My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 277 "Memorial on Rectifying Criminal Law in the Chu Region"

And so, Di Xu, the chief clerk of the Ministry of Justice, was unwittingly placed into the Chu Investigation Mission and, under the emperor's strict orders, quickly left the capital to go to Wuchang to investigate the case.

Because the emperor had issued a strict order, the mission did not take the more comfortable water transport, but instead took the fastest route, namely the express delivery route of the Tongzheng Post Office.

The group traveled from the capital, passing through Zhuolu Post Station, Baoding Jintai Post Station, Zhengding Hengshan Post Station, Shunde Longgang Post Station, and Weihui Weiyuan Post Station, before finally stopping briefly at Zhengzhou Guancheng Post Station.

Along the way, the mission to explore Chu traveled by carriage when they encountered smooth roads and by horse when they encountered narrow paths, completing the journey of a thousand miles in just five days.

Even the head of the delegation, Yin Shidan, found this speed somewhat unbelievable.

Yin Shidan, as a typical upright official, followed the prestigious route of the Hanlin Academy and never served in local government.

However, when he served as a Hanlin scholar during the reign of the previous emperor, he was also appointed as an examiner for the Henan provincial examination and traveled to Henan via official post stations.

At that time, the official post stations along the route were poorly managed and crowded with people who had obtained their credentials from who-knows-where. Although the postmen dared not vent their grievances in front of the officials, they could still deliberately dawdle.

The treatment at the post stations was entirely tied to one's official rank. When a high-ranking official traveled, the post station would be blocked, and even riders delivering military intelligence would be unable to get a new horse.

But this time, all the post stations we encountered along the way were in good order.

The postmaster will check the personnel's credentials and provide appropriate services based on the urgency of the situation.

The Office of General Affairs divided the tally certificates into three colors: red, yellow, and white.

The mission to investigate Chu was appointed by the emperor and needed to be handled urgently, so Yin Shidan and others carried the highest-ranking red tally.

Red-ranked officials can directly exchange horses at post stations and receive supplies of dry rations and water, as well as the best food and lodging services.

The yellow-colored horses are slightly less desirable; they cannot be exchanged for horses, but the horses can receive fine feed and care from the post station, and the personnel can receive normal food and lodging services.

The white Kangal can only get the most basic food and lodging services, and the horses can only be fed pasture.

It seems that Yang Sizhong, the Commissioner of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, is indeed capable; he has put his heart into organizing the entire post station system of the Ming Dynasty.

Yin Shidan became somewhat worried.

Yang Sizhong, like him, was also on the verge of entering the cabinet.

When the last cabinet was filled, Raymond Leigh was appointed to be in charge of water affairs, but he did not actually take on many cabinet duties.

The imperial court is very likely to appoint another cabinet minister.

Then Yang Sizhong and I would be competitors.

With this in mind, Yin Shidan became even more determined to do this job well.

Thinking about this, Yin Shidan also felt a headache coming on.

In fact, Yin Shidan, the Vice Minister of Rites, was not a supporter of the vassal states.

During the Jiajing era, Yin Shidan presided over the revision of the "Regulations on the Regents," adding the following clause:
"If a prince has no heir, his brothers or their sons may not be allowed to succeed him."

This is actually a clause to weaken the power of regional rulers.

If a prince has no descendants, nor any brothers or their descendants, then he cannot continue to inherit the title of prince, which means he must be removed from the princely domain.

This clause is actually quite powerful.

The number of princes and vassals in various regions was large, but almost all of their direct descendants faced the problem of thin bloodlines.

For example, King Chu Zong was like that; the old King Chu reigned for decades without having a son.

If this regulation had been strictly enforced, many princely families would have been abolished during the Jiajing era due to the extinction of their bloodlines.

Unfortunately, Yin Shidan's efforts to abolish the feudal system ultimately failed.

At the end of the Jiajing reign, Prince Suhuai, who was stationed in Lanzhou, died without an heir.

King Su Huai perfectly fit the situation described in Yin Shidan's revised regulations on vassal states. He had neither sons nor brothers, so in principle, the Su vassal state should have been abolished.

