My father is Jiajing

Inside the Nanjing Governor's Office, Gao Gong suppressed his excitement and carefully put the secret report stamped with "Prince Yu's Seal of Regent" into his sleeve. His fingers could not help but tremble slightly.

The plum rain was still drizzling outside the window, but it could not extinguish the raging fire burning in Gao Gong's chest!

"Everything is lonely!"

These four powerful characters written in red ink weighed a thousand pounds in Gao Gong's eyes. This was Zhu Zaigui's most resolute support for them!
"Everyone, the prince's meaning is very clear."

Gao Gong couldn't help but turn around excitedly, and swept his sharp eyes over everyone in the hall.

Hai Rui sat upright on a chair on the left side of the hall. His dark face and bright eyes were also flashing with a determined light!
Zhang Juzheng on the other side couldn't help but smile excitedly with the corners of his mouth slightly raised. He gently stroked his iconic beautiful beard and tried hard to remain calm. However, the slightly raised corners of his mouth revealed his inner excitement.

But none of this matters!

What is important is Zhu Zaigui’s four-word reply to them: “Everything is with me!”
"Gangfeng, what's the situation in Suzhou and Wuxi?"

Gao Gong turned around and looked at Hai Rui, asking about the situation.

Hai Rui stood up and bowed, his voice as loud as a bell, and his demeanor firm and confident as he replied: "Reporting to Lord Gao, there are sixteen local tyrants in Suzhou who refuse to cooperate with the governor's office's order to check their accounts, and thirteen in Wuxi. Among them, the Qian family in Suzhou and the Gu family in Wuxi are the most arrogant."

"I have also ordered people to temporarily close some of the Qian and Gu families' shops, workshops, and warehouses. However, the local people were deceived by them, and hundreds of them surrounded the government office, claiming that the government was 'seizing the people's property.'"

"absurd!"

Hai Rui had just reported the situation on his side when Gao Gong slammed his palm on the table. With a snap, the teacups on the table jumped up.

Gao Gong said angrily: "The whole world belongs to the king! The court is helping them, how can it be said to 'seize the people's property'?"

Seeing Gao Gong angry, Zhang Juzheng coughed lightly and stood up to comfort him, "Please calm down, Lord. The situation in Jiangnan is extremely complicated. Hundreds of years of accumulated problems cannot be solved overnight. Although the Suzhou Qian family and the Wuxi Gu family are not well-known in the court, they have been deeply rooted in the Jiangnan region for hundreds of years. Their connections are all over Jiangnan, and even in the court, they have a lot of influence. Now that they are taking the lead in the resistance, it shows that we have found the direction."

Gao Gong listened to Zhang Juzheng's words and nodded slightly. Then he laughed and said, "How dare these ignorant people obstruct the overall situation and interfere with the new policy? Do they really think that I, Gao Suqing, am made of clay?"

Gao Gong is a cautious person when he needs to be cautious, but as long as he feels that he is sure of success and has a chance, his confidence will instantly soar, and he will dare to confront whoever is on the other side.

How arrogant was Yan Shifan in the capital back then?

Compared with today's Qian and Gu families, they were much more powerful, but at that time, Gao Gong could still embarrass Yan Shifan if he seized the opportunity.

Now that he had arrived in Nanjing, Gao Gong could no longer continue to indulge them after having been restrained for so long by this group of Jiangnan gentry who thought they had a deep network of connections and considerable power.

After all, the court's dependence on grain and taxes from Jiangnan is no longer as important as it was 10 or 20 years ago.

Today, thanks to the taxes received by the Special District of the Capital and the convenient transportation conditions in several northern provinces, food is no longer as scarce as it was in the past.

It can be said that the court now dares to move in Jiangnan because it made the decision after the economic structure had quietly undergone subtle changes.

And these Jiangnan aristocratic families still naively believed that they were still an important place that occupied one-third or even more than half of the world's taxes and grain, and that they could compete with the central government by relying on such an important economic status!

In Gao Gong's view today, these people have been living a life of drunkenness and dreams for too long. Some of them are unaware of the changes in the world and have no idea what life and death and fear are.

No wonder Emperor Taizu imposed heavy taxes on Jiangnan back then. It turns out that Emperor Taizu had long seen through the selfish nature of these people!

Gao Gong turned to Hai Rui, and his demeanor suddenly changed.

"Gangfeng, I will go to Suzhou and Wuxi with you tomorrow. I want to see how capable the Qian and Gu families are!"

After hearing Zhu Zaigui's four words, Gao Gong no longer hid his feelings. He wanted to rush to the front line to experience the grandeur of the Jiangnan aristocratic families and see how grand they were!

Looking at Gao Gong who was so excited, Hai Rui also felt a little strange.

A trace of worry flashed across Hai Rui's eyes. "It may not be appropriate for the Lord to come in person. Why not let me go first and investigate further?"

