Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 215 Tian En
Of course, everything is connected.

Otherwise, why can Shen Yikuan come back whenever he wants?

Huzhou is clearly Zhejiang's territory, but the Yingtian Governor is in charge of it.

But Shu Baiqing appeared, and more than 270,000 taels were found in one county.

Now Shen Yikuan suddenly got angry: It's all because of you who don't know when to advance or retreat!

Looking at the people in Zhejiang Province with complicated expressions in the room, Shen Yiguan had a cold face and "vented" all his emotions.

"I'm violating the imperial power!" He threw out one of his tea cups. "In the 28th year of Wanli, before your majesty ascended the throne, the two dukes of Shen and Wang returned to the court and made a fuss about me violating the imperial power!"

"Have you ever had people from Zhejiang in the cabinet since the 19th year of the Wanli reign? Have you forgotten what Jiangshan's surname is?"

"The Yongwei Battalion has been in Zhenjiang for so long! So long!" Shen Yi Guan was finally no longer an old man in retirement. He showed the momentum of a prime minister, "It is the tycoon Xiao who is going south! Xiao Xiaqing!"

"I have tried my best! What? Do you think I can still cover up everything in the court?"

Shen Yikuan got furious, and Liu Yuanlin and others were in a panic.

"You just believe what you want to believe!" Shen Yi Guan pointed at them, "How can I reply to your letter if you think this way?"

The pressure of Zhao Zhigao's secret surrender and return of one million taels of stolen money weighed heavily on their hearts.

Now Shen Yikuan's words have added another weight.

"Your Majesty is such an emperor!" Shen Yi Guan looked at them coldly, "Do you want to rebel or obey the emperor's order?"

Liu Yuanlin and the others felt their scalps tingling: "Mr. Longjiang, you are too kind..."

"I said that if His Majesty were in person, he would ask this question!" Shen Yi Guan's eyes were sharp, "Do you understand?"

Liu Yuanlin and the others finally understood.

He was an emperor who did not speak or act according to past conventions. He would always tear off those faces and go straight to the essence of the problem.

It's no use finding any high-sounding excuses.

If you say that the people are uneasy, he will ask which 100 family surnames they are and ask you to tell him your names.

If you say anything in between, he will force you to choose one side, at least in this matter.

Whether it is Zhao Zhigao or Shen Yikuan, it is useless to reconcile.

So Wang Xijue clearly returned to his youthful state and once again became a general under Zhang Jiangling.

So after Shen Yikuan returned home, he first visited Zhao Zhigao and asked him to admit that he had one million taels.

"...Your Majesty only cares about money and not about the matter?" Liu Yuanlin couldn't believe it and stared at Shen Yikuan boldly.

"You can bet." Shen Yiguan replied coldly, "Anyway, Taichang has only been in the third year for a few months."

The pressure was too great and everyone was at a loss as to what to do.

"Now that we've come to this, whether you recognize the weight of my and Duke Binyang's posthumous reputation is up to you." Shen Yi Guan waved his hand. "Shu Baiqing, the magistrate of Changxing, found more than 270,000 taels, and the court has also arrived at its disposal. Not to mention other provinces, Your Majesty at least knows how rich Zhejiang is. That's all I have to say. If you still have concerns, I can only support you up to this point."

Of course, these officials in Zhejiang received many favors from the two successive prime ministers.

From the 19th year of Wanli to the present, there have always been people from Zhejiang in the cabinet. And from the 23rd year of Wanli to the present, the chief ministers of the imperial court have all been people from Zhejiang.

Now Shen Yikuan was angry, and seemed to blame them for not knowing the current situation. He kept taking the matter of Changxing County, Huzhou Prefecture, until he drove the magistrate of Changxing, Shu Baiqing, crazy, and forced him to come before the emperor, thus forcing their support to retreat.

Xie Tingzan was in Wenzhou, and he also knew that Shen Yikuan had returned.

But now, he received a letter from Mr. Xiao.

So he was angry.

The crumpled paper fell to the floor of the inn. His master who came from his hometown in Jiangxi to help him asked worriedly, "Mr. Dong?"

Xie Tingzan's chest heaved with anger, but he didn't say much.

A few months!

Since spring, he has been appointed as the Inspector of Zhejiang Province's Academic Records. During the several months, he has made open and secret investigations and finally obtained a lot of solid evidence.

He was already different from when he was in Beijing! He deliberately avoided the time when Shen Yiguan returned home!

But now the letter written to him by Xiao Daheng told him what was important and what was not.

What things can you turn a blind eye to?

Can we allow so many corrupt officials in Zhejiang to go unpunished?

The memorial from Zhejiang went north via the Duzhijian and did not arrive in the capital until September 17, when it was presented to Zhu Changluo.

"Zhao Zhigao?" Zhu Changluo almost forgot this name.

"Your Majesty," Liu Ruoyu said solemnly, "Turn yourself in and return the stolen money of one million taels!"

Zhu Changluo was startled.

The memorial was found and he read it carefully.

"As a descendant of a famous family, I feel ashamed to live up to the teachings of my ancestors..." Zhao Zhigao began by introducing the origins of his family: a descendant of Zhao Yan, the "Iron-faced Censor" during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty.

In the final analysis, it is nothing more than saying that when he first started as an official, he also had ambitions and wanted to restore the reputation of his ancestors.

The words in between don't matter. Anyway, there is only one concept now: after Shen Yikuan went back, the two talked about the holy monarch who now rules the world.

After a while of flattery, he said one more thing: The Zhao family has always been cautious, but regarding the Zhejiang incident, he was willing to admit his mistakes over the years since he entered the cabinet, and he surrendered himself and returned the stolen money of one million taels of silver.

