……

……

Before leaving Beijing, Zhao Junchen left many plans in the capital.

Now, these plans are being implemented gradually, some of them are working, some are not working at all, and some are even counterproductive!

However, Zhao Junchen has no way to modify these plans.

Because, Zhao Junchen was in Huai'an City at this time, more than 2,300 miles away from the capital.

Therefore, Zhao Junchen did not worry about the changes in the capital - even if he worried, it was useless - for Zhao Junchen, the important thing was to deal with the things in front of him.

For example, the corruption case of Li Xin, the former governor of Huai'an.

How this matter should be explained to Emperor Deqing requires a lot of thought.

*

On the second day after arriving in Huai'an City, Zhao Junchen, Huo Zhengyuan, and Bao Wenjie went to the Huai'an Mansion to begin a review of Li Xin's corruption case.

After entering the Huai'an Mansion, Zhao Junchen and others soon met He Hengze, the prefect of Huai'an - as rumored, He Hengze is a "good gentleman" who is easy to communicate, when Zhao Junchen and Huo Zhengyuan, Bao Wenjie showed their identity and intentions, they were warmly welcomed by him, and He Hengze was also responsive and actively cooperated with Zhao Junchen and others.

In the face of He Hengze's diligence and flattery, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but sigh again - why in the officialdom, it is always corrupt officials who are easy to get along with?

Or maybe it's because corrupt officials don't have many principles – as long as they don't violate their fundamental interests, corrupt officials always understand the importance of "flexibility" and "tolerance".

However, Zhao Junchen did not sigh for too long. Soon it was hectic and busy.

Rummaging through files, collecting clues, looking for witnesses, and arraigning Li Xin again......

After two days of busyness, gradually. The truth of the case is getting clearer and clearer, and Bao Wenjie's face is getting more and more ugly.

Originally. The reason why the crown prince Zhu and Yu concluded that Li Xin was a corrupt official was because some corrupt officials in Huai'an were arrested and imprisoned by the prince Zhu and Yu, and they all swore that Li Xin was their mastermind; The second is because the "intelligence" collected by the East Factory shows that Li Xin has shown signs of corruption and bribery, and the third is also because Li Xin's family has copied a huge amount of silver taels.

Therefore, under the "conclusive evidence", the crown prince Zhu Heyu also lightly concluded that Li Xin was a corrupt official, and dismissed Li Xin from office, arrested and imprisoned.

However, after Zhao Junchen, Huo Zhengyuan, and Bao Wenjie carefully reviewed the case, the information they got was completely different.

According to the information found by the three men. Li Xin, the former prefect of Huai'an, was obviously a clean official, and there was no sign of corruption or bribery or abuse of power for personal gain during his tenure as an official. Although the family is rich and tens of thousands of taels of silver were copied during the raid, considering that Li Xin's ancestors were all famous businessmen, it is also very likely that this silver is Li Xin's inheritance of the ancestral business, and it is all clean silver.

As for the "criminal evidence" collected by Dongchang and the evidence of other corrupt officials, it is completely unbelievable.

All aspects of intelligence show that Dongchang once asked Li Xin for benefits, but Li Xin flatly refused, and Dongchang was out of revenge. will fabricate charges to frame Li Xin, and most of the other corrupt officials in Huai'an were convicted by the crown prince Zhu and Yu because of the information provided by Li Xin, and they also provided false testimony under the hint of Dongchang in order to retaliate against Li Xin.

So. Li Xin is a clean official, he was wronged!

After confirming this, Bao Wenjie's expression kept changing. It seems to have taken a huge hit.

Because of this incident, the image of the crown prince Zhu and Yu is wise and sageful, and the image of Mingjian Wanli. A crack appeared in Bao Wenjie's heart.

Bao Wenjie never thought that a saintly and wise person like Prince Zhu and Yu would make mistakes! And also made such a strict mistake. He actually framed a well-known Qing official as a corrupt official, and let this clean official suffer a lot in prison!

