Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

Chapter 498: Become famous in one battle! (Subscribe please!!)

As Guo Zi and the people from the Tax Inspection Department took away Wang Bi and 19 other officials from the Ministry of Revenue, the originally bustling Ministry of Revenue suddenly became deserted and sparse!
"Lord, Lord Wang and the others have been arrested. What should we do about the Ministry of Revenue?"

"The people arrested by the Inspection Bureau are all important officials of the Ministry of Revenue. If they are arrested like this, we don't know what to do?"

"My Lord, this Inspection Department is going too far!"

"It's not the Inspection Department that's overdoing it, it's clearly Ouyang Lun who's overdoing it!"

"Yes, this Ouyang Lun must be unhappy with the fact that our Huaixi Party took the Ministry of Revenue from him, and now he is seeking revenge!"

"We will file a joint petition right now and severely implicate Ouyang Lun!"

"How can a newly established government office ride on the heels of our Ministry of Revenue?"

The officials of the Ministry of Revenue, who had just been frightened pale by the Inspection Bureau, started shouting wildly after Guo Zi and others left.

After hearing these words, Li Shanchang did not feel very happy, but instead felt that his head was a little big.

"You all shut up!"

"When Guo Zi was here just now, you didn't dare to say a word. Now that he's gone, you're shouting! You're all a bunch of rubbish!"

"Who is Ouyang Lun? His Majesty said that he has eight hundred schemes! There have been many people who wanted to kill Ouyang Lun and cause trouble for him over the years, but have you seen anyone who actually succeeded?!"

Li Shanchang glared at the remaining officials of the Ministry of Revenue and continued, "Today, Ouyang Lun dared to send Guo Zi to the Ministry of Revenue to arrest people in front of me. Obviously, they have evidence of Wang Bi and his gang's corruption and tax evasion!"

"You jointly reported Ouyang Lun? What did you report him about? That he shouldn't arrest officials who take bribes or evade taxes? Or that Ouyang Lun arrested the wrong people? Do you have any evidence?"

"You good-for-nothings, if I were you, I would clean up my own ass before the Inspection Department sets its sights on you! Instead of doing something as useless as a joint petition!"

As Li Shanchang finished speaking, the Ministry of Revenue official who had been shouting just now turned pale again, and was visibly panicked.

Seeing this, Li Shanchang was even more speechless. If these Ministry of Revenue officials were not all from Huaixi, he would have wanted to arrest these people and interrogate them!
"Lord, are we just going to let Ouyang Lun arrest our people?"

"That's right! If people from other factions knew about this, what would they think of our Huaixi Party?"

"This time, the Prince Consort Party is simply shitting on our heads. We must respond!"

"Right now, clean up your own mess first, and then let me handle the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue with all my strength. If you don't have enough manpower, go ask other members of the Huaixi Party for help. As long as we can solve the problems of the Ministry of Revenue, Ouyang Lun won't dare to arrest our people again!"

"Besides, I also have the confidence to ask His Majesty to seek justice for us!"

Li Shanchang shouted, "Do you understand?"

"Understood!" all the officials said in unison.

"Now that you understand, then do it quickly! Don't just stand here like an idiot!" Li Shanchang yelled again.

"Yes!" For a moment, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue became busy.

In the following period, the Ministry of Revenue, under the leadership of Li Shanchang, frantically reorganized the Ministry of Revenue. The Huaixi Party was indeed the number one political force in the Ming Dynasty. It had people and money. Even when half of the officials in the Ministry of Revenue were arrested, they still found more people to deal with the problem.

Of course, all these extra manpower and resources were paid for by the Huaixi Party out of their own pockets, and they dared not touch the User Department’s money at all. After all, the Tax Inspection Bureau was keeping an eye on them.

Li Shanchang's ability was several times stronger than Wang Bi's. With the help of the entire Huaixi Party, the problems of the Ministry of Households were actually alleviated. Just when the Huaixi Party was preparing to continue working hard to completely solve the problems of the Ministry of Households.

The Tax Inspection Bureau appeared again, still led by Guo Zi.

"Minister of the Ministry of Revenue Li Yong, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Revenue Zhang Kun, Director of the Ministry of Revenue Xiang Jingyu and 23 other officials, your crimes have been exposed, arrest them!"

This time, Guo Zi did it cleanly and efficiently. He took advantage of Li Shanchang's absence from the Ministry of Revenue and directly arrested the man.

When Li Shanchang got the news and rushed to the Ministry of Revenue, more than half of the people in the Ministry were missing!

"Ouyang Lun, you are really too arrogant!"

