Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 619: One-foot-long perch newly caught

After Xiao Hongji was arrested and taken back to the Censorate, he was still indignant.

Because his care for the Minister of Personnel Li Jianwu was very subtle, you couldn't find any flaws in the procedure.

As for the actual material benefits, Xiao Hongji never received any.

Xiao Hongji's "investment" in Li Jianwu was an exchange of political resources, not an attempt to extort money from Li Jianwu.

Therefore, apart from the shock and panic caused by his guilty conscience when he first learned that he was being investigated, Xiao Hongji quickly calmed down after realizing that he had not revealed any obvious evidence.

The Censorate dared to act rashly against him without any real evidence to prove his guilt, so don't blame him for taking the opportunity to fight back.

By then, all officials who dislike the Censorate can become his supporters.

Under this kind of momentum, maybe the old man Zhu Zhuo will resign?

So can I...

Unfortunately, his wishful thinking only lasted for one night.

The next day, he was politely taken to the second hall.

After all, he was a high-ranking official in this government, second or third in command, so we still have to give him some face.

However, what Zhu Zhuo told him in person made Xiao Hongji collapse on the spot.

He didn't take the money, but his concubine did.

Li Jianwu insisted on paying, not because he wanted to buy out the favor he owed Xiao Hongji.

He is willing to owe this favor, as this kind of network is a mutual expansion.

However, he would not feel at ease if he did not give the money.

After all, Xiao Hongji has the leverage over him. If he doesn't give him money, he will always be the passive party.

So, when Xiao Hongji firmly refused to accept the offer, Li Jianwu set his sights on his concubine.

Xiao Hongji's concubine accepted Li Jianwu's gift, a silk shop, without telling him.

When Xiao Hongji heard the news, he was stunned for a long time. His pale face suddenly turned red and he almost vomited blood.

According to the "Imperial Song Dynasty Criminal Code", if a direct relative accepts bribes because of the official's power, he or she will be guilty even if the official himself is unaware of it, but the punishment will be reduced by one level compared to directly accepting bribes.

Moreover, his concubine accepted benefits from Li Jianwu, which proved that his previous handling of the case was not fair and impartial, but an actual cover-up.

When Xiao Hongji came out of the second hall, his face was already pale.

Li Jianwu, who was taken away by Lu Chengze for further interrogation, ran into Xiao Hongji, who was being escorted away, in the courtyard.

Seeing Xiao Hongji, who looked like he had lost his parents, being escorted by the prison officials, Li Jianwu couldn't help but secretly feel lucky: "Old Xiao is in trouble. Fortunately, I took the initiative to report him!"

……

Old Master Fang took Fang Hu and Fang Jiao and left Lin'an County and went to Lin'an Prefecture.

Lin'an Prefecture had already received the news sent by County Magistrate Xu in advance.

When this gourd case occurred, the current Lin'an prefect Qiao Zhen and the magistrates Wang Zirui and Li Jingchen had not yet taken office.

That was a case judged by the former prefect Cao Yong.

Liu Yiguan, who had already been arrested by the Censorate and was serving as a military advisor in the judicial department at the time, was also involved in the incident.

But none of the three senior officials of Lin'an Prefecture, including the chief and two deputy chief officials, have ever been involved in this matter. So who would be willing to take on this trouble?
Not to mention Mr. Qiao, who was not very good at dealing with things, even Pan Tongpan Wang and Pan Tongpan Li were equally unwilling.

It just so happened that Liu Yiguan, who was originally in charge of the judicial department, had already gone in, but his successor had not yet been appointed.

Therefore, the petition filed by Old Master Fang and his family of three was thrown out before it even entered the gate of Lin'an Prefecture.

The people sent by Master Ye smiled slightly. The reaction of Lin'an Prefecture was already within their predictions.

The rented ox cart had not been returned yet, so Old Master Fang was helped onto the cart and the group headed towards Prince Jin's Palace.

Three members of the Fang clan knelt at the gate of Prince Jin's mansion, tore open a white cloth banner, and cried loudly to complain about the court ministers' treacherous widows and their attempt to seize someone's inheritance.

This kind of news is already very eye-catching, not to mention that the two words "Yang Yuan" are more than twice as big as the other words on the accusation banner.

In an instant, the news spread from one person to ten people, and from ten to a hundred people.

As soon as the news of this matter spread, the direct scholars Lu Zhuwei, Ye Quan and their followers immediately submitted memorials of criticism.

This time, they did not submit it to the Regent, but to the Council of State Councillors.

In one chapter, the parents and brothers of Yang Yuan's favorite concubine were found dead in front of the gate of Yang's mansion.

In one chapter, it was accused that Yang Yuan set up the "Niaohua Xiaozhu" to hide his beauties, and secretly kept more than 20 Hu girls and foreign girls, indulging his selfish desires and corrupting morals.

