Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 493 Guimao Corruption
"It's getting more and more lively..."

In October, when it was already slightly chilly in the north, a person on the carriage looked at the bustling construction site outside the window and said these words rather sadly.

This is Fufeng County, Fengxiang Prefecture, and the construction site under construction is the Zhangzhou-Fenghuang Railway in the southern section of the Northwest Railway.

The railway from Zhangjiakou to Fengxiang has been built in Pingyang Prefecture, Shanxi Province. Although it is still a thousand miles away from Fengxiang Prefecture, construction of many railway subgrades in Xi'an has started very early because it is built on multiple sections.

As a region with coal and iron ore, Shaanxi does not need to wait like other places. Moreover, the Shanxi section and the Shaanxi section are separated by the Yellow River, and the court does not have the technology to build a Yellow River bridge, so there is no need to worry about the connection problem.

It is only more than 400 miles from Weinan to Baoji County, Fengxiang Prefecture. One-third of it has been completed and will be completed in about two years.

If the Shanxi section of the railway is also completed by then, this section of the Fenghuang Railway will be fully open to traffic.

The railway is fully open to traffic, so I guess I can go...

Yang Shiqi let out a breath. He knew very well why Zhu Gaoxu asked him to be the chief envoy of Shaanxi Province. To put it bluntly, it was to allow him to repair the Zhangzhou-Fenghuang Railway.

"Sir, if this Phoenix railway is built, we should be able to go home by then, right?"

Riding in the same car, Yang Shiqi's staff spoke cautiously, and he nodded:
"As long as the imperial court can promote a few people to replace me, it will be fine, but it's hard to find people like this."

The reason he said it was difficult to find someone was not because he was confident in his abilities, but because of his special status.

Ji Gang severely damaged officials from Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Jiangdong factions, and it is difficult for them to recover until now.

Officials in Jiangnan and other places are now beginning to slowly recruit students who graduated from Jiangnan, but this is a step-by-step process. Currently, only Yang Shiqi and others can come on stage to support the situation.

In terms of ability alone, Zhu Gaoxu could have selected a few people from the New Deal faction and Bohai graduates to replace Yang Shiqi. After all, he was old and could no longer keep up with the times.

But the problem is that Yang Shiqi has a background in Jiangnan. He can serve as a lubricant between the court and Jiangnan to lubricate the relationship between the two parties, so it is not easy to find a talent to replace him.

"Recently, the number of people traveling in and out of Shaanxi has increased a lot. It seems that the court is preparing to take action against that group of people."

The staff looked at the supervisors on the construction site who were riding horses and showing off their power, and frowned and said:

"The railways are mainly in the north, and the north is controlled by the New Dealers. I'm afraid they will have to break their muscles this time."

"But in this way, once the New Deal faction is weak, it can support the young and strong faction to come on stage, and you can escape unscathed."

"Well..." Yang Shiqi nodded, but then asked: "Is there nothing happening in my hometown?"

"It's okay, both gentlemen are very obedient." The staff replied based on the news from the people below.

Such an answer made Yang Shiqi relax: "If that's the case, then let's finish these last two years..."

After he finished speaking, the carriage set off in the direction of Chang'an County, Xi'an Prefecture.

While the carriage left, there was also considerable turmoil within the navy.

On the tenth day of October, the navy began to adjust internally. The navy with 98,200 people in the 17th Guards and 3rd Station suddenly eliminated 34,265 soldiers, and more than one-third of the soldiers were eliminated.

Although the reason given by the Navy Governor's Office was that these soldiers were older, everyone knew the collusion between the navy and the vassal states of Kunlun Continent.

When Zhu Gaoxu sent Yang Zhan there, everyone guessed that Yang Zhan would make drastic reforms to the navy, but they didn't expect that Yang Zhan would hit the main artery with one strike.

The 20,000 naval soldiers trained by Yang Zhan in Ceylon made up for the vacancy in Xiaoxiyang. At the same time, more than 14,000 naval soldiers trained in Denglai Prefecture in Shandong were also successfully put on duty, replacing Jiugang, Manlajia, Luzon, etc. in Nanyang. Guard horse.

On the third day after the news reached Beijing, Zhu Gaoxu issued an order depriving thirty-six naval attachés of their rank and official positions, but did not exile them.

Although the reason was not stated, everyone knew that these thirty-six people may be the main personnel who caused this major change of blood within the navy.

