"Everything I said just now comes from the bottom of my heart. I hope your highness will learn from it."

Seeing Li Sancai crying bitterly in the audience, Zhu Youdong, who was sitting in the main seat, couldn't help but hesitate.

Thanks to the fruitful research results on Ming history and the large number of online novels set in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youdong knows Li Sancai very well.

First of all, this guy can really get things done and will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals.

For example, when he just took office as governor of water transportation in the twenty-seventh year of Wanli (1599), he encountered Chen Zeng sent by Ouchi to collect mining taxes in his jurisdiction. Although ordinary local officials opposed mining taxes, they either wrote to persuade or criticized the emperor.

Either resign and refuse to work, or simply join in the conspiracy. But Li Sancai not only wrote to the emperor saying that collecting mining taxes was unacceptable, he also dealt with Chen Zeng.

First, he went to the cell under his jurisdiction and made a deal with the death row inmates: You will slander me in your confessions and say that Chen Zeng’s subordinates are all your accomplices. Then he used these confessions to publicly accuse Chen Zeng.

All his subordinates were arrested—a eunuch, although he had the support of the emperor, had no minions, so how could he collect taxes?

Later, Chen Zeng trained a minion named Cheng Shouxun to collect mining taxes. Li Sancai held back at first and secretly conducted a detailed investigation into Cheng Shouxun's actions. Then he took the initiative to interview Chen Zeng: Mr. Chen, that person under your command

Cheng Shouxun collects mining taxes everywhere. In addition to the silver he handed over to you and the emperor, he also withheld 600,000 taels!

When Chen Zeng heard this, he immediately became angry: It's okay for the younger brother to save some private money behind the boss's back, but how can he withhold so much? So he stopped protecting Cheng Shouxun. Under the joint attack of the two, Cheng Shouxun quickly collapsed. His family property

He was also swallowed by Chen Zeng, who later gave Li Sancai 100,000 taels as hush money.

Unfortunately, Li Sancai was not a kind person. After he got the one hundred thousand taels, he found one of Cheng Shouxun's slaves and asked him to falsely accuse Cheng Shouxun of secretly making dragon robes and phoenix crowns under Chen Zeng's instructions. As a result, Chen Zeng had to continue one after another.

Then he vomited another three hundred thousand taels to him.

Li Sancai's gains didn't end there: although Cheng Shouxun had made a lot of money, he was still effective in doing things. Not only did you, Chen Zeng, abandon such a good dog, you also took possession of all the family property. This made other people

The dog was hesitant when doing things. Then the money Chen Zeng sent to Dauchi every year became less.

The original outstanding model of collecting mining taxes was now sending less and less money every year. Of course, Wanli was not happy, so he often issued orders to blame Chen Zeng, which made Chen Zeng miserable. Li Sancai saw that the time was almost up, so he dismissed Chen Zeng.

Zeng Yijie: We have heard from our civil servants that the cabinet ministers have already submitted a petition asking the emperor to take you back.

Two days later, Li Sancai went to scare Chen Zeng again: It is said that your captors are on horseback and are about to reach the city gate!

Regretful, ashamed, and frightened, Chen Zeng had no choice but to hang himself. Then Li Sancai laughed and accepted Chen Zeng's millions of property...

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, so many mine supervisors were beaten to death by gentry from all over the country and driven away by local people. But there was only one case like Chen Zeng who was killed by local officials.

Moreover, Li Sancai collected more than one million taels of black money from this matter alone, but his reputation was well-known throughout Lianghuai: He drove the eunuchs of the mines to death! The gentry in Lianghuai and along the Grand Canal

Who doesn’t sing his praises? Before Jinling Daily came out, the gentry said that this person was good, which meant that all the local people said that this person was good.

This guy is also greedy, and he is very courageous when he is greedy. In addition to killing two people and collecting black money twice like the above, he has been in charge of water transportation for a very long time, and his tentacles have spread to the lowest level of water transportation. And the Grand Canal is owned by the South

The main channel for materials to go north, therefore, Li Sancai could basically intervene in everything and take a commission from everything: the most ruthless one was when he directly intercepted two thousand logs sent by Yunnan and Burma to build a palace for Ouchi.

He used it to build a house for his own family.

Of course, apart from being greedy, evil-hearted, and ruthless, this person is not without merit.

His official resume is extremely rich. He has served as an official, a court official, a local official, a judicial officer, and a civil affairs officer. His official reputation is also excellent! If a hypocrite reaches this level, he is also a talent!

Secondly, although he was greedy, he still knew the seriousness of the matter. During his tenure as the governor of Fengyang, he fully supported Cao Shipin in regulating the river course. He recruited men, food, and salaries, all of which were provided in an endless stream. And when

When all parties attacked Cao Shipin, he was able to stand up and protect him. It was the cooperation of these two people that led to the large-scale remediation of the Huaihe River and the lower reaches of the Yellow River during the Wanli Period. In the historical perspective, even if

During the Tianqi and Chongzhen years, the whole country was in chaos, but there were no problems with the rivers in these two places.

Therefore, this person is useful.

"Daofu, you are not young anymore. Aren't you tired of standing bent over like this? Sit down and talk."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Li Sancai moved slowly, pretending to be struggling, and then shyly sat down on the corner of the stool with a little bit of his butt like a little daughter-in-law. The remaining hands seemed completely useless.

Know where to put it.

"Pfft~" Seeing this guy who had been an official for decades and had been doing high-profile things pretending to be pure in front of him, Zhu Youdong couldn't hold it back for a moment. He waved to Wang Chengen: "This stool is too small, go and move it for Tao Fu.

Here’s a soft chair.”

After Li Sancai sat down again, Zhu Youdong said: "Taofu, according to the slang in the world, when changing a family, you have to submit a name certificate."

Hearing such words that were extremely unbecoming of the emperor's grandson, Li Sancai felt no discomfort at all, and he did not have the uprightness he had when he asked Wanli to suspend the mining tax. He smiled very obscenely: "Your Highness feels that

, what should I do to reassure His Highness?"

"Well, the first is to stop allocating funds to Donglin Academy. The second is, hehe, I recently asked the Beijing Ministry of Rites to send me the top scholars of the Ming Dynasty from Wu Bozong of the Hongwu Dynasty to Huang Shijun in the 35th year of Wanli.

arts."

"Your Highness... wise... I know what to do."

"Oh, it saves worries when you deal with smart people. Don't worry, Daofu. If you do such a thing, Donglin will never tolerate you. I won't leave you alone when the time comes."

"I observe all the things His Highness has done since enlightenment. Although I cannot understand some things due to my stupidity, in any case, His Highness treats his own people with the utmost care."

"Hmm..." After pondering for a while, Zhu Youdong said: "Yuanfu (Zhu Geng) is seriously ill and it is said that it will be difficult for him to survive this year. The second assistant has been closed to the outside world. Now there are three cabinet ministers in the cabinet.

But in fact, Jin Qing (Ye Xianggao) is doing things alone. Daofu, what do you think of Jin Qing? Is he considered a Donglin person?"

"Your Highness, Jin Qing cannot be regarded as a person from Donglin. From my perspective, Jin Qing is a good person. What he wants to do is how to reconcile the various parties, quell the party disputes, and jointly contribute to the country. Because he wants to reconcile, Jin Qing has to communicate with Dong Lin.

Everyone got along well with each other, so he was mistakenly thought to be from Donglin."

"Daofu's judgment of people is not very accurate, but he makes some sense." After a slight smile, Zhu Youdong stood up and walked to Li Sancai: "Daofu's conduct is worse than that of Jin Qing."
Chapter completed!