I'm really not doing business

Chapter 965 When people have no shame, the law cannot punish them.
Whenever Emperor Zhu Yijun of the Ming Dynasty was complacent about the achievements of the Wanli Reforms, or even somewhat self-satisfied, there would always be some sycophants who would jump out and tell His Majesty: This is just the beginning! The road to reform is still long!
Zhu Yijun was somewhat pleased with the official residences for allocating houses to craftsmen, but soon, Wang Jian (Note 1) began to use the official residences for personal gain, which prevented the emperor from becoming complacent.

The woman's property was seized because someone had paid thirty taels of silver in the hope of getting a room in an official residence. Wang Jian's chief henchman, having received the silver, naturally had to do his bidding. After some searching, he spotted this easy-to-bully woman.

Orphans and widows are the easiest to bully.

Wang Jian was quickly arrested. When the imperial guards entered the official factory to begin their investigation, all the corrupt officials, including Wang Jian, were arrested and brought to justice. The case then entered the supplementary investigation process.

Wang Jian's evil deeds can be divided into three stages.

When Wang Chonggu still had plenty of energy to attend to his duties, Wang Jian only dared to ask for a small amount of money to enter the factory. The official factory offered excellent benefits, and some people would fight tooth and nail to get into it, so they had to bribe the factory with money.
After Wang Chonggu was unable to attend to matters, Wang Jian's greed grew ever greater, and he began to commit numerous evils, with all his actions becoming increasingly outrageous.

When Wang Qian went to Songjiang Prefecture to take up his post, and no one in the capital could restrain Wang Jian, he began to act on behalf of the Wang family. At this point, his behavior was no longer simply driven by greed.

More often than not, Wang Jian committed evil deeds to demonstrate his power.

"I am Wang Chongyi's son, what right do you have to arrest me! I want to see Wang Qian! My father died for Wang Chonggu!" Wang Jian was forced onto the chair of regret, but he showed no remorse whatsoever; he was even somewhat arrogant.

Zhao Mengyou sized up Wang Jian, his expression somewhat strange.

Even now, Wang Jian still believes that he was just unlucky to be caught red-handed by the emperor. He thinks that he can escape punishment thanks to Wang Chonggu's influence, just like in the past.

This wasn't wishful thinking; Wang Jian felt it was only natural because that's how he grew up.

After Wang Chongyi's death, Wang Chonggu treated him like his own son. Wang Chonggu was the Grand Minister of Justice, in charge of criminal law. When Wang Chonggu was alive, no one dared to make things difficult for Wang Jian.

"Over the years, you've embezzled pensions, occupied people's houses, run gambling dens, and bought and sold people, and you've only managed to amass a little over 43,000 taels of silver. I don't understand. If you asked Duke Wencheng or Wang Qian, you could have gotten much more than that, right?" Zhao Mengyou said with a furrowed brow.

The main business here is running gambling dens, but these gambling dens are not located inside the government factory, but outside of it. This is because of Wang Jian's status; otherwise, his gambling dens would have been shut down by the yamen runners long ago.

There wasn't much silver, and Wang Jian had spent it all. He even owed some money to banks, totaling more than three thousand taels of silver.

Wang Jian is an incompetent and despicable man. If he had any ability and had the backing of Wang Chonggu, he wouldn't have made so little money.

"Am I some lowly person who needs to beg from them?! They killed my father!" Wang Jian replied angrily, "Release me, or you'll regret it!"

Zhao Mengyou suddenly remembered the commentary on Mencius by His Majesty: "A person cannot be without shame."

An honest person does not take ill-gotten gains or covet unjust profits;
A person who is ashamed is neither afraid of the power of authority nor the temptation of wealth and status.

A sense of shame is a fundamental principle of human conduct. When people have a sense of shame, they can know what to do and what not to do. When people lack a sense of shame, the law is difficult to enforce.

In His Majesty's view, integrity means not taking what one should not take, and shame means not doing what one should not do, even if one is oppressed by powerful people or tempted by wealth;
A sense of shame is the greatest integrity a person can have and the foundation of their character. If a person has a sense of shame, they can know what to do and what not to do. If a person lacks a sense of shame, even the law cannot restrain them.

Wang Jian, standing before me, had absolutely no sense of shame, so even the law could not restrain him.

Regarding personal morality and self-cultivation, Confucianism does indeed have its own unique insights. If one truly follows the teachings of the most revered teachers to cultivate oneself, one can settle down and will never end up like Wang Jian, who was abandoned by both gods and men.

