Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 158: Catch all the old men in one fell swoop!
A strong wind blew into the pavilion.

The doors and windows were clanging, and even the government documents on the desk were turning pages in the wind.

The ministers could only use heavy objects such as inkstones to weigh it down to avoid clutter.

Hu Zongxian was the first to express his opinion: "My hometown is in misfortune, and it has brought disaster to the country and the people. I really have no face to stand in the court anymore."

Some things, if not weighed, only weigh three taels, but if weighed, they weigh more than a thousand pounds.

This is the situation between the Huizhou merchants and the imperial court. Before it was exposed, they knew it all and had no tacit understanding. But now, the emperor knows about this "major matter" and can't even make an excuse.

The hundreds of millions of taels of silver and treasures confiscated by the Shanxi merchants are slowly being transported to the capital. They can explain everything except the wealth of the Anhui merchants.

As a native of Huizhou Prefecture in Southern Zhili, even if the affairs of Huizhou merchants have nothing to do with the cabinet minister Hu Zongxian, the fact that his ancestral home is there is a sin in itself.

Gao Gong suddenly raised his head. If Hu Zongxian could leave the cabinet, power would be redistributed, which would be a good thing.

On second thought, he felt that it was not right. If he could expel a cabinet minister today because of a mistake made in his ancestral hometown, then others could use the same method against him in the future.

We must not start like this.

Zhang Juzheng waved his hand and said, "Ruzhen, don't worry about it. This is not your fault."

Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin nodded.

At worst, Hu Zongxian would just avoid suspicion in the affairs of Huizhou merchants and there would be no need for him to get married.

Hu Zongxian glanced at his peers and said helplessly: "Yuanfu, Cixiang, Zishi, Yifu, I have many fellow townsmen and even relatives in the Huizhou merchant group. One of my uncles is the financier of the Huizhou merchant group."

Hu Zongxian told us about his family background.

As the saying goes, "When one person succeeds, the whole family will benefit."

Hu Zongxian had been in power for quite some time. During the 20 years when Yan Song was in charge of the central cabinet, as Yan Song's favorite student, his status and official position also rose.

At that time, the Hu family was already engaged in business. During the past twenty years, Hu Zongxian had never taken any business for the family for personal gain, but the Hu family's business grew bigger and bigger.

But Hu Zongxian knew that his uncle, who was in charge of the family business, actually had no talent in business. To put it bluntly, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was a complete mess.

But the higher his status in the court and the faster his promotion, the larger his family business became, and the more money he earned, the more dividends the Huizhou merchants would give him.

Hu Zongxian understood a truth a long time ago: when a person's status and official position are high enough, money is just a piece of cake.

Even if you just lie at home and do nothing, countless people will come forward to give you money.

It would have been fine if the Hui merchants had given him silver directly, and he would have just rejected it sternly. But the Hui merchants were cunning in that they did not give silver to Hu Zongxian, but instead gave silver to Hu's shop.

And his own uncle was complacently thinking that all this was the result of the Hu family's honest business and hard work.

When Hu Zongxian could no longer tolerate the business and asked his family to close the shop, he was scolded by his uncle in return.

It is said that Hu Zongxian had been an official in the court for so many years. When had he ever brought back even a tael of silver for his family, or when had he ever done any help to his family?
There are hundreds of relatives in the family, and they all depend on the shop for support.

In the correspondence between Hu Zongxian and his family, the word "unfilial" was always hidden between the lines.

Later, even his mentor Yan Song was alarmed and asked Hu Zongxian to stop interfering in family affairs. Then, the mentor personally found the leader of the Huishang business gang and merged the Hu family shop into the Huishang business gang. The Hu family then gained the identity of the financier of the Huishang business gang.

My mentor's meaning was very clear. The Huizhou merchants were giving money to the Hu family anyway. Instead of hiding it and giving it bit by bit, it would be better to do nothing and just get the money directly as dividends.

In short, Hu Zongxian's family was one of the financial owners of the Huizhou merchant group.

Whether Hu Zongxian did it voluntarily or passively, it was not wrong for him to be born in Huizhou Prefecture, but as the financial owner of the Huizhou merchant gang in his family, he made a big mistake at this time.

Know the secret. Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, Li Chunfang, and Chen Yiqin were immediately confused. With such a large family and a large business, such things are likely to happen. A bunch of stupid teammates and relatives are frantically holding them back.

The cabinet was silent for a long time.

Hu Zongxian found a way to reduce his crime, "Prince Fu."

"Hmm?" Zhang Juzheng responded.

"Has the Ministry of Personnel's inspection ended?"

"It's been more than two months."

"Then just pick up my remains." Hu Zongxian said in a low voice.

According to the imperial examination system, the Ministry of Personnel and the Censorate presided over the examination of all officials. Officials of the fifth rank and below in the northern and southern capitals were required to bring their political achievements and comments written by their superiors to the Ministry of Personnel in the southern and northern capitals for review. Those who were found to be incompetent were given different punishments.

Those above the fourth rank will make their own statements and receive the imperial edict to decide whether to send them or not. If any omissions are found during the examination, the Ministry of Censorship will pick them up.

In the past, there were many officials who picked up missing items during the imperial examinations. Now, there is also the performance evaluation system, which is under the charge of the special government office, the Jinyiwei, so there are even more officials who pick up missing items.

However, in the 200 years since the founding of the country and the more than 100 years since the establishment of the cabinet, there has never been a precedent of cabinet ministers picking up missing items.

Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin looked at each other.

There was a gleam of light deep in Gao Gong's eyes.

Zhang Juzheng was stunned, shook his head and said, "The imperial court examiners are not qualified to serve as cabinet ministers. This is a precedent of all dynasties."

This dynasty.

It does not refer to the dynasty, but to all the previous emperors.

High officials always have many privileges. The previous "no punishment for doctors" and the current "no punishment for cabinet ministers" are both privileges.

Since it is a privilege, the butt determines the head, and Zhang Juzheng does not want to break it.

"Aren't precedents meant to be broken?"

Hu Zongxian was very calm and said, "The evidence of the missing items is ready. According to the ancestral system of Emperor Taizu Gao, officials of the fourth rank and above and their relatives are prohibited from doing business."

"But Ruzhen, apart from the fifth-rank court official position of Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, you don't have any official position of the fourth rank or above." Zhang Juzheng continued.

Zhang Juzheng handed over the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Works to Hu Zongxian for administration, but did not grant Hu Zongxian the official titles of Shangshu or Shilang.

Although the imperial court tacitly acknowledged that the cabinet ministers were above the six ministries, that was power, not rank.

Gao Gong was confused.

Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin were also stunned.

The imperial court is indeed a makeshift team. The fifth-rank officials are given power that exceeds the first-rank, and they can also exploit loopholes in the ancestral system and Ming Dynasty laws.

play?

Hu Zongxian never expected that he could not even get away with his crime after humiliating himself. This was too outrageous.

Zhang Juzheng smiled and pondered for a moment: "Ruzhen, I have seriously thought about the demise of the Shanxi Merchants. The Jinyiwei was able to wipe out the Shanxi Merchants in one fell swoop, which was inseparable from the support of Wang Chonggu, the governor of Xuanda, who was born in Shanxi.

The fact that Wang Chonggu and his family were able to get away perfectly has a lot to do with Wang Chonggu and the Wang family's knowledge of the times. The Wang family is the financial owner of the Shanxi Merchants and has a list of the Shanxi Merchants. So does your Hu family, Ruzhen, have a list of the Huizhou Merchants?"

(End of this chapter)