My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 275 The Case of Chu Zong

Following that, Su Ze announced that the military training institute would be responsible for the drill manuals for this type of line infantry formation, while the cavalry department also had corresponding cavalry drill manuals that were still being developed.

Su Ze also promised that after autumn this year, he would petition the emperor to go to the Military Academy to inspect the students, and a military parade would be held to encourage everyone to train hard.

The students of the Imperial Academy were all excited. To be inspected by the emperor was such a glorious thing for their ancestors!

Everyone was eager to learn the manual as soon as possible.

Seeing these spirited faces, Su Ze finally felt at ease and left the martial arts academy.
-
Police training course.

"It's so noisy next door!"

Li Defu, the captain of the outer patrol battalion, sat in the school. The young patrolman next to him muttered something and was glanced at by the censor lecturing on the stage.

The young policeman was immediately called to stand up, and Li Defu knew that he would be punished with copying again today.

Looking at the room full of young faces, Li Defu felt a pang of bitterness.

He was a fourth-rank official, a battalion commander in the patrol battalion, yet he was specially selected by Wang Ren, the outer city patrol censor, to attend some kind of patrol training class.

He was surrounded by newly recruited constables from the capital, and his age made him stand out among the trainees.

The police training class was located inside the military academy, so these days the bugle calls and training sounds from the military academy could be heard in the police training class, making it impossible to have a peaceful class.

However, the trainees in the patrol squad dared not act recklessly.

The lecturers were officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate, people that mere constables dared not offend.

For example, Li Defu's superior, Wang Renzhong, the Imperial Inspector of the Outer Gate, often came to give lectures.

Although Li Defu was dissatisfied, he could only obediently sit down in the classroom.

Today's lesson is about security patrols. Li Dequan has been in this line of work for over twenty years and has more experience than the censor lecturing him. As he listened, his mind wandered.

It wasn't until the series of explosions that Li Defu was awakened.

The military supervisory office is fiddling with some kind of firearms again.

Li Defu heard that a few days ago, Su Hanlin went to the Military Academy to rectify discipline, causing quite a commotion for the students.

The trainees in the patrol squad naturally applauded the news, as they had long disliked those arrogant martial arts students.

After finally getting through get out of class, Li Defu drank tea during the tea break and thought that taking classes here was actually quite nice.

Since the reorganization of the patrol battalion, the work of the outer city patrol battalion has become very busy.

His boss, Wang Renzhong, seemed to have gone mad, spending all his time evaluating his subordinates with various data.

For example, the case-solving rate after a murder occurs should be assessed, as should the time from the initial report of a murder to its resolution, and ordinary cases should also be assessed.

Each month, each police station is ranked according to data. The top-ranked police stations are rewarded, while the bottom-ranked ones are reprimanded or punished.

The outer city police camp has never been this busy.

Of course, the fact that the patrol officers were willing to work was due not only to supervision and punishment, but also to the fact that this city patrol censor was indeed a good superior.

First, the treatment of the patrol officers was improved. Wang Renzhong clarified the salary of the patrol officers, and now the patrol officers are also set up in six grades, just like the clerks, with improved treatment in each grade.

Patrol officer, patrolman, deputy police chief, police chief, deputy police commissioner, police commissioner.

It is said that these six ranks were named by Su Hanlin, and Li Defu's current position should be the deputy police superintendent of the outer city patrol battalion.

The reason why Li Defu has not yet been officially promoted to police superintendent is that he has not yet completed the patrol police course.

Of the five city patrol battalions, the outer city patrol battalion was the most enthusiastic during this police training course.

Wang Renzhong established a rule that no one could hold a principal position without passing the patrol class course, and at the same time required all patrol officers in the outer city patrol camps to take turns attending the patrol class course.

After the tea break, Li Defu hurriedly returned to the school.

Upon seeing the teacher giving the lesson, Li Defu perked up.

The instructor was named Di Xu, the chief clerk of the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Justice, and a famous detective in the Ministry of Justice.

