Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 290: Rectification of the Imperial Court
But Zhou Jiansheng's beating of a worker to death was related to the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture, Xiong Jia. As a representative of the government, he had to step forward. Moreover, many people had already gathered outside his government office to cry out for justice.

"Master, you should think twice about sending someone to ask Zhou Jiansheng what happened first. It would be bad to send someone to arrest him directly. After all, he is the brother of Nanjing Grand Marshal. It is said that the worker he beat to death was also a member of the clan. Within the clan, the clan leader used clan rules to deal with clan members, and the government never investigated. After all, even an honest official would find it difficult to judge family affairs!"

However, when Xiong Jia was about to send someone to bring Zhou Jiansheng to justice, his staff advised Xiong Jia against it.

But Xiong Jia couldn't help but sneer: "Look at the situation outside. The people are carrying corpses to the government office to appeal for justice. How can I turn a blind eye? If the Jinyiwei and the people from the Textile Bureau see this, they will file a complaint in front of His Majesty, saying that I neglected my duties, which is a light punishment. I'm afraid they will think that I am shielding the suspect!"

"Draft a subpoena and summon Zhou Jiansheng to question him immediately! We the government cannot ignore this matter!"

Xiong Jia gave an order. He had never seen such a situation as today. In his previous experience, it was generally difficult for clansmen and villagers to have conflicts and disputes with gentry. Basically, clansmen and villagers were more respectful in front of gentry than in front of government. This was why the government would not interfere in the internal affairs of various clans in many villages and towns.

But Xiong Jia now finds that in recent years, especially during this period, the relationship between the gentry, clansmen and villagers seems to have changed. Disputes have begun to arise, and even evolved into hatred. However, it has also forced him, a court official, to start intervening in grassroots affairs on behalf of the clan.

Zhou Jiansheng did not dare to come to see Xiong Jia. Without the support of the villagers, even if he was the younger brother of the Minister of Works in Nanjing, he could not fight against the government. Therefore, when Xiong Jia sent someone to summon him, he had already run to Nanjing.

Xiong Jia had no choice but to write a letter to the prefect of Nanjing Yingtian Prefecture. At the same time, he imprisoned Zhou Tu, the housekeeper who was left by Zhou Jiansheng in Huating countryside.

"Zhou Qi and his gang completely ignored our Zhou clan's covenant and insisted on us paying them back wages. They even went to the ancestral temple to cause trouble. I beat them with a stick for disrespecting our ancestors, but I didn't expect to beat Zhou Qi to death. Now they are going to the government to cause trouble. Brother, you have to help me with this matter no matter what!"

Zhou Jiansheng can now only ask his brother Zhou Yong for help.

Zhou Yong looked at Zhou Jiansheng helplessly, "This matter can be serious or minor. Although human life is at stake, you are only acting according to the clan law. Moreover, Zhou Qi was indeed disrespectful to the ancestors first, and your servant was only guilty of manslaughter. Send the servant who killed Zhou Qi to the government first, and then send someone to sue Zhou Qi and others for disrespecting the ancestors and violating filial piety! They want the government to make the decision for them, but we will sue him for unfilial piety!"

"Brother, what you said is right. I will do it right away," said Zhou Jiansheng.

At this time, the prefect of Yingtian also received Xiong Jia's letter, so he sent someone to Nanjing Minister of Works Zhou Yong to summon Zhou Jiansheng.

However, Zhou Yong had someone directly say that Zhou Jiansheng had returned home, and the people from Yingtian Prefecture did not dare to break into the house of the Minister of Works in Nanjing, so they had to return in disappointment.

However, the fact that Xiong Jia sent a letter to the prefect of Yingtian to summon Zhou Jiansheng also made Nanjing Minister of Works Zhou Yong feel insulted: "This Xiong Jia only got his current position by flattering the emperor. Now that this has happened, he doesn't even take me seriously and brazenly sent people to arrest my people! He even sent a letter to the prefect of Yingtian! What does he want to do? Does he really think that I, the Nanjing Minister of Works, can be manipulated at will?"

