Zhu Ji pressed the hilt of the knife on his waist, came to Zhu Qiyu, and said: "Your Highness, please see, the layout of these two mansions is very strange, especially the back house."
"This place... is indeed strange, but what does it have to do with the Gao family's house?"
Of course it’s strange. This is not a house, it’s clearly a warehouse!
Zhu Ji came to the courtyard wall and said, "Has your Highness noticed that this wall is very short?"
Zhu Qiyu looked at the courtyard wall, nodded and said, "It's a bit shorter, but so what?"
Zhu Ji continued: "This is the back house. Generally speaking, women live there. Therefore, the walls of the back house are often heightened to prevent people from climbing over the wall and disturbing the women. However, this road
Not only is the wall very short, but the materials are also very simple. It seems to be a flower wall built in my own yard without any protection. Manager Li, don’t you think so?"
Manager Li's face was ashen at this time, and he looked like he had no love left in his life.
Zhu Qiyu seemed to understand and said: "You mean, the two houses are connected?"
Zhu Ji said: "Xiaoguan boldly asserted that this mansion actually belongs to the Gao family, or it was purchased by the Gao family in the name of someone else and was used specifically to hide money. As the money became more and more, Mr. Gao wanted to
I came up with this method so that one day, if the matter is exposed, I can refuse to admit it and leave a way out for myself."
"You...are just talking nonsense!"
Gao Zidong rushed forward, hugged Zhu Qiyu's thigh, and cried: "Your Highness must not believe the Jin Yiwei's slander. My father has worked hard all his life, and everyone has seen it. Your Highness, please make the decision for me!"
Zhu Qiyu was not moved at all and just nodded towards Zhu Ji.
Zhu Ji understood and ordered: "Smash it!"
The captains immediately became energetic and swarmed forward, and a group of people began to break through the wall.
Someone soon said: "There is a... false door here..."
The wall was quite weak, and it opened as soon as it was smashed. There was no mud even between the bricks, and you just had to pull out the bricks one by one.
Someone kicked it hard, and a hole was created.
After a little cleaning, you can see the outline of an arch.
The expressions of the Gao Zidong brothers changed suddenly, but they shouted again: "You hawks and dogs, are you still going to stain my father's innocence now?"
Zhu Ji sneered and said: "You two might as well tell me what's going on with this door?"
"How do we know? This wall has been there since we can remember. It must have been left by the previous owner, maybe..."
Zhu Ji picked up a brick and walked forward.
Gao Zidong was so frightened that he backed away and said in a panic: "You...what...are you...going to do?"
Zhu Ji brought the brick to Zhu Qiyu and said, "Your Highness, please see, there is a signature on this green brick!"
Zhu Qiyu took it and looked carefully. Sure enough, the words "Dongcheng Sunji Workshop, the 11th year of the Ming Dynasty Zhengtong" were engraved on the corner of the green brick.
Speaking of carving words on bricks, we can trace it back to the early Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the construction of the Nanjing City Wall.
The city wall was the most important defense project in ancient times. The quality of a city wall directly affected the safety of a dynasty. Therefore, in order to ensure the quality of the city bricks and eliminate corruption and jerry-rigging, Zhu Yuanzhang requested that the responsible officials and various officials be engraved on the city bricks.
The name of the first-level manufacturer, implement a system that assigns responsibility to each person.
If something goes wrong with any brick, everyone from the brick-burning craftsman to the relevant officials must be held accountable.
Sure enough, this measure greatly increased the quality of the project.
Since then, the habit of carving words on bricks has become popular across the country, also for the purpose of making it easier to find problems and divide responsibilities.
The signature on this brick indicates that it was fired in the 11th year of Zhengtong. In other words, it is impossible for the Gao brothers to have seen this wall since they were children.
With the facts before their eyes, the Gao brothers looked at each other, their faces so pale that no trace of blood could be seen.
At this time, Manager Li, who was slumped on the ground, gave a wry smile and said: "Sir, what you said is correct. The two houses were originally connected. Later, in order to cover people's ears and eyes, a wall was built, leaving only one door.
, and later, this door was also built."
With the courtyard wall being torn down, the situation has become clear.
Zhu Ji's main job in Fuzhou is to crack down on corrupt officials. These people hide money and use all kinds of methods.
However, most people are reluctant to part with this kind of money that comes from greed.
To put it bluntly, there is no sense of security. Therefore, money can often be felt at a place closer to oneself.
