"Liu Hua, a doctor in the household department, took bribes, harmed the public and enriched his private life, and hired murderers to assassinate minor ministers. He has been captured by the Jinyi guards!"
Li Qing cupped his hands and said, "Liu Hua confessed to his crime. Under the influence of his ministers, he wanted to make up for his crime and confessed all his known accomplices. There were more than thirty officials in Beijing alone."
Guo Huan's heart suddenly rose to his throat, but he still took a chance.
He comforted himself and said: "Old Liu is a loyal man and will not betray me!"
But the next moment, his face turned green.
Li Qing pointed casually, "According to Liu Hua's confession, Guo Huan, the Minister of Household Affairs, was the main conspirator!
He formed a corruption gang by teaming up with the ministers from the Ministry of Household Affairs, the foreign ministers from the Ministry of Rites, the assistant minister from the Ministry of Personnel, the ministers from the Ministry of Household Affairs... and officials from various places who went to the central government to pay taxes.
By taking overcharges and underpayments, making false reports of infringement, and other means to embezzle materials that should belong to the national treasury, officials from all provinces, prefectures, prefectures, and counties are involved."
"Li Qing!" Guo Huan looked serious, "Do you know what the crime is for conspiring to frame a third-rank official of the imperial court?"
He was really panicked. Even though he tried his best to endure it, his calves couldn't stop shaking.
Not only Guo Huan, but also the more than twenty officials who stepped forward were heartbroken because they were among Li Qing's long list.
"Your Majesty, I am wronged!"
A group of people knelt down and said, "Li Qinggong avenged himself and bit him randomly. Your Majesty, please don't listen to his words."
"Everyone get up, everyone get up." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile, "Don't worry, we won't listen to his words, don't be afraid~"
Although Zhu Yuanzhang was smiling, there was no smile on his face.
Seeing this scene, even the ministers who were not involved were trembling with fear. They understood that someone was going to be unlucky.
As for who it is, it’s self-evident!
Guo Huan was a minister after all, and he understood deeply that defending would only make him passive, and the final result would be that the emperor would conduct a thorough investigation and expose the matter.
If you can't solve the problem, then solve the problem.
"Your Majesty, I am impeaching Li Qing because he misunderstood his wife's illness, caused her to die in the grave, abused his power for personal gain, occupied brothels and prostitutes, fabricated things out of thin air, and framed the imperial officials. He should be punished for several crimes at the same time. He should be executed!"
Li Qing curled his lips secretly, he was so scared that he almost peed his pants, why did he hold on so hard?
"Your Majesty, don't believe him." Wai Lang, a member of the Ministry of Rites, said in a trembling voice, "Liu Hua from the Ministry of Household Affairs is obviously crazy. How can a madman count?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, Liu Hua is really crazy. Many people can testify."
"You must never believe the words of a madman, Your Majesty!"
"I second the proposal."
"I also second the proposal!"
A group of people knelt down and shouted, kowtowing like pounding garlic.
…
Guo Huan's painting style is gradually going awry, and his lungs are about to explode. At this time, it doesn't matter whether Liu Hua is crazy or not!
The top priority is to get Li Qing to death.
With your fucking excuse, the question has changed from whether Li Qing is dead to whether Liu Hua is crazy or not.
What a bunch of pig brains... Guo Huan was so angry that he vomited blood.
Fengtian Temple was so noisy that Xiao Guizi couldn't stand it anymore and screamed: "Quiet!"
Not to mention, his voice was quite effective, and the hall quickly became quiet.
Guo Huan secretly glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang on the dragon chair, and saw a playful look on his face and a cold smile on his lips, and his blood immediately ran cold.
"Li Qing, is there any evidence of guilt?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.
Li Qing nodded and took out the confession he had already compiled from his arms.
Xiao Guizi came down, took it with both hands, and handed it to Zhu Yuanzhang.
"emperor……"
"Whoever makes a fuss again will be dragged out and chopped up." Zhu Yuanzhang was filled with murderous intent and his eyes were cold.
Guo Huan shrank, not daring to say another word. The huge palace fell silent, and you could hear a needle drop.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at page after page for almost half an hour before slowly raising his head.
"Li Qing."
"I'm here."
Zhu Yuanzhang put the confession aside and asked, "Is that Liu Hua crazy?"
