My wife is Invincible East

Ten years would be two hundred million taels of silver. Even if they put all their savings over the years together, there would be very little left.

They would never agree to such a request even if they were beaten to death.

At that moment, they wiped the sweat from their foreheads, looked at each other, and understood each other tacitly. The next second, they kowtowed on the cold ground and cried out:

"Your Majesty, we are wronged. We have served as officials for decades and have never taken a single needle or thread from the people. We are honest and upright, as heaven and earth can attest. Please examine this matter, Your Majesty."

Looking at them crying and pretending to be serious, if Zhu Moye was not familiar with the history of the Ming Dynasty, he would have been fooled.

At that moment, his eyes narrowed slightly, and a bone-chilling chill filled the entire Golden Palace.

Immediately, Zhu Moye stood up abruptly, his voice as resounding as thunder, and he shouted angrily, "I see that you have taken everything except a single needle and thread! You are so rich that you can rival a country, yet you are still pretending to be pitiful. You have no shame!"

The angry roar was like the roar of a dragon in the vast ocean, reaching the sky and making the dragon-carved bronze pillars in the Golden Throne Hall hum.

An invisible pressure descended from the sky like a mountain, pressing directly on everyone's spine. They involuntarily prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling.

Everyone looked up in horror at the extremely cold Zhu Moye. In the past, they only thought that he had a terrifying murderous aura, but did not think that he had much royal dragon power.

But the angry shout just now made them feel that they dared not resist and wanted to worship him.

"Either spit out the money to me, or..."

"die!"

Um... the update is a bit late, don't hit me, my character value is still very high, I never owe updates... ah...

Chapter 77: One Billion Taels of Silver

When many ministers heard this naked threat, they lowered their heads and gnashed their teeth in hatred.

But no one dared to utter a word in rebuttal, as the majesty and murderous aura that seemed to be tangible oppressed them.

They were absolutely certain that if they behaved in the slightest way, they would be killed on the spot.

They could only look at each other, smile bitterly, and nod, saying in unison: "Your Majesty is wise. Even if we have to sell our wealth and everything we have, we will help the Ming Dynasty survive these ten years of tax exemption. Please calm your anger."

The anger on Zhu Moye's face disappeared in the blink of an eye, and like the face-changing in Sichuan Opera, he was immediately replaced with a warm smile.

He was extremely satisfied with the Emperor Qi skill given by the Plane Mall. Originally, he used murderous aura to scare people. Although he could scare them temporarily, he would still play some tricks after they came to their senses.

However, this kind of awe-inspiring imperial power cannot be acquired through killing. Without being an emperor for decades, it is impossible to develop it.

This kind of aura could make him involuntarily bow down in worship and submit wholeheartedly, and it was accompanied by murderous intent, which had an almost immediate effect.

"My dear ministers, do you have any objections to the ten-year tax exemption?"

Zhu Moye narrowed his eyes slightly, pretending to be kind, and asked the question even though he knew the answer.

"Your Majesty is wise."

Zhu Moye nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. After some effort, he finally subdued this old fox in the court.

"If there is something going on, go ahead and leave if there is nothing going on!"

Dozens of ministers who had just stood up twitched their lips when they heard this. They were about to kneel down just after standing up. Was he just trying to play a trick on them?

Although they were reluctant in their hearts, no one dared to contradict Zhu Moye. They knelt again and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, we have no important matters to report. We respectfully send you back to the palace!"

Zhu Moye stood up, without even looking at them, and walked away slowly as if he was strolling in the garden.

……

The sun sets and night falls.

At this time, in the Daming Palace, Zhu Moye sat in the center of the hall, gently shaking a cup of fragrant tea in his hand. He opened his lips and asked, "Did the house search go smoothly today?"

After Shang Ming organized his words, he nodded slightly and said respectfully, "Thanks to the Emperor's great blessing, the confiscation of property went very smoothly."

As he spoke, a cold light flashed in the old man's eyes, and he sneered, "Liang Fang's followers still wanted to resist stubbornly, but I dealt with them easily."

"In the past few years, all the official positions sold by that bastard Liang Fang by falsely conveying the imperial edict have been dismissed by me."

Zhu Moye seemed to have expected this. He took a sip of tea slowly and continued, "I have never doubted your ability to get things done, so I kept you by my side. There's no need to say any more nonsense."

Shang Ming knew very well that Zhu Moye was a person who hated evil and hated evil. If it weren't for his ability, he would have been eliminated ten years ago.

Fortunately, I have worked diligently and behaved properly over the years, which is why I have been able to save my life.

Now that the prince has become the emperor, we must serve him well.

