My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 245 The Crown Prince? I'm going to take down the Crown Prince today!

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the imperial court was exceptionally lively today.

Everyone's faces were beaming with joy, all because of the news that tax revenue had returned to Beijing in the middle of the night yesterday.

After all, the sounds of horses' hooves and carriages were deafening in the streets late last night, waking many people up, who then sent their servants out to investigate.

Then they learned that the taxes owed from the south had been delivered!
The news spread like wildfire, and soon everyone knew about it.

Knowing that the tax revenue would arrive in the middle of the night, all the officials in the Ministry of Revenue stayed up until midnight to receive the overdue taxes in a timely manner.

By the time the Ministry of Revenue had received all the owed taxes, it was already broad daylight.

Except for some lower-ranking officials who didn't have to attend court and went home to rest, officials at the vice minister level and above didn't even go home; they drank a few mouthfuls of strong tea and rushed straight to court.

At this moment, they all had dark circles under their eyes and looked extremely tired.

However, when they thought about the money in the Ministry of Revenue, they couldn't hide the joy on their faces.

According to last night's statistics, the Ministry of Revenue now has more than 200 million taels of silver and more than 10 million taels of gold!

They were so wealthy that even their warehouses weren't enough. They had to temporarily set aside another warehouse for documents last night to store all that silver.

In short, almost everyone, both inside and outside the court, knows that the Ministry of Revenue is now incredibly wealthy, with its treasury practically bursting at the seams with silver.

However, there is one person in the court who always seems out of place.

His eyes were sunken and his face was full of exhaustion, as if he hadn't slept all night. His brows were furrowed so tightly that they looked like they could trap a fly.

This person was none other than Ni Yuanlu, the Minister of Revenue.

This should have been a moment of triumph for the Ministry of Revenue, since they had so much money that even the treasury couldn't hold it all, and as the Minister, he had certainly contributed to that.

He will undoubtedly become the Minister of Revenue who controls the most money in the history of the Ming Dynasty, and will be remembered in history!

However, Ni Yuanlu showed no joy whatsoever. Instead, she seemed to be overwhelmed by a huge worry and looked listless.

And indeed, that is the case!

Ni Yuanlu didn't sleep a wink last night because she was busy putting the silver into the treasury.

Normally, this kind of thing wouldn't require the presence of an elderly man nearing seventy, but Ni Yuanlu knew the importance of the matter, so he insisted on staying by his side all night.

Then he discovered that Zhu Cilang had falsified accounts.

Although Zhu Cilang acted in a very secretive manner, more than a dozen officials from the Ministry of Revenue did participate in the collection of overdue taxes.

One or two observant officials noticed something amiss.

Therefore, upon meeting Ni Yuanlu, these officials immediately reported the situation to him.

Upon hearing this, Ni Yuanlu immediately became alert, after all, this was a matter of national importance, and could not be taken lightly in the slightest.

However, at first he didn't associate this matter with Chongzhen or Zhu Cilang, and thought that the Beijing Garrison or the Embroidered Uniform Guard had been embezzling tax revenue.

Immediately afterwards, he summoned all the Ministry of Revenue officials involved in collecting the overdue taxes and carefully checked all the accounts one by one.

As expected, the investigation revealed many suspicious points.

That means it's not just this one shipment of taxes sent back to the capital that has problems, but every single tax payment has a problem.

Ni Yuanlu immediately sensed something was wrong, because if it were the Beijing garrison or the Embroidered Uniform Guard who were dishonest, they would only do something once or twice at most, how could they dare to do it every time?
After all, things are different now than before, and the emperor no longer has sufficient control over the Beijing Garrison and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Since the emperor led the Beijing Garrison to victory in the Battle of Songjin, his control over the Beijing Garrison and the Embroidered Uniform Guard has reached an unprecedented level.

Ni Yuanlu did not believe that the Beijing Garrison or the Embroidered Uniform Guard would dare to do such a thing.

But if it wasn't them, then who would it be?

