Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 176 Water Transport Case
As the saying goes: "If you want to get rich, you must first build roads." How could the Ming Dynasty become rich and powerful if the roads were not built?

Since Zhu Tianqi has made up his mind to rectify water transportation, it is better to start early than later. If he takes action now, he can take advantage of the fact that he has just defeated Jiannu and is at the height of his prestige. Maybe he will encounter less resistance!
However, since the issue of "rice bowl" is involved, no matter how scared they are, those officials in the DPRK who rely on water transportation can only bite the bullet and jump out. In just a few days, dozens of memorials have been handed in. , then Xu Guangqi took the cabinet ministers and came to Zhu Tianqi with these memorials.

Logically speaking, this water transportation matter is in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, but Xu Guangqi, the Minister of Household Affairs, is Zhu Tianqi's subordinate. He naturally spoke to the emperor, and he will definitely support the emperor's decision.

On the contrary, it was Qian Qianyi, Qian Longxi, and Liu Hongxun whose faces made it clear that they were here to oppose the emperor's maritime transport.

In fact, the imperial court also tried to engage in sea transportation before. After all, if it is only the transportation between the north and the south, sea transportation is indeed more efficient than water transportation.

However, once the imperial court adopted maritime transportation as a means of transportation between the north and the south, it would rob the "business" of water transportation and affect the "cake" of the entire water transportation system. Therefore, officials in the court and central government naturally opposed the implementation of sea transportation.

Later, when the imperial court tried to carry out sea transportation, it encountered wind and waves, and a lot of money and grain were lost. Therefore, the opposition seized the opportunity, and the implementation of sea transportation came to nothing.

Nowadays, these memorials against the implementation of maritime transportation are nothing more than clichés. The main objections are that sailing on the sea is unsafe, the risk is too high, accidents are prone to happen, money and food are wasted, and the gain outweighs the loss!

It can be said that sailing on rivers is risky. Although inland rivers are safer than sailing on the sea, there are also risks. And even if sailing on canals is safer, you still have to face layer upon layer of exploitation by corrupt officials. If the skin is pulled off, the final loss may be more than the shipwreck, shipwreck and drifting!

Therefore, Zhu Tianqi responded to all these memorials that used the "maritime risk theory": "Marine transportation is valuable in its speed. If the transportation time can be greatly shortened, even if it takes some risks, it is worth losing some money and goods." of!"

Moreover, Zhu Tianqi also specifically claimed that his attempt to transport by sea this time was to prepare for the recovery of Liaodong. After all, when the time comes to attack the Liaodong Peninsula, troops and food must be transported by sea. As the so-called soldiers are valuable and quick, they must be given priority. Consider efficiency issues.

When it comes to regaining Liaodong, officials are naturally irrefutable. After all, Zhu Tianqi is now qualified to talk about the war in Liaodong, and no one dares to question his military ability.

Seeing that Qian Qianyi and the others had nothing to say, Zhu Tianqi did not give up, but asked Qian Qianyi: "I really feel a little strange. I just want to transport Yingtian's grain back to the capital by sea. Why do you have such a big reaction? Does this matter have anything to do with you?"

Qian Qianyi, Qian Longxi and Liu Hongxun were stunned. They didn't know how to answer. They couldn't say that they were worried that the emperor would use sea transportation instead of water transportation in the future, right?So how can they explain that they are so concerned about water transportation?
After holding it in for a long time, Qian Qianyi finally said: "I am just worried that the court's money and food will be damaged, and I have no other intentions!"

Zhu Tianqi couldn't help but smile after hearing this, "Then these officials who discouraged me are all worried about the loss of the imperial court's money and food?"

"Uh... Chen, I think everyone's loyalty to the imperial court should be the same!" Qian Qianyi said hesitantly, but his forehead was covered with a thin layer of sweat.

"Haha!" Zhu Tianqi chuckled and said, "Then please tell them to just take care of their own affairs. This kind of extra loyalty is not necessary!"

"Yes, yes, I must convey the emperor's words truthfully!" Qian Qianyi nodded quickly.

After saying this, Zhu Tianqi changed the topic and said to Qian Qianyi: "By the way, Qian Qianyi, as the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, you may be busy during this period, so you have to cheer up in advance and take care of it. Take good care of the people under your command, and ask them to seek truth from facts when running their errands, and don’t allow them to engage in malpractice for personal gain, corruption and perversion of the law!"