Although Zhu Gaoxu did not kill them, nor did he even issue an order to explain why they were abolished, most of their property was indeed seized by Xichang and Jinyiwei. Gold and silver coins were stored in local banks, antique calligraphy and paintings were transported to the capital, and local farmland and houses were transferred to the local government. Yamen distribution.

Time passes little by little, and with the arrival of the Winter Solstice on the 21st of the winter lunar month.

The court meeting on this day seemed extremely strange, and the strange atmosphere made the ministers already feel that something was wrong when they went to court wearing heavy court clothes.

"Enter the class!"

The voice of the Minister of Honglu Temple was still solemn. Under his command, the ministers joined the class one after another, holding the wat board and singing long live.

Amidst the shouts of long live the crowd, the sound of footsteps slowly sounded.

"Be flat!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty..."

The ministers stood up one after another, but when they looked up, they saw Zhu Gaoxu standing on the golden platform wearing a royal robe, with a sword over four feet long at his waist.

Although it is said that kings can wear swords in court meetings, Zhu Gaoxu's habit is never to wear swords.

His sudden action of sword-wielding made the atmosphere in the entire hall suddenly become depressed.

The weather today was not good, and the gloomy sky made the hall appear slightly dark, which was only illuminated by some candles in two rows.

"bass!"

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly pulled out his sword, and the ministers felt tense.

Zhu Gaoxu was seen looking at the blade of the long sword in his hand, as if he was looking at the sword, and at the same time he seemed to be looking at the ministers.

"I was reading history books recently, and I also recalled the time when I accompanied Emperor Taizu Gao in governing affairs at Wuying Hall."

"Among them, Emperor Taizu Gao mentioned the matter of official corruption and said that corrupt officials would be killed if they could not be eradicated."

"I didn't believe it at the time. I even felt that Emperor Taizu Gao's laws on official corruption were too strict."

Zhu Gaoxu starts with Zhu Yuanzhang, and this emperor is undoubtedly the nightmare in the hearts of the entire Ming Dynasty officials, followed by Zhu Gaoxu.

Therefore, when he mentioned Zhu Yuanzhang, many people began to panic.

Since the bureaucracy of the Yuan Dynasty was extremely corrupt and officials were corrupt, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhu Yuanzhang paid great attention to the political style of the Ming Dynasty, even to the point of overcorrecting.

On the one hand, he advocated integrity and required officials at all levels to abide by the law and be honest and caring for the people. On the other hand, he imposed heavy penalties on officials who broke the law to deter corruption.

During the Hongwu period, if an official committed corruption, he would be skinned.

Before the outbreak of the Guo Huan case, the Kongyin case and the Hu Weiyong case occurred successively. In order to solve official corruption, Zhu Yuanzhang gradually adopted extrajudicial punishment methods, which became more and more severe. He also established Jin Yiwei to strengthen monitoring of officials, but even so There is no stopping official corruption.

Because of this, he would sigh and say: "I have little talent and little virtue, and I have exhausted my ability to control him!"

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly brought up the issue of Zhu Yuanzhang and corruption, which shows that what he wants to discuss today is probably corruption-related issues.

As expected by the ministers, Zhu Gaoxu's next words made many people sweat.

"The imperial court built the railway for the sake of the people and affairs of the world. However, no one has ever let go of such a major matter. The amount of corruption is so huge that even I can't believe it."

"Last month, Yunnan Chief Secretary Longchuan Prefecture and Prefect Jiang Huai reported that Longchuan Prefecture sentenced Wang You and his nephew Wang Ji, Nandian County Gongfang Secretary, for embezzling money from the Longchuan Railway and creating false accounts. In less than ten months, So he embezzled more than 84,000 yuan from the total funds of the Longchuan Railway."

"Most of the money they embezzled was deposited in hundreds of batches into the bankbooks of the heirs of a certain honorable minister. Do you think it was...Wang Zuo?"

As Zhu Gaoxu spoke, the eyes of the officials turned to a sixty-year-old military attache and a forty-year-old military attache standing in the corner.

One of them is Shunchang Bo Wangzuo, who was a general who defected to the Yan army during the Jingnan Campaign. He was also knighted by Zhu Di after the war.

The other person is Wang Zuo, the governor of the Navy Governor's Mansion. After Yang Zhan went to Xiaoxiyang, he was responsible for staying at the Navy Governor's Mansion.

At this moment, the Navy Commander Qian Shi Wang Zuo looked confused, so everyone turned their attention to Shunchang Bo Wang Zuo.

"Your Majesty, I am wronged!"

Suddenly, Shunchang Bo Wang Zuo knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, but no one in the temple dared to intercede for him.

