At the beginning of the civil castle, the Ming God of War was a little panicked

Chapter 195
Holding the handle of the knife on his waist, Zhu Ji came to Zhu Qiyu and said, "Please look, Your Highness, the layout of these two mansions is very strange, especially the rear mansion."

"This place... is indeed strange, but what does it have to do with the Gao family's mansion?"

Of course it's strange, this is not a house, it's clearly a warehouse!

Zhu Ji came to the courtyard wall and said, "Has your Highness noticed that this wall is very short?"

Zhu Qiyu looked at the courtyard wall, nodded and said, "It's a little short, but so what?"

Zhu Ji continued: "This is the back house. Generally speaking, women live in it. Therefore, the walls of the back house are often raised to prevent people from climbing over the wall and disturbing the women's family. However, this Not only is the wall very short, but the materials are also very simple, it seems that a flower wall was built in my own yard, without any defense capability, Manager Li, don’t you think so?”

Li Guanshi's face was ashen at this moment, as if he had nothing to love in his life.

Zhu Qiyu seemed to understand, and said: "You mean, these two houses are connected?"

Zhu Ji said: "The lower officials boldly assert that this mansion is actually owned by the Gao family, or that the Gao family bought it in someone else's name, and it was specially used to hide money. As the money increased, Mr. Gao wanted to I came up with this method so that one day, if the matter is exposed, I can refuse to admit it and leave a way out for myself."

"You... are talking nonsense!"

Gao Zidong rushed forward, hugged Zhu Qiyu's thigh, and cried out: "Your Highness, you must not trust Jin Yiwei's slander, my father has worked hard all his life, everyone can see it, please Your Highness be the master of my father!"

Zhu Qiyu was not moved at all, but nodded at Zhu Ji.

Zhu Ji understood and ordered: "Smash it!"

The school captains immediately became energetic and rushed forward, and a group of people began to break through the wall.

Soon someone said: "There is a...false door..."

The wall was quite weak, and it would break open as soon as it was smashed. There was no plaster between the bricks, and it was only necessary to pull out the bricks one by one.

Someone kicked hard, and there was a hole.

After a little cleaning, you can see the outline of an arch.

The faces of Gao Zidong and the brothers changed suddenly, but they shouted again: "You and the eagle dog, do you still want to stain my father's innocence?"

Zhu Ji sneered and said, "You two might as well talk about it, what's going on with this door?"

"How do we know, this wall has been there since we can remember, it must have been left by the previous owner, maybe..."

Zhu Ji picked up a brick and walked forward.

Gao Zidong backed away in fright, and said in a panic, "You... what are you... going to do?"

But Zhu Ji brought the brick in front of Zhu Qiyu, and said, "Please look, Your Highness, there is a signature on this blue brick!"

Zhu Qiyu took it over and looked carefully, and sure enough, the words "Dongcheng Sunji Workshop Daming Orthodox 11th Year" were engraved on one corner of the blue brick.

Speaking of engraving on bricks, it can be traced back to the early Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang decreed to build the Nanjing City Wall.

The city wall is the most important defensive project in ancient times. The quality of a city wall directly affects the safety of a dynasty.Therefore, in order to ensure the quality of the city bricks and prevent corruption and cutting corners, Zhu Yuanzhang required that the names of responsible officials and manufacturers at all levels be engraved on the city bricks, and a system of assigning responsibility to people was implemented.

If there is a problem with any brick, everyone will be held accountable, from the craftsman who fired the brick to the relevant officials.

Sure enough, this measure greatly increased the quality of the project.

Since then, the habit of engraving on bricks has become popular all over the country, also for the convenience of finding problems and dividing responsibilities.

The signature of this brick shows that it was fired in the orthodox 11th year, that is to say, it is impossible for the Gao brothers to have seen this wall since they were young.

With the facts in front of them, the Gao brothers looked at each other, their faces so pale that there was no trace of blood.

At this time, Li Guanshi, who was sitting on the ground, gave a wry smile and said, "My lord, what you said is correct. The two houses were originally connected. Later, in order to cover people's eyes and ears, a wall was built and only one door was left." , and later, this door was also built."

With the courtyard wall being torn down, the situation has become clear.

Zhu Ji's main job in Fuzhou is to check on corrupt officials. These people hide money by any means.

However, the vast majority of people are reluctant to leave this kind of greedy money.

