance, like three slender bamboos that would rather break than bend in the storm.
Minister Li found the sight irritating and snorted coldly, "Guards, seize these three and put them in cangues!"
The soldiers brought out twenty-five-pound heavy cangues, and with three sharp clicks, fastened them around the necks and wrists of the three men. The sudden weight on their necks nearly crushed them, making it impossible to maintain their upright kneeling posture. They bowed their heads and bent their backs to alleviate the pain.
Minister Li was pleased by the sight and waved his hand grandly, "Split up and search each room. First, drive all the servants to the slave market for sale. Search each one thoroughly to ensure they do not smuggle any Lu family property out. Escort the women to the ancestral hall to await further orders. Record everything in the ledger—all valuable items must be accounted for without omission!"
"Yes, sir!" his subordinates acknowledged and departed. Minister Li was experienced in property confiscation; his first step was always to remove bystanders to prevent servants from causing disturbances to protect their masters. All of the Lu family's servants were driven to the slave market and sold off—no matter how dignified the stewards or matrons had been, they were now traded like livestock, and at prices lower than livestock!
The women and children of the Lu family were confined to the ancestral hall, while the men—Lu Yi, Lu Cai, and son-in-law Yan Shaoting—wore the twenty-five-pound cangues and knelt in the courtyard awaiting orders.
With everyone under control, no one could hide any family assets. Minister Li then ordered his men to search and confiscate property room by room, itemizing each piece. Precious gold and silverware, which were easier to appraise, were weighed on the spot, boxed, and recorded in the confiscation ledger. Furniture, curtains, valuable Kesi silk, fur garments, fabrics, and calligraphy and paintings by famous artists were categorized and entered into specialized ledgers.
After half a day of confiscation, the inventories from each room were compiled in Minister Li's hands.
Lu Bing had been powerful and skilled at amassing wealth, while Li Yiren was adept at managing the household. Although their descendants were not particularly accomplished, they were obedient and caused no trouble, with no prodigal sons to squander the family fortune. Thus, even ten years after Lu Bing's death, the Lu family remained one of the wealthiest households in the capital.Back when Lu Bing urgently needed funds to bribe Yan Shifan and purchase Yu Dayou's life, Lu Ying had used her father's name to swindle money from Li Yiren. That very day, two thousand taels of gold were carried from the treasury and presented before Yan Shifan, demonstrating just how deep the Lu family's wealth ran.
Thus, although the final confiscation inventory couldn't compare to Yan Shifan's household—which required sixty thousand characters to record in the "Tianshui Iceberg Record"—it still spanned forty thousand characters. This didn't even include their luxurious residence, external farmlands, properties, and so on.
Lord Li flipped through the thick confiscation ledger. The first section, naturally, was gold:
"Three hundred fifty-one gold ingots, totaling three thousand eight hundred sixty-nine taels. Four hundred gold bars, totaling eight thousand forty-seven taels. Ninety gold biscuits, totaling ninety-seven taels. Nine packets of gold leaf, totaling eight hundred fifty-seven taels. Six packets of gold dust, totaling seven hundred taels. Five packets of gold fragments, totaling four hundred fifty-nine taels."
Additionally, there were over two thousand household items made of gold—incense burners, cups, plates, bowls, spoons, chopsticks, spittoons, and more—totaling over eight thousand taels!
The gold alone seized was immense. Before even tallying the silver, jade, furs, furniture, and other items, this gold was enough to bring the Lu family to its knees.
Lord Li waved the hefty confiscation list before Lu Yi and the others. "Still claiming your family never harbored the Yan family's wealth? Do you think Lu Bing could have amassed such vast assets on his official salary alone?"
What a joke! Among court officials, aside from Hai Rui, the famously incorruptible Governor of Yingtian, who actually lived on their official salaries?
It was the nineteenth day of the eighth month, a crisp autumn day, but the autumn heat was still fierce. Lu Yi and the others knelt under the scorching sun, wearing heavy cangues. Soon, their clothes were soaked with sweat. The three men were on the verge of dehydration and shock, swaying unsteadily. Hearing Lord Li's words, Lu Yi grew agitated and tried to retort, but he fainted from heatstroke.
"Third Brother!"
A commotion broke out among the confiscation crowd. A group broke through the encirclement and stormed the scene. Apart from their leader, Lu Ying, all wore the uniforms of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and carried Embroidered Spring Blades. Behind Lu Ying was a handsome young man whom Lord Li knew well—Lu Ying's top lackey, one of the Four Pests of the North City, formerly the capital's number one profligate, now a reformed prodigal, and Embroidered Uniform Guard Commissioner Wang Daxia.
Outwardly, Lu Ying was known as Lu Bing's illegitimate child and, by law, not considered a member of the Lu family. However, she had already been dismissed from her post and was now an ordinary commoner, hence her plain attire.
Lu Ying charged forward on her steed like an arrow, leaped from the saddle, and produced a leather water pouch containing a mixture of salt and honey water prepared by Wei Caiwei.