Could he be a eunuch?
But how could a eunuch have the guts to do that?
etc.
The eunuchs themselves didn't have the guts, but the masters behind them did!

In an instant, Ni Yuanlu understood everything.

Moreover, after careful consideration, he bypassed Chongzhen and focused his suspicions on Zhu Cilang!

Because he knew that Chongzhen would never do such a thing, after all, Chongzhen was an emperor who cared a lot about his reputation, and he would never do such a thing.

If it wasn't Emperor Chongzhen, then without a doubt it must be Zhu Cilang!

However, Zhu Cilang was very clever and his falsified accounts were very well concealed, so Ni Yuanlu couldn't determine for a while how much tax arrears he had embezzled.

But based on his years of experience managing the Ministry of Revenue, Ni Yuanlu knew that the figure would definitely not be low.

Furthermore, although the collected silver nominally entered the Ministry of Revenue, it was actually firmly guarded by the troops and the Embroidered Uniform Guard sent by Zhu Cilang, making it impossible for the Ministry of Revenue personnel to get close.

Ni Yuanlu grew angrier the more he thought about it, feeling as if a raging fire was burning in his chest, making him restless and uneasy.

His subordinates, seeing his state, asked him what had happened.

But how could Ni Yuanlu dare to say such a thing? He could only claim that he was not feeling well and then had his subordinates bring over a reclining chair.

He lay on the recliner, staring at the silver that had been deposited into the vault, silently pondering how to deal with the situation.

In the end, Ni Yuanlu secretly made up her mind.

That is today, he is determined to question Zhu Cilang in the court, asking him why he falsified accounts and embezzled the court's taxes.

Others may falsify accounts for personal gain, driven by greed and a desire for profit.

But you, Zhu Cilang, are the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty will belong to you in the future. Why do you still act this way?

Furthermore, since the country's tax revenue should be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue, why were soldiers and the Embroidered Uniform Guard sent to guard the warehouse containing silver so tightly that no one from the Ministry of Revenue was allowed to approach?
Isn't this a clear indication of distrust towards the Ministry of Revenue?

What will the Ministry of Revenue do in the future?

Ni Yuanlu couldn't swallow this insult, and he no longer cared about Zhu Cilang's status!
Prince?

What he's going to do today is target the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty!

Thinking of this, Ni Yuanlu raised her head and stared intently at Zhu Cilang!
Immediately after everyone had finished paying their respects to the emperor, Wang Chengen's high-pitched, drawn-out voice rang out:
"If there is something going on, go ahead and leave if there is nothing going on!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ni Yuanlu stood up solemnly and loudly proclaimed:
"Your Majesty! This old minister has a few questions he wishes to ask His Highness the Crown Prince, and hopes Your Majesty will grant him permission!"

Ok?
Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but become curious.

Judging from Ni Yuanlu's expression, Chongzhen knew that what Ni Yuanlu was about to say might not be good news.

Therefore, Chongzhen subconsciously glanced at Zhu Cilang.

However, at that moment, Zhu Cilang was also looking at Ni Yuanlu, so he did not notice the look in Chongzhen's eyes.

In fact, Zhu Cilang had already noticed that Ni Yuanlu was acting strangely earlier. His intuition told him that the old man was obviously preparing a big move.

And it's specifically designed to target his ultimate move!
Upon closer examination, the officials from the Ministry of Revenue who participated in collecting the overdue taxes were all subordinates of Ni Yuanlu. Having been busy with this for so long, they must have noticed something unusual and would surely have informed Ni Yuanlu of the situation.

If Ni Yuanlu wanted to investigate, he would definitely find some clues.

After all, there are very few people in the world who dare to tamper with taxes.

Zhu Cilang didn't expect to be able to keep this a secret from everyone; he had even prepared an explanation.

However, he originally thought that Ni Yuanlu would talk to him about this privately, but he never expected that Ni Yuanlu would bring it up in court!