The mother of Prince Suhuai petitioned to have Zhu Jingui, the Assistant General of the State, succeed him. The Ministry of Rites argued that Zhu Jingui was Prince Suhuai's cousin and therefore could not inherit the throne.

However, Zhu Jingui was heavily bribed by eunuchs, so the Jiajing Emperor, considering that Su Fan was located in a remote border region and could not be controlled without a king, allowed Zhu Jingui to succeed to the throne.

Yin Shidan argued that "the Prince Su's residence is in Lanzhou, which is not on the frontier but in the interior."

However, the emperor still refused. Yin Shidan then requested to be demoted one rank and granted the title of Prince of the Second Rank to Zhu Jin, but the emperor still refused.

After this incident, Yin Shidan realized that the key to abolishing the feudal system lay with the emperor. So he gradually began to restrain his stance and focused on teaching the then Prince Yu, who is now the Longqing Emperor.

After Emperor Longqing ascended the throne, Yin Shidan taught the Crown Prince at the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

The officials of the Ministry of Rites gradually forgot that this Vice Minister of Rites was actually a hidden leader of the "abolitionist faction".

After resting for one night at Guancheng Post Station in Zhengzhou, Yin Shidan urged the group to set off again.

Next, you'll go from Zhengzhou to Xinyang, and from Xinyang you can enter Hubei and Hunan provinces.

Yin Shidan glanced disdainfully at Di Xu in the group. If it weren't for Di Xu's poor health as a clerk in the Ministry of Justice, the journey would have only taken two days with the fast horses.
-
end of August.

A plump pigeon landed on Su Ze's desk.

The fat pigeons naturally flew in from Wuchang.

Su Ze hadn't expected that Yin Shidan would go to such lengths, arriving in Wuchang with the speed of a military intelligence report.

This Vice Minister of Rites began investigating cases almost as soon as he arrived in Wuchang.

The fat pigeon stared at Su Ze, then hid its leg, which was holding the letter cage, behind it. Su Ze smiled wryly and took out a bag of fine rice from his desk.

These pigeons are getting more and more discerning.

Ever since it tasted the tribute rice from Huzhou, ordinary rice has become unappealing to it.

It wouldn't eat old rice or inferior rice, but fortunately, Su Ze's family had tribute rice bestowed by the emperor and the crown prince, which satisfied its needs.

For the sake of the fat pigeon, Su Ze had no choice but to plant a row of Taihu fine rice on the [family planting mat].

Upon seeing the pigeon, Su Ze stretched out his leg, untied the letter cage, and saw Shen Zao's letter.

After Su Ze finished reading the letter, he was shocked to learn that the Chu Zong case had actually been solved.

The Chu Zong case was solved within two days of the Chu expedition arriving in Wuchang!
From Shen Zao's letter, Su Ze knew that it was indeed Di Xu's doing.

After arriving in Wuchang, Di Xu did not participate in the trial, but instead went through all the files of the Chu King's Mansion and the testimonies from all parties.

Soon, Dish discovered several suspicious points.

Firstly, there are records of the Chu Prince's Mansion hiring wet nurses before the birth of Zhu Huakui and his brothers.

It's not unusual to hire a wet nurse for a child in advance, but it's strange that this wet nurse was hired twice, and the record of the first hiring was deliberately hidden.

Dixu quickly sent officials from Wuchang to find the wet nurse and finally received some news.

It turns out that this wet nurse was first hired to breastfeed the daughter of King Gong of Chu.

In other words, before the Zhu Huakui brothers were born, the old King of Chu actually had a daughter!
Following the clues, Di Xu discovered that the daughter was born to the old King of Chu and a palace maid from the Chu royal palace, and that she died shortly after birth.

The fact that his daughter died young is certainly important evidence that the old King of Chu was fertile!

The records of the old King of Chu's deceased daughter, including the record of the first time a wet nurse was hired, were all hidden by Wu Xun, the secretary of the King of Chu's palace.

Di Xu then told Yin Shidan about this discovery, and Yin Shidan immediately ordered the arrest of Wu Xun, the secretary of the Prince's Palace.

