My father is Jiajing

Chapter 525 Was it all Yan Maoqing who did it?
"The Yuanzhi is here."

When Li Chunfang walked to the tea room in the front hall, he saw Zhao Wenhua, who greeted him with a smile.

When Zhao Wenhua heard Li Chunfang's voice, he quickly turned around and bowed respectfully to Li Chunfang: "Greetings, Elder."

Although Zhao Wenhua is much older than Li Chunfang, Li Chunfang has now surpassed him and become the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet.

So when he met Li Chunfang, Zhao Wenhua was very respectful and polite and performed the etiquette of a subordinate.

Li Chunfang looked at Zhao Wenhua's respectful bow and actually felt very happy in her heart, but she said so.

Li Chunfang laughed heartily, "Yuanzhi, you are too polite. Logically speaking, you are my senior. I am now in the Ministry of Industry, and I have many things to ask you, the former Minister of Industry, to help me."

Zhao Wenhua said modestly, "What are you talking about, Lord? If you have any instructions, please send a servant or clerk to tell me and I will be there soon."

Li Chunfang laughed, feeling relieved again, and then he said to Zhao Wenhua: "Sit inside Yuanzhi."

Zhao Wenhua also bowed politely and said, "Please come in, Lord."

Li Chunfang was no longer polite at this time. He walked into his tea room before Zhao Wenhua, and then sat directly on his chair. After Zhao Wenhua came in, he bowed slightly again before sitting down.

Li Chunfang looked at Zhao Wenhua who was sitting down, and finally stopped chatting and asked directly: "Yuan Zhi came to my house so late, what happened?"

Zhao Wenhua immediately said, "You are wise, you saw through my thoughts at a glance. I do have a difficult matter here, and it is not convenient for me to take action. So I came to you to see if you can help me."

When Li Chunfang heard this, he couldn't help but look at Zhao Wenhua again. Obviously, he didn't expect that there would be something that would embarrass or inconvenience Zhao Wenhua.

Li Chunfang asked: "What's the matter?"

When Zhao Wenhua heard these two words, he quickly took out the file of Yan Shifan's crimes compiled by Yan Maoqing from his sleeve pocket.

Zhao Wenhua said: "This humble official, the Minister of Internal Affairs Yan Maoqing, has recently discovered some problems when sorting out the criminal case files of the Ministry of Justice. However, these problems involve sensitive people, and these cases have been in a frozen state of pending resolution."

"After seeing these files, I am at a loss. Besides, the people involved in these cases are from the Ministry of Industry, which you are in charge of now. So I would like to ask you to help me find a suitable person or method to reopen the investigation of these old cases that have been frozen for many years."

Li Chunfang took the file handed over by Zhao Wenhua and couldn't help but say "oh" out of curiosity. Then he opened the slightly wrinkled and old file in the light of the tea room.

When Li Chunfang saw that the person involved in these files was Yan Shifan, Li Chunfang looked up at Zhao Wenhua in surprise and asked, "Are these all true?"

Zhao Wenhua said: "They are all true, and they were all uncovered by Yan Maoqing one by one. They are all detailed evidence."

When Li Chunfang heard the name Yan Maoqing again, a subtle smile appeared in the corner of his eyes.

When he heard it for the first time, Li Chunfang thought he had heard it wrong and believed that the assistant minister Zhao Wenhua was talking about was another assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice.

As a result, after hearing what Zhao Wenhua said, Li Chunfang really wanted to laugh.

I didn't expect that even Yan Shifan's most trusted henchman has begun to rebel. It seems that the Yan Party's era has really come to an end.

Li Chunfang continued to carefully look at the file of Yan Shifan's crimes compiled by Yan Maoqing. Zhao Wenhua also said at the same time: "I have also carefully read these files. The cases and people involved in them are all committed by Yan Shifan. There is nothing about Lord Yan."

"However, Yan Shifan is after all the son of Lord Yan. If we investigate him, it will inevitably arouse the imagination of some people. They will think that these crimes of Yan Shifan were instigated and condoned by Lord Yan."

"Although I am the Minister of Justice, as the adopted son of Lord Yan, I should avoid cases related to the Yan family according to Ming Dynasty law. So, since these cases have been uncovered by Yan Maoqing, I naturally cannot turn a blind eye."

"So, I have the guts to go to your residence and ask you for advice on how to handle this matter."

