Early in the morning of the second day, Xia Mu went to the Beizhen Fusi, and the documents from the Ministry of Officials were also sent to the Beizhen Fusi.

Today, the southeastern convicts Hu Zongxian and Yu Dawei were escorted back to Beijing and imprisoned, and the long-prepared triage of the three divisions was also mentioned in the charter.

It's just that yesterday the gang of Japanese slaves arrested more than a dozen people, and the Jinyi guards tortured them all night, and finally asked the inside story.

It turned out that this group of Japanese slaves was a Japanese ninja organization named "Guan Bai", who specialized in spying on the military situation and national conditions of the Ming Dynasty, secretly bribing officials, and selling food privately.

Early in the morning, Zhu Xizhong's fold was handed into the Dongnuan Pavilion, and Jiajing scolded Yan Shifan, only saying that he would be strictly investigated.

Xu Jue was put in prison, but within half an hour, Xu Jue was hanged in the prison in fear of crime. The above only said that Xu Jue fornicated with the Japanese slaves to sell disaster relief food, and Yan Shifan was completely picked.

When Xia Mu received the notice from the ministry, he didn't say anything.

Zhu Xizhong's face was ugly on the main seat, looking at the confession of the gang of slaves, his brows furrowed: "This Guan Bai organization is so deeply hidden, our spies haven't received any news. ”

Xia Mu looked at the five-baht Tongjia crest icon on it, and he also had seven seven eight eight in his heart, and sneered: "Do you know that Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who is known as the 'No. 1 strange man in troubled times' by the Japanese, is related to Dongyi?" ”

"Oh?" Zhu Xizhong looked up and saw that Xia Mu knew, and couldn't help but say, "The year before last, an envoy came to Dongyi, and he said that what kind of emperor envoy, a retainer of the Taiko Toyotomi clan, but this person?" ”

"It's Toyotomi Hideyoshi!" Xia Mu's eyes froze with a cold light, "This person is a daimyo and feudal lord of Japan's Warring States Period and Azuchi-Momoyama Period, following the thirty-seventh year of Empress Machimakuten, serving a humble servant in Oda Nobunaga's mansion, I don't want to be thirty-seven years, Oda Nobunaga died in a rebellion, Toyotomi Hideyoshi suddenly rose up, and successively defeated Shibata Katsuie, Takigawa Ichiyi, Date Masamune, Hojo Clan and other powerful clans, and subdued Tokugawa Ieyasu, Maeda Toshiie, Kobayakawa Takakei and other tyrants, and finally soared into the sky, becoming a daimyo who controlled the princes and unified the forces of central Japan, called 'Sekibai Taiko'! ”

"Guan Bai Taige?" Zhu Xizhong's brows furrowed again, "Could it be that this group of Japanese slaves is the spies sent by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to spy on my Ming Dynasty?" What is the special significance of this guanbai? ”

"My lord doesn't know that in the history of Japan, the post of 'Sekihaku' is equivalent to the prime minister that has long been abolished in our country, and it is an extremely high position of 'under one person, above ten thousand'. Since ancient times, Japan's 'Sekihaku' can only be held by members of the so-called "Five Regents" family, such as Konoe, Takaji, Ichijo, Nijo, and Kujo from the ancient Fujiwara clan. Toyotomi Hideyoshi's great feat of subjugating the princes and purging Japan broke the tradition of monopolizing the position of 'Sekihaku' by the 'five regents' clan for thousands of years, and was named the first commoner-born 'Sekihaku' in the history of Japan by Emperor Shokin-cho. Therefore, everything about Toyotomi Hideyoshi was regarded as a great miracle by the Japanese people, and the people all surrendered to him in awe. At present, it is very likely that this group of Japanese slaves is the spies sent by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his son to my Ming Dynasty, after all, Dongyi has wanted to kill my Ming Dynasty for a long time! ”

"At present, the imperial court treasury is empty, the traitorous ministers deserve their right, the military equipment is slack, there is a coveted by me in the north, and there is a rebellion in Burma in the south. After speaking, Zhu Xizhong walked out.

