Chapter 367 Killing Yan Shifan and going to sea with the Supreme Emperor
Xia Yan ignored Yan Song. Naturally, he didn't need to engage in favoritism for Yan Song, so he just sat back:
"Why did Mr. Yan do this? He made the young master greedy and embezzled national funds. Now the legal system is no longer what it used to be, and you will not be implicated. As for the fault of teaching his son improperly, Xia will not pursue it, and there is nothing to pursue. , there is a difference between virtuous and foolish descendants, what can you and I do about it?”
Yan Song knew that he had hated Xia Yan before, and now that Xia Yan could not use this to knock him down, it would be considered generous. It was impossible for Xia Yan to do anything for his own sake, but he still wanted to fight for it.
After all, Yan Shifan was a flesh and blood son to Yan Song, and the imperial court had always been harsh to those who were greedy. He didn't know why his son dared to do such a thing, but now he could only kneel down in front of Xia Yan with all his might: " Yuan Fu is so proud!”
Yan Song gave various reasons to plead with Xia Yan. Seeing this, Xia Yan helped Yan Song up: "Please stand up, Mr. Yan. You and I are fellow countrymen. Although Mr. Ling is involved in the embezzlement of national funds, he is not the mastermind, but he is just involved." , sin does not lead to death, you With such a request, I will keep this matter a secret, but you should warn your son to concentrate on your studies, cultivate your moral character, and never do such illegal things again! Otherwise, even if you have the honor of being a strict master, I will not be able to forgive you."
When Yan Song saw that Xia Yan had promised not to accuse his son Yan Shifan, he felt relieved and was naturally grateful.
But in fact, what Xia Yan said was just to temporarily calm Yan Song's heart. How could he, who had never tolerated sand in his eyes, allow the existence of a national moth just because Yan Song begged for mercy.
Therefore, after Xia Yan retired from the cabinet duty, he immediately forwarded the evidence given to him by Gao Shi to Hai Rui, who is now known as the Iron-faced Censor.
Today's Metropolitan Procuratorate is no longer the former Metropolitan Procuratorate. Since Zuo Du Yushi became a military minister, it will be difficult for the civil servant group to corrode the supervisory function of the Ming Dynasty.
Coupled with the fact that Hai Rui and other direct ministers serve as the Metropolitan Procuratorate, civil servants now understand that as long as the case falls in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, there is basically no way to turn it around.
However, Yan Song also had cronies in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, but his cronies were limited to telling him that a censor wanted to impeach his son Yan Shifan, and could no longer prevent the censor from impeaching his son.
Therefore, Yan Song quickly learned about his son's impeachment.
This made Yan Song both shocked and frightened. He was surprised that he was tricked by Xia Yan. As the chief minister of the cabinet, Xia Yan did not give him face in the end, and even more cruelly, he handed the matter to Hai Rui. Participate in impeachment! What I'm afraid of is that Hai Rui, who has always been a staunch censor who doesn't show favoritism to others, may also dig up some dirty things about him. If Xia Yan helps him again, won't he be in trouble? ?
Eager to save his son and to protect himself, Yan Song immediately asked to see the emperor Zhu Zailei, and knelt down with a plop in front of Zhu Zailei, and then burst into tears:
"Your Majesty! The old minister is stupid and has no way to teach his son, which makes the son of a dog lawless and secretly communicates with corrupt officials to embezzle state property. However, the son of a dog is young and not familiar with the world. He doesn't know that what Yan Maoqing and others are doing is illegal. This is the reason. I only know how to show off my appearance, so that I will be cheated by officials. Therefore, I beg your majesty to forgive Quanzi for the death penalty because he has worked hard for the Ming Dynasty for decades and Quanzi is ignorant! Moreover, I only have one son. Now that I am eighty years old, I can't have no children! ”
Emperor Zhu Zailei didn't know that Yan Shifan had committed a crime at this time, but now he was heartbroken to see Yan Song. In addition, because of Yan Song's recent discord with Xia Yan, he had a good impression of Yan Song recently, and now he was crying when he saw Yan Song. So sad, naturally a little moved.
Moreover, he, the emperor, has also experienced the pain of the death of his heirs. The current prince is just a middle-aged son. Even now, he only has two sons, which is quite desolate. Seeing Yan Song's behavior now, he resonates even more, so he is busy taking the capital. After reading the memorial submitted by the Procuratorate, he didn't pay much attention to the corruption of Yan Shifan and Yan Maoqing, so he could only comfort Yan Song:
"Ai Qing has served the country well and is very virtuous in his youth. Even if his son is ungrateful, I will not be harsh and ungrateful. Moreover, your son is indeed only involved in the corruption of ink and is not the main culprit. I promise you that I will not sentence him to death. Ai Qing Can you feel at ease? ”
Zhu Zailei asked as he spoke.
Seeing this, Yan Song hurriedly thanked him for his great kindness.
Therefore, Zhu Zailei ordered the Ministry of Punishment to treat Yan Shifan leniently and avoid execution and skinning.
