When he was serving as a county magistrate under the jurisdiction of Taiyuan Prefecture, a chance encounter allowed him to meet and get to know Cao Jixiang, who was already a guard eunuch at that time.
So he took advantage of the situation and hugged Cao Jixiang's thigh, and he prospered in Taiyuan. Within a few years, he was promoted from a county magistrate to a magistrate of Taiyuan Prefecture.
Then he served successively as Tongzhi, and was transferred to Liaozhou, which is adjacent to Taiyuan Prefecture, as the prefecture for three years. In the last two years of Emperor Wanli's life, he was promoted to the position of Taiyuan Prefecture.
Cao Jixiang won the trust of Emperor Wanli. Although he had no right to interfere with government affairs and official personnel arrangements, the civil servants did not buy his fault.
But he had a great advantage. He could present the memorial to Emperor Wanli anytime and anywhere.
For the petty officials in such a place, it is a shortcut for them to leap over the dragon's gate.
This is also the reason why he is willing to worship Cao Jixiang as his adoptive father. He is really eager to be a bigger official and gain greater power.
As for Cao Jixiang, he was even more excited and happy than the Taiyuan magistrate himself.
For a eunuch like him who had not received any education, it was very honorable for him to have scholars bow down at his feet and call him foster father, which was envied by many of his colleagues.
In fact, let alone a high-level talent who has passed the Jinshi examination and entered the official career, even if it is a civil servant, it is an extremely sensational event.
You must know that under the hierarchical system of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, scholars have their own pride and pride as scholars.
Historically, even for a great eunuch like Wei Zhongxian, who held all the power with one hand and dominated the government and the public, although the officials in the capital rushed to join him, they would not publicly recognize the traitor as his father.
What made Zhu Youxiao feel even more outrageous was that this man was actually taken as a confidant by Zeng Shijin, the governor of Shanxi, and the relationship between Zeng Shijin and Cao Jixiang was extremely unfriendly.
The two of them had no idea about this and had been kept in the dark all this time.
If it weren't for Zhu Youxiao's thorough interrogation today, they might never know about it in their lifetime.
Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but admire him. This man's ability to maneuver both sides was really outstanding, and his acting skills were also extremely good.
He was able to rise from a seventh-rank magistrate to a fourth-rank magistrate in just a few years, and I'm afraid it's not just Cao Jixiang's reason.
"You have opened my eyes, but it's a pity that you are so smart that you didn't put it on the right track to benefit the people and relieve the worries of the court."
The prefect of Taiyuan, who knew that his death was approaching, did not respond to the emperor. His only concern now was whether he could keep a complete body.
The three of them are the ones who committed the greatest crimes and caused the most harm to the people and the country. The evidence of the crime in Zhu Youxiao's hands is enough to destroy the three of them.
When the time comes to send them to the guillotine, the support and reaction of the people will be no less than that of the capital.
Compared with them, the left and right envoys, who had the highest official rank, were completely upright officials. Apart from embezzling a little money and food, they had no other illegal or criminal behavior.
Most of what Cao Jixiang and Zeng Shijin did were not involved, and they were not even aware of many things.
Zhu Youxiao was not surprised. The cake was so big. Even if one of them was a guard eunuch and the other a governor, they couldn't really cover the entire Shanxi with their hands.
Zhu Youxiao was sometimes really speechless about the officialdom system of the Ming Dynasty. It could be said that it was both perfect and chaotic, and it would change it from time to time.
At the beginning of the founding of the country by Taizu, a three-division system was established, namely, the Chief Envoys Division, the Inspection Envoys Division, and the Commanding Envoys Division.
All major military and political affairs in a province are handled jointly by these three departments, and the responsibilities are clearly defined. Which department should do what and which department should be in charge of what. Everything has been carefully divided.
Among them, the envoys command and control the garrison and armaments in the province, and the envoys are in charge of criminal law and prisons.
The chief envoy is in charge of the civil affairs of a province. He has great power and his official position is from the second rank. He is the real official of the frontier.
Unlike now, when there is a governor, there is also a governor, military and political affairs are all taken care of, and the prison affairs are still involved, which is a complete conflict.
It can be seen from this that those who say that Taizu only knows how to kill people and does not know how to govern a country should shut up. Taizu came from a humble background and his vision was indeed limited, but it does not mean that he was just a butcher.