The Nanjing Minister of Works was so angry that he wrote a private letter to the Inspector Hu Shi.

then.

The next day, Hu Shi rushed to Songjiang Prefecture and immediately arrested the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture, Xiong Jia, on the grounds that Xiong Jia was partial, perverted the law, and was corrupt and negligent in his duties!

"Inspector Hu, I have never committed the crime of partiality or corruption. You are abusing the power of the inspection officer! If His Majesty knows that you are so ignorant, he will not let you off easily!"

Xiong Jia was not willing to be outdone and started shouting at Hu Shi.

"I have witnesses reported by local gentry. How can this be considered an abuse of power? Moreover, I have the right to conduct a trial first and report later. When the time comes, the emperor will naturally believe me instead of you. I only want to ask you, do you plead guilty or not?"

Hu Shi asked.

"I don't admit it! I don't know who gave you the instructions, but I will never admit that I am guilty of corruption and partiality!" Xiong Jia replied.

Hu Shi originally thought that as long as Xiong Jia was willing to give in and confess his guilt, he could take off Xiong Jia's official hat and then find a reason to report it. However, he did not expect Xiong Jia to be so stubborn, so he had no choice but to order: "Beat him! Beat him with twenty sticks!"

then.

Xiong Jia was pinned to the ground and beaten, with blood and flesh flying all over the place!
Zhou Jiansheng, who was watching the trial from outside, sneered when he saw this. He couldn't help but secretly admire his brother's ability. He could directly ask the Inspector to deal with Xiong Jia first. In this way, the officials of Songjiang Prefecture could also understand what kind of existence his Zhou family is.

……

"A higher-ranking official can crush a lower-ranking official. How can these officials and gentry be easily provoked? Although they have lost the support of the people, their power in the court is complicated. Today they can let the imperial censor punish you, and tomorrow they can let the royal guards arrest you directly. I say, sir, you should give in to the Zhou family and kill the people who are crying out for justice first. The Zhou family will not make it too difficult for you, and the Minister of Works in Nanjing, sir, will probably let you go!"

When Xiong Jia was lying on the couch recovering from a stick injury after being suspended from his post by the Inspector General, his staff members started to persuade him again.

"You go down first! I will think about this matter again!"

When Xiong Jia said this, his staff thought that their Excellency had been persuaded by him, so they took their leave and left.

Xiong Jia gritted his teeth and stood up, then opened the cabinet, took out a small wooden box wrapped in yellow silk, took out a stack of memorials from it, and began to write: "I, Xiong Jia, report to Your Majesty. Since the opening of the new weaving bureau, disputes and fights between the gentry and the people in Songjiang Prefecture have frequently occurred. I have to be careful in dealing with them. Recently, there have been even worse cases where gentry have taken advantage of their power and status to beat their clansmen to death. I had intended to speak up for the people, but I never thought that the inspector Hu Shi would suspend me from my post on the grounds that I was partial and corrupt, and also severely punished me for interrogation. I have no place to appeal for my grievances, and can only die to prove my grievances. When Your Majesty saw this secret report, I had already hanged myself a long time ago. I have failed Your Majesty's grace, and I hope you will forgive me!"

After Xiong Jia finished writing the memorial, he locked it in a small box and called his servant over: "Take this wooden sign and come to the capital immediately!"

After saying this, Xiong Jia hanged himself.

But at this moment, a laugh came from outside: "Why do you have to die to prove your grievance! Although your majesty is far away in the capital, he is not a foolish and biased person! Jinyiwei Baihu Cheng Chun is polite!"

……

Hu Shi, the imperial censor, did not know that Xiong Jia had committed suicide. He only reported to Zhou Yong, the Minister of Works in Nanjing, "Don't worry, dear teacher. I have already suspended Xiong Jia from his post and submitted a memorial to the emperor. By then, even if Xiong Jia is innocent, he will be found guilty!"

