"Retreat!"
"We respectfully send you off, Your Majesty!"
The civil and military officials withdrew from the Imperial Palace in an orderly manner and returned to their respective positions.
It was an ordinary court discussion, and it ended earlier than the previous ones.
However, he had made dozens of officials above the fifth rank fall from their horses, including the Left Imperial Censor, a second-rank official.
The future stars of the three parties of Zhejiang, Chu and Qi were exiled, and there was no possibility of reissuing the edict.
Immediately after, the old affairs of the imperial concubines of the two dynasties were exposed and they were ordered to die one after another!
It could be called a "palace coup".
The cabinet!
"Lord Chief, what is the reason for the change in His Majesty's temperament?”
Fang Congzhe asked worriedly as he skillfully brewed tea and sniffed the faint tea fragrance in the air.
After every court meeting, the chief assistant and the second assistant were used to making a pot of tea and sitting together to chat about the palace, the officials, and the major events of the court.
A minister of extreme status!
Even Prime Minister Ye Xianggao enjoyed chatting with the second-in-command. It was lonely.
But today, he felt more fear.
"I don't know. From the current situation, Your Majesty's elimination of treacherous officials and killing of rebellious concubines are beneficial to the development of the country.”
Ye Xianggao took a sip of the hot tea and said,""The only bad thing is that His Majesty's methods are too ruthless. There are 1,000 officials in the capital and 130 courtiers. Today, more than 30 people's families have been confiscated and exterminated.”
"Almost all of the imperial censors in the Overwatch Department have been wiped out. What do you think, Lord Chief Assistant?”
Hearing this, Fang Congzhe's depressed mood eased up a lot. He refilled the teacup nearby and smiled.
Humans were afraid of comparison.
The Zhe Party lost a leader, but the Donglin Party lost almost half of their power.
It was like losing an arm and damaging ten fingers.
"The Overseer's Office is empty, so we can just let a new person fill in. Zhonghan (Fang Congzhe), do you have any ideas?”
Ye Xianggao was very calm and said with a smile that was not a smile,""We have been colleagues for many years. Zhonghan, I must remind you that His Majesty's bloodbath in the royal court is not to redistribute the powers of the Donglin, Zhe-Chu-Qi factions.”
With Emperor Tianqi's strength today, he would definitely not tolerate anyone. Now, everyone knew that there were many empty positions in the Inspectorate. All the parties wanted to squeeze their own people in, but it would not be easy.
"Thank you for your reminder, Chief."
Fang Congzhe suddenly woke up with a layer of cold sweat on his back. He said with lingering fear,"Could this be a trap deliberately left behind by His Majesty?”
In the morning court, after the Overseer Department was wiped out, Emperor Tianqi should have asked the cabinet to draft a new candidate, especially for the important positions of the Left Imperial Censor and the Right Deputy Imperial Censor.
However, at that time, all the civil and military officials in the court were shocked by the iron-blooded Emperor Tianqi. Then, they hurriedly dismissed the court and completely forgot that the Inspectorate had been wiped out.
People had reflexes. After such a long period of calm, the leaders of the Chu Party and the Qi Party probably realized that the Overseer's Office was waiting for their people to recommend themselves.
Fang Congzhe's limbs turned cold at this thought.
"Trying to figure out the Emperor's Heart is a troublesome matter. In any case, this old man would rather cripple my own arms than interfere with the matters of the Overseer's Department.”
Ye Xianggao stood up and returned to his desk to deal with government affairs. He continued,""Let's wait. In any case, the appointment of the Inspectorate will not go past the cabinet in the end. The most important thing now is the problem of that Fujian county magistrate, Yuan Chonghuan.
Jumping from Rank-8 to the position of Nine Ministers, I really want to see if this Yuan Chonghuan has three heads and six arms?”
At the end of his speech, Ye Xianggao revealed a trace of unwillingness. In his opinion, those things like Houjin were purely for the generals of the Ming Dynasty to gain military merits.
Although Old Ye had his own selfish motives for recommending his good friend Xiong Tingbi and his student Zhang Heming, he had used ruthless people to get rid of Hou Jin.
However, the position of Military Supervisor had been snatched by the Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of War, Wang Zaijin, and the position of Jiliao Military Governor had been snatched by an unknown "nobody". How could he be willing to accept this?
"The imperial edict has been sent to Fujian. Yuan Chonghuan will arrive in the capital in a few days and will be with us.”
At the end of the chat, Fang Congzhe did not forget to annoy the chief assistant and returned to their positions.
……
Warm Pavilion!
Zhu Youxiao continued to work with the carpentry, chopping and chopping while listening to Wei Zhongxian's report.
"Your Majesty, in the home of Zhao Nanxing, the censor of the Left Capital, a total of 100,000 taels of gold, 810,000 taels of silver, three million taels of silver for antique calligraphy and paintings, and 1,000 hectares of farmland in Jiangnan were found, totaling more than 6.5 million taels of silver!”
Zhu Youxiao's hand holding the axe tilted, and an unfinished woodwork was immediately scrapped.
A shocking number. A second-grade official had embezzled and accepted bribes totaling 6.5 million taels, which was almost a year's tax of Ying Tian Prefecture.
It was no wonder. The history books recorded that when Chongzhen proclaimed himself emperor in the southeast, Li Zicheng invaded Beijing and found 37 million taels of silver from officials, wealthy merchants, and powerful families.
Not to mention that the chaos in the Ming Dynasty had just begun, and the assets of these guys had not been transferred yet. There were countless treasures in their homes, and they had countless taels of silver.
"The Imperial Censor of the Left, Zhao Nanxing, has his entire family executed and his property confiscated. The women will be banished to the Education Bureau and will be slaves forever.”
Zhu Youxiao calmed down and issued the first imperial edict.
"This servant will obey!"
Wei Zhongxian noted this down and asked softly,""I wonder if the emperor will continue to listen to the other officials about the investigation?”
"Listen!"
"In the home of the Right Vice Censor Sun Kexiang, a total of 100,000 taels of gold, 560,000 taels of silver, 2,500,000 taels of rare calligraphy and paintings, and 100 hectares of good farmland in Shuntian Prefecture were confiscated. The total value is over 5,000,000 taels of silver!”
"It is decreed that the right deputy censor Sun Kexiang's entire family will be executed. His property will be confiscated, and all his womenfolk will be banished to the Education Department to be slaves forever.”
"In the home of Wu Huaixian, the Left Imperial Censor of the Inspectorate, a total of 80,000 taels of gold and 360,000 taels of silver were confiscated. Rare paintings and calligraphy were estimated to be worth about two million taels of silver, as well as a hundred hectares of fertile land in Yingtian Prefecture.”
“……”
"Your Majesty, the above thirty-two officials confiscated a total of twenty-four million taels of silver!”
Wei Zhongxian's body became more and more hunched. He paused and said,""In addition, the leader of the Zhe Party, Yao Zongwen, the future star of the Chu Party, Huang Yanshi, and the future star of the Qi Party, Wang Weijian, paid a total of six million taels of silver and exiled themselves three thousand miles away from the capital.”
After reading all of it, Wei Zhongxian still didn't dare to get up. Sweat kept dripping from his forehead. His eyes were constantly paying attention to the axe that was being swung, afraid that the axe would fall on him in the next second.
"Big Partner Wei, tell me, if I kill all the civil and military officials in the court, can I save the world?”
After a long time, Zhu Youxiao laughed loudly.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。