Zhao Mian, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, worked with the entire household department to embezzle huge sums of money, which is jaw-dropping.
Moreover, this is only the corruption and bribery within the Ministry of Household Affairs, and does not include Zhao Mian's own income from selling his official position.
Zhu Di and Zhan Hui once paid a private visit incognito, and Liu asked for five thousand taels. Obviously, he had done a lot of business, otherwise he would not be so skilled.
Looking at the memorial presented by Lan Yu, it is even more complicated. There are more than thirty local officials involved in it, all of them are state and county officials. They rose to the top through bribery.
Therefore, the treatment of these people cannot be careless. Zhu Di showed no mercy to them and would kill them all. Their families were exiled and their female relatives were sent to the Jiaofang Division.
Officials in the Ministry of Revenue who were complicit in corruption were handed over to the Jin Yiwei for investigation. Officials with minor crimes were demoted, which just filled the vacancies of those who paid bribes.
And those officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs who knowingly did this were also punished, and their descendants were never allowed to participate in the imperial examinations, and were reduced to the lowest status.
Naturally, the officials who discussed the matter could not find fault with this method of handling the matter. They just lamented Zhu Di's vigorous and resolute actions.
At the same time, they were secretly glad that if this matter was handled by His Majesty, the impact would not only be on the household department, but others would also be blamed for lax supervision.
Coupled with a series of other officials who came down, the entire court may be ushering in a new round of purges, and I don't know how many people will lose their heads as a result.
Now everyone is happy with this situation, and everyone feels satisfied, but in the end, there is another turmoil in the court regarding Liu Sanwu's handling.
Lan Yu insisted that Liu Sanwu, as Zhao Mian's father-in-law, failed to dissuade him and taught his daughter poorly, causing the court to suffer such losses for no reason. Liu Sanwu should be imprisoned and beheaded at a later date.
This approach was undoubtedly intended to put Liu Sanwu to death, which caused dissatisfaction among Zhan Hui and others, and led to a lot of arguments.
In the end, Zhu Di made the final decision. Although Liu Sanwu did not know the inside story, he had no way to teach his daughter. He should be dismissed from office and reflect. However, considering that he was old and had made many contributions, he was only fined half a year's salary.
Although Lan Yu was very dissatisfied with the result, considering that he had just been beaten by His Majesty, he gave up his thoughts of refuting and reluctantly agreed.
At this point, the Zhao Mian case, which caused panic in the court, was concluded, and the officials involved were killed, demoted, and demoted in a very complete manner.
What worries many people is that His Majesty did not come forward to handle the Zhao Mian corruption case this time. All decisions were made by Prince Zhu Di, which led to the current situation.
Back in the East Palace, Zhu Di asked Dao Yan about this issue: "This time, my father didn't interfere much in the whole process, which really surprised me."
Dao Yan smiled and said: "Your Highness really didn't think of His Majesty's purpose? This is just His Majesty paving the way for His Majesty."
"I thought about this, but I still have some doubts in my heart. Those civil servants are all good people. How can they really be fond of me so easily?"
"Your Highness, don't overestimate them. After all, ministers are just ministers."
Dao Yan was not in a hurry, and said: "Your Majesty has purged the court many times, killing people all over the world, and the civil and military officials are most afraid of Your Majesty. If the Zhao Mian corruption case is handed over to His Majesty, there will definitely be a lot of heads. I don’t know how many people will be implicated.”
"The civil and military officials had expected this, so they were naturally even more frightened. I heard that the sales of coffins in Yingtian have been booming in the past few days, which is obviously related to this."
"Now His Highness handles this case, enforces the law impartially, is fair and strict, and does not cause too many killings. In the eyes of the ministers, this is already a benevolent, wise and powerful person."
Zhu Di still couldn't believe it, and said: "The appetite of these civil servants is already so small?"
"Being able to persist under His Majesty's majesty for so long, their mentality has already changed. Just a little kindness is enough to relieve their tense nerves."
