There was no shortage of gold ornaments in the palace, but so many golden ingots suddenly appeared in front of him, making Emperor Jiacheng a little dazzling.
He saw that Zheng Ancheng and all the little eunuchs were smiling, and he couldn't help laughing. Laughing and laughing, he suddenly stopped laughing, and Emperor Jiacheng walked away, pacing back and forth in the hall.
This represented that His Majesty was thinking about a question, and Zheng Ancheng naturally didn't dare to disturb him, so he waved his hands to make everyone retreat.
The hall was silent, and suddenly Emperor Jiacheng said, "This Xue Tingxiang is not bad."
As he spoke, he stroked his palm, indicating that he was in a good mood.
He paced back and forth a few more steps, and said to Zheng Ancheng in a good mood: "Go to the cabinet and tell those cabinet elders that they have not been in the past few days.
It was just that they were wrangling for the salaries of the Liaodong army, and now the person who gave the money is here. After thinking about it, I changed my mind again: "You first ask someone to call Xu Shoufu. "
Zheng Ancheng had served Emperor Jiacheng for many years, and he naturally understood what he meant. He immediately bowed his head and hurried off.
Xu Shoufu was soon invited, but he was not alone, he also brought Chen Jian.
Not long after Xue Tingxiang left Beijing, Chen Jian married Xu Shoufu's youngest daughter, who is now Xu Shoufu's son-in-law. Unlike Xue Tingxiang, Chen Jian is now in the limelight in Beijing, and has risen from Zuo Chunfang Zuo Zhongyun to the six divisions.
Although the official titles in these six divisions are not large, they hold great power. They are in charge of assisting the emperor in handling government affairs, admonishing, making up ques, and adding items, and supervising the affairs of the six divisions. Can participate in court deliberation, court push, participate in the formulation of the court's major policies and supervise its implementation.
And Chen Jian is in charge of supervising the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel.
Xu Shoufu and Chen Jian stayed in the Qianqing Palace for a long time until night fell outside Fang Li.
At this time, it was the beginning of the lanterns in the palace, and a stone lantern pavilion stood across the flat corridor.
Chen Jian supported Xu Shoufu and walked slowly outside the palace.
Xu Shoufu was getting old, and Emperor Jiacheng also gave him the ability to ride the shoulder paddle in the Forbidden City, but he never sat there. In his own words, courtiers should keep their duties and should not overstep them.
In fact, this is precisely Xu Shoufu's cleverness. With this knowledge, Xu Shoufu insisted on sitting on the position of this first assistant for decades, and did not let Wu Ge pass him.
Xu Shoufu suddenly stopped, looked at the double-eaved roof not far away, and sighed: "It's going to rain again."
He turned his head and looked at Chen Jian and said, "Your classmate is someone who can do great things, and it will be a big deal in the future."
Chen Jian didn't speak, and Xu Shoufu didn't seem to wait for him to answer, and walked forward again.
The next day when he went to court, Emperor Jiacheng summoned a group of ministers in the cabinet to discuss the matter.
It was only after the Palace of Heavenly Purity that everyone found out that this time it was a bit homogeneous, not only the cabinet ministers but also the officials from the three divisions and six divisions.
Where does this look like a discussion, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a court discussion.
Emperor Jiacheng sat on the first dragon chair, and a group of ministers stood below them according to their official titles. Only Xu Shoufu got old and got a pier to sit on the upper side of his left hand.
"The affairs of the various departments are busy, so I will not delay your time. I called you here today because Dou Zhun from Zhejiang has written a briefing."
These words were a bit abrupt, and many people didn't know who Dou Zhun was at the first time, but they quickly realized that it was Dou Zhun, the prosecutor of Zhejiang's Criminal Justice Department.
Is this an accident in Zhejiang? Everyone looked at each other in dismay, but Wu Ge's pupils shrank, Feng Chengbao next to him looked at him again and again, but he turned a deaf ear, Feng Chengbao could only helplessly bow his head.
"Zheng Ancheng, please read to them."
After Zheng Ancheng responded respectfully, he unfolded the memorial in his hand and read: "...Recently, the minister found that Xue Tingxiang, the magistrate of Dinghai County, Ningbo Prefecture, was daring to act in illicit affairs with other profiteers, and sold my Dachang goods to the barbarians at high prices. business… "
I don't know when, Zheng Ancheng has stopped.
Below, it seems that the waves are calm, but in fact, there are already stormy waves inside.
In the end, those who can stand here have been officials in the dynasty for many years, so there is still some calmness.
Zheng Yunjie, the Censor Zheng Yunjie, the Censor of the Right Capital, was the first to stand up and said, "Your Majesty, such a daring county magistrate should be taken down and investigated immediately."
This remark attracted a burst of echoes, all saying that severe punishment should be given, in order to set an example. Only a few remained silent because they could not see the direction of the wind.
