My father is Jiajing

In the study room.

Gao Gong listened to Hai Rui's words, stared at him for a long time, and felt Hai Rui's firm attitude. He couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Hai Gangfeng, Hai Gangfeng, people say that I, Gao Suqing, have a bad temper and a hard personality. But in front of your hard bones, I feel that my usual attitude is very gentle."

Gao Gong then sighed and said, "If you continue like this, you will get into trouble sooner or later."

Hai Rui was not afraid at all. "Yu Shaobao once wrote in a poem: I am not afraid of being torn to pieces, as long as I can leave my innocence in the world. Although I, Hai Rui, dare not compare myself to Yu Shaobao, at least in Jiangnan, I will fight for fairness and justice for the people and the court. On this point, I will never back down even a step!"

Hai Rui's attitude impressed Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng greatly. And to be honest, during the time in Nanjing, Hai Rui was the one who took the lead in solving many difficult and challenging issues.

For example, it seems that Zhang Juzheng's action of measuring the land may easily offend people, but the ownership of the land is not something that can be clarified in a short time, and there is a huge room for maneuver, so he will not offend anyone for a while.

However, Hai Rui used the Dong Fen case to investigate taxes, which was a move that directly stirred up a hornet's nest.

If this tax is investigated, it will be enforced immediately.

But it is not like land, which can be operated in various ways, making people confused and unable to find out who the specific person in charge is.

After all, those who rent land, those who farm land, and those who own the land may belong to three waves of people.

These three groups of people need food and drink, and they all need to make a profit. Even if the imperial court is impartial and wants to collect taxes, it cannot force the poor tenants who farm the land to death.

Because the imperial court would collect taxes, the landlords would ask the tenants for taxes. Of course, the tenants would not raise taxes out of nowhere, so they had to ask the tenant farmers who ultimately farmed the land for money.

The tenants have already paid more than half of the grain on the estate to the tenants and landlords. If they have to pay more, they will really be desperate.

Therefore, measuring the land is not as simple as just finding a few people with tape measures to measure the land.

After they have measured the land, they still have to confirm who owns the land, who is responsible for farming it, paying taxes, and so on.

After clarifying these issues, the land can be measured clearly.

Otherwise, all the practices and work of measuring the land are just formalities. Once the formalities are over, no one will mention it again.

For example, Zhang Juzheng's Single Whip Policy, which was highly praised by later generations, included administrative measures on land measurement, but was not actually implemented very far.

The most important point of his policy was to convert all the original in-kind taxes into cash silver taxes.

Although this seems simple, it is actually not really understood and supported by the people during the implementation process.

Because not everyone has cash to pay taxes.

If they don't have cash, they have to sell grain for silver. But if the big households unite at this time and take the opportunity to lower the price to buy grain, then for the common people, it would be equivalent to bearing the losses caused by the price reduction for no reason.

But the court and tax officials don't care about these things.

Therefore, whether in ancient times or in the future, any reform involving the tax system is actually a matter of a group of people sitting together to discuss how to divide the people's pie.

Those with conscience know to leave some way out for the common people and prolong the life of the dynasty for a while, but those without conscience will drain the pond to catch all the fish, regardless of their lives, and squeeze the common people to death.

In the end, the world will be in chaos, the court will have no money, the people will have no food, and everything will be swallowed up by anger!

After Gao Gong knew Hai Rui's attitude, he turned and looked at Zhang Juzheng, "Taiyue, what do you think?"

When Zhang Juzheng heard Gao Gong's question, he bowed to Gao Gong and said, "Lord, Jiangnan's taxes account for one-third of the country's total, which is of utmost importance. The prince arranged us here so that I can curb the problems in Jiangnan. If we act recklessly, embezzle the court's finances and taxes, and squeeze the livelihoods of ordinary people, in the long run, the national treasury will become increasingly empty, and the people's lives will become increasingly difficult. Therefore, I think that we should rectify it with thundering means to ensure long-term stability."

Gao Gong was silent for a long time after listening to Zhang Juzheng's words. He understood these principles.

If he was not the top person in charge of Nanjing or even the Jiangnan region, he would have said these words.

But now he is the top person in charge here, and his decisions will directly affect the stability of Nanjing and even the entire Jiangnan region.

If Jiangnan fell into chaos under his rule and he was unable to explain to Prince Yu and Emperor Jiajing in the first place, villains would accuse him of poor governance, leading to chaos in Nanjing and even Jiangnan. Not only would he have to leave Nanjing in disgrace, but his future career would also be ruined.

