Chapter 695

No one knew what Yuan Huang was worried about. Perhaps some people had the same concerns, but in the face of the general trend of the world, the power of one person was extremely limited.

In the capital, the Jingcha Storm and the Family Confiscation Storm continued. This time, the Jingcha Storm was very different from the previous times.

In the past, everyone had maintained the most basic restraint. Although they were demoted, their families were not harmed. Except for a few abandoned children, most people were not hurt.

But this time, it was different. A considerable number of people were hurt, and many were directly killed.

The Minister of Revenue was such a big shot, so it was easy to arrest him, confiscate his house, banish his male family members, and sell his female family members as slaves.

Some busybodies who knew the targets of the Jingcha Storm and knew that they were very safe went to the Musical House as soon as possible. As a result, they really saw Yang Junmin's womenfolk.

Under the persuasion of Shen Yicheng, Zhu Yijun still left a way out and allowed Yang Junmin's wife, Mrs. Yang, to commit suicide, so that she did not have to go to the Musical House to be humiliated.

But the other womenfolk did not have such a good opportunity. They were even taken to the Musical House by the Imperial Bodyguard without the right to commit suicide.

Everyone knew what kind of place the Musical House was.

Simply put, it was a brothel openly opened by the government for princes, nobles, and senior officials. The women in it were the womenfolk of the families of the officials who had committed crimes. They had been pampered and well-educated since childhood. Most of them were beautiful and scholarly, which was quite different from the prostitutes in the folk brothels.

Because of this, the Musical House was not open to the common people, but to the upper class.

It specifically allowed the womenfolk of the families of the officials who had failed in the political struggle to come in and receive a court music and etiquette education to polish off all their pride and self-esteem. Then they could be sold to the nobles and senior officials who liked them.

It was not a small amount of money, and most of it went into the emperor's pocket.

Being sold was the best outcome, which meant that they could regain their freedom and did not have to continue to be humiliated and abused in the Musical House. Some of them could only stay in the Musical House for the rest of their lives. When they were old, they would be released, and of course, they would be abandoned, regardless of whether they lived or died.

All in all, the fate of these womenfolk of the officials was miserable.

The Imperial Court wasn't going to hold back and wanted to deal a fatal blow to the Jin Faction. It was even a unanimous decision by the entire Imperial Court. This was the first time something like this had happened. Shen Yi actually had the ability to link up all the major factions in the Imperial Court to launch an attack on the Jin Faction.

From the beginning of April until now, half a month had passed. Twenty-one officials of the Jin faction had been investigated and sentenced to death and had their property confiscated. The remaining dozens of officials of the Jin faction were arrested and investigated, and would probably suffer the same fate.

On the other hand, only two officials from the Jiangxi faction and two officials from the Jiangzhe faction were apprehended due to their terrible reputations. However, they were not killed. Instead, their properties were confiscated and they were demoted to commoners. They were ordered to leave the capital and never to be used again.

Compared to the Jin officials who had their properties confiscated and their families exterminated, this could be considered a good ending.

But as long as the crime was compared, it would be known that this was not a special treatment.

A fifth-level official of the Ministry of Revenue of the Jin faction was found in his home, which was worth 30,000 taels of silver, 10,000 taels of silver, 5,000 taels of gold, and a large number of gold, silver, pearls, and jades, totaling 30,000 taels of silver. Two authentic works of Mi Fu of the Song Dynasty and three authentic works of Huang Tingjian were found, and nearly 100 bronze, gold, and silver antiques were found, totaling 70,000 taels of silver.

In addition, after torture, his family confessed the fact that he had more than 10,000 acres of farmland and a large number of houses in his hometown in Shanxi, which was almost 200,000 taels of silver. In addition, he also confessed the fact that he was involved in the bow and arrow trade with the Northern Barbarians.

Needless to say, a fifth-level official's property had reached more than 300,000 taels of silver. It was conceivable how this guy, who only had a legitimate income of 12 stone and 42 taels of silver, could get so much money.

Smuggling, corruption, gift-giving, trading, hoarding, seizing land, and all sorts of other methods were used. And this was only a small example of the corruption of the civil and military officials in the court.

Under such circumstances, the silver that the Daming Empire had obtained since Long Qing had become the private collection of a small number of people. The emperor was so poor that he could not even take out silver to reward the army, and the people were so poor that they rose up in revolt, causing the Daming Empire to suddenly collapse.

To be honest, Luo Sigong felt that he had seen through these officials and grasped a lot of things. He had basically figured out their routines, but when he saw the report from his subordinates, he could not help but tremble.

How did these people manage to gather so much silver?

A fifth-level official had more than 300,000 taels of silver. What kind of concept was this? This was one-tenth of the annual income of the Daming Empire's treasury! This was the basic military expenditure of the tens of thousands of Zhennan Army under Xiao Ruxun for a year!

Twenty-one officials had their properties confiscated. This guy was not the least or the most, but the total property of these 21 people was equivalent to the total income of the Daming Empire for four years.

When Luo Sigong saw these reports, his hands were shaking. He felt like it was the first time he had killed someone. His heart was trembling, and his hands and feet were trembling. He did not dare to imagine how the Emperor would react if he were to submit these reports to him.

If the Emperor knew that the Jin family had found out about this, would the Emperor only vent his anger on the Jin family?

If the Jin family's official did this, what about the other officials? Would the Emperor continue to think like this, draw inferences about other cases, and then carry out a large-scale confiscation of property?

Luo Sigong wiped the sweat off his forehead.

It was only April, but Luo Sigong felt that his whole body was soaked in sweat.

Could this report really be submitted to the Emperor?

This was what Luo Sigong was thinking.

Just as he was thinking while breaking out in a cold sweat, an uninvited guest came to his yamen. He sent away all the people who had nothing to do with him, and even brought a sumptuous lunch, twelve dishes, and a pot of good wine. This was the food from a famous restaurant in the capital, and it was backed by a certain noble.

This table of top-notch dishes was made with extravagant materials that ordinary people could not imagine. Just this table alone, Luo Sigong was sure that it cost at least 100 taels of silver.

This was half of the annual salary of a first-level official in the Daming Empire after deducting all kinds of benefits and material income.

"What business do you have here, Minister Shen?"