I studied in modern times

Chapter 852: Officials and bandits are united and collude with each other
June 24th, the second year of Yuanyou ().

Assistant Censor Lu Tao, Left Censor Liang Tao and others impeached the acting Kaifeng Prefecture Governor Cai Jing, Kaifeng Prefecture Procurator Zhang Shangying, Judge Li Shiliang, Kaifeng Street Officer Jia Zhongmin and other major officials of Kaifeng Prefecture for dereliction of duty and shielding others.

Cai Jing and others immediately submitted a petition to beg for forgiveness and reflected on their mistakes behind closed doors.

On June Yi Si (25), Cai Jing issued an imperial decree to dismiss him from his position as acting governor of Kaifeng Prefecture.

At this point, Cai Jing achieved an achievement - the longest-serving governor of Kaifeng Prefecture in the Song Dynasty!

He was appointed as the acting governor of Kaifeng Prefecture in November of the seventh year of Yuanfeng and was dismissed in June of the second year of Yuanyou, a period of nearly three years.

On the same day, another imperial decree was issued, accusing Zhang Shangying, Li Shiliang, Jia Zhongmin and others of dereliction of duty and fining them 50 kilograms of copper and ordering them to undergo three years of probation.

This is a very severe punishment in official circles.

It is roughly equivalent to a modern internal warning plus probation.

It will be written into the official certificate of the Ministry of Personnel. With this record, it will have serious impact on future appointments and selections.

Of course, this is just for show.

Because, in the first year of Yuanyou, after Zhao Xu personally took charge of Kaifeng Prefecture, the officials in the capital held a meeting and submitted a memorandum. From then on, all officials above the rank of court officials in Kaifeng Prefecture were personally selected and appointed by Zhao Xu, and the officials were not allowed to know about it in advance.

This is normal!

It was the same when Taizong and Zhenmiao first took charge of Kaifeng Prefecture.

What's more, Zhao Xu is now the emperor and personally leads Kaifeng Prefecture.

It is equivalent to the chairman directly leading a subsidiary.

Naturally, the chairman has the final say on everything within the subsidiary.

Even shareholders cannot interfere.

Therefore, this seemingly "severe" punishment is actually equivalent to three cups of wine as punishment and it will not happen again. It may even be a kind of military medal - I have taken the blame for the emperor, and I have suffered for your majesty!

At least, that's what the parties involved think.

After the decree was issued, Zhang Shangying, Li Shiliang and Jia Zhongmin all pleaded not guilty.

But when they return home and close the door, it is said that everyone dances and celebrates as a family.

On June Bingwu (26), the Minister of the Central Secretariat Zeng Bu wrote a letter, saying that more than ten "evil officials" involved in the case had fled to Shang and Luo for fear of punishment, and requested for their control.

When Zhao Xu received the memorial, he just laughed: "There is a road to heaven but you don't take it, there is no door to hell but you just rush in, right?"

In the past, the green forest heroes in the Shang and Luoshan areas were indeed an area beyond the control of the Song government.

Since the failure of the uprising led by Guo Miaoshan and Zhang Hai in the third year of the Qingli period, the remaining rebels moved to Shang and Luoshan areas.

The mountain kings in the valleys of Shang and Luo are fearless and unafraid of anything.

Criminals and prisoners in counties and prefectures across the country would run to the Shang and Luo mountain areas whenever they had the chance.

It can be said that the current Shang and Luoshan areas are the Liangshanpo in the modern "Water Margin".

All kinds of heroes and powerful men gathered there.

Everyone is either thinking about how to "become bigger and stronger and create greater glory" or "wait for the right time and act in accordance with God's will."

The official army of the Song Dynasty had repeatedly launched campaigns against the mountainous areas of Shang and Luo.

But it was of little use, the more we suppressed the bandits, the more they appeared.

After suppressing Wang Lun, Guo Miaoshan and Zhang Hai continued to rebel. After suppressing Zhang Hai, another Wang Ze came...

In the eighth year of Yuanfeng, not long after Zhao Xu ascended the throne, the military bandit Wang Chong rebelled and his base was still in the Shangluo mountainous area.

