If it is said that Xu Yingyuan, Han Yiliang, and Ma Shiying went to Taihu Lake to deal with the backlog of cases such as bandits in the Taihu Lake area and only caused some reactions from the local gentry, then after Chongzhen released Wei Zhongxian from Fengyang to the south, the gentry class in the entire Jiangnan area suddenly exploded.

For such a villain leader who suppressed the Donglin Party several times and eliminated the elite leaders of the Jiangnan gentry class one by one, not to mention the Jiangnan gentry class, even those small landlords also hated him to the core. This kind of universal hatred made the Jiangnan gentry spontaneously act in unison for the first time, and wrote to the imperial court one after another, accusing Wei Zhongxian's new appointment, and at the same time, in the public opinion, once again re-found the crimes of the past eunuchs.

Under the influence of this kind of public opinion, the people of Jiangnan were in a state of turmoil for a while, even if the small people met with relatives and friends on the street, they had to scold two sentences of shamelessness, the ruling court was really blind, and such a scourge that brought disaster to the country and the people was released again. Even some haters of the house and the Wu, in the spirit of the enemy's opposition, I will support it, began to openly exonerate the arrested robbers and gentry.

The storm caused by the gentry and common people in Jiangnan made Han Yiliang and Ma Shiying dare not get too close to Wei Zhongxian, for fear of putting the symbol of the new eunuch party on their bodies. As for Xu Xianchun and the others, they are still closely around Wei Zhongxian, and they can't cut off their relationship with Wei Zhongxian.

But even so, Xu Xianchun ran to Wei Zhongxian in fright and persuaded him: "Father-in-law, there are people everywhere in Suzhou now who are slandering your reputation. The people of Suzhou have always been unruly and undisciplined, and because of the arrest of Zhou Shunchang, they dared to openly besiege our Jinyi Guard.

If someone continues to stir up the emotions of the people, the lower officials are worried that there may not be a siege of the weaving eunuch's mansion. My father-in-law might as well go to Shanghai for a few days, the city is now in the midst of a massive expansion, and almost no one cares about what is happening in Taihu Lake. Moreover, the Shanghai gentry also strongly supported the fight against these Taihu bandits and the gentry behind them, and the father-in-law should not have to worry about such a thing when he went to Shanghai. ”

Wei Zhongxian took a sip of tea lightly with the teacup, and then said softly and slowly: "Are you going to let the miscellaneous family avoid them?" ”

Xu Xianchun hurriedly explained: "I just asked my father-in-law to inspect Shanghai for a few days, and the lower officials had no other intentions. ”

Gao Yun also persuaded worriedly: "Commander Xu's words are not bad, now that the people of Suzhou are in turmoil, it may be more appropriate for my father-in-law to leave Suzhou for a few days." ”

Wei Zhongxian smiled and said, "You guys, your eyelids are a little shallow. If these Suzhou gentry really had the courage to incite the people to besiege the weaving mansion, would the miscellaneous family still be able to get out of Suzhou? It is not here that determines the lives of the miscellaneous family, but in the capital.

We are different from those officials in foreign dynasties, we are the slaves of the Son of Heaven, and we live by His Majesty's likes and dislikes. No matter how bad this folk reputation is, as long as the sky above our heads does not change, it will be as stable as Mount Tai. But if His Majesty's mind changes, no matter how good the reputation is, it won't be able to protect us.

His Majesty asked me to sit in Suzhou, but the miscellaneous family was frightened by a few rumors and went to other places. Wouldn't these gentry be so powerful that they could no longer be suppressed? Don't forget what Your Majesty wants us to do here, do what we should do, don't be led by them to think crookedly, and mess up the things Your Majesty has explained, which is our best way to protect ourselves. ”

Gao Yun was still a little unwilling to say: "But some gentry in the city are always making rumors about their father-in-law, which makes the people of Suzhou panic. Is it to let Commander Xu catch a few, so that he can kill the prestige of these gentry? ”

Wei Zhongxian was silent for a long time before he said slowly: "Don't worry, wait until the wind direction in the capital is determined." However, they should not be allowed to slander His Majesty's intention to appoint miscellaneous people.

You wrote a letter to Nanjing and warned Ruan Yuanhai, don't think that if he bends his neck and doesn't squeak, he will be able to break off the relationship with the miscellaneous family. His Majesty ordered him to take charge of the mouthpiece of Nanjing, and he should speak for us, otherwise what use would he be..."

As Wei Zhongxian predicted, the place that decided his fate was not in Jiangnan, but in the court of the capital. It has been nearly seven years since Chongzhen ascended the throne. Whether it was a former anti-eunuch party official or a former eunuch party member, almost no one hoped that Wei Zhongxian would make a comeback.

The former was concerned that the political winds of the imperial court would change again, and the party struggle that had been eased would become acute again, thus interrupting the process of nation-building, which was currently recovering. The latter is worried that because of Wei Zhongxian's resurrection, some things in the past will be put back in everyone's eyes, so that they who have been cut off from Wei Zhongxian will be subjected to political reckoning.

The letter of the Jiangnan gentry, after the expansion of these officials, finally became a powerful voice, asking the cabinet to make a proposal to the emperor and withdraw Wei Zhongxian's appointment to be transferred to Suzhou as a weaving eunuch. However, the opinions of officials on Wei Zhongxian's handling are not consistent. Some believe that Wei Zhongxian should be allowed to continue to return to Fengyang to guard the mausoleum; Some wanted to completely liquidate Wei Zhongxian, and by the way, some political enemies in the court were liquidated together; Others suggested that Wei Zhongxian should simply be driven back to his hometown to retire in exchange for the peace of the court.

