Chapter 482: Carrying the Book of Life and Death 2×
The court officials heard the rustling of pages behind the curtain.
Soon, the noise stopped.
Then Zhao Hua smiled and asked:
"Sir Yang, I see that your monthly salary as the Minister of the Central Hall is five hundred taels, is that right?"
Lord Yang asked impatiently, "Why is the Queen Mother asking these questions?"
Zhao Hua said: "Of course I am concerned about you. You have a wife, three concubines, two sons and one daughter. This whole family relies on your salary to support them. I am afraid that life is difficult."
Lord Yang was silent for a moment, then suddenly raised his voice to cover up his guilty conscience.
"You are joking, Queen Mother. Ordinary people work hard all year and can't earn more than a hundred taels of silver. My monthly salary is enough to cover their income in several years. How can I not be able to support my wife and children? Even if you have a large family and a lot of expenses, you can still live a stable life by saving money."
"Live frugally? Haha~" Zhao Hua seemed to have heard some very funny joke. She, who was always dignified in the previous dynasty, laughed out loud at this moment.
"You have no side job, and your wives and concubines don't work. Even if you use 500 taels of silver a month to subsidize the household expenses, last month you bought a piece of Huzhou coral, which cost 300 taels of silver.
Your wife and concubines bought the first batch of Beijing embroidery produced in Kyoto, which cost four hundred and eighty silver coins; your children are eager to study, so they are enrolled in the private school run by Mr. Wanyan, and the monthly tuition is a total of two hundred and ten silver coins.
Just by roughly calculating these items, your expenses last month were nearly 1,000 taels, which is more than double your monthly salary. I would like to ask you, whose food and expenses are you saving? Hmm?"
Hearing Zhaohua talking about his family's private affairs, Lord Yang panicked for a moment and could only argue:
"There is still some money in the house, so if there are a few extra expenses every month, it's nothing..."
"Occasionally?" Zhao Hua fiddled with the book in his hand and sneered, "What I have recorded here is your family's annual expenses. The above conditions are clearly stated. Your family's expenditure last year was at least 13,600 yuan. Lord Yang is a noble man who forgets things easily. Do you need me to read these details to you one by one?"
"this......"
Lord Yang hesitated for a long time, but could not come up with a reasonable explanation.
In a hurry, he could only blame others and said:
"As a member of the harem, how can the Queen Mother know so much about my private property?"
"Private property? Do you consider the silver you looted as private property?" Zhao Hua asked him solemnly.
"Your annual salary plus annual bonus is only 7,000 taels. How could this several thousand taels of silver that appeared out of nowhere be given to you by your ancestors?
No wonder you are in a hurry to make me abdicate. If I abdicate, will you, the court officials, be able to control the government? I am watching you all and you dare to be so arrogant. If I abdicate, I am afraid that gold will come out of your well!"
Zhao Hua's words left Lord Yang speechless.
While he was racking his brains to come up with a defense, Zhao Hua didn't even give him a chance.
"You said that I am too soft-hearted to govern the country. Then I will set an example for all the court officials today by being decisive. The laws of the Qi Dynasty stipulate that those who take bribes and pervert the law can be executed if they take more than 3,000 silver coins."
After she finished speaking, she suddenly raised her voice and said:
"Come here, take Lord Yang away and behead him immediately!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the whole hall was in an uproar.
Lord Yang even explained the pros and cons, saying that Zhaohua would lose the support of the people if he did so.
But why would Zhaohua care about these?
In her opinion, the courtiers standing in the hall were all well-behaved.
The previous emperor passed away and the country was in turmoil. Who wouldn't want to take advantage of the chaos to get a piece of the pie?
By forcing her to step down, the court officials could sideline Cheng Yu, use him as a puppet, and gradually erode the national interests.
Zhaohua has always been clear about what he loves and hates.
What she hated was Xiao Jingheng, not the country that gave birth to her and raised her.
When someone came in and blocked Lord Yang's mouth and dragged him away for execution, the court officials saw it.
The original Chaoyang Palace had already been surrounded by countless guards.
These guards were not the imperial guards, nor were they the royal family's personal soldiers. Judging from their attire, they looked more like dead soldiers who only obeyed Yu Zhaohua's orders...
As a result, no one dared to plead for Lord Yang.
We are all officials in the court, and how many of them are truly clean?
Especially in the past year, Xiao Jingheng neglected to deal with corruption, and the court officials followed suit and everyone was trying to make money. In this situation, those who remained sober and upright seemed out of place.
At this moment, in their view, the book in Zhao Hua's hand was more like a book of life and death that held their lives.
Using national laws as an excuse and life and death as a threat, they were silenced without a single mistake.
However, what they don't know is that
The reason why Xiao Jingheng ignored the corruption issue last year was entirely because of Zhao Hua's advice.
She once said to Xiao Jingheng:
"Since His Majesty ascended the throne, he has cracked down on corruption every year. Now, court officials no longer dare to do anything out of line, and the amount of ill-gotten gains confiscated from corrupt officials each year is getting smaller and smaller.
In my opinion, the emperor should take it easy. The court officials see that the emperor doesn't care about this matter anymore, and the wealthy people see that the policy is loosening, so they will secretly give some money to the officials in various places to make it easier for them to do things. The water in this pond is too clear, it can't raise fat fish.
The emperor should give them a break and slow down for a year or two, so that they can get fat and tired of the food, and then settle the score with them, bring out all the evidence of their corruption, and force them to hand over all the embezzled money to the national treasury.
Firstly, the national treasury can be filled, and secondly, this method can only harm the interests of those who want to use officials to achieve their own selfish desires. The interests of the real people will not be harmed, but will be given more protection because the national treasury is filled."
At that time, Xiao Jingheng thought Zhao Hua's suggestion was very good.
However, he did not realize that Zhao Hua was not seeking his welfare, but was just making plans for his own future in power.
At this moment, the hall was completely silent, and the ministers dared not breathe, for fear that they would be the next to be executed according to the law.
Until a guard came back and said that Lord Yang had been beheaded.
Zhao Huacai nodded calmly and said to everyone in a gentle voice:
"The emperor is my son, so it is not impossible for you ministers to ask me to abdicate. But before I abdicate, I must first deal with the corrupt officials in the court for the emperor, so that I can feel at ease.
The book in my hand contains many private affairs of ministers. Today I have some free time, if you need it, I can read to you what is recorded in this book one by one. "
[The main text will be finished on August 30, before most of my friends start school. After the book shows the completion status, you can still update the 100,000-word extra chapter. When the main text is finished, there will be a vote for the extra chapter. The extra chapter with the most votes will be updated later. In addition, traditional arts, happy Monday]
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