Da Ming: I told you to die for your cause, why are you actually going to die?

Chapter 105 The other party rejected you and blocked you [Requesting monthly votes]

Auditing the internal treasury?! Demanding public disclosure of the accounts?!
Provide supporting documentation?! Need an in-person inventory check?!

Budget and final accounts?! They want to monitor how we use money?!
The "Hongwu Royal Treasury Audit Special Task Force"?! And the team leader is Zhang Biao?!

Each word was like a red-hot awl, piercing into Old Zhu's eyes and his brain.

An utter disgrace! An unprecedented disgrace!
It's a million times more humiliating than that ham 'memorial'!
This is no longer a matter of saving face.

This is like stripping the Hongwu Emperor's dragon robe naked and throwing it in the Fengtian Hall square, and then letting the whole world judge the style of his underwear.

"Snapped--!"

Old Zhu threw the 'audit letter' in his hand onto the gold bricks, so angry that his vision went black and he felt dizzy.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

Yunming and the imperial physician were terrified and rushed forward to try to save him.

"Go away!"

Old Zhu shoved them aside, stood up unsteadily, his chest heaving violently, pointed outside the hall, and roared like a demon crawling out of hell: "Zhang Biao—!"

"You lawless bastard! Have you turned against us?!"

We'll grind you to dust! We'll...

At this point, he suddenly felt like he was about to vomit blood and faint. He was hit by Zhang Biao's "Five Kills". He quickly supported himself on the dragon table and tried to suppress his anger, but he was still trembling with rage.

He thought he was playing Go with Zhang Biao, but Zhang Biao was actually playing Gomoku with him.

There aren't so many twists and turns, like you eating my pieces and I eating yours; that simply doesn't exist.

Connecting the dots means winning.

This unconventional approach completely baffled the Hongwu Emperor.

After a long pause, he finally calmed himself down, composed himself, and, suppressing his murderous intent and rage, gritted his teeth and said, "Yunming! Go and see what's going on!"

"promise."

Yunming quickly agreed, then ran out in a cold sweat.

Meanwhile, outside the gate of the Censorate.

Zhang Biao somehow acquired a brand-new plaque with several large, flamboyant characters on it:
[Hongwu Audit Special Accounts Bureau]

There is also a line of small words below.

A special task force for the Royal Treasury audit is currently being prepared.

He casually hung the new plaque next to the main gate of the Censorate, making it even more eye-catching than the original plaque.

Shen Lang, Zhao Fengman, and the others were nervously helping to hold the ladder and hand over the hammer, their faces even more grim than if their own father had died.

Meanwhile, a large crowd of onlookers, including commoners and minor officials, had already gathered around.

They were pointing and whispering, their faces filled with disbelief and excitement at the spectacle.

"Hey! Did you hear? Imperial Censor Zhang is going to audit the Emperor!"

"My goodness! This is like an old man hanging himself, tired of living!"

"Audit the emperor? How can you audit that? The emperor can spend his money however he wants."

"You know nothing! Imperial Censor Zhang is speaking out for the people! The Emperor's money is also the hard-earned money of the people!"

"Mads! They are all crazy!"

"."

As Shen Lang listened to the discussions, his voice trembling with tears, he whispered to Zhang Biao on the ladder:

"Brother Biao, could we cover up the words 'Royal Treasury' for now? It's...it's terrifying!"

"What are you covering up?"

Zhang Biao hammered the last nail into place, jumped down the ladder, clapped his hands, and shouted:
"We're acting under imperial orders! It's all aboveboard! If the Emperor's private treasury is clean and honest, why would we be afraid of an audit? We're helping the Emperor to improve his reputation!"

After he finished speaking, he cleared his throat and bowed to the onlookers, saying:

"Fellow villagers and colleagues! I, Zhang Biao, have been promoted to Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate by the Emperor's trust, and will be in charge of the accounting matters! From this day forward, our office will officially commence operations!"

"Whether you are a commoner or an official of the court, if you have any clues about corrupt officials, any grievances, or any evidence, please report them!"

"I will investigate this thoroughly and bring justice to everyone!"

At this point, he turned to look at Zhao Fengman, who was not far away: "Our slogan is—"

Li Mo, with his eyes closed and an expression of facing death, held up a newly written poster with slogans forced upon him by Zhang Biao:

Sweep away corruption, audit the entire country! Even the emperor's treasury will be investigated!

Wow!
The whole place was in an uproar!

The crowd erupted in uproar.

This slogan is too blatant! Too explosive! Too outrageous!

On the other side, inside the Huagai Hall.

Old Zhu had just caught his breath and gulped down a bowl of medicine. He was gritting his teeth as he carefully read Zhang Biao's 'memorial'.

At that moment, Yunming had already rushed back, stumbling and crawling.

"Your Majesty! Something terrible has happened! Censor Zhang has hung up a sign at the entrance of the Censorate!"

"what brand?"

Old Zhu's hand, which was about to present the memorial, froze instantly, a vague sense of foreboding creeping over him.

"It's the [Hongwu Audit Bureau]. And..."

Yunming was so scared he almost peed himself:

"And there's also the [Royal Treasury Audit Special Task Force], which is being prepared next to the Censorate! They're even chanting slogans."

"What slogan?!"

Old Zhu's roar shook the palace tiles.

"[Sweep away corruption, audit the entire country! Even the emperor's treasury will be investigated!]"

After Yunming finished speaking, he collapsed to the ground.

"Uh..." Old Zhu felt a sweet taste in his throat, and a mouthful of blood suddenly surged up, but he forced it down.

