The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 534: Confiscation of property and execution to fill the deficit
Was the Minister of Revenue Chen Sheng corrupt?
It is still difficult to make a conclusion about Wanli.

However, he was certain that many officials in the Ministry of Revenue were corrupt.

Over the years, at least half of the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue has been embezzled by these guys!
He had to make these guys spit out the money, otherwise, the Nurgan Regional Command would have no money to buy food.

More importantly, he must put an end to this trend of corruption. Otherwise, the prosperity will be followed by the danger of national destruction.

This has been the case throughout the dynasties. Whenever a country enters a prosperous era, corruption will emerge.

Those who cannot control their greed will always try every possible way to embezzle the interests of a prosperous dynasty. When all the benefits are embezzled by a small group of such people, the dynasty will be over.

He couldn't bear to watch the Ming Dynasty, which he had worked so hard to develop, being destroyed.

You dare to be greedy, right?

I will confiscate their property and execute them to make up for the deficit!
He frowned and pondered for a while, then waved his hand and said, "Lu Yi, take this guy to the Imperial Prison and keep him under good guard."

what?
He still has to be thrown into prison!
Upon hearing this, the Minister of Revenue, Chen Sheng, was so frightened that he howled wildly, "Your Majesty, this is unjust. I am truly not corrupt."

It is not up to you to decide whether you are greedy or not.

Wanli pretended not to hear and turned around to ask, "Xiaolan, how much money is left in the inner treasury?"

You don't want to check even the inner treasury, do you?

Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan said cautiously, "The total amount of gold and silver is probably over three million taels."

Fortunately, I still have some money.

Wanli nodded slightly, then raised his hand and ordered, "General Shan, order everyone to put all the gold and silver here back into the boxes and move them to the inner treasury. Then, move one million taels of silver from the inner treasury to meet the emergency needs."

Shan Sinan quickly bowed and said, "I will obey your order."

After saying that, he went out to make arrangements.

Wanli then said to Li Xuancheng, "Uncle, send for Luo Sigong to come and see me."

what?
Also summon Luo Sigong to come for an audience!

Upon hearing this, little Zhu Changxun couldn't help but touch his stomach and said, "Father, I'm so hungry."

Alas, if things here are not handled properly, the money in the national treasury will never be recovered.

Wanli sighed secretly, then said patiently: "Xun'er, wait a moment, we will return to the palace later."

After that, he turned to Lu Yi and said, "Send a message to all the warehouses to leave a team of people to take turns guarding the warehouse door, and everyone else can withdraw."

What to do here?
Lu Yi asked carefully: "Your Majesty, have the people here also withdrawn?"

Not yet.

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "Everyone here should wait a moment and leave after Si Gong arrives."

Lu Yi quickly bowed and said, "I understand."

After saying that, he went out to make arrangements.

Luo Sigong was on duty in the palace at the moment, so he arrived quite quickly.

As soon as Shan Sinan and Lu Yi finished explaining the matter, he came quickly.

Wanli pulled him to his side and whispered in his ear, "Order the secret guards to secretly monitor all officials of the Ministry of Revenue. If anyone secretly transports any belongings from the household, they must be secretly monitored to see where they are transported. Anyone who dares to escape will be immediately arrested and sent to the imperial prison."

Luo Sigong nodded repeatedly, then turned and walked away quickly.

Upon seeing this, Wanli waved his hand and said, "General Shan, leave a thousand men here to clean up the mess, and the rest of you follow me back to the palace.

Lu Yi, the Jinyiwei here can withdraw, and just leave a team of people to take turns guarding the warehouse door. "

This time it seemed that he made much ado about nothing and just arrested the Minister of Revenue.

However, those who were greedy knew that this matter could not end like this.

They know exactly how much they have greedily taken.

It would be fine if the current emperor didn’t find out, but once he does, there will be no peace.

This seems a bit contradictory.

Corrupt officials are not fools. They all know very well that once their crimes are exposed, they will most likely not be able to escape.

Why do they still engage in rampant corruption?

Isn't this no different from committing suicide?
The more greedy they are, the more likely they are to be exposed.

Most corrupt officials are so contradictory.

They know that the more greedy they are, the more likely they are to be exposed, but they just keep getting greedier and greedier!
This was probably largely due to their greed. The more they coveted, the more their greed grew. They couldn't control their greed to begin with, and the more it grew, the more they couldn't control it. As for the fact that they would most likely be doomed if their crimes were exposed, they knew it.

