I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 174 Ye Xianggao’s self-rescue
What Wei Dazhong said was exactly what Feng Congwu, the censor of the capital, was concerned about.

As the boss of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he cannot let the people below him die in vain, otherwise he will have no way to explain.Ye Xianggao also knew that this matter was the key to calming the officials.

"Don't worry about this. I will report to His Majesty and find out all these people. Many of them are only found to be corrupt. When the time comes, they can be released as officials."

The wages of officials in the Ming Dynasty were very low, and they could not support their families with their wages alone, especially in the capital city where land was at a premium. Officials in the capital seemed to have a high status, but in fact they lived a very miserable life, and many of them even had to borrow money to survive.

But local officials are different. These people are far away from the emperor and cannot be supervised by the court. It is easy for them to get their hands on them and enrich their own pockets.

Therefore, there is a saying that Beijing officials borrow money and the local government pays it back.

Now that Ye Xianggao promised to rescue these officials and release them as officials, these officials would naturally agree, and he could easily block their mouths and make Feng Congwu and others feel better.

But it's just a matter of money.The people below calmed down, but Feng Congwu still couldn't calm down.

Feng Congwu is an upright official and hates evil very much. He has very few cases of corruption. Dealing with his censor can only make him feel better, but it cannot offset his anger towards Liu Yishui. This actually represents a large part of the people in Donglin. Views.

"I say Mr. Ye Ge, you are too cautious. To implement the policy of equalizing land and equalizing service, of course we need to be sincere and united, but if Liu Yishen is deposed, with your previous experience of supporting Xu Minshi, His Majesty will definitely let you serve as the chief minister to implement this matter." , then the credit won’t be yours.”

This makes sense. Ye Xianggao thought so at first, but when he thought about it more, he felt it was inappropriate.

"This is said lightly. Today is different from the past. When Xu Minshi was implemented in the past, I was the only one in the cabinet. There were four vacancies in the six ministers. Emperor Shenzong did not manage the government very much. Even if the gentry and gentry in the south of the Yangtze River wanted to complain, they could not complain at all. go.

But it is different now. The new emperor is brave and tenacious, and the Qi, Chu, Zhejiang Party and others have not been deposed. If Liu Yishen is impeached rashly, His Majesty will definitely be unhappy. If the Zhejiang Party makes any trouble and detains us, it will be extremely harmful to us and others. unfavorable. "

These words revealed Ye Xianggao's conflicting heart. He wanted to be the chief assistant and have a career, but compared to the two, he could still take the overall situation into consideration.

"Then let's give priority to the important matter of the equalization of farmland and equalization of land. It's really easy for Liu Yishen, an old thief, but I still hope that the chief assistant will keep his word, otherwise it will be really difficult for us to explain."

Feng Congwu was not a pedantic person. Now that he had the answer he wanted, he no longer struggled. He immediately stated that he would cooperate with Ye Xianggao and others and would not impeach Liu Yishen, the Zhejiang Party and others for the time being.

After the matter was settled, Feng Congwu and others were about to get up, but Ye Xianggao asked Feng Congwu to stay because he still had something to discuss with him.

In Feng Congwu's confused look, Ye Xianggao stood up and took out a letter from the mailbox on the bookshelf and gave it to Feng Congwu for review.

"This is a letter from Daofu (Li Sancai). He has been living in Nanjing since he was impeached by the imperial censor and demoted to a commoner in the 43rd year of Wanli. But now he has encountered difficulties and he wrote to me for help."

Feng Congwu had a relationship with Li Sancai, but felt that although this person was extremely talented, he was extremely greedy for money and had a low character. Therefore, Feng Congwu did not like this person and the relationship was not very close.

Ye Xianggao handed the letter to him, definitely hoping that he would help or make up his mind.

He hesitated in his heart, but he had received help from Ye Xianggao before and had long been regarded as a confidant by Ye Xianggao, so he had no choice but to open the letter and read it.

Four or five candles burned in the study room, illuminating the study room brightly. The candlelight danced, and the room was silent except for the sound of pages being turned over.

"Have you finished reading? What do you think?"

For half a quarter of an hour, Feng Congwu put the letter on the table and remained silent. Ye Xianggao couldn't help but ask questions.

"Li Sancai may be in trouble this time."

The more Feng Congwu read the letter, the more frightened he became, thinking that Li Sancai was probably done.

In the letter, Li Sancai asked Ye Xianggao for help, saying that since Bi Ziyan took office as the governor of Nanjing Zhili last year, he immediately appointed the two accompanying people, one Hong Chengchou, as a doctor in the Nanjing Ministry of War, and also as an informant of Nanjing's military preparations; the other Sun Chuanting, the former magistrate of Yongcheng County, was appointed as a doctor in the Zhejiang Qing Li Division of the Nanjing Household Department.

Originally, although the Nanjing Six Ministries had the name of Six Ministries, they did not have the power of Six Ministries at all. Except for the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Household Affairs, and a few important positions such as the Ministry of Household Affairs and Affairs, the others were in name only.

Therefore, most of the government officials in Nanjing were frustrated in their official career, or in order to take care of their rank, they arranged for a highly respected person to be a bird-cultivating minister or a flower-growing censor in Nanjing.

Although the officials in Southern Zhili and Northern Zhili had the same grade, in the eyes of Ming Dynasty officials, being transferred from Beijing to Nanjing was a demotion, while being transferred from Nanjing to Beijing was a gratifying promotion.

Therefore, many officials serving in Nanjing felt that there was no hope for their official career, so they began to relax and enjoy the prosperity of Jiangnan and the romance of the Qinhuai River.

But these leisurely moments were broken by the arrival of a person.

