Be a small county magistrate in ancient times

Chapter 303 Beijing Knows This

The fact was just as Zong Ruwen guessed, the emperor did have something to discuss with him.

But his body didn't allow it, so he had to give up.

In the imperial study, two memorials and two secret letters were placed in front of the emperor, one from Dazhou and the other from Liangzhou. The contents of the letters were all about what Meng Changqing had done, but the focus was completely different.

The Imperial Guards said that Meng Changqing took advantage of his position to bully others and had repeatedly disrespected Shangguan Wen in Dazhou.

The Dazhou memorial said that Meng Changqing had betrayed the emperor's grace and acted recklessly.

However, neither side explained why Meng Changqing did so.

The emperor first heard the memorial from Dazhou, which was read out directly in the court without going through the Ministry of Personnel. All the civil and military officials in the court were shocked and immediately asked the emperor to severely punish Meng Changqing.

Some imperial censors even believed that it was the emperor's excessive favoritism towards Meng Changqing that led to his lawlessness, and that the emperor should bear some responsibility for this.

The emperor let the ministers finish speaking without saying a word, just staring at the person who was reading the memorial.

The man felt guilty and hid behind other ministers.

After the court officials finished speaking, the emperor called out the official who read the memorial and asked, "Has the matter reported by Dazhou been verified? Why did Meng Changqing, the magistrate of Liangzhou, go to Dazhou?"

The man stammered and couldn't say a single serious word.

"When you received the memorial, you neither verified it nor investigated the reason. You only read the contents of the memorial. What do I want you to do?" The emperor asked calmly, and then said: "From today on, all officials in your department will resign, and all local memorials will be sent directly to the Imperial Study."

The emperor stood up and left, and the officials below knelt down, all of them begging for mercy on behalf of their colleagues.

Upon seeing this, the emperor said to those officials who were still hoping for a lucky break: "Leave the capital within ten days, or you will be treated as a rioter."

The emperor was furious and the court officials were terrified.

Some perceptive ministers noticed that the emperor's anger was not entirely because of Meng Changqing.

After the court session, he immediately sent servants to various places to inquire to see if those who had been dismissed from their posts had done anything shameful in private that had reached the emperor's ears.

After much probing, no clues could be found. Most court officials could only keep their mouths shut and never mention anything related to this matter in front of the emperor.

Meng Changqing benefited from this, and no one dared to mention punishing her.

Not long after hearing the memorial from Dazhou, Wei Zhishan, the commander of the Imperial Guards, sent a secret report from Liangzhou.

It was the secret report sent by Wang Xun that day. The content in it was more detailed than the report submitted by the prefect of Dazhou. Everything Meng Changqing did in Dazhou was recorded in detail, without any exaggeration or embellishment.

But after reading it, the emperor became even more confused.

Why did Meng Changqing go to Dazhou for no reason and do such a rampant thing?

But when he had this doubt, he had already sent people to Dazhou to find out the situation.

Just when the emperor thought that everything could only be clarified after the inspection officials returned to Beijing, he received another secret letter from the Imperial Guards the next day.

The two secret letters were sent so close together that the emperor had a premonition that there were probably notes from Meng Changqing under the envelopes.

It was true as soon as I opened it.

Among them was Meng Changqing's confession.

The emperor finally knew why Meng Changqing suddenly ran to Dazhou, but this was only Meng Changqing's one-sided statement.

Based on the emperor's understanding of Meng Changqing, there must be many embellishments in this confession and it cannot be fully believed.

We still had to wait until the inspector returned to Beijing. During this wait, the letter of apology from the governor of Liangzhou arrived.

The content was unremarkable, but it rewrote the contents of Meng Changqing's confession and took the opportunity to plead for Meng Changqing, asking the emperor to give him a lighter sentence.

However, Wei Fangyun's letter of apology also included Meng Changqing's letter of apology.

After reading them, the emperor sighed helplessly, piled the four documents together, and placed them in the corner of his desk.

This series of events were all caused by Meng Changqing. The emperor also had some resentment towards Meng Changqing in his heart and wanted to talk to the old tutor about his troubles. Unfortunately, the tutor had been ill these days.

I have to say that the imperial physician’s skills are better.

After his treatment, Zong Ruwen's health improved day by day.

When he regained consciousness and was able to speak clearly, he immediately complained to the imperial physician, saying that the medicine the doctor had prescribed made him feel even more uncomfortable, which was why he refused to drink it.

The imperial physician checked the prescription and the residue again, and found that the previous doctor's skills were indeed poor. He did not take into account the age of the Taifu, whose spleen and stomach were weak and who could not tolerate some of the medicine.

Zong Shouqing blamed himself deeply. If the imperial physician had not come, his father would have suffered greatly because of that mediocre doctor.

Although Zong Ruwen's health was getting better day by day, the disease was still resilient and he would need to recuperate for a while if he wanted to recover.

But the eunuchs in the palace came to visit him every now and then to check on his condition. Based on his many years of experience of getting along with the emperor, he knew that the emperor must want to see him.

After asking my son about what happened in Chaoshang, I had a clear idea of ​​what was going on.

After his strength recovered a little, he entered the palace.

The emperor allowed him to ride in a carriage to the palace gate. When he got off the carriage, he saw eunuchs waiting on the side carrying a sedan chair.

When we entered the imperial study, we found that chairs had already been prepared and were even covered with cushions.

Zong Ruwen was the first person in Daliang to be treated like this by the emperor.

By this time, the officials who inspected Dazhou had returned to Beijing, and the emperor had sorted out the whole matter from beginning to end.

"It seems that the mistakes made by Meng Changqing are not worth mentioning." The emperor said angrily, "But they don't ask the reason, and they want to trample Meng Changqing to death whenever he is involved.

Do you really think I can't tell who they are targeting?"

"Your Majesty, calm down. The most difficult thing to solve in this matter is the land annexation." Zong Ruwen said slowly, "The rich have swallowed up the farmers' land, turning the people who originally had farmland to feed themselves into tenants, or even worse, refugees.

The difficulty faced by the people is that they are unable to protect their own land.

Your Majesty, do not worry. This problem has existed since ancient times. Even if Your Majesty wants to improve it, it will not be done overnight."

"Master, do you remember that at the end of the previous dynasty, there were reforms on this kind of thing?"

"Old minister, I remember."

"What would be the result of changing the law?" the emperor asked himself, and answered, "It would only hasten the demise of the previous dynasty."

“The previous dynasty’s reforms started with the gentry, so how could they agree?

How can I give up something I have so easily? At this age, I have finally figured it out. If I really have to give up my family's land, I will still feel reluctant.

Your Majesty is kindhearted for being able to understand the suffering of the people. You still need to take your time with this matter. Let's see how Meng Changqing will deal with the land in Beishan County in the future."

The emperor sighed, "It can only be done this way." He then said to the eunuch Qian beside him, "Send the Imperial Academy to draft an imperial decree. The prefect of Dazhou, Wen Ruxu, is too old and incompetent to be of any major use. He will be dismissed from his post as prefect from the day he receives the imperial decree. Considering that he has served the court for many years, he will be allowed to retire and return home."