When Wang Chong started the rebellion, he traveled across several states, but was eventually defeated by Xiang Zonghui and Gao Gongji.

To be precise, he was caught red-handed by the elite troops of Xihe who returned to the court to report on their work.

More than one hundred were captured and more than four hundred were beheaded.

All captives were exiled to Shamen Island.

After Wang Chong's death, his head was beheaded and his body was left exposed!
Therefore, until the eighth year of Yuanfeng, the Shang and Luoshan areas were still the Gotham of the Song Dynasty.

But now, the situation has changed.

Because heroes can rob houses in the mountains and start businesses to get rich.

Can their descendants do it?
I'm afraid not!

Besides, who would want their descendants to bear the crime of being a thief and become mountain kings in the mountains?

Why did Song Jiang in "Water Margin" want to surrender so wholeheartedly?
The answer lies in these four words: "clean record".

In the first year of Yuanyou, the first phase of Bian Jing Academy went on sale.

According to the policy, the sales department of Bian Jing Academy will not ask about the origins or background of people who purchase Bian Jing Academy.

Just look at the money!
Like a modern-day IRS across the ocean.

As long as you can pay to buy Emperor Zhao’s house, Emperor Zhao doesn’t care where your money comes from.
Under the control of Cai Jing, Kaifeng Prefecture was even considerate enough to provide a series of convenient services to the owners of the Bianliang Academy.

Including, the household registration department of Kaifeng Prefecture will unconditionally believe and approve the household registration submitted by the owner, and after the owner pays the full purchase price, the owner's hometown will be moved to Kaifeng Prefecture.

From then on, the owner became a genuine person from Kaifeng Prefecture, Bian Jing.

Moreover, three generations of the family were all considered "good people" with clean records and who had never committed any crime in the eyes of the Household Department.

This is actually a disguised form of recruitment.

To be more precise, it was selling indulgences.

Therefore, the houses in the Bian Jing Academy had both the value of school district housing and indulgence.

So, is it conscienceless to sell a house like this for only fifty strings of cash per square foot in the first phase?
So conscientious!

As a result, the second phase housing prices have soared to an average of 150 guan per square foot.

The prices of second-hand houses in the first phase are also rising.

After seeing this situation, Zhao Xu immediately asked Jia Zhongmin to hold the stock.

As a result, the more than 200 houses in the second phase, which were supposed to go on sale in June, have not been sold yet.

When the first phase of sales began, more than a dozen wealthy businessmen with Shangzhou accents spent huge sums of money to purchase properties.

Now, these people have sent their children and grandchildren to the city of Bian Jing. They have rented houses and are waiting for the first phase of delivery in the second half of the year and the opening of the elementary and primary schools of the Bian Jing Academy.

Under such circumstances, the clerks involved actually wanted to flee to Shangluo to join forces with the mountain kings?

Zhao Xu didn't even think about it, and directly instructed Shi Deyi: "Shi Deyi, tell Jia Zhongmin to contact the Shangzhou owners of the Bianjing Academy..."

Do you want to get a clean record, want your descendants to have a clean record, want to have a scholar as their own?

Both!
But you have to submit your pledge of allegiance!

"Yes!" Shi Deyi bowed and took the order.

Zhao Xu, with his hands behind his back, walked slowly to the imperial garden behind the Funing Palace.

At this time, it was almost July.

The cucumbers planted this spring are already hanging on the vines.

Round watermelons are growing quietly in a corner of the garden.

The vegetable seeds donated from other places are now also reaching maturity.

Therefore, these days, Zhao Xu and Empress Dowager Xiang ate vegetables picked from the imperial garden.

You know what, they all taste good.

"The mountain kings of Shang and Luo..." Zhao Xu narrowed his eyes: "They are quite useful!"

"After this incident is over, we will select a few of them and have them lead their people to follow Cai Jing south!"

The mountain kings in Shang and Luoshan districts are all winners of entrepreneurial competitions in various prefectures and counties across the Song Dynasty.

He was able to sneak into the mountainous area of ​​Shangluo alive after the rebellion and become big and powerful there.

