Chapter 261 The minister is guilty
Three days later.
"I secretly reported to Your Majesty Tujie that this matter was all planned by Wei Ying, the left servant of the Ministry of Revenue. I pretended to be entrusted by him to impeach Xiong Banye. Wei Ying said that Hanghuai, the censor of Zuodu, was also dissatisfied with Xiong Ban's desire to talk about maritime affairs..."< br>
Zhu Houzhao read the secret report from Tu Jie in the official affairs again, and was quite horrified. He just asked Liu Jin: "Has Hanghuai arrived?"
"Your Majesty, I have been waiting outside for a long time," Liu Jin replied.
"Call him in," Zhu Houzhao said, and then ordered Liu Jin: "You must remember clearly what I told you."
"All the ministers remember it, your Majesty, don't worry," Liu Jin replied and then retreated. After a while, he brought Hang Huai, the censor of Zuodu, in front of Zhu Houzhao, and immediately retreated.
Hang Huai did not expect that Emperor Zhu Houzhao would summon him at this time, and he was very uneasy, thinking that it might not be related to Xiong Bin's matter.
On the surface, Hang Huai still forced himself to be calm and bowed his hands in salute: "Your Majesty!"
"Well, come here, give Hang Aiqing a seat!"
After saying that, Zhu Houzhao said again: "I thought about it, it is better not to deal with Xiong Bin hastily. You are his boss. I would like to ask, what do you think of him?"
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Hang Huai couldn't help being shocked, and thought to himself: "It is indeed related to the censor Xiong Jin, but judging from your Majesty's intentions, it seems that he did not know that he forced Xiong Jin to commit suicide. He must not reveal any clues at this time to let your Majesty know something. I realize that from what your majesty means, you must think highly of Xiong Bin. You just need to praise Xiong Bin a few words."
So, Hang Huai said: "Your Majesty, I have observed Xiong Pan for a long time. He is smart and capable, but not pedantic. He dares to be the first. Otherwise, he would not be the first to stand up that day. If you want to talk about opening up the sea, it's not because I'm being rude. In my opinion, Xiong Bin will be a minister instead of a cabinet minister in the future."
"I didn't expect you to think so highly of Xiong Ban," Zhu Houzhao said with a smile, and at this time, Liu Jin hurried in.
Zhu Houzhao hurriedly shouted and asked: "What's the matter, so flustered?"
"Your Majesty, there are rumors outside that Xiong Yushi died suddenly!" Liu Jin said.
"What!"
As soon as Zhu Houzhao heard this, he stood up quickly and glanced at Hang Huai secretly.
Hang Huai didn't realize that His Majesty the Emperor was looking at him. The corner of his mouth curled up slightly, showing a bit of pride. Then he quickly said in horror: "This, this, why is this happening? Why did Xiong Bin suddenly die suddenly?"
Hang Huai wiped his tears as he spoke: "It's a pity that I, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, rarely have talents! It's just gone. I'm really jealous of talents!"
At this time, Zhu Houzhao had no intention of watching Hang Huai's performance anymore, so he just said hurriedly: "Bring Xiong Bin out."
then.
Xiong Ban turned into a screen in the inner room and walked out. He bowed to Zhu Houzhao and said, "Xiong Ban, the censor and censor, has met your majesty!"
Zhu Houzhao nodded, said no courtesy, and asked Liu Jin: "I just heard about Xiong Fen, and before he could leave, I heard that Xiong Fen said some important words, so I told Liu Jin about the censor of Zuodu." Hang Huai, who did you hear that Xiong Wei died suddenly?”
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I heard from the Jin Yiwei outside about the news coming from the Metropolitan Procuratorate," Liu Jin replied.
Zhu Houzhao looked at Hang Huai: "Hang Aiqing, do you all like to spread such rumors in the procuratorate?"
At this time, Hang Huai could naturally guess that he had forced Xiong Jin to commit suicide. He didn't say anything more, so he prostrated on the ground and said, "I am guilty!"
Zhu Houzhao smiled faintly and didn't say much. He just ordered: "Dongchang Inspector, take him down and arrest Wei Ying!"
……
"After today, Xiong Ji will die. From now on, who in the government and the public will dare to talk about opening up the sea again!"
