Jiang Cong slapped the back of the chair angrily again and shouted: "Where is the chief envoy of Southern Zhili? Where is the governor? What have they been doing? You are fooling a three-year-old child with this joint petition!"
Seeing that no one dared to speak, Chen Yu, as the chief minister of the cabinet, could only reply: "Your Majesty, the governor Ruan Tao and the chief minister have been urging all the governments in the province to pay taxes and grains. This year's climate is out of balance and there is too much rain, resulting in a reduction in grain production.
, unable to meet the official tax amount, but the front line is tight and cannot reduce grain collection, so they have no time to take care of other things."
"What about Zhang Luyao? According to what He Qizhou said, he doesn't look like a corrupt official? How can he guard the money he stole for disaster relief?" Jiang Cong asked again.
"Perhaps it's hard to satisfy your desires?" Chen Yu replied.
"Your Majesty!" He Qizhou said anxiously: "Zhang Luyao is a pauper! His only daughter Zhang Qingrou spent all her time in the world with the money of Miss Liu Erye's family, and his family often paid her official salary in advance; Zhang Qingrou passed the Zhongnan Zhili Military Examination and went to Beijing.
I have been living in the guild hall since then. Which official lady would live there? Also, it was me who paid for Zhang Qingrou to visit his mother in prison. No, it was your Majesty who paid for it."
"You're talking nonsense. Why do you need to pay for visiting the prison? Why do you dare to involve your majesty?" Shi Lan said immediately when he saw the opportunity.
I saw a young eunuch standing behind the emperor at some point. He secretly ran to the dragon chair and muttered something to Jiang Cong. Finally, Jiang Cong understood why he said he had paid for the money. However, He Qizhou's name had already been revealed to him before that.
I have heard it several times. He is in seclusion, but no one can win over him, but he can still know everything he wants to know. He Qizhou, who saved his little daughter, and He Qizhou, who was imprisoned by Shi Lan, wrote the strategy of running away.
He Qizhou and He Qizhou who defeated his grandson and Zhang Mufeng!
In fact, Jiang Cong didn't listen to what the little eunuch said, and he knew that this He Qizhou was the other He Qizhou. He smiled slightly, waved his hand and said: "Shi Lan, you really don't know whether you can get money from visiting the prison? Okay, don't talk nonsense.
There is evidence!”
Shi Lan Mazi's face was a little red. In the past thousands of years, how could anyone see a repeat offender without paying money? Is he really a fool to think that the emperor is?
At this time, Prince Jiang Shan reported: "Father, I received a secret report from the imperial envoy handling the case last night, can you make it public here?"
"You have to figure it out yourself!" Jiang Cong never liked his eldest son's indecisiveness.
"Then let me tell you, there were four witnesses who originally testified that Zhang Luyao ordered the servants to carry the disaster relief official silver into his house, two government servants, a cook of Zhang's house, and a maid of Zhang's house. The cook of Zhang's house was interrogated again.
At that time, the man recanted his confession in court and claimed that he had been bribed by Chen Yan, a colleague of Jiangling Prefecture. Because he could not bear to frame Zhongliang, he recanted his confession and claimed that Chen Yan had instructed him and the maid to frame the master's family. And the two government servants who carried the silver box
It is said that they heard a catcher relaying the order of Magistrate Zhang, but the catcher is currently missing. The maid was poisoned and died suddenly before the torture began. According to the judgment of the imperial envoy handling the case, there is something fishy about this matter. Chen, who acted for the prefect,
It is difficult to escape the suspicion, so I asked to send another person to act as Jiangling Mansion."
Chen Yu secretly cursed Chen Yan, it was obviously a solid case, but it was turned into a dead case for him. After he retired from the court, he suggested to the old man to destroy that useless guy!
Hu Mao immediately accepted the recommendation and said: "Your Majesty, judging from the experience of the veteran, this Luyao has been an official for many years. How could he hide the hot disaster relief money in his home when the imperial envoy came to visit? How could he be a normal person?
