Chapter 338. Far-reaching planning (medium).
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"Oh? What is the statement? Emperor Deqing asked with interest.
Zhao Junchen said slowly: "At the beginning, during the prince's trial of the 'Southern Tour Preparation Fraud Case', Huai'an was the hardest hit area, in addition to the prefect Li Xin, there was also a fellow governor, a general judge, and four prefects, all of whom were convicted of embezzlement, and they were also dismissed and imprisoned. Regarding these criminals, the minister also took the time to check in the past two days, and found that they were different from Li Xin, all of them were conclusive and irrefutable, and there was absolutely no possibility of being framed! ”
Hearing Zhao Junchen say this, Emperor Deqing's eyes lit up, and he seemed to have guessed Zhao Junchen's thoughts.
Zhao Junchen continued: "The minister thinks that if you alone reduce Li Xin's culpability, it will definitely be very eye-catching, and it will also make the world notice the prince's negligence, which will damage the prestige of His Royal Highness the prince, so you might as well put all the criminals involved in the 'Southern Tour Preparation Fraud Case' in Huai'an together, use their cases as a cover, and at the same time focus on the correctness of these cases, and then mention Li Xin's matter a little, saying that although Li Xin has a large amount of property of unknown origin, the evidence of the crime is insufficient. The charges are to be discussed, and some sentences are inevitably excessive, so he is specially exempted from prison and only dismissed from office for the people -- in this way, Li Xin's handling results will not be eye-catching, and the people of the world will not focus on His Royal Highness the Prince's omissions, let alone damage His Royal Highness's prestige, after all, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has made some mistakes, but most of the trial results are correct, and after all, the flaws are not concealed, not to mention that Li Xin does have a large amount of property whose origin is unknown, and it is not certain that he is a clean official with clean sleeves. ”
Side. Although Bao Wenjie's position was somewhat shaken, he still raised objections again. Said: "Lord Zhao, it seems that you didn't grasp the point!" This method of yours. Although it has maintained the prestige of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the crime of 'huge wealth of unknown origin' has finally appeared, which will inevitably cause turmoil in the imperial court! What's more, Li Xin is a clean official, and your statement still wronged him! How can this convince the officials? ”
Zhao Junchen smiled slightly and explained in detail: "If I change this statement, then 'the origin of the huge amount of property is unknown' is no longer a 'crime', but a 'reason'!" This is both a ground for upholding the Prince's original sentence. It is also the reason for His Majesty to reduce Li Xin's punishment! After all, there is a difference between 'reason' and 'crime', and it will not cause panic among officials. After all, an official who copied nearly 100,000 taels of silver from his home will inevitably cause all kinds of speculation, and it is no longer difficult to win the trust of the people, and such a person is not suitable to serve as a local parent official, so you might as well use this as a reason to first exempt Li Xin from punishment and then remove Li Xin from office as a citizen. I think it is appropriate to uphold His Royal Highness the Prince's original verdict from the side. ”
On the side, Huo Zhengyuan nodded again and again: "Lord Zhao is really smart, but he said it in a different way." But it is already comprehensive, and turning all kinds of hidden dangers into invisible is a safe and old strategy. ”
The other side. Just when Bao Wenjie was hesitating, Emperor Deqing finally made his position clear.
"Junchen's approach. It is deeply heartfelt, and it is indeed feasible. In my opinion, let's just decide. Emperor Deqing first glanced at Zhao Junchen with appreciative eyes, and then turned his head to Bao Wenjie and said: "Bao Shilang, I know that you have a strong temperament, and this is also what I value you, but as an important minister of the imperial court, you can't be blinded, in addition to being upright, you also need to focus on the overall situation, plan far-reaching, and be flexible. ”
"Minister...... Got it. ”
Since Emperor Deqing has made a final decision, although Bao Wenjie has different opinions, he can only accept it reluctantly.
It's just that when answering, Bao Wenjie's expression was obviously a little dissatisfied, and he seemed to be unconvinced.
On the contrary, Zhao Junchen on the side, although he was praised by Emperor Deqing, his expression was still calm.
In fact, Emperor Deqing would eventually accept Zhao Junchen's proposal, which was also expected by Zhao Junchen.
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As mentioned above, once the crime of "the origin of the huge amount of property is unknown" is established, it will cause panic among the officials and turmoil in the imperial court, but it will also further increase the deterrent effect of the imperial power, which can be described as a mixed pros and cons for the Deqing Emperor, and it is difficult to choose.
However, Zhao Junchen's method solved Emperor Deqing's troubles.
Turning "a huge amount of property from unknown origin" from a crime into a reason, just a slight change in the name, can not only reduce the attention and panic of the hundred officials, but also become a stepping stone for the Deqing Emperor, so that the Deqing Emperor can test the reaction of the hundred officials through the results of this case, if the reaction of the hundred officials is not so intense, the Deqing Emperor will step by step establish the "unknown origin of the huge amount of property" as a real crime, and become a means for the emperor to deter his courtiers!
For these considerations, it is not surprising that Emperor Deqing would eventually adopt Zhao Junchen's method -- according to Zhao Junchen's method, Emperor Deqing not only gave an account to Li Jiamin, but also preserved the prestige of the crown prince, and even added another means of expanding imperial power, which can be described as "killing three birds with one stone".
Therefore, Emperor Deqing's next interest was quite high, thinking of Zhao Junchen, Huo Zhengyuan, and Bao Wenjie, who had been investigating the case in the past few days, and Emperor Deqing also deliberately rewarded them with a few words, among them, Zhao Junchen and Huo Zhengyuan guessed Emperor Deqing's mind correctly, and Emperor Deqing picked some palace royal products to reward the two.
Zhao Junchen, as Emperor Deqing's favorite minister, often gets the commendation and reward of Emperor Deqing, and now he is rewarded and rewarded by Emperor Deqing again, although he looks grateful on the surface, but in fact he is in a very calm mood, just secretly thinking about his next plan - in fact, this construction is only the first step in Zhao Junchen's plan.
However, because of his personality, Huo Zhengyuan usually has no expression in the temple, and he rarely gets holy favors, and this time he was rewarded and rewarded by Emperor Deqing, so he was inevitably a little flattered.
Flattered, Huo Zhengyuan considered that the reason why he guessed Emperor Deqing's mind correctly this time was because of Zhao Junchen's reminder, and he was more and more grateful to Zhao Junchen in his heart, and even felt that if he took refuge in Zhao Junchen, it would be a good choice.
After all, Zhao Junchen can at least "share the blessings", not like Huang Yourong who has the holy grace alone.
Of course, such an idea was just a flash, and these benefits alone were not enough for Huo Zhengyuan to change his position.
However, Huo Zhengyuan's favor for Zhao Junchen has indeed increased, and this favorability will also affect Huo Zhengyuan's final choice in a certain way when Huang Yourong falls in the future.
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PS: First update!
…… (To be continued......)