The Great Ming’s Number One Corrupt Official: Zhu Yuanzhang Begs Me to Take the Throne

In the seventh year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma go incognito to the docks of Ninghai County.

They are shocked to discover that many officials and wealthy merchants are flouting the maritime ban and sailing overseas in luxurious pleasure boats.

Furious, Zhu Yuanzhang sneaks aboard one of the boats and travels all the way to Zhoushan.

Zhoushan’s paved roads, all-night city, shopping streets, residential neighborhoods, and factories of every size leave Zhu Yuanzhang and his companions astounded.

New terms like coupons, pole dancing, buses, milk tea, fast food, dance halls, orphanages, pensions, and publicly funded healthcare open their eyes to a whole new world.

They had thought Zhoushan County vanished after the maritime ban, yet it is a hundred times more prosperous than the Qinhuai River district of Yingtian Prefecture. Everyone is utterly stunned.

They even hail Zhoushan County Magistrate Zhu Tong as a brilliant administrator.

Yet this brilliant administrator repeatedly makes Zhu Yuanzhang want to kill him.

Outrageous fees for writing, auctioning off the first nights of courtesans, taking huge cuts from gambling dens, selling official posts: none of that is even the worst of it.

Zhu Tong can even sell the right to fire a cannon for the first time for thirty thousand taels of silver.

When Zhu Tong’s abacus starts clicking, corrupt officials and wealthy merchants tremble!

Zhu Yuanzhang: “Such a corrupt official is rarely seen in all history. Even five thousand cuts wouldn’t satisfy me!”

Empress Ma: “Chongba, no one can match Zhu Tong’s talent. Killing him would be cutting yourself off from the future!”

Zhu Biao: “Father, Magistrate Zhu must not be killed! He alone can lead our Great Ming into a golden age!”

Zhu Yuanzhang: “A corrupt official like this, I can’t kill him? And now I’m supposed to beg him to take the throne?”