Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 349: Your Majesty, please rule alone! Declare war on the traitors!
Yang Yiqing knew that ministers would come to ask him to rescue Wu Jing, and even ask why Wu Jing was imprisoned.

Therefore, Yang Yiqing was not surprised by the appearance of Wang Shizhong and Min Kai, and only replied: "It was I who put Wu Jing in the imperial prison."

Wang Shizhong and Min Kai were shocked.

"Why?"

"Doesn't Yuanfu know that he is Mr. Duizhai's man?"

Wang Shizhong asked.

Yang Yiqing said: "I don't care who he belongs to. Now they are threatening the court and are disloyal to Your Majesty. I can only be rude to them!"

The two were even more shocked when they heard what Yang Yiqing said.

Wang Shizhong couldn't help but ask Yang Yiqing: "Has the Prime Minister ever thought that offending Mr. Duizhai would offend the Qingliu Huliu party?"

"Yeah, isn't Yuan Fu really afraid of them?"

Min Kai asked.

Yang Yiqing sneered, "It's nothing more than accusing me of regicide. I don't have any offspring. If the family wants to avoid disaster, they can just remove me from the family. What should I be afraid of?"

After hearing this, Wang Shizhong and Min Kai bowed to Yang Yiqing with great respect, and then left Yang Yiqing's place.

Since it was Yang Yiqing who had Wu Jing imprisoned, they naturally had nothing to say.

Let’s talk.

After receiving the emperor's edict asking him to send the relevant criminals and charges to the capital, Shanxi Provincial Censor Ma Lu naturally knew that the emperor was determined to protect Guo Xun and his two uncles.

to this end.

Ma Lu summoned Tang Sheng, the prefect of Taiyuan, and said, "It is just as Mr. Duizhai expected! Your Majesty is determined to protect the two relatives of Guo Xun and Zhang."

Tang Sheng nodded and asked Ma Lu: "Then what should we do?"

"Guo Xun and Zhang are hated by the gentry of the world. They are greedy and flattering, helping the emperor to achieve the restoration of the country at the expense of the world's wealthy families! The gentry of the world are all worried about this."

"So, we must prove this case! Make sure all the charges are proven, so that the emperor cannot clear them even if he wants to!"

At this point, Ma Lu ordered Tang Sheng, "I will issue a warrant immediately to arrest the county magistrate Dai Ji, who refuses to admit that Zhang Yinyou changed his place of origin, and you will interrogate him! Use torture to force him to admit it!"

Tang Sheng nodded.

As a result, County Magistrate Dai Ji was tortured severely by Taiyuan Prefect Tang Sheng at the order of Ma Lu because he refused to admit that he had accepted bribes from Zhang Yin and ordered his subordinates to forge Zhang Yin's household registration.

"Say!"

"How much bribe did you receive from Zhang Yin? Did Guo Xun write to you?"

Ma Lu questioned Dai Ji.

Dai Ji cried and said, "I didn't accept his bribe, and I didn't receive any letter from Guo Xun, I really didn't!"

"Tang Futai, have your men continue to fight until he surrenders."

Ma Lu said coldly.

Dai Ji yelled, "Ma Lu, you are forcing a confession by torture!"

Ma Lu just laughed: "I think you really don't want to accept my toast. Do you think the higher-ups will know if I torture you to extract a confession?"

"I'm telling you, you'd better obey me obediently, otherwise your death today will be in vain!"

Ma Lu immediately stood up and pointed at Dai Ji and gave an order.

At this time, the prefect Tang Sheng came over and whispered to him, "A higher rank can crush a person, County Magistrate Dai, just accept it!"

Dai Ji had no choice but to say, "Okay, I obey and I admit it." Ma Lu smiled triumphantly, and then he sent a more complete confession of evidence and the corresponding criminals to the Ministry of Justice.

After receiving the evidence and confessions of the crimes and the corresponding criminals, Minister of Justice Tong Rui, together with Left Censor-in-Chief Wang Shizhong and Dali Temple Minister Dang Chengzhi, tried the case.

"Ma Lu and his team did a great job in this case. All the charges are very complete, and there is even circumstantial evidence that Zhang Yin was involved in a cult!"

"So, we can take this opportunity to ask for an investigation of Guo Xun and the two uncles-in-law. But what do you think?"

