Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Seven King and Minister Harmony
The spring breeze blows green in the south of the Yangtze River, and the mountain flowers and green grass are blooming.
This is the eighteenth year of the Great Yuan Dynasty, the first year of King Wu, and it is probably an important year that needs to be recorded in history.
Starting last year, Zhu Yuanzhang officially ascended the throne of Wu and changed the chronology of the Wu Kingdom in China to the chronology of the King of Wu. At the same time, he promulgated a series of important decrees, which completely laid the foundation of the Wu Kingdom.
These measures can be roughly divided into those targeting the people and those targeting officials.
First, the powerful forces headed by the Wang family were uprooted and wiped out. Under the rule of Wu, the strategy of equalizing land and suppressing powerful forces continued to be implemented.
Zhu Yuanzhang moved a large number of Jiangnan powerful people to Huaixi and made them work as hard labor in water control and land reclamation.
If everything goes well, after five years, land can be granted, just like ordinary people. However, there is a prerequisite: land cannot be granted in the place of origin to avoid the resurgence of powerful forces.
In terms of official administration, Lao Zhu was equally drastic, first dismissing Tao An, and then uncovering Li Menggeng. Even old people who had followed Lao Zhu before crossing the river were not exempt from severe punishment under the national law.
And today is the day when Li Menggeng is sentenced.
After experiencing the initial panic and fear, then desperately trying to survive, and then finally despairing of death... Li Menggeng seemed much calmer today. He was handcuffed and wearing a crime robe, kneeling upright in the lobby of Dali Temple.
He tried hard to straighten his rickety back, not wanting to be too embarrassed in front of his former colleagues.
At this time, sitting on both sides were not just the officials of Dali Temple, but almost all of Zhu Yuanzhang's important ministers were present.
On the left are Li Shanchang, Yang Yuangao, Ruan Hongdao, Wang Guangyang, Yang Xian and so on.
On the right are Zhang Ximeng, Song Lian, Zhang Yi, Jiang Nan and so on.
Everyone sat facing each other with solemn expressions.
Once upon a time, Li Menggeng was also one of the big guys, working together, chatting and laughing together, and discussing government affairs.
Who would have thought that he would become a prisoner in a short period of time, and would have to pay the price with his life. The lesson was profound.
"Li Menggeng!"
Yang Xian, who was promoted from the Metropolitan Procuratorate to the Criminal Department, had a sullen face and finally said, "Is it true that you embezzled 150,000 taels of silver and 2,000 acres of mulberry fields from the Wang family?"
Li Menggeng took a deep breath and nodded helplessly, "It's true... Not only that, the criminal is also crazy and trying to drag Prime Minister Li into trouble. He bribes the people around Prime Minister Li and sends him bribes from the Wang family. The criminal is willing to obey the law!"
Although everyone already knew the details of the case and knew that today was just a formality, facing such a huge amount and hearing Li Menggeng personally admit it, he was still frightened and shuddered.
Yang Xian continued: "In addition, when you were in the Ministry of Household Affairs, you embezzled relief grain and river engineering expenses. You also passed it off as good quality, stole and sold grain... All kinds of crimes, the total amount of embezzlement exceeds 50,000 taels. Is this true?
"
Li Menggeng was stunned, as if he was thinking about something. Yang Xian said again: "Do you have any other case details that you haven't made clear?"
Li Menggeng finally raised his head and glanced at all the important ministers... Zhang Ximeng's communication with him was limited to drafting punishments, so naturally he was fearless.
In fact, even if Li Menggen wanted to flirt with Zhang Ximeng, no one would believe him.
Prime Minister Zhang's character and integrity are the best in the world, there is no need to doubt him at all.
If he were greedy for money, his mansion would not be so shabby long ago.
The dignified prime minister still uses bamboo utensils. I suspect that he is crazy and has no humanity.
Compared with Zhang Ximeng, other officials, especially the group of people from Zhongshu Province, are not as calm as Zhang Ximeng. They and Li Menggeng have been colleagues for many years, and they have even known each other for a long time, and know each other well.
If Li Menggeng says something at the last moment and pulls in a few backers, things will be very troublesome.
Fortunately, Li Menggeng only looked around and finally lowered his head, "The sinner pleads guilty and is willing to obey the law... But the sinner still wants to say a few words of truth to his colleagues."
Yang Xian was too lazy to listen. Since he had confessed his crime, he would kill him quickly to avoid wasting time.
But Li Shanchang did not nod immediately, but looked at Zhang Ximeng opposite.
Zhang Ximeng thought for a while and then said: "When a man is about to die, he has good words, so just listen to what he has to say!"
Li Shanchang also nodded and said: "Xiang Zhang is right, Li Menggeng... if you have anything to say, just say it, and I will truthfully present it to the superior."
Li Menggeng nodded, "Thank you very much, Mr. Li!"
After a pause, Li Menggeng collected his emotions, and then said: "All the princes are the confidants of the superiors, with a bright future. They will leave their names in history and be admired by all generations. Their future is limitless. Sinners also have opportunities, but they were confused for a moment and made a big mistake."
, this is all what the sinners brought upon themselves.”
"Ask yourself, how did the sinner get to where he is today? It is nothing more than the destruction of a thousand-mile embankment by an ant nest. After becoming an official and assuming great power, he became greedy and lustful for money. At first, he only had a few hundred dan, or a thousand dan, to get some small money.
...But when no one noticed, he became more and more courageous, to the point where he spent tens of thousands of dollars."