"No." Li Qing said truthfully, "Pretending to be crazy is just a way for him to escape guilt. Oh, by the way, according to Liu Hua, it was Guo Huan who asked him to pretend to be crazy."
"you……"
Guo Huan pointed his finger at Li Qing, and his whole body was trembling. He said, "You" for a long time but nothing came out. I don't know if he was angry or scared.
Zhu Yuanzhang ignored him, thought for a while, and said: "Pass the order to bring Liu Hua to the palace."
It's over, it's all over... At this moment, Guo Huan no longer had any luck, and he slumped on the ground in despair, his eyes blank.
Not only him, but more than twenty other officials also had earth-colored faces.
Zhu Yuanzhang had a panoramic view of all this, and his face remained calm.
He had already expected that the people below would be corrupt, but the number of corrupt people was far beyond his expectation.
He sighed softly and said to the ministers: "Is the salary we give you enough?"
The ministers looked at each other and bowed in salute: "Go back to the emperor, that's enough!"
"That's good." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, leaned on the dragon chair, and said no more.
After two sticks of incense, Liu Hua was taken into the main hall.
When Lao Liu saw that all his former colleagues had pale faces and looked at him with pleading eyes, he felt secretly happy in his heart. When I was being tortured, your wives and children were all hot on the kang. Do you know that you are afraid now?
Seeing Li Qing again, he looked like he had the pearls of wisdom in his hand. He still didn't understand where things were going, so he immediately lifted his robe and bowed:
"Long live the guilty minister Liu Hua!"
"Tell us everything you know in detail," Zhu Yuanzhang said. "No tampering is allowed, and no omissions are allowed. If you are the first to expose it, we can reduce some of the guilt."
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness."
Liu Hua kowtowed a few times and began to explain.
While Zhu Yuanzhang listened, he checked his opponent's confession. Comparing the two statements, they found that although they were not exactly the same, they were basically the same.
The murderous aura in his body became more and more intense.
"Besides these, is there anything else?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.
Liu Hua hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, I know all these, and there are still some... uncertainties."
"Just say it."
"I also heard that when Guo Huan and Guo Shilang levied taxes, they cleverly added money for food, money for treasury, money for gods and Buddhas... several kinds of taxes."
Zhu Yuanzhang has always been calm. Even when he heard that so many people were corrupt, he did not lose his composure.
But when I heard words like treasury money, god and Buddha money, etc., my expression finally changed.
This is a tax that only existed decades ago!
It was these taxes that ruined his family and eventually embarked on the path of rebellion.
"Guo Huan!"
There was a loud roar in the main hall, and the sound was like a thunderous explosion, which was breathtaking.
"My lord... no, the culprit is here."
Guo Heng trembled and said, "Your Majesty, spare your life. I was confused for a moment. I don't dare to do it anymore. I beg Your Majesty to spare my life...!"
"Not one of his nine tribes will be spared." Zhu Yuanzhang gritted his teeth and said, "Let us cut this Guo Huan's body into thousands of pieces and divide his body into five pieces!"
"I...obey your order."
When Guo Huan heard the verdict, he rolled his eyes and jumped on the spot.
The other twenty or so officials were not too strong. Some begged for mercy, some kowtowed, some even lost control, and Fengtian Hall was in chaos.
"Bang——!"
The top-quality jade paper weight fell hard on the imperial desk, crystal jade shards flew everywhere, and the noisy hall became quiet again.
Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and blood filled his pupils: "Drag him down and kill him!
The officials involved in the case were stamped on the empty paper and executed immediately!
He once participated in colluding with Hu Weiyong to commit rebellion, and no one was spared!"
"Li Qing!"
"I'm here!"
"Check, check from top to bottom!" Zhu Yuanzhang looked like he was crazy, "Don't let any corrupt officials go, if you let one go, your head will be used to kill him!"
"I...obey your order."
Li Qing wanted to remind him that Xia Jia had not taken office yet, and if he killed him now, there would be no one to work, but he swallowed his words again.
Lao Zhu was in a rage, so he had to brush his hair down at this time. There were not too many people there, only about twenty, so it probably didn't matter.
Li Qing bowed his hands, exited the hall and began to shake people.
Zhu Yuanzhang supported the imperial case with both hands and leaned forward, almost lying on the table. He looked down at the ministers and said in a cold tone:
"If you dare to be greedy, we will kill you!
One person is greedy to kill one, ten thousand people are greedy to kill ten thousand people, we will never tolerate it~!"