Chapter 8 The Dispute of the Court III "Enlightening the Emperor, Wei Chen feels that this matter is just speculation at the moment, and it is better to investigate it in a small area, so as not to make the city full of wind and rain and hurt the hearts of officials from all over the country. Shen Chongming was very discerning, and he guessed Emperor Longqing's thoughts in the blink of an eye, and he didn't allow others to speak, so he took the lead and said.

The corners of Emperor Longqing's mouth were imperceptible, and he liked Shen Chongming even more in his heart, and it was really a great blessing in life to have a courtier who could understand his own thoughts. "Aiqing is reasonable, just do what you say." As soon as the two of them sang and harmonized, they set the general direction of this matter without waiting for others to express their opinions.

Emperor Longqing's idea is very simple, that is, to control the investigation in his own hands as much as possible, so that even if there are those suspicious people who want to provoke right and wrong, they will be afraid of three points and have no way to start. And if you want to control the investigation in your own hands, you can't go out of the capital, otherwise the whip can't reach it, even if you are the lord of the world, you can't compete with Xu Jie, whose protégés and former officials are all over the world.

"Your Majesty, as Lord Shen said, this matter should be verified by our Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Criminal Affairs. Song Qingyang was not to be left behind, although he understood a little late, but with his quick action, he still got ahead of the others.

"Okay, then I'll leave this matter to you to host, and be sure to find out this matter within a short time." Emperor Longqing did not allow others to speak, so he opened his mouth to settle the matter. I was also happy in my heart, I did a good job today, the three of us cooperated tacitly, and there was no room for others to interject.

"Yes, Wechen must do his errand." Song Qingyang is in a very good mood, although he is much worse than Shen Chongming, but looking at the emperor's face, he is still very satisfied with his performance today. After all, one day he will trample Shen Chongming under his feet.

Waiting for him to finish speaking, Ouyang Jingzhi, who was old and unresponsive, pondered what Emperor Longqing wanted to do. But it was too late, and now Song Qingyang was taking the lead, although he wanted to fight and snatch this errand, but because of his identity, he couldn't even open his mouth.

This matter is boring, and the ministers above the court must know it in their hearts. But everyone tacitly understands that if this matter is as it seems on the surface, that is, Guo Mingyi is indeed suspected of being greedy for ink. In this way, the emperor can only pretend to be deaf and dumb, or he will scold the courtiers for being a group of stupid pigs.

However, if he behaves too seriously now, it will definitely give the emperor an excuse to say something with ulterior motives. In this way, things will become difficult to clean up, and it is not good that the emperor can really seize the handle and take away the official position that he has worked hard all his life.

Xu Jie, who was in front, watched Emperor Longqing settle the matter in a few words, and he also shook his head again and again, and was greatly disappointed in the officials who had constantly shown loyalty to him in the past. It's really a group of stupid pigs that don't use it, so many people have been preempted by two juniors, what use do you want them to have.

But there is no way to be angry, things have become like this, there is no room for recovery, the only thing to do next is to use the power at hand to obstruct Song Qingyang when he investigates the case, or find some false evidence to send to Song Qingyang by means, and then strictly monitor it, even if it takes a lot of effort, no matter what, Guo Mingyi's crime of greedy ink must be confirmed!

There is no way to do this, if Guo Mingyi does not step down, then Niu Xiping, the head of the household, will be dangerous, as long as someone bites and does not let go, a crime of sitting back is enough to take down his position as the head of the head of the household, then it will be impossible to steal chickens and rice.

Seeing that all the ministers returned to each other and stopped talking, Emperor Longqing smiled slightly, and said to Xu Jie with great momentum: "Xu Aiqing, I told you a few days ago that I arranged for Shen Aiqing to be the commander of the Shangzhi Guard, have you done it?" Although it was an inquiry, his tone was tough, and it was clear in Xu Jie's ears that it was like declaring war.

