Chapter 940: Fly, Henan! (Subscription Requested)

"This subject... this subject does have some savings..." Wei Zaode dared not claim he had no money, for he knew well what those living Yama kings in the Censorate were capable of!

Now that the Zhu Emperor was bringing up borrowing money to his face, the Censorate must have already investigated him. If he did not come clean now, things would end badly for him!

Zhu Cilang nodded with a smile, looking especially amiable. Wei Zaode knew that Zhu Cilang was a smiling tiger — he had almost never seen him lose his temper or fly into a rage.

But even a smiling tiger could bite, and the happier he smiled, the more dangerous he was!

"This subject... over the years this subject has saved up a family fortune of over seven hundred thousand taels, of which more than three hundred thousand is in ready silver..." Wei Zaode's voice trembled as he spoke.

Because of that fortune of his, at least four hundred thousand taels had come from taking bribes!

To be honest, given the power and position he held, taking three or four hundred thousand taels in bribes was hardly much at all!

He had become Chief Grand Secretary in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, and now it was the ninth year of Hongxing — nearly thirteen years as Chief Grand Secretary in all. Moreover, he concurrently held the post of Minister of Personnel, controlling the evaluation of mid- and high-ranking civil officials, and he also had the authority to nominate mid- and high-ranking local officials. Before Zheng Zhilong took over the Ministry of Revenue, he had also been able to decide the quotas and divisions of land taxes and commercial taxes across the provinces.

The ministerial power he had held over those thirteen years was absolutely comparable to that of Zhang Juzheng!

With that much power, he had averaged only a little over thirty thousand taels a year in bribes, and he had not taken money openly either — it was all refined bribes and tribute from his disciples...

So Chief Grand Secretary Wei's official reputation was very good, and few people knew he was also a corrupt official. But he himself knew he was a great corrupt official, so his conscience was far from clear.

And he knew the Chongzhen Code revised by Zhu Cilang by heart. Its penalties for corruption and bribe-taking were not particularly severe — there were no such cruel punishments as flaying or slow slicing. The worst was death by hanging, though it had never actually been carried out.

The usual punishment for corrupt officials was dismissal plus a fine. If one had embezzled too much, they got the full package of property confiscation plus exile — the whole family sent off to Taiwan or the Jin'ou Peninsula to live a hard life. Oh, and one or two sons would be left behind — if they cooperated with the confiscation.

Of course, the Zhu Emperor did not go in for equality before the law. A feudal dynasty — where would all that equality come from?

With the Zhu Emperor, meritorious service and noble titles could both be used to atone for crimes.

Wei Zaode was now the Marquis of Kenan in Tongzhou, and he had already been promised the reward of promotion to Duke — he was a Zhuge Liang-style famous minister, and the victory of the Northern Expedition naturally owed something to his contribution, so promotion to Duke was only proper.

Bring out the title of Duke of Kenan, and it could certainly redeem the crime of exile. If the Emperor further showed mercy, the property confiscation could be reduced to a fine, and perhaps a little retirement money might even be left over...

"Ah, you're that rich?" Zhu Cilang, however, showed a surprised expression, because he had no idea at all about Wei Zaode's bribe-taking — Wei Zaode was on the exemption list!

The Zhu Emperor's Censorate was an office for upholding law and discipline in officialdom, but it was also an instrument of feudal rule.

For those officials who were obedient, capable, highly meritorious, and not too excessive in their corruption, the Zhu Emperor would put them on an exemption whitelist. The Censorate would only keep an eye on them, and as long as their official reputation was not too bad, they would not be investigated.

Furthermore, the inner vassal ministers and their subordinates were all outside the Censorate's jurisdiction.

"This subject... this subject... this subject has..." Wei Zaode realized something was wrong too. The Zhu Emperor did not seem about to call him to account — had he misunderstood? This was bad...

"No need to say more," Zhu Cilang waved his hand, cutting him off. "We will not speak of this now. This is a court assembly!"

So he really had misunderstood... Wei Zaode's head buzzed, and he no longer knew what to say.

The Zhu Emperor was not angry either; he remained cheerful. He simply stopped questioning Wei Zaode and turned instead to Wu Sanfu, military advisor of the Marshal's Office. "Sanfu, do you have money? Would you be willing to lend it to the court?"

