Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

Brag!

Gao Kui and others immediately looked at each other, doubtful in their hearts.

You know, Chen Shou was assigned to the remote Jingshan County in Anlu, Huguang, and the Ministry of Household Affairs only subsidized 100 cloth coupons. The five of them combined could only afford 250 coupons.

Not to mention that Zhang Sui was squeezed out this time, and Liaodong was only a few hundred miles away from the capital. How could the Ministry of Household Affairs give him a full five hundred cloth tickets?

Do not believe!

Although Xu Hong has always believed in Zhang Sui's character, when he heard Zhang Sui give such a ridiculous answer, the first thought in his mind was not that the other party was bragging, but he didn't believe it in his heart.

After all, this guy had braised that grass carp. Since he was sent to Liaodong by the imperial court to serve as a supervisory censor, the subsidy given by the Ministry of Household Affairs would only be low, not high.

Not to mention that the number of five hundred cloth votes is too staggering, and there is no such a big gap in their votes, so this must not be the truth of the matter.

Xu Hong felt that Zhang Sui was deliberately making excuses to deny his feelings, so he still firmly pushed the twenty cloth tickets over: "We brothers, please don't be polite. If I am in trouble in the future, I will count on you!"

Gao Kui and others nodded silently, agreeing that Zhang Sui was actually lying, and now Zhang Sui is the one among the six of them who needs care and help the most.

"I really didn't lie to you. Five hundred cloth tickets are here. Do you believe it now?" Zhang Sui saw that everyone didn't believe what he said, so he simply took out all the cloth tickets in his arms and said .

Under the light, a large stack of thick cloth tickets was laid out as if they were worthless, and the twenty cloth tickets also stacked on the table seemed so insignificant at this time.

Shopkeeper Zhang, who happened to be bringing peanuts, saw such a thick stack of cloth tickets, and his whole body suddenly became excited, and he couldn't help but swallow secretly.

Although a flash of greed flashed across his eyes immediately, it only gave him a hundred courages, and he did not dare to seek wealth or death against the dignified court officials.

ah?

how come?

It's actually true?

After Haikuan and others saw the thick stack of cloth tickets, although it was unbelievable, the fact was already in front of them. Zhang Sui really had 500 tickets.

They originally thought that Zhang Sui was the one in need of care and assistance the most among the six of them, but five hundred cloth tickets directly shattered this conclusion. Things were completely different from what they had guessed.

For a moment, everyone's breathing became rapid.

After Zhang Sui placed the thick cloth ticket on the table, he was suddenly stunned for a moment, and then hurriedly put back the secret envelope that he had taken out.

Huh?

Xu Hong and Gao Kui had sharp eyes. After just a glance, they couldn't help but look at each other.

Both of their faces were filled with shock, and some even couldn't believe their eyes. Just now, the two of them clearly saw that the title on the cover of the secret book was "Zhang Qing". Who else in the world could use this title?

After thinking about this, the two of them were sober. This information was really too explosive.

Now the personnel power of the Ming Dynasty has fallen into the hands of the emperor. Their much-requested teacher Wang Yue was originally a relegated criminal minister, but in just a year and a half, Wang Yue has become the superior left capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Censor.

Capable officials such as Liu Zhong, the governor of Huguang, Chen Kun, the governor of Xuanda, and Song Cheng, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, were all promoted from official positions. Now the court no longer values ​​so-called qualifications and reputations, but the officials' own abilities and holy connections.

Among the 601 new scholars in their current class, ever since Liu Chengye, Qian Fu and Jin Gui applied to join the Hanlin Academy because of fear of hard work, they knew that it would be difficult for these three people to get the favor of the Holy Family.

In other words, among their current generation of Jinshi, the people with the highest achievements in the future will definitely not be the three first-class Jinshi who entered the Hanlin Academy, but will be born among their 598 Jinshi.

It is for this reason that their 598 new scholars worked hard to express themselves by assisting in this mission, striving to become the first person to receive the honor in the second year of Hongzhi.

But now it seems that the outcome of their 598 new scholars may be hard to say, but the one who is at the forefront now is probably the unknown Zhang Sui.

Obviously, they all guessed wrong just now, and they were terribly wrong.

Although Liaodong is located on the border, the supervisory censor is far less popular than the six chiefs, but if there are holy relatives among them, then the matter will naturally be different.

The entire front hall suddenly became quiet, as if you could hear a pin drop.

The brother in front of them is not the object of care and support. He is clearly ahead of everyone, but he is the existence they need to look up to.

Embarrassing, really embarrassing!

Haikuan's face instantly turned red when he thought that he, a small magistrate, still wanted to sympathize with others.

Gao Kui once imagined that he would be able to stand out by giving a little charity to the other party and giving him a hand, but he had a burning feeling of being slapped in the face.