The land of China has been devastated for hundreds of years. First, there was a hundred years of melee warfare between the Liao, Jin, and Song Dynasties, and then the Mongols went south to destroy the Song Dynasty. During the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties, there were countless taxes and uprisings and wars everywhere, which lasted for another hundred years.
It only took more than ten years for Taizu to establish his country from the time he raised the army, and he only reigned for thirty years. However, he brought the land of China, which was prone to frequent wars, back from the line of life and death.
No matter how powerful and wealthy they are, the people at least have land to cultivate, food to eat, hope and peace of mind.
In ancient times when productivity was extremely low, it was already a very remarkable thing to be able to prevent more than 89% of the people from going hungry. For this alone, it was better than 99% of the emperors.
Zhu Di, who was highly regarded by later generations and was called the Great Emperor, during his reign was far behind Emperor Hongwu in both civil and martial arts.
Why did Zhu Gaochi frequently oppose his father's expedition to send troops, and why did Zhu Zhanji change his national policy, abandon military preparations outside the customs, and focus on resting with the people?
It was because Zhu Di fought too many wars and failed to achieve any decisive victory that the people's livelihood, which was finally restored, began to falter again.
To put it mildly, Zhu Di's five northern expeditions did not achieve great results.
It was not as great as any of the nine battles on the grassland during the reign of Emperor Taizu.
The change in the officialdom system also started with him. The government agency was already close to perfection. Instead of improving the shortcomings, he insisted on adding something to it, such as establishing the Dongchang to monitor the Jinyiwei.
Some things, once changed, can no longer be stopped. Not long after, temporary officials such as governors and governors began to appear in the Ming Dynasty.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the governor had completely become a permanent official position. Every province must have a governor. If something happened, a governor must be established to take charge.
However, the official rank of these people with the title of governor and governor cannot be compared with that of the chief envoy and the inspector-general. It is just that officials from other places do not dare to offend the officials in the capital, so they frequently regress.
Just because you don't dare to do it openly doesn't mean that you won't make any small moves secretly. How can the imperial court gain their support with such an indiscriminate arrangement?
Therefore, they usually silently oppose the unreasonable institutional arrangements of the court through inaction.
The governor was an imperial envoy sent to the local area by the imperial court and the emperor. Not only did he have great power, he also had a certain say in the court, so local officials did not dare to offend.
As time went by, the governor's authority in the local area became more and more powerful, and the chief envoy was actually reduced to a subordinate of the governor, and all the power in his hands was taken away.
It's a fool's errand to obey the orders of a provincial governor of the second rank, but to obey the orders of a governor of the third rank.
It is conceivable how dark the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty was, and how serious the struggle for power was. They not only challenged the imperial power and snatched power from the emperor, but also snatched it from their own people.
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In addition to these relatively heavyweight officials, other officials of Taiyuan Prefecture, large and small, were also issued edicts one by one.
Basically, every time a person's name was given, the guards would immediately set off to bring that person back. Some of these officials were still having fun with their concubines, and they were pulled off the bed by the guards, which almost scared them.
Same as Song Gaozong.
These officials usually sit aloof and talk to others while sitting in armchairs sipping tea. But when they were suddenly barged into their home, they had never been treated like this before.
Some of the hot-tempered ones pointed at their noses and questioned and cursed:
"Who are you? Do you know where this is? It's really outrageous!"
But the only answer was that the sergeants' fists and kicks greeted them affectionately, and the beatings made them scream indiscriminately.
None of them thought that tonight would be the day they were convicted and executed, and that the person who would personally conduct the interrogation would be the emperor they had never met.
Zhu Youxiao's sudden action, even he himself did not expect to be able to catch them all in one fell swoop.
Today's incident will definitely affect the entire Shanxi officialdom. Dealing with so many officials at once will serve as a warning to other officials.
Zhu Youxiao drafted a text himself. He did not mention this at all, but only wrote some names on it, with official positions attached to the names.
This is the appointment letter he drafted. He will definitely clean up all these existing officials, but if the handover is not done well or there are errors, it may lead to the paralysis of the huge Taiyuan City.
In addition to the left and right chief ministers, Zhu Youxiao only left a few officials who were slightly better and could do some things.