After his arrest, Wu Xun quickly confessed that the matter concerning the old King of Chu's daughter was bribed by General Zhu Huaqi to have him delete it.

Because the palace maid in the Chu King's palace gave birth to a daughter, and because this palace maid was of low status, she was arranged to give birth in a separate courtyard.

That's why Wu Xuncai, the secretary, dared to tamper with the records.

General Zhu Huaqi, the one who exposed the true identity of Zhu Huakui and his brothers.

At this stage of the case, the general plot is already clear.

The mission followed the clues and uncovered the truth. General Zhu Huaqi, in collusion with Prince Zhu Xianhuai of Wugang, embezzled the Chu Emperor's stipend of grain and resold it in the capital for profit.

Zhu Xianhuai, the Prince of Wugang, was a senior member of the Chu clan, the uncle of the old Prince of Chu, and the great-uncle of Zhu Huakui and his brothers.

When the old King of Chu was ill, he was the one who temporarily took charge of the affairs of the Chu clan.

This kind of thing was actually quite common within the imperial clans.

While the upper echelons of the imperial clan were well-fed and watered, the lower echelons suffered from hunger and thirst. This was a common occurrence among the Shanxi imperial clan.

However, Zhu Huaqi made a lot of money from several resales, so he decided to do something big: he joined forces with grain merchants in the capital to hoard and speculate on grain.

Yes, that was exactly the time when the Crown Prince used maritime transport to suppress grain prices.

This resulted in a huge deficit, and Zhu Huaqi and Zhu Xianhuai, the Prince of Wugang, almost went bankrupt. In order to fill the deficit, the two stole property from the Prince of Chu's mansion and sold it.

When the old King of Chu discovered this, he was preparing to bring them to justice when he fell seriously ill and died.

Therefore, Zhu Xianhuai, the Prince of Wugang, and Zhu Huaqi, the General of Zhenguo, also wanted to take revenge on the deceased old Prince of Chu. They fabricated this rumor in an attempt to muddy the waters, disrupt the issue of the succession to the throne, and cover up their theft of the palace to make up for the deficit.

Yin Shidan had already prepared the testimony and ordered it to be sent to the capital by fast horse.

As expected, the Chu Zong case was not some age-old mystery. After ruling out political influence, it was simply a case of a wealthy family fighting over inheritance.

Judging from this incident, Chu Zong is truly rotten to the core.

In fact, the abolition of the Chu clan had been a topic of discussion in the Ming Dynasty for some time.

In the twenty-fourth year of the Jiajing reign, Zhu Yingyao, the then heir apparent of the Prince of Chu, murdered his father, Zhu Xianrong, the Prince Min of Chu.

This sensational case in the Ming Dynasty originated from the fact that the Crown Prince of Chu frequently had illicit affairs with his father's palace maids.

It was after this incident that the throne of Chu fell to the lineage of King Gong of Chu.

This time, the Chu Clan is in turmoil, and such a shameful thing has happened again.

Su Ze understood that the time was ripe to submit another memorial.

Chu Zong has become a scourge in Wuchang and even the entire Huguang region. If he is not dealt with soon, a major robbery case like the one in the original timeline may break out in the future.

It is precisely because he has always managed to escape punishment that Chu Zong is so unscrupulous.

Now, with Prince Zhu Huakui of Chu being young and Prince Zhu Xianhuai of Wugang, who was originally in charge of the affairs of the Prince's Palace, being involved in the case, the Chu royal family is leaderless.

The prestige points required for submitting this memorial will definitely be greatly reduced.

——[Simulation Start]——

Your memorial, "On the Correction of Criminal Law in Chu Province," was sent to the Grand Secretariat, and Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng approved of it.

Zhao Zhenji opposed the draft proposal due to the Ministry of Rites' stance.

The memorial was sent to the palace. The emperor was annoyed by the problem of Chu Zong, but he did not change his idea of ​​the judicial power of the imperial clans.

The imperial clansmen in various regions were also afraid that the policy would be extended to all the vassal states, so they submitted memorials in strong opposition, which sparked a huge debate in the court and among the people. The emperor rejected your memorial.

——[Simulation End]——

[Remaining Prestige: 2270.]

