Volume 2: The Capital, I’m Back Chapter 72: 70 Million Taels of Silver
The capital city is in an uproar.
The Jinyiwei arrested people everywhere and sealed off warehouses, especially those owned by Shanxi merchants, almost all of which were sealed off, and no less than a thousand people were implicated.
At the same time, Datong, Xuanfu, and even Taiyuan Prefecture had already begun a major investigation. Anyone who had transported grain for the Mongols, regardless of their official position or background, would be escorted back to Beijing to await their fate.
Yuan Bin has been very busy recently. Since the emperor returned to Beijing, he first cracked down on a group of treason cases. Before the house searches were completed, another major case of treason emerged.
Jin Ying was also very busy. His main task was to investigate Wang Zhen's followers. He thought that at most a hundred people would be involved, but he didn't expect that more than three thousand people had been investigated and the situation was still spreading.
Imperial study.
Zhu Qiyu was reporting one by one: "…Among the five people in the cabinet, Miao Zhong is 79 years old this year and has already resigned three times. Chen Xun's leg disease is getting worse. He usually rides in a sedan chair and has difficulty walking. I have consulted the cabinet for their opinions. After Miao and Chen retire and return home, I will order Yu Qian, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of War, and Shang Lu, the editor of the Imperial Academy, to join the cabinet to participate in politics."
Zhu Qizhen nodded and said, "Both of them are good, let's just leave it at that!"
Zhu Qiyu took out another memorial and said, "This is the list of candidates for vacant officials that I and the Ministry of Personnel are planning to select. Due to time constraints, we are currently only planning to select officials above the fourth rank. It will take some time for officials below the fourth rank to be selected."
Zhu Qizhen took it and read it carefully, then said: "Let the cabinet draft an edict and then hand it over to the Imperial Household Department for approval."
After doing all this , Zhu Qiyu hesitated for a moment, and finally mustered up the courage to say, "Brother Emperor, I have something else to say, but I don't know whether I should say it or not."
"Just say whatever you want to say. Why are you being so shy?"
Zhu Qiyu thought for a long time before he said, "There are indeed quite a lot of people involved in the recent cases. People in the capital are panicking and all the shops are closed. If this continues, I am worried..."
"Why?" Zhu Qizhen raised his head and asked, "Do you think I've killed too many people?"
Zhu Qiyu knelt down quickly and said, "I just think that the main culprit must be severely punished, but it is not appropriate to involve too many people, otherwise everyone will be in danger and many people will rebel!"
"There are many people who want to betray us, haha!"
Zhu Qizhen smiled and shook his head, saying, "I always believe in a saying: If you don't do anything wrong, you won't be startled by someone knocking on your door in the middle of the night. No matter how many people are involved, they deserve it. If these people don't get the punishment they deserve, is it fair to those law-abiding vendors? Is it fair to those law-abiding people? I want everyone in the world to know that if you make a mistake, you must be punished. Otherwise, everyone will think of punishing everyone and wait to take advantage of my loopholes. Wouldn't the world be in chaos?"
Zhu Qiyu was sweating profusely after hearing these words. He said, "Your Majesty, you are right. I was the one who thought things were simple."
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty…”
At this time, Jin Ying walked in with an account book, and when he saw Zhu Qiyu, he hurriedly retreated.
"Get up!" Zhu Qizhen waved his hand and said, "Think more about things when you encounter them. Don't just look at the surface of the problem. Some things are far more complicated than you see."
"I am grateful for your advice!"
After Zhu Qiyu left, Jin Ying hurried in.
"Your Majesty, these are the people involved in the case that have been investigated recently. Please take a look!"
Zhu Qizhen took only one look at it and put it aside, saying, "What's the point of showing this to me? I want to ask you, how much silver did you confiscate?"
"Oh, oh!" Jin Ying hurriedly picked up another account book and said, "Wang Zhen has several mansions in the inner city. A total of 60 storehouses of gold and silver were found. There were also more than 100 jade plates, more than 20 corals six or seven feet tall, and countless other treasures."
"Sixty warehouses?"
Zhu Qizhen was stunned for a moment, wondering what unit of measurement was this?
"Just tell me, how much exactly?"
"One million taels of gold, twenty-five million taels of silver. If we convert the mansion, land, jewelry, antiques, etc., the total value is about..."
At this point, Jin Ying couldn't help swallowing his saliva, and then announced the result: "Sixty million taels of silver!"
