NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16
16: Funny father-in-law, afraid of death of the Prime Minister.
Zhu Youjian woke up from his dream.
Yes, he joined the Ming Emperor chat group and could ask for help!
But Zhu Youjian still had doubts at this time. He trembled and said:”Some time ago, I asked the ministers to help with the military expenses, but they even pretended to sell their property to help with the military expenses, which embarrassed me…….”
Before Zhu Youjian finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxun sneered and said,”Do you really think that group of civil officials have no money?”
Zhu Gaoxun walked forward and continued,”Do you remember the Li Zicheng who tortured the soldiers I told you about?”
Zhu Youjian nodded,”My grandchildren remember…….”
“This time, Li Zicheng extorted 70 million taels of military pay in the capital alone!”
“What!?”
Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di were both shocked when they heard this huge number, and they almost exclaimed in unison.
Why were these two so surprised? Let’s take a simple example. In the 26th year of the Hongwu reign, the imperial court’s tax revenue in kind, including the value of grain, silver, silk and other things, was about 9 million taels.
���During the reign of Emperor Chongzhen, the fiscal revenue never exceeded 20 million taels.
During the reign of Emperor Chongzhen, the tax revenue dropped sharply to about 4 million taels.
The reason why this situation occurred is actually quite complicated, and there are various reasons.
But in the final analysis, it was the tax policy set by Zhu Yuanzhang that had problems…….Let’s not talk about this for now.
Such a huge comparison of numbers shocked and numb the other three people on the scene.
With a prefecture that far exceeds the entire country, these corrupt officials are really full of money.
With so much money, how many times can the Hongwu Dynasty conquer the remnants of the Mongols? How many times can it be enough for the Yongle Dynasty to conquer the north?
Zhu Youjian was so angry that he trembled all over, trembling,”The civil officials of the world………All can be killed!!”
Zhu Youjian vaguely remembered the behavior of these civil officials when he asked them to help with the military expenditure a few years ago.
When he heard this huge number, Zhu Youjian felt that those voices seemed to be laughing at him.
Seeing Zhu Youjian’s reaction, Zhu Gaoxun couldn’t help laughing, and looked at him meaningfully and said:”A lot of ironic things happened during this torture. For example, Zhu Youjian’s father-in-law Zhou Kui……”
This immediately attracted the attention of the other three people present, and their eyes all fell on Zhu Gaoxun.
Zhu Di urged him,”Tell me quickly, what’s the irony?”
Zhu Gaoxun did not keep the secret and continued,”This father-in-law was just summoned to the military camp by Liu Zongmin, a subordinate of Li Zicheng, and he has not been tortured yet. Zhou Kui took the initiative to hand over 100,000 taels of silver.”
“Before Zhu Youjian hanged himself, he asked the ministers in the court to help with the money. Zhu Youjian asked Zhou Kui to set an example and take the lead, but this guy was stingy and took out 5,000 taels.”
Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was speechless. He glanced at Zhu Youjian and was speechless. What kind of bastards were these Chongzhen Dynasty people.
Zhu Youjian was directly shut down. How could his father-in-law be so greedy?
But Zhu Gaoxun continued,”Who is Liu Zongmin? He was born a bandit and has been on the battlefield for a long time. He is also a veteran. When he saw that Zhou Kui took out 100,000 taels to cover up his crime, he tortured him severely.”
“During this process, Liu Zongmin extorted a total of 500,000 taels of silver and countless gold and silver treasures…….If the father-in-law of the Ming Dynasty is like this, let alone the Ming Dynasty officials of Chongzhen Dynasty.”
Zhu Youjian covered his face and cried. It was really embarrassing. He had embarrassed himself in front of his ancestors.
This Zhou Kui, I still felt sorry for him. I didn’t expect that this man would fool me like this.
At this moment, Zhu Youjian even wanted to crash to death in this hall.
“Let me tell you about a funny civil official. Zhu Gaoyi was in high spirits and said cheerfully,”During the reign of Emperor Chongzhen, there was a top scholar and chief minister in the Ming Dynasty named Wei Zaode.”
“After Li Zicheng entered the city, this gentleman was one of the first batch of important officials of the literary class to surrender. Before torturing him, Li Zicheng asked him: As the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty, why don’t you die with the emperor? This gentleman replied: I am preparing to die for the new court, how can I die for the old court?”
When Zhu Gaoxun said this, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di’s faces were already livid, and they were very angry.
Zhu Youjian knelt on the ground, and kept muttering,”They all deserve to die! They all deserve to be killed!”
The last emperor of the old Zhu family has never been a cruel person. Now that he heard these details, the murderous intent in his heart was rising sharply.
“Li Zicheng was very satisfied with the guy’s answer, so he threw him to Liu Zongmin and asked him to die for the new dynasty.’”
“When Liu Zongmin saw this guy, he cursed him for being the Prime Minister, but voluntarily surrendering and ruining the country.”
“good!”
“Good scolding!”
Zhu Yuanzhang praised:”Although Liu Zongmin is a bandit, he at least knows what is the bottom line and what is integrity.” Zhu Di nodded and said:”When I go to Chongzhen, I will let Liu Zongmin die quickly.”
Zhu Gaoxun smiled and continued:”Wei Zaode was frightened by Liu Zongmin and immediately handed over 10,000 taels. When Liu Zongmin saw this, he got excited and tortured him crazily.”
“But he only served as the Prime Minister for one year and did not make much money. He was beaten to death by Liu Zongmin with a broken head.”
“Before he died, he regretted and shouted:”I didn’t serve the Lord loyally before. It’s too late to regret today!” I don’t know whether he regretted not making money or not serving the country well.”
At this point, Zhu Gaoyi was not interested in continuing. There were too many dirty and despicable things in the Chongzhen Dynasty, and he couldn’t finish talking about them for a while.
He looked at Zhu Youjian and said,”Look, this is your team of ministers. They were trying to control you before.”
Zhu Youjian was actually aware of these problems, but he had no choice but to abolish his martial arts, cripple the factory guards, and cut off the Jinyiwei. He could do nothing about these situations. Moreover, Zhu Youjian knew that these people were corrupt, but he didn’t expect them to be so unbearable.
To put it bluntly, if the ministers are not good, then he, the emperor, is also a failure.
Zhu Youjian threw the messy thoughts out of his mind, kowtowed to Zhu Yuanzhang and the other two, and said,”I am an unworthy descendant Zhu Youjian, and I am very incompetent. I am afraid I can’t take charge of the overall situation. I beg the three ancestors to save the Ming Dynasty of Chongzhen…….”
“”Get up.” Zhu Yuanzhang sighed,”We are all from the Zhu family. Is there anything that cannot be solved? Click the help button.”
“”Thank you, Taizu!”
Zhu Youjian was grateful to Zhu Yuanzhang, but he was filled with murderous intent. He only wanted to kill all the corrupt officials of the Chongzhen Dynasty!
Without hesitation, Zhu Youjian clicked the help button, and a light curtain appeared out of thin air in the hall.
“The Ming Dynasty is saved!”Looking at the content of the screen in front of him, Zhu Youjian trembled all over,”Fortunately, there is a chat group of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty……”