Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 384
"Sun Chuanting—"

"cut!"

In Jiading County, Sichuan Province, on the banks of the Yangtze River, as more than a dozen officials with disheveled hair shouted unwillingly, a broad beheading sword swung down.

Blood splashed, splashing red on the land by the Yangtze River, and the head flew out, like a deflated ball, rolling down the low slope into the river, slowly disappearing with a tinge of bright red.

The huge execution, but no one watched it.

Looking from a distance, people like the Kuroshio are surrounding the post road on both sides, constantly digging and strengthening the post road.

For the four catties of living rice, the hungry people don't even have the mood to watch the excitement.

Looking around, the green water and green mountains do not look like a severe drought, but the ragged and skinny appearance of the hungry people cannot be deceiving.

At the edge of the sky, at the end of the post road, more than a dozen Tang riders came rushing, one of them carried a brocade box, and rushed towards Jiading County.

Half an hour later, the sound of hurried footsteps sounded in the Jiading county government office. Sun Chuanting's staff members walked to the meeting hall and bowed to Sun Chuanting who was discussing disaster relief with Jiading county officials:
"Governor, long live the Shangfang sword, the angel is already at the door."

"I'm going now!" Hearing the news about Shang Fang's sword, Sun Chuanting's eyes lit up, and he ran out regardless of whether he was wearing the black gauze hat.

"Governor, hat!"

Seeing that the hat was still on the table, the staff quickly picked up the black hat and chased after Sun Chuanting's back.

Before going out, the staff handed the black gauze hat to Sun Chuanting, and the people he arranged set up an incense table at the door.

A small banner officer of Jinyiwei was holding the brocade box with both hands, and without further ado, Sun Chuanting knew what was inside.

"Chen, Sun Chuanting, governor of the seventeen provinces, respectfully invite Sheng An!"

Sun Chuanting knelt down and bowed according to the procedure, and the little flag officer also presented the brocade box with both hands and said:

"Governor Sun, Long Live said that everything should be kept simple. This is Shang Fang's sword. In addition, I have attached a handwritten letter from King Qi to you."

"Thank you." Sun Chuanting took the brocade box, then handed the brocade box to the staff, and took the handwriting with both hands.

"Since the things have been delivered, I will resign from the humble position."

Xiao Banner knew that it was impossible for him and Sun Chuanting to have a relationship, and since Sun Chuanting was in a vortex, he didn't want to get involved in any karma, so after bowing in a hurry, he took his subordinates to the posthouse.

Sun Chuanting looked at the back of the other party who was avoiding him, and couldn't help laughing at himself:
"I, Sun Chuanting, can be avoided by everyone right now."

"Governor, why don't you read what His Highness wrote in your handwriting first." The staff reminded.

Sun Chuanting responded, and then opened the handwriting.

However, the contents of the handbook disappointed him a bit.

As Yuan Keli expected, Zhu Youjian wanted to take Sun Chuanting out, but Sun Chuanting obviously didn't want to just leave like this.

He put the letter back into the envelope and opened the brocade box in the hands of his staff.

The brocade box was opened, revealing a golden long sword.

Sun Chuanting grabbed the long sword with one hand, held the hilt and unsheathed the long sword.

The patterns on the body of the sword were finely chiselled and clear, one side was engraved with a soaring dragon, and the other side was engraved with a phoenix spreading its wings, and the body of the sword was also decorated with the Big Dipper, in the shape of the sword responding to the celestial phenomenon.

The sunlight slanted on the sword, and the silver light was dazzling, making people squint their eyes.

The staff is not a fool, he looked at the appearance of his own governor, and he had a bad feeling in his heart.

He couldn't help bowing, exhorting:

"Governor, although this Shangfang sword has the power to cut first and strike later, it is usually only used for deterrence..."

"I know." Sun Chuanting interrupted the other party. Although he said he knew, his tone made people feel dizzy.

"Have all the disaster victims in Jiading been arranged?"

Sun Chuanting inserted Shangfang Sword back into its scabbard, and turned it over to his staff. Hearing this, the staff could only reply:
"The 19 disaster victims have all been arranged, and the total amount of money and food confiscated from the corrupt officials' homes is more than [-] taels, or more than [-] shi."

"According to the imperial government's work-for-relief standard, the dirty money can be used for more than 170 days for the 250 disaster victims, and the grain and fodder can be used for more than [-] days, a total of about [-] days, or about eight months."

