Jiajing Chengming

"He's cruel!"

Liang Cai also tightly grasped Yan Song's memorial in his hand and uttered these three words.

Then, Liang Cai sighed and said, "It seems that I have to resign now!"

……

……

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue has reviewed the case and said that since Yan Song has produced evidence of wealthy merchants sabotaging the salt administration, it is indeed justified to punish him!"

"And Shirakura and others were willing to accept the tax payment in order to avoid punishment. They should have been grateful for the kindness of the Ministry (Yan Song), but they stirred up trouble for no reason and wanted the court to force the Ministry to return the tax. They are treacherous businessmen!"

"In addition, I request that the Minister of Revenue Liang Cai be dismissed from his post on the grounds that he failed to supervise the salt administration and salt distribution under the Ministry of Revenue!"

Royal study room.

Shortly after Liang Cai submitted a new review to the Ministry of Revenue, Yang Yiqing reported the Ministry's opinions to Zhu Houcong and also mentioned that Liang Cai had resigned from his post.

Zhu Houcong said: "Why didn't you produce the legitimate evidence against Yan Song earlier?"

"Your Majesty, Yan Song is probably thinking about the overall situation and wants to make a big deal out of a small matter."

"Because Jizhou sells Huai salt, it is actually related to the fact that Huai salt is indeed more cost-effective. We have to admit that Huai salt's craftsmanship and materials are indeed better, and its output is higher. Therefore, in order to make the soldiers and civilians in the border towns affordable, we can only default to Huai salt being sold in Jizhou and other places."

"It's just that some people don't appreciate it and force him to break this window paper."

Yang Yiqing then took the initiative to explain for Yan Song.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong asked, "Who is not grateful?"

"Your Majesty, it is naturally the Grand Master Liang Cai."

"Guan Jian, the Right Secretary of the Military Department, submitted a report saying that he checked the Ministry of War and found that more than one million dan of grain given by the Ministry of Revenue to the Ministry of War was still in the Ministry of Revenue's warehouse, and the Ministry of War had not taken it. However, Liang Cai told Yan Song that the Ministry of Revenue had no grain, only silver dollars!"

"So, I suspect that the Ministry of Revenue is condoning these unscrupulous merchants who have received a lot of official funds from the court. There may be corruption and corruption."

Zhang Cong then reported.

Zhu Houcong therefore ordered: "Bring Guan Jian's memorial here!"

It turned out that after Zhang Cong saw that Yan Song was impeached by Bai Cang through the Censorate, because Yan Song kept using reasons that were not enough to serve as a basis for punishment to evade the court, he privately said to Gui E:
"Master still wants to get along with the others, thinking that if he gives some benefits, the other party will let him go. Little does he know that as long as the Qingliu and the Emperor cannot be unified, then people in the world can't have the best of both worlds."

"Because the Qingliu pursued the idea of ​​the literati and the monarch sharing the world, they dared to disobey even the emperor for the public opinion held by the bureaucrats and gentry, let alone him, a minister?"

"That's exactly what it means!"

"But he won't turn back until he hits the wall. Yan Fenyi doesn't want to offend the people in the world and wants to live in disgrace, which is understandable."

"After all, not everyone is like us. For the sake of this country and the people, we have long put aside our future reputation and fate."

"However, after what happened, if he can come to his senses, we should still help him."

"Take this opportunity to eliminate those who don't tolerate us! Make them lose their heads!"

"This is the only way to ensure that Your Majesty can fully embark on the path of seeking the well-being of the country and the people to improve his reputation in the future, instead of having to make peace with these insects when he is fifty years old and his blood and spirit are declining!"

Gui E nodded and said.

Zhang Cong nodded and said, "I asked Li Jiayu (Li Chengxun) to prepare it."

When Yan Song really chose to break with the Qingliu and reported the salt merchants in Jizhou for violating the rules of Huai salt, Zhang Cong and Gui E, who had already entered the cabinet, saw it. Zhang Cong immediately said to Gui E with excitement:

"These hypocritical people really don't understand the good intentions of my master!"

"Yes, this is a rare opportunity!"

Gui E smiled and said to Zhang Cong, "Please use your hands to chop meat like a machete."

"It's a good opportunity to kill someone with a borrowed knife!"

