Chapter 578 Decisive killing, old case

In the evening, the cabinet and the celebrant were in disarray.

Since the morning news that the emperor left the palace, and the inner factory and the east factory all lost people, Liu Jin was very angry, and immediately ordered someone to find Ye Guang, the commander of the Jinyi guard, and Gu Dayong, the commander of the West Factory. Unexpectedly, the two of them shook their heads in unison, and they both said that they didn't know such a thing. Although he was sure that he didn't leave any handle for Xu Xun to catch outside, Xu Xun shouldn't do anything too much, but he always hated that things were out of control, so he had to order him to send more people to search the whole city, and he ordered people to go to Xishan Camp to investigate, and he ordered people to go to Xing'an Bo Mansion and Shouning Marquis Mansion to build Changhou Mansion, but they all came up empty. In the afternoon, he finally couldn't help it, so he rushed straight to the cabinet to ask Li Dongyang, but the first assistant didn't know at all.

"This Xu Xun, where did he lead the emperor!"

Zhu Houzhao likes to eat in several restaurants, often likes to visit several opera gardens including Xianyuan, and has been to see the singing and dancing of the main alley, the music alley, the goulang alley...... I searched everywhere I could, but there was still no news, and Liu Jin only felt upset. At this moment, I don't know how many times he complained like this, he finally couldn't help but turn his head to look at Li Dongyang and said: "Yuanfu, it's better to recruit Lin Han, the secretary of the ministry, and ask them one by one, maybe someone knows the whereabouts of the emperor, it's been four hours!" ”

Zhu Houzhao loves to leave the palace, Li Dongyang or Jiao Fang, they all know it in their hearts, even Wang Wei, who has not been in Beijing for a long time, is no exception. But even Liu Jin didn't know where the little emperor had gone, but the three of them had different feelings in their hearts. Jiao Fang squinted his eyes and thought for a while, then suddenly said, "Why don't you report the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager?" ”

As soon as these words came out, Li Dongyang immediately said categorically: "No! The Empress Dowager is very old, and the Empress Dowager has been in poor health recently, what if she is too worried about it and hurts her body after learning about it? ”

"Then what did Motosuke say? The emperor left the palace not long after the morning o'clock, and there has been no news until now, if something happens, who of us can afford to be offended? Jiao Fang said such a sentence categorically, and then Huo Ran stood up and arched his hand to Liu Jin, "Gonggong Liu, as the second assistant of the cabinet, I propose to invite this matter to the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces!" ”

Whether it is a minister or a eunuch, it seems that the power is indispensable, and the queen mother of the two palaces seems to be only honorable, but the blow at the critical moment is not trivial. Think about how majestic Li Guang was back then, and what was the result? Wang Wei suddenly thought of this, seeing Jiao Fang's indignant appearance, even if he usually disapproves of Xu Xun, he is still extremely contemptuous in his heart at this moment. Thinking of this, he said coldly: "I've been waiting for so long, and it's not too late!" ”

Liu Jin also understood the meaning of Jiao Fang's words, but he was a little hesitant in his heart. After all, things haven't come to that point yet, and if the complaint comes to the two palaces, if the monarchs and ministers return safely after a while, then he will be completely torn up with Xu Xun. So, he hesitated for a while, and when he was determined to make it difficult, a Chinese book suddenly rushed in quickly.

"The emperor has returned to the palace!"

As soon as these words came out, many people in the room breathed a long sigh of relief. Seeing that Jiao Fang's face slowly sat down unchanged, Wang Wei secretly scolded the old fox, and then said to Li Dongyang: "Since today's incident has alarmed so many people, it is better to invite Ping Beibo to come here." After all, hiding so many people from taking the emperor outside, no matter what it is for, this wind cannot be fueled! ”

Compared with the previous time when Jiao Fang was going straight to the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces, Wang Wei's words at this moment are much more reasonable. Even Li Dongyang, the first assistant, agreed with Wang Wei's statement for a while. Although Liu Jin didn't want to get into trouble with Xu Xun, since the elders had said so, he was also happy to bring Xu Xun over to embarrass him for a while, and pretended to hesitate for a moment, then he nodded happily. ..., "It's okay, let's go there in person." ”

Liu Jin took a few celebrant eunuchs to go with him, and Jiao Fang looked at Wang Wei and said with a smile: "It is worthy of Shouxi, and the hottest kid at the moment is so true." ”

"I don't dare to be a second assistant, I'm just for the public and not for the private!" Wang Wei ignored Jiao Fang's words, and saw that the old guy's face twitched for a while, and then he turned his head away, so he arched his hand to Li Dongyang and said, "Yuanfu, although I asked for it, I won't speak later." I'm a straightforward person, and if one can't help but say something excessive, it will be ......."

