During the Jingnan Campaign, Zhu Di received unexpected help from Xiangyang, the magistrate of Jinxian County. His forces swept through the opposition and captured the capital in just one year.
In the second year of the Yongle reign, Zhu Di wanted to reward Xiangyang with a promotion and noble title, but opinions in court were divided.
Some said Xiangyang was corrupt and had done every kind of evil. Others called him a modern-day Zhuge Liang, a gifted official without equal.
Unable to make up his mind, Zhu Di secretly visited Jinxian to judge for himself whether Xiangyang deserved a promotion and title.
When he arrived, he found the people living in comfort and prosperity. There were roads, apartment buildings, factories, hospitals, and all sorts of things he had never seen before.
Zhu Di was delighted, convinced that Xiangyang was an official of rare talent, one the ages would remember.
But what the people told him left him dumbfounded.
Xiangyang was a major stakeholder in the brothels and gambling houses, and the man who protected them.
Xiangyang was the greatest corrupt official of all time, with a fortune worth billions!
When Zhu Di entered the rear courtyard of the county office, he found it lavish beyond measure: gold ornaments, colored-glass cups, clusters of agate and coral. It was more splendid than the imperial palace itself.
When they first met.
Zhu Di: “I’ve only just restored the laws of the Great Ancestor. I can’t let this stand. Kill him first, and we’ll talk later!”
After getting to know him.
Zhu Di: “Oh, Brother Xiang, got any good business opportunities lately? Count me in.”
After becoming close friends.
Zhu Di: “Brother Xiang, I have a daughter who’s just come of age. What do you think of her?”
After Xiangyang’s true nature came to light.
Zhu Di: “My dear minister, who should we go after next, and how should we go about it?”
Faced with the greatest corrupt official of all time, Zhu Di took one false step and earned everlasting regret.
Zhu Di: “Ah, the greatest corrupt official of all time is right in front of me, yet I can’t kill him. Who understands my predicament?”
It's the same as having one, but the one who doesn't play with women. The plot is almost the same. But that one is no longer updated.
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