The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 547: Zhang Guan Li Dai
Yuan Keli was ordered to rest for a day.

The Ministry of Justice also remained quiet for a day and stopped arresting anyone.

The corrupt officials in the court began to feel optimistic again.

They seemed to see a glimmer of hope again after comforting themselves.

Although this incident caused a great uproar in the city and caused panic, in fact, all those arrested were corrupt officials from the Ministry of Revenue.

And the cause was also a problem with the Ministry of Revenue warehouse.

It is normal for the current emperor to purge the Ministry of Revenue in anger.

It seems possible that the Ministry of Revenue will stop after the cleanup.

After all, the law does not punish the public.

This time, the Ministry of Revenue alone arrested seventy or eighty people.

If they continue to arrest people like this, wouldn’t there be seven or eight hundred people arrested in the court?

Wouldn’t it mean that the local authorities would have to arrest seven or eight thousand people?
How many officials were there in the entire Ming Dynasty?
Is it true that 70% to 80% of the officials in the court were arrested?

It's obviously not going to work if we continue to catch them like this.

How many Jinshi were there in the entire Ming Dynasty?

At this moment, most of the Jinshi are in officialdom, and the remaining few are basically too old to hold official positions and have returned home to retire.

In other words, if this continues, there will be no one to fill the vacancies left by officials who have been dismissed from their posts, investigated, or even had their properties confiscated and executed for corruption.

If the shortage of officials in the court and local governments is too severe, many things will be left unattended and the entire Ming Dynasty will be in chaos.

They all thought that Wanli had also discovered this, so they didn't dare to continue arresting him.

Who would have thought that the next morning, just after the hour of Mao, the Ministry of Justice would start arresting people again, and those arrested were all officials of the fifth rank and above from major government offices in the capital.

Yuan Keli seemed to have gone crazy. He started arresting and interrogating people non-stop, arresting and interrogating people every day.

Moreover, the local judicial commissioners also received orders from the cabinet, and they were ordered to arrest all the prefects, governors, and provincial governors.

The Jinyiwei were like crazy, ransacking properties everywhere, raiding the capital and the countryside, and raiding the countryside and the capital.

Now all the corrupt officials in the court began to live in fear again.

It was obvious that Wanli had no intention of letting them go.

What should they do?
Wanli really had no intention of letting these guys go, and he would not let any corrupt officials go.

At least, that's what he thought at first.

However, early in the morning at around noon that day, he was stunned when he saw a confession.

This confession was written by Li Dai, the former governor of the granaries and the minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

He asked Li Dai to go back to the Ministry of Justice prison to recall the facts himself and see if there were any corrupt officials who had not confessed.

This guy thought about it for so many days and actually confessed the names of hundreds of officials.

It would be fine if it was just other officials, but among the officials confessed by this guy was the Minister of Rites Lu Kun!

Lu Kun’s problem seems to be very serious.

Because according to Li Dai's confession, all the tax grain in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan, including part of the tax grain in Huguang, Shandong, and Sichuan, were collected and transported locally by Lu Kun to the nearby vassal states as stipends.

Wanli looked at Li Dai's confession and couldn't help but frown.

Only then did he remember that he had said long ago that he would withhold the rice salaries of the vassal states, force them to hand over the land they had accepted as donations, and even enslave the civilians.

Unexpectedly, the Ministry of Rites basically did not implement it. Now the tax grain collected in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan is more than one million shi to nearly two million shi. If all of them are collected nearby and transported to nearby vassal states, that is more than five million shi.

In addition, there are nearly two million shi of more than one million shi collected and transported to nearby vassal states by Huguang, Shandong and Sichuan, which amounts to more than seven million shi.

The total amount of rice provided by the royal family and vassal states now seems to be only about 8 or 9 million dan.

In other words, the imperial court now distributed 80 to 90 percent of the rice stipend to the vassal states in various places.

Now the vassal states still have income from secretly selling lamp oil.

These guys are living better than ever before.

It was almost impossible for him to force these guys to hand over the land they had accepted as donations or even to enslave the civilians!
What went wrong?

If there are problems with the Ministry of Rites, does that mean there are no problems with the Cabinet?
Could a Minister of Rites transfer so much grain to be distributed as stipends to the royal family and vassal states?
If there is a problem with the Minister of Rites Lu Kun, does that mean there is no problem with the Chief Minister Shen Li?
Little Zhu Changxun seemed to sense something, turned around and asked curiously, "Father, what's wrong?"

He suddenly frowned and sat still, which was really a bit weird.

Upon hearing this, Wanli directly stuffed Li Dai's confession into the little guy's hands and asked, "Take a look at this confession to see if there is anything wrong with it."

