Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 55

These days, there are many people who have been deceived by corrupt officials and have lost their fortunes and their families. Now these two people are obviously officials of the imperial court, but they insist on concealing their identities. They claim to be wealthy businessmen from Shuntian Prefecture. This is very suspicious. Now they claim to take no money. , even more unusual among the officials of the Ming Dynasty.

Seeing that this matter had reached a dead end, Zhang Guoji thought for a while and said directly: "Let's just sell the things to the wealthy businessmen at the price they proposed. Although the price is [-]% lower than the market price, we can Aren't they going to give us the [-]% difference as a kickback? The money we get in the end is the same as if we sold it at the price we proposed!"

Sun Yuanhua was a little hesitant. Of course, he could figure out such a simple arithmetic problem long ago, but this time he was doing business for the emperor after all. The amount on the account did not match the amount of money he got. What an explanation!

Could it be that we directly told the emperor that [-]% of the silver was obtained through kickbacks?So since there is money off the books, how can I prove that the only money off the books is the so-called "kickback" that I voluntarily handed over?Would the emperor suspect that he had secretly embezzled part of it?
It's no wonder that Sun Yuanhua thinks too much about this matter. If the money doesn't match the money, it will be a troublesome thing at any time. If the emperor loses trust in him because of this, it will be more than worth the gain!
Zhang Guoji, however, couldn't think too much. He had tens of thousands of antique calligraphy and paintings, gold and silver jewelry, worth millions. If he missed this opportunity to sell them, he would find something he could get his hands on again. It is difficult for a rich businessman who swallows things, so he is really anxious.

Immediately, I advised Sun Yuanhua not to hesitate any longer, but to sell the things in his hand as soon as possible and exchange them for silver, so as not to miss this opportunity and delay the subsequent errands.

Although the mirror box in Sun Yuanhua's hand was only worth 5 to [-] taels in total, which was much easier to sell than Zhang Guoji's, he was also anxious. He had to go to Haojing'ao to purchase Hongyi cannons and recruit Thai and Western craftsmen. There’s no need to delay things!
So the two of them discussed the decision and settled the matter with these wealthy businessmen first. At the same time, they jointly wrote a memorandum to the emperor to explain the situation. After getting the emperor's permission, they would conduct transactions with the wealthy businessmen.

It was precisely for this reason that when the Jin Yiwei around them saw that they actually agreed to the price proposed by the wealthy businessmen after learning about the unspoken rules of the transaction, they concluded that they wanted to take the [-]% rebate, so they secretly The two people involved in the investigation colluded with Yingtian's wealthy businessmen, embezzled court property, took bribes and violated the law.

Fortunately, Zhu Tianqi did not doubt Zhang Guoji and Sun Yuanhua's loyalty to him. After detaining the Jin Yiwei's secret letter, he just asked Zhu Youjian not to let the Jin Yiwei act rashly and just wait and see what happens.

Sure enough, a few days later, the memorials of Zhang Guoji and Sun Yuanhua were handed over to Zhu Tianqi's long book desk. Zhu Tianqi had already known the ins and outs of the matter through the secret letter from Jin Yiwei. Now looking at the memorials of Zhang Guoji and Sun Yuanhua, I also learned about their plans, so I immediately replied, telling them not to worry and just follow their own ideas!

In fact, although Zhu Tianqi values ​​​​money very seriously, he does not go so far as to give away a dime, especially for the ministers he trusts. Even if they are really greedy, as long as they are not too excessive, Zhu Tianqi can tolerate it. If you do things for yourself sincerely, it’s okay to do some favors behind your back!
After Zhang Guoji and Sun Yuanhua received Zhu Tianqi's reply, they naturally breathed a sigh of relief in unison. While grateful for the emperor's trust, they hurried to finalize the matter with the wealthy businessmen and complete the deal.

After this incident, Zhu Youjian also specifically told the Jinyi guards who went south to be more careful in the future and not to impeach Zhang Guoji and Sun Yuanhua rashly, especially before the matter was clarified, otherwise the emperor would inevitably suspect that he was Regarding Zhang Guoji and Sun Yuanhua, the emperor does not like the disharmony among the people below!

Zhang Guoji and Sun Yuanhua's transactions with Yingtian's wealthy businessmen were naturally very smooth. No matter how treacherous these wealthy businessmen were, they did not dare to play tricks on the court officials. Naturally, the payment for the goods was settled clearly for a penny. In the end, Zhang Guoji received 120 Out of 3000 taels, Sun Yuanhua received 5000 taels.

With the money in hand, the two of them didn't waste any more time. They immediately went down the river, passed Jiujiang Prefecture, entered Poyang Lake, and transferred to Zhangjiang River to Nanchang Prefecture. Then they continued on the waterway, passing Linjiang Prefecture, Ji'an Prefecture, Ganzhou Prefecture, Nan'an Prefecture, and entering Guangdong. The boundary reaches Nanxiong Prefecture, passes Shaozhou Prefecture, and reaches Guangzhou Prefecture.After Zhang Guoji and Sun Yuanhua arrived at Guangzhou Mansion, they took a short rest for two days, and then each led fifteen Jinyi guards to do their own errands.

Zhang Guoji was going to Annan to purchase grain, so he had to rush to Lianzhou Prefecture, which was connected with Guangxi and Annan, while Sun Yuanhua had to continue south to Haojing'ao.

Zhu Tianqi was secretly relieved when he learned that they had successfully arrived at Guangzhou Mansion. It seemed that the journey was going smoothly. I believe that the two of them will be able to successfully complete their respective missions in the future!

At this time, Zhu Tianqi's work at hand has also come to an end. Except for a few remote provincial capitals, prefectures, counties and health offices that have not yet sent their confessions, the confessions of officials in most regions across the country have been delivered and processed. , all the salary and military pay owed were also disbursed.

Zhu Tianqi asked Xu Guangqi to do the math and found out that the actual amount of silver distributed was nearly 200 million taels less than the previous statistics based on the records of the Ministry of Household Affairs. The extra 200 million taels of silver in the files of the Ministry of Household Affairs were mainly due to previous false claims by various health offices. , the free money you eat.

However, this situation did not surprise Zhu Tianqi. After all, there are only ten sergeants in the Beijing camp now. How can the situation of the various guards be better?I'm afraid the actual situation is worse than what was written in their petition.

Although Zhu Tianqi did not continue to delve into the authenticity of the reports reported by various local security posts one by one, with the repayment of arrears, he also ordered various security posts across the country to step up military training, eliminate the old and weak, recruit young and strong, and ensure sufficient soldiers and the army. combat effectiveness.

The imperial court will then send imperial envoys to go to the various guards to make unannounced visits. If there is a shortage of soldiers in the guards and falsely report false claims, the imperial court will definitely punish them severely.

After working day and night for a whole month, the work of checking the arrears of salary and wages has finally been completed. The arrears of salary and wages have also been repaid, and now it is time to make the next plan.

Zhu Tianqi first summoned Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan into the Palace of Qianqing, and immediately announced an edict, naming Sun Chengzong as the governor of Jiliao and Yuan Chonghuan as the governor of Jiliao. Five days later, he set off for Liaodong!

(End of this chapter)