"Many officials in the court are dissatisfied with him. If it weren't for him, Nanzhili wouldn't have opened the sea, and the gentry in Suzhou and Songshan wouldn't be so sad now. If he could die, it would be a blessing for the world!"

This week said with a smile.

……

Zhu Houzhao had to admit that with the development of the empire, the East-West Factory and even the Jinyiwei system he relied on were inevitably corroded by sugar-coated bullets, to the point that he almost became blind, leading to the adulteration of gunpowder and even the fact that the cabinet ministers were unwilling to expose the real reasons why the new weaving bureau was not running smoothly. He only knew about these things now!
This also made Zhu Houzhao realize that he now had to clean up his inner court, outer court, and even the army.

But you can't judge a person by his face. Apart from Zhang Zhong of the Western Factory, Wei Bin of the Imperial Stables, Wang Qiong and Yang Yiqing, Zhu Houzhao really couldn't tell who was loyal and who was treacherous.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao can only remain skeptical about everything now.

At this time, Xiong Jia's secret report came to Zhu Houzhao. After reading it, Zhu Houzhao was quite shocked: "To what extent have these local officials protected each other that they dared to force a fourth-rank official of the court to commit suicide!"

At the same time, Zhu Houzhao shuddered when he thought of what Wang Shouren had reported about corruption in Xuanhua, from the general to the grassroots officials. He didn't know how much more serious corruption brought about by the development of commodity economy was hidden while the empire was industrializing!
Zhu Houzhao admitted that most people in the world were egoists, and that it was impossible for him to eradicate the profit-seeking nature of all people, nor could he require them to be responsible for the country and the nation.

But Zhu Houzhao knew that as an emperor, he had the responsibility to maintain the country's internal stability and to uphold the bottom line and justice.

"It looks like I have to kill someone!"

As Zhu Houzhao spoke, he walked out from the deep and warm room.

Zhang Zhong, the scribe of the Imperial Household Department, saw Zhu Houzhao coming out and hurriedly went to greet him: "Your Majesty! Hu Shi, the imperial censor of Southern Zhili, reported that Xiong Jia, the military governor of Susong and the prefect of Songjiang, was partial to the law, corrupt and negligent in his administration. The evidence is irrefutable. The Censorate has reviewed the case and approved his suspension for investigation. Do you approve it?"

"What do you think of Hu Shi? Is what he said true?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

"Reporting to your Majesty, the investigation of the Western Factory said that Hu Shi has always enforced the law like a mountain and dared to punish corrupt officials. Now this matter is probably true. Xiong Jia is in charge of Songjiang Prefecture. Songjiang Prefecture has always been prosperous in maritime trade, so corruption and favoritism are inevitable."

Zhang Zhong replied.

It is clear.

Zhu Houzhao was very dissatisfied with Zhang Zhong's answer. In Zhu Houzhao's view, how could an official who dared to kill Ming Qu be a corrupt official, and Zhang Zhong was obviously lying.

but.

Zhu Houzhao did not expose him. Now he didn't know how many people were hiding things from him. He had to catch all those who dared to do bad things behind his back!
This time.

Zhu Houzhao decided not to use the East and West Factories, but the army, and directly use his own ace army - the Guards!

First of all, this army is supported by his own money and only obeys his own orders.

Secondly, the military and political officials of this army were all members of the Loyal Emperor Society, most of whom were idealists.

Furthermore, although military officers are bound to collude with civil officials and eunuchs, in times of peace, military officers who do not participate in actual affairs are at least cleaner than civil officials and eunuchs, and at least they will not collude with each other.

Of course, this is not absolute. In Xuanhua, there may have been a military officer at the general level who was involved in corruption.

But Xuanhua’s troops are border troops, which are different from the imperial guards.

However, although the Imperial Guards and the Border Troops were different, Zhu Houzhao felt that it would be better for him to seriously select a few reliable military officers to work with him in a top-down purge.

Of course, the so-called Royal Guards means the Imperial Guards, because now the Imperial Guards are part of the entire Royal Guards sequence.