After the two men read the evidence and confessions, Minister of Justice Tong Rui also asked about Wang Shizhong and Dang Chengzhi first.

Wang Shizhong said after hearing this: "We can ask for an imperial decree, but the emperor's will is very clear. We must not involve the nobles who work for His Majesty. If we do so, it will anger His Majesty!"

Tong Rui nodded and said, "What the General Secretary said makes sense! But what Mr. Duizhai holds is the public opinion of the world! That is, Your Majesty can only use civil officials and gentlemen to do things, and cannot use corrupt people such as nobles and relatives to serve the emperor! If we really go against the public opinion of the world for the emperor's will, I am afraid that we will also be despised by the world!"

After hearing this, Wang Shizhong fell silent.

Dang Chengzhi, who was standing by, said, "Let's listen to public opinion. Ask for an imperial decree to investigate Guo Xun and the two uncles-in-law! Because there is definite news that the Japanese pirates have invaded the southern capital, which means that the big families in the south have been preparing for a large-scale Japanese invasion. If we don't listen to public opinion, there may really be chaos in the southeast! They are not only threatening your majesty, but also the ministers of the court!"

"Is this happening?"

Tong Rui stood up with a look of surprise.

Wang Shizhong also nodded: "I have heard that too, it seems that the inspection of Japan will not be successful!"

then.

Wang Shizhong looked at Tong Rui and Dang Chengzhi and said, "In the final analysis, Your Majesty, it is not the best strategy to seek restoration at the expense of the interests of the gentry and wealthy families in the world!"

"Even if you want to enrich the country, you might as well make the people suffer. The people can at least tolerate a little suffering, but the gentry cannot tolerate even a tiny loss of profit! Even if it is not as much as before, they will be dissatisfied. Therefore, since ancient times, even suppressing the powerful has been very difficult, let alone destroying the powerful."

"Then should we still ask for an imperial decree to investigate Guo Xun and the two uncles?"

"Let Your Majesty know that it is really hard to offend the bureaucrats and gentry in the world?"

Tong Rui asked at this time.

Dang Chengzhi stood up and said, "Of course we have to ask for your permission! Don't forget, we are also one of the bureaucrats and gentry. If Your Majesty does not repent, our lives will not be easy!"

Wang Shizhong and Tong Rui both nodded.

They admitted that Dang Chengzhi was right.

The emperor is now very powerful and refuses to compromise with the power of scholars, which indeed makes life difficult for these scholars.

Even if one holds a high position and has great power, he dare not seek personal gain.

Because the emperor no longer recognizes that they have great privileges in the judiciary, not only will serious corruption and protecting illegal family members be severely punished, but even dereliction of duty and laziness will be punished due to the strict performance evaluation!

Therefore, for officials who love laziness and have no ideals of serving the country and the people, the emperor's refusal to compromise with the power of scholars has indeed made it impossible for the arrogant scholar-officials to be like before. Although they do not have the title of masters of the country, they are the masters of the country in reality.

That is, his reputation cannot be slandered, he cannot be punished, and his personality must be respected by the emperor.

Now, since Ma Lu provided a complete chain of evidence, and the wealthy families in the south have already flexed their muscles to Emperor Jiajing and led the Japanese pirates to the outskirts of Nanjing, and the latest news from the south has not yet arrived, they don't know that Zhu Wan has already destroyed the Japanese pirates who had reinforced their troops on Shuangyu Island, the plan of the wealthy families in the south to attack the patrolling Japanese fleet has failed.

Therefore, they still echoed the previous reply of the Ministry of Justice in the name of the Three Judicial Departments, demanding the arrest and investigation of Guo Xun and the two uncles.

After Guo Xun learned about this through his people in the Tongzhengsi, he was also panicked and went directly to the emperor and cried to Zhu Houcong:

"Your Majesty! They are not coming for me, they are coming for you!"

"They are just dissatisfied with your ruling alone, Your Majesty, and your respect for your biological parents, going against their will!"

"So I ask Your Majesty to issue an order to impose martial law and let me lead the troops to wipe out the rebels! Arrest the officials of the three judicial departments, as well as Ma Lu, and those ministers who support the resolution of the Ministry of Justice!"

(End of this chapter)