I'm really not doing business

Chapter 964 The autumn wind weeps, the autumn rain whistles, and human suffering abounds.

Now, officials all over the country do not want Xu Chengchu to be in trouble, and hope that Xu Chengchu will recover as soon as possible so that the case can be solved quickly.

Those who deserve execution should be executed, those whose property should be confiscated should be confiscated, and those who deserve exile should be exiled. Quickly finish the case of the corrupt officials on the imperial road, return to the capital to report, and leave behind a glorious name in the long history records of a subject who sacrificed his life for righteousness to repay the wise and enlightened emperor.

Stop making a scene, you've already caused enough trouble.

Xu Chengchu was attacked, and the emperor dispatched the Beijing garrison. If Xu Chengchu died in Wuchang Prefecture, what would the emperor do?! How intense would the anti-corruption campaign become?
The officials dared not even think about it; they were terrified just thinking about it. Therefore, they only hoped that the corruption case on the imperial highway would be closed as soon as possible and that no further complications would arise.

Xu Chengchu had previously told Chen Mo that whoever caused the most trouble would find that, in order to maintain stability, the factions within the court with differing interests would compromise with the party that caused the major disturbance.

Xu Chengchu's threat of suicide to destroy everything was a disturbance, and the Emperor's dispatch of the Beijing Garrison to Rongcheng was also a disturbance, and the scale and intensity of the disturbance were greater than anyone else's!

Order is born from struggle and from the constant compromise of the interests of various parties.

The Nanjing Zhenwu Battalion and the Hangzhou Luomu Battalion went all out, and after the riots, the rule of providing monthly rations to wives was firmly established.
The servants of Jiangnan took up arms and demanded that the abolition of the slave system be implemented immediately, without even needing the emperor's urging.
Tenants in Ningdu, Ruijin, and Ninghua counties rebelled against the land and soldiers. As a result, the local gentry and elders were willing to sign contracts and became more disciplined. They stopped collecting rent during festivals and even agreed to reduce rent in years of disaster.
When the artisans from the official workshops came down from the mountain, Wang Chonggu immediately transformed from a corrupt and greedy official who was hated by everyone into the Duke Wencheng who was praised by everyone.
If you don't make a scene, no one will know your grievances; if you don't make a scene, no one will know your anger; if you don't make a scene, no one will know your fury.

Compromise and appeasement will only bring humiliation and nothing else.

The memorial submitted by the Ministry of Revenue requesting the restoration of ancestral laws and the establishment of four granaries for disaster relief was quickly approved by the court.

When the heavens change, if we don't want the people to turn the world upside down, we must carry out the plan. This is no small matter; it is part of dealing with the heavenly changes. The assessment period is set at five years.

Compared to the intense conflict surrounding the corruption case on the Beijing-Guangzhou Expressway, the anti-corruption investigation in Beijing proceeded smoothly and without much fanfare. The investigation of Shen Shixing and others was completed without much fanfare, involving only minor incidents that didn't warrant much attention, much like Tan Lun coughing at the Altar of the Rising Sun.

It weighs four ounces without being weighed, but once it's on the scale, it's as heavy as a thousand pounds.

The Anti-Corruption Department doesn't have to weigh everything. Anti-corruption, like taxation, requires costs. If we weigh minor matters involving Shen Shixing, Wang Xiyuan, Li Le, and others today, we'll have to scrutinize every minor matter of the same standard in the future. No matter how many people the Anti-Corruption Department has, it won't be able to handle it all.

Even small matters should be weighed; that would be twice as effective as the national anti-corruption policy.

"Father, is Uncle going to the ends of the earth? Grandmother cried for a long time." Zhu Changzhi asked his father about his uncle's whereabouts after his father tested his studies.

Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "Yes, the journey by water is 20,000 li."

"Father, will I never see my uncle again?" Zhu Changzhi was still young. Hearing that the journey by water was 20,000 li, he didn't know how far it was. It was only 200 li to Tianjin Prefecture. Two hundred times the distance to Tianjin was really too far. It was so far that Zhu Changzhi had no concept of it at all.