While Li Chunfang was looking at the detailed file of Yan Shifan's crimes and listening to Zhao Wenhua's words, he also nodded.

Li Chunfang said, "Your concerns are not without reason. This kind of critical case involving the relatives of Lord Yan cannot be handled with common sense. We must be very careful, cautious, and cautious. Otherwise, if it causes a major incident and implicates people who should not be implicated, affecting the stability of the court, this problem will be serious."

"However, the court has always been intolerant of cases like this where the evidence is detailed and the content is outrageous. Otherwise, it would be contrary to the ideals of your majesty and the prince."

"So, I think we can first find an imperial censor to impeach the people involved in these cases, and then we can see the attitude of the prince and His Majesty before making a decision."

Zhao Wenhua immediately bowed and said, "Your Excellency is wise. But I don't have any reliable censors to discuss this matter with at the moment, and most of the censors I know are familiar with Yan Shifan, so there is no guarantee that they will not leak the case, giving Yan Shifan a chance to quibble."

"So, I would like to ask you to find a reliable and upright censor to report this matter to the emperor."

After hearing this, Li Chunfang couldn't help but laugh. It seemed that Zhao Wenhua had created such a large circle of people just for this matter.

Li Chunfang had no intention of rejecting Zhao Wenhua. After all, this was a sensitive period. Although many things needed to be handled with caution, more importantly, one had to keep things within the scope of one's knowledge. That was the correct way to deal with sensitive periods.

Otherwise, when others were making their moves, Li Chunfang, as one of the cabinet ministers, would be slow to react and unable to offer any well-thought-out opinions. He could only deal with the problem on the spot, which would inevitably cause some problems.

Therefore, Li Chunfang would not push back the file of Yan Shifan’s crimes sent by Zhao Wenhua.

Li Chunfang said: "I will pay attention to this matter, but you have to keep an eye on the Ministry of Justice, especially Yan Maoqing who is sorting out these files. You must be the first to understand his situation and thoughts, and don't let him do anything unreasonable."

Zhao Wenhua immediately bowed and said, "Don't worry, sir. I will keep a close eye on Yan Maoqing."

Li Chunfang hummed, "That's good."

Zhao Wenhua looked at Li Chunfang now. He knew that even if the matter was discussed here, he could not stay in Li Chunfang's house for long. After all, this was her rest time. If he delayed too much, it would seem very tactless.

So Zhao Wenhua also stood up and bowed, saying, "It's getting late, sir. I'll take my leave now."

Li Chunfang nodded slightly, "Okay, I'll have someone take you there." Zhao Wenhua said again, "Thank you, Lord."

Then Zhao Wenhua left Li Chunfang's house.

After Zhao Wenhua left, Li Chunfang looked at the file in his hand and began to think.

He could go to the Censor, but before that, he should inform Prince Yu about this matter. Otherwise, this matter would become as depressing as when Shen Lian sued Yan Song and his son Yan Shifan for the ten major crimes in the lobby of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the whole city was in turmoil.

By the time Prince Yu is forced into a panic over this matter and has to express his attitude to all the officials, it will be really troublesome.

Therefore, in order to prevent Zhu Zaigui from suddenly falling into a passive position, Li Chunfang believed that before the matter was actually reported, he should first inform Zhu Zaigui of the situation and then take appropriate measures to deal with it.

In this way, even if some of the anti-Yan pioneers who were full of enthusiasm wanted to form a group to create momentum and force Zhu Zaigui to express his position on this matter, Zhu Zaigui would have enough time to think about and deal with it.

Therefore, on the next day, Li Chunfang went to Wenhua Hall early.

Zhu Zaiqi, who had just arrived at work, looked at Li Chunfang who had just arrived, and asked curiously, "Mr. Li, is there anything important?"

Li Chunfang bowed and said, "I do have an important matter, which is related to what happened in the Jinyiwei Hall the other day."

Zhu Zaigui laughed: "I was wondering yesterday. Shen Lian made such a shocking announcement in the Jinyiwei Hall, but no one mentioned it after a whole day. I thought the matter had been tacitly covered up by all officials."

"I didn't expect that Mr. Li would be the first to report this to me today. It's really not easy!"

Zhu Zaigui's words made Li Chunfang very embarrassed. Yesterday, he also wanted to report it, but no one took the initiative to talk about it whether he was in the Ministry of Works or in the Wenyuan Pavilion where the cabinet was located next door.

