Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "It doesn't matter if you don't know. You'll find out after checking."
After that, Zhu Youxiao said, "Xu Xianchun, start at dawn and arrest Chen Zhenglin first."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Xu Xianchun said directly.
If you want to stir up a big case in Jiangnan, then the starting point of this case must be significant enough. In Jiangnan, what kind of case is the most significant?
Naturally, it was the imperial examination cheating case.
In places like this, everyone takes the imperial examinations, and there are many scholars. What scholars hate most is cheating in the imperial examinations.
When such a case comes to light, it is easy to gain support from scholars. To put it bluntly, no one dares to make a fuss. Because whoever makes a fuss is going against all scholars, and in this era, it means going against everyone in the world.
As long as he creates a cheating case in Jiangnan and makes it bigger, anyone he wants to get rid of will be implicated. There is no need to talk about other cases or what other things you have done. This one case will get you all involved.
This is the method commonly used by the emperor. Who would talk to you about any specific case or evidence?
That's not how an emperor should act. Only a minister would discuss the case and evidence in that way.
For the emperor, there are only two ways to take action: either investigate the cheating case in the imperial examination or investigate the rebellion. In short, he would implicate as many people as possible and strike down as many people as possible, crushing all opposition and not giving them any chance at all.
Among these, the easiest case to handle is the imperial examination cheating case, because other cases are difficult to handle, and are likely to be accused of injustice, and are also difficult to handle in public opinion.
On the contrary, in the case of cheating in the imperial examination, scholars would support them. Of course, they hated cheating in the imperial examination, but the other reason was that only a few people passed the imperial examination, and most people would not think that their knowledge was not good enough, but would think that they failed because of the cheating of a few people.
This kind of thinking is bound to linger in people's subconscious, so they will tacitly accept that these people are cheating. Even if they don't believe it in their hearts, they won't tell anyone. If they just retake the exam, they will have an advantage. Who knows if they can pass the exam again? What if they pass?
Even if someone feels justice, they can't speak it out, because most people have no sense of justice. After ten years of hard study, how could they let go of the opportunity to be on the list?
Therefore, the easiest and quickest way was to fabricate a cheating case in the imperial examination. Zhu Youxiao couldn't do that, so he had to settle for the next best thing; he couldn't fabricate a case of rebellion either, because there was clearly no one rebelling.
It could only be a large-scale corruption case, so the only target was the salt merchants. Salt merchants played a vital role in Jiangnan, and half of the prosperity was supported by them.
If he wanted to take action against the salt merchants, he had to remove their protective umbrella first, so Zhu Youxiao arrested Duke Wei.
As long as the Duke of Wei's family doesn't cause trouble and behaves well, no one else can cause trouble. Even if there are sporadic disturbances, they are just like an ant trying to shake a tree, so there is no need to take them seriously.
As for the idea that a single spark can start a prairie fire, that’s wishful thinking on their part, but are they worthy of it?
After dealing with the Duke of Wei in Nanjing, Zhu Youxiao fled to Yangzhou. In Yangzhou, the government office most closely involved in salt transportation was the Yangzhou Transport Commissioner's Office, and the most crucial figure for the salt merchants was the Yangzhou Transport Commissioner Chen Zhenglin.
As long as Chen Zhenglin is arrested, we'll have enough evidence, and he'll definitely confess freely. When disaster strikes, no one will protect others.
After hearing this, Xu Xianchun quickly said, "Yes, Your Majesty. Tomorrow morning will suffice. We will wait on the road to the yamen. When Chen Zhenglin comes out of his house, we will secretly arrest him."
Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "That's great. Have you brought over the merchants we arrested in Nanjing?"
This is also another reason why Zhu Youxiao wanted to take action against Chen Zhenglin. Those businessmen in Nanjing have confessed some of their bad deeds, including giving money to Chen Zhenglin.
Of course, it’s not about giving money directly, but using another method, which is the legendary elegant bribery, which is just a way of pretending to be cultured.
Ancient calligraphy and paintings, and classics by famous artists all appear to be works of literati and scholars, but in reality, they only care about money.
These things are very common in official circles. People usually exchange gifts with each other. Over time, these things become more and more valuable. The recipients understand it, and the givers understand it even more. Everyone knows it tacitly.
With such evidence, it is naturally not difficult to arrest the person. Once the person is arrested, he can be interrogated thoroughly.
Moreover, Chen Zhenglin's confession could just create a storm in Jiangnan.
"Okay, let's get started tomorrow." Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "You go and make the arrangements."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Xu Xianchun agreed and turned to walk outside.
After Xu Xianchun left, Zhu Youxiao turned to Wei Changsheng and said, "You have done a good job here. Send a copy of what you have collected to Chen Hong, and then do your job well."
"After this incident is over, you will be transferred from here to the Imperial Household Department. If you work there for a few years and do a good job, you can be transferred to the government. If you don't want to be an official, then stay in the Imperial Household Department. In a few years, there will be great things to do there."
For someone like Wei Changsheng, entering the Imperial Household Department would be no problem. Firstly, they had experience in business, and especially in interpersonal relationships.
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