Chapter 230 One Ring Within Another Ring
But the common people are extremely interested in this kind of gossip inside the house.
In just half a day, various versions of the news spread throughout Bianjing.
As the saying goes, words change from person to person.
When a person fights with another person, word of mouth may spread it to someone being beaten to death, or someone beating someone to death.
People always like to embellish news when spreading it, as if this can show the truth of what they say.
However, there are obviously different versions of gossip and rumors, and when the various information links are enriched, a complete story will be formed.
At first glance, people who don’t know the truth will think it is true.
This news was what Zhao Xing asked Yin Hanzhang to pass on, and it was also his method of dealing with those people.
Indeed, this method is a bit despicable and seems a bit naive to many people.
Not really.
As the saying goes, three people make a tiger, if more people spread the word, the false will become true.
For civil servants, reputation is very important.
It is rumored that after hearing the news, Mr. Zhou was so angry that he fainted.
Zhao Xing didn’t know whether it was true or false, but in the afternoon Xianggong sent people to the Kaifeng Mansion Office and the Wucheng Military and Horse Division to ask them to strictly investigate those who spread rumors.
Not only Mr. Zhou, but those who had been spread rumors also sent people to put pressure.
When the Prime Minister and so many officials in the DPRK were slandered and reported to the government, Sheng Hong naturally took it very seriously and immediately agreed.
However, he sent someone to investigate and found that something was wrong.
There were really too many people talking about it, and these rumors seemed to spread all over Bianjing all of a sudden, making it impossible to trace the source.
Sheng Hong has been an official for many years, and his sense of smell is still very sensitive. It seems that someone did this on purpose.
Targeting so many officials at once, including the current minister, no matter who they were, he could not afford to offend.
Sheng Hong's smooth temperament was immediately revealed, and he went directly to the East Palace and asked to see Zhao Xing.
After meeting Zhao Xing, he gave an overview of the situation without revealing some of his guesses.
He just said that Kaifeng Mansion was short of manpower and asked Zhao Xing what to do.
After hearing this, Zhao Xing looked at Sheng Hong with a half-smile but not a smile. This guy was quite good at passing the blame.
He came to ask for instructions. No matter what happens next, he will act according to orders and it has nothing to do with him.
"My father is still humbly accepting advice, how can the government stop the people's speech. Besides, what the people say is false even if it is not proven. If it is not false, it is naturally not considered slander, nor does it constitute a crime. Let's do this. , The Kaifeng government office doesn’t need to worry about this matter. If Mr. Zhou and the others still send people, tell them that unless it is proved that what the people say is false, the person who talked about it can be arrested. "Zhao Xing. said.
Sheng Hong was startled. How can he prove that what the people said is false?
Then we can only check it.
Can Xianggong Zhou let the government investigate these?
It's simply impossible.
Let’s not talk about whether there are similar problems in their homes. Even without them, it would be impossible to agree.
Rumors spread, but instead of investigating the rumors, the government investigated them.
No matter what is found out in the end, it becomes true in the eyes of the people.
What, the government’s final investigation said the rumors were false?
Impossible, absolutely impossible, it must be protected by officials.
Sheng Hong was not stupid and reacted quickly.
Isn’t this matter related to His Royal Highness?
Why else would Zhao Xing act like the bigger the problem, the better.
However, Sheng Hong did not dare to ask at all, so he could only respond: "Yes!"
"Okay, if there's nothing else, just step back." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
"I retire!" Sheng Hong bowed and retreated.
"The fun has just begun." Zhao Xing sneered.
He said before that this is to treat others with their own medicine, because the conservatives used this method when the New Deal was implemented.
My father said that it was because the New Deal was implemented hastily and had too many drawbacks. For the sake of the stability of the Song Dynasty, it had to be stopped.
These words are true, but they are not all.
Zhao Xing has also carefully understood the reasons for the failure of the New Deal over the years.
The New Deal targeted the official class from the beginning and touched their interests.
In order to stop the New Deal, many officials began to discredit the reform officials headed by Fan Daxiangong.
The conservatives find various reasons to impeach officials who support reform.
He even impeached Prime Minister Fan for forming a party for personal gain.
Father may not believe it at first, but since many people have said it, that may not be the case.
Moreover, the methods of reform cannot be gentle. When Fan Daxiangong implemented the New Deal, he must have dealt with some uncooperative officials to scare the monkeys.
If the father does not waver, these methods will seem normal.
But once the father is suspicious, he will be suspected of excluding dissidents.
If the father trusts his son Zhao Xing again, he will definitely not tell Zhao Xing about such a petty matter.
The conservatives used smearing to prevent the implementation of the New Deal, while Zhao Xing used smearing to prevent these people from taking care of the matter of measuring the land.
It is useless to reason with them, because scholars are the ones who master and formulate principles.
Confucianism is becoming more and more feudal and distorted, which is the good deeds of these scholars.
But these rumors alone are not enough, we have to look at the next actions. …………
Sheng Hong had roughly guessed the truth in his mind and was no longer interested in finding the source of the rumor.