So for a moment, Li Chunfang could only choose to remain silent and wait and see what happened.

But when Zhao Wenhua handed him the file about Yan Shifan's crimes last night, he knew that this matter could not be delayed any longer. If it was delayed any further, it would really cause a bloody explosion.

Li Chunfang bowed awkwardly, "Your Highness, please forgive me. It's not that I don't want to report this matter, but I don't know how to report this matter at the moment, and I haven't discussed it with other elders in the cabinet. So I want to wait and see, and then report to Your Highness."

Zhu Zaigui smiled and said, "So you should have figured it out now, right? Otherwise, why would you come here so early, Mr. Li?"

Li Chunfang nodded, then handed over the file that Zhao Wenhua had given him last night.

Li Chunfang said, "Your Highness, this is a file that Zhao Wenhua, the Minister of Justice, handed to me last night. He said that this file was compiled by Yan Maoqing, the Assistant Minister of Justice, but because the person involved in this file is someone in the Ministry of Works where I am now, he gave it to me and asked me to handle it."

Zhu Zaigui signaled to Meng Chong beside him, and he went over to take the file presented by Li Chunfang.

After Zhu Zaiqi took it, he did not even look at it and directly asked, "Is it about Yan Shifan?"

Li Chunfang immediately replied: "Your Majesty is wise! You saw through the key points of this file at a glance."

Zhu Zaigui laughed and said, "It's not difficult to see through this matter, but the difficulty lies in the fact that it was actually done by Yan Maoqing. This is really strange."

Li Chunfang said: "Last night, when I heard that it was Yan Maoqing, I was also very surprised. As everyone knows, Yan Maoqing is Yan Shifan's confidant. He actually did such a thing now. It is really a bit confusing."

Zhu Zaigui said: "Since you don't understand, then call the person over to ask."

After saying that, Zhu Zaigui waved his hand at Meng Chong again. Meng Chong immediately understood what Zhu Zaigui meant and immediately sent someone to the Ministry of Justice to find Yan Maoqing.

After Yan Maoqing received the summons from Zhu Zaigui, his heart suddenly tightened, and then he looked towards the courtyard where Zhao Wenhua was, but in the end he obediently followed the person who summoned him to Wenhua Hall.

When Yan Maoqing arrived at the Wenhua Palace, he immediately prostrated himself on the ground and said, "Your Highness, I, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Yan Maoqing, pay my respects to the Prince Regent."

Zhu Zaigui looked at Yan Maoqing who was paying homage with great ceremony and said calmly, "Stand up. This is not a grand court meeting or an important ceremonial ceremony. Yan Maoqing does not need to perform such a grand ceremony."

Yan Maoqing replied nervously, "Yes."

Then he got up carefully from the ground.

Zhu Zaigui looked at Yan Maoqing, who was still nervous, and continued, "What has Yan Qing been busy with in the Ministry of Justice recently?"

Yan Maoqing immediately said: "I am assisting Minister Zhao in handling the criminal cases of this department."

Zhu Zaiqi hummed, and then said: "Well, that's right. This shows that Yan Qing is very serious about the affairs of the Ministry of Justice, and this is gratifying to me. This morning, I got a file compiled by Yan Qing, but after reading it, I still don't understand it very well, so I want to ask Yan Qing, what is the purpose of Yan Qing compiling this file?"

After hearing this, Yan Maoqing immediately became so nervous that he was about to break out in a cold sweat. Although he knew that this file would appear in the hands of Prince Yu or the Emperor, he never expected it to happen so soon.

Yan Maoqing said: "Your Majesty, I compiled this file with a public heart."

Zhu Zaigui seemed very satisfied with this answer. He nodded slightly and said, "Since Mr. Yan is so impartial, I will hand this case over to you for trial."

"But there is one thing I want to make clear to you in advance. This case cannot be expanded, and there must not be any untrue or groundless allegations. After all, your Ministry of Justice is not the Censorate, nor is it the Imperial Guard of the East Factory. You must use solid evidence to do your job and speak your mind."

"Therefore, I hope that you can earnestly fulfill the Ministry of Justice's duty to serve the public, and reflect the majesty of the Ming Dynasty law and the credibility of the court in this case. Do not let some exaggerated remarks or interests affect the fairness of the judiciary!"

After hearing these words, Yan Maoqing immediately bowed and said, "I will obey your order, Your Majesty!"

--------

Asking for a monthly ticket~~
(End of this chapter)