I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 625 It’s not enough, why don’t you add more!
Li Lang's expression changed again and again. He raised his head with a hint of luck on his face.

"Ren Dushi, my father, Li Shan, was a Jinshi in the 17th year of Jiajing, and served as the Minister of Works in Nanjing."

"I know. If not, we wouldn't have gone to so much trouble to invite the Fourth Young Master here."

"Is there no room for compromise?" Hope and despair flickered alternately on Li Lang's face.

"What do you think?" Ren Boan asked jokingly, "Your father is known as the Star Lord of the World, the head of the Hunan and Xiang gentry. Even the Governor Wang would not dare to act rashly without the emperor's permission."

"Holy will!" Li Lang's face was slowly filled with despair, "You damn old man, you can't live a good life, but you have to stand up for the famous theology, damn it!
He still boasted that he was keeping it a secret, but in fact, since he had this idea, everyone had known everything clearly. Stop the exam, stop the damn exam! Well, now the whole family is involved.

Is the Confucianism his real father or his real mother? "

Li Lang howled in pain.

Boycott the exam?
Liu Huan, who was standing next to him, was shocked!
Li Shan actually secretly organized students from Sanxiang to boycott this year's provincial examination!

How audacious!

This year was the first provincial examination held by Hunan after it was separated from Huguang Province. Then, some examinees from one province boycotted the exam. When the news got out, there was an uproar throughout the country. We must leave our names in history!

This is a mad slap in the face of the imperial court and the emperor!
No wonder Governor Wang wants to deal with you!

Ren Boan was also shocked.

He originally thought that Wang Yi'e secretly ordered him to investigate Li Shan and others because of the beating and murder of tax collectors from the Taxation Bureau in the Xiangnan mine some time ago.

I didn’t expect there would be something bigger!
Compared with the cancellation of the provincial examination, the issue of tax resistance in southern Hunan mines can indeed be put aside.

Li Shan and others boycotted the autumn examination this year. The reform of the provincial and metropolitan examinations was an important reason, and it was also meant to show support for the "persecuted" scholars in the southeast.

Some people have been dominating and bullying others for a long time, and they think they are the sky of this well and can call the wind and rain and cover the sky with one hand.

Li Lang was venting his dissatisfaction with his father hysterically and did not notice that Ren Boan and Liu Huan had strange expressions.

Ren Boan came back to his senses first. He quietly poked Liu Huan and gave him a look.

The two of them regained their composure.

Liu Huan laughed, "Fourth Young Master, now you should thank the court and the emperor. If the emperor hadn't changed the new rules and ordered us to handle cases according to the law and act according to the rules, we would have let you taste the Jinyiwei's skills in punishment.

Fourth Master, we Jinyiwei are in charge of punishment, and our skills are inherited from our ancestors and are well-known throughout the country."

Thinking of the Jinyiwei's great reputation, Li Lang collapsed to the ground, shaking all over.

Ren Boan looked down at Li Lang, "Fourth Young Master, you can grit your teeth and not say anything. You are a child of an aristocratic family after all, you should devote yourself to the orthodox teachings of the Confucian school.

If you don't tell me, we, the Jinyiwei, can only reluctantly ask the Chief Justice to take action on this huge case. Fourth Master, please do me a favor and be a tough guy. Our Chief Justice has rarely taken action in the past two years, and his skills have been abandoned. "

Li Lang screamed in fear: "I'll tell you everything! Don't torture me, I can't bear it."

Ren Boan smiled, "Mr. Li is really self-aware. Let's talk. Our clerk has been waiting in the corner for a long time, holding a pen."

Li Lang said quickly: "I'll tell you, I'll tell you.

The draft for the reform of the provincial and imperial examinations came down at the beginning of the year. My old father was very dissatisfied. He wrote letters to all his old friends, and then held parties one after another, inviting famous scholars from Huguang.