As Yang Yuan expected, the house was transferred to Cao Yong, the then prefect of Lin'an, through special procedures handled by the Minister of Revenue.

In order to avoid exaggerating the matter and pushing the Ministry of Revenue to Yang Yuan's side, they never mentioned the origin of "Niaohua Cottage".

In the first chapter, while Yang Yuan was arrested and imprisoned in Lin'an Prison, he enjoyed privileges in prison and did not act like a suspect in prison at all.

Moreover, there was a sedan chair that carried the young girl into the prison, and when they were in the same room with each other, there were curtains hung all around. It goes without saying what this man and woman were doing.

This is a bit disgusting. What is the status of the little princess of Jia country, and she is so young.

They knew that it was the Princess of Jia State, but pretended not to know her identity and impeached her in indignation.

They expected that the royal family would never dare to disclose the identity of the girl who "eavesdropped" for the sake of the little princess's reputation.

Even if it is made public, it doesn’t matter. Once the rumor spreads, the effort required to refute it will be more than ten times greater.

By then, their goal would have been achieved.

In another chapter, it was impeached that Yang Yuan had close relations with a local official. In order to slander Yang Yuan, the local official even sent his beloved daughter to Yang Yuan.

Yang Yuan was afraid that keeping Li Fengniang in his house would cause gossip, so he let her live in "Niaohua Xiaozhu" and learn riding and archery from Bei'er.

But when people just want to find fault with you, how can you avoid it?

Now they have arranged that "Nianhua Cottage" is the place where Yang Yuan hides his mistress. Naturally, Li Fengniang who lives there is not immune and is forcibly included in it.

Li Fengniang was on her way back to Beijing excitedly, without knowing anything, but she was already caught in the crossfire.

One memorial after another was sent to the office of all the councilors. As the head of the councilors, Tang Situi immediately invited all the councilors to discuss the matter.

Tang Shitui also knew that although these impeachments seemed to have basis in fact, it was still difficult to bring down Yang Yuan and make him sit on the bench.

Therefore, he put forward a suggestion that all the politicians found acceptable: external transfer.

Since there are so many criticisms about Yang Yuan, and since the suspicion that Yang Yuan has secret dealings with Xinjin cannot be eliminated, and it is not good to discourage the heroes who have made great contributions, it would be better to transfer him to a local place to serve as an official in order to end the controversy.

For example...Quanzhou.

When the prefect of Quanzhou had completed his three-year term, local people wrote a petition to retain him, and the court originally wanted to allow him to serve another term.

In order to properly place Yang Yuan, Tang Situi proposed that Yang Yuan go to Quanzhou to be the prefect.

It is indeed rare for a prefect of a state to be under 30 years old, but with his reputation as the top scholar in the imperial examinations, his outstanding achievements, and the fact that he has already reached the fifth rank in the imperial court, it seems...

It is not unacceptable to be in charge of a region.

After listening to the proposal, all the politicians felt that this solution fully took all aspects into consideration and was acceptable.

And for Yang Yuan, this is not a loss, but a profit.

If the Censorate was fully staffed, there would be the Left and Right Censors-in-Chief and the Left and Right Deputy Censors-in-Chief above Yang Yuan, and he would be the fifth-ranking official.

Even if he was transferred to the position of prefect of Quanzhou at the same level, he would still be a local official in charge of a region, and he would be the only one in power in the entire Quanzhou.

If he is made a prefect for one term, he will be promoted to the highest rank of prefect of a state - a fourth-rank official.

In this way, after three years away from Beijing, he would have accumulated enough qualifications, political achievements, and official rank, and it would be a smooth journey for him to be promoted later.

Because if Beijing officials want to continue to rise, they need to have experience in local governance, and Yang Yuan will have to take this step sooner or later.

But he may not be able to find a good place like Quanzhou where he can accumulate political achievements without doing anything in the future.

Therefore, Yang Yuan should be happy to agree to this arrangement.

After some deliberation, the councillors felt that there was no problem, so they went to see Prime Minister Shen Gai together and asked the regent to "discuss government affairs in the private hall."

This is equivalent to the emperor convening a royal meeting on a certain issue, summoning the prime minister, the regent, the Privy Council, the six ministries and other central officials to discuss and decide together.

Prime Minister Shen had already agreed, so there was no reason for the King of Jin to refuse.

So early the next morning, Prince Jin arranged his ceremonial guard, left the palace, and went to the side hall of the imperial palace to discuss matters with the central ministers.

Before the ceremonial procession set off, the guards at the gate drove Old Master Fang and his family of three to the alley across the street.

Naturally, they did not dare to offend the prince or stop him from going on patrol, so they obediently rolled up their mats and bedding, as well as the flags and clappers denouncing Yang Yuan, and hid in the alley.

After the prince left, they went to the gate of the palace and continued crying and cursing.

