The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 533: Gold and Silver Shrinkage and Financial Crisis
It is noon and the sun is at its highest point.

In the capital city, smoke from cooking fires is everywhere and the aroma of delicious food fills the air.

Most of the civilians rushed back home to eat, and the number of people on the streets gradually thinned out.

Inside Chaoyang Gate, a granary in the Ministry of Revenue's Xingping Warehouse was densely packed with imperial guards.

They dared not move at all, as if they were afraid of disturbing the Holy Chariot.

At this moment, Wanli was standing in the middle of the warehouse with a goose-feather knife in his hand and a stern look on his face.

He also knew that it was already time for lunch. He originally wanted to finish the inspection quickly and then take Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan and Little Zhu Changxun back to the palace for lunch.

He had originally planned to withdraw the imperial guards and the Embroidered Uniform Guards, and let everyone go back and have their meal first.

The problem is that this has a prerequisite, and that is that there is no problem with the Ministry of Revenue’s silver vault and granary.

Now that problems have been found in the granary, can we still let everyone go back to eat?

After he checked the food in the granary, he lost all his appetite.

These corrupt officials are so hateful that they even tamper with the food!
Won’t these guys tamper with the real money in the national treasury?

That's almost impossible!

We don’t know how much of the gold and silver in the national treasury is real. If most of it has been tampered with, it will be a big trouble.

The reason why he didn't order people to check the authenticity of the gold and silver when he first checked the national treasury was because checking the quality of gold and silver would take too much time and it would definitely not be possible to find out in a short time.

It now seems that these corrupt officials did not make a fuss about the purity of the gold. After all, it is too troublesome to melt gold, silver and other things together and then purify them.

It is very likely that these corrupt officials mixed other metals into the food, just like the grain in the granary.

It is estimated that much of the gold and silver in the national treasury are iron or copper lumps wrapped in real gold and silver!
He thought for a moment with a stern expression on his face, then said decisively, "General Shan, leave a thousand imperial guards here to inspect all the food, and carry out any that have problems.

Also, send someone to the street to buy a hundred axes, and rush to the Ministry of Revenue’s treasury. The rest of the people should follow me to the treasury.

Oh, and bring a few dozen bags of the problematic grain, too, and tie them directly onto the horses' backs and carry them over."

Upon hearing this, Shan Sinan hurriedly made some arrangements and then took the imperial guards to escort Wanli and his entourage to the Ministry of Revenue.

There weren't many people on the street at noon, and most of those who hadn't gone home for lunch were still gathered outside the Ministry of Revenue's granary to watch the excitement. After they left the granary, they ran very fast, and in less than a quarter of an hour, they arrived at the Ministry of Revenue.

The officials of the Ministry of Revenue thought that nothing was wrong.

Because after Wanli checked the gold and silver in the national treasury, he did not get angry, nor did he order the Jinyiwei to arrest anyone.

This proves that Wanli did not find any problems.

No problems were found with the gold and silver, so it is even less likely that any problems would be found with the grain.

Because millions of taels of gold and silver are only tens of thousands of kilograms, while ten thousand shi of grain are more than one million kilograms.

If there is no problem found with hundreds of thousands of kilograms of gold and silver, how can there be any problem found with millions of dan of grain?
That’s hundreds of millions of bags, and each bag weighs dozens of kilograms. Can Wanli check them bag by bag?
Unexpectedly, Wanli really found the problem.

Tens of thousands of imperial guards turned back, and the thunderous sound of horse hooves not only frightened the officials of the Ministry of Revenue, but also the officials of other government offices.

If something happens to the Ministry of Revenue, it will not only be the officials of the Ministry who will be in trouble, but many officials will also be in trouble, and even many of the officials' relatives and friends will be in trouble.

The Empty Seal Case of the Hongwu Dynasty was known to everyone in the officialdom. Thousands of officials were executed that time, and tens of thousands of people were implicated in the Empty Seal Case and exiled or even beheaded.

This is nothing. The impact of the empty seal case is truly terrible.

Because of the empty seal case, Emperor Hongwu was extremely furious, and thus established a horrible and cruel law: anyone who embezzled more than 60 taels would be skinned and stuffed with straw!

No one knows how much the corrupt officials have been stripped of.

Will the current emperor bring up the whole empty seal case again this time?

In fact, this case is even more serious than the empty seal case!

Because the corrupt officials in the empty seal case only embezzled some grain, but this time the Ministry of Revenue officials embezzled not only grain, but the deficit of silver in the national treasury alone amounted to tens of millions of taels. Moreover, the existing gold and silver in the national treasury was likely tampered with.

Wanli walked to the Ministry of Revenue warehouse with a cold face and said sternly, "Open both doors for me."

Something big is going to happen.

Seeing this, Lu Yi couldn't help but look solemn.

The official from the Ministry of Industry who was in charge of the keys was trembling with fear.

This guy had trouble finding the keyhole when opening the door, and when he walked, it was as if his leg tendons were broken and he could hardly move. It took him a whole cup of tea to open both doors.

Wanli stared at the guy coldly until the second door opened. Then he waved his hand and said sternly, "Go in and light all the lights inside. Open all the boxes and pour all the gold and silver onto the floor next to the shelves. Don't mix them up."

Hundreds of imperial guards rushed in, and soon a loud noise came from inside.

Wanli still stood at the door with a cold face and did not move until hundreds of imperial guards came in with axes. Then he waved his hand and led his men inside.

