Unlike the later Ming and Qing dynasties, important officials in Beijing attended large-scale court meetings almost every day. In the Song Dynasty, the court meetings were only held on the first and fifteenth day of each month, and usually only when there was no important business. , there is usually a small-scale court meeting only three days later, and the participants are all the chief officials of important yamen such as the Political Affairs Hall, the Privy Council and the Six Ministries.
The scale of today's court meeting in the Chongzheng Hall was not too large. Only about twenty important ministers participated, making the vast Chongzheng Hall seem a bit empty. The voices of the monarch and his ministers talking could still echo throughout the space from time to time. middle.
In fact, a meeting was held in the Daqing Palace the day before yesterday, where officials of the seventh rank and above in Beijing could listen to government affairs. Japan does not need to be so urgent today. However, heavy rain has been a problem in Tokyo recently, and the emperor and his ministers felt uneasy, so they took the opportunity to discuss countermeasures.
But what surprised Zhao Ji, the current official, was that he had just raised his head. The Minister of the Ministry of Industry had come forward to report that the water level of the Bianhe River in the city had dropped significantly, and even if there was another half month of heavy rain, there would be no threat. This made him pleasantly surprised, but also doubtful: "Why did it suddenly improve? Could it be that the downstream gates have been opened to release floods?"
"Your Majesty, it's not that the flood was discharged downstream, but that the gates of the culverts in the city were ordered to be opened, and the water accumulated in the Bianhe River was directed into the ground."
"Oh? Is there such a thing?" Zhao Ji suddenly became interested, and just as he was about to ask for details, Du Zhiyuan, the imperial censor, came out of the court to report: "Your Majesty, I want to participate in the Kaifeng performance." It is a serious crime for government officials and others to act recklessly and disturb the stability of Tokyo."
Under Zhao Ji's somewhat surprised gaze, Du Zhongcheng took out the impeachment memorial jointly written by many censors in the censorship station and raised it high above his head. Then he listed all the changes that happened in Tokyo yesterday one by one, with a final look on his face. He said solemnly: "The people of Kaifeng Prefecture ignored the order of the capital and disrupted the lives of the people. It is an unforgivable crime. What is especially abominable is that they rashly asked the street department to open the gate, allowing the water of the Bian River to enter the city, regardless of the safety of the capital. I thought that , Such actions are truly treasonous and unethical, and must be severely punished to serve as a warning to others!"
Zhao Ji finally knew the ins and outs of the matter, and his face looked a little gloomy. Because in his opinion, these ministers who rashly diverted water into the sluice without any confidence were irresponsible to the city of Tokyo and to themselves as the emperor. This crime was really not a small one.
At this time, Han Zhi, who happened to be participating in the court meeting, also followed up and said: "Your Majesty, as far as I know, the person who took the lead and ordered the order that almost caused a catastrophe this time was a ninth-grade military attache in Kaifeng Prefecture, who is now the Yamen Sun Tu from Dutou. What this person did is really lawless and has no regard for the emperor. He should be severely punished." Naturally, he who had already developed a grudge against Sun Tu could not let go of such an opportunity.
With these two taking the lead, several other officials also stepped forward to participate in the Kaifeng Mansion, and by the way, they pushed more charges onto Sun Tu. He was said to have acted recklessly and boldly, and was really not an official. He should be immediately deprived of his official position and then taken to the Ministry of Punishment for severe punishment.
Zhao Ji listened to his ministers impeaching the entire Kaifeng Mansion, and he also had some thoughts. He felt that it was time to rectify the yamen that was doing business in front of him, otherwise there would be no way for someone to do something outrageous in the future and cause disaster. Remedy. As for Sun Tu, whom they often mentioned, although he had some impressions, he didn't think about it too carefully. After all, he
A ninth-grade official, and a military attache at that, dared to turn the city of Tokyo upside down. He should be severely punished, as a lesson to those who come after him.
As the privy envoy, Tong Guan stood numbly in the courtroom, watching with cold eyes the civil servants who continued to criticize Kaifeng Mansion and Sun Tu, but felt uncomfortable in his heart.
Having been in the court for many years, he finally saw how ugly these civil servants were. It was originally just a small matter. Apart from frightening the people a little, it did not cause any consequences. On the contrary, it solved the flood situation. But they were lucky. Taking advantage of Sun Tu's ability to make decisions without authorization, he launched a massive attack and was about to shout and kill him.
And this is the sad part of being a military attache in the court today. Because they are often humbler than civil servants, most of their merits will be shared by civil servants. As long as they make the slightest mistake, they will be caught by the civil servants. After being knocked down by impeachment, they will be stepped on several times until There is no recovery.
In fact, if this matter were applied to ordinary civil servants, it would not have any impact at all. Even if there were real troubles in the future, at most they would be demoted from the capital and released as officials. It is impossible to really determine his serious crimes. But when it fell on Sun Tu, the crime became particularly heavy. Given his status, he might not be able to save his life once he was seized from the official position and thrown into the Ministry of Punishment.
It’s really chilling!
Tong Guan sneered in his heart, knowing that he had to step in to protect Sun Tu, and it was time to teach these arrogant civil servants a lesson. At that moment, while everyone was talking about the same thing, he waited for Zhao Ji to make a decision and stepped out: "Your Majesty, I have something to report." In private, he called Zhao Ji a saint and claimed to be an old slave, but in court In the hall, I don’t dare to call him that.