Zhu Changxun took the confession and read it carefully. He was shocked and said, "The Minister of Rites, Lü Kun, is also a corrupt official!"

Something was amiss. Lü Kun wasn't just pretending to be a clean official; he was truly a clean official.

It is even more impossible for Shen Li to be corrupt and abuse his power.

Wanli shook his head slightly, then said loudly: "Send it to the cabinet chief minister Shen Li."

After a while, Shen Li came quickly.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli directly handed over Li Dai's confession.

Shen Li took the confession and looked at it carefully, and his expression changed slightly.

He thought about it carefully, then said cautiously: "Your Majesty, I feel that Li Dai is making groundless accusations.

Xinwu never allocated rice to the princes and vassal states without authorization. He submitted a memorial every time, and I presented it to His Majesty as usual, and His Majesty also approved it.

This matter has nothing to do with Xinwu. Li Dai is trying to frame Xinwu, implying that His Majesty Xinwu accepted bribes from various vassal states. This is absolutely impossible."

Did I approve these rice subsidies?
Upon hearing this, Wanli was surprised and said, "Zhonghua, I don't think I've ever approved millions of dan of rice as a stipend. I remember only a few hundred thousand dan at most."

That's right.

Shen Li nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, the amount of rice that Xinwu submits to the emperor each time is only a few hundred thousand dan.

This is because the Ministry of Revenue collects tax grain from local areas in batches, one or two batches each month, and the total for the year is 7 to 8 million dan."

what?
Did I really approve so much rice allowance?!

Wanli thought about it carefully and it seemed to be true.

He seems to approve it every month!
As for why, he has been very busy in recent years and has no time to think about these things, so he didn't think too much about it.

He wanted to withhold the rice salary from the vassal states, but he didn't say that he would not give them any at all. Hundreds of thousands of dan was less than one tenth of the total. He couldn't just not give them any at all.

If he didn't give even a little to the princes and vassals, wouldn't that force them to cause trouble or even rebel?
This was probably what he thought subconsciously.

He has been busy in recent years, conquering the northern barbarians, dealing with Japanese pirates, marching into Nurgan, building the Songliao Grand Canal, preparing for the maritime hegemony, etc., which has taken up too much of his energy.

He didn't pay any attention to this problem at all.

However, he didn't notice it, but Shen Li had to pay attention.

Wanli said with some annoyance, "Zhonghua, didn't I tell you that we should block the rice stipends for the vassal states? Why do you keep asking me to approve the draft you wrote?"

Um, that's not what you said, right?

Upon hearing this, Shen Li explained carefully, "Your Majesty, it seemed like you were talking about gradually stopping the grain transport subsidy, reducing it by 10% each year, and completing the reduction in about ten years.

Now there is indeed no grain transport to the princes and vassals in various places. All the grain transport troops have been transferred to the navy, and the grain transport ships are no longer repaired or built.

The Ministry of Revenue always organized horse-drawn carriages to deliver the goods to the nearby vassal states, and did not use the canal to transport the goods.

I thought this would not violate His Majesty's will, so I approved it every time."

Is this a misunderstanding, or is someone taking advantage of a loophole?
What exactly does Li Dai mean by confessing Lu Kun?
Wanli frowned and thought for a while, then raised his hand and waved.

This means that Shen Li should step down.

Shen Li even stubbornly advised, "Your Majesty, I dare to say that I would never accept bribes from the royal family. This is completely one-sided from Li Dai!"

You, this has been figured out by others.

You shouldn't say that.

You care too much about your fellow villager.

Don’t you know that caring too much will lead to confusion?

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Don't worry, I won't wrongly accuse Xinwu. There is something fishy about this matter, and I need to think it over carefully. You can go back first."

Upon hearing this, Shen Li hurriedly bowed and took his leave.

When little Zhu Changxun saw Shen Li disappear at the door, he couldn't help but ask, "Father, do you really think Lu Kun is okay?"

You should be careful in the future too.

Wanli shook his head slightly, then patiently taught: "Xun'er, father has already told you, if you doubt someone, don't employ him, and if you employ someone, don't doubt him.

Don't start doubting a court official you once trusted the moment you see an impeachment memorial or a false confession. Doing so will only lead you into the hands of those civil officials and make you a tool in their struggle for power and profit, understand?"

Does this mean that Lu Kun is fine?

Little Zhu Changxun nodded slowly and asked, "Father, are you saying that Li Dai is accusing Lü Kun of something?"

pretty close.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "There's something very wrong with this guy Li Dai."

(End of this chapter)