So, after a long silence, Gao Gong finally made up his mind. He looked at Hai Rui and Zhang Juzheng and said, "I will submit a secret report to the prince and His Majesty to explain the situation. But before the imperial edict arrives, you must suspend the investigation to avoid exacerbating the conflict."

Upon hearing this, Hai Rui immediately objected!
Hai Rui said, "Your Excellency cannot retreat! If we retreat now, not only will it give these people more time and space to create public opinion, but it will also cause them to dismantle the evidence and problems we have found one by one. By then, even if the emperor's edict comes, we can only let these people do whatever they want, and there will be no such good opportunity to uproot them!"

Zhang Juzheng also immediately agreed, "Gangfeng is right. This is a critical moment. We must not relax or compromise! You must hold on!"

Gao Gong looked at Hai Rui and Zhang Juzheng's persistence and felt helpless again.

At this moment Gao Gong seemed to understand the difficulties faced by Yan Song in the past and Xu Jie now.

As expected, power is not so easy to hold. The price and responsibility involved are really too great!
If you are not careful, your reputation will be ruined and your body will be shattered!

Gao Gong sighed and said, "Okay! Since both of you agree, I naturally cannot let anyone look down on me. Since the aristocratic families in Jiangnan have chosen to confront us, we should take the dignity of the court seriously and investigate this matter thoroughly!"

Hai Rui and Zhang Juzheng saw Gao Gong's attitude.

The two men bowed to Gao Gong in unison: "You are wise, Lord!"

When Gao Gong heard this wise words, although he felt a sigh of helplessness in his heart, he was more filled with an unprecedented sense of relief.

This may be the charm of power!
Just when the three of them had just reached a consensus, there was suddenly a commotion outside.

Then, a guard from the Governor's Mansion ran in in a panic and reported: "My Lord, something bad has happened! Someone rushed into the front yard of the government office carrying a corpse, saying they want justice!"

Gao Gong's face turned pale when he heard this!

This was a slap in the face to Gao Gong, as the cabinet minister and governor-general of Southern Zhili were totally ignored!

They treated his governor's mansion as a market for trouble and quarrels.

Hai Rui and Zhang Juzheng also looked at the guards who came in to report in astonishment. They had never expected that people from Jiangnan were so fierce!
How dare they carry a corpse to the Governor's Mansion to cause trouble!

Gao Gong laughed in anger, "Well, well, I want to see what grievances they have. They actually bypassed the Jiangning County Office, the Yingtian Prefecture Office, and the Yingtian Governor's Office and came directly to my Governor's Office to file a complaint!"

Gao Gong became more confident and walked outside.

Hai Rui and Zhang Juzheng looked at each other and hurriedly followed.

At this moment, in the front yard of the Governor's Mansion, a group of people in mourning were wailing around a corpse covered with white cloth. Their sad and miserable appearance was really eye-catching!
The leader, a white-haired old man, immediately knelt on the ground when he saw Gao Gong come out, crawled over and cried, "My Lord, please help me! Hai Rui sent people to forcibly search and confiscate my shop, and forced my nephew to hang himself! Is there any justice in this world?" The crowd, who didn't know whether they came to watch the fun or participated in it together with a premeditated plan, suddenly became excited at this moment!

They cursed Hai Rui's cruelty, but at the same time they sympathized with the old man whose nephew had died.

For a moment, all kinds of noises rang out, disturbing the peace of heaven and earth!
Gao Gong stood on the steps, his face extremely livid. He did not reach out to take the bloody certificate from the old man's hand, but glanced at everyone present.

Finally, Gao Gong set his sights on Hai Rui again. "Mr. Hai, someone has accused you of forcing innocent people to death. How do you explain this?"

After hearing Gao Gong's words, the people present were also shocked. They never expected that Hai Rui was also here!

Hai Rui bowed slightly to Gao Gong without changing his expression, and then, under the gaze of everyone, he strode up to the old man.

Hai Rui asked with a stern face, "Who are you? Why are you suing me?"

The old man was also immediately intimidated by Hai Rui's aura.

At this time, some people hiding in the crowd started to make a fuss again.

"The government is disregarding human life, and Hai Rui is forcing the people to death!"

The scene became chaotic again, and the old man became more aggressive. He pointed at Hai Rui and said, "It's you! You forced my nephew to death!"

