Chapter 345 Damn Hai Rui
"Remove Zhou Luo, Minister of Rites!"
"Strictly investigate the fraud in Tingtui!"
"Behead the traitorous businessman Hou Lu everywhere!"
……
As the "Huang Ming Bao" reported the businessman's manipulation of Ting Tui, other newspapers began to dig deeper into this Ting Tui and more news about Zhou Luo, Hou Lu and others.
All kinds of false and false news about Zhou Luo, Hou Lu and others were exposed, such as sex, taking bribes, bullying and even killing people.
Naturally, more and more gentry officials and gentry were filled with indignation over this matter.
From Yongding Gate to Daming Gate, from Chongwen Gate to Xuanwu Street, so many scholars, officials and gentry appeared out of nowhere and were shouting. There were even speakers, denounced the corruption of Zhou Luo, Hou Lu and others. and criminal acts, and began to ask the court to punish Zhou Luo, Hou Lu and others.
Even Wang Yongbin was not spared and was criticized by many scholars, officials and gentry.
Zhu Hou looked after these demonstration teams, and he was quite happy in his heart. After all, he created these.
After so many years of universal education, more and more children of common people have become gentry. As scholars who have just come out of the fields, they no longer only know how to safeguard the interests of their own class like the children of bureaucratic families.
These new members of the gentry, the gentry, became the spokespersons of the public interests, otherwise they would become the spokespersons of the peasant class. They began to learn to use the knowledge they learned to prevent the bourgeoisie from controlling the government.
Zhu Houzhao didn't know what kind of era it would be like when all the people in the world became scholars, but he seemed to have begun to get a glimpse of it now. He found that once the people's wisdom gradually opened up, the people would become more and more unstoppable.
"I don't know since when, the people of the Ming Dynasty no longer waited for an upright official who loved the people to uphold justice and clarify public opinion. Instead, they began to uphold justice themselves, demand the court, and express their opinions." Xia Yan looked at the surging crowd. The people protesting against the flood could not help but say to His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Houzhao.
Zhu Houzhao also smiled and said: "I don't even think about it, my dear. Over the years, nearly one-third of the imperial court's income has been spent on education for all. How can it be that most of the people in the world are still illiterate and only know loess? What's more? , under the influence of the class division theory of Shengxue, it is difficult for scholars from common people to be induced by wealthy gentry and wealthy businessmen. ”
Xia Yan naturally understood what Zhu Houzhao was talking about, but he had to remind him: "But if these gentry, officials, and gentry continue to cause trouble like this, it will inevitably affect their studies and other aspects of life. The dynasty must be in order. If they continue to make trouble like this, It is difficult for merchants to do business and for workers to work, and I have heard that many workers and farmers are also involved, and many of the scholars who are making trouble are even the children of workers and peasants. "
"It's okay. They can make trouble, but they have to bear the price for making trouble. Those who take advantage of the opportunity to smash, loot, and burn should be punished. Those who neglect their studies will be given poor grades when they are assessed by each school. Those who miss work will naturally be punished. A lot of labor income is lost, but the officials of the imperial court and the wealthy businessmen also have to bear the consequences of angering the workers and peasants due to their selfishness!”
As he spoke, Zhu Houzhao asked Bingbi Gaozhong, the Supervisor of Liturgical Affairs: "Has the Supervisor of Liturgical Affairs received a memorial from the Metropolitan Procuratorate on this matter recently?"
"Your Majesty, the Chief of Ceremonies has not received the memorial from the Metropolitan Procuratorate." Gao Zhong replied. The Metropolitan Procuratorate is in charge of supervisory power and is at the same level as the cabinet. Therefore, according to the current rules of the Zhengde Dynasty, the Metropolitan Procuratorate's The memorial went directly to the Supervisor of Ceremonies without going through the cabinet.
After hearing Gao Zhong say that the Supervisor of Ceremonies had not received the memorial from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but laugh: "It's almost a rebellion outside, but the Metropolitan Procuratorate has remained calm. So far, the memorial has not been sent and the decree has been issued. Ask Ni Song, the censor of Zuodu, if he is alive!”
Ni Song, the censor of Zuodu, also knew that he could not suppress the matter. Some censors of the Duchayuan had already threatened to go directly to the Meridian Gate to face the saint. Therefore, after Ni Yuanlin passed Xu Jin's instructions to Ni Song, Ni Song Immediately, the memorial regarding Ting Tui's suspected fraud was sent to the Supervisor of Ceremonies.
After Zhu Houzhao got Ni Song's memorial, he just smiled coldly: "This Ni Song can't bear the pressure anymore. Sure enough, it makes sense to announce the details of Tingtui."
At this time, Qi Jingtong from the Jin Yiwei came in: "Your Majesty, Hou Lu confessed, and there was only one person who helped him with the matter. This person's name is Wei Ying, and he is a guest of the cabinet minister Xu Jin."
"It's Xu Jin again, this guy has become the second assistant, and he still doesn't know how to restrain himself!"
Zhu Houzhao raised his dark eyes. Gao Zhong couldn't help but trembled, and he quickly picked up the pen tremblingly.
