The First Corrupt Official of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 275 Mr. Ye’s local specialties are worthless, Zhu Yuanzhang was persuaded by reason, and his father-in-law besieged Xu Da!

Outside the Taiyuan government office,
Twenty royal guards wearing brocade clothes, golden armor, and embroidered spring knives on their waists had already lined up in two directions.

Next to the Jin Yiwei, there were twenty government officials standing. Although they were not as glamorous as the imperial Jin Yiwei, they were all energetic and had sharp eyes.

After a while, Liu Wencheng and Zheng Shiyuan walked out of the government office gate.

Jiang Wei and the head of the yamen team led the way on horseback, while Liu Wencheng, Zheng Shiyuan and Han Yike followed closely behind.

The people on both sides looked at this scene with horror on their faces.

"Our Lord Liu is a fourth-grade official, why are we so polite to these two seventh-grade junior officials wearing green official robes?"

"Isn't Mr. Ye, the magistrate of Yanmen County, also a seventh-grade official? Doesn't Mr. Liu still have to be coaxed?"

"How many Lord Ye are there in the world? Can they compare to Lord Ye?"

"They are imperial envoys, high-ranking imperial envoys!"

Among the crowd, a young man who looked like a scholar looked at the green official robe going away and said seriously and firmly.

At the same time, the people who heard this immediately became serious.

They just hope that these imperial envoys are not blind and do not wrongly accuse these real 'parents'!
Under the warm spring sun,

This team, representing the Ming Dynasty court and local officials, left Yangqu County, the prefecture of Taiyuan Prefecture.

In the next half month, they passed through Yuci County, Taigu County, Qi County, Xugou County, Qingyuan County, Jiaocheng County, Wenshui County, Shouyang County, Taiyuan County, Yu County, Jingxian County, etc. Le County and Hequ County.

Among the twelve counties directly under the jurisdiction of Taiyuan Prefecture, each county has an average of two granaries, either war preparation granaries, disaster preparedness granaries, or liquidation granaries.

All the war preparation granaries are full of grains, and they are all the newly harvested grains from last autumn!
Disaster preparedness granaries are being built, and the progress of each project is different. Some have been capped and are undergoing anti-corrosion treatment, and some have not yet been capped!
As for the cash granary that will be repaired next year, foundation piles have already been started at the selected site!

In the officialdom of Yangqu County, where the government is headed, even Zheng Shiyuan, who has always been serious in front of others, rarely smiles.

Not only that, he also took a horse ride while enjoying the scenery on both sides of the road.

In fact, not only Zheng Shiyuan, but also Han Yike and Jiang Wei also looked relaxed, as if they had overcome some huge difficulty.

Liu Wencheng looked at this scene, just touched his beard, and nodded with satisfaction.

In his opinion, this is the best result!
He could see that these three imperial envoys had completely lost the so-called 'sense of guilt' mentally!
As the saying goes, they are short-tongued and soft-handed. These days, they have enjoyed happiness that they never dared to imagine. If you don't help them speak kindly in front of you, you will be unkind.

But if they are guilty, speaking a good word for them in front of the emperor is a serious crime of accepting bribes and betrays the trust of His Majesty the Emperor.

But judging from the current investigation, no matter whether His Majesty the Emperor feels guilty or not, in their opinion, he is innocent and meritorious.

In other words, even without these unimaginable treats, they would still try their best to put in good words for Ye Qing.

Accepting hospitality under such circumstances, without spending a penny of public money, naturally does not make you feel guilty!

Not to mention Liu Wencheng, even they themselves have been inviting friends and colleagues to dinner for a long time, but because they don’t have enough money, they only treat them with simple meals!

Judging from the net worth of Ye Qing and Liu Wencheng, this so-called hospitality is not much different from the simple meals they treat others to!

Early the next morning, on the official road beside the boundary monument of Yangqu County, Taiyuan Prefecture.

The magistrates and magistrates of Taiyuan Prefecture are delivering souvenirs to the young men of Jinyiwei.