The staff figured everything out, but he still said:
"It's just that in Jiading right now, only one of the seventeen officials is left in charge. After I leave, I'm afraid this official will be alone..."

"Apply to the imperial court for allocation of money and food, and then ask the imperial court to allocate officials to manage it." Sun Chuanting answered first, and put Shang Fangjian back into the brocade box.

"Yes..." The staff first responded, and then asked:

"Then governor, we have settled the matter of Jiading now, where should we go next?"

"Where are you going?" Sun Chuanting narrowed his eyes:
"Jiading can suffer from a severe drought, so can the east of Longquan Mountain in Chengdu be peaceful?"

"Send Tangqi to inquire about the situation in Meizhou, Qiongzhou, and Chengdu Prefecture. I want to know whether Sichuan is a simple drought in eastern Sichuan, or a drought in the whole province!"

"Yes..." The staff responded bravely. He knew that this trip to Sichuan might not end so easily...

"Bam—"

"This Sun Chuanting, His Highness and Long Live asked him to inspect the drought, but he ran to Jiading to kill officials!"

While Sun Chuanting was discussing with his staff, there was a noisy sound in the office of the Sichuan Chengxuan Political Envoy of Chengdu Mansion.

Liu Yuyou, who was then the chief political envoy of Sichuan, and Pan Shiliang, who was then the Sichuan procuratorate, were in the study and lost their temper.

Liu Yuyou was over [-] years old, with a foot-long beard on his chin, and his face was like white jade. Sitting opposite him was Pan Shiliang, who was in his thirties and slightly taller than Liu Yuyou, but he could see that he was full of literati.

The two were sitting together, and a lot of tea was splashed on the table. It could be seen that the sound just now was caused by one of them taking the case.

"He killed 16 of the [-] officials in Jiading at one go, and he wanted to question the gentry and help the victims."

"Isn't this hitting you and me in the face?" Liu Yuyou's beard trembled angrily, and Pan Shiliang also showed embarrassment when he heard the words:
"He went from Shaanxi to Shanxi, and then from Shanxi to Henan, Huguang, and Guangdong. Now he is coming to Sichuan. Who can stop him?"

"There are indeed disaster victims in Jiading. There is no doubt about it. If things are brought up, neither you nor I can escape the responsibility."

"Hmph!" Liu Yuyou snorted coldly, "Who said those victims belonged to Jiading? They could also have fled from Syria, but it's just that Jiading officials didn't have time to provide disaster relief."

"The yamen doesn't know about this matter, and they don't know about it. If Sun Chuanting wants to take a book, he can take one."

"Gu Ge is above you and me. If things get serious, whoever will suffer."

"Think that taking Long Live's Shangfang Sword is a big deal? I want to see what he can do, what he dares to do!"

It's normal for Liu Yuyou to have confidence. After all, he is the chief minister of a province, and his official position is from the second rank, which is the same rank as Sun Chuanting.

No matter how daring Sun Chuanting is, it's fine to kill the Futai of the fifth rank, it is impossible to even dare to kill him.

What's more, western Sichuan is currently supplying Yunnan's military rations. If Liu Yuyou kills him, no one can afford to delay the military rations.

But compared to him, Pan Shiliang has some concerns.

"Currently Meizhou and the six counties east of Longquan Mountain in Chengdu Prefecture are suffering from serious drought. I'm afraid Sun Chuanting will use this as an excuse to intervene in the affairs of Meizhou and Chengdu."

"What's more, don't forget that the million mu of fertile land donated by the Shu Palace is now being..."

Pan Shiliang didn't continue talking when the words were three points full, but Liu Yuyou was already a little worried about what he said.

He couldn't sit still, got up and walked around, stopped after going around in a circle, and said to Pan Shiliang:

"The donated land of the Shu Palace, after the Yumajian issued it, how to handle it is the people's own business, whether it is sold or donated, it is also their business."

"You and I only care about taxes, and if we want to check, we won't be able to find out. Anyway, the gentry paid their taxes in full, and Sun Chuanting has nothing to say."

"Don't forget, the fields allocated by Yumajian cannot be bought or sold..." Pan Shiliang reminded, but Liu Yuyou replied immediately:

"It can't be bought or sold, but it can be leased. The people want to go to work, but don't want to farm, so it's not okay to rent the land to others? You can't let the land go to waste."

"Anyway, it's better to talk to Mr. Gu Ge." Pan Shiliang felt that things were a bit troublesome, and he always wanted to rely on the backer of the court.

