Just as Zhou Yuting and Zhu Yuxin were on their way back to the Zhenguo Mansion, a tall and thin man in his thirties wearing mink fur came to the right gate of Chang'an on the right side of the Daming Gate of the Imperial City, glanced at a pavilion guarded by the forbidden army, and strode over expressionlessly.

This pavilion is not an ordinary pavilion, there is a huge cowhide drum standing on the drum rack inside, this cowhide drum is the famous "Dengwen drum", the Hongwu Emperor set up and sent a special person to manage, where there are wronged people to beat the drum appeal then the Ming Dynasty will personally accept it, if there are officials from the obstruction of the sentence will be heavy.

The Dengwen drum was originally set up outside the noon gate of the Forbidden City, but later Emperor Hongwu moved to the right gate of Chang'an in the imperial city in order to facilitate the people to complain, and sent officials to take turns on duty to receive the drumming complainants.

In order to prevent the drums from being beaten for no reason, the drums can only be beaten in the face of serious grievances and confidential incidents, otherwise they will be severely punished, and once the drums are beaten, the case will be reported to the emperor.

In the eyes of the people, as long as the royal complaint is filed, then the grievances can be resolved with the intervention of the emperor, which is a way to do so, and this is also an important way for the emperor to monitor the people's feelings.

"Stop!" The forbidden army guarding outside the pavilion saw the tall and thin man walking towards the Dengwen drum, and immediately several people stepped forward to block his way, and the leading Wu Chang admonished with a stern expression, "This is the place of the imperial order, and the idle people should avoid it quickly. ”

"This military master, the little people want to sue the emperor!" The tall and thin man bowed slightly to the captain and replied in a deep voice.

"You can think about it, if it is not a serious case, you must not beat the drum, otherwise you will be severely punished!" A look of surprise flashed on Wu Chang's face when he heard this, since Zhang Wang, the steward of the imperial dining room during the rebellion of the Han Dynasty, struck the Dengwen drum and sued the Venerable Master Yuanxia for murdering Hong Xi, the number of times the Dengwen drum was beaten was only a handful over the years, he didn't expect that he would encounter someone suing the emperor today, and then quietly warned the thin and tall man.

"The little public opinion has been decided." Hearing this, the tall thin man bowed to Wu Chang again, and said in a resolute tone.

Hearing this, Wu Chang glanced at the tall and thin man, and then got out of the way, the rules set by Emperor Hongwu have not dared to be disobeyed so far, otherwise they will be punished heavily.

The tall and thin man strode into the pavilion, picked up the drumstick and beat it with a majestic sound, which immediately attracted the attention of passers-by in the distance, and they all stretched out their heads to look this way, whispering to each other and talking about each other.

"Who are you from, and what grievances do you have?" After more than 100 blows, the tall and thin man came to the desk on the side, and a round-faced man sitting behind the desk wearing an eight-rank official robe picked up the pen and asked step by step, preparing to record the case of the tall and thin man.

"Xiaomin's name is Liu Ren, a cloth merchant in Jiaozhi, who sued Li Yuntian, the governor of Jiaozhi Guangxi and the prince of Zhenguo, for abusing his power for personal gain and oppressing the good!" The tall, thin man looked at the round-faced official with a stern expression and said word by word.

"Zhen Guogong!" The round-faced official was carrying a pen to make records, and after hearing the words, he was stunned, and looked at the tall and thin man with a shocked face, you must know that Li Yuntian is a celebrity in front of Emperor Xuande, the most powerful person in the capital, and the tall and thin man actually wants to sue Li Yuntian, isn't it hitting a stone with an egg?

Moreover, Li Yuntian's reputation in the outside world has always been very good, and the round-faced officials do not believe that Li Yuntian will do what Liu Ren said.

"Are you sure you want to sue the town Guogong, some things may be the work of the officials below." After a few moments, the round-faced official recovered from his shock and quietly persuaded.

In his opinion, the identities between Li Yuntian and Liu Ren are very different, and there is no possibility of any intersection between the two, not to mention that Li Yuntian has never gone back after quelling the Jiaozhi rebellion, how can there be any grievances and entanglements with Liu Ren?