A young man in Jinyiwei looked at the small bag in his hand. The fabric of this small bag was very poor, and it looked like a footcloth. It could be said that even looking at a dog would disgust him.

The small bag is not big and doesn't hold much, just enough to grab a handful.

But these few souvenirs are really a bit heavy!
At this moment, Liu Wencheng personally handed three bags of local specialties into the hands of Zheng Shiyuan and the others!

The material of the bag still looks disgusting to dogs, but the capacity is several times larger!
The bags for Jinyiwei boys to carry souvenirs are as big as purses, but the bags for them to hold souvenirs are as big as backpacks!

Not to mention Zheng Shiyuan and Han Yike, even Jiang Yu, who was highly skilled in martial arts, almost lost his grip.

“What souvenir is so heavy?”

Liu Wencheng said with a smile: "Just some worthless souvenirs!"

Jiang Wei took out a handful of 'local specialties' and placed them under the sun, which instantly reflected dazzling gold and silver light.

"Master Liu, do you think these are worthless souvenirs?"

Liu Wencheng still smiled and explained: "Of course they are worthless souvenirs!"

"What is money? My Ming Dynasty money refers to copper coins and treasure banknotes, not these gold and silver coins that I don't know where they come from."

"Look at the patterns and words on it, and use this gold coin as a metaphor. It's actually a pattern of a woman wearing a crown and holding a scepter. There are also these words that look like earthworms crawling. You don't think so. Do you know me?"

"These things cannot be spent directly as money, so naturally they are worthless souvenirs!"

"Because Mr. Ye has done a good job in foreign trade, these worthless souvenirs are our local specialties!"

"General Jiang, do you think your officer is right?"

Jiang Wei just rolled his eyes, then nodded with a smile and said: "Master Liu is right, then I, the general, will be disrespectful."

"Please rest assured, Mr. Liu, we will repay you truthfully!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Wei turned into a coachman again and drove the carriage in the direction of Yingtian Mansion.

After the carriage,

Zheng Shiyuan looked at the huge bag of local specialties at his feet, and cold sweat could not stop pouring out of his forehead.

He glared at Han Yike across from him and cursed: "Master Han, how could you accept such a valuable gift?"

"You can just accept it. How can you ask the Jin Yiwei to drag me into the car and not allow me to say no?"

"Do you know what you are doing?"

"Please touch your head to see if it's still there!"

Not only did Han Yike not get angry, he even smiled and said, "Mr. Zheng, which of your ears saw that I asked Jin Yiwei to do something, and which of your eyes saw that I winked at Jin Yiwei?"

Zheng Shiyuan thought carefully and found that although Han Yike did not refuse, he did not explicitly hint that Jin Yiwei had passed.

Immediately afterwards, Han Yike whispered to Zheng Shiyuan.

It was this whisper that reminded Zheng Shiyuan of a detail he had overlooked before, that is, when Jiang Wei was talking to Liu Wencheng, the hand hidden behind his back made a gesture to Jin Yiwei.

"Is it General Jiang?"

Han Yike whispered: "Mr. Zheng, it is right for you to adhere to principles when you go out on errands, but sometimes you still have to learn to be flexible."

"A weapon that is too strong will break easily!"

"My salary is the lowest in history. This is the fundamental reason why corrupt officials cannot be killed!"

"Master Ye uses this way to govern the world, and he can make your majesty want to kill but be reluctant to kill him. What does this mean? This means that your majesty's ideas may be changed by Lord Ye!"

"If Mr. Ye really treats the common people like a fish, he will die even if we accept the gift or not!"

"But what he has done is enough to make me do my best to speak for him even if I don't accept gifts!"

"In that case, why not accept it?"

"Some gifts must not be taken, but some gifts are better to take than not to take!"

“And these souvenirs are better to have than not to have them!”

"Besides, these souvenirs are indeed valuable to you and me, but to Mr. Ye, they are just worthless souvenirs!"