"You're going to treat me well?" Zhao Mengyou pointed to himself and said, "I'll make you suffer a little first. Someone, take Young Master Wang to the execution grounds for a check-up. We'll interrogate him after that."

"The Dissection Hall?!" Wang Jian was dumbfounded. He had heard of how terrible this place was, but he never expected that he would have such a day.

Zhao Mengyou was very busy. He did not leave the interrogation room, but instead interrogated Lanchilot, the principal of the São Paulo College in Peru, a missionary, and the "Mr. Miracle," who was in charge of smuggling saltpeter to Japan in the City of Nations.

"His Majesty's decree has arrived: execution in the autumn." Zhao Mengyou informed Lanchilot of terrible news: he was going to die.

"So that means I don't have to go to the Exorcism Court?" Lanchilot's eyes lit up when he heard this. This was good news. He wouldn't be thrown into hell on earth. It was a great stroke of luck for him. The main thing was that he honestly confessed his problems, and the emperor received compensation from the Pan-Pacific Trade Alliance.

There's no need to mock Lanchilot's weakness and cowardice. He's a fanatic, and he can even withstand all sorts of bizarre tortures in the government office, but the place called the Dissection Hall can really make people lose all their reason.

Zhao Mengyou nodded and said, "Yes, because you honestly confessed all the questions, you were spared the suffering of the Exorcism Court."

"Thank you for your great grace, Your Majesty." Lanchilot leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh of relief.

Zhao Mengyou asked with some curiosity, "Aren't you going to thank your Lord?"

“I pray in my heart, I don’t need to say it aloud,” Lanchilot said in a cryptic tone.

His faith had actually completely crumbled within the Jiekuan Academy. This hell on earth, with no divine punishment whatsoever, showed that God and the divine kingdom truly did not exist, or rather, had no jurisdiction over this land in the East.

Zhao Mengyou confirmed all of Lanchilot's statements with her again to make sure nothing was missing, and then had the guards take Lanchilot away.

"Bring in the suspect, Sun Qifeng, the magistrate of Rongcheng County." Zhao Mengyou interrogated the third suspect.

"Ti Shuai, am I going to die?" Sun Qifeng sat on the regret chair, feeling extremely regretful, and even trembling a little.

Zhao Mengyou flipped through the interrogation record of the Chief of Criminal Investigation, shook his head and said, "Life and death are entirely in your hands. Let me ask you, when Deputy Commander Li Rusong led the cavalry to Rongcheng, issued a proclamation to reassure the people and announced military control, why did you keep the city gates closed and allow You Duo to block the gates of the barbican?"

"I was confused for a moment and completely panicked. I hoped to write to my mentor and classmates to try and see if things could turn around. I never expected that Vice Commander Li would take action directly." Sun Qifeng said with lingering fear, "I was almost killed by the elite soldiers and was hit three times with a stick."

The arrest of Sun Qifeng was carried out by Wang Jingfang, the commander of the Vanguard Battalion of the Suppression of Violence. When Wang Jingfang caught Sun Qifeng in the latrine of the county government, he directly gave him three blows with a stick, and those three blows really hurt.

"Who instructed you to oppose the Beijing Garrison?" Zhao Mengyou asked Sun Qifeng.

Sun Qifeng clenched his fists and shook his head helplessly, saying, "No one gave me any instructions. When the Beijing garrison arrived, I knew nothing about it. No one informed me."

Speed ​​is of the essence in war. Li Rusong arrived in Rongcheng County the day after receiving the imperial edict, without informing Sun Qifeng that the Beijing garrison was coming.

"Where is your family? Your wife, children, and elderly parents all seem to be gone from the Ming Dynasty?" Zhao Mengyou's eyes flashed with a cold light.

When Li Rusong took action, he would naturally implicate others and not let them go. However, after careful investigation, he discovered that Sun Qifeng was a very strange official. Specifically, his parents, wives, concubines, and children were all no longer in the Ming Dynasty.

Sun Qifeng was an official, his wife was an official's wife, and his children should have been attending the county school, or even his daughters should have been attending a home school. However, Li Rusong couldn't find any of them. He sent a letter to Sun Qifeng's hometown, but to no avail.

“It’s been sent out.” Sun Qifeng raised his head and said with certainty, “No need to ask, I won’t tell.”

