My Daming New Empire

After walking out of Jinyiwei, Zhu Zhanji got on his horse and asked Jin Kuo again: "Where is Ma Qi now?"

"He set up the transshipment department in the bustling Ningbo, and he should be in Ningbo now."

"Give Yu Xian an order to escort Ma Qi back to the capital, and I will personally interrogate him."

Back in the palace, Chen Cheng, who had already met Zhu Di, was waiting for Zhu Zhanji in the reception room of the Counseling Department.After seeing Zhu Di, he naturally got the appointment and the credentials to communicate with other countries, and he will set off when the internal supervisor and Jingwei form a mission here.

He was about to leave and he was busy with affairs, so he simply reported Zhu Di's attitude and arrangements to Zhu Zhanji, and Zhu Zhanji told him a few words before getting up and leaving.

At this time, Sun Lin came to Zhu Zhanji with a slumped face, and knelt down with a plop. "The servant is unknown, please punish him, Your Highness."

"Clarify things to me, instead of pleading guilty at every turn. Get up and speak up."

Sun Lin took out a stack of official letters and said: "This Xiong Du is also an old man in the palace. He joined the Counseling Department when it was first formed. He was transferred to the Laizhou Navy by the servants in March last year to serve as the supervisor of the army." , and Laizhou's grain dispatch has only changed since then."

"A small water village supervising army cannot preside over such a large nest case. What is wrong with the dispatch of these grains? What is the problem? Who is involved?"

"The servant girl is checking the entry and exit account of the grain depot, but no problem has been found so far."

Zhu Zhanji's face darkened, and he asked in doubt: "Then how do you know that there was a problem with the grain dispatch in March last year?"

Sun Lin quickly explained: "Before this, grain transport ships would transport some local specialties from Shandong to the south, which can earn some freight and also ballast. However, since March last year, half of the ships Although the unloading of the ship was registered in Laizhou, there is no record of loading."

Only then did Zhu Zhanji clear his doubts. Sun Lin was able to verify this matter through circumstantial evidence, which shows that he still has a brain. "Are there any records of loading and unloading of these ships after they returned?"

"I'm afraid that only the Transshipment Department has detailed registration, and the subordinate is about to send someone to Ningbo to investigate..."

Zhu Zhanji pondered for a while and said: "I am afraid that only big merchants can eat so much food. And these merchants are basically either in Quanzhou or Ningbo.

Jin Kuo, go to the Supervisor of Rituals and ask Wang Yan to send someone to Ningbo and Quanzhou to check the accounts of the shipping department and the customs there. Transshipment envoy, I still don't believe that hundreds of thousands of shi of grain can't be found out.

An order was sent to Liu Jiang to summon Meng Ying from the [-]st Fleet, Yi Xin from the [-]nd Fleet, and Gu Xingzu from the [-]th Fleet to Beijing in addition to Zhu Zhen from the [-]rd Fleet. "

Jin Kuo was stunned for a moment, and quickly persuaded: "Your Highness, absolutely not. This is not the case! What's more, Yi Xin is now preparing to survey Beiyang, and Gu Xingzu is not loved by His Majesty. of."

Zhu Zhen accompanied Zhu Zhanji on his mission to the West, so he could rule out doubts.

Yi Xin is in charge of the Second Fleet, responsible for the northern waters of Ming Dynasty, and Laizhou is under his jurisdiction.

The Fourth Fleet is based in Guangzhou Bay, also known as Zhanjiang in later generations, which governs a large area from Guangdong to Southeast Asia.

The grain transport ships of the Inner Prison need to go through the hands of the Fourth Fleet to pull grain from Nanyang, and to go through the hands of the Second Fleet to unload grain in Shandong.

And the settlement is in Ningbo, where the Third Fleet is located, which makes Zhu Zhanji very worried that several of his own fleets will be deeply involved.

But it's impossible to think about it, because the more people there are, the harder it is to distribute the benefits, and the less benefits, it's not worthwhile to take risks.

In later generations, Zhu Zhanji has seen too many contradictions in the distribution of interests, and also understands many types of economic crimes.

Basically, no matter how big the nest case is, it is mainly the corruption of key figures. Most of the other officials use tricks to deceive and conceal it.

On the one hand, the distribution of benefits is difficult to balance. The more people there are, the less rewards. On the other hand, it is also for the sake of keeping secrets. The more people know, the easier it is to reveal the truth.

If they can really pull all the three major fleets into the water, the hundreds of thousands of shi grains, up to 10,000+ taels of silver, are not enough at all.

Jin Kuo dissuaded him because after the generals of the Ming Dynasty got the right to lead the army, they were basically not allowed to be summoned by the emperor and could not return to Beijing.