Zhao Ji gave him a strange look: "What does Privy Tong have to report? It's not too late to decide the matter first and discuss it later."
"Back to Your Majesty, what I want to report has a lot to do with the incident that happened in Tokyo yesterday. All my colleagues kept talking about how the Kaifeng Mansion acted arbitrarily without discipline, but obviously they did not mention one thing, that is, they Why would you do such an inappropriate thing?"
"Isn't it because of the thieves? It's just a few thieves. Even if they get it, it doesn't count as much credit..." Han Zhi replied with some disapproval. But as soon as he spoke, Tong Guan glanced at him. This glance made his back feel cold and his expression changed. The other person's aura completely suppressed the grandson of Han Qi.
After frightening Han Zhi away with just one look, Tong Guan bowed and said: "Your Majesty, Sun Tu was originally recommended to the court by me, so when he caused such a big incident, I immediately asked someone to take him in." The government will investigate and find out that as long as he really did this without any reason, I will definitely be the first to file an impeachment report and will never tolerate it."
"Well, Privy Tong has always been loyal to the country, I still believe it." Zhao Ji nodded, and then he finally understood: "So, is there any other secret behind this?"
"Exactly. According to Sun Tu's report, he has been working hard these days to track down a group of thieves in Tokyo who specialize in abducting women and children, known as Pink Swallows. Mr. Yu also knows this." Tong Guan said. He glanced at Yu Shen opposite.
When Yu Shen's name was called, he also walked out, saluted and said: "Your Majesty is indeed aware of this matter. At the beginning, I ordered the Kaifeng Mansion to investigate to the end and never let the culprits go unpunished.
When the two of them explained the cause and effect of the incident to the emperor, they only pointed out the details and did not tell the story of Yu Shen's granddaughter being kidnapped by Fen Yanzi's people. This showed how much Yu Shen cared about the stability of the capital.
As expected, Zhao Ji nodded to him with satisfaction: "Yu Qing is indeed attentive, and I am very pleased. What's next?"
Tong Guan then said: "These days, Sun Tu and his yamen officers have gone through many hardships and really caught a lot of Pink Swallow's thieves and main leaders. However, after some investigation, he discovered an extremely terrifying person. Under such circumstances, once these Pink Swallow leaders fall into the hands of the government, they would rather die than surrender and commit suicide by taking poison. Your Majesty, although the crime they committed is not light, it is not worthy of death."
Now not only Zhao Ji, but also some other courtiers showed curious expressions. Tong Guan took the opportunity to glance at everyone and then continued: "So they paid close attention to the identities of the captured thieves, and found that they all had similar origins, from Jiangnan and Zhejiang. land."
After a pause, his tone became more solemn: "And later, he also found that some of the vehicles used by the thieves actually still had the marks of the Qian clan of the original Wuyue Kingdom. Just when he checked this place, he felt that someone wanted to come here. When a treasonous act was committed in the city of Tokyo and they were preparing to hunt down thieves all over the city, the thieves from Pink Swallow actually knew the movements of Kaifeng Mansion in advance. They suddenly escaped from their hiding place and got into the underground ditch, trying to use this to get rid of the thieves. Escaped the imperial encirclement and suppression.
"That Sun Tu was also young and energetic, and he was eager to perform meritorious deeds. After he noticed the weakness of the underground ditch, he immediately ordered people to open the gate and release the water, flooding the thieves. This is how the so-called nonsense of today's colleagues came about, but He also captured many important ringleaders of Pink Swallow.
"Moreover, according to those people's accounts, their behind-the-scenes leader has long colluded with many officials in the court, trying to prevent him from continuing to pursue the case in depth. I don't know who these people are, and I dare not say what their intentions are. Where is it? But I believe that what Sun Tu and everyone in the Kaifeng Mansion did this time was just to follow the authority in a hurry, and it cannot be said that they act arbitrarily without the king's law!"
After saying these words, the emperor's expression suddenly changed. His original anger had been replaced by a hint of suspicion, and his eyes even wandered back and forth on the officials who had just impeached Sun Tu. The officials were even more nervous and wanted to say something, but for the moment they didn't know how to speak.
Why did things suddenly change so drastically? Also, why does this matter have anything to do with Prince Qian’s Mansion? Is what Tong Guan said true or false
After being silent for a while, Censor Zhongcheng Du Zhiyuan was the first to speak: "Your Majesty, we still don't know how true what Privy Tong said. The Qian family has always followed the rules since they submitted to us in the Song Dynasty. I really can't believe that they actually If you dare to do such a treacherous thing, you can't do it accurately just by relying on the one-sided words of a ninth-grade official, Sun Tu."
Before Zhao Ji could speak, Tong Guan had already answered: "What Du Zhongcheng said is not unreasonable, so I have sent people to Qian's house to inquire. In addition, Kaifeng Mansion has also sent people to the properties under Qian's name. Conduct a search, I think by this time, there should be results."
As soon as he finished speaking, a small yellow gatekeeper who was guarding outside came into the palace, knelt down and began to say: "Your Majesty, Han Changzhou, the governor of Kaifeng, is asking to see you outside the palace, saying that he has something important to report!"