Work overtime

Chapter 336: New progress in the case

According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, as long as the emperor agrees, the prince can participate in government affairs and even hold official positions in the court.

The brush in Li Beichen's hand hung in the air. After thinking about it for a long time, he did not drop it.

He thought that since this was the case, he might as well take a look and see if he was actually his third brother.

If so, it just gives the other party a reason to rebel against the above board.The contest between the two sides would not be so embarrassing.

"Tomorrow morning, Zhou Qing will announce this list, and the suspension and inspection will be carried out later. We will deal with it how we should, without taking into account anyone's face."

Li Beichen put down his pen and leaned back slightly, "Zhou Qing, you stay."

Although Zhou Shipeng was magnanimous in his heart, he was inevitably uneasy before the emperor came to the throne.

Qi Qi asked him to stay, but he just drank tea slowly and said nothing.My eyes were covered with mist, and I didn't know what was hidden.

"How many years has it been since Zhou Qing joined the Metropolitan Procuratorate?"

"Return to the emperor, twice in ten years."

The emperor nodded, "We don't see Zhou Qing in the list, which shows Zhou Qing's character. Birds of a feather flock together, and the people Zhou Qing associates with must be noble and self-loving. It is the time for the imperial court to employ people. Please recommend some available talents to Zhou Qing." .”

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty," Zhou Shipeng was silent for a moment before saying, "I have two people I can recommend to Your Majesty. But..."

"But what?"

"Everything should be put to its best use, and people should be put to their best use. The Duchayuan and Dali Temple are in charge of the punishment and responsibilities of the world, and there are rules and regulations. There should be no greed and selfishness. It is necessary to use more upright, honest and honest people. But when the water is clear, there will be no fish, and when people are careful, they will There is no need for it. For other departments that need to implement and implement, I believe that it does not need to be too strict, just moderate."

It's rare for someone to dare to tell the truth. Li Beichen asked with a smile, "What kind of person did Zhou Qing recommend to me?"

Zhou Shipeng answered truthfully, "The one who is upright and upright is the former in the local area. The one who is considerate and round on the outside and square on the inside is the latter in the capital. They are both people who do practical things and are serious about their heads."

Li Beichen nodded slightly, "Write down their names. I'll leave it to the staff to handle."

"I would like to thank the Emperor in advance for them."

"Does Zhou Qing think there is a solution to the corruption problem?"

Zhou Shipeng pondered for a moment and then said, "I am stupid, and my views are consistent with Master Chang. Corruption cannot be eradicated by all means. It is actually determined by human nature. We can only educate, admonish and urge, and deal with each case found to achieve a certain deterrence. But Yin and Yang Mutual growth, good and evil coexist. It is not advisable to be too harsh. When justice and light prevail, then darkness and filth will be reduced, which is a great good for the world."

After hearing this, Li Beichen was noncommittal and asked Zhou Shipeng to write down his name before asking him to leave.

Then he summoned Yang Wanli and Huang Shaoan from Dali Temple to learn about the details of recent cases.

As expected, Ye Zhuqing's case has not made much progress.After all, a note with the answers written on it after the spring exam can only be said to be suspicious, but cannot be used as conclusive evidence.

During the interrogation, Ye Zhuqing kept biting the note until he finished the exam. He only wrote to his father, Ye Ming, Minister of Industry, to give his comments on the tasting. He did not cheat or bribe the examiner.After all, the level of the answer sheet is extremely high, and the paper is extremely beautiful and neat. There is no need to bribe the examiner, and everyone will get the best score in the blind evaluation.

When the two reported, Li Beichen didn't say a word. At the end, he made an investigation list based on Han Zhongzai's confession after being given the truth pill by Jiang Yuebai.

He told the two of them that they had received a secret report, and the officials and their children who were suspected of being involved in imperial examination fraud, including bribery and bribery, included Han Chunfu, the adoptive father of Han Zhongzai, the protagonist of the Dali Temple Qing Tianlao arson case.

I have long heard that the late emperor had a special secret reporting system.Today, Yang Wanli and Huang Shaoan saw the power of this system with their own eyes. They were sweating coldly, secretly surprised, and unconsciously recalling their own crimes.