Zhang Cong nodded.

Therefore, when Zhu Houcong asked Yang Yiqing in the imperial study about Yan Song's reply to the memorial and learned from Yang Yiqing the true situation reflected by Yan Song and the opinions of the Ministry of Revenue, Zhang Cong submitted the memorial impeaching Liang Cai by Guan Jian, the right censor of the military department, to the emperor.

Guan Jian had already criticized Liang Cai in private, saying that although Liang Cai was honest, he was biased and dishonest.

The reason was that as an official of the six ministries, Guan Jian had the power to inspect granaries, so naturally he found out some secrets.

However, Guan Jian did not rush to report the matter. Instead, after Li Chengxun was asked by Zhang Cong to help Yan Song, Li Chengxun persuaded him and promised to use Guan Jian in the future, which made Guan Jian make up his mind to impeach Liang Cai.

After reading Guan Jian's memorial, Zhu Houcong immediately issued an order saying, "Let Liang Cai defend himself!"

"Your Majesty, the Grand Tutor has always been honest and upright, and the world knows about it. He would not have the intention of hiding the official grain and embezzling it for his own benefit."

At this time, Yang Yiqing spoke up for Liang Cai.

Zhu Houcong said: "No matter how honest you are, you should not hide the official grain, and you should not conceal the truth from the ministers who represent me to tour Ji and Liao! This will not only affect the military and national affairs, but also show that you are not sincere in serving the emperor!" "Yes!"

After Liang Cai received the imperial edict impeaching him from Guan Jian, his face turned pale and his hands trembled.

"Why are there so many villains?"

"Why so many!"

Liang Cai then began to question again, and as he spoke he slammed the imperial edict on the table.

But Liang Cai couldn't deny it either.

Because this is indeed true.

The Ministry of Revenue did indeed still have more than one million shi of grain in its granaries.

Only the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue, as well as the censors of the two departments of Revenue and Military Affairs, knew about it.

Therefore, Liang Cai did not file a letter to defend himself, but only filed a letter to resign again.

"He has an ostrich mentality! He thinks that if he doesn't mention it, he can pretend it never happened!"

When Zhu Houcong saw that Liang Cai did not defend himself but resigned directly, he became furious on the spot and threw Liang Cai's memorial on the table: "Let him defend himself!"

Seeing this, Yang Yiqing explained: "The Grand Tutor may want Your Majesty to save some face for him."

"Why should I save his face?"

"First, he never came to ask me to save his face, and second, he never thought about saving my face!"

"The unscrupulous merchant reported Yan Song for abusing his constitutional power by imposing additional penalties on top of the regular price. Since he knew that Yan Song was someone I specially selected, did he ever consider my dignity?!"

After Zhu Houcong questioned him, he took a deep breath and said:

"I can think that he was just thinking about the country and being fair to the country, so I understand him! I won't take it seriously!"

"But as the Son of Heaven, I should be fair. He must give me a positive answer regarding the one million dan of grain. He cannot think that he can just ignore it and pretend it never happened!"

"I will not treat military and state affairs as a joke just to save someone's face!"

"I am not a tyrant!"

"I don't want the ministers to think that I am a tyrant!"

Zhu Houcong ordered again: "Let him come to see me! No, let Jinyiwei bring him to see me directly. He must explain this matter clearly to me!"

"Yes!"

After receiving the new decree, Liang Cai remained silent, but his lips trembled even more violently.

Soon after, Liang Cai came before the emperor under the escort of the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

Zhu Houcong looked at Liang Cai coldly and said, "Tell me, is what Guan Jian said true?"

Liang Cai did not answer.

"answer!"

Zhu Houcong's voice became much louder.

Liang Cai still didn't answer.

Zhu Houcong laughed out of anger: "Are you dumb? Then write it by hand!"

The people from the Imperial Household Department brought the four treasures of the study.

Liang Cai still did not respond.

"Deaf?"

Zhu Houcong asked again.

Liang Cai still did not respond.

Zhu Houcong's expression became increasingly grim, and he ordered, "Then drag him out and chop him off!"

"Yes!"

The Royal Guards walked in.

"true!"

At this time, Liang Cai replied, and then burst into tears. (End of this chapter)