Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 59: Confiscating the house and arresting people? Follow me!

Jiang Mian's last sentence left Liang Chu and Mao Ji silent.

"The national treasury is empty. If we don't target the emperor or the wealthy merchants, we can only target the common people!"

After a while.

Mao Ji spoke first.

A serious look on his face.

"But the people are already at the point where they are barely surviving."

"Are you really going to oppress the people and force them to rebel?"

"Or maybe I broke my promise to my king and father and refused to borrow money from the treasury, and I am really guilty of deceiving the king?"

"Even if the emperor is willing to endure this injustice, as a minister in charge, how can I sit back and watch the traitors outside take advantage of the emperor's lack of authority and develop wolfish ambitions?"

Liang Chu was already sitting on the chair at this time. He picked up the tea, took a sip, and said in a deep voice.

Subsequently.

Liang Chu put the tea on the table and said, "So, offending the wealthy merchants is the only way to deal with this."

"As long as the people are not in chaos, people like them will never be able to turn the tables!"

Liang Chu said this with a faint smile.

Jiang Mian and Mao Ji nodded, but wanted to speak again.

Liang Chu waved his hand to stop them: "Don't worry about whether this can be done well. Isn't the Grand Tutor going to recover soon? When the time comes, please ask him to come back to the cabinet to preside over this matter!"

"With the prestige of the Grand Tutor, it shouldn't be difficult to rectify the world!"

Let Yang Tinghe come back?

Is Yang Tinghe really willing to come back and harm the interests of wealthy businessmen?

Jiang Mian and Mao Ji couldn't help but look at each other.

"Now we just need to urge the Ministry of Revenue to complete this matter."

"It depends on whether the Master is willing to come back then."

"If the Grand Tutor is willing to come back, please ask him to preside over the new policy and reverse the current situation of the deficit in the national treasury."

"If the Master is unwilling to come back, I will take care of this matter first."

"Once the matter is accomplished, I will abdicate and let you, the lords, assist Your Majesty in ruling a peaceful and prosperous era."

"When the time comes, you can focus on water control and education."

"In this way, the people will not be impoverished by floods and droughts, and the country will not be troubled by a lack of talent. You only need to be upright and you can make your ruler Yao and Shun."

As soon as Liang Chu said this, Jiang Mian and Mao Ji were both fascinated, and they developed admiration for Liang Chu, and were more willing to accept Liang Chu's leadership.

Because the two of them actually just wanted to be the prime ministers of Taiping, and all they were willing to do was to control floods and build dams, promote agricultural productivity, and then promote education to attract more talents so that the country would not be defeated in their hands, instead of sacrificing the interests of the big families and working hard to adjust the distribution ratio of interests among all classes in the world.

Liang Chu then stood up, looked north, and said:
"Your Majesty is wise!"

then.

Liang Chu said, "Let's punish Chen Wuchang first, so that we can make an article about it."

"As we discussed before, anyone who does not cooperate with Qingtian is a traitor of Jiang Bin's party."

"And this Chen Wuchang, during the period of clearing the farmland, repeatedly said that clearing the farmland would cause unrest among the soldiers and civilians in the capital. Now it is just right to list him as a remnant of Jiang Bin!"

Liang Chu then turned around and looked at Jiang Mian and Mao Ji and said so.

"In that case, let the censors responsible for impeaching traitors impeach him, and his family assets can be used as part of the repayment."

Mao Jixian said this and then looked at Jiang Mian.

Jiang Mian nodded.

then.

Soon after, the cabinet issued an imperial edict in response to the censors' impeachment of Chen Jin for colluding with powerful traitors. Chen Jin was sentenced to death and his property was confiscated on the grounds that he had flattered and colluded with Jiang Bin, Wei Bin, Wang Qiong and other treacherous people, and had deceived the emperor and harmed the country.

Although there is no conclusive evidence that Chen Jin held the nine border governors hostage to extort the imperial treasury.

But it is easy to find charges that Chen Jin was flattering and colluding with Jiang Bin and other treacherous gangs.

Because Wei Bin and Wang Qiong were in the imperial prison.

Both of them cooperated very well and provided a confession about Chen Jin bribing them and asking them about the emperor's secrets, and also provided some private letters that Chen Jin had written to them.

Chen Jin himself is indeed not clean, and he did go through the back door of Wei Bin and Wang Qiong.

Who made Wei Bin once the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, and Wang Qiong once the Minister of War, and later the Minister of Personnel?

Because of this, Chen Jin actually did not have a good reputation in the government and the public, and had long been regarded as a traitor.

But not many people knew that he had secretly become a disciple of Yang Tinghe.

Therefore, in history, after Chen Jin was impeached while serving as the Left Censor-in-Chief, he was simply ordered to retire and return home.

But in this life, the chief minister of the cabinet is no longer Yang Tinghe, but Liang Chu.

Liang Chu was more willing to obey Zhu Houcong's will.

Liang Chu was no longer willing to allow Zhu Houcong, a young emperor who was eager to govern, kind to his people and willing to trust his civil officials, to be forced to become corrupt by officials who only wanted to sacrifice him, so he was no longer willing to swallow his anger.

Chen Jin doesn’t know yet that Liang Chu has changed his personality, let alone Zhu Houcong’s true character.

