Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 247: I am guilty and I was just confused for a moment

Metropolitan Procuratorate.

By this time, it was already overcrowded.

"I am Kou Xiang, a deputy director of the Henan Qingli Division of the Ministry of Revenue. I am here to surrender myself!"

"I am also here to surrender, from the Ministry of Rites and Imperial Household Department..."

"And I..."

……

Censor Fan Zhun was getting more and more annoyed when he saw officials rushing to surrender. He shouted, "Everyone, line up in the back! Those who want to surrender, line up!"

At this time, a middle-aged man in a dark brown silk robe came over and said, "I am here to surrender on behalf of my master, who is Sun Sui, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice! This is twelve thousand taels of ill-gotten gains, and I am handing it over to the court!"

"Minister Sun also accepted benefits from Prince Ning!"

Some officials in the crowd couldn't help but get excited.

However, when these officials were still in shock, another person in the queue came over and said, "I am also here to surrender on behalf of my master. My master is the Zuo Tongzheng of the Ministry of Public Administration..."

As a result, the officials who also surrendered themselves were shocked again: "I didn't expect that the Minister of Public Administration would also..."

But before these officials could finish being surprised, Kang Jiu, a disciple of Cabinet Grand Secretary Kang Hai, also appeared in the Censorate.

When the other officials saw that it was the retainers of the elder's family, they all made way for them.

Kang Jiu also bowed and came before the censor Fan Zhun.

Censor Fan Zhun also put on a smile and said, "Brother Kang, what advice do you have for me? Why do you have to go to the Censorate in person? If you have any instructions, can't I just go to your house and listen to your instructions in person?"

Kang Jiu did not dare to act arrogantly in front of the Censorate just because he was a disciple of the Prime Minister (the Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty was regarded as the Prime Minister by people at that time). He just bowed and said:
"I dare not hide the truth from you, sir. I am surrendering myself here on your orders. This is the ill-gotten gains that you have received from King Ning. Please count them!"

Censor Fan Zhun almost didn't come back to his senses. After a moment of inaction, he smiled awkwardly and said, "I've always heard that the Lord is a minister of learning and highly respected. How come he accepted a benefit from Prince Ning, and five thousand taels at that?"

Kang Jiu just smiled bitterly and did not explain that it was because his family was relatively poor at the time that he was able to collect only 5,000 taels, otherwise he would not have only taken out 5,000 taels to make up the number.

……

At this time, Zhu Houzhao, who was standing in the front hall of the Censorate in casual clothes, couldn't help but shook his head when he saw this scene.

Yan Jing from the Dongchang Inspectorate could not help but ask Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, should we ask the Dongchang to bring them to the Inspectorate for questioning?"

"No need for that. They are not letting down the organization. They are letting down the way of the saints taught to them by Confucius. They are a group of profit-seeking people. Their good reputation is so worthless!"

Zhu Houzhao said this and then asked Xu Jing who followed him: "Can you estimate how many taels of silver you have at this moment?"

"Your Majesty, it is no less than 30 million taels."

Xu Jing was known for his amazing mental arithmetic skills, and he immediately answered the question when Zhu Houzhao asked him.

Zhu Houzhao nodded, thinking that Li Zicheng had raided the homes of almost all the civil and military officials in Beijing and seized a total of more than 70 million taels of silver. Now, these civil and military officials had surrendered and handed over a lot of ill-gotten gains. It seemed that the officials of the Ming Dynasty were indeed not poor.

"There is more than enough silver. According to my order, you will now hand over the business of the Royal Bank and the Royal Taxation Bureau to others. You will be responsible for setting up an investment bank. Let's call this bank the World Investment Bank. In the future, the Ming Dynasty will invest in infrastructure all over the world. Do you understand?"

Zhu Houzhao said to Xu Jing.

"World Investment Bank?"

Xu Jing couldn't help but read it out loud.

