As for Hu Bin, who was standing in the middle of the hall with so much momentum, he already wanted to swallow every word he just said! But Liu Haojia clearly had no intention of stopping. He read seventy or eighty times in one breath before stopping to take a breath!
The records he recited were extremely comprehensive! There were not only salaries and materials issued to the army, but also various funds and materials allocated to various places. Unsurprisingly, part of these money and materials were all lost! The quantity is still around 20% to 30%!
Liu Haojia seemed to have a dry throat after reading these words. He coughed as soon as he put it down. He looked at Hu Bin who looked like a ghost in front of him and said, "Master Hu, I just lost more than 800,000 taels of silver, but here the money has been lost." How many are missing? One million? Two million? And I can tell you clearly that these are only the accounts verified this year. I haven’t read the earlier accounts yet! Why, your household department even has the courtyard gate? You can wash away tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of silver and supplies without even leaving the country. Is it too much for me to wash away more than 800,000 taels of silver across a dozen streets?"
When Liu Haojia said these words in the silent hall, there was a faint echo! But no one among the officials dared to raise their head to answer. They all cursed angrily in secret. The more than 800,000 taels of silver must have been a trap set by Liu Haojia. No one believed that Liu Haojia really swallowed the chair!
And there is another reason why they dare not answer, that is, most of the money that has not been floated out in the Ministry of Finance has been shared. Of course, the bulk of it must have been taken away by people from the Ministry of Finance! So it can be said that except for a small number of these officials, most of them are involved in excessive corruption. How can they raise their heads and speak?
At this time, Liu Haojia glanced coldly at the officials, and specifically glanced at the elders who had stood up. Then he turned and bowed to Emperor Wanli and said: "Your Majesty, there are no rivers and seas in this household, but there are many silver supplies. Thirty percent of it was washed away before leaving the yamen. It probably didn’t come out from the washbasin! But I think it’s impossible, so I ask Jin Yiwei and Dongchang to jointly investigate the household department!"
As soon as he said these words, all the officials immediately let out a wail and shouted at the same time! "No way!" "No!" Some people even directly accused Hu Bin loudly, saying that he was responsible for everything. Well, the whole hall was in chaos!
At this time, Emperor Wanli grabbed the paperweight on the imperial desk and slapped it on the table with a "snap"! The slap caused his hands to hurt immediately, but the hall also instantly became quiet, and all the officials knelt on the floor with cheers! ..
Emperor Wanli stood behind the imperial case and was trembling slightly! Although his hands hurt badly, his heart felt extremely happy! It wasn't until today that he felt that being an emperor had some flavor!
After he calmed down a bit, I heard him say gloomily: "Okay, okay! I thought the officials of the Ming Dynasty were all moral people who read the classics of the sages! Especially when they go up to the table every day to advise me. How sincere your words are, but you didn’t expect that every one of them is such a hypocrite! Are those moral articles just to teach you how to deceive me? Are you talking about benevolence, righteousness and morality just to fool me? "
When the officials heard this, no one dared to raise their head to speak. They just lowered their heads for fear that Emperor Wanli would look at them! But they still felt that Emperor Wanli's gaze was like an awl piercing their backs!
At this time, Emperor Wanli continued to say: "Liu Haojia! Zhang Jia!"
Liu Haojia and Zhang Jia immediately responded loudly. Then I heard Emperor Wanli roaring loudly: "You two immediately block the household department and capture all the officials together! Let me investigate carefully to see how much money these shameless people have swallowed from me?"
Before Liu Haojia and Zhang Jia could answer, several of the kneeling officials had already fallen to the ground, obviously fainting! You don’t need to look to know that he must be an official from the Ministry of Revenue! As for other officials, they shrank their bodies even tighter!
Just then, a voice was heard saying slowly: "Your Majesty, wait a minute, I have something to say!"
All the officials were relieved when they heard this voice! Because the person speaking was none other than Zhang Juzheng! So all the officials relaxed a little and praised Zhang Juzheng in their hearts for showing off!
Zhang Juzheng first bowed to Emperor Wanli and then said: "Your Majesty, I have something to say to Wu Ninghou, please allow your Majesty!"
After hearing this, Emperor Wanli felt that all the 36,000 pores in his body were opened. The feeling of relief was unparalleled! Because Zhang Juzheng had never been so polite when talking to him before!
In the past, when the teacher and the student were studying in the study room, Zhang Juzheng was very harsh with him, scolding him loudly if he made the slightest mistake! If he didn't have the status of an emperor, I'm afraid he would have received a few more blows from the ruler! Even though Zhang Juzheng would not speak loudly to Emperor Wanli in the court, he always adopted a ignoring attitude! He always made direct decisions on the matters reported to the officials and never asked for his opinion. It makes Emperor Wanli look like a puppet emperor!
But today, Zhang Juzheng not only spoke with him in a kind manner, but also bowed and saluted first, which had never happened before! This made Emperor Wanli even more grateful to Liu Haojia, and at the same time, he felt even more that what this emperor did was worth something!
But after he was so proud, he felt disappointed again! Because he remembered the matter, that is, Liu Haojia told him that it was impossible for them to pursue and beat up the civil servants! The reason is very simple. The huge Ming Empire still relies on these officials to support it. It is impossible to kill all the officials! Then the country is doomed!
And even if all these officials are killed, the civil servants who come up will still have the same thoughts! They will still do things the same as the previous officials, and they may even be greedier than the current officials who are so full of food!
So when Emperor Wanli saw Zhang Juzheng coming forward, he took a deep breath and said, "Mr. Zhang, it's whatever you say!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Juzheng bowed and saluted again, then turned around and looked at Liu Haojia up and down, as if it was the first time he had seen this person! His bright eyes put great pressure on Liu Haojia! But Liu Haojia had the winning ticket, so naturally he looked at him without any care!
After the two looked at each other for a while, Zhang Juzheng sighed slightly and said, "Master Liu, what are you doing? Do you want to mess up the entire Ming Dynasty?"
Liu Haojia sneered and said: "Master Chief Assistant, I don't think I am messing with the Ming Dynasty! On the contrary, I am protecting this country!"
