I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 225 Act quickly, severely and strictly!

"Dear old gentlemen, Mr. Hu, Mr. Gao, Mr. Huang, please come in! His Highness is waiting for you in the Ziguang Pavilion." Chen Ju invited at the door of the duty room.

Gao Gong stood up with a dark face and followed everyone into the West Garden.

He looked a little depressed.

In the first half of the year, he sent 24 of his favorite students to Lianghuai to investigate the salt administration. At that time, the momentum was so strong that some people even called it "24 Tiangang Leaving the Capital and Entering the Huai River", which would definitely clean up the salt administration in one fell swoop.

As a result, within three months, only 21 of the 24 people returned. Not only were three people killed, but they also only brought back 470,000 taels of silver, which was like sending away beggars.

The more high-profile you are when you leave, the more embarrassed you will be when you come back.

He and the Twenty-Four Heavenly Generals became a laughing stock in the court and in the southeast.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince then took action and directly sent out Hai Rui, Wang Yi'e and Xu Yangzheng as the three-horse team.

Especially Hai Rui, he has such a great reputation.

When the imperial edict reached Yangzhou, the ten major salt merchants were in a state of panic and finally at a loss as to what to do.

When they arrived at Zhangjiagou, north of Gaoyou, there were actually pirates who hijacked the ship with the intention of killing the officials.

How could such a crude trick work against Wang Yi'e who had fought his way out of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood in Fujian and Jiangxi?

He first rushed to Huai'an and replaced all the soldiers in the Governor-General's Battalion. He transferred a group of backbones from the New Army Camp and the Southeast Marine Camp, and also selected a group of elite troops from nearby garrisons.

Then they prepare for the battle by mixing false and real tactics, setting traps and waiting for the criminals to fall into the trap.

Before the three imperial envoys arrived in Yangzhou, the salt merchants, blinded by greed, presented a huge gift and handed a huge handle to the three imperial envoys.

People are just worried about having no excuses, but you deliver one to their doorstep.

So the people behind the salt merchants became anxious. A group of river bandits appeared under the nose of the Jiang Defense Camp, sneaked into the canal, ran to Jiangdu City, and wiped out the entire family of the big salt merchant Tian.

Han Youmao was the mastermind behind the ship robbery and killing of officials in Zhangjiagou.

After receiving the news, Gao Gong was speechless.

In front of these three people, can you just silence them if you want?

Next came the mutiny in the Zhenwu Camp.

At this juncture, you still dare to mess around with the salary?

Do you really think that Hai Rui, the Justice of the Sea, and Wang Yi'e, the Osprey, were called that for nothing?
You think they don't have enough leverage over us, right?
If I were the salt merchants and the people behind them, I would be pissed to death by these stupid teammates.

But Gao Gong came to his senses and suddenly realized that there was a mystery here.

The salt merchants in Yangzhou and the people in Nanjing can be only as stupid as they can be, there are still some smart people among them.

Judging from the occurrence of this series of events, it was too coincidental, as if there was an invisible hand controlling everything. Perhaps, the Yangzhou salt merchants and those people in Nanjing were very puzzled, how could these things happen!

Who is behind all these incidents that stabbed the salt merchants and the people in Nanjing in the back?
Gao Gong glanced at Xu Jie in front of him.

The Jiangnan family is separated from Yangzhou by a river, but they can reach out to them.

In the eyes of the bigwigs in the court, the salt merchants were just a bunch of fat sheep who kept other people's property. The hard part was the people behind them. The nobles and officials of Nanjing were one of them.

Xu Jie and the Jiangnan families actively intervened, mostly because they wanted to abolish Nanzhili and set up Jiangnan Provincial Administration, which would be beneficial to them.

But this series of events is not in line with their style.

It was grand and open, very much like the style of the Prince's Party before.

Gao Gong's eyes swept over Hu Zongxian and he had an idea in his mind.

Yes, that’s right, Yang Jinshui is in Shanghai!

Gao Gong finally understood why he had failed in his attempt to govern the Lianghuai salt system.

He had no Royal Highness the Crown Prince to bother with, and after a series of secret moves, the Yangzhou salt merchants and Nanjing nobles were already fish on the chopping board.

Following everyone into the main pavilion of the Zi Guang Pavilion, Xu Jie took the lead, leading Li Chunfang, Chen Yiqin, Hu Zongxian, Gao Gong, and Huang Guangsheng to pay their respects to Zhu Yijun.

"I will pay my respects to His Highness the Crown Prince."

"Gentlemen, please stand up. Take your seats."

After sitting down, Zhu Yijun got straight to the point in his usual style. "Mr. Xu, Mr. Li, Mr. Chen, Mr. Hu, Mr. Gao, Mr. Huang, Mr. Gangfeng led the "Report on the Investigation of the Lianghuai Salt Administration in the First Year of Longqing", co-signed by Wang Yi'e and Xu Yangzheng. I'm sure you have all read it.

