Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 345 Damn Hai Rui

"Dismiss the Minister of Rites Zhou Luo!"

"Strictly investigate the fraud in the court!"

"Execute the corrupt merchant Hou Lu!"

……

As Huang Ming Bao reported on the businessman's manipulation of the court recommendation, other newspapers also began to dig deeper into the court recommendation and more news about Zhou Luo, Hou Lu and others.

All kinds of false news about Zhou Luo, Hou Lu and others, including romance, bribery, bullying and even killing humans, were exposed.

Naturally, more and more scholars and officials were outraged by this matter.

From Yongding Gate to Daming Gate, from Chongwen Gate to Xuanwu Street, so many scholars and officials appeared out of nowhere and were shouting. There were even speakers, denouncing the corruption and evil deeds of Zhou Luo, Hou Lu and others, and began to demand that the court punish Zhou Luo, Hou Lu and others.

Even Wang Yongbin was not spared and was severely criticized by many scholars and officials.

Zhu Houzhao was quite happy when he saw these demonstrators, after all, they were all created by him.

After so many years of universal education, more and more children from common people have become gentry. As scholars who have just come out of the fields, they are no longer like the children of bureaucratic families who only know how to safeguard the interests of their own class.

These new scholars and officials became the spokesmen for the interests of the people, or else they became the spokesmen for the peasant class. They began to learn to use the knowledge they had learned to prevent the bourgeoisie from controlling the government.

Zhu Houzhao didn't know what kind of era it would be like when all the people in the world became scholars, but he now seemed to have seen some clues. He discovered that once the people's wisdom gradually opened up, they would become increasingly difficult to deceive.

"I don't know since when, the people of our Ming Dynasty no longer wait for an honest official who loves the people to uphold justice and express public opinion. Instead, they began to uphold justice themselves, make demands on the court, and express their views," Xia Yan said to His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Houzhao as he looked at the demonstrators who were as surging as a flood.

Zhu Houzhao also smiled and said, "My dear minister, don't you think about it? For so many years, the court has spent nearly one-third of its income on universal education. Now, most of the people in the world are still illiterate. Moreover, under the influence of the class division theory of the sacred learning, scholars from common people are no longer easily lured by the rich and powerful."

Xia Yan naturally understood what Zhu Houzhao was talking about, but he had to remind him: "But if these scholars and officials continue to make trouble, it will inevitably affect their studies and other aspects of life. The dynasty should be in order. If they continue to make trouble, it will be difficult for merchants to do business and workers to find jobs. Moreover, I heard that many workers and farmers are also involved. Even many of these scholars who are making trouble are the children of workers and farmers."

"It's okay. They can make a fuss, but they have to pay the price for it. Those who take advantage of the situation to smash, loot and burn should be prosecuted. Those who neglect their studies should be given poor grades in the school assessments. Those who miss work will naturally lose a lot of labor income. However, the officials of the court and the wealthy businessmen must also bear the consequences of angering the workers and peasants due to their own selfishness!"

Zhu Houzhao then asked the Imperial Household Department's official Gao Zhong, "Has the Imperial Household Department received any memorials from the Censorate regarding this matter recently?"

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Household Department has not received the memorial from the Censorate," Gao Zhong replied. The Censorate was in charge of supervisory power and was on the same level as the Cabinet. Therefore, according to the current rules of the Zhengde Dynasty, memorials from the Censorate would go directly to the Imperial Household Department without going through the Cabinet.

After hearing Gao Zhong say that the Imperial Household Department had not received the memorial from the Censorate, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but laugh: "There's going to be a rebellion outside, but the Censorate has been patient and hasn't submitted a memorial yet. I'm going to order the Left Censor-in-Chief Ni Song to ask him if he's alive!"

Left Censor-in-Chief Ni Song also knew that he could not suppress the matter. Some censors in the Censorate had threatened to go directly to the Meridian Gate to meet the emperor. Therefore, after Ni Yuanlin passed Xu Jin's instructions to Ni Song, Ni Song immediately submitted the memorial of suspected fraud in the court to the Imperial Household Department.

After Zhu Houzhao received Ni Song's memorial, he just smiled coldly: "This Ni Song can't stand the pressure anymore. It really makes sense to publish the details of the imperial recommendation."

At this time, Qi Jingtong of the Imperial Guard came in and said, "Your Majesty, Hou Lu confessed that there was only one person who helped him with this matter. His name is Wei Ying, and he is a guest in the residence of cabinet minister Xu Jin."

"It's Xu Jin again. This guy has become the deputy prime minister, but he still doesn't know how to restrain himself!"

Zhu Houzhao raised his pair of dark eyes. Gao Zhong couldn't help but shiver and hurriedly picked up the pen tremblingly.