But Zhu Houzhao came to the Ming Army Military Academy, but he did not ask anyone to disturb the instructors here. He walked in by himself and saw an instructor pouring cold water on his body by the well in the academy. There were several scars on his bronze skin, and it was obvious that he had experienced a fierce battle.

Zhu Houzhao walked over.

At this time, the left commander of the Jinyiwei, Guo Rong, shouted, "Your Majesty has arrived!" The instructor hurriedly turned around and bowed, "Instructor Qi Jingtong greets Your Majesty?"

Qi Jingtong?
Qi Jiguang’s father!
Zhu Houzhao smiled secretly in his heart: "He can take a cold shower in winter, and his scars all over his body show that he is a good general who has fought in tough battles. No wonder he can raise a talented son!"

then.

Zhu Houzhao then directly instructed Yang Yiqing who had already arrived: "That's him. What's his current official position?"

"Your Majesty, I am temporarily appointed as the co-director of the Imperial Guards Commander-in-Chief!" Yang Yiqing did not understand why Emperor Zhu Houzhao suddenly paid attention to an ordinary instructor in a military academy, but now, he could only tell the truth.

Zhu Houzhao nodded and ordered: "Draft an imperial decree, transfer Qi Jingtong to be the deputy commander of the Jinyiwei, and take charge of the Northern Pacification Division! Grant him a dragon robe! At the same time, order Zhang Lun's troops of the Imperial Guard to select 300 smart and capable people to supplement the Jinyiwei Northern Pacification Division!"

After Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, Yang Yiqing, Zhang Zhong and others were all confused. They didn't understand what the emperor was going to do.

Qi Jingtong, on the other hand, bowed and expressed his gratitude.

A few days later, Qi Jingtong officially put on the dragon robe bestowed by the emperor and came to Zhu Houzhao in compliance with the imperial decree: "Your Majesty, I, Qi Jingtong, greet you!"

At this time, Zhang Zhongze was telling Zhu Houzhao the latest news that the Western Factory had heard: "Your Majesty, according to the report from the Western Factory, there is a Hui Qing in the capital who is quite proficient in the art of alchemy. Wuding Hou Guo Xun and others all say that he can make elixirs of longevity! He can even heal the dead!"

Zhu Houzhao secretly sighed that Zhang Zhong had been focusing on reporting these worthless secrets since he took charge of the Western Factory. He obviously thought that Zhang Zhong was an emperor who wanted to live a long life. Zhu Houzhao admitted that it was true that he wanted to live a long life, but he was not an emperor in history who believed that there was an elixir of life in the world.

However, Zhu Houzhao did not expose it at first, and only said: "In this case, find a time to summon this person named Huiqing!"

"The minister obeys the order!"

Zhang Zhong was pleased and thought to himself that the emperor, like all the emperors before and after, wanted to live forever.

Seeing this, Qi Jingtong wanted to persuade him, but Zhu Houzhao waved his hand and stopped him, and only ordered: "Jinyiwei Beizhenfu Division, how are you taking over now?"

"Your Majesty, I have taken over. I have dismissed all those who had secret dealings with court officials and eunuchs, or who were corrupt. I have come to ask Your Majesty to deal with them!" Qi Jingtong replied.

"The Imperial Guards are my personal guards. We cannot tolerate any betrayal of me. Shoot them all! Leave their heads piled up in the main hall of the Northern Pacification Division, soaked in glass and formaldehyde, so that all the Imperial Guards will know the consequences of betraying me!"

Zhu Houzhao ordered that the Jinyiwei should become the last line of defense for maintaining clean governance and judicial justice in the empire. He must impose the most stringent requirements on the loyalty of the Jinyiwei, so that the Jinyiwei would be more stringent towards criminals.

Formaldehyde is the product obtained by the Daming Academy of Sciences through coal distillation and is now widely used to store biological specimens.

"According to the order!"

Qi Jingtong received Zhu Houzhao's order and cleaned up the Jinyiwei Beizhenfu Division internally.

