Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 481 Empty seal case!break out!

In the eyes of these court officials, Lao Zhu should just give up.After all, these officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs have already paid the price. With their jewels in front of them, the officials of other ministries have also restrained a lot, and they have cooperated with the Taxation Department to calculate how much business tax should be paid.

There is no previous case where the Ministry of Household Affairs deliberately concealed files and attempted to evade taxes.

The new tax law has been implemented according to your old ideas, and the tax department has also been established.Even if you wanted to make an example to the chicken, the chicken is dead now.

We monkeys are already trembling with fear.It's time for you to calm down and appease the officials, right?A slap in the face, but also a sweet date, could it really overthrow all the court officials, so who will work for your old Zhu family?
According to the experience of previous dynasties, it is indeed time for Lao Zhu at this time to appease the court officials, hello, me, everyone.Speaking of which, this investigation of the Ministry of Household Affairs has already been called earth-shattering, compared to when the emperor suddenly launched and removed Huaixi civil servants a few years ago.In their view, no matter what, Lao Zhu should come forward to maintain the stability of the court and will not continue to toss about.

However, Lao Zhu told them with his actions: check!Continue to check!In our eyes, I can't rub you sand!
Just when the officials of the Manchu Dynasty thought that the matter of commercial taxation had been settled, as long as there was more blood in the family for a while and the jackal of the tax department was fed, they could maintain the status quo and continue the romance.

The worst thing is to spend more time and find ways to make up for this shortfall from the people.it's not a big deal.

A small incident that was originally insignificant completely detonated a major case that was ten times more serious than the tax evasion case of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

The cause was that an official who escorted tax and grain from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the household department found that the household department was paralyzed and no one was in charge. He was summoned into the palace by the emperor when he was in a state of desperation.

When he entered the palace for inspection, he found many blank documents with seals but no words in his robe sleeves.

After interrogation, it was discovered that these blank documents were used to check the tax and grain amounts with the Ministry of Household Affairs.The official who transported grain shouted that he was wronged and said that there would be losses on the way when grain taxes were brought to Beijing from foreign enemies.

If the document is written and transported to Beijing at the time of shipment, there will be some discrepancies when the officials in Beijing collide with each other. of.

Therefore, all officials who are responsible for transporting taxes, food and other items into Beijing will keep a few blank documents that only use printing, so that they can write the amount on the documents after the household department checks, so that neither will appear. The situation that the physical object and the document do not match the number and cannot be stored in the warehouse also avoids the need for repeated round-trip levies due to insufficient taxes and food, which is wasteful and affects the people.

In the pre-Yuan period, such an approach was an unquestionable tacit understanding in the officialdom, and he was not in vain.When the official said it, he was plausible, and he looked aggrieved.

Lao Zhu was furious, this was a naked act of deceiving the emperor!Immediately ordered Yushitai and Jinyiwei to jointly handle the case.It didn't matter. It turned out that all the ministries in the imperial court had this method of using blank-printed documents.After all, the Ministry of Household Affairs is not the only one that needs to communicate with all parties.As long as it involves China Unicom and outside China, this kind of blank document is more or less used for convenience.

Lao Zhu was furious and issued documents with blank seals and printed them directly on the white paper. This was a naked use of the power of the state and the dynasty to give and receive privately!You know, if a blank document with a seal falls into the hands of someone who is interested, it will be a big disaster!

check!Must check it out!No matter how big or small the official position is, anyone who has anything to do with empty printed documents will be dealt with!
As a result, the Great Ming Dynasty Hall exploded again in an instant.It's just that this time it wasn't just the household department that suffered, almost all the officials in the court were within the scope of inquiry by Yushitai and Jinyiwei.

The empty printing case broke out!
The ministers in the court were all confused.It never occurred to them that they were ready to pinch their noses to cooperate with His Majesty's new tax law, acquiescing to His Majesty's killing themselves, but His Majesty is still so unreasonable. This is going to overturn all the tables of the Ming Dynasty. !
But there are still some people who think that the empty printing case must be a lot of thunder and little rain.This case involves too much. If so many officials in and out of the capital are questioned, is it possible that His Majesty himself is going to be a naked emperor?
Everyone underestimated Lao Zhu's courage.Zheng Shili, a native of Ninghai, Zhejiang, organized a group of scholars and literati after his brother Huguang inspector Zheng Shiyuan was arrested, and wrote a joint letter to Lao Zhu, complaining about the harm caused by the empty printing case.

Zheng Shili believes that the matter of empty seals has been a customary rule since the Yuan Dynasty, and the national law has not expressly prohibited it. Officials should not be imprisoned for this; It is unavoidable that the numbers will vary due to the coordination of external transportation.Officials use blank documents printed with empty seals, also in order not to delay the important affairs of the country, and it is reasonable and not suitable for punishment.

This statement actually attracted a lot of praise among scholars. Among the literati and scholars, many people praised Zheng Shili for his righteous words, and believed that Kongyin was actually for the sake of the country's operation and had nothing to do with it.

"Hmph, these rotten Confucians will really jump out and stir up public opinion, and clean up the ground for their relatives and masters who are officials in the court." After receiving the letter from Zheng Shili and other Wensheng, Lao Zhu was not surprised.He had heard Zhu Su tell him about the process of printing blank documents in history.

Even in history, due to the lack of response to this letter and the fact that the right to speak was mostly in the hands of literati, some people in later generations believed that the empty seal case was caused by Lao Zhu himself, who was full of leisure and supported it. big case.It's all because the emperor Lao Zhu is too cruel, and those officials are all innocent, and there are tears of sympathy for those officials.

But now, Lao Zhu is already prepared.He called Zhu Di who had just been recalled to Beijing, and told him:
"Fourth, go, put all the thieves you captured back to the capital on the market, and explain their crimes to the common people carefully."

"Remember, we must also pull Zheng Shili and the literati that Kaizi co-signed with him. We want to see, in front of the common people, whether they can tell right from wrong, insisting that we are a stupid tyrant!"

Zhu Di took the order to go, and in the afternoon of that day, he built an extremely wide high platform on the most prosperous South Street in Yingtian Mansion.Zheng Shili and others were also escorted to the scene by Jin Yiwei, but they still had an unruly expression and kept yelling and cursing.Even some ordinary people who didn't know the truth gave a thumbs up after seeing it, praising people like Zheng Shili for being a literati.

"His Royal Highness, King Yan, captured me for this purpose. He wanted to kill me here and abandon the market!" Zheng Shili was praised by the people, and he held his head high. "Even if Your Highness can kill my mouth alone, I don't know how to defend the mouth of the people, it is better than Fangchuan! The world has its own righteousness, and even if we die, we can't cover up this clear sky!"

"If you want to scare me into changing your mouth, then I advise you to save some time, Your Highness. The empty seal case is unreasonable and ruthless. Even if you have a long knife and a neck, I will speak out!"

"Okay! Okay!" The people watching below, have they ever seen such a scholar who is not afraid of the powerful?I just feel that this man is just like those loyal ministers on the stage, he speaks righteously and sternly, and he is upright. Just listening to the lyrics, I know that it must be a good show.

"Hmph. The sharpness of the tongue." Seeing Wen Sheng's few words, he pushed Jin Yiwei to the position of a treacherous minister. Zhu Di sneered and ignored it.

What this guy said sounded grand and seemed to be righteous, but in the final analysis, wasn’t he trying to seek his own selfishness so as to save his straightforward elder brother from the abyss?

"Later, when you will be shouted and beaten by everyone." Looking at Zheng Shili's almost provocative gaze, Zhu Di thought viciously in his heart.

(End of this chapter)