Zhu Houzhao really wanted to order the Imperial Household Department to draft an edict at this time, so he ordered: "Draft an edict. After the Metropolitan Censorate verified the report, the fraud in the imperial court reported by the people did exist. Order the Minister of Personnel Li Mo and the Left Vice Minister of Personnel Wang Yongbin to be suspended from their posts, and order the East Factory Inspectorate to arrest and interrogate them! Order the Minister of Rites Zhou Luo to confess himself! The Embroidered Uniform Guards immediately go to Xu's mansion to arrest Wei Ying."

Zhu Houzhao had been waiting for the results from the Censorate and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Now that the Censorate had reported the fraud in the imperial selection, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard had also reported the progress of the case that implicated Wei Ying through the interrogation of Hou Lu, he naturally began to take further action.

As an emperor, he naturally knew that he could not allow businessmen to interfere in politics, but he knew that to achieve this goal, it would not be enough to simply issue an imperial decree prohibiting businessmen from interfering in politics.

Therefore, he wanted to take this opportunity to establish a more effective system, a system that could restrain officials, gentry and businessmen from excessively exploiting workers and peasants.

But to establish a new system, the old system must be denied. Now, the system of selecting officials through imperial recommendation has been manipulated by businessmen. Zhu Houzhao exposed it, naturally wanting the majority to deny its shortcomings.

Now, Zhu Houzhao was naturally doing this to prepare himself to completely deny the court recommendation and establish a new official personnel selection system.

This preparation is naturally to eliminate some civil servants who hold real power and represent the interests of the bourgeoisie.

Zhu Houzhao did not have any specific targets for elimination. After all, in fact, all civil servants could be eliminated at any time in front of him as emperor.

However, the chief minister of the cabinet, Xia Yan, had a clear target for elimination. After the Jinyiwei found out that the court recommendation fraud case was related to Xu Jin, he was really happy for a while. As the chief minister, he was constrained in many aspects by the second minister Xu Jin, who was more popular among the civil servants. If Xu Jin fell, it would naturally be more beneficial to him.

But Xu Jin was not so easily overthrown. "Your Majesty, we have not found the whereabouts of Wei Ying in Xu's mansion, and Lord Xu also refuses to admit that such a person exists." One day, not long after Zhu Houzhao came to power, Qi Jingtong reported the matter to Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao was quite surprised and asked, "Have you searched Xu's house and questioned the people in Xu's house?"

"It's all done. No one says they know Wei Ying, unless Lord Xu himself is tortured." Qi Jingtong was just saying this when an eunuch came to report, "Your Majesty, Lord Xu is asking for an audience outside the Meridian Gate."

"Announce your presence," Zhu Houzhao waved his hand, then stood up and walked to the rose trellis where the cabinet chief Xia Yan was, picked a leaf, and crushed it fiercely: "It seems that some people are more powerful than we thought! My dear minister, don't be discouraged, there is nothing I can do about it. After all, I am not young anymore. When I was young, I was not afraid of trouble and loved to break the rules. I didn't care about the evil spirits and monsters, I would kill them first. Now that I am old, I love to establish rules. I am afraid of trouble, and I wish that no one in the world would cause trouble!"

Xia Yan understood what Zhu Houzhao meant, and simply threw the draft that was stained by ink into the basket, then stood up, saluted and said, "Your Majesty is in power, and the world is clear. Even a traitor who looks loyal cannot escape your Majesty's eyes."

At this time, Xu Jin had come to Zhu Houzhao by imperial order. When he saw Zhu Houzhao standing with Xia Yan and Gao Zhong, he suddenly felt a little more hatred towards Xia Yan and Gao Zhong, but he did not show it. He just knelt down in front of Zhu Houzhao with a plop, knocked his forehead to the ground, and tears fell to the ground with a plop:

"Your Majesty, I have never known Wei Ying, Hou Lu, and the others. If I tell you a lie, I will die immediately! I am innocent, Your Majesty! Today, Governor Qi sent his embroidered uniforms to visit the palace, and I did not dare to stop them. However, there is really no such person as Wei Ying. I hope Your Majesty will know that I am innocent and not let my slanderous words fool you!"

"I know that my actions are not tolerated by the powerful officials. Although I am honest, I am still envied by villains. Moreover, I am already old. Now I have been framed by villains. I am ashamed to serve you and my father in front of the palace. Therefore, I beg Your Majesty to allow me to return to my hometown and serve the people! Woo woo!"

Xu Jin handed in his letter of resignation with tears in his eyes, and then really started to cry.

Xia Yan and Gao Zhong couldn't help but clench their fists hidden in their sleeves, and their breathing became rapid.

Zhu Houzhao certainly knew that Xu Jin was acting, but the Jinyiwei had indeed not caught Wei Ying, whom Hou Lu had betrayed. Therefore, unless Zhu Houzhao destroyed the legal rules he had established, he could only cooperate with Xu Jin's tricks.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao hurried over and helped Xu Jin up: "My dear, please stand up quickly. I know this matter has nothing to do with you, but I suspect that your family members are not restrained."

"I am unable to discipline you, please punish me, Your Majesty!"

