Chapter 784: The whole court was shocked
"To report to Your Majesty, I have been ordered to inspect Taicang. Today has been completed, and I came here to report the decree to Your Majesty." After Zhu Pingan stood up, he took out a memorial from his sleeve and held it with both hands respectfully. Hold it on the top of your head.
Huang Jin walked down from Emperor Jiajing, took the memorial from Zhu Pingan's hand, and presented it to Emperor Jiajing with both hands.
Emperor Jiajing took the memorial but did not open it. He placed it on the dragon table in front of him, looked at Zhu Ping'an and said, "Tell me what the results of the inspection are."
"Qi Your Majesty, The minister was ordered to inspect Taicang, focusing on Taicang's account books for the past three years, and counting the gold and silver in the bank. The books of Taicang recorded a deposit of 2,127,200 taels of silver and a deposit of 720,000 gold. Two whole. But the number of ministers After checking the account books on the same day, it was found that there were 367,543 taels of silver in the account books, which were deficient or false, and the accounts could not be reconciled. In addition, after checking the inventory, it was found that only one tael of silver was actually stored in the Taicang Bank. One hundred, two hundred and thirty-seven thousand, two hundred Fifty taels, the actual amount of gold is 316,500 taels, and among them, 903,800 taels of silver are not pure silver, and 125,500 taels of gold are not pure gold. Ping An stood respectfully in front of the hall and reported back with a straight face.
"How much?" Emperor Jiajing's expression suddenly changed, he stood up from the dragon chair, looked at Zhu Pingan angrily and asked.
Hearing the number Zhu Pingan said, Emperor Jiajing almost suspected that his ears had heard it wrong. When he pressed Pingan's words, half of the Taicang was empty! ! ! ! !
This kind of deficit has never happened thousands of years ago in so many dynasties from the Shang and Zhou dynasties to the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties!
If it is true, it would be the biggest case of all time in the world!
Emperor Jiajing thought he was a wise king, but he did not expect that he would be fooled by his subordinates, and even half of the treasury was emptied!
This was a bolt from the blue for Emperor Jiajing.
One of the biggest problems he faces now when he is in power is that the finances are tight. With the Northern and Southern Japanese invaders, natural and man-made disasters, money is needed everywhere. In recent years, money has been spent like water, which made Emperor Jiajing even more miserable. I have become frugal in practicing Taoism and refining alchemy.
You can imagine how devastated Emperor Jiajing was when he heard that half of his treasury had been depleted. How could Emperor Jiajing endure this?
Emperor Jiajing's rage was within Zhu Ping'an's expectation.
However, even though he had expected Emperor Jiajing's anger, and although he also knew that Emperor Jiajing's anger was not directed at him, Zhu Ping'an still couldn't help but feel a chill down his back when he faced the emperor's anger. The emperor's wrath, with millions of corpses lying on the ground and blood floating in the oars, is no joke.
"Going back to your Majesty, there is a deficit and false accounts of 367,543 taels of silver in Taicang's accounts. There is a deficit of 889,950 taels of silver and 400,000 taels of gold in the Taicang warehouse. In addition, There are 903,800 taels of silver that are not pure silver, and there are 125,500 taels of gold that are not pure gold..." After calming down, Zhu Pingan repeated again.
"Are you sure? How come the account is in deficit?" Emperor Jiajing's voice came out from between his teeth, and his face was gloomy, like the sky before a violent storm.
"Wei Chen is sure that it can be guaranteed by the head on the item. For example, the salary received by the Ministry of War recorded in the Taicang account book is very obvious. The salary received by the Ministry of War the year before last was one hundred and eight thousand taels, plus the reward of thirty thousand taels. Two thousand taels is only 140,000 taels, but last year Taicang's account showed that the Ministry of War paid 199,000 taels of salary, which was almost double. According to my investigation, the Ministry of War only added three new officials last year. There is only a shortage of staff, so how can we receive nearly double the salary? There are still many falsehoods and shortcomings. This is a review record by Weichen, and the falsehoods and shortcomings have been recorded. "
Zhu Pingan raised his head and replied eloquently, and then gave an example of false accounting. After speaking, he took out a roll of thick rice paper sewn with needle thread from his sleeve, and raised his hands respectfully above his head.
