Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

“The jewelry, jade, calligraphy and paintings, antiques, shops and mansions are too numerous to count for now.

What is being checked now is only 30% of the property of the convicted officials in Beijing. If their ancestral hometowns are included, the amount will at least double.

Take the convicted official Liu Yuliang as an example. According to the account records in his mansion, he owned 240,000 acres of fertile land in his ancestral hometown directly or through his relatives.

Liu Yuliang and his family also controlled most of the silk weaving business in their ancestral home. If all the fertile land, mansions, shops, and valuables were converted at market prices, plus the cash he controlled, the total assets seized from the former Prime Minister Liu Yuliang would be around 8 million taels.

If we estimate based on the total assets confiscated from the officials who committed crimes, and if all the assets were cleared away, a conservative estimate is that the cash obtained alone would be no less than 80 million taels.

If all assets were converted to market value, the actual revenue from this tax collection would be no less than 150 million taels.”

Zhang Shikang calmly reported to everyone present a series of numbers that he had calculated over the past few days, as well as an estimate of the entire liquidation.

Zhang Shikang remembered very clearly that when Li Zicheng moved into the capital five years later, he looted the capital and obtained 70 million silver coins, which was of course a huge number.

Although Zhang Shikang also felt that the amount of money obtained from this comprehensive purge of officials across the country must be huge, he was not too surprised given the example of Li Zicheng.

However, this number represents a completely different feeling for other people.

Even Emperor Chongzhen was somewhat surprised when he heard this.

Even though Zhang Shikang had told him before that if the Donglin Party group was cleared out, the Ming Dynasty would never be short of money again.

But Emperor Chongzhen never expected that the amount would be so huge.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Revenue, the total annual income of the Ming Dynasty in the tenth year of Chongzhen, including both original and discounted taels, was 15.7 million taels on paper.

Of course, the amount on paper seems to be considerable, but many physical objects are not deposited in Taicang, that is, the national treasury. Because the local governments have to bear the expenses of the royal family and other miscellaneous expenses such as fire consumption, the flow of funds is seriously intercepted, making the account a mess.

Excluding all the interceptions, the amount of silver actually delivered to the national treasury during the tenth year of Chongzhen was approximately 4.6 million taels.

If calculated based on this amount, the imperial court will directly obtain more than 30 years of annual income just by completing this tax collection.

What is this concept?

Emperor Chongzhen's chest heaved and his face turned red.

But Emperor Chongzhen was not the most excited one. The most excited ones should be the nobles and relatives.

Taining Marquis Chen Yanzuo's beard was almost bent with anger. His Chen family was as wealthy as the country, and his family had only more than 20,000 acres of fertile land. Even if all his assets were sold in cash, they would not exceed four million taels.

But that was the Chen family’s accumulation of two hundred and seventy years!

No wonder Chen Yanzuo was angry. That old bastard Liu Yuliang had been an official for forty years, but the amount he embezzled exceeded his?

He originally only knew that these civil servants were rich, but he never expected that they were so rich.

They all have thick eyebrows and big eyes and look honest and upright. They claim to be righteous and moral and to serve the country and the people, but they are actually like this behind the scenes.

Shocking!

Outrageous!

Chen Yanzuo looked around at his other colleagues and saw indignation on their faces.

Qingliu officials such as Hai Zhongqi were also shocked, but they were not as indignant as the nobles. After all, there would be no harm without comparison.

However, Haizhong still questioned Zhang Shikang's report:

“Your Majesty, although the Donglin Party members formed a clique for personal gain and committed many evil deeds, this treatment is against the rules of propriety and I cannot agree with it.

I think that it is not rigorous to use the wealth of one person to compare all the criminal officials.

Moreover, the land owned by officials who have committed corruption should not be included in the total amount of silver. Does Marquis Guanjun want to sell these lands to the people?

If the people still had enough to spare, why would there be bandits rebelling?

Or does the Champion Marquis want to sell these acres to landlords?"

Hai Zhongqi first expressed his attitude very seriously. Regardless of whether this matter was done by Marquis Guanjun alone or instructed by the emperor, he did not agree.

Even though he knew that this would offend the emperor, Hai Zhongqi still did not hesitate.

At the end, Hai Zhongqi looked at Zhang Shikang coldly and asked a series of questions.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen frowned, thinking that this minister really did not know how to live or die.

The Donglin Party members embezzled so much gold, silver and land that the court couldn't even pay the soldiers. You were unable to contribute to the country. Now that he and Marquis Guanjun have taken great pains to resolve this matter, you are jumping out to cause trouble again.

