I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 205 Giving in

Zhu Houzhao's anger faded a little. "Investigate! We must continue investigating. How do you think Liang Qing should investigate?"

"This matter is of great importance. Your Majesty, please send the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Dali Temple to conduct a joint investigation," Liang Chu said carefully.

Zhu Houzhao paused for a moment, then slowly said: "Okay! Let's do this first."

All the ministers present breathed a sigh of relief, because this method of investigation would not reveal anything. The people were already dead and the account books were gone, so all they had to do was push all the problems onto the dead people.

Zhu Houzhao's decision was also seen as a sign that he was going to let the matter go, and the atmosphere in the palace became slightly more relaxed.
"And how should we reorganize the Military Equipment Bureau and the Arsenal?" Zhu Houzhao's voice sounded again.

The most difficult problem had passed. Many ministers made suggestions on this issue, but they were all rejected by Zhu Houzhao.

Now everyone present could see that Zhu Houzhao already had a plan in mind.

"Your Majesty, we are stupid and dull. Please tell us how to handle this matter." Liang Chu took the initiative to speak.

Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, "What you said is too conservative. It does not fundamentally solve this problem. We need to think clearly about why this problem exists."

Zhu Houzhao paused, looked around at everyone, and continued: "The problem is that the craftsmen responsible for making military equipment are in too low a position and can be easily exploited by the officials in charge. This is a hotbed of corruption."

"At first, they just withheld the rations of the craftsmen. The craftsmen dared not speak out and could only endure it silently. However, people are greedy. They will soon not be satisfied with just withholding rations, and will extend their evil hands to the weapons they manufacture."

Zhu Houzhao's remarks on human nature surprised everyone present. They did not expect that the emperor, who usually indulged in pleasure, could make such remarks.

"So if we want to prevent similar things from happening again, we must change the current huge difference in status," Zhu Houzhao continued.

These two sentences made the ministers present look at each other in confusion, and they couldn't understand what Zhu Houzhao was going to do.

"So!" Zhu Houzhao suddenly raised his voice, "I plan to let the Ming Royal Group take over all military equipment manufacturing business."

Zhu Houzhao's words immediately caused an uproar in the hall, with everyone starting to talk.

Yang Tinghe had been feeling a bad premonition since the morning, and after hearing Zhu Houzhao's words, this bad premonition became even stronger.

He immediately understood what Zhu Houzhao's purpose was.

"Your Majesty, please think twice! This kind of military and national affairs requires caution. Moreover, the ancestral rules are like this and we must not act rashly!" Yang Yiqing advised.

The ministers below also responded one after another, and they also understood Zhu Houzhao's purpose clearly. "Enough! Listen to me!" Zhu Houzhao said loudly, and the ministers fell silent.

"Officials dare to exploit low-status craftsmen, but they absolutely dare not exploit the Ming Royal Group. This method can solve the problem of corruption from the source. In the future, the Ministry of War will directly hand over the raw materials for manufacturing to the Ming Royal Group. Once the military equipment is made, it will be necessary to check the quality of the military equipment and put it into the warehouse." Zhu Houzhao continued to explain.

The taxation system in the Ming Dynasty was actually quite chaotic. The Ministry of Revenue was not the only one that had the right to levy taxes. The Ministry of Revenue was only the main department for taxation. There were also several other central departments that had the right to levy taxes. For example, the Ministry of War could collect iron, leather, wood, cotton and other physical objects from the public for the manufacture of military equipment.

To be fair, Zhu Houzhao's words still make sense, but now the ministers don't want to listen to these reasons. They all know in their hearts that Zhu Houzhao is going to take over the right to manufacture military equipment, which is to take away the Ministry of War's cake.

So they all gave advice and remonstrances, which made Zhu Houzhao very annoyed.

"Enough! I suddenly feel that it is not enough to send only the Jinyiwei and the Dali Temple to investigate. Although the account books are gone, most of the weapons in the armory have been distributed to the Beijing Camp, and the actual weapons are still there. Why not take this opportunity to count the weapons in the Beijing Camp?" Zhu Houzhao sneered.

I accept that you guys have pushed out a few people as scapegoats, but if you don't take my conditions seriously, don't blame me for using ruthless tactics.
All the ministers present were stunned. Are they going to expose the Beijing camp?

Everyone knows that there are problems with the Beijing Camp, and they are big problems.

Although the problem of military equipment is not small, it is only a small problem among the problems of the Beijing Camp, and it is not enough compared with the problems of the Beijing Camp.

Moreover, the problems of the Beijing Army were caused by all the rich and powerful people in the capital. They all benefited from the Beijing Army, whether they were nobles, civil officials, royal relatives, or eunuchs.
"Let Jiang Bin and the border troops participate in the inventory. I want to see when the quality problems with the weapons occurred, and whether there were any problems with the predecessors of those who committed suicide out of fear of punishment," Zhu Houzhao said very calmly.

Everyone present was shocked by Zhu Houzhao's words. They did not expect Zhu Houzhao to be so determined that he would investigate further even at the risk of exposing the Beijing Camp. Once the Beijing Camp's cover was really lifted, who knows how many people would be involved, and by then Zhu Houzhao would not be able to handle it.
This matter really cannot withstand investigation. Once it is investigated, a lot of people will be implicated. The officials who previously managed the arsenal and military equipment manufacturing have all been promoted, and some have even become vice ministers of the Ministry of War.

It is impossible for so many people to "commit suicide out of fear of punishment". If they were really caught, they might give out another group of people. These are things that the civil servants do not want to see, and even the nobles are a little scared.

Yang Tinghe, who had been silent all this time, could no longer remain silent. At first, he really didn't want to get involved in this muddy water, because he had nothing to do with it. He was promoted from the Hanlin Academy, and he was an honest official, and he had never participated in these things. But he also knew some of the petty intrigues of the Beijing camp.

He also couldn't stand the things going on in the Beijing Camp and wanted to reform its ills, but the affairs of the Beijing Camp involved too many things. Before he was absolutely sure and determined enough, he didn't want to touch the Beijing Camp, at least not yet.

However, he couldn't remain calm today because Zhu Houzhao was going to the Beijing camp to count the military weapons. Zhu Houzhao was going to mobilize the border troops to check. It seemed that he was very determined. Although Zhu Houzhao did not limit the scope of the investigation to military weapons, who knew whether there would be some accidents during the investigation, which would lead to more problems and make things slide in an uncontrollable direction. By then, he might not be able to resolve it.

In desperation, he had to start seriously considering Zhu Houzhao's conditions.

Finally, after a round of negotiation between the emperor and his subjects, Zhu Houzhao got what he wanted.
This paragraph has taken me five or six hours to write. I found that I really can't write about political intrigues. I just made up an event to transition the plot, but the more I tried to deduce it, the harder it became because I kept finding logical problems. It may be because I am a programmer and I cannot tolerate logical problems. So I racked my brains to come up with a barely coherent logic, and then hurriedly ended the incident. In the final analysis, I have accumulated too little knowledge, and I still need to read more online articles. Finally, I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting for so long.

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(End of this chapter)