Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 237 Arresting the Corrupt Official
Sometimes Zhu Houzhao really wondered if the daily record officer was hiding at the foot of the bed where he and the queen slept, otherwise how could he know everything so clearly.

However, Zhu Houzhao's shouting frightened Lin Kui again. He thought to himself that the ancient saying of "serving the emperor with a tiger" was true, so he hurriedly asked carefully, "Your Majesty, where did I remember it wrong?"

"How do you remember it so clearly? Tell the truth!" Zhu Houzhao asked.

"I can hear the sounds of dragons roaring and phoenixes singing clearly even though I am in the duty study."

Lin Kui could not help but lower his head. He was quite smart and he managed to describe the sounds made by the emperor Zhu Houzhao and the empress during their sexual intercourse as the roar of a dragon and the cry of a phoenix, which made Zhu Houzhao burst into laughter.

Zhu Houzhao didn't know what to say after hearing what Lin Kui said, so he just said:

"Yogurt can improve people's health. I must want my subjects to learn from me and use it for sex. From now on, you don't have to remember the details of my affairs with the queen. It's not good for young people to hear it. It's not good for their body and mind. The daily records should record major events related to the national economy and people's livelihood. The emperor's private affairs should be omitted. No one in the world will be interested in the emperor's private affairs. Do you understand?"

Zhu Houzhao naturally had his own reasons for saying this. He believed that no one in the world would care about how the emperor slept every day. After all, just like readers of Qidian in later generations who read historical emperors, they would not be interested in what happened between the protagonist and his concubines every day. For example, an author named Yixi Qiuyue failed miserably because he did not believe in superstition.

"I understand. Your Majesty, please tell me how I should record it," Lin Kui replied.

"If you remember this, the relationship between the emperor and the empress will be harmonious, and there is hope that a new heir will be born. In this way, people in later generations will naturally understand what this means!"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, Lin Kui quickly agreed.

Soon after, Zhu Houzhao instructed again: "After each issue of the Jinshi list is compiled, please let me take a look first. After I approve it, it will be printed and distributed to the world, so that people all over the world can comment on its merits and demerits! Twenty people in each issue!"

Lin Kui also agreed, thinking that this would cause a huge uproar and make corrupt officials all over the world panic!

……

"Yu Tai, who was ranked 114th in the third place of the imperial examination in the 15th year of the Hongzhi reign, was a fellow Jinshi. He was from Wuxi, South Zhili. His courtesy name was Guochang and his pseudonym was Zhengzhai. He first served as a censor in the Household Department and later served as a councilor in Shandong. He was dismissed from his post for being suspected of a major corruption case.

At that time, there was a great famine in Huaiyang, and the emperor was very worried. He followed the request of the governor of the grain transport and allocated 300,000 yuan in salt tax to purchase grain in Shandong. This was the beginning of the corruption of officials such as Yu Tai... Later, Yu Tai used the people's money to build a garden in the south of the city, kept prostitutes, seized the people's land, and forced five people to death. The county magistrate Bai Zheng did not dare to report it, but was exposed by the Jinyiwei, who obtained the evidence of corruption and beheaded him! The people were happy! Later, 60,000 yuan of official silver and 10,000 yuan of gold were seized. He was a huge corrupt official! He was good at painting. When he was an official in Shandong, his subordinates bought his works for 1,000 taels. He liked poetry. There is a "Fangzhou Manxing Collection", which was bought by his student Lai Ji, who was the magistrate of Yanzhou, Shandong at the time, at a high price of 500 taels per volume!"

Lu Zhaoji, the former Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, did not expect that his newly published "List of Jinshi of Emperor Xiaozong" would record the deeds of his nephew Yu Tai in this way. He was so angry that he vomited blood:

"What is the court trying to do? They are recording the literati in this way! The flaws do not outweigh the merits, and the falsehoods do not cover the truth. Moreover, for the sake of the long-term stability of the Ming Dynasty and the promotion of civil governance, they should not record every detail in this way. Wouldn't this make future generations think that our Ming Dynasty is full of corruption? This is nonsense! This is simply nonsense! How can this be done!"

When Lu Zhaoji was furious, his good friend Qin Si came to visit him in a hurry and said, "Mr. Lu, you are almost infamous now. You should think of a solution! Why didn't you do this cleanly in the first place?"