Although Zhu Cilang was somewhat displeased, he also knew that he was in the wrong after all, so it was not appropriate to blame him.

Furthermore, those who needed to be purged in the court have already been purged; those remaining are either loyal ministers and capable generals or competent officials.

Moreover, as the Minister of Revenue, Ni Yuanlu had managed the ministry's affairs with great efficiency and was highly regarded for his abilities; Zhu Cilang had no intention of dismissing him for the time being.

Therefore, violence won't work with these people; we can only reason with them or try to get them to compromise!
In short, we must not let Ni Yuanlu continue to speak recklessly, otherwise, what will become of my reputation as the Crown Prince?
Just then, Emperor Chongzhen's voice suddenly rang out.

"What do you think, Your Highness?"

His tone carried a hint of inquiry.

Because Emperor Chongzhen truly did not know what Zhu Cilang had done, and he was even unaware of the matter of southern tax revenue being brought to the capital.

Unfortunately, I was too busy exercising in the harem yesterday to get any news about this.

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Cilang smiled slightly and looked at Chongzhen with a calm expression, saying:
"Father, it's quite a coincidence. I also have some things to say to the ministers and Minister Ni. Why don't I speak first?"

Emperor Chongzhen frowned slightly, but still nodded.

"In that case, you may speak first!"

Seeing that Chongzhen was about to speak, Ni Yuanlu had no choice but to shut up immediately.

Although he had come to question Zhu Cilang, Chongzhen had already spoken, so he couldn't say anything more.

Moreover, he wanted to see what Zhu Cilang had to say to him.

No matter what he says, I have to find out the truth about what happened before!

Meanwhile, others in the court also noticed something amiss: it seemed that the Minister of Revenue was up to something today!
And it's still the current crown prince!

For a moment, everyone couldn't help but feel a little worried.

Just then, Zhu Cilang finally spoke:

"First of all, I want to tell you something: although the tax arrears that were transported to the capital were all transported to the Ministry of Revenue, they were not actually under the management of the Ministry of Revenue."

"Instead, it has always been stored in a separate warehouse, guarded by troops and Imperial Guards dispatched by me." What?
These words were like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, instantly creating ripples.

The courtiers immediately erupted in a commotion, whispering amongst themselves.

They all naturally assumed that the huge sums of tax collected would be directly deposited into the Ministry of Revenue's warehouse after being transported there, and would be managed and allocated by the Ministry of Revenue.

After all, this is how it should be done in principle.

But now Zhu Cilang tells them that this money has been stored in a separate warehouse, controlled by the army and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Doesn't this mean that the money never actually fell into the hands of the Ministry of Revenue, but was always firmly controlled by the Emperor and the Crown Prince?
Although legally the emperor has absolute control over the nation's finances, including the Ministry of Revenue's money, such matters inevitably cause discontent when made public.

Upon hearing Zhu Cilang's words, Ni Yuanlu's eyes widened instantly, her face filled with astonishment.

Because he never expected that Zhu Cilang would take the initiative to bring this matter to light.

In his view, this was simply exposing his own shortcomings, embarrassing both himself and him, the Minister of Revenue.

Ni Yuanlu was filled with doubts and couldn't figure out what Zhu Cilang was trying to do or what benefit he would gain from it.

Could it be that he really intends to fight to the death with this Minister of Revenue?
Before he could recover from the shock, Zhu Cilang's next words left everyone speechless with astonishment.

Zhu Cilang continued:
"I know you may think that I did this in order to transfer all the tax arrears to the imperial treasury, but you have all misunderstood."

"Because my intention is simply to collect all this silver and then tally it up before transferring it to the Ministry of Revenue."

"Now that all the taxes owed in the country have been collected, I hereby declare that, starting today, the army and the Embroidered Uniform Guard will be withdrawn from the Ministry of Revenue."

"The 170 million taels of silver and 8 million taels of gold that were seized this time will all be handed over to the Ministry of Revenue for management."

Upon hearing this, all the civil and military officials wore expressions of disbelief.

