My father is Jiajing

The summer nights in Nanjing are so hot and muggy that even the chirping of cicadas seems feeble.

Nanjing Censorate, a government office that is extremely busy and extremely idle.

The reason why they are said to be busy to death is that they are all imperial censors. In addition to fulfilling their duties of criticizing the emperor, they also have to contact the Censorate in the capital to criticize others and the emperor together.

So, they are busy!

But at the same time, they were bored to death, because Nanjing was the capital after all, far away from the real center of power. Even if they wanted to criticize someone or the emperor, they had to be thousands of miles away to do so.

So, they are very idle again!
However, during this period of time, the Nanjing Censorate has not been as idle as before.

During this period, in addition to working step by step according to the original work model, they also had to write memorials to criticize the arrogant and arbitrary Gao Gong, Hai Rui who abused veteran cadres, and Yan Maoqing who disrupted Nanjing's tax revenue and expenditure.

It can be said that they have been very busy during this period.

And strictly speaking, not all of them had grudges against Gao Gong, Hai Rui and others.

They like to criticize others because it is a habit. In their eyes, they will criticize whoever is the decision maker, and they will also criticize whoever is the executor.

This is the nature of their work, it is a fundamental matter of principle. It is the same for everyone who comes, there is no escape, and it is not targeting anyone!

Therefore, the group of censors in the Ming Dynasty can be regarded as a great wonder in history!
However, with the development and evolution of the Ming Dynasty's political system, this interested group gradually became a tool for party struggles. Especially in the later period, they became lawless and only knew how to criticize others but never did any real work.

However, things are better now. The Censorate is still able to train some capable and qualified bureaucrats to serve in local areas as imperial inspectors to oversee important military and political affairs in a certain area.

Moreover, during this period, the imperial court could also select some capable inspectors and imperial envoys to promote them to high positions.

For example, Hu Zongxian, Hai Rui and others today, even though they are the best from the Censorate system, are not moral guardians who can only talk and criticize others.

"Is Censor Lin still writing a memorial to impeach Hai Bijia?"

Lin Run sat in his seat meticulously, not afraid of the heat, and continued writing.

Another imperial censor who passed by him couldn't help but sigh when he saw how focused Lin Run was.

Lin Run hummed, without looking up, and continued to write a harshly worded impeachment memorial, preparing to impeach Hai Rui again for his illegal behavior as the governor of Yingtian!
Of course, he impeached Hai Rui not because he had a grudge against Hai Rui, but because there were too many gentry who came here to report Hai Rui, and these gentry also had witness evidence, which forced Lin Run to take it as the truth and write one impeachment memorial after another to impeach Hai Rui.

But sometimes, Lin Run couldn't help feeling confused. Hai Rui had only been the governor of Yingtian for half a year. Was he guilty of such a heinous crime?
Moreover, Lin Run sometimes couldn't help but visit the countryside for a while, and found that the crimes reported by the gentry about Hai Rui seemed to be exaggerated.

But even so, Lin Run discovered that ordinary people who had not been affected did not say anything good about Hai Rui, and there were even many idle people who teased Hai Rui that he was a little black man from Qiongzhou.

It can be seen that sometimes people are not really able to distinguish right from wrong and good people. If you want them to understand the truth of some things, the price is often heavy or delayed.

But even so, as meat eaters, we still cannot ignore the interests of the people, nor can we ignore the feelings of the people, otherwise the anger of the people will be unbearable!

Therefore, even if Lin Run had his own inner judgment, before there was any sign of a change in public opinion towards Hai Rui, he still had to speak out and impeach Hai Rui to fulfill his duty as an imperial censor!

Just as Lin Run was writing furiously, an official document from the Beijing Censorate arrived at the Nanjing Censorate!
As the censor on duty at the Censorate that day, Lin Run was naturally the first to see this urgent document signed with a red seal.

Lin Run did not dare to delay and immediately sent someone to summon the Chief Censor, Deputy Chief Censor, and other important censors in the Nanjing Censorate to meet.

These senior imperial censors were also shocked when they saw the red-sealed document in Lin Run's hand.

Because such high-level documents might not be encountered by the Nanjing Censorate once in decades.

But today they met.

Wang Ting, the chief censor of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate, looked at Lin Run sternly, "Ruoyu, have you read the contents of the document?"

Lin Run bowed and said, "Reporting to the General, I have not yet opened it."

Hearing this, Wang Ting also breathed a sigh of relief, "Very good."

Then he took the document in his own hands and opened the red seal on the outside of the document under the attention of everyone.

Wang Ting only saw the contents of the first page and couldn't help but gasp!
He immediately put the document back in his bag and said to Lin Run, "Ruoyu, quickly send someone to invite Zhang Taiyue over! This document is for him!"

