The Ming Dynasty took an unconventional approach

Yun Yan said, "Your Majesty, the Jinyiwei also found a warehouse in Fuzhou, which is an abandoned granary. It is full of Zhang Kai's privately hidden silver. After counting, the total amount is 89,700 taels."

The emperor sneered: "There are even some who are unwilling to make up a hundred thousand taels. Do they think that if they do this, I will believe that Zhang Kai is the only one who committed the crime?"

Yun Yan lowered his head and said nothing.

The emperor said: "If all of them are transported back to the capital, the national treasury will be well-equipped, but it is far from enough to replenish it."

Yun Yan was silent.

Zhu Qizhen tapped the table with his fingers and murmured, "Both Fujian and Jiangxi are going to reopen silver mines... Cao Jixiang——"

Cao Jixiang: "The old slave is here."

When Zhu Qizhen saw his face, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue and changed his words: "Go and call the master."

Cao Jixiang paused, bowed his head and stepped back: "Yes."

That evening, news that the emperor had bestowed a dragon robe on Wang Zhen spread from the palace, and the upright officials in the court almost gritted their teeth in anger.

Before they could come to their senses, the next day Wang Zhen proposed to the court to redefine the silver mine tax in Jiangnan.

"The Jiangnan silver mine has reopened, and the silver tax collected last year was surprisingly little. A silver mine in Jiangxi collected eight taels of silver in a year!"

Wang Zhen said with a sullen face, "Even if it's farming, a hundred acres of land wouldn't only require eight taels of silver in tax, but such a large mine only requires eight taels of silver in tax in a year!"

Doctor Fang from the Ministry of Works, who was in charge of silver mining, immediately stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the silver mine in Jiangxi is a poor mine and has been closed for many years. Before it was closed, it had already been mined to the point of no more. To reopen it now is like looking for silver in waste rock, which consumes a huge amount of manpower and is difficult to smelt. Excluding the cost of labor and materials, it is already unexpected that there is an output in a year."

As Wang Zhen's vanguard, Wang Wen immediately sneered and said, "Doctor Fang means that this silver mine should not be mined?"

Doctor Fang said impartially, "Yes, several silver mines have been closed due to over-exploitation. It is really not suitable to mine them anymore."

"But as far as I know, the reopened silver mines have been illegally mined by local gentry for more than a decade. How come they can mine silver, but your Ministry of Industry cannot?"

"This is slander, Lord Wang. The illegal mining has always been based on hearsay and there is no real evidence. Your Majesty, silver mining is extremely labor-intensive. These silver mines have been mined for many years and there is nothing left to be mined. Instead of wasting the labor of the people, it would be better to close the mines..."

The court suddenly became noisy, and the emperor's expression became increasingly ugly.

The faces of the Qingliu officials were particularly ugly, especially the officials from the Jiangnan faction.

As soon as the salt transport envoy Jiang came out of the court, he hurried to chase after Yang Pu: "Mr. Yang, Mr. Yang..."

Yang Pu stopped.

Lord Jiang caught up with him and said, "Lord Yang, His Majesty has not punished Wang Zhen. The evidence of Wang Zhen's corruption and bribery that we submitted has been suppressed by the cabinet. Why is that?"

Yang Pu said with a straight face: "The cabinet has not suppressed your memorial. It has been submitted to His Majesty."

Lord Jiang blushed slightly: "So it is His Majesty who is suppressing the memorials now?"

Yang Pu: "Your Majesty has been preoccupied with Prime Minister Yang's family affairs and the Jiangnan Silver Mine these days, and has no time to deal with this matter."

Lord Jiang couldn't help but said sarcastically, "Your Majesty, you first wanted to smuggle salt and the silver from the sea trade, and now you are targeting the silver mines. Could it be that Wang Zhen is going to make everyone turn Jiangnan upside down?"

Yang Pu sneered, "This world belongs to the Zhu family, the Ming Dynasty. Which of these things should not be overturned?"

