OBS Chapter 374 The Bigger Problem Behind the Blank Seal Case
Chapter 374 The Bigger Problem Behind the Blank Seal Case
As the saying goes, "The emperor only needs to speak, but Wang Qiong has to run himself ragged."
Fortunately, Wang Qiong had already gotten used to this kind of life where he had to go on business trips all the time. After receiving the order from Emperor Zhu, Wang Qiong immediately set off for Ningyang County.
"His Majesty instructed me to bring this to the Prince Consort."
"This was sent by Her Majesty the Empress to the two princesses."
"This was sent by His Highness the Crown Prince to His Highness the Prince Consort and the two princesses."
Upon seeing Yang Shaofeng, Wang Qiong first showed him three small wooden boxes that weren't too big, and then said with a smile, "Also, the dumplings that the Prince Consort and the Princess sent to the capital have been tasted by His Majesty, the Empress, and the Crown Prince, and they all liked them very much. His Majesty said that the mantis shrimp dumplings can be listed as tribute, and will be offered as tribute once a year from now on."
Yang Shaofeng chuckled and first had the maid carry the three small boxes over to Jin'er and Yu'er. Then he looked at Wang Qiong and said, "Wang Qiong, what brings you to Ningyang this time?"
Wang Qiong cupped his hands in greeting to Yang Shaofeng and said, "I've come for the Empty Seal Case."
Upon hearing the words "empty seal case," Yang Shaofeng frowned and asked, "empty seal case? Could it be that those county magistrates of Dengzhou Prefecture were also involved?"
Yang Shaofeng wasn't worried about himself. After all, the account books that Dengzhou Prefecture sent to the Ministry of Revenue were all filled out before being sent, and the numbers filled in were all true, so there was nothing to fear from an investigation.
And the magistrates of the ten counties under the jurisdiction of Dengzhou Prefecture...
Although Yang Shaofeng had already told them on their first day in Dengzhou, using the cases of Xu Zheng and Qu Mingjie, that the account books should be filled with accurate figures, with that bastard Fang Kejian as an example, Yang Shaofeng was not sure whether the officials in Dengzhou Prefecture would obey him.
However, if these officials really get involved in the blank seal case, then they can only say they deserve it.
If officials didn't use blank money and grain registers to amass wealth, the account books they sent to the Ministry of Revenue wouldn't have any outrageous discrepancies, and naturally, they wouldn't need to bring any blank money and grain registers.
As I said before, anyone who uses blank printing of money and grain registers, not one of them, is not exactly clean.
However, Wang Qiong shook his head and said, "Only Fang Kejian from Dengzhou Prefecture was involved; the other nine county magistrates were not."
At this point, Wang Qiong suddenly said with a hint of schadenfreude, "The Prince Consort might not guess that Fang Kejian wasn't the only one implicated in the blank seal case."
Yang Shaofeng was slightly taken aback and asked, "Not what? What do you mean?"
Wang Qiong glanced in the direction of Wenshang County and whispered, "Fang Kejian has an older brother named Fang Keqin, who is currently the prefect of Jining Prefecture. He's been dragged into this too! Both brothers are involved in the blank seal case, tsk tsk~"
Fang Keqin?
You can tell from their names that this guy and Fang Kejian are brothers.
But what does this have to do with me? It seems fine that the two brothers are all together.
But then, Yang Shaofeng frowned and asked, "Are there a particularly large number of local officials involved this time?"
Wang Qiong nodded: "Officials from 653 prefectures and counties have been implicated. The inspector has been arresting people everywhere recently. It is said that the prison in Yingtian Prefecture is not enough. The officials who were arrested later could only be put into the Shenwu Guard's military camp for safekeeping."
hiss~
Six hundred and fifty-three?
Holy crap, the Ming Dynasty only had about a thousand prefectures and counties in total. If the officials of 653 prefectures and counties were involved in the blank seal case, doesn't that mean the Ming Dynasty will suddenly lose more than 600 officials?
So, if there are 653 officials, and each official has five family members, then the 653 officials would have 3,265 relatives.
It's a little less, but even a small shadow leg is still flesh. If there are only a thousand able-bodied men among the more than three thousand relatives of convicted officials, the road construction in Dengzhou Prefecture can be accelerated.
Seeing Yang Shaofeng deep in thought, Wang Qiong smiled and said, "His Majesty said that, apart from some of the female relatives of these convicted officials who will be sent to the Jiaofangsi (a government-run entertainment institution), the rest, regardless of gender, will be exiled to Dengzhou to do hard labor."
Damn it?
Upon hearing Wang Qiong's statement, Yang Shaofeng immediately became wary.
What did he say when I asked him for hard labor the last time?
He said that he was doing his best to conscript laborers to Dengzhou, and he wasn't afraid of being stuffed to death.
Why would that old man Zhu Chongba be so kind this time, actually taking the initiative to send someone to Dengzhou Prefecture for hard labor?
Just as Yang Shaofeng was pondering this, Wang Qiong continued, "However, His Majesty also said that he wants the Imperial Son-in-Law to write a memorial about the Blank Seal Case."
Yang Shaofeng was slightly taken aback and asked, "A memorial to the throne?"
No, I'm not involved in the blank seal case, so why would you ask me to write a memorial?
Could it be that I failed to discover that Fang Kejian, the magistrate of Zhaoyuan County under my jurisdiction, is a corrupt official, and therefore I am required to write a memorial reflecting on my actions?
That doesn't make sense either. Although Zhu Chongba, that old scoundrel, has never disappointed in his lack of humanity, surely he wouldn't go so far as to send Wang Qiong to Ningyang County just because of Fang Kejian?
Is Old Deng really that free?
Should I find him some more work to do?
Just as Yang Shaofeng was pondering whether to add some more amusement to Lao Deng's life, Wang Qiong smiled sheepishly and said, "His Majesty said that the Imperial Son-in-Law should write a memorial, mainly about how to prevent such incidents."
After a slight pause, Wang Qiong added in a low voice, "It's not about preventing another blank seal case, but about preventing certain people from using the blank seal case as an opportunity to cause trouble again."
Yang Shaofeng was startled and looked at Wang Qiong, asking, "What did you say, Brother Wang? To prevent someone from using the blank seal case to cause trouble again?"
Wang Qiong nodded, then took out an envelope from her bosom and handed it to Yang Shaofeng: "This is a letter from His Highness the Crown Prince to the Prince Consort."
Yang Shaofeng took the letter from Wang Qiong, carefully checked the sealing wax, and then opened it to read it.
After reading it, Yang Shaofeng was completely bewildered.
It's a complete mess, utter chaos!
According to Zhu Biao's letter, Zhu Chongba, that old man, had already sensed that something was wrong.
Or rather, Emperor Zhu had already noticed something amiss with the scholars in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangxi.
Yang Shaofeng pondered for a moment, then suddenly cupped his hands in a gesture of respect to Wang Qiong and said, "Brother Wang, please have some tea here. I'll go and write something first."
After returning to his study, Yang Shaofeng immediately laid out paper, ground ink, and began to write and draw.
The essence of the blank seal case is that officials were accustomed to using blank seals to embezzle money during the Yuan Dynasty.
However, the officials implicated in the blank seal case were mostly from Jiangnan, which was extremely absurd.
While most officials in the north were not exactly good people either, only a minority of them were implicated in the blank seal case.
In other words, there is an even bigger problem behind the blank printing case.