I Embezzled a Million in the Great Ming, Yet My Home Is Bare, Shockingly Fooling Old Zhu

{Great Ming + court power struggles + fun and hilarious + remonstrating unto death + corrupt officials + reverse tactics}

In the fifth year of the Hongwu reign, Shen Qing kneels on the execution platform in a very good mood.

He is a transmigrator, bound to the Corrupt Official System. As long as he embezzles enough silver to get executed by Zhu Yuanzhang, he can return to the modern era with a fortune.

For this purpose, he spent a year as the magistrate of Qingtian County, embezzling enough to get his head chopped off.

Zhu Yuanzhang himself oversees the execution, and the entire court has gathered. Shen Qing is sure today’s the day.

“Your Majesty, I plead guilty. Please execute me at once.”

But Zhu Yuanzhang falls silent.

The people of Qingtian County have arrived.

They hold up a People’s Umbrella, clutch account books, and kneel across the ground.

Shen Qing panics. “Your Majesty, I really did embezzle! Please execute me at once!”

The Imperial Guard searches his entire residence but cannot find a single tael of the million in stolen silver. All they find are lists of roadwork expenses and grain records for disaster relief.

After a long silence, Zhu Yuanzhang says, “I thought you were a corrupt official. I never imagined you were helping me build up the empire.”

Shen Qing: ??? No, Your Majesty, I really did embezzle!

While supervising the northern campaign, he wipes out an entire smuggling network and pockets everything himself.

While auditing accounts in Qingzhou, he flings the ledgers in the faces of Hu Weiyong’s followers and embezzles everything himself.

While surveying land in Fengyang, he forces the Huai River’s western aristocrats to hand back all the land they seized, then takes it for himself.

At last, he kneels in the hall, grabs Zhu Yuanzhang’s dragon robe, and cries out with all his soul:

“Your Majesty! If you don’t kill me soon, the Great Ming’s banners will be planted all over the world!”