He went straight to the outermost shelf and pointed at the silver ingots scattered on the ground. He said, "Pick a pile each and cut off a piece from each pile and take a look."

With a series of "crackling" sounds, hundreds of silver ingots were instantly split into two halves.

The silver ingots on the outer shelves seem to be fine. When cut open, they are still white inside without any impurities.

Wanli walked a few steps further in and pointed at the silver ingots dumped out from the second row of shelves. He said, "Pick a pile each and cut off a piece from each pile."

The silver ingots on the second row of shelves seem to be fine.

Wanli ignored it and walked a few steps inside, pointing at the silver ingots poured out from the third row of shelves and said: "Pick a pile each and cut a piece from each pile." There was a sound of "click", this time, most of the silver ingots were not cut!
Wanli picked up a piece and took a look at it, and couldn't help but snort coldly.

This silver ingot is clearly layered, and the surface and the inside are not made of the same material.

The hardness of gold and silver cannot be compared with that of wrought iron. Logically, this snowflake silver, which is not much thicker than a palm, can definitely be cut in half with a sharp axe.

It was obvious that the material inside was also wrought iron, the same material as the axe, so most of it was not cut through.

Most of the silver ingots here have been tampered with!
In other words, the silver deposits in the national treasury are likely to be only about one million taels.

If there is any problem with the gold ingots again, the food supply for more than 15 million men, women, young and old in the Nurgan Regional Administration may not be available!

He frowned and pondered for a while while holding the silver ingots. Then he walked to the middle of the innermost row of shelves where the gold ingots were stored. Pointing at the gold ingots that had been poured out, he said, "Chop them all open for me to see."

There was a sound of "crackling, crackling, crackling", and most of the gold ingots could not be cut!
The inside and outside of those that were occasionally cut off are not the same color!
When Wanli saw this, his face turned dark.

No wonder these guys put all the gold bars on the innermost shelf.

He originally thought it was for safety reasons, but it turned out that all the gold ingots had been tampered with!

How much real gold and silver is contained in these gold and silver ingots?
It is very likely that it will be less than 10%!

Even if he melted out all the real gold and silver wrapped around the surface of the iron block, it would only be worth more than one million taels at most.

In other words, all the real money and silver in the national treasury is less than three million taels!

What should be done to provide food for the more than 15 million men, women, young and old in Nurgandusi?
He couldn't take away all the gold and silver in the national treasury. He still had to pay the officials' salaries and report the normal expenses of the major government offices. Otherwise, the entire court would be in chaos.

This incident made him so upset that he wanted to fire all the officials in the Ministry of Revenue.

He had never been so embarrassed before.

Although he didn't have as much money as he does now, he didn't spend as much as he does now.

His expenses are really too high now. He has to spend several million taels every month on food and wages alone.

The Nurgan Regional Administration even spent all his profits from the past few years in one go.

He originally thought that the money in the treasury would be enough to last for a month or two.

These corrupt officials actually did this to him!

My money!

He almost couldn't help but start roaring like Jiajing in a certain play.

I will never be able to get rid of the hatred in my heart unless I kill all of you, this bunch of corrupt officials!

He gritted his teeth and pondered for a while, then he couldn't help but roared, "Come here, bring the Minister of Revenue Chen Sheng to me."

Soon, Lu Yi personally brought a team of Jinyiwei to bring Chen Sheng here.

When Chen Sheng saw this scene, he was so frightened that his whole body went limp, as if he had no bones. If someone hadn't supported him, he would have collapsed to the ground.

Wanli threw the silver ingot in his hand and roared, "Chen Sheng, you are so bold! You even dare to adulterate the gold and silver in the national treasury."

"Ouch!"

Chen Sheng cried out in pain and quickly defended himself, "Your Majesty, this was not done by me. I didn't even know about this."

You do not know?

Wanli's face turned stern and he said coldly, "Tell me, how much have you embezzled?"

Unexpectedly, Chen Sheng repeatedly shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, I am not greedy. I have not embezzled a single cent of the money in the national treasury."

You're probably itchy.

Wanli snorted coldly, "You want to experience the torture in the imperial prison, right?"

what?
Imperial prison torture!

Chen Sheng was so frightened that he lost his voice and said, "Your Majesty, I really didn't commit any corruption. If you don't believe me, you can order an investigation. I am innocent. I don't know what's going on."

Do you dare to ask me to investigate?
Upon hearing this, Wanli couldn't help but frown.

If this guy isn't frightened out of his mind, then he might be telling the truth.

Because if you are not scared crazy, you should know the consequences of deceiving the king.

That is even more serious than corruption and abuse of power!
This guy actually dared to ask him to investigate. If it was found out that this guy had embezzled the gold and silver from the national treasury, that would be deceiving the emperor.

Would a normal person dare to bully the emperor in person like this?
Looking for death!
In other words, it is possible that this guy really didn't do it.

If this guy didn't do it, then who did it?

He frowned and pondered for a while, then asked, "In which year did you become a Jinshi, and how many years have you been an official?"

what?
You ask this at this time!
Chen Sheng was stunned for a moment, then quickly said, "Your Majesty, I was a Jinshi in the Jiwei year of the 38th year of the Jiajing reign, and have been an official for 39 years."

This guy is not scared crazy!

Who embezzled so much money and grain?

(End of this chapter)