Episode 17
Gao Hanwen revealed Shen Yishi's secret accounts before his death to Hai Rui one by one, revealing many ulterior corruption behaviors within the court.Hai Rui's deep sense of corruption all began in the inner court. This is undoubtedly a profound reflection on the entire political ecology of the Ming Dynasty.
As a member of the Zhejiang officialdom, Shen Yishi's corruption actually involved one million pieces of silk, equivalent to seven to eight million taels of silver. This was undoubtedly a huge fortune.Emperor Jiajing was extremely concerned about this matter and ordered the eunuchs to check four boxes of account books to reveal the truth about the corruption in Zhejiang officialdom over the past two decades.This incident not only exposed the seriousness of corruption in official circles, but also reflected Emperor Jiajing's strict control over the country's financial revenue and expenditure.
After learning the news, Emperor Jiajing immediately summoned Hu Zongxian and severely questioned the breach of the Xin'an River embankment and the corruption in Zhejiang officials.As a loyal minister, Hu Zongxian knew that the country's affairs were difficult, so he admonished Emperor Jiajing to thoroughly investigate the matter at the appropriate time to avoid involving the cabinet and the six ministries and nine departments, which would lead to chaos in the Ming Dynasty.
Emperor Jiajing did not stop there. In order to further test Yan Song, he ordered Hu Zongxian to send four boxes of account books to Yan's mansion overnight.
