Huai'an Prefecture, Qingjiangpu
Jia Heng and Zhao Mo did not stop in Xuzhou. They led the 500 Jinyi Mansion personal guards and the Beijing camp guards first, while the Beijing camp army marched in the rear under the leadership of the guard general Xie Zaiyi.
The group of people walked along the river embankment and headed straight to Huai'an Prefecture. At this moment, the entire city of Huai'an Prefecture was shrouded in rain and fog. The death of former river governor Gao Bin did not make the rain on the sky show any signs of stopping.
Entering the official office of the Hedao Yamen, this is the design of the front office and the back residence. After entering the official hall, Jia Heng immediately sent people to Heku Road to carry relevant atlases and account books.
Huai'an Mansion, in the Imperial Envoy Post House, second floor
Peng Ye, the left deputy imperial censor, put his official hat aside, sat on the bed, and watched by candlelight.
"Master, people from the Yamen came over and said that Uncle Yong Ning and Mr. Zhao came from Xuzhou." An official said loudly.
"Prepare the carriage, I'll be there right away." Peng Ye's eyes flashed under his brows, and he secretly thought, he's finally here.
He closed the scroll and put down the book in his hand. By the candlelight, he could see that the Three Kingdoms were clearly written on the blue cover.
Well, yes, although this Qi party general regarded Jia Heng as a political enemy, he often read the Three Kingdoms script written by Jia Heng in his hands and admired its wisdom and tactics.
As he read this book in depth, Peng Ye gained some understanding of Yong Ningbo's cunning and scheming.
Peng Ye picked up the black gauze hat and put it on his head, straightened his sleeves, glanced at the book on the table, and sneered.
The memorial that should be written has been delivered to Beijing. I had long known that something like this would happen. Anyway, now is the time when the Zhejiang Party is under attack. At this time, we can just watch the fire from the other side. 1
Jiangnan River Governor's Office, Government Office Lobby——
Jia Heng has already sat down with Zhao Mo and the Governor of Water Transport Du Jitong, flipping through the relevant atlas delivered by Heku Road.
At this time, the officials had brought over boxes of maps of the rivers under Nanhe's jurisdiction. According to Jia Heng's instructions, they first searched for the roster of people, the money and grain books, and the water conservancy map.
Heku Road is the internal official office of Nanhe Yamen Tongzhanghe Gongqianliang, which is responsible for materials, cashiers, and warehousing matters. There is a bank in the mansion, and all the grain and silver maps and books are available.
Jia Heng picked up a volume of water conservancy maps and looked through them, following the river map to check the distribution of dikes and dams.
It can be clearly seen that once many dykes and dams burst in some densely populated states and counties, the consequences will be disastrous.
Jia Heng's face was dark and unclear, and he cast a pair of clear eyes on Yu De, the right-hand censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, who was sitting on the bench of the Prime Minister. What are the officials and officials in charge of the roads, departments, and floods under their jurisdiction doing recently?
Facing those aggressive eyes, Yu De felt complicated for a moment and said: "Uncle Yongning, since Gao Bin committed suicide in fear of crime, the relevant river officials have been in panic all day long. Except for some who went to the lower hall and flood control, many of them are in the mansion. Waiting for the imperial court’s visit.”
There are 24 halls on the four roads of Nanhe River, including Heku Road, Huaixu Hewu Road, Huaiyang Hewu Road, Huaihai Hewu Road, and Jiangnan Hebiao Camp, with many civil and military officials.
"Most of the people who are looking around here and feeling uneasy are people with evil intentions." Zhao Mo frowned and said in a cold voice with a gloomy look on his face.
Jia Heng put down the tea cup and asked: "My lord, I was patrolling the Nanhe River a few days ago. Are all kinds of materials such as reeds, willows, earth and rocks in the river bank road ready? How much food and silver are there?"
Yu De and Peng Ye had previously patrolled the river at the Hedao Yamen. As Du Xian, he must have a basic grasp of these situations.
Yu De said: "At that time, there were 21,378 taels of silver in the silver warehouse. According to Gao Bin and the river officials, various materials were used to build river embankments, and there were many discrepancies in the warehouses of the flood and flood administration offices."
