"Your Majesty, all the criminals have been executed, but what about Yan Zeli and the women in his family?"
Ji An knelt straight, with the blood scab on his forehead still there, making his face look a little hideous.
Now that Prince An is a criminal, it is okay to call him by his name.
Emperor Mingxi looked at the memorial submitted by Ji An, which contained all the details of the confiscation of property, including a total of three million taels of silver from two families.
A sneer appeared at the corner of his lips. The late emperor was alive, but he became incompetent in his later years.
There were only two million taels left in the national treasury, but the aristocratic families still suggested to the late emperor from time to time to build large-scale projects. It seemed that a lot of the national treasury expenditures were swallowed up by these people.
During the twenty years of Emperor Mingxi's recuperation, the national treasury had a total of only 31.23 million taels. (1)
The people were miserable, and Emperor Mingxi reduced taxes and levies, and from time to time he would build water conservancy projects to subsidize the people.
That’s why there is so little silver in the treasury.
However, now that business is developing, the rest and recuperation have also received good feedback.
The total annual revenue has now reached 11.25 million taels.
But this was the tax revenue that Emperor Mingxi had worked so hard for twenty years to obtain. During the reign of the previous emperor, an annual revenue of 1.5 million taels was considered a great achievement. (2)
But these two families were able to come up with two years' worth of annual silver revenue from the previous emperor's time. How much of the people's wealth did they extort?
This does not include jewelry and rare antiques.
He really didn't deal with these bad apples sooner!
The emperor remained silent for a long time. Ji An felt uneasy and couldn't help but wonder where he had failed in his duties.
"His Majesty?"
Ji An was cautious.
Emperor Mingxi frowned slightly, and Ji An felt as if he was facing a formidable enemy.
But then the emperor threw the memorial aside and said calmly, "I have been on the throne for twenty years, and how should I deal with my female relatives? Mr. Ji still doesn't understand?"
Ji An thought that since there was a little prince, His Majesty would not vent his anger on him, so he said boldly, "I am terrified, but these people are plotting to murder the prince, and they are relatives of the emperor. I dare not make any rash judgments."
Emperor Mingxi looked at him, and Ji An lowered his head deeply.
The emperor's presence was undeniable, his expression calm and composed, a commanding presence that forbade any contempt. He spoke with some dissatisfaction, "The women were not the masterminds. If anyone knew about this but didn't report it, they will be imprisoned in the Ministry of Revenue and forced to work in the fields. Those who were unaware will be sent to the Ministry of Education to teach children. Those who remain stubborn will be put to death without mercy."
Emperor Mingxi was well aware of the difficulties faced by women in the world, so he tended to favor women in criminal law.
There was no Jiaofangsi (a religious troupe), and women were not allowed to become prostitutes. Any women who committed crimes were sent to the Ministry of Revenue to cultivate farmland for the Great Zhao and grow food.
They were either sent regularly to care for the widowed, the orphaned, or to the Jiaoyusi established when the prince was born, to provide free education to those who were eager to learn.
And according to the crime and virtue, we evaluate the work that needs to be done, and focus on not wasting anything.
Therefore, the emperor is extremely popular among the people. When he had no children, the people were more anxious than the emperor.
After all, an heir taught by such a monarch, even if he has no talent, can still treat the people well.
Ji An was impressed. Although His Majesty hated the Shi and Li families, he still did not implicate women. He was truly a wise ruler.
He glanced at Emperor Mingxi's expression again and asked, "May I ask how your Majesty is doing with Yan Zeli? I have him imprisoned and tortured him daily. He could not bear it and has confessed all his crimes."
Emperor Mingxi recalled the contents of the offering paper, and a deep disgust flashed across his eyes. He said coldly, "Send this man back to Prince An's mansion and tell Prince An that I will hand this man over to him to deal with as he pleases."
After hearing this, Ji An felt a chill in his heart.
Your Majesty is truly capable.
If Prince An is not killed, he will suffer the consequences in the future.
If he killed her, not only would he personally destroy his child's life, but he would also bear the infamy of living a life of luxury for the sake of the royal palace.
After Ji An left, Emperor Mingxi revised some government decrees sent by the Secretariat.
As he wrote on the memorial with his red brush, he asked, "How is the Crown Prince?"
No one was in sight, only a rough voice could be heard: "Your Highness and Prince An's grandson were enjoying a trip to Taiye Lake. At noon, Jialiu came to report that he was reading or writing."
"Hmm?" Emperor Mingxi looked up with some confusion on his face.
Yu'er was not a child who studied patiently. Last time at Pei Qing's house, he showed his talent, and Emperor Mingxi asked him to study from time to time, but the little fat boy was either distracted or playing tricks.
"I'll go take a look."
Taiye Lake, among the pavilions.
"Brother, what did you do?" The fat kid who was being missed by others was holding a brush and writing a long string of tadpole-like symbols on the rice paper.
Xie Ruyi often taught him this, and 1002 would occasionally discover the boy's interest in mathematics.
Therefore, he often wrote these symbols, but others could not understand them.
Just now, Fatty was like 1002's little teacher, teaching Wen Hui.
Not only do they teach you how to write it back step by step, but you also have to practice the lip movements.
After treatment, Wen Hui's brain function improved a lot.
He inexplicably felt that it was really shameful to shout "One equals one" and other words into the lake.
Just to avoid disturbing his brother's interest in teaching, Wen Hui had to read carefully along with Fatty.
"Yes." The fat boy pulled his mouth to the sides and signaled Wen Hui to follow.
Jiang Yuanxing almost couldn't hold back his laughter. Where did this cute little cat come from?
1002 Starry eyes, he doesn’t care what his son teaches him.
But when he asked the cub why he wanted to teach Wen Hui math, the fat cub said, "My brother said he wanted to find father, Ding Ding said that Xue is good at reading and cutting hair, and if he leaves, he will not be afraid of the world!"
Children are so naive. He thinks that if Wen Hui wants to find his father, he should look everywhere.
Ding Ding said again that she is not afraid of snow. After what happened last time, the cub knew that Ding Ding is a very powerful ball.
Ding Ding must be a good teacher, so after asking 1002, he quickly taught Wen Hui.
These words almost moved 1002, whose heart was made up of data.
What is a pure heart?
After Wen Hui followed the little guy to recite the multiplication table correctly, the fat boy drew a little red flower for Wen Hui.
"Brother is great, Yuer will give you a reward." Fatty solemnly stuffed the little red flower into Wen Hui's collar.
He also drew a table given to him by the little teacher to record Wen Hui's daily studies.
Wen Hui stood straight like a soldier being inspected.
Emperor Mingxi looked at it for a long time. Seeing how adorable the little guy was, he couldn't help but say, "Father wants one too."
Yan Chengyu glanced at his father in embarrassment. Ding Ding said that he could only give it to Xiao Hong after completing the task.
But what does my father want to do?
Seeing that the little guy was anxious, Emperor Mingxi didn't say anything and just stared at the fat boy.
The little guy looked left and right, and suddenly thought of something. He folded the form and drew a lot of little red flowers.
Then he ran over with his short legs and said, "To Father."
Emperor Mingxi didn't know that the little red flower was very precious to the child. Every time he gave one away, it meant that the child could not exchange it for something from 1002.
Seeing that the kid gave all the red flowers to Emperor Mingxi, 1002 felt a little jealous.
The unaware Emperor Mingxi took the paper, unfolded it with a smile, and his gaze froze.
After looking at it for a long time, Emperor Mingxi asked, "Can this be used by my father?"
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