It should be noted that when determining the commercial tax, Zhu Cilang and Chongzhen repeatedly discussed and bargained with their ministers before finally reaching an agreement to allocate one-tenth of the commercial tax revenue each year for Chongzhen's expenses.

This portion of silver amounted to over four million taels.

Therefore, when collecting the taxes owed by the people, they were prepared to argue with Emperor Chongzhen and Emperor Zhu Cilang again, thinking that they would definitely siphon off a portion of the taxes and put it into the imperial treasury.

Although the imperial treasury now has so much money that it might not even be able to hold it all, which emperor would complain about having too much money?
But who could have imagined that Zhu Cilang would be so generous this time, directly announcing that all the silver would be handed over to the Ministry of Revenue for management? This move was truly unexpected by everyone.

At the same time, Ni Yuanlu was stunned by Zhu Cilang's words and stood there speechless for a moment.

It should be noted that the reason he stood up was to question Zhu Cilang about his embezzlement and control of tax arrears.

He had even prepared all sorts of excuses to ensure that Zhu Cilang would be speechless.

Before he could even speak, Zhu Cilang voluntarily transferred all the outstanding taxes to the Ministry of Revenue, leaving Ni Yuanlu feeling utterly powerless, like punching cotton.

However, Ni Yuanlu was a shrewd person and quickly came to her senses. She also realized that Zhu Cilang was probably doing this to prevent her from questioning him further.

After all, if the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty were to be exposed for embezzling tax revenue, his reputation would be damaged, and how could he possibly win the respect of the people in the future?

Thinking of this, Ni Yuanlu suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, her back instantly soaked with sweat.

Because only now did he realize that he had been so focused on his anger and wanting to seek justice for the Ministry of Revenue that he had completely overlooked another extremely important matter.

That is, Zhu Cilang is the crown prince and the future emperor. If I were to question Zhu Cilang in public like this, I would undoubtedly be embarrassing him.

Isn't this tarnishing the reputation of the Ming Dynasty's crown prince?

Although Zhu Cilang was indeed suspected of embezzling tax arrears, without Zhu Cilang, where would these tax arrears have been collected?
Furthermore, Zhu Cilang was never a pleasure-seeking person, and there has never been any record of him indulging in pleasure. All his decisions were made with the interests of the people and soldiers in mind.

As a subject, how could he directly expose the Crown Prince's mistakes in front of all the civil and military officials in the court?

Ni Yuanlu became increasingly frightened and filled with remorse, wishing she could slap herself a few times.

He felt remorseful for his recklessness.

Having thought this through, Ni Yuanlu's anger had long since dissipated, replaced by deep self-reproach.

Hey!
He sighed inwardly, then cupped his hands and said:
"The minister obeys the order."

With things having come to this point, Ni Yuanlu had no choice but to give up.

At the same time, he secretly comforted himself:
Never mind, although the Crown Prince embezzled a portion of the tax revenue, the amount shouldn't be too large, at most only twenty or thirty million taels of silver.

Consider this money a gift to him!
Little did Ni Yuanlu know that if all the rare treasures and taxes embezzled by Zhu Cilang were converted into silver, it would amount to at least 150 million taels.

However, if Zhu Cilang hadn't told him, he probably would never have known about this in his entire life.

However, just when everyone thought the matter was over, one person in the hall was extremely displeased.

This person was none other than Emperor Chongzhen.

It should be noted that Emperor Chongzhen originally intended to be an observer and leave all matters of the court to Zhu Cilang.

But who could have imagined that such a major event would occur as soon as he entered the court?

How could he not know that the tax arrears from the Jiangnan region had already been transported to the capital?
How could he not know that all these unpaid taxes amounted to a total of 170 million taels of silver and 8 million taels of gold?

No one told him!
At this moment, Emperor Chongzhen had completely forgotten the instructions he had given him the day before.
In short, when Emperor Chongzhen heard that Zhu Cilang was going to hand over all 170 million taels of silver and 8 million taels of gold to the Ministry of Revenue for management, Chongzhen's face instantly turned extremely ugly.