You should have also read Mr. Zhang’s “Memorandum on the Suppression and Punishment of the Zhenwu Camp Mutiny, the Looting of the City” from Nanjing.

Xu Jie replied on behalf of all the ministers: "Your Highness, we have reviewed your words. This is a matter of great importance. The Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Justice dare not take the initiative and have referred it to the Cabinet. The Cabinet dare not make a decision lightly, and we sincerely request your approval."

“Okay, now that we’ve seen them all, let’s talk about them one by one.

Let's talk about the Lianghuai Salt Administration first. Mr. Gangfeng reported in his memorial that after verification and investigation, the Lianghuai Salt Administration had been involved in various frauds since the 35th year of Jiajing, such as the private distribution of regular salt, private salt, and evasion of salt taxes, with the equivalent of 27 million taels of silver, and the number of people involved was as high as 2,945.

Mr. Gangfeng has now recovered 10.82 million taels of stolen silver, seized 1.36 million mu of farmland, 396 houses, 476 shops, and thousands of other warehouses and ships.
Of the suspects involved in the case, 2,613 have been arrested, and the Ministry of Justice has issued arrest warrants for the rest."

Zhu Yijun couldn't help but shook his head when he said this. "Twenty-seven million taels of silver, I would call it the first corruption case in the dynasty, and it's not an exaggeration."

Xu Jie and others nodded in agreement: "Your Highness is wise. The amount of money involved in this case is huge and shocking. It is indeed the first corruption case in the country."

Zhu Yijun nodded: "Since this is the first corruption case in the country, we should handle it well and make it a benchmark. Huang Butang."

He mentioned the name of Huang Guangsheng, the Minister of Justice.

"Chen is here!"

"I have nothing to say about these corrupt officials. There is no need to escort the prisoners to the capital, tossing them back and forth, wasting food and manpower.

The Ministry of Justice invited the Censorate and the Dali Temple to form a special task force to go to Yangzhou, check the files, interrogate the prisoners, investigate the case, and judge the case locally!
I also gave Huang Butang a principle, that is to act quickly, severely and strictly!
Two thousand six hundred and thirteen people, even if all of them were sentenced to death, I would approve it immediately. "

Hearing Zhu Yijun's murderous words, everyone felt a chill in their hearts.

He is indeed the good grandson of the late emperor, and he shows no mercy when it comes to killing people.

Huang Guangsheng wanted to fight for it again, "Your Highness, this is not in line with the imperial edict and ancestral system."

"It is stated in the imperial edict that if one embezzles more than 60 taels of silver, he will be skinned and stuffed with straw. Huang Butang, do you want to follow this ancestral rule?"

Huang Guangsheng immediately fell silent.

When Xu Jie and others heard this, they had an idea in their minds.

Today, the prince called everyone to the Ziguang Pavilion. Just like before, he did not "discuss" important matters, but set the tone for important matters, and then everyone carried out their own tasks.

"The Lianghuai Salt Administration has been thoroughly investigated, but the people still need to eat salt. The Lianghuai Salt Administration accounts for more than half of the salt production in the world. In order to rectify the salt administration, it is time to send someone to correct the mistakes.

Who should we send? Do you have any recommendations?"

Everyone was speechless.

Gao Gong really wanted to recommend one of his own, but he thought that since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had gone to so much trouble to do so, how could he let go of the Lianghuai Salt Administration?
It's better to keep silent than to be bored.

"That one person is Pang Shangpeng, the Right Secretary of the Dali Temple. He was an inspector in Henan and Zhejiang, and he practiced the Ten-Section Brocade and One-Stripe Methods, which was very good. Let him go to Lianghuai and rectify the salt administration in Lianghuai."

"Your Highness is wise!"

Gao Gong was glad that he didn't speak just now.

Zhu Yijun continued to discuss with everyone how to deal with the major case of Lianghuai Salt Administration.

Who should the Ministry of Justice send, who should the Censorate send, who should the Dali Temple send, who should be in charge, and then how should they be divided into several groups and how quickly should the case be closed.

How to transport the seized stolen silver back to the capital and store it.

Gao Gong discovered that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had no idea about the stolen silver and meant that it should all go into the national treasury.

The prince is wise!

You are much more generous than the late emperor!

After chatting for half an hour and finishing talking about the major case of the Lianghuai Salt Administration, Zhu Yijun changed the topic.

"Okay, now that we have finished talking about the Lianghuai Salt Administration case, let's talk about the Nanjing Zhenwuying mutiny case."

This case does not involve money, but it involves Nanjing nobles and officials, which is even more troublesome!

No one spoke, and the room was silent.

(End of this chapter)