If they were recalled to Beijing because of the investigation, Wen Chen would think that Zhu Zhanji was plotting to "force the palace".

Zhu Zhanji took a deep breath to calm himself down.He also knew that when he was angry, it was easy to make wrong choices, so he simply put his energy on arranging people to communicate with Gu Zuo.

Gu Zuo took the position of minister yesterday, and today he is still busy with moving and receiving guests.He probably didn't even have a clear understanding of the personnel affairs of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, so it would be hard enough for him to bother sending people to Shandong now.

Xie Kuang, the middle officer of the Rites Supervisor, came to the Counseling Department. "Your Highness, Your Majesty just came to court in the afternoon, so I invite His Highness to have lunch with him in Jinshen Hall."

"understood."

Looking at Xie Kuang, Zhu Zhanji asked, "Are Zhongguan Xie familiar with Ma Qi?"

Xie Kuang bowed and said, "The maidservant was by my side when Master was in Liaodong. At that time, Ma Qi was already the envoy of purchasing in Shuzhou. The maidservant returned to Beijing with Master, and Ma Qi was in charge of weaving in Suzhou Weaving Mansion. Later he He also served as the Cochin Procurement Envoy and Nanyang Transshipment Envoy, and basically worked in other places. Except for occasional contacts, he would give some gifts every time he returned to the palace, and the servants did not have much personal relationship with him."

Zhu Zhanji also knows that the internal supervision system is too large. There are 24 yamen, with branches all over the country, in charge of various industries. Although they are all internal supervision, they are not people who have been mixed up.

Of course, these vines are attached to the royal family and come from a system, even people who don't know each other can cling to each other.

Compared with other ministers, the eunuchs are very united. No matter how fierce the infighting is, when targeting military generals and civil servants, they can put aside their barriers and form a group.

Seeing that Zhu Zhanji had nothing to say, Xie Kuang was a little anxious instead. "Your Highness, this servant was at Master's place just now, and found out that His Highness wants to punish Ma Qi and check the accounts. This servant has been in charge of the accounts since the early years. Generally, the loopholes in the accounts cannot be hidden from the eyes of this servant."

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said, "I will tell your master later that I will send you to Ningbo."

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

The investigation of corrupt officials has been a fat job since ancient times.No one dared to touch Ma Qi's property in the palace. It belonged to the royal family, and she would be cut off if she stretched out her hand.

But he has served as the chief official for so many years, and his family is not well-off.Even if most of the money has to be handed over to the royal family, the person who handles it can make a fortune in a short period of time.

In the palace, what surprised Zhu Zhanji was that besides Zhu Di, there was also the new Yin of Yingtian Mansion, Zhao Yan.

Zhao Yan once served as Shangshu, and was later demoted to be a servant. If it weren't for Ding You, he might have been promoted to Shangshu long ago.

Now that he is serving as Ying Tian Fu Yin, it is not considered a promotion, so Zhu Di also gave him a title of Shangshu. In addition to Ying Tian Fu Yin's salary, there is also a Shang Shu's salary.

However, Zhao Yan did not like luxury and lived a frugal life, so today he resolutely resigned from Zhu Di as the Minister's salary.

Of course, what was resigned was only the salary, not the false title.He, Yin Tianfu, is one of the most difficult officials in Ming Dynasty, and it is still very useful to have the title of Shangshu.

Zhu Di was very happy with his attitude, and specially kept him for dinner today.

At the same time, he was accompanied by Yang Rong, who was now promoted to a Bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion, a Bachelor of Hanlin, and the chief assistant of the cabinet.

Zhu Zhanji's impression of Yang Rong is better than that of Yang Shiqi, and that of Yang Pu, the other of the three Yangs.

In Zhu Zhanji's mind, Yang Shiqi prefers a secretary and a staff officer. This person has ability, but his ability is mainly reflected in maintaining the relationship between all parties.

Because of his mediation, Zhu Gaochi has always received high support among civil servants, but his ability to execute things...is very doubtful.

But Yang Pu has not really gained power yet, and he is also cautious. Except for his literary talent, Zhu Zhanji didn't find any advantages in him.

But Yang Rong is different. He has a sensitive temperament, is good at observing words and sentiments, and is especially good at planning border defense affairs.

Yao Chongke was known as one of the four prime ministers of the Tang Dynasty, an outstanding statesman and military strategist in the area.

Although Yang Rong was praised in this way at this time, there was a sense of self-flattering among civil servants, but Zhu Zhanji knew that he did have a high military quality.

In the sixth year of Yongle, his father died, Zhu Di refused to allow Ding You, and asked him to bury his father and recall him to use.

In the seventh year of Yongle, his mother passed away again. This time, because the first Northern Expedition was approaching, Zhu Di didn't even give him leave.