Every one of them is a roll king!
The king of thieves!
It's such a waste for such a talented person to waste his time in the mountains!
Zhao Xu, who studied abroad in modern times, firmly believes that everyone has value.

What they lack is just a pair of eyes that can discover their value.

And Zhao Xu felt that he had a pair of eyes that could discover beauty.

"After these people follow Cai Jing south, we can let them use the methods of leading and fighting to join forces and do business together!"

As for what kind of business?
What else can be found in Southeast Asia now?
Thinking of this, Zhao Xu unknowingly walked to the melon field.

He squatted down and touched a watermelon in the watermelon field.

He reached out and knocked on the watermelon rind. The sound of "dong dong dong" was very pleasant, and it must be ripe.

So Zhao Xu ordered someone to get a small knife, pick the selected watermelon, bring it back to the pavilion, and cut it open on the spot.

The cut melon flesh is still white.

This made Zhao Xu a little disappointed, and he couldn't help muttering to himself: "Could it be that if watermelons want to be sweet, they must be grown in cotton fields?"

The modern watermelon evolved from the cotton fields in America.

No one even knows when and where those originally bland watermelons suddenly became sweet and refreshing?

Therefore, Zhao Xu could only hope that the watermelons planted next to the cotton fields in Xihe would be as lucky as the watermelons planted next to the cotton fields in America.

……

The dim oil lamp flickered before my eyes. My body was dragged forward by the strong jailer.

In a daze, Qin He found himself being dragged into a brightly lit and clean room.

"Your Majesty!"

A shout exploded in my ears.

Qin He, who had already developed conditioned reflexes due to various memory recovery techniques, subconsciously knelt on the cold floor.

"Are you Qin He, the criminal official from Chenliu County?" a majestic voice asked sternly.

Qin He immediately kowtowed: "The guilty official Qin He is here!"

He raised his head with great effort and saw several desks three steps in front of him, illuminated by oil lamps and torches.

There is an official sitting in front of each desk.

Sitting in the middle is a majestic man wearing a Xiezhi crown.

The moment he saw the Xiezhi crown, Qin He's numb brain was instantly activated.

He almost immediately began to cry out: "It's unfair... Sir... It's unfair..."

Since he was captured in Bian Jing and sent to the Dali Temple prison, he has been interrogated every day.

At the beginning, I was given a set of memory recovery skills, and then I started to interrogate:

"Tell me! Who ordered you to beat and kill the kind-hearted Li Sanyong?"

Who instigated it?
No one!

I just simply don't like him, and I just simply want his little sister!
Who knew he was so vulnerable to beatings?
He was beaten to death!
It would have been fine if he had been beaten to death, but he had the bad luck to run into a bored Tai student.

Then, it directly alarmed Bian Jing and sent people to Chenliu County overnight.

Poor him, he was still thinking about how to make a move. He took out almost all of his savings and planned to send them to the capital to establish connections and prove that Li Sanyong was colluding with the thieves and that the student was his contact.

So, he was caught on the spot.

At first, he confessed honestly.

However, the officials from the Dali Temple returned the favor and gave him a set of memory recovery techniques!
"Don't try to hide it!"

"We have already found out that you were ordered by the traitorous ministers to beat and kill good people in an attempt to undermine the imperial court's policies and oppose the emperor's holy rule!"

"Just confess who ordered you to commit this disloyal and unfilial crime!"

"This way, you can suffer less physical pain!"

How can he recruit? Who should he recruit?

However, Dali Temple didn't care and directly used another set of memory recovery technique.

He was beaten so hard that he cried out for his parents and wailed bitterly.

In the end, he cried and begged and fainted.

Then, I was woken up by a plate of cold water.

This happened several times, and Qin He, who was numbed by the beating, had no choice but to speak up and confess a few names.

They were all important figures in Chenliu County whom he had met.

What clerks, what county lieutenants, all were bitten...

After receiving the confession, the Dali Temple was ecstatic and immediately asked him to press his fingerprints.

Now, Qin He saw that the censor who was said to be "upright, fearless of the powerful, and willing to speak up for the people" was sitting in front of him, and his desire to survive was aroused.

however……

Hearing Qin He's cry of injustice, the censor sitting in the middle frowned: "You mean... you want to change your confession?!"