Zhu Qiyu was furious. He looked at the Gao brothers on the ground and said sarcastically: "Now that the matter has come to this, what else do you have to say?"
The brothers of the Gao family immediately bowed down and kowtowed: "Your Highness is aware that perhaps Jin Yiwei arranged for someone to re-build this wall. My father has been working hard and diligently following the king's orders throughout his life, and he has never made any mistakes..."
Now, they seem to have no other choice but to fight to the death.
Zhu Qiyu sneered and said: "Your family's steward has admitted it, so what else is there to argue with? Could it be that the money was framed by Jin Yiwei and given to your family?"
Gao Zidong looked at the full warehouses and had no choice but to say: "Manager Li must have been bribed or threatened by Jin Yiwei. With this money... I really don't know about it. Jin Yiwei... It must be Jin Yiwei who framed my father and wrongfully accused him."
,What an injustice!”
Zhu Qiyu had a cold face and said nothing, but Zhu Ji laughed and said: "This is easy. Whether it is a trap or not, everyone will know at a glance. You must know that money can talk."
Everyone looked at Zhu Ji in confusion, how could Yinzi speak?
Zhu Ji waved and ordered someone to bring a whole box of neatly coded silver ingots to the yard.
"Your Highness, please see, all this silver is made into silver ingots and then stored. The silver in this warehouse is old at first glance, and the dust on it is evidence. The official has just carefully observed it. There are many warehouses.
There may have been no trace of human movement of the silver in the past year or two. Gao Zidong, tell me, could it be that Jinyiwei had started to frame you a year ago and stored these gold and silver in advance?
Is that why?"
Gao Zidong was speechless and didn't know what to do.
Zhu Qiyu's eyes were full of contempt and he said: "The pillar of the country is really ridiculous!"
Seeing that the matter was exposed and there was no possibility of turning around, Gao Zidong's eyes suddenly turned red and he shouted: "Yes, the house belongs to my family, the money also belongs to my family, they all belong to my family!"
Gao Ziliang is still admonishing: "Brother, be careful what you say!"
Gao Zidong, on the other hand, seemed to be going crazy. He was shouting and roaring in a polite manner, as if he was venting his emotions.
"My father is a bachelor of the cabinet. Shouldn't he have some savings? You don't need to count it. The total amount of silver here is 3.7 million taels, but what can we do? The civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty have
How many people are clean? If we really need to investigate, who dares to say that he is innocent? If that is the case, why do you have to target my Gao family?"
Gao Ziliang was still pulling him: "Brother, stop talking!"
"Second brother, can't you see that whether it is the emperor or the king, they are all the same, there is no difference. They just think that all the wealth in the world belongs to the Zhu family. If the Zhu family takes it, it is natural and right.
If our Gao family took it, it would be corruption and perverting the law. Haha, it’s ridiculous, it’s ridiculous!”
Seeing this, Cao Nai wanted to step forward, but was stopped by Zhu Qiyu.
"Let him continue!"
Gao Zidong was ready to give up at this time, and continued with a look of contempt on his face: "I have seen a lot of officialdom, I have seen people fighting for power and profit, I have seen people taking bribes and bending the law, but I have never seen anything that benefits the common people or anything like that.
Making decisions for the people is just a joke. It is precisely because everyone is unclean that we need to cover up our shame under the guise of benevolence and righteousness, isn’t it?"
The implication of these words seems to be that he is still justifying his own crimes.
At first, he refused to admit it, but now he wants to find an upright excuse for the money.
"Shut up!"
Cao Nai couldn't bear it anymore and said angrily: "Master Gao is an important minister of the court. I never thought that there would be a descendant like you?"
Gao Zidong sneered and said: "Now that the matter has been exposed, we have nothing to say. This is all that I have gained in my life as a father. However, no one wants to see the joke of my Gao family. Didn't Jin Yiwei investigate corruption? Okay, the whole world
Every one of the officials of the Ming Dynasty went door to door to check. I don’t believe it. Who among the officials of the Ming Dynasty doesn’t have tens of thousands of taels of silver at home?”
Zhu Qiyu's face was as cold as frost and he said to Zhu Ji: "According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, investigate this case strictly!"
After saying that, he walked out without looking back.
Cao Nai and others shook their heads, sighed again, turned around and followed.
Zhu Ji ordered: "Bring all the suspects involved back to Zhao Prison, and leave the rest to count the stolen money!"
Counting money is not an easy task, after all, the amount is too big.
