The days when I ransacked the house in Jinyiwei

Emperor Zhengde asked Wang Yi to spend 60,000 taels of silver to buy a carp. Even if the carp was made of gold, it would not be worth 60,000 taels.

All the civil officials were stunned.

Oh my god! The great emperor of the Ming Dynasty actually blackmailed his own ministers.

The civil officials of the Ming Dynasty were very strange. In their eyes, as ministers, they should not indulge the emperor's faults.

The eyes of the civil servants present were fixed on Wang Yi's face. They seemed to be saying: Little Yi, we have come all the way to the imperial examinations, we can't lose face!
Wang Yi said sternly, "Your Majesty, I do not have 60,000 taels of silver. Do you think I should sell my children to satisfy the emperor's selfish desires?"

Emperor Zhengde smiled slightly: "Really? Why are you pretending to be penniless in front of Master Chang of the Imperial Guard?"

Wang Yi even dared to ask Emperor Zhengde: "Why does the emperor say that?"

Emperor Zhengde said, "Do you know that Chang Feng has opened a private file for you in the Jinyiwei? Do you really want me to calculate your assets? Three years ago, you were the governor of Yingtian. At that time, you didn't have an acre of land or a house in Yingtian. In the past three years, you have made money in a good way. There are a full 11,000 acres of good land in Yingtian alone. In addition, there are 16 houses. All of them are large houses with several entrances and exits."

"Chang Feng reports. Just your land and property in Yingtian is worth more than 70,000 taels of silver."

"In addition, Nanjing brocade is the best silk in the world. After you took office in Yingtian, you bought shares in almost half of the brocade workshops. Every year, you get 30,000 taels of cash in bonuses alone."

"The annual maintenance of Taizu's mausoleum is under the charge of Yingtian's governor. You have never embezzled the maintenance money. But you have contracted all the maintenance projects to your own students, old friends, relatives and friends. In the past three years, your relatives have earned at least 80,000 taels. At least half of it should be given to you, right?"

"Since the establishment of the Yingtian Governor in the Xuande Period, the Yingtian Governor has had another part-time job besides governing the territory. That is to supervise the grain storage of the entire Jiangnan region. You have six grain stores under your control. Every year, the grain storage in Jiangnan is reported to be lost to rats, insects, and mold, amounting to more than 100,000 dan. How much of these 100,000 dan went into your six grain stores? Don't you know it yourself?"

"Chang Feng has investigated and reported all these things clearly. Why are you pretending to be honest in front of me today?"

Emperor Zhengde's words not only shocked the civil officials, but also shocked Chang Feng!

Chang Feng never reported Wang Yi's corruption details to Emperor Zhengde, but Emperor Zhengde said that he was the one who reported it. This was tantamount to making an enemy for Chang Feng.

Chang Feng thought: It seems that the emperor wants to push me to the opposite side of the civil officials. This will make me be his weapon to suppress the civil officials.

Emperor Zhengde was spitting all over the place, and he became more and more excited as he spoke: "Wang Yi, according to this calculation, selling this fish to you for 60,000 taels is too expensive! No, you have to pay more!"

Wang Yi stood there in a daze: "May I ask Your Majesty, how much should I add?"

Emperor Zhengde rolled his eyes and said, "Good things come in pairs. Just two 60,000 taels! One hundred and twenty thousand taels! You are a scoundrel who talks about Confucius and Mencius but only cares about money. I will not remove you from office or take your life. I only want your money and cut out the flesh of your heart!"

Wang Yi kowtowed and said, "I buy it. I buy it."

Emperor Zhengde turned around and asked Chang Feng: "What is the full official title of the Yingtian Governor?"

Chang Feng replied: "Your Majesty, the full title is 'Grain Reserve Superintendent, Military Affairs Superintendent and Governor of Yingtian Prefecture.'"

Emperor Zhengde asked again: "You are a Jinshi, so you should know the Ming Dynasty's official system very well. What are the duties of the Yingtian governor?"

Chang Feng replied, "The governor of Yingtian has four responsibilities. First, to supervise all government granaries south of the Yangtze River. Second, to govern the ten prefectures of Yingtian, Zhenjiang, Taiping, Chizhou, Anqing, Ningguo, Songjiang, Changzhou, Suzhou, Huizhou and Guangde Prefecture. Third, except for Yingtian, all the garrisons in the above nine prefectures and one prefecture are under his supervision. Fourth, he is also responsible for the repair of the Xiaoling Mausoleum and the annual grand sacrifice."

Emperor Zhengde said: "Oh, in charge of such a large territory and so many important affairs. The Governor of Yingtian can be called a local lord!"