Xu Jin knew that the Emperor was talking about how his family had been implicated in the Shuntian Prefecture water pipe corruption case, which eventually led to the conclusion that his second son had accepted bribes. So he quickly admitted it.

"My dear minister, you don't have to do this. Even if there are unvirtuous people among our descendants, how can we, as fathers and ancestors, be implicated by them? There is no need to mention this matter again. Since Wei Ying was not arrested, it means that Hou Lu falsely accused him. This Hou Lu is really a man who won't cry until he sees the coffin. I will let the Jinyiwei continue to conduct a strict investigation! How dare you falsely accuse the cabinet minister!"

Xu Jin's heart skipped a beat when Zhu Houzhao said this, but he was now certain that even if Hou Lu was tortured, he would not be able to confess any more evidence of his involvement in the fraud in the imperial examination, so he was not too scared or nervous.

Zhu Houzhao was really fed up with Xu Jin's hypocritical behavior, so he didn't stay here for long. He took a sedan chair to the inner court to find his concubines to calm down.

As soon as Zhu Houzhao left, Xia Yan snorted unceremoniously to express his dissatisfaction with Xu Jin.

Xu Jin just smiled slightly and left immediately. It was not his duty today and he did not want to stay here to help Xia Yan. With the emperor here, it would be difficult for him to leave. He had to pretend to work overtime to help Xia Yan handle official business. Now that the emperor Zhu Houzhao had left, he naturally hurried back to the mansion.

For Xu Jin, now that the Jinyiwei had not found Wei Ying, and he had played enough tricks in front of the emperor, he could see that the emperor had no intention of tearing his face against him, so he was relieved. As for the officials who accepted bribes such as the Minister of Personnel Li Mo, naturally he had nothing to do with it, because the people who accepted bribes for these officials were also their Qingke disciples, so they didn't know from whom their Qingke disciples accepted bribes.

Zhu Houzhao also knew that he might not be able to catch Xu Jin this time, but there was no doubt that he became more suspicious and disgusted with Xu Jin.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao did not intend to let go any of the other officials involved who had evidence of having accepted bribes.

Minister of Personnel Li Mo and others were all sentenced to torture such as skinning and stuffing with straw. Although Minister of Rites Zhou Luo did not directly participate in the court recommendation fraud, he was listed on the list of court recommendation results as part of a conspiracy by Xu Jin and others, which aroused public outrage. As a result, many of his crimes were dug up, so he was also sentenced to beheading.

Zhu Houzhao wanted to disgust Xu Jin, so he specially ordered Xu Jin to supervise the execution of the officials involved.

How could Xu Jin not know that the emperor was deliberately disgusting him, but he actually knew from the beginning that officials like him who were unwilling to acknowledge the theory of sacred class would not be appreciated by His Majesty, so he did not care. He accepted the ideas proposed by some people at that time to limit the power of the monarch, return freedom to the people, and reduce commercial taxes.

Although he did not tell anyone, he knew in his heart that if he wanted to achieve these goals in the future, he must first become the prime minister of the cabinet and unite a group of officials who also came from a business background. Even if he could not limit the royal power, he had to support a king who was willing to reduce taxes and delegate power.

It was impossible for Xu Jin to have no opinion on Zhu Houzhao, but he did not regard Zhu Houzhao as the main enemy who must be eliminated as soon as possible. After all, he knew that he was no match for Emperor Zhu Houzhao, and Emperor Zhu Houzhao was already old. The only thing he could do was to wait until the emperor passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne.

Xu Jin has always had his sights on the princes, hoping to find a suitable emperor, but he now has to admit that the current Emperor Zhu Houzhao is still very scary. The exposure of a court fraud led to the elimination of a large number of important officials with business backgrounds such as his own.

Looking at these officials being executed one by one under his nose, Xu Jin found it hard to accept in his heart. He knew that he had no right to hate the Emperor, so now he only hated the spy organizations like the Western Factory that served as the eyes of the Emperor.

"Western Factory's Gao Zhong must be eliminated, or at least frightened. Don't think that just because he's a eunuch in the inner court, he only needs to obey the emperor. If he offends us civil servants, he won't have a good ending! And Hai Rui! If it weren't for him, His Majesty wouldn't have made such a big fuss about this matter! If he had informed us before publishing this matter, the emperor wouldn't have had the opportunity to eliminate so many of our people!"

Xu Jin muttered to himself with gritted teeth. He had already learned from Chen Dian the details of what happened when the Huang Ming Daily exposed the incident, but this also made him hate it even more, because he knew that this kind of scholar who sticks to his principles is the most terrifying.

Thanks to my book friend Mo You La Jiao for the reward of 100 Qidian coins. Thank you to my book friend Yi Jin Bai Tang for the reward of 100 Qidian coins. Would it be unpleasant to write like this? But if it is more reasonable, civil officials cannot be killed casually with evidence, and if the emperor wants a smooth transition of power, it is indeed not appropriate to kill people indiscriminately. It didn't matter when the protagonist was young. He just killed them and trained another batch.

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(End of this chapter)