"."

Under Han Yike's sincere guidance, Zheng Shiyuan became enlightened a little bit, but only a little bit.

Half a month later, Zheng Shiyuan and his party returned to Yingtian Mansion, but when they arrived, the morning court had already ended.

On the way to the Imperial Study Room, the two of them were dressed in court uniforms, holding the swords gifted by Zhu Yuanzhang and the unopened handwritten edict respectively.

Not only that, they were also carrying the 'local specialties' given by Liu Wencheng on behalf of Ye Qing!
Although Han Yike thought that judging from the situation at that time, it was better to hold these souvenirs than not to hold them, but he knew better that only with the permission of His Majesty the Emperor, these souvenirs could really be held without being hot to the touch!
But when they entered the royal study, they were stunned by the scene in front of them.

It turned out that they were not the only ones who realized this, even Jiang Yu and the young men from Jinyiwei also had this understanding.

On the dragon table in the royal study room, there is a large bag of local specialties and twenty small bags of local specialties neatly placed!
Looking at this scene, Han Yike felt that he had underestimated Jin Yiwei!
These people were carefully selected by Zhu Yuanzhang from among his own troops. How could they not understand Zhu Yuanzhang's character?

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the two big burdens behind them, and then there was a hint of relief in his eyebrows.

Even before the two of them came in, he had made up his mind. If the two of them didn't bring these local products, Ye Qing would have to die, but they would have to die!
Fortunately, these two people made the wisest decision and did not accept Ye Qing's gift behind his back.

In fact, he didn't allow his people to accept Ye Qing's gifts. Did Mao Xiang and the others accept Ye Qing's gifts from him?

But there is an essential difference between accepting gifts in front of him and accepting gifts behind his back. Fortunately, their behavior is no different from accepting gifts in front of him!
Zhu Yuanzhang just said seriously: "Jiang Wei has already stated the results of your investigation."

"Now, let's hear you say it again!"

The two put down their baggage, handed over their sabers and imperial edicts, and then began to talk about the key points.

After explaining the investigation results, the two began to put in good words for Ye Qing.

But as soon as they started talking, they saw Zhu Yuanzhang frowning and looking extremely impatient.

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately interrupted: "We want you to investigate the truth, not to decide what is right or wrong for us."

"Go down!"

The two of them quickly shut up, bowed, and exited the imperial study.

After the two people left the Imperial Study Room, they just looked in the direction of Yanmen County, with worries in their eyes. They just sighed and went straight out of the palace.

They also wanted to speak for Ye Qing, but if they continued, their heads would be in danger.

There is no other way. Mr. Ye, who they think has merits and demerits, can only ask for blessings!
At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang was just sitting on the dragon throne, looking at the many local products in front of him with deep and complicated eyes.This was the way he was when dealing with Ye Qing's problem. Even though he knew Ye Qing was doing the right thing, he didn't want his people to say good things about Ye Qing to him.

It could be understood that he was jealous, or that he didn't like the feeling of being poached.

"Come on,"

"Go and call us the Queen and the Prince!"

After a while, Queen Ma and Zhu Biao came to the imperial study room one after another.

After the mother and son heard the truth about Ye Qing's evasion of agricultural taxes, they immediately vividly acted out the words "overjoyed" in front of Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Chongba, I'm right, you almost killed a wise minister who served the country and the people, and you won't regret it until you cry!"

"Dad, you really need to change your temper. You still have to listen to your mother most of the time."

"."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Queen Ma and Zhu Biao, who were about to change their surname to 'Ye', and really wanted to slap each of them in the face.

But then I thought about it and realized that what the mother and son said was indeed the truth.

He just said seriously: "Isn't he wrong at all?"

"Are you two blind? You can't see all the baggage on our desk. Open it yourself and see what's inside!"

The two of them looked at the many unattractive baggage, and then opened it curiously.