"It doesn't have to be this way!"

Gao Gong interrupted Hai Rui with a wave of his hand. He continued, "Since the prince has entrusted me with state affairs, how can I be timid? Taiyue, you will set off for Songjiang today. Yan Maoqing is waiting there. Remember, the measurement must be accurate to the acre this time, not a single cent can be wrong!"

Zhang Juzheng accepted the order solemnly, "Yes, sir!"

Seeing this, Hai Rui wanted to say something, but in the end he just bowed deeply and obeyed Gao Gong's arrangement.

The rain outside was getting heavier, and water dripping from the eaves formed a curtain.

When Hai Rui walked out of the Governor's Office, a clerk hurriedly chased him and handed him an unsigned letter. Hai Rui opened it and saw only a few words: "Evening Banquet at the Qian Mansion."

Upon seeing these four words, Hai Rui frowned and crumpled the letter in his palm.

He knew that these people would never stay still and would never settle down!
Suzhou City, Qian Mansion.

Calling it a "mansion" is actually an act of usurpation, because according to the rules of etiquette, only the residences of royal relatives, imperial court offices, and some high-ranking officials are qualified to be called "mansions." Ordinary people, no matter how high their social status or wealth, can only call their homes and yards "houses"!
Anyone who dares to rashly change his or her status from "house" to "mansion" in an era of strict hierarchy is 100% seeking death!
However, in today's Jiangnan, the emperor is far away and the actual rules and regulations are naturally not as strict as they were in the early Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, it is normal for some wealthy families to replace the lintels of their houses with the high-sounding word "Fu".

The living room of the Qian Mansion was decorated with carved beams and painted buildings, brightly lit by candles, and was extremely luxurious.

More than a dozen elegantly dressed gentlemen sat together in a hall. The head of the Qian family, Qian Deshun, who was sitting in the main seat, was just a commoner, but he already had the dignity and bearing of someone who had held a high position for a long time.

Qian Deshun gently waved his folding fan and glanced at everyone calmly.

"Everyone, that little black guy from Qiongzhou Prefecture has already found out about us."

Qian Deshun's voice was extremely calm, but what he said shocked everyone present.

They knew that Hai Rui was going to investigate the Dong family case, but he pretended to be making plans but secretly investigated the taxes of the big families in the south of the Yangtze River. This was really provoking trouble!
Qian Deshun continued, "Today he dared to send people to seal up my Qian family's shop, tomorrow he will dare to touch your ancestral property! Now is the time for us to work together, tell me what we should do?" An old man with white hair and wearing a square scarf slammed the table and said, "How can this be absurd! Hai Rui is just a minister who was promoted by luck, but he dared to act wildly in Suzhou! Master Qian, you are the pillar of our Suzhou, are you going to let this lunatic do whatever he wants? Will he ruin our ancestral property?"

Qian Deshun glanced at the old man with displeasure. The old man's surname was Xu, and he was from the same clan as the prime minister of the current dynasty, Xu Jie. However, the two families had been separated for hundreds of years, so their relationship was not very close.

But it was really too much for this old guy to speak like this in his home.

Qian Deshun's eyes flashed with a hint of viciousness, and he said calmly: "What are you talking about, Old Master Xu? Although our Qian family has a small reputation in Suzhou, it is still far behind the Xu family in terms of reputation. I invited you all here tonight not to shirk responsibility, but to discuss with you a countermeasure to save ourselves."

As soon as Qian Deshun finished speaking, a man with a pointed face and monkey cheeks in the corner laughed sinisterly and said, "Master Qian, in my opinion, it is not a good idea to deal with a man like Hai Rui head-on. I heard that he is a man who values ​​his reputation. If we can start from here..."

Qian Deshun said "oh", looked at the man with a pointed chin and monkey cheeks, and asked, "What do you think, Mr. Zhao?"

Mr. Zhao, a man with a pointed face and monkey cheeks, stood up and came closer, lowering his voice and saying, "Didn't Hai Rui claim to be upright and incorruptible? Let's make him 'upright and incorruptible'! I'm going to have people compose a few nursery rhymes and have the children in the streets sing them tomorrow. Then we'll find a few 'victims' and have them go to the government office to cry about being bullied by Hai Rui. That way... hehehehe."

Qian Deshun frowned slightly, "Will this work? Some time ago, someone carried a corpse to the Governor's Office to file a complaint. As a result, you saw that the person who filed the complaint was not only arrested by Hai Rui, but also convicted of murder. If this is the case, what if something goes wrong?"

Mr. Zhao chuckled and said, "Master Qian, you are worrying too much. We all know what happened in Nanjing, and the common people know it too, but who cares about the truth? If Master Qian had some free time to go out and ask around, he would know that most common people still think that Hai Rui is the one who took human lives lightly, and the one he arrested is the victim."

