Yongle Emperor's grandson: Zhu Yuanzhang with cheats, Zhu Di went crazy

Chapter 135 If you don’t take it and I don’t take it, how can I get it from above?
"Hahahahaha..."

The laughter of gloating echoed throughout the space.

Ji Gang sat aside with a frown on his face, looking at Xia Yuanji with disdain, who was laughing so hard that he was almost out of breath.

"Is it so funny, Minister Xia?"

Finally, he couldn't help it anymore and spoke coldly.

"Wait a moment...let me take a break..."

Xia Yuanji leaned on his knees and took big gulps of the air he had just laughed out. It took him a long time to recover. He wiped the tears from his eyes and pointed at Ji Gang, ignoring the strange looks from everyone. "Ji Gang, Ji Gang, you have come to this day too, hahahaha..."

Hearing this, Zhu Zhanjun was speechless. What Old Xia said sounded like entering a space or a prison cell.

How could Xia Yuanji not be happy? Ji Gang was a vicious dog and he kept an eye on him all the time.

Although he thought he was an honest official and worthy of the court and his father, he could not resist being framed by others.

What does the Jinyiwei do? They are the biggest base for creating wrongful cases in the Ming Dynasty. As long as the old man wants to convict someone, the Jinyiwei will definitely do it.

Now that Ji Gang is our own, we no longer have to worry about this black-hearted wolf cub secretly cheating us.

Pushing aside Old Xia, who was laughing so hard that he could hardly breathe, Zhu Zhanjun looked at Ji Gang and asked, "Now that we are all family, I won't hold back when I speak."

Ji Gang stood up and bowed: "Please give your orders, Your Highness."

"Sit down, let's eat and talk."

Inviting Ji Gang to sit down, Zhu Zhanjun asked in a deep voice: "Are the people who went to burn the imperial farm and kill Zhao An yours?"

Ji Gang shook his head directly: "They are my men, but I didn't send them."

Afraid that Zhu Zhanjun didn't understand, Ji Gang explained: "Your Highness, although I am the commander of the Jinyiwei, at least 1/3 of the entire Jinyiwei are not of the same mind as me."

Zhu Zhanjun expressed his approval of this.

Given the old man's personality, it is absolutely impossible for such an important department as the Jinyiwei to be managed by one person. He will definitely place people in it, or let other forces place people in it, to prevent one party from dominating the department.

"Not to mention anything else. The commander of the Jinyiwei has always been at odds with me. I have tried to get rid of him many times, but most of the time, the people behind him helped to resolve the issue, or your majesty deliberately ignored it."

"I don't know if the one sent to kill Zhao An was from the Imperial Guard, but I can guarantee that the one who burned the imperial farm was definitely not one of my men."

Zhu Zhanjun nodded and asked, "Is the person behind him Liu Guan?"

Ji Gang nodded, then shook his head.

"According to my investigation, Liu Guan is only the person in the open. In fact, they are involved in many things behind the scenes."

Glancing at Xia Yuanji, Ji Gang introduced: "These people come from all kinds of backgrounds. There are people from the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Justice, and even the Ministry of Imperial Clan Affairs. Except for a few government offices that they don't like, they have people from almost all of them."

"This is just the case within the imperial court. Almost all those who were sent out to serve as officials or to guard a certain place are involved to some extent."

Zhu Zhanjun frowned and asked Ji Gang: "Have you told my grandfather about this?"

Ji Gang shook his head: "Your Majesty no longer trusts me, I need to leave some life-saving things."

"If I tell you everything, I will lose my usefulness to your majesty someday, and I will offend them because of this matter. No one will come to save me then."

"According to what you said, our Ming Dynasty is completely rotten."

Old Zhu, who was listening to the whole process, looked extremely unhappy.

He cleaned out the Huaixi nobles in order to consolidate the foundation of the Ming Dynasty and prevent these people from becoming more powerful and causing chaos.

As a result, just a few years later, a new and powerful force emerged.

Ji Gang stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, Emperor Taizu, I can tell you the truth. The Ming Dynasty is not rotten to the core, but it is a rule in the officialdom."

“For example, when an official takes up a post at a lower level, he or she must give gifts to his or her superiors.”

"Local officials would take some money from disaster relief grain and taxes collected for dredging the canal."

"There is a saying in the officialdom: 'If you don't take it and I don't take it, how can the superiors take it? If you don't eat it and I don't eat it, how can we get promoted in the future?'"