They looked at the 'local specialties' inside that couldn't be spent directly as money, but could be exchanged for a lot of money, and they immediately knew what was going on.

Thinking of this, Empress Ma and Zhu Biao also had expressions of embarrassment. Ye Qing really couldn't praise him, something would happen if he praised him!

This matter is called bribing an imperial envoy in a big way, but it is not impossible to say it in a small way!

Empress Ma winked at Zhu Biao, and the two became a virtuous wife and filial son in a tacit understanding. One helped Zhu Yuanzhang sit down, and the other made tea for Zhu Yuanzhang.

"No, you two, don't do this!"

"We will definitely reward Ye Qing for his contribution to building a warehouse, but we must also punish him for Ye Qing's bribery!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang did not sit down or drink tea. He crossed his hands and raised his head, looking extremely tough.

Empress Ma saw that Zhu Yuanzhang was unable to get in, so she went directly behind the pillar.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew at a glance that she was going to get the feather duster, so he immediately sat down and said, "Sister, please tell me what you have to say."

"Get back here quickly. We have something to say. We are a family. Is there anything we can't say?"

"You bitch, don't run there easily!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was also quite speechless. They said they could not kill all the cockroaches in the kitchen, but when it came to him, it was the feather duster in the corner of his imperial study that could not be destroyed no matter what.

Under Zhu Yuanzhang's firm command, Empress Ma really smiled and 'get out' back.

Under the golden roof coiled with five-clawed golden dragons,
The three of them sat around the dragon case and discussed Ye Qing's merits and demerits.

Empress Ma said softly: "Your Majesty, Ye Qing's contribution to building a warehouse has never been mentioned."

"Even if this matter is brought to the court, it will be a merit but no fault. If you insist that he is wrong, all the officials will look at you differently."

Zhu Yuanzhang pursed his lips and said: "Let's not discuss this matter. He indeed has merits and demerits."

"What we want to punish him is that he will never be able to escape the crime of bribery. Don't scare us with a feather duster. This is not something that a feather duster can solve unless you convince us with reason!"

Empress Ma just smiled confidently and said, "How can I not convince people with reason?"

"you?"

"You convince people with reason?"

"Come on, Ma Xiuying, in front of our son, use your reasoning to convince me to give it a try!"

"If you don't agree with me, you are not allowed to hide feather dusters in our study room from now on!"

Looking at this scene, Zhu Biao on the opposite side crossed his legs and took the tea cup. He instantly felt like watching a play in a theater.

In Zhu Biao's eyes, Queen Ma was lying on the other side of the dragon case, nodding with a faint smile: "Then let's talk about it first, what is 'bribing and accepting bribes'!"

"Official bribery refers to giving gifts to superiors or supervisory officials to cover up their crimes or to help them commit crimes, right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang glared at Queen Ma and nodded: "Yes!"

"Did Ye Qing and Liu Wencheng ask them to help cover up their crimes, or help them commit crimes?"

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately frowned and said, "No!"

Empress Ma continued: "Bribery in the officialdom refers to the acceptance of gifts by superior officials or supervisory officials to cover up or facilitate the illegal conduct of subordinate officials or officials under investigation, right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said: "Yes!"

"Did they help Ye Qing and Liu Wencheng cover up their crimes, or aid them in their crimes?"

Zhu Yuanzhang whispered: "No!"

Empress Ma pointed to the large and small baggage and said, "Not only that, they also took the initiative to hand it over to you. Are you sure you want to punish them?"

"These things are indeed extremely valuable to others, but to him, Ye Qing, they are really just a simple 'gift'."

"Have you forgotten that after Mao Xiang and those young men helped him catch the Northern Yuan envoy Mahamu, didn't he also give these things in front of you?"

"What's the difference between this and delivering it in front of you?"

"Chongpachi, you have to remember that it is a good thing for the people below to fear you, but it is not a good thing for them to be afraid of you!"

“Nothing can be taken too far, as the saying goes.”