When Lin Run and others heard Wang Ting's words, they felt a little confused.

If it was sent to Zhang Juzheng, why did it have to go through the Censorate? Wouldn't it be enough to send it directly to the Nanjing Ministry of Justice?
But this was not the time for them to ask questions, so Lin Run bowed immediately and said, "I obey your command!"

Lin Run immediately called for a sedan chair and headed towards the Ministry of Justice, which was not far from the Censorate.

After arriving at the Ministry of Justice, Lin Run also met Zhang Juzheng.

Lin Run looked at this official from the Ministry of Justice, who was not much younger than himself, and his heart was filled with envy.

But at the same time, he also regretted the break between Zhang Juzheng and Xu Jie. He believed that Zhang Juzheng's move was indeed a betrayal of his teacher and ancestors.

However, Lin Run was also very happy to see that the three palaces and three cabinets could be separated from the Hanlin Academy system.

After all, he was a Jinshi who was not from the Hanlin Academy. Now that Zhang Juzheng had helped them open up a path to advancement, how could they turn a blind eye and think that Zhang Juzheng was only seeking fame?
Lin Run bowed and said, "Mr. Zhang, the Censorate has an urgent document from the Ministry of Justice. The Chief Censor wants you to come over."

Zhang Juzheng looked at Lin Run and was also surprised. How could the Censorate have such an urgent document from the Ministry of Justice?
But looking at Lin Run's appearance, Zhang Juzheng knew that this must be fake.

Zhang Juzheng said, "Please wait a moment, Censor Lin. I will be here soon as I am ready."

Zhang Juzheng changed into a formal official uniform and then went to the Censorate with Lin Run.

Wang Ting saw Zhang Juzheng coming over and took the initiative to stand up and greet him, "Hello, Minister Zhang."

Zhang Juzheng also returned the greeting to Wang Ting, "Hello, President Wang."

After the two men exchanged greetings, Wang Ting did not continue talking and directly handed the Censorate document with a red seal to Zhang Juzheng.

Wang Ting said: "Mr. Zhang, this is an urgent document from the Beijing Censorate, requesting our Nanjing Censorate to assist the Ministry of Justice in investigating this case seriously. Please take a look at the case first."

Zhang Juzheng immediately opened the red-seal official document in his hand. After he saw the contents, his eyes widened and he took a deep breath! During this period, he and Hai Rui were investigating the Xu family case intensively. Unexpectedly, before the Xu family case was completely sorted out, the capital sent another report from Xu Jie's son Xu Fan, reporting the Dong family's serious case of annexing smuggling and colluding with Japanese pirates!
This suddenly made Zhang Juzheng a little overwhelmed.

Wang Ting looked at the shocked Zhang Juzheng and reminded him softly, "Zhang Bu Tang, what's wrong?"

Zhang Juzheng was a little confused, but he calmed himself down and said, "This matter is of great importance, and it is difficult for me to make a decision. I still have to report it to Lord Gao."

Gao Gong is now the highest administrative official in Nanjing in name and in reality. Such a big thing must be notified to Gao Gong.

Wang Ting stroked his beard and said, "Of course, if it's a big deal, we need the support of Elder Gao."

Zhang Juzheng and Wang Ting quickly reached a consensus and decided to work together with Gao Gong.

That night.

In the study of Gao Gong's mansion in Nanjing, three oil lamps flickered with dim light, illuminating the solemn faces of Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Hai Rui.

"Did this really come from the capital?"

Gao Gong twirled his beard, his fingers trembling slightly as he repeatedly flipped through the thick stack of documents on the desk.

Fine beads of sweat oozed from his forehead, not sure if it was because of the hot weather or the shock brought by the evidence before him.

Zhang Juzheng nodded with a complicated expression: "It is absolutely true. It was Xu Jie's son Xu Fan who personally sent it to the Censorate, and he also specifically stated that this was an act of Xu Jie who was 'concerned about state affairs and sacrificed his own relatives for the greater good.'"

When he said the four words "killing relatives for the sake of justice", there was an ambiguous meaning in Zhang Juzheng's tone.

Hai Rui snorted rudely.

His dark face looked particularly resolute under the light: "What do you mean by killing relatives for the sake of justice? It's obvious that seeing that the Xu family had too many cases to handle, he kicked the Dong family out as a shield to buy leniency and time for the Xu family."

Hai Rui directly pointed out Xu Jie's sinister intentions without giving him any face.

Hai Rui then tapped the document with his rough fingers and continued, "These evidences are so detailed that they are outrageous. If the Xu family had not secretly collected them for many years, how could they be so complete? This shows that the Jiangnan noble families have long been in collusion and have been in collusion with each other. Now that they see that the court is going to investigate them, they can't help but explode themselves and start a dog-eat-dog fight!"

