Ming: I am fake, walking on thin ice

Chapter 29 Taizu, you are my role model!
The next day, morning.

The censor Xu Youzhen reported the discovery of two granaries during his inspection of Xingping Granary, and all the officials were shocked. The empress dowager, who was sitting behind the curtain, could not believe that someone was stealing and selling official grain under the emperor's feet.

"Your Majesty, this matter must be thoroughly investigated!" Xu Youzhen continued, "How could a mere warehouse assistant dare to steal and sell government grain? It's really outrageous! How could he do it without someone helping him behind the scenes?"

Shen Gu, the Minister of Revenue, stepped forward and blamed himself, saying, "The government granary is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue. I am responsible for my dereliction of duty in this matter. I volunteer to investigate the granary case."

"Sir Shen, you are the Minister of Revenue, you need to avoid suspicion in this matter." Xu Youzhen reminded.

Shen Gu snorted coldly and said unhappily: "Why? Are you still doubting me?"

Xu Youzhen showed no fear, and swept his eyes across the people in the Ministry of Revenue. He said in a deep voice, "Until the matter is thoroughly investigated, each of you is a suspect."

Upon hearing this, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue were furious and began to blame Xu Youzhen. Some even mentioned his previous "proposal to move south", which made Xu Youzhen so angry that his face turned red.

"Master Xu, when you went to check the granary, did you send any documents to my Ministry of Revenue?" Shen Gu, the Minister of Revenue, asked coldly, "This does not seem to be in accordance with the rules."

Several officials from the Ministry of Revenue began to make a fuss, accusing Xu Youzhen of not following the rules. If everyone followed his example, wouldn't the government be in chaos?

"I don't need to report to the Ministry of Revenue." Xu Youzhen said firmly, "I have not violated the rules, because what I did was in accordance with the order of Your Majesty."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the ministers' eyes fell on Zhu Qizhen sitting on the dragon throne.

Zhu Qizhen, who was sitting on the dragon throne, had been observing silently. Now he slowly stood up, swept his cold eyes over the ministers, and recited a poem.

The rats in the government warehouse are as big as buckets, and they won’t run away even when people open the warehouse.

The warriors have no food and the people are starving. Who will send them to your mouth every morning?

……

"I and Xu Youzhen personally opened the granaries to inspect them!" Zhu Qizhen's voice was as cold as ice. "What we saw was shocking! If we hadn't successfully defeated the Wala army last time, we would have been finished! I was kept in the dark at the time and thought that all the granaries in the capital were full!"

When these words were spoken, everyone's heart was startled and the lingering fear was hard to dispel.

Imagine if they failed to defeat Yesen and chose to defend the city from the beginning, the consequences would be disastrous, because the food reserves in the government warehouses were far from sufficient as imagined. The whole city would face a food shortage.

"Mother." Zhu Qizhen turned to the empress dowager behind the curtain and said firmly, "I have made up my mind. This matter must be investigated and dealt with strictly! The Censorate, the Ministry of Justice, and the Imperial Guards should jointly investigate this case."

After a moment, the Queen Mother's voice came slowly: "Food is the foundation of the country, and its importance is self-evident. This matter will be handled according to your Majesty's wishes."

"Mother, I discovered this case myself." Zhu Qizhen bowed and said, "I want to pay more attention to it and understand the situation of the granary in my Ming Dynasty."

"If Your Majesty wants to know, of course you can." The Queen Mother said in a light tone.

A barely perceptible sneer flashed across Zhu Qizhen's lips.

He deliberately acted servile and submissive, letting the ministers see how he was controlled by the empress dowager. In the ministers' minds, it was acceptable for the empress dowager to rule the country from behind the curtain, because after all, the emperor had almost ruined the Ming Dynasty. But the emperor could not be sidelined, and he could not be left without the opportunity to exercise. If that happened, wouldn't the emperor never make any progress?
The ministers did not know the Queen Mother's true intentions, and Zhu Qizhen took advantage of this and began to gradually intervene in the government. He secretly noticed that Yu Qian did not say a word about such a big event today, which was really unreasonable.

……

Qianqing Palace. Zhu Qizhen summoned three people, namely, the Supervisory Censor Xu Youzhen, the Jinyiwei Commander Shi Biao, and the Criminal Department Doctor Li Xian. In fact, he had noticed Li Xian for a long time.

The History of Ming Dynasty states that "since the Three Yangs, there has been no ruler as wise as Li Xian." Li Xian later became the chief minister of the cabinet during the Chenghua period. He rectified the emperor's virtue, cared for the people's livelihood, promoted talented people, expanded the channels for people's opinions, suppressed flatterers, and repelled the barbarians.

However, at this time, Li Xian was only a doctor in the Ministry of Justice, and was quite unknown. Moreover, he had escaped from Tumubao, and he was deeply ashamed of it.

"With the three of you in charge of this case!" Zhu Qizhen said, "you will definitely encounter huge resistance, but I will stand behind you."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The three of them bowed together.

He explained in detail, and then Xu Youzhen and Shi Biao left. He called Li Xian. Xu Youzhen and Shi Biao were his own people. As for Li Xian, he still had to subdue him.

"Yuan De, sit down and talk." Zhu Qizhen pointed to the chair and called Li Xian's name.

"I dare not!" Li Xian was obviously a little nervous.

Zhu Qizhen patted his shoulder and said, "Yuan De, don't be so reserved. I kept you here to tell you that the Tumu Fort incident is over. You should raise your head and look forward. I can get over the shame, so why can't you? Don't the big men in the Ministry of War always say that 'victory and defeat are common in the military'?"

Li Xian raised his head, his voice choking: "Your Majesty...Your Majesty, you also noticed that my...my..."

"When Yang Gelao was alive, he told me that you are talented, but also arrogant." Zhu Qizhen laughed, "When he went to Hejin to investigate the locust plague, he wanted to see you, but you refused to go."

The Yang Ge Lao he mentioned was the deceased Yang Shiqi.

When Li Xian heard those old stories, he was also quite moved. He bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I will definitely hold my head high and do my job well."

……

After Li Xian left, Zhu Qizhen continued to read "The Veritable Records of Taizu".

In the early Ming Dynasty, the gentry and landlords in Jiangnan were indeed powerful and owned large tracts of land. This was related to the Song Dynasty's migration to the south, when the gentry and landlords in Jiangnan entered the imperial court, and this continued for generations.

The two characteristics of living together as a clan and having officials for generations made the relationship between the landlords and gentry in Jiangnan complicated. However, after the four major cases, they were almost all wiped out.

The court is now facing a very similar situation, and it is even more serious, because the people who are forcibly occupying the land are the ministers of the palace and the princes of various places. To take the land back from them, stronger and bloodier means are needed.

Taizu, you are my role model!
"The granary case is just the beginning." He frowned and whispered to himself, "We can use this case to recruit our own people and gradually replace those ministers in the court who are loyal to the Queen Mother."

He frowned and kept calculating in his mind.

Eunuch Jin Ying hurried in and bowed, "Your Majesty, Yu Shaobao wants to see you."

Zhu Qizhen's brows relaxed and he waved his hand: "Let him in, I'm just looking for him."

After a while, Yu Qian strode in and was about to pay his respects, but Zhu Qizhen reached out to stop him and pushed him out: "Old Yu, let's go and have a drink. I recently found a good tavern."

(End of this chapter)