Chapter 110: Beat the Dengwen drum and go to Beijing to file a petition.

Zhu Di glanced at the Minister of Punishment.

Yes, this is the person you chose.

If you are not satisfied with the result later, don't come to me.

I didn't force you to choose this person, you recommended it yourself.

"Okay, now that the people are settled, let them do it as soon as possible..."

"Dong dong dong dong dong dong..."

When Zhu Di was about to say that now that the person has been chosen, he should set off as soon as possible, when a burst of drums sounded outside the palace.

"It's Dengwen Drum!"

I don't know who shouted, and everyone's hearts suddenly lifted.

When the Denwen drum sounds, it means that there are unjust cases that the local officials cannot resolve, or that they ignore.

The people could not find a place to redress their grievances, so they went to the capital to complain.

As long as he heard the sound of the drum, the emperor would personally inspect the case and appoint officials to investigate and deal with it.

December of the first year of Hongwu.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who had just ascended the throne, set up the Denwen Drum outside the Meridian Gate in order to understand the sentiments of the people and show his benevolence.

Whenever the people of the world have grievances and the local officials dare not take charge of the case or do not care about it, they can sound the drum and go directly to the heaven to hear it. The emperor will personally accept the case. Anyone who dares to obstruct it will be punished as a treacherous official.

Of course, this drum cannot be played casually.

You and your wife are having a fight, and your brothers are splitting up. If you come to challenge this, you are seeking death.

It's not a serious grievance. Even if you beat the Dengwen drum, the emperor won't care. Even if you beat the drum, you will have to go to the cell for a walk.

Who told you to sit idle and tease the emperor and his ministers?

If you don’t go in, who will?

And there are dedicated people to manage it here.

This drum is not something you can just beat if you want to.

To put it bluntly, this drum has more formalism than practical value.

This drum has never sounded since Zhu Di ascended the throne.

Zhu Di even thought that maybe when he died, this thing would not ring once.

Unexpectedly, when the Northern Expedition was approaching and the whole court was preparing for the Northern Expedition, this drum would sound.

Listen to the rumbling drums.

All civil and military officials in the dynasty were beating drums in their hearts.

The sound of this drum signifies a great injustice.

Once it is found out, there is no telling how many heads will be moved because of it.

"Your Majesty, the asking drum is sounding. According to Emperor Taizu's regulations, Your Majesty needs to wear formal attire and lead the civil and military officials to the Meridian Gate to meet the person who is complaining of injustice."

Lu Zhen, the Minister of Rites, has been sleeping with his eyes closed since the last dynasty.

The moment the Dengwen drum sounded, the whole person was refreshed and loudly announced Taizu's regulations.

Zhu Di nodded solemnly and asked Lu Zhen to prepare quickly.

Other civil and military ministers, the Prince of Han, and others also had serious expressions on their faces.

They were all thinking, where on earth did this huge injustice happen? It actually happened in front of the emperor.

And why don’t the people who specialize in managing Dengwen Drum come over to report?

There was no news at all about this, which made people beat the drum.

Soon the emperor's guard of honor was ready.

The civil and military ministers lined up neatly, and under the leadership of Prince Zhu Pangpang, followed Zhu Di's dragon chariot and strode towards the Meridian Gate.

Outside the Meridian Gate.

An official and a guard in imperial robes stared at a young man in mourning robes who was beating the Dengwen drum with an ugly expression.

Originally it was according to the rules.

If the other party wants to beat the Dengwen drum, they need to register, and then the Jinyi Guards of the Ministry of Justice will review it and report it to the emperor. The emperor will confirm that he has taken over and then allow the other party to come and knock.

But the guy in front of me didn't even think about following the rules and just wanted to beat the drum.

Originally, Jin Yiwei could directly detain such a reckless guy and take him away.

But what is frustrating is that this young man is accompanied by another person.

It was precisely because of this person that the Jin Yiwei and the officials on duty had no choice but to let the other party knock.

The person who made the guards and officials unable to do anything was a middle-aged scribe next to the young man who was beating the drum.

This person is not an official.

He is not a famous scholar either.

The other party is just an ordinary scholar.

Maybe someone will be curious.

How could an ordinary scholar stop a Sixth Section official and a royal guard?

The reason is simple.

Because this middle-aged scribe's surname was Kong, he came from Qufu, Shandong, and was a descendant of a saint's family.

It is precisely because of this scribe named Kong who acted as a guarantee and sent him to each other, that the young man who was a filial piety was able to get close to Deng Wengu.

"Dang Dang Dang..."

On the tower of Chengtianmen, the solemn bell rang.

Hearing the sound of the bell, the ugly-faced official on duty in the Sixth Section said loudly: "Stop ringing, His Majesty is coming soon, be prepared to kneel down to greet him!"

After shouting, he ignored the two of them and knelt on the ground in a daze, thinking about what punishment he would receive.

Failure to report the case in accordance with the rules allowed the other party to beat the news drum.

His Majesty and the big bosses were alarmed, and his official career was finally over.

The faces of the Jinyi guardsmen on duty were not much better either.

The reason for his ugly face was not only similar to that of the official, but more importantly, he heard the name of his great grandson Zhu Zhangui during the conversation between the two before playing the drum.

As someone who was promoted by Taisun, it was hard for him to imagine how much trouble it would cause if this matter had anything to do with Taisun.

Damn it, if I had known it was about my grandson, I would have tried my best to stop these two people just now.

Staring at the two men fiercely, Jin Yiwei gritted his teeth and quickly ran towards Fengcheng Tianmen.

He wanted to inform Ji Gang of the news before the emperor received the two of them, and then convey it to the emperor.

The reason why this guy worked so hard was because he was able to serve as an errand in the palace because he was a descendant of the grandson, and Ji Gang promoted him for Zhu Zhangui's sake.

And this guy was the same Jin Yiwei who knocked out a few of Xu Bin's teeth with a knife when Xu Bin called Zhu Zhanji his grandson when he first arrested Xu Bin.

"Father-in-law, are you really sure that the people who killed my family were my grandson's people."

Next to Dengwen Drum.

The young man in Xiaofu who stopped playing the drum looked nervously in the direction of Chengtian Gate and asked the middle-aged scribe beside him in a low voice.

Patting the nervous young man in filial piety, the middle-aged scholar smiled slightly and said confidently: "Our Kong family has existed in Shandong for so many years. Not to mention that we have eyes and ears all over Shandong, we can be said to be well-informed."

"What kind of powerful bandits are there in Shandong? We know all about the forces that do not belong to the imperial court."

"I can tell you responsibly that before the emperor's grandson left, there were not even a few cottages with hundreds of people in the entire territory of Shandong, let alone bandits with a force of four to five thousand people."

"More importantly."

"The great grandson's grain came very strangely. Our family has never received any news about grain coming into Shandong from other places."

"And the emperor's grandson's so-called story that the grain transport team was attacked by gangsters is completely false."

"We sent people to check everything within a hundred miles, and there were no traces of large-scale military battles at all."

"Let me ask you, how many people did the emperor's grandson mobilize when he mobilized his troops to leave at noon?"

The young man in filial piety recalled the news he had received, looked at the middle-aged scribe and said: "As far as I know, there are 4,000 infantry, and 2,000 cavalry were sent out in the afternoon."

The middle-aged scribe nodded and then asked: "Approximately how many bandits are there?"

The filial young man shook his head.

"I'm not sure about this, but according to those uncles, there should be around 5,000 people."

The middle-aged scribe smiled slightly, closed the folding fan in his hand, and tapped the filial young man on the shoulder.
To be continued...