Chapter 151 Another Job
Chapter 151 Another Job

Ye Xuan immediately took out the confessions of Yao Guang and the people of Beishan Imperial Farm and presented them to Zhu Yuanzhang, who was slightly surprised.

I thought Ye Xuan was only gone for one day, and he was already efficient in arranging the planting of potatoes.

In addition, he was able to discover clues that Li Guodong, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, was exploiting the people, which was enough to make him a capable official. However, he did not expect that in just one day, Ye Xuan not only planted the potatoes, but also completed the interrogation of Li Guodong.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded continuously, looking at the mountain of testimonies and confessions on the imperial desk, "You did a great job. I really underestimated you!"

After that, he began to look through what Li Guodong had done in Beishan Huangzhuang over the years.

After just watching for a while, Zhu Yuanzhang's expression became more and more ugly, and soon he became furious!
"I thought Li Guodong was just embezzling some of the people's production, but he actually dared to increase the people's rent without permission, and even fabricated the story of donations to cheat the people out of their hard-earned money!"

Zhu Yuanzhang originally just thought that if the evidence of Li Guodong's guilt was true, he would skin him and make a large figurine out of it and send it to the surrounding government offices.

However, after seeing Li Guodong's evil deeds over the years, the bloodthirsty and cruel nature in his heart was aroused.

His expression darkened, and he said sinisterly: "Now that we have found out, immediately skin Li Guodong and his family members and send them to the Jiaofang Division!"

Li Guodong's problem was solved, but Ye Xuan's main goal had not been achieved, so he gritted his teeth and said to the furious Zhu Yuanzhang: "Li Guozhang is just a small termite, so it's not a pity that he died naturally, but the reason why this happened in Beishan Royal Manor cannot be blamed on Li Guodong alone!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's face flashed with ferocity when he heard this, and he asked, "Oh, is there an accomplice?"

Ye Xuan nodded slightly and said, "That's right, but Li Guodong's accomplice was not man-made, but caused by negligence in supervision and redundant personnel."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, feeling a little unhappy.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang rose from humble origins, he considered himself to have some talent in politics.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, although Zhu Yuanzhang's design of the government system was not very rigorous, it can be said that he had good intentions.

Even after the Qing Dynasty entered the country, it generally still inherited the Ming system. Many of the systems designed by Zhu Yuanzhang were used for 600 years, which is enough to prove their practicality.

But Ye Xuan said right from the start that Li Guodong's accomplice in corruption was the lack of supervision and the overstaffing. Doesn't this clearly mean that Zhu's Ming Dynasty supervision system was not good, and that the flaws in the administrative system led to officials being idle in their positions?

Yun Qi, who was sitting beside the imperial desk, was startled when he heard this. He thought to himself, hasn't Ye Xuan always been so obedient that he hoped Zhu Yuanzhang would finish speaking as soon as possible so that he could leave? Why didn't he do the same as usual today and instead took the initiative to criticize the current situation?

Moreover, Yun Qi knew Zhu Yuanzhang's temper very well. Ye Xuan dared to criticize Zhu Yuanzhang's most proud court system in front of him. Isn't that courting death?
However, to Yunqi's surprise, Zhu Yuanzhang just frowned and said, "Go on, tell me how my court neglects to supervise people and is overstaffed."

What Yun Qi didn't know was that Crown Prince Zhu Biao had already reflected on this many times, but he had never said it as directly as Ye Xuan did. He had only raised it secretly.

Ye Xuan said casually: "First, the Censorate is an agency that supervises all officials. It failed to discover in time that such serious corruption had occurred in Beishan Imperial Manor, which was only thirty miles away and had lasted for three years. This is a poor supervision;" "Second, just because Your Majesty has awarded Beishan Imperial Manor to His Royal Highness Prince Yan, he thought it had nothing to do with him and ignored Beishan Imperial Manor for three years. If the Ministry of Revenue had supervised Beishan Imperial Manor during these three years, Li Guodong would never have been so bold! This is, too many people for the job!"

In fact, there is one thing Ye Xuan didn’t say, that is, Prince of Yan Zhu Di also has an unavoidable responsibility.

Beishan Imperial Farm was the farmland granted to him, but Zhu Di did not send anyone to take over and manage it for three whole years. If Zhu Di had sent someone to take it over, Li Guodong would have been driven back to the Ministry of Revenue long ago, and today's problems would not have happened.

However, just because Ye Xuan didn't say it doesn't mean Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't hear it.

After a moment of silence, Zhu Yuanzhang had to admit: "Ye Xuan, what you said is indeed reasonable. These officials eat the taxes of the people but do nothing, and allow Li Guodong and his ilk to harm the people. This is really a heinous crime!"

This scene made Yun Qi stunned. When had Zhu Yuanzhang ever bowed his head to his subjects?
Still accepting it humbly!
If this happened to an ordinary censor, he would probably stop while he was ahead.

Because if Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude today were made known to the censors, it would be enough to make them feel proud for the rest of their lives.

But Ye Xuan seemed unsatisfied and continued, "Your Majesty, as for how to improve the government system, that is a matter for the future. The only thing I am worried about now is what will happen to the people of Beishan Royal Farm?"

"They have already lived through three years of hardship. If the next person appointed is still like Li Guodong, how can I be worthy of those people who followed me to the capital to file a complaint because they believed in me?"

"This..." Even someone as confident as Zhu Yuanzhang did not dare to say that the next person appointed would be as clean as water and would never exploit the people like Li Guodong.

For a moment, he was stumped by Ye Xuan's question.

Yun Qi on the side was completely numb.

My dear Captain Ye, could you please say less?

What was even more shocking was Zhu Yuanzhang's reaction. He did not immediately denounce Ye Xuan's nonsense.

Instead, he seemed to be really considering Ye Xuan's words. Soon after, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to have made a decision and said, "It would be fine if we didn't know, but now that we know that the people of Beishan Royal Farm are living in such misery, we can't just stand by and watch!"

"Beishan Royal Farm happens to be a potato cultivation base, so I will simply take it back from Prince Yan! Since this kid doesn't care about Beishan Royal Farm, don't blame me as his father for not showing him any mercy!"

Ye Xuan was confused. He just wanted Zhu Yuanzhang to appoint a reliable official to take charge of the management, to avoid another person like Li Guodong, who would make his words go against his will in front of the people of Beishan Imperial Farm.

After a moment, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly looked up at Ye Xuan and said, "From now on, Beishan Royal Farm will be fully under your charge, Ye Xuan!"

"Remember, you must treat the people well. If we find out that you have changed your original intention like Li Guodong, don't blame us for being cruel!"

(End of this chapter)