Jia Heng frowned, pondered for a long time, and said: "According to this list, we will invite all the relevant river management officials in Huai'an Prefecture.
With that said, he picked up a book from the small table and handed it to Liu Jixian. It was the official roster of Hedao Yamen.
"I accept my order." Liu Jixian responded with clasped fists and led the guards of the Jinyi Mansion.
Jia Heng turned to look at Zhao Mo, the Minister of Punishment, and said: "The account books are just like the river embankment. The surface is watertight. If I check like this, I will probably not be able to find anything."
How many materials were used on the river embankment on a certain day in a certain year, the accounts are clearly written, but the river
Even if the embankment collapses, we cannot dismantle the washed-out materials and verify them one by one.
Zhao Mo said in a deep voice: "If there were any abnormalities before, the Metropolitan Procuratorate would not turn a blind eye."
"Then let's not check the accounts first, but check the people, and send all the embankment supervisors who flooded the Sizhou River section to jail for questioning." Jia Heng picked up the tea cup and took a sip.
At this moment, an official came in and said, "Masters, Master Peng is here."
While they were talking, Peng Ye, the left deputy imperial censor, came from outside. He was dressed in a crimson robe and official uniform. He came in and saluted Zhao Mo and Uncle Yongning, and then sat down on a chair beside them.
Jia Heng glanced at Peng Ye and asked, "Master Peng came just in time. Previously, Master Peng inspected Nanhe and counted the river workers' money and food. Can you tell me what was so fishy about it before?"
Peng Ye looked calm and said slowly: "The lower official inspected Nanhe and impeached Gao Bin before, and was able to check the account books in the river bank. Every withdrawal has real evidence and vouchers. There is no article on the surface, but it is used in river engineering. The amount of money, food and materials is really huge."
Jia Heng thought for a moment and said, "I will know the details after questioning the relevant officials.
Zhao Mo pondered for a moment and said, "Uncle Yongning, the most urgent task now is to find out the actual condition of the river embankment and deploy soldiers."
Corruption is rampant in the Hedao Yamen. The key to the problem now is that if we don’t know whether the river embankments are strong or not, we won’t be able to make targeted arrangements, such as releasing floods in advance, etc.
Du Jitong, Governor of Water Transport, said: "What Mr. Zhao said is true. There are countless embankments and dams under the Nanhe River. If they are all divided into garrison troops, there will be insufficient troops.
Peng Ye sat down and looked at Jia Heng.
He secretly thought, if the river embankment breaks and the prefectures and counties are flooded, I wonder if the Holy Father will be disappointed in this Yongning Bo?
Jia Heng said: "Mr. Zhao, please be patient and wait for a while. I will ask the officials at the Yamen across the river to find out the truth."
Everyone was talking and waiting for the guards of Jinyi Mansion to bring back relevant officials from Huai'an Mansion.
After a while, Liu Jixian strode from the outside with a solemn face and said with clasped fists: "Sir, Liu Renqiu, a colleague of the Huaiyang River Service Road who was in charge of the Sizhou river embankment, hung himself from a beam at home. His wife is still conducting an autopsy. Others Bring all the officials.
As soon as these words came out, everyone in the official hall was shocked. Another one died?
Jia Heng frowned and said coldly: "When the river embankment collapsed, the officials involved in the river supervision committed suicide out of fear of being punished. If all of them collapsed, would these people have to die to thank the world?"
Zhao Mo's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot, and another person died. It seemed a little unusual, and he was afraid that he would not be able to ask the truth later.
"They may think that they can escape their guilt by dying, but I can't do that here!" Jia Heng's eyes were gloomy and he said coldly: "Everywhere below the Huaiyang and Huaixu River Service Roads, up to the Guanhe Road Division, down to the Gate Officer, Anyone involved in the Sizhou case, no matter how big or small, is arrested and interrogated by the Jinyi Mansion, but I don’t believe it and commit suicide out of fear of being guilty!”
He turned to Peng Ye and asked, "Why didn't Gao Bin and other river officials keep anyone under surveillance and allowed him to die to hide his guilt?"
Peng Ye said: "Mr. Jia, could it be that you have forgotten that the lower officials are the officials of Duxian. They only have the responsibility of impeachment and impeachment, and have no right to ask questions. Moreover, the imperial court has its own imperial envoys and ministers to sit in charge. The lower officials accompany the low-ranking officials respectfully. How can they be good at their work?" Claim?"