"After the occupation of Hangzhou, the Ministry of Household Affairs was responsible for taking over Chang Pingcang, the sinners. The sinners accepted bribes from the Yuan Dynasty ministers to keep their positions and allowed them to continue to control the warehouse. They only needed to give gifts to the sinners. The sinners thought it was nothing more than a yearly gift.
It was just to get some benefits into the account, but who knew that these officials in charge of the treasury were the minions of the Wang family. They knew that the sinner was greedy for money and lust, so they took out the money and beauty, so much silver, and such a young beauty... The sinner, the sinner did not control it.
I fell into it myself."
When Li Menggeng said this, he seemed very excited. He looked up at everyone, "Young masters, please don't think that if we have power and powerful businessmen come to rely on us, they will obey our orders. They gave money and fields.
Just give us a hedgehog! The sinner accepted the generous gift, but if the superiors succeeded in equalizing the land and took away all the Wang family's property, the generous gift he gave me would be in vain, and even be known by the superiors.
Take advantage of sinners."
"There was no choice but for the sinners to think of many ways. I was the one who came up with Zhitian. Later, they even took the risk of giving gifts to Xianggong Li and asked the Wang family to come forward and pull down Xianggong Li... I, I became a puppet in their hands.
, I am a dignified minister, the future hero of Conglong, I, I was ruined by this little money!"
"Gentlemen! It's not worth it, it's really not worth it! I can only advise you guys, don't be confused. The sinners deserved their death and have nothing left. You are still in a high position and have the trust of your superiors. Especially when you can make bold and bold decisions.
An achievement that makes future generations fall into admiration... If only we could go back to the past, how great it would be!"
When Li Menggeng said this, he couldn't stop anymore. An old man cried like a three-year-old child.
Seeing this scene, everyone couldn't help but sigh.
It was very unpleasant. Li Menggeng had embezzled two hundred thousand taels.
This amount of money is enough to skin him ten thousand times. From a legal perspective, he naturally deserves the blame and deserves his death.
But it is more or less a pity that such a character fell in this incident. What will be written in the history books?
Zhu Jiajun was the first high-ranking official to fall because of corruption?
A lesson for all corrupt officials?
No matter who it is, this life will be over, and it will even affect the descendants. Why bother if you leave a good Kaiyuan hero alone?
All I can say is that in officialdom, you must be on guard against the slightest mistake and never risk yourself.
Li Menggeng's last words, together with his confession, were sent to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Lao Zhu was merciless and decided directly. No matter how nice he said it, if he was so greedy, there would be no reason to live.
However, when facing Li Menggeng's family, Lao Zhu hesitated again and again, "Just send them back to their place of origin and let them be ordinary farmers and support their mother."
Li Menggeng's old wife was getting old and was not favored by Li Menggeng. The two sides quarreled many times and finally asked Li Menggeng to send her back to her hometown. Although she was extravagant, the old wife only had a few acres of land and she had to guard it.
The tombs of our ancestors were buried there, and they had a hard time living, which was very pitiful.
Zhu Yuanzhang sent Li Menggeng's three sons back and asked them to cultivate the fields and take care of their old mother. If anyone dares to be disobedient to his mother, he will be severely punished immediately and punished for both crimes.
When the final results were announced, everyone's hearts dropped a lot... The superiors were still jealous of evil, but under the cold butcher's knife, there was a trace of warmth.
In the final analysis, even if it is a person who deserves to be killed or must die, he must be killed beautifully so that no one can fault him.
After Tao An, another minister collapsed, and in a tragic way, his head was missing, which showed Zhu Jiajun's attitude towards corrupt officials.
The deterrent effect has indeed come out.
The officials were solemn and the ministers were frightened.
No one dares to question the issue of salary anymore. In addition to Lumi and Baochao, Lao Zhu also distributed some houses to give everyone a place to live, and also provided carriages to the elderly officials.
, a special coachman was also arranged, and the court was responsible for paying the wages.
Since the expectations have been greatly lowered, after seeing this, many people burst into tears of gratitude and were so excited that they cried. The superiors still feel sorry for you.
In addition to using both kindness and power, Zhu Yuanzhang also specially ordered that all officials participate in training, explain the legal provisions, and clarify the missions of each government office...
After three consecutive clicks, the entire Zhu Jiajun's state took on a completely new look, feeling like he had been reborn.
However, it is not possible to achieve harmony between the king and his ministers, and the good and the bad can get what they want.
Just upstream of the Zhu Jiajun, Tianwan Kingdom, which dominated Jiangxi and Huguang, was once again in turmoil... After Chen Youliang killed Ni Wenjun, he fully accepted Ni Wenjun's power and established a firm foothold. In terms of actions, he was even better than Ni Wenjun.
Even more domineering.
Even if he is an ordinary veteran, he is not polite because he witnessed what these veterans did during the downfall of Ni Wenjun.
Chen Youliang knew the importance of guarding against this group of people. In order to prevent them from joining forces, Chen Youliang directly ordered the powerful general Ding Pulang to garrison Xiaogushan and guard against Zhu Yuanzhang.
In addition to Ding Pulang, there was another person named Fu Youde who had just moved over and followed Ding Pulang to Xiaogushan.
…
"Ding Pulang and Fu Youde."
Zhang Ximeng took out his own notebook. Among the lists provided by Lan Yu, Fu Youde was listed. He was a warrior in the Northern Expedition. He was transferred to Chen Youliang. If he could win over him, it would be a big help!