No beginning or end.

"…Is this really written by Lord Zhao?"

"I compared it with the memorials written by Lord Zhao in his early years, and it was indeed written by him." Liu Ruoyu replied.

Zhu Changluo stared at the contents in a daze.

One million taels... This was Shen Yikuan's first achievement after returning.

An old prime minister who had nothing to do with the matter suddenly came forward to take the blame for the one million taels of silver, and pointed out that the Zhao family was actually very cautious...

So how big is Zhejiang’s problem?
"…Did anyone read this memorial during the journey?"

Liu Ruoyu was startled: "Your Majesty, I will report to Eunuch Tian to check..."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Changluo waved his hand and stopped him.

Indeed, more than 270,000 taels were found in Changxing County, Huzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province. So what's so strange about the fact that the entire Zhejiang Province was in the millions of taels?
Zhu Changluo only painted a pie in the sky for Shen Yikuan before he left, but he didn't expect that after Shen Yikuan returned, he immediately gave him a guarantee through Zhao Zhigao: except for Huzhou and Jiaxing prefectures in Zhejiang, the rest of the prefectures and counties can find at least one million taels this year!
He was a little dazed for a moment.

Why was Shen Yi Guan so sure that he only wanted money and didn't care about the consequences? Why didn't he worry that Zhejiang's excessive money would lead to greater greed?

"Shi Min, am I too clear about my daily behavior?"

Liu Ruoyu was shocked: "How dare I speak nonsense?"

Zhu Changluo looked at his appearance, and after a long silence, he sighed.

Maybe it’s because of the temperament of an “old official” that he developed after working in officialdom for a long time.

Having experienced too much and having returned to an even more ancient era, Zhu Changluo had too low psychological expectations.

At this stage, the principle of only caring about stance rather than good or bad was eventually seen through by his subordinates.

Seeing that Zhao Zhigao frankly admitted in his memorial that he had resigned due to illness and said corny words like "I was old when you were born", Zhu Changluo had no choice but to forgive him.

And a little bit touching.

If the matter were to be leaked, even if Zhao Zhigao did not care about being labeled a "corrupt official" for the rest of his life, he would still help the emperor collect the million taels of silver from Zhejiang.

But this is obviously against human nature, so... Shen Yikuan is probably confident that he can control the impact of this matter.

Let Zhejiang offer enough silver without appearing to have big problems.

They are all professionals in whitewashing. As long as Zhu Changluo makes his attitude clear: he has taken the silver, and the past crimes really don't need to be investigated, pretending to be the people below is just because of the previous atmosphere.

"...King Xuan Xi Jue."

Zhu Changluo needs to discuss this matter with Wang Xijue.

When he arrived before the emperor, Wang Xijue was granted the privilege of seeing the original text of Zhao Zhigao's memorial, and then he knelt on the ground.

"Your Majesty's grace and power have been heard by Lord Zhao. I am willing to sacrifice my reputation for the sake of the country after my death..."

Zhu Changluo asked him to stand up and asked about the actual situation: "I have not received any other memorials. Regarding the Zhejiang matter, this should be him..."

Wang Xijue nodded: "The matter of Zhejiang has been mentioned before by the Yingtian Inspector and the Zhejiang Provincial Supervisor. Now that Shen Jianwu has returned to his hometown, Zhao... The Minister actually submitted a personal memorial, Your Majesty..."

Of course Wang Xijue recognized Zhao Zhigao's handwriting.

Zhao Zhigao, who had been paralyzed in bed for many years, suddenly submitted a handwritten memorial. It was really hard to imagine how Shen Yikuan persuaded him after he returned.

Of course, the words will not reveal the whole story.

The two questions facing us now are: What do these two old guys want? And should the people of Zhejiang be held accountable for this?
Wang Xijue did not make a clear statement, but only said: "I congratulate Your Majesty. This old minister is so loyal and diligent, and I am willing to share Your Majesty's worries. I think he should be treated with honor."

Zhu Changluo remained silent.

Wang Xijue added: "Your Majesty knows the officials and gentry of the world. The Wanli Dynasty is the Wanli Dynasty, and the Taichang Dynasty is the Taichang Dynasty. Your Majesty, since you have agreed to surrender this year and be pardoned..."

Zhu Changluo certainly understood. He was just wondering how many innocent souls in Zhejiang were buried under the one million taels of silver that Zhao Zhigao was willing to bear alone.

But his position required him to be ruthless.

"...In this case, I ask my father to grant an imperial decree to honor him." Zhu Changluo looked at Wang Xijue, "Yuan Yu, the Administrative Council should send a letter to Zhejiang to comfort and reward those who surrendered themselves and those who were wrongly accused in the cases investigated. Even if the court asks for less money, the people should be made aware of why the court did this!"

Wang Xijue bowed to the ground, his voice choking with sobs: "Your Majesty is merciful, and I am willing to obey your order. Your Majesty, the guilty can be pardoned, but how can the innocent be treated badly? I beg you to pardon Zhang Jiangling's sons and select and employ them!"

Zhu Changluo was a little surprised: "Wang Qing, do you think the time has come?"

"If Shen Jianwu had not done this, I would not have dared to say that the time has come!" Wang Xijue said frankly, "Your Majesty has exempted the three-year service silver for the education administration, water conservancy, roads and bridges, exempted the local post stations from heavy burdens, and improved the official family tradition. You have allowed pardons. I think the time has come! Since you have implemented the exemptions strictly, you are just waiting to make a concerted effort. Pardoning Zhang Jiangling's sons will benefit me!"

(End of this chapter)