"Are you still going to resist the investigation?" Zhao Mengyou's face lit up with joy; he hadn't encountered such a tough opponent in a long time!
Zhao Mengyou chuckled and said, "Do you really think that if you send your family overseas, the court won't be able to find them? If that's really the case, then the eighteen years of opening up the sea during the Wanli era were all for nothing, and the establishment of the Coastal Defense Inspection Office was a waste of time."

"Don't worry, we will definitely find it. It will take three to five years at most, or three to five months at the shortest."

Zhang Juzheng once said in a court meeting: Without Wanli's opening of the seas, his new policies would never have succeeded. The five major maritime trade offices and the four governor-general's offices in the hinterland were the fulcrum between the hinterland and overseas. The cost of the new policies was partly borne by overseas countries, so the consensus against them could not be widely established.

These are the words Zhang Juzheng said in the thirteenth year of the Wanli Emperor's reign, when the Single Whip Law was only being piloted in Songjiang Prefecture.

His Majesty is most proud of three things: the Baoqi Agricultural Academy, the opening of the sea route, and the Beijing Garrison.

If the Ming court cannot find Sun Qifeng's family members, then officials like him will do whatever they want without any scruples, because the court cannot punish them by association, and the wrath of the emperor will not seem so terrible.

"Commander." A guard entered and placed a report in front of Zhao Mengyou.

Zhao Mengyou opened it and said with a smile, "Found it, it's in the Old Port Governor's Mansion in Coconut Sea City, you've gone quite a distance."

At Naha Port in Shuri Prefecture, Ryukyu, they found out the whereabouts of Sun Qifeng's family and quickly located them.

The governor's office had very weak control over its jurisdiction, but extremely strong control over Han towns. Even when officials like Sun Qifeng went overseas, their families remained in Han towns.

If you want to find them, you absolutely can; you can't hide by changing your name or identity.

Sun Qifeng's expression changed drastically. He finally sighed, leaned back in his chair, and remained silent.

"Send him to the Jiekuan Academy for a visit." Zhao Mengyou had plenty of ways to deal with Sun Qifeng, so sending him to the Jiekuan Academy for a visit was a good idea. The room full of Zhang Siwei was quite frightening.

Soon, Wang Jian and Sun Qifeng were both taken to the execution ground. They were carried out and comforted for a day or two. The two spoke frankly and openly, fearing that the emperor would throw them in.

Zhao Mengyou presented the closed case file to the Emperor.

"Severe punishment without leniency." Zhu Yijun made the decision to severely punish the case. Li Rusong would only return to camp after completing the land restoration. The consensus among the emperor and officials was to severely punish the case of the assassination of the imperial envoy at Qingma Bridge.

Sun Qifeng issued an order that stirred up unrest throughout the land, and the officials were furious. The dispatch of the Beijing Garrison was truly terrifying.

Zhu Yijun and Zhao Mengyou talked for a long time, mainly about the anti-corruption issues of the Anti-Corruption Department. Zhao Mengyou's attitude towards the Anti-Corruption Department was very interesting. In his view, anti-corruption was equivalent to the suppression of counter-revolutionaries.

“Officials like Sun Qifeng, who are corrupt and resist investigation, are themselves traitors. Anti-corruption efforts can expose all the traitors,” Zhao Mengyou stated, explaining that corruption and treason are highly intertwined.

Both corruption and traitors are disruptors of order. It is impossible for traitors not to be corrupt, so cracking down on corruption is equivalent to cracking down on traitors.

If you're not greedy and corrupt, why would you be a rebel?
"The Anti-Corruption Bureau's opinion is that corruption cases involving more than 50,000 taels of silver should be handled by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, while those involving less than 50,000 taels should remain under the jurisdiction of the Censorate. What does the Commander-in-Chief think?" Zhu Yijun asked Zhao Mengyou for his opinion.

"There are only seven censors in plain clothes now. If all corruption cases are handled by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the bureau will be too busy and the corrupt officials with huge sums of money will go unpunished. I think this is a good decision." Zhao Mengyou thought the Anti-Corruption Bureau's choice was very good.

There are gains and losses; the Anti-Corruption Division can concentrate its anti-corruption efforts to handle major cases.

In the fight against corruption, the Anti-Corruption Bureau is a very useful weapon, but its energy is limited. If all the corruption cases in the world were given to the Anti-Corruption Bureau, it would be a waste of its resources and would only allow corrupt officials and traitors to go unpunished.

"I see." Zhu Yijun nodded. In fact, this was just drawing a line. It was fine to make a little money, but if it was too much, the court would settle accounts.

After Zhao Mengyou took his leave, His Majesty the Emperor began reviewing memorials as usual.

