What Kangxi found most unacceptable was the discovery of a large number of "women" in these violent families who suited his tastes. It wasn't just that they suited his tastes; they were practically tailor-made for him.
For example, there was Wuya, who had just given birth, and many others who hadn't yet entered the palace, who were being groomed according to his preferences. There was also one who, seeing his continued fondness for Wanwan, was imitating Wanwan's behavior.
However, the attempt to imitate her failed, and the essence of Wanwan's personality was not captured.
Moreover, the secret guards discovered a shocking piece of information: his brother Fuquan and other princes' wives mostly had no children, or their children were physically weak, while some princesses from bondservant families were giving birth one after another.
This inevitably made Kangxi suspect that if one day the power of the so-called "bondservant families" reached a point where the imperial family could no longer control them, could the bondservants also control their offspring, or even eliminate them and allow their sons to ascend to the throne...?
Oh, and there are also some items that frequently go missing from the palace. They always say they were lost by accident, but in reality, they were stolen and sold by the servants. The reasons are varied and bizarre. Some disappeared suddenly, some were given away as gifts, and some were broken. Most of them are inconspicuous items, but over the years, the number has become quite large.
...
The more Kangxi thought about it, the more frightened he became. He felt that the "bondservant families" had to be eliminated, but it was impossible to carry out a large-scale confiscation of their property.
Instead, the raid should be carried out when they are unaware, so as to preserve the evidence found during the confiscation of property to the greatest extent possible, and to prevent the bondsers from escaping or transferring assets.
As Kangxi reviewed the charges against these people one by one, he had already decided to take action that night.
The Imperial Guards had already been adjusted long ago.
……………………
By late afternoon, almost every prominent bondservant family had been surrounded by the Imperial Guards. They entered without knocking and began ransacking the homes, taking everyone into custody…
The raid lasted all night. By the time Emperor Kangxi finished his morning court session the next day, he had already seen the silver and antiques that the secret guards had confiscated…
When Emperor Kangxi saw this, he almost coughed up blood. "Wow, that's great! It's excellent! Even if there was a budget, I never imagined they would embezzle so much."
There are over 30 million taels of silver alone, more than one million taels of gold, and countless antiques and paintings worth a thousand gold pieces. Moreover, there are plenty of farmland, shops, and estates.
Let alone Emperor Kangxi's private treasury, even the current national treasury doesn't have that much money.
Of course, there is one advantage to this: the military pay and provisions that have been cut now should be able to be supplied.
For the time being, we don't need to worry about the money from the downsizing of San Francisco.
Thinking of this, Kangxi had to admit that this was indeed good news.
However, considering that all this money was discovered because of Wanwan, you instructed the advisor to...
"Go to my private treasury and pick out the best things, and send more of them to Jingren Palace."
But when the advisor was about to go out to pick out some things, Kangxi stopped him again, saying, "Wait a moment, I will also pick out some good ones from these antiques, and you can come with me to Jingren Palace."
The consultant said, "He is a good man."
So Wanwan received gifts from Emperor Kangxi, some of which were quite rare, and some of which she herself did not even have.
He knew perfectly well why, so he gladly accepted it, since it was nothing compared to the gold and silver treasures that had been found.
When the advisors went to deliver things to Jingren Palace, Kangxi also instructed Liang Jiugong to do something.
Kangxi looked down at the ledgers of embezzlement by the bondservant officials, and without raising his head, said to Liang Jiugong, "Go and inform all the ministers that after lunch, they must immediately go to the Qianqing Palace for court. No one is to be late."
And so Liang Jiugong went out to deliver the imperial decree. Of course, he didn't go alone; he was accompanied by many eunuchs. Otherwise, if he went to each and every household, his legs would probably be worn thin from all the walking, given how many officials there were.
Although the imperial decree was to be delivered after lunch, it would be too late for the ministers to finish their lunch and get ready to enter the palace.
Therefore, they could only have lunch early, and just as they missed lunch, which was when Kangxi finished eating, they had to go to court.
The ministers had no idea what important matter could have prompted Emperor Kangxi to summon them to court again in the afternoon.
Most people were wondering whether there had been a major victory or a major defeat in the battle on the front lines.
Otherwise, it's inexplicable why they rushed to court in the afternoon instead of waiting until tomorrow.
……………………
After the court session, the ministers learned the reason and were filled with resentment. Who could have imagined that while they had been fighting bravely against three princes of different surnames to suppress the Three Feudatories, a group of lackeys were actually dragging the entire court down?
Can this be tolerated? Of course not. And the most important thing is seeing these so-called servants living better lives than themselves.
I felt even more resentful. I worked myself to the bone for my official position, while you could easily embezzle so much money, possibly even using your own name.
As a result, there was a great deal of discontent in the court, and the officials planned to thoroughly investigate these people after returning home.
……………………
And so this scene unfolded: that afternoon, after court, the first thing all the officials did upon returning home was not to handle official business, nor to relax with their favorite concubines, but to have their trusted servants investigate the bondservant families in their territories. And then they discovered something even more astonishing…
That is, his own life was indeed not as good as those of the bondservantes, even though he had been mentally prepared when he went to court.
But I was still shocked when I saw it, especially since there was an official's servant who was using his name to embezzle money, and even more so, he was using his name to collect beautiful women. That was unacceptable.
So this scene unfolded. Starting that night, for several days in a row, human slave dealers received many slaves who had been sold off by their masters, and at low prices. That was fine, since no one was killed. But some bondservants were so corrupt that they were beaten to death by their masters and thrown into the mass grave. Shi Qiu saw this scene again, with the corpses in the mass grave truly piled up like mountains.
This time, the imperial court was caught off guard by the great surprise. These so-called noble families were completely unprepared and were almost all wiped out in one fell swoop.
In just a few days, there must have been several thousand people who died, right? After all, the so-called "bondservant families" were not small at all. Some families had a dozen or so members, while others had dozens or even hundreds of members. All in all, there must have been several thousand people.
Both the emperor and these princes and officials have become somewhat wary of bondservants, so it is likely that the possibility of bondservants becoming rampant in the future will be very small.
Of course, not all bondservants embezzled money.
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