Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 80: Confiscate the family property and exterminate the entire clan!
Yan Song is dead.

Xu Jie retired and returned home.

Zhang Juzheng naturally took over as the chief minister of the cabinet, Gao Gong took over as the minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and was then appointed as the second chief minister of the cabinet, still assisted by Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin.

The new cabinet sorted out the deep-seated malpractices in the government offices of the two capitals and thirteen provinces, and discovered that state affairs were even more corrupt than they had imagined.

More than ten or twenty years ago, Yan Song, Xu Jie and others began to rob Peter to pay Paul, secretly making huge amounts of money without the emperor's knowledge.

State affairs are in such a state. If the emperor had not launched several major purges and executed many officials and ministers, causing the national treasury to skyrocket, the military expenditures for land defense in the north and coastal defense in the southeast would be seriously insufficient by now.

Money cannot solve all the problems in the world, but having money can at least solve 90% of the problems in the world.

Taking over a wealthy cabinet, from Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong to Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin, the pressure on their shoulders was lighter than expected.

This also meant that after Zhang Juzheng finished handling government affairs in the cabinet every day, he would rush to Yuxi Palace to report to Zhu Houcong some of the memorials he and Gao Gong and others had made to remedy current ills.

Especially this month, the property confiscated from the Yan family in Fenyi, Jiangxi and the Xu family in Songjiang Prefecture was sorted out one by one, and the national treasury ushered in a new round of skyrocketing.

Today is the day to report this important event. I should have arrived in the afternoon, but the cabinet suddenly received an urgent government matter in Zhejiang.

Hai Rui killed again in Zhejiang!

Eleven prefectures in Zhejiang.

Hangzhou Prefecture, Huzhou Prefecture, Jiaxing Prefecture, Ningbo Prefecture, Shaoxing Prefecture, Taizhou Prefecture, Jinhua Prefecture, Quzhou Prefecture, Yanzhou Prefecture, Wenzhou Prefecture, and Chuzhou Prefecture.

Except for the prefect of Chuzhou Prefecture, which was located in a relatively remote area and had less benefits, the ten prefects of the other ten prefectures, all of whom were fourth-rank prefects, were beheaded by Hai Rui with the Emperor's Sword on the same day!

A seventh-rank county magistrate killed ten fourth-rank prefects. I have never seen such a bold act in all the history books.

The cabinet was shocked, but after seeing Hai Rui's report on what the ten prefects had done while in office, they couldn't help but sigh that it was a good idea to kill Hai Rui.

For those crimes, even killing them ten times would be justified. If it were the emperor's will, many more people would have died.

However, there were eleven prefectures in one province, and the governors of ten prefectures were all guilty of the death penalty. Hai Rui killed them all without reporting to the emperor. This was not justifiable to the emperor, even if he had the Emperor's Sword in his hand.

Therefore, Hai Rui confiscated the property of Shen Yishi, the richest businessman in Jiangnan.

Moreover, it was mentioned in the memorial that Shen Yishi worked for the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau, which was under the jurisdiction of the inner court. All the confiscated property should be turned into the emperor's treasury instead of the national treasury.

When they saw this, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong were still worried about Hai Rui, but after seeing the specific assets of the richest businessman in Jiangnan, all their worries disappeared.

Who said Hai Rui and Hai Gangfeng don’t know how to be officials?
He obviously knows how to be an official and serve the king, but he just doesn't bother to do it.

When really used, he was no worse than the old foxes in the court. What was even more commendable was that Hai Rui did not have the greedy heart to get his hands on something. This alone made him much better than the old foxes.

With Hai Rui's "gift", Zhang Juzheng changed his mind and arrived at the Yuxi Palace before noon, holding two account books to make a report.

As the weather got hotter, the fire cauldron was replaced with an ice cauldron. Originally, the eunuchs and palace maids were supposed to fan the cauldron, but Zhu Houcong did not feel the heat, so he had them removed and said calmly, "Tell me, what's the important matter today?" "Yes."

Unconsciously, Zhang Juzheng had also developed a gentle look. He leaned forward, picked up the first account book, and said slowly, "Your Majesty, the list of the wealth confiscated from Yan Song, Yan Shifan, Xu Jie, Yan Maoqing and other corrupt officials has been calculated by the Jinyiwei and the Ministry of Revenue. There are a total of more than 650,000 taels of gold, more than 8.8 million taels of silver, and the other antiques and curios are worth nearly 7 million taels of silver at a discount."

