Wenhua Palace, Yang Zongchang, the secretary of the Criminal Department, stood in the side hall waiting for the summons of the prince Zhu Wucheng, he had just come back from the vegetable market, from yesterday to now, the vegetable market has been killing, some officials need him to personally supervise the beheading, because there are too many people to kill, and they don't care about what noon is not noon, the emperor dictated, the end of the year, today is the twenty-seventh day of the lunar month, there are two days of time, on average, one or two thousand people are killed every day, yesterday there were people watching, today in addition to the people who invited the Shuntian Mansion to collect the corpse, Only those who had a grudge against the slain officials came to watch the execution.

On the way here, he already knew the exact news that Zhang Hongyi, the right attendant of the Criminal Department, was arrested, this matter came very suddenly, Yang Zongchang was not prepared at all, not to mention that Zhang Hongyi is the prince's person, even Zhang Hongyi himself should not be related to Wu Shichang and others, no matter why the emperor arrested Zhang Hongyi and put him in prison, he must definitely need to try it himself, and the prince summoned him mostly for this matter.

"Yang Shangshu, please!"

A small yellow door came over, and Yang Zongchang hurriedly tidied up his official uniform, and walked towards the main hall with his feet raised.

In the study room of the main hall, the crown prince Zhu Wucheng sat in front of the book in his regular clothes, the first assistant Wen dialect sat on the side, and Niu Jizong and Jia Jue sat on both sides.

Zhu Wucheng turned his head to Wen Fangyan and asked, "Shoufu, is it decided?" ”

Wen Fangyan stroked his long beard lightly and nodded slightly, "Please ask the prince to inform Your Majesty about this matter." ”

Zhu Wucheng looked at Wen Fangyan and smiled, then turned his head to Jia Jue and said, "Uncle Zhongwu doesn't think about it? ”

Jia Jue replied: "The minister is still the same sentence, the minister does not understand the true situation of Suzhou and Hangzhou, and does not dare to assert it without authorization." ”

Zhu Wucheng was slightly stunned, and in an instant he regained his smile and continued to look at Niu Jizong, "Zhenguo Gong? ”

"I think the king of Dongping County can solve this matter perfectly."

Zhu Wucheng didn't answer, Gu Zi said: "The king of the county is indeed old and seeking the country...."

Just now, the crown prince Zhu Wucheng discussed the matter of Suzhou and Hangzhou with Jia Jue in accordance with the emperor's will, and the attitude of Wen dialect was very clear, not advocating the cleansing of all the big families, hoping to solve this stubborn disease through division, and did not want to scorch the rich land in the south of the Yangtze River, which would greatly damage the national strength of the Ming Dynasty and was not conducive to preparing for war.

However, Zhu Wucheng didn't think so, or rather, the emperor wanted to uproot the Jiangnan family and never suffer in the future.

At this moment, Yang Zongchang, the secretary of the Criminal Department, walked in quickly, and he entered the door and bowed to Zhu Wucheng, "The minister sees the prince!" ”

"Yang Shangshu has worked hard these two days!"

Zhu Wucheng said with a smile.

"Where the duty lies."

"You've heard about Zhang Hongyi!"

"The minister has just learned about it, and he hasn't had time to go back to the ministry to understand the situation."

Zhu Wucheng nodded, "This palace summoned you to come, just because I have a word to tell you." ”

Yang Zongchang: "Yes." ”

Zhu Wucheng pondered for a while and sighed, "In front of the first assistant, the palace will not hide it, since the treasury arrears were recovered, this Zhang Hongyi has never boarded the gate of the Liang Palace, and he has severed the connection with the palace."

Of course, he can't be blamed for this, after all.... Bengong's actions that day really hurt his heart, but Bengong didn't regret it, after all, it was a matter of the imperial court's plan, and there was no room for any personal feelings. I was going to find a chance to compensate with him, but who knows.... Hi! ”

Wen dialect spoke, "The prince doesn't have to blame himself, since he has chosen his own path, he has to bear the corresponding cause and effect." ”

Zhu Wucheng glanced at him and said to Yang Zongchang: "Although he betrayed the palace, the palace cannot be unjust, and this matter is also tried by Yang Shangshu." ”

"Please rest assured that the prince will deal with this carefully!"

"What are you going to do with this?"

Zhu Wucheng still asked quietly.

Yang Zongchang was stunned, he couldn't wait to intervene in the criminal department? Also, the king of Shu and the prince of Shu have hanged themselves, and there is only one sick seedling left, and he is about to be sent to the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum to be imprisoned, and no one can threaten him.

Thinking of this, he glanced at Wen Fangyan and replied, "If the prince has any orders, the minister will do it." ”

The muscles on Zhu Wucheng's face trembled, and he smiled curtly: "Your Majesty's will, Zhang Hongyi has ill intentions, and he will be strictly investigated in prison." ”

Yang Zongchang's eyes flashed and replied, "The minister obeys the order!" ”

Zhu Wucheng's face was relieved at this time, "It's hard work Yang Shangshu, my father is going to expand the cabinet after the year." ”

"The emperor is going to expand the cabinet?"

Yang Zongchang silently read it twice in his heart, bowed down and said: "The minister understands, and he will definitely try this matter carefully." ”

Zhu Wucheng was very satisfied when he saw him agree, "Thank you for your hard work, this palace and Shoufu still have something to discuss." ”

"Retire!"

Yang Zongchang bowed, bowed to Wen Fangyan, and turned around and walked out of the hall.