Wei Ying was talking to Tu Jiexiao at this time.
"That's not necessarily true. Opening up the sea is the general trend of the world and what people want. How can the Jiangnan gentry stop it?" Tu Jie said with a smile.
Wei Ying couldn't help but change his expression: "Brother Boyuan (the nickname of Tu Jie), why do you say this? Aren't you also opposed to opening the sea? Why did you suddenly change your tone today?!"
Bang!
The wooden door was suddenly knocked open at this time.
Two Jin Yiwei armed with embroidered spring knives broke in. One of the Jin Yiwei directly showed his wooden sign: "We are affiliated with the Dongchang Inspectorate. We are ordered to take Wei Ying, the left servant of the Ministry of Revenue, back for questioning. I hope Mr. Wei will cooperate." Our action! ”
Wei Ying stood up in surprise: "This is the countryside outside the city. How did you know I was here?"
Tu Jie smiled faintly and just drank tea. The two royal guards had already grabbed Wei Ying's arms: "Let's go, Mr. Wei, we are just asking you a question for Your Majesty, Mr. Wei, don't panic!"
Wei Ying also understood at this time and looked at Tu Jie: "It's you! It's you! You Tu Jie! I treated you as a confidant in vain, but I didn't expect you to betray me, you actually betrayed me! I, Wei Ying, am really Blind!”
Wei Ying was dragged out.
And a guard in Jinyi came to Tu Jie and said with a smile: "Master Tu is frightened, please continue drinking. Your Majesty has ordered the Ministry of Personnel to transfer to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to supervise the censor. It is up to you to file Wei Ying's case. ”
"Your Majesty, please rest assured. I don't have to disappoint your Majesty's trust." Tu Jie stood up and accepted the order.
But Wei Ying was still shouting: "Tu Jie, you shameless villain!"
……
Hang Huai, the censor of Zuodu, had walked out of the dark room of the Dongchang Inspectorate at this time. He was already more than half haggard. At this time, the people from Dongchang also brought Zhu Houzhao's decree, and the content of the decree was to Hanghuai was demoted to the common people and exiled to serve in mining in the newly reclaimed colony of Ming Dynasty in Cape Verde (Cape of Good Hope). He was not allowed to return to his hometown for twenty years.
Hang Huai went to Cape Verde alone on the Ming Dynasty's third-class sailing ship "Qiantang River", and died in Cape Verde the next year.
Back to the topic.
Wei Ying was also exposed by the Supervisory Censor Tu Jie for the murder of Xu Ai and Xiong Ban, and was sentenced to death by the Ministry of Punishment, and his family property was confiscated.
Xiong Ban quickly submitted a memorial to the imperial court asking the court to fully open the sea. Zhu Houzhao agreed to open Songjiang Prefecture first within one year, complete the Ming Dynasty Sea Ban and fully open the sea within five years, and ordered the Nanjing Zhijiang Shipyard to expand the scale of shipbuilding.
Xiong Bao was soon appointed as the Susong Military Prefecture, Songjiang Magistrate and City Shipping Secretary of South Zhili, and was responsible for the opening of the sea in Songjiang Prefecture.
At the same time, Zhu Houzhao also issued an edict that customs duties would be returned to the imperial court starting from the 13th year of Zhengde's reign. At the same time, he issued an edict to exempt the world from corvee service. All ministers and princes, officials and gentry in the world were not allowed to use people's power without compensation. Violators would be punished as forced into slavery.
"Since the beginning of the dynasty, there has been no exemption from the world's corvee service. Even in the powerful Han Dynasty and the prosperous Tang Dynasty, there has never been such a benefit to the people. Now, His Majesty has issued an edict to permanently exempt the world from the corvee service. It is enough to be regarded as the most holy king in the history. I am Yan Song. I am lucky to be born in this dynasty, and in this great event, I can only thank God for being kind and allowing me to have such a virtuous king in Ming Dynasty!”
As soon as Yan Song came to Zhu Houzhao, he spared no effort in flattering Zhu Houzhao. And it was just when Zhu Houzhao had just issued an edict to exempt the world from corvee, so he naturally gave Yan Song material to flatter Zhu Houzhao. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao felt happy hearing it. No, I quickly put down the memorial in my hand:
"Okay! If it weren't for your good work in Nanzhili, I would really have thought you were just a flattering minister. Do you know why I called you here today?"
