People in Zongwu: Starting with the Yin Gui Sect

Chapter 308

When Wu Yu returned to the capital again, it was already the first month of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign. Although he said he would be back in two months, it actually took him nearly three months to complete the investigation of the garrisons and generals in various border towns.

It can only be said that the actual situation was more serious than he expected, especially in terms of corruption, which was shocking.

However, these generals were in power. Not only were more than 90% of the officers in the army their people, but even the eunuchs sent to supervise the army were corrupted beyond recognition.

Take Pi Island where Mao Wenlong was located as an example. The entire island, including the military and civilians, was less than 80,000 people, and the army was no more than 20,000 people. However, Mao Wenlong asked for military expenses for 100,000 people every time.

The number of less than 20,000 people was indeed the military pay for 100,000 people, so where did the remaining 80,000 go?

But even so, they still asked for military expenses from the court every few days, which shows how greedy those people were.

If you think that's the end, then you are too naive. In addition to eating empty salaries, they are also constantly smuggling various materials to the other side while fighting with Jiannu.

At first, he thought that this was all the fault of Mao Wenlong and his men, but when he investigated in depth, he found that every time the military funds allocated by the court to Pi Island actually arrived at Pi Island, not even one-third of the initial amount was left.

In other words, after the military funds were allocated by the court to Pi Island, more than 70% of the materials were deducted by officials at all levels during the transportation process.

This also explains why Mao Wenlong dared to ask for so much military pay every time. If he didn't ask for more, there would be nothing left in their hands. It's no wonder that Mao Wenlong took such a risk because of such severe deductions.

Of course, Pi Island was rotten, and other places were not much better, and even worse.

Some of these places may not have a small victory every three days or a big victory every ten days in the war reports, but if they were really asked to produce the heads of Jiannu to prove it, they could not produce a single one.

Even when they were forced by the court, they directly swung their butcher knives at the people. Killing innocent people and taking credit for it has long become the norm.

It's just a pity for those soldiers at the bottom. They should have been soldiers and paid, but they didn't know that the military pay that should have belonged to them was embezzled by the officers above.

And they who didn't know the truth could only blame everything on the court, thinking that they fought hard for the court but couldn't even get enough food and clothing.

Let me ask you, in the long run, how could such a country and such a court not go to destruction?

It was these people's actions that made Wu Yu more determined to reform. Only by a major purge of the entire army could the army regain new vitality.

But he couldn't act now. Everything had to wait until he ascended the throne and sat firmly in that position.

In the capital, Wei Zhongxian and his men looked at Zhu Youxiao, who was still half-dead, and didn't know what to do for a while.

Obviously, in early October last year, this gentleman looked like he was going to die at any time, and even the legendary last breath appeared, but until now, in the first month of the seventh year of Tianqi, this gentleman still looked half-dead.

This made it hard for those who had been taking care of him, and they lived in fear every day.

At first, they thought that the other party was just holding on, but gradually they found something wrong. Have you ever seen anyone who can hold on for several months after the last breath?

Of course, it was a good thing for them that Tianqi didn't die, so they had more time to prepare.

However, today, this gentleman did not fall asleep again after waking up, but ordered Prince Xin to enter the palace.

It turned out that the spy came to report that Prince Xin had secretly returned to Prince Xin's mansion this morning, and the people they sent to pretend to be Prince Xin had also withdrawn.

On the other hand, Wei Zhongxian did not think much after receiving the decree, and just thought that the emperor finally woke up and wanted to see his brother.

But he did not expect that in addition to Prince Xin, Zhu Youxiao also sent people to summon almost half of the officials above the third rank of the civil and military officials in the court to the Qianqing Palace.

As soon as Prince Xin appeared, he could not wait to explain his affairs, and after saying that my brother should be Rao Shun, he completely lost his breath.

This scene scared everyone. When Wei Zhongxian touched Zhu Youxiao's breath carefully with a nervous heart, he found that he was dead.

This discovery scared him so much that he knelt down on the spot, and he did not forget to shout: "The emperor died!"

With his cry, everyone knelt down.

Not long after, many ministers headed by Huang Liji and Zhang Weixian turned around.He knelt down to Wu Yu, and heard Huang Liji say loudly: "It is said that a country cannot be without a king for a day. Before leaving, His Majesty had instructed us to assist His Royal Highness Prince Xin. Please obey the will of heaven and inherit the throne!"

Seeing this, the others also shouted: "Please obey the will of heaven and inherit the throne!"

"Please obey the will of heaven and inherit the throne..."

As the crowd continued to shout, Wu Yu also knew that it was no longer up to him at this time.

However, in order to show his noble character, he still pretended to refuse. After three refusals, he finally agreed to ascend the throne under the persuasion of the ministers.

More than ten days later, after a period of cumbersome etiquette, Wu Yu finally accepted the worship of all officials in the Huangji Hall and officially became the 16th emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He took the reign of Chongzhen, which means to revive the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, some people are happy and some are sad. Compared with the joy of others, the Iron-hearted Marquis Zhu Wusi has a gloomy face.

Half a year, he was ready for everything, but he didn't expect Zhu Youxiao to use this trick on him. He announced that Prince Xin would be the next monarch in front of all the civil and military officials in the court, leaving him no excuse to make trouble. He could only watch his other nephew become the new ruler of the Ming Dynasty under the worship of everyone.

On the other side, Wu Yu didn't know that Zhu Wushi was gritting his teeth at him, but it didn't matter even if he knew.

He didn't care about a mere Iron-hearted Divine Marquis. If the other party really dared to show up, he wouldn't mind backhanding him to death. Now he just didn't bother to pay attention to him.

Because compared to Zhu Wushi's trivial matters, finding a way to change the current situation of the Ming Dynasty is the most important thing.

However, if you want to change the current situation, you must have enough power and prestige. Prestige can be obtained slowly in the future, but power is what he urgently needs at the moment.

If you want power, you must have soldiers first. There is a saying that power comes from the barrel of a gun. Otherwise, who will care about you, an emperor without soldiers and power.