He felt that it was best for the money to be in the hands of the emperor, or at least in the hands of Zhu Cilang, if not in his own.

Whether for war or anything else, it can be used at will.

Although the emperor had the right to withdraw silver from the Ministry of Revenue at any time, it was still not as reassuring as having it in his own hands.

Now that Zhu Cilang has made his decision, Chongzhen, though unwilling, could not object on the spot.

He could only sigh inwardly.

The atmosphere in the imperial court, still faintly heavy, still lingered after the recent turmoil.

Seeing this, the other officials exchanged knowing glances.

Most of them had already realized that today's matter was not as simple as it seemed on the surface, and that there seemed to be undercurrents surging behind it.

To avoid getting into trouble, no one wanted to bring up any other matters rashly.

Thus, the court assembly came to a hasty end in a delicate atmosphere.

After the court session, Zhu Cilang should have returned directly to the Eastern Palace as was customary.

However, Zhu Cilang did not leave this time, because he knew very well that Chongzhen must be full of doubts and had many questions to ask him.

Then, the father and son walked side by side toward the Imperial Garden in silence.

Stepping into the Imperial Garden, one is greeted by a riot of colorful flowers in full bloom. A gentle breeze stirs the blossoms, causing them to sway and release their fragrance.

After Zhu Cilang and Chongzhen arrived at a stone table, Chongzhen sat down first, his brows furrowed, his expression showing a mixture of urgency and doubt.

After Zhu Cilang was seated, Chongzhen finally couldn't help but ask:

"Why did you hand over all these unpaid taxes to the Ministry of Revenue? You must know that's 170 million taels of silver and 8 million taels of gold!"

Do you know how enormous this number is?

As he spoke, Chongzhen shook his head helplessly, his eyes filled with disappointment and frustration.

It should be noted that when he was emperor, the total annual revenue of the court was only over 20 million taels of silver, and after deducting various expenses, only a few million taels of silver remained.

This was during a good time; if times were bad, the imperial court wouldn't even be able to come up with one million taels of silver!

But now?

Zhu Cilang actually gave all 170 million taels of silver and 8 million taels of gold to the Ministry of Revenue. He was really in pain!
Upon hearing this, Zhu Cilang felt a sense of helplessness, but he still said:
“Father, I have no choice. Ni Yuanlu has something on me. If I don’t bring this up, things will get out of hand in court today.”

handle?

Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen was taken aback, his face filled with confusion. But the next second, as if he had thought of something, he quickly asked:

"You mean he knows about your previous rebellion?"

Zhu Cilang was speechless for a moment. He hadn't said that was what it was about!
Before he could speak, Chongzhen continued:
"If that's the case, then this person cannot be allowed to live."

"I acknowledge that he is very capable and a loyal minister, but after learning of this matter, he still dared to threaten you. He must die!"

"But he won't be treated unfairly, at that time..."

Seeing that Chongzhen was getting increasingly serious, Zhu Cilang quickly interrupted:

"Father, you misunderstand. That's not what I was talking about!"

Just kidding. If anyone were to threaten Zhu Cilang with the previous rebellion, then no matter who that person was, Zhu Cilang would not let them see the sun rise the next day!
No matter how loyal or valiant you are, you must all die!

At the same time, Chongzhen was also speechless, because he couldn't think of any other reason why Zhu Cilang could be threatened like this, besides the matter of rebellion.

The next second, he looked up and stared intently at Zhu Cilang, pressing for an answer:
"What exactly is the leverage they have over us?"

Zhu Cilang subconsciously touched his chin before saying:
"In fact, the total amount of taxes owed that were collected previously was 250 million taels of silver and 13 million taels of gold."

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this number, he was immediately shocked, and an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.

Because the figures he heard in the court were vastly different from what Zhu Cilang was saying at this moment.

(End of this chapter)