Zhu Changzhi suddenly had such a profound understanding of the phrase "life and death separation." His uncle, who always had many wicked ideas and was even a little bad, was suddenly gone forever.

"Hmm." Zhu Yijun didn't expect Zhu Changzhi to ask this, and after a long silence, he gave a definite but not so clear answer.

Empress Dowager Li objected, and she naturally objected. Being sent to Jinshan City in the eastern Pacific Ocean was no different from dying. As a mother, she had used all her strength to oppose it, but in the end, she agreed.

The Prince of Lu had no choice but to go, and not only the Prince of Lu, but also all the imperial heirs; they all had to go to sea to take up their fiefdoms.

"Saying goodbye is so difficult. Tomorrow we'll be separated by mountains, and the world will be uncertain." Zhu Yijun rubbed Zhu Changzhi's hair at the corners of his head, feeling slightly sentimental.

How many people have unknowingly seen each other for the last time in their lives?

The child's feelings for his uncle were still faint, but Zhu Yiliu had followed Zhu Yijun around since he was a child, urinating, playing in the mud, and having a runny nose. Empress Dowager Li couldn't bear to part with him, but how could Zhu Yijun bear to part with him?
"Then why did you send Uncle to such a far place?" Zhu Changzhi sensed his father's sadness and asked with some confusion.

"The reason why Grandma agreed to let your uncle take up his post in Jinshan was because your uncle told Grandma: 'If I have to be confined to this fiefdom and be a useless person for the rest of my life, I would rather die.' Your uncle chose to go to Jinshan himself because only in this way can he break free from the confinement." Zhu Yijun answered this question.

Everyone has their own path to walk. Zhu Yiliu, who grew up with Zhu Yijun, did not want his future days to consist only of the four corners of the sky above the high walls of the palace courtyard, as that would be too suffocating.

For the princes of the Zhu family, the ban on vassal states was a curse, at least Zhu Yiliu did not want to live like this, as if he were dead.

"Then why are there restrictions on vassal states?" Zhu Changzhi was at the age where he had a lot of questions and liked to ask until he got to the bottom of things. He knew about the restrictions on vassal states; they were not even allowed to go out. They were confined to the palace for eternity, generation after generation.

Zhu Yijun stated very clearly: "Because of the Jingnan Campaign, Emperor Chengzu Wen came south from Beiping Prefecture, captured Yingtian, and sat on the throne. As the emperor, he had to worry about the princes rebelling, so he had to set up a system of restrictions on the princes, preventing them from interacting with local officials, and preventing them from contacting anything or anyone. They only needed to eat, sleep, and wait to die."

This curse is the final result of complex contradictions and intense conflicts. To get rid of this curse, either the Ming Dynasty will be destroyed, or it will be far, far away.

"Then why enfeoffment?" Zhu Changzhi pondered for a moment, and he felt that the fundamental reason for the feudal system was still enfeoffment.

Zhu Yijun sighed and shook his head, saying, "The sun and moon will shine again after they have been obscured. What else can we do if we don't grant fiefdoms? Emperor Taizu Gao was not a god. This is already the best solution."

Zhu Yijun and Zhu Changzhi talked about some history. After the An Lushan Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains dynasty lost Liaodong for 608 years. When the Ming army came, they said that this place had been lost since ancient times. The Ming Dynasty believed it, but the Han people in Liaodong did not.

Since the dust of war rose at Xiaoguan Pass, spring has been cut off from the land of Hehuang; the Han people speak the language of the barbarians, yet they curse the Han people from the city walls.

When this poem appeared, Longyou had only been freed from the control of the Tang Dynasty for less than eighty years, and it was already like this; these Han people no longer considered themselves Han.

Zhu Yuanzhang enfeoffed the Prince of Qing, whose residence was in Ningxia. Counting from the time when Li Jiqian of Western Xia was enfeoffed as the King of Western Xia by the Liao Dynasty, the Central Plains dynasties lost Ningxia for 331 years. If we count from the time when Li Sigong served as the military governor of Dingnan Army, it has been a full 488 years since the end of the Tang Dynasty when Gansu, Ningxia and other places were lost.

When the Ming army arrived, they said that these places had always been like this since ancient times. To gain people's approval, there was no other way but to grant fiefdoms.