"Don't worry, Mr. Gu Ge will write a handwritten letter, and within six hundred miles, I can reply in ten days at most."

Liu Yuyou finally comforted Pan Shiliang, and Pan Shiliang also breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the words, and slowly got up and said:

"Since this is the case, then I don't worry about it. After I go back, I will ask the people below to be honest for a while, and we will do it after Sun Chuanting passes by."

"Don't forget, we are not the only ones, the people in the Yumajian also have some blood."

"Okay!" Liu Yuyou responded, and then Pan Shiliang left the chief envoy's office.

It has to be said that Sun Chuanting is indeed well-known, and his approach alone made the whole Chengdu Mansion much quieter.

In the past, the arrogant government servants and nine-rank officials all kept a low profile.

It's just that it's useless to keep a low profile temporarily, not to mention that the victims' tracks can't be stopped.

In the east of Longquan Mountain in Chengdu Prefecture, there are indeed many refugees whose land was bought and sold, and their land was indeed sold to the local gentry by the local government as an intermediary.

Zhou's staff had people buy contracts from some refugees, and when he got the contracts and handed them over to Sun Chuanting, it was already mid-September.

"Governor, this contract says that the lease is for 150 years, which is actually no different from buying and selling, but they avoided buying and selling and changed the name to lease, which is considered to have avoided a loophole of the Imperial Horse Supervisor."

In the Jiading County Yamen, Zhou's staff explained the loopholes in the contract, while Sun Chuanting was dressed in ordinary clothes, holding the contract in his hand and frowning.

"How many refugees do you think there are in Chengdu?"

He put the contract aside and asked Zhou's staff, who also replied:

"Tang Qi inquired a little in the past. There should be no less than 5 people in the countryside."

"5 people..." Sun Chuanting's expression remained unchanged, but his teeth clenched.

"For some things, it seems that there are only 5 people, but on the scale, there are more than 10 people."

Sun Chuanting took a sip from his teacup, trying to calm down:

"How did the local area resettle these victims? I remember that the Chengdu government did not apply for disaster relief money and food, right?"

"It's nothing more than hiring them as tenants. The Tangqi below visited them. The local gentry offered [-]% of the rent to these tenants. Each household distributed five acres of land. The gentry took [-]% and the tenants took [-]%."

Zhou's staff spoke, but Sun Chuanting became more and more angry: "Is the Yuma Supervisor not in charge?"

Zhou's staff shook his head: "Not only did the officials of the local Yumajian not take care of it, but they handed over the land that the Yumajian and the tenants shared to the gentry."

"The gentry adjusted the previous [-] points to [-] points, [-]% of the miles, [-]% to the Yumajian, and the remaining [-]% to the local officials, [-]% to the local officials of the Yumajian, and [-]% to the gentry."

"Honestly speaking, after visiting so many places and inspecting so many drought conditions, Sichuan is the first place I have encountered where the local imperial guards dared to collude with officials and gentry."

Having said that, Zhou's staff dissuaded him:
"Governor, this matter is now involving the Imperial Horse Supervisor. It is best to report the matter to Jin Yiwei to investigate."

"If you get involved in it without authorization, I'm afraid it will make His Highness unhappy."

"Send it to Your Highness, and explain the Sichuan matter clearly." Sun Chuanting didn't act rashly, and to put it bluntly, he was nearly forty years old.

It involved a province's Royal Horse Supervisor, and it was still in the autumn harvest season. If you want to move under such circumstances, at least you have to wait for the officials from the capital to be dispatched.

Besides, the matter in Sichuan is no longer simply a matter of severe drought.

If the officials in eastern Sichuan were simply greedy for money and food from the imperial court for disaster relief, then the officials in western Sichuan were squeezing the people, turning them into refugees and annexing their land.

The means of this group of people reminded Sun Chuanting of the Huaibei famine that year.

"This matter must be reported to His Highness immediately."

Sun Chuanting couldn't sit still anymore, he urged Zhou's staff to send out the pond to ride a fast horse, and Zhou's staff bowed and retreated when they saw this.

A team of Tangqi was quickly dispatched to the north with the stack of lease papers written on it.

Under the urgent situation of eight hundred miles, this team of Tangqi continued to attack for four days and four nights, and finally sent the news to Qi Wangfu on September 22.

When he heard the news, Zhu Youjian was on a lunch break, so when he saw clearly the contents of Sun Chuanting's handwriting and the deed, he was wearing a middle coat and his hair was loose, looking a little embarrassed.

"Your Highness..."

Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen hurried over and saluted at the door.