No one could have imagined that he was so courageous that he could corrupt 84,000 yuan by himself.

The innocent people have nothing to do with him, and most of the people who do are not clean themselves, for fear of being implicated.

In this case, Zhu Gaoxu glanced at the temple and walked down the steps step by step.

With his burly figure of over six feet, wearing a royal robe and holding a long sword, he was full of momentum as he pressed forward step by step. All the ministers knelt down one after another, even veteran generals like Zhu Neng and Chen Chang were no exception.

"Your Majesty, this is the Fengtian Palace after all..."

At the critical moment, Xia Yuanji stepped forward and knelt down in front of Zhu Gaoxu, fearing that Zhu Gaoxu would go up and chop Wang Zuo.

Zhu Gaoxu stopped, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but his next words made everyone feel anxious again.

"Wang Zuo is just one of them. There are many people who are greedy for money and food in the Northwest, Northeast, Liangjing and other railways."

"I don't like killing. Since you are all former ministers of the Supreme Emperor and the High Emperor, I will give you ten days to self-examine and hand over the greedy money and food."

"Of course, you can also choose not to hand it over, but I will send people to find everyone in ten days."

"I will definitely find out!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxu slammed the sword in his hand to the ground. The sound of the sword and gold bricks smashing together made the ministers breathless.

When they looked up again, Zhu Gaoxu's figure had disappeared, and then Wang Zuo's shouts were heard.

"Your Majesty, I know I was wrong! Your Majesty!"

Wang Zuo was held up in mid-air by four Han generals and carried out directly.

He yelled at the top of his lungs but to no avail. His voice made many unclean officials and ministers sweat profusely and become confused.

"Uh-huh!!"

Suddenly, a scream was like thunder hitting everyone's hearts, and everyone filed out without caring that the minister of Honglu Temple had not yet sang the ceremony.

I saw that Prince Shunchang, who was so prosperous just now, was thrown directly from the royal road to the Fengtian Palace Square by the Han general.

He was lying on the square of Fengtian Temple, completely motionless.

In the Fengtian Temple Square, many officials who came to attend the meeting saw this scene with their own eyes. Some were so frightened that they collapsed to the ground, while others knelt on the ground and avoided Wang Zuo.

No one knew whether he was dead or alive. It wasn't until Yishi that the doctors from Hou Tai Hospital arrived here, but Wang Zuo was already too dead to die.

"Mother, you are so unlucky..."

Among the crowd of military attachés, Navy Commander Wang Zuo cursed secretly, and people who knew him looked at him one after another.

Although the deceased was the oldest, Wang Zuo was really shocked. When his name was called, he was still thinking about why he had embezzled his relatives in Longchuan, whom he didn't know at all.

Fortunately it was a false alarm, otherwise he would probably be the one lying there.

"Dismiss the dynasty!"

When the voice of the Honglu Temple Minister came, everyone realized their rude behavior just now. Maybe there was something wrong in their minds, maybe they were frightened by today's situation. In short, all the ministers left Fengtian Hall one after another after the Minister of Honglu Temple announced the disbandment of the dynasty.

At the same time, Xichang began to confiscate the residence and property of Prince Shunchang Bo, and Zhu Gaoxu also sent Zheng He to the Daming Palace to explain to Zhu Di.

Zhu Di no longer had a deep impression of Wang Zuo. He gave Wang Zuo a title just to win people's hearts. Now that most of the southern generals in Jinnan were dead, it didn't matter whether Wang Zuo lived or died.

"Tell the second child that I will send Wang Yan to ask the Yan Mansion. If someone is unwilling to hand over, I will deal with it. After all, there must be a way to survive."

In the Yangxin Hall of Daming Palace, Zhu Di confessed to Zheng He. Zheng He also bowed in agreement and then withdrew from the Yangxin Hall with Zhu Di's acquiescence.

After he left, Zhu Di turned his attention to Wang Yan: "Did you participate yourself?"

"Slave..." Wang Yan hesitated, and finally nodded: "Take some of it."

Wang Yan was not afraid of Zhu Di, but afraid of Zhu Gaoxu, so he dared to tell Zhu Di and hoped that Zhu Di would protect him.

If Zhu Di is not saved, Wang Yan doesn't think Zhu Gaoxu will let him go because of their friendship over the years.

"Hand over whatever money you have for Tan Mo. In addition, you can go for me and ask the people below to hand over Tan Mo's money and food, so that I can beg for mercy."