Li Yashi made up another joke, which had something to do with the Ming Dynasty:
If all the debts were transferred to one person and then that person were killed, wouldn't there be no one in the world with debts?
Congratulations on inventing Catholicism!

This joke is actually the foundation of the Roman Catholic Church's existence: everyone tells God about their sins through the church and receives forgiveness through indulgences and other means, and the sins are attributed to God alone, but no one can judge God.

Therefore, the purpose of God, the Roman Catholic Church, and church priests is to settle debts and resolve everyone's sins and blood debts through forgiveness. This approach to debt settlement also existed in the Ming Dynasty.

They pinned all the blame on the emperor, then killed him, overthrew the court, and established a new dynasty.

When faced with an investigation by the imperial court, the local authorities would send out a person to take the blame for all the crimes, even those they had never committed, in order to settle accounts.

This joke was published in "A Collection of Jokes".

Zhu Yijun also discovered that Li Yashi was still making up jokes, but he dared not make up jokes about the emperor anymore. It wasn't that he had run out of ideas, but that Li Yashi was too afraid to do it.

The Ming emperor was playing with a two-pound silver ingot in his hand. It was a gift he had received for his birthday celebration. The silver came from a silver mine in the northwest of Juezhou. It was nine inches and four li long, two inches and two li wide, and three li and four fen thick. It was stamped with the words "Chen Zhu, Commander of Da Tieling Guard of Juezhou, presented thirty-six taels of silver".

This time, Chen Dazhuang delivered a total of three hundred silver ingots, signifying that the Juezhou silver mine had been successfully mined and was producing silver ingots, which were used to exchange goods with the Ming Dynasty.

The Emperor's birthday celebrations in September are approaching again, but citing a celestial anomaly, he refuses to hold a grand celebration, only allowing officials to submit congratulatory memorials, and granting the Ming Dynasty a three-day holiday.

Due to the imperial decree, the governor-general's offices could not send overly extravagant gifts, so they selected gifts that would please the emperor.

From the invasion of the barbarians in the 29th year of the Jiajing reign until the 18th year of the Wanli Reforms, the main issue of the struggle between the imperial court and local authorities never changed: money.

A more explicit explanation of the word "silver" is: Two hundred years after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the fiscal and taxation system collapsed completely, and the imperial court was unable to fulfill its function of mediating the contradictions between different classes.

The gifts sent by Juezhou for the Emperor's birthday were very much to his liking, as evidenced by the generous rewards bestowed upon him. His Majesty even exiled all the criminals arrested in Rongcheng County to the Juezhou Silver Mountain region to ensure the smooth mining of silver.

"This silver ingot doesn't need to be sent to the Bureau of Arms and Weapons to be stamped into silver coins; it can be placed in the Imperial Treasury." Zhu Yijun was very pleased with this silver ingot; the Ming Dynasty finally had its own stable source of silver.

"The Grand Physician Chen Shigong has submitted a memorial." Feng Bao picked out a memorial and placed it in front of the emperor.

Chen Shigong led a group of chief physicians to solve a long-standing problem that had plagued the people of the Ming Dynasty: postpartum fever.

Postpartum fever was recorded as early as in the "Suwen" (a classic Chinese medical text).

The Yellow Emperor asked: "What should be done if a woman and her child develop a fever after childbirth, with a weak and thready pulse, indicating insufficient blood and qi and a deficiency of yang qi?"
Qi Bo said that if the hands and feet are warm, one will live; if they are cold, one will die. If the qi and blood can warm the limbs, one will easily survive; if the limbs cannot be warmed, one will die.

After childbirth, both the mother and the baby are very susceptible to illness. More than 20% of postpartum women and babies may develop a fever, and more than 50% of those who develop a fever may die.

This terrible postpartum fever has existed since the time of the Yellow Emperor.

Moreover, this phenomenon exists not only in China but also in the West, and it is very common. The common practice in the West is to keep the mother and child in a room without ventilation, and even cover them with blankets.

The chief physician who resolved postpartum fever was named Zhang Jingyue. Because he was skilled in using Rehmannia glutinosa, he was known as Zhang Shudi.

As a child, Zhang Jingyue went to Beijing with his father. In the fourth year of the Longqing reign, Zhang Jingyue became an apprentice of Jin Ying, a famous doctor in Beijing. In the fifth year of the Wanli reign, Zhang Jingyue, who was only fourteen years old at the time, was admitted to the Imperial Medical Academy.