"Yes, it is the World Investment Bank. With the current gold and silver reserves around the world, it may not be able to meet the interests of our Daming Infrastructure Bureau.
Therefore, this is a long-term process of making money. The establishment of the World Investment Bank is to lend money to those foreigners who cannot pay. At that time, they will either repay the high-interest loans owed to the Ming Dynasty, or mortgage their seaports and mineral resources to the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Houzhao only mentioned one purpose, and there was another purpose he did not mention, which was that if local officials in the country wanted to achieve good political achievements, they must also engage in infrastructure construction, and to engage in infrastructure construction they can only borrow from banks controlled by the central court. At that time, the local governments would be indebted to the central court, and it might even lead to a continuous increase in the local debt ratio due to the increase in infrastructure construction. In this way, it would be easier for the central court to control the local governments economically.

After all, the territory of the Ming Dynasty will certainly become larger and larger in the future, and using economic means to control the place is undoubtedly the most effective way.

Although Zhu Houzhao did not say it, Xu Jing also guessed this benefit and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, please rest assured that I will manage the second bank of the Ming Dynasty well!"

Zhu Houzhao nodded and said nothing more.

……

At this time, there were still many civil and military officials who came to the Censorate to surrender and pay money.

Seeing this, the more upright Left Censor-in-Chief Cheng Cai could not help but shake his head and sigh, "Oh my God, when did Prince Ning bribe so many officials? Even if he is the richest prince in the world, how could he have so much wealth? Even if he bribed so many officials, how could his rebellion fail?"

The news of Prince Ning's failed rebellion had already reached the capital, so Cheng Cai asked this question. Seeing this, Guo Dongshan, the Left Vice-Chief Censor beside him, couldn't help but laugh and said:
"It's not Prince Ning who bribed so many officials, it's Your Majesty who bribed so many officials! It's a pity that most of the people in the literati are gentlemen who appear to be righteous, but once they encounter something that benefits themselves, their true colors are revealed. It's a pity, it's a pity!"

Cheng Cai also had to agree: "That's right. If this continues, these officials will voluntarily humiliate their own reputations. At that time, it will appear that Your Majesty is wise, and the civil and military officials in the court will behave badly. In that case, the civil and military officials in the court will have no choice but to follow Your Majesty's lead!"...

"Ugh!"

Left Censor-in-Chief Hang Huai also watched all this helplessly, thinking to himself:

"There really is no loyal official in the whole court! What's more lamentable is that if this continues, because of the same interests, all the civil and military officials in the capital will form a party with Your Majesty, and the Loyalty Society will undoubtedly become stronger. By then, the lives of our gentry will be even more difficult! Those gentry who followed Prince Ning or responded to Prince Ning's rebellion will not only not be tolerated by Your Majesty this time, but also will not be tolerated by these civil and military officials! When did Your Majesty stop using a knife to kill people?!"

Just as Hang Huai had expected, after most of the civil and military officials in Beijing surrendered themselves and handed over their ill-gotten gains to the court to invest in the establishment of the Ming Infrastructure Bureau and the World Investment Bank, it meant that these officials would be tied together with the interests of the Ming Emperor and even the Ming court and the country it represented.

What these officials least want to see is naturally some ambitious people who want to disrupt the world and affect the construction of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, there is no doubt that these officials would certainly, like Emperor Zhu Houzhao, severely crack down on the gentry who followed Prince Ning in rebellion in order to warn other gentry and princes who wanted to disrupt the world.

Among them, the Right Censor-in-Chief Tao Xie first submitted a petition to the Censorate, requesting the Left Censor-in-Chief Hang Huai to submit a petition to the court with him, demanding that Prince Ning and his rebel party be severely punished!

at the same time.

Other officials also began to denounce Prince Ning and the officials and gentry who rebelled with Prince Ning in major Ming official media, scolding these people for forgetting their ancestors and betraying their loyalty, and demanded that the court severely punish these people!

Even these officials and the scholars, students, and common people who represented their will petitioned the court, hoping that the court would severely punish those who attempted to bring chaos to the world.

Zhu Houzhao naturally followed the will of the people and approved the Censorate to open a case against Prince Ning and the officials and gentry who rebelled with Prince Ning, and asked the Ministry of Justice to severely punish these rebels.