Every day they cursed the treacherous officials in the court who deceived the emperor and took actions that were against the will of heaven, intending to destroy the orthodox teachings and suppress the study of principles. They wanted to turn the tide and rectify the government.

My two lords, I have tried to persuade him, but he is still obsessed with this old man and is determined to do something that goes against the will of heaven and the trend of the times."

Ren Boan and Liu Huan kept silent and listened quietly to Li Lang's continued explanation.

"Later, news came from the southeast that the Jiangnan family headed by Xu Xiang had thousands of properties confiscated because of three major cases. At that time, many gentry and celebrities made excuses to escape.

I don't know who has made my old man drink the magic potion. He is so stubborn that he is determined to do evil. He even said that the treacherous villains have the ability to kill all the Confucian scholars in the world.

During that period, the old man acted very secretly, and those who gathered together were all Confucian scholars who were die-hard fans of the orthodox religion.

They incited the students of Shigu and Yuelu Academy, and then encouraged these ignorant students to spread around, contacted the leaders of students in various states and counties, and secretly formed an alliance.

The more Ren Boan and Liu Huan listened, the happier they became.

I don't care about the life and death of the orthodox teachings or Confucianism. The key point is that once this case is solved, it will be a great merit for me, and I can show off my achievements in front of the emperor.

Ren Boan asked calmly, "As far as you know, how many students did your father contact to join the boycott?"

"About 560 people. Among them, there are more than 300 students from Yuelu Academy and Shigu Academy."

Five hundred people!
This time, the imperial court opened up the number of places for the provincial examination. As before, one no longer had to pass the imperial examination to qualify. Anyone who had passed the examination in previous years could participate in the provincial examination as long as they registered.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Rites of the Provincial Government, before the registration deadline of July 15, a total of 1,600 scholars in the province registered to take part in the provincial examination.

The number is not as large as that of southeastern places, but it is already the elite of all Hunan students.

One-third of the students boycotted the exam, and there were also some independent Hunan gentry who contacted and instigated them, plus some people who followed the trend. It is estimated that half of the students boycotted the Hunan provincial examination.

Rare in this dynasty!

If this gets out it will really cause a stir.

Now I have solved it myself, what a miracle!
Ren Boan and Liu Huan looked at each other, suppressed their ecstasy, and continued to ask, "Are you familiar with the leaders of the student boycott?"

"Yes!" Li Lang replied quickly, "The old man was busy contacting the gentry and celebrities, and I was the one who won over these students. A few days ago, I spent every day in restaurants and brothels, drinking and visiting prostitutes.

These beheaded people all shouted that they wanted to devote themselves to the orthodoxy, and they were all sanctimonious, but in fact they were all a bunch of drunkards and sex addicts. "

"Tell me all the names of these people, as well as when and where you invited them to drink and have sex with prostitutes, and what was said at the party. Tell me everything.

This is a major case. Think about the three major cases in the southeast, how many famous people were beheaded and how many great scholars were exiled. Fourth Master, you don’t want to be beheaded in Caishikou, do you? "

"I don't want to, I don't want to." Li Lang shook his head desperately.

"Fourth Young Master, if you don't want to, you must actively save yourself!"

Li Lang nodded quickly: "I will tell you everything. I will tell you everything I know. They swore a blood oath, and they each wrote a pledge. I know who kept the pledge.

It's written in black and white, they can't deny it!"

In more than an hour, Li Lang explained in detail the list of people who boycotted the provincial examination and the relevant evidence.

After reading the confession, Ren Boan nodded with satisfaction, handed it to Liu Huan, and asked, "Fourth Young Master, tell us about the incident in which the tax collectors were beaten to death in the Xiangnan mine."

"About the Shonan Mine?"

"Yes. We in the Pacification Office investigate all cases. The boycott of the exam is a major case that alarmed the emperor, so we must investigate it first.

The tax resistance case in the mines has alarmed the cabinet. Now that the document has been sent down, we have to investigate it thoroughly.

