Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

With Wynn's downfall, a major liquidation quietly unfolded in the inner court.

Since Liang Fang had already sent people to keep an eye on Wynn, who he came into contact with after returning and who he received bribes from, these things have already been recorded.

In fact, when Huai'en was imprisoned in Beizhen Fusi, Liang Fang had already ordered all of Huai'en's accomplices to be imprisoned.

Although Hua En Tu Ming was very successful in overcoming his greedy hands, there were still greedy people under his command, especially his godson Chen Zhun, who was relied upon by Hua En.

When Emperor Chenghua was in power, he sent a large number of eunuchs to local areas to supervise the construction of fortifications and hold important positions such as the Suhang Weaving Department. As a result, powerful eunuchs in the capital had a lot of room for rent-seeking.

These eunuchs did not need to do it themselves. The disciples and disciples sent to the local areas had already obtained Qiannan Street for them, so they fattened many big eunuchs.

Chen Zhun is one of the representative figures. He first relied on Huaien's favor, and then served as the director of etiquette, Bingbi and the director of the East Factory for many years, and he was resolutely a leader in the inner court.

When Zhu Youtang learned that Chen Zhun had made a lot of money over the years, he immediately ordered a search of the house Chen Zhun bought in the capital. As a result, he confiscated a total of 500,000 taels of gold and silver, jade plates, and countless treasures from Chen Zhun's home. .

Before Chen Zhun, the most corrupt eunuch in Ming Dynasty was Wang Zhen.

When Wang Zhen was raided, sixty treasuries of gold and silver were confiscated from his house, with each treasury amounting to more than 6,000 taels, totaling more than 400,000 taels of gold and silver, as well as more than 20 coral trees six to seven feet high, and jade. There are over a hundred dishes and countless treasures.

You know, the annual military expenditure of Chenghua Chao Jiubian Town is only 400,000 taels. As a result, the amount of corruption by this eunuch has exceeded the military expenditure of Jiubian Town.

"The harm caused by eunuchs has never been heard of in ancient times. If your majesty reuses eunuchs, the country's wealth will not be rich!"

"If the officials take away a share, the people will lose a share. If the people lose a share, they will no longer be able to survive, and the country will be in endless trouble!"

"Taizu has taught that eunuchs should not interfere in politics! Today, I attach great importance to eunuchs and despise civil servants. This is a tragedy for the scholars in the cold world and the treacherous sycophants!"

…

After Chen Zhun was confiscated of 500,000 taels of gold and silver, setting a new record for corruption among eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, these civil servants seemed to have collectively taken a beating and made a fuss about this matter.

Facing the memorials flying like snowflakes, even Zhu Youtang couldn't bear it.

Although everyone knows what these civil servants are thinking, they just want Zhu Youtang to alienate internal officials so that they can be reused as "honest" civil servants.

Unfortunately, Zhu Youtang couldn't say that they were wrong.

After all, eunuchs must be careful about corruption. Once they are too indulgent, even if the eunuch under their noses is very clean, the eunuch who is released will inevitably continue to act unscrupulously.

Zhu Youtang saw that the memorial had been circulated from the capital to the surrounding county officials. Even though he had already made preparations in his heart, he still felt as if his head was numb.

"Your Majesty, if Chen Zhun and other eunuchs were not inspected, how could the internal funds have received 500,000 taels and so many treasures?" Guo Yong said with a smile, knowing that Zhu Youtang would not be in trouble with the full 500,000 taels.

Zhu Youtang couldn't help but feel better when he thought of the five hundred thousand taels of income, but he still said melancholy: "Once Chen Zhun's incident comes out, these civil servants will probably make a fuss about it again and again in the future. What should we do?"

In his plan, reusing eunuchs is still an important part.

After all, there are too many corrupt officials in the local area, and the civil service group has a natural tendency to form cliques. If it is not supervised and restricted by eunuchs, then local corruption will definitely be inexhaustible.

"Your Majesty is the most resourceful and resourceful in the world. I believe that I will be able to defeat your Majesty!" Guo Yong thought of Zhu Youtang's exquisite layout earlier and said it as a compliment.

The north wind outside was blowing so hard that there was a whimpering sound.

Zhu Youtang raised his head and glanced at the gently swaying scent of sandalwood incense, and then asked seriously: "Guo Yong, do you think it is your internal prison guards who are corrupt or the civil servants who are more corrupt?"

"Your Majesty, it's hard for me to answer this. I'm afraid I might be biased!" Guo Yong scratched his crotch and said bitterly.

Zhu Youtang glanced at him and said seriously: "I may not completely believe you. I can distinguish the true from the false. That's all!"

