Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

Then Li Shimin asked his attendant to show Zhang Liang another memorial that recorded his money and land, and cursed him angrily.

"Look at your two adopted sons, two officials of the seventh or eighth rank, who actually own nearly a thousand acres of fertile land and dozens of shops and private houses!"

"How dare you protect such a corrupt official who has committed such heinous crimes!"

Zhang Liang was kneeling in the cold hall. He picked up the petition on the ground with trembling hands and read it.

When he saw the records of the crimes committed by his two adopted sons, his extremely pale face revealed a hint of indignation.

He then gathered all his adopted sons in Luoyang and gave them a lecture, and asked them what other bad things they had done.

At that time, these adopted sons all patted their chests and said that they had not done anything to harm the world. It seems that these bastards have grown wings and are deceiving him.

Zhang Liang quickly read the petition, then kowtowed to Li Shimin and said.

"Your Majesty, I really didn't know they had committed so many heinous crimes!"

"If I knew they were such people, I would have cleared them out myself without waiting for the Dali Temple and the Censorate to find out!"

"And I did indeed enforce the law impartially when examining this case. I did not cover up their crimes just because they are my adopted sons!"

Zhang Xingcheng, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, who was standing next to Zhang Liang, knew that he also needed to clear himself of the crime of harboring a criminal, so he knelt down and said.

"Your Majesty, speaking of this case alone, Minister Zhang and I made mistakes when investigating the evidence and should be punished."

"But our Ministry of Justice has examined this case and has not shielded the criminal. Your Majesty, please look into this matter!"

Naturally, their Ministry of Justice was seriously derelict in its duty when reviewing this case. They hastily closed the case based on a few words from a witness without conducting a comprehensive review of the two criminals.

Knowing that Zhang Liang's adopted son might threaten witnesses, the people in the Ministry of Justice did not take effective measures and almost turned these two cases into wrongful convictions.

"Humph!"

Li Shimin snorted heavily, his cold eyes swept across Zhang Liang and Zhang Xingcheng, and then he gave an order in a deep voice.

"Minister of Justice Zhang Liang and Vice Minister of Justice Zhang Xingcheng will be fined for half a year!"

"All those in the Ministry of Justice who participated in the review of this case will be fined three months' salary!"

"The officials in the Ministry of Justice who participated in the review of this case will be banned from promotion within one year!"

Upon hearing Li Shimin's punishment on them, Zhang Liang and Zhang Xingcheng did not make any excuses, but responded with relief.

"I accept the decree!"

For both of them, a deduction in salary and a one-year ban on promotion were not severe punishments.

After all, their main income did not come from the salary given by the court, but from other huge incomes obtained by using their power.

As for the ban on promotion within one year, it has no effect on the two of them.

After all, one of them is a Shangshu and the other is a Shilang, who are already at the pinnacle of power and there is no chance of promotion for them in a short period of time.

Just when Zhang Liang thought that the matter was over, Sun Fujia and Ma Zhou, who were standing by, looked at each other, and then Sun Fujia stood up and spoke.

"Your Majesty, Zhang Chao and Zhang Yong committed suicide in the prison of the Luozhou Governor's Mansion out of fear of punishment."

"As for the ill-gotten gains of the two of them, I have arranged for the people of the Dali Temple to confiscate them and await your majesty's decision!"

Li Shimin had no mercy on the death of these two officials who did nothing good and only did bad things.

Li Shimin waved his hand and said: "Return the land they have seized to the corresponding people, and the rest of the land will be returned to the local county government."

"As for their property, shops, houses, etc., they will all be confiscated by the national treasury!"

It was already a lot for an ordinary official to have a hundred acres of fertile land. If the extra land they had was not passed down from their ancestors, it must have been obtained by abusing their power.

After all, the price of land in Luoyang is as expensive as that in Chang'an, and the price of one mu of permanent land is between 15 and 20 strings of cash.

These officials could not buy much land with their salaries, and could only obtain it by oppressing the people in years of disaster or on ordinary days.

"According to the order!"

Sun Fujia responded respectfully.

After he finished speaking, he did not step back. Instead, he glanced at Zhang Liang indifferently, then took out a thick memorial from his sleeve and held it up with both hands.

Zhang Liang, who was kneeling on the ground, saw Sun Fujia take out another memorial, and his right eyelid began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Could it be that other bastards are also in trouble?"

"Why does this old man feel so uneasy?"

Zhang Liang's heart was beating rapidly and he had a bad feeling.

Just when Zhang Liang was feeling extremely nervous, Sun Fujia spoke with a rare look of anger on his face.

"Your Majesty, when I and Imperial Censor Ma were reviewing the case of Zhang Chao and Zhang Yong, Governor Jia sued other officials in Luozhou for corruption and abuse of power!"

"The above is a memorial written by Governor Jia. Our Dali Temple and the Censorate have verified it. What Governor Jia said is true!"

what!

Is this old man Jia Dunyi never going to stop?

Zhang Liang put his head on the ground and thought of Jia Dunyi, the hypocritical man, and a murderous look appeared in his eyes.

"It seems that this old man Jia Dunyi is eager to die!"

"After this is over, I'll show you how I'll deal with you!"

Zhang Liang thought he had been polite to him. If any other official dared to shake his foundation, Zhang Liang would have sent people to secretly deal with him.

When Li Shimin heard Jia Dunyi suing other officials in Luozhou, he raised his eyebrows, glanced at Zhang Liang, and then said in a cold voice.

"Lord Sun, please present the memorial!"

Sun Fujia nodded slightly in response.

"As ordered!"

Then he walked up to Li Shimin with the memorial in both hands and placed it on the imperial desk.

Li Shimin immediately picked up the memorial and looked at it with a serious expression. Soon his brows furrowed.

"Oh!"

Li Shimin slammed his fist on the table, making a loud sinking sound.

"Lawless!"

"I didn't expect that Luozhou, right under Chang'an's nose, actually has so many corrupt officials hiding in it!"

"There are only a dozen officials in the Luozhou Governor's Office and the local county government, but the land under their names alone is as high as tens of thousands of acres!"

Li Shimin never thought that just a simple investigation would reveal so many corrupt officials in a mere provincial governor's office, and that they had embezzled a lot of money.

No wonder the national treasury was empty year after year. Most of the silver was embezzled by local officials. It would be strange if the national treasury was full!

Li Shimin turned to look at Ma Zhou and Sun Fujia and asked with a serious expression.

"Lord Ma, Lord Sun, have you two personally verified this?"

Although Li Shimin already had the answer in his mind, in order to ensure the accuracy of the matter, he still confirmed it again with the two ministers in charge of the law.

Ma Zhou and Sun Fujia responded in unison with serious expressions.

"Your Majesty, we have verified it!"