There was silence in the hall.

Zhu Wucheng smiled, "Please come over today, there is one more thing." As the old saying goes, 'Seven things to open the door, firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea'. This salt has an irreplaceable position, and the profits in it can be imagined. The wealth of the salt merchant is rivaled by the richness of the country. However, they eroded the interests that originally belonged to the imperial court, and in order to protect their interests, they bribed local officials on a large scale, and sought important ministers of the court to become their protective umbrella backers. ”

As he spoke, he took out one of the books from a pile of memoranda and said: "This is a book left by Song Qian, the former head of the household department, before his death, which is to propose to reform the salt administration, crack down on the collusion between officials and businessmen, resell salt, and sell private salt, and suggest breaking the existing situation, and in the future, there will be a monopoly on government pricing, and businessmen are not allowed to interfere." ”

The three of them were stunned at first, and then looked at Zhu Wucheng together—they all suspected that they had heard it wrong.

Looking at Zhu Wucheng, who was still calm, Jia Jue was silent in his heart, it was too much to find a dead man to take the blame.

Wen Fangyan pondered for a moment and said with a wry smile: "This matter is too big, please think twice." ”

"Alright! There is no urgency in this matter, and we will discuss it after the New Year. ”

Speaking of this, Zhu Wucheng casually threw it on the book and said lightly: "Last night, my father sent an edict to the king of Dongping County to confiscate the salt merchants who colluded with the Wu family, including the Chen family and the Li family. ”

All three were taken aback.

Zhu Wucheng didn't seem to care at all, and said a little casually: "This is the will of His Majesty the Emperor." ”

At this moment, Dong Shan, the eunuch who was the former head of the Liang Palace, walked in quickly and said urgently: "Prince, the concubine has hanged herself." ”

"What!"

Zhu Wucheng was stunned, "What the hell is going on?" ”

Dong Shan told him what he had heard, looked at both sides, took two steps forward, and lowered his voice in his ear: "Your Majesty ordered the emperor's grandson Zhu Dakang to be brought into the palace from the Zongren Mansion. ”

A cold light quickly flashed in Zhu Wucheng's eyes, and in an instant, he regained his composure, and waved his hand, "Go down, report something immediately!" ”

In just one morning, the news that Concubine Wu hanged herself in the dormitory spread all over the city, and this woman who had made countless ordinary people in Gyeonggi envy actually ended up in such a bleak end, which made countless people sigh, but there were also discerning people who saw that Wu was trying to save his grandson's life, and some people said that the emperor was too cold, forcing his son, daughter-in-law and grandson to death, and even his wife did not let go.

In the afternoon, a holy decree came out from the Qianqing Palace: the third son of the Wu family traffic emperor plotted against him, sought to share the honor, and immediately sent to the extreme south, and was pardoned or not.

This was followed by the second holy decree: the cabinet of the university scholar Zhenguo Bull Jizong, loyal and diligent, and crowned with the title of prince and prince.

Just when the city was full of discussions, another gossip came out that Zhu Dakang, the second son of the King of Shu, was sent by the emperor to Cining Palace to be raised, and then went to Fengyang when he became an adult.

..........

Since the morning, the sky of Shenjing has been gloomy, and it has been snowing for a long time, and as time slowly passes, the snow is getting heavier and heavier, the cold wind is howling, rolling up clumps of snowflakes, and there is silence on Ningrong Street.

Rongguo Mansion, inside Jia's mother's house.

As always, it was quiet and peaceful, full of laughter.

Mother Jia sat on the soft couch, Wang Xifeng and Li Kun stood on the side and waited, Daiyu and the Yingchun sisters were there, a group of people were talking and laughing, at this time, the voice of the maid came from outside the door, "Miss Shi is here!" ”

Before he could say a word, Shi Xiangyun rushed in like a gust of wind, "Old Ancestor." ”

"Hahaha, her second uncle moved out of Yulin General Army, and he will move his family to take office tomorrow, I am reluctant to Xiangyun, so I will bring her to my home."

Jia Mu hugged Xiangyun into her arms and said to Wang Xifeng with a smile: "You have to arrange it well." ”

Xiangyun coquettishly hugged Jia's mother's arm and begged, "I want to live with Sister Lin." ”

Jia Mu patted her on the hand, "Okay! It's up to you. ”

Accompanying Jia's mother to say a few words, Xiangyun immediately ran to Daiyu's side, and several people talked and chatted together, smiling crisply from time to time.

As he was talking, he saw Zhou Rui's family coming over hurriedly and said with a smile: "Old lady, my aunt's family has sent fresh venison, saying that I invite you to taste it." ”

Jia Mu smiled: "Why didn't you see Mrs. Aunt and Bao Yatou?" ”

"Ancestor, there are guests from my aunt's house, and I will bring you to see you early tomorrow!"

Wang Xifeng told Jia's mother the news that the Xue family's second room had entered Beijing.

Mother Jia nodded, she actually wanted to ask Baochai, but she heard Mandarin Duck say, Xue Pan took the road of Dai Quan, invited an old mother to Baochai from the palace, taught her etiquette on weekdays, and now is teaching her to throw pots, it seems that this is preparation, when she learned that Jia Jue was teaching Daiyu to throw pots, Jia Mu specially instructed the new Chinese New Year's Eve to hold a pot throwing competition, Jia Yu, Jia Zheng and Jia Zhen heard that they all sent color heads.

"The Legend of the Fairy Tree"