This stack of rice paper is exactly the Taicang Bank account books that Zhu Pingan re-calculated using the retest accounting table. It is a very thick stack, densely packed with tables and small characters. Zhu Pingan is particularly particular about the shortcomings and falsehoods. Marked out.
When Emperor Jiajing heard the example given by Zhu Pingan, his face was full of anger and clouds were gathering in his face. However, this false account resulted in a loss of more than 90,000 silver! ! More than 90,000 silver dollars are enough to relieve drought and flood disasters in several prefectures!
Huang Jin came down and took the double-entry accounting form from Zhu Pingan, and handed it to Emperor Jiajing respectfully with both hands.
Emperor Jiajing opened a page and saw a completely different accounting method from today's. He was startled when he first saw it. However, Emperor Jiajing was also a person whose talent determines his intelligence. He understood Zhu Ping'an after just a moment. I used the retest accounting form, and then I discovered the advantages of this kind of retest accounting form, among which the false accounts and shortcomings were very obvious.
Everywhere
One item
Shocked and frightened, Emperor Jiajing's face became darker and darker as he looked at it, and the temperature around him dropped again and again, all the way down to below zero. It was like being in an ice cellar within a three-meter radius.
After reading it, Emperor Jiajing suddenly kicked down the cases in front of him and said with murderous intent: "I'm so angry! I'm so angry! These rats! Silverfish! They eat in and out! Guard and steal! It's a waste of time. My trust! It is my decree that all Taicang officials be escorted to the Criminal Department and closely guarded by factory guards!”
“According to the decree”
A chamberlain serving in the main hall responded, hurry up. He walked outside the palace and announced the decree.
"Huang Ban, prepare an edict. Since I came to the throne, all the ministers who have taken charge of the treasury and the ministers who have been dispatched to check the treasury are all trusted and trusted officials. He is so traitorous that he is not responsible for his commission. Do you know whether all the kings and ministers feel guilty? I blame myself for being ignorant and deeply regretful. I will hand it over to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to investigate and investigate the case and strictly discuss the case. , Li Mo, Minister of the Ministry of Official Affairs, He, Minister of the Ministry of Punishments Ao, jointly tried the case of Taicang's bank deficit. The factory guards and other government offices were dispatched to verify and investigate the case. All the Taicang's previous treasurer, censor Bing Dingshu and treasury soldiers were waiting to find out in detail. All officials involved, regardless of their character Regardless of the level of meritorious deeds, all high-ranking officials in Beijing must attend the trial. All officials below the Minister of Household Affairs shall avoid participating in the case. If there is any violation, they will be punished as members of the same party involved in the case. "
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After issuing the oral edict, Emperor Jiajing ordered Huang Jin to draft an imperial edict and submit it to Wuyi Hall for distribution to various government offices.
The imperial edict was transmitted to Wuyi Hall, and all the ministers in the hall were shocked. The impact was comparable to that of a great ceremony, and soon the entire court and the public were shaken.
This is it
The biggest treasury deficit case in history has begun.
The rut of history has also deflected here. Originally, there was no such case of treasury deficit in the history of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, treasury deficit must have existed, and it must have been so serious, but this lid has never been removed. Fang covered it, but it was never untied. However, now Zhu Pingan has fanned the butterfly wings, lifted the lid, and exposed this major case to the world.
Perhaps
After this case, the Ming Dynasty's treasury deficit will be curbed, and the treasury will be richer than in history.
Perhaps
During natural and man-made disasters, the Ming Dynasty had the financial resources to provide disaster relief; when foreign enemies invaded, the Ming Dynasty had the financial resources to organize its army to defend against the enemy.
Maybe
Emperor Chongzhen did not need to hang himself on Meishan, but became the master of ZTE.
Of course, who can say for sure in the future.
Actually, when Zhu Pingan heard Emperor Jiajing dictate the imperial edict to His Highness, he felt somewhat unwilling to do so.
Zhu Pingan also knew that he was not qualified to hear the case, but when he heard that Emperor Jiajing handed over the case to Yan Song for trial, Zhu Pingan still felt a little helpless.
Emperor Jiajing still trusted Yan Song in his heart.
However, in Zhu Pingan's view, this case has a lot to do with the strict Party, and this is certainly the case. But if Yan Song presides over the trial, it is destined to not get to the root of the matter.
But fortunately, Xu Jie, Li Mo and others participated in the main trial. Although the root cause cannot be found, some big fish cannot escape. (End of this chapter)