"Okay, I'll ask myself later."

However, two quarters of an hour later, Xu Xun was not the only one who appeared in the cabinet, but Zhu Houzhao, the son of heaven, who also followed. The little emperor was still wearing the green silk clothes that he had left the palace before, his face was as heavy as water, his lips were pursed tightly, and at first glance, even Wang Wei, who was full of admonitions, couldn't help but mutter.

Looking at the little emperor like this, where is it like playing outside all day and forgetting the return date?

Liu Jin also tried Zhu Houzhao along the way, but the little emperor kept silent, he had the heart to interrogate Ruisheng, but he was hindered by Xu Xun's presence, so he didn't want to ask too much. At this moment, since there were still ministers such as Li Dongyang, Jiao Fang, and Wang Wei present, he was happy to pretend to be confused, and stood aside without saying anything. Sure enough, after the three ministers saluted one by one, Li Dongyang got up and said: "The emperor left the palace today, and everyone else didn't know the whereabouts. As the first assistant of the cabinet, the minister had to advise the emperor a few words, the white dragon fish suit has always been a taboo for the king, please ...... the emperor"

"Needless to say!"

Zhu Houzhao sat down on Li Dongyang's seat, glanced at the ministers with a dark face, and then said: "In addition to the advice, I think you want to know, where did Xu Xun take me today?" Without waiting for the others to reply, he laughed, but the laughter was unusually hoarse.

"I have been to many places today, I went out of the city from Andingmen in the morning, rushed back to the city after a few bites of lunch, and then went to a hell on earth that I couldn't believe...... It is often said in the drama that the sky is bright and the sky is bright, and it is the first time I know that there are such unheard-of tragic things in this world, and there are many people who can't live if they want to! ”

Although this is still not clear, Li Dongyang and the three of them have been ministers for many years, how sensitive they are, and they immediately guessed whether Xu Xun took Zhu Houzhao to solve some unjust cases, or to see the situation of those affected after the heavy snowfall. Although it seems good to let the king of a country see the suffering of the people, the three of them have their own disapproval. Li Dongyang secretly thought that the king of a country could not cover the world, and instead of only seeing with his own eyes, it was better to learn how to analyze from the minister's recital; Jiao Fang sneered at Xu Xun for pretending to be famous and famous, and won the public opinion of the sacred heart; And Wang Wei was simply dissatisfied that Xu Xun was actually hiding the emperor's whereabouts for this.

However, none of the three of them spoke, but Liu Jin was a little impatient, and asked Xu Xun suspiciously: "Uncle Pingbei, where did you take the emperor here?" ”

Xu Xun glanced at Zhu Houzhao, and then replied lightly: "Zhaojiagou outside Anding Gate, Wuyue Hutong in the north of the city, and Anhua Hutong in the south of Chongwen Gate. ”

When these three place names are spoken, not to mention that Li Dongyang and Jiao Fang Wang Wei are confused, even Liu Jin is frowning and confused. On the contrary, Wang Ning, the celebrant behind Liu Jin, suddenly changed his expression, although he immediately covered it up, but what kind of person Li Dongyang was, he immediately saw it clearly. He was able to refrain from asking rashly, but Wang Wei, who also found this clue, couldn't help it, and immediately said: "Looking at the appearance of the prince, it seems that he has heard of this place? ..., Wang Ning unexpectedly thought that Wang Wei was asking questions at this time, and seeing that the three ministers over there were staring at him, Liu Jin also looked over a little angrily, not to mention Zhu Houzhao and Xu Xun. In the face of these gazes, he only felt that his vest was sweating, and it was not until Zhu Houzhao looked at him sneeringly, and his mouth burst out with a heavy two words, and he opened his mouth with some difficulty.

"Back to the emperor, I have only heard of one of these three places...... It is the Anhua Hutong south of Chongwen Gate, because it is not far from the Anhua Temple...... I heard that there are many eunuchs who have tried to enter the palace but have not succeeded, because they are all over fifty years old and have not waited for the opportunity to enter the palace, so they are just waiting for death......"