"Such a daring little official should be investigated and dealt with. Dou Zhun also sent someone to do it, but something happened in the middle." Emperor Jiacheng gently patted the armrest of the dragon chair and said, "Zheng Ancheng, you continue to read. "
Zheng Ancheng then continued to read it again, saying that the governor of Zhejiang, Zhu Bingtong, under the guise of the Commissioner of the Inspectorate, ordered someone to take Xue Tingxiang in private, but unfortunately, it happened that Dou Zhun was investigating the case in Dinghai County.
This Li Gui met Li Kui, and things naturally couldn't be contained.
Dou Zhun ordered the group to be taken down and handed over 800 miles of expedited documents to Beijing.
"I have also read this Dou Zhun's excerpt, and the tone is quite aggrieved. You are all ministers of the imperial court. Tell me, what did Zhu Bingtong think in his heart, and why did he do such a trick? Something people can't figure out?"
This question made everyone speechless, and those who could get a clue would not dare to say it clearly. Those who were mixed in it naturally did not dare to talk deeply.
"Yesterday, I handed the book over, and I thought about it all night. No matter how I thought about it, I didn't think it made sense? What do you think this Zhu Bingtong is trying to do? To deal with a seventh-rank county magistrate, he even used such a method to frame his colleagues!"
In the hall, there was silence. Only Emperor Jiacheng's voice hovered in the air: "What? Could it be that my ministers can't figure out how strange Zhu Bingtong is doing?"
The meaning of these words is too obvious, and there is no room to continue to remain silent, so someone stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I think, it is Zhu Bingtong who does not want to leak the news in order to investigate the case, so as not to scare the snake, so he will Deliberately making a fuss, but unexpectedly Dou Zhun misunderstood?"
The person who spoke was Feng Chengbao, old Feng Ge.
Emperor Jiacheng looked at him with a sneer, his eyes getting colder and colder, just when Feng Chengbao was regretting why he jumped out, Emperor Jiacheng spoke.
"Zheng Ancheng, read it to Feng Ge again."
So Zheng Ancheng recounted how Dou Zhun bumped into someone from the governor's yamen, and how he pretended to be an inspector from Sina.
Feng Chengbao's face flushed red, and it was written very clearly in the memorial that the people in the governor's yamen were those who deliberately pretended to be the commissioner of the inspectorate.
"Following Master Dou's memorial, there is also a confession from the thousand households who came forward to take people that day." Zheng Ancheng said. But no one told him, so naturally he couldn't take out the confession and read it, so he stepped back.
Just when all the ministers were thinking about what the thousand households' confessions had said, a sneer suddenly sounded in the hall, but it was not from Emperor Jiacheng, but Zheng Yunjie, the assassin.
"This matter is already very obvious. It must be that Zhu Bingtong has any stake in this Xue Tingxiang, and it is so big that the seriousness of the other party must be removed. Zhu Bingtong is probably afraid of being investigated by the above, so he simply framed it to Dou Zhun. "
Emperor Jiacheng looked puzzled and asked, "Censor Zheng Du, what else is there?"
Zheng Yunjie nodded, stood up, looked around the ministers, and said to Emperor Jiacheng: "The sage probably doesn't know that there are many Japanese pirates along the coast, and there are many more, that is, some profiteers bribed local officials to fornicate foreigners. The court's decrees are disregarded, and they only care about filling their own pockets. Over the years, there have been repeated investigations and repeated investigations. Although there have been fewer reports on this aspect in recent years, Wei Chen expected that it would be impossible to cut off, but there were people who protected him."
"Wait." Emperor Jiacheng interrupted Zheng Yunjie's remarks and said, "What do you mean, Zhu Bingtong and Xue Tingxiang fought each other because of the uneven distribution of spoils, because Xue Tingxiang was the court order, and Zhu Bingtong was not good. If you face it directly, will you use the name of others?"
"This, Wei Chen doesn't know."
Emperor Jiacheng murmured: "After you have said this, I also remember who Xue Tingxiang is, not that Xue Tingxiang who beat the drum, Xue Zhuangyuan of Liuyuan Jidi, he was Jiacheng ten years from the cabinet office. He was sent to the local area. At that time, my dragon was sick, and I didn't care about it. Could it be that Xue Tingxiang was specially sent by the cabinet to Zhejiang to rectify the local chaos?"
These words made all the cabinet ministers in the cabinet not knowing how to accept them. They all knew why Xue Tingxiang was kicked out of the cabinet. The problem is that Wu Ge is still standing here, who dares to speak bluntly.
After Feng Chengbao was unable to step down, it was Wu Ge's turn to be old again.
But Elder Wu was worthy of being Elder Wu. He immediately stood up and said, "If you go back to Your Majesty, this Xue Tingxiang is young and energetic. When he was in the cabinet, he used to point fingers at government affairs. This is a taboo event. The old minister couldn't bear it. The imperial court has lost a good talent, and it is also to sharpen him, so he will be moved out of the cabinet. As for where to put it, it is handled by the Ministry of Personnel, but the old ministers do not know."
This is obviously just talking nonsense with his eyes open. The Ministry of Officials is the territory of Wu Ge, and it can be done elsewhere. Only here he is very careful. If it is said that Xue Tingxiang was released and Wu Ge didn't know where he was, he was obviously lying to a fool.