"My lord, Xiaomin is suing Zhenguo Gong, I'm afraid that except for the emperor, there is no yamen in the world who dares to take Xiaomin's case!" Liu Ren nodded solemnly to the round-faced official, and said in a mocking tone.

The round-faced official stopped speaking when he heard this, and buried his head in registering what Liu Ren had complained, he was just a petty official of the eighth grade, and he didn't want to get involved in Li Yuntian's affairs, anyway, he had already warned Liu Ren, if Liu Ren still insisted on going his own way, then he could only bear the corresponding consequences.

Subsequently, the round-faced official hurriedly reported to his boss with the form that Liu Ren carried, and the boss hurriedly reported to the boss, who had to report the case as soon as the drum sounded, and Li Yuntian was involved, so the relevant officials naturally did not dare to slack off.

Therefore, Liu Ren's statement was quickly placed in front of Emperor Xuande, who was convening the cabinet members to discuss affairs in the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Xuande glanced at the situation, and then was silent for a long time in front of Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong and others, coughing while asking Jin Ying to give the situation to Yang Shiqi, the first assistant of the cabinet.

Yang Shiqi was taken aback after seeing the case, he never imagined that this case was actually sued by Li Yuntian, saying that Li Yuntian instructed the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce to monopolize the Jiaozhi business community behind the scenes, forcing the cloth village he opened to buy goods from the designated big cloth merchants at a high price, and as a result, because he refused to give in to the obscenity of the big cloth merchants, he was ruined in business, which can be said to be a loss of money.

Not only that, the business of all walks of life in Jiaozhi was controlled by the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce, which wantonly oppressed the people, making the people miserable and the people miserable.

What is particularly important is that the Yuntun City Bureau, which is in charge of the overseas trade of the Nanyang countries, is controlled by the Governor's Office, and the upper and lower levels collude to engage in smuggling and embezzle tax revenues, so that those officials in charge of the overseas trade of the Nanyang countries are rich one by one and live a luxurious life, while the country and the people suffer.

After reading the case, Yang Shiqi suppressed the shock in his heart, and handed the letter to Yang Rong beside him, so that the four cabinet members knew about Liu Ren's lawsuit against Li Yuntian.

Today, there are only four cabinet members left, namely Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Yang Pu and Chen Shan, making the cabinet's power more and more centralized.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think about this?" Emperor Xuande looked around at the cabinet members with stunned expressions and asked quietly.

"Your Majesty, the town is busy with affairs, and has never returned to Jiaozhi in recent years, this matter is too sudden, and the minister thinks that he wants to think about it in the long run, so he can send someone to Jiaozhi to verify." As the first assistant of the cabinet, Yang Shiqi naturally couldn't remain silent anymore when he saw Emperor Xuande open his mouth to inquire, so he pondered for a while and said.

Although Yang Shiqi is Li Yuntian's mentor and has a close relationship with Li Yuntian, Yang Shiqi is also an important minister that Emperor Xuande relied on, so it is impossible for him to pack a ticket to say that Li Yuntian did not involve what Liu Ren said, or that Liu Ren was making false accusations, so he could only deal with this matter according to the process.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that Lord Yang is reasonable, and the Duke of Zhenguo will guard the southwest of Daming with the respect of Jiaozhi and the governor of Guangxi, and he must not move lightly, otherwise it will inevitably cause chaos in the two places, because he will send someone to investigate thoroughly and then make plans."

Immediately, Yang Pu bowed to Emperor Xuande and expressed his approval of Yang Shiqi's suggestion, after all, Li Yuntian is not an ordinary courtier, but a member of the ruling party, which can be said to affect the whole body for Jiaozhi and Guangxi.

"The minister seconded the proposal!" Yang Rong and Chen Shan glanced at each other, and then said in unison, they don't approve of investigating Li Yuntian with great fanfare just on the basis of a single report, it is better to take it step by step in private.

This is not that Yang Shiqi and others deliberately defend Li Yuntian, they are maintaining the order of the imperial court, if Li Yuntian, as a dignified important minister of the imperial court, is strictly investigated by the imperial court because of a case, I am afraid that people will rush to follow suit, and the consequences will be unimaginable, so it must be treated cautiously.

