I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 29: Yan Song's slow strike
Zhu Yijun returned to Renshou Palace early in the morning.

When I walked into the front hall, I found that my grandfather, Emperor Jiajing, was standing there with his hands in his sleeves, folded his arms, and looking up.

Zhu Yijun walked over and looked up. It turned out to be the two paper crane toys he bought yesterday.

It was hung on the beam outside the hall, suspended in the air. When the breeze blew, its wings fluttered slightly and it began to dance gracefully.

The two dancing cranes looked like they were practicing Tai Chi with the emperor after breakfast.

"My dear grandson, if Grandpa Emperor turns into a crane and flies away one day, will you be sad?"

Emperor Jiajing suddenly asked a question, leaving Zhu Yijun at a loss for words.

"Grandpa Emperor, if you turned into a crane and flew away, you must have ascended to heaven to become a god. I will miss you."

"Miss me?" Emperor Jiajing murmured as he looked at the crane.

"Perhaps to some people, Grandpa Huang is not a good emperor. But to me, he is the best grandfather in the world, from ancient times to the present."

Huang Jin and Li Fang hid in a corner, wiping their tears quietly.

Emperor Jiajing blinked hard to prevent the tears from overflowing from his eyes.

"My dear grandson, what will you think of me?"

"I will turn this Renshou Palace into a temple for Grandpa Huang. If you have done anything great or achieved any merit, you can bring it here and tell Grandpa about it. Grandpa will surely be able to hear it when he is a god in heaven, and he will definitely be very happy to hear it."

Emperor Jiajing nodded and said, "Yes, I will definitely hear it, and I will definitely be very happy when I hear it."

He turned his head, his eyes red, and said happily: "Okay, let's have breakfast together. Today I asked the imperial kitchen to prepare the hot dry noodles you mentioned for Jun'er."

"Okay, thank you, Grandpa Emperor." Zhu Yijun cheered.

In the cabinet, Xu Jie had just sat down in his room when he heard his trusted clerk come to report.

"Lord Xu, Lord Yan is here."

Xu Jie was shocked. What was this old man doing here?
Does he still have the nerve to come?

But no matter what, Yan Song was still the chief minister of the cabinet designated by the emperor's decree.

"Let's go and visit him."

When he reached the door of the largest room in the cabinet, Xu Jie said loudly: "Xu Jie greets Prime Minister Yan."

"Shao Hu is here, please come in."

When I entered the attic, I saw Yan Song sitting behind the desk at the top. Although he looked old, he was in good spirits.

Sitting in the seat next to him was Li Chunfang, the new cabinet member.

Xu Jie knew that Yan Song had a gentle personality, was fair in his dealings, and had little experience, so it was not surprising that he was the first one to come and pay a visit to Yan Song.

"Lord Xu." Li Chunfang bowed and greeted him without saying anything else.

"Lord Li." Xu Jie also bowed and greeted him, then continued to speak to Yan Song.

"Lord Yan was ill, and we were leaderless for a while. We mishandled many things, and many of our draft memorials were rejected and retained by the Imperial Household Department."

Yan Song smiled noncommittally, "Shaohu, please forgive me. I am old and always have this or that kind of problems. But the emperor trusts us and entrusts us with state affairs, so we dare not slack off.

As soon as I recovered, I struggled to come. It's just right that you're here. Someone, go and invite Elder Gao to come. There's something we need to discuss."

Xu Jie was shocked and felt that something was wrong.

Gao Gong could have upheld his integrity and not come to see Yan Song, but since Yan Song invited him in the name of cabinet meetings as the chief minister, he had no choice but to come.

"Lord Yan, Lord Xu, Lord Li." Gao Gong came in and greeted them in a neutral tone.

"Mr. Gao, please take a seat." Yan Song made a gesture, then took out a memorial from the desk and slowly opened it.

He is old, and is a beat slower than others in everything he does, but everyone is waiting patiently.

"This is the decision submitted by the Ministry of Justice. The Cabinet approved it, but it was sent to the Imperial Household Department and rejected."

Yan Song spoke, and his first words made Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Li Chunfang all extremely cautious. "Last month, the patrolling Southeast Navy set up an ambush in the sea east of Ningbo, intercepted and sank ten ships, drowned more than 3,000 real Japanese recruited from the East Japan, more than 400 seamen, and rescued more than 50 real Japanese and more than 40 seamen.

After he was deported to the shore, Hu Ruzhen, the Minister of War and the Governor-General of the three provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian, sent people to interrogate him strictly, and uncovered a huge case.

