Just when the grain merchants in the capital were restless about the movements of the household department, Li Jin, the prosecutor who had been in the south for nearly a year, finally returned to the capital.

When the carriage he hired drove into Chaoyangmen, Li Jin felt that his tense body suddenly relaxed, which he had never felt when he returned to his home in the south. He himself knew in his heart that the reason why this was the case was also because except for the city of Beijing at the foot of the Son of Heaven could give him some security, but in other places he always felt that someone wanted to deal with him.

It's not that he scares himself, but that he has offended more people. Whether it was the emperor's suggestion to raise taxes on the gentry and wealthy households to supplement the state, or the successive big cases against the Jiangnan gentry after taking office as a prosecutor, he became a thorn in the side of the gentry, and his resentment towards him could almost catch up with the former eunuch leader.

Although Li Jin does not regret what he has done, he has always believed that the state affairs have deteriorated to the extent that today, that is, the rich gentry occupy the most land and wealth in the Ming Dynasty, but they do not pull out a dime for the country, but let those poor lower-class people sell their children and daughters to pay, which should be the taxes that these gentry and rich families should pay.

Therefore, the state should vigorously suppress these gentry and wealthy households, seize land and wealth from them, which can be used to fill the lack of the state treasury, and second, to help the bankrupt people at the bottom, so that the state can return to normalcy. Li Jin is firm in his own ideas and is not afraid of the resentment of the gentry and wealthy families, but he does not intend to sacrifice himself in vain, so he is always very vigilant when handling cases outside.

And only in the capital can Li Jin feel that he is not alone, and there are many like-minded colleagues and friends who support him, so his body and mind will be at peace.

When the carriage walked up Chaoyangmen Street, Li Jin opened the curtain and looked out of the car window a few times, and the excitement here was still no different from when he left Beijing. However, he could perceive that the shops on the street seemed to be more crowded than before, and there were no more doorways to the houses on the street, but a continuous stream of shop fronts.

Although Li Jin has a strict attitude towards the gentry and wealthy households, his own family is not a poor person, and he is also a wealthy landlord in his hometown. In addition, although he has only been an official for five or six years, he has handled some big cases, no matter how honest he is, he still has considerable savings.

So near Fengcheng Hutong in Xianyifang, west of Beijing, he has already purchased a small courtyard house, and compared with most officials, he can be regarded as a house-owning family. returned to his home in Fengcheng Hutong, and the concubine who got the news quickly came to the front yard, welcomed Li Jin back, and personally cooked a table of food for him.

Like most officials in Beijing, Li Jin's wife was serving her parents in her hometown, while the concubine was in the capital to take care of his life. I haven't seen him for nearly a year, and the concubine is naturally obsessed with him. But even so, early the next morning, Li Jin still got up according to his usual habits.

The concubine wanted to get up and serve him in a daze, and muttered: "What time is it, the master is up, can't you just come back and rest for two days before going to work?" ”

Glancing at the concubine who couldn't open her eyes, Li Jin reached out and pressed her back to the bed and said, "Forget it, you better don't get up, I can clean it up myself." ”

The concubine struggled weakly twice, but she couldn't help but retract into the warm brocade quilt sleepily. Li Jin smiled, and then got up again and sorted out his clothes.

As he walked out of the room, he shivered at the cold air outside. "The capital is indeed much colder than the south." Li Jin caged his collar and got into his own carriage.

From Fengcheng Hutong to Xidan North Street, and then turn into Xingbu Street near Xidan archway, you will arrive at the Three Law Division. In fact, Xingbu Street can only be called a small alley, because the three law divisions are all on this street, so there are no shops nearby.

However, when Li Jin saw Xingbu Street again, he couldn't recognize the original appearance of this street, and he hadn't seen it for only a year, and the houses between Xingbu Street and the southern foil alley had been demolished. Looking at the appearance of the fenced construction site between the two streets, it seems that this place is about to be transformed into a street that is wider than Chang'an Avenue to the east.

Li Jin admired these changes in the capital, and suddenly stopped the carriage again, and bought a copy of the latest Daming Times from a roadside newsstand passing by. Due to the development of the printing industry and the postal industry, the Daming Times has been published almost once a day in the Gyeonggi area. Unlike the southern newspapers, which focused on news such as literati affairs, Qinglou lace and overseas wealth, the Daming Times can be regarded as a newspaper that focuses on the overall situation, especially focusing on the political news of Daming and neighboring countries.

For example, in the hands of Li Jin, today's Daming Times, in addition to the news about the emperor and the personnel of the DPRK and China on the front page, the most important news is that Tashkent, an important town in the northeast of the Bukhara Khanate, has fallen into the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

The conflict that broke out between the Yarkand Khanate and the Bukhara Khanate a few years ago has now become a war between the Ming, the Yarkand Khanate, the Oirat Mongols and the Kyrgyz against the Bukhara Khanate and the Kazakhs. Although the Ming Dynasty dominated the war, the main forces of the war were all local hostile tribes and forces.

