After Zhang Juzheng finished explaining his reform methods, Zhu Yijun smiled.
"Lord Zhang, do you know how big this project is? How many years will it take to complete?"
Zhu Yijun asked.
"We can see the results in ten years, and we can only complete it in twenty years.”
Zhu Yijun suddenly stood up. The young man walked down from the dragon throne and stood in front of Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng. He said,"How much silver is left in the national treasury? Do you know?"
"A million taels?"
Gao Yi said.
Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng couldn't help but laugh when they heard Gao Yi's words. Zhang Juzheng cupped his hands and said,"Lord Gao, the national treasury has less than 300,000 taels of silver left…"
"What?! Less than three hundred thousand taels!" The Minister of Rites, Gao Yi, was shocked. He knew that the country was short of money, but he never thought that the national treasury would be so empty.
Zhang Juzheng was also frowning. The country was poor, but the gentry were filthy rich…
Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Juzheng and said," If we want to complete the reform, it will cost a lot of money. This matter needs to be carried out slowly. Now that the national treasury is short of silver, does Lord Zhang have any good ideas?"”
Zhang Juzheng glanced at Gao Gong and said,""Your Majesty should punish the corrupt officials with heavy punishment!”
This time, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong were on the same side.
This was what Gao Gong had said just now.
Since there was no money in the national treasury, he could only take it out from the corrupt officials 'homes…
This was originally Gao Gong's idea, but Gao Gong had placed himself on the moral high ground.
"Since the two beloved ministers already know that the country is in danger and that the building is about to collapse, then help me pull out the vermin. I want to see the results of the two beloved ministers tomorrow. I hope that after ten days, the national treasury's surplus will exceed eight million!”
Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong looked at each other and felt their heads swell.
Eight million taels of silver?
The emperor really wanted to do something big.
Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng were about to shirk when Zhu Yijun strode onto the dragon throne and muttered to himself,"I've often heard my father say that Grand Secretary Gao is omnipotent and that Lord Zhang is confident. I think this small matter shouldn't be a problem for the two cabinet ministers.”
Zhu Yijun praised Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng to the heavens with one sentence, but he also stopped them from speaking.
However, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong were also horrified because they realized that the little emperor's methods were even more shrewd than the old emperor's. Even though the two of them were as shrewd as foxes, they were still played by the little emperor.
"This little emperor is even more difficult to deal with!”
"It seems that I was overthinking in the past. A young emperor can rule the world!”
When they arrived, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong did not get along.
But now, the two of them had been brought together by the little emperor. The barrier between the two of them had actually been silently smoothed out by the little emperor…
Because Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng had found a common enemy, they had to complete a unified mission.
That was to arrest and investigate corrupt officials.
Eight million silver…
This amount was a little too much.
" Dear ministers, please go. I hope you can come a few more times. I really like it when you come to disturb me..." After Zhu Yijun said this, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng's foreheads were sweating.
They had already made up their minds. If there was nothing important, they would definitely not come. Otherwise, they would not be able to stand the increased difficulty of the mission.
Eight million taels of silver…
How many corrupt officials 'homes would they need to raid…
Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng fled in fear.
"Your Majesty, you're amazing. I've never seen Grand Secretary Gao so flustered before…" Gao Yi said with a smile.
"Haha, is that so? "Then I'll give you a mission and see if you'll panic…" After Zhu Yijun finished speaking, Gao Yi waved his hand repeatedly."Emperor, don't make things difficult for this old minister. How can I have the ability to catch corrupt officials? It's enough for Grand Secretary Gao and Lord Zhang to do something like this…"
Zhu Yijun did not intend to let Gao Yi be the black face. This Minister of Rites was too soft-hearted and was not as ruthless as Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng.
After Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng left, they began to mutter which corrupt official they should target.
As the sky darkened, Zhu Yijun ordered the eunuch to escort Gao Yi out of the Imperial City.
After Gao Yi left, Zhu Yijun summoned Feng Bao. This kind of matter of catching corrupt officials and filling up the national treasury also required the East Chamber's help. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to get evidence just by Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong.
