The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 548: Random accusations

Li Dai has a big problem?

This seems to be a no-brainer.

The shocking corruption case in the Ministry of Revenue was planned by this guy behind the scenes.

However, little Zhu Changxun was still a little puzzled and asked, "Father, what's wrong with Li Dai?"

This guy has a big problem.

Wanli patiently explained, “You should have seen the account books that were confiscated these days.

There were indeed many corrupt officials in the Ministry of Revenue, but the amount of money they embezzled was not very large.

Haven't you noticed that most of the money seized from the homes of officials in the Ministry of Revenue is only a few thousand or tens of thousands of taels, and there are very few that amount to tens of thousands of taels.

This is not right at all. If the Ministry of Revenue only had a deficit of several million taels, then it would be normal for each of these officials to receive a few thousand or tens of thousands of taels.

The Ministry of Revenue has suffered a deficit of tens of millions of taels over the years, but only a total of two to three million taels of money were found in the homes of these officials, and they did not buy much land.

In other words, over the years they themselves have embezzled at most three or four million taels.

Are they all mentally ill?
The Ministry of Revenue suffered such a huge deficit, they took out tens of millions of taels, gave 90% of it to others, and only kept 3 or 4 million taels for themselves?

Normal people wouldn't do this, and there's obviously nothing wrong with their brains, so this Li Dai has a big problem.

Li Dai even confessed the crime of Chen Sheng, the Minister of Revenue, as if Chen Sheng was the mastermind behind the scenes, and also said that most of his corruption proceeds were given to Chen Sheng as a gift.

However, Chen Sheng cried out for justice in the imperial prison, saying that he did not instruct Li Dai to engage in corruption, nor did he accept much bribes from Li Dai.

As a result, only tens of thousands of taels of money were confiscated from Chen Sheng's mansion. Moreover, Chen Sheng's family did not seem to be very extravagant, and his hometown did not have much land.

This proves that Li Dai was lying. If Chen Sheng was really the mastermind behind the scenes and had embezzled at least tens of millions of taels, his family must have lived an extremely luxurious life.

He is deliberately misleading us. Chen Sheng is not the mastermind behind this at all."

If Chen Sheng is not the mastermind behind the scenes, could this guy be the one behind the scenes?

Little Zhu Changxun thought about it, still a little puzzled, and said, "Father, it seems that only tens of thousands of taels of money were seized from Li Dai's mansion. He shouldn't be the mastermind behind this, right?"

You see, the problem is still a bit too superficial.

Wanli shook his head slightly, then patiently explained: "Although only tens of thousands of taels of money were seized from the residences of Chen Sheng and Li Dai, they are different.

Chen Sheng must have been fooled by Li Dai. He accepted some money and did Li Dai a favor. He probably thought it was just a small favor.

After all, all the warehouses of the Ministry of Revenue were under the management of Li Dai, the Governor-General of the Warehouses. Even the ambassador in charge of the treasury was Li Dai's man, and he had no idea what was going on in the warehouses.

This guy rose to power by flattering Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng. He has no ability and is a bit lazy. My father shouldn't have let him be the Minister of Revenue in the first place.

Li Dai is different. This guy seems to have been teaching officials from the Ministry of Revenue and even local officials to commit corruption. Everyone seems to be kept in the dark, except for him who knows the truth best.

This guy is really the mastermind behind this!
Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun thought about it carefully and said, still somewhat puzzled, "Father, if he is the mastermind behind this, then why is there only a few tens of thousands of taels of money in our family?"

This guy is not the mastermind behind this.

The reason why the mastermind is called the mastermind is that he hides behind the scenes and does bad things, and it is not so easy to be caught.

Li Dai is just a big showman on the stage. If anything goes wrong, he will be arrested. How could he be the mastermind behind the scenes?

Wanli shook his head slightly again, and then patiently explained: "He is not the mastermind behind the scenes. There must be someone behind him, but the person behind him is not Chen Sheng.

As for why only tens of thousands of taels were found in his house, it was probably because he had transferred the embezzled money to other places in advance.

Or, he was also instructed by someone, and he didn't take the lion's share. He should have given most of the money to the real mastermind behind the scenes."

Is there someone behind this guy?

Little Zhu Changxun was still a little puzzled and asked, "Father, he is the Minister of Revenue. If the person behind him is not the Minister of Revenue, Chen Sheng, then who else could it be?"

Just check it out and you will know.

Wanli thought for a moment, then said aloud, "Call the Minister of Rites, Lü Kun."

It seems that Lu Kun has heard about this from Shen Li. This guy came very quickly.

After the emperor and his subjects exchanged greetings, he panted a little and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I was really careless about the rice and salary of the vassal states. I shouldn't have listened to Li Dai."

This guy Li Dai really teaches people how to do things everywhere.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "What did Li Dai tell you?"

Lu Kun recalled, "As soon as I took office, I heard that Prime Minister Shen said that His Majesty wanted to reduce the rice subsidies for the royal families and gradually stop the rice subsidies for grain transport.

At that time, I went to the Ministry of Revenue to discuss this matter with Lord Chen. As a result, Lord Chen said that the Ministry of Revenue's grain transportation and storage matters were not under his jurisdiction, but were under the jurisdiction of Li Dai, the Minister of the Governor's Granary.

I went to discuss with Li Dai again. Li Dai told me that it didn't matter, the grain transport would be stopped, and he would not make it difficult for me. He would try his best to collect and transport the tax grain nearby as the grain transport for the vassal state.