Six hundred and fifty thousand taels of gold, that is, six and a half million taels of silver, plus eight and a half million taels of silver, plus seven million taels of silver, a total of twenty-two and a half million taels of silver.

It is really not easy for the Yan family of Fenyi, Jiangxi, the Xu family of Songjiang Prefecture, and Yan Maoqing and other disciples to squeeze out so much oil and water after so many rounds of exploitation.

Zhu Houcong nodded and instructed: "The Jinyiwei have worked hard to travel between the capital, Jiangxi, and Songjiang. Allocate 2 million taels of silver to the Jinyiwei to facilitate their work in the future."

Zhang Juzheng's lips moved slightly. The Jinyiwei worked hard, and the officials in the Ministry of Revenue who did the accounting also worked hard. However, only the Jinyiwei were rewarded and the Ministry of Revenue was not mentioned at all. The emperor made no secret of his preference for the Jinyiwei.

"Yes."

Zhang Juzheng secretly sighed and accepted it, "Your Majesty, Zhejiang has also submitted a list of confiscated items.

Hai Rui, the magistrate of Chun'an, confiscated the wealth of Shen Yishi, the richest businessman in Jiangnan, and obtained 25 workshops and 3,000 looms, which could weave 548 pieces of silk every day, and 200,000 pieces of silk every year. The original price of one piece of silk was four taels of silver, but it could be sold for fifteen taels of silver if shipped to the West. From these workshops and looms alone, he could earn two million taels of silver every year.

There are also 107 silk and satin shops. At the beginning of the 40th year of Jiajing, there were still 125,600 pieces of silk in stock. If converted into silver, it would not be less than 3 million taels of silver.

The workshop and the loom are the chickens that lay golden eggs every year; the silk shop and silk are the golden eggs laid by the golden chicken.

We have both the chicken and the eggs. Who wouldn't be satisfied with this stewed gift?
You know, the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue last year was only 45 million taels. The treasury was equivalent to half of the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue every year, which was only for the emperor's spending and could never be spent.

"Where is Shen Yishi's cash?" Zhu Houcong was not blinded by the silver. The current treasury was almost the same as the national treasury. He was not short of money, so he could naturally see the essence of things.

The bill mentioned Shen Yishi's workshop, looms, satin shop, and silk, but did not mention the cash. As the richest businessman in Jiangnan, even if there was a lot of water in the money, the silver should have cost him a lot of money.

Zhang Juzheng was sweating, "There is less than 10,000 taels of silver in cash!"

Although he was a wealthy man of tens of millions, he had less than 10,000 taels of silver in cash. Zhu Houcong knew without even asking that several government offices in Zhejiang, including the homes of Zhejiang officials, had been spending Shen Yishi's money for so many years. Even if Shen Yishi had a gold mountain at home, it would have been dug empty, but only Shen Yishi knew how much each person spent.

"Those officials in Zhejiang?"

"Your Majesty, except for Chuzhou Prefecture, the prefects of ten prefectures in Zhejiang were killed by Hai Rui with the Emperor's Sword."

Zhu Houcong suddenly realized why Hai Rui was suddenly interested in increasing his treasury. It turned out that he didn't want to wait for the imperial edict to kill people in Zhejiang.

Zhu Houcong shook his head and stopped caring about it. "Shouldn't it be time for Zhejiang Provincial Governor Zheng Michang, Provincial Surveillance Commissioner He Maocai, and the Japanese pirate leaders to come to Beijing?"

"Your Majesty, I think it will be tomorrow."

"I have inherited the virtues of my ancestors and always thought of ruling by doing nothing. I cannot bear to see any life being harmed. However, Zheng and He are guilty of such heinous crimes that there is no need for a retrial by the three judicial departments. I hereby dismiss Zheng Michang and He Maocai from all their posts and take them to the West Market Archway to be executed on the spot. However, treason cannot be eliminated by one person. If one person succeeds, all his family members will ascend to heaven. If one person dies, all his family members will ascend to heaven as well. I hereby order the extermination of all nine clans!"

(End of this chapter)