Zhu Changzhi listened to his father tell the history. He was only ten years old. Whether it was 488 years or 608 years, it was a long period of time spanning several generations. He could not understand the time scale.

There was no other way but to grant fiefdoms and to restrict the use of domains.

History is so ruthless. It seems like there are many choices, but in reality, there are very few. When later generations look back on the past, they always feel that they have many options, but in fact, when it comes to making a choice, in addition to the opportunity and the prevailing trend, they also need to pay a huge price. It is by no means an easy task.

Zhu Changzhi's eyes darted around, and he asked, "Tell me, sir, that there's a typo for 'wheat.' In the Shang Dynasty, 'wheat' meant a person carrying a bundle of wheat. 'Gao Mai' meant that the feudal lords told the Shang king where the wheat was ripe so everyone could go and grab it."

"Now, is Uncle going to become a feudal lord in Jinshan, and then discover gold and silver mines, tell Father, and go rob them together?"

Children always try their best to use their knowledge to explain the world.

The silver from Japan, the copper from Luzon, and the gold from the Golden Pool City in North America all seem to be wheat from the Shang Dynasty. "Gao Mai" means that the feudal lords told the Shang king to take the wheat they had seized home.

The Emperor and his uncle's purpose was to announce the arrival of the Prince of Lu! This was how Zhu Changzhi understood the matter of the Prince of Lu's enfeoffment.

Overseas vassalage = suing Mai.

Zhu Yijun nodded very seriously and said, "Well, although I can say a lot of high-sounding things, such as the rule of the king, or the great cause of opening up the sea, I am your father and I can't deceive you too much. What you think is right. Your uncle has gone to look for wheat fields. Tell me when you find them, and I will go with your uncle to rob them."

Zhu Changzhi frowned and asked in a low voice, "Can't we just not rob? If we don't rob, we won't have to go to such a far place."

"We have no choice but to rob. If we don't rob, the Ming Dynasty will die." Zhu Yijun shook his head. They had to rob. The Ming Dynasty needed a lot of precious metals, especially silver, to meet its current exchange needs. If they didn't rob, the Ming Dynasty would die.

"Then let's rob it! Rob as much as possible!" Upon hearing that the Ming Dynasty was going to die, Zhu Changzhi immediately changed his attitude. As the crown prince, he was both the emperor and a subject. It was up to him to speak about the fate of the country. If they didn't rob, the dynasty would perish, so let's rob as much as possible.

"Haha." Wang Yaozhuo was both amused and exasperated. The scholars at the lecture had expounded on the principles of benevolence and forgiveness, only to have them completely overturned by a single sentence from the emperor.

If we don't rob, the country will perish and the world will be destroyed, so we have to rob. What's the point of talking about etiquette and morality? Etiquette and morality can't be used as money.

"Your Majesty, Prince Lu requests an audience," a young eunuch said, hurrying forward and bowing.

"Xuan."

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to Your Majesty. I have heard that Your Majesty has prepared ten fast sailing ships for me, and they are all iron-horse ships?" Zhu Yiliu bowed his head as soon as he entered the room and said excitedly.

When Zhu Yiliu was a child, he played with models for a very long time and would even fight with His Majesty for them. Now he can finally play with a real model that is thirty feet long!

"Yes, a steamship, but it still needs sails to help it sail." Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "It's so far away, I won't treat you badly. This iron horse ship is not easy to maintain. It needs to be returned to Songjiang Prefecture for major repairs every three years. Do you understand what I mean?"

Zhu Yiliu immediately replied, "Understood! Isn't this just the court's way of controlling the Prince of Lu's residence? They should have some methods, otherwise, even if Your Majesty is at ease, I wouldn't be at ease with myself!"

Can his Jinshan Luwang Mansion really survive if it leaves the Ming Dynasty's homeland? At least for now, overseas governor-general's offices find it difficult to survive if they are separated from the mainland.

If the imperial court didn't have some tricks up its sleeve, Zhu Yiliu would have thought the court intended to let him fend for himself.

