The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 424 A good harvest?

At this moment, Zhong Hui fell silent like the other ministers.

In the minds of the ministers, there will definitely be problems with this autumn harvest.

After all, the emperor is arbitrary, treacherous ministers are in power, loyal and good people are persecuted, and scholars are tortured. This is simply the worst situation. In such a situation, what can go smoothly?

Well, there was a problem with the autumn harvest, and it was a big problem.

After the emperor's angry killing spree, grain revenue increased.

All the officials knew that corruption was a serious problem in the local area, but they did not expect it to be so serious.

Can this be improved?
What to say now?
Although treacherous officials were in power, loyal and honest people were persecuted, and the people were living in poverty, grain production increased? ?
This was almost a slap in the face of the ministers and scholars.

Although they were the emperor's confidants, they also felt a burning pain on their faces at this moment.

Zhong Hui was the first to react. He threw his head back and laughed, pointing in the direction of the palace and then at himself.

"With a sage king and wise ministers, isn't it natural for the harvest to be plentiful after autumn?"

The ministers reacted and nodded hurriedly.

"Is such that."

As long as they take the credit for the autumn harvest as their own, that would be fine, but they absolutely cannot let the credit be attributed to He Zeng.

Otherwise, I would have to kill more vigorously in the future.

He Zeng is now the most ferocious lackey around the emperor. He bites whoever he sees and regards the emperor as his backer. No matter whether you are from a noble family or an imperial family, he will definitely arrest you without hesitation.

This gave the ministers a headache.

At this moment, several Shangshu seemed to have just seen Guanqiu Jian. They all became enthusiastic and hurriedly started to greet him.

Guanqiu Jian responded to them, but his tone was definitely not too enthusiastic.

Upon learning of Guanqiu Jian's arrival, the three bigwigs of the Secretariat, Wang Chang, Chen Tai, and Xun Yi, also came to pay their respects.

Seeing Wang Chang, Guanqiu Jian finally took the lead in bowing and paying his respects.

Wang Chang was still very popular among these generals.

Wang Chang was very happy about his arrival and summoned many officials from the Secretariat to welcome this famous general.

After everyone sat down, Wang Chang spoke first, asking about the situation in Huainan and praising the situation in Yangzhou.

"I've seen it. The huge increase in grain production this year has a lot to do with Yangzhou. Yangzhou's grain output has skyrocketed this year, which is enough to show the general's ability in governing!"

Guanqiu Jian quickly replied, "This is due to your Majesty's grace."

"Earlier, His Majesty sent many new tools to Huainan, allowing me to use them on a large scale. This has greatly increased Huainan's grain production. By next year, grain output will surely increase even more."

Hearing these words, several ministers' eyes lit up.

"The general governs well, but this is also due to his good reputation. The existence of people like Ma Gong in the world is the reason for the good harvest after autumn."

They seemed to have found a reasonable explanation for themselves.

Guanqiu Jian didn't say anything more.

Xun Yi listened to everyone's words and couldn't help but said, "General, could you please come before His Majesty and give some advice and remonstration? This is He Zeng, and the bullying has gone too far and has reached a point where it must be dealt with!"

Guanqiu Jian said calmly, "I am an outsider general and do not know what is going on in the imperial court."

"How dare you even arrest the Minister of State? Your Majesty refuses to listen to our advice. If you hadn't advised us, we wouldn't even be able to gather all six ministers!"

Guanqiu Jian was a little surprised, "Arrest the Shangshu?"

It’s hard to say about other places in the temple, but the several secretaries in the Secretariat are all the emperor’s close relatives and confidants. How could he dare to take action against them?
Xun Yi said slowly, "The Minister of Rites, Pei Xiu, was captured by He Zeng a few days ago."

Guanqiu Jian frowned, he knew why Xun Yi came to see him.

Because Pei Xiu was recommended by Guanqiu Jian.

"What crime?"

"I have committed no crime at all. I was just late for the court meeting because I had to mourn the night before."

The Censorate originally only had the power to supervise and did not have the power to arrest people.

However, He Zeng changed this pattern. He set up a prison within the Censorate, which was totally against the imperial decree. However, anyone who submitted a memorial to impeach this matter was arrested by He Zeng.

The officials of the Wei and Jin dynasties were used to being lax, lawless, and self-important. Under He Zeng's attack, they quickly found themselves and became sober.

No one dared to come to He Zeng to cause trouble again.

He Zeng really would kill someone.

After Wang Rong was arrested, He Zeng impeached Wang Rong for disobedience and patricide and demanded that his entire family be executed.

Wang Rong's father died.

Wang Hun, the former governor of Liangzhou, was already in poor health. When he learned about his son's situation, he suddenly fell ill and died on his way back to Luoyang.

Just when everyone thought that Wang Rong could be dismissed from his crime and allowed to visit his father, He Zeng submitted a memorial, arguing that Wang Rong was responsible for Wang Hun's death and that Wang Rong's behavior was tantamount to patricide and should be punished according to the crime of patricide.

This made all the ministers unbelievable.

Wang Rong and Wang Xiang were from the same clan. If his three clans were executed, many people would be implicated, as many large clans had marriage ties with them.

The ministers were extremely frightened.