"From now on, the eunuchs will be in charge of the Jiangnan warehouse. The Yingtian governor will no longer supervise the warehouse affairs."

"Except Yingtian, Suzhou, Songjiang, Huizhou and other ten wealthy places will have ten junior supervisors to supervise the local prefects in governing."

"The military forces of the ten territories will also be supervised by the junior supervisors of each region."

"A new eunuch will be appointed to be in charge of the Xiaoling Mausoleum's incense. All matters concerning the Xiaoling Mausoleum will be handled by the eunuch in charge of incense."

Not only the civil servants were stunned, but even Chang Feng was stunned.

Chang Feng thought: The Governor of Yingtian was originally a governor of a province. He was in charge of both the army and the food supply, and he was also in charge of the eleven most prosperous prefectures in the entire Ming Dynasty. The emperor actually split up the power of the Governor of Yingtian and distributed it to the eunuchs in the palace? How cruel! How cruel!
Emperor Zhengde said loudly again: "My dear ministers, do you know how Chang Feng rose to prominence in the Jinyiwei at the end of Chenghua? He relied on the confiscation of the residence of Cai Zhong, the most corrupt official in Chenghua. Chang Feng, how much silver did you seize at that time?" Chang Feng replied: "30,000 taels."

Emperor Zhengde sneered, "Oh, only 30,000 taels were seized from the mansion of the most corrupt official in the Chenghua Dynasty. But now any local civil servant can take out 120,000 taels to buy a fish from me!"

"The late emperor was good in everything except that he was too indulgent towards you, the civil servants!"

This was an extremely outrageous statement. Coming from the mouth of Emperor Zhengde, it was almost equivalent to declaring war on the civil service group.

The civil servants looked at each other in bewilderment.

At this moment, Wang Yi had collapsed on the ground like a puddle of mud.

Emperor Zhengde said, "Why don't you help Governor Wang back to his palace to rest?"

Two Jinyiwei came forward and dragged Wang Yi away like a dead dog.

Emperor Zhengde smiled at Chang Feng and said, "Uncle, shall we continue fishing?"

Chang Feng said: "Your Majesty, please put down the pole first."

Emperor Zhengde smiled and said, "You are my elder. You go first."

Chang Feng said: "Confucius and Mencius advocated that the ruler should be the ruler and the minister should be the minister. I dare not overstep my authority."

Emperor Zhengde laughed and said, "Haha, then I won't be polite!"

After saying this, Emperor Zhengde raised his pole.

Not long after, Emperor Zhengde caught another fish, this time a small crucian carp weighing two taels.

Emperor Zhengde looked at the civil officials in Jiangnan. They all looked ashen, wondering who Emperor Zhengde was going to punish next.

Emperor Zhengde smiled slightly and asked, "Where is Nanjing's Minister of War Qiao Yu?"

The civil servants heaved a sigh of relief: Are you going to punish Qiao Yu? Do it as hard as you can!

In the eyes of the civil officials, Qiao Yu was a lonely and weird person. The high officials in Jiangnan usually hosted banquets for each other, drinking fine wine, eating dragon liver and phoenix marrow, and admiring beautiful women. Qiao Yu never participated.

This person is not from the Jiangnan civil service circle. He is an outlier.

Qiao Yu stepped forward and knelt down: "I am here."

Emperor Zhengde said, "This little crucian carp is a reward for you."

Qiao Yu blurted out: "I have no money."

Wang Yi said he had no money, that was nonsense. Qiao Yu said he had no money, he really had no money.

The civil officials were expecting Emperor Zhengde to play a trick on Qiao Yu. Unexpectedly, Emperor Zhengde said, "Qiao, I know you are honest. I will give you the crucian carp for free. In addition, I will give you 500 taels of silver from the inner transport warehouse."

"It is said that the six ministries in Nanjing are a place for the elderly to retire. However, you have been working diligently as the Minister of War in Nanjing. I am very pleased. I will also grant you the title of Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince."

The civil servants were all shocked. The emperor had been punishing civil servants wherever he went during his southern expedition. Why did he reward Qiao Yu so much?

Chang Feng's mind was as clear as a mirror: Oh, how could I forget. Qiao Yu is Yang Yiqing's student!

Emperor Zhengde has already made plans to remove Yang Tinghe from his position as Prime Minister after returning to Beijing and replace him with Yang Yiqing. Today, I reward Yang Yiqing's students, which is equivalent to expressing an attitude: I will not only not punish anyone who belongs to Yang Yiqing, but will also make important use of them! (End of this chapter)