Jinyiwei gathered all the officials and scribes here, and it took three days to complete the count.
Gao Zidong is right, the total amount of silver here is 3.7 million taels.
In addition, there are more than 200,000 taels of gold. If all are converted into silver, it would be about two million taels.
There are also a large number of jewelry, jade, antique calligraphy and painting, and real estate title deeds, which cannot be valued at the moment.
Immediately afterwards, dozens of large vehicles began to head towards the treasury.
The carts were filled with gold and silver.
These gold and silver, at least for ordinary people, are almost unthinkable.
After a lifetime of hard work, the family's savings are only a few taels of silver.
But here, gold and silver are loaded in carts.
Looking at the long carriage, many people's eyes were straightened.
From the very beginning, they were filled with indignation, then became dazed, confused... and finally angry!
The school captain escorting the car along the way looked very nervous, as if he looked at everyone as someone who wanted to hijack gold and silver.
Finally, someone started to curse: "Those who are worse than pigs and dogs have been greedy for so much money!"
Unexpectedly, a scholar immediately stood up and retorted: "Don't believe it, Mr. Gao Ge is usually reluctant to even replace his sedan chair with a new one. He only has four pieces of regular clothes all year round. How can he have so much gold and silver? This must be framed by Jin Yiwei."
!"
"I also want to be framed by Jin Yiwei. With so much money, even if it is left at my house for a day so that I can take a look at it with pleasure, I will be willing to die!"
"Hahaha..."
Everyone burst into laughter immediately, as if they had heard the funniest joke in the world.
Immediately afterwards, someone else shouted: "It's already like this, and you still speak for him, is it your fault?"
"You... you are so humiliating, you are so stupid!"
"What did he say?"
"He seems to be scolding us..."
"Uncle, who are you scolding?"
Seeing that the situation was not good, those scholars had already fled.
Zhu Ji handed over all the gold and silver to the treasury, and then compiled a memorial. Before sending it to Nanjing, he first came to the Wenhua Hall and presented it to Zhu Qiyu.
Zhu Qiyu was also sighing. He saw with his own eyes that Gao Zhu's home was very simple and all the furniture looked shabby.
Thinking of this, I couldn't help but ask: "How did he do it, with a breeze on his sleeves, and at the same time, he collected countless belongings?"
Zhu Ji thought for a while and said slowly: "Think about it, the more greedy a person is, the more he cares about these false reputations."
Zhu Qiyu couldn't help but shook his head and sighed, and said: "I almost misunderstood Jin Yiwei. I really didn't expect that the dignified cabinet scholar would be such a person. Could it be that the officialdom of our Ming Dynasty is really as the Gao family brothers said, no official is corrupt?" p>
Zhu Ji replied: "Your Highness, have you ever thought about why no one has discovered that Gao Hub is so greedy? Over the years, everyone has praised him for his gentleness. What is the reason for this?"
Zhu Qiyu was stunned for a moment, and then asked: "Is it possible that he hid it deeply enough?"
Zhu Ji shook his head and said: "No matter how deep he hides, he will always be noticed for decades. As long as there are some clues, Jin Yiwei and Dongchang will intervene. Therefore, the official thinks that most of the time, he is indeed
It’s a breeze with both sleeves.”
Zhu Qiyu was puzzled and asked: "What do you mean?"
"The official thought that he would not accept almost most of the people who came to give money on weekdays. Maybe... he only accepted gifts from a very small number of people."
Zhu Qiyu said in surprise: "More than five million taels, is it just a small part?"
Zhu Ji continued: "This is just the official's inference. Since the factory guard has never noticed it, the only possibility is that he is honest most of the time. Those who really provide him with benefits and he is willing to accept them are
It must be very few."
Zhu Qiyu couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.
If this boss is so greedy and greedy, he wouldn't be shocked at all.
Because, the fact is right in front of us, there is indeed so much gold and silver piled here.
Even if he charges a thousand or ten thousand people, it still makes sense.
But if you only recruit a few people, you can get more than five million taels of silver. This is really scary!
Since these people are willing to spend more than five million taels as gifts, one can imagine how much interest is involved behind this?
Zhu Qiyu stood up, frowned, paced back and forth with his hands behind his back.
"Who has so much money? And why are they willing to pay such a high price?"
Zhu Ji replied: "These people have nothing to gain. The benefits they want to gain must far exceed millions of taels of silver. Even... they may have bribed more than just Gao Zhu!"