Chapter 723: Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys
,!
Wang Jifeng's face was pale at this time, and he was still sweating even in the winter.
Only then did he remember that Li Junxian had informed the emperor that the assassination had been completed and the Ministry of Punishment no longer needed to pursue it.
At that time, Yang Fan had just moved the Cui family of Qinghe, and he was a thorn in the side of Qi Wang.
Wang Jifeng had already found out that the assassin had been intercepted by Yang Fan, so naturally he didn't want to give up.
More importantly, through the Jiangnan nobles, Wang Jifeng also found out that Yang Fan secretly delivered weapons to Mauriannu.
Wang Jifeng, who thought he had captured Yang Fan's lifeline, was naturally ecstatic, thinking that as long as there was a suitable opportunity, he would be able to use this to blackmail Yang Fan.
But I didn't expect that such a fatal blow would be easily cracked.
Yang Fan had actually obtained the emperor's permission in advance and had even prepared it at Dali Temple.
Then, all of Wang Jifeng's evidence turned into a joke.
Using this kind of evidence to impeach Yang Fan is not as effective as those rumors just now.
What's more important is that they just promised that once the emperor has evidence to prove that Yang Fan is not guilty.
Then, those of them who impeached Yang Fan will be punished.
For a time, the officials in Jiangnan who didn't know what to do turned their attention to Changsun Wuji, hoping that he could intercede with the emperor.
This matter has taken a huge turn. Changsun Wuji is just glad that he has just changed his position temporarily, and how can he go into this troubled water again.
Ever since, the old fox could only look at his toes, as if there was something good there that attracted him.
Seeing this, Wang Jifeng's face turned as black as ink.
Although I know that this old fox likes to act according to the circumstances, this guy is too realistic.
But now is not the time to care. The most important thing now is to be able to get away.
Holding back the fear in his heart, Wang Jifeng stepped forward to defend himself and said: "Your Majesty, although Yang Fan secretly released assassins and sold weapons after preparation, it is also an established fact. Although the humble minister was responsible for the oversight, it was also an unintentional mistake.
Please forgive me, Your Majesty!"
"Just treat this matter as an honest mistake on your part. Then, if you just used some gossip to impeach the empire's frontier officials, what crime should you be guilty of?" His Majesty Li Er looked at Wang Jifeng with a half-smile but asked coldly.
Seeing Li Er's bloodthirsty eyes, Wang Jifeng felt the hairs on his back stand up.
The emperor's intention was very clear, he wanted Wang Jifeng to introduce some people to use as atonement.
But if Wang Jifeng dares to be so hostile, then the officials of the Jiangnan gentry will definitely fight to the death with the Wang family of Taiyuan.
For a moment, Wang Jifeng fell into a dilemma. After thinking for a moment, he could only explain vaguely: "Your Majesty, although Yang Fan is not guilty of assassinating Yi Gu, it does not mean that Yang Fan is guilty of other crimes as stated by the imperial officials.
It does not exist, your Majesty, please check it out!"
Seeing Wang Jifeng and others still unwilling to give up, Li Er shouted again: "General Li, explain the contents of those Jiangnan officials' impeachment of Yang Fan one by one."
Although those Jiangnan officials gave Li Junxian a warning in their eyes.
But Li Junxian was only responsible to the emperor, so he was not afraid of these people, so he spoke again: "Your Majesty, the censors impeached Yang Fan for killing innocent people, which is false. That was because Huang Wanxi did not pay for the meal and killed two people."
Patrol soldiers..."
"The censors said that Yang Fan used his power for personal gain and robbed Jiangnan nobles of their money, which was even more unfounded. These money belonged to the stolen money traded between Jiangnan nobles and pirates. They were actually atonement money. There was no talk of robbery at all. There were pirates.
Testimonies, as well as the signatures and signatures of the descendants of the Jiangnan gentry..."
"As for the censors who say that Yang Fan has made Jiangnan miserable for the people, and people are angry and resentful, according to information from Weichen, in Huating County, where the capital is now located, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and commerce is very prosperous. It is completely different from what the censors said..."
Every time Li Junxian said something, the officials from the Jiangnan gentry turned pale, and they didn't look as complacent as before!
The whole scene suddenly fell silent,
His Majesty Li Er, with eyebrows as black as ink and eyes as cold as stars, with a face that showed no expression, asked in a voice as calm as water: "Do you have anything else to defend yourself?"
Following the emperor's question, Huang Luan, Wang Sui and other supervisory censors looked at each other, and then looked at Wang Jifeng, who was standing at the front of the court.
Seeing that they did not receive clear instructions, several people finally relaxed.
Wang Sui couldn't wait to stand up and defended: "Your Majesty, as a supervisory censor, it is your duty to report rumors. As for whether the official is really guilty, it has to be verified by the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple. Therefore, Wei Chen believes that we
Not guilty?"
As he said this, he secretly glanced at Wang Jifeng, and couldn't help but feel overjoyed when he saw the Lord Shangshu lowering his eyebrows slightly.
