Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 55: The two ministers are truly a blessing to the country!
There was total silence in the imperial study.

The three ministers knelt on the ground, trembling all over, their hearts filled with deep fear.

They did not dare to doubt what Zhu Youtang said.

The weight of this statement is too great, and the corrupt officials who were crushed by the Xianzhen Camp are the best proof of this.

Zhu Youtang looked at the three people coldly and calmed down his anger several times.

"roll."

Zhu Youtang opened his thin lips slightly, and the three ministers seemed to be released.

Xu Pu and Liu Jian didn't even dare to mention what they wanted to report to Zhu Youtang. They left the imperial study silently and quickly.

When they passed by the door of the imperial study, Wang Zhi was standing at the door, looking at them deeply with his calm eyes.

Xu Pu and the other two felt uneasy at the look in their eyes. They quickened their pace and fled away from the imperial study.

After the three of them left, Wang Zhi walked into the imperial study and said with some concern: "Your Majesty..."

Zhu Youtang stretched out his hand to stop Wang Zhi from continuing.

His Majesty Zhu Youtang kept his eyes calm.

Then, when he opened his eyes again, Zhu Youtang had regained his composure.

"Wang Zhi, the West Factory still needs to keep a close eye on the Ming Bank and the Hongzhi Treasure Notes."

“This is the key to reform in the coming years and we must not let up.”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Wang Zhi lowered his head.

Then Wang Zhi asked again: "Your Majesty, should we also let the Western Factory monitor the renovation of the palace?"

"No need, the West Factory is busy enough, go find Huai En for me."

"Yes."

Wang Zhi did not show any disappointment and quickly left the imperial study. Following Zhu Youtang's order, he ordered the West Factory guards to go to the East Factory to find Huai'en.

At this moment, Huai En and Li Guang were standing in the secret room of the East Factory, and cold sweat was pouring out of their foreheads due to nervousness.

"Godfather, do you really want to continue investigating?"

"This has already been investigated...into the harem."

Li Guang's voice was very hoarse and his face looked very embarrassed.

He looked like he wanted to laugh, but couldn't.

Huai En wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, and felt even more admiration for Zhu Youtang in his heart.

"You said that these clues were all found by Liu Jin?"

"Yeah, this guy is weird."

When talking about Liu Jin, Li Guang was also full of emotion.

"When he first entered the East Depot, he was very timid. Although he was in charge of the criminal department, he was afraid of even executing people."

"But within ten days, this kid had become a completely different person. Not only did he know all the tortures of the Eastern Depot, he even invented two of his own."

"Even the experienced executioners in the East Factory felt that these two tortures were too cruel."

"It was with these two kinds of punishment that he was able to pry open the mouth of a palace maid and obtain these clues."

"Liu Jin is a natural born to be a Dongchang official."

Huai En felt even more emotional in his heart. When he first recruited Liu Jin as the Chief of Criminal Affairs of the East Factory, he did not take him seriously because of his timid and cowardly character.

Unexpectedly, just a few days later, Liu Jin achieved such a great achievement.

When Liu Jin came to Dongchang, he really felt like a fish in water, which allowed him to fully display his abilities.

Your Majesty is truly a man of great insight. He saw through Liu Jin's ability at a glance and arranged him to the Western Factory.

At this moment, a man from the Eastern Depot came to report the news.

"Sir, the Western Factory sent a message to say that His Majesty has summoned you to the palace for an audience."

Huai En's face changed, and he immediately put down everything he was doing, hurried out of the East Factory, and walked towards the Forbidden City. Not long after, Huai En came to the Imperial Study and saluted Zhu Youtang respectfully.

"Old slaves see Majesty."

"Get up, Huai'en. I have something for you, the East Factory, to do."

Zhu Youtang sat in front of the dragon desk, writing a memorial with a pen.

"Here."

Huai En lowered his head, stood up, and took a step closer to Zhu Youtang.

"Today I have asked all officials to raise money to repair the palace for me."

"During the repair process, let the East Factory keep an eye on it for me."

"If there are those who are cunning, perfunctory, or pass off inferior goods as good ones, arrest them all!"

Huai En's heart trembled, and he immediately nodded in agreement.

……

On the other side, after Xu Pu and the other two left the Imperial Study, they did not even go back to the Cabinet and went straight out of the palace.

Afterwards, Xu Pu and the other two immediately sent out their servants to notify the heads of various departments in the capital to come to Xu Pu's residence to discuss matters.

The six ministries and nine officials had no idea what was going on, they only knew that the Prime Minister Xu Pu was urging them urgently, so they hurried to Xu Pu's residence.

Soon, Xu Pu's house was filled with officials from the six ministries and nine departments, all of whom were officials of the fourth rank or above.

There was no room to accommodate so many people, so everyone met in the back garden of Xu Pu's house.

All the servants were driven to the front yard and no one was allowed to approach.

After all the officials who had been notified had arrived, the Minister of Personnel Wang Shu asked, "Prime Minister Xu, why did you summon us so urgently?"

Xu Pu, Liu Jian and Jia Jun had words on their lips several times but swallowed them back.

They really didn't know how to convey Zhu Youtang's orders to all officials.

Xu Pu sighed and looked at Jia Jun: "Minister Jia, I think you should be the one to speak on this matter."

Jia Jun's face was bitter, but the words of the cabinet chief were still very effective, so he could only nod in agreement.

After organizing his words in his mind, Jia Jun slowly spoke: "Your Majesty just summoned me to the palace to discuss the renovation of the three main halls of Fengtian."

"Originally, His Majesty wanted the Ministry of Revenue and the Imperial Treasury to each contribute half of the money, but after being dissuaded by Elder Xu and Elder Liu, His Majesty finally gave up the idea."

Having said this, all the officials present knew what was going on.

Wang Shu's face was serious and he nodded slowly, his tone full of approval for Xu Pu and Liu Jian.

"You two ministers have done a good job. Building a palace is a waste of money and manpower. It is indeed not appropriate to start a large-scale construction project now."

"The two ministers were able to persuade His Majesty to give up the idea of ​​building a palace, which can be regarded as a great achievement for the benefit of the people."

"Yeah, that's a good thing."

Wang Ji, the Minister of the Dali Temple, also echoed: "The two ministers have served the country and the people and have made frank suggestions. It is a blessing for the Ming Dynasty and the country to have two ministers in the cabinet."

Cabinet Grand Secretaries Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, the Minister of the Ministry of the Imperial Household and others all smiled and praised Xu Pu and Liu Jian.

However, after hearing everyone's compliments, Xu Pu and Liu Jian did not show any joy, but instead looked bitter.

They both knew very well that although they were still praising their colleagues now, they would probably be bombarded with accusations once they knew the full news.

Thinking of this, both of them felt very stressed.

The person who is under the most pressure at the moment is the Minister of Works Jia Jun.

He swallowed and then stuttered out the second half of the sentence.

"So His Majesty asked... asked all the civil and military officials in the capital to jointly raise money for His Majesty to repair the palace."

"If it cannot be repaired, or cannot be repaired properly, His Majesty will... He will investigate all... all officials in the capital one by one..."

"We will not only investigate the capital, but also the local hometowns. If any problems are found, the whole family will be executed..."

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of all the officials present changed drastically!
Everyone had their eyes wide open, their mouths opened, and their faces were full of horror!
(End of this chapter)