The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 540

Under the prefect's confession, while not all officials in Taiyuan were wiped out, very few were truly innocent.

After all, it is extremely difficult to serve as an official in Taiyuan while remaining untainted by the corrupt practices.

Even officials who were originally honest or had no collusion with those Shanxi merchants were dragged down by their colleagues.

This kind of situation is all too common in officialdom.

Even many officials who had already been transferred away from Taiyuan were implicated by the Taiyuan prefect. Zhou Chu directly sent a document to the local Imperial Guard, instructing them to arrest those officials who had already been transferred away from Taiyuan.

However, relatively few officials were transferred, because most officials in Taiyuan were extremely comfortable in Taiyuan, banding together to make money, and none of them had any thoughts of promotion or being transferred.

Of course, appointments made by the imperial court are often unavoidable, but such cases are extremely rare.

Zhou Chu wrote down the list of the officials who were investigated and their crimes in a memorial and sent it to the capital.

"This is outrageous! The collusion between officials and merchants in Taiyuan has reached such a level that they are even colluding with foreign enemies and the Mongols!"

During the court assembly, Jiajing was furious.

The Jiajing Emperor never mentioned the Prince of Jin's residence.

"Thanks to Lord Zhou, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable if this had continued."

Han Jie stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, the most urgent task is to first determine the candidates for these official positions in Taiyuan, otherwise Taiyuan will have no officials to use."

Yang Yiqing stepped forward.

"Yes, Your Majesty, the most urgent task is to send people to stabilize the situation in Taiyuan."

Jia Yong echoed.

Xie Qian simply feigned illness and did not attend this court assembly, which was a prelude to his next resignation. Jiajing knew Xie Qian's intentions, as did Yang Yiqing and others, so they naturally did not ask any further questions.

"Let the cabinet select the people. After they are selected, they should submit a report. If they are satisfactory, I will approve it."

Jiajing looked at Yang Yiqing and said.

"We will do our utmost."

Yang Yiqing bowed and said.

Wen Zhengming, who was in a high position in the court, felt a sense of honor seeing other officials praising Zhou Chu. However, his duty was to advise the emperor. These days, Jiajing had not done anything wrong, was extremely diligent in his duties, and his words and actions were exemplary of a wise ruler. This made Wen Zhengming feel that he had no power to use.

When Zhou Chu learned that Wen Zhengming had been appointed as the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, he wrote a letter to Wen Zhengming, in which he said many things, including what Wen Zhengming should say and what he should not say.

In short, as long as it doesn't involve matters of principle or affect the stability of the country, the emperor's behavior doesn't require advice. If the emperor's private morality is problematic, you can occasionally offer some advice, but there's no need to dwell on it.

The emperor's duty is to govern the country. As long as he does this well, everything else is trivial.

Wen Zhengming took Zhou Chu's words as gospel. If others had said these words, Wen Zhengming might not have listened, because Wen Zhengming was rather stubborn. If he had been more tactful, he would have been recommended for a government position long ago, instead of going through the arduous process of taking the imperial examinations for so many years.

But these words were spoken by Zhou Chu, his student, who always put himself in Wen Zhengming's shoes. Wen Zhengming valued Zhou Chu even more than his own son. In Wen Zhengming's eyes, his student was perfect in every way, so he naturally listened to Zhou Chu's words without question.

After finishing his business in Taiyuan, Zhou Chu did not plan to stay there for long, as he was about to lead the Xuanwu Army into Tibet and would not have time to linger in Taiyuan. As for the operation of Taiyuan, that was never a problem for Zhou Chu to consider, but rather the responsibility of the cabinet.

Moreover, with these local officials and clerks in Taiyuan, chaos is impossible. Although it may seem that officials are doing the work, in reality, it is mostly the clerks or staff who are doing the work. As long as these people are there, Taiyuan will not be in chaos.