In his opinion, his words must have been recognized by the person in charge, the Taiyuan Wang family, and he could not escape the first victory.
No matter what the outcome of today's impeachment of Yang Fan is, as long as it can fall into the eyes of Lord Shangshu.
From now on, it is possible that he will be transferred back to the Wang family in Taiyuan and become a close confidant.
Once you can return to the Wang family in Taiyuan, your official career will be prosperous and your career will go straight up!
As children of the Wang family from Jiangnan, the ancestral land of the Wang family in Taiyuan is the holy land they yearn for.
Seeing Wang Sui's arrogant and fearless look, His Majesty Li Er's face suddenly darkened.
These people are really shameless.
The charges they listed were all based on speculation and were completely false.
Now he still defends himself with such eloquent words. How can there be such shameless officials in the world?
Many ministers also looked like Wang Sui, who looked ignorant, and couldn't help but shake their heads.
This guy really has no eyesight at all. Didn't he see that the emperor was already extremely angry?
If he admitted it frankly, the emperor might punish him lightly, but now.
This guy was obviously on the verge of death without even realizing it.
Wang Jifeng's mouth was full of bitterness at this time.
At this point, he couldn't maintain it even if he wanted to.
Although the Jiangnan Wang family is a branch of their Wang family, they can only give up now to keep the Taiyuan Wang family from being affected.
Now it seems that someone must take the blame.
A poor Taoist is worse than a dead Taoist friend. At this moment, Wang Jifeng has made up his mind not to get involved in this matter.
He believed that with the strength of the Taiyuan Wang family, the emperor would not dare to touch him lightly.
As the leader of the Jiangnan gentry, Xiao Yu had a dark look in his eyes.
He knew that the emperor was obviously going to take action on the Jiangnan nobles.
These censors with Jiangnan gentry background initiated the impeachment. It is impossible to impeach if they want to impeach, and to stop if they don't want to impeach. How can they evade it just because they don't know the truth?
Do you really think that the laws of the country are a joke?
Do you really think that the censor can impeach anyone he wants?
Even if Xiao Yu wanted to protect him, he was powerless at this time.
He knew very well that after this incident, the Jiangnan nobles would no longer pose a threat to the emperor.
Jiangnan, the Jiangnan of the Jiangnan gentry, is obviously going to be a thing of the past.
As expected, His Majesty Li Er suppressed his anger and asked: "I heard that Wang Aiqing is from the Wang family in Jiangnan, right?"
Wang Sui was slightly startled: "Exactly!"
Li Er showed an expression of sudden realization and asked again: "I heard that in this impeachment of Yang Fan, Yang Fan's crime was not a rumor, but a deliberately fabricated rumor. I wonder if it is true?"
Wang Sui finally felt something was wrong, and his pretty face turned even paler with fear.
But when he thought that there were so many people together, the emperor could not do anything to them, so he pretended to be calm and defended: "Your Majesty, as supervisory censors, we promote good and punish evil for the imperial court. We are all of good character.
How can a person who is upright and loyal and patriotic deliberately fabricate rumors to flatter a certain person? This is absolutely impossible."
Hearing this, Li Er was not angry, but asked: "You mean, you supervisory censors, every impeachment is worthy of your conscience and is a reflection of fairness and justice?"
Wang Sui said proudly: "That's natural! Although our imperial censors and officials are not of high rank, they have always been upright and morally pure. They have never wronged a good person."
These words were so reasonable that many imperial censors and officials echoed them.
As long as he firmly grasped the point of "just speaking out", the emperor could not do anything to them.
Because in the eyes of the people, those who can hold this position are all virtuous people who are well-read in poetry and literature and have a clean reputation.
In this era where reputation is worth everything, a reputation for integrity is more valuable than any high position.
Therefore, every change in the position of Yushi Yanguan was actually a mutual compromise between the imperial power and major aristocratic families.
Because in addition to having great power, this position also symbolizes the justice of the court, which is why these censors are so unscrupulous.
These censors seem to have no real power, but in fact they control the voice of the speaker. Who is loyal and who is traitorous, who is good and who is evil are often decided by their words, as if they are the judges of evil!
This is also the reason why every emperor in the past dynasties wanted to replace the position of Yushi Yanguan with one of his own.
Hearing what Wang Sui said, Li Er smiled instead and stopped talking to the confused officials and envoys. Instead, he took out a piece of paper from the table in front of him, raised it and said, "This is
The memorial and testimony sent by Yang Fan from the south of the Yangtze River accuse Wang Sui, Huang Luan and other censors of censorship. Relying on their censorial authority, they allowed their families to collude with pirates to prey on fellow villagers, forcing countless people to death. At the same time, they were blind.
Violating the law and plundering the county government prison..."
"Wang Sui, Huang Luan and other supervisory censors violated their consciences and acted so cruelly and immorally, oppressing good people. They obviously despised the law of the country. How are these unscrupulous actions any different from animals? My dear friends, do you think they are worthy of being punished?
