Wende Palace.
Zhao Xu stood beside the coral tree and observed it carefully. The coral tree was 1.5 meters tall and was bright green. It was decorated with colorful gems and pearls.
Such coral trees were rare in the world. According to the scholars of the Imperial Academy, pearl divers picked them from the deep sea.
The Eastern Sea Prince, Zhao Dong, who had his house confiscated, was the richest man in the capital. His house had tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land and more than ten private merchant ships that traveled across the sea.
The palace recorded Zhao Dong's specific information. During the reign of Emperor Renzong, he began to travel the sea and became very close to Nanyang merchants.
Zhao Dong also had another big business, which was selling official posts.
The Detective Division had caught Zhao Dong on this point. As a Regional King, he was a first-grade official and had a great influence on the personnel of the court. The Detective Division had investigated and found out that a lot of the silver in Old Lady Cao's palace treasury had been given by Zhao Dong.
"It's really like a snake swallowing an elephant.”Zhao Xu looked at the rare coral tree.
However, Zhao Xu was still grateful to Zhao Dong. To be able to gather 50 million strings in such a short period of time, he, Zhao Dong, had contributed greatly. This person was also a miser and did not know how to enjoy life. Most of the silver he earned was stored in the various silver banks under his name.
Zhao Xu decided not to kill him and had Clansmen Temple lock him up.
To a certain extent, this was also a "meritorious service".
The G Storm was still raging. Sima Guang and Wang Anshi were getting more and more energetic. They were honest people and hated corrupt officials.
Zhao Xu was also happy to see this happen. The corruption was the main reason why Song Ting looked strong on the outside but was weak on the inside. This time, he could uproot him. It would be much easier in the future.
On the seventh day, Sima Guang and Wang Anshi overfulfilled their tasks. The income from the looting of their homes was as high as 83 million strings of coins in the national treasury.
Eighty million strings of strings was enough for the imperial court to use for nine months.
If the redundant soldiers and officials were abolished, then these 80 million strings would be enough for several years.
Zhao Xu understood immediately.
Now that the national treasury was full, he could do whatever he wanted.
There were a total of twenty-one officials whose families were confiscated. There were relatives of the imperial family, officials of the six ministries, and even officials of the Imperial Censorate and the Supreme Court.
Most of them were officials from the Ministry of Works, because the Ministry of Works was the yamen that was most prone to corruption.
The Ministry of Works was in charge of building palaces, water transport, weapon manufacturing, and other tasks.
A mere Minister of Works was able to steal two million strings of money, which was equivalent to one billion yuan, calculated based on grain prices.
According to the laws of the Great Song, all twenty-one of them had to be beheaded.
In the throne room, after Zhao Xu announced the beheading, the entire court was shocked.
It was unheard of for a civil servant to be beheaded for corruption.
Unexpectedly, the new emperor did a series of shocking things as soon as he ascended the throne. However, what was convincing was that what the emperor did was reasonable, but he was more determined and unprecedented. There was no room for negotiation.
Sima Guang and Wang Anshi, who were in charge of anti-corruption, reported that there were still many corrupt officials who had not been found out. This storm would continue to blow.
Zhao Xu stopped him in time and said,"
"Enough is enough. If the water is clear, there will be no fish.”
If the investigation continued at this rate, it was likely that there would not be more than ten people attending court in the Throne Room in a few days.
It was the Song Dynasty's fault for not seriously fighting corruption since the Zhenzong Dynasty. As long as officials were corrupt and there was no supervision or punishment, the inevitable result was that no official was corrupt.
Zhao Xu only wanted to gather enough for the national treasury and did not want to kill all the officials. Otherwise, who would work for him?
When the officials of the court saw that the Emperor had shouted for them to stop in time, they secretly lined their chests and said that they were lucky.
The G Storm had been stopped, but the rules were still there, and they were very tough.
Zhao Xu announced that from today onwards, whoever dared to commit crimes and commit corruption would be punished with an additional level of punishment. He even brought up the unprecedented punishment of extermination.
Since the Song Dynasty, there had never been an extermination of an entire clan. Even if it was treason, the most they could do was to behead the criminal and exile their relatives.
From the Prime Minister Sima Guang to the fifth and sixth rank officials in the throne room, everyone was terrified. Under the harsh punishment, they could no longer return to the tolerant and relaxed political atmosphere of the past.
If one were to investigate carefully, even Sima Guang wasn't so clean. According to the laws of the Great Song, accepting gifts of more than 1,000 strings of strings of money from students and old friends was considered corruption. However, the laws of the Great Song had never really been implemented against corruption, so they didn't abide by the law and didn't enforce it strictly.
There were also truly upright officials, such as Wen Yanbo and Wang Anshi. They praised the emperor's wisdom in their hearts. The court should have done so long ago.
The vigorous G Storm lasted for seven days and completely changed the official atmosphere of the court. The officials were in awe of Zhao Xu. The new emperor's thunderous methods let them see what the power of an emperor was.
When the twenty-one heads fell to the ground, the entire capital was shaken. Under the smell of blood, the commoners knew that the situation had changed. The current emperor was a ruthless character.
Many commoners felt that the Emperor's action was very satisfying and even gathered money to buy firecrackers to celebrate. Some small businessmen who were usually bullied by the officials also joined in.
The officials were the ones who were in a constant state of panic. From now on, being an official was no longer without risk. The guillotine had already fallen, and the next one might be you.
If the officials did not have a livelihood, the people would be at ease. If the officials were at ease, the people would not have a livelihood.
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