The rice and levies from the royal family are the most troublesome issue for the Ministry of Rites. I originally thought that Li Dai was really considering me.

I did not think much about it at the time. Since the Ministry of Revenue was willing to collect and transport tax grain nearby as the salary rice for the princes, that would naturally be the best. The distribution of the salary rice for the princes was decided in this way.

I never thought that Li Dai would accuse me of this. Your Majesty, I truly did not accept bribes from the royal family."

Of course I know that you did not accept bribes from the royal family.

Wanli nodded slightly, and then comforted him, "Xinwu, don't worry, I know what's going on.

There was actually a huge loophole in their accusation, that is, all the vassal states received more than 90% of the rice stipend.

Obviously, it is impossible for all vassal states to bribe you. If you really accepted bribes from some vassal states, you should pay 100% of the salary to some vassal states, 70%, 80%, or even 50% to 60% to some vassal states.

If you didn't do that, it proves that you didn't accept bribes from the vassal states at all."

Well, this is indeed a big loophole. In recent years, he has tried his best to be fair to the emperor and his vassals, so that some of them would not complain because they received less rice as stipend.

If he really accepted bribes from some of the vassal states, it would be impossible to treat everyone equally.

Hearing this, Lu Kun could not help but nod repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

You are not smart enough and actually misunderstood what I meant.

Wanli nodded slightly, then said solemnly: "When I say that the rice stipends for the royal family and vassal states should be reduced, I mean not only stopping the rice stipends for the grain transport, but also reducing all rice stipends.

Starting this year, you will cut 10% every year until there is nothing left. Do you understand?"

what?
Hearing this, Lu Kun hesitated for a moment, then said cautiously, "Your Majesty, I dare to say that reducing the power of the vassal states in this way might lead to trouble."

I'll see who dares to cause trouble.

Whoever dares to cause trouble will be dealt with!
Wanli said calmly: "It's okay, let them make trouble. I don't have time for the next two years. When I am free in two years, I will completely solve the problem of the vassal state."

Do you want to completely resolve the vassalage issue?

How to solve this vassal problem?

You don't want to weaken all your vassal states, do you?
Forget it, this is the royal family’s own business, and the ministers should stop saying too much.

Upon hearing this, Lu Kun couldn't help but be secretly shocked.

He thought for a moment, then bowed and said, "Your Majesty is wise. I will take my leave."

This guy actually left like this.

Little Zhu Changxun was stunned for a moment, still a little puzzled, "Father, who is the person behind Li Dai?"

This is actually very easy to check.

Wanli did not answer but asked, "Who do you think would do such a thing?"

How would I know this?
Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun couldn't help but frown and fall into deep thought.

Wanli said directly and loudly: "Send it to Luo Sigong."

Soon, Luo Sigong came quickly.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli directly picked up Li Dai's confession and said solemnly, "Sigong, take a good look at this first."

Upon hearing this, Luo Sigong quickly took it with both hands and looked at it carefully.

He looked carefully for a while before he raised his head.

Wanli asked directly: "Are there any Zhejiang Party members here?"

Luo Sigong slowly shook his head and said, "It seems not. At least, none of the ones we found are on this list."

Wanli asked again: "Is there any Donglin here?"

Luo Sigong still shook his head slowly and said: "It seems not, the Donglin we are watching is not on it."

Have these two gangs joined forces?

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "Do you think Li Dai is from the Zhejiang Party or the Donglin Party?"

You want me to guess this?

Luo Sigong thought about it carefully after hearing this, and then said carefully: "Li Dai seems to be the kind of official who likes to seek personal gain. He has visited many court officials, and many court officials have visited him.

Among the officials he interacted with were both from the Zhejiang Party and the Donglin Party, and he seemed to be leaning towards both sides.

However, I have checked and found that he was a Jinshi in the second year of Longqing, and Shen Yikuan was also a Jinshi in the second year of Longqing. They originally had a good personal relationship, but it seems that they have less contact in recent years.

If I were to judge, I would think he was from the Zhejiang Party, because he had no connection with the Donglin Party before, but they were not from Zhejiang, but from Henan.

It doesn’t matter where this person is from, what matters is who he follows.

This guy Li Dai is most likely a member of the Zhejiang Party.

Because Shen Yi Guan is best at figuring out people's thoughts.

This guy likes to design according to people's temperament.

Moreover, Shen Yikuan and Shen Li do not get along well at all.

In history, the target of the evil book case was Shen Li. This time, Li Dai seemed to be framing Lu Kun, but his target was actually Shen Li.

Shen Yikuan is not a simple guy. In this desperate situation where it seems like there is no chance, he can still use Li Dai to embezzle so much money. Moreover, after Li Dai was exposed, he can still use Li Dai to frame Shen Li.

Perhaps, Li Dai was the pawn that Shen Yi Guan had prepared to sacrifice long ago, and Shen Yi Guan probably had already calculated that Li Dai would be exposed sooner or later.

This is a chain of tricks.

The case of the evil book is also a series of schemes.

Shen Yikuan is good at using a series of strategies.

The person behind Li Dai must be Shen Yikuan without a doubt!
This guy is too vicious and must be eliminated as soon as possible.

Wanli was thinking about how to get rid of Shen Yiguan, but little Zhu Changxun couldn't help but ask, "Father, who is behind Li Dai?"

You still have a lot to learn.

These civil servants with ulterior motives are all extremely cunning. If I don't teach you well, you will probably not be able to defeat them in the future.

(End of this chapter)