In the middle of the night of May 20, the 27th year of Jiajing, a fire broke out in the Hangzhou Mansion Jail.

The fire was so intense that it burned all night.

By the next day, the prison had been burned to the ground. Naturally, the prisoners in the prison were burned to death.

This incident alarmed the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Zhu Kun.

Governor Zhu immediately rushed to the Hangzhou government to inspect the situation.

In the face of the reprimand of the governor, Zheng Youhe, the prefect of Hangzhou, was so silent that he didn't even dare to come out.

Although he was not directly responsible for this incident, he did not run away from joint and several liability. If you want to dig deeper, a crime of negligence will certainly not be stopped.

It would be just a normal time, but recently a group of prisoners with special identities have been imprisoned in the Hangzhou government prison.

These prisoners were all pirates captured after the Battle of Shuangyu a month earlier.

Most of the pirates have been executed, and the Governor has deliberately left some of the leaders behind to interrogate him with useful information.

Isn't it too coincidental that a fire suddenly broke out at this time and burned the prison clean?

Zhu Kun was naturally very angry.

It's just that he forced himself under pressure and didn't have a seizure.

There is no doubt that this fire was deliberately set by someone.

The arsonists didn't want Zhu Kun to extract useful information from them. And the person who set the fire is likely to have an internal response in the government.

Officials and businessmen collude, a nest of snakes and rats.

This is something that Zhu Su absolutely can't bear.

Today, Zhu Kun finally understands why the plague in the southeast can never be eliminated.

"The order will go down, and this matter will be investigated to the end."

Zhu Su flicked his sleeves and walked away.

It's an attitude.

He Zhu Su will not give in.

Zheng Youhe, the prefect of Hangzhou, followed closely behind, wiping the sweat from his temples with his sleeve from time to time.

Things have gotten to this point, and they must not be good.

The Governor also made it clear that he would pursue the matter to the end.

As the prefect of Hangzhou, Zheng Youhe naturally has to express his position.

It's just that the person behind this arsonist is not easy to mess with.

On one side is a Zhejiang maritime businessman, and on the other side is the governor, Zheng Youhe is caught in the middle like an angry little daughter-in-law.

When he came to the back hall, Zhu Su sat down in his robe.

Zheng Youhe didn't dare to sit, his hands were tied like a small guy.

"These maritime merchants are really a cancer of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Su said hatefully.

"What the Lord of the Ministry said is very true."

Zheng Youhe hurriedly sent a sycophant.

"Others dare not touch this cancer, for fear of splashing themselves. Over time, the tumor grows bigger and bigger. As everyone knows, what he absorbed was the blood of the Ming Dynasty. ”

After a pause, Zhu Kun continued: "Now that the tail is too big, it is difficult to move." ”

Zheng Youhe saw that Zhu Kun had such a thorough understanding of the nature of Zhejiang's woes, and he had the heart to advise: "The ministers are loyal and patriotic, and the officials are extremely admired. However, freezing three feet is not a day's cold. Zhejiang's troubles have become what they are today, and it is not the fault of one person. Why should the lord of the ministry take all the responsibility on his shoulders? As long as Your Majesty sees the past, the Cabinet can see the past. ”

Who knew that Zhu Kun scolded sharply after hearing this: "If everyone thinks like you, Daming will rot to the root sooner or later." ”

Zheng Youhe kindly persuaded him, but when he saw Zhu Kun's attitude, he didn't say anything more.

"The official has made up his mind, and Governor Zheng can just act according to his orders. The official will not pit you, the sky will fall and the official will bear the responsibility. ”

Zhu Kun's purpose in saying this is to tell Zheng Youhe not to have any worries and let go of his hands and feet.

If something really happened, the board wouldn't hit him.

"The lower officials strictly follow the teachings of the minister."

Zhu Kun said everything about this, and Zheng Youhe naturally wanted to express it.

Although he admires Zhu Kun very much, he really doesn't think that Zhu Kun can do anything over the Fujian, Zhejiang and Maritime Business Group.

After all, there is only one person in Zhu Kun, but the other party is a group of people.

No matter how brave the Governor is, he is invincible with two fists and four hands.

...

...

The fire in the Hangzhou Mansion Prison is like a mirror, reflecting all kinds of cows, ghosts, snakes and gods.

There are pro-sea business factions, neutral factions, and forbidden factions in Zhejiang officialdom.

For example, Zhu Kun, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, is an outright forbidden sea faction.

As for Zheng Youhe, the prefect of Hangzhou, he is a neutral faction, and neither side is offended.

The Governor ordered him to pursue the arson, and he ordered it to be investigated. But he was able to maintain a proper degree from beginning to end, not crossing the line.

After all, the core of mixed officialdom is the word "mixed". The more you do, the more you get wrong.

Naturally, there are many officials of the pro-sea merchant faction.

They took the silver of the filial piety of the local maritime merchants, so naturally they could not sit idly by.

As a result, the Zheng Governor's Office encountered many obstacles in the process of investigating the case. Every time there is a clue, an accident will occur, and the clue will be suddenly interrupted.

Of course, Governor Zheng understood what this meant, and continued to change the other direction.

With such a low tracking efficiency, Zhu Kun naturally couldn't sit still.

For the first time, he felt a sense of powerlessness.

He really didn't expect that Zhejiang officialdom had been rotten to this point. Instead, the high-ranking officials of the imperial court became the umbrella of local smuggling maritime merchants.

It's heartbreaking!

However, Zhu Kun did not have the slightest intention of retreating.

Even if he is outnumbered, even if he is on the opposite side of the entire pro-sea faction.

Although tens of millions of people have gone to me.

There must always be one or two people standing in the Ming officialdom!

...

...

After living in Ningbo for more than a month, Xu Yan set off for Hangzhou.

Accompanying him was Shen Mingchen.

Shen Mingchen has already taken care of the affairs at home, and he has the heart to change the environment.

As for Xu Yan, in addition to going to Hangzhou to meet his teacher and fiancée, the most important thing is to meet Zhu Kun.

Although Xu Yan won a good public opinion environment for Zhu Kun by writing "The Story of the Anti-Japanese War", he was able to handle government affairs in a more ideal state.

But Xu Yan was still a little relieved about Zhu Yan's straightness.

After some consideration, Xu Yan decided to recommend Shen Mingchen to Zhu Kun as a guest.

In history, Xu Wei and Shen Mingchen both served as Hu Zongxian's staff.

The reason why Xu Yan chose to recommend Shen Mingchen instead of Xu Wei was for two reasons.

First, Shen Mingchen is older than Xu Wei.

The profession of staff requires extremely rich life experience, and for now, Shen Mingchen is obviously more suitable than Xu Wei.

Second, Xu Yan has selfish intentions.

Xu Wei is the team he has cultivated wholeheartedly, and he wants to take it with him when he becomes a leader in the future. Just recommended Xu Wei to Zhu Kun, Xu Yan was a little unwilling.

Shen Mingchen and Xu Wei are both very capable guests, one for each of them, fair and reasonable.

However, after Xu Yan arrived in Hangzhou, he learned a shocking news, that is, the Hangzhou government prison was burned down. This is obviously a warning from the smugglers to Zhu Kun.

Xu Yan originally wanted to meet his grandfather and teacher first, but now he can only change his itinerary to meet Zhu Kun first.

...

... Diagram of the Avenue of the Heavens