Ming Dynasty: A centenarian madman criticizes the Grand Secretary and brings his coffin to court!

Images flow across the sky.

Although the turmoil surrounding the succession was forcibly suppressed by Gu Canghai using the "Tumu Fort Study Abroad Program Phase II" tactic.

but!

The crisis facing the Ming Dynasty was not resolved as a result.

As the saying goes: When the cannons roar, gold pours in.

Although the Battle of Beijing was won, it also depleted the Ming Dynasty's resources!

National Treasury...

It's empty!

【Ding--】

[Time: Summer of the third year of the Jingtai reign.]

Location: Beijing, Ministry of Revenue Treasury.

[Status: Even the mice that went in will come out with tears in their eyes!]

on the screen.

Emperor Jingtai, Zhu Qiyu, stood in the empty treasury, looking at the silver vault gate that was even cleaner than his face, and felt like crying but had no tears.

"Grand Tutor..."

Zhu Qiyu was so worried that his hair turned white:

"I'm out of money!"

"We're completely broke!"

"The defenses along the nine borders need to be repaired, the compensation for the fallen soldiers needs to be paid, and there are disaster relief funds allocated to various regions..."

"Everyone's begging for money!"

"I, the emperor, am so poor I have to pawn my pants!"

The Minister of Revenue, who was standing to the side, knelt on the ground, weeping uncontrollably.

"Your Majesty! Grand Tutor!"

"Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice!"

"If we don't get some silver soon, the Ming Dynasty... will come to a standstill!"

Faced with this gloomy and desolate scene.

Gu Canghai.

The old man who always sat on the empty cash box with his legs crossed.

Sudden……

Laughed.

His smile was so sinister! So greedy!

"No money?"

Gu Canghai pulled out the legendary weapon, stained with the blood of countless corrupt officials, from his pocket—

Notebook!!

"Who says we don't have money?"

Gu Canghai moistened his finger with saliva, opened the small notebook, and his eyes gleamed with a green light:

"This Ming Dynasty..."

"They're rolling in money!"

"only……"

Gu Canghai closed the notebook, jumped down from the money box, his bright red python robe fluttering even without wind, exuding a murderous aura:

"Those bastards are hoarding all the money!"

"Since the national treasury is out of money..."

"Then let's go—"

"Pick!!!"

"Get it?" Zhu Qiyu was taken aback. "Where to get it? Who to borrow it from?"

"borrow?"

Gu Canghai chuckled, adjusted the Emperor's Sword at his waist, and patted the golden nanmu coffin behind him:

"Your Majesty, you are too refined."

"We won't lend it!"

"Let's go—"

"Take back the money that belongs to the Ming Dynasty!"

Gu Canghai waved his hand and roared at the three thousand Imperial Guards who had already assembled outside the hall, a roar that could make all the nobles of the capital tremble:

"My lords!"

"All of you, sharpen your embroidered spring knives!"

"Bring me all the sacks I need!"

"today……"

"I'll take you there—"

"Get it done! Generate revenue!!!"

……

【Ding--】

[Jingtai's New Policies Officially Launched!]

[First and only one]

[Confiscation of property!]

[What "Single Whip Law"? What "Equalization of Land Tax and Labor Service"? Too lenient! Too slow!]

Grand Tutor Gu stated: Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures!

Simply put—

[Strip the landlords and rich kids naked!]

on the screen.

Beijing, Dongcheng District.

This is a wealthy area where dignitaries and nobles gather.

On ordinary days, the streets are bustling with traffic and filled with music and dance.

But today.

But this place has become a—

A chaotic scene!

"Bang--!!!"

A loud bang!

The gate of the residence of Zhang, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was smashed open by a battering ram!

Gu Canghai rode a tall horse and led several hundred fierce-looking Imperial Guards straight in!

"Grand...Grand Tutor?!"

Lord Zhang ran out disheveled, terrified out of his wits:

"What...what are you doing?"

"What law have I broken?"

"Is it illegal?"

