Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 123: Civil servants encounter crisis and choose to sell out their friends decisively
Zhu Xizhou really didn't expect things to turn out like this.

originally.

He thought that the burning of grain could be used as an opportunity for the emperor to release the ministers who were still in prison, as the emperor needed the grain from the south more to pave the way for reform.

but now.

If this fire was said to be a natural fire, they would have to admit that it was caused by the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River. They would have to intensify the conflict between the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River and the imperial court, so that the emperor would have a legitimate reason to deal with the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River.

such as.

Restricting the imperial examination opportunities for scholars in Jiangnan.

Restricting the opportunities for scholars in Jiangnan to become officials.

Continue to increase taxes in Jiangnan.

and many more.

Therefore, Zhu Xizhou could only deny that this was heavenly fire.

But the Jinyiwei discovered the meteorite and said that the meteorite really had the words "written by the scholars in Jiangnan" written on it.

In Zhu Xizhou's opinion, if he wanted the emperor to deny that this was heavenly fire and take the initiative to deny that it was the work of the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, he could only compromise by "honestly providing grain" to achieve the goal of getting the emperor's agreement.

however.

Thus.

Zhu Xizhou had to admit that this card of smoothly providing grain could no longer be used to save the ministers in Fuque, and he could only use it to ask the emperor to deny that the fire was a natural disaster.

This naturally made Zhu Xizhou very disappointed.

Officials from Jiangnan, such as the Minister of Rites Mao Cheng, were also very disappointed.

But now, like Zhu Xizhou, they had no choice but to follow suit and say, "We second the motion."

Zhu Houcong just sneered in his heart at this time.

Subsequently.

Zhu Houcong said: "You say he is not Heavenly Fire, and I also think he is not Heavenly Fire, but some people are certain that he is Heavenly Fire."

talking.

Zhu Houcong waved his hands, placed them on the armrests of the chair, and looked at the two censors, Deng Jizeng and Shen Zhuo: "I will give you two another chance to make your case again. Tell me, is this fire from heaven?"

Zhu Houcong did not want this fire to be considered as a fire from heaven.

Because once today's fire is defined as a heavenly fire, other fires in the future will also be defined as heavenly fires.

If that continues, all forces in the world who want to influence the emperor will be keen on creating heavenly fire.

This can also be considered the downside of the monarchy and destiny.

That is, people will use the name of "Heaven" to fight against imperial power.

But fortunately, the Mandate of Heaven also has its advantages, that is, since the king's power is granted by Heaven, the emperor is the only one who can legally interpret the will of Heaven.

Therefore, whether this fire was caused by heaven or not would ultimately be determined by Zhu Houcong himself.

but now.

In order to find out who was behind this, Zhu Houcong needed to first ask the two censors who insisted at the beginning that the grain was burned by fire from heaven.

Deng Jiceng and Shen Zhuo had never expected that things would turn out like this.

The two of them now hate Wang An and other Jinyiwei.

Because Wang An and other Jinyiwei obviously ruined their plans.

They originally thought that they would be able to successfully characterize this incident as heavenly fire in the court, and then successfully make the emperor compromise, making the scholars have a better impression of them.

but.

If they now admit that this is heavenly fire, they will offend the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River.

This is what they don't want to see.

After all, they are standing up now to please the scholars and improve their own reputation.

As a result, they would offend the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River who dominated the world's literati circles. Wouldn't that be a loss?

But if they did not admit that this was heavenly fire, they would be contradicting themselves and would give the emperor a legitimate reason to punish them.

The reason is that they are inconsistent and seem to be deceiving the emperor.

Therefore, Deng Jiceng and Shen Zhuo were in a dilemma.

Think about it for a while.

Deng Ji Zeng first decided to tell the truth, thinking to himself: "I will not get involved in this matter. After all, the Jinyiwei of the dynasty are too powerful, and fighting for the reputation of the literati is too dangerous. It is better for me to get out of it as soon as possible!"

then.

Deng Jizeng knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me! I also heard it from a monk. This monk's Buddhist name is Yuanyin. He has always been famous for his ability to predict the future. When I met him, he told me that there would be a celestial fire on the Lantern Festival. I never thought that it would happen in Nanxincang, so I believed it and reported it like this."

"Same to me, my Lord!"

When Shen Zhuo saw that Deng Jiceng had begun to confess honestly, he also knelt down and reported the truth.

"It turned out to be a monk who was behind this."

Zhu Houcong said something at this time.

then.