Although he paused several times before he made it clear, the people present were all open-minded people, and as soon as the word "self-palace" came out, everyone immediately understood. Li Dongyang and Wang Wei frowned in disgust, while Jiao Fang glanced at Liu Jin. And in the end, Liu Jin sighed and said: "Your Majesty, although this matter is tragic, the imperial court has repeatedly ordered strict prohibitions, and in the final analysis, those foolish men and fools have suffered by themselves." If the emperor is sympathetic, allocate dozens of stones and rice to help......"

"No, what is the reason for giving to these people? Such people who refuse to work hard in agriculture and only think about seeking flattery from the palace, even if they die, they deserve it, how can they be embarrassed by giving relief to such people, so that those who work hard all year round are embarrassed? Although he had just said to Li Dongyang that he would not speak, at this moment, Wang Wei finally couldn't help it, and he was already speaking in a loud voice, "There was an old precedent in the Chenghua period, such people were dressed in brocade and guarded with a cane, and they were full of fifty people who were sent to Haihu to fill the army. If there is a repeat offense, he will be put to death, and the whole family will be sent to the border to fill the army. It's all because the laws and regulations were gradually relaxed after that, so that these people were indulged even more! ”

Liu Jin couldn't get used to Wang Wei, who was writing with Hangul. Now seeing that this person is still against himself after entering the cabinet, and he keeps saying what laws and regulations, he almost pointed his nose and said that he connived, he couldn't help but be very angry, and glared at it and asked with a smile: "Although Wang Ge Lao is known as a poor pavilion elder, since he can still afford to read at home when he was a child, it can be seen that this poor word has not yet been completed." How would you know what it's like for only one person in a family of three to be fed, and the other two have to be sold to others as slaves? Who knows what it's like to have to dig up bark and grass roots, or even have to be displaced to avoid taxes in a year of famine? Where would you know that the father took his own son's baby with his own hands, and he couldn't bear to send people into the palace to beg for a bowl of rice? ”

Although he had long forgotten what it was like to be stabbed when he was a child, after Liu Jin asked three times in a row, he said menacingly: "Therefore, with this tragic incident now, it is also the local parents who have no way to govern it!" Otherwise, if they can govern the place without leaving any stone unturned, and the people in the world will have enough food and clothing, where will such a thing come from! ”

In this dispute, the original center of gravity has been deviated by 108,000 miles. Xu Xun saw that Wang Wei's color changed, and even Li Dongyang couldn't help it, but it was the old god Jiao Fang who was standing aside and watching the excitement, so he coughed heavily. Seeing that Liu Jin had temporarily stopped fighting, he glanced at the little emperor who was silent, and said: "These people have been accepted into the palace, which has indeed contributed to the evil trend of the people; But if the frontier is distributed like this, it will only make a few more dead bodies on the road that have died of cold and starvation. It's like thinking that the grandfather peeled the skin of the corrupt officials at the beginning, but now the corrupt officials are still burned by wildfires, and the spring breeze blows and grows. ”

"According to Ping Beibo's statement, can you just let it go?"

"Of course not!" Xu Xun glanced at Wang Wei, who was full of ridicule, and then said in a deep voice, "Now that there are many of these people, it is impossible to screen them all, but some people can't be severely punished without the law!" For example, when I went to Zhaojiagou with the emperor today, a man whipped his wife's room, and he had to castrate the only remaining son and send him to the palace, and his previous son died in the silkworm room because of castration, but he was still obsessed, just to be rich and glorious in the future. If such a person is killed but it is cheap, it is better to take sixty pounds of flail, and let the messenger sound the gong to parade them through the streets, announce their reasons, and let them not be liberated every day, so as to warn those who are not right-minded! If there are such people in the future, they will follow this old practice! ”…,

Xu Xun started with this point, even Liu Jin felt that it was due, and couldn't help but nodded, and Zhu Houzhao slapped the table and said, "This one is good!" I can't wait to kill this wolf-hearted beast who is a human being, and I think it's cheap for him! ”

"Second, those people who are old but have no way to enter the palace. The neighbors look down on them, their relatives and friends have long abandoned them, and many of them live in groups waiting to die. At the same time, please ask the relatives and friends in the palace to hope to enter the palace, and if you are not careful, there may be a case of Liu Shan, a servant in the Qianqing Palace, who was in charge of Zheng Wang. Therefore, from three days later, the Jinyi Wei East and West Factory and the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division were ordered to clean up the Beijing Division, and all the divisions were expelled from the capital, and such people were not allowed to live in the capital. ”

Liu Jin didn't want Xu Xun to be so harsh, but thinking that even if he wanted to choose the little fire people to enter the palace, most of them were selected from young people, he thought about it, and finally didn't say anything. And Li Dongyang and Wang Wei exchanged glances, and they also felt that this was the proper precaution, but Zhu Houzhao spoke up.