Is it the virtue of a censor or an official?"
Wang Sui, Huang Luan and others couldn't help but tremble all over, and were a little stunned, as if they had been hit by a immobilization spell!
At this time, Wang Jifeng also became stunned. He really didn't expect that Yang Fan would do something like this.
People were discussing impeaching you, but they didn't expect that Yang Fan, who was far away in the south of the Yangtze River, did not just surrender. Instead, he directly threw a bomb with a memorial - directly suing Wang Sui, Huang Luan and others.
What's more important is that Yang Fan has evidence and is not just talking casually.
This kind of complaint with evidence and evidence is completely different from the censor's speech and official report.
Once it is determined, the nature of the matter will be different!
Whether it is colluding with pirates or plundering the county government prison, these are serious crimes of rebellion, and they will punish the Nine Clans.
Even if the emperor is benevolent, he can still uproot a certain family.
For a moment, the ministers couldn't help but look at Wang Sui and Huang Luan.
But I saw that the two people's faces were ashen, hesitating and not knowing how to explain, but everyone already knew it.
Such a serious crime was reported by Yang Fan with his real name in front of the civil and military officials of the court in the Tai Chi Hall. Huang Luan and Wang Sui were obviously caught off guard and were even thrown into chaos.
Wasn't he and others impeaching Yang Fan just now? Why did Yang Fan suddenly sue him?
Once it is confirmed that the Wang family and the Huang family colluded with pirates and robbed the prison...who still believes that they impeached Yang Fan because of fairness and justice?
Even Wang Jifeng, who took the lead in impeaching Yang Fan this time, could not help but change his expression...
He doesn’t know anything about these things!
If he gets mixed up with these people again, he won't be able to wipe the shit off his butt even if he wants to.
When His Majesty Li Er ordered people to circulate Yang Fan's memorial and evidence to the officials present one by one.
Cheng Yaojin picked up Wang Sui and Huang Luan, one in each hand, and shouted angrily: "You two shameless people, what else can you say?"
After saying that, he threw the two of them to the ground.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me!"
"Your Majesty, please forgive me!"
Wang Sui and Huang Luan looked dull, and it took them a long time to react. Then they knelt on the ground with a "pop" and kept kowtowing, but they did not dare to argue a word.
What else is there to say?
They understand very well what their family does.
Although the family knew that Yang Fan might use these things to fight back, they didn't expect it to happen so quickly.
You know, they paid so much money just to paralyze Yang Fan.
As long as Yang Fan is impeached, even if Yang Fan brings it up later, they can suppress these things by virtue of their status as censor.
Apparently their actions angered Yang Fan, which led to Yang Fan's crazy revenge.
In this memorial, Yang Fan only sued the Wang family and the Huang family.
The other Jiangnan nobles who colluded with the pirates were obviously not included.
Wang Sui and Huang Luan knew that if no one rescued them, their family might be in trouble.
As a result, the two of them could only look at Wang Jifeng in prayer, hoping that the head of the Taiyuan Wang family could save their lives.
But what greeted them was Wang Jifeng's indifferent eyes, which immediately made the two of them feel despair.
Looking at the expressions of the two people, the ministers knew that the Wang family and the Huang family were completely finished.
As expected, His Majesty Li Er waved his hand and shouted angrily: "Come here, put these two people into the sky prison, and let the Dali Temple try the case. If anyone dares to cover up and conceal it, he will be guilty of the same crime as the two people. At the same time, order the Governor of Jiangnan Province.
Escort all the direct descendants of the Wang and Huang clans back to Beijing to await trial by the three divisions."
As soon as he finished speaking, the guards outside the hall stepped in and dragged the two of them out of the hall like wolves and tigers by their arms.
Huang Luan finally came to his senses, with a look of despair on his face, knowing that he was not far from death, and had also brought trouble to his family.
Huang Luan suddenly went crazy when he caught a glimpse of Wang Jifeng not saying a word, just looking at everything coldly.
It was this bastard who started this, otherwise why would he impeach Yang Fan?
Now that something happened, this guy actually wanted to cut off the relationship and let the two of them shoulder the responsibility. It was simply too cruel.
"Your Majesty, Wei Chen is the supervisory censor, and it is his duty to impeach officials in the court. What's more, Wei Chen was ordered to do so by the Minister of Punishment, Mr. Wang, and Duke Zhao..."
Huang Luan burst into tears and complained loudly, hoping to drag Changsun Wuji and Wang Jifeng into the water in order to save their lives.
It's a pity that Li Er couldn't let him get what he wanted. Before Huang Luan could finish speaking, he waved his hand and asked the guards to cover his mouth tightly and drag him out like a dead dog.
Although His Majesty Li Er wanted to scare the monkeys, he did not want to make this matter too big.
Once Changsun Wuji and Wang Jifeng are involved, it will really affect the stability of the court.
After all, with the identities and backgrounds of these two people, even if the emperor wanted to touch them, he would have to think twice before doing so.