Chapter 347: Killing the Censor of Zuodu
"If Hou Lu was really instigated by Gao Zhong, why Hou Lu refused to confess in prison is the first question;
If Gao Zhong wanted to frame Xu Jin, why would he go to so much trouble? Why didn't he secretly send Xichang's spies to plant firearms in his mansion to frame him? This is the second question;
Gao Zhongfei was the Prime Minister, Supervisor of Ceremonies, and Xu Jinfei was the Chief Assistant of the Cabinet. Why were the two so incompatible? What’s more, I was not dead yet. It was necessary for both the Supervisor of Ceremonies and the Cabinet to kill each other? This is question three;”
After Zhu Houzhao asked three questions, he looked at Ni Song.
Ni Song smiled and said: "Nothing can escape His Majesty's eyes. I also think that this matter is quite suspicious. Lu Kai only relied on rumors and Hai Ruiyan that Huang Mingbao's exposure of Tingtui's fraud was the evidence of Xichang. It is really imprudent to impeach an internal minister without authorization, and the minister has already reprimanded him.”
"Hai Rui?"
Zhu Houzhao secretly became suspicious and wanted to know what Ni Song meant. Was it Hai Rui who spread the rumor and spread the rumor that Xichang was framed by cabinet minister Xu Jin? When did Hai Rui have such scheming intentions, and when did he follow the lead of the entire civil service group?
Seeing Zhu Houzhao's displeasure, Ni Song knew that his last words had been heard by His Majesty the Emperor, and began to suspect Hai Rui. He thought to himself that Hai Rui didn't understand the rules of officialdom and didn't know how to tell his superiors first. Civil servants, officials who carry out executions, don’t expect to be reused by the emperor now!
"The demotion of Hai Rui will naturally come naturally," Ni Song chuckled to himself.
In fact, Zhu Houzhao did not confirm that Hai Rui was really the rumor maker and a person who intended to provoke a fight between the outer court and the inner court. Instead, he was suspicious that Hai Rui was a famously upright minister in history and had never been tolerated by the civil servants. Why did Ni Song become a villain in Ni Song's eyes?
Zhu Houzhao suddenly raised his head and glanced at Ni Song. Seeing the proud look on Ni Song's eyebrows, he put aside the matter of Hai Rui for the time being and just smiled and said: "Ni Aiqing seems to be in a good mood. Recently, there have been a lot of rumors about businessmen intervening in politics and I would like to hear your opinion on why the poor are poor?”
Ni Song didn't know why His Majesty the Emperor suddenly mentioned this, but he couldn't ask more questions, so he had to bite the bullet and replied: "Your Majesty, the country recruits people with outstanding talents, and never puts people who are good at business into good use." When it comes to officials, there is no such thing as businessmen intervening in politics, and the reason why the poor are poor must be due to laziness and lack of effort.”
After hearing this, Zhu Houzhao just smiled and nodded: "Well, I understand, you can step back. You should reject Lu Kai's memorial and warn him not to speak nonsense. If you really think that Da Jue framed Zhongliang, it's best to There is direct evidence, and the conclusion that it was Xichang's exposure can only show that Xichang played an active role in safeguarding Chao Gang, but it cannot prove that Gao Zhong was suspected of framing Mr. Xu Ge."
"I understand! I resign!"
Ni Song retreated, and he did not expect that His Majesty the Emperor would punish Gao Zhong because of Lu Kai's memorial. After all, he also knew that the Emperor was not a foolish king, and he would not let the Emperor deal with Gao Zhong, the admiral of the West Factory, just based on some rumors and inferences. of.
What he did was to complete the task assigned by Xu Jin and show it to Gao Zhong, so that Gao Zhong would understand that our civil servants were very unhappy that Xichang listened to His Majesty so much.
Gao Zhong did find out about this very quickly, and he slammed the table on the spot angrily: "What do the civil servants of the Procuratorate want to do? It is His Majesty's order that Xichang exposes this matter! It is His Majesty's will to frame them! It is also His Majesty's intention to frame them!" ”
"My father-in-law, please be careful. You can't say this. This is what Mr. Xu Ge is warning you. The implication is that you, the admiral of the West Factory, cannot only have eyes for His Majesty. You must also give face to the civil servants." Gao Zhong's own Qing The guest hurriedly advised.
After hearing this, Gao Zhong understood and couldn't help but said: "Is this world the emperor's world or the world of their civil servants? Why should I give them face?"
"Didn't the outline of the Constitution say that all the people are the masters of the Ming Dynasty, and scholars are the real people of the Ming Dynasty. These civil servants are all scholars, so naturally they cannot be offended," Qingke added.
Gao Zhong couldn't help but sigh after hearing this: "The job of the Supervisor of Ceremonies is difficult! Not only do you have to serve His Majesty well, but you also have to be careful of these scholars!"
……
It was May, and the sky was still bright at the beginning, but then the wind and rain hit again. Zhu Houzhao had to rush from the plum forest in Xiyuan to a pavilion to hide from the rain.
"Have there been any new memorials from the Metropolitan Procuratorate recently?" Zhu Houzhao asked.