When Li Xin was arraigned, Li Xin was scarred and extremely weak, and he looked like he would not be able to stand it at any time, obviously Li Xin offended a lot of people during his official period in Huai'an, so after being imprisoned, some people took the opportunity to take revenge, and he had been tortured for a long time, if Zhao Junchen and others were a few days late, maybe Li Xin would have died unjustly in prison.

Therefore, Bao Wenjie was in a conflicted mood, but also had more sympathy for Li Xin, after all, he was also a clean official, and when he saw Li Xin's appearance, he couldn't help but feel a little concerned.

…………

After finding out the facts of the case, that night, Zhao Junchen, Huo Zhengyuan, and Bao Wenjie got together to discuss how they should report the case to Emperor Deqing next.

At first, all three were silent, just waiting for the others to show their attitudes.

After all, the truth of the case is now obvious, but if it is reported according to the truth, it will affect the reputation of the crown prince Zhu and Yu, and there will be a series of chain reactions.

As a result, all three of them are in a dilemma.

Among them, Bao Wenjie is particularly contradictory, on the one hand, his own conscience, on the other hand, to maintain the prestige of the crown prince Zhu and Yu, one of the two must be abandoned, this situation makes Bao Wenjie's mood extremely entangled.

However, between the silence, in the end, it was Bao Wenjie who took the lead in expressing his attitude, and said slowly: "Now, the facts of the case are obvious, Li Xin is a rare Qing official, and he is also a loyal minister of my Ming Dynasty, such a person should not be wronged, so we should report to His Majesty according to the truth and return Li Xin's innocence." ”

In the end, because of his upright nature, conscience in his heart, and some sympathy, Bao Wenjie made such a decision.

Although this decision will bring some trouble to the crown prince Zhu and Yu, Bao Wenjie believes that the prince Zhu and Yu will also support his choice.

This is because the "princelings" are basically composed of clean officials and clear streams, and this is related to the fundamental interests of the "princelings"!

However, after Zhao Junchen and Huo Zhengyuan glanced at each other, they shook their heads.

Zhao Junchen took the lead and said: "I don't approve of Lord Bao's suggestion. As important ministers of the court, we should focus on the overall situation at all times! So at this time. We should prioritize the prestige of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, not whether an official has been wronged. Therefore, I built yì to uphold the original sentence of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince on the grounds of 'the origin of the huge amount of property is unknown', but considering that Li Xin did do a lot of practical things for the people during his time as an official, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also had a somewhat heavy sentence, we can ask His Majesty to reduce Li Xin's guilt and let Li Xin go home to retire and retire for the rest of his life, which can be regarded as worthy of him. ”

Because there had been an exchange beforehand, Huo Zhengyuan also had Zhao Junchen's opinion, and nodded: "I agree with Lord Zhao's opinion." Compared with the prestige of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, whether Li Xin was wronged or not is nothing, so Li Xin must be guilty! For the sake of the overall situation, sacrificing some personal interests is also the responsibility of the courtiers...... Of course, we will not let Li Xin be wronged in vain, and after the original verdict is maintained, it is also appropriate to reduce Li Xin's sentence, I think this is also His Majesty's thoughts. Otherwise, His Majesty would not have let us review the case. ”

Bao Wenjie originally thought that Zhao Junchen and Huo Zhengyuan would support his views, after all, after the prestige of the crown prince Zhu and Yu was damaged, it would be beneficial for both of them.

At this time, after hearing Zhao Junchen and Huo Zhengyuan's mention. Bao Wenjie couldn't help but be a little surprised-could it be that Zhao Junchen and Huo Zhengyuan would really think about the prestige of the crown prince Zhu Heyu? - Bao Wenjie only felt that he had a problem with his ears.

For a moment, for Zhao Huo and the two of them. Bowen Jie was really impressed, thinking it was the best of both worlds.