"Back to the emperor, my cabinet has carefully discussed this matter in the past few days, Lord Shen is not only not suitable for the position of commander of the upper guard, but should take responsibility for what he did in Zhejiang!" Xu Jie's tone was not weak, and he turned to Shen Chongming as he spoke.

Xu Jie's attitude has not been idle in the past few days, while instructing Ouyang Jingzhi to impeach Guo Mingyi, and on the other hand, he flew a pigeon to pass on the Zhejiang Political Division, and ordered officials who were in contact with him to collect the flaws left by Shen Chongming's errand in Zhejiang, and see if they could find evidence of Shen Chongming's violation of law and discipline. The reason why I spent this effort was to think that if one plan failed, I would come up with another plan, and complement each other to cut off Shen Chongming's road to promotion.

To say that Shen Chongming has done a lot in Zhejiang, two of them can be used as evidence for his impeachment. One is that the cabinet messenger was imprisoned by Jinyi Wei'an for being a liar, and the other is that he disposed of so many guards at once.

The former can only be regarded as a minor crime, but now that Shen Chongming has made great contributions to the extermination of the Japanese Invaders, such a crime can only be an itch for him. But the latter is different, you must know that most of these generals inherit the position of their ancestors, the Ming Dynasty has been established for more than 100 years, and the positions that can be passed on to this generation must be indispensable to relatives and friends, even if they are relatives and friends in the officialdom.

On that day, Shen Chongming dealt with these people, and the people who were related to him were only afraid of his power so they were collectively silent, but there was not a lot of resentment towards Shen Chongming in their hearts. But now it's different, with their own backing, these people will definitely jump out to take revenge, and then the momentum will be huge, but I am afraid that the emperor will have to be afraid of three points. In this way, not only will Shen Chongming not be able to get the position of the commander of the guard, but he may also have to be demoted.

"Responsibility?" Long Qing frowned, and said suspiciously: "Xu Aiqing, what do you mean by this?" ”

Looking at Shen Chongming's indifferent face, Xu Jie secretly hated in his heart, let you be proud for the time being, and you will cry later. "Returning to the emperor, Lord Shen was arbitrary and made it difficult for the generals of the guard many times during the period when he led the soldiers and horses in Zhejiang to exterminate the Japanese invaders. and set up a plan to convict and interrogate all the generals who accompanied them to fight against the Japanese invaders. Forgive Weichen for his courage, do you think that such a reckless person can hold an important position? ”

Xu Jie's words were sonorous and powerful, echoing above the hall for a long time. The expressions of the ministers in the hall are different, some are full of excitement, and there are many who close their eyes and recuperate. Despite this, the idea in everyone's hearts is the same, that is, waiting to see a good show. Of course, many people will follow in the footsteps of Xu Jie's footsteps when Shen Chongming is at a disadvantage.

Emperor Longqing's brows furrowed even more. He also knows about this matter, after all, punishing several generals at one time is also a major event related to local stability, not only Shen Chongming has an excerpt to present this matter, but the three major yamen of Zhejiang's Political Division, the Capital Division, and the Judicial Division have also come to tell themselves about it.

Disobedience on the battlefield, according to military law, leading generals have the right to enforce military law on the spot and correct the law on the spot. Moreover, Shen Chongming only imprisoned them at that time and waited for the end of the war to convict them, no matter how you say this, Shen Chongming did not do anything wrong.

However, punishing so many generals at one time is indeed not a trivial matter, it has been quiet a few days ago, but no one cares. But now that it was suddenly brought up from Xu Jie's mouth, Emperor Longqing immediately knew that Xu Jiegou was jumping off the wall in a hurry, and this time he not only wanted to make Shen Chongming unable to serve as the commander of the Shangzhi Guard, but he was afraid that he was going to punish him.

After pondering it, Emperor Longqing's tone eased a lot. "Xu Aiqing, this matter has already been decided, those people disobeyed orders on the battlefield, and Shen Aiqing punished them according to law, there is nothing wrong with it."

