Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 486 Controversy
Wenyuan Pavilion.

Cabinet value.

Wan An, Liu Ji and Xu Pu sat there, discussing the case of Liang Fang and Peng Hua.

Liu Ji said: "It's strange, Peng Hua was sentenced to death by the court, but now your majesty wants the three judicial departments to re-examine the case. Isn't this outrageous?

"The person is already half dead, how can we dig him out and try to save him?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Pu couldn't help but look at Liu Ji and frowned slightly.

Fortunately, he has always had a good temper and finally managed to hold back.

Xu Pu thought to himself, ever since I entered the core of the Ming Dynasty and had close contact with the two people in the cabinet, I realized... what kind of people are these two!
In the past, the Ming Dynasty was deeply harmed by these two "paper elders" who were in office but did nothing, which led to chaos in the government. From the cabinet, six ministries to various temples and government offices, everyone from top to bottom took getting by as the criterion for conduct in life, and the morals of officials were corrupted in this way.

Xu Pu said, "Your Majesty is kind and merciful, and now is the time of mourning. Peng Hua, as a member of the cabinet of the late emperor, has also taught Your Majesty that it would be too severe to convict him of a crime, even a death sentence, for making friends with Liang Fang."

"Eh? Do you feel heavy?"

Liu Ji looked at Xu Pu with a sidelong glance and asked in surprise, "Why didn't you say so before? You didn't seem to be one of the people who wrote a petition to speak for Peng Hua?"

Wan An, however, acted as if it had nothing to do with him, with a relaxed and contented look on his face, and said with a smile: "You and Peng Yanshi probably don't have much contact, right?

"I mean, this case has nothing to do with you, right?"

Liu Ji twisted his beard and said, "It's impossible to say that there is no contact, but if it involves us... Peng Hua used to be very close to Li Zisheng. We wanted to teach him how to do things, but he never paid attention to us. Now he should hope that Li Zisheng will save him, don't count on us!"

"In that case, what else is there to say?"

Wan An waved his hand impatiently, "Your Majesty wants to show his magnanimity and pardon the guilty ministers in the court. What does it have to do with us? If we do our job well, won't we be worthy of the emperor's grace?"

When Xu Pu heard this, he began to wonder again.

What you said is very convincing.

But the problem is...

How dare you, a person who has never done anything, talk about being loyal to your duties?
You say you are worthy of the emperor's grace, but are you worthy of your own conscience?
Wan An said: "You two, something has been bothering me recently... I wonder if any of you can help me?"

"Let him be."

Liu Ji didn't even ask what it was about. He looked at Xu Pu with a smile, as if to say, as a new member, you will be responsible for running errands and doing miscellaneous work in the future.

Xu Pu did not dare to play dumb, and asked quickly: "I don't know what it is? Can't we assign someone from the cabinet or the Imperial Academy to do it?"

Obviously Xu Pu also knew that this was probably to do private work for Wan An, or it was some kind of shameful activity! How could he, who claimed to be a clean official, be used by Wan An?
Wan An glanced at Xu Pu and said with a pursed mouth, "We are just going to visit Zhang Laizhan's injury... Since even His Majesty has personally gone to express his condolences, our cabinet should also show some appropriate performance...

"Zhang Luan is the president of the academy, and he is of the same lineage as us. It would be unreasonable if we don't express our concern as colleagues!"

……

……

Qianqing Palace.

Huai'en was holding a memorial in his hand, standing in front of Zhu Youtang, reporting something to the little emperor.

Tan Chang stood beside Zhu Youtang, providing intelligence support on the contents of memorials from time to time, while the eunuch Wei Tai, who held the seal, sat on the other side of the table, sorting them out by category.

Qin Ji, who had just entered the Imperial Household Department, was sitting by the window, concentrating on writing something. He was the one doing odd jobs.

"Your Majesty, the Dali Temple has reviewed the cases of Liang Fang, Peng Hua and others and found that there is no problem with the punishments used. The report said...they should continue to enforce the punishments."

As Huai En spoke, he carefully handed over the memorial.

Huai'en was very respectful to Zhu Youtang.