When Qian Qianyi heard this, he was immediately stunned. He looked up at Zhu Tianqi with some doubts and asked cautiously: "Your Majesty, our Criminal Department has always enforced the law impartially and never dared to engage in malpractice for personal gain. Please rest assured, Your Majesty, it's just There have been no major cases in the court recently, so I don’t know what the emperor meant by ‘getting busy’...”

Zhu Tianqi did not elaborate, he just said with a smile: "There is really no big case now, but don't worry, there will be one soon!"

Now not only Qian Qianyi, but also several other cabinet ministers looked at Zhu Tianqi in astonishment and began to secretly figure out the meaning of the emperor's words. A strong uneasiness instantly enveloped everyone.

After sending everyone in the cabinet away, Zhu Tianqi immediately ordered Zhu Youjian to send over the dossier information on Jin Yiwei's previous investigation of water transportation.

When he sent Zhang Guoji and Sun Yuanhua south to Yingtian Mansion to sell things, for the sake of safety, Zhang Guoji and Sun Yuanhua deliberately kept a low profile and concealed their identities, claiming to be wealthy businessmen in the capital. As a result, they were transported by water to Hejian Mansion just after they left the capital. They were detained and asked for money to buy the passage.

It was precisely through this incident that Zhu Tianqi included water transport rectification in his plan. Because he had not experienced water transport rectification at that time, he did not pursue water transport for this matter. He just ordered Jin Yiwei to secretly start investigating water transport. Keep a record of all problems in water transportation.

But now, it's time to settle the accounts with the corrupt officials in water transportation!

The task of investigating water transportation has been ongoing, and there are special Jinyi guards in charge of this matter. Therefore, after nearly two years of investigation, Zhu Tianqi has no secrets about water transportation, and Zhu Tianqi has also mastered it. With their considerable handles, they are enough to thoroughly rectify and clean up the corrupt water transport groups!
Afterwards, Zhu Tianqi asked Zhu Youjian to copy the list of all the persons involved in the water transportation files, and sent the Jinyi Guards to arrest the people. At the same time, he sent people to copy these files and sent them to the Ministry of Punishment. The Jinyiwei commander made Zhu Youjian cooperate with the Ministry of Punishments. Shangshu Qian Qianyi jointly tried the case.

Thousands of Jin Yiwei quickly left Beijing and went to various places to arrest the officials involved in the water transportation. Because the incident happened so suddenly, these officials still had not recovered from it until they were caught in the capital.

You know, when Zhu Tianqi convened a cabinet meeting last time, he made it clear that the imperial court's attempt to transport by sea was to prepare for the recovery of Liaodong, and it had nothing to do with water transport. They relaxed their vigilance, but who would have thought that before their butts were firmly seated, they would be snatched away to the imperial prison by the Jin Yiwei!

First, the officials on the water transport were arrested, and then after interrogation by the Jin Yiwei, officials in the court were arrested. For a while, everyone in the government and the public was in danger and panic.Qian Qianyi finally understood. No wonder the emperor said that he would be busy soon. No wonder the emperor said that there would be a major case in the court soon. There were already hundreds of water transport officials who needed to be tried by him.

However, although there are many people involved in the case, because of the detailed files provided by Jinyiwei, the crimes and facts of all the people involved are very clearly recorded. When Qian Qianyi comes here, there is almost no need to spend any time on the trial, and it will be conducted directly in accordance with the "Da Ming Law" The verdict is that.

Therefore, these things are quite busy for Qian Qianyi, but they are not difficult errands. They are just going through the process!

But the problem now is that Qian Qianyi cannot directly judge the people involved in the case based on Jin Yiwei's files. Many of these people are his younger brothers, or younger brothers of younger brothers. If he is selfless, he will sentence all these people. , will anyone still praise him in the future?
So what really makes Qian Qianyi difficult is not the judgment of the case, but how to protect people. After all, his background is not clean. He also gets a lot of money from water transportation every year. Now something happened to the people below. He couldn't ignore it.

But now the emperor has asked Jin Yiwei to cooperate in handling the case. He does not have the final say on this matter alone. Even if he wants to do it for personal gain, it is really difficult to operate.

Nowadays, there is an endless stream of people who come to him to plead for mercy every day, openly and secretly, and it is very uncomfortable for him to be caught in the middle. It is simply a lot of pressure!

Qian Qianyi couldn't think of any ideas for the time being, so he had to delay the process first. He couldn't try a few prisoners every day, and he specially selected unimportant people for trial first.