She fed the water to the unconscious Lu Yi. Wang Daxia and Commander Wu also dismounted and administered the saline solution to Lu Cai and Yan Shaoting. Other Embroidered Uniform Guards held black umbrellas to shield them from the sun.
After giving them water, Lu Ying took out anti-heatstroke pills prepared by Wei Caiwei and instructed them to hold the pills in their mouths.
Lu Ying produced a large set of keys, trying them one by one until she unlocked the twenty-five-pound heavy cangues from her brother and brother-in-law's necks. The remaining Embroidered Uniform Guards formed three inner and three outer circles around the Lu family, preventing the Ministry of Justice soldiers from approaching.
This group completely ignored Lord Li, infuriating him. He raised the imperial edict and shouted, "What are you doing? I am carrying out the emperor's decree to confiscate property! How dare you barge into this restricted area! This is disrespectful to the imperial edict and to the emperor!"Wang Daxia said with sarcasm, "Oh, Lord Li, such imposing official authority!"
Knowing Wang Daxia was an extremely troublesome figure—even prominent figures like Prince Jing and Yan Shifan had stumbled over him in the past—Lord Li immediately grew wary. He cupped his hands respectfully toward the direction of the Forbidden City and declared, "I act under the Emperor's command, representing the imperial family's majesty, to severely punish corrupt officials."
Clap, clap, clap! Wang Daxia applauded, "Well said! Come, come, let's all applaud Lord Li's purity as clear as water and his unyielding integrity!"
The Embroidered Uniform Guard joined in the applause, the sound thundering through the air. The Ministry of Justice soldiers exchanged uneasy glances, none daring to move. The Embroidered Uniform Guard was notorious for stirring up trouble and fabricating false charges at the slightest provocation. Since Lord Li was confronting them, let him and Wang Daxia battle it out—the rest of them would avoid involvement whenever possible.
Praised to the skies by Wang Daxia, Lord Li found himself in an awkward position. He said, "Wang Zhenfushi, your Embroidered Uniform Guard's Commander Zhu is related by marriage to the Lu family. According to regulations, he must recuse himself. Therefore, the investigation into the Lu family's corruption and their concealment of Yan faction's illicit goods falls under our Ministry of Justice's jurisdiction. It has nothing to do with the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Your unauthorized intrusion here, disrupting the Ministry of Justice's confiscation operation—I advise you to leave immediately. Otherwise, I will certainly report you to Senior Grand Secretary Gao Gong!"
Lord Li had invoked the authority of the Grand Secretariat's chief, Gao Gong.
"The confiscation is already finished. We only came because we knew Lord Li had completed it—how could we possibly delay your work?" Wang Daxia pointed at the thick confiscation inventory beside Lord Li and said:
"Don't try to fool me just because I'm not well-read. Isn't this black ink on white paper the confiscation list? Go ahead and report me. I'm not afraid, whether it's to Senior Grand Secretary Gao or even to the Emperor himself. You've already imprisoned the people and confiscated their property—what's wrong with us Embroidered Uniform Guard observing? We are the Emperor's eyes and ears. We even record the daily price of eggs in the market and report it to the Emperor. How could we possibly overlook such a significant event as the confiscation of the Lu residence?"
Lord Li was stunned by Wang Daxia's blatant distortion of facts. "You're not just observing! You broke the cangues, gave water to the prisoners, held umbrellas for them—is that what you call observing?"
Wang Daxia retorted, "The Emperor ordered your Ministry of Justice to investigate the case, not to torture prisoners to death. These three individuals haven't even stood trial yet. How can you, a mere vice minister, sentence them to death without proper investigation? By exposing them to the sun and burdening them with heavy cangues until they die? Moreover, this is an imperial case. The Ministry of Justice can only gather evidence and propose sentencing recommendations. The sole authority to decide rests with the Emperor—whatever His Majesty decrees shall be carried out. Are you attempting to overstep your bounds and make decisions on the Emperor's behalf, Lord Li? How audacious of you!"
Wang Daxia piled accusation after accusation onto Lord Li's head, until the official felt as if a twenty-five-pound cangue were crushing his skull, making it impossible to think clearly. He could only be led astray by Wang Daxia's nonsense.
Biting his tongue to regain some clarity, Lord Li produced a confiscation ledger and declared, "This record contains imperial items—all prohibited goods. This alone is enough to warrant the death penalty for the Lu family!"Wang Daxia glanced briefly, "Some of these items I have seen before, all were bestowed by the late emperor. Even this residence was granted by the late emperor. After Lu Bing's death, the late emperor took pity on the household of orphans and widows, bestowing gifts during every festival, year after year. The Imperial Household Department has records of all disbursements in their ledgers. Coincidentally today, I obtained these accounts from the Imperial Household Department."
Wang Daxia produced several ledger books as thick as bricks, "These are the copies I made from the Imperial Household Department. Lord Li, no need to stand on ceremony with me, feel free to compare them with the prohibited items from the Lu family. You see how cooperative we of the Embroidered Uniform Guard are with the Ministry of Justice's investigation? We've even helped you find the evidence. Shouldn't you thank me, Lord Li?"
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