Zhu Houcong looked at Deng Jizeng and Shen Zhuo and said, "I will believe you for now, but it is not true. We have to wait until we catch the monk. You must cooperate with the Jinyiwei to catch the monk."

Deng Jiceng and Shen Zhuo both said they dared not lie.

At this time, the Minister of Personnel Zhu Xizhou said: "Your Majesty, this matter involves the reputation of our Jiangnan scholars. I ask Your Majesty to have the Jinyiwei capture this monk and hand him over to the three judicial departments for a public trial!"

Minister of Rites Mao Cheng also said, "I second the proposal, Your Majesty. To appease the hearts of the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, I think that the case should be tried publicly by the three judicial departments."

"I second the proposal!"

"I second this motion!"

Many officials from Nanzhi came forward, and even some officials who were not from Nanzhi came forward.

It is obvious that these officials care very much about this matter which concerns the reputation of the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River.

Zhu Houcong nodded.

He also wanted to use this method to see if there was anyone behind the monk.

In Zhu Houcong's view, the person who dared to burn his grain must have a simple background and must have received support from many aristocratic families to be able to do this.

"First Minister Liang Chu, Minister of Warehouse Bian Xian, and Captain Wang An of the Imperial Guard have come to Qingning Palace to see me."

"The rest of you shall be dismissed."

Zhu Houcong then announced the adjournment of the court.

He now needs to ask Bian Xian and Wang An carefully about the burning of grain.

The person directly responsible for managing Nanxin Warehouse was the Minister of Warehouses, Bian Xian.

Since the Three Yangs came to power during the Zhengtong period, the national grain reserves were managed by civil servants.

On the other hand, the civil servants who were in charge of the capital's grain storage either held the title of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue or the title of Left or Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and were directly responsible to the emperor, without having to report to the Minister of Revenue who was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue.

Since the fall of Zheng Zongren, the Minister of Revenue and Governor of Warehouses, the new official in charge of the warehouses became the border governor.

Bian Xian was promoted from the post of Ningxia governor to Beijing. He was a northern official. Historically, his greatest achievement was fighting against the Tartars at Huamachi Honger Mountain, winning seven battles in five days.

Historical books also describe him as being as skilled as an old official in exposing and handling criminal cases.

This can be seen.

Bian Xian was not a mediocre official, at least he was very shrewd in handling matters.

Of course, if it were not for this, Zhu Houcong would not have appointed him as the governor of the warehouse.

However, Bian Xian also had a bad record. He was impeached by the censors for withholding a large amount of military pay when he was the governor of Ningxia, and for allowing bandits to breed bandits when he was the governor of Shandong.

However, Zhu Houcong believed that no matter how corrupt Bian Xian was, he would not dare to burn the grain under his control while in office.

But now, this is what happened.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong needed to ask him carefully.

"You are from the Governor's Warehouse, how could this happen?"

After Zhu Houcong asked this, Bian Xian knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I was harmed by the grain clerks below. When the grain was lost, I went to investigate the grain clerks and found that most of them had fled, and a few chose to commit suicide. I didn't know who to ask for a while!"

"Are you so incompetent that you were fooled by a bunch of petty officials?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

Bian Xian said, "Your Majesty, they are not ordinary petty officials! I have already checked. Although they are from clean families in various places on the list, most of them are actually from the big families in Jiangnan. If I hadn't gone to get to know them one by one, listened to their accents, and checked their diet, I wouldn't have found out. But Your Majesty, the fact is that most of the petty officials in the warehouse are from the big families in Jiangnan, and the granaries of my Ming Dynasty have actually been controlled by the big families in Jiangnan for a long time."

Zhu Houcong couldn't help but close his eyes after hearing this, and then asked: "Is there nothing you can do about it?"

"Your Majesty, I wanted to replace them, but just when I was about to transfer the old officials who were familiar and reliable, they found out, and some officials impeached me for withholding military pay and allowing bandits to breed bandits."

"I was also uneasy because of this, and had to delay again and again. Fortunately, Your Majesty did not listen to them and really dismissed me. This gave me confidence and I was ready to find a reason to dismiss these petty officials, but before I could do so, this happened."

"I have no choice but to admit that they are telling me that if I dare to replace their people, they will burn the grain!"

At this point, Bian Xian kowtowed and was about to cry, saying, "I cannot defeat them. I am willing to admit defeat and accept my guilt!"

Bian Xian then started to cry.

"You mean, this was done by a Jiangnan clan?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

Bian Xian said: "How dare I deceive the Lord?"