To put it bluntly, the two censors from the Metropolitan Procuratorate only came to inquire about the situation of the river embankment, and then wrote memorials to report to the court. They had no authority to deal with the relevant people. Zhao Mo, the inner-grand scholar who was in charge of Nanhe, had this authority.
Zhao Mo paused for a moment, then took over the conversation and said, "Uncle Yong Ning, I was in charge of the relief work for the victims in Sizhou before, and I was a little negligent about the Hedao Yamen. I didn't want them to know that the crime was hard to redeem, so I died."
Jia Heng's eyes were gloomy and uncertain, and he felt coldly as he looked at Zhao Mo and Peng Ye.
This is a party struggle, perfunctory and passing the blame. He can't impeach a minister for failing to take good care of the Hedao Yamen because of this matter. Moreover, the impeachment of the censor is just nonsense and will not help the important matter.
Du Jitong, the governor of water transportation, was holding a tea cup and looking at the few people with interest. Jia Heng said: “Bring all the relevant officials here.
After a while, with the sound of pushing and shoving outside, the officials from the Hedao Yamen all entered the official hall. There were ten or twenty people in total.
Including three people from Guanhedao, five or six people from Tongzhi, five or six people from Tongjian, as well as several lower-level state colleagues and state judges, and one deputy general from the middle camp of Hebiao Camp.
Mainly the relevant officials of the Heku Road, Huaiyang River Service Road, Huaixu River Service Road, and the officials of the Huaihai River Service Road are not here.
Jia Heng looked at the officials and said in a deep voice: "I have been ordered by the emperor to oversee the affairs of the Nanhe and Donghe rivers. From now on, I will take over all river affairs."
As he said that, he looked at the river officials and asked: "Where are Xu Jingqian, the river director of the river bank, Ma Weifang, the leader of the Huaixu road, and Hao Yingzhou, the leader of the Huaiyang road?"
At this time, three officials wearing fourth-grade crimson official robes with Yunyan patches embroidered on them came out of the official class, bowed their hands to Jia Heng and saluted, saying: "Your Majesty, Ma Weifang (Hao Yingzhou, Xu Jingqian) ) met Lord River Governor.
Jia Heng said coldly: "The former governor of the river, Gao Bin, committed suicide. The three of you were his close subordinates. Do you know the reason?"
Hearing this, Ma Weifang looked sad, with tears in her eyes, and said: "Reporting to your lord, the river embankment burst and flooded Sizhou. Sir Gao felt so guilty that he couldn't think of it and took the narrow road. If the lower official hadn't had a seventy-year-old Gaotang, There are young children below, and they will follow the tall people."
Hao Yingzhou said: "Now the Huai'an Prefecture is saying that Mr. Gao committed suicide out of fear of crime. Mr. Gao was unjust. Floods are mostly natural disasters. The river embankments are as strong as rocks. If there is any difference, the imperial court will inspect it and know the details."
Xu Jingqian said nothing, but his face was ugly and he was worried.
Jia Heng sneered and said, "Come here, take these three clever talkers down, take them to the torture chamber, and interrogate them strictly."
The Jinyi palace guard behind him stepped forward and pressed the shoulders of the three of them. The expressions of everyone in the official hall changed.
"May I ask Mr. Jia, what crime have we committed?" Ma Weifang was shocked and asked anxiously.
It seemed that he didn't expect that the river governor in front of him would be tortured for any disagreement.
Hao Chengzhou, who manages the Huaiyang River Service Road, felt his heart sinking, held his neck, and shouted loudly: "You are wronged, we are wronged!"
He turned to look at Zhao Mo and said urgently: "Mr. Zhao, Governor Du, we built the embankment but it didn't collapse, so we have merit and no guilt!"
Zhao Mo frowned and said nothing. Du Jitong even raised his head to look at the sky, as if counting the ants on the beam, as if it had nothing to do with him.
Jia Heng's face was as frosty as he shouted: "Sizhou was flooded, and many people drowned. Since you are officials of the river yamen and are responsible for your responsibilities, how can you say you are innocent? Now one is shameless and hypocritical! The other is plausible and shouts injustice! The fish is dead! Who will the Sizhou people in the belly complain about? Someone came, gagged these three people, took them out, and tortured them severely."