To put it bluntly, there is no sense of security, so the money is often at a place close to oneself to feel at ease.

Zhu Qiyu was so angry that he looked at the Gao family brothers on the ground and said sarcastically: "The matter has come to this, what else do you have to say?"

The brothers of the Gao family immediately bowed down, kowtowed and said: "His Royal Highness, perhaps this wall was rebuilt by Jin Yiwei who arranged for someone. My father has worked hard all his life, and he has never made any mistakes..."

Up to now, they seem to have no other choice but to refuse to admit it.

Zhu Qiyu sneered and said: "Your family's stewards have admitted it, so what is there to argue about? Could it be that the money was also planted by Jin Yiwei for your family?"

Gao Zidong looked at the warehouses that were full of people, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and said, "Guan Li must have been bribed or threatened by Jin Yiwei. , Wronged!"

Zhu Qiyu remained silent with a cold face, but Zhu Ji laughed and said: "This is easy, whether it is a trap or not, everyone will know it at a glance. You must know that Yinzi can talk."

Everyone looked at Zhu Ji puzzled, how could Yin Zi speak?

Zhu Ji beckoned and ordered someone to bring a whole box of neatly stacked silver ingots to the yard.

"Your Highness, please take a look. These silvers are made into silver ingots and then stored. The silver in this storeroom is old at first glance, and the dust on it is the evidence. The officials have only carefully observed it. There are quite a few warehouses. The silver may not have been artificially moved in the past one or two years. Gao Zidong, let me tell you, Jin Yiwei started to frame you a year ago, and stored the gold and silver in advance. Is it here?"

Gao Zidong was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to do.

Zhu Qiyu's eyes were full of contempt, and he said: "The pillar of the country is really ridiculous!"

Seeing that the matter was exposed and there was no possibility of turning around, Gao Zidong's eyes suddenly turned red, and he shouted: "That's right, the house belongs to my family, and so does the money, it's all my family's!"

Gao Ziliang was still persuading: "Brother, be careful!"

Gao Zidong, on the other hand, seemed to be insane, yelling and roaring, he had already swept the floor in a gentle manner, as if wantonly venting his emotions.

"My father is a cabinet scholar, shouldn't he have some savings? You don't need to count. The silver here is 370 million taels, but what can be done? How many people in the civil and military affairs of the Manchu dynasty are clean?" ? If you really want to investigate, who dares to say that you are innocent? If so, why do you have to target my Gao family?"

Gao Ziliang was still tugging at him: "Brother, stop talking!"

"Second brother, can't you see that whether it is the emperor or the king, they are all the same, there is no difference, they only think that the wealth of the whole world belongs to the Zhu family, and it is only right and proper for them to take it from the Zhu family. If our Gao family took it, they would be corrupt and pervert the law, haha, ridiculous, ridiculous!"

Seeing this, Cao Nai wanted to go forward, but was stopped by Zhu Qiyu.

"Let him go on!"

Gao Zidong was already desperate at this time, with a look of disdain on his face, he continued: "I have seen many ways in the officialdom. I have seen people fighting for power and profit, seeing people corrupting the law, but I have never seen anything that benefits the common people. Making decisions for the people is nothing but a joke, it is precisely because everyone is not clean, so it is necessary to cover up shame under the guise of benevolence and righteousness, isn't it?"

The implication of these words seems to be that they are still justifying their own crimes.

At first, he refused to admit it to death, but now he wants to find an excuse for the money.

"shut up!"

Cao Nai couldn't bear it any longer, and said angrily, "Lord Gao is an important minister in the court. I never imagined that there would be a descendant like you?"

Gao Zidong sneered and said: "Now that the matter has been exposed, we have nothing to say. This is what I got for my father's life, but no one wants to see the jokes of my Gao family. Isn't Jin Yiwei investigating corruption? Well, the whole world Officials in the Ming Dynasty counted one by one, went door-to-door to check, I don’t believe it, officials in Ming Dynasty, who doesn’t have tens of thousands of taels of silver at home?”

Zhu Qiyu's face was frosty, and he said to Zhu Ji: "According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, investigate this case strictly!"

After finishing speaking, he walked out without looking back.

Cao Nai and the others shook their heads, sighed again, turned around and followed.

Zhu Ji ordered: "Bring all the suspects involved back to Zhao Prison, and leave the rest behind to count the stolen money!"

Counting money is not an easy task, after all, the amount is too large.

