Wen Tiren smiled "hehe" and said, "Zhou Shoufu is really familiar with the laws of the Ming Dynasty. Although Lord Zhou is the first assistant, he is not the chief of the Yamen, and without the emperor's will, he cannot observe the trial of the criminal department. Lord Zhou, you see, with the respect of Lord Ji, if there is no personal decree from Lord Banzai, he will not be able to come to listen. ”

Although Wen Tiren said this aggressively, the truth is not bad at all.

At the beginning of the establishment of the cabinet, in order to prevent the cabinet from being autocratic and the tail of the cabinet could not be lost, it was made clear that all the auxiliary ministers and scholars of the cabinet were only the emperor's secretaries, and their grades were only five-rank officials. It was not until later that in order to strengthen the responsibilities and powers of the cabinet, the cabinet ministers generally held high-level positions such as a shoshu to improve their ranks.

Therefore, although nominally, the cabinet is ranked above the six ministries, but it is necessary to be carefully entangled, without the emperor's will, the duties of the auxiliary ministers are not enough for him to interfere in the affairs of the criminal department, especially in a major case such as the interrogation of Yuan Chonghuan by the criminal department.

Therefore, after saying this, Wen Tiren was extremely proud in his heart, and looked at Shoufu Zhou Yanru with a somewhat provocative look.

Zhou Yanru seemed to have been prepared, looked at Wen Tiren's smug face coldly, and said: "Lord Wen is too underestimated as an official, you are also a member of the department, so I didn't take the same time?" Don't forget, I'm still the Imperial History of the Left Capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate! This time it is a trial by the three legal divisions, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate will also participate in the trial, do you want the criminal department to monopolize the power? ”

Wen Tiren was stunned for a moment, and then smiled: "Hahaha, Lord Zhou didn't say it, I forgot about it." But Lord Zhou, don't forget, as the imperial history of the left capital, can you participate in the trial? As usual, the people who participated in the trial of the Metropolitan Procuratorate were all the imperial history of the right capital. Now that Lord Li of the Right Capital Imperial History may have been waiting in the yamen of the Criminal Department, Lord Zhou should not draw snakes and add to his feet, so let's hurry back and watch the recital of the impeachment officials! ”

Wen Tiren was right.

Although the imperial history of the left and right capitals of the Metropolitan Procuratorate is of the same grade, it is actually respected by the imperial history of the left capital, and its division of labor is also slightly different. The Imperial History of the Left Capital took the lead in impeaching the officials of the imperial court, while the Imperial History of the Right Capital was in charge of trying officials who had been impeached. Therefore, the responsibilities and powers of the right capital imperial history are more of a formality nature, and the power that can really pull down the incumbent officials is still concentrated in the hands of the left capital imperial history.

And this is a greater authority in ordinary times, but in this special situation, it has become a constraint for Zhou Yanru.

As soon as Wen Tiren's words fell, he saw another sedan chair next to him, and a person walked on it, which happened to be Li Banghua, the right capital of the Imperial Palace, that he said just now.

So Wen Tiren beckoned: "Lord Li, it's not too early now, please go into the Yamen of the Criminal Department to try the case together." ”

Although Li Banghua is the imperial history of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, ordinary officials all concede three points when they see him, but now he is the lowest status among all the officials present - even lower than Ji Qingwen, who is only in his twenties and has just been knighted.

Therefore, Li Banghua did not dare to talk nonsense, and after bowing his hands to everyone, he stopped talking.

But I heard Zhou Yanru say with a calm face: "Master Li, you seem to be late, right?" ”

Although Zhou Yanru is of the same grade as Li Banghua, he also serves as the first assistant to the cabinet and has become his immediate boss.

This made Li Banghua tremble and replied: "Road...... The road is a little blocked. ”

In fact, Li Banghua did not arrive late, in fact, it was about a quarter of an hour earlier than the scheduled time for the trial. But according to the rules of officialdom, as long as you arrive later than the leader, even if it is a day earlier than the scheduled time, it is still you late, and it is also your fault.

Therefore, Zhou Yanru saw that Li Banghua had already lost the upper hand in momentum, so he continued: "Okay, Master Li will go back to the Metropolitan Procuratorate first, and I will do it for today's audit." ”

Li Banghua didn't have bibimbap, so he could only make a gesture to everyone, and then got into the sedan chair and left.