He is said to be a descendant of Di Renjie, a prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, but his path in the imperial examinations was not smooth. After passing the provincial examination, he entered officialdom.

To rise from a successful candidate in the imperial examinations to a principal officer in the Ministry of Justice is considered to have reached the pinnacle of a successful candidate's career path.

Di Xu was able to break through the restrictions of being a Juren (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations) and be transferred to the capital to serve as an official because of his ability to solve cases.

In addition to being responsible for judicial affairs in Shaanxi, the Shaanxi Provincial Judicial Office of the Ministry of Justice was also responsible for reviewing all death penalty cases in the Ming Dynasty.

This Chief Clerk Di was able to discover problems through case files. During his ten years in the Ministry of Justice, he corrected more than ten murder cases, and on several occasions, he even directly discovered the real culprit from the case files.

The "Police Cases" lectures given by Dee Scherdard were the most popular course in the entire police squad, and everyone listened attentively during each lecture.

This Chief Judge Di always explained things in great detail, breaking down his case-solving process step by step, based on the cases he had investigated.

Even a seasoned constable like Li Defu was deeply impressed after listening to Di Xu's lecture. He thought that if all constables in the world were like Di Xu, there would be no more wrongful convictions.

Of course, Li Defu knew that this was just a dream.

Even Dee Hsu frankly admitted that there were cases he couldn't solve.

Moreover, some cases can be solved but cannot be solved, while others cannot be solved but must be solved.

Politics is probably more complicated than the case itself.

Just as Di Xu was giving his lecture, Su Ze quietly entered the classroom. After listening to Di Xu's lesson, Su Ze was very satisfied and kept the name in mind.
-
August 17th.

The customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Ming Dynasty were no different from those in modern times, and the imperial court, as usual, granted a two-day holiday.

On the fifteenth of August, Su Ze invited his friends to his home to enjoy the moon, and everyone had a good time relaxing.

However, as soon as Su Ze stepped into the newspaper office after his holiday, Huang Wenbin, the secretary of the Ministry of Justice, requested an audience.

Su Ze remembered that this young official seemed to be someone close to Yang Sizhong, the Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review, so he had him brought in.

As expected, Huang Wenbin came to relay a message from Yang Sizhong, requesting that Su Ze attend a meeting at the Office of General Affairs and Postal Services.

Su Ze had no choice but to leave the newspaper office reluctantly.

Huang Wenbin, who was leading the way, was very careful.

The Ministry of Justice was very busy, so after Huang Wenbin was transferred to the capital, he took over the vacancy left by his predecessor and became an assistant to Yang Sizhong of the Grand Silver Office.

However, after only a few days of excitement, Huang Wenbin was overwhelmed by the massive workload of the Ministry of Justice.

What Huang Wenbin feared even more than the torment of official duties was the curse of the Office of Transmission.

My predecessors in this position were transferred to Southeast Asia, Ryukyu, and Penghu respectively, all places far away from the capital.

Huang Wenbin was cautious and careful, fearing that he might offend Da Yintai and be sent away again.

Su Ze had no idea what the young official in front of him was thinking. He only felt that this young official seemed overly cautious and silent, not as quick-witted as the previous officials who had worked for Yang Sizhong.

When Su Ze arrived at the Ministry of Justice, he discovered that Yang Sizhong was not only meeting him today, but also that Li Yiyuan, the former Minister of Justice and current Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, was sitting in a side hall drinking tea.

Commissioner Yang Sizhong was having tea with his predecessor, but their conversation was laced with barbs, suggesting things weren't going well. Li Yiyuan said sarcastically:
"The Office of Transmission is getting worse with each generation. The clerk next to Lord Yang is like a block of wood, knowing nothing when asked. I don't know how you, the Commissioner of Transmission, have trained him."

Yang Sizhong said with a smile:

"That's because Lord Li left in a hurry. Otherwise, I, Yang, would have petitioned His Majesty to invite you back to manage this Grand Silver Tablet?"