Before the ministers' panic had ended, Pei Xiu was arrested again. At this moment, Pei Xiu stood in the cell, staring solemnly at Guo Zhi who was standing outside.

Several dogs from the Guo family were sent under He Zeng's command, and they formed an alliance of evil thieves.

Guo Zhi now serves as the Chief Censor and cooperates very well with He Zeng. His cruelty to innocent people is appalling.

"I am innocent. If I have made a mistake, you can pay with your lives."

Pei Xiu looked unhappy.

He had been feeling upset recently because of too many government affairs, so he found a day, closed the door, and took some medicine in his mansion to relieve his fatigue.

I just didn't expect that this incident would delay my important work the next day and I would be half an hour late.

Then he was caught here.

Pei Xiu was very dissatisfied.

When will you, the Censorate, be able to arrest people? You can only impeach. Arresting people requires the Ministry of Justice or the Supreme Court of the Secretariat. Besides, it's just a delay, not missing out on important matters. Why are you doing this?

Guo Zhi stared at Pei Xiu in front of him and said with a sneer, "The big event you are talking about is the big event of joining Tao Qiuyi in rebellion, right?"

"I heard that you were dissatisfied with the court's handling of Tao Qiuyi, and therefore neglected government affairs. So, could it be that you are Tao Qiuyi's accomplice who has never been caught?!"

Pei Xiuren was shocked.

"You are slandering me!!"

"Tao Qiu and I have never had any contact before, how could I be his accomplice?!"

Guo Zhi ignored his explanation and said:
"Then why are you deliberately neglecting it?"

"We already have evidence that you contacted Tao Qiuyi!"

"Don't deny it!"

Guo Zhi then produced his evidence and showed the letter to Pei Xiu in front of him.

"In February of the sixth year of the Jiaping reign, Tao Qiuyi submitted a memorial to the emperor, calling for a crackdown on horse traders in Bingzhou, prohibiting the trade of horses to the Huai River. At the time, you submitted a petition in agreement. And you still dare to claim you're not an accomplice of Tao Qiuyi?!"

Pei Xiu's face flushed.

"Why don't you just say that my name contains the character 'yi' and that I'm Tao Qiuyi's accomplice!"

Guo Zhi put down the letter with a smile, "Just plead guilty. You can't get away with it anyway."

"Lord He has issued an order that there are too many criminals piling up in the prison. We don't need to wait until autumn. We can execute them after our crimes are fully investigated."

"Whether you admit it or not, you will be dragged out and executed in ten days, along with your clansmen."

"Someone, come and prepare some more snacks for Pei Gong so he can enjoy himself before he leaves!"

Guo Zhi gave the order and then turned around and left.

Pei Xiu looked confused.

In the following days, Pei Xiu's treatment took a sharp turn for the worse. He was imprisoned with those who were about to be executed. Every day, people who were corrupt and committed lawlessness were taken out for execution.

Pei Xiu was able to remain calm at first, thinking that as the emperor's confidant and an important official in the court, no one should dare to attack him. However, as the number of people around him continued to decrease and officials reminded him of the time limit, he finally couldn't bear it anymore.

He also felt a little fear in his heart.

Are these lunatics really going to behead themselves as a protest?!
Pei Xiu shouted that he wanted to write a letter to the people outside, but was ruthlessly rejected by those who imprisoned him.

At this moment, someone in the Censorate was also working hard on Pei Xiu's behalf.

"Lord Xun, please save my brother! He is definitely not an accomplice of Tao Qiuyi!"

Pei Kai knelt in front of Xun Xu, his face full of despair.

Xun Xu's Youbei Mansion was under the name of the Censorate. Strictly speaking, Pei Kai was also an official of the Censorate.

Upon learning that his brother was imprisoned, Pei Kai was eager to rescue him.

However, although Pei Kai had a father who was a governor, he was still a small figure in the court. He searched everywhere and finally set his sights on his chief official Xun Xu.

At this moment, Xun Xu was busy with all kinds of letters in front of him.

Seeing Pei Kai like this, he couldn't help laughing.

"You've been so distracted these past few days, it turns out it's because of this."

Pei Kai felt a little unhappy. Even if you didn't help, you shouldn't laugh at him with such gloating, right?

Xun Xu waved his hand and said, "Your brother will not die. Just focus on the things in your hands."

"But don't tell anyone about this. If you tell anyone, your brother will surely die."

Seeing that Pei Kai was still confused, Xun Xu didn't explain. "In a few days, you have to accompany me to Bingzhou. You are not old enough to understand the important affairs of the court."

"You have a lot to learn. If you want to become a minister who governs the country, you can't just be outstanding in appearance. In the future, you should pay more attention to government affairs and not worry about unnecessary things."

Xun Xu scolded Pei Kai rudely and drove him out.

During these days, Xun Xu has been extremely low-key and has been doing his own thing conscientiously, so he has not gotten into any trouble.

Xun Xu had guessed what would happen to Pei Xiu a long time ago. His Majesty had ordered officials not to drink excessively and to leave the country. As the Minister of Rites, you took the lead in leaving the country. Who else should be punished if not you?
But it's not necessary to kill him because of this.

Let's see if this guy can learn his lesson.

(End of this chapter)