Ming Dynasty: Evolution from snake to national guardian beast

Chapter 138 Jin Yiwei reappears and begins liquidation

Not long after Zhu Di entered Yingtian City, he received a letter from this great talent who was known for his uprightness.

The content can be said to be full of flowers and flowers, singing praises to Zhu Di, making Zhu Di feel a little embarrassed to see it.

However, Zhu Di still praised this behavior, directly brought Xie Jin back from Hezhou, and appointed him as Hanlin editor again.

Now Bai Chu mentioned Jie Jin again, which reminded Zhu Di of his previous memorial and couldn't help but blush.

"Ahem, Xie Jin still has some literary talent, but he's a little too flattering."

Zhu Di coughed twice to cover up his embarrassment.

Bai Chu said:

"He used to be an upright and upright man, until he was hit by two arrows in the knee."

"This man has excellent literary talent. If the prince wants to compile some books and spread them around the world, this man will be of great use."

In history, although Xie Jin was a person who flattered and wavered constantly, it is undeniable that this person was really talented in literature.

When Zhu Di ascended the throne, Xie Jin personally wrote the edict on the throne, which can be said to be a beautiful article.

Later, he was the chief editor and editor of the Yongle Dadian. This was a matter of extraordinary significance and can be called Zhu Di's literary rule.

The Yongle Dadian is actually an encyclopedia, with a full text of 300 million words, making it the first encyclopedia in the world.

The book contains medical science, geography, water conservancy and various life knowledge, which can be said to be all-inclusive.

And Xie Jin was appointed as the chief editor, which shows that this person's talent is unparalleled in the world.

It's a pity that he couldn't control his mouth, and eventually got involved in the prince's dispute and died an unexpected death.

When Zhu Di heard Bai Chu's repeated praise of Xie Jin, he didn't know what to say, so he immediately appointed Xie Jin as the right minister of the household department and asked him to be responsible for preparing for the enthronement ceremony.

Of course, the enthronement ceremony must be prepared quietly, and then it can be carried out openly and openly after Li Jinglong's army has been pacified.

Half a month later.

It is now the end of the twelfth lunar month in the 32nd year of Hongwu, and the Chinese New Year is about to begin.

When Zhu Di came to Beijing, he did not recognize Zhu Yunwen's reign name, but still used the reign name of Hongwu, so according to the time, it is now the thirty-second year of Hongwu.

Only a year after Zhu Yunwen proclaimed himself emperor, Yingtian City had already changed its owner, and the Ming Dynasty had also changed its world.

On this day, a mighty long dragon snaked its way from the north towards Yingtian City. At this moment, Li Jinglong finally withdrew from Baigou River and had arrived at the Jinchuan Gate at the north gate of Yingtian City.

However, Zhu Di did not come out to greet him, nor did he open the city gate. Instead, he asked Bai Chu to greet Li Jinglong and other generals on his behalf.

Bai Chu led his army and stood three miles outside Jinchuan Gate, quietly waiting for Li Jinglong's arrival. Behind him were a large number of carriages. On the carriages were not only cotton-padded clothes, but also tokens to reward the army.

Meat and wine.

After Zhu Di arrived in the capital, the treasury had been depleted. Xia Yuanji clearly told Zhu Di that the treasury was not only empty and could run away mice, but also had a deficit of one million taels of silver.

Zhu Di was so angry that he didn't expect that the originally prosperous Ming Dynasty would be ruined like this by Zhu Yunwen, a prodigal.

However, he remembered that in order to save all this money and food, his father never built a new pavilion, nor did he indulge in enjoyment, let alone indulge in extravagance.

I thought Zhu Yuanzhang would leave a rich family fortune, but only now did Zhu Di know that he was actually a pauper.

Fortunately, Xia Yuanji reminded Zhu Di that Zhu Yunwen still had internal funds.

Zhu Di had no choice but to return to the palace, find the eunuch in charge, and ask him to show him the way to find Zhu Yunwen's internal money.

When Zhu Di saw Zhu Yunwen's internal money, he was stunned. A whole room of gold and silver was neatly placed in every corner of the room. Some boxes even had seals attached and were covered in dust.

When Zhu Di got closer, he discovered that some of the gold and silver were even belongings left over from the first year of Hongwu's reign. This made Zhu Di extremely happy.

Suddenly flying from hell to heaven, Zhu Di felt like a nouveau riche and was extremely excited.

According to the report of the eunuch in charge, the gold, silver, jewelry, calligraphy and paintings contained in the funds, converted into silver, should be 45 million taels.

Zhu Di instantly felt that he was capable again. With so much money, was there anything in the world that he couldn't do?

Immediately, Zhu Di allocated one million taels to the Ministry of Revenue to close the deficit.

Then another two million taels were allocated to purchase materials from Yingtian City to use for labor.

However, the money was still stolen by officials who were obsessed with evil intentions. In the end, there was less than one million taels left to use for business.

This made Zhu Di very angry. He was not Zhu Yunwen, who was so weak and could be bullied. Moreover, he also has a big killer weapon in his hand, which is the Jin Yiwei.

This is a weapon that has been passed down from the reign of Taizu and is specially used to deal with such corrupt officials. Zhu Di, who came to Hongwu Dynasty, naturally knew how Zhu Yuanzhang dealt with these corrupt officials.

Although Zhu Di did not hate civil servants as much as Zhu Yuanzhang, he hated people reaching out to take his money.

Immediately, Zhu Di directly announced the reconstruction of Beizhen Fusi and appointed Wu Feng as the commander of the Jinyi Guards.

Wu Feng did not disappoint Zhu Di. On the first day he took office, he directly arrested three Hubu rats.

Then, under the accusations of these three people, more and more officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs were arrested.

Collusion between officials and businessmen, and officials protecting each other, these are all unforgivable sins in Zhu Di's eyes.

Zhu Di didn't waste any time and directly ordered his house to be searched, and then all the officials involved were thrown into jail.

The originally peaceful Yingtian City began to become turbulent again.

Although Zhu Di's crackdown on corrupt officials made the people happy, the people were more worried about whether Zhu Di's move would cause changes than killing corrupt officials.

After all, Li Jinglong's army will return to Yingtian City soon.

If it arouses dissatisfaction with Li Jinglong's army and leads to a mutiny, will King Yan, who only has an army of tens of thousands, be able to withstand the siege of an elite army of 400,000?

Zhu Di was carrying out a vigorous campaign against corruption in Yingtian City, but Bai Chu was outside Yingtian City, leisurely waiting for Li Jinglong's arrival.

There were less than a thousand soldiers beside him, but behind him were tens of thousands of migrant workers, hundreds of thousands of cotton-padded clothes, and wine and meat.

These are the materials Zhu Di used to reward the army.

A lieutenant beside Bai Chu cautiously said softly to Bai Chu, who had his eyes slightly closed:

"Mr. Bai, do you think Li Jinglong will surrender obediently?"

Bai Chu said calmly without opening his eyes:

"meeting."

"But now that the prince is purging Jianwen's old ministers in the city, will this make Li Jinglong fearful and try to kill us?"

The deputy general asked still worriedly:

"After all, most of these officials in the city are married, and their bones are broken and their tendons are connected!"

Bai Chu still said very calmly:

"Your Majesty is only cleaning up corrupt officials, not attacking Jianwen's old ministers."

"These ministers have become the prince's ministers from the moment they surrendered. As ministers, they should have the duty of being ministers."

"They didn't abide by their duties and stretched out their hands where they shouldn't. They should be taught a lesson."

"Besides, Li Jinglong's current army relies entirely on supplies from local governments."

(End of this chapter)