After leaving the Qianqing Palace, Xie Sanbin quickly walked to the gate of the imperial city and left with Fan Jingwen, who had been waiting for a long time.

As soon as they walked out of the gate of the imperial city, they were surrounded by ministers outside.

Minister of War Wang Jiayan took the lead and asked, "Lord Fan, Lord Xie, have you two seen His Majesty?"

Fan Jingwen nodded: "Yes."

Wang Jiayan immediately asked, "How is your majesty?"

Fan Jingwen replied calmly, "Hello, Your Majesty."

Hearing that Chongzhen was fine, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's good!" said Wang Jiayan.

"Yes, we finally don't have to worry anymore." Minister of Personnel Qiu Yu followed.

Just as everyone was sighing, the newly appointed Minister of Rites Shi Kefa asked, "Excuse me, Mr. Fan, when will His Majesty attend court?"

Fan Jingwen smiled and took half a step to the side in front of everyone.

The middle position was given to Xie Sanbin.

The meaning of this action is very clear, he is no longer the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty.

The power to answer this question should be given to the new Prime Minister Xie Sanbin.

It was Xie Sanbin's first time as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, so it was hard not to be excited.

He straightened his back and said in a calm tone, "His Majesty didn't say when you will go to court, but His Majesty has ordered you to go before him with the memorial."

Shi Kefa was stunned at first, then walked towards the imperial city.

The others stayed where they were and continued to ask Fan Jingwen and Xie Sanbin about the situation inside the imperial city.

Because Chongzhen didn't keep it secret.

So in order to appease the officials, the two of them said everything they could.

Inside the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

Chongzhen met Shi Kefa.

Shi Kefa was born in the 30th year of the Wanli reign and is exactly 50 years old now.

It is the age of knowing one’s destiny.

After a brief greeting, Shi Kefa took out his memorial and raised his hands high above his head: "Your Majesty, I have something important to report."

Wang Chengen walked quickly to Shi Kefa and took the question book, then walked quickly to Chongzhen.

Chongzhen took the question book, opened it and read it carefully.

While he was watching, Shi Kefa said loudly below: "Your Majesty, I impeach Liu Kongzhao, the Earl of Chengyi, Zhu Guobi, the Marquis of Funing, Xu Wenjue, the Duke of Wei, Liu Zuochang, the Marquis of Anyuan, Zhao Zhilong, the Earl of Xincheng, and others."

"They set up a private mint in Nanjing and minted the Ming Yuanbao privately. Then they used the Ming Yuanbao to forcibly exchange silver from the people. The profits were neither handed over to the court nor benefited the people. Instead, they were divided among themselves."

"These people who bring disaster to the country and the people are the criminals of the Ming Dynasty! If they are not severely punished, it will be difficult to convince the public."

"Every word I said is true. Your Majesty, please order a thorough investigation!"

After listening to Shi Kefa's statement, Chongzhen was stunned.

As far as he knew, the only two people who privately minted the Ming Yuanbao coins were Liu Kongzhao and Zhu Guobi.

When did the other three nobles also get involved?

If he was not involved, it only means that Shi Kefa’s intelligence was wrong.

If they really participated in the private minting of coins, Chongzhen would only be frightened.

Because up to now, Jinyiwei has not received any relevant intelligence.

What the Jinyiwei didn't know, he didn't know even more.

This is a bit scary.

In order to monitor every move in Nanjing, Chongzhen asked Li Ruolian to send a large number of Jinyiwei there.

Let me put it this way.

In terms of numbers, the capital had the largest number of Jinyiwei.

The second is Nanjing.

If Xu Wenjue, Liu Zuochang and Zhao Zhilong could mint coins under the noses of so many Jinyiwei.

This only proves one thing: some Jinyiwei in Nanjing have been infiltrated and bribed.

They were no longer loyal to Chongzhen, but to certain other people or money.

Seeing Chongzhen frowning, Shi Kefa thought that Chongzhen didn't believe it.

He bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I have evidence."

Chongzhen raised his eyebrows: "Human evidence or physical evidence?"

“Both”

"Hmm?" This surprised Chongzhen. He put down the question book and asked, "Tell me your evidence."

"Yes," Shi Kefa bowed again and said, "Don't be afraid of your majesty laughing at me. I have a good reputation in Nanjing. In the eyes of many poor people, I am a loyal minister. They trust me, so they are willing to tell me the evidence of many people's illegal activities."

(Shi Kefa in history had a high reputation among the people at that time.)

"The witness is a craftsman named Li San. He is proficient in the art of casting and is responsible for casting coins for Xu Wenjue, Liu Zuochang, and Zhao Zhilong."

"Wait," Chongzhen suddenly asked, "This Li San is also one of the beneficiaries. Why did he expose this matter?"

Shi Kefa explained: "The policy of forcibly implementing currency reform has been issued. Xu Wenjue and others knew that the court would conduct a strict investigation, so they decided to stop minting and destroy the molds. Li San is a smart man. In order to avoid being killed, he came to me for protection."

"Yes," Chongzhen nodded, "where is the physical evidence? It won't be destroyed?"

"A lot of it was indeed destroyed, but he took the opportunity to copy the most crucial evidence: the account book! It records the cost of each shipment of silver, coal, and white copper, as well as the number of Ming Yuanbao shipped out."

"Are there all the witnesses and evidence?"

"yes."

"Have you verified all the evidence?"

"I have verified it privately, and it should be true."

"Good!" Chongzhen became excited.

It’s really a relief to have someone give you a pillow when you feel sleepy.

He was just worrying about the chaos in Nanjing when Shi Kefa brought him the irrefutable evidence.

Chongzhen read the memorial again and reviewed its contents.

After reading it, he found another memorial below.

Chongzhen took it in his hand and asked, "What is this?"

Seeing this, Shi Kefa bowed again and said, "This is my memorial impeaching Zheng Zhilong, the commander-in-chief of the Fujian Navy."

"Zheng Zhilong was an official appointed by the imperial court, but he acted as a pirate under the banner of the imperial army, making the passing merchant ships miserable! In addition to instructing his subordinates to rob merchant ships along the way, he also personally organized smuggling. In particular, during the Ping Liao army campaign, he smuggled to the Jiannu, which seriously disrupted the balance of the situation in Liaodong."

"According to my estimation, he earns tens of millions of taels of silver every year from smuggling."

"I ask Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate this matter, give justice to the Liao army, and bring peace to the coast of Ming!"

Chongzhen quickly read through the memorial.

Although his face looked solemn, he was actually very happy in his heart.

Shi Kefa's impeachment was very timely.

With his impeachment, the nobles of Nanjing and Zheng Zhilong of Fujian would definitely panic.

Next, they will consider self-protection.

In this way, Chongzhen's first phase plan was completed.

"Shocking, shocking!" Chongzhen pretended to be surprised, "These people don't take me and the Ming Dynasty seriously at all."

Under Shi Kefa's expectant eyes, Chongzhen said in a deep voice: "Pass the order, I will hold an early court tomorrow!"