Jin Yiwei gathered all the clerks and scribes here, and it took three days to complete the inventory.

Gao Zidong was right, the total amount of silver here was 370 million taels.

In addition, there are more than 20 taels of gold. If all of them are converted into silver, it is about 200 million taels.

There are also a large number of jewelry and jade, antique calligraphy and paintings, and real estate title deeds, which cannot be valued for the time being.

Immediately afterwards, dozens of carts started heading towards the treasury.

The carts were filled with gold and silver.

These gold and silver, at least for ordinary people, almost dare not even think about it.

After a lifetime of hard work, the family's savings are only a few taels of silver.

But here, gold and silver are loaded in carts.

Looking at the long dragon-like carriage, many people's eyes straightened.

From being filled with righteous indignation at the beginning, they became dazed, dazed... until angry!
The captain who escorted the car along the way seemed very nervous, as if everyone looked like someone who wanted to hijack gold and silver.

Finally, someone began to curse: "Things that are not as good as pigs and dogs have been greedy for so much money!"

Unexpectedly, a scholar immediately stood up and retorted: "Don't believe it, Mr. Gao Ge is usually reluctant to change his sedan chair. He only has four regular clothes all year round. How could he have so much gold and silver? This must be framed by Jin Yiwei." !"

"I also want to be framed by Jin Yiwei. With so much money, even if it is put in my house for a day, I can take a look at it happily, and I am willing to die!"

"Hahaha………"

Everyone burst into laughter immediately, as if they had heard the funniest joke in the world.

Immediately afterwards, someone shouted again: "It's all like this, and you still speak for him, is it your part?"

"You guys... Humph, Li Zi is not enough and tricky!"

"what did he say?"

"He seems to be scolding us..."

"Master, who are you scolding?"

Seeing that the situation is not good, those scholars have already slipped away.

Zhu Ji handed over all the gold and silver to the state treasury, and then sorted out a memorial. Before sending it to Nanjing, he went to Wenhua Hall and submitted it to Zhu Qiyu.

Zhu Qiyu was also very sad. He saw with his own eyes that Gao Zhu's home was very simple, and all the furniture looked dilapidated.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but ask: "How did he manage to keep his sleeves clean while confiscating countless belongings?"

Zhu Ji thought for a while, then slowly said: "Thinking about it, the more greedy a person is, the more he cares about these false names."

Zhu Qiyu couldn't help shaking his head and sighing, and said: "This king almost misunderstood Jin Yiwei. I really didn't expect that such a dignified cabinet scholar is such a person. Could it be that my Da Ming officialdom is really like what the Gao family brothers said, no official is not corrupt?"

Zhu Ji replied: "Your Highness, have you ever wondered why no one has discovered that Gao Zhu is so greedy? Over the years, everyone has praised him for his clean sleeves. What is the reason for this?"

Zhu Qiyu was taken aback for a moment, and then asked: "Could it be that he hides deeply enough?"

Zhu Ji shook his head and said: "No matter how deep he hides, he will always be noticed for decades. If there are some clues, Jin Yiwei and Dongchang will intervene. Therefore, the lower officials think that most of the time on weekdays, he is indeed It's a breeze."

Zhu Qiyu was puzzled and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"The lower official thinks that almost most of the people who come to give money on weekdays, he doesn't accept it, maybe...he only accepts gifts from a very small number of people."

Zhu Qiyu was surprised and said: "More than five million taels, is it just a small part?"

Zhu Ji continued: "This is just the inference of the lower officials. Since the factory guard has not noticed it, the only possibility is that he is clean and honest most of the time. Those who really give him benefits and are willing to accept them, It must be very few."

Zhu Qiyu couldn't help taking a deep breath.

If this Gao Zhu was greedy and greedy, he would not be shocked when he saw money.

Because, the fact is right in front of you, there is indeed so much gold and silver piled up here.

Even if he charges 1000 people, 1 people, it makes sense.

But if only a few people are collected, more than five million taels of silver can be obtained, which is truly terrifying!

Since these people are willing to spend more than 500 million taels as gifts, one can imagine how much interest is involved behind this?

Zhu Qiyu stood up, frowning, pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back.

"Who has so much silver? And why are they willing to pay such a high price?"

Zhu Ji replied: "These people can't get up early without profit. The benefits they want to seek must be far beyond several million taels of silver, and even...they may not be the only one who bribed Gao Zhu!"

(End of this chapter)