"Xu Xun, didn't you give back the money to the people of the Soldiers and Horses Division before, and let them build a shack and set up a pot for them to drink a mouthful of hot porridge, why did you want to drive them out of Beijing at this time? How many people have to die on a snowy day! ”

"The minister gave the money because he didn't want that place to become a pile of dead people. These people stayed in the capital, and they still had to rely on people to survive, and they couldn't work or farm, just a group of people waiting to die. After this heavy snowfall, there will be another snow, and after this winter, there will be next winter, just like Wang Ge Lao said, giving relief to these people who have not been able to enter the palace for many years, but still have hope and are unwilling to support themselves, will make more people worse. Now Yang Yiqing, the governor of the three towns of Yansui in Ningxia and Gansu, is asking for the construction of city walls in various key places, and sending all these people to build the city wall. ”

Speaking of this, he looked at Liu Jin and said: "As for the third, those young children from the palace immediately let Jinyiwei and the east and west factories and inner factories be counted and given to the palace, and they can only serve in service, not promoted to internal envoys." Even if there are fathers and brothers who are greedy for wealth and wealth, the future of the royal envoy is limited, and there is a distance of 108,000 miles between their relatives from now on, unless they are willing to leave their homeland to vote, they will not want to take advantage of this wealth and wealth, and they will be able to abandon this thought. ”

This is also an old practice used in the previous Chenghua years. Li Dongyang and the other three ministers naturally had nothing to say, and although Liu Jin felt that Xu Xun had overstepped, he actually reached out to manage the package of affairs of the ministers, so it can be seen that every time the little emperor nodded, he shut up and kept silent. It wasn't until Zhu Houzhao happily got up and instructed the cabinet to draw up a decree on this, and then walked out with his hands behind his back, and when he and Xu Xun followed together, he couldn't help but sneer in a low voice: "Pingbei Bo is really comprehensive!" ”

"I can't say everything, I just hope there will be fewer such things in." Xu Xun looked at Liu Jin as he spoke, "Although it seems that there are several roads, if Gonggong Liu says to the emperor, he can't bear to see more and more people from the palace, please strictly prohibit it, and from then on, anyone who wants to be castrated into the palace must be introduced by the celebrant supervisor, otherwise they will not be accepted." Thinking that the emperor has been depressed for so long today, he will definitely feel that Gonggong Liu thinks of him in his heart. Of course, Father-in-law Gu and the others have heads and faces, if fewer people are recruited, Father-in-law Liu can ignore them. ”

"Huh?"

Liu Jin was stunned by this, and then his eyes immediately lit up. All of these big families were selected from the children in their hometown and brought into the palace after castration, but of course the number should not be too large, and one or twenty is already the limit. thought that if he held this power, he would naturally become his own subordinate when he entered the palace in the future, and he would simply be the chief examiner of the exam...... No, the chief examiner who will take the exam is not re-elected, but he can control the celebrant for a long time, and everyone who enters the palace in the future will have to pass under him, and others will never want to overshadow him! ..., "Okay, good, Brother Xu, you are really a good plan!" Liu Jin naturally wouldn't call Xu Xun Pingbeibo anymore, and immediately said with a smile, "Our own people, what are you still called Gonggong Liu, didn't you say earlier that you should be called Lao Liu?" This method is good, I immediately went to report to the emperor at three o'clock, thinking that the emperor couldn't bear to see so many tragic things today, so he would be in a better mood. ”

When he got out of Wenyuan Pavilion and resigned from the Son of Heaven, seeing that Liu Jin, who was full of excitement, followed Zhu Houzhao away, it was clear that he was preparing to go on the road or go back to Chengqian Palace to mention this matter again, Xu Xun glanced at Ruisheng who was also bowing his head and saying nothing behind the little emperor, and finally let out a long sigh.

