Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 888 Corruption
Now that it was brought up, the matter was over. The three of them started laughing and talking about what had happened during the days they were apart.

After chatting for a while, it was getting dark. The table that Zhu Qiuqi had ordered from the restaurant was delivered. Zhu Qiuqi immediately invited the two uncles to drink together. Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minqi readily agreed. After the three of them sat down, they drank a few glasses of wine and continued chatting while eating.

"Oh, Fourth Uncle, I'm afraid you guys are not just talking to me about what happened just now, right? Is there something I don't know? Otherwise, with Fifth Uncle's personality, I wouldn't have come with you to remind me today."

"You kid, you have a quick brain. It's a pity that you waited until now to ask." Zhu Minfeng was not surprised. Instead, he smiled and nodded at him. Then he exchanged glances with Zhu Minyu beside him and told Zhu Qiuqi something.

Zhu Qiuqi's guess was correct. The two of them came here today for more than just a reminder, because something happened in the clan house not long ago. Outsiders didn't know about this, but it caused quite a stir inside the clan house.

The Imperial Clan House was established by Zhu Yuanzhang. It not only managed the affairs of the royal family, but also was responsible for all matters of the clan. It had considerable power and a very high status. But later, due to various reasons, the Imperial Clan House existed in name only, and most of its power was transferred to the Ministry of Rites. Now Zhu Shenzhu has restored the Imperial Clan House and returned the powers that originally belonged to it. In this way, the status of the Imperial Clan House has been continuously improved.

Although the current Zongrenfu has not yet recovered its status as it did during the founding of the country, it is not much different. Moreover, the current Zongrenfu's chief Zongzheng is Zhu Shenzhui, and the left and right Zongzheng are the Prince of Jin and the Prince of Qin respectively. However, these three basically do not take charge of affairs, so the real ones in charge are the left and right Zongren, namely Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minyu.

However, the huge Zongrenfu could not be managed by just the two of them, and although Zhu Qiuqi also held a position in the Zongrenfu, he was actually mainly responsible for the Imperial Household Department and Shandong maritime trade affairs. In addition, he had been in Shandong for more than a year and not in the capital, so it was impossible for him to be responsible for the internal affairs of the Zongrenfu.

Therefore, in the Zongrenfu, in addition to Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minqi, the left and right clan masters, there were other officials at all levels, such as the Shaoqing, the Cheng, the Langzhong, the Yuanwailang, the Zhushi, the Journalist, etc. Some of these people were members of the clan, and some were officials. They assisted in managing the entire Zongrenfu as subordinates of the left and right clan masters.

If there are too many people, trouble will arise. Moreover, Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minqi were just ordinary clan members before. They were not familiar with many situations when they were appointed as the left and right clan members all of a sudden. The clan affairs office had to be handled step by step. In addition, many affairs of the clan affairs office were previously handled by the Ministry of Rites. Now that they were returned to the clan affairs office, naturally they were very busy.

At first, it was fine, but as time went on, some people in the Zongrenfu started to think about it. Now the Zongrenfu has a lot of power, especially for the work of the royal family and the clan. Naturally, no one dared to neglect the former. This is the royal family. Zhu Shenzhu is not an ordinary emperor. He ascended to the throne with the help of the army. Who dares to neglect the royal family?

But the latter is different. There are countless royal families in the Ming Dynasty, and the total number of royal families across the country is close to 200,000. This is an extremely large number. Although it is insignificant compared with the population of the entire Ming Dynasty, it is not easy for the Zongrenfu to govern.

Among the royal family of the Ming Dynasty, except for the middle and high-level royal family members such as princes, dukes, auxiliary generals and defenders of the country who had a better life, the rest of the middle and low-level royal family members mostly had a hard time. Zhu Minfeng and others felt this deeply.

Moreover, many years ago, the court's salaries for royal family members were often insufficient even on the basis of reductions, and delays and deductions were serious. In addition, the jurisdiction of these departments was not in the Ministry of Clan Affairs but in the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue were the territories of civil servants. Naturally, the attitude of civil servants towards royal family members was not good. Princes, dukes, auxiliary generals, and defenders of the country were not necessarily provokeable to middle and high-level royal family civil servants, but low-level royal family members did not take them seriously at all. This resulted in the royal family's salaries being often short of pay and long-term arrears.

Even if the salary of middle and high-level royal family members is deducted, it will not affect them much, but it is different for low-level royal family members. The former have a lot of industry and wealth, plus the privileges in their hands, the salary of the court is just icing on the cake for them. But the latter are poor and have no industry at all, not to mention that the management of royal family members by the court is extremely strict. Royal family members can't do this or that. As royal family members, they can only live on salary. Once the salary of the court is deducted or in arrears, their life will be very difficult.

Zhu Minfeng and others were all low-ranking royal family members before, so they naturally understood this truth and had experienced the feeling of starvation. Even Zhu Shenzhui was not like this back then? If Zhu Shenzhui had not lacked salary at that time and lived a leisurely life, he would not have risked smuggling salt, let alone step by step to where he is today.