Zhu Di closed his eyes and spoke in a very heavy tone, even using the self-identification "I", which shows the seriousness of the matter.

"My slave, I thank you for Your Majesty's grace!"

After hearing this, Wang Yan knelt on the ground and kowtowed five times and three times. Then he stood up and walked out to inform the generals of Yan Mansion.

A large court meeting instantly changed the atmosphere of the entire city of Beijing.

Even the civilians in the outer city could feel the changes in the city. For a while, everyone was cautious, for fear of offending someone they shouldn't offend.

It's just that they don't know that the group of people they can't afford to offend are like mud bodhisattvas crossing the river at this moment, and they can't protect themselves...

The atmosphere in Beijing soon spread with the dispatch of Xichang. Zhu Gaoxu gave the courtiers a chance, but it did not mean that he would give the people below a chance.

Soon, tens of thousands of Jin Yiwei began to take action in the north, and many officials were arrested in full view of the public, even the small supervisor in charge of the project.

"The wrong person has been arrested! The wrong person must have been arrested!"

"Yes! We are just small supervisors, why do you want to arrest us!"

"Shut up!"

On the Pingyang section of the railway, Fatty Wang, who had bullied old workers and young people, was arrested and taken away by the Jin Yiwei. Even his two followers were taken away.

Over the past few months, the three of them had eaten their fill, but now they were being taken away like dead pigs.

They kept "crying out", but what they got in return was a severe slap in the face, and even several of his teeth that were rotten due to excessive sugar consumption were knocked out.

A new group of officials took over the Pingyang Prefecture and Pingyang section of the railway. Facing the officials standing in front of them to comfort themselves, the old and young workers looked at each other.

They don't know how long this official can remain clean, but they know that they can at least breathe a sigh of relief...

This storm is still going on, from Beijing to Liaodong, Shanxi, Shanxi, and even the Bohai Sea.

At the same time, batches of gold and silver were also escorted to the Si Li Supervisor Yamen, with more than ten carts of gold and silver arriving here every day.

Many people originally had a wait-and-see mentality, but as the crackdown from the outside world became more and more serious, they also calculated the ledgers and came to the Secretary of Ceremonies to confess their guilt with the ledgers and gold, silver and copper coins.

Time passed little by little, and with the arrival of the first day of the twelfth lunar month, thousands of Xichang warriors and Jinyiwei in Beijing also started activities.

Zhu Gaoxu came with the answer to give these former heroes a way to survive, but if they chose to take a gamble, they could only blame themselves.

"Qiu Song, the Duke of Qi, surrendered and the dirty money was one hundred and sixty-nine thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven two-six cents."

"The Marquis of Taining, Chen Gui, surrendered and received one hundred and forty-three thousand six hundred dirty dollars..."

"Tong'an Hou Huozhen surrenders and has a dirty silver of 122,000 yuan..."

"An Dongbo, Li Qi, surrendered and got one hundred and fifteen thousand two hundred dirty dollars..."

"The Duke of Wei, Xu Qin, surrendered and had one hundred and nine thousand dirty silver..."

"Chicken Xibo Richard..."

"Black Water Uncle Li Chi...

"Uncle Si'en's room is wide..."

In the Palace of Qianqing, Zhu Gaoxu, who had been absent from court for a month, heard the names and amounts of money coming out of Yishiha's mouth, and the armrest in his hand clenched so tightly that it made a sound.

He had thought that these people would accept money and food, but he had not thought that there would be so many.

"Your Majesty, there are two dukes, seven marquises, fourteen counts, in addition to sixty-nine officials of the sixth rank and above from the six ministries and six ministries, and sixteen eunuchs from the Daming Palace and the inner court except Wang Yan. "

"The total amount of greedy money and dirty money... four million seven hundred and sixty-five thousand four hundred and twenty-seven taels, two cents and five cents."

With a "bang", the hand guard of the chair was violently broken off by Zhu Gaoxu. Yi Shiha was startled. After reacting, he quickly put down the booklet and stepped forward to spread Zhu Gaoxu's hand.

After confirming that Zhu Gaoxu was not injured, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Your Majesty, please don't get hurt by your anger."

He was concerned about Zhu Gaoxu, but Zhu Gaoxu still couldn't calm down after hearing this.

It has only been seven years since the railway was built, and these officials may have received less than one-third of it.

In other words, in seven years, everyone embezzled no less than ten million taels, which was enough to build another six to seven hundred miles of railway.

"They're so good...so good!"

Zhu Gaoxu was so angry that he laughed, and Yi Shiha worriedly said: "Some people don't know that it is railway money. If they knew, they would not dare to be corrupt."