"That's exactly what I mean." Emperor Xuande nodded when he heard this, and said in a deep voice, "Who do you think is more appropriate to send to Jiaozhi?" ”

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that he should send the Nanjing Three Law Divisions to investigate, firstly, he can suppress the Governor's Mansion of Guangxi and Jiaozhi, so that he can cooperate with the thorough investigation, and secondly, he can also stabilize the situation of the Jingshi Dynasty so as not to arouse suspicion."

Yang Shiqi pondered for a while and came up with an idea, asking the people of the Nanjing Three Law Divisions to go to Jiaozhi for a secret investigation, which would not only overpower Guangxi and Jiaozhi Governor's Mansion in terms of level, but also make this investigation as free from external interference as possible.

Normally, in the event of such an important event, Emperor Xuande would definitely send officials from the Three Law Divisions to investigate thoroughly, but Li Yuntian had a good relationship with the Three Law Divisions, and no matter who he sent, he could not avoid suspicion.

In fact, there are not only three law divisions, Li Yuntian's relationship with the large and small yamen in the capital has been relatively harmonious in recent years, and even the household department that had been entangled with Li Yuntian has become closer and closer because of the silver that Li Yuntian earned in overseas trade with the Nanyang countries.

If according to the general process, Emperor Xuande would let the supervising imperial history patrol press Jiaozhi, but Li Yuntian was the right deputy of the Imperial History of the Imperial Inspectorate, then for the sake of safety, the supervision of the Imperial History of the Imperial Inspectorate would definitely not be activated.

Therefore, judging from factors such as the ability to investigate the case and avoiding suspicion, the only way to choose the people of the Nanjing Three Law Division is to investigate.

"Okay, just follow Qing's words." Emperor Xuande bowed slightly when he heard this, recognized Yang Shiqi's suggestion, coughed a few times and said to Yang Shiqi, "Give the following to the Nanjing Three Law Divisions, and let them immediately send someone to Jiaozhi to investigate this matter." ”

"Your Majesty, what kind of official rank should you send?" Yang Shiqi bowed to Emperor Xuande and opened his mouth to ask for instructions, this kind of major event naturally has to be judged by Emperor Xuande.

"The left deputy capital of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate, the left deputy capital of the Nanjing Imperial Palace, the left Shaoqing of the Nanjing Dali Temple, and the left servant of the Nanjing Criminal Department, sent three people to Jiaozhi." Emperor Xuande pondered for a moment and said to Yang Shiqi.

The level of the Guangxi and Jiaozhi Governors' Mansions is higher than that of the Ming Dynasty's political envoys, but the specific level has not yet been finalized, but because Li Yuntian serves as the governor of the Governor's Mansion as the Duke of Zhenguo, the level of the Governor's Mansion is similar to that of the major Governors' Mansions, and the Governor's Mansions are the imperial court yamen parallel to the Six Ministries.

Therefore, the Governor's Mansion of Guangxi and Jiaozhi is not as easy to deal with as the political envoys of the Ming Dynasty, and the level of the people who go to the Nanjing Three Law Divisions is too low to suppress at all, but it cannot be too high, otherwise it will arouse suspicion from the outside world, so it is more appropriate to send the No. 2 person of the Three Law Divisions.

"Obey." Yang Shiqi bowed to Emperor Xuande when he heard this, and agreed in a deep voice, his mood was a little complicated, it seemed that someone was deliberately targeting Li Yuntian, otherwise there would not be anything involving Li Yuntian for two consecutive days, the other party was menacing this time, and he didn't know if Li Yuntian could get through this hurdle safely.

Not only Yang Shiqi, but also Yang Rong, Yang Pu and Chen Shan have all realized that Li Yuntian is in trouble like him, after all, the three of them have rich experience and can still see the signs, but it is not clear who wants to deal with Li Yuntian, but it is certain that the capital will become lively.

Including Yang Shiqi, no one noticed that Emperor Xuande's eyes flashed with a chilling light.