After taking charge of the Clan Court, Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minqi became particularly concerned about the salaries of clan members. In addition, Zhu Shenzui had already given them instructions long ago, so the Clan Court now tries to favor ordinary clan members as much as possible in terms of salary benefits to ensure their survival.

But something went wrong in this matter. It was fine at first. Not long after, Zhu Minyu noticed that the amount of the royal family's salary was different. He found Zhu Minfeng immediately. After checking, the two felt that it was not good. Because some of the lower-level officials of the Imperial Clan House were transferred from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Households, it was inconvenient for them to check, so they found Jinyiwei and asked Zhou Anmin to help investigate. After more than a month of investigation, they found the problem. It turned out that the people below were pretending to obey, colluding with officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Households, and falsifying the figures of the royal family's salary. In just half a year, a large amount of salary was lost, embezzled, and misappropriated. The royal family received a serious shortage of salary, but they made a lot of money.

After the facts were verified, Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minwei were furious. They had never expected that such a situation would actually happen. Moreover, not only officials were involved, but also several clan members who worked in the clan house.

How could one do such a thing as coveting the salary of one's own family? Are they still human? Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minyu immediately went to the palace to ask for an audience with the emperor and reported the matter to Zhu Shenzhui, who was furious and immediately ordered the Imperial Guards to assist the Imperial Clan House in a thorough investigation. In the end, more than a dozen people were implicated in the Imperial Clan House, and several people from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue were also dismissed and imprisoned.

This matter was kept strictly secret. After all, it was an incident involving the Clan Court, and Zhu Shenzui was the chief clan leader of the Clan Court. Such an incident would bring shame to the Clan Court and the royal family.

Therefore, outsiders were not aware of the handling of this case. Even the officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue who were dismissed and imprisoned were charged with other reasons. In addition, because it involved the Clan Court and the royal family, the Minister of Rites Qian Qianyi and the Minister of Revenue Yang Sichang naturally cooperated very well. Besides, they did not want to be involved in such matters. With everyone keeping silent, the matter was covered up. However, a purge was carried out within the Clan Court, and many people were dismissed as a result.

"Such a thing actually happened, but I knew nothing about it in Shandong." Zhu Qiuqi said in surprise.

"This is what His Majesty specifically instructed. Although you have a position in the Ministry of Clan Affairs, you are currently working in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Shandong is extremely important. His Majesty did not let us tell you, so naturally you don't know." Zhu Minfeng explained.

Zhu Qiuqi nodded, and then asked who in the clan house was involved, and who these people were. Zhu Minfeng immediately said the names of several people. After hearing a few familiar names, Zhu Qiuqi was even more surprised. He couldn't help but shook his head and sighed: "I know these people. I have dealt with them before. Two of them were low-level clan members like you and me. Their family situation was just ordinary. Because they were honest people, I specially arranged a position for them in the clan house. I thought it would be more reassuring to use my own family members. I didn't expect that people's hearts would change so much. It has become like this in just over a year. It is really unimaginable."

"This is what this person is like. He is greedy and can only take the right path. He was tempted into taking the wrong path, and he failed your Majesty's trust. You and I should remember this!" Zhu Minyu said slowly, holding a glass of wine in his hand, while looking at the other two.

"Old Five is right!" Zhu Minfeng nodded heavily to show his agreement, and said to Zhu Qiuqi: "I came to see you today, firstly to tell you about this matter, and secondly, I am worried that you have forgotten your original intention and done something wrong, so I want to remind you."

"Uncle Four, Uncle Five, I am not an ignorant person. I am grateful to you for reminding me. Please rest assured that I will never do such a thing, let alone do it. I offer this glass of wine to you two, thank you for your concern."

"Okay! Come on, let's drink together!" Zhu Minfeng smiled, raised his glass with Zhu Minyu, the three of them clinked their glasses and drank it all in one gulp.

After drinking, Zhu Qiuqi picked up the wine pot and filled the two of them, and at the same time curiously asked how the clan house handled the follow-up. Zhu Minfeng did not hide it from him, and immediately told him the situation. All those involved in the case were dismissed from their posts, and several of the main culprits were imprisoned and executed soon. As for the others who were not the masterminds but were involved in the case and had their property confiscated, although their lives were not in danger, they would definitely be imprisoned and sent to the army. As for the several clan members in the clan house, the same would be done, and their clan members' status would be directly removed and demoted to commoners. This punishment was not light.

These days, Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minqi have been busy making follow-up arrangements, re-cleaning up the account books, and ensuring the subsequent payment of the clan members' salaries. However, this is not an easy task. In addition, there is a shortage of staff after the purge within the Clan Court, and their abilities are not very strong, so they are working very hard. Today, they came to see Zhu Qiuqi not only for the reasons mentioned just now, but also to ask Zhu Qiuqi how long he can stay in the capital. If he is not in a hurry to return to Shandong, he can go to the Clan Court to help for a few days. After all, Zhu Qiuqi already has a position in the Clan Court, and Zhu Qiuqi is the most capable and smartest of the three of them, otherwise the emperor would not have sent him to Shandong on purpose.

(End of this chapter)