Chapter 476 The evidence was burned, killing two birds with one stone!

Chapter 476 The evidence was burned, killing two birds with one stone!

"As the Grand Commandant of our dynasty, you are responsible for managing all the troops in the country, managing military pay and salaries, and promoting military personnel. So, Cao Shen, I want to ask you now, have you ever been corrupt, accepted bribes, or embezzled public funds?"

Gao Yao stared at Cao Shen and questioned him word by word. His voice was not loud, but every word carried a thousand pounds of weight.

Faced with such a harsh question, Cao Shen hurriedly bowed and replied: "Prime Minister, please be wise! I have always been conscientious and diligent in my duties, and have never dared to slack off. What's more, the treatment you have given me is already extremely generous. Not only do I have no worries about food, clothing and daily necessities, but I also have a lot of surplus every month. I really have no reason to covet those ill-gotten gains!"

"Oh, you are not greedy, then how do you manage your subordinates? Here are the accounts. The amount of money owed to the Chamber of Commerce under the name of Taiwei Fu alone is as much as three million yuan. This is only for half a year. A minor official in the Taiwei Mansion has a deposit of more than a thousand gold coins at home... Do you want me to read out the rest one by one?"

After Gao Yao finished speaking, he threw the account in front of Cao Shen, who was so frightened that he knelt on the ground. Because Cao Shen had been with Gao Yao for a long time, he knew Gao Yao's weak spot. Gao Yao was not reluctant to spend money. Under the same official position, his salary was almost more than double that of the Qin Dynasty.

There are also some positions that are not necessary in themselves. After streamlining, the people in charge can even get two to three times the salary of Daqin, just because they are busy. And these are just salaries. In addition, officials can enjoy discounts on any items purchased in the Chamber of Commerce. The higher the official position, the higher the discount.

Even some relatively rare items would be regularly delivered to the residences of these officials. Even if these items were not sold directly, it was not a problem. Gao Yao would not care about making a profit from the price difference.

But what Gao Yao could not accept was this kind of greed. Gao Yao hated this kind of situation. Gao Yao was not Zhu Yuanzhang. The salary was very low, and he also insisted on being honest and incorruptible. Gao Yao gave a lot of money and the welfare benefits were full. If you still wanted to be greedy, wouldn't that be courting death?

"Prime Minister, I have committed a crime of negligence. Please punish me!"

Cao Shen was really shocked and scared at this time. He was shocked because this incident happened in the Taiwei Mansion. Although it was not his fault, he could not escape the responsibility. He was also scared because Gao Yao knew everything about things he did not know. As expected, the so-called discussion of the expedition was not that simple at all.

Before entering the main hall, Zhang Liang, Han Xin and others had already realized that normally, Gao Yao only needed to pair the general he favored with a staff officer and then go to war. There was no need to make such a big fuss. There must be a reason for the sudden scene. It was just that Cao Shen did not expect that the first knife would stab himself.

As for the list that Gao Yao threw over, Cao Shen didn't even dare to pick it up and look at it. Gao Yao only mentioned a petty official who embezzled thousands of gold coins. If there was only such a petty official in the list, Gao Yao would not have picked it out and said so.

"As for you, I have a list here. It also involves some of you present here, or some of your close subordinates. They talk about it privately, and even pretend to obey what I have decided. They are lazy in training and start to do superficial work for me. Do you really think I know nothing?"

As Gao Yao finished speaking, everyone present knelt on the ground, not daring to breathe, including Han Xin. Who could avoid such a thing? They must have been implicated in causing Gao Yao to be so angry, especially Han Xin, who was the general and was supposed to supervise all the troops. He must have taken the blame.

"Why did I choose Ying Bu? The third group is mainly composed of surrendered soldiers from the imperial court. However, when it comes to executing the training and reform plans set by me, they are the best among all the troops. Where do you think I can put my face?"

Gao Yao's tone of voice clearly rose a lot in the last sentence, and the generals below really didn't dare to say a word more this time.

"Xiao He, Han Xin, I give you three months to rectify all the troops. Anyone who disobeys discipline will be expelled from the army. Anyone who violates the rules and regulations will be punished by military law."

"Yes!" After hearing Gao Yao's words, Han Xin and Cao Shen responded immediately without any hesitation.

"Okay, everyone, get up!" Only then did Gao Yao ask everyone to stand up. After the generals stood up, none of them dared to look up at Gao Yao, and Gao Yao simply waved to the servants at the door.

Soon, the servants brought in a burning brazier, respectfully placed it on the ground, and then walked it out to the main hall.

At this time, Gao Yao placed the account books in the brazier in front of all the generals. He did not stop until the fire in the brazier was burning very vigorously and all the books originally placed on Gao Yao's desk were thrown into the brazier.

"Alright, let's go to the Peacock Expedition as we said before. The coordination of the decryption of each department must be done without any mistakes!"

"Here!"

After giving all these instructions, Gao Yao waved his hand and returned to the inner hall. The generals present were then led out to the main hall one by one. However, everyone still had a lingering feeling of fear.

Gao Yao's purpose in doing this was very clear. He first pointed out the problems of everyone present, and then burned all the problem booklets in public. This was also a disguised way of making his attitude clear. I will not pursue this matter, and let these people handle the future.

As for these accounts, they are 30% true and 70% false. It's not that they can't be investigated, but there is no need to do so. Gao Yao wants to use this method to crack down on these unstable people. After the battle of the imperial army, many soldiers and generals of the Southern Border Army have developed a mentality of arrogance. Gao Yao knows that this is not good, and it will also bring with it various other problems.

Even if someone really guessed it, Gao Yao might not know the truth, so he would not dare to gamble. After all, if Gao Yao could investigate some of them, why couldn't he investigate the others? In this way, these people would definitely choose to be cautious when they return. This could be regarded as a disguised way of killing two birds with one stone.

On the one hand, it discouraged most of the generals, and on the other hand, it could also avoid internal conflicts caused by the expedition to the Maurya Kingdom. After all, Ying Bu and Zhang Liang were generals and counselors who had just joined Gao Yao's army. They had no foundation, so naturally, there would be no such thing.