"Fourth Master, you confessed in a timely and thorough manner, and your life is largely saved. But if you don't clear yourself of the mine case, then if Prime Minister Zhang gets angry, he can make you live."

Li Lang wanted to cry but had no tears. How could I be so unlucky and have to deal with so many problems? But Ren Boan was right. The tax collection of mines was under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Government and had direct access to the cabinet. The mines in southern Hunan resisted taxation and injured or killed tax collectors, which was a loss to the cabinet.

Can Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng give up easily?

He didn't have to do it himself, he just needed to say something and countless people would rush to deal with him.

Life is better than death!

I'd rather be dead!

No, I can't die, I still have a lot of good years ahead of me!
"I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything!" Li Lang quickly explained, "Our Li family owns a silver mine in Guang'an, Guiyang (Rucheng), and a lead mine in Xingning.

The mine owner used other people’s names, but it is actually managed by people from our Li family.

The Hengzhou Hou family owned an iron mine in Guiyang Prefecture (Guiyang) and a silver mine in Jianghua Jintian.

The Kuang family of Changsha owns a lead mine in Qiyang, the Jiang family of Changde owns a tin mine in Lanshan, and the Liu family of Yongzhou owns an iron mine in Jianghua Loquat.

These mines were obtained through plunder.”

"What about the bandits in the mountains of southern Hunan? For example, those in Baimian Village, Huayin Mountain, and Jiuyi Mountain."

Li Lang lowered his head and hesitated.

Liu Huan chuckled and said, "Those bandits are nothing more than those raised by your family. If you don't tell us, we will still send troops to eliminate them. But you, the Fourth Young Master, will miss out on a great contribution to clear your name."

Li Lang no longer hesitated, "The bandits in Baimian Village are raised by our Li Mansion. The bandits in Huayin Mountain are raised by the Kuang family. The largest group of bandits, the bandits in Jiuyi Mountain, are raised by the Hou family.

The silver mine owned by the Hou family in Jintian, Jianghua was a rich mine, producing 40,000 to 50,000 taels of silver a year, and everyone was jealous.

Originally it was a government-owned mine, and the fat guy Hou Jiu had always wanted to buy it, but was rejected by the mine supervisor. So he became furious and raised bandits from Jiuyi Mountain. They went to harass Jintian every day, killed the mine supervisor, and beat to death and injured dozens of miners.

When the Jintian mine was in trouble, Hou Fatty bribed the deputy governor and signed a document. He then went to Wuchang and spent money like water to bribe the Huguang Provincial Government, and the Jintian mine was returned to the Hou family.

Ren Boan asked, "According to the new law of the imperial court in the 45th year of Jiajing, any mine needs to apply for a mining license from the Ministry of Revenue. Have all your mines done so?"

Li Lang shook his head and said, "We have spent all our money feeding the jackals in Huguang Provincial Government and Hunan Province, and we are not willing to go to the Ministry of Revenue to make arrangements.

During this provincial division, Mr. Hu became the governor of Hunan, and Governor Wang also assigned many of his people to him. Many officials in Wuchang and the former Hunan Province were dissatisfied.

The taxation bureau sent tax collectors to southern Hunan to collect mining taxes. Those officials encouraged us to punish these ignorant tax collectors. They would help us to cover up for them. That’s why everyone dared to do it.”

No wonder you are so courageous.

You have people in the government backing you up, and you yourself are a local noble and powerful family with connections both in the government and across the country. You also have a group of bandits on your payroll, so you can get away with both black and white!
"Is there any evidence?" Ren Boan asked calmly.

"Yes, yes! In addition to helping us watch over the mines and preventing them from being spied on by others, these bandits also used to block the road to Guangdong and do some unprofitable business."

Oh, these bandits you raised are also generating their own income.

"They gave us their looted goods to help us sell them in exchange for money. Therefore, they have bases in Hengzhou City and Changsha City.

Sometimes we also have to help them buy some weapons, armor, bows and crossbows.

