Zhu Ping'an held a unique welcoming banquet for Xu Hai and his team at the Donghu construction site. Each person was provided with a standard lunch (two steamed buns, a plate of pickled vegetables, and a bowl of egg drop soup). In addition, Zhu Ping'an paid out of his own pocket and asked the kitchen to prepare six dishes of stir-fried wild vegetables with a combination of meat and vegetables to form a welcoming banquet for everyone.
This was the worst welcoming banquet Xu Hai had ever had, but it was also the most satisfying one.
Zhu Ping'an's authenticity and naturalness, without any fawning or flattery, were like a breath of fresh air, which made Xu Hai admire him even more.
Of course, Wang Meng and others are another matter. Unless Zhu Ping'an is thrown into prison, they will not like him.
"Sir Zhu, this impeachment has been verified clearly. Sir Zhu is innocent. We will report the specific details truthfully after returning to the capital." Xu Hai said to Zhu Ping'an during the meal.
"You all are very observant and have cleared Ping'an's name. I am very grateful." Zhu Ping'an bowed to express his gratitude.
"Master Zhu, you are too polite. It is our job to verify the truth." Xu Hai smiled and waved his hand.
"It was Ping'an who was responsible for a misunderstanding. The entire court was mobilized, and it wasted manpower and material resources, occupying the court's precious judicial resources. Especially, it alarmed His Majesty. Ping'an feels deeply ashamed. I would like to apologize to you with tea instead of wine." Zhu Ping'an picked up the tea bowl and offered tea instead of wine to Xu Hai and others.
"Speaking of which, Lord Zhu is also a victim. He has done nothing wrong." Xu Hai and others picked up tea bowls and comforted him.
As he spoke, Xu Hai and the others glanced at the Magistrate of Taiping who was sitting at the end of the seat. The Magistrate of Taiping blushed and felt ashamed.
"Although it's a misunderstanding, no matter what, it was caused by Ping An." Zhu Ping An said with a wry smile.
"Alas, Master Zhu, I am ashamed to say that before I came here, I had already formed a preconceived notion that Master Zhu had colluded with grain merchants, raised grain prices, and accepted bribes. I came here with the idea of catching a corrupt official for the sake of the country and the people of the world, but I didn't expect to catch a corrupt official, but instead found a great sage. Alas, I believed one side of the story and almost caused Master Zhu, such a sage, to suffer an unjust fate."
Xu Hai said apologetically.
Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but look up to Xu Hai. This showed that Xu Hai was an upright person.
We might consider more contact in the future.
"Lord Xu, you are too kind. After Lord Wang and Lord Liu submitted a memorial together due to a misunderstanding, more than ten memorials were submitted to impeach Ping An. As the saying goes, a single word can melt metal, and repeated criticism can destroy a person. It was hard to believe that Ping An was innocent under the circumstances at that time. If I put myself in his shoes, I am afraid that if Ping An was there, he would also have misunderstandings." Zhu Ping An smiled nonchalantly and even defended the magistrate of Taiping when he mentioned that he had been impeached by the magistrate.
In this way, Zhu Ping'an appears to be more magnanimous and tolerant, and a gentleman, while the magistrate of Taiping appears to be more of a villain.
Xu Hai and others looked at the Magistrate of Taiping with increasingly disdain. The Magistrate of Taiping shrank to the last seat, with his head almost hanging under the table.
"Those who followed the trend to impeach, without distinguishing between truth and falsehood, rushed forward and impeached for the sake of impeachment. Their hearts are damnable." Xu Hai said with emotion, "Some people form cliques for personal gain, that's what they are like. As long as someone takes the lead in writing a memorial to impeach their political opponents, these clique members will take the opportunity to attack them in groups and impeach them in turns. This can easily mislead His Majesty and make Him misunderstanding that there are indeed problems with his political enemies..."
Xu Hai spoke from his heart. He was Li Mo's man. They were at odds with Yan's Party and suffered from suppression by Yan's Party in the capital. Yan's Party had many members and powerful forces, so they used this method of collective impeachment to get rid of many of their people.
Zhu Ping'an nodded. There were many such things in history, especially during the party struggles in the late Ming Dynasty.
"Now that his injustice has been vindicated, how do you feel, Lord Zhu?" Xu Hai asked.
"I do have some feelings." Zhu Ping'an said honestly.
"Oh, Lord Zhu, what do you think? We are all ears." Xu Hai and others said with interest.
"It's just some clueless and immature sighs. I just said it nonsense, so just listen to my nonsense. In fact, this impeachment is just a misunderstanding. Ping'an is just a county magistrate, and a misunderstanding has led to such a large-scale mobilization. If the prefect, the governor, or other high-ranking officials or the generals who guard a place also have such a misunderstanding, wouldn't the consequences be more serious and would it occupy more resources?!"
Zhu Ping'an glanced at Xu Hai and others and spoke slowly.
Xu Hai and others nodded. If a local official had such a misunderstanding, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Ping An believes that the reason for the misunderstanding is that the news is not flowing smoothly," Zhu Ping An said. "If the news channels were smooth, and if the matter of Jingnan could be reported truthfully and in a timely manner, I think there would not be such a misunderstanding, and you would not have to mobilize a large number of troops and travel all the way from the capital."
"That's right." Xu Hai and others nodded.
"From the fact that Lord Wang and Lord Liu have jointly impeached me, we can also see some clues. Lord Wang does not need to do this. Ping An does not blame you. Lord Wang misunderstood Ping An. For the sake of the people of Jingnan, he wanted to impeach me, but there was no quick channel. He could only unite with Lord Liu, the Imperial Censor, and submit an impeachment petition through the Imperial Censor. Grassroots officials like us are the closest to the people, but His Majesty finds it difficult to hear the voices of grassroots officials like us..."
Zhu Ping'an deliberately cited the example of the Taiping County Magistrate and once again pulled him out and whipped him.
The Taiping County Magistrate was so angry that his face was about to burn. Not only did he hang his head under the table, he even wanted to find a mouse hole under the table to crawl into...
"In addition, I set high grain prices in Jingnan, breaking the convention, which is indeed easy to cause misunderstandings, especially in the early stage, before the effect is seen. It is normal for Lord Wang to impeach me. However, Lord Wang can see it, and other county magistrates in neighboring counties should also be able to see it. Why is only Lord Wang daring to impeach me? Perhaps they have concerns and are worried about being retaliated by me. After all, the content of the memorial is relatively public and it is difficult to hide it from me, and I am about to take office as the assistant of the Judicial and Supervisory Commissioner."
"It was also because the content of the impeachment memorial was relatively public. After Lord Wang and Lord Liu jointly impeached me, some people who wanted to put Ping An to death came forward and impeached me one after another, which alarmed His Majesty... ... Gossip can melt gold, and accumulated criticism can destroy a person. Thinking about it now, I am terrified... ... Fortunately, thanks to the wisdom of His Majesty and the keen observation of the superiors, Ping An was spared. As Lord Xu said just now, this can easily be used by some people with ulterior motives to form cliques for personal gain and attack political enemies."
... ...
No clue, immature... ... I am just speaking nonsense, just listen to it nonsense.
Zhu Ping'an did just as he said, he spoke a lot of long-winded emotions, hammering here and there.
Xu Hai and others felt that Zhu Ping'an was more real.