The governorates of Mexico, Peru, and Chile were simply looking to change their homeland, from Spain to the Ming Dynasty. Whoever could provide them with the resources they needed to survive would be their homeland, and the same applied to the Prince of Lu's residence.

The reason the imperial court equipped the fast sailing ships with iron horses was to control the army of the Prince of Lu's mansion. The reason given was that they underwent major repairs every three years, but in reality, it was to rotate the garrison.

The three thousand soldiers of the Prince of Lu's Mansion belonged to both the Prince of Lu's Mansion and the imperial court.

"Your Majesty, I have made up my mind. When I get there, I will oversee the construction of the New Sun Canal. Once the New Sun Canal is built, Spain will be doomed." Zhu Yiliu went to his fiefdom with a mission.

The first issue is gold, which concerns gold and paper money; the second issue is the construction of the Panama Canal, which concerns the expansion of the Ming Dynasty.

With the construction of the new Sun Canal, the Ming Dynasty was prepared to sacrifice a thousand laborers for every mile. The Ming Dynasty would not abandon the Sunset Project until all the slaves were extinct.

Wang Chonggu left the Ming Dynasty with a lot of legacy. The Ming Dynasty is still implementing this very risky sunset plan. Since the decision has been made, it must be carried out to the end. Unless it becomes completely unworkable, it will continue to be carried out consistently.

"You should first take good care of Jinshan City. Only when the Ming Dynasty has a foothold in the Eastern Pacific and the Pan-Pacific Trade Alliance has a direct military threat will these barbarians dare not break their promises." Zhu Yijun's understanding was completely different. Zhu Yiliu's primary task was to ensure the survival of Jinshan City.

Jinshan City is like a sword hanging over the head of the Eastern Pacific Governor's Office. If they breach the contract, the Ming Dynasty can use force to discipline them.

Zhu Yijun did not believe in etiquette and morality, nor in the spirit of contracts; he only believed in force. He could not discipline these barbarians with force, and he did not believe that they would follow the rules.

"It's funny to think about it. Before, the officials in the court were criticizing that the expenses for Prince Lu's enfeoffment were too high. Although it was all paid for by the imperial treasury, it was still too much. If this is the case, will the enfeoffment of future princes be based on the same standard? If the imperial treasury runs out of money, will it be taken from the national treasury?"

"Since the Huan Tai Merchant Alliance made progress in June, this voice immediately disappeared," Zhu Yijun said, referring to the prevailing public opinion in the court.

“None of the scholars in our court are fools, they’re just plain wicked,” Zhu Yiliu said viciously. “They’re so wicked their ancestors’ graves are emitting auspicious smoke! They’re always talking about benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness, and about pacifying distant peoples, but when it comes to real trouble, they only recognize force.”

The scholar-officials preached morality and governance all day long, but when faced with something like the Donghuan Merchant Alliance, they immediately embraced force.

In Zhu Yiliu's view, the scholar-officials who both rely on others and refuse to speak out are somewhat ill.

"Tomorrow, the second Wanjia Garden of Xishan Coal Bureau will be completed. Let's go take a look together," Zhu Yijun said to Zhu Yiliu.

The completion ceremony of Wang Chonggu's official residence for ten thousand households was held, during which houses were allocated to the craftsmen of the official factory. Wang Chonggu started construction in the sixteenth year of the Wanli reign and it was not completely completed until his death.

The first official residence for ten thousand households was started in the ninth year of the Wanli reign and was fully completed in the thirteenth year of the Wanli reign.

The second batch of official residences for ten thousand households has been continuously delivered, with each batch completed and delivered in turn. This is the last batch to be delivered. Ling Yunyi, Wang Jiaping, and Zhou Liangyin are also building an official residence for ten thousand households at the Foshan Iron Pot Factory in Guangzhou, and construction has already begun.

"No wonder the craftsmen were willing to risk their lives for the sake of Duke Wencheng's funeral. If it were me, I would have been willing to risk my life too," Zhu Yiliu said with great emotion. The craftsmen were willing to come down the mountain not only because the emperor was guiding the movement, but also because the craftsmen were truly willing to speak up for the deceased Wang Chonggu.