"I don't know, please let your Majesty make it clear," Yan Song said.
"I heard that you and Wang Tingxiang of the Ministry of Revenue and others have developed some qi theory. It sounds interesting to me. You should tell me about it," Zhu Houzhao asked.
When Yan Song heard what Zhu Houzhao said, he thought that Emperor Zhu Houzhao wanted to blame himself for not doing his job properly, so he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, please forgive me, I, I just talked nonsense with them, I..."
"I don't mean to blame you. Could you please tell me what your Qi science is?" Zhu Houzhao asked.
"I obey the decree. This is the inspiration given by Your Majesty. Your Majesty's holy knowledge has taught me that many things have their own nature. For example, iron is hard, but charcoal is flammable, and high concentration of green vitriol (sulfuric acid) can easily corrode it. things, while mercury releases It is easy to evaporate and disappear, but all things can be transformed into each other, such as the technique of wet copper smelting. Therefore, I believe that all things are qi, and different qi can form different things, which is rich in the different qualities of all things!"
Yan Song said.
Zhu Houzhao knew that Yan Song's meaning was similar to later generations' belief that matter is composed of elements, and different elements constitute matter with different properties.
Zhu Houzhao was very pleased with this. In his opinion, Yan Song's Qi theory thought was indeed a great progress. He obviously had a sense of materialism. He asked again: "What you said makes sense. It's rare for you to have such understanding. But , your anger hasn’t gotten to the root of it yet. Above, different qi. The qi of all things in the world is colorless and tasteless. How do you know the difference? I think it is more appropriate to use elements instead of qi to give what you are talking about. Yuan is the root, and element is pure. It all depends on the nature. There is nothing left to divide.”
"For example, the element of this wooden table can be turned into carbon, because it is flammable and is exactly the same as the charcoal in the furnace, and the sulfur in the crater can be turned into sulfur." Zhu Houzhao said as he used a brush to write on the paper I wrote it down and showed it to Yan Song.
Yan Song couldn't help being shocked after seeing it, and said hurriedly: "Your Majesty can not only be the king and father of my subjects, but also my teacher! Element, this is a very good word, water can be an element, gold can also be an element."
"This statement is inappropriate. When studying, you should make bold assumptions and be careful to verify. Whether water and gold can be elements depends on whether they are separable. For example, water may not necessarily be elements, because you cannot be sure whether water can be divided again. .”
When Zhu Houzhao said this, Yan Song nodded as if he had some understanding, but felt that it was difficult to prove, because in his impression, water will turn into Qi when burned with fire. According to his understanding, Qi is the root of all things. Elements, water is undoubtedly one type of element.
Zhu Houzhao couldn't tell Yan Song directly that water was not a substance composed of a single element and could not represent an element. Water was a compound. He still wanted Yan Song to prove it himself.
But Zhu Houzhao decided to rely on the knowledge of the periodic law of elements and first taught Yan Song some summary methods of chemical elements. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao called Yan Song to his desk and drew a simple basic framework of the periodic table of elements with a brush, but did not directly Fill in the elements. In fact, even after graduating from college for so many years, he couldn’t remember the location and arrangement of all the elements. He only remembered a few commonly used ones, and said to Yan Song:
"This is a table I thought of temporarily. We can fill it in with the elements we already know. Assume that the substance we think of now does represent an element, such as gold, iron, silver, copper, zinc, sulfur , if we fill them in separately, we may be able to fill in all the elements and discover more subtle patterns.”
"Your Majesty, water and fire are also elements and can be filled in," Yan Song said.
Zhu Houzhao suddenly lost interest in communicating with Yan Song and put down his pen: "If you want to say that water and fire are elements, then so be it! Children cannot be taught!"
Yan Song was a little surprised, wondering if he had said something wrong to make His Majesty so angry, and said hurriedly: "Your Majesty means that water and fire are not elements. Since Your Majesty said they are not elements, they are not elements. I am guilty. I am guilty." Shallow understanding.”
(End of chapter)