However, "procrastination" alone cannot solve the problem. The problems that should be faced will have to be faced sooner or later, so Qian Qianyi finally decided not to hide anymore. He felt that it was time to talk to Zhu Youjian.

That night, after the two finished the trial, Qian Qianyi invited Zhu Youjian to have a drink.

It stands to reason that the two of them are now responsible for trying such a big case together. To avoid suspicion, the two of them should not go out drinking together at this time. Moreover, Zhu Youjian has been busy for so many days and is already very tired. Yes, he does a lot more work than Qian Qianyi.

So Zhu Youjian originally planned to refuse, but he suddenly thought that the emperor once asked him to find out about Qian Qianyi, so now is not a good opportunity?
When Qian Qianyi invites him to drink at this time, it will definitely not be just for drinking and chatting. Zhu Youjian has also noticed Qian Qianyi's weirdness these days and knows that he is not holding anything back!
Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian had no choice but to nod in agreement and followed Qian Qianyi to a small but elegant tavern. Qian Qianyi was obviously a regular visitor here and was personally led to a separate room in the backyard by the shopkeeper. In the room, the best wine and food were served without Qian Qianyi's instructions.

Qian Qianyi first said some nonsense, and then persuaded Zhu Youjian to drink a few glasses of wine. Then he got to the point and suddenly started to sigh in a pretentious manner.

Although Zhu Youjian knew that he was acting, he still asked cooperatively: "Why is Mr. Qian sighing?"

Qian Qianyi shook his head and waved his hands, "It's nothing, I'm just a little drunk and had some ridiculous ideas!"

Zhu Youjian didn't expect that he would be too secretive, so he had to be patient and act with him, "Hey, there is no one else here, only Youjian and Mr. Qian. Aren't we always free to speak our minds without any taboos?"

Qian Qianyi looked at Zhu Youjian and was stunned for a moment. He seemed to be hesitant, but he finally spoke: "Your Highness, actually Qian is the Minister of the Ministry of Justice. Logically speaking, I shouldn't have such thoughts, but Qian Seeing so many of my former colleagues become prisoners makes me feel really uncomfortable!"

After Zhu Youjian heard this, he couldn't help rolling his eyes and asked: "Master Qian, you mean that you sympathize with them?"

Qian Qianyi shook his head and replied: "It's not sympathy, Qian just feels that the emperor's aggressive war is a bit too much. Now that Jiannu has just been exterminated and the situation has stabilized, the court wants to Investigating major cases and building large prisons is really not conducive to the unity of officials and the stability of the court!"

After hearing this, Zhu Youjian became really interested and couldn't help but ask: "Master Qian, do you mean to let these corrupt officials go unpunished?"

Qian Qianyi immediately denied it, and then explained: "Of course Qian didn't mean that. Qian said that in matters such as anti-corruption, we still need to pay attention to methods and methods. We must be fair and strict, but sometimes Still have to turn a blind eye.

As the saying goes, "If the water is clear, there will be no fish." As an official in the court, how can there be anyone who can't find any stain on his body?Do we have to kill them all with one blow?You must know that no matter what you do, it is always 'too much, and the extreme will lead to the opposite'. If you do too much, it is easy to cause problems! "

Zhu Youjian naturally understood the meaning of Qian Qianyi's words. Qian Qianyi's words were very straightforward. He just wanted to persuade himself to be lenient.

But even so, Zhu Youjian continued to ask: "Then let's transport this case by water. Mr. Qian, what do you think?"

Seeing that Zhu Youjian did not refute his point of view, Qian Qianyi suddenly felt that something was wrong, so he answered directly: "In Qian's humble opinion, this case focuses on anti-corruption rather than punishment, so we don't need to force so many people." Just catch a few examples and kill them to serve as a warning to others!"

Zhu Youjian did not nod directly this time, but picked up the wine glass and said with a smile: "But the emperor has the list of people involved in the case and the case files. If it is done according to Mr. Qian's way, , I’m afraid it’s not easy to explain to the emperor, right?”

After saying this, Zhu Youjian stretched out the wine glass towards Qian Qianyi, and Qian Qianyi had no choice but to quickly pick up the wine glass and drink with Zhu Youjian without continuing.

Qian Qianyi could see that Zhu Youjian was still very loyal to the emperor. I'm afraid it was impossible to persuade Zhu Youjian to cooperate with him with just a few words of his own, so he had to add some strong information.

(End of this chapter)