This account? Nine times out of ten, someone was responsible for it! Apart from this bailout, Zhang Luyao did have some bad conduct, but it was mostly trivial matters such as squandering money, rice, oil and salt. In five years, the president has been identified
The value of the case is about three thousand taels, and Zhang Luyao claimed that he also gave back some local products from his hometown, but the amount cannot be determined."
"Chen Shoufu, what do you think?" Jiang Cong asked.
Chen Yu complained repeatedly in his heart, thinking that if the cook hadn't retracted his confession, he could have pushed Zhang Luyao in the direction of fleeing with the money. Then what Hu Mao said would not be true. It would be difficult to deal with it now.
Let Chen Yan take the blame: "Back to Your Majesty, there are indeed doubts about this matter and we should investigate it carefully."
"Your Majesty, please take a look at these two thousand-character letters again!" Jiang Shan waved his hand, and a eunuch at the bottom quickly presented the two thank-you notes that Ji Sheng had desperately brought.
Jiang Cong took a rough look at the thank you form. It was full of signatures and fingerprints, and most of the people in the core of Chen's party were frightened and inexplicable.
Jiang Shan said: "There are four copies of these ten thousand words of thanks, about 80,000 people. I haven't had time to verify the list yet. Zhang Luyao always used the name of royal grace when he provided disaster relief, so the people affected by the disaster all expressed their gratitude after they were out of danger.
I signed and stamped this silk book to thank the emperor for his kindness. The reason why there are only two copies is that I suspect it is related to the murder case in the suburbs. Most of the people who were robbed and killed in the suburbs came from Jiangling Prefecture. There are also similar cases in Jiangling. The purpose should be to block these expressions of thanks.
Delivered to you!"
When the officials heard this, they were in an uproar. If this was really done by officials, it would not only be a simple robbery, but also a heinous crime of deceiving the emperor!
"In addition, Zhang Luyao is also suspected of colluding with the White Turban Bandits. Long Yin, the inspector of Nanzhili, and Chen Yan, the deputy governor of Jiangling Prefecture, are the officials in charge of suppressing bandits. According to the two men, most of the White Turban Bandits live in
Deep in the Qimen Mountains, during the disaster, bandits had no food to eat, so they wandered around the disaster relief sites in Jiangling Prefecture. Zhang Luyao took them all in without any screening. Not long before the case occurred, the white scarf bandit who had been arrested
The leader was rescued from the Wuchasi Prison, and there was obvious suspicion of internal and external collusion. Zhang Luyao was also to blame. After Zhang Luyao was arrested, Long Yin and Chen Yan once again led officers and soldiers to encircle and suppress the bandits in Qimen Mountain.
A lot of gains were made, and more than ten of the arrested people pointed out that Zhang Luyao had received them."
Jiang Shan cleared his throat and continued: "There are a lot of doubts about the above. According to what Nanzhili reported, the Qimen Mountain bandits' nest had been cleared once half a month ago, and many gains were made. However,
In less than half a month, are those gangsters all stupid, returning to the same place and being suppressed by officers and soldiers again? Also, the two imperial envoys who investigated the case have received many unjust complaints, mostly from family members
They were wrongfully accused of being bandits in the Qimen Mountains! Most of them were registered hunters in the mountains. It is said that the mountains are usually very safe. Except for the intrusion of officers and soldiers, there are almost never any robberies. And Zhang Luyao himself confessed: He did not care about the arrest.
This time, some victims of the disaster complained to him about officers and soldiers burning, killing and looting in the mountains! He also suspected that the provincial garrison might have deliberately created the illusion that the Qimen Mountains were seriously infested with bandits in order not to be called up to the north, and deliberately moved some people who had no way out.
The wandering Jianghu people rush into the mountains and carry out conquests from time to time!"
Chen Yu frowned and said in a low voice: "Your Highness, this is a serious matter and you cannot believe Zhang Luyao's desperate words!"