In fact, he didn't dare to take it seriously, otherwise it would be an even bigger headache if he found out something.
But things are different with the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division.
The Wucheng Military and Horse Division is responsible for patrolling thieves in Bianjing, clearing streets and ditches and prisoners, and banning fires.
Somewhat similar to the combination of certain security, certain management and fire protection in later generations, they naturally also have the authority to investigate.
However, the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division is a military position, so most of the Lord's disciples, Yin Feng, go to the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division.
The commanders of the Five Cities Military and Horse Division are not as smart as Sheng Hong.
If we can find out the clues, we can gain the favor of the current prime minister and many important officials in the court.
Of course they are willing to do it.
In order to control the rumors, the Five Cities Military and Horse Division sent a large number of people. Anyone who talked about it in private was arrested.
Several cells in the Wucheng Bingma Division were overcrowded for a while.
A large number of people were arrested, and the people still dared to discuss it. For a time, the prosperous Bian Kyoto was somewhat depressed, and it felt like there was a turmoil.
…………
“Ahem…”
"Father, are you okay?" Zhou Xiwen quickly stepped forward to help his father's back.
Zhou Yizhong coughed for a while, felt better, and asked: "How is the situation outside?"
"The rumors have stopped. I think no one will talk about it in a few days." Zhou Xiwen said.
"How fast? But the person who spread the rumors has been caught?" Zhou Yizhong said in surprise.
"The person who spread the rumors has not been caught yet, but it should be soon. The Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division has arrested many people who were talking about it, and no one dares to talk about it anymore." Zhou Xiwen said.
"What...cough..."
Zhou Yizhong was anxious when he heard the words, but before he could say anything, he coughed again.
"Father, are you okay?" Zhou Xiwen said anxiously: "Come here, go and ask the doctor!"
"No... no need!" Zhou Yizhong looked pale and said feebly: "Wucheng The people in the Military and Horse Division are simply idiots, and they will arrest so many people. What’s the use of arresting so many people? They will only make the matter worse!”
Although he did not ask the Five Cities Military and Horse Division to arrest them! How many people have been arrested, but the rumors can be put to rest so quickly, no one dares to talk about it, and there will definitely be many people arrested.
No one dares to talk about it now. It’s not that no one talks about it, but they are shocked.
However, arresting so many people only showed that he was guilty of being a thief and was trying to hide it.
He asked people to put pressure on the Kaifeng government office and the Wucheng Military and Horse Department in order to let them investigate the person who spread the rumors as soon as possible.
Only in this way can the storm be calmed down as soon as possible.
"Then let them let the child go now?" Zhou Xiwen said.
"It's late." Zhou Yizhong shook his head, closed his eyes and thought for a while, then asked: "Is there any movement at the Kaifeng government office?"
"There is no movement at the Kaifeng government office. That Sheng Shao Yin took advantage of the fact that his daughter was the crown prince's concubine, so he didn't take his father seriously at all!" Zhou Xiwen said bitterly.
Although Zhou Yizhong called the people of the Wucheng Bingma Division idiots, the Wucheng Bingma Division acted quickly.
But there was no movement at all in Kaifeng Mansion. It was either that they didn't take his father seriously.
"Send someone to press for questioning, and send someone to the Wucheng Army and Horse Department to tell them that the arrested people must not be tortured, and their safety must be guaranteed." Zhou Yizhong said.
"Those untouchables maliciously slandered my father, why should I care about their life and death?" Zhou Xiwen said bitterly.
“Go quickly!” Zhou Yizhong glared.
"Yes!" Zhou Xiwen didn't dare to talk nonsense, so he responded and walked out.
At this moment, a middle-aged man hurried in.
Zhou Xiwen was startled, and he opened his mouth to curse, but stopped when he saw the person clearly.
The person who came was Zhou Fu, his father's eldest attendant. He was deeply trusted by his father and was given the surname Zhou.
"Lord, it's not good!"
"But something happened to those people captured by the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division?" Zhou Yizhong asked anxiously.
"No." Zhou Fu shook his head, nodded again, and said: "They are the family members of the arrested people. Many of them beat the drums to complain, and some went to the Kaifeng government office to complain."< br>
“Right now, there are rumors outside that it was the Lord who ordered the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division to arrest the person.”
When Zhou Yizhong heard this, his eyes darkened and he fainted.
Before his consciousness disappeared, his last thought was that what he was worried about had happened.
What he originally thought was whether the people behind the scenes would kill a few people who were arrested, which would make things even bigger.
Unexpectedly, although the person was not dead, his family members went to complain to the Kaifeng Mansion.
Zhou Yizhong could even imagine that when the officials sent people to investigate, someone from the Wucheng Soldiers and Horses Department confessed that he had asked the people from the Wucheng Soldiers and Horses Department to do that.
He felt like he was trapped in a trap.
However, before he could say anything, he was so angry that he passed out.
…………
Zhou Yizhong was right, this was indeed a trap.
But the trap doesn’t stop there.
When the arrested people beat the drums and went to Kaifeng Mansion to complain, several officials from the Yushitai wrote a letter to impeach Zhou Yizhong.
(End of this chapter)