Dao Yan obviously understood the thoughts of these officials and said with a smile: "Your Highness, there is no need to worry. After the matter ferments for a few days, His Highness's wisdom will naturally spread throughout Yingtian. From then on, His Highness will no longer only have His Majesty's approval, but also his Majesty's approval." There will be an invisible 'power'!"
Zhu Di smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying: "Old monk, what you said is quite simple. The prejudices in people's hearts are like a big mountain, which cannot be cleared overnight. If these civil servants can think of me a little better, then they have some conscience. What's more, if it's not Thanks to your persuasion, today in the courtroom, I really want to uproot the household department. What Lan Yu said is very good, people's hearts are separated from each other!"
"Your Highness, heavy laws are only used in troubled times. Now that the world has been in peace for a long time and the people live and work in peace and contentment, it is time to make changes. Things in the laws that are not in line with the times can be modified. Now your Majesty is determined to pave the way for His Highness. It is This is an excellent opportunity for His Highness to show off his ambitions.”
Dao Yan gave another exhortation, saying: "If your Highness wants to be a wise king for all time, you must restrain your selfish desires and deal with the people of the world with justice. Only in this way can you achieve great achievements. Otherwise, Your Highness will always be hidden from His Majesty's side. Under the brilliance, His Highness must not be willing to give in due to his ambition."
Speaking of this, Zhu Di's eyes suddenly lit up and he nodded heavily, his eyes full of desire.
When Dao Yan entered Prince Yan's palace, he used this to constantly seduce Zhu Di, and also secretly planted a seed called ambition in Zhu Di's heart.
He, Zhu Di, wanted to be more than just a mediocre emperor. He wanted to become an unparalleled king like the Emperor Wu and Tang Zong of the Han Dynasty and create the greatest Ming Dynasty.
With his ambition revived, Zhu Di's eyes suddenly became firm and he said: "Old monk, you are right, I will never betray this trust. Things are complicated now, where do you think I should start?"
Dao Yan: "Nowadays, there are many harsh censures in the laws. Your Highness can start from the "Da Ming Law" to modify the harsh parts and accumulate momentum."
At night, the moon and stars are sparse.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the night sky quietly, feeling the national destiny that was no longer growing in his body, and breathed a sigh of relief.
In the past two days, the national destiny in his body has continued to grow, and the feeling of vitality and all things competing really made him feel panicked.
The growth of national destiny and the return of national destiny are completely different things.
When Prince Yiwen Zhu Biao passed away, all the national destiny that was originally carried by Zhu Biao was taken back into his body.
Since the total amount is so large, these national fortunes are just an in-and-out relationship and show no signs of growing.
The growth of the national destiny, to use a metaphor, is more like broadening the boundaries of a pond that was originally a fixed size, making the pond area larger.
The larger the area of the pond, the greater the amount of water it can bear, which means that the national fortune in Zhu Yuanzhang's body has increased again.
Just one Hongwu algorithm brought such serious consequences. He felt a little speechless and secretly made up his mind to never deduce it again in the future.
Of course, the growth of the national destiny will naturally bring benefits, which is equivalent to the injection of new living water into the pond. Even his old body has been nourished, and his life span has increased a lot, probably three years longer. .
This was just a small profit, and Zhu Yuanzhang didn't care. On the contrary, he was more eager to transfer the fate of the country.
For this reason, he decided to give Zhu Di a push and let the successor receive the care and love from his old father.
Since he proposed the Hongwu algorithm, which will strengthen the national destiny in the body, what if it is replaced by Zhu Di?
As the crown prince of the country, his status is only slightly lower than him. What would happen if rules like the Hongwu algorithm were proposed by Zhu Di?
Zhu Yuanzhang felt that it was necessary to conduct some experiments, and he might receive unexpected surprises.
He took another look at the night sky and felt a little better. At least he had one more solution now.
When he turned to enter the room, Zhu Yuanzhang's expression suddenly turned ugly. He once again felt the ups and downs of the country's destiny.
This time it was not that he was getting stronger, but that a wave of national destiny had returned, seven points of it, integrated into his body.
He cursed secretly and couldn't help but wonder, what's going on?
…