He swayed a few times, but managed to hold on tightly to the armrests of the dragon throne to avoid fainting again.

Damn thing!

That damned bastard!
Not only did they submit a memorial to the emperor, but they also hung up signs and shouted slogans! Did they want the whole world to know?!
"They've rebelled! They've all rebelled!!"

Old Zhu was so angry that he trembled all over, looking like he had gone mad:
"Jiang Huan! Jiang Huan!"

"Chen is here!"

Jiang Huan rushed over.

"Go! Go and get that bastard Zhang Biao back to us!"

Old Zhu stopped mid-sentence.

He suddenly noticed that outside the palace, several censors and officials from the Hanlin Academy were peeking around.

He seemed to want to submit a memorial to the emperor, his face showing a complex expression of fear, curiosity, and even a hint of excitement.

Something is wrong!
That bastard is acting strange!

The news of 'auditing the emperor's private treasury' has already spread, and the entire Yingtian Prefecture knows about it.

If he arrests Zhang Biao, wouldn't that confirm his guilty conscience? Wouldn't it confirm that there's something wrong with the imperial treasury? What would those upright officials who dared to speak out think? What would the people of the world think?
This madman risked his life to devise a grand scheme for Zhu Yuanzhang.

Either agree to his audit of the imperial treasury, which would be a disgrace to the emperor.

Either kill him to fulfill his will to die.

This is a dead end where we have no choice but to move forward or backward.

Thinking of this, Old Zhu's expression changed constantly, with killing intent and reason battling fiercely in his eyes.

Finally, with extreme difficulty, he squeezed out the order through gritted teeth, his voice hoarse like a broken bellows: "Jiang Huan!"

"Chen is here!"

"Take some men and keep an eye on Jin Biao! He can investigate anyone! But if he dares to get even one step closer to the imperial treasury, kill him without mercy!"

"In addition, the people in front of the Censorate were dispersed on the spot by the Five Cities Garrison under the pretext of 'maintaining order and preventing stampedes'."

"Tell Zhang Biao that we know of his loyalty. Tell him to finish the audit of the officials at hand first, and we can discuss the matter of the imperial treasury later."

It must be said that this was an extremely skillful political maneuver.

He neither explicitly refused nor explicitly agreed to the 'audit of the internal treasury.' This made Zhang Biao's punches seem like they were hitting cotton.

And "we'll discuss it later" is just another convenient excuse.

This both appeased some of the public opinion stirred up by Zhang Biao and gave him time to plan and observe.

The emphasis on "first conducting a thorough audit of all officials" serves both as a warning to Zhang Biao not to push his luck and as a reiteration of one point:

We allow you to bite people, but who you bite and when you bite are up to us.

After all, what Old Zhu really wanted to see was what kind of ripples this arrogant demand to 'audit the imperial treasury' would cause in the court.
Who will speak out? Who will panic?

Compared to his previous act of feigning unconsciousness to get those people to "beat the dog," this was more tempting and persuasive.

Thinking of this, and in order to get Jiang Huan to do the job well, Old Zhu added:
"If he can find out, that's his skill. If he can't, it might cause trouble."

He paused, a barely perceptible, cold smile curving his lips: "That's either Zhang Biao's incompetence or his sinister intentions. What does it have to do with us?"

boom!
Upon hearing this, Jiang Huan was greatly moved.

He understood instantly.

The Emperor has completely relinquished control; one could even say he's indulging him!

Not stopping Zhang Biao from investigating the officials is tantamount to condoning Zhang Biao's continued offenses.

By not responding to the request to audit the internal funds, he was clearly telling everyone that he did not support Zhang Biao's crazy behavior and was not in cahoots with Zhang Biao.

This silence and indulgence is itself a very clear political signal.

Imperial Censor Zhang has fallen out of favor; the Emperor no longer protects him!

He's now a drowning dog that anyone can beat up!

He will bear the consequences of all his actions!

"The minister obeys the order!"

Jiang Huan admired Zhu Yuanzhang immensely, thinking to himself that the emperor's methods were indeed more sophisticated and ruthless than he had imagined.

This is to use the backlash from the entire bureaucratic system to completely crush Zhang Biao, this unruly 'mad knife'.

However, after giving Jiang Huan his instructions, Old Zhu was still not satisfied and roared at the air, "Yunming!"

"Your servant is here!"

Yunming quickly struggled to get up from the ground.

But then Old Zhu said in a deep voice:

"Draft an imperial edict! Inform all Six Ministries and government offices! Anyone who dares to cooperate with Zhang Biao's absurd words and deeds regarding the audit of the imperial treasury will be considered a traitor! They will all be punished equally!"

"Tell Zhang Biao again! Return the eight thousand taels of silver we gave him before! Not a penny less! Let him starve!"

"Yes!"

Yunming responded and was about to leave.

"and many more!"

Old Zhu yelled at him again, panting heavily, and added the final instruction:

"Furthermore! Issue my decree! From this day forward! Zhang Biao and all his accomplices are forbidden from stepping into the palace! Forbidden from approaching within five li of the Imperial Treasury! Forbidden from contacting any eunuchs! Forbidden from accessing any files related to the royal family's expenses!"

"We don't want to hear another word of his nonsense about auditing! We don't want to see another piece of his bullshit! Let him disappear from our sight completely! Understand?!"

"Understood! Understood! This servant will go and do it right away!"

Yunming and Jiang Huan finally understood.

The emperor not only rejected Imperial Censor Zhang's request, but also blocked him in his contacts.

(End of this chapter)