"It turns out that Wu Ge doesn't know."
Elder Wu Ge's waist bent down again: "The old minister really doesn't know, but your Majesty can rest assured that the old minister will go down to inquire, who handled the matter of this son's release in the first place."
Having said this, it is natural to not continue.
Even if Emperor Jiacheng really wanted to investigate, Wu Ge could find a scapegoat by turning his head. It is definitely someone who has nothing to do with him at all, maybe he can drag others into the water.
If it was before, Emperor Jiacheng would definitely be very angry, but today he is in a good mood.
He waved his hand and said very politely: "It's not important, what we are discussing now is why Zhu Bingtong framed things on Dou Zhun. Over the years, Dou Zhun has been unknown, but he can be regarded as a minister of the arm and stock, for the imperial court. He has done a lot of practical things, and I can't let him suffer this grievance. I don't know, what is Wu Ge's opinion?"
Old Wu Ge gritted his back molars and said with a smile: "You adults don't have any opinions, how could this old minister have. But Your Majesty doesn't need to pay too much attention to this matter. This Zhu Bingtong is using shady methods to frame his colleagues, and it is expected that there must be someone behind him It is a great conspiracy, your Majesty should not escort him back to Beijing for investigation, it is natural to know what is right and what is wrong at this time."
Emperor Jiacheng looked at the old face below. The most powerful thing about Wu Ge was that he was ruthless. He said that the strong man broke his wrist, but many people may not have this determination when it comes to the end. But Wu Ge is old. When he should break his wrist, he never hesitates. Even if Zhu Bingtong was cultivated by him with great difficulty, it took a lot of effort to put him in the position of governor of Zhejiang.
Emperor Jiacheng applauded: "Wu Ge is a good idea, let's escort Zhu Bingtong back to Beijing. Don't escort him, after all, he is a senior member of the party, the matter is still unclear, and escorting is a bit too awkward. Approachable."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"It's a pity that Xue Tingxiang, how could this son be so stupid and make such a big mistake." Emperor Jiacheng murmured.
The eyes met for a while, but no one dared to make a sound.
At this time, Chen Jian stood up and knelt down in front of Emperor Jiacheng.
"Sir, there is a play."
"I don't know what the original play is in Chen Shi?"
"It was the matter of Xue Tingxiang, the magistrate of Dinghai County."
Emperor Jiacheng looked over in surprise: "Speak."
After that, Chen Jian took Xue Tingxiang to Dinghai County, and saw all kinds of chaos in the local area, how he was constrained by people, and felt the various local people's livelihood, but he was helpless, and finally he simply entered the muddy water and protected himself by himself. A peaceful thing was said.
"Xue Zhixian is a classmate and teacher of Weichen. He seems to be indifferent, but he is righteous and compassionate. He once handed some things to the minister before, saying that if he encounters an accident one day, he will let him Wei Chen took these things out. At that time, the minister was very puzzled, but now he understood that he had long felt that his safety was in danger, and he stayed behind because he was afraid that all this would be covered up again and the people would suffer.
"Yesterday, the minister received a letter from him, in which he stated the matter frankly. The minister opened the box he handed over to the minister, and only then did he know what was in the box. For more than two years, he had heard about it in Dinghai County. What he saw, as well as the accounts of silver and silver he gained from his participation in foreign merchants."
Chen Jian bowed his head and said, "This minister is not defending him, but the words in his letters are blood and tears. Dinghai is a coastal area. Due to the different locations of the coast, there is very little output from the ground. Due to the sea prohibition, the local people cannot fish, and the salt farms are not allowed to fish. Being shut down, people can't continue their lives, and they can only do things that kill their heads, just to feed a family of several people.
"Smuggling is a common practice in the local area, and everyone participates. He knows that this action violates the laws of the court, but he can't bear to be too harsh. He also feels that he is an official of the court, so he will take the risk of the world and do this on his own. There is a sentence in Xue Zhixian County to ask Wei Chen to convey to His Majesty that his personal life and death do not matter, the opening of the sea is imminent. It can open up avenues of wealth to solve the financial crisis."
There was silence in the hall, and I had expected that things would not be easy, but I didn't expect it to be stabbed in this way.
"The box returned by Xue Zhixian?"
"I deliberately brought it into the palace today, just to pass it on to Your Majesty."
"Go have someone carry it up." Emperor Jiacheng ordered.
The box was quickly brought up and placed in the center of the hall.
Chen Jian said: "In the past two years, Xuezhi County has collected business taxes in the name of renting warehouses, and has collected nearly 3 million taels of silver. There is 5,000 gold in this box, which is 50,000 taels converted into silver, and the rest is all over. It is hidden in the silver treasury in Dinghai County. Xue Zhixian said that the key to the silver treasury is kept in an unspeakable place. If something happens to him one day, he can follow the letter and find the key to get the silver."
Xu Shoufu, who had been sitting on the top of his head and seemed to be dozing, suddenly stood up and shouted to Emperor Jiacheng: "Your Majesty, three million taels, this time the army pays for Liaodong!"