But then he realized: Couldn't this incident be used as a trigger to get rid of them?
Naturally, Yunxi had prepared many means to deal with them. However, although many powerful officials in history fell for inconspicuous things, anyone with a discerning eye could tell at a glance that this was the emperor or someone using the topic.
There won't be any good words in the notes. Although Yunxi also knows that if you want to be a good emperor, you can't worry about reputation, but it is better to have a suitable excuse.
'If he had told me before the battle between Yi and Wu, I might have dealt with it at that time, but I would not have implicated many people at that time. I would have just imprisoned Zhang Quan, Cao Tai, and Sang Jing. In this way,
Peng Qingzong told me about this now, which is actually a good thing.' Yunxi thought.
"Peng Aiqing, you have done a good job in this matter, I want to reward you." Yunxi decided to reward him again.
"I have no merit, how can I dare to accept your Majesty's reward?" Peng Qingzong is not stupid. Although he has a dark eye on the situation in the capital and no one has given him any knowledge, he probably understands what happened today. Such a high-level person
He neither wants nor dares to participate in political struggles.
Yunxi ignored him and said directly: "I intend to order you to handle errands at the General Staff Headquarters. However, the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion is different from the former Five Army Governor's Mansion. All the departments within it have officials according to the six-ministry ritual system, and the official positions are
Your rank will be lower than if you were a local commander. But this doesn’t mean that I don’t value you.”
"No matter what official position your Majesty appoints, it is all God's grace." Peng Qingzong said again.
Yunxi was very satisfied with his attitude. He didn't mind if his ministers had a little temper, but you had to be really capable. Peng Qingzong's current image in his eyes was that he was a little capable, but not big enough.
, so the attitude must be respectful.
"I remember you are from Daning?" Yunxi asked again.
"Your Majesty, my ancestor was from Shandong. After joining the army, he was assigned to Daning as a general, and then settled down in Daning." Peng Qingzong replied.
"Since you are from Daning and have been serving as a general in Daning, you probably don't have very close old friends in the capital. I ordered you to arrange a public rental house for you and give you some household items."
"I thank your Majesty for the reward." Peng Qingzong quickly thanked him again.
Yunxi nodded, said a few more words to him, and asked him to retreat.
In the following days, there were constant reports about the progress of bribery and corruption cases. At this time, the officials of the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple who were caught were interrogated not only about accepting bribes from foreign envoys, but also about accepting bribes from foreign envoys.
All bribes that have been accepted. The Ming Dynasty is a humane society. Even if Yunxi is very strict about large bribes, there are always omissions. Jin Yiwei and Zhensi may not report everything to the emperor.
Therefore, there are many small bribes, or in their own eyes, they are not considered bribes, and they can only be regarded as ordinary gifts. There are all kinds of them. Even if the investigation only started in the first year of Jianye, many people would be involved.
After Liao Qiu asked for help, many people from other yamen were also implicated.
Naturally, Yunxi could not put them all in prison. If they were all put in prison, the originally inefficient yamen would be paralyzed. He did not have the courage of Zhu Yuanzhang. In the Guo Huan case, Zhu Yuanzhang killed more than 90% of the officials in the six departments at once, and some
There were only two people left in the yamen. Yunxi had neither Zhu Yuanzhang's courage nor his model worker's enthusiasm for work, so he picked and selected from the list reported by the Ministry of Punishment, removed more than half of them, and arrested the remaining people. Fortunately, the Minister of Punishment
Ru Yu also knew that they would not all be arrested. He was the only one who knew the list of names, so it did not cause much turmoil.
Naturally, Yunxi would not kill them all in late autumn. At this time, of course, he would strictly follow the "Great Ming Law" to convict them all of capital crimes. But after a few months, he would find a reason to pardon their capital crimes, and then exile them all together with their families.
When arriving in the Hanzhou Continent, those whose families have been separated will have better luck, as only their wives and children will be involved; if those whose families have not yet been separated, the entire branch will be exiled.
The corruption case was also being interrogated intensively. Due to Zhang Quan's sudden defection, the case was quickly interrogated. Yunxi convicted Xuanning Hou Cao Tai and Huixian Bo Sangjing of corruption and perverting the law, abolished the hereditary title, and exempted them from the crime.
When he left the official positions he held, his sons and nephews were also removed from their official positions and demoted to common people. Zhang Quan, the Marquis of Yongding, also committed corruption and perverting the law, but Yunxi could use the excuse that he had "showed meritorious service for his crimes". Although he also abolished the hereditary title and was demoted from his official position, he could not
His nephew has retained his military position, which means that as long as his son has the ability, he can be promoted again with military merit.
After all, Zhang Yi was the founding hero of the country. As an emperor of a feudal dynasty, being too cold and cold was not a good thing for maintaining his rule. Moreover, he was pitiful. Yunxi issued an edict to revoke his hereditary title and remove him from official positions, but he did not abolish his second title.
The third son, Zhang Yumu, is the hereditary commander. Although the other nephews have lost their hereditary command, they can still make a comeback with their military exploits.
Yunxi also planned to make people publicize that the place with the most opportunities for meritorious service now is the Hanzhou continent. The vassal kings who were granted the title of Hanzhou would not care about the mistakes someone made in the past. If they have the ability, they will appoint them and if they have merit, they will be rewarded. Encourage them
The nephew went to Hanzhou.
The above four people were of high status, and it was difficult for Yun He to do too well. However, under them, he would not let go of the little shrimps implicated by the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion and the Ministry of War, and sentenced them all to exile in Hanzhou.
The news spread to the army, and it turned out that the generals were very disgusted with coveting the credit of others. Most people supported Yunxi's approach, and the few who did not supported it could not make waves. At this time, the military reform had not yet affected the middle and lower classes, and they had not
Despite opposition, the military basically ensured stability.
At the same time, the Metropolitan Procuratorate began to investigate other violations of the law that had occurred in the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, and found many cases. Yunxi used the newly discovered cases to bring down Puding Marquis Chen Huan and others. Chen Huan
He is also a founding hero, and together with Geng Bingwen, Zhang Yi and Cao Zhen, they are the only four surviving heroes of the generation who were awarded the title of Spyker during the Hongwu period. Yunxi naturally has to take care of him, and the treatment is the same as Zhang Yi; the others are dealt with like Cao Tai.
almost.
These cases are very complicated. Normally, it would take three to five months to find out much. But this time Yunxi was well prepared, and the officials responsible for investigating the case were also very clear about the emperor's purpose, so it only took less than half a month.
By the first day of February, the case had been thoroughly investigated, and the relevant witnesses and material evidence were reported to the emperor, who quickly dealt with it. After the imperial edict abolishing the hereditary titles of Chen Huan and others was issued, although the follow-up investigation was still ongoing
case, but it is no longer important. For Yunxi, this matter has basically been dealt with.