Why did the emperor rebel?

Chapter 1168
On the first day of November, it began to snow in the capital, and the whole capital was covered with snow overnight.

It was just dawn, and the elders and elders wore thick winter clothes, got up from the bed as usual, and after a simple wash, they came to the Jinshui Bridge, ready to go to court.

Recently, the capital city has been very lively. Earlier, the emperor issued an imperial edict ordering the three divisions to interrogate the case of Liu Yi, a doctor of the Ministry of Punishment, in the East Factory. Now more than a dozen officials have been arrested and sent to the edict prison. Four of them, with convincing evidence, have been deprived of their official positions and are waiting to be released, and the others are still under trial.

This turmoil can be said to be the biggest case of the imperial court in recent years, and from the current point of view, the investigation will continue, and there is no intention of stopping it at all.

Because of this, it can be said that everyone in the court is in danger now. If you want to save face, you can't go to war if you talk hard and earnestly. If all the courtiers are dismissed, it will inevitably cause social turmoil.

If you don't want to lose face, you start to find faults in the case. Some say that the evidence in the case itself is insufficient, and some say that it was tortured and tortured by the prison.

Going forward, some people were even driven to panic. Even Wang Hong, who had petitioned for the people and killed Wang Zhenyu's party, did not care about the public relations. He handed over a series of memorials and began to attack the trial. Several officials involved in the case said that they deliberately framed the case and fabricated evidence in order to gain credit. In short, they started talking nonsense with their red mouth and white teeth.

Of course, these last people were basically desperate. Most of them were found guilty of bending the law for personal gain or corruption and were imprisoned not long after the memorial.

In addition to these overt methods, there are also some shady methods in the dark, some of them intercede with each other, some directly give money, and even some despicable people set up a banquet to send one of the officials who were adjudicating the case. Please go to the banquet, and then find a 'good family woman', and frame the other party's intentions.

Anyway, these people basically used all kinds of means they could think of. Unfortunately, what they faced seemed to be the officials of the third department brought by Wang Hong, but in fact they were facing the emperor Zhu Qiyu. Moreover, he is also an emperor who has traveled for a hundred years.

Facing the impeachment in the court, Zhu Qiyu remained motionless and handed it over to Wang Hong and others, asking them to conduct an inventory within a time limit. He first seized the most energetic ones and sent a group of people to prison to scare the monkeys. As expected, , and immediately felt a lot more comfortable.

As for those who are heavy enough to be moved easily, or have insufficient evidence, or are truly clean and honest, but are just bewitched and outraged by others, Zhu Qiyu is either called into the palace to move him with affection and reason, or he is temporarily outside. Out of sight, out of mind.

And those secret methods are even simpler. Dongchang and Jinyiwei are not just for nothing, especially Dongchang. Zhu Qiyu directly sent Jin Yiwei to dress up as entourages for some important officials in the trial, to protect them personally, and to guard against these tricks.

In a word, Zhu Qiyu thought of everything he could think of one step ahead. In this case, he made up his mind and provided almost all the help he could.

It is worth mentioning that at the beginning, Wang Hong was quite resistant to Jin Yiwei's personal 'protection'. He felt that it was not only unnecessary, but also detrimental to the minister's dignity. Until one day, he almost died in an alley. Only after being beaten down did the stubborn boss change his mind.

Of course, the follow-up result of this was that Wang Hong returned to the Metropolitan Procuratorate full of anger, worked hard for several days, and convicted several officials in one breath.

There are still many unresolved issues in the case, but all the officials involved in the interrogation have basically learned to behave, and they spend most of their time in the Yamen, and they don't even go home unless necessary.

However, even if these external factors are removed, the case itself is involved, the situation is complicated, and some are too old. Therefore, even with the assistance of Dongchang and Jinyiwei, the investigation will not be easy and will take time. Verify.

After all, if such a high-profile case cannot be made into an iron case, it will definitely leave an excuse for those who are interested.

Because of this, this is not a matter that can be solved in a short time. It will definitely last for a while. However, in addition to the case of the Third Division, it is said that the Ministry of Punishment has also made big moves recently. Many officials who were previously investigated in the plan were originally It was nearing the end, but at the end, a case involving Chen Xun's son, Chen Ying, was discovered, which put the Ministry of Punishment stuck here.