Seeing the two bickering, Su Ze wished he could leave the side hall.

In a way, this matter is also related to me.

The former Vice Minister of Justice, Hong Chaoxuan, was brought down because of his own memorial. At that time, the position of Vice Minister of Justice was vacant, and in order to fill the vacancy smoothly, Li Yiyuan refused to accept the resignation of Yang Sizhong, the then Vice Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review.

As a result, Li Yiyuan successfully escaped the trap, but Yang Sizhong was forced to relinquish his position at Da Yintai.

Thus, the feud between the two sides was formed, so Su Ze was naturally very surprised to see Li Yiyuan sitting in the side hall.

Upon seeing Su Ze enter, the two high-ranking officials adopted a completely different demeanor.

Commissioner Yang Sizhong came forward to greet Su Ze, and Li Yiyuan also rose from his seat to offer his greetings. After the three of them sat down again, Yang Sizhong spoke directly:
"Scholar Su, let's get straight to the point. The reason why Vice Minister Li and I invited you here today is because of a difficult matter."

Yang Sizhong handed over a pile of documents, and the first one Su Ze saw was a joint letter signed in blood.

So that's the case.

After reading the blood letter, Su Ze knew that this was the "Pseudo-Chu Zong Case," one of the three famous cases of the Ming Dynasty.

In the fourth year of the Longqing reign, which was at the beginning of this year, Prince Gong of Chu, who was enfeoffed in Wuchang, Hubei, passed away.

The King of Chu left behind two posthumous sons, Zhu Huakui and Zhu Huabi. According to the patriarchal system of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Huakui should have succeeded as the King of Chu.

However, there are many doubts within the Chu Kingdom regarding Zhu Huakui's background.

The reason for Chu Zong's doubts was quite simple: Zhu Hua Kui and Zhu Hua Bi were posthumous children. When their mother, the palace maid Hu, was pregnant, King Gong of Chu was already seriously ill.

Therefore, there is a legend in Wuchang that Zhu Huakui was not actually the son of King Gong of Chu, but the son of You Jinmei, a concubine of Wang Ruyan, the brother of King Gong of Chu's wife.

Zhu Huakui and Zhu Huabi were brought into the royal palace after King Gong of Chu died.

The rumor of a fake King of Chu spread widely in Wuchang, and many members of the Chu royal family had doubts about the brother's true identity.

Therefore, Zhu Huaqi, the Imperial Clan Member and Assistant Commandant of the State of Chu, brought a letter written in blood by the Chu clan to the Office of Transmission to file a complaint.

Yang Sizhong, the Commissioner of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, was naturally in a bind when he received such a report.

This case involved matters concerning the imperial clan and also the imperial bloodline. After Yang Sizhong submitted his memorial, the Longqing Emperor ordered the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Transmission to handle the case together.

So Yang Sizhong and Li Yiyuan discussed it and decided to ask Su Ze for help.

After all, Su Ze was the first person to handle the affairs of the Ming Dynasty's imperial clansmen.

Su Ze never expected that the case of the fake King of Chu would unfold ahead of schedule.

In the original timeline, the case of the false King of Chu only broke out during the Wanli era.

Similarly, members of the Chu royal family questioned the identity of the King of Chu, bringing up this old case from decades ago.

Emperor Wanli ordered officials from Huguang to investigate, but Zhao Kehuai, the governor of Huguang, came up with an ambiguous result.

However, due to factional strife in the imperial court at the time, this case became a mystery.

Later, Zhu Huakui, the Prince of Chu, repeatedly submitted memorials and donated a large sum of money to the Wanli Emperor. The case finally came to an end, and the emperor rejected the Prince of Chu's memorials.

However, the case was handled terribly, and no one was satisfied with the outcome.

The case of the false Chu clan continued to have repercussions. After the case, Chu Prince Zhu Huakui sent gifts to the emperor for the Emperor's birthday, which was rumored to be a bribe from the Chu prince to kill the Chu clan members who reported him.