Zhu Houzhao therefore officially prepared to launch an attack on the bureaucratic group of the entire empire.

First is Zhang Zhong.

of course.

Zhang Zhong didn't know that his time had come.

That day, Zhang Zhong brought Huiqing to see Zhu Houzhao.

When Zhu Houzhao saw Hui Qing's youthful appearance despite his white hair, he thought that he was indeed a long-lived person, so he asked, "How old is the immortal?"

"Your Majesty, I was born in the 13th year of Hongwu!" Hui Qing replied.

"It seems that he has lived to be 143 years old! He is really long-lived!" Zhu Houzhao said with a smile, and then asked: "May I ask how the immortal can live so long?"

"Your Majesty, it's because I take the Longevity Pill every day! Today I'll offer one to your Majesty. If you take it, you can add ten years to your life span," the immortal old man said as he took out a small box wrapped in brown silk cloth.

Zhu Houzhao asked the eunuch to take it and took out the Shouning Pill from the eunuch. Zhu Houzhao just smiled secretly and ordered: "Take this pill first and see!"

Seeing this, Hui Qing had no choice but to agree.

Zhu Houzhao then asked someone to give Huiqing a glass of water and asked Huiqing to drink it.

Hui Qing thanked him and swallowed the pill and water, but soon he fell to the ground and began to twitch.

Zhu Houzhao's face turned cold, and he asked Zhang Zhong: "What's going on?"

Zhang Zhong was also very panicked and quickly prostrated himself on the ground: "Your Majesty, please forgive me, I don't know either!"

Since Zhu Houzhao suspected that Zhang Zhong was hiding something from him while in charge of the Western Factory, he had a reason to get rid of Zhang Zhong. However, he knew that it would be difficult to catch an old fox like Zhang Zhong committing a crime if he wanted to catch him directly. In this case, he might as well wait for an opportunity to fabricate a case.

It was obvious that Zhang Zhong wanted to use the opportunity of offering the alchemy technique to gain further trust from Zhu Houzhao. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao pretended to be interested in his longevity at the beginning and announced that he would summon this person who could make elixirs, and then took the opportunity to direct such a drama.

The poison that the immortal was poisoned with was thallium, a by-product of zinc refining by the Daming Academy of Sciences, obtained by reducing it with dilute sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide.

Because of this, the immortal could not die for a while, and he just breathed hard and spoke nonsense: "How could this be possible? In addition to adding aphrodisiacs and a small amount of lead and mercury to the elixir I made according to Eunuch Zhang's instructions, it should not be poisonous to this extent all at once. Why is this happening? Why is this happening!"

Zhu Houzhao looked at the insane Immortal and could not help but complain in his heart: "How dare you play chemistry with me! You are really courting death!"

However, after hearing what the immortal said, Zhu Houzhao looked at Zhang Zhong again:
"Lead and mercury, the Ming Academy of Sciences has long proved that they are highly poisonous substances. How dare you, Zhang Zhong, to murder me! Qi Jingtong, throw him into the imperial prison and interrogate him strictly!" Zhu Houzhao ordered.

at this time.

Zhang Zhong had collapsed on the ground. It was true that he wanted to refine some pills containing a small amount of lead and mercury for the emperor, but he only wanted to cause the emperor to suffer from chronic poisoning. However, he did not expect that the immortal he brought with him today would be poisoned to such an extent after taking just one pill, and he even directly told about the affair between him and him.

Zhang Zhong could only beg desperately: "Your Majesty, please spare my life! Your Majesty, please spare my life!"

Zhu Houzhao was too lazy to pay any more attention.

Gu Dayong laughed secretly beside him, thinking: "Only such scoundrels who have been with His Majesty for a short time would think that His Majesty is so easy to deceive. They actually want to fool His Majesty with the elixir of immortality. Don't they know that the sacred learning that His Majesty spreads has already annotated the various elements contained in your elixirs? How could they be fooled by you!"

