Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 100 Clan
In the Governor's Office, Zhu Lang sat behind the desk, while Li Chengzhi stood in the hall, reporting on the search of Ding Kuichu and others' residences.
"Ding's residence was searched and seized in total 800,000 taels of silver, 15,000 taels of gold, and 40,000 to 50,000 taels of jewelry. This person alone took nearly a million taels of silver."

"The Ma Mansion was confiscated and 60,000 taels of silver were found, and 30,000 to 40,000 taels of jewelry were found, totaling about 100,000 taels."

"Combining the stolen money from Wang Kun and the fines from the rebel officials, the total amount of stolen money seized this time is over 1.4 million taels."

"it is good"

Even though Zhu Lang had already made an estimate in his mind, he was still excited when he heard Li Chengzhi's report. He clenched his fists and praised softly.
Zhu Lang also understood more and more why those emperors liked to investigate corrupt officials so much. It was not because they did not remember the old friendship, but because the money came too quickly and easily.
Ding Kuichu alone seized more than one million silver taels. If there were more Ding Kuichus, Zhu Lang would probably dare to launch a northern expedition and attack the capital in two years.

But this is impossible. Ding Kuichu's one million taels are not only the silver he made in Guangdong Province in recent years, but also the silver from Guangxi Province.

Last year, Ding Kuichu suppressed the rebellion of Prince Jingjiang. The whole province of Guangxi was in flames. No one knew how much silver he had extorted in the name of suppressing the rebellion.

Zhu Lang even suspected that this might be the bulk of the one million taels of silver.

This is 1.4 million taels, enough to cover the annual tax revenue of a province.

With this one million taels, he could immediately start recruiting soldiers after arriving in Guangzhou and expand his army to 100,000.

Although this amount of money seems huge, if we really want to raise an army of 100,000, this amount of money will probably only be enough to support the army for a year.
But at this time he had no choice but to recruit. Although the army of 100,000 was large, it was barely enough to defend Guangdong Province.
The situation around Guangdong Province is too bad now. Nanxiong, which is adjacent to Ganzhou, needs to be defended. Huizhou Prefecture to the east also needs to be defended as it borders Gan Province.
Chaozhou is adjacent to Fujian Province. Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. The Qing army had occupied Fujian Province, and Chaozhou also had to be defended.

If we deploy 10,000 or 20,000 people to each of these places, we will need 50,000 or 60,000 troops. The central government needs to keep a reserve force to suppress the court and to provide reinforcements in emergencies. 100,000 troops are just enough to stabilize the situation in Guangdong Province.
Zhu Lang thought about the situation around Guangdong Province and felt more and more anxious. He wanted to move the capital immediately.
But he had to go to Guangzhou to recruit soldiers. He would never recruit soldiers in places like Zhaoqing.

Zhu Lang was anxious, but the matter of moving the capital was of great importance. The court was already busy with the matter. Documents, the first batch of ministers from the central government who would follow to Guangzhou, and the ministers who would stay in Zhaoqing, all needed to be arranged. Zhu Lang couldn't be anxious even if he wanted to.

Fortunately, he had already set a rule for the court. Ten days later, that is, November 12, no matter what the situation was, he would start to set off for Guangzhou.
Zhu Lang suppressed his anxiety, looked at Li Chengzhi below, and said

“No one knows the details of this raid.”

"This seizure was handled by me alone. No one else knows the details of this seizure except me and Deng Mingwu. Deng Mingwu will also submit a detailed report later."

"Well, you are all old people from my house. I can rest assured that you can do the work."

Zhu Lang heard what Li Chengzhi said, and there was a hint of satisfaction in his eyes. Li Chengzhi was really becoming more and more sophisticated in his work.

"Well, you take 150,000 taels of silver from the confiscated silver and give it to Su Guansheng at the Ministry of Revenue, and say that it is half of the silver confiscated this time, so as to shut up those people in the court."

Zhu Lang thought for a moment and then spoke, and Li Chengzhi also responded respectfully.
Although the search was carried out by the Jinyiwei, no one else could know the inside story, but the boxes shipped out of the palace could not be concealed. No matter what, Zhu Lang must take out some money to pay the Ministry of Revenue.

Your Highness, the Regent of the State of Gui, ate his fill, so he should have left some soup for the court. It is not reasonable for one person to eat it all.

Moreover, even if the money was deposited into the Ministry of Revenue, it would still be under Zhu Lang's control.

If those court officials thought that once the Ministry of Revenue had received the money, they could make up excuses and report it to the emperor for division, they were blinding their minds.
This was the silver that Zhu Lang had obtained after he had gone to great lengths to bring down Ding Kuichu. They were not allowed to touch even one ounce, let alone 150,000 taels!
He had already planned how to use the 150,000 taels. Apart from the unavoidable items such as official salaries, the rest would be sent to the Ministry of War through a petition to the court to be used as food and wages for the two battalions of Longxiang and Wuxiang.
In this way, although the money is still in the Ministry of Revenue, it is actually still used to support the army. It's just that there are a few more procedures in the middle, which makes it a little more troublesome.
Why is Zhu Lang confident that he can control this money? Because now the Minister of Revenue has become Su Guansheng.
With Su Guansheng around, he can use the money however he wants!
After Ding Kuichu was removed, his influence in the court was almost uprooted. Although no one was killed, all these people were dismissed from office and fined silver to atone for their crimes.
Now, almost all officials above the level of Yuanwailang in the two ministries of Binghu have been purged, and the entire court has also undergone a new round of adjustments due to these two suddenly vacant ministries.
With Zhu Lang's support, Su Guansheng finally succeeded in entering the cabinet to assist in government administration and took charge of the Ministry of Revenue, becoming a legitimate cabinet minister, rather than the empty cabinet minister who only had the title of cabinet minister but no power to draft bills.