Wen Tiren was not happy, even the dignity of the imperial court and the city government were gone, and he stretched out his finger and pointed at Zhou Yanru's nose and scolded: "Zhou Shoufu, you are too arrogant and domineering." A few days ago, Master Li had already heard and interrogated once, and you let him go back with such a sentence? Isn't that child's play? ”

"Humph!" Zhou Yanru sneered, "Child's play is not child's play, it's not your Lord Wen who said it." The Metropolitan Procuratorate was ordered to hear the trial, and I personally participated in the Imperial History of the Left Capital, so what's wrong? If you think it's wrong, you can naturally declare it to the emperor and let the emperor take away my errand. As long as the emperor doesn't make an order for a day, then I will listen to Yuan Chonghuan's case today! ”

The so-called official level crushes people to death, and the official half level can also crush people breathlessly.

Therefore, Wen Tiren, the second assistant of the cabinet, could only swallow his anger in front of the first assistant Zhou Yanru, and sighed: "Okay then...... I thought that the cabinet was busy, and Mr. Zhou would inevitably sit in the cabinet...... However, since Lord Zhou intends to come in to observe, ...... Then please come in! ”

Ji Qingwen looked at Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren with a tense look, and suddenly remembered that there seemed to be no good end for these two goods at the end of the Ming Dynasty, so he finally couldn't hold back his laughter, and then followed into the lobby of the Criminal Department.

When I arrived at the lobby, I wasted a lot of effort on how to arrange my seats.

The Dali Siqing who was triaged was naturally the lowest rank and status here, and sat at the last seat. Although Ji Qingwen's title is high, he is a role in auditing, so he can only "sit aside". And Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren argued for a chief.

In the end, it was Wen Tiren who took out the identity of the chief judge, and he reluctantly suppressed Zhou Yanru, and then sat as the chief.

I saw Wen Tiren pick up the shocking wood on the several cases in the lobby, and shouted: "Everyone is quiet, bring the criminal minister Yuan Chonghuan!" ”

Immediately, the foreman's official in the lobby of the Criminal Department agreed, and Yuan Chonghuan, who was taken out of the prison and temporarily locked up in the Prison Temple, was escorted.

Yuan Chonghuan had been arraigned once a few days before. That time, he thought that he would never be able to pass the gates of those Hades in the Criminal Department, but unexpectedly, Wen Tiren, the scholar of the Criminal Department and the scholar of the Cabinet University, did not ask a word, and put him back in custody.

This made Lord Yuan Chonghuan, the self-proclaimed supervisor of Jiliao, confused.

Is it because the imperial court has not yet discussed its own claims? Is it the Manchurian Tartars who are attacking the border pass again? Was it Teacher Sun Chengzong who interceded in front of Emperor Chongzhen for himself? Or did the presiding judge Wen Tiren have temporary diarrhea?

After reviewing the situation on the day of the arraignment in his mind for an unknown number of times, Yuan Chonghuan remembered a figure he saw in the lobby of the Criminal Department: Ji Qingwen!

But how could it be Ji Qingwen?

Ji Qingwen is now the weaving governor of Suzhou, separated from Beijing by a Yellow River, a Huai River, and a Yangtze River, and I heard that a month ago he was still raising troops to deal with the rebels of the White Lotus Sect, how could he have time to come to the capital to mix his own case? Could it be that Ji Qingwen's-stirring stick has been stirred into the big dung pit of Jingshi again?

The subsequent experience quickly confirmed Yuan Chonghuan's conjecture.

After Yuan Chonghuan was re-escorted back to the prison of the Criminal Department, it was obvious that he felt the change in treatment.

The first is that the cell in which he was held was transferred from a single cell in the deepest part of the prison to a large cell that could bask in the sun for two hours a day, and the furnishings of this cell were obviously a room that had been improvised by the jailers on duty.

Secondly, the daily food has also improved a lot. Not only is there no greasy taste in the meal, but there is also a supply of fresh vegetables and meat every day, which is better than the food when he led the troops to fight in Liaodong.

And the jailers' attitude towards Yuan Chonghuan was much better. Not only did he look at his eyes, which was not as cold as looking at a dead corpse, but he would even sometimes ask this once powerful Yuan Inspector what he needed to buy from outside the prison.

Yuan Chonghuan is not a fool, or he thinks he is not a fool, he doesn't need such an unexplained favor, so he grabbed a cell boss and asked him: "What happened?" Isn't it possible to send me on the road and give me a meal of severed heads? ”

The cell boss didn't hide it, and said directly: "It was personally ordered by Lord Ji Qingwen to take care of Inspector Yuan in prison, and all the expenses of the supervisor in prison will be spent by the lord." The Inspector is at ease to cultivate his body here, and don't worry about anything else. ”