The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 536: Corrupt Officials Are Desperate

Ciqing Palace was originally named Qingning Palace and was the eastern palace of the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty.

Wanli lived here for several years when he was the crown prince.

It is located roughly in the southeast corner of the imperial palace, near Donghuamen.

This place is really big, with many halls and houses.

The main hall and the surrounding houses together have more than a hundred rooms, which can easily accommodate a hundred people.

At this time, Wanli had not yet canonized little Zhu Changxun as the crown prince, and there were not many people living in Ciqing Palace. There were only a few eunuchs and palace maids who cleaned and guarded the gate.

When little Zhu Changxun heard that this was the East Palace where he would live in the future, he couldn't help but feel excited.

This place is really big. The Kunning Palace where he lives now seems to be smaller than this one.

He couldn't help looking around and asking questions in Wanli's arms, and was extremely excited.

Wanli could answer all the little guy's questions with his eyes closed.

He is very familiar with this place.

However, he did not close his eyes at this moment.

On the contrary, he was also looking around.

He was thinking about whether to let Li Hualong and Yuan Keli move in.

Li Hualong and Yuan Keli were both rare capable officials, and they were both only in their thirties.

More importantly, these two people are members of the royal party and are very obedient.

If he had left these two people to assist the future Zhu Changxun, the national policy he set would have been continued and the Ming Dynasty would have continued to prosper.

This is also important.

The prosperity of the Ming Dynasty could not be continued by a crown prince or a succeeding emperor. The emperor must have a group of reliable and capable ministers under his command.

He thought for a moment, then asked, "Li Qing, Yu Ye, where do you live now?"

Why did His Majesty suddenly ask this question?

Yuan Keli was stunned for a moment, then said honestly, "Your Majesty, I have just returned to the capital and do not have much money to buy a house. For now, I am living in the monk's quarters of Guangji Temple."

The monks' quarters he mentioned were not actually where monks lived, but guest rooms in the temple.

This is also a unique feature of the Ming Dynasty. Many temples have monks' quarters for rent and provide vegetarian meals, which are much cheaper than restaurants and inns.

In order to show their integrity, many officials would rent monks' houses when they did not have their own residences.

For example, Li Tingji, who was famous in history for his resignation, gave all his houses in the capital to poor people when he resigned, and sent all his family members back to their hometown.

He rented a monk's house to show his determination to resign. As a result, he lived in the monk's house for five years, and Emperor Wanli at that time never even looked at the memorial he submitted!

Yuan Keli is not pretending to be honest. He is not a corrupt official, not now and not in history.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded slightly and then looked at Li Hualong.

I just returned to Beijing and don’t know where to live yet.

Li Hualong thought about it and said honestly, "Your Majesty, I just arrived in the capital today and haven't decided where to stay yet."

That's just right.

Wanli nodded slightly, then said decisively: "Uncle, replace all the eunuchs and palace maids here with reliable ones, and then find two clean side halls and convert them into guest rooms.

Li Qing, Yu Ye, you must move in today. You cannot move out until the Ministry of Revenue has dealt with your affairs. You must be careful of those corrupt officials who may act recklessly."

what?
You let us live in the palace!

Can outsiders live in this palace?

The imperial city is equivalent to the emperor's residence, and the imperial palace is the emperor's inner residence.

His Majesty actually let them live in the palace.

Is this appropriate?

However, there would indeed be danger once they started investigating the Ministry of Revenue corruption case.

That was a huge case involving tens of millions of taels of silver. There was a high possibility that those corrupt officials would resort to desperate measures.

During the Jiajing Dynasty, Yan Song and his son had not yet become so corrupt. Anyone who investigated them would be killed, and even anyone who reported them would be killed!
It's really unsafe for them to live outside. They probably have to keep their eyes open when they sleep.

Li Hualong and Yuan Keli were stunned when they heard this, then they quickly bowed and said, "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."

That's not enough.

Wanli thought for a moment, then said to Luo Sigong, "Sigong, go and tell Lu Yi to arrange two trusted centurions to accompany Li Qing and Yu Ye with their men.

You should also pay attention to their safety outside the palace and send more people to protect them secretly."

Upon hearing this, Luo Sigong quickly bowed and said, "Your humble servant understands."

Wanli thought it over and decided to lead everyone to the largest side hall of Ciqing Palace. This was where the Crown Prince and his officials held meetings. The layout of the hall was similar to that of the Huangji Hall. It was empty except for a warm room directly opposite the door, where a large armchair sat for the Crown Prince.

He took a quick look and then gave detailed instructions: "Uncle, have someone bring in some large tables and place them in the middle of the hall. Put them together and put long chairs on all four sides. They should be able to seat about a hundred people."

This is in preparation for the audit.

He also likes to set up a big table and let everyone sit down to discuss matters or work together.

This became popular in the palace and even the entire imperial city. Li Tingji did the same thing in the Yangxin Palace.