"It's just an excuse!" Zhu Gaoxu punched the dragon case, and the ink memorial on the dragon case was shocked.

"Tell Hu Lun and Liu Mian to investigate carefully!"

Zhu Gaoxu resisted the idea of ​​smashing things, and his breathing was slightly trembling.

Yi Shiha saw this and hurriedly went to do it. At this time, Zheng He also walked into the palace and bowed: "Your Majesty..."

"Do you want to intercede?" Zhu Gaoxu's eyes were evil. This was the first time that Zheng He was looked directly at by Zhu Gaoxu, and he couldn't help but lower his head.

"Your Majesty, after all you promised the Emperor and the ministers..."

"What did I promise?" Zhu Gaoxu asked Zheng He, but Zheng He was stopped by his question.

Indeed, Zhu Gaoxu never said that he would be let off if he handed over the dirty money and turned himself in and confessed. It was just that everyone felt that he valued friendship, so they subconsciously thought that nothing would happen if he handed over the dirty money.

"You go down first, I'll think about it alone."

Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth to see the guests off, but Zheng He had no choice but to bow and exit the Qianqing Palace, and saw Queen Guo Yan coming in a hurry at the palace gate.

"Her Royal Highness the Queen..."

Zheng He bowed and saluted. Seeing that his expression was not good, Guo Yan roughly guessed what was going on inside.

"It seems that Your Majesty doesn't want to see anyone right now. In that case, I won't go in."

"As for you, don't worry too much. Your Majesty must still be reluctant to attack the hero."

"Besides, even if he doesn't care about himself, he still has to worry about the Supreme Emperor."

"Let His Majesty be alone. You can go back and resume your duties with the Supreme Emperor first."

Guo Yan comforted Zheng He. Zheng He nodded, bowed and left Qianqing Palace.

Guo Yan did not leave. Since she could not go in, she went to the nearby palace to rest and wait for Zhu Gaoxu to stop being so angry before entering the Qianqing Palace.

Time passed little by little, and soon two hours passed, and Yi Shiha also returned to Qianqing Palace.

However, when he came back, Zhu Gaoxu stared at the "General Map of the World's Four Barbarian Guests" without saying a word, standing in front of the map with his hands behind his back.

Not long after, the eunuch on duty outside the palace suddenly spoke: "Your Majesty, Duke Shen Wang Yi, Zhaozhou Marquis Chen Chang and others are kneeling at the gate of Qianqing Palace to see your Majesty."

"Your Majesty..." Hearing this, Yi Shiha spoke carefully, fearing that Zhu Gaoxu was still angry.

"not see!"

Zhu Gaoxu gave the answer with a dark face, which made Yi Shiha feel depressed.

Upon seeing this, the eunuch on duty immediately walked out of the palace passage of Qianqing Palace, passed through the palace gate, and saw Wang Yi and others kneeling at the gate of Qianqing Palace.

The youngest among them is over forty years old, and the oldest Wang Yi is sixty. Almost all of them are generals from the Bohai line.

They knelt in front of the palace gate and watched eagerly as the eunuch on duty approached.

"Everyone, please go back. Your Majesty doesn't want to see anyone..."

"This..." After hearing this, Li Shi and others turned their attention to Wang Yi and Chen Chang.

The two of them looked ugly. They couldn't see Zhu Gaoxu. How could they know what crime Li Qi, Richard and others would be sentenced to.

"Please inform your majesty, father-in-law, that I am waiting here for your majesty's summons..."

Although Wang Yi also felt that what he did was embarrassing, he still shamelessly bowed to the eunuchs on duty for the sake of the lives of his brothers.

"Mr. Shen, you are really embarrassing me. I will pass it on to you now."

The eunuch on duty was startled and quickly turned around and walked quickly into the palace gate.

Not long after, he returned to the Qianqing Palace, knelt on the gold bricks and bowed, saying: "Your Majesty, Duke Shen and the others said they are waiting for your summons at the palace gate."

"Then let them wait slowly!"

Zhu Gaoxu still had his hands behind his back and looked at the map in front of him with a gloomy expression. Yi Shiha stood behind him without saying a word.

It wasn't until the sun set that Yishiha glanced out the window and bowed: "Your Majesty, it's snowing for the first time..."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't respond at all, which made Yi Shiha feel uneasy.

As for Wang Yi and others at the gate of Qianqing Palace, they also looked particularly weak and crumbling under the wind and snow...

(End of this chapter)