People always say that a new official starts with three things.
For Zhang Jinnan, he has more than three fires to burn.
There was no other way. No matter what he thought, Lin Hai's request had to be fulfilled. Zhang Jinnan still remembered Lin Hai's gloomy face when he met him to accept the position and mission of Shangshu.
"Wang Zuo didn't want to do it. On the one hand, it was because internal and external work really needed to be separated. On the other hand, he felt that he couldn't bring himself to do anything to his own people.
All the previous cases were handed over to Wang Zuo from you. Now I want you to hand it over directly to me. Don't tell me you can't do it either."
"Your Majesty, I am willing to serve you with all my heart and soul."
"Devote yourself to the end, and never give up until your death? Zhang Jinnan, I didn't expect you had a trick up your sleeve."
Lin Hai sneered.
"Your Majesty, it is not easy to train a Minister of Supervision. I will not die, nor dare I die, until Your Majesty trains a good successor for me."
"Okay! Since you're mentally prepared, go ahead and do it. If anything goes wrong, I'll cover for you. If anyone is dissatisfied, let them come and talk to me."
Lin Hai sent Zhang Jinnan away with just one sentence.
The next day, all the senior leaders of Qinghe gathered in Xijing and were held in a closed-door meeting in the conference room by Lin Haiguan for three days. Three days later, the announcement spread throughout Qinghe.
His Majesty the Emperor Qinghe issued an edict, allowing officials who have committed corrupt acts to surrender themselves within one month, and if they surrender themselves, they will receive a lighter punishment.
Every day, express horses, carrier pigeons and telegraphs sent 800 miles of express trains to Xijing to collect cases of self-surrender from all over the country and placed them on Lin Hai's desk.
"So half a month has passed and no one has surrendered?"
Lin Hai said with a ferocious expression.
"Yes, Your Majesty. The various offices of the Ministry of Supervision are completely deserted. No one ever enters them. If there were people passing by in the past, they now avoid the Ministry of Supervision, saying that this is to avoid misunderstandings."
"Haha, are you still trying to avoid me? Have you found out about the three war reserve warehouses? Something's obviously missing, are they still trying to hide it? Don't you want to turn yourself in?"
Zhang Jinnan seems much calmer than Lin Hai. After all, he has seen everything in his many years of work as an inspector.
"Your Majesty, those three warehouses caught fire last night."
"Fire?"
"Yes, there was a fire. The fire was quite intense, but it was well controlled. It just burned down the three warehouses, leaving nothing behind. However, it did not affect the neighboring warehouses at all, nor did it cause any panic."
"Do they think I won't be able to find out?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. That's probably what they thought. After all, we found the charred bodies of our five operators and three informants at the entrance of the burning warehouse."
Zhang Jinnan paused and continued, "He just happened to be the operator in charge of this matter and the informant who provided the intelligence."
"Does that mean we've lost all the evidence?"
"It's impossible to convict them using conventional methods. And with this precedent, I don't think anyone will turn themselves in. After all, setting a fire is much easier than kneeling before you and begging for mercy."
"Then use unconventional methods. Hang those bastards up and beat them to death. I don't believe they won't confess!"
Lin Hai's angry roar startled the maid who was preparing desserts in the tea room.
Shi Zhen'er stood at the door and waved her hand to stop everyone who wanted to go in to see what was going on. It would be better not to go in at this time.
"If Your Majesty simply wants to find a few people to vent his anger on, then I can go and do it right now. No matter what the charges are, rest assured, they will confess after a few tortures. Even if they are accused of colluding with King Yama to embezzle paper money from the underworld, they will admit it."
Zhang Jinnan continued speaking slowly.
"Are you mocking me for trying to force a confession?"
"Your Majesty, you must not torture anyone before you have verified the facts, especially against one of your own people. Once this loophole is opened, the consequences will be no less disastrous than the spread of corruption."
Lin Hai took a deep breath and calmed himself down. It was really infuriating, but as an emperor, he really couldn't be angry. As the saying goes, if everyone is guilty, the fault lies with me.
In other words, since he has become the emperor, he is responsible for everything that happens in the country, so whether he is yelling or threatening to use torture to force a confession, it is essentially a manifestation of his cowardice and helplessness.
If he really resorted to corporal punishment, it would only make the corrupt officials happy.
In the future, all we have to do is send a few people to the emperor to kill him.
By then, the emperor will have vented his anger and everyone will benefit. Even if those who took the blame die, their families will receive unimaginable benefits. Everyone will be happy.
But people must always know the emperor's anger.
On the twentieth day, before the deadline for surrendering arrived, Lin Hai announced at the grand court meeting of that month that since no one had surrendered, it meant that all the officials in Qinghe were honest officials.
Since he is an honest official, he must not be afraid of investigation.
Thus began the first comprehensive audit covering the entire Qinghe military and political system.
The logic of auditing is very simple. As long as there is a problem during your tenure, then you have a problem. Auditors will not listen to your excuses, whether it was a fire, theft, or the fish in the pond moved overnight when they heard there was going to be an audit. It doesn't matter.
The royal guards who protected the auditors were even more ruthless. Not to mention trying to give gifts to curry favor, even if you wanted to speak to the auditors in private, you would be ruthlessly rejected. If your behavior was really suspicious, you would even be shot on the spot.
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