"Come in" Zhu Youjian suppressed his temper and threw the deed paper and handwriting on the ground:

"Look for yourself. Do you really not know what the people below are doing, or are you pretending to be confused?"

Zhu Youjian began to put his suspicions on Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen. This was not a suspicion on the spur of the moment, but a suspicion after experiencing many corruption cases in the Yumajian.

Gu Bingqian can be coerced by the people below to fight against him, so why can't Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen not?
You must know that the Yumajian is a place that handles more money than the Ministry of Households. Nearly [-]% of the annual taxes are collected by the Yumajian. If they are greedy, the court will suffer heavy losses.

Now that something like this happened in Sichuan, did Sun Chuanting not find out about it in other places, or did he really not?
"Your Highness..."

After Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen read Sun Chuanting's handwriting and the deeds scattered all over the ground, their hearts instantly turned cold.

At this time, Cao Huachun had no choice but to admit his mistake.

"Your Highness, this matter is due to the laxness of the servants, please punish me..."

Cao Huachun knelt on the ground to judge the head, and Wang Chengen also quickly knelt down to judge the head when he saw this.

Zhu Youjian's hair was loose, and he was interrupted in the middle of his nap, which gave him a headache.

With the headache and such troubles, his temper could not be suppressed.

"Is it lax, or is it deliberate deception?" Zhu Youjian stepped forward:
"You took their money?"

"Your Highness! This slave will never dare to accept money from the people below!" Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen quickly explained:

"Your Highness, it is already a great honor for the servants and servants to take more than one hundred thousand taels of silver from the Imperial Horse Supervisor every year. If the local officials want to bribe us, they must give us enough silver."

"What's more, the slaves and servants are loyal to His Highness, and we have no support other than His Highness, how dare we stand opposite His Highness and sing against you?"

"Your Highness, please enlighten me..."

The two were complaining, and at this time Lu Wenzhao also rushed over from the Zhenfu Department. He stood at the door and saw the scene of Cao Huachun and the two complaining, and he understood that something serious happened in the mansion.

"Your Highness, the humble Lu Wenzhao heard that he was summoned..."

Lu Wenzhao bowed cautiously, and Zhu Youjian immediately looked at him when he heard the sound, but there was a hint of suspicion in his eyes.

Sichuan Yumajian colluded with the government, and Jinyiwei's Qianhu Office in Sichuan has no news at all.

Again and again, Zhu Youjian couldn't believe Lu Wenzhao's information.

"Come in and see for yourself..."

Zhu Youjian kicked the deed papers and handwriting scattered on the ground, and Lu Wenzhao could only raise his voice when he saw this, and walked into the bedroom cautiously, picked up the deed papers and looked at them. How do you think about exonerating yourself.

He first knelt down to judge, and then he opened his mouth and said:

"Your Highness, Jin Yiwei has several accidents, and the humble officials have not dealt with them properly. This is not because the humble officials are colluding with them, but because the world is too big for the humble officials to monitor."

"Currently, the members of the Supervision Department of Jinyiwei are all accompanying Governor Sun. The humble staff knew about this matter no earlier than His Highness."

"What's more, if the humble staff knew, the people from the East Factory and the West Factory would have played Long Live long ago, and Long Live will definitely discuss it with Your Highness."

"The humble official thinks that Sichuan's affairs may not only be mixed with the local imperial horse supervisor, Jinyiwei, government, and gentry..."

Things got serious again. Zhu Youjian didn't think about West Factory and East Factory for a while, but now after Lu Wenzhao reminded him, he realized that Sichuan has become a ball of wool, and all forces are involved in it, and they all share a piece of the pie. .

"There are only four million people in Sichuan, and so many things have happened..."

Zhu Youjian stood up slowly, walked to the clothes hanger, and talked while walking, and Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen saw this, and got up quickly to change Zhu Youjian's clothes.

"What do you think we're going to do now?"

It's not that Zhu Youjian doesn't know how to deal with it, he just wants to see how the three of them deal with it, and judge whether the three of them have anything to do with this matter.

"The servant girl thought that the officials with good performance in the previous year should be transferred from the local area to Sichuan, and at the same time send Jinyiwei, Dongchang, Xichang, Yumajian, Dali Temple, and the Criminal Department to form six divisions to interrogate. Sun Chuanting is the chief judge. The incident in Sichuan is listed as the number one major case this year."

While dressing Zhu Youjian, Cao Huachun opened his mouth to express his thoughts.