At this time, Zhu Houzhao really wanted to order the Supervisor of Ceremonies to prepare an edict, so he ordered: "The edict has been verified and reported by the Metropolitan Procuratorate. The reported fraud in court affairs indeed exists. Wang Yongbin, the minister, was suspended from his post and asked to be detained by the Inspector of the East Factory for interrogation! The Minister of Rites, Zhou Luo, was ordered to report to him immediately! "
Zhu Houzhao has been waiting for the results of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Jin Yiwei. Now that the Metropolitan Procuratorate has reported the fraud in Tingtui, and Jin Yiwei has also reported the progress of the case that implicated Wei Ying through the interrogation of Hou Lu, he naturally began to take further measures. action.
As an emperor, he naturally knew that he could not allow businessmen to interfere in politics, but he knew that to achieve this goal, it did not mean that his next imperial edict prohibiting businessmen from participating in politics would be effective.
Therefore, he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to establish a more effective system, a system that could restrain officials, gentry, and businessmen from overexploiting workers and peasants.
But in order to establish a new system, the old system must be negated. Nowadays, the recommendation system for electing officials has been manipulated by businessmen. Zhu Houzhao exposed this, naturally, to make most people deny his shortcomings.
Now, by doing this, Zhu Houzhao was naturally preparing to completely deny the recommendation and establish a new official personnel selection system.
This preparation is naturally to eliminate some civil servants who hold real power and represent the interests of the bourgeoisie.
Zhu Houzhao had no specific targets to eliminate. After all, in fact, all civil servants could be eliminated at any time in front of him as the emperor.
However, Xia Yan, the chief assistant of the cabinet, had a clear target for elimination. After the Jinyiwei found out that the fraud case was related to Xu Jin, he was really happy for a while. As the chief assistant, he was treated more favorably by the civil servants in many aspects. Seeing the constraints of Xu Jin, the second assistant, it would naturally be more beneficial to him if Xu Jin fell.
But Xu Jin did not fall so easily. "Your Majesty, I have not found the whereabouts of Wei Ying in the Xu Mansion, and Mr. Xu Ge refused to admit the existence of this person." On this day, not long after Zhu Houzhao got up, Qi Jingtong reported the matter to Zhu Houzhao.
Zhu Houzhao was quite astonished and asked: "Are there any people who raided the Xu Mansion and questioned the Xu Mansion?"
"Everything has been done. No one claims to know Wei Ying, unless Mr. Xu Ge himself is tortured." As Qi Jingtong was talking, an eunuch came to report: "Your Majesty, Mr. Xu Ge asked for an audience outside the Meridian Gate."
< br>
"Let's declare it." Zhu Houzhao waved his hand, got up and walked to the rose stand where Xia Yan, the chief minister of the cabinet, picked off a leaf and twisted it into pieces: "It seems that some people are better than us." It's more powerful than you can imagine! Don't be discouraged, Aiqing, there's nothing you can do about it. , after all, I am not young anymore. When I was young, I was not afraid of trouble. I loved to break the rules. No matter how evil they were, I killed them first. Now that I am older, I like to establish rules. I am afraid of trouble, and I wish that no one in the world would cause trouble. ! ”
Xia Yan understood the meaning of Zhu Houzhao's words, so he just threw the manuscript that was stained with ink into the basket, stood up and bowed his hands in salute, saying: "The Holy King is in the dynasty, the world is bright, even the most traitorous and loyal people can't escape from His Majesty's hand. Eye.”
At this time, Xu Jin had arrived at Zhu Houzhao's place according to the order. When he saw Zhu Houzhao standing with Xia Yan and Gao Zhong, he suddenly felt more hatred for Xia Yan and Gao Zhong in his heart, but he didn't show it and just plopped down. With a sound, he knelt down in front of Zhu Houzhao, knocked his forehead on the ground, and his tears fell to the ground with a pitter-patter:
"Your Majesty, I have never known Wei Ying, Hou Lu and others. If I lie to you, I will die immediately! My Majesty, I am wronged! Today, Governor Qi sent Jinyi to the mansion, and I did not dare to stop him, but it is true If there is no such person as Wei Ying, I hope that your majesty knows that the minister is innocent and misunderstood the villain's false accusation!"
"I know that many of my actions are not tolerated by powerful ministers. Although I am honest, I will inevitably be jealous of villains. Moreover, I am already old, and now I have been framed by villains. I no longer have the face to serve your king and father in front of the palace. Therefore, I beg your majesty to allow me to return home and serve the people!”
Xu Jin handed over the resignation letter with tears in his eyes, and then really started to cry.
Xia Yan and Gao Zhong couldn't help clenching their fists hidden in their sleeves, and their breathing became rapid.
Of course Zhu Houzhao knew that Xu Jin was acting, but Jin Yiwei had indeed not caught Wei Ying that Hou Lu had revealed. Therefore, unless Zhu Houzhao violated the legal rules he had established, he would have no choice but to cooperate with Xu Jin's tricks. .
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao hurriedly ran over and helped Xu Jin up: "Aiqing, please get up quickly. I naturally know that this matter has nothing to do with Aiqing, but I just suspect that Aiqing's family does not know how to restrain themselves."