Regarding the officials' letters to Wei Zhongxian, Chongzhen asked Wang Chengen to withhold them, and the palace was calm as if he had not heard the voices of the bureaucrats and gentry outside the palace walls. But Qian Qianyi couldn't bear the huge pressure of this kind of alliance between the government and the opposition, and he went to Xiyuan Jingshe several times and asked Chongzhen about Wei Zhongxian's appointment, but the emperor gave him a fork.

However, in late October, the emperor came to the Wenhua Hall to hold a cabinet meeting, and took the initiative to discuss with the ministers the various criticisms of Wei Zhongxian in the past two months. Before discussing with the ministers, Chongzhen threw out a stack of files to the ministers, and then said: "This is the list of gentry who colluded with the bandits and robbers found by Wei Zhongxian and Han Yiliang when they thoroughly investigated the bandits in the Taihu Lake in the Jiangnan region, and the charges and confessions of the merchants and people who joined forces with the Taihu bandits to rob the merchants and people who crossed the lake. ”

Qian Qianyi and the ministers opened the file and looked at it a few times, and they were frightened by the dense list of gentry on it. Qian Qianyi looked up at the emperor and stammered: "Your Majesty, has this Wei Zhongxian wiped out all the gentry in Suzhou and Huzhou?" If these gentry are all related to the lake bandits, wouldn't the Jiangnan Wang clan be wiped out, is there any misunderstanding in this? ”

"yes, yes. The ministers, like Shoufu, also felt that it was impossible for the Jiangnan Wang clan to be implicated, and there must be some misunderstanding among them..."Several other ministers also chimed in.

Zhu Youzhen's gaze swept over the ministers one by one from left to right, and then said with a sneer: "Gentlemen, there is a possibility that they are not servants, but they dare to pack tickets for others just after reading a list." Don't you all have to scroll down to see what's in the dossier?

Originally, I was still skeptical about this list, thinking that the mountains and rivers in the south of the Yangtze River are beautiful, the earth spirit is outstanding, and some gentry are from the family of several generations of Kejia eunuchs, how can they do things in the fish and meat country. But looking at these days, these public opinions that are desperately attacking Wei Zhongxian, I have to believe it.

It is only these Jiangnan wang clans who are trying to cover up their crimes that they support those officials and scholars, right? Then I would like to ask, the cabinet has been asking me to retract my appointment to Wei Zhongxian, do you want to protect my reputation, or do you intend to take this opportunity to cover up the crimes of those sinners? ”

Wen Tiren, who was born in Wucheng, Huzhou, hurriedly scanned the list and found that although there were several familiar families, there were no relatives of his own, so he immediately changed his tone and said: "The ministers naturally have no idea of covering up their crimes for sinners, but just dealing with so many gentry families at once, which is a very controversial practice.

Now that His Majesty has suddenly transferred Wei Zhongxian to supervise the handling of the case, the ministers and others are worried that the people involved in the case will take the opportunity to point the contradiction at Wei Zhongxian, thus diverting the attention of the people, so that the case cannot be handled. The minister thought that it would be better to deal with the two things separately. ”

Zhu Youzhen said disapprerovingly: "Wei Zhongxian is just an old eunuch without fists and courage now, not nine thousand years old back then. In the past, if these officials dared to impeach Wei Zhongxian, I would praise a good man. Today, they dare to jump out and accuse Wei Zhongxian, are they really accusing Wei Zhongxian? Isn't it a roundabout accusation that I misuse people? Isn't this just to excuse these gentry who have violated the law and discipline? Aren't these two things the same thing? ”

Several ministers looked at the thick file in their hands, and knew that their words alone could not overturn the emperor's bad impression of these lawless gentry. For the sake of today's plan, we can only try to cut off those Jiangnan wang clans who are not deeply involved in the case from this matter, so as to prevent Wei Zhongxian from taking advantage of the problem and handling the Taihu bandit case into a case of cracking down on the Jiangnan gentry and wealthy clans. After all, these Jiangnan wang clans have a more or less relationship with everyone here, and they can't die without help.

Jiang Dejing and Fan Jingwen also knew that they could not clash with the emperor head-on at this time, so they turned around and said: "These gentry colluded with the Taihu bandits, and it is natural that they should be brought to justice, otherwise how can they educate the people of the world." However, His Majesty sent Wei Zhongxian to Suzhou, originally to supervise the Taihu bandits, but now that so many local gentry and local officials have been implicated, then Jinyiwei should not supervise the case. The ministers suggested that officials from the Criminal Department and the Metropolitan Procuratorate be transferred to ensure that no one was wronged or connived at in this case, so that the world could hear it upright and prevent the people from being confused by rumors. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at the other ministers before asking, "Do you also agree with the two of them?" ”

Guo Yunhou thought about it, and then said first: "The minister seconded the proposal." ”

Qian Qianyi and Wen Tiren glanced at each other and nodded in agreement, so the remaining ministers also chose to agree one by one.

Zhu Youzhen was silent for a moment before he said: "The Metropolitan Procuratorate doesn't need to send another person, let Ma Shiying hear the case on behalf of the Metropolitan Procuratorate." Wei Zhongxian, Han Yiliang, and Ma Shiying, you will find another person from the Criminal Department who will go south, and the four of them will form a joint investigation team to comprehensively investigate the case of the Taihu bandits and the gentry officials who harbored and colluded with the bandits. They discuss and decide on small issues on their own, and report major issues to the cabinet for disposal.

In addition, these crimes of colluding with the Taihu bandits and gentry will be published from tomorrow, and I want to see who has the final say in this world. Are these shameless gentry, or are I the people of the Ming Dynasty..."