"What about Wang Zhen? What about the Jinyiwei?" Lord Jiang asked angrily, "How much did Wang Zhen and the Jinyiwei embezzle from the seizure of their property?"

"There are a full 100,000 taels of silver in Zhang Kai's treasury, but how much of it has been reported? When the silver is escorted back to the capital, how much can be put into the national treasury? Lord Yang, Wang Zhen is a rootless person. Such a person has no ties. Isn't it terrible to keep him around Your Majesty to stir up trouble?"

Yang Pu was silent. Lord Jiang saw him deep in thought and whispered, "I know you are worried about Prime Minister Yang's family affairs. Don't worry, we will take care of this matter."

"Some colleagues were also angry. They are impartial and selfless. They saw that Prime Minister Yang was colluding with Wang Zhen and could not accept it for a while, so they impeached Prime Minister Yang. How about I persuade them to investigate the matter of Ji'an in detail?"

Yang Pu stared at him solemnly and asked, "Is the Yang family's story true, or is it a frame-up?"

Lord Jiang smiled and said, "Master Yang, you must be joking. How could we frame someone like this? Since you mentioned it, it must be true."

Yang Pu's heart sank and he turned and left silently.

Lord Jiang watched him leave, and soon two close officials came up to him and called him in a low voice, "Lord Jiang?"

Lord Jiang said in a cold voice: "People are greedy and the emperor is no exception. I can't let Your Majesty investigate any further. Let's stop here."

The two officials looked at each other silently. They both knew that Lord Jiang's family was in Jiangxi, and there were two silver mines around his county, both of which were being reopened this time.

"How do we stop it?"

"Wang Zhen is too proud. He has been investigating the Jiangnan case these days and has forgotten that Xue Xuan's case is still under investigation but has made no progress," Lord Jiang said. "Now that Wang Zhen is so proud, he certainly doesn't want to see his evidence hanging in front of him, right?"

The two officials looked at each other and whispered, "Yes, but Xue Xuan is very famous in Hedong. Not to mention that all the scholars in Hedong and Hexi are related to the Xue family, his reputation in the court is also very good..."

Lord Jiang: "Isn't there one more person?"

"Pan Hong?"

Lord Jiang's face was gloomy: "He is in the imperial prison. Hasn't Wang Zhen executed enough people in private?"

"The people we sent to look for Pan Hong's daughter are already on their way. They should be able to catch up with her soon..."

"Isn't that better?" Lord Jiang said, "If she knew that Wang Zhen killed her father, this young Taoist priest would definitely be more willing to join forces with us, right?"

The two looked at each other and responded in a low voice.

Pan Hong knew nothing about this, he had gotten used to prison life, his meals had been normal lately, nothing was rotten the food delivered to him was just normal steamed buns and vegetables, so he was pretty happy.

He didn't notice the crisis, but Xue Xuan did.

When his nephew came back and told him that the court officials had quarreled over the Jiangnan silver mine in the morning court, Xue Xuan was shocked and asked, "Are those upright people from Jiangnan still keeping silent?"

Xue Shao: "No, they were very excited today and almost started fighting."

Xue Xuan turned around and said, "Salt Transport Commissioner Jiang Feng is from Guixi, Guangxin Prefecture. The two silver mines that were reopened this time are around Guixi, and the Jiang family is considered a wealthy family in Guixi."

"Isn't Longhu Mountain right there? Isn't the Zhang family the rich family?"

Xue Xuan glanced at him and said, "The Zhang family doesn't rely on silver mines. They can make a living just by selling talismans."

Xue Shao lowered his head.

Xue Xuan pondered and said, "Wang Zhen is now in high spirits. Your Majesty has gone back on his word. The Jiangnan faction has handed over so many people, even Zhang Kai, but now Wang Zhen is wearing the dragon robe again. I'm afraid they will be angry and ashamed."

Xue Shao's heart moved, "Master Pan?"

Xue Xuan nodded solemnly: "Go find Lord Yin quickly and save his life." (End of this chapter)