"Let him in!"
After hearing this, Chongzhen was also very curious. He had just taken over as the Supervisor of Ceremonies for a long time. What could possibly concern the courtiers?
After a while, Wang Chengen came in with Gao Shiming.
"Slave Gao Shiming comes to see Your Majesty!"
"Get up and talk!"
Gao Shiming stood up after thanking him and said, "Your Majesty, today when I was sorting out the internal books and periodicals of the Secretary of Ceremonies, I found this book of life and death. Please take a look at it."
One sentence immediately stunned Chongzhen.
Wang Chengen shouted speechlessly: "Master Gao, don't be wild in front of Your Majesty!"
"Wang Zhongguan, if you present this to His Majesty, Your Majesty will know!"
Chongzhen took a look and found that the three characters "Book of Life and Death" were written in cinnabar on the cover of the album. After being stunned for a moment, he sat up straight and his face became serious.
As it turned, murderous intent appeared in Chongzhen's eyes.
This account book was the one he asked Wei Zhongxian to investigate the property of the ministers and gentry in Beijing. I don't know why he didn't give it to him after the investigation was completed.
After looking at it for a quarter of an hour, Chongzhen closed the account book and said, "Gao Shiming, who else has read this life and death...account book?"
Plop...
Gao Shiming suddenly knelt down and said, "When the emperor, slaves, and other four people saw this account book, they only read the first page and did not dare to look at it again.
At present, only the four slaves have seen it. It is unknown whether anyone else has seen it before we enter the Ceremony Prison. "
Gao Shiming's body trembled slightly when he said this. He couldn't help but tremble. If the content recorded above spreads out, it will definitely cause turmoil in the court.
When the time comes, His Majesty will definitely kill the nine tribes to appease the anger of the courtiers.
The name of this thing is the Book of Life and Death. It is so correct. Anyone who clicks on it will die.
"Wang Cheng'en, go to the Supervisor of Ceremonies and ask the Jinyi guards guarding the Supervisor of Ceremonies whether anyone has entered the Supervisor of Ceremonies since Wang Tigan and the others were arrested."
"At the same time, send someone to notify Li Ruolian and ask him to interrogate the people from Si Lijian and Dongchang separately. All those who participated in the interrogation of Si Lijian and Dongchang have been issued a silence order."
"This slave accepts the order!"
Wang Chengen immediately left. He could feel that the emperor was completely angry this time, because the emperor usually called him his companion, but when he was angry, he always called him by his first name.
After Wang Chengen and Gao Shiming left, Chongzhen opened the account books again with complicated eyes.
He knew that the courtiers were greedy, but he didn't expect them to be so greedy. It was simply shocking.
Hundreds of ministers and nobles embezzled nearly 30 million taels of cash and property in total.
Among the officials in Beijing, except for a very few officials, all others are more or less corrupt. Even the Donglin Party members who always claim to be noble and serve the country and the people are corrupt. What an irony.
The remaining prisoners of the Eunuch Party are being liquidated. If this account book is leaked and the ministers and people learn about it, Beijing will be completely lively.
According to the law of the Ming Dynasty, if someone embezzles more than sixty taels of silver, the skin must be completely peeled off. Do you want to kill those who have embezzled dozens of times the standard?
If you don't kill, it won't make the people angry. If you don't kill, future generations will become greedy.
If he is killed, then there will be only a few people left in the entire court. Will the court still be able to function?
"What a headache!"
Chongzhen rubbed the corners of his sore eyes.
The salary of the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty was 87 shi for the first grade, 72 shi for the first grade, 61 shi for the second grade... 5 shi for the ninth grade.
One stone of grain is equivalent to about one tael of silver, which is equivalent to 34,000 yuan per month for the first grade, and about 2,000 yuan for the ninth grade.
This salary seems okay, but these senior officials still have servants, bearers, etc. to pay their salaries, and there are also social activities among the senior officials.
The city of Beijing is known as "the land of laurels and jade", and everything is expensive. After all, it's really not enough.