Xu Hong saw that he was ranked ahead of his opponent, but when he saw the insurmountable gap between the two in votes, he immediately wanted to find a crack in the ground to get in.

"Come on, let's keep drinking. We won't come back until we get drunk tonight!" Zhang Sui knew that it would be difficult to get together again after this separation, and there would even be no chance to get together again, so he picked up his wine glass and shouted without thinking too much.

"Okay, I won't come home until I get drunk tonight!"

When Hai Kuan and others thought that they were about to be separated, they no longer dwelled on the embarrassing things that had just happened, and raised their wine glasses to the ground in response.

Shopkeeper Zhang brought over a plate of pork head meat and said in a very flattering manner: "This is a side dish given by the shop. I hope you will come here often if you have the opportunity!"

Haikuan and others wiped the wine stains from the corners of their mouths. Although the thick pile of cloth tickets on the table was very conspicuous, no one mentioned the matter of ticket replacement.

There is no love without reason in this world, and now Zhang Sui has received 500 tickets, which is enough to prove that Zhang Sui was not abandoned by the court, but was even reused by the court.

Now everyone is in the officialdom, and they vaguely guess that the matter is related to the person in the Forbidden City, so no one does the stupid thing of asking for the truth.

Next, Weng Peng continued to play Chaoshan ditties with chopsticks, while Haikuan sang Qiongzhou folk songs, and the atmosphere became lively again.

Although everyone was about to separate, and Zhang Sui carried everyone on the thickest thigh in the world, everyone still seemed very happy at this moment.

They had studied hard for ten years in order to become officials, and now they have achieved what they wanted, especially since they are very satisfied with where they are going.

Not everyone is eager to become a prince or prime minister, especially after seeing what Wang Yue has done, they feel that doing practical things in a down-to-earth manner is better than Wan An and Liu Ji.

Xu Hong was actually the most troubled one. He wanted to ask Zhang Sui several times about the reason for the imperial family, but in the end he stopped talking.

The test questions about grass carp have now become a lingering mystery for him.

Liu Cunye and three other people chose to raise grass carp with them, so they got the most prestigious number one, second place, and top prize; they chose to welcome Miss Qian and settled the grass carp in the pool of Qian's house, so they were arranged to enter the Ministry of War.

What about Zhang Sui?

He clearly has no place to raise fish!

How on earth did he deal with that grass carp and obtain the holy favor?

It was previously speculated that Zhang Sui steamed or braised the grass carp. Since Zhang Sui was not suppressed by the court, this speculation was naturally unfounded, but what is the truth?

That night, Xu Hong did not go home. He drank too much and passed out at the table, so he was arranged to spend the night at Dongsheng Inn.

Zhang Sui was the only sober person. It wasn't that he didn't want to get drunk, but that the four of them were too drunk. After settling the four people, they invited Hai Kuan, who also came from a military household, to continue drinking together under the moonlight.

In fact, there are many similar situations. The new scholars who have worked hard for a month are all assigned jobs. When they are about to go their separate ways, they all call their friends and choose to get drunk.

No matter how reluctant they were to give up, the sun still rose the next day.

It's just like the 598 seeds newly cultivated by the Ming Dynasty. After nearly a month of tempering, they were sprinkled on the land of the two capitals and thirteen provinces, hoping that a few pillars of talent would emerge from them.

As the new scholars went their separate ways, the capital was obviously not as lively as before. The days seemed to have suddenly returned to calm, and everyone was busy step by step.

Originally, the lives of residents in this era were usually the same. Merchants, workers, and farmers were already deeply entrenched, and these roles rarely changed.

Ever since the emperor planted a cotton seed at the plowing ceremony, things seemed to be heading in another direction.

Due to the ever-hungry overseas demand for Chinese cotton, the Royal Weaving Factory chose to continuously expand its production, causing more and more people to join the production chain.

Those who understand textiles will naturally become weavers, while those who understand printing and dyeing can become dyeing and printing masters. Even if they don't understand anything, they can become a porter on the Tonghui River dock.

As the overall income of Beijing residents increases, the business of shops is getting better and better. The streets around the Drum Tower are becoming more and more lively, and goods from other places are constantly pouring into Beijing.

Beijing is still the same Beijing city, but it has become more and more prosperous and prosperous.

It's just that this is a feudal society after all. Economic prosperity alone is not desirable. The most important thing is political clarity. Now under the leadership of Emperor Hongzhi, various yamen seem to be operating in an orderly manner.

In April of the second year of Hongzhi, there was bound to be a massacre.

Things tended to get worse and worse. Originally, the court only searched the account books of a hundred financial shops, but it turned out that the account books contained more than a hundred murders.