Gu Canghai dismounted, walked up to Lord Zhang, took out his notebook, and read aloud:

"Lord Zhang, stop pretending."

"According to a secret report from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, there was also a report from Wang Ermazi next door."

"In the cellar in your backyard..."

"Hidden for a whole time—"

"Three million taels of silver!!!"

"And these are old silver ingots cast during the Chongzhen... oh no, I mean the Xuande era!"

"Is this true?!"

"I'm innocent!"

Lord Zhang knelt down with a thud, wailing and lamenting:

"Grand Tutor, please understand! That's my ancestral property! It's my life savings, accumulated through frugality, for my funeral!"

"Ancestral property?"

Gu Canghai sneered and kicked Lord Zhang away:

"How much is your annual salary, as a third-rank official?"

"If you weren't greedy and didn't take advantage of others, even if you started saving from the moment you turned from a monkey into a human, you still wouldn't be able to accumulate three million taels!"

"Still saving money?"

Gu Canghai pointed to Lord Zhang's bloated, oily belly:

"Did you get all this fat from just drinking the northwest wind?"

"Someone come here!"

"Search it for me!"

"Dig three feet into the ground!"

"Even if the silver is hidden in a rat hole, I'll dig it out for you!"

"yes!!!"

The Imperial Guards swarmed forward like a pack of wolves!

A moment later.

"Report—!!!"

"Grand Tutor! We've found it!"

The artificial hill in the backyard had been knocked down, revealing a huge cellar entrance.

Boxes of gleaming silver ingots were carried out!

Some silver coins have turned black on the surface and even grown a layer of white mold because they have been stored for too long!

"Tsk tsk tsk."

Gu Canghai picked up a silver ingot with long hairs, walked up to Lord Zhang who was slumped on the ground, and looked "heartbroken":

"Lord Zhang."

"Look at you, that's not right."

"Silver needs to circulate!"

"You hid it in the cellar, and it's all grown moldy! What a waste!"

"Come!"

Gu Canghai tucked the silver into his pocket and flashed a bright smile:

"I'm a warm-hearted person."

"today……"

"I'll help you take it out—"

"Sunbathe! Sunbathe!!!"

"Confiscate everything!!!"

"ah--!!!"

Lord Zhang let out a miserable scream, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted!

Three million taels!

That was his fate!

however.

This is just the beginning!

Gu Canghai led a large force, sweeping through the entire elite circle of the capital like a harvester!

"Master Li!"

"I heard your family owns 10,000 mu of fertile land?"

"Is it gold that's being planted? Or ginseng fruit?"

"With so much land, can you manage to cultivate it all?"

"Confiscate it! Confiscate everything!"

"Give it to those landless refugees!"

"General Wang!"

"I heard you keep thirty concubines?"

"You seem to be in good health?"

"Seeing how energetic you are, why don't you go work as a laborer on the border?"

"All family property confiscated! Concubines...dismissed!"

In a short time.

The entire capital city was in chaos!

The cries of crying for one's father and mother were incessant!

Those corrupt officials, wealthy tycoons, and bullies who are usually high and mighty and rolling in money.

Under Gu Canghai's "iron fist".

They were stripped bare, not even their underwear was left!

What?

Don't want to pay?

Want to rebel?

Gu Canghai had someone pull out a set of tools from the coffin that looked terrifying.

That was a...

Extremely sharp, specifically designed for peeling.

Small knife!

There's another bundle...

Golden yellow—

straw!

"Not paying?"

Gu Canghai held a small knife and gestured towards the face of the defiant minister:

"It's okay."

"Our Great Ming Dynasty has ancestral rules."

"The rules set by the founding emperor—"

"Anyone who embezzles more than sixty taels will be skinned alive and stuffed with straw!"

"If you can't bear to part with the money..."

"Shall we experience the 'care' of our great-grandfather?"

"Skin you alive, stuff you with straw, and hang you at the entrance of the government office..."

"To be a mascot?"

"How was it? Wasn't it exciting?"

boom!!!

This is insane!

Money is important, but life is more important!