Making the Ming Dynasty great again included the poor and the laborers; this was a promise the emperor made, and he never forgot it.

The fundamental purpose of the Dinghai school system was to ensure that every child could afford to go to school. As for whether this could be achieved, Zhu Yijun would do his best to do so.

The next morning, at the crack of dawn, Zhu Yijun set off with his grand entourage in his imperial carriage toward the Xishan Coal Bureau.

Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating. There was some fog in the morning, which did not dissipate until the sun rose. Soon, a light drizzle began to fall. However, the emperor did not change his itinerary because of this and still arrived at Wanjia Garden as scheduled.

Zhu Yijun held an umbrella, with Zhu Changzhi and Zhu Yiliu standing beside him. The three of them stood in front of the sculpture in front of Wanjia Garden.

"Father, wasn't Duke Wencheng a scholar who passed the imperial examination? Why does he look like a military general?" Zhu Changzhi looked up at the sculpture, which was as tall as a two-story building.

The sculpture depicts Wang Chonggu, but he is dressed as a military general, standing with his hands behind his back, his gaze deep, his head slightly lowered, wearing a helmet and armor, with a seven-star ring-pommel sword hanging at his waist.

Wang Chonggu looked down at the iron horse pulling the train, with a small stone tablet beside him inscribed with the four characters "Chonggu Chidao".

The stele of Chonggu Road was toppled and smashed. Zhu Yijun used the silver obtained from confiscating his property to rebuild a larger stele of Chonggu Road.

When the craftsmen erected a statue of Wang Chonggu, they placed his proudest achievement alongside it.

"Because Duke Wencheng pacified the Japanese pirates in the south and resisted the barbarians in the north, he was portrayed as a military general," Zhu Yijun told the crown prince, explaining why he was dressed as a warrior.

Wanjiayuan has four main roads running horizontally and vertically, with a total of 110 houses. These 110 houses are neatly arranged outside the Xishan Coal Bureau's factory area, stretching as far as the eye can see. The houses are all three-story buildings with cement pillars, red brick walls, and black tile roofs. Each house has eight doors, and each door has four households, with 96 households per house, totaling 10560 households.

All the buildings belong to the government factory; if one is not working at the government factory, one has no right to live there.

"The environment is much better than I imagined." Zhu Yijun stepped into the Wanjia Garden, looking left and right.

Each garden has a public pharmacy, which is bright and clean, and the doctors are medical students who graduated from the Imperial University of Peking.

There are good roadside trees on both sides of the road. They are fast-growing poplars and they look like they were just planted not long ago. They are only as thick as a wrist. Each house has a public toilet. All 96 households in this house use this public toilet. The excrement is regularly processed and taken to the composting plant for composting.

In the very center of Wanjia Garden, there is a garden surrounded by a ring of houses, including general stores, water shops, rice and grain shops, clothing shops, restaurants, taverns, and so on, a dazzling array that covers almost every aspect of life.

"Your Majesty, we are innocent! Your Majesty!" A shout from afar drew the attention of the officials reviewing the documents, who all looked towards a spot ten feet away.

The imperial guards stopped a woman who was holding a six-year-old child. The woman was crying and pleading her case.

Zhu Yijun looked at the woman, then glanced at Ling Yunyi. The official factory was overseen by the Vice Minister, and this incident of a woman blocking the road and crying out for justice during the inspection of Wanjia Garden was definitely related to the Vice Minister.

If it weren't for the fact that the woman was unrelated, she wouldn't have been able to get to the Imperial Guards at all. The Imperial Guards had laws to deal with this, and the Emperor's inspection today wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision; it was something that had been arranged long ago.

"Vice Minister Ling, regarding the reform of the official factory, is there something you're struggling to say?" Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and then asked directly.

Ling Yunyi's expression was extremely complicated. He sighed, bowed his head, and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

“Next time, Vice Minister Ling, just speak your mind. There’s no need to hold back. It was I who invited Vice Minister Ling back from Korea to take charge of the situation.” Zhu Yijun added, “Because of the reform of the official factory, many people are gossiping. Even Lady Zhongshun mentioned it when she met with the Emperor.”