"Dali Temple!" He turned to look at a civil servant in a green robe next to him: "What's going on?"

Qin He looked over and saw the appearance of the civil servant.

It was these days that the officials ordered the inmates to perform a major memory restoration operation on him.

Then he heard the civil servant say: "Reporting to the Supervisor, this guy is treacherous and fickle, it is not surprising that he changed his confession! Wait for me to take him back and continue the interrogation..."

"Go!" The censor wearing the Xiezhi crown, the representative of "upright, fearless of power and noble, and speaking for the people", waved his hand.

Qin He’s world is falling!

The pain brought on by Dali Temple's memory recovery technique reappeared in his muscle memory.

He trembled and shivered, and collapsed to the ground, shouting in fear: "My superiors, the criminal is not changing his confession..."

"There are still some criminals who haven't confessed yet!"

He didn't want to be tortured any more.

The jailers in the Dali Temple are all experts in torture.

During the interrogation, the strength and technique were well controlled.

It would ensure his pain, but it wouldn't kill him.

It was just a gentle torture, like lingchi.

"Oh?" the censor asked, "Who else?"

"Say!"

"Who is it?!"

"Why would he want to disrupt the imperial court's policies and go against the emperor's edict?!"

……

A quarter of an hour later, Qin He, with a look of death on his face, was dragged away by the inmates.

He confessed another person.

A nobleman from the city of Bian Jing, and also the highest-ranking figure he had ever come into contact with.

Xue Zhanshe!
The son of Xue Kui, who was the Vice-Chancellor during the reign of Renmiao, was also the most troublesome person among the many officials in Bianjing City.

He often went to various counties in the prefecture and paraded through the streets, relying on his status as the son of the former ruler to act arrogantly and domineeringly.

"Monitor..."

"Two eunuchs..."

Watching Qin He being dragged away, the civil servant from the Dali Temple carefully asked Shu Tan who was sitting in the middle, as well as the two eunuchs sent by Baoci Palace and Qingshou Palace.

"Should we arrest the criminal Qin He who confessed?"

That’s the son of the former ruler!

Legend has it that he was related by marriage to several important figures of the time.

Moreover, his in-laws are spread across both the old and new parties.

Shu Tan raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "Since the criminal has confessed..."

"Of course we have to arrest and interrogate him!"

"We are entrusted with the Emperor's order to eliminate the thieves and bring order to the Song Dynasty!"

"Not to mention the son of the former ruler, even if it's the son of the current ruler, he should be arrested!"

He looked at the two eunuchs in purple official uniforms and asked, "What do you two eunuchs think?"

The two men looked at each other and said, "The Queen's order is to investigate thoroughly!"

"We must find out the traitors and rebellious officials hiding in Kaifeng Prefecture!"

"good!"

Shu Tan clapped his hands, then wrote an official letter, stamped it with his seal, and handed it to the Dali Temple official.

"Go!"

"Let Xue Zhanshe come to court tomorrow!"

In the past few days, he has almost figured out the attitude of the palace by reading newspapers, observing the direction of the court, and consulting several old friends of Zeng Bi who have met the emperor.

The emperor must want to purge the whole prefecture inside and outside, so that everyone in the prefecture will only obey the orders of the emperor.

This will ensure that the top leads the bottom and the subordinates follow the lead, just like commanding by the arm.

Therefore, those guys who liked to run to the lower counties and towns for no reason, and who relied on their status as yamen officials to bully others in the lower counties and towns, and even kept hawks and running dogs, became very annoying.

How dare you keep a dog on my territory?

what you up to?
Making money? Or bullying men and women?
If you make money today, you may form a clique tomorrow, and then you may oppose me the day after tomorrow, and even usurp the country the day after tomorrow!

Must be strangled to death!

Nip it in the bud!
Therefore, all the yanei involved, regardless of whether they were involved in the case or not, had to come to the Dali Temple for a tour and eat and drink on public funds for a few days.

Give them a good beating, and then give them a good education.

It is even possible that they are killing the chicken to scare the monkeys!

(End of this chapter)