In Zhu Biao's eyes, Zhu Yuanzhang could no longer do anything but nod.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the mother-in-law in front of him, and now he really hated her no matter how he looked at her.

He actually didn't think much about it, he just wanted to find a crime to punish Ye Qing, but now it was better, he really could only reward him but not punish him.

But then I thought about it, he, Ye Qingwen, had great achievements in governing the world, creating things to increase agricultural production, using military force to defend the city, and suggesting strategies and recovering the national jade seal. He could really be rewarded but not punished!
But it’s still the same saying, if the person who is a servant is too good at both civil and military affairs and does not make any mistakes, the emperor will not be able to sleep!
Empress Ma saw Zhu Yuanzhang's expression of embarrassment and immediately realized this problem.

"Chongba, the crime of bribery is too big. You must not use it on him. If you use it on him, the only people who will be happy are Hu Weiyong and the others."

"Although he had merit in building the position, he knew it and failed to report it, which caused you to almost kill Zhongliang by mistake. You can punish him with the crime of 'knowing but not reporting it'!"

Zhu Yuanzhang affirmed, and immediately nodded with a smile: "Young girl still has a way, let's do it like this!"

"By the way, we want to delay Ye Qing's promotion for two days."

"We want to reveal this news first and see what troubles will happen to our Prime Minister Hu and the old Prime Minister (Li Shanchang) who still remembers the court in his hometown."

After hearing this, Queen Ma and Zhu Biao also felt that this was feasible.

In the morning of the next day, when Zhu Yuanzhang talked about the results of the investigation, it could be said that he was very happy.

Not only that, he and Zhu Biao also praised Ye Qing as if they were singing a double act!
That afternoon, Kong Kebiao, Zhu Liangzu and others entered Hu Weiyong's mansion through the back door in a low-key manner.

In the hall of Hu Weiyong's residence,

Zhu Liangzu frowned and said: "Prime Minister Hu, you never thought that the truth about Ye Qing's evasion of agricultural taxes was actually building a warehouse to store grain?"

"What should I do? My parents were both killed by him!"

Kong Kebiao also frowned and said, "Your Majesty and His Royal Highness sang like this in the court, but they never said what official he was promoted to. What is the meaning of this?"

Hu Weiyong just smiled happily and said, "You finally have a brain." He was stunned but couldn't say it out.

Hu Weiyong nodded and said: "Your Majesty is letting you know. Let's see what action we will take."

"I'm warning you, don't slander Mr. Ye after you go back. He is our number one hero in the Ming Dynasty."

"After today, please don't come to the Prime Minister's Mansion again."

"I will write a letter to the old Prime Minister, and we will wait until the old Prime Minister replies!"

at the same time,

Wang Baobao, Li Wenzhong, Tang He, Fu Youde, Geng Bingwen and Lan Yu also sat in the meeting hall of Wei Guogong's mansion.

Just the content of their chats doesn't have that much intrigue.

Their only 'conspiracy' was how to make their own daughter compare to the second daughter of Xu Da's family.

Since my status is not comparable to that of Xu Da, I can only compare to my daughter!
If the status of the father cannot be compared, and the appearance and talent of the daughter or sister cannot be compared, after Ye Qing is promoted to Beijing, they will have no chance at all!

Xu Da looked at the guys looking at him eagerly, and naturally knew the purpose of their coming today.

It was just because I saw that Ye Qing's promotion to the capital was confirmed, so I wanted to come to him to 'explore the enemy's situation', so that I could know myself and the enemy, and be victorious in every battle!

"Alright,"

"Let's call Miao Jin out and let you know what it means to 'retreat from difficulties'!"

"In addition to being a commander in military affairs and a prime minister in literature, my greatest ability, Xu Da, is to give birth to good daughters!"

Thinking of this,

Xu Da immediately called the housekeeper and asked him to call Xu Miaojin to pay tribute to his uncles!
　Please follow up with the support of the officials, and please support the recommendation ticket and monthly ticket, thank you!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)