Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 227: The Eastern Factory Arrests the Censor
After the Battle of Tumu, the civil service group began to rise. Starting from the Chenghua period, the censors of the Censorate took pride in speaking out what they heard and aspired to impeach the emperor and superiors. Naturally, they did not abide by the rules. With one sleeve, they collected money, and with the other sleeve, they showed off their reputation for being honest and impeached and advised at every turn.

Zhu Houzhao now had to control these censors, at least to prevent them from spreading rumors and causing trouble by relying on their power to supervise all officials. Letting the non-civilian East Factory manage the censors was undoubtedly the best way of checks and balances. It would just achieve a balanced situation in which the Censorate managed all officials, the East Factory managed the Censorate, and the emperor managed the East Factory.

Ma Yongcheng, the eunuch commander-in-chief of the Eastern Factory, was very willing to take care of the Censorate for the Emperor Zhu Hou. After all, he had been impeached by the censors many times over the years, for things like mining to compete with the people, looting people and beating scholars, etc. Although the Emperor did not dismiss him because of the impeachment of the censors, he was criticized by the Emperor and even fined and beaten in court because of some excessive things he did.

Therefore, when His Majesty the Emperor ordered the East Factory to set up an Inspection Department to control the Censorate, Ma Yongcheng set up the Inspection Department overnight.

On this day, Xue Fengming was reading the Huang Ming Bao in the office of the Censorate. In recent years, newspapers have been very popular, and he has formed the habit of reading newspapers to discuss politics. However, he saw that the Ministry of Public Administration issued an order to the governors and governors-general of each province to select councilors in preparation for the next year's political council.

For a moment, Xue Fengming could not help but feel surprised, wondering why the court suddenly talked about the issue of political consultation, what were the political councilors and the political council, and when did the Ministry of Public Administration begin to issue orders to the governors of various provinces.

Xue Fengming could only read it carefully. After reading it, he couldn't help but get emotional and slammed the newspaper on the table: "How ridiculous! How ridiculous! Who came up with this idea? The memorials from the government offices other than the main government offices will no longer be submitted to the cabinet, and the cabinet can only discuss politics once every five years. In other words, it takes five years to speak out about the mistakes of the government. This is blocking the way for speech! If this continues, honest words will no longer reach the emperor, and the government will always be controlled by powerful officials! The cabinet officials and the Tongzhengsi are ruining the country!"

After Xue Fengming finished speaking excitedly, he thought that if this happened, the seven suggestions made by Dai Guan, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, at the risk of his life a while ago would probably fall on deaf ears, and the court would not change its policies at all.

"It seems that impeaching Zhang Cong is not enough. The real traitor is still behind the scenes! The first one to bear the brunt is Wang Hua!"

As Xue Fengming was speaking, the Discipline Inspection Department of the Eastern Depot happened to come over. When the officers and soldiers on duty at the Censorate saw that they were from the Eastern Depot, they did not dare to stop them and hurried over to report that it was someone from the Eastern Depot who had arrived.

Xue Fengming, who happened to be criticizing current affairs in the front hall, was so frightened when he heard that the people from the East Factory had arrived that he could not help but sit back in his chair: "What are the people from the East Factory going to do? Are they coming to arrest someone? Go and ask the people from the East Factory to wait in the front hall. I'll go and report to the dean."

The director that Xue Fengming mentioned was Hang Huai, who was in charge of the affairs of the Censorate. Although Xue Fengming was dissatisfied with the government and even complained a few words and impeached his superiors in the memorial, he was a little afraid when he really met the East Factory. After all, the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guards still had a bad reputation for confiscating property and exterminating families. At this time, he did not dare to face the East Factory alone, and could only go to the director of the Censorate to come forward.

When Zuodu Yushi Hang Huai heard that the people from the East Factory had come, he knew that the matter was serious, so he brought a group of censors to the front hall and bravely asked the people from the East Factory: "I wonder why you are here?"