The people of the palace are also human beings, and they are indeed pitiful, he is not unsympathetic, but he can't put an end to this system, but he can't let more and more of these people because of sympathy! It's just that if you want to have fewer people, he just did not cure the symptoms but not the root cause, and now more and more people are donating land, and land annexation has far exceeded the early years of the founding of the People's Republic of China, but to solve this kind of thing, Zhang Juzheng took out a whip method, but as a result, he put himself in, and inevitably made the New Deal abolish for several years. Even if he had the intention to instigate Liu Jin to charge into battle, if he wanted to keep it for a long time, he had to think about it in the long run.

Having said that, the situation that asked Huitong and Li Yifeng to investigate successively before was that there were quite a few people who spread various doctrines among those people who lived in the capital, and if they were to listen to them living in the capital again, it would be too late to change in an instant. Now that you've made up your mind, move fast! At this time, the only way to pull Zhu Houzhao out is to pull it out!

When he got out of the noon gate, he found a man pacing back and forth in the fluttering snow, and the hat was already full of snow, and even the pitch-black sky was white. He was carefully recognizing the person, the person turned his head sideways, and immediately walked up quickly, who else was it Li Yifeng?

"What are you doing here on this snowy day?"

"I heard that the lord sent the emperor back to the palace, so I waited here for a while, thinking that the lord might take this road after going to the cabinet, and sure enough, I expected it." After Li Yifeng saluted, he couldn't help but rub his hands that were a little stiff from the cold, and then he said in a low voice, "The old file of King Ning's guard has been found. ”

Xu Xun's eyes flashed, and then he smiled: "You are doing things vigorously." This is not the place to talk, I have been waiting in the snow for so long on this cold day, come back to my house and talk! ”

Entering the warm study from the outside with the cold wind howling, Li Yifeng, who was almost wet with snow and water, suddenly let out a long sigh of comfort. Today, I learned that the little emperor was out of the palace, and he was sent by a few bigwigs to run almost around the capital for several big circles, although the matter was solved, but his body was almost frozen. At this moment, seeing a young servant carefully holding a plate with both hands and sending a bowl of hot ginger soup up, he glanced at it and immediately reached out to take it, and drank a few big sips, only then did he feel that his whole body was warm, and he hurriedly said thank you.

"Jin Hong, tell the kitchen to make two bowls of noodles, don't put those greasy things, be light, put more peppercorns."

Xu Xun used to like spicy, but now there is no chili, and he can only make do with pepper and pepper. Seeing that Li Yifeng was relieved after drinking the ginger soup, he opened his mouth and asked, "What did you say in the old file?" ”

"King Ning's guard, that is, today's Nanchang Zuowei, was cut back then, because the grandfather of King Ning today is really outrageous. Back then, King Ningjing's lawless deeds ranged from Jingtai, Tianshun, and Chenghua to the early years of Hongzhi, and some even accused him of plotting against him. In the early years of Tianshun, Yingmiao was dismissed from the guard and subordinated to the Jiangxi Metropolitan Division because of the charges of King Ning Jing's obedience to treachery, accumulation of property like hills and mountains, disregard of human life as a mustard, rehire the princess, persecute his own brothers, violate the system and abuse the people, forcibly manage the tax department, and set up the Cuihua Palace...... But later, some people successively accused King Ning Jing of indulging in reckless behavior, weaving dragon clothes, mutilating human lives, insulting the three divisions, abusing government officials, and conniving at military academies to disturb the good people...... During the Chenghua period, when the court was at its most intense, there were even King Ningjing as commoners, but in the end, Xianmiao still couldn't bear it, and finally reprimanded. ”

Speaking of this, Li Yifeng paused, then shook his head and sighed: "No wonder you want to find Jinyi Wei out of the old files, if you look for the cabinet or other yamen to look at the old files, there will inevitably be interrogations, and then the matter of Ning Fan's restoration of the guard will definitely not be successful!" ”

ps: Re-watching the Ming Shilu, I found that whether Zhu Houzhao fought a war or went to the south of the Yangtze River, or whether the civil uprising was surging, it was all after Liu Jin's death. One of the most trusted people was exposed to rebellion, which actually dealt a considerable blow to Zhengde...... Since then, there has been no one who really trusts.