Zhang Jingyue entered the Imperial Medical Academy in the seventh year of the Wanli reign and devoted himself to research. In the fifteenth year of the Wanli reign, at the age of twenty-four, Zhang Jingyue became the chief physician of the Department of Gynecology of the Imperial Medical Academy with his book "Rules for Women". He became the youngest chief physician in the Imperial Medical Academy and was known as a gynecological master along with Chief Physician Wu Lian.

In the fifteenth year of the Wanli reign, Zhang Jingyue summarized all the symptoms of postpartum fever and promoted them throughout the capital, reducing the probability of postpartum fever from 20% to 1%. His methods were also included in "Hygiene and Simple Prescriptions" and promoted nationwide.

For every five women who give birth, one pair of mothers and children will develop postpartum fever, and one of them will die.

The "Rules for Women," jointly formulated by renowned physicians such as Chen Shigong, Zhang Jingyue, and Wu Lian, reduced this probability to less than 1%, a truly meritorious and heroic feat.

The memorial was mainly to claim credit. It stated that over three years, all the midwives in the capital had undergone training, and a three-year statistical analysis was conducted throughout the capital to confirm the effectiveness of the method before submitting the memorial to the court to report the good news.

Its main measures are threefold:

1. Wash your hands frequently. Midwives and physicians must wash their hands with soap and soap in two basins of hot water before delivery. Everyone who comes into contact with the baby should wash their hands.

Second: Eliminate bed bugs. There must be absolutely no bed bugs in the delivery room. It is best to thoroughly clean the room before delivery to reduce bed bugs and flies.

Thirdly, the postpartum diapers must be boiled in boiling water for half an hour and then dried in the sun before they can be used. Swaddling clothes and diapers should also be cleaned in this way.

"Is there any credit for this?" Zhu Yijun was somewhat surprised after reading the memorials submitted by Chen Shigong and others.

Feng Bao said in a low voice, "This is the experience that Physician Wu summarized when he delivered babies for the concubines."

As the chief physician of the palace, Wu Lian actually had more rules to follow in the palace.

For example, hands should be disinfected with strong liquor when in contact with infants; anyone entering or leaving the delivery room should shower and change clothes, and even wear a mask; the entire courtyard of the delivery room should be exterminated against insects; and postpartum diapers should be soaked in strong liquor, boiled, and then dried before use, etc.

Children under six years old are most prone to premature death, which is why none of His Majesty's offspring have died young in recent years. Wu Lian's requirements for hygiene are extremely strict, and he pays particular attention to hygiene before the age of six.

Feng Bao said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the reason why Wang Jian, the nephew of Duke Wencheng, was able to profit from the official residence was also because of the word 'hygiene'."

Every year on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, the official factory and its premises are swept clean, which is also the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday for the factory.

On this day, the foreman of the official workshop would lead all the craftsmen in his team to carry all the furniture in the official residence to the courtyard, thoroughly clean the entire house, get rid of insects and rodents, and repair and tidy up the furniture.

On this day, the entire official residence is filled with all kinds of furniture and bedding drying in the sun.

In addition to the annual deep cleaning, there are also public toilets. Each dormitory has one public toilet, and the excrement in the public toilets is cleaned regularly, so there are very few mosquitoes, rats and other pests.

Furthermore, because the shops around the official residence's main stage had ample supplies of rice, flour, and cooking oil, and no one hoarded excessive amounts of food, the entire official residence could be described as clean and hygienic.

The Wanjiayuan official residence had its own Huimin Pharmacy, where births and other services were also conducted.

Overall, once someone becomes a skilled craftsman in an official factory and has worked there for more than five years, even giving birth is much more hygienic and safer than outside the factory.

In the words of the craftsmen, they are blessed by the Northern Mysterious Spirit that vanquishes demons and the Southern Crimson Flame that brings boundless benefit and holy sages, ensuring a year free from calamities.

Hong Sheng Tian Zun's Xuan Ling Dang Mo is Wang Chong Gu, and Chi Yan Guang Li is Zhu Zai Yu. The images of these two people together constitute the initial image of the Water and Fire Gods. Everything in the official factory is protected by the Water and Fire Gods.

Therefore, some people used connections and favors to request accommodation in government factories and residences, which created opportunities for profit.

The 1,500 medical students trained by the Ming emperors and sent to various parts of the Ming Dynasty mastered all the contents of "Hygiene and Simple Prescriptions," and these regulations were destined to benefit countless people.