Three co-presidents, two general judges, and one experienced, one magistrate, and one Zhaomo were carefully selected by Zhu Youxiao after weighing the pros and cons.
The daily work of the government office cannot be stopped. If it stops, something will happen. Zhu Youxiao can only count on these people to take the lead at this critical moment.
A group of officials and eunuchs who committed heinous crimes, headed by Cao Jixiang and Zeng Shijin, will be sentenced to the most severe punishment.
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At noon the next day, the streets in Taiyuan City were full of people. They stood on both sides of the road, looking extremely excited.
Zhu Youxiao had already issued a formal decree in the early morning, and immediately ordered Cao Jixiang, Zeng Shijin and other officials and eunuchs, a total of more than 30 people, to be tortured at Caishikou.
The two main criminals, Cao Jixiang and Zeng Shijin, were sentenced to Lingchi, and the emperor himself said that before Lingchi, their fingers and tongues would be chopped off in front of all the people.
Others were also sentenced to be cut in half, and before being cut in half, they were stabbed in the face with a sharp blade. According to the emperor's original words, how could these scum have the face to meet Emperor Taizu and Confucius.
However, before the official execution, they had to be paraded through the streets. Although it was very hurried, most of the people living in the city had already learned about it because of the official notices and vigorous publicity.
This is why the people in the city are crowded in the streets. They want to see with their own eyes the miserable fate of these corrupt officials and eunuchs who usually stand high and exploit them.
Although the sun is shining brightly, today's high temperature obviously cannot stop people from coming out to watch the fun.
"Look, look, here it comes, this beast-like Zeng Shijin is here!"
Some people who had already occupied an excellent position quickly threw out the stones and wood in their hands. They had been waiting for a long time, just to take this opportunity to vent their bad breath.
When rocks, wood and other objects hit the criminals in the cage, they screamed in pain.
Hearing the screams of these corrupt officials, the common people seemed extremely excited. Some who came to watch the fun joined in, picking up the things around them and throwing them at the cage.
"Ahem, you're so damn blind, this is my pole, you little brat, if you don't want to throw away your own pole, just throw mine, right?"
"Brother, look, this is the colleague who collects taxes arbitrarily. I never thought he would be here today. Let's see how he comes to our house to collect taxes randomly in the future!
A young man who was called his elder brother looked over after hearing this. Sure enough, it was the dog official who brought the government officials to his house to move things some time ago. He immediately became furious.
He turned around, picked up a very conspicuous large stone from a stone wholesaler's basket, and threw it violently.
Because the stone was too big, it only hit the cage. The people inside were not hurt at all, but they were still quite frightened.
If it weren't for the troops and government officials on both sides of the street maintaining order, I don't know what kind of chaos it would have become.
But for some civil servants, the physical pain is far less than the pain in the heart.
If they were just beheaded, they might have resigned themselves to their fate and could only blame their own bad luck.
But being paraded and humiliated in public was something that had never happened in the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years. They were the first people to enjoy such treatment. It was simply an embarrassment to their ancestors and saints.
What scares them most is their reputation after death. What is recorded in the history books will definitely make them infamy for thousands of years, and these idiots among the people may not know how to make fun of them.
There are also some officials whose face is paramount. They feel very uncomfortable when they see those mud-legged men who are usually worse than dogs now sitting on their heads and shitting.
They have never seen these untouchables who are inferior to pigs and dogs.
They all have the thought and urge to put their heads into their crotches.
When they were taken to the execution ground, the people shouted with one voice, "Kill these corrupt officials."
"kill!"
"kill!"
"kill!"
The inspector who was appointed by Zhu Youxiao as the executioner was sweating profusely. He had never seen such a scene since he was born, let alone being responsible for the execution.
These people who were chatting and laughing with him yesterday were about to be killed by one of his command arrows. He had never had any experience in this area, and at this moment, he was not only nervous but also terrified.
Zhu Youxiao had already expected this, so he sent Xu Xianchun, a ruthless master, as the adjutant of the executioner, just because he was afraid that he would not be able to control the situation.
Although he retained this inspector, he was not the kind of capable official who cared about the people of the world.
The world is as black as crows. The inspector should be lucky that the things he committed were not to the extent that the emperor had to kill him. To put it simply, he was a foil to his peers.