PS: According to Wang Shizhen's "Gu Bu Gu Lu", the consumption of capital officials, even if they are quite frugal, requires nearly 100 taels of silver per year; if there is no frugality, it will be as high as 600 to 700 taels of silver per year.
According to Li Yanshi's "Old Stories of the Southern Wu Dynasty", a slightly ordinary scholar and a family of eight would need to spend roughly 50 taels of silver to maintain a living in the capital for one year.
"Under the circumstances of the Ming Dynasty, corruption must be eradicated. At the most minor level, corruption is a deterioration in the relationship between the government and the people. At the most serious level, it is the collapse of the ethics and morals of the entire society and the regression of value orientation."
At the end of each dynasty, the dynasty fell, and official corruption was an important factor.
After thinking about it, Chongzhen picked up the pen and started writing on the paper.
"High salary to support integrity, salary differentiation, ideological education, strict punishment and strict law, and severe punishment and fear."
After finishing writing, Chongzhen murmured to himself: "The road to reform is still long!"
"Your Majesty, my servant has asked. Since Wang Tiqian and others were arrested, no one from the Bureau of Ceremonies has entered again."
"knew!"
Chongzhen nodded: "Let Li Ruolian check Zhou Tingru's family property."
Because in this account book, Zhou Tingru did not commit corruption.
This man was a treacherous official in the historical records of later generations. At this moment, the whole capital was greedy but he was not greedy. This was simply unimaginable to Chongzhen.
Although this person is treacherous, he can be regarded as a capable minister if he uses it well. Since he knows Zhou Tingru, he should give it a good beating and use it first.
Chongzhen put the written strategy in the account book and put it in the golden cabinet.
These people must be dealt with, but not now, at least until the group of people who were killed by the eunuchs is completed.
After doing all this, Chongzhen arrived at Kunning Palace.
"Okay, from today onwards, let's all go back to our respective palaces."
Hearing this, the girls looked overjoyed.
In the past few days, there were guards outside Kunning Palace. From time to time, there were shouts of killing. From time to time, a group of guards rushed in and captured several palace maids and eunuchs.
Although no one told them clearly what happened, they guessed that it was related to the eunuchs. Now that the danger was over, they were naturally happy.
Although Kunning Palace is big enough, it is not as comfortable as living in your own palace.
After a while, only Queen Zhou and Queen Yi'an Zhang Yan were left in Kunning Palace.
Before the two of them could say anything, Chongzhen said calmly: "Wei Zhongxian is dead. I am now in the process of liquidating the remaining criminals of the eunuch party. It will be completely completed in the next few days."
The two were stunned for a moment, and then Queen Zhou's eyes were filled with surprise, while Zhang Yan burst into tears.
Seeing Zhang Yan crying, neither Chongzhen nor Queen Zhou spoke. This was a heartache that Zhang Yan had to deal with on her own.
After a while, Zhang Yan stopped crying, stood up and knelt down towards Chongzhen: "Thank you, Your Majesty, my concubine."
"Sister-in-law, what are you doing? Get up quickly!"
Chongzhen winked at Queen Zhou, who immediately stepped forward to help Zhang Yan up.
The two comforted each other for a while, and then Zhang Yan left.
The red candle flickers, everything is left unsaid.
In the next two or three days, apart from reviewing memorials and accompanying his daughters, Chongzhen lived a comfortable life.
On this day, he had breakfast and went to court as usual.
Nearly half of the ministers in the court were empty. After Wang Cheng'en started the memorial with his original instructions and withdrew from the court without his original instructions, Li Banghua left.
"Your Majesty, I have a written notice. Three days ago, I was ordered to examine the remaining criminals of the eunuch generals. The results have now been obtained."
Just as Li Banghua finished speaking, Li Guopu also left work.
"Your Majesty, I also have a result. Your Majesty, please make it clear."
Chongzhen was shocked and finally waited. He immediately said: "Li Banghua, you come first!"
After Li Banghua responded, he turned around and walked towards the outside of Huangji Palace. Chongzhen and the other ministers were a little confused by this scene.
I asked you to report, what are you doing outside?