Mr. Zhao's words made everyone in the living room smile knowingly. Sometimes the simplicity of ordinary people is so adorable. They will only believe the truth they want to believe. As for what the real truth is, ordinary people don't care.

This is like a short story from the reign of Emperor Yingzong, when someone pretended to be Emperor Jianwen and went to Beijing to trace his ancestry. However, this person could not even explain Jianwen's age and family situation, so the court immediately announced that he was a liar.

But after the news spread to the people, the common people didn't care whether this man was a liar or not. They just said that Emperor Jianwen was still alive and had gone to Beijing.

From this we can see that sometimes what ordinary people care about is not the truth, but whether this matter can provide them with entertainment value and emotional value.

This is what happened to Hai Rui in Nanjing. Although the truth is the truth, the truth is always boring and always makes people feel uninteresting. Therefore, the legend that Hai Rui was a corrupt official who forced people to death is a story that the common people like to hear and see.

When the old man surnamed Xu heard this, he couldn't help but clap his hands and laugh, "Great!"

"Then we can contact a few imperial censors and impeach Hai Rui for using the Dong Fen case to bully the people! The upright officials in the court are also the most susceptible to this. They will definitely respond and impeach Hai Rui together. By then, the water will be muddy."

When Qian Deshun heard this, he couldn't help but nodded with satisfaction: "And Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, don't let any of them go."

Then he added: "There is also Yan Maoqing, especially Yan Maoqing. I heard that he received a lot of benefits when he investigated the salt tax. Now he is in collusion with Gao Gong and others. He is just a perfect target!"

When everyone talked about this, they couldn't help but burst into laughter.

It seemed like victory was just around the corner.

Just as everyone was happily celebrating the next victory, the Qian family's housekeeper ran in in a panic.

"Master, it's bad! The black guy has brought the police into the mansion!"

Everyone in the hall changed color when they heard this.

Qian Deshun stood up suddenly, stared and asked: "What? He dared to break into a private house at night!"

Qian Deshun never expected that Hai Rui would come to his house at this time.

The front yard of Qian's mansion.

At this moment, Hai Rui was wearing a red official robe, as if stained with blood!
He also had a long sword on his waist and strode into the gate of Qian's mansion with a sharp look in his eyes.

Before the gentry in the Qian mansion's living room could react, Hai Rui had already strode into the hall.

Then behind him, hundreds of thousands of armed officials from the governor's office followed and surrounded him from both sides.

When everyone saw such a scene, they were so frightened that they lost their minds and looked at it in disbelief.

It was as if their previous plans were all a joke!
Standing in the middle of the living room, Hai Rui looked around at the guests in the Qian Mansion, chuckled, and looked at Qian Deshun seriously, "Mr. Qian, you are gathering here so late at night, what are you going to discuss?"

Qian Deshun pretended to be calm and said, "Governor of the Sea, trespassing into a private residence late at night is probably inappropriate, isn't it?"

Hai Rui snorted, pulled out a document from his sleeve, and showed it to everyone: "I am ordered by the Nanjing Cabinet, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Revenue to thoroughly investigate the issue of hidden land and tax evasion in Suzhou Prefecture. It has been reported that the Qian Mansion has forged land deeds, so I have come to search!"

When Qian Deshun heard this, he immediately became anxious!

"Nonsense!"

Qian Deshun slammed the table and stood up, looking at Hai Rui fiercely, and said excitedly: "My Qian family has been loyal for generations, how could we do such a thing? Hai Rui, please stop slandering me!"

Hai Rui looked at Qian Deshun with contempt, "Whether he is innocent or not, we will know once we investigate."

Then Hai Rui turned to the officers and gave the order: "Search! Focus on the account office and study of the Qian Mansion! Anyone who obstructs us will be arrested on the spot! Anyone who resists will be killed on the spot!"

Hai Rui's order was so cruel that it frightened the other guests in the hall and made them look at each other in bewilderment. No one dared to speak.

Qian Deshun was so angry that he was shaking all over. "Good! Good! Good! You little black man! I will remember today's humiliation! One day I will bring the red seal and iron certificate to Beijing to sue you for killing loyal officials and bullying the people!"

Hai Rui snorted without even looking at Qian Deshun. What the hell is a red-lettered iron certificate? It's just a meaningless thing from the previous dynasty. Emperor Taizu recognized it just to give you face, and now you want to repeat the old trick?

Don’t you see if times have changed?
Hai Rui looked directly at Qian Deshun and spoke each word with emphasis: "Mr. Qian, the court is thoroughly investigating the Dong Fenqin case, measuring all suspicious lands, and checking all suspicious taxes. This is all for the sake of the court and the people of the world. If the Qian family is innocent, Hai will make amends; but if there is any illegality, don't blame the law for being ruthless!"

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Asking for a monthly ticket~~
Tomorrow is May Day. I wish you all a happy holiday every day and prosperity every year! (End of this chapter)