Xia Mu couldn't help but sigh when he saw that he didn't take this matter to heart, but if this group of Japanese slaves was allowed to take root in China, the future would still be a variable.

Just when Xia Mu was thinking alone, Yang Qian walked in in and saw Xia Mu laugh first: "Lord Rongzheng, my subordinates want to congratulate you!" ”

When Xia Mu heard this, he turned around in shock, and he was also happy to see Yang Qian: "Brother Yang made fun of his brother, without Brother Yang, there would be no brother today." ”

"If you kid doesn't recognize me as a brother, can I still scold you kid to death?"

"Big brother said he laughed!" Xia Mu hurriedly pretended to accompany him, which made Yang Qian laugh again, "Brother Yang, Hu Zongxian has been escorted into the city, I don't know where he is now?" ”

"He was brought into the case by the Criminal Department and has been handed over to the Imperial Prison, and the emperor ordered that outsiders are not allowed to visit the prison."

Xia Mu nodded, he still wanted to see him in person, but he thought that there was an edict from the emperor, and Jinyiwei couldn't let people in, so he destroyed this thought.

At noon, the cabinet was already preparing for the three divisions to review the matter, and Xia Mu got the news from Xu Jie, and went to the cabinet.

When he entered, he found that Lao Yan Song had come back at some point, compared to the case of suppressing the Japanese slave warehouse from above, there must be this old man who is doing something!

Xu Jie beckoned Xia Mu to accompany him to take a walk outside, and Xia Mu knew that he wanted to avoid Yan Song, so he followed the teacher out.

"There was a fight in the storage warehouse, wasn't it?"

Xu Jie asked as he walked to his duty room. Xia Mu followed behind his ass and said with some surprise, "Oh, the teacher already knows?" ”

Xu Jietou didn't reply, and said: "The news of Dongchang is faster than yours, tell me, what is going on?" ”

"It's not for pepper and sumwood...... and Xu Jue's sale of relief grain to the Japanese slaves......"

"Sure enough, it's for this!" Xu Jie's heart sank, and he couldn't help but think of an incident that happened a few days ago, which was about the finance of the household department, and he remembered it when he saw Xia Mu mention the matter of pepper and sumu.

After a while, Xia Mu sat in Xu Jie's duty room, and Xu Jie continued: "The household department controls the country's finances. How can I be a good shopkeeper for the emperor, this is very famous. The treasury is tight, and if there is nothing to do this winter, it will be fine, but if something happens, I am afraid that those refugees in the outer city will not survive. ”

"What the hell is going on?" As soon as Xia Mu heard the mention of refugees, he paid special attention, "Couldn't that batch of relief food be delivered?" There is no silver left in the treasury? ”

"The treasury has run out of money."

"Huh? When Yan Nei left office, didn't he say that there were still 400,000 taels? ”

"400,000 taels, hmph, that's a lie that Yan Nei said." Xu Jie said stupidly, "In the past few days, all the accounts have been verified and verified, and there are only 200,000 taels of silver in the treasury, and the so-called 400,000 taels is to include the 200,000 taels of silver that Yan Nei promised to give to the officials. However, it has been more than three months since the money was transferred. ”

Hearing this, Xia Mu didn't know what to do, the refugees in the outer city would not be able to live without silver!

Xu Jie looked at Xia Mu's appearance and smiled: "Don't worry, there is still some silver, at the beginning of the year, the thirteenth division of the household department will be approved together with the relevant yamen, the tax that should be collected in the country this year is 2.7 million taels of silver, but the annual expenses must be more than two or four million silver, not including the large expenses of ancestor worship. ”

"Didn't you say that there are still years of arrears? What is this number? ”

"More than five million," Xu Jie stretched out a hand and shook it, and then sighed, "This is only the arrears of recent years, if this money is collected, we will not be so stretched and sigh for no rice." ”

"I don't think Li Mo can do it for a long time, the pepper and Sumu have already caused the Beijing officials to complain constantly, if the money can't be paid at the end of the year, I have to make a big fuss."