When Old Zhu heard this jingle, his face turned as ugly as it could be. Ji Gang's face did not change at all, and he pointed at Xia Yuanji next to him.

"If we follow the laws made by Emperor Taizu Gao, except for this fool, from the minister to the ordinary county magistrate, every one else should be killed, and there will be absolutely no false cases or wrongful convictions."

Xia Yuanji's face froze. These words seemed to be praising him, but they sounded so awkward.

"Commander Ji is right. Many people don't want to get involved, but reality forces you to do this."

Zhang Baigui, who was listening at the side, sighed and said, "As I said before, the salary is so little. I don't want my family to give me money. They can't even run the most basic government office."

"The recruitment of government officials, the renovation of the government office, and the management of relationships with the higher-ups all cost several times the salary each time."

"After all these results, these people can only think of a solution below."

"From taxes and fire consumption, to income from corvée labor, there are many kinds of miscellaneous things, these are the sources of their income."

"If we really follow the laws set by Emperor Taizu, most of the officials in the Ming Dynasty should be killed."

Old Zhu was breathing heavily when he heard this, and he shouted with his eyes wide open: "According to you, this is still our fault."

Several people chose to remain silent.

In their minds, although it cannot be said to be all of them, there are still five or six layers.

Old Zhu pointed at the three people with shaking hands. Seeing that a quarrel was about to break out, Empress Ma hurriedly pulled Old Zhu towards the thatched cottage and said to Zhu Zhanjun, "It's getting late, and your great grandfather is tired. Let's rest first, and you can chat slowly."

Zhu Biao smiled apologetically: "My father's personality is like this. He won't tolerate any doubts from others, including me, his son, except my mother and Zhanjun."

The three nodded in understanding.

Ji Gang and Xia Yuanji came from the Hongwu Dynasty and had a certain understanding of Zhu's character.

Zhang Baigui also learned something from historical books and the contacts during this period, but he did not comment on this.

"Zhanjun, now that you have Commander Ji, it will be much easier for you to do things. How do you plan to solve this matter?"

"In fact, I personally suggest that after this incident, you should try not to get involved in the affairs of the court. You just need to develop grain and Fengyang, and find a way to gain management rights in the south, and you will be invincible."

"Compared to those guarantees, it is a complete waste of time to engage in intrigue with these ministers."

Zhu Zhanjun smiled bitterly and said, "I thought so too. For this reason, I chose to make a big deal out of a small matter, even for Xu Jingchang and the others. I just didn't want to waste my energy on useless court affairs."

"But those people were so sensitive that they thought I was going to start a prairie fire."

"If they hadn't done this, I would have returned to the Royal Manor long ago. There are still many things waiting for me to do there. I don't have so much free time to play tricks on them out of boredom."

Zhu Biao nodded and said, "Now that we have intervened, we can't give up easily, otherwise people will look down on us."

"Write a letter to your grandfather tomorrow and see if you can get his authorization to intimidate these guys."

"No need to ask for instructions."

Just as Zhu Zhanjun was about to nod, Ji Gang stood up and said, "Your Majesty gave me a handwritten order before he left for the expedition, requiring me to follow your orders when necessary."

"It's just that I didn't like Your Highness at the beginning, so when Your Highness found me today, I didn't intend to give any hints."

Ji Gang bowed to Zhu Zhanjun and said with an awkward smile: "If Your Highness hadn't threatened me with that incident, I would have ignored it."

Zhu Zhanjun stood up and said, "Since we already have the order from Grandpa Emperor, let's not wait any longer. Let's finish the work as soon as possible and have peace as soon as possible."

Ji Gang, Xia Yuanji and Zhang Baigui stood up quickly.

Zhu Zhanjun looked at Zhang Baigui and ordered, "Immediately ask Shen Lian to arrest all the people on the list who are alive. Then let the criminal officials who are monitoring them temporarily replace their positions and tell them that this is their only chance to make amends."

"As ordered."

Zhu Zhanjun turned to look at Xia Yuanji: "You are responsible for helping my father stabilize the court. This time, we may have arrested too many people, but it must not affect the logistics of the old man's northern expedition."

"As ordered."

Zhu Zhanjun looked at Xian Jigang lastly and said, "I will go to Jinyiwei to find you later. Gather all the people. I will hook one and you will catch one until I say it's over."

(End of this chapter)