Seeing that the teacup in Zhu Moye's hand was almost empty, he hurried forward, stretched out his hands, and respectfully took the teacup. He then smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you are no longer the crown prince. You should call yourself "I"."

Zhu Moye looked indifferent, unconcerned, and said disdainfully, "What I hate most is these red tapes. Of course, you have to put on a good show in front of others, but forget about it behind their backs."

Shang Ming was delighted when he heard this. He called himself "I" in front of others and "I" behind their backs. It seemed that the emperor did not treat him as an outsider.

He quickly smiled and said, "Well, whatever you say is what it is."

"Okay, stop talking nonsense and report the list of accounts that were confiscated."

Shang Ming nodded and said no more. His pale brows were slightly solemn as he said in a deep voice, "A total of 10,000 taels of gold, 2,000,000 taels of silver, and countless jewels and cultural relics were found in Liang Fang's mansion. If you convert the gold and jewels, plus the silver, the total is probably around 5,000,000 taels of silver."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Moye raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Impossible," he said. "Over the past fourteen years, Liang Fang has exploited the late emperor's decrees to plunder the people's wealth and embezzled the national treasury countless times. Even the one time the late emperor discovered him, he embezzled the entire palace treasury's seven kilns of gold, a full one million taels of gold. How could he only have five million taels of silver?"

Immediately, he glanced at Shang Ming suspiciously and said jokingly, "Could it be that you, old fellow, were tempted by the money and added two zeros to the end of the account?"

"Alas, Your Majesty, you think too much. Even if I were given ten courages, I would not dare to take the money you ask for."

This teasing scared Shang Ming so much that he started to explain again and again.

"Stop keeping me in suspense and tell me now."

Shang Ming coughed twice, then breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the Emperor was joking with him. Not wanting to keep him in suspense any longer, he said, "At first, I, like you, couldn't believe Liang Fang had so little wealth. Later, I dug three feet underground with others and finally discovered a secret room five meters below the ground."

"In fact, it was piled high with mountains of gold and silver, and countless rare treasures that were so dazzling that the officials from the Ministry of Revenue who accompanied them spent a full hour calculating the value of all that stuff."

Zhu Moye's breathing began to become a little rapid, not knowing whether it was due to excitement or anger, and asked in a deep voice: "How much?"

Seeing Zhu Moye's expression, Shang Ming's expression also became a little uneasy. He squeaked and murmured, "About... 500 million taels of silver!"

boom!

A loud bang echoed throughout the hall, and when he looked down, he saw that the marble table next to Zhu Moye had turned into a pile of powder.

"Asshole, all the taxes collected during the Ming Dynasty over the past ten years combined are not as much as his private treasury!"

"How lawless are they to have plundered so much silver?"

Zhu Moye was furious. There were so many poor people in the world who couldn't even afford to eat, but this bastard Liang Fang had plundered a lot of the people's money and left it at home to rot without even giving it away to help a single person.

He has always believed in a truth: greed is not a big deal. A corrupt official who can do something practical for the poor people and improve their quality of life is also a good official.

At least, it's very professional to get things done for money.

I truly detest Liang Fang, a waste who plunders the people but only uses his power to bully others.

"go on!"

"I obey your orders, Wei Xing. The total amount of property confiscated is 170 million taels... The total amount of property confiscated this time is 1 billion taels of silver!"

In just one afternoon, one billion taels of silver entered the treasury, which was shocking!

Chapter 78 Conspiracy!

"It seems I underestimated their wealth..."

Giggle...

Zhu Moye's face was as gloomy as water, and his fists were clenched so tightly that they made crackling sounds.

He had finally extorted 20 million taels of silver from Hosokawa Ono, and thought he was rich enough to rival a country.

Now it seems that compared with these corrupt officials in the court, they are nothing.

After taking a deep breath, Zhu Moye ordered: "Take out 100 million taels of silver to help the poor and compensate the people who were plundered by Liang Fang. The rest will be put into the inner treasury for emergency use."

"Your servant will obey the emperor's orders."

Shang Ming bowed and agreed, then he took out a list from his pocket, bent down and held it in both hands, handed it to Zhu Moye, and said, "Your Majesty, this is the information you requested."

Zhu Moye nodded, took the list and began to look through it.

"Yin Qian, Minister of Revenue, second rank, served in office for over thirty years. He repeatedly abused his power to embezzle tax silver, resulting in a fortune of 8.3 million taels."

"Cui Gong, Minister of Personnel, Second Rank, served in office for over ten years and repeatedly abused his power to accept bribes. His wealth totaled 4.2 million taels."

"Wang Fu, Minister of War, second rank, has served in office for over thirty years. He is a man who knows how to protect himself and has not committed many serious offenses. His wealth is two hundred thousand taels."