Jiang Shan ignored him and continued to take out a folder from his arms and said: "This is the folder that the cabinet forwarded yesterday to the Minister of Industry, Xu Shilang, who came from Jiangling Disaster County. Mr. Chen Ge personally gave instructions to make persistent efforts. Xu Shilang's terms
Chen mostly said that everything was going smoothly. The people were grateful to the royal family for their disaster relief and helping them survive the cold winter, so they voluntarily strengthened the embankments and built many houses. The project could be completed early in the late winter, but the last few sentences were quite meaningful. Xu Shilang said
, the people complained that the current acting magistrate was much harsher than the previous one. Although there was no banditry in Qimen Mountain, he still put them under curfew for several days. Some people also submitted petitions to them, saying that their family members had been framed as bandits, and they hoped that the imperial court would send personnel to investigate! Father,
These two pieces of information just corroborate what Zhang Luyao said! This matter is of great importance, and I sincerely request my father to send Commander Zou of the Imperial Guard to personally supervise it!"
Chen Yu's heartbeat suddenly accelerated and was about to jump out of his chest. If the god of plague took action, few people in the world could withstand the torture. By then, it would not be as simple as cutting off the tail to survive. I don't know where the knife was going to cut.
I still underestimated Jiang Shan. He was able to find all the names on Jin Yan's note in such a short time. It seems that he is far more than just two chess pieces in South Zhili, Jin Yan and Zhang Luyao! At least one of the two imperial envoys is sure
They are his people, and even both of them have been bribed by him! In the past few months, he deliberately backed down step by step, just waiting for today's head-on blow, leaving us with no room for redress! The most hateful thing is the little thief He Qizhou,
He intervened inexplicably and ruined his family's good deeds. The debt must be settled!
Fortunately, Jiang Cong's reply made Chen Yu heave a long sigh of relief. Jiang Cong said: "Let the Military Inspectorate and the Supervisory Censor send people to take a look at the banditry in Jiangling first!"
Shi Lan and Youdu Yushi accepted the order and said yes.
Jiang Cong sighed and added: "Jiang Shan, Jifeng, Jiangling's cases and the amnesty list must be finalized with the cabinet today."
Chen Yu, nicknamed Jifeng, knew that the Chen family had suffered a total defeat in the Jiangling case. Now his biggest hope was that Concubine Chen would be granted the title of queen. After hearing what the emperor said, he could only nod along with the prince.
"Mo Aiqing, Zhang Aiqing, you are responsible for appeasing the army officers and soldiers, and there should be no more troubles." Jiang Cong continued to issue orders. The two privy councilors nodded and accepted the order.
"Taicheng, let's announce the order as usual!" Jiang Cong said to the eunuch who had just received the roster.
He Qizhou was happy and anxious. What he was happy about was that Zhang Luyao and Li Jichen were expected to be freed from their crimes, but what he was anxious about was that the old emperor had not yet pardoned his sins. He also felt that the risk he was taking was not worth it. The crown prince had already secured victory.
Just waiting for the Chen family to jump out on their own.
"Accept the decree." Tang Taicheng began to read out the list. Sixteen people, including Lin Chuan, ranked among the top three, and were given the same background as Jinshi.
Then the names of the twenty-nine people in the Erjia were reported, and they were given a Jinshi background. Those who reported their names bowed and thanked each other, and officially became the emperor's disciples.
The last one is the first one, the Jinshi. Jiang Cong personally read out the names. The first one was Jiang Zhu, the top pick, followed by Xu Mu, who was second in the list. However, the old emperor had not yet uttered the word "number one", and Shi Lan, who had been thinking hard, seemed to
After realizing something, he suddenly knelt down and shouted: "Your Majesty, please wait!"
Jiang Cong frowned and said, "What's the matter?"
"Your Majesty, I have determined that the two murder cases in Jiangling were committed by He Qizhou. Can you allow me to question them again?" Shi Lan asked.
"Well, life is at stake. Since you are sure, I will give you another chance." Jiang Cong looked sad. He knew Shi Lan's ability very well. It seems that He Qizhou can no longer use it for himself like his adoptive father.