Although the Ming Dynasty fought steadily in this war and kept advancing the front on the mainland of the Bukhara Khanate, for most of the people in the country, and even ordinary officials, this war was thousands of miles away, and it was not as concerned about the completion of the mission of the plague infection control area in southern Hebei.

However, for Li Jin, who had attended the military academy for a few days, he knew how important the location of the Bukhara Khanate and the Kazakhs was to the security of the Western Frontier. Tashkent, also known as Kangju, was one of the most important hubs in the middle of the Silk Road. The occupation of Tashkent meant that the Ming Dynasty had controlled half of the Silk Road, reaching the end of the Han and Tang dynasties' control of the Silk Road.

It stands to reason that this has almost reached the westernmost point of the forces that the Central Plains Dynasty can control. However, Li Jin, who carefully read the newspaper, found that the imperial court did not seem to have any intention of ending the war.

Around the fight for the occupation... No, the newspaper writes that the Ming led the coalition forces to liberate Kangju, a friendly vassal state of the Han and Tang dynasties, from the Bukhara Khanate. The report greatly praised the geographical environment of Kangju, and condemned the destruction of Kangju civilization by the Bukharans and Kazakhs. After that, it was logical to say that the Ming Dynasty should not only protect the Kangju civilization, but also fight against the hostile forces that destroyed the trade of the Silk Road, so as to safeguard the interests of the local people.

Although the situation in Central Asia is only scratched in the report, it is clear that the Kazakhs and Bukharans were the defeated and not the vicious aggressors as the report suggests. Even, the Ming Dynasty not only united with the Oirats to conquer most of the Kazakh steppe, but also successfully helped the Prince of Khiva, Abulkhaz Bahadur, to recover half of the country and become the great enemy of the Bukhara Khanate in the north.

Li Jin looked at the sketchy map of Central Asia published in the newspaper, and then remembered that the mission to the Mughal Empire in India may not really be there for the friendship between the two countries. Looking at this map, it was obviously much easier for the Mughal Empire to attack the Bukhara Khanate from the south than for the Ming expedition to Central Asia.

After only thinking for a moment, Li Jin felt that the demise of the Bukhara Khanate was almost inevitable. The emperor's dedication to opening up the Silk Road, he knew it, and the Bukhara Khanate entrenched in Central Asia had already threatened the security of the Silk Road. The Ming Dynasty is not alone in Central Asia, now.

When the carriage stopped, Li Jin regained his senses, folded the newspaper, and ordered the servants to carry the documents brought back from the south into the compound of the Criminal Department. Although it is called the Three Divisions, the Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office is across the street from here, in the neighborhood further west.

In the past, it was mainly the location of the Criminal Department, Dali Temple and the Criminal Department Prison, of course, the area of the entire Criminal Department compound is not small, starting from Xidan North Street, accounting for three-quarters of the length of the Criminal Department Street, and the entire area is about more than 50 acres. Because of the prison relationship, there are almost no families nearby, only a large wood factory in Shanxi and a firewood department adjacent to the compound of the criminal department.

However, with the rise of coal stoves and honeycomb coal, and the emergence of building materials such as cement and steel bars, the large carpentry factory and firewood division serving the palace were empty. However, due to the development of industry and commerce in the capital, the land price in the inner city began to rise, and not only the vacant land of the large carpentry factory and the firewood department has been redeveloped by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but even the land of the criminal department compound has been targeted.

It is said that the Ministry of Industry intends to work with the Ministry of Internal Affairs to flatten the entire compound of the Criminal Department, and then replan the building, with part of the land used to build the Ministry of Criminal Affairs building, and the other part to be built into shops and houses for sale, so as to subsidize the expenses for the renovation of the compound of the Ministry of Justice.

After Li Jin walked into his long-lost office, he ordered the servant to put down the box containing the documents, opened the box and found a stack of documents prepared, explained a few words to the subordinates who followed up, and then went out with the documents and walked to the second hall of the Criminal Department, which was the duty room of the Criminal Department Shangshu.

Hui Shiyang was also quite surprised when he saw Li Jin walking into his room, after all, the relationship between him and Li Jin was not a direct subordinate relationship. It stands to reason that the other party should not come to the door so directly, unless he is going to hit his boss's small report.

Although he was suspicious in his heart, Hui Shiyang still nodded at Li Jin with a flat expression: "I heard before that you returned to Beijing in the past two days, didn't you just come back yesterday?" ”

Li Jin put the document aside, saluted Hui Shiyang and said, "The lower official arrived in the capital yesterday afternoon, but because it was not early, he did not report directly to the Criminal Department. I want to come over early to report today, and report to Lord Shangshu by the way? ”

Hui Shiyang looked at him with some surprise and said, "Report work? Aren't you supposed to report to the Attorney General or the Deputy Attorney General? Why did you come to me? ”

Li Jin replied calmly: "Because some issues involve Zuo Guangxian, Deputy Prosecutor General Zuo. Xia Guan thought that maybe he should let Lord Shangshu understand first, so he came to visit Lord Shangshu first..."

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