[To fully approve your memorial, you need to pay 500 prestige points. Do you wish to pay?]

Sure enough, only 500 prestige points were needed to get the memorial approved.

Su Ze decisively chose "yes".

[Prestige points have been deducted. Remaining prestige points: 1770. Please complete the petition in real life.]

Now it's up to the system to see how it gets the emperor to make a decision.
-
As expected, when Su Ze's memorial was sent to the palace, an urgent message from Huguang was also sent to the cabinet shortly afterward.

The truth about the Chu clan case came to light, and the emperor was furious about the various disgraceful acts of the Chu clan members.

Emperor Longqing immediately issued an edict to execute Zhu Huaqi, the main culprit who falsely accused the Prince of Chu, and to imprison Zhu Xianhuai, the Prince of Wugang, within the high walls of Fengyang.

The Chu princes who assisted Zhu Huaqi in submitting the memorial should also be thoroughly investigated and punished according to the circumstances of the case.

Just when everyone in the capital thought the Chu Zong case was over, the Office of Transmission suddenly sent another message.

Wang Youde, a centurion left to guard the capital, appealed to the emperor through the Dengwen Drum.

Royal study room.

Emperor Longqing said:

"Minister Yang has already verified that this Wang Youde is a descendant of Marquis Dingyuan, Wang Bi?"

Yang Sizhong nodded and said:

"I have already checked Wang Youde's genealogy, and several nobles in the capital have testified that Wang Youde is indeed a descendant of Marquis Dingyuan, Wang Bi."

Marquis Wang Bi of Dingyuan was a founding hero of the Ming Dynasty. He was executed by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang for his involvement with Lan Yu.

Yang Sizhong said:

"I have also checked the clan records. According to Wang Youde's report, the daughter of Marquis Dingyuan, Wang Bi, did indeed marry King Zhao of Chu, the founder of the Chu state."

The Longqing Emperor asked somewhat excitedly, "Is everything Wang Youde said true?"

It turns out that the Jinyiwei commander struck the Dengwen Drum to ask the emperor for his ancestral property.

According to Wang Youde, his ancestor was Wang Bi, the Marquis of Dingyuan.

According to him, when his ancestor Wang Bi died, his son was still young and was raised by his sister, who was also the Queen of Chu.

The more than 68,000 taels of gold, 2.5 million taels of silver, and countless jewels left behind by Wang Bi were all stored in the Chu King's treasury.

In addition, Wang Bi also had 86 estates bestowed by Emperor Taizu of Ming. Since the Yongle era, the rent from these estates had been collected by the Chu government, totaling more than eight million taels of silver.

The two items combined amount to over 13 million taels of silver.

All of this money has now been swallowed up by the Chu King's Mansion.

Wang Youde was also very cooperative, stating that he only wanted one-tenth of it and was willing to offer the rest to the emperor.

Such a large sum of money would tempt even the emperor.

Yang Sizhong said:

"What Wang Youde said is all his own opinion, and the claim that the land rent totaled eight million taels is also an exaggeration and should not be taken seriously."

Yang Sizhong was also speechless. Could this land tax have been accumulated from the beginning of the dynasty to today?

Only the emperor could believe Wang Youde's calculations.

The former is somewhat plausible, while the latter is entirely Wang Youde's deliberate overestimation, reporting a shocking figure to attract the emperor's attention.

The emperor said, "Then let the Chu expedition team do a thorough calculation."

Yang Sizhong then said:
"Lord Yin has already returned, and the case of Chu Zong has been closed. If the delegation is allowed to remain in Wuchang, it will cause dissatisfaction among the royal families throughout the country."

The Longqing Emperor frowned and asked, "What do you think, my dear minister?"

Yang Sizhong said, "Such a case will inevitably drag on for a long time. Your Majesty can grant the memorial submitted by Hanlin Su and authorize the relevant authorities in Wuchang to conduct a thorough investigation."

We've returned to Su Ze's memorial.

Emperor Longqing thought about it. The Chu Kingdom had such a bad reputation, and Su Ze was only targeting the Chu Kingdom anyway.

So the emperor said, "Then Su Ze's suggestion shall be granted."

(End of this chapter)