"You don't care about these, I tell you these things, but also to keep an eye on you, you will officially enter the 12th regiment of the Beijing camp at the end of the year, don't count on the military department, don't count on the military department, recruit soldiers and horses, and find a way for yourself, you don't know the difficulties in this?" Xu Jie glanced at Xia Mu and took a sip of tea, "Xiyi's marriage will be done tomorrow, I heard that Concubine Yun Guifei is in a hurry, Princess Ning'an is a character, her uncle is Xu Pengju, the Xu family is in Nanjing 10th, and it has been going on for a long time, and you have to ask for some money in the mansion from there." ”

"If you trouble the teacher, you have wronged Xiyi."

"You kid, it's not uncommon for a man to have three wives and four concubines, but before you leave Beijing, you will return it to the uncles who have officially worshiped the Jiangyou School and the Zhejiang Middle School, and some of their connections can also be used when you are abroad."

Xia Mu nodded, always feeling empty in his heart, and walked out of the cabinet courtyard in despair.

Yan Song returned home in the afternoon, so he scolded Yan Shifan, and Yan Shifan, who came in, didn't dare to hide it, so he told the story of what happened in the storage warehouse.

When Yan Song heard about the Japanese slave incident, his heart was empty, and he also knew that it was not fun to make trouble at the feet of the Son of Heaven, so he asked Yan Shifan to find a way to kill the Japanese slaves in the prison and shut his mouth.

Yan Shifan saw that his father didn't say anything, and he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart: "Dad, Hu Zongxian has been escorted back to Beijing, what does the three divisions mean by interrogating Li Mo?" ”

Listening to Yan Shifan's report, Lao Yan Song's heart twitched, and his palms were full of cold sweat. As soon as Yan Shifan's voice fell, he immediately said: "Hu Zongxian, don't get involved in this matter, Li Mo is shaving his head and picking his head hot, he wants to squeeze Xu Jie out of the cabinet, Xu Jie may not be easy to get along, I'm afraid that Xu Dang will save him, let's sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight." ”

When Hu Zongxian entered Beijing, Xu Wei in the Suzhou Hall walked around, and heard that Dong Weng was escorted into the Beizhen Fusi, so he hurriedly pulled Wang Shizhen out of the Forbidden City by a special four-person apricot yellow sedan chair, and arrived at the Beizhen Fusi Yamen in a short time.

These Jinyiwei and Dongchang are two major police and spy organizations independent of the government and directly controlled by the emperor. Historically, the Brocade Guard has been in charge of a hereditary lord. Its functions are divided into two, one is the palace guard, the court honor guard, etc.; The second is to be responsible for monitoring the ministers and arresting the criminal ministers of the court staff. Therefore, it also set up a large prison, that is, the Prison of Pacification. There are three major prisons in the capital, which belong to the Criminal Department, Dongchang and Jinyi Weibei Town Fu Division, although the functions of the three criminal institutions overlap, but there is also a general division of labor: civil cases such as bandits, rape and murder, are under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Department; Crimes involving eunuchs and public officials are under the jurisdiction of Dongchang; Any minister who plots rebellion or disobedience against the emperor will be arrested by the Jinyi guard. Three prisons, the coolest punishment, Dongchang and Beizhen Fusi can be called together. Sometimes, the North Town Fusi even surpassed the East Factory.

The little people, when it comes to the Criminal Department, they are all shocked and discolored, and the high-ranking officials and eunuchs avoid Dongchang and Beizhen Fusi like tigers. These two institutions are each other's inside and outside, and they are regarded as confidants by the emperor. Therefore, although this Beizhen Fusi is only a three-grade yamen, in the eyes of the people of Beijing, it is a place full of blood and power to the extreme, and no matter how urgent it is, you have to take a detour when you pass here. Because of this, Xu Wei was anxious, afraid that Dong Weng would not be able to bear the punishment, so he admitted it as soon as possible.