However, Tu Kai, the Minister of Punishment, rejected this and stated that in accordance with the "Outline of the Constitution" set by the Ming Dynasty, those who committed the serious crime of corruption of ink, regardless of princes or officials, would be punished by being beheaded and skinned. Yan Shifan and others were suspected of embezzling 300,000 silver dollars, and should be punished even more in this way.
This surprised Emperor Zhu Zailei. He did not expect that he would also be rejected by officials in criminal affairs.
In fact, this was justified in terms of governing procedures, and Zhu Zailei could not refute it, because according to the provisions of Qing Ding's "Constitutional Outline", the legislative power was in the hands of the emperor, and it was the duty of the Zhengde Emperor to impose the crime of beheading and skinning those who were corrupt. Zhu Houzhao followed the clear decree set by Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.
Now Emperor Zhu Zailei cannot disobey the law. He can only enact a new law, or ask the legislators who are currently under the management of Dali Temple to depose Emperor Zhengde's law in accordance with the outline of the constitution.
Logically speaking, it would not be difficult to find an official from the Sanfasi system to petition the emperor to change the decree. But the problem is that Emperor Zhengde is not dead yet, and Emperor Zhu Zailei cannot dare to change the decree left by Zhu Houzhao just because of Yan Shifan.
then.
Zhu Zailei then continued to throw the ball to his father, the Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Houzhao.
Zhu Zailei directly sent a memorial to amend the law proposed by a legislative proposer and his intention to exonerate Yan Shifan to Zhu Houzhao.
Yan Shifan did not expect that due to some mistake, his fate would be left in the hands of the Supreme Emperor Zhu Houzhao.
You must know that before this, he had conspired with Zhao Wenhua and others to let the Supreme Emperor Zhu Houzhao return to Beijing, and was preparing to help the new emperor put the Supreme Emperor under house arrest and help his father overthrow Xia Yan and become the chief minister.
"In this high school, we treated him well. I never thought that he would still expose us to Xia Yan!"
Yan Maoqing was furious. At this moment, he was already in prison. As a traitor who was very prosperous in the original history, he was imprisoned before he became prosperous in this life. Therefore, it can be seen that today's Ming Dynasty Differences from the original Ming Dynasty.
Yan Shifan, who was also in prison, couldn't help but smile bitterly:
"Things are not bad enough to be beheaded. My father is also the second minister of the cabinet. I believe that the emperor would not be willing to see people like Xia Yan harming us like this. Although our life and death are now in the hands of the Supreme Emperor, The Emperor doesn’t know that you and I are secretly working against him. He might spare us for the sake of my father.”
Although Yan Shifan said so, he actually didn't really believe it in his heart. However, he could only think this way.
After receiving the memorial on amending the law and the request for instructions on how to deal with Yan Shifan and others, Zhu Houzhao just smiled, and then unceremoniously rejected the request to reduce the penalty for the crime of corruption, and clearly requested that Yan Shifan, Yan Maoqing and others be beheaded.
……
"The decree states that the law must not be neglected lightly, and those who are greedy for ink cannot be forgiven lightly. Investigate Yan Shifan's collusion... and punish him with the punishment of being the head of an owl, and skinning him!"
When the imperial edict was delivered to Yan Shifan, Yan Shifan almost fainted from fright and said in horror: "So, the Supreme Emperor doesn't even give my father the face, but he still wants to kill me?" "I am wronged! I don't want to die!" Yan Shifan When asked, Yan Maoqing in the next cell had already started crying.
Zhu Houzhao did not know many officials of the Ming Dynasty, but this did not mean that he did not know Yan Shifan. He had no intention of using Yan Song in the first place. It was because he was still relatively capable, so Zhu Houzhao used Yan Song and let him step by step to where he is now. Now that the evidence of Yan Shifan's crimes is conclusive, Zhu Houzhao will naturally not let Yan Shifan go, and naturally wants to get rid of him quickly to avoid causing greater losses to the Ming Dynasty.
After all, according to Zhu Houzhao's understanding of history, this Yan Shifan was still very treacherous in his original history.
However, precisely because of this, the gap between Yan Song and Xia Yan became even deeper.
Yan Song did not dare to resent Zhu Houzhao and knew that he could not resent the Supreme Emperor Zhu Houzhao, so he only hated Xia Yan. In his opinion, Xia Yan caused all this to happen.
The first minister of the cabinet and the second minister of the cabinet regarded each other as enemies, which was naturally what Emperor Zhu Zailei wanted to see.
But these currently have nothing to do with Zhu Houzhao. Zhu Houzhao has now gone to sea and is preparing to inspect his thousands of miles of sea territory. In his opinion, when he returns from his inspection, the Japanese country should also be included in the territory of the Ming Central Empire.
Of course, Zhu Houzhao's purpose of going to sea was also to get rid of Zhu Yishuo's surveillance. No matter how filial Zhu Yishuo behaved, he could not bear to have a person sent by the emperor following him.
