Chapter 16: Above and Below the Court
"Your Majesty, the minister has a good song." Rukawa Kaede said.
"Say."
"In the hard-hit Jiangdong Province, Wilmar County, there was a tragedy, and it was the officials of our imperial court who did it."
As soon as he heard this, Liu Jing, the secretary of the military department, raised his head and looked at the young man standing in the middle of the main hall, showing gratitude.
"That's it, I'd like to see a book of excerpts, what did it come from? I drank too much last night, and I can't remember it clearly. Liuchuan Xinghe muttered to himself in a low voice.
Liu Jing came out and said, "Your Majesty, it was played by the ministers." ”
"Then let's talk about it."
"Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites (note: is a five-grade official, although the official position is not big, but it is central, and the real power is not small) He Shuishui, in the name of His Majesty, deducted the disaster relief silver issued by the imperial court to Wilmar County two, three thousand taels!"
"What?! Dare to ruin His Majesty's reputation for wisdom and martial arts like this, didn't this guy eat the heart of a bear and a leopard's gall? "Hubu Shangshu Zhang Buxian patted the sycophants at the right time.
"Wilmar County, Zhizhou (equivalent to today's county magistrate) Fan Cheng is dedicated to the people, and he is unwilling to hand over the silver taels to He Shuishui, but unexpectedly, in one night, more than ten members of Fan Cheng's family were killed!" Liu Jing said loudly.
"Who did it? Is there such a big gut in that little boy? Dare to slaughter local officials of the imperial court without permission?! The Emperor was furious and asked sharply.
"They claimed to be a group of desperate victims who wanted to rebel, but someone later discovered that things were not simple, and the 'disaster mob' was pretended to be by the guards who followed He Shuishui, and later he ransacked Fan Zhizhou's house, but it seemed that nothing was gained."
"Bold! What kind of water and who is this? What is the background in the DPRK? The Emperor gave his ministers a serious look.
"Your Majesty, he was a jinshi in the third year of the Apocalypse, and later performed well in the Hanlin Academy (note: equivalent to today's highest academic institution, an important institution for cultivating talents in the empire), and was left and right under the Ministry of Rites (the largest official under the Shangshu, Zheng Sanpin, also divided into left and right Shilang, right, slightly smaller. Mi Zhu took a fancy to him and was exceptionally promoted, and he has tried to go all the way smoothly in the past ten years, but he is quite capable. "Hubu Shangshu Zhang did not show up like a few treasures, and said the other party's resume very clearly.
"I didn't expect that there would be such a wolf-hearted beast in my Ministry of Rites! It's really angry with me, my crime is also, I didn't supervise and govern my subordinates, Your Majesty, please order He Shuishui to be arrested, handed over to the Criminal Department for review, and then punish the ministers for half a year, which can be regarded as an explanation to Fan Zhizhou's family. ”
He Fang, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, was very angry when he came out, and severely reprimanded the other party, first saying that he was wrong, avoiding the important and making him look like a big loyal minister, but the important ministers in the court, who doesn't know whose details?
After a few days of forgetting to sleep and eat, collecting information and details of various cases, Liuchuan Feng also had a preliminary understanding of them, this He Fang, there must be a problem, and the problem will not be small!
He was his first target, but he didn't say that he would directly aim his gun at him as soon as he came up, the other party was not a petty official like He Shuishui, but it was not easy to deal with, it was an important minister, there was a huge group of forces in the imperial court, and he was ready to start from a small place to eradicate this behemoth.
"Go ahead and do it." Liuchuan Xinghe made a will, so the people of the Criminal Department quickly acted.
Liu Jing and Liuchuan Feng glanced at each other, didn't say anything, just nodded lightly, but He Fang's eyes were full of evil looks towards the two of them, as if telling Liuchuan Feng, "Hello, you're good!" You did it to me when you first arrived, you wait, boy, fight me, you're still too tender. ”
With an innocent face and an honest smile, Rukawa Kaede stopped looking at his disgusting face.
