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 very 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 was specially opened to the womenfolk of the families of the officials who had failed in the political struggle, to receive a court music and etiquette education, to polish all their pride and self-esteem, and then they could be sold to the nobles and senior officials who liked them.
That was not a small amount of money, and most of the money went into the emperor's pocket.
Being sold was the best outcome, which meant that they could regain their freedom and did not 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.
In short, the fates of these women who committed crimes were miserable.
The Imperial Court wasn't going to hold back anymore. They were going to kill the Jin Faction, and it was even a unanimous decision. This was the first time in history that Shen Yicheng actually had the power to link up all the major factions in the Imperial Court to launch an attack on the Jin Faction, directly overturning the Jin Faction.
From the beginning of the fourth month until now, half a month had passed. Twenty-one Jin officials had been investigated and sentenced to death. Their properties had been confiscated. The remaining ten or so Jin officials had been arrested and were currently under investigation. Their fates would probably be the same.
On the other hand, only two officials from the Jiangxi faction and two officials from the Jiangzhe faction were apprehended because their reputations were too bad. However, they were not killed. Instead, their property in the capital was 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.
However, as long as one compared the charges, one would know that this was not done intentionally.
A fifth-ranked Jin official from the Ministry of Revenue was found in his home. There were notes totaling thirty thousand taels of silver, ten thousand taels of silver, five thousand taels of gold, and a large number of gold, silver, pearls, and jade artifacts totaling thirty thousand taels of silver. There were also two authentic paintings by Mi Fu of the Song Dynasty, three authentic paintings by Huang Tingjian, and nearly a hundred bronze, gold, and silver antiques totaling seventy thousand taels of silver.
In addition, after torture, the family spat out the fact that they had more than ten thousand mu of farmland and a large number of houses in their hometown in Shanxi. This was another two hundred thousand taels of silver. In addition, the family also confessed that they were involved in the bow and arrow trade with the Northern Barbarians.
There was no need to mention the death penalty. However, for a fifth-ranked official's property to reach the level of more than three hundred thousand taels of silver, one could imagine how this fellow, who only had a legitimate income of twelve and forty-two taels of silver, managed to get so much money.
Smuggling, corruption, gift-giving, trading, hoarding, seizing land, and all sorts of other methods were used. However, this was only a small microcosm 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 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 these guys' routines. However, 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-ranked official had more than three hundred thousand 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 fellow was not the least, nor was he the most. However, the total property of these twenty-one officials was equivalent to the total income of the Daming Empire for four years.
When Luo Sigong saw these reports, his hands were trembling. He felt that this was like the first time he 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 submitted these reports to the Emperor.
If the Emperor found out about this, would the Emperor only vent his anger on the Jin Family?
If the Jin Family official did this, what about the other officials? Would the Emperor continue to think like this, draw inferences from one case, 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 entire 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 irrelevant people and even brought a table full of 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 no less than a hundred taels of silver.
This was half of the annual salary of a first-ranked official in the Daming Empire after deducting all kinds of benefits and material income.
"What business does Minister Shen have here?"
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