Because it involved seven ministers, the Ministry of Punishment did not dare to neglect it, and Lord Shangshu Jin Lian personally presided over it.

It has been several months since the case was exposed. More than a month ago, the key witness in this case, Liao Ting, the prefect of Ji'an, was escorted to Beijing and directly imprisoned in the imperial prison.

Afterwards, the Ministry of Criminal Justice interrogated the relevant personnel several times. Although it was said that there was no public interrogation process, since there was an interrogation, there would naturally be people participating from top to bottom. Even if it was kept secret, there would inevitably be news leak out.

If there is no accident, the Ministry of Punishment will report this matter early this morning, and in all likelihood, this Chen Shangshu should also be implicated in it.

This point can be seen just by looking at the arrangement of ministers by the Jinshui Bridge. Usually, there are many people around this Chen Shangshu, but these days, it has basically become deserted. Today, there is no one left...

The morning bell rang as usual, the sky was gray, and the snowflakes were still falling. As the palace gate was pushed open, the snow-covered palace city appeared in everyone's eyes. The ministers lined up under the guidance of the officials. , followed by entering from the side door.

"Long live my emperor! Long live!"

With a burst of neat salutes, the early court officially kicked off. According to the usual practice, each department began to report government affairs, and the Ministry of Officials handed over the Jingcha Charter, which has been revised for the third time. If there is no accident, this is already the final version. of.

Logically speaking, this charter should have been decided long ago. After all, according to the emperor's previous will, this Beijing inspection will last from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Now, it is only more than a month before the imperial court seals the festival. Well, after the charter is finalized, the Ministry of Officials has to prepare for the corresponding matters in advance, so the time is very tight.

However, there is no way around it. Over the past year, there have been too many cases, especially the case of Liu Yi, which is still being investigated by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, which involves many officials in Beijing and China. Opportunities for inspection should be added, so as not to affect the normal operation of the court.

As a result, many items in the original Beijing inspection assessment had to be readjusted. These adjustments must be reasonable, consider the impact on future Beijing inspections, and take into account the actual situation. This really makes the officials very worried. Embarrassing, basically every version has been revised several times before being submitted, but even so, it was still rejected several times...

But fortunately, this time, the emperor finally didn't say anything else. After reading it, he picked up a pen and approved a sentence on the articles of association, which was considered passed.

Of course, the bosses all know that this is definitely not because the officials have done their best, but because they have run out of time, so they can pass the test so-so, that's all.

But in any case, the Ministry of Officials has passed the hurdle, and what follows next is the specific implementation stage of the Jingcha after the New Year's Day. However, that is something that the ministers in the court should worry about.

After the Ministry of Officials came the Ministry of Households. After the routine crying for poverty, the Ministry of Households reported the sudden severe cold this winter. Today was the first snow in the capital, but not in other places. It started to fall before, stopped for three days in the middle, and then started to fall again. Henan was later, but it also started to snow a few days ago and has not stopped.

Following the lessons learned from the Eight Guards of Fengyang at the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Household Affairs made preparations in advance this time, and has now begun to ask for disaster relief materials.

This move has caused a lot of criticism in the court. Many people feel that the Ministry of Household Affairs is making a fuss out of a molehill. Shandong can forget it, but other places, logically speaking, are far from the extent of causing snow disasters. This It would be too early to start preparing for disaster relief at this time.

Of course, the more important reason why they objected was that once the Ministry of Household Affairs really started preparing for disaster relief, the first thing to bear the brunt would be the various rewards and annual gifts under the New Year’s Day, which would definitely not be issued, and the second would be the budget of each government office. And face the situation of deduction.

In addition, two days ago, there was a faint news from the Ministry of Household Affairs, saying that it planned to re-implement the method of discounting the salary of pepper and sumac after the New Year, and this time it would be more ruthless, directly discounting [-]% of the salary. Although it has not been proposed in the early court this time, how could the elders agree to this method. Therefore, as soon as the Ministry of Households made a presentation, many censors stood up and participated in impeachment of the Ministry of Households.

