Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 591 Bullying and Domination
At Liu Ji's house.

Du Ming waited for a long time before finally seeing Liu Ji come out. At this time, the host looked a little haggard.

Du Ming thought, what kind of torture is this Liu Ge Lao suffering in his heart? Could it be that he feels unworthy for Li Zisheng, or even feels sorry for him?

"how's it going?"

Liu Ji asked after he sat down.

Seeing that Liu Ji was not being polite to him, Du Ming sat down again and replied, "The Ministry of Justice just received a rumor that Taoist Li from the Yintaisi has been released from the imperial prison and returned home to recuperate. However, he has resigned from the Yintaisi and is now managing Shanglin Garden and the Imperial Observatory for the court."

"He... is not guilty?"

Liu Ji's face was obviously tense.

Du Ming was pondering again.

Could it be that you, Liu Ji, were the one behind the imprisonment of Li Zisheng?
Seeing that things were not going to work out, you became extremely nervous, fearing that Li Zisheng would retaliate against you?
Du Ming frowned and said, "It's surprising to say that although Li Zisheng did have the merit of assisting the new emperor to ascend the throne, he was indeed involved in the controversy over the replacement of the crown prince with Liang Fang, Wei Xing and others. The fact that it ended like this can only be attributed to the kindness of His Majesty."

"What do you mean by Your Majesty's leniency? It's obvious that Zhang Laizhan is protecting him behind the scenes! Otherwise, with his crimes, ten deaths would be enough!" Liu Ji roared in exasperation.

When Du Ming saw Liu Ji in such a state, he couldn't help but despise him, thinking to himself that you, the Prime Minister, really have no breadth of mind and bearing at all.

Where has the promised generosity gone?

Then Du Ming asked tentatively: "Lord Liu, you said before that you would target Zhang Guozhang... Could it be that you were behind the incident with Taoist Li?"

"What specific crime Li Zisheng committed is under investigation by the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. When will it be my turn to take action?" Liu Ji pursed his lips and then said mysteriously, "But these things are complementary to each other."

"understood."

Du Ming understood immediately.

Since Liu Ji arranged Du Ming to attack Zhang Luan and his son in the court, he must have communicated secretly with the people from the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard to strike at Zhang Luan's power in the court from different angles.

Taking action against Li Zisheng can be said to be a very important step in taking action against Zhang Luan.

Liu Ji's face was full of wrinkles. He asked, "What did you understand? Tell me about it."

Du Ming was startled. He did not expect Liu Ji to be so serious. He said, "Is this the case? Li Zisheng has always had a bad reputation in the court, especially among the scholars. He is notorious and everyone wants him to be killed. If Zhang Guozhang helps him, isn't that the same as ruining his own future? How dare he join the cabinet after helping Li Zisheng?"

Liu Ji's expression eased a little, and he asked, "Then I have to ask you...Did Zhang Luan speak for Li Zisheng and protect his interests in this case, or even openly violate the court's laws and intend to pardon Li Zisheng?"

"This one……"

Du Ming thought for a moment and shook his head, "No. It seemed like he was doing his job impartially... Under his coercion and inducement, Li Zisheng quickly revealed his true colors and reported everything he should and shouldn't have. Even Feng Guan of the Dali Temple had no objection to this and even thought that Zhang Guozhang was enforcing the law impartially."

"Damn it!"

Liu Ji couldn't help but curse.

Du Ming was horrified and thought that today was really a strange day.

As the prime minister of the dynasty, he openly cursed people in front of everyone for a relative, and he cursed so...directly?
"He's really good at pretending."

Liu Ji added.

Du Ming shook his head, "It doesn't look like that. In the lobby of the Northern Pacification Office, Zhang Luan and Li Zisheng had some conflicts over the case, and they were attacking and slandering each other."

Liu Ji frowned and shouted, "You are so confused. You have been a police officer for so many years. Don't you know that they are just acting in front of people and pretending to be nice?"

"I don't think so."

Du Ming sighed, "If it were an ordinary person, he might just be pretending, but this is a major case involving the replacement of the royal family. Even if Zhang Guozhang is confused, he wouldn't still want to get on the same boat with Li Zisheng, right? And this boat could sink at any time! Shouldn't they... go their separate ways now?"

Liu Ji said firmly: "Believe me, they are just putting on a show in front of people."

Du Ming smiled bitterly and nodded, meaning, you are a high-ranking official, you are the authority, and whatever you say is what it is.

"Master Liu, what do you think we should do next?"

After Du Ming finished asking, he continued, "We have already investigated the slander against Huizhou merchants, but the Ministry of Industry can no longer move forward because the Ministry of Revenue is completely uncooperative.

"Currently, public opinion in the capital is extremely unfavorable to the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Justice. Even the price of cloth in the market has risen again. Some merchants in the capital even believe that the court is deliberately bullying and dominating the market."

Liu Ji frowned and asked, "I helped them make a lot of money, and they dared to bite back?"

Du Ming said: "I checked the Huizhou merchants and found that they were not closely connected with the Zhang family. I heard that the Zhang family had its own business channels, but it seems that it was not done by Zhang Guozhang himself, but by his son..."

"Yes, it's this son!"

Liu Ji asked anxiously, "What's his youngest son's name?...I think it's Zhang Yanling?"

"Yes."

Du Ming said, "The other day, the Northern Pacification Office was interrogating Li Zisheng, and this guy happened to be there." Liu Ji sneered and said, "What are you waiting for? The breakthrough point is with this guy. The next step is to sue the court, saying that this guy is colluding with Huizhou merchants, bullying the market, causing all kinds of goods on the market to be monopolized, causing the people to complain and disrupting the social order. What else... Think about it yourself, you have to make this matter more serious."

