On that day, there were fifty-one officials like Zhu Ping'an who received the imperial edict. Except Zhu Ping'an, the rest were officials of the fourth rank or above.
At the same time, there were more than 200 officials below the fourth rank who did not receive the imperial edict, but received official documents jointly issued by the Cabinet, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue and other ministries.
In addition, there were as many as 500 soldiers, runners and police officers who had their homes confiscated and were thrown into prison without receiving any imperial edicts or official documents.
Without exception, all of them were punished for the Taicang Silver Treasury Case. The lighter ones were fined silver, the heavier ones were imprisoned, and the more serious ones were exiled or executed. The amount of silver fined for those who were fined ranged from tens of hundreds of taels to tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of taels.
It is worth noting that in this case, Yan Song, the son of Yan Shifan, was also fined 12,000 taels of silver for failing to inspect the treasury twice.
In addition, Zhu Ping'an's teacher, Xu Jie, the cabinet minister of the time, was also fined 6,000 taels of silver for failing to oversee the treasury.
For a moment, the capital city was filled with the figures of factory guards and cavalry whistling back and forth.
After a minister received an imperial edict that fined him 8,000 taels of silver, he smiled and sent off the eunuch who announced the edict. After the eunuch left, the minister respectfully held the imperial edict with both hands and placed it on the incense table to offer it, then turned around and cursed: "Zhu Ping'an, you are a jinx..."
An official's house was raided by the factory guards, and his family, including his wife, concubines, and children, were exiled to the smoky Yunnan. The family, who were used to a life of luxury, were forced by the vicious guards. They looked back at their house in tears, haggard and dejected. The desperate housewife only remembered her husband's complaint before he left: "If it weren't for Zhu Ping'an's inspection of the warehouse, this wouldn't have happened..."
Therefore, on the road to exile, the desperate housewife cursed the instigator of all this—Zhu Ping'an—all the time, and taught her young children to remember: "Wow, you have to remember that all this was caused by a man named Zhu Ping'an..."
The majestic and magnificent Yan Mansion.
Four naked beauties and maids lay on the recliners, their bodies connected like bones, forming a gentle chair. The one-eyed fat man Yan Shifan sat on the gentle chair, holding a maid who was only wearing a little bit of clothes in his arms. One of his big hands was rubbing and pinching the maid without mercy. With a big fat face, he smiled and teased with his little brother Luo Longwen at the banquet, "My Yan Mansion has always brought in money, but today it's new, we started to take money out..."
... ...
After receiving the imperial edict, Zhu Ping'an kept sneezing from time to time. After sneezing again, Zhu Ping'an touched his nose with a confused look on his face. Could it be that he had a cold
On this day, the Taicang Silver Vault Case, the biggest case in the Ming Dynasty in nearly a hundred years, came to an end.
The number of officials involved in the case broke the record of the Jiajing period; the amount of fines and compensation imposed also broke the record of the Jiajing period.
Although the amount of silver fined to Zhu Ping'an could be said to be the least, his family was poor. The fine of 160 taels of silver made Zhu Ping'an bankrupt. Finally, with the help of Li Shu, Zhu Ping'an paid the fine of 160 taels of silver in full to the Ministry of Revenue.
Zhu Ping'an was not the first to pay the fine. The first to pay the fine was Yan Shifan. When Zhu Ping'an went to the Ministry of Revenue to pay the fine, he heard that Yan Shifan had already paid the fine and had returned to Yan's mansion for a long time.
It turned out that soon after Yan Shifan received the imperial edict, he sold off several old items in the mansion in a big way, even Yan Song's most beloved ancient inkstone. He finally collected 12,000 taels of silver and handed it over to the Ministry of Revenue as soon as possible.
Yan Shifan's active payment of the fine was approved by Emperor Jiajing, who passed him a note to express his praise.
Following Yan Shifan's personal example, a group of officials with Yan's party background, whether they were willing or not, came to the Ministry of Revenue to pay their fines.
When Zhu Ping'an went to the Ministry of Revenue to pay the fine, he met several officials from the Yan Party who were also paying fines. However, none of these officials treated Zhu Ping'an well, and Zhu Ping'an was ridiculed by them... ...
After paying the fine, Zhu Pingan went to Xu Jie's house to plead guilty. After all, it was because he had uncovered the Taicang shady dealings that the Taicang theft case was exposed to the world, and Xu Jie was fined 6,000 taels of silver for a negligence in checking the Taicang silver vault. Strictly speaking, it was largely due to him.
Of course, in Zhu Ping'an's opinion, his mentor Xu Jie was not a clean person either.
The deficit in Taicang is so huge that it is obvious. If you check the warehouse carefully, you will not miss it.
But when my teacher Xu Jie was an inspector of the treasury in his early years, he did not report the deficit in Taicang...
Of course, there are many reasons for not reporting it, and it cannot prove that Xu Jie was corrupt and took bribes, but not reporting it meant oversight.
When Zhu Ping'an entered the Xu Mansion, the Xu family was also counting their belongings and selling off their property in full swing to collect the six thousand taels of silver for the fine.
On the way to the Ministry of Revenue to pay the fine, Zhu Ping'an had already heard the news that the Yan family was selling off their property to raise the fine. Now, seeing the Xu family counting their belongings and selling off their property, Zhu Ping'an was not surprised at all.
Theoretically speaking, twelve thousand taels of silver were definitely not enough based on the normal salaries of Yan Song and Yan Shifan. Even if rewards were added, it would still be very difficult to come up with the money.
Of course, six thousand taels of silver, theoretically speaking, would definitely be a huge loss for the Xu family.
If he could easily and casually take out the fine money without selling his property, wouldn't that prove that he was a corrupt official and that he was admitting that he had sought personal gain when he inspected Taicang
Therefore, it is necessary to sell off the property. Not only must it be sold off, but it must also be sold at a high price so that everyone in the capital knows about it.
"Be careful, all of you. This is my father's favorite bath tub, passed down from my grandfather. Carry it, walk around the streets ahead three times, and shout out to sell it. I won't sell it for less than three hundred taels of silver."
Xu Fan, the eldest son of the Xu family, was just in his early twenties. He was as sturdy and strong as a bull, but also had a romantic and dashing appearance. He stood at a table in the courtyard, directing the servants to gather the items and arrange for their sale.
"Brother Shi, is the teacher here?"
This was what Zhu Pingan saw when he entered the mansion. He stepped forward and bowed to greet Xu Fan. Xu Fan was Xu Jie's eldest son. Zhu Pingan had visited Xu Jie several times at the mansion, so he naturally knew Xu Fan.
"Oh, it's Zihou. Come in, come in. My old man was just talking about you. He said that you were fined 160 taels of silver when you first came to the capital. He was worried that you couldn't get the money together and would be punished by the emperor again. So he asked me to sell his most precious bath tub and give you 160 taels of silver."
When Xu Fan saw Zhu Ping'an entering the mansion, his face was full of smiles. He jumped down from the table nimbly, put his arm enthusiastically on Zhu Ping'an's shoulders, and walked into the mansion with Zhu Ping'an in his arms, while speaking with a hearty smile.