Hai Rui remained calm, "Since you insist that it was me who forced your nephew to death, when did your nephew die? And how did he die?"

The old man immediately replied: "My nephew died last night. He hanged himself! He left a suicide note before he died. It was you who forced him to death!"

Hai Rui ignored the old man, strode up to the corpse, and then lifted the white cloth and examined it carefully in full view of everyone.

Seeing this, the old man couldn't help but feel uneasy, and asked in a timid tone, "What are you going to do? Are you going to insult my nephew's body?"

Hai Rui turned around and snorted, "Come here, capture him!"

Hai Rui's voice almost made the situation out of control.

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng never expected that Hai Rui would be so tough!
After hearing Hai Rui's words, the onlookers also became excited.

"Dog officer!"

"How dare you oppress the people in broad daylight?"

Hai Rui turned around and looked at everyone, shouting, "How dare you!"

For a moment, the scene was shocked again by Hai Rui.

Hai Rui had a stern face, and his eyes swept across the crowd coldly before he began to speak: "Just now this man said that his nephew was hanged to death last night, but the marks on his neck showed that he was strangled from behind. Therefore, I suspect that this man killed his nephew for no reason and attempted to slander the court officials!"

The crowd suddenly fell silent, and the white-haired old man's face changed drastically. They never expected such a mistake to happen.

Gao Gong immediately seized the opportunity and shouted, "Someone, protect the scene. Don't let anyone escape. Ask the coroner to come and perform an autopsy!"

Gao Gong gave an order and the guards of the Governor's Mansion immediately took action, protecting the entire palace inside and out, even those who were crowded in the Governor's Mansion to watch the excitement were not spared.

For a moment, these people couldn't help but panic.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng also took the opportunity to shout loudly: "You are all scholars, you should distinguish right from wrong. If Hai Zhongcheng really did something inappropriate, the court will deal with it. But if someone takes the opportunity to cause trouble and frame the court officials, it will be a serious crime! Think about it carefully!"

After hearing what Zhang Juzheng said, the people who were watching the fun also began to think about retreating.

Although they did not see the condition of the body with their own eyes at this time, they were all afraid that the truth was just as Hai Rui had just said, that the man was strangled to death from behind.

If this is true, then this excitement would not be so interesting.

Gao Gong saw that the situation had eased a little, and announced at the same time: "Everyone, please be patient! I will report this matter to the court truthfully. Before the imperial edict arrives, no one is allowed to gather and cause trouble. If you violate the rules, don't blame me for not reminding you in advance. Now, you should decide whether to continue to gather at the Governor's Office or go home and wait for news from the government!"

After hearing Gao Gong's words, the people present couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. They were really afraid that they would be left here as well.

So after Gao Gong said this, everyone just backed down and gradually dispersed.

But Hai Rui and Zhang Juzheng both knew that the real storm had just begun.

Next, the bodies of the old man who filed the complaint and his nephew were seized. The body was handed over to the coroner to determine the real cause of death, while the old man was imprisoned and awaiting trial.

Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and Hai Rui gathered together again, each of them with a solemn expression.

"What happened today was no accident."

Zhang Juzheng was the first to break the silence and continued, "There must be someone behind the scenes organizing this. Otherwise, how could they dare to storm the Governor's Mansion?"

Gao Gong and Hai Rui naturally understood this truth.

Hai Rui was silent for a while and then said, "They are afraid. They are afraid that we will find out about their smuggling and land issues. These are enough to shake the foundations of more than half of the prominent families in Jiangnan. Therefore, they will take such a risky move! Even at the cost of their lives!"

When he said this, Hai Rui's face turned extremely pale!

He didn't care whether the so-called nephew deserved to die or not, but he died like this. For Hai Rui, this was an unforgivable sin.

This shows that this group of people no longer care about the law and have begun to take human lives wantonly!

At this moment, when he thought of the fire in the Dong family, he no longer found it strange.

Maybe the fire was started by these people in order to protect themselves and destroy the evidence!
Gao Gong looked at the two of them and sighed in his heart. Things in Jiangnan were changing so fast that it was hard to keep up. It was more exciting, stimulating and rich than the decades he had spent as an official in the capital!
I really don't know what other things are happening in this world that he doesn't know about.

For a moment, Gao Gong also felt that he had a long way to go. . .

------

Ask for monthly ticket~~~(End of this chapter)