"Excellent, excellent, excellent! This is a true congratulatory message!" Zhu Yijun greatly appreciated congratulatory messages that had proven effective in practice. He would never have too many of these messages.

The Ming emperors appreciated these useful congratulatory messages, and this year's message mainly contained their reflections on Hou Yuzhao's book, "Turning Over."

Zhu Yijun wrote a preface for this book last year, and also gave a six-character comment: Only through self-improvement can there be new life.

Zhu Yijun ordered the Three Classics Printing Factory to print the text and distribute it to all prefectures and counties of the Ming Dynasty. He also required all officials to write a reflection on the text within 270 days. Due to issues such as woodblock printing, printing, and transportation, it took a year for the emperor's request to be responded to.

The emperor didn't even require officials to write reflections on "On Contradiction," but he did require them to write reflections on "Turning Over," which shows how much importance His Majesty attached to this matter.

Zhu Yijun read almost all the reviews and wrote comments on every single congratulatory letter.

The Emperor's Birthday Festival is part of a narrative of imperial favor. On August 17th, the Emperor's three-day holiday for celebrating his birthday began.

Yang Junmin, the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, held a lantern festival at Aoshan to celebrate the Emperor's birthday. The Emperor met with his ministers but did not participate in the lantern festival, mainly to avoid giving rewards for various arts and crafts. The Emperor remained as frugal as ever.

The next day, the emperor went to the Beida Camp to inspect the Beijing garrison. It was a small inspection, unlike the large-scale inspection last year, and there was no naval review.
While the emperor was celebrating his birthday in the capital, Xu Chengchu, the censor of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, who had been suffering from recurring fever after falling into the water, finally recovered completely after consuming three bottles of old brine.

"Why is it so noisy outside?" Xu Chengchu had just recovered from a serious illness and had just arrived at the Wuchang Prefecture government office to check on Chen Mo's investigation when he heard the noise outside.

"Then Rongcheng County attacked and killed the imperial envoy. Is Wuchang Prefecture trying to coerce the people into supporting itself and forcing me to stop investigating the case?" Xu Chengchu thought of a certain possibility, and his expression changed.

Chen Mo shook his head and said, "Imperial Censor Xu is overthinking it. The noise outside is because the platoon leader who was framed has been released, and the battalion commander of the engineering corps took him back, which is why there is so much noise."

"So it wasn't a case of using the people to bolster one's own power." Xu Chengchu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. The Imperial Guard had only dispatched the Vanguard Battalion to Rongcheng County. If they continued to resist the investigation, His Majesty would probably have to send troops to quell the rebellion.

Zhao Youxin, the battalion commander of the Third Engineer Regiment, reported that the magistrate Song Yinglian was involved in corruption at the Huimin Pharmacy. The case eventually returned to Song Yinglian's hands.

When Battalion Commander Zhao Youxin was imprisoned, he was also implicated in the Xianning County granary deficit, accused of emptying the granary when he was setting up the engineering battalion in Xianning County.

While Xu Chengchu was recuperating, Chen Mo thoroughly investigated the case from beginning to end, cleared Zhao Youxin's name, and released him from the government office.

Song Yinglian has been arrested and brought to justice by Chen Mo.

"Commander Zhao Youxin was sentenced to exile, but Song Yinglian dared not exile Zhao Youxin," Chen Mo recounted the details of the investigation.

Song Yinglian, relying on his position and power, convicted Zhao Youxin, but the sentence was delayed because Song Yinglian was afraid that if Zhao Youxin were really exiled, the Third Engineer Regiment would riot.

Zhao Youxin has extremely high prestige. If he is really exiled, the old incidents of Zhenwu Camp and Luomu Camp will recur. The reason why the engineering corps did not cause a disturbance is entirely because they are waiting for the imperial envoy's decision.

"These twelve cases have been solved so quickly?" Xu Chengchu flipped through all the case files in disbelief. It was too fast. He had just fallen ill, and the cases had been thoroughly investigated!
The local government was not resisting at all. Xu Chengchu had never seen a case so easily solved, especially one involving multiple people.

Chen Mo said with a smile, "Imperial Censor Xu is not afraid of death, but they are."

"Therefore, all the officials in Huguang actively cooperated, fearing that if the investigation was slow, their wrath would be unleashed."

"Wherever I went, they all cooperated wholeheartedly, fearing that I would be too slow in my investigation or that I would not be able to find anything. In whichever government office I went to, they would gather all the people involved in the case and wait for me to take them away."

"Many of them even confessed voluntarily in front of the imperial guards."

(End of this chapter)