Lu Zhaoji didn't understand what his good friend Qin Si was talking about, but when he took a look, he found that "Da Ming Monthly" was reviewing the top ten luxury artworks, and his calligraphy work, which consisted of only two words "Shou Zheng", was ranked first.

Because this calligraphy was sold at a high price of one hundred thousand taels!
One hundred thousand taels was an astronomical figure in the Ming Dynasty. Of course, it also caused great discussion among the people.

Tang Bohu was the first to fire the cannon, commenting on the front page of Huang Ming Daily:
"I recently heard that the Ming Monthly Magazine reviewed the top ten luxury artworks in recent years. The calligraphy of Lu Gong, the former left assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel, was selected as the top prize, and each character cost 50,000 taels! It was bought by Lou Ancai, a wealthy businessman from Taiyuan. Later, his brother Lou Anguo was demoted to the post of transport commissioner of Lianghuai. Tang believes that we have reason to suspect that this is a typical example of collusion between officials and businessmen! Not only collusion between officials and businessmen, but also the suspicion of selling official positions and titles, because Lu Zhaoji was the Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel's Wenxuan Division at the time, in charge of the power of appointment!"

Lu Zhaoji was shocked after reading it. He also saw a comment from a reader in the newspaper: "Lu Zhaoji is a corrupt official!... Lu Zhaoji is selling his calligraphy in the name of selling calligraphy, but in fact he is selling his official position. He has failed the imperial court. Does he really think his calligraphy is as valuable as Yan Zhenqing or Liu Gongquan?!... He is undoubtedly a corrupt official!"

Lu Zhaoji didn't expect to be scolded so badly, and he couldn't help but fly into a rage: "How outrageous! They are slandering the court officials! They are slandering me! We can't let these unruly people be so outrageous! I want to see the emperor, let the East Factory Jinyiwei control them!"

Lu Zhaoji was really angry and asked to see Ma Yongcheng, the governor of the East Factory, overnight.

However, Ma Yongcheng did not dare to intervene in this matter, because he knew that Tang Bohu and others had the support of His Majesty behind them. Therefore, even though Lu Zhaoji offered a bribe of thousands of gold coins, Ma Yongcheng did not agree. He just said: "We, the East Factory, cannot intervene in this matter. We, the East Factory, cannot manage the people. This is the rule. We dare not go against the will of the emperor!"

"What else can't your Dongchang manage? Go ahead and manage it. Who dares to criticize you? Eunuch Ma, you can't let those unruly people manipulate public opinion and slander court officials!"

When Lu Zhaoji said this, Ma Yongcheng just smiled faintly. If Lu Zhaoji hadn't given him enough money, he wouldn't have bothered to pay attention to him. But now he could only patiently retort to Lu Zhaoji:
"This is all thanks to you civil servants, who impeach our East Factory every day for violating the law! His Majesty has even set rules for us!"

When Lu Zhaoji heard what Ma Yongcheng said, he didn't know how to respond for a moment. He never expected that his civil service group had tried every means to get His Majesty to restrain the East Factory, but one day these civil servants would not be able to use the East Factory to suppress the people.

But Ma Yongcheng was not the kind of person who would not help after receiving the money. Seeing that Lu Zhaoji had nothing to say, he said:
"Mr. Lu, it's only because you resigned that I dare to say a word to you. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare to risk being tortured to death by slicing to see you. Please go back. We can't help you with this matter. If you really want to punish them, you have to report the case to the Ministry of Justice!" After hearing what Ma Yongcheng said, Lu Zhaoji had to bow and say goodbye.

As soon as Lu Zhaoji left, Ma Yongcheng sneered: "You want to use our East Factory to discipline the people, and you civil officials can make decisions for the people at that time, and throw dirty water on our East Factory. It's really a good plan! But I, Ma Yongcheng, will not be fooled by you. Do you really think that I, Ma Yongcheng, am short of this money? In this world, who can compare with Your Majesty in terms of wealth and honor!"

Lu Zhaoji did have the idea of ​​using the East Factory to speak for himself, but he did not expect that he still underestimated Ma Yongcheng. He thought that Ma Yongcheng, the governor of the East Factory, was not a money-grubbing person after all.