However, facing this situation, the Son of Heaven just frowned, and immediately looked at Shen Yi, Minister of the Household Department, and said.

"What the Ministry of Household said is justified. If everything is foreseen, it will be established or not. It is better to make a fuss than to wait until the real disaster comes and be caught off guard."

"I ordered the state capitals to purchase fuel in advance. How is the situation now?"

This snowstorm was already inevitable.

Moreover, Zhu Qiyu is very clear that the scale of this snow disaster is far greater than before, and it has spread to Henan, Shandong, Zhili, Zhejiang and other places. For several months, many prefectures have been covered with snow several feet thick, and people and horses are impassable. At least tens of thousands of people and livestock froze to death.

It can be said that this is the biggest disaster he is about to experience since he ascended the throne. Therefore, he has already ordered the Ministry of Household Affairs to make preparations in advance. It can even be said that a series of means such as merchant ships and imperial houses are all for the sake of disaster. Prepare for this snowstorm.

As for the previous disasters, compared with this time, they can only be regarded as minor troubles.

After hearing this, Chen Yi cupped his hands and said.

"Your Majesty, don't worry. Since June, the household department has moved to various state capitals to start stockpiling charcoal. Now, according to the information reported by the various prefectures, Shandong, Henan, Zhejiang and other state capitals have enough charcoal reserves to support the people through the winter. For the purpose, the specific figures have been repeatedly verified by the inspectors in various places, and those who practice favoritism and commit fraud have all been dismissed and questioned."

"In addition, in accordance with His Majesty's decree, at least half of the autumn grain collected in various places this year has been retained by each state capital to prepare for disasters. In areas that have been severely affected by disasters and areas that have experienced snow disasters, more than [-] to [-]% of the autumn grain has been retained, and the remaining Some of them have now begun to be shipped to Beijing."

"From September onwards, the Ministry of Household Affairs moved to the prefectures and ordered them to recruit corvees in advance. Before November, the official roads were rebuilt. After the snow began to fall in Shandong, the Ministry of Households immediately moved the documents and ordered the prefectures to mobilize corvees. Clean up the snow at all times, report once every two days, and ensure that the official roads are unblocked. At present, the messengers from all state capitals have arrived on time, and the local people are stable, and there have been no major disasters for the time being."

Disaster relief is difficult and easy to say. Take this snow disaster as an example. The most important thing is to ensure that the people have enough fuel and food for the winter. , is not a difficult task.

As Shen Yi said so far, someone suddenly stood up from the side of the scientific road and said.

"Your Majesty, Lin Cong, the minister in charge of the household affairs department, has been impeached by the mining tax eunuchs Liu An, Dong Kun, Guan Shan and other 12 people. Under the pretext of Your Majesty's decree, they wantonly bullied the people and forcibly transferred the people's livestock to the imperial village. As a result, many families were destroyed and people were killed, and there was no way to ask for help. The memorial is here for your majesty to read."

No one expected that at this moment, Lin Cong would suddenly appear and point his finger at Huangzhuang.

The chamberlain presented the memorial, and Lin Cong continued to speak, explaining the contents of the memorial in detail in front of everyone.

However, he didn't notice that Zhu Qiyu frowned after reading it.

What is said in this memorial should be said to be true. Strictly speaking, these mining tax eunuchs did harass the people and buy and sell by force.

But this move, in fact, was tacitly approved by Zhu Qiyu.

As for the reason, of course it was due to the snow disaster. According to Zhu Qiyu's previous experience, the snow disaster lasted for several months. Although it did not snow continuously, it lasted for several days every time, and the whole winter was extremely cold.

Under such circumstances, it is even difficult for ordinary people to survive the winter, let alone livestock, which basically end up being frozen to death and then sold at a low price.

So taking advantage of the present, Huangzhuang began to buy these livestock on a large scale, not only cattle, but also other livestock. Some of them were supplied to the palace, and some were kept in Huangzhuang. Keep most of these livestock safe through the winter.

Therefore, in a sense, what Lin Cong did was actually contrary to Zhu Qiyu's original intention. However, looking at the memorial in front of him, Zhu Qiyu's brows became tighter and tighter...

(End of this chapter)