……

After a while, Zhu Moye closed the book heavily, his expression murderous.

Except for a small number of people who kept themselves safe, the majority of the civil and military officials in the court, as well as all the officials holding important positions in the capital, were corrupt, engaged in bribery, rape and looting, bullying men and women, and committing all kinds of evil.

No wonder the Ming Dynasty only lasted a few hundred years. Only a hundred years have passed, but the government's system has become rotten to the core.

By the time the last Ming emperor, Chongzhen, wanted to rectify the situation, it was already too late.

Zhu Moye's eyes were like cold springs, emitting bursts of faint light. He had reached the point where he could no longer tolerate this group of people.

He immediately sneered and ordered, "Shang Ming, give me instructions tomorrow to have the East and West Factories check the information of countless officials, both big and small, in the capital and across the country one by one."

"Find me all those talented but underappreciated individuals with lofty ambitions and a passion for serving their country!"

"Daming, it's time to get rid of the pests!"

Shang Ming was startled and instantly guessed what Zhu Moye was going to do. He said in embarrassment, "Your Majesty, I know you are kind-hearted and dedicated to the country and the people, but corruption in the government has not been going on for a day or two."

"Even if you promote talented people who still have a strong desire to serve their country, they will eventually be corrupted by this trend."

What Shang Ming meant by this was to remind Zhu Moye that the entire court had become a huge amalgam of interests, and the combined energy was enough to bring disaster to the country and the people. It only needed to be knocked down from time to time to prevent them from going too far.

It is too difficult to completely eradicate it.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Moye didn't take it seriously. He curled his lips slightly and sneered, "That's right, the environment changes people's hearts. Under the overall atmosphere of the court, even if I promote talented people, I estimate that they will either be infected by those bugs or die."

"But what if this trend is completely eradicated?"

A gleam of light flashed in Shang Ming's old eyes, and he asked hesitantly: "Your Majesty, do you want to..."

As he said this, he made a gesture of wiping his neck.

"Idiot, killing them directly would be straightforward, but without evidence, it would inevitably leave a handle for those with ulterior motives to spread rumors that I am a tyrant who kills innocent people, affecting the morale of the Ming people and the military."

Zhu Moye was amused by Shang Ming's constant desire to kill people. He slapped him on the forehead and scolded him.

Shang Ming rubbed his forehead and said aggrievedly, "We have plenty of evidence at the East and West Factory. Wouldn't it be enough to just post an imperial edict when the time comes?"

Zhu Moye smiled strangely, his expression sinister, and said, "Haha, you think the East and West Factory has a good reputation among the people? Very credible? Don't tease me, not to mention that if someone deliberately stirs up public opinion, the evidence will be turned into a pretext for the crime."

He was also very helpless. Before he came to the Ming Dynasty, the two factories and one guard were not good people. There were countless cases of them using their power to oppress the people, and no one believed in them at all.

Otherwise, why would we need to go through so much trouble?

"I am a dull servant, so please speak frankly, Your Majesty."

Zhu Moye stood up, put his hands behind his back, and grinned sinisterly, "I've threatened them so much in the court today, I'm sure they'll take action soon..."

"Why should I take the initiative? I can just sit back and wait for the opportunity!"

"Well, if they die in an accident, it won't be my business."

Hearing this, Shang Ming thought for a while, and a chill ran through his heart.

As expected, anyone who displeases the former prince, now the emperor, will have a nightmare.

Then, as if he had thought of something, he frowned and said, "But... they have been able to stand firm in the court for many years, so they are not stupid people. Even if they have the courage to do so, they wouldn't dare to make a move on you in the imperial palace."

Zhu Moye glanced at Shang Ming and chuckled softly, "Hehehe... They don't have the guts, so I'll give them a chance to become braver!"

"Three months later, Mount Tai will be the place of consecration!"

Shang Ming's eyes lit up. Going to the Jade Emperor Peak of Mount Tai to offer sacrifices to heaven has been a tradition in China for thousands of years. When the emperors of past dynasties enjoyed peace and prosperity, they would lead all the civil and military officials, as well as the accompanying officials of all ranks, to the Jade Emperor Peak to worship heaven and pray for prosperity and health.

If he left the palace for this reason, it would not arouse suspicion.

What a vicious, clever and ingenious plan, and it is a naked open conspiracy, deliberately luring the other party over, so that even if the other party realizes the trap, they have to come.

"Your Majesty has a plan that leaves nothing to be desired. I admire you."

Shang Ming bowed respectfully, and his awe of Zhu Moye reached a new level.

"Stop flattering me. Has there been any news from Long Yi?"