After Feng Bao received the order, he rushed to the East Chamber without stopping. He sorted out the investigation information of the officials over the years and waited for Bureau Chief Zhang to visit.
Sure enough, just after dinner, Zhang Juzheng came to visit. Feng Baojin followed Zhu Yijun's orders and did not tell Zhang Juzheng that the East Chamber was ordered to cooperate with him to arrest corrupt officials.
For the first time, Zhang Juzheng felt that the East Military Department was so understanding. He had just told Feng Bao his purpose of coming, and Zhang Juzheng had already obtained some tainted letters and evidence of corruption from corrupt officials…
After obtaining the evidence of these corrupt officials, Zhang Juzheng steeled his heart and thought to himself," There's going to be a bloodbath. Since you've embezzled so much, you should be prepared to be found out…"
Eight million taels of silver!
It was not easy to gather!
When Yan Song fell from power, they found two million taels of silver and more than ten thousand taels of gold, which amounted to three million taels of silver…
Ten days…
He needed to take down three Yan Songs to satisfy the little emperor's appetite.
……
That night, the East Chamber was sleepless.
That night, the cabinet did not sleep.
That night, thirteen corrupt officials were arrested by the Jinyiwei.
On this night, the three ministers sighed at the Emperor's wisdom. Although he was a youth, he lived up to his name as a wise ruler. They even suspected that this little Emperor was the reincarnation of a demon, toying with the court at such a young age.
That night, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng cooperated with all their might. This storm was extraordinary. For eight million taels of silver, the two of them had pulled out thirteen corrupt officials in one go.
In order to prevent these corrupt officials from retaliating, the two of them weaved a tight net.
That night, Zhu Yijun had a good sleep. He was already looking forward to the morning court session the next day.
That night, many officials slept soundly. They did not know that a bloody storm had already begun.
The law of the Ming Dynasty stipulated that those who accepted property and perverted the law should be beaten with seventy sticks below the consistent level, and every five strings should be increased by one degree to 80 strings. Those who accept property and do not violate the law shall be punished with sixty strokes of the stick below the first Guan, and the punishment shall be increased by one grade for every five Guan. When the punishment reaches 120 Guan, the punishment shall be 100 strokes of the stick and the exile shall be 3,000 miles. The prison guard stole money, grain, and goods from the warehouse. He did not distinguish between the first and the second. He was punished for stealing the goods. He tattooed the words 'stealing official money (grain, goods)' on his right forearm. He was beaten with eighty sticks and beheaded with forty strings...
Every thousand wen was one line, and one tael of silver could be exchanged for one thousand wen to one thousand five hundred wen…
According to this rule, anyone who embezzled forty taels of silver would be executed.
Which corrupt official only embezzled forty taels of silver or less?
"Eight hundred thousand taels! A mere Minister of Works embezzled eight hundred thousand taels! You've corroded Da Ming's foundation! He deserves to be killed!" Zhang Juzheng checked the properties of several corrupt officials and was rather speechless.
The Ministry of Works was a department with serious corruption crimes. One of them was a seventh-grade official in the Ministry of Works, but he had embezzled more than 800,000 taels of silver.
The Ministry of Works was in charge of construction, palace construction, road repair, water transport, and so on. It was the most important part of the country's infrastructure, and most of the annual funding fell into the hands of the Ministry of Works...
The Ministry of Works was also the most corrupt department.
Perhaps some official positions were not very prominent, but they were what others called lucrative jobs!
This time, nine of the corrupt officials that Zhang Juzheng and Xu Jie had confiscated were from the Ministry of Works. This time, the thunderstorm would start from the Ministry of Works…
These corrupt officials had already embezzled more than ten million taels of silver. How could it be as simple as eight million taels of silver?
Gao Gong was also furious.
He knew that the people from the Ministry of Works were not clean, but Gao Gong did not expect the corruption to be so corrupt. The project funds were actually being plucked layer by layer.
Last year, the 320,000 yuan project fund for repairing the water transport was less than 20,000 taels in the end…
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