Meng Jin hurriedly replied: "Your Majesty, no."
"This Ni Song really suppressed these censors so that they did not dare to get angry? Even if he really suppressed them, it is possible that there are really few heroes in the world who dare to fight against the powerful. Then wouldn't my popularization of education be in vain? Have you lost your kung fu? Have scholars who were born among workers and farmers really forgotten their beliefs?”
Zhu Houzhao asked in confusion.
But just when Zhu Houzhao was secretly doubting, Gao Zhong ran in panic in the rain: "Your Majesty, Yang Jisheng, the supervisory censor, knelt outside the palace gate to impeach Ni Song, the censor of Zuodu, saying that Ni Song had repeatedly concealed illegal activities. This is an act of deceiving the superiors and concealing the truth from the subordinates, and the recent fraud in court affairs was also suppressed for several days, causing His Majesty to be deceived by powerful ministers. ”
"Yang Jisheng?"
Zhu Houzhao's pent-up boredom was like being washed away by a hearty rain on a sultry day, so he hurried to the palace gate.
On the same day, Zhu Houzhao summoned Yang Jisheng: "Tell me, why do you want to impeach Ni Song, the censor of Zuodu?!"
"Reporting to your majesty, I have evidence. The "Huang Ming Pao" exposed the fraud in court promotion, which has obviously aroused public outrage. However, General Secretary Ni Song used the "Huang Ming Pao" to expose the truth and the truth as an excuse to suppress us. Memorial;
However, "Huang Ming Bao" is an official newspaper of the imperial court, so naturally it will not commit fraud, but Ni Song doubted its authenticity, which shows that he had bad intentions! We, the censors, are indignant at his lack of justice, and jointly join forces to impeach Ni Song, the censor of Zuodu! Your Majesty, please make a clear decision! ”
Yang Jisheng replied.
"Approval is granted to the request of Yang Jisheng, the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Dongchang Inspectorate is ordered to immediately detain Ni Song and suspend his position as the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate!" Zhu Houzhao approved Yang Jisheng's request without thinking.
Because Zhu Houzhao had long been waiting for a civil servant who dared to stand up for justice to stand up and impeach Ni Song, so when Yang Jisheng did so, he naturally did not hesitate.
At this time, Ni Song also knew about this and couldn't help but hurried to the imperial city: "What does Yang Jisheng want to do! I am the head of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. If he doesn't inform me in advance, who will give him the courage to do so?" Go directly to the palace gate to cause trouble! What a bastard!”
Ni Song was very angry. He really didn't expect that such a civil servant who didn't care about anything would dare to do this and disobey the rules established by the entire officialdom.
After Ni Song cursed a few times, he threatened again: "Does he not want his career?!"
However, at this moment, the Dongchang Inspector arrived and surrounded Ni Song in the center.
"Ni Zongxian, come with us," the people from the Dongchang Inspectorate said and dragged Ni Song away on the spot.
Ni Song struggled: "What are you doing? Let me go. I want to see Your Majesty! I want to impeach Yang Jisheng. Yang Jisheng does not follow the rules. As a censor, he did not first report to the General Constitution when he had a memorial. You should arrest him for causing trouble at the palace gate without permission!" The Dongchang Inspector ignored him.
In fact, Zhu Houzhao also made it clear that if the censor of Zuodu did something illegal, the censor could directly come to the palace gate and report it.
Therefore, what Yang Jisheng did was not considered a violation of the rules.
"Your Majesty, Ni Song explained the reason why he suppressed the imperial censor's report on the fraud. The reason was that he did not want the matter to become a big deal." Not long after, Lu Long, the admiral of Dongchang, reported to Zhu Houzhao.
Zhu Houzhao said: "This is not the reason why he should block his speech. Interfering with the government affairs of the court is actually a crime of harming the country. He should be the leader! He should be executed immediately by the Ministry of Punishment!"
Ni Song never dreamed that he would be executed so soon. He couldn't believe it for a moment and hurriedly shouted to the eunuch who announced the decree: "No, this is impossible! How could your Majesty be willing to kill me like this! I did not obstruct the way of speech. , I just postponed it a little, just postponed it!”
The eunuch who announced the decree ignored him and left with the decree.
Ni Song was quickly escorted to the execution ground and beheaded in public display.
……
"Is Mr. Ni so abandoned from the market?"
Xu Jin said something in astonishment, and then couldn't help but touch the back of his neck. He naturally knew why the emperor wanted to kill Ni Song. It was not because Ni Song abused his power and offended the emperor. As the left capital, The censor should have reported the matter immediately after learning about it, instead of trying to suppress it. After all, it was the emperor's order to expose the fraud in Tingtui, but you, Ni Song, delayed reporting it, obviously because you wanted to save some people. .
"What the consequences of disobeying the Holy Will in this matter! Your Majesty is still so ruthless and decisive! It's a pity that Mr. Ni died for our civil servants. If he hadn't delayed for a while, I might have died."
Xu Jin sighed secretly in his heart, then couldn't help but slap the table and said viciously: "Hai Rui hasn't been eliminated yet, and now there is Yang Jisheng! What on earth do these people want to do! Why are they all so ignorant of the rules!"