They came to petition, and they were cursing Yang Yuan instead of Prince Jin.

With so many eyes watching, it would be difficult for Prince Jin's Mansion to take action against them.

Zhao Yu went to court through the main gate, while Princess Jiaguo quietly entered the palace through the side door. After this period of conditioning, the little princess's cheeks became plump and her face became rosy. She no longer looked like a porcelain doll that would break at the slightest touch.

This is due to the effects of acupuncture and massage, medicinal diet, normal diet, and especially improved mood.

At such a young age, she was protected by others as if she were a great enemy. She was not allowed to do this or that. Even a child without any health problems would get sick from being treated like this, let alone her.

The Empress Dowager saw the changes in the little Princess Jia and was delighted.

When the emperor and the queen come back, they will surely be delighted to see such a change in their daughter.

Therefore, the Empress Dowager no longer restricted the little princess from entering and leaving the palace.

The little princess's playfulness has also become wild, and she actually doesn't like coming to Prince Jin's Mansion. She even says that the Yang family is more fun.

However, when the eldest princess went to the palace to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager, she had already told her that a relative of the Yang family had passed away in the past few days and the funeral was being held, so it was not convenient for her to go.

In fact, what Lu Xi said was just an excuse, mainly because Pharmacist Luo was actually an assassin. It was still unknown whether he had accomplices planted around the Yang Mansion.

Moreover, the Ministry of Personnel is now attacking Yang Yuan crazily. It would be inconvenient to let the little princess go through this critical moment. It would be very bad if something mess happened to her.

Princess Jiaguo took Luxi's reasons seriously. Since it was inconvenient to go to Yang Mansion recently and the palace was really boring, Prince Jin's Mansion became her only choice.

……

Yang Yuan naturally knew about today's "political meeting in the side hall" in advance, and the Prince of Jin sent someone to inform him immediately.

Frankly speaking, Yang Yuan was quite envious of the position of prefect of Quanzhou.

Being in charge of a region and having the final say over the entire Quanzhou, isn't that better than being the fifth in command in the Censorate?
Moreover, experience in governing a local government is an important consideration for continued promotion.

But what does it take to govern a local government?
Of course it’s political achievements!
However, as Quanzhou was an important seaport for the Song Dynasty, this political achievement was too easy to obtain.

He went to Quanzhou, and even if he did nothing but enjoy the company of beautiful women for three years, he could still get the first grade in the three-grade nine-level evaluation of officials' performance appraisal every year.

The term of office is three years, and you will be promoted every year after the term is completed.

Then he would become a little "Tang Situi". In fact, in terms of age, he would be more dazzling than Tang Situi. Maybe he could become the ruler of the current dynasty just after he turned 30.

However, after being jealous for a while, he hardened his heart and gave up the temptation.

If he only considers his personal future, going to Quanzhou to take up the post would be the best choice.

But he never considered just his own future.

He has almost finished weaving this basket and it's time to close it.

It's time to put those rotten fish and shrimp in there.

How could he bear to leave at this time?
Tang Situi led the councillors to meet Shen Gai, and it was this prime minister who requested the regent to allow them to "discuss politics in the private hall."

In other words, Shen Gai obviously agreed with the solution proposed by Tang Shitui and others.

After receiving the news from Prince of Jin Zhao Yu, Yang Yuan immediately sent someone to the Imperial City Division to meet with Han Jiansong, the deputy director of the Imperial City Division.

When Han Jiansong received the news, he pretended to interrogate Gong Jinquan (Da Buye) and Huang Ji (Yidu) again.

These Jin spies who had set up a fake "huiziwu" and assassinated Yang Yuan at Duzi Bridge have been tortured these days and have confessed a lot of things.

In fact, they have confessed everything they could, including the news that there was a "Fifth Pagoda" who escaped the net.

However, the Imperial City Bureau remained inactive and did not take any further action.

Gong Jinquan (answered no), who was detained in prison, was a little confused.

He didn't understand what the Imperial City Bureau of Song was trying to do. He had clearly confessed everything except one secret.

The secret was: some of the confessions were instructed by "First Pagoda" Tang Daosheng, and were secrets that he must confess once he was captured.

And if he was not captured, he would also find a way to let the State of Song know.

In that backup plan, Huang Ji (Yidu) would become the sacrificial lamb.

But now that he was captured, he became the one who had to take part in the game.

However, after he made the confession, the Song State, which had clearly known these secrets, did not take any action.

Under such circumstances, Gong Jinquan thought today's interrogation by the Imperial City Bureau was extremely ridiculous.

Because there was nothing new in the interrogation by Deputy Director Han. He just asked him again in a serious manner about the things he had already confessed, and took careful notes. He then signed his name and signed it with today's time.

When Gong Jinquan was taken back to prison, he was still confused by this strange behavior.

