Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

Beijing, this is an eventful time.

The earlier case of Zhou Lie's rebellion has not been fully implemented, but now the corruption case has arisen again.

At first, Chen Zhun, the eunuch who was the eunuch of the Bureau of Ceremony, Bingbi, was confiscated of 500,000 taels. This broke the record for the highest corruption in history and became a powerful weapon for the civil servant group to attack the eunuchs.

However, what happened next became more and more serious. Xie Yikui, the former Minister of Industry, had his house confiscated by the imperial court. It is said that more than ten carts of property were taken out of Xie's house.

Just now, Li Min, the former Minister of Household Affairs, was arrested by officials from the Ministry of Justice at Chongwenmen.

Although it has not been officially disclosed why Li Min, the former Minister of Household Affairs, was arrested, rumors have spread that this upright official who specially ran to Chongwen Gate to stage a common man leaving Beijing with a donkey was suspected of corruption.

"Li Min has been arrested, how is this possible?" Xu Pu, who was sitting in the office of the official office, immediately looked shocked when he learned the news of Li Min's arrest.

If others still have doubts about Li Min's greed, then he knows Li Min well, but he realizes that this will be a shocking case.

If Li Min's home is inspected, the image of integrity that their civil servants have always cultivated will be destroyed, and His Majesty and the world will see clearly the true face of their civil servants.

Unfortunately, things turned out to be the worst, and Li Min was still unable to leave Beijing smoothly.

"Master Xu, for the sake of the friendship between our two families, you must save my master!" After Li Min's housekeeper learned that Li Min was arrested at Chongwenmen, he rushed here as soon as possible to ask for help. .

Xu Pu knew that he did not have this ability at all, but he reminded him seriously: "You should not come to me for help now. Instead, before the imperial court orders to confiscate your home, rush back to your hometown and hide your kiln silver in another place." Get up, maybe this way your master can have a chance to survive!"

"Yes, yes, I will send someone back to report it right now!" Butler Li thought of the terrifying amount of kiln silver in his hometown, and immediately turned around and said.

It was just that he had just walked out of the door of the check-in room when he suddenly remembered that he was here to move reinforcements to save the master. When he was about to turn around and go back, he felt that doing so would be a waste of time.

Butler Li felt relieved and left in a hurry, preparing to send someone back to inform his hometown.

The wealth that his family had worked hard to accumulate for decades, and the countless silver coins in the silver cellar, could not really be taken advantage of by Hongzhi Emperor Zhu Youtang.

The civil service group had already infiltrated into Jinyiwei, and they soon learned that the reason for Li Min's sudden arrest was that Hongzhi had found Xie Yikui's account book.

The only person to blame for this is Xie Yikui. How can we, a serious Qingliu, write an account book?

After Qingliu learned the truth of the matter, they all pointed their fingers at Xie Yikui.

Now that Emperor Hongzhi has Xie Yikui's account book, he may take the account book and behead him one by one, until all the corrupt officials recorded in it are beheaded.

Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

Thirteen thousand two hundred and thirteen taels of silver, equivalent to more than 800 kilograms by modern standards, were neatly placed on the ground with a faint silver light on them.

Who would have thought that Xie Yikui would choose to hide the account books and the money in the money store.

If it weren't for God's will, he could have read the number "Thirteen thousand two hundred and thirteen" from Xie Ke's mouth, and Song Cheng happened to open the book with thirteen thousand two hundred and thirteen taels of silver sandwiched between it. The book of votes may really miss out on the ledger this time.

Zhu Youtang saw the account book lying quietly in front of him. It seemed that he had used up all his luck to find the account book this time. The account book he found now turned out to be incomplete, only half of it.

Not only that, because this account book was affected by dampness, except for the names and amounts of Li Min, Li Honghai, a doctor in the Fujian Division of the Hubu Department, Chen Hui, a doctor in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Division of the Hubu Department, and Gao Kui, a doctor in the Yunnan Division of the Hubu Department, the names and amounts of the water transport officials involved later were very clear. The list is severely affected.

"Your Majesty, the shopkeeper of Xinyi Money Store said he didn't know that there was a ledger in it, so he hid this batch of silver in the cellar. Unexpectedly, the ledger got damp because of it!" Chen Jin just went to cash it in person and explained bitterly. .

Zhu Youtang couldn't help but sigh secretly when he looked at the incomplete and damp ledger.

Although he really wanted this to be a complete and clear account book, God had already made a decision.

Since God has allowed me to chop down one by one slowly, I don't need to rush it. If I spend more time, I can dig out all the maggots.