Bian Xian took out a list from his sleeve and said, "This is the real background of the warehouse clerks that I have investigated. Your Majesty, please take a look. Your Majesty can tell from it whether they are all from the great families in Jiangnan."

Zhu Houcong took the list from Qin Wen and said nothing after reading it.

He couldn't believe everything Bian Xian said.

Because the northern and southern gentry have always been incompatible and have been throwing dirty water on each other.

It is not ruled out that Bian Xian was desperate and dragged the southern gentry out to take the blame in order to exonerate himself.

It is even possible that Benxian himself did not agree with the reform, so he deliberately allowed the petty officials to do so, and then used this method to exonerate himself when the emperor blamed him.

of course.

Zhu Houcong could not deny that due to the higher literacy rate in Jiangnan, most of the officials and clerks in the world were from Jiangnan. It is not ruled out that these people had already formed a huge network of relationships behind the scenes.

Therefore, in Zhu Houcong's view, Xian cannot be killed, because killing him might really satisfy the wishes of the Jiangnan nobles.

But we must punish them. If we do not punish them, the northern clans will get what they want, and the officials in charge of the warehouses will think that the failure of the warehouse is no big deal.

Zhu Houcong also said at this time: "I don't care whether you caused this intentionally or unintentionally, but you can't escape the crime of dereliction of duty! Considering that you are a military officer, I will spare your death, but you cannot escape the punishment of life!"

"Issue an order to exile Bian Xian to Liaodong and make him a minor official. Confiscate his property to compensate for the loss of grain. If his property is not enough, let his nine clans pay. If they refuse to pay, they will all be exiled to Liaodong!"

Zhu Houcong said in a deep voice.

Bian Xian was stunned and cried, "Your Majesty, I am truly wronged!"

Zhu Houcong didn't say much, but just asked the Jinyiwei to drag Bian Xian away.

Since the civil service in the world was about to be monopolized by the South, he simply demoted the border officials to minor officials and increased the number of minor officials from the North in disguise.

then.

Zhu Houcong looked at Wang An.

Wang An also began to tremble slightly at this time.

Bian Xian's fate frightened him greatly, and he feared that he would also be exiled to a border town.

"Is the injury serious?"

Zhu Houcong asked at this time.

Wang An was slightly stunned, and then tears welled up in his eyes: "Your Majesty, it's not serious!"

Zhu Houcong then asked Wang An about the specific circumstances of that night.

Wang An replied in detail that the Jinyiwei who were assisting in guarding the grain encountered a large number of brave warriors who were good at fighting.

He had to implement another plan. He first led the reserve troops to escape and sent people to ask for external assistance, while he himself led people to secretly observe what these people would do after killing their Jinyiwei.

After Wang An and others found that these people burned the food and left one after another, they threw the prepared meteorites into the fire, and took back the meteorites thrown by these people. At the same time, they secretly followed these people, captured a lone person, and searched the person's body for flint.

Zhu Houcong could imagine what kind of danger they had experienced last night.

Zhu Houcong only asked: "How many of you who helped guard the warehouse were killed?"

"Except me and Lu Bing, all of them are dead. Some were thrown into the fire on purpose."

Wang An said through gritted teeth.

Zhu Houcong couldn't help but clench his fists after hearing this.

He felt very sad about this.

These are the backbones he brought from the palace. If one dies, there will be one less.

No matter how outstanding the Jinyiwei recruited later are, they will lack the relationship with Zhu Houcong since they went to the fiefdom.

But now, Zhu Houcong still doesn't know who is behind it.

After hearing what Wang An said, Zhu Houcong said to Qin Wen, "Tell Wang Jing to write a memorial and list the dead on it. I will give generous compensation to their families! In addition, the mastermind behind this must be caught as soon as possible so that I can avenge these loyal and brave men!"

Qin Wen bowed and said yes.

Wang An was even more moved and could not help but kowtow again to express his gratitude.

Zhu Houcong asked Wang An again: "Where is Lu Bing now?"

Wang An said, "He is guarding the petty official we caught."

Zhu Houcong nodded.

Let’s talk.

After retiring from court, Deng Jiceng and Shen Zhuo went to the Buddhist temple where Monk Yuanyin was with the Jinyiwei.

Monk Yuanyin looked at the Jinyiwei, Deng Jiceng and Shen Zhuo who rushed in in confusion.

“He is Monk Yuanyin.”

Deng Jiceng said another sentence.

Shen Zhuo followed up, "That's right! He is Yuan Yin!"

(End of this chapter)