"When Wang Zhen came to power, he always received a few hundred taels from local officials and Beijing officials. Later, someone gave him 3,000 taels to seek the post of minister, so he asked, 'Sir, what do you want from me?', but it's just that At that time, the local officials had already given this amount of charcoal as a warning to Xueshi Yang. We eunuchs all came from poor backgrounds, and even the slaves seemed to have never seen money. In the past, a few hundred taels were enough to support us in old age. , but as everyone knows, it’s not worth mentioning at all. Even if we eunuchs are greedy for money, we don’t necessarily want gold and silver. In the end, who will this gold and silver be passed on to except causing trouble? I don’t know how civil servants are, but in my humble opinion, They are more greedy than the eunuchs, and I heard that Li Min is looking for a horse and a martial arts master!" Guo Yong said eloquently.

Zhu Youtang's heart moved slightly, and he immediately asked seriously: "I remember that Li Min seemed to be promoted from the governor of water transportation to the minister of the Ministry of household affairs. How did he squeeze out Pan Rong, the former left minister of the Ministry of household affairs?"

"I don't know about this, but Pan Rong has been the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue for many years. It is true that he is more suitable to take over as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, but he was squeezed to Nanjing!" Guo Yong said thoughtfully.

Zhu Youtang couldn't tell whether Li Min had followed Xu Pu's path or used the money privately, but he vaguely felt that something was wrong with Li Min, so he asked seriously: "Has Li Min left Beijing?"

"I guess you haven't gotten up today. Yesterday, I went to Wange Lao's house to congratulate you. It seems I want to say goodbye to everyone before setting off back to Henan!" Guo Yong shook his head gently.

Zhu Youtang had an idea in his mind and immediately said: "I don't trust other people's affairs. You should personally check Li Min's background, especially when he was the governor of water transportation!"

"My servant obeys the order!" Guo Yong realized that Zhu Youtang was trying to make trouble with Li Min, so he said it respectfully.

Zhu Youtang watched Guo Yong leave and couldn't help but sigh softly.

Originally, he was unwilling to start by confiscating his home. After all, such an approach would undermine the confidence of the people in the world in their property protection rights. But now that the matter is urgent, he can no longer care about so much.

Chen Zhun's corruption happened to exceed that of Wang Zhen, and now this matter is being held tightly by the civil service group. If he does not find a way to break the situation, he will encounter greater resistance if he continues to reuse eunuchs.

Although he can act arbitrarily as the emperor of tomorrow, if he really makes ministers like Xu Pu lose hope, then they will probably no longer control the place for him.

That's why the best solution is to tear off the underpants of the civil service group, thereby shattering their proud "integrity and devotion to public service."

It's just that officials are very slippery. Even if he has doubts about Li Min, it is still difficult to uncover evidence of Li Min's corruption. However, he cannot inspect Li Min's home without evidence.

Liu Jin came in from the outside and reported respectfully: "Your Majesty, Song Cheng, a member of the Zhejiang Qing Li Division of the Ministry of Punishment, asked to see him. He said that he has cracked the case that your Majesty just sent to the Ministry of Punishment!"

"It seems that he has just arrived at the Criminal Department! In that case, let him come in!" Zhu Youtang was slightly surprised and said as if he wanted someone to come in.

Since Beizhen Fusi had been investigating the cause of Wynn's death for many days and still had no clues, he used the case questions to test the officials of the Ministry of Justice today, hoping to get capable officials to investigate the case.

The title of the case is: In the 16th year of Hongwu, a businessman named Li from Suzhou planned to do business elsewhere. He hired a boatman's boat and agreed to board the boat at Hanshan Temple outside the city the next day. The next day before dawn, Mr. Li left home. However, when the sun shone through the east window, Li's wife heard the boatman knocking on the door and shouting: "Sister-in-law Li, Mrs. Li, open the door quickly!" After Li's wife opened the door, the boatman asked anxiously : "Sister-in-law Li, it's getting late, why hasn't Mr. Li arrived yet?" Li's wife panicked and searched for her all the way to no avail. Question: This case was reported to the county government. As the county official, how should you handle it?

"Song Cheng, a member of the Zhejiang Qing Li Division of the Ministry of Punishments, respectfully greets the Holy Annals!" Song Cheng, a dark-skinned young man, knelt down and said respectfully.

"Holy Holy Gong! Have you solved the problem?" Zhu Youtang was somewhat impressed by Song Cheng in the earlier examination of the Ministry of Punishment, so he asked seriously.

Although Liu Jin had also seen that question, and Li Yuanwai had not been missing for a long time, it would not be too difficult to investigate. The main thing was to have a logical and rigorous charter. He couldn't help but look at Song Cheng curiously to know the answer. .