Ling Yunyi is very ruthless and leaves no room for compromise in his actions. He is too sentimental in his official duties. Ling Yunyi's reforms have offended countless people. In addition, after returning to the capital, he has been busy with various matters and has not made any contributions. When he encounters trouble, he has to ask the emperor to intervene. This makes Ling Yunyi feel ashamed and he really doesn't know how to say certain things.

"Hold court! Let me see what's going on!" Zhu Yijun flicked his sleeves and looked at the woman. When it was time to play along, he wouldn't turn a blind eye. Since Ling Yunyi was in a difficult position, he would play the villain.

Zhu Yijun arrived at the grand stage, found tables and chairs, and began to preside over the trial directly on the stage. Although the conditions were somewhat simple, Zhu Yijun did not care.

In the autumn wind and rain, on the grand stage, a woman, holding her child, kneels on the stage, tearfully recounting her experiences as she appeals to the emperor.

The woman's speech was actually incoherent, even rambling, saying whatever came to mind, the information was somewhat chaotic, and the timeline was also somewhat confused, sometimes three years ago, sometimes ten years ago.

At this point, if someone were to help her write a complaint, it would actually make things clearer.

Unfortunately, no one helped her.

As Zhu Yijun listened, he scribbled on the paper. After the woman finished speaking, he nodded and said, "I understand."

The woman's explanation was too complicated, including some trivial family matters. Ling Yunyi was getting impatient. What was there to say about such mundane family matters? This was an audience with the Emperor!
But His Majesty said he understood.

Zhu Yijun actually enjoyed listening to these kinds of stories, because the more the woman talked and the more details she provided, the easier it would be for the Imperial Guard to solve the case.

Ten years ago, the woman followed her husband from Xuanfu to the capital. Her husband got a job in the government factory thanks to his skills. Once he got a job in the government factory, their life immediately changed from being constantly on the move to being stable.

The woman had three children, but six years ago, her husband had an accident at the government factory. A pot of molten iron broke its chain, poured over his head, and his body was never found.

"Duke Wencheng stipulated the pension, based on the number of craftsmen your husband worked for, and the annual wages and start-up wages, it should be eighteen taels of silver per year. Based on ten years of pension, it should be a total of 180 taels of silver. But you only received 20 taels of silver?" Zhu Yijun inquired about the first case brought by the woman.

180 silver coins is not a small amount, and the child can continue to study at the official factory school, where rice, grains, and oils are cheaper than outside.

"Your Majesty, please grant me justice!" The woman herself didn't know what she wanted to accuse, and she recounted the pain she had suffered since her husband left.

"So how have you made a living all these years and raised your child?" Zhu Yijun looked at the fairly robust six-year-old child beside him. This was the craftsman's posthumous child. Although he was not fat, he was not pale or sickly.

The woman's eyes flickered. She looked up at the emperor and his entourage, then lowered her head again. After a long silence, she finally bowed and said, "This humble woman has become a prostitute, engaging in this lowly profession."

"Bang!" Zhu Yijun slammed his hand on the table, his eyes immediately turning sharp, and he said in a stern voice, "Zhao Mengyou, listen to my order! You have one hour to arrest all those who embezzled and bring them to justice!"

Even a six-year-old child could see the emperor's anger; he was truly enraged.

"Your subject obeys the decree!" Zhao Mengyou immediately accepted the order and left. The emperor had given him an hour, which was more than enough. The imperial guards were handling cases, not the yamen runners. The imperial guards did not rely on evidence, but only on the emperor's will.

Few people are unafraid when a knife is drawn and held to their neck.

Zhu Yijun believed what the woman said because he saw a worldly air about her; she had lived a very difficult and miserable life over the years.

"Master Feng, please have a seat." Zhu Yijun waved his hand and continued writing and drawing on the paper. He was waiting for Zhao Mengyou to bring the person.

Ling Yunyi had some things he couldn't say. The woman had barged in before the emperor to lodge a complaint; there must be something going on, and it was no small matter.

First of all, the woman was not an isolated case; embezzlement of pension funds was a common practice in government factories.
Secondly, the woman went to the Shuntian Prefecture government office to file a complaint many times, but the Shuntian Prefecture government office ignored her, which clearly indicated that someone was obstructing her.