Du Ming was trembling with fear and tried to shirk responsibility: "This... I'm afraid it's difficult to handle! After all, there is no actual evidence... Besides, we don't even know what Zhang Yanling does, so how can we frame him?"

Liu Ji asked angrily, "What do the merchants in Huizhou do?"

"They do a lot of things."

Du Ming hurriedly introduced, "Especially official salt, grain, tea, and wood and stone materials... Oh, yes, cloth, this is a hot topic in the capital recently. After all, the palace has organized palace maids to weave cloth, and the people have a great reaction to this."

Liu Ji snorted, "Whatever business the merchants in Huizhou do, they say the Zhang family is monopolizing it! Rice, grain, cloth, official salt, and medicine, as long as there is something, the Zhang family wants to dominate the market and monopolize it, that's for sure!"

Du Ming asked in surprise: "What if we find nothing after a careful investigation?"

"Who would investigate this kind of thing?"

Liu Ji said firmly, "Doing business as an official is a big taboo. It's fine if it's not pointed out, but if it forms a wave of public opinion, it will be bullying and will definitely ruin their reputation!
"Then let the merchants in the capital unite and go to the houses of the merchants in Huizhou to cause trouble, saying that the Huizhou merchants are cooperating with the relatives of the emperor to bully the market and destroy their future...

"Let all the merchants in the capital change into civilian clothes in advance and pretend to be ordinary people. As long as there is a commotion, the government will have to get involved. Apart from other things, from Shuntian Prefecture to the Military Affairs Department, they are all our people. Are you still afraid that no one will stand up for them?"

When Du Ming heard this, he was immediately frightened.

"Lord Liu, investigating a few Hui merchants won't cause much trouble, but if the Zhang family is also involved, then... things may get out of control."

Du Ming is obviously the kind of person who is afraid of things.

For Du Ming, what he wants is to land safely and return to his hometown to retire peacefully.

But now Liu Ji taught him to make a big deal out of it, to cause unrest in the capital and to stir up a huge wave.

Liu Ji chuckled and said, "You don't think that until now, besides me, there is still someone who will protect you, right? At your age, you should think about whether to enjoy your old age after retirement or spend it in a cell!
"None of the former emperor's old ministers dared to say that they were clean. Can you be like Li Zisheng, with someone to back you up and help you avoid disasters?"

When Du Ming heard this, he couldn't help but feel worried.

This was all threatened by Liu Ji!

Liu Ji said: "People in this world are usually easy to fool. As long as the people know that the powerful and wealthy relatives are competing with the people for profit, they will be considered to be exploiting the people and will naturally rise up to attack them!
"Even if Zhang Laizhan takes revenge on you, you can still say that you are speaking for the people and making decisions for the people! You are a good official who loves the people like his own children, and your reputation for bravely fighting against treacherous parties and relatives of the emperor will spread among the scholars. Isn't that great?"

Du Ming thought, why don’t you jump out and fight the traitors?

Let others take the lead while you hide behind the scenes and enjoy the fruits of victory?
"Moreover."

Liu Ji continued, "Our goal is not to put Zhang Laizhan in an irretrievable situation, but to make him infamous and make him lose face in the cabinet. I think he will never do anything desperate for this. Don't worry, you are already the Minister of Justice, no one can touch you!"

Du Ming said with embarrassment: "I think it is not worth it to openly oppose a favored relative."

"Who told you to do the wrong thing? You just found someone to impeach Zhang Luan's youngest son! Zhang Luan allowed his son to plunder the people's wealth and even let his son extend his claws to the palace, letting the palace servants make money for him. You have to be clear about your position. You are on the side of the people and the side of the upright scholars in the court..."

Liu Ji stood up and said, "As for Li Zisheng's affairs, he is also involved. Let's send people to spread Zhang Laizhan's bad reputation and say that he and Li Zisheng are in cahoots. Then go to His Majesty and impeach him. Let's see how they end up!"

……

……

Inside the Silijian.

That morning, Huai En had just arrived at the duty room when he called Tan Chang aside. He took out a joint impeachment memorial from his arms, impeaching Zhang Luan's son for bullying and dominating the market, and shook his head, saying, "Stop it now."

Qin Chang asked in surprise: "Eunuch Huai, what are you doing...?"

Huai En said: "To put it bluntly, you are no match for Zhang Guozhang. He is very measured in what he does, and he is the father-in-law of the country, with the support of His Majesty and the Queen behind him... Now that His Majesty and the Queen are inseparable, how can you possibly bring him down?"

Qin Chang shook his head and said, "I don't know what you are talking about, Eunuch Huai? What is this?"

"Someone is impeaching the Zhang family father and son."

Huai En asked sternly, "Don't you know?"

Tan Chang said: "I have heard that Zhang Yanling, the son of Zhang, and merchants from Huizhou and other places have done some acts of bullying and dominating the market in the capital, but I am not clear about what they are."

Huai En asked: "Then do you know what exactly Zhang Yanling does? How does he bully the market? Are the Zhang family father and son involved in the official salt business this year?"

"As the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, how could Zhang Luan possibly..."

When Qin Chang said this, he realized that he might have let something slip.

What he meant was that he had already determined in his heart that Zhang Luan was involved in the issuance of official salt permits, and that he was using his relationship with the Ministry of Revenue to seek private gain for his family.

Huai En shook his head and said, "You still know too little about what Zhang's father and son did, and you didn't investigate clearly before taking action. Are you so arbitrary?

"Given your Majesty's temperament, let alone the mere speculations now, even if there is solid evidence, you may not pay much attention to it... I am afraid that you will end up losing more than you gain, and end up getting yourself into trouble!"

(End of this chapter)