"I will go to His Majesty and report you in person!"

Li Shanchang was so furious that his lungs were about to explode. He had just managed to put the Ministry of Revenue in order, but Ouyang Lun came to arrest people again. This was simply a threat to his life!

Li Shanchang was also very clear that if he went to the Tax Inspection Department to ask for someone, Ouyang Lun would not pay any attention to him, so he went straight to the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

As soon as he entered the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Li Shanchang knelt down before Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Your Majesty, please make the decision for me!"

"What happened before has made Prince Consort Ouyang bear a grudge. Now he has repeatedly asked the Taxation Inspection Department to arrest my Ministry of Revenue officials. If this continues, when will I be able to solve the Ministry of Revenue's problems? Your Majesty will definitely be disappointed by then!"

"The Ministry of Revenue is related to the lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty. Ouyang Lun is so rude. He simply doesn't care about the safety of your majesty and the Ming Dynasty!"

Li Shanchang wailed incessantly, crying and wailing as he spoke to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang was also stunned by Li Shanchang's actions. After listening to Li Shanchang's wailing, he finally understood.

It seemed that Ouyang Lun had done something to Li Shanchang that made him hate him a little. The old man couldn't help it and came to him to complain.

Listening to what Li Shanchang said, Zhu Yuanzhang did not feel angry at all. Instead, he wanted to laugh. The reason was very simple. It was the first time that Zhu Yuanzhang saw someone pushing Li Shanchang to this point. In addition, the way Li Shanchang cried for his parents was really funny.

"Cough cough!"

"Li Shanchang, you are my cabinet minister, and now you are also the Minister of Finance. You are an important official of the Ming Dynasty. How can you wail like this?!"

"Get up first!"

Ouyang Lun suppressed his smile and said seriously.

Li Shanchang shook his head repeatedly, "If Your Majesty does not make the decision for me and the Ministry of Revenue, I will not be able to get up!"

You're still relying on me, so if you can't do it, then don't do it!

Zhu Yuanzhang rolled his eyes. He hated threats the most. He said calmly, "Regarding the matter of the Ministry of Revenue officials being arrested by the Taxation Inspection Department, the Inspection Department has already submitted a report to me. I have read it and there is no problem!"

"I agree with this."

"Your Majesty, do you agree?" Hearing this, Li Shanchang was stunned.

"Your Majesty!" Li Shanchang kowtowed to Zhu Yuanzhang. "Wang Bi has already been punished for what happened before. Now the most urgent task is to resolve the crisis of the Ministry of Revenue. But Ouyang Lun's behavior clearly shows that he does not want me, an old minister, to resolve the Ministry of Revenue's problems!"

"That's not right! I remember that it was thanks to the supervision of the Tax Inspection Department that the situation of the Ministry of Revenue has been getting better and better. It seems that the Inspection Department did not arrest the wrong person!" Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Li Shanchang, I think you have been deceived."

"I think this is good. Officials who are corrupt and tax evaders have been cleared out, and the situation of the Ministry of Revenue is getting better and better. The Ministry of Revenue and the Inspection Department must maintain it well!" Uh.
When Li Shanchang heard what Zhu Yuanzhang said, he was dumbfounded. He couldn't think of any rebuttal.

"Your Majesty, but"

"No buts. The Inspection Bureau only arrests people when there is evidence, and the trials are also public. If you don't believe it, you can go to the scene and see it for yourself!" Zhu Yuanzhang interrupted Li Shanchang directly.

Hearing this, Li Shanchang's mood dropped to the lowest point, but Li Shanchang did not give up. Finally, Li Shanchang thought of a good reason.

"Your Majesty, if it was other officials or old ministers, it would be fine, but the people arrested by the Inspection Department are all old ministers who followed Your Majesty to conquer the world. If they are arrested for these reasons, it will inevitably discourage the heroes who have made great contributions!"

"Your Majesty, are you planning to capture all the meritorious old ministers in one fell swoop?!"

All those arrested by the Inspection Bureau this time are the backbone of the Huaixi Party. If these people are abandoned, the morale of the Huaixi Party will probably be dispersed, and the team will be difficult to lead at that time.

So we must do our best to protect it.

But Li Shanchang's words made Zhu Yuanzhang's face gloomy.

"Li Shanchang, do you mean that I don't remember our old friendship and am taking advantage of this Ministry of Revenue incident to purge my old ministers who have made great contributions?!" Zhu Yuanzhang asked in a deep voice.

Hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Li Shanchang reacted immediately and shook his head quickly, saying, "Your Majesty, this old minister...didn't mean that, it's just..."