Wang Chengen was stupid and didn't know how to excuse him, but he also choked out a sentence: "This slave thinks so too."

After the two of them finished speaking, Zhu Youjian also changed into his normal clothes.

He walked to the vanity mirror and sat down. Wang Chengen and Cao Huachun hurriedly combed his hair. Lu Wenzhao also knelt and turned in one direction. Looking at Zhu Youjian, who was facing away from him, he said hastily:

"Beizhi is willing to take people to Sichuan to watch the big case as an assistant judge."

After he finished speaking, Zhu Youjian didn't say anything, but calmly waited for Wang Chengen and Cao Huachun to finish combing their hair.

After almost a stick of incense, the two finished combing his hair, put a jade crown on him, inserted the jade hairpin, and then retreated.

Zhu Youjian tidied himself facing the bronze mirror, and then said: "Get up first."

"Yes..." The three of them stood up one after another when they heard the words, and Zhu Youjian also said:

"According to what you said, report the matter to Long Live, and then the Sixth Division will send people to Sichuan for a joint trial."

"In addition, Sun Chuanting will be granted the temporary post of Governor of the Western Army's Governor's Mansion and Sichuan Chief Envoy, which will be canceled immediately after the big case is over."

"Sichuan chief envoy Liu Yuyou, inspector Pan Shiliang and others temporarily resigned from their posts pending investigation, Sichuan Yumajian guard eunuch Zhao Nan, and Sichuan Jinyiwei thousands of households Zhang Sheng were sent to the imperial prison in Chengdu."

"As for the East Factory and the West Factory, after handing over the handling of the Memorial and Prince Qi's Mansion to the Emperor, let the Emperor send someone there."

"As for Yumajian and Jinyiwei..." Zhu Youjian glanced at Lu Wenzhao and the others, and then said:
"Let Shen Lian, Lu Xiu, and Lu Xian go..."

"Yes!" Hearing Zhu Youjian's arrangement, the three quickly agreed, and Zhu Youjian was woken up, so naturally it was impossible to go back to rest.

He tidied himself up for the last time, and then went to Chengyun Hall to handle government affairs.

The three of Lu Wenzhao divided the work, Cao Huachun went to screen and recruit Yanshan officials who were able to handle affairs last year, Lu Wenzhao went to explain to the three of Shen Lian, and Wang Chengen sent the memorial and the results to the palace.

Among the three jobs, sending news to the palace is undoubtedly an offending matter. Wang Chengen is dull, but popular, so he will send the news last.

Facts also proved that when the memorial and the processing results were sent to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, because of Wang Chengen's identity, Zhu Youxiao was not angry.

Better than Zhu Youjian, Zhu Youxiao sent the memorial after the lunch break, so Zhu Youxiao was more able to suppress his temper.

Sitting on the dragon chair, he looked at Wang Chengen who was kneeling on the ground with his head bowed, and then at Wei Zhongxian, Wang Tiqian, Liu Ruoyu, and Wang An who were standing in the corner, and finally said:
"Something happened in the west factory and the east factory, do you think you can take care of it?"

"Long live, the servant was negligent for a while, please punish the crime..." Wei Zhongxian first confessed his guilt regardless of whether the matter was related to him or not.

When he did this, Zhu Youxiao punched the cotton, and couldn't help looking at Wang Tiqian and Wang An.

Wang Tiqian and Wang An are foxes after all, knowing that the emperor wants people to vent their anger, so they deliberately denied it:
"Long live, slaves have nothing to do with this case..."

"It's nothing to do with it." Zhu Youxiao put the memorial on the table:

"Since it's irrelevant, it's an oversight. Since it's an oversight, then step back from your position for the time being."

"The west factory is temporarily handed over to Li Chaoqin, and the east factory is temporarily handed over to Liu Ruoyu."

"As for the matter in Sichuan, I will send Li Yongzhen to watch, and the three of you will stay honestly in the Imperial Horse Prison for the time being."

"The maidservant leads the order..." Wang An and the three of them agreed after hearing this, they all knew that Zhu Youxiao's punishment was not serious.

When the matter is over, the three of them will return to their posts as council officers.

Wang An felt nothing, but Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tigan couldn't help but secretly hated Sun Chuanting.

He stirred everyone into it, and he couldn't get out honestly, he just wanted to make everyone feel uneasy.

Now that things are getting serious, if he can't handle it well, then don't blame them for making trouble...

　Chapter 2 is around 10:30 in the evening, and the work is a bit busy at the end of the year.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)