After Su Guansheng left the Ministry of Works, the actual affairs of the Ministry of Works were handled by the Left Vice Minister Gu Yuanjing, and Zhu Lang was not going to select another person to serve as the Minister of Works.
Chen Zizhuang was transferred from the Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of War by Zhu Lang and became the Minister of War.

Although they are both Shangshu, the Ministry of Justice cannot be compared with the Ministry of War. Chen Zizhuang has actually been promoted to another level, and his power has been further expanded.
After Chen Zizhuang was transferred, the position of Minister of Justice became vacant. This was actually the only position that all parties in the court could compete for.
After this adjustment, Qu Shisi and Chen Zizhuang took two seats, Lu Daqi and the so-called Fujian Party took two seats, and the Imperial Party headed by Su Guansheng took two seats.

Zhu Lang was not in a hurry to decide on the position of Minister of Justice. He clearly told everyone to decide on the candidate for the Minister of Justice after the capital was moved to Guangzhou.

He wanted to use the position of the Minister of Justice as a carrot, dangling it in front of everyone, urging them to quickly complete the relocation of the capital. In fact, Zhu Lang was a little hesitant about the selection of the Minister of Justice. The Minister of Justice must not be someone from Guangdong Province.

There are already two ministers from Guangdong in the cabinet. Unless he expands the number of cabinet members to eight or nine, he will never allow scholars from Guangdong to enter the cabinet again.
If there are more and more officials from Guangdong in the cabinet, there will be scholars from Guangdong who will put Guangdong first in everything and threaten the court.

Zhu Lang pondered for a while, and when he came to his senses, he found that Li Chengzhi was still standing in the hall, so he put this question aside for the time being.

He looked at the report handed over by Li Chengzhi on the table, and then he seemed to suddenly remember something, his eyes flashed, and he suddenly asked

"Has the Tang King dealt with it?"

"Deng Mingwu is in charge of the Tang King's case. It has been completed."

"When Deng Mingwu was taking the King of Tang back to Zhaoqing, he had already captured several of the King's personal guards."

"One of the guards has been ordered to sign and seal a document to be charged with treason. The other two have declared to the public that they have fled due to fear of punishment, but in fact they have been secretly detained in the Jinyifu," Li Chengzhi replied respectfully.

"For the guard who was executed, have someone secretly send some money to his family. For the other two, control their families. These two must be kept under guard at all times," Zhu Lang said softly, his face calm.
"Yes"

Li Chengzhi's face was serious and he also responded respectfully.
After dealing with these issues, Zhu Lang's expression relaxed a little, and then he asked about the situation of King Tang.
"What's the situation with King Tang? Have you found out?"

"Yes, Deng Mingwu had already interrogated him clearly on the way back."

"Zheng Zhilong abandoned Fuzhou on October 14th, and two days later, the Qing army's vanguard approached Fuzhou, causing chaos in the city."

"Lin Cha, the guard at the gate of Fuzhou, took the King of Tang and a group of royal family members and fled Fuzhou City in advance. Seeing that Fujian Province was no longer viable, they decided to flee to Guangdong Province by sea."

"In addition to the King of Tang, there are 25 other members of the royal family, including the King of Deng and the King of Hui, who all followed the King of Tang across the sea. All of them have been brought back to Zhaoqing," Li Chengzhi replied respectfully.

"Why are there so many people?"

Zhu Lang couldn't help but frown when he heard that 25 members of the royal family had come to Guangzhou together.
This Tang King is really ignorant of reason. You can escape, but you are running for your life. It would be fine if you didn't bring gold, silver and jewelry to subsidize the court's household expenses. Why did you bring so many princes and royal family members with you?

How much money would it cost the court to have so many vassal kings?
The Tang King did not think about serving the imperial court, but instead brought so many royal family members to drain the imperial court's coffers. His intentions were so sinister that the Tang King should be sentenced to death for this!
Although Zhu Lang was dissatisfied, he was helpless. Since he had taken over the position, he had to take care of these clan members. He could not escape this.
If we allow these princes and royal family members to wander the streets, I am afraid that many rumors about the royal family's indifference will arise in the court.
Zhu Lang was respectful to his friends and family, and valued friendship and loyalty. He was known as the Little Mengchang of Guangdong Province. How could he be slandered by these people?
Zhu Lang sat at his desk and thought for a while, then his eyes suddenly lit up, and he thought of a way to deal with these vassal kings.
He looked at Li Chengzhi below and asked

"Where is the Tang King now?"

"After arriving in Zhaoqing the day before yesterday, I have been imprisoned in the Jinyifu Prison."

"What is the character of the Tang King like? He is a stubborn one."

"I can't really say, but he looks like a normal person. I heard he was very frightened these days and kept crying out for justice."

When Zhu Lang heard this, a smile appeared on his face and he said

"In that case, then bring the King of Tang here to see him."

"Yes"

Li Chengzhi bowed to the top and then left the room. Not long after Li Chengzhi left, the King of Tang was quickly taken to the study.
(End of this chapter)