"I can't discipline you, please punish me!"
Xu Jin knew that His Majesty the Emperor was talking about his previous involvement of the Xu family in the Shuntian Mansion water pipe corruption case, which eventually turned into the conclusion that his second son had accepted bribes, so he hurriedly admitted it.
"You don't have to be like this, dear sir. Even if there are unworthy people in your descendants, how can you, as a father and ancestor, be implicated for them? There is no need to mention this matter again. Since Wei Ying has not been caught, it means that this is a false accusation by Hou Lu. This Hou Lu, I really can’t cry without seeing the coffin, I will let the Jin Yiwei continue to interrogate you! How dare you falsely accuse the cabinet minister!”
When Zhu Houzhao said this, Xu Jin couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat, but now he was sure that even if Hou Lu was tortured, he would not be able to confess any more evidence about his involvement in the fraud, so he was not too scared or nervous.
Zhu Houzhao was really tired of Xu Jin's hypocritical behavior, so he didn't stay here for long before he took a chariot to the inner court to find his concubines to soothe his mood.
As soon as Zhu Houzhao left, Xia Yan snorted unceremoniously to express his dissatisfaction with Xu Jin.
Xu Jin just smiled slightly and left here immediately. He was not on duty today, and he didn't want to stay here to help Xia Yan. The emperor was here, and it was hard for him to leave. He had to make a decision to help Xia Yan handle official affairs. He looked like he was working overtime. Now that Emperor Zhu Houzhao left, he naturally returned to his mansion.
For Xu Jin, now that Jin Yiwei has not found Wei Ying, and he has put on a show in front of the emperor, he can see that the emperor has no intention of betraying him, so he is relieved. As for the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel Li Mo and other officials who took bribes naturally had nothing to do with him, because those who accepted bribes for these ministers were also their Qingke disciples, so they did not know whose bribes their Qingke disciples were accepting.
Zhu Houzhao also knew that he might not be able to catch Xu Jin this time, but there was no doubt that he became more suspicious and disgusted with Xu Jin.
Of course, Zhu Houzhao did not intend to let go of any of the other officials involved who had evidence that they had accepted bribes.
Li Mo, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and others were punished with tortures such as skinning and making grass. Although Zhou Luo, the Minister of Rites, did not directly participate in the fraud, he was conspired by Xu Jin and others to be listed on the list of the results of the court election, which aroused the anger of the world. So many of his crimes were discovered, so he was also sentenced to the crime of being the leader of the gang.
Zhu Houzhao deliberately disgusted Xu Jin and ordered Xu Jin to jail these officials involved.
How could Xu Jin not know that the emperor was deliberately disgusting him, but he actually knew from the beginning that officials like himself who were unwilling to admit the theory of the sacred class would not be appreciated by his majesty, so he didn't care, he accepted it It is the idea proposed by some people nowadays to restrict the power of the monarch, restore the freedom of the people, and reduce or reduce business taxes.
Although he didn't tell anyone, he knew in his heart that if he wanted to achieve these goals in the future, he must first become the chief minister of the cabinet. He could not unite a group of officials who also had business backgrounds, and if he could not limit the monarch's power, he must support it. A king willing to cut taxes and delegate power.
It was impossible for Xu Jin to have no objections to Zhu Houzhao, but he did not regard Zhu Houzhao as the main enemy who must be eliminated quickly. After all, he also knew that he was not the opponent of Emperor Zhu Houzhao, and Emperor Zhu Houzhao was old, and the only thing he could do was All they can do is wait until the emperor dies and a new emperor ascends the throne.
Xu Jin has always set his sights on the princes. He hopes to find a suitable emperor, but what he has to admit now is that the current emperor Zhu Houzhao is still very scary. The exposure of fraud in the imperial examination will make businessmen like him A large number of important officials with background were eliminated.
Seeing these officials being executed one by one under his eyes, Xu Jin found it hard to accept it. He knew that he was not qualified to hate His Majesty the Emperor, so now he only hated the spy organizations in Xichang that acted as His Majesty's eyes.
"Gao Zhong of the West Factory must be eliminated, or at least scare him. Don't think that he is an eunuch of the inner court and he really only needs to obey the emperor. If he offends our civil servants, he will not end well! Also! Hai Rui! If it hadn't been for him, this matter wouldn't have caused such a big fuss to the Emperor! But if he had informed us before publishing this matter, he wouldn't have given the Emperor the chance to get rid of so many of our people!"
Xu Jin gritted his teeth and muttered to himself. He had already learned from Chen Dian the details of what happened when the "Huang Ming Bao" exposed the matter, but because of this, he hated it even more, because he knew that this kind of scholar who insisted on principles was The scariest.
Thank you, book friend, for tipping me with 100 starting coins for pepper. Thank you for tipping me with 100 starting coins for a pound of sugar. Is it uncomfortable to write like this? But if it’s reasonable, civil servants can’t just get the evidence and kill them. If the emperor wants to maintain a stable and stable political power, it is indeed not suitable to kill them randomly. When the protagonist was young, it didn't matter. The reaction was to kill and cultivate a group
(End of chapter)