……

then.

Sun Sui, the left vice-minister of the Ministry of Justice, was promoted by Zhu Houzhao to the Minister of the Ministry of Justice in Nanjing, and was given the power to try the case of Prince Ning and all members of Prince Ning's rebel party.

of course.

Officials who participated in Prince Ning's suppression of the rebellion were also rewarded and promoted.

Wang Shouren was awarded the title of Xinjian Earl for his great contribution and was promoted to the position of Minister of War in Beijing.

Wu Wendi was promoted to the position of Governor of Southern Zhili, replacing Yan Song.

Yan Song was transferred to Beijing to replace Sun Sui and served as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice.

The 80,000 official troops trained by Wang Shouren in Jiangxi were also transferred to Beijing for reorganization, in preparation for being reorganized into the Imperial Guards.

The Governor of Jiangxi was Wang Tingxiang, the Censor-in-Chief who had participated in suppressing the Ning Wang Rebellion with Wang Shouren.

The only thing Sun Sui did after he went south was killing people and confiscating their properties.

Now he has officially betrayed the entire gentry group. After all, he has invested in the Ming Infrastructure Bureau and become a common beneficiary of Emperor Zhu Houzhao, and also became Zhu Houzhao's lackey.

The local government did not mind following the wishes of Sun Sui, the representative of the central court, and severely punished the officials and gentry who followed Prince Ning in the rebellion, because they could also use this opportunity to confiscate their properties and enrich the local silver coffers.

After all, they also knew that the central government would ask them to build infrastructure in local areas in the future. If they wanted to be free from the control of the central government, they would have to have sufficient silver and money reserves first, otherwise they would only be able to borrow money from the central government’s banks.

……

Let’s get back to Jiangxi, when the Ning Wang Rebellion had just been put down.

Xu Zan, the prefect of Jiujiang and also the rebel minister of the Ministry of Personnel, was leading his troops to Nankang at this time, and he was fighting under the banner of Wang Shouren, the governor of Jiangxi. He really hoped that Prince Ning would be defeated more slowly so that his defection would be meaningful.

However, contrary to his wishes, when Xu Zan rushed to Nankang, he was ambushed by the officers and soldiers specially left behind by Wang Shouren, and was captured.

As soon as Xu Zan saw Wang Shouren, he fell to his knees. He knew that he was ambushed because Wang Shouren knew that he had surrendered to Prince Ning. Therefore, he had no choice but to beg for mercy:

"Master Futai, please spare my life! I was really confused for a moment! I wanted to take the opportunity to paralyze Prince Ning, so I had to pretend to surrender to Prince Ning. In fact, my heart has always been in the court! I just want to protect the people!"

Coincidentally, Xu Zan also used the same reason as the civil servants in the capital at this time.

However, such direct rebellion by civil servants and gentry was naturally no longer tolerated by the entire Ming society.

"Prefect Xu, you and I are both ministers in the same palace and of the same age. The only thing I can do for you now is to give you a chance to commit suicide before His Majesty's order is issued. You can choose to jump into the Gan River and commit suicide now. I will pretend that I didn't see it, so that you can avoid the pain of being tortured to death again!"

Wang Shouren said.

Seeing this, Xu Zan could not help but hesitate a little, and moved step by step to the side of the boat, but soon he knelt down again, stammering, and said, "Your subordinate, your subordinate is afraid of the cold, this, this water is too cold!"

To clarify, most of the civil officials in the capital rushed to admit that they had received benefits from King Ning, not because there were really so many officials who had received benefits from King Ning, although there were certainly officials who had received benefits from King Ning, but now the nature of the text has changed, these officials have been under the banner of surrendering and voluntarily handing over money to follow the emperor to invest and make money. I don't know if I have written it clearly. Zhu Houzhao used this method to expand the number of civil officials who supported him, and to tie the interests of more officials to the court. In this way, he would be safer as an emperor and it would be easier for him to reform the Ming Dynasty.

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(End of this chapter)