Wu Sanfu replied: "Your Majesty, this subject and this subject's father both have some savings, mostly bestowed by Your Majesty, and some from rising land values. If the court needs it, we can bring it all out and lend it to the court. There is not much more than that, but two or three hundred thousand taels can certainly be scraped together!"

The silver he and Wu Xiang could produce was about the same as Wei Zaode's, but the two of them truly were honest officials.

The great honesty of Wu Xiang and Wu Sanfu was publicly acknowledged — they did not embezzle or take bribes, and they did not even accept food, drink, or entertainment from subordinates. If they went out eating, drinking, and enjoying themselves with colleagues, the father and son always paid the bill.

And the reason the two of them were so "honest" was that the Zhu Emperor had had Wu Sanmei speak to them — the two of them had to serve as models for the entire army. Who knew how many people were watching them! They must never let anyone bring them down with charges of corruption and bribe-taking. If that happened, the Empress would lose her outside support, and that Noble Consort Zheng, who was so good at bearing sons, might well advance another step... and the Wu family would truly lose everything!

Of course, these two honest officials were both very wealthy men. For one thing, they were both Dukes, and they had received lavish rewards after following the Zhu Emperor into Nanjing — they had acquired plenty of land and property!

For another, the Zhu Emperor had given them many extra benefits! The biggest of these was that, shortly after the Shanghai trading port opened, he had given each of them a street — Wu Xiang received Shanhai Pass Street, and Wu Sanfu received Wujiang Street. He had also instructed them to rent only, never sell!

Although these two streets were not long avenues, they were extremely prosperous, located in the central district of the Shanghai trading port. The land on both sides of the streets belonged to the Wu family, and that alone was now worth two hundred thousand, still rising steadily, with annual rents of over ten thousand taels.

Zhu Cilang smiled. "Good, good. You and the old Duke are indeed pillars of the court and models for all officials... We have heard of your father and son's sterling reputation even within the palace. But the court cannot borrow your money for nothing. Your money was not easily earned, and it could earn interest sitting in a bank!

How about this — let the Ministry of Revenue issue bonds, at six percent annual interest, principal repaid over twenty years, interest paid every year! The coupon rate is a bit low, not comparable to making private loans yourselves, but the court's finances are limited, and We would hate to shortchange honest officials like you!"

"No shortchanging, no shortchanging!"

"Even without interest, we would be willing to lend money to the court!"

"Your Majesty, this subject is willing to lend money to the court interest-free..."

What fine honest officials! And every one of them was especially rich, and all were scrambling to lend money to the court — they truly meant to live and die with the dynasty!

Zhu Cilang smiled and nodded. "Good, good. You are all honest officials and loyal subjects of our Great Ming! The spare money in your hands was not easily earned, and We cannot let you be shortchanged... Duke of Quan, do you have a way to satisfy both sides?"

"Your Majesty," Zheng Zhilong said with a smile, "why not tie the bonds to the distribution of confiscated and ownerless land in the north? For every mu of land distributed, one tael of face-value bonds must be subscribed... There are at least a hundred million mu of confiscated and ownerless land in the north. One tael per mu — that is a hundred million taels of silver!"

"That is a good idea!" Zhu Cilang nodded with a smile. "The confiscated and ownerless land in the north was long ago promised to meritorious subjects and loyal commoners. We are a man of Our word!"

Were they really going to distribute the northern land?

Joy flashed across the faces of the high officials of the two offices in the great hall — except for Zheng Zhilong, Shen Tingyang, and Wei Zaode. Rich Zheng and Second-Rich Shen had no interest at all in northern farmland, while Wei Zaode could not even cry... Originally, as a Duke, he would have received at least ten thousand mu of land, and it would have been in Tongzhou. Now he was in a miserable spot!

"Your Majesty," Shen Tingyang said at this point, frowning as he interjected, "one tael per mu is nothing for the great officials at court, but for soldiers and loyal commoners without much to their names, it is no small sum either!"

Zhu Cilang nodded. "Well said! What if they cannot come up with it? How about this... clearing the northern land will take time anyway, so the court will first issue transferable land certificates, bundled with the bonds.

These land certificates can be exchanged for farmland, or for mountain forests, or for mines, or for residential land in the great northern cities. The Ministry of Revenue and the auxiliary capital's Ministry of Revenue should draw up detailed regulations as soon as possible... Remember, the soldiers and loyal commoners below must not be made to suffer losses!"