When the imperial court issued an order to inspect Ye Mansion, something shocking happened to the world.

Although Ye Qi's ancestor was Ye Heng, the prime minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, by Ye Qi's generation, the Ye family had long since declined, and Ye Qi's father was just a scholar.

When inspecting Ye Mansion this time because of Ye Rongtian, Qin Conggui accidentally discovered that Ye Mansion's kiln silver was as high as one million taels, and Ye Qi's budget for building the Humble Administrator's Garden reached 300,000 taels.

This huge amount of property of unknown origin, if it were not for Ye Qi's corruption while he was an official, how could the Ye family have obtained so much kiln silver?

Although operating private finance is very profitable, it is impossible to earn as much as one million taels, not to mention the profits of Ye's Bank are already clear at a glance.

Exactly like this, after Qin Conggui copied such a huge sum of property from Ye Mansion, it was not only Ye Rongtian who was in trouble, but also Ye Qi, who was in his sixties and still wanted to take a concubine.

After this matter was exposed, Emperor Hongzhi was furious and ordered Tan Conggui to escort the people to Beijing immediately. Ye Qi, who had gone through a bumpy journey to Beijing, looked in a very embarrassed state.

Wang Yue personally presided over the trial of Ye Qi and said straight to the point: "Shilang Ye, it's useless for you to find anyone now? If you still don't take the initiative to explain the origin of these properties, our Procuratorate can also petition you to behead you, and at the same time, The three clans of your clan will be implicated according to law!"

"Are you threatening me?" Ye Qi, already disheveled, said angrily.

Wang Yue snorted with disdain and said very seriously: "So what if I threaten you? You should know that I can't tolerate sand in my eyes, let alone a good man and woman! Do you want the three tribes to be buried with you, or do you want to be honest? If you explain the facts of the crime, maybe you’ll have to leave a wife behind?”

Ye Qi knew that Wang Yue was different from other officials. Other officials usually showed some mercy, but the king in front of him had no mercy at all when he beheaded him.

Faced with the threat from the Yi tribe, he finally chose to confess the facts of the crime, or part of the facts.

The person who colluded with him was none other than Li Min, the former Minister of Household Affairs, the most corrupt official in the Ming Dynasty.

He and Li Min were friends of the same age. When Li Min went to Huai'an to serve as the governor of water transportation, he was serving in the Ministry of Household Affairs. Since Huai'an was his hometown, he and Li Min soon started working together to make profits.

Other departments may not be able to get so much money, but the Water Transport Governor's Mansion is in charge of water transport and also serves as the River Governor, so the annual project costs are astronomical.

With the fall of Wang Zhi, Huai En and other eunuchs seemed to be very easy to deal with, so the two of them started with project funds and other funds, thereby embezzling a large amount of project money.

Xiyuan, Yangxin Hall.

Zhu Youtang, who was wearing a dragon robe, looked at Ye Qi's confession. Although he had already speculated about this matter, when he saw the truth in front of him, he couldn't help but feel anger and helplessness in his heart.

From the salt administration to water transportation, as well as those unpredictable river projects, all the shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty were exposed.

Zhu Youtang is now peeling a sugar cane. He thought he could continue eating by peeling off part of the moth in front, but as he peeled it, he found that it was all rotten.

There are not many officials in the Ming Dynasty who are not greedy. Even if they are not greedy this month, they may be greedy next month. Even if you don’t have any power and are not greedy now, you will become greedy when you become powerful.

The main reason why Qingliu has always dared to flaunt himself as incorruptible is that the court's money will not flow to the Hanlin Academy and the Ministry of Rites in large quantities. They have no chance to be greedy.

As for the ice warning silver, charcoal warning silver and other warning silver they collected, in their self-deception, they did not consider this behavior to be greedy.

"The Metropolitan Procuratorate is ordered to take full responsibility for the investigation of the Water Transport Yamen. Officials from the Water Transport Yamen up to and down the Yamen shall not be moved. Otherwise, they will be imprisoned for their crimes!" Zhu Youtang was furious when he saw that Ye Qi had handed over a list of personnel of the Water Transport Governor's Yamen. With a stroke of his pen, he agreed that the Metropolitan Procuratorate should thoroughly investigate the corruption problem in the Caoyun Yamen.

What is gratifying is that the current Metropolitan Procuratorate is like a knife in one's hand. Although the Ming Dynasty's court was exposed more and more bugs after peeling off the cocoons, but as long as he slashed down, he would definitely make those people bleed like rivers.

April 19th, execution day.

Since April, executions have become a common occurrence, with a group of people being executed every few days. As a result, many people who like to eat melons are no longer as active as before.

It's just that the situation today is different. The people surrounded the execution platform three times inside and three times outside, all wanting to witness this unique beheading with their own eyes.