Bang!
The teacup in Zhu Qizhen's hand fell to the ground and shattered.
"Fuck his ancestors!"
He suddenly stood up, his face flushed red, and I couldn't tell whether he was excited or angry.
"Sixty million taels! Sixty million taels!"
"The Ming Dynasty's annual revenue was only a few million taels, but he actually embezzled 60 million?"
"Jinying, tell me, how did he do it?"
"What do the East Factory and the Imperial Guard do for a living?"
Jin Ying stood aside and didn't dare to say a word. Who should you ask how Wang Zhen climbed to this position step by step?
Return the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Both the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard are in Wang Zhen’s hands, okay!
"Damn it, it was too easy for him to be killed with just one knife. He should be cut into pieces, one ounce of silver per cut, cut him into six thousand pieces!"
Jin Ying couldn't help it and whispered, "Your Majesty, it's 60 million dollars."
"I know!" Zhu Qizhen calmed down his excitement and asked, "How is the investigation of Wang Zhen's remaining followers going?"
Jin Ying picked up the account book and flipped through it, saying, "After investigation, we found that there were more than 3,000 people who bribed Wang Zhen to buy official positions, embezzled the people's land, fabricated false cases, suppressed their colleagues in the officialdom, etc. After preliminary investigation, these people were classified. Among them, there were more than 500 people with serious crimes. The silver seized from the property was more than 5 million taels, and there were also house deeds, gold and silver jewelry, jewels, jade, antiques, calligraphy and paintings that could be converted into about 5 million taels of silver. The total was about 10 million taels of silver, and the exact amount has not yet been calculated."
Zhu Qizhen's mood, which had just calmed down, became excited again. Damn, another ten million taels!
That’s 70 million taels. I’m rich!
I am now rich enough to rival a country... No, the whole country belongs to me...
In short, everything is easy if you have money!
Martyrs' Shrine?
No problem!
If this money was invested in basic education and scientific research, wouldn't the Ming Dynasty take off!
Flintlock rifles, steam engines, railroad construction, ironclad ships...
Zhu Qizhen seemed to see a brand new Ming Dynasty, with armored forces mainly composed of tanks on the ground, fighter planes roaring in the sky, and aircraft carrier formations patrolling the Pacific coast on the vast ocean...
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty?"
Zhu Qizhen came back to his senses, looked at Jin Ying in front of him, and asked, "Is there anything else?"
"It's like this. I went to Weizhou and found that more than half of the good farmland there was occupied by Wang Zhen. Now that Wang Zhen has been executed, these fields should be confiscated. However, this will make it difficult for the people to farm. I'm not sure what to do with them, so I have to ask the emperor to make the decision personally."
Zhu Qizhen nodded. Indeed, this was a problem.
If all the land is confiscated, it can be rented to the people for farming, but this is equivalent to the entire Weizhou losing half of its land, which is very unfavorable to the local development.
"How about this, you go check it out. If that bastard Wang Zhen got the land by force or robbery, then return the land to him."
"Your Majesty, I have checked, and those whose owners were found have been returned, and the owners of most of them have been lost..."
As for why we can’t find it, of course it’s because the person is gone.
"Also, most of the officials in Weizhou are Wang Zhen's followers. Over the years, they have relied on Wang Zhen's power to do many evil things. I took the initiative to take them all to the Ministry of Justice. The vacant officials need to be filled as soon as possible."
Zhu Qizhen nodded and said, "Prince Qing is already handling the matter of vacant officials."
"Your Majesty, I have inquired about it. Due to the recent vacancies of officials, His Royal Highness Prince Qing can only prioritize. For example, I don't know when I will have to wait for local officials like Weizhou."
Zhu Qizhen pondered for a while and asked, "Jin Banban, you have been in the palace for many years. I want you to recommend someone."
"What kind of person does the emperor need?"
"A man with a sharp mind and the people in his heart!"
Jin Ying thought for a moment and said, "Yu Qian, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War!"
Zhu Qizhen was so angry that he grinned and said, "The prefect is a fifth-rank official. You let Yu Qian be the prefect. Isn't that a waste of talent?"
Jin Ying thought for a moment and said, " I think all the Hanlin scholars in the Hanlin Academy meet the emperor's requirements."
“Those Hanlin…”
Zhu Qizhen suddenly thought of someone and hurriedly said, "Go and call Shang Lu over!"