The right of the Metropolitan Procuratorate (with the Criminal Department and Dali Temple, known as the "Three Justices", there are major cases and tripartite trials, known in history: the three divisions will be tried) of the right Inspectorate (almost the same level as Shangshu, for the second grade, left and right are imperial history, right, slightly lower. Hua Chao walked out, his steps heavy.
"Your Majesty, Weichen has a book."
"Hua Aiqing, are you going to talk about the queen's rights and wrongs again?" The emperor rubbed his temples, he had a headache, and it was difficult for him to deal with this matter.
"Exactly! Weichen's little daughter, Hua Guifei, died unjustly in the room, as far as I know, she did not commit suicide, but died unexpectedly! Please also ask Your Majesty to call the shots and give justice to the little girl who is also Your Majesty's concubine! ”
"But the imperial doctor has already explained that she is hanging the white silk."
"That imperial doctor was coerced and bought by the queen, so naturally I learned from another imperial doctor that the little girl was hung up after she died, and she died so unjustly and miserably!"
Hua Chao cried bitterly, his body fell to the ground, and he was extremely sad, and Rukawa Feng was also very sympathetic to this minister, who was over half a hundred years old, of course, he was now more willing to believe what he said than the queen.
"Then what evidence do you have that the queen did?" Liuchuan Xinghe was a little angry and asked coldly.
"The little girl has a personal palace maid, and she saw Her Royal Highness the Queen send someone to poison her diet."
"Ridiculous! The queen came to the mother of the world, how could she do such a thing, someone must be framing, come on, go and cut off the tongue of the palace maid, and see who dares to chew the root of the tongue! The Emperor was furious again and made such a cruel decree.
"Your Majesty, no!"
Of course, Liuchuan Feng stood up, he was not afraid of the emperor's angry gaze, straightened his waist, and said: "Your Majesty, don't say what the truth of this matter is, Concubine Hua is already an immortal after all, and I am afraid it will be inappropriate to treat her palace maid like this, Your Majesty is a generation of Ming Jun, so hurting Your Majesty's glorious and generous reputation, it will naturally bring discredit to Her Royal Highness the Empress, I think it is better to expel her from the palace and count it as a punishment." ”
Unexpectedly, the importance of the queen's aunt in His Majesty's heart is much stronger than I expected, it seems that the affairs of the harem still have to be planned slowly, Liuchuan Feng thought helplessly in his heart, the road ahead is difficult, and there is a long way to go.
"Your Majesty, you are wronged, you have to be the master of the little girl." Hua Chao is still shouting that he has been wronged.
"Drag it off."
Liuchuan Xinghe was so angry, but it was not good to punish him again, after all, he didn't do anything wrong, not to mention that Liuchuan Feng just said that it would damage his reputation as a Mingjun.
"Scatter the dynasty."
In this way, this early dynasty ended, and the emperor left with an unhappy face.
"Feng Tongzhi, if someone from an unknown source appears next to you recently, then you have to be careful, they must be going to kill you."
Walking on the square, Liu Jing whispered.
"Thank you, Lord Liu, I'll invite you to dinner another day." Rukawa Kaede replied.
"Okay, but there have been too many things lately, I'll invite you to drink when I have time, but I've heard about the beautiful battles you fought in the north, and even I'm a little ashamed." Liu Jing replied with a smile.
"Haha, it's a fluke, how dare the kid be compared to General Liu? You are the founding general, and your exploits can fill a room. Rukawa Kaede humbly complimented.
"Hahaha, the prince really can speak, okay, yes, yes, we will cooperate more in the future."
"There's a chance."
At this time, He Fang and Li Dongsheng walked over side by side and glanced at them coldly.
"Humph!"
With a cold snort, they walked away, and Rukawa Kaede just smiled and didn't react.
Back at the Jinyiwei office, Han had been waiting for a long time.