Although Lu Zhaoji had hit a wall at the East Factory, he could not ignore the fact that the public was spreading the news that he was a corrupt official, so he went to the Ministry of Justice.

However, at this time, the Ministry of Justice had already been surrounded by a crowd of angry people. There were students from the Imperial University, the Imperial Academy, the Shuntian Prefecture Higher School, and some literate people from the lower class, all shouting.

"Please ask the Grand Marshal to help us and punish the corrupt Lu Zhaoji!"

"Lu Zhaoji sold official positions and titles, ruining the administration of the Ming Dynasty. If we don't remove him, we won't be able to rectify the country's laws! Please ask the Grand Marshal to come forward and uphold justice!"

"Two pieces of calligraphy were sold for 100,000 taels, and the buyer's brother was promoted to Lianghuai Transport Commissioner in a blink of an eye. If the officials in the court do not uphold justice in such a scandal, it can only prove that the officials in the court are in cahoots with Lu Zhaoji!"

……

Lu Zhaoji was shaking with anger as he watched so many people surrounding the Ministry of Justice. "How ridiculous! This is absolutely ridiculous! Someone must be manipulating public opinion. They dared to surround the Ministry of Justice. They are rebelling! They are rebelling!"

After Lu Zhaoji spoke indignantly, he didn't know what to do. He now regretted resigning from his official position, otherwise he would not be helpless with these people now.

……

At this time, Zhu Houzhao also learned about Lu Zhaoji's affairs.

Zhu Houzhao was extremely angry and angrily scolded the Left Censor-in-Chief Hang Huailai: "Are all the censors in the Censorate blind? How could you not notice such a corrupt official who sold official positions? Are you waiting for him to corrupt the foundation of our Ming Dynasty? Investigate, you must investigate strictly! All officials recommended by Lu Zhaoji must be investigated strictly! Otherwise, I will dismiss you!"

"Your Majesty, please punish me for my incompetence!"

Zuodu Yushi Hang Huai quickly pleaded guilty, and was terrified, but he still couldn't help asking: "Your Majesty, isn't it inappropriate to allow the common people to manipulate public opinion and report officials? After all, this is also a violation of the rules!"

Zuodu Yushi Hang Huai has now indeed realized the constraints that the public's participation in political opinion has put on court officials like him, so he couldn't help but ask about Zhu Houzhao.

"The people have the right to seek justice, so we naturally cannot stop them. The power to deal with these corrupt officials is still in our hands. These people are not guilty of rebellion, and we are here to create a peaceful and prosperous world for the people. After all, the people are the most important, the emperor is the least important, and the country is the second. But in general, I don't want to rely on the people to clean up the bureaucracy. If that's the case, why do I need your Metropolitan Procuratorate!"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, the Left Censor-in-Chief Hang Huai did not dare to say anything else.

At this time, the Minister of Justice Xu Hao had to carefully consult Zhu Houzhao and asked, "Your Majesty, what do you think we should do now? Do we really want to arrest Lu Zhaoji?"

"Follow the will of the people. The will of the people cannot be violated!"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, Xu Hao took the order and left.

The Left Censor-in-Chief Hang Huai also hurriedly took his leave. He knew that the focus of his work as a censor in the Censorate would have to change. He could no longer focus on whether the emperor would make mistakes, but should focus on whether the court officials would commit crimes!
Here, after receiving instructions from Zhu Houzhao, the Minister of Justice Xu Hao immediately ordered the arrest of Lu Zhaoji.

Therefore, when Lu Zhaoji just returned home, the officers from the Ministry of Justice came up to him:
"Lu Zhaoji, right? You have been arrested by the Ministry of Justice because you were suspected of taking bribes and selling official positions while serving as the Director of the Ministry of Personnel and the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel!"

"Nonsense! You are talking nonsense! You! You! I understand, I understand. It is you, the villains in the court who are deliberately trying to make trouble for me. I want to see His Majesty, I want to see His Majesty!"

Lu Zhaoji struggled, but it was obviously of no avail.

I don't know why, but this chapter lacks any passion. Maybe I'm tired of fighting with the civil officials. Let's change the plot. I haven't even explained Xia Yan's trip to Europe, and there's also Shou Ning Hou's global voyage.

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(End of this chapter)