mtlumby2d Chapter 1318
Chapter 1318
As Zhu Yunhuan's voice fell.
Yuan Tai, who was in the front position, took the lead and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant reports that Chen Hai, a scholar from the Guangdong Provincial Administration Commission, is here!"
"Although his family owns little land, he uses his tax-exempt quota to engage in fraudulent practices, helping others evade taxes from the imperial court and profiting from it. He is unworthy of being a scholar of the Ming Dynasty!"
Now that Yuan Tai had stood in the Fengtian Hall and was willing to be the first to step forward, he had naturally long since cast aside the thoughts of life and death, the resentment of scholars all over the world, and so on. At this moment, his voice was firm, resounding, and resolute.
A powerful echo resounded within the already exceptionally quiet Fengtian Hall.
And with his participation in the memorial.
Standing inside the Fengtian Hall, the nobles in red and purple robes, dukes and marquises, all stared wide-eyed in disbelief, gasping for breath... Some people seemed to sense something bad was about to happen, their eyes flickering with a hint of guilt.
A series of rustling sounds, as if someone wanted to speak but hesitated, inevitably arose in the imperial court:
"This……"
“Strange Tales…”
"This...this is...?"
The people present, being nobles, gentry, and scholars, all possessed tax-free privileges to varying degrees, and more or less used these privileges to gain some benefits—"deceptive practices"—a very common tactic.
It's unreasonable and illegal, but everyone's doing it.
But now Yuan Tai is bringing it up in court as a serious case... They don't know who this scholar named Chen Hai is, but they do know that if this scholar is guilty and needs to be investigated, then they are guilty as well!
The key is……
Everyone knows that Yuan Tai's words now represent the will of His Majesty sitting on the dragon throne—could His Majesty have brought this matter to court merely to punish that scholar? He is the emperor, and his words are directed at everyone!
"This Yuan Tai... no, His Majesty... could he possibly be planning to overturn the entire Ming Dynasty?!"
The crowd's gazes kept shifting between Yuan Tai and Zhu Yunwen.
They became suspicious and uncertain.
The antics Zhu Yunwen pulled this time didn't just unsettle the civil officials; a host of dukes, marquises, and military officials, including Lan Yu, Zhang Yi, and Zhu Shou, also couldn't help but twitch their eyelids—they had done quite a few similar things!
However... at this point, they may not have realized the seriousness of the situation.
They felt that they had a close relationship with Emperor Zhu Yunwen and that he had helped them. They also felt that Zhu Yunwen had been very lenient with them. They believed that even if he were to investigate these so-called "tricksters," he would only investigate others and would not target them.
Or, to put it another way—Emperor Zhu Yunwen lacked the confidence and courage to take action against them because of these matters!
So although they were a little unsettled, their eyes quickly calmed down with a sense of confidence, becoming much more composed than when they saw Liu Sanwu being released.
Before the civil and military officials could recover from their astonishment...
Yuan Tai then continued, "This humble subject has further matters to report..."
"Yang Shuhua, Magistrate of Guangdong Provincial Administration Commission!!!"
"When this person ascended the throne in the previous dynasty, he colluded with clerks to conceal his land holdings. Even after the changes in his land holdings, he never reported them to the relevant departments of the court for registration and recording. Such false registrations have led to the court evading taxes and grain for decades."
He was targeting all the typical cases of lawlessness and disorder, and of course he wouldn't just impeach a poor scholar and let it go.
And at the same time.
The gazes behind Yuan Tai shifted repeatedly—it wasn't just about using his privileges for personal gain; one by one, the things many people had done in secret were exposed!
Although the accusations were made against the scholars and magistrates of Guangdong, the real targets were them!