"That's not what you meant? Humph, that's what you meant!" Zhu Yuanzhang roared, "The people arrested by the Inspection Bureau are indeed the old brothers who followed me to conquer the world in the past. They have indeed made contributions to the Ming Dynasty, but I haven't treated them unfairly. Those who were given titles were given titles, and those who were given promotions were promoted. What else do you want from me?"

"They are old officials with great merit. Does that mean they can be corrupt and abuse the power? Can they evade taxes? Can they buy and sell positions?!"

"Li Shanchang, do you know why they were arrested by the Inspection Department and have not been tried even though the evidence is irrefutable? It is because I think of them as meritorious officials that I let them live a few more days!"

"You said this to me just because you want me to let them go out of their way!"

“Then I will tell you, it is impossible to let him go. In a few days, when all the people who should be arrested are arrested, a public trial will be held in the busiest market in the capital. I want to let the people of the world see that if anyone dares to take bribes, pervert the law, evade taxes, or buy an official position, I will not let any of them go!”

"Li Shanchang...it's better that you didn't do this!"

hiss--

After hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, Li Shanchang took a breath, trembled all over, and was extremely frightened.

"Your Majesty, veteran..."

"Don't say anything. Go down and run the Ministry of Revenue well. At the same time, don't think about interfering in the affairs of the Inspection Department, otherwise I... will make you pay!"

Zhu Yuanzhang interrupted Li Shanchang again.

"Yes, I obey your order." Li Shanchang bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang and then slowly left the hall.

With the support of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.

The Tax Inspection Bureau became more daring in its actions. Not only officials from the Ministry of Revenue were arrested, but also officials from other government offices, regardless of rank, who were found to have evaded taxes.

Many of them were officials from the Huaixi Party.

However, the Huaixi Party behaved uncharacteristically in response to the Tax Inspection Bureau's actions. They did not say a word, nor did they publicly express any dissatisfaction. After being caught, they just followed the lead obediently.

The Tax Inspection Department's operation lasted about half a month.

The public trial was also held as scheduled.

Whenever there is a huge amount of tax evasion or any other corruption and abuse of power discovered during tax inspections, the Inspection Department will also handle them together.

Those who were publicly tried were all diehards, who were given conical hats on their heads and signs around their necks with their crimes written on them.

Before the public trial, he was paraded through the streets of the capital.

The people had learned about the public trial through newspapers long ago, so on the day of the trial, they waited on both sides of the street early, with rotten vegetable leaves and bad eggs in their hands.

"I'm coming!"

"Look, this guy evaded taxes worth 500,000! I heard he was the Minister of Finance! He is a parasite of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Throw him away!"

"Corrupt officials!"

shhh-

As the highest-ranking official arrested for tax evasion, Wang Bi naturally led the parade.

When he appeared in front of the people, all kinds of rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggs immediately hit him.

When Wang Bi and other prisoners arrived at the public trial, they were no longer human. Their heads were covered with vegetable leaves and egg liquid, some white and some red...

There were no accidents at the public trial, and nearly a hundred officials who were suspected of tax evasion, including Wang Bi, were all sentenced to death.

Verdict announced on the spot and executed on the spot!
Nearly a hundred heads rolled down.

This led to two results. One was that everyone knew the importance of paying taxes, which was as important as life. The other was that everyone knew how powerful the Tax Inspection Department was. Although it was a newly established government office, from now on no one dared to underestimate it.

It is indeed amazing to catch these officials who evaded taxes, but this is not enough to make people feel scared. What is really chilling is... how the Inspection Department knew that these people evaded taxes, and knew it very accurately, as if a pair of eyes were watching them.

Logically speaking, people who evade taxes will be very careful when doing business, which is why there is no way to evade taxes.

Now the Tax Audit Bureau has suddenly emerged, and its first move was so shocking that it really made many people tremble with fear.

Of course, those who were afraid were naturally those who had something to hide, but the people were excited about this event, and they especially praised the public trial meeting!

They even felt like they were personally participating in the trial of criminals, and their emotions were greatly satisfied!

Naturally, Zhu Yuanzhang and Ouyang Lun, who accomplished this feat, would be hailed as holy monarchs and wise ministers!
For a time, Zhu Yuanzhang and Ouyang Lun became models of a wise ruler and loyal ministers.

Zhu Yuanzhang was so delighted with all this that he ran to Queen Ma to show off.

However, Ouyang Lun smiled indifferently at this. The reputation of the people is like a woman's temperament. When it is good, it is really good, and when it is bad, it is really bad!

Besides, Ouyang Lun has more important things to do.

(End of this chapter)