Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 57 My Great Ming Dynasty has degenerated to this extent! (Three more chapters to come, please continue reading)

Wang Ji put down the confession and picked up another account book. This one was found in a secret room in the home of Wang Dengku, one of the eight great Shanxi merchants. It was bound with fine leather paper and had a cover made of Jiangnan brocade, which felt silky to the touch.

But when you open it, every word inside seems like a demon crawling out of hell.

Wang Ji's gaze was fixed on the account book. He read it word by word, each word like a red-hot iron needle piercing his eyes and his heart.

Zhou Yanru!
That Donglin leader who always appeared concerned about the country and its people and quoted the teachings of the sages in court, that official who was regarded as a role model by scholars all over the world!
His protégés and the officials he promoted were like a giant net that turned the entire border defense, military, political, and logistical affairs of the Ming Dynasty into a series of businesses that could be openly priced.

The country's civil service leaders and its wealthy merchants have woven a gigantic, greedy maw, frantically devouring the country's flesh, marrow, and even its soul.

The darkness that Wang Ji and others imagined was like a firefly compared to the bright moon compared to the real darkness.

What they perceive as audacity is nothing more than childish mischief compared to the true audacity of this act.

What they considered to be heresy and lawlessness appears so pale and ridiculous in the face of these bloody facts!

"brute!"

An barely suppressed roar came from the corner.

The old official who had been reviewing the testimonies suddenly plunged the knife in his hand into the wooden table in front of him, the blade making a buzzing sound.

His face was streaked with tears, his beard and hair trembled, and he pointed to the mountain of files, his voice hoarse: "My Great Ming... my Great Ming has rotted to this extent!!"

This roar was like a thunderclap, waking up the entire room of zombies.

Everyone raised their heads, and flames gradually rekindled in their empty eyes.

It was no longer the flame of hope that burned for the future, but a flame ignited by extreme evil, mixed with shock, sorrow and boundless rage!

Wang Ji slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the turbidity and bloodshot in his eyes seemed to have been purified by the flame, leaving only a kind of almost cruel clarity.

He thought of his brother who had died in battle in Liaodong. In his last letter home, his brother said that their armor was torn, their swords were dulled, and they were starving in the freezing cold, waiting for supplies that would never arrive.

I thought of those emaciated, listless migrants on the streets. They left their homes just to survive, but in the eyes of some powerful people, they became lambs to be slaughtered and sold at will.

Finally, Wang Ji recalled the loneliness in the eyes of the young emperor when he summoned them, and the last glimmer of hope that refused to be extinguished.

It was originally just for myself.

But now, things are a little different.

Something heavy and hot filled their chests.

Perhaps it can be called the return of the "justice" that filled his heart in his youth, or perhaps it is just the most primal desire for revenge after being driven to the brink of despair.

For those wronged souls who died, for this hollowed-out country, and for my own resentment at being buried for half my life.

"Don't close your eyes anymore."

Wang Ji's voice wasn't loud, but it was unusually steady, like a stone thrown into stagnant water, instantly breaking the frozen atmosphere.

"Li Xin, take some men and cross-check all the confessions and account books from your side concerning the Ministry of War and military garrisons with Wang Dengku's account books. I want to see the flow of every bribe, from who it came from, through whose hands, and finally into whose pocket. I need the names, the time, and the place—not a single detail can be missing!"

"Old Zhang, you're in charge of checking all the invoices for transactions with the Later Jin. Calculate the exact quantities for each item: iron, salt, grain, and cloth. Then, based on the Ministry of War's battle reports, calculate how many enemies these supplies can equip and how much more blood our soldiers will bleed!"

"Liu Man, you..."

Wang Ji issued orders one by one, his mind clearer than ever before.

Those skills he had honed in the dusty archives of the Ministry of Justice, skills he had long considered useless, were now awakened like a sleeping dragon. How to distinguish the authenticity of confessions, how to find flaws in the details of account books, how to connect seemingly unrelated clues into a complete chain of evidence... these professional skills etched into his bones, driven by his overwhelming rage, erupted with astonishing power.

The entire main hall instantly transformed from a morgue into a high-speed machine.

No one complained of being tired anymore, and no one dozed off.

The "shush" sound of the brush rubbing against the paper became rapid and powerful, much like the sound of war drums beating on the front lines.

The sound of turning over files was no longer an unconscious mechanical action, but like the sharp sound of a sword being drawn.

Everyone entered a state of complete absorption in their work.

When hungry, grab a steamed bun next to you and take a big bite, swallowing it whole with bitter tea. When sleepy, splash cold water on your face; the icy chill only fuels the fire in your heart.

Like a group of the most devout craftsmen, they are using hatred as ink, anger as a pen, and those bloody pieces of evidence as bricks to build a tomb for those high-ranking figures that they can never escape!

This tomb has its fixed form and strict procedures; it must be perfect and indestructible, strong enough to withstand any open or covert attacks from the court.

Its name is "Title Book".

……

three days later.

Inside the Wenhua Hall, a single lamp flickered eerily, like a ghost.

Zhu Youjian sat alone behind the huge imperial desk. He, too, had not slept for several days, and his handsome face bore a haggard and gloomy expression that was inconsistent with his age.

His fingers were gently caressing a test paper that had just been presented to him.

This memorial was completely different from the perfunctory, ornate, but empty memorials he usually saw.

Zhu Youjian opened it.

A strong smell of ink wafted over me.

The handwriting on the petition was in the standard official script, each stroke as if carved by a knife and axe, its force penetrating the paper.

Every word embodies the writer's extreme anger and focus.

He looked at the format of the test paper, a hint of barely perceptible appreciation flashing in his eyes.

[First Part]

Respectfully inscribed by Wang Ji, Director of the Imperial Investigation Bureau, and others
There were no superfluous official titles, no humble self-references, only the most direct identity and name.

This in itself is a stance.

A tough stance that only answers to the emperor and ignores the officials in the court!
【Reason】

The Shanxi merchants have colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country, corrupting the government and harming the people. Their crimes are heinous. We earnestly request Your Majesty to make a judgment and carry out the national pacification ritual.

"Treason and collusion with the enemy," "corrupting the government and harming the people," "the crimes are heinous"—every word is scathing, leaving no room for anyone to back down.

The opening statement sets the tone firmly, filled with an unquestionable resolve!

　Add more, add more, add more!
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(End of this chapter)