……

Not long after Zhang Zhong was thrown into the imperial prison, he confessed that he wanted to make elixirs for Emperor Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao did not hold back and directly ordered Zhang Zhong to be executed by slow slicing. At the same time, he ordered the abolition of the Western Factory and replaced it with the Jinyiwei as before, which meant that the Jinyiwei could report directly to the emperor Zhu Houzhao, regardless of their rank.

Zhu Houzhao did not believe that the bureaucratic group could bribe all the Jinyiwei.

Zhang Zhong was taken to the execution ground. He never expected that he would end up like this. He now regretted it very much. He regretted that he was too clever and thought that he knew the current emperor Zhu Houzhao very well and could fool the emperor. However, he did not expect that the emperor had never believed in him from beginning to end. Moreover, although he had tried carefully to ensure that the emperor had no evidence to find out, he did not expect that the emperor would be so insidious as to take advantage of the time when he brought the Taoist priest to offer elixir to poison the Taoist priest and frame him!
For Zhu Houzhao, the elimination of Zhang Zhong was just the beginning of his rectification of the government.

Now that the Western Factory has been abolished, the Jinyiwei, who are responsible for internal intelligence detection, can report to him directly without anyone intercepting it. As a result, Zhu Houzhao suddenly has countless pairs of eyes monitoring the entire empire.

Zhu Houzhao also had a clearer understanding of what Wang Shouren reported in his secret memorial about the adulteration of Xuanhua gunpowder and what Xiong Jia reported in his secret memorial about the inspector framing him.

……

For civil servants such as the cabinet chief Wang Qiong, Zhang Zhong's death also made them feel that danger was approaching.

"Although His Majesty abolished the Western Depot, many civil servants under him thought that His Majesty wanted to rule by inaction and gradually hand over the country to the scholars and officials, anyone with a little understanding would know that His Majesty just wanted to take on the job of the Western Depot commander himself and turn the Western Depot into countless Jinyiwei. From now on, both the internal and external officials will be under his supervision!"

Wang Qiong sighed helplessly at this time.

"As the Prime Minister said, it's a pity that although Eunuch Zhang is guilty of offering elixirs to murder Your Majesty, he was lenient and did not cause trouble when he was in charge of the Western Factory. Now, Your Majesty has let a military officer like Qi Jingtong, who is only good at the battlefield, take charge of the Jinyiwei. Although it is obvious that he will not create trouble out of nothing, people like Qi Jingtong are more likely to be controlled by Your Majesty. By then, the Jinyiwei will completely become a knife in Your Majesty's hand, and you can cut wherever you want!" Yang Yiqing also sighed.

"Then tell me, where will His Majesty cut first?"

As soon as Wang Qiong finished asking, he and Yang Yiqing said in unison: "Cabinet!"

Before Wang Qiong and Yang Yiqing could continue the discussion, a man suddenly appeared in front of them. This man was wearing a special official uniform of the East Factory Inspectorate. He just said, "We are from the East Factory Inspectorate. The Jinyiwei found some evidence of the Prime Minister's crimes. Please come with us and explain the problem!"

Wang Qiong was completely petrified. He never thought that one day he would be asked by the East Factory Inspectorate to explain himself.

The most feared thing for officials nowadays is to be asked to explain the problems by the East Factory Inspectorate. He was no exception. Only after he came to his senses did he shout hysterically: "Impossible, this is impossible! This is absolutely impossible! I am loyal to Your Majesty, what is there to explain!"

Here, the cabinet chief ministers Wang Qiong and Yang Yiqing guessed that Zhu Houzhao would attack the cabinet first after getting rid of Zhang Zhong, because they knew in their hearts that the situation of deceiving superiors and concealing the truth came from their cabinet first, and they believed that the emperor could guess it. In fact, Zhu Houzhao did want to do so, because if the cabinet had not accepted benefits from local officials, it would not have fooled Zhu Houzhao into transferring Luo Xiang, nor would it have allowed the officials below to protect each other so boldly. As the saying goes, tracing back to the source, although the cabinet's guilt seemed the lightest on the surface, it brought the greatest harm.

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(End of this chapter)