Han Jiansong delivered Gong Jinquan's transcript to Prince Jin's Mansion overnight.

When Prince of Jin Zhao Jue was heading for the palace, the transcript, which he had already read overnight, was delivered to the desk of Prime Minister Shen Gai ahead of his ceremonial guard.

When Shen Gai received the transcript, he was resting with his eyes closed in the "Political Affairs Hall".

He was old and knew that he was not energetic enough, so whenever there was an important meeting that took a long time and did not allow him to think it over, he would rest in advance and put a piece of ginseng in his mouth to ensure that he was always energetic during the meeting.

When Shen Gaiben received the interrogation record from the Imperial City Division sent to him by Prince Jin, he was a little confused. He didn't understand why the Prince of Jin needed to inform him of any important matters in advance when the "convenient hall meeting" was about to be held.

When he opened the transcript, his face changed.

"Prince Jin has always been frivolous and doesn't have such a mind."

"Yang Yuan... is a young man after all. He is so young, it is impossible for him to be so cunning."

Shen Gai narrowed his eyes slightly: "Then, who is behind the scenes planning for the King of Jin?"

Shen Gai considered the important officials in the court, the hermits in Lin'an, and the retired state elders one by one, but he couldn't find anyone who could "fit the bill".

At this time, a strong voice came from outside the government hall: "Mr. Shen, we are all here."

Following the sound, Tang Shitui walked in first.

Although he is the head of all the councillors, he is the youngest and therefore looks energetic, radiant and his steps are exceptionally brisk.

Behind him were the central government ministers of the two governments and six ministries.

Shen Gai raised his old eyes and looked at Tang Situi, a flash of pity in his eyes disappeared.

Then he stood up with a smile and said, "Everyone has arrived. Come, come, take a seat first. The regent has not arrived yet. I will sit for a while and wait for news."

At this time, Zhao Yu had just arrived at the palace and was rushing to the Council of State.

In Lin'an City, a group of fast horses were escorting a light carriage towards the Prince of Jin's Palace.

When Li Fengniang entered Lin'an City, she naturally went to pay a visit to the Princess of Jin first.

This was the top priority that her father Li Daoqian had repeatedly reminded her of before she went to Beijing.

In Li Fengniang's personal plan, she also wanted to pay a visit to Princess Jin first and present gifts.

Meet the Princess of Jin first, then go to the Yang Mansion to pay your respects, it will be easier to leave.

If she went to Yang Mansion first and then to Prince Jin's Mansion, what if Princess Jin wanted to test her on her female ethics, female virtues, female appearance, and female skills? She wouldn't even have an excuse to get away.

Li Fengniang felt happy when she thought of her cleverness, until...

At the gate of Prince Jin's mansion, she met the three generations of the Fang family, who were petitioning and crying out for justice.

When the three members of the Fang family first arrived at Prince Jin's Mansion, they were also feeling uneasy.

However, when they really started crying, there was no group of people rushing out of the Prince of Jin's Mansion and beating them away with sticks.

As a result, Fang Hu and Fang Jiao became more and more courageous.

At first they just cried and complained, and then they tried to curse Yang Yuan.

Now, Mr. Ye's people also promptly conveyed to them the news that many officials were impeaching Yang Yuan.

Fang Hu and Fang Jiao unconsciously cooperated to create momentum.

When Li Fengniang arrived, Fang Jiao was telling the onlookers in vivid detail how Yang Yuan had set up the "Nianhua Xiaozhu" to hide his beauties and secretly kept more than 20 Hu girls and foreign girls, including a very young girl.

Ordinary people love to hear this kind of thing, and Fang Jiao also likes to talk about it.

He also didn't know the identity of that young girl who was not even 18 years old.

Fang Jiao thought that there were more than twenty foreign girls living there, and the little girl named Li Fengniang must have a similar status and position to them.

What status did foreign girls have in the minds of the Song people?
Therefore, Fang Jiao spoke unscrupulously and vividly, as if he had seen it with his own eyes, it was extremely filthy.

Li Fengniang suddenly heard someone loudly saying her name. She was curious and hid in the car without coming out.

Fang Jiao thought that it was a distinguished person passing by who also wanted to hear about Yang Yuan’s scandals, so he told them even more earnestly, in a way that was “full of color, fragrance and taste”.

Li Fengniang is so young and has such a high status. She has never heard such filthy words since she was a child.

She knew nothing about matters between men and women, but that didn't mean she couldn't hear how harsh what Fang Jiao said was.

Hearing Fang Jiao's random fabrications about herself, Li Fengniang blushed with shame and her body became stiff with anger.

After finally letting out the breath that had been stuck in her chest, Li Fengniang was so angry that tears rolled down her cheeks. She picked up her sword and rushed out of the car.

"How dare you, you beast, insult my innocence like this!"

(End of this chapter)