Finally, Ling Yunyi found it inconvenient to present the case directly to the Emperor, so he had to use a woman to tell the story. Clearly, there were some difficulties for Ling Yunyi in handling this case.

These are three fundamental inferences that can be definitively established.

Just a quarter of an hour later, Zhao Mengyou brought the group of criminals back to the stage. The guards, holding the criminals, kicked each of them in the back of the knee, and pressed their heads down to the ground, rendering them unable to move.

The autumn wind weeps, the autumn rain whines, and human life is full of suffering.

"Profiting from the dead, is that it? Now I'll give you the time it takes for an incense stick to burn to explain yourselves to the Imperial Guards." Zhu Yijun waved his hand, ordering Zhao Mengyou to lead the Imperial Guards to conduct the trial directly before the Emperor.

Soon, a name that surprised everyone appeared before them.

Wang Jian was the son of Wang Chongyi, the younger brother of Wang Chonggu.

“Wang Chongyi has no son, only a daughter, who married Yao Guangqi, the magistrate of Songjiang. Where did he get a son?” Zhu Yijun personally oversaw the case, and it was handled very quickly.

After Wang Chongyi died in place of Wang Chonggu, Zhu Yijun even read Wang Chongyi's biography. In his early years, Wang Chongyi had traveled as a merchant and rode horses too much, which damaged his health. He only had one daughter.

“An adopted son,” Zhao Mengyou said succinctly. He was the son adopted by Wang Chongyi, and a distant nephew at that.

Wang Chonggu's family wasn't very large. By the time of Wang Qian, including the child born last year, Wang Qian only had three sons. The eldest son, Wang Zhicai, was doing very well in school, but the second son, Wang Zhiyi, was not so good. He was a stubborn rock, impossible to carve, which made his mother very angry.

Wang Chonggu felt indebted to Wang Chongyi and always felt that Wang Chongyi had died in his place, so he treated this adopted son with special favor.

This preferential treatment has led to trouble.

"The first case involved embezzling pension funds, the second involved occupying people's houses, the third involved operating a gambling den, and the fourth involved buying and selling people. Were all these done by Wang Jian?" Zhu Yijun looked at the information he had compiled.

After the compensation money was embezzled, the woman and her children were evicted from the official residence. According to the compensation regulations, if a woman died from a work-related injury during childbirth, her three children were supposed to move out of the official residence after they came of age. However, the following year, the woman and her children were evicted.

Last year, a gang leader came up with an IOU from a gambling den and tried to forcibly take a woman and her child, claiming that the craftsman who died in a workplace accident had a large gambling debt and that the child was needed to pay off the debt.

The woman had no choice but to complain everywhere, but to no avail. Today, she heard that the emperor was inspecting the Wan Family Garden, so she rushed to the emperor's presence. She never expected to be able to get in.

Clearly, this was a play orchestrated by Ling Yunyi.

Ling Yunyi is indeed inconvenient because Wang Jian is Wang Chonggu's nephew. If Ling Yunyi makes a move against Wang Jian, it could easily turn into a full-scale opposition against Wang Chonggu.

Complete opposition is unacceptable.

"Commander Zhao, take the man." Zhu Yijun had basically sorted out the case and ordered Zhao Mengyou to lead the imperial guards to arrest the man.

Zhu Yijun looked at Ling Yunyi and said, "Vice Minister Ling, strictly investigate similar cases both inside and outside the official factory. If necessary, you can send the Imperial Guards to handle the case."

“Your Majesty, this matter is not the fault of Duke Wencheng. Duke Wencheng is too old and can no longer control these people.” Ling Yunyi said something good to Wang Chonggu. It seems that Wang Chonggu left some problems, but these problems can be solved and are not too fatal.

As Wang Chonggu grew older and his energy waned, he could no longer manage so many things, which made Wang Jiancai increasingly arrogant.

As a subject, Ling Yunyi could not control the scope of the attack, and he did not want Wang Jian's case to implicate the deceased Duke Wencheng.

Ling Yunyi genuinely acknowledged Wang Chonggu's achievements.

(End of this chapter)