"Your Majesty, but according to Weichen's verification, these people have been loyal and good for generations, and their ancestors have made a lot of contributions to our Ming Dynasty. And in this battle, Lord Shen knew that the guards were weak and could not be driven, so he let them attack head-on, but the elite of the 3,000 battalions sent by the imperial court to help the battle only followed behind to supervise the battle. During the battle, the guards suffered heavy casualties, and several generals also ordered to retreat in order to reduce casualties. But Lord Shen didn't ask about it, and immediately ordered someone to take down a few people for questioning, isn't this a deliberate frame-up? Xu Jie's voice became higher and higher, and his mouth was full of spittle, and his face was full of indignation.

"This ......" As soon as Emperor Longqing opened his mouth, he heard Xu Jie continue: "For this reason, the soldiers of the Zhejiang Metropolitan Division were indignant in their hearts, and jointly submitted documents to the cabinet several times, asking the imperial court to severely punish Shen Chongming. Wei Chennian has made great contributions to Shen Chongming and the imperial court, so he can persuade him to stabilize the situation for the time being. But now, the emperor, you want to appoint Shen Chong as the commander of the Shangzhi Guard, so that the officials are so promoted, so that the soldiers everywhere can be convinced? ”

In Xu Jie's view, this incident is not just a contest between himself and the emperor, but related to his future status. Once Emperor Longqing really wins Shen Chongming and sits in the position of commander of the upper guard, he will definitely lose his prestige, and he will no longer be able to lead the ministers in this court.

Therefore, this time, Xu Jie's back to the water was defeated, and he actually went out to charge Shen Chongming with a crime, without taking into account the crime of backsitting in the Daming Law.

"This ......" Emperor Longqing was a little panicked, the matter was said to be so serious by Xu Jie, if he couldn't refute him, he was afraid that Shen Chongming would really be convicted. The mouth of the world, even if you are the lord of the world, you can't block it.

Xu Jie smiled coldly in his heart, this risk was the right one, and he actually forced the emperor to the point of being speechless.

"Your Majesty, Weichen has something to say." Shen Chongming, who had been listening silently, finally spoke, with no sadness or joy on his face, giving people a feeling of detachment from the world.

"Shen Aiqing, if you have something to say, just say it." Looking at his expression, Emperor Longqing was also a lot more relieved, maybe the situation was not out of his control.

Shen Chongming saluted, strode forward, looked at Xu Jie expressionlessly and asked, "Lord Xu, dare to ask why the imperial court spends a lot of money and food every year to support a million troops?" ”

Xu Jie snorted disdainfully, "Naturally, it is to protect the family and defend the country." ”

"Yes, it's to protect the family and defend the country. The country is my great tomorrow, and my home is the people of my Ming Dynasty, and my vast territory is composed of these thousands of people. Therefore, the lower officials dared to believe that the imperial court raised troops in order to protect the peace of the people of the world under the leadership of the Son of Heaven. At this time, Shen Chong's words still can't forget to pat Emperor Longqing's ass.

It is precisely because of this that people everywhere will pay money and grain to the imperial court every year to support this million army. There are no immortals in war, and perhaps a sergeant killed today will save hundreds of people from the flames of war in the coming day. Shen Chongming's voice was a little low.

However, his words could not impress Xu Jie, even most people above the court. "Hmph, but you insist on acting recklessly, adding nearly a thousand casualties, what does it have to do with this?" Xu Jie sneered and asked rhetorically, Shen Chongming had been talking for a long time, and he hadn't been able to hear what it was for.

"Yes, Xia Guan just wants to say that those soldiers who died under the enemy's weapons died in the place, maybe they are unknown, but the people of later generations will admire them because of their status as soldiers of the imperial court. And Lord Xu, you said that there were nearly 1,000 casualties, and the lower officials did not dare to agree, according to the scars of the fallen soldiers, most of them were killed by stabs in the back. Shen Chongming stared at Xu Jie. Sure enough, I saw doubts on his face. I can't help but despise in my heart, how can these readers, who can only do some verbal criticism, understand what the meaning of being killed by a knife in the back is.