"President Hang, don't panic. I am Yan Jing from the East Factory. I came here for two reasons. The first is to arrest Supervisor Xue Fengming in compliance with the order from above. Xue Fengming is suspected of slandering court officials and needs to be dealt with!
Supervisory Censor Xue Fengming is your subordinate in the Metropolitan Procuratorate. You need to make a written review and explain Xue Fengming's performance to His Majesty the Emperor again. At the same time, you have the right to know and consult us about our arrest of Xue Fengming. If you have any questions now, you can continue to ask?"

Yan Jing, an official from the Discipline Inspection Department of the East Factory, said this and waved his hand: "Catch him!"

Then, two imperial guards in yisas with wooden plaques with the words "Eastern Depot Inspectorate" hanging around their waists came over. One of them asked, "Who is Xue Fengming?"

Xue Fengming couldn't help but shudder. Before he could decide whether to admit it or play dumb and hide behind, another Tiqi noticed his abnormality and looked at him: "Come out, Xue Yushi!"

Xue Fengming let out a long sigh. Seeing that he could not escape, he had no choice but to stand up and said, "What do you people from the East Factory want to do?! Impeaching corrupt officials is the responsibility of the censors. I am only impeaching a powerful official. What crime have I committed?"

The people from the East Factory did not answer Xue Fengming, and the two East Factory guards just arrested him. Xue Fengming became a little anxious, and he didn't know when he had the courage, and he struggled: "Let me go, I am a minister of the court, you guys can't arrest me without reason!"

At the same time, Xue Fengming also shouted to the Left Censor-in-Chief Hang Huai: "Master, you can't let the people from the East Factory come to the Censorate so blatantly to arrest people. We are the court's censors, how can we be bullied by the East Factory like this!"

"Sir Yan, wait a minute. I dare to ask if there is any evidence that the Censor Xue Fengming slandered the court officials. Otherwise, it is really unreasonable for the East Factory to arrest people so indiscriminately. Moreover, when His Majesty clarified the responsibilities of various departments, he said that only the Metropolitan Censorate can file a case, and your East Factory is only responsible for investigation!"

The Left Censor-in-Chief Hang Huai also had to say a few words at this time, after all, he had to maintain the authority of the Censorate.

"It is true that the Censorate has the power to file a case, but we are not arresting the Censor Xue Fengming to punish him. This is the second thing I want to tell you. Your Majesty has issued an order to establish the East Factory Inspectorate, which is responsible for supervising all officials in the country, mainly the officials of your Censorate.

However, we only investigate and arrest people, not file a case. Filing a case is the job of your Censorate. We are investigating officials who violate the will of the law. Once their criminal facts are confirmed, we will hand them over to your Censorate for handling.

Xue Fengming is now the official under our investigation. We need him to explain his problems to the Emperor himself to prevent him from colluding with others, delaying time, or escaping early."

As he spoke, Yan Jing from the East Factory pointed to a porch and ordered, "This is it. Nail all the windows of this room with wooden boards so that no light can get in. Nail thick quilts on the walls all around. Remove all the furnishings and leave only one chair!"

So, the people from the East Factory quickly became busy.

After a series of clanging sounds, a deep, dark little room appeared in the Censorate.

Yan Jing of the East Factory ordered again: "Hang up the sign of our East Factory Inspection Office outside the house. We will be stationed here from now on to supervise all officials, especially the officials of the Metropolitan Censorate. Director Hang and all the censors, I hope you will be loyal to His Majesty, abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty, enforce the law impartially, and not be partial to others. In this way, I won't have to arrest you and ask for an explanation!"

"Censor Xue Fengming, you are now under investigation. I hope you will cooperate!"

As Yan Jing spoke, he had Xue Fengming dragged into the small dark room and tied him to a chair. Then Yan Jing brought in a chair himself, closed the door, and lit only a candle. However, the whole room was still very dark, so dark that Xue Fengming always felt that countless pairs of eyes were staring at him in the dark.

At this moment, a cold voice suddenly sounded from the other side of the dim candlelight: "Xue Yushi, next, I hope you can tell the truth! Don't put on airs as the Yushi in front of me!"

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(End of this chapter)