It seems that the emperor often pretends to be confused and turns a blind eye to maintain the stability of the court.As for the case of Meng Qing suspected of killing geisha Yunxi, there has been new progress.After interrogation, it was discovered that several men except Meng Qing had entered the tea room during this period, including Chen Ning, Meng Ran, etc., and they had all gone to Dali Temple to record statements.

In addition, the geisha had a small strand of fabric in her hands and nails, which was completely different from the color of the fabric Meng Qing was wearing that day.It is suspected that when he struggled to resist, he tore it from the criminal's clothes, most likely his sleeve.

After professional inspection and identification, the fabric was a valuable and high-end fabric.Although it is only a small strand, its unique textile craftsmanship and vague patterns can be seen.There are only a handful of people who can wear clothes made of this kind of material.

According to evidence, there was only one person wearing clothes of that color that night: Meng Ran, the young master of the Meng Xiang family.

Li Beichen asked the two to keep the fabric matter strictly confidential. If the news leaked out, they would be killed.

Even if it could be proven that the fabric under the geisha's nails belonged to Meng Ran, and there were witnesses who saw him entering the tea room, the evidence would still be insufficient.Even if it can be proven that he entered the room and used excessive force on the geisha, it still cannot be proven that he killed the geisha.

Unless Meng Ran confesses himself.

After Yang Wanli and Huang Shaoan left, Murong Chi walked in with Chen Ning.

When Murong Chi saw the emperor, he knelt down on the ground and complained bitterly that as a Confucian scholar, he could not forget a brothel girl who did everything he could, so much so that he involved Chen Ning in Meng Qing's case and asked the emperor to punish him.

Li Beichen listened to him quietly and couldn't help but sigh, "You Murong family are all infatuated. That's all. It's all just a coincidence."

It turned out that Murong Chi's father, as the eldest son, was handsome, well-educated, and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, but he only married one person in his life.

Murong Chi was stunned for a moment when he heard that the emperor could not hear a word of praise or criticism.

The young emperor's face in front of him had the calmness and gravity of an emperor, but it was also somewhat humane and not so ruthless.

I have never served as an errand under the late emperor.But he felt that the so-called wise king was nothing more than that.

At this point, Li Beichen brushed him aside.

Murong Chi mustered up the courage to report an extremely important matter to the emperor. It turned out that after checking the account books of the Ministry of Accounts, a huge deficit was found.

The source of the deficit mainly lies in the fact that when the former prince and the son of the imperial concubine were competing for the throne, the former Minister of Household Affairs Zhang Cheng was a princeling at that time, and the Ministry of Household Affairs became the cash machine of the princeling.

Later, the prince was murdered, the princeling party fell, the late emperor became seriously ill, and the hole in the household department that had been misappropriated was never filled.Therefore, the fiscal deficit has always been in a state of deficit, and it is getting bigger and bigger.

Li Beichen suddenly remembered that the household department had always been in charge of Chen Xiang, who was the leader of the princeling party when the prince was alive.Prime Minister Meng supported the fifth prince born to the imperial concubine.

The late emperor did not punish any of his ministers because the prime minister supported the struggle for the right to inherit the throne.

On the contrary, after the death of the crown prince, he dealt with the fifth prince and openly expressed his support for the future prince in the court. It was human nature to let the past matter be bygones, as long as he firmly supported the new emperor after he succeeded to the throne.

What if the prince has a queen?Is Prime Minister Chen secretly continuing to support the princelings?
The day after the Queen was assassinated, a child who was in a coma due to severe poison sought help from the medical clinic run by Jiang.But there was no trace of the child behind, as if he had disappeared out of thin air.

Is Mr. Chen involved?What role does it play?

But just like the seriously ill rich man in the story Jiang Yuebai told him, he still had to "treat his illness first and take good care of his body." To drive away the bandits, he needed to think long term and accumulate strength.

"You first draft a decree for me, and I will announce it today. I ask the local government to balance the accounts and fill the holes. After three months, the inspection team will inspect the local inspections. If the deficit can be made up by then, there will be no further investigation. If the holes cannot be made up, there will be no further investigation. , will be punished according to the crime.”

(End of this chapter)