And it was a cruel and inhumane way to die—being skinned alive!

"I'll hand it over! I'll hand it over!"

"I'll hand it all over!"

"Grand Tutor, spare my life! I'll even hand over my secret stash of money!"

Countless corrupt officials knelt on the ground, crying and begging to give their family fortunes to Gu Canghai.

That scene.

It's even more lively than Chinese New Year!

……

three days later.

Ministry of Revenue Treasury.

The once empty warehouse is now overflowing!

There wasn't even enough room left!

Silver, gold, jewelry, land deeds...

They were piled up into small mountains!

There wasn't even room to put your feet down!

Zhu Qiyu stood before the mountain of silver, gazing at the overwhelming wealth, completely dumbfounded.

He swallowed hard, feeling like he was dreaming.

"Grand...Grand Tutor..."

"This is...too much, isn't it?"

"How much money does this cost?"

Gu Canghai sat on a pile of gold ingots, holding an account book, counting money until his hands cramped.

"Not much, not much."

Gu Canghai chuckled:

"It's only a few tens of millions of taels."

"Enough for our Great Ming to wreak havoc for several years."

"Several... tens of millions of taels?!"

Zhu Qiyu gasped.

This is more than the total tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty over several decades!

The saying goes, "When Heshen fell, Jiaqing feasted."

Now it's a case of "all officials falling down, and the Ming Dynasty eating its fill"!

but.

Amidst his ecstasy, Zhu Qiyu also felt a deep sense of fear.

"Grand Tutor..."

"If we do it this way..."

"Isn't that a bit too harsh?"

"We've offended all these powerful figures; what if they unite..."

"even……"

Zhu Qiyu lowered his voice, his face full of worry:

"Won't this incite a popular uprising?"

"A popular uprising?"

Gu Canghai stopped counting the money.

He raised his head and looked at the still somewhat cowardly emperor.

In his eyes.

It exudes a clear-headedness and domineering aura that sees through the ways of the world.

"His Majesty."

You've got one thing wrong.

"Whom are we robbing?"

"They're corrupt officials! They're local tyrants! They're wealthy landlords!"

"We'll steal their money to build the Great Wall, pay military salaries, and provide disaster relief!"

"People have food to eat, land to cultivate, and their lives are getting better."

Why did they change?

"All they do is clap and cheer! All they do is shout 'Long live His Majesty!'"

Gu Canghai stood up and kicked over a box of silver:

"As for those officials..."

"snort!"

"Do they dare to change?"

"They are—"

A power grab by officials!!!

"Since it's an official coup, that makes things easier."

Gu Canghai drew the Emperor's Sword, his killing intent palpable.

"Who dares to change!"

"I'll just let him—"

"Turn into a ghost!!!"

"This is my rule!"

Gu Canghai pointed to the room full of gold and silver and uttered that famous line that would make any capitalist tremble:

"Tell them!"

"Your money..."

"It's not your money!"

"It's money from the Ming Dynasty!"

"It's the people's money!"

"It's just temporarily stored with you!"

"If I need it now, then I'll have to pay interest—"

"Spit it out, you son of a bitch!!!"

……

The Hongwu Plane.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Gu Canghai in the picture, who exuded domineering aura and regarded corrupt officials as dirt.

I was so excited I was trembling all over!

"good!!!"

"Well said!"

"Your money belongs to the Ming Dynasty! We love to hear that!"

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly stood up and roared at the entire court:

"Did you all hear that?!"

"This is the rule of our Great Ming Dynasty!"

"An official who doesn't serve the people might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes!"

"If they dare to embezzle, dare to extort money..."

"Gu the Madman is your role model!"

"Confiscate their property! Skin them alive!"

"This 'double-cross' tactic... no, this 'Great Calamity' tactic..."

"That pleases me greatly!"

Zhu Biao, standing to the side, was also visibly shocked.

"The Grand Tutor's actions, though cruel, are saving the Ming Dynasty!"

"Only by thoroughly eliminating these parasites can the foundation of the Ming Dynasty be solidified!"