"Please calm down, Mr. Ge. Hai Rui, Yang Jisheng and others are not from the same group as us. They are poor officials who always like to put the interests of workers and farmers above the gentry. They are also deeply poisoned by the class theory of Shengxue." , think that we are the merchant class The spokesperson is a representative of the collusion between government and businessmen! Therefore, they have regarded us as enemies from the beginning, so why should we regard them as friends? Now that he has killed my father, he will definitely make Yang Jisheng pay with his blood!"
Ni Yuanlin said through gritted teeth.
When Xu Jin heard what Ni Yuanlin said, he couldn't help but sigh: "This is the root cause of your Majesty's past universal education. The more scholars there are, the more divided they will be. For Shilin, this is really not a good thing!"
……
At this time, Xia Yan also learned that Yang Jisheng participated in the impeachment of Ni Song, which led to Ni Song's execution in less than three days. He clapped his hands and cheered: "This Ni Song died unjustly! As the censor of Zuodu, but He was willing to be humble and willing to be a lackey of the ministers, and now he is executed, which is enough to show the wisdom and decisiveness of His Majesty!”
The cabinet minister Xia Yan mentioned was of course Xu Jin. Although he had no conclusive evidence, based on his many years of court experience, he could guess that Ni Song must be in collusion with Xu Jin, otherwise he would not have done it because of an incident. As soon as there were rumors about Xu Jin in Xichang, Ni Song, the censor of Zuodu, immediately came to report to His Majesty the Emperor.
Xia Yan secretly rejoiced that his Majesty the Emperor had a clear understanding of the current situation. He also couldn't help lamenting the current shortage of important positions in the Ministry of Civil Affairs and other ministries. In addition, the post of Zuodu Yushi was also vacant due to Ni Song's execution. It was difficult to appoint him as soon as possible. It became a most urgent matter to fill these important posts with new officials.
However, because the current procedure for selecting officials is to go through court recommendation, Xia Yan had to go to Shu Jian again to advise His Majesty the Emperor to reform the system of court recommendation.
Zhu Houzhao also knew that official positions such as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the Left and Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and the Yushi of the Zuodu must be determined. Moreover, the Ting Tui indeed needed to be changed, not only to centralize power and improve efficiency, but also to prevent businessmen from interfering in politics. .
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao decided to adopt Xia Yan's previous proposal and issued an edict to appoint Xia Yan, the first assistant of the cabinet, Xu Jin, the second assistant of the cabinet, Zhang Rong, the privy envoy of the Guards and the British Duke, and Jiang Dong, the deputy privy envoy of the Guards, as ministers of political affairs. Establish an administrative affairs office to make decisions on the promotion of officials.
With this edict, the world was in an uproar.
Of course, it will take some time for the edict to be known to the world and start making trouble. During this time, Zhu Houzhao and these officials have already started a new form of court meeting and decided on new official selections.
Zhu Houzhao asked Xia Yan to temporarily take charge of the post of Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and be responsible for nominating alternative officials.
Xu Jin naturally disliked this kind of new promotion in which the emperor and a few important ministers discussed and decided who should be promoted.
Because he knew that this meant that most civil servants would lose the opportunity to influence the government, and they would not be able to accumulate fame and become dignitaries. But he knew that the emperor had decided something, and it was pointless for him to object, but he believed that many civil servants behind him He would definitely not agree to the emperor's behavior of letting only a few people decide on major government affairs.
However, what Xu Jin didn't expect was that His Majesty the Emperor would let the military minister Xungui serve as the minister of political affairs!
When Xu Jin saw the British Duke Zhang Rong and the Jiangdong rank of the Guards standing in the hall wearing the newly given python robes like himself, he was astonished as if he had been struck by lightning!
"Why, when did His Majesty want military ministers to also make decisions on important matters! Doesn't this mean that warriors and scholars should be on an equal footing!"
Not only Xu Jin was horrified, but even Xia Yan did not expect that although His Majesty the Emperor adopted his proposal to establish an administrative office and establish a system of administrative ministers, he did not make the administrative ministers all civilian officials.
However, although Xia Yan is also a civil servant, he has led troops and does not exclude the military. Moreover, if you look carefully, except for the British Duke Zhang Rong, Jiangdong is not a military attache. At most, he is a civil servant who manages the imperial military affairs. What's more, even the British Duke Zhang Rong also graduated from a regular school, and his knowledge was no worse than that of a scholar.
Therefore, Xia Yan didn't say much. What's more, Xia Yan also knew that it was the emperor's power to appoint as ministers for political affairs. If he wanted to interfere with who the emperor appointed as ministers for political affairs, it would be tantamount to overstepping. Zhu Houzhao had every reason to kill him directly. he.
In fact, Xia Yan could also guess why the emperor did this. He said that it was not natural to let military attachés rule. After all, he did not say that civilian officials should not become ministers. What the emperor did was simply to allow the empire to continue to expand militarily. The empire will not appear to be in ruins of its martial arts.
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(End of chapter)