But. After putting himself in Li Xin's shoes, Bao Wenjie still shook his head. still insisted on his own opinion, and said: "For a clean official like Li Xin, reputation is the most important thing in his life, if we still maintain his crime, I am afraid that it will make him uncomfortable than killing him!" Therefore, Lord Zhao's mention is absolutely impossible. ”

After a pause, thinking back to Zhao Junchen's suggestion, Bao Wenjie felt a little funny again, and said: "The original verdict was upheld on the grounds of 'the origin of the huge amount of property is unknown'? I don't remember that I was charged with such a crime! ”

Zhao Junchen said slowly: "It is true that our dynasty does not have this crime, but the Son of Heaven has a golden mouth and a jade word, and his words follow the law, as long as His Majesty approves it, then this crime will naturally be there." After all, Li Xin's family property is as high as nearly 100,000 taels of silver, but he can't explain the origin of all the silver, and there may be embezzlement and bribery among them, so this crime is not wrong. ”

Bao Wenjie sneered: "In this world, who can tell the origin of every tael of silver in his family's property?" Once this crime is confirmed, will not everyone in the world be guilty? What's more, although Li Xin's family property is huge, it is only a drop in the bucket compared to Lord Zhao. ”

Zhao Junchen said with a smile: "The so-called 'clean official' is the 'clean' of 'honest', not the 'clean' of 'poor', I naturally understand this, but now for the sake of His Royal Highness the Prince's prestige, we can only find such a reason, after all, we really can't catch Li Xin's other tricks." As for Lord Bao saying that I am digging my own grave...... I also thank Lord Bao for his concern, but since I dare to propose this proposal, I will not worry that someone will use this trick against me in the future, and please rest assured that Lord Bao is. ”

In fact, Zhao Junchen's mention is not only to "maintain" the reputation of the crown prince Zhu Heyu, but also has longer-term considerations, but Zhao Junchen will not explain it to Bao Wenjie in detail.

As for Bao Wenjie's statement that Zhao Junchen's mention was "digging his own grave", Zhao Junchen was not worried.

If Zhao Junchen falls, his political enemies can fabricate seventy or eighty charges for Zhao Junchen at any time as long as they are willing, and there is no need to look for the reason for "the unknown origin of the huge amount of property": if Zhao Junchen does not fall, the so-called "unknown source of the huge amount of property" will not have any impact on Zhao Junchen at all.

In fact, once Li Xin is convicted of "a huge amount of wealth of unknown origin", then the most vulnerable will only be the middle and lower level officials of the imperial court, and this is the real reason why Zhao Junchen proposed this construction!

*

In the end, after repeated debates, Bao Wenjie, Huo Zhengyuan, and Zhao Junchen still insisted on their own opinions, Bao Wenjie insisted on overturning the case for Li Xin, and Huo Zhengyuan and Zhao Junchen also insisted on upholding the original verdict.

Things in this world are so strange, Bao Wenjie is obviously a hardcore confidant of Prince Zhu and Yu, but he insists on overturning the verdict of Prince Zhu and Yu, while Zhao Junchen and Huo Zhengyuan are obviously hostile to Prince Zhu and Yu, but at this time, the primary goal is to maintain the reputation of Prince Zhu and Yu!

In the final analysis, above the officialdom, the so-called "position" is often the most unreliable thing, everyone has their own starting point of interests, and with different starting points of interests, the so-called "position" will often change!

Huo Zhengyuan wanted to please Emperor Deqing, so he wanted to maintain the original verdict, Zhao Junchen had some other considerations in addition to currying favor with Emperor Deqing, so he also insisted on maintaining the original verdict, as for Bao Wenjie, the reason why he insisted on overturning the case for Li Xin was not because he himself was also a clean official, so he was concerned?

In the end, because no one could convince anyone, Zhao Junchen, Huo Zhengyuan, and Bao Wenjie no longer insisted on debating, but just waited for Emperor Deqing to come to Huai'an, and then explained their respective views to Emperor Deqing respectively.

Moreover, according to the news, Emperor Deqing will soon be in Huai'an!

……

PS: I don't know why, but it's going to be very busy on weekends, and there's always a bunch of things to do.

…… (To be continued......)