Not long after the new emperor ascended the throne, he found that the court's annual income was very low, so he issued an edict in the Palace of Culture. In the Palace of Wenhua, Li Ruhua, the Minister of Household Affairs, wrote to the emperor, scolding Jiangnan for serious tax arrears.This is not a big deal in the first place. There have been arrears throughout the ages, and many times the arrears were waived.

I just didn't expect that Bi Ziyan, the minister of the Taipu Temple, said that this was because the Nanjing Household Department was acting recklessly and deliberately defaulting on its settlement, and that Jiangnan's debts must be recovered, and even the officials of the Jiangnan Household Department and Jiangnan's taxes must be punished. The power belongs to the Ministry of Household Affairs in Beijing.

The emperor also listened to his words and actually appointed him as the governor of Southern Zhili, asking Bi Ziyan to collect the taxes owed in Jiangnan and share the power of the Nanjing Household Department.

When the news reached Nanjing, the officials in Nanjing were in disbelief. It was clear that the government was in chaos and the power of the Nanjing Household Department was transferred to Beijing. Only Liu Jin, the great eunuch in the Zhengde period, had done this. In the end, after Wu Zong's death, the chaos was brought back to order.

So now Nanjing officials, big and small, compare Bi Ziyan, who advocated this suggestion, to an eunuch, which is really hateful.

But it's useless to scold him now. After Bi Ziyan came to Nanjing, not only did he have Jin Yiwei, he also appointed Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting to be in charge of the army and money, and he immediately took over the two most important departments of the Six Ministries of Nanjing.

Seeing the situation, the officials of the Six Ministries of Nanjing could not stop it at all. They could only act like lambs waiting to be slaughtered, waiting for others to kill the chickens to scare the monkeys.

Now the first fire has been lit, and it was Zhu Youxiao who provided the clue.

The last time Zhu Youxiao asked Wei Zhongxian to thoroughly investigate the three-door corruption case, he found that Li Sancai, then the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, allowed his slaves to ask for bribes, while the two brothers Chen Yongshou and Chen Bangyan secretly paid bribes and shipped more than [-] Huguang to Huguang. The golden nanmu and fir trees in the palace were privately sold to Li Sancai at a low price for use in repairing his private residence.

This golden nanmu was used by the royal family and could not be used by ordinary people. However, Li San dared to use so much golden nanmu, which shows how rich and lawless he was.

So after the people from Dongchang arrived, Bi Ziyan did not delay and immediately asked Jin Yiwei and the people from Dongchang to investigate.

Li Sancai's mansion was so obvious, how could it withstand the investigation? It was immediately found out that this incident was true. Without saying a word, Bi Ziyan immediately asked people from Dongchang to take custody of Li Sancai's family while investigating the reselling of gold. The Shinanmu case and his previous major corruption case.

When Li Sancai saw the Dongchuang incident, he immediately panicked. He quickly asked his housekeeper to come to the capital with 20 taels to clear the relationship and find a way to ask Ye Xianggao for help.

Ye Xianggao also lamented that Li Sancai was too corrupt back then. At that time, he was the censor of Youqiandu in charge of water transportation and patrolled various prefectures in Fengyang for more than ten years.This water transport is a huge shortage. He has made a lot of money in the years he has been in office. Now it seems that he will spit it all out, and he may not even be able to save his wealth and life.

"He had no choice but to send me letters and come to my door to ask me for help."

"How can you help now? You already said that Donglin is going to do something big. This is a critical moment. His Majesty hates corruption deeply. If he knows that we have written a letter for him, Long Yan will definitely be furious. The Zhejiang Party will also be there by then. There’s a lot of fuss over this.”

As the censor of Youdu, Feng Congwu naturally knew the powerful relationship between them. It seemed that he had no choice but to abandon his car to protect the commander.

But Ye Xianggao was also in a dilemma. He had written many times to protect Li Sancai. Li Sancai had a close relationship with him in the civil and military circles of the Manchu Dynasty. Now that something happened to Li Sancai, it would definitely implicate him and even hinder him from becoming the chief minister in the future. .

So he has selfish motives in this matter.He originally thought about asking Feng Congwu to help, but seeing Feng Congwu's reaction just now, it seemed that there was no chance, but he still didn't want to give up.

"It is true, but everyone knows that Li Sancai is from Donglin. If he is caught now, he will be publicized by the Zhejiang Party, which will definitely make His Majesty dissatisfied with us."

This put Feng Congwu in a dilemma. It was not that he was afraid of writing a letter to make suggestions, but that he despised being associated with people like Li Sancai, and now this person was not worthy of his help.However, what Ye Xianggao said makes sense. If there is no excuse at this time and the Zhejiang Party is allowed to throw dirty water, it will also be a threat to them, and the implementation of the law of equalization of land and equalization of labor will also be hindered.

"Ugh"

Feng Congwu sighed, feeling that this matter really embarrassed him and went against his heart.But he had to pay attention to Ye Xianggao's request and rhetoric.

"Then what does Mr. Ye Ge think we should do to save him?"

Upon hearing Feng Congwu's inquiry, Ye Xianggao was silent for a moment and told him the plan he had already thought of.

"Bi Ziyan's actions in Nanjing have caused great wrath and resentment. He not only wants to divide the power of households and departments, but also wants to recover arrears. There are many people who want to impeach him, especially those from the Zhejiang Party who are ready to take action and want to get involved in him."

"If the Metropolitan Procuratorate can do something to replace him at this time and replace him with a suitable person, the Zhejiang Party will also give us face and give Li Sancai a lighter sentence, and then everything will be fine. "

Feng Congwu was secretly shocked when he heard Ye Xianggao's words.

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(End of this chapter)