In this regard, the Hou family and the Kuang family are not as well connected as our Li family. My old man knew many people, and through his old friends and old officials, he stole and sold some swords, guns, bows and crossbows from the armories in Hubei and Jiangxi. In addition to selling them to the bandits in Jiuyi Mountain, he also resold them to the Hou family and the Kuang family at a high price. "

"Stolen from the arsenals of Hubei and Jiangxi?"

Stealing and selling arms?

This is also one of the important tasks of the Jinyiwei.

Another great achievement!
Mr. Li, your family is worthy of being a miner, and you yourself are a rich mine!

"Yes, my old man is more cautious. He said that stealing and selling military equipment is a serious crime. He dare not buy it locally because it is easy to be discovered. My second brother is a county magistrate in Hubei, and my third brother is studying in Bailu Academy in Jiangxi. They came forward and secretly contacted the old man's old friends and officials there."

Well, in order to escape punishment, I won’t even let your two brothers go.

What a good man!
Li Lang told everything he knew, including who he bought it from and whose connections he used to mix the weapons into the grain transport fleet and transport them back to Changsha.

"Fourth Young Master, I heard that you have been in charge of all the accounts in your house for the past two years?"

"Yes, the student has some talent in mathematics, so the old man gave me the account. But the account books are not in my hands. Every time I finish the accounts, the old man takes all the account books and hides them under the bed of the sixth concubine."

Oh, everyone has learned how to answer quickly.

But your father hid the account book under your sixth aunt's bed, how did you know?
Haha, you've rolled on that bed before, so of course you know.

Ren Boan took a thick stack of documents and frowned slightly after reading them.

"Fourth Young Master, this is still not enough."

"Not enough?"

"Yes, what you have confessed will probably ensure that you will be sentenced to exile three thousand miles away."

"What? I have to be exiled three thousand miles away? Then my explanation is in vain?"

Liu Huan laughed at the side, "My fourth son, take a look at all the crimes you have committed! According to the law, your entire family should be executed, and you, as the principal offender, will be cut into pieces!
The Holy Emperor is benevolent and has suspended the death penalty of lingchi, beheading, and beheading, and replaced it with beheading and hanging. According to the new law, you will be beheaded and hanged anyway, and it is a great blessing to be able to be exempted from it and exiled for 3,000 miles, saving your life. "

Ren Boan continued, "Of course, we can help ask the magistrate for a favor and change the fourth young master's exile to a better place, such as Annan or Qiongya, instead of the freezing cold Jilin Haixi, the sandy Gansu, or the faraway Sanbaofu."

Li Lang made a bitter face and begged, "Two masters, can you help me a little more and reduce the tax?"

Ren Boan shook the papers in his hand and said, "Fourth Young Master, how about you help me with some more?"

"Coucou?" Li Lang was stunned for a moment, then he reacted and immediately searched his brain and told him all the cases he had seen or heard.

Let’s start with the dead old man and his two brothers when we sacrifice our own relatives for the sake of justice.

In the years since the old man retired and returned to his hometown, he used his influence to join forces with the officials and gentry of Huguang, claiming to fight for benefits for the children of Hunan, but in fact manipulating the Huguang provincial examinations.

As far as he knew, there were thirty-four candidates who were arranged by his father in the past few years, and three of them passed the imperial examination and became Jinshi.

Annexing land, seizing houses, hiding land, and evading taxes were all done by that old man.

Then his second brother bought his position as county magistrate. He was a juren, and he was assigned to various positions such as teaching officer. The highest position he could hold was county magistrate.

It was all because his old man spent tens of thousands of taels of silver to bribe two officials of the Ministry of Personnel. I heard that there was also a vice minister who accepted five thousand silver dollars.

He reported his family members, as well as his relatives and friends, one by one.

The clerk next to him had so much pain in his wrists from taking notes that he had no choice but to call two people from the confidential department to come in and take over.

More than three hours later, Li Lang finally finished speaking.

He raised his head and asked hopefully, "How is it going, sirs?"

(End of this chapter)