He now only thought that the emperor was kind and the prime minister was weak, and since his son-in-law was also a cabinet minister and he had a good relationship with the Grand Tutor, he was not worried that he would be punished for extorting the treasury. Of course, Chen Jin knew that his reputation was not good in the court and the public.

Therefore, Chen Jin knew that he would most likely be ordered to retire after he declared his intention to stay or leave, so he planned to make some money before retiring.

Although Chen Jin had embezzled a huge amount of military pay over the years, he was greedy by nature and felt it would be unjustifiable not to make some money before retiring.

In fact, Chen Jin had some complaints about the current clearing of the farmlands. It was not because he did not know that the court was determined to clear the farmlands, but because he had accepted money from the dignitaries in the capital and submitted a few petitions. He also felt confident that the emperor and the cabinet would not do anything to him.

But when Chen Jin was immersed in the generous tribute he had received in advance from various parties and was preparing to retire and return home, Wang Luan, a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, came to the Censorate with an imperial edict and a royal letter, accompanied by fifty Embroidered Uniform Guard cavalrymen.

"Where is Chen Jin?"

Wang Luan asked this question as soon as he entered the Censorate.

at that time.

Wang Jing, the Left Vice-Chief Censor, happened to see them and asked, "Why are you looking for him?"

"The emperor has issued an edict that Chen Jin has colluded with powerful eunuchs and served as a foreign and frontier official, deceiving the emperor and undermining the country. He is ordered to commit suicide and his property is confiscated!"

Wang Luan replied.

"follow me!"

"I know where he is."

Wang Jing was very excited after hearing this and hurriedly took Wang Luan to the backyard.

"I know where he is, too!"

"God has eyes, this thief who slaughtered the people and deceived the emperor will finally be brought to justice!"

at the same time.

Censor Yang Bingzhong also spoke with tears in his eyes, and then he wanted to take the Jinyiwei to the back hall of the Censorate to arrest someone.

Chen Jin had indeed been notorious for a long time and was deeply hated by upright people in the court and the public, but everyone knew that Chen Jin had powerful connections behind him, so not many people dared to provoke him or impeach him.

Now that the emperor has made up his mind to deal with him, they are naturally happy to give him a beating when he is down.

"Traitor, you have come to this day!"

When Wang Jing found Chen Jin, who was singing for his own amusement in the backyard of the Censorate, he pointed at Chen Jin and cursed him.

Yang Bingzhong rushed over, grabbed Chen Jin's collar, and slapped him in the face.

Snapped!
"Traitor!"

Chen Jin suddenly saw stars.

Everyone was confused.

He didn't even see the Jinyiwei appear.

I only saw many imperial censors rushing over.

One of them pointed at him and cursed.

One of them hit him directly.

"You are so presumptuous!"

Chen Jin couldn't help but yell in frustration.

Covering my burning face.

But just as Chen Jin was about to explode, he suddenly froze.

Because he saw the Jinyiwei walking towards him.

"Oracle!"

"Chen Jin, please listen to my orders."

Wang Luan picked up the imperial edict and walked towards Chen Jin with a sullen face.

Chen Jin was stunned for a moment.

Subsequently.

He knelt down.

"I have read the history books and have seen many corrupt officials. According to the ancestral precepts of our dynasty, those who embezzle more than 60 taels of silver will be skinned and stuffed with straw... Now there is the Left Censor-in-Chief Chen Jin, who has colluded with powerful traitors at home and foreign border officials, deceiving the emperor and harming the country. Li Youde, the Jigong Jieshi, had previously presented evidence to impeach you for embezzling tens of thousands of military pay and bribing the Silijian, but the late emperor, considering your merits in suppressing the rebels, did not pursue the case. I hope you will reflect on yourself and correct yourself, but who knew that you were not grateful for the emperor's grace and did not restrain yourself, stop, or reflect on yourself. You also accepted bribes of tens of thousands of yuan and sought an official position in the Ministry of Personnel."

"Although you have made contributions, you have disregarded the laws of the country. Even if you are skinned and stuffed with straw, would you not be guilty?"

"However, I have inherited the virtues of my ancestors... I always have benevolence in my heart and cannot bear to hurt any living being. What crime have you committed? Therefore, I will still remember your past achievements and only remove your official position and confiscate your property. I will allow you to commit suicide and not send you to the court to suffer humiliation. I hope you will be grateful to me, regret your past sins, and die calmly, in order to answer the commandment of heaven, rectify the laws of the country, and calm the people's grievances!"

After Wang Luan finished reading, Chen Jin's face was already pale.

The whole person fell directly to the ground.

His heart was in turmoil and he couldn't understand it.

"Isn't the emperor as benevolent as the temple of filial piety?"

"Hasn't Liang Shunde always been a good guy? Hasn't he always been bullied by others but never bullied others? After all, he can't even control his own son. How come he suddenly took power and killed someone?"

"Did I misjudge the emperor, or did I misjudge Liang Shunde?"

"If the emperor doesn't want to spend the treasury, just tell me earlier and I will try my best to fight for you!"

"He, Liang Shunde, doesn't want to be a good guy and wants a share of the money. He should have said so earlier. Why is he doing this?"

(End of this chapter)