However, most people who cannot control their greed have a lucky mentality. Most of them deceive themselves and think that it is unlikely that their crimes will be exposed, or that they will not be found out even if their crimes are exposed.

Most of the officials in the Ministry of Revenue now have this kind of lucky mentality. Most of them believe that even if the current emperor finds out that most of the court's tax revenue has been embezzled, it may not be traced back to them.

Wouldn’t Wanli be able to find it?
To be honest, this is a bit difficult to check.

After all, most corrupt officials would not be as blatantly corrupt as Yan Song and his son. Most corrupt officials are very cautious. When they are corrupt, they will try their best to cover it up and try not to be discovered.

This may also be the fundamental reason why most corrupt officials have a mentality of taking chances.

They are not fools. They know that they will be in trouble if their crimes are exposed, but they are still so stupid as to be so blatantly corrupt?

If they are really so stupid, it is not that they cannot control their greed, but that they cannot control their brains.

That's simply a brain problem.

If they have no problem with their brains, they will naturally try their best to cover it up.

This can be seen from the reaction of Chen Sheng, the Minister of Revenue.

Chen Sheng most likely had no idea that the grain, gold and silver in the national treasury had been swapped!
This guy is the Minister of Revenue and is on duty in the Ministry of Revenue almost every day, but he doesn't know about it. This shows how well those corrupt officials cover up.

The reason why Wanli's reign ended so hastily was that little Zhu Changxun was hungry. There was also a more important reason, which was the reaction of Chen Sheng, the Minister of Revenue.

This guy doesn't seem to be pretending.

Even the Minister of Revenue was kept in the dark, so this shocking case would definitely not be solved in a short time.

Therefore, he chose to end it hastily and let little Zhu Changxun fill his stomach first.

It was just after noon, the sun was scorching hot, and Kunning Palace seemed unusually quiet.

Those naughty little princes and princesses went for a nap, but in the kitchen, little Zhu Changxun was feasting on his meal.

Queen Wang sat beside the little one with a look of heartache on her face, gently stroking the little one's back and feeding him a mouthful of soup from time to time.

Imperial Concubine Qin Lan also sat aside and ate slowly.

Wanli seemed to have no appetite at all.

How should we investigate this shocking case? Should we just let the Minister of Justice Yuan Keli take people to investigate?

There may be no problem with Yuan Keli's ability, but the problem is that the Minister of Revenue Chen Sheng was kept in the dark.

Can he expect the Minister of Justice to know more about the Ministry of Revenue than the Minister of Revenue?
This is a bit too much to ask.

There was another way, which was to throw all the officials of the Ministry of Revenue into the imperial prison and torture them one by one until they confessed.

This is indeed simple and crude, and it may also uncover most of the corrupt officials in the Ministry of Revenue.

The problem is that the Ministry of Revenue is related to the operation of the entire court, and he cannot clear it out all at once.

Moreover, the torture in the imperial prison is not something that ordinary people can withstand. Officials without any problems may be forced to confess, while those who really have problems will definitely know that they will die if they confess, so they may resist the torture and refuse to confess.

This is a huge case involving tens of millions of taels, so it is not appropriate to use such a simple and crude method.

So, what to do?

He sat in the main seat, frowning and thinking for a while, then finally spoke out loudly, "Uncle, send someone to convey the imperial decree 800 miles away urgently, summoning Li Hualong, the Governor of the Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan Circuit, to the capital."

He has been thinking about who will succeed him as the Minister of Revenue for a long time.

Originally, he found it difficult to make a decision.

Now he doesn't seem to have to think so much.

The position of Minister of Revenue must be quickly replaced by a capable official.

Li Hualong and Zhu Guozuo are currently the two most capable people under him.

However, Zhu Guozuo's work has little to do with the Ministry of Revenue, and that guy is still in America and can't come back for a while.

Li Hualong was different. The tea, raw silk, precious wood, and even grain and tribute wine produced by the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan Regional Administration every year were worth more than the taxes collected by the Ministry of Revenue every year.

This guy was able to transform the poor and barren land where the local officials were originally entrenched into the most prosperous place in the southwest. His ability to get things done is beyond doubt.

Moreover, the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan Regional Command is not too far from the capital. With fast horses and speedy ships, it won’t take a few days to return.

Therefore, he decided to let Li Hualong take over the position of Minister of Revenue and work with Yuan Keli to thoroughly investigate this shocking case.

(End of this chapter)