Fortunately, now that he has evidence of Li Min's bribery, he can order to inspect Li Min's home and look through the silver kiln of Li Min, a man of Qingliu.

"Liu Zhong, the doctor of the Guangxi Department of the Ministry of Husbandry, respectfully sends his greetings!" Liu Zhong, the doctor of the Guangxi Department of the Hubu Department, came in from the outside and saluted politely.

"Holy greetings! Liu Zhong, I order you to rush to Li Min's hometown in Henan immediately and seize the money that Li Min has embezzled over the years. You must not disappoint me!" Zhu Youtang saw Liu Zhong arriving and acted seriously. warned.

Liu Zhong is an upright official who hates corrupt officials. He immediately expressed his position: "I accept the decree! If your Majesty's errands are done well, your Majesty, please chop off my head!"

"Go! We must rush to the Li family's old house before the news spreads and search all the kiln silver!" Zhu Youtang gave Liu Jin a look and warned him immediately.

Liu Zhong took the imperial edict and token from Liu Jin, and even if he said goodbye in a hurry, he knew that he had to leave Beijing quickly and rush to Henan.

Whether it was because of his own loyalty or because he wanted to follow in Chen Kun's footsteps and be promoted to Minister of Household Affairs, he had to do the inspection work beautifully at this moment.

Luck is a mysterious thing, and bad news keeps coming one after another.

When Zhu Youtang heard Wang Xiang's report, he looked in disbelief and said, "Xie Ke was poisoned in prison?"

"That's right. The inspection has just been completed, and the food in Fusi's cell in Beizhen is indeed poisonous!" Wang Xiang sensed Hongzhi's anger, so he gritted his teeth and reported it.

Zhu Youtang thought that Huai'en was also poisoned to death in the prison of Beizhen Fusi, and couldn't help but laughed angrily: "Is Beizhen Fusi still my Beizhen Fusi today?"

"Your Majesty, I am guilty!" Wang Xiang also did not expect that Beizhen Fusi had already been infiltrated, so he immediately kowtowed.

If it was just once, then there have been two consecutive cases of prisoners being poisoned and died in the cell, which all prove that Beizhen Fusi has been secretly controlled by people, and they really want to let the prisoner die whoever they want.

Zhu Youtang took a deep breath, but he knew that the fault was not with the Wang Xiang, but with the fact that the civil servant group was really powerful.

But then again, if these civil servants continue to be allowed to stuff their own children into the Jinyiwei system, such incidents will always be impossible to prevent, and the civil servant group will only become stronger and stronger.

Just after Wang Xiang was sent away, Song Cheng, who was responsible for arresting Li Min, came back and handed over the task.

With the emperor's decree, it is not difficult to capture a second-grade official who has already served.

Zhu Youtang found out that this unsmiling, black-faced young man was indeed useful. He originally wanted to hand over the cases of Huai En and Xie Ke to him for investigation, but suddenly he came across Zhou Lie's case, but he changed his mind and said: "Song Aiqing, no matter what Who is involved in this matter that you can make an impartial decision?"

"I am Neng!" Song Cheng was stunned for a moment, and then answered righteously.

Zhu Youtang knew that this might be the best candidate, so he immediately made the appointment and said: "I will promote you to the rank of Shaoqing of Dali Temple, and you will immediately be responsible for investigating and handling cases related to Marquis Qingyun!"

"I accept the order and thank you for your kindness!" Song Cheng's expression remained unchanged despite being promoted, and he immediately saluted politely.

He was directly promoted from the fifth-rank Zhejiang Department of Punishment Department member Wai Lang to the fourth-rank Dali Temple Shaoqing. This was a three-level promotion in a row. Ordinary officials would probably go crazy with excitement.

"Step back!" Zhu Youtang waved gently when he saw that the arrangements were completed.

He had a vague feeling that the Wynn poisoning case and the Xie Ke poisoning case were involved, but neither case was urgent, especially Xie Ke's life and death became unimportant at all.

On the contrary, according to Zhou Lie's rebellious file, it is indeed not appropriate to delay the case any longer, but to decide as soon as possible who should be pardoned and who should be guillotined.

Qingyun Hou Zhou Shou is undoubtedly the key to the list. This is the person Empress Dowager Zhou named to protect, but it will be difficult to show her imperial power if she does not kill him.

That's why he needs Song Cheng, who can judge cases fairly, to investigate the cases related to Zhou Shou to see if this relative is the rumored philanthropic Marquis Qingyun, or a greedy villain.

While Zhu Youtang was sharpening his knife to kill cattle and sheep, the waves and clouds in Huguang, thousands of miles away, were also treacherous.

I will resume two updates tomorrow, and try to update four thousand words in one!