This is really outrageous. Emperor Chongzhen was about to ask for punishment, but Zhang Shikang took over Hai Zhongqi's words and said:

“Mr. Hai has a point.

Don't stare. I certainly don't recommend selling those lands. We'll deal with this matter after we've dealt with the Donglin issue.

The treatment of the Donglin Party members was indeed too harsh, but what else could we do?

Do we rely on you guys to impeach me? Once we impeach me, there will be no evidence of this.

Even if the crimes can be proven, there are so many Donglin in the world and there are 20,000 to 30,000 officials in our Ming Dynasty. If we just deal with them one by one, how long will it take to deal with so many corrupt officials?

What's more, even if you catch a few people, the other officials are not fools. Once they know that the court wants to completely defeat them, do you think they will be prepared?

Will the property be transferred?

Will he just pick up the bucket and run away?

Will he become desperate and do something dangerous?

You may not know that I have experienced several assassination and poisoning incidents in the past two months.

Even our Majesty was almost poisoned.

If we really deal with it step by step, it will take at least ten to eight years to complete.

Mr. Hai should perhaps ask the Jian Nu or the bandits if they are willing to wait ten or eight years before causing trouble again?"

Zhang Shikang said to Hai Zhongqi very seriously.

He first affirmed Hai Zhongqi's statement, and also admitted that this rough way of handling the matter was against etiquette and there was nothing to argue about.

But the problem is that this is indeed the most efficient solution. If you are powerful in the middle stage of the sea, you can solve the Ming Dynasty's predicament in a short period of time and greatly reduce the impact.

Not only will Zhang Shikang not be angry, he will also agree wholeheartedly.

If there really were such a talented person in the Ming Dynasty, would I still be running around like a firefighter?

Wouldn't it be nice to be a young man who lives a comfortable life and waits for death?

Speaking of which, this was the first time that Zhang Shikang argued so seriously with a civil official in the court.

If in the past, when the Donglin Party members gathered in groups and "filled the court", Zhang Shikang would have already cursed them, as they were truly "not worth discussing with".

Zhang Shikang did not hate civil servants, but he hated those hypocritical civil servants who acted like whores but tried to pretend to be virtuous.

For example, it was impossible to dislike Zhang Shikang in the middle period of the sea. This guy was in his forties and as thin as a bamboo pole.

Being the Director of the Ministry of Revenue's Qingli Division was a lucrative job, but this guy had a patch on the back of his official uniform. Although it was well hidden and the stitching was very fine, Zhang Shikang still saw it.

The factory guards had already figured out this guy's family background. If a courtyard enclosed by a fence and wall could be considered a mansion, then the Hai family owned a mansion and a donkey, which meant they were extremely poor.

Through repeated investigations by the Censorate, as well as analysis of Hai Zhongqi's past achievements and reports submitted to the court, Zhang Shikang was very sure that the Ming Dynasty needed such a thorn!

Standing on the wall, no desire is just.

Zhang Shikang admired this kind of upright and incorruptible troublemaker, even though the target of his hatred was him.

Hai Zhongqi did not expect that Zhang Shikang would accept his accusations so calmly.

This made him frown, and he looked at Zhang Shikang as if he were a monster, and asked with a scorching gaze but in a resounding voice:

"I wonder what the Champion Marquis is going to do with those acres of land?"

He knew the current situation in the court. Although the emperor had given his approval, it was mostly the Marquis of Guanjun who was in charge of all the planning and coordination.

Zhang Shikang did not answer his questions directly, and he also turned a blind eye to Zhang Shikang's many questions in return.

Both sides actually know that this is not the core of the problem.

Zhang Shikang smiled upon hearing this, as if he had met a bosom friend, and said in a playful tone:

"I know what you are thinking, but this matter is of great importance. I will only speak to you, so please come closer and listen."

With such a playful expression and a gentle gesture, all the nobles present thought that the middle-level sea official would ignore him or get furious.

But unexpectedly, the middle-level Hai really ran towards Zhang Shikang and handed his ear to him with a calm expression.

Zhang Shikang was also not vague and whispered something to Hai Zhongqi.

The middle-stage sea level cultivator's expression froze and his pupils instantly dilated, his face filled with shock and disbelief.

But he quickly regained his composure, looked at Zhang Shikang again steadily, and after confirming that the other party was not joking, he returned to his train very calmly.

And he did not get entangled in the affairs of the Donglin Party any more.

Of course, Emperor Chongzhen saw the strange behavior of the two people. He immediately frowned, feeling uncomfortable as if ants were crawling on his body.

What did that kid say?