It’s not that he was impressed by the abilities demonstrated by Zhu Youtang. Even Huai’en knew that in terms of talent in governing a country, Zhu Youtang, a fledgling boy, was still far behind his father, Emperor Chenghua Zhu Jianshen.

Not to mention the ability to control his ministers.

Emperor Chenghua was a shrewd man, and the ministers were fooled by him. As for the young emperor in front of him, it was good enough that he was not fooled by the ministers.

But Huai En still felt that the boy in front of him was not simple... In addition to his status as an emperor, what was more important was that Zhu Youtang was meticulous in his work, very principled, and upright.

To put it bluntly, a person who is principled and has an indomitable character will be respected wherever he is, especially by those in power, for that is an extraordinary quality.

Zhu Youtang opened the memorial, read it carefully, and finally shook his head: "But I still feel that their crimes do not deserve death. If we rashly execute them, I am afraid it will be unfair to my father's spirit in heaven."

Huai En shook his head: "The law is merciless, Your Majesty should not have such thoughts."

Zhu Youtang said with a sad face: "My father just left, and the ministers he left behind were all carefully selected by him and left to me. If I replace them now, I will already owe it to my father. If I forcibly kill them, it may cause people all over the world to laugh at me."

"Your Majesty... Just handle it impartially, and the situation you're worried about will never happen."

Huai En hurried to comfort him.

"Then this case can be brought up for discussion at the court meeting tomorrow, right?" Zhu Youtang asked.

Huai En was startled.

He was thinking in his heart, Your Majesty is really determined to stick to one path and stick to his own opinion!

Previously, the inner court was asked to discuss the case and instructed to send it back to the three judicial departments for retrial. Now that it has been reviewed, do we have to bring it up for discussion at the court meeting again?
Is it necessary to be so stubborn?
"Yes."

Huai En replied respectfully, "Your Majesty, do you want the ministers to continue to plead for them at the court? This has happened once, and I'm afraid it won't be easy to do it a second time."

Zhu Youtang spoke eloquently, not at all like a stage-frightened young man, and said solemnly: "The last time we discussed it was here, it was a meeting in front of the king, and no definite information was given.

"Now that the matter has become controversial, I also want to hear what others have to say at the court meeting... Then let's arrange it, and let you, Kai Daiban, bring it up tomorrow."

"This……"

Wynn thought about it carefully and nodded, "Yes."

……

……

At noon, Zhu Youtang went to eat.

Huai En stayed to continue helping to organize and review memorials.

Qin Chang looked around, walked cautiously to Huai En, and asked in a low voice: "Eunuch Huai, don't you think this matter is full of evil? Your Majesty has never had in-depth contact with Liang Fang, Peng Hua and others since he was a child, and he doesn't know much about each other. Why do you insist on pardoning these people?"

Huai En asked in return: "Your Majesty is lenient, isn't that a good thing?"

"I wonder if someone is secretly pleading for them?" Tan Chang did not answer Huai En's question and continued to ask, "Such as Zhang Guozhang?"

Huai En narrowed his eyes and said, "Eunuch Tan, even if you guess something, don't say it publicly, otherwise the bond between master and servant will be lost.

"In addition, I have to remind you... His Majesty has the power to pardon anyone he wants, but whether he can actually do so depends on the specific circumstances. We should stand firmly on His Majesty's side and think about things."

Qin Chang said with a bitter face: "But the problem is that until now, we still don't know what your majesty's purpose is. This... is really hard to understand.

"How about you give me some advice?"

Huai En thought, don't say you don't understand, I'm confused too!
But there are some things that we can't say we don't understand?
"The combination of kindness and severity is the only way to win people's hearts. Your Majesty is able to be lenient to others, and even former enemies can let go of their grudges. Isn't this a way to show filial piety, righteousness and courtesy to the people of the world? Everything should be done with kindness and benevolence in mind. This is not a bad thing for the officials and even the common people."

Huai En only said nice things, and Qin Chang was speechless after listening to them.

See if what you say is human language?
Your level is enough to be comparable to people like Wan'an who never do anything and only shout slogans.

Otherwise, how come they say you used to do great things?
It's just that you don't usually say clichés, but when you really do say them, they're... a lot of clichés.

I finally learned something new this time!

(End of this chapter)