As a result, members of the Chu royal family gathered and stormed the Chu Prince's residence, robbing the gifts that the Chu Prince had prepared to give to Emperor Wanli. This incident is known in history as the "Robbery Case".

This case also resulted in the death of Zhao Kehuai, the governor of Huguang who came to apprehend the culprit, and caused a series of upheavals in the Wanli Emperor's court.

For some reason, in this time and space, the Chu Zong case broke out right after King Gong of Chu passed away.

Su Ze had no goodwill towards the royal family of Chu.

The "robbery case" clearly shows that the royal family of Chu was utterly corrupt.

The royal family of Chu occupied a vast amount of fertile land in Huguang, but they remained greedy and insatiable.

Chu Zong even dared to kill the governor, which shows how tyrannical he was in the countryside.

Officials in Huguang (Hubei and Hunan provinces) were unable to control the royal family members in Chu (Hubei and Hunan), while the Chu royal family was busy with internal strife.

After the death of King Gong of Chu, Zhu Xianhuai, the Prince of Wugang and uncle of Zhu Huakui, took over the administration of the government.

Prince Zhu Xianhuai of Wugang was also a ruthless man. Historical records say that he "exploited the palace women and their burial grounds, put them in dire straits, oppressed the Empress Dowager, accepted bribes and killed people, and his crimes were notorious."

Zhu Xianhuai also stole treasures from the Chu Prince's mansion.

The Chu clan case broke out in the original timeline because Zhu Huakui, after inheriting the title of prince, treated the Chu clan members harshly, which triggered a backlash and retaliation.

However, Zhu Huakui was not a good person either.

He reigned as King of Chu for sixty-three years, and his palace was filled with mountains of wealth.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, when Zhang Xianzhong attacked Wuchang, local officials from Huguang gathered at the Prince of Chu's mansion and knelt down to beg Zhu Huakui to donate funds to support the army. Zhu Huakui pointed to the gold-wrapped chair bestowed upon him by the Hongwu Emperor and said, "This can assist the army; there is nothing else like it!"
Later, when Zhang Xianzhong captured Wuchang, he "took away millions of taels of gold and silver from the palace, which filled hundreds of carts," and ordered Zhu Huakui to be thrown into the Yangtze River.

In Su Ze's view, Chu Zong was just like the King of Liao and the King of Dai—completely rotten.

Unexpectedly, instead of causing trouble for the imperial clan, the Chu clan came to him.

Su Ze looked at the two of them again, and Li Yiyuan said:
"The Chu clan is in turmoil. The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Justice will send personnel to investigate in detail. We would like to hear what Hanlin Su has to say about how to deal with the Chu clan."

Old fox.

Judging from this, although Yang Sizhong said it was a difficult task, the real difficulty was not investigating the Chu Zong case, but rather taking action against Chu Zong and eradicating this malignant tumor.

Li Yiyuan then said:

"Su Hanlin, in the past ten years, there have been nearly a thousand cases in Huguang concerning the Chu clan. Because they involve members of the imperial family, they can only be handled by the Chu Prince's Mansion."

"The late King of Chu treated his relatives with leniency; even if someone committed a serious crime, he would only give them a reprimand."

When Li Yiyuan spoke of “benevolence”, a cold smile appeared on his face.

Clearly, this King of Chu, who was "benevolent" to his relatives, was cruel to the people of the entire Huguang region.

On the matter of dealing with Chu Zong, Yang Sizhong and Li Yiyuan stood on the same side, and he also said:

"The Office of Transmission has a branch office in Wuchang. According to the report from the branch office, the officials and people of Wuchang are full of resentment towards Emperor Chuzong. Some officials have even submitted a petition requesting that Emperor Chuzong be abolished, following the example of the Prince of Liao in Jingzhou."

The two looked at Su Ze, who was the leader of the abolitionist faction in the court.

Su Ze lived up to their expectations, nodding and saying:

"I understand what you two have said. I will not shirk my duty in this matter."

(End of this chapter)