Hearing this, Gao Gong and Li Chunfang knew exactly where Yan Song was coming today and where he was aiming at, and they couldn't help but glance at Xu Jie.

Xu Jie remained calm, but his hands, hidden in his sleeves, were clenched tightly together.

"The five Southeast families, Zhang and Wu in Suzhou, Yang in Jiaxing, Lin in Kunshan, and Gu in Ningbo, sent people to the East Wo to recruit a group of real Wo, sneaking south, preparing to take advantage of the main force of the government troops to aid Fujian and wait for an opportunity to harass South Zhili and East Zhejiang.

The correspondence between Hu Ruzhen and the local daimyo merchants in East Japan, the captured people included the dispatched officials, and the evidence of the leaders of the East Japan pirates was all there. Hu Ruzhen reported it to the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Justice discussed it and then came to the conclusion.

Yan Song slowly took out his tortoise-shell crystal glasses, opened them tremblingly, put them on his eyes, then lowered his head, unfolded the memorial, and slowly read it word by word.

"The Ministry of Justice has decided that the twelve people who handled the case will be executed, and the heads of the five families, Zhang and Wu in Suzhou, Yang in Jiaxing, Lin in Kunshan, and Gu in Ningbo, will be sentenced to thirty strokes of the cane, exiled three thousand miles away, and fined fifteen thousand taels of silver."

After finishing reading, Yan Song raised his head and slowly took off his glasses, a fierce look flashing in his cloudy eyes.

"The Ministry of Justice came up with this thing, and the Cabinet approved it. If it gets out, there will be an uproar in the world. Xiyuan will of course fight back." Yan Song spoke slowly, enunciating each word, like a hammer hitting everyone's heart again and again.

"Colluding with the Japanese pirates and leading troops to invade the border is treason, high treason, and a heinous crime! Yet the chief criminal was only sentenced to thirty strokes of the cane and exile three thousand miles away. Wang Huwen, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, has he ever read the laws of the Ming Dynasty? Does he still have a little sense of justice and conscience?"

Yan Song's words echoed in the meeting hall, while Xu Jie and the other two remained silent.

After a while, Xu Jie, who knew that he was involved in this matter, spoke up and asked in a hoarse voice: "Lord Yan, what do you think should be the verdict?"

"The whole family will be executed! As it is a crime of treason, the male members will be executed, the family members will be exiled to the frontier, and the property will be confiscated." Yan Song said coldly.

“Is it too harsh?”

"Harsh? Then they should ask the millions of people in the southeast who have been harassed by the Japanese pirates for twenty years, who have been forced to leave their homes and families, whether it is harsh or not? They should ask the millions of Ming Dynasty souls who died tragically at the hands of the Japanese pirates, whether it is harsh or not?

Lord Xu, I remember your ladyship. Ten years ago, because of the Japanese pirates’ harassment in Songjiang, she was caught in the rain and caught a cold during the overnight evacuation. She was bedridden and died not long after.

National hatred and family feuds, Lord Xu, do you think it is too harsh? "

Yan Song's words left Xu Jie with no room for maneuver.

He had a blank expression on his face, and after a long while he slowly replied, "Lord Yan is right. I have a national hatred and family feud with the Japanese pirates. We cannot reconcile and will never tolerate it."

"Lord Gao, Lord Li, what are your opinions?"

Yan Song asked slowly again.

Gao Gong found it very strange.

Yan Song's righteous words just now would have been acceptable had they come from anyone else's mouth, but they came from the mouth of the world's number one traitor, and were spoken so righteously that he felt as if he were in a dream.

However, Gao Gong and Li Chunfang both knew that those who colluded with the Japanese pirates must be severely punished.

This is the bottom line.

"Lord Yan, he must be severely punished!" Gao Gong and Li Chunfang answered in unison.

"Okay, then I will draft a new bill. The Zhang and Wu families of Suzhou, the Yang family of Jiaxing, the Lin family of Kunshan, and the Gu family of Ningbo colluded with the Japanese pirates and led troops to invade the border. This is an unforgivable crime. The male members shall be sentenced to death, their families shall be exiled to the border, and their property shall be confiscated.

Wang Huwen, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, is suspected of being a cover-up and is ordered to be suspended from his post and handed over to the Censorate for deliberation and punishment. There must be remnants of the Five Families in the local area, and Hu Ruzhen is ordered to continue to investigate strictly.

Yan Song wrote the draft and signed his name.

Xu Jie's face turned pale, but he still stood up and signed his name.

Gao Gong and Li Chunfang also signed their names.

The cabinet reached a rare unanimous vote.

"Send it to Xiyuan for approval."

Yan Song said slowly.

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(End of this chapter)