This may also be the frustration of being a member of the royal family.
Zhu Houzhao also had another purpose in going to sea, which was to go to the West and Great Britain to deal with the issue of his son's rule in England.
Zhu Houzhao could see that Zhu Zailei, the eldest son of the emperor, was quite skillful in ruling the Ming Empire. He was at least very good at hiding his stupidity and clumsiness. He just used his own hand as the supreme emperor to suppress the southeastern gentry for him, but he himself Be a good guy on both sides.
As the Supreme Emperor, Zhu Houzhao did not expose his son's tricks, and he was even relieved because he knew that the Ming Empire should not have any major problems under Zhu Zailei's rule.
At that time, Zhu Zailei mentioned the problem of the Tudor Dynasty in England in his letter, which alerted Zhu Houzhao, and he had to make a decision to go to England.
After all, in history, Britain began to become stronger step by step from this era. It defeated the Spanish Empire, had a bourgeois revolution, entered the era of the Industrial Revolution, and eventually became the first modern civilized empire in the world on which the sun never sets.
Zhu Houzhao must prevent the British local bourgeoisie from continuing to grow according to its original historical trajectory and gradually becoming a threat to the Ming Dynasty.
"It may not be enough for your son to become the king of England, because with the rise of the British bourgeoisie, these people will not take their king seriously," Zhu Houzhao thinks now.
Looking at the Ming Dynasty steam warships gradually receding on the distant sea, Zhang Yan, the eunuch of the Chief of Ceremonies who came to persuade the Supreme Emperor Zhu Houzhao to return on the grounds of the longevity sacred tree in the capital, couldn't help but ask Zhu Yi Bracelet: "Dare you ask, Your Highness, the Supreme Emperor?" Did he really go to sea? ”
"Of course, in the nearly two hundred years since the Ming Dynasty was founded, this is the first emperor to go to sea. What a shame!"
As Zhu Yihuo said this, he bowed and saluted again in the direction of Zhu Houzhao. Zhang Yan also hurriedly followed suit, but at the same time he couldn't help but murmur in his heart:
"His Majesty and the courtiers tried their best to get His Majesty to return to the capital, and even did not hesitate to ask His Highness the Crown Prince to serve him personally. However, unexpectedly, they still failed to stop the Crown Prince from wanting to leave. I don't know how His Majesty felt when he found out."
……
"Your grandpa Huang really went to the West?"
Zhu Zailei was indeed very surprised after learning the news that Zhu Houzhao was going to the West. He couldn't help but ask Zhu Yi Bracelet, who had returned to Beijing.
Zhu Yishuang nodded: "Grandpa Huang said that the whole world is his inheritance, and the earth is his royal garden. There is no place in the world that he cannot go to. He wants to wait for you to knock down the Japanese country and give him a retirement home." He just came back and now he wants to travel around the world.”
"We can't let the Emperor stay overseas for a long time. Who knows if there will be disloyal people in these overseas vassals who intend to put the Emperor under house arrest, and try to blackmail the emperor to order the princes. After all, as the Emperor himself said, the world is his inheritance. Now Many overseas countries have been sealed off by him, and no one wants to keep this god and Buddha in his own golden cage. ”
Zhu Zailei couldn't help but say this.
However, Zhu Zailei now has no choice but to secretly make up his mind to make the Ming Dynasty more prosperous and maintain its advantageous position as more developed than other countries. Otherwise, he is really worried that his father, who has gone abroad, will be criticized by other countries. Central empire excuse.
This is Zhu Houzhao's first time to travel across the ocean. It is naturally new to him personally, but what is different is that now the entire earth can be said to be his territory, except for the glacier-covered areas around Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean. , and some countries in the western part of the Eurasian continent where politics and religion are not separated. Almost all the monarchs who can be reached on the sea are his ministers.
Therefore, although Zhu Houzhao was going to sea, it was more like playing in the lake in his private garden. The several warships and tens of thousands of officers and soldiers and other service personnel he brought could dock at any port at any time.
Zhu Houzhao also truly felt the changes brought to the world after the industrialization of the Ming Empire.
The coast of the Ming Dynasty is densely covered with ports, ships are clustered like a jungle, and the coast is crowded with factories and high-rise buildings.
In many overseas areas, most of the coastal areas have been turned into plantations and mining areas. A lot of food and raw materials were shipped from these places to the Ming Dynasty, and the industrial products of the Ming Dynasty were shipped here for the use of the Ming Han nobles who moved here. .
This is naturally the result of Zhu Houzhao's original establishment of the Grain Bureau and turning overseas into a grain base and raw material base.
Nowadays, the inland areas of the Ming Dynasty's central empire have completely turned into an industrial area and eco-tourism area, while the overseas areas have completely turned into mineral development and agricultural production areas.
Of course, the exploitation of farmers and workers by capital is also more obvious overseas. Fortunately, Confucian education maintains its rule here. It is no wonder that the gentry are more yearning for overseas life.
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