There was a moment of silence in the study. Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng looked at each other without saying anything. They both agreed with Hai Rui's opinion. They also understood that investigating the Dong family at this time was to buy time for the Xu family and gain forgiveness.

Gao Gong's brows furrowed more and more. He read the documents again and saw that they clearly recorded the various crimes committed by the Dong family in the past 20 years, including occupying people's land, embezzling taxes and silver, and colluding with Japanese pirates. Each crime had a specific time, place and witnesses.

The most shocking thing is that many of these transactions involved the involvement of people from the Xu family, which shows how ruthless Xu Jie is this time. He is using the lives of the Dong family and some members of the Xu family to exchange for safety for the Xu family!

"Xu Huating's move was ruthless enough."

Gao Gong finally put down the document and sighed, "The Dong family is his in-laws! Dong Chuance married Xu Jie's niece, and the two families have been married for more than ten years. Now he wants to sell it away. He is really ruthless and decisive!"

Zhang Juzheng gently stroked the edge of the table, a helpless smile appeared on his young and handsome face: "Political marriage, when the benefits are gone, they will be separated. Lord Xu saw the prince's determination to rectify the Jiangnan tyrants, and knew that if the Xu family did not make a choice, they would end up with the tragic fate of Yan Song's family, so he pushed the Dong family out and abandoned them. And..."

Zhang Juzheng thought about it again and continued, "Moreover, I'm afraid that he is handing over these evidences not just to protect himself."

Hai Rui raised his head suddenly and asked, "What does Taiyue mean?"

"Lord Xu is handing us a knife."

Zhang Juzheng said in a low voice, "He knows that we will find out the problems of the Xu family sooner or later, so he wants to get ahead of us and hand over the knife to the Dong family. First, he can clear himself, and second..."

He gave the two of them a meaningful look and said, "Secondly, he might want to use us to get rid of some people who know too much."

Gao Gong's pupils shrank slightly, and he immediately understood Zhang Juzheng's hint.

He quickly flipped through the documents and found tiny marks next to the names of some key witnesses.

"Are these people still alive?"

Gao Gong's eyes lit up and he asked hurriedly.

Hai Rui had already stood up, his tall figure casting a huge shadow on the wall: "We must send someone to protect these witnesses immediately! Since Xu Jie can betray the Dong family, he can make these people shut up forever! We must do it quickly!"

Zhang Juzheng raised his hand to signal Hai Rui to calm down: "Gangfeng, wait a minute. This matter needs to be considered carefully."

Then he turned to Gao Gong and asked, "Brother, how do you think we should deal with this matter?"

Gao Gong took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

As the cabinet minister of Nanjing and the governor-general of Southern Zhili, he knew very well that the decision he made at this moment would affect the entire political situation in Jiangnan.

"Although Lord Xu's move is shameless, it does give us a great opportunity."

Gao Gong looked down on Xu Jie, then thought for a while and said slowly, "The Dong family has been rampant in Songjiang for many years, occupying tens of thousands of acres of good farmland and forcing many people to lose their homes. Now that the evidence is solid, it's a good time to settle accounts with them all."

Hai Rui's eyes were burning with anger. "Not only that! These documents mention that the Dong family colluded with the Japanese pirates and engaged in smuggling. The evidence is irrefutable! If we don't punish them severely, where is the law of the country?"

Hai Rui also punched the table, causing the light to shake.

Zhang Juzheng frowned slightly and said, "Gangfeng, it is important to severely punish the Dong family, but we must also consider the impact of this move on the political situation in Jiangnan. Otherwise, Jiangnan will be in chaos, and we will be ashamed of the trust of the prince and His Majesty."

"And who will fill the power vacuum left by the Dong family? Although Lord Xu has handed over these evidences, his power in Jiangnan is still deeply rooted. We can't let him use us as a pawn so easily. We must have some strategy."

Gao Gong nodded, a hint of approval flashing in his eyes: "Taiyue has thought it through. Xu Jie's move may seem like cutting off his own arm, but it actually hides murderous intentions. He will definitely try to protect his interests in Jiangnan, and may even take the opportunity to eliminate dissidents."

"Since we are in Nanjing, and the prince has sent a message from the Censorate asking us to investigate the Dong family case, why don't we take advantage of the situation and continue to investigate the Xu family under the pretext of investigating the Dong family case?"

Gao Gong's words immediately attracted the attention of Zhang Juzheng and Hai Rui.

Both of them looked at Gao Gong, and looked forward to his next arrangements. After all, in terms of subordinate relationships, if they wanted to accomplish things in Nanjing and do them well, the three of them had to work together as a team, and there had to be a core leader, otherwise everything would be in vain!
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