As an emperor, he liked to do this, so naturally there were many large tables and even long chairs in the palace.

Li Xuancheng went out to give some instructions, and soon eunuchs came over carrying a large table and long chairs.

Wanli saw that they had basically set up the large table and long chairs, so he asked everyone to sit down and then said solemnly: "Li Qing, Yu Ye, Si Gong, you will all work together to investigate the corruption case in the Ministry of Revenue from tomorrow.

Si Gong was better off. His subordinates were investigating in secret, and those corrupt officials couldn't find him.

Li Qing, Yu Ye, you must be careful, especially when you are outside. If you are going somewhere or doing anything, it is best to say hello to Si Gong. "

Do those corrupt officials even dare to kill the six ministers?

There is no need to think about this. Yan Song and his son could even kill the chief minister of the cabinet. They killed countless officials at the level of the six ministers and six vice ministers.

Of course, in general, corrupt officials would use various means to spread rumors and slander or frame others in order to drive the six ministers out of office or to instigate the emperor to dismiss the six ministers and investigate or even execute them directly.

Now these measures are obviously useless.

As an emperor, he would never believe rumors or frame-up memorials. No matter what tricks those corrupt officials used, he would never turn around and deal with Li Hualong and Yuan Keli.

In this situation, those corrupt officials had no choice but to resort to desperate measures and directly demand the lives of Li Hualong and Yuan Keli as a threat to see who would dare to investigate!
Those corrupt officials dared to do that even when they were emperors, so he had to be on guard.

He couldn't let these two capable officials, whom he had trained with great difficulty, die in such an unclear manner.

Upon hearing this, Li Hualong and Yuan Keli both nodded solemnly and said, "We understand."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Sigong, it's been so many days, and there's no movement from those guys in the Ministry of Revenue?

Li Qing needs someone to investigate. You have to help him find some suspicious people so that he can start investigating."

How do you say this?

Luo Sigong thought about it carefully, and then said carefully: "Your Majesty, those guys are very cautious.

They probably knew that it would be difficult to escape, so no one packed up their bedding and prepared to run.

As for transferring money, there is no such thing. The situation is tense at the moment and they don't seem to dare to make any unusual moves.

I have only found some seemingly groundless information, which still needs to be verified.

Among them, there is a more important rumor that I am currently investigating.

Rumor has it that Zhang Chao, the ambassador of the Ministry of Revenue's warehouse, was originally a poor scholar. In order to support his studies, his family sold his sister to be a maid in the mansion of Li Dai, the viceroy of the warehouse and the vice-minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

Perhaps his sister was quite pretty, which attracted Li Dai's attention, and he even took her as his concubine.

This guy Zhang Chao actually made a fortune like this and became the ambassador of the Ministry of Revenue Warehouse.

I have been checking for a few days and found that Zhang Chao is indeed a scholar and his hometown is just outside Chaoyang Gate.

His hometown was really dilapidated and it was obvious that it was a poor family.

At this moment, he bought a large mansion of dozens of acres near Lu Mi Cang in Chaoyangmen. It seems that his family is quite wealthy.

However, among the concubines of Li Dai, the Viceroy of the Ministry of Revenue, there is no one named Zhang, and we have not yet found out the whereabouts of his sister."

The Ambassador of the Ministry of Revenue Warehouse, this position sounds very important, but it is actually just a ninth-rank official.

However, this is a lucrative job, especially for corrupt officials.

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and the Governor of the Granaries is not a small official. The power of this Vice Minister is greater than that of the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, even so great that even the Minister of Revenue has little control over him. Moreover, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and the Governor of the Granaries will generally be promoted to the Minister of Revenue.

For example, at the beginning of the Wanli period, Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng's right-hand man, Minister of Revenue Wang Guoguang, was promoted from the position of Governor of Granaries and Assistant Minister of Revenue.

If there is really nothing wrong with the Minister of Revenue Chen Sheng, then this Vice Minister of Revenue Li Dai who is in charge of the granaries is very likely to be the biggest fish in the Ministry of Revenue!
Wanli thought about it carefully, then suddenly realized, "Zhang Chao is the guy who has the key to the Ministry of Revenue warehouse, right?"

Luo Sigong nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, the key to the Ministry of Revenue's warehouse is in the hands of the ambassador."

There was something wrong with that guy at first glance, he was shaking even when he opened the door.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Li Qing, how about starting with Zhang Chao?"

This ninth-rank official is indeed a good breakthrough.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Keli nodded slowly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. The Ministry of Revenue's warehouse has such a big problem, and this warehouse ambassador must be involved.

The charge of embezzlement is sufficient to warrant arrest. Tomorrow I will order the arrest of Zhang Chao for questioning."

Let’s get started.

Wanli nodded slightly when he heard this, and did not forget to remind him: "You must not be careless, you must be careful that they will do something desperate."

(End of this chapter)