These three people are all Gao Bin's cronies. If they are tortured, some of them will not survive the punishment. As long as there is a breakthrough, the rest will be easy to picket.
Ma Weifang wanted to open her mouth to defend, but the Jinyi Mansion guard blocked her mouth and went out with her hands cut behind her back.
Hao Yingzhou, the Guanhe Road of the Huaiyang River Service Road, and Xu Jingqian, the Heku Road, were also escorted out.
For a moment, all the officials in the official hall were awestruck and trembling.
Zhao Mo, the Minister of Punishment, frowned as he watched this scene. He was clearly unhappy about being treated by such a ruthless official who took people without looking at the evidence, but at this moment, it was hard to say anything as the matter was urgent.
The main reason is that it is not easy to argue with Jia Heng in front of all the river officials, which will hinder the overall situation.
Peng Ye, the censor of the left deputy capital, and Du Jitong, the governor of water transportation, looked at each other and said to themselves, this is a child's show of force, killing the chicken to scare the monkeys.
Jia Heng's eyes fell again on the officials under the jurisdiction of Huaiyang and Huaixu River Road. His eyes like a hawk swept across the frightened faces. He raised the water conservancy map book in his hand and said coldly: "My officer There is an atlas here, which shows the officials under Nanhe's jurisdiction who built river embankments, gates and dams, and corresponding departments. From today on, the prefectures and counties will be flooded due to corruption. I will use the sword of the emperor to kill the officials who supervise the construction because of the defeat and loss of land. Discuss, rectify the law on the spot! And advise the court to offend the officials and their families, regardless of age, women and children, and destroy the three tribes! Countless people were killed and injured due to the floods. Only by eliminating heirs and leaving no heirs can we comfort the souls of the victims in heaven!"
Speaking of this, the expression of the officer below him changed slightly, and he was filled with shock and an uproar.
If this is a natural disaster, they will also be implicated, and they will be killed one after another!
How could this Uncle Yongning be so cruel and vicious? !
When Zhao Mo heard this, he frowned and put down the tea cup in his hand. Hearing the murderous words of the young man, he felt almost restless.
He is so good at torture and killing, he often destroys his family and destroys his family, leaving no heirs, and he is so cruel to the officials.
also! white
Du Jitong's eyes when watching the play were also somewhat strangely deep. He stared at the young man closely, feeling a sense of fear in his heart.
The martial artist in front of him had suppressed chaos in the Central Plains and killed people like crazy. Now his murderous intention was so intense that it was rarely seen in the world.
Peng Ye, the deputy imperial censor on the left, picked up the tea cup, lowered his head and took a sip, his brows lit up with joy, and a sense of joy filled his heart.
Kill, kill, the more you kill, the better. It is best to kill all these river officials. The long-standing abuses in river affairs will be cleared up, and Yong Ning Bo will also be ridiculed by the people for being cruel and surly. This can be regarded as a lose-lose situation.
Driving away tigers and devouring wolves, borrowing swords to kill people, that's all.
Xu Kai frowned and looked deeply at the young man. His eyes flickered, and he vaguely felt that there was something more to come.
Jia Heng said: "If he can surrender himself to his crime and prove the reality of Chen Diyan, he can send troops and civilians to prepare for danger in advance. Even if the river embankment breaks, he himself will die for his crime, and the three tribes will be spared! If he can expose the corruption of his colleagues, If a river embankment breaks and the prefecture and county are flooded, I can still intercede with the Holy One and perform meritorious deeds on his behalf, sparing him from death, exile or exile, and his family members will not be guilty! However, the number of people exempted from death is only five, and the maximum number of people who expose the corruption of colleagues is one , if the river embankment bursts, I will only be dismissed from office, but no further punishment will be dealt with."
Prisoners go to prison and are motivated by a reduced sentence for meritorious service. They rack their brains to find clues to reduce their sentences, but not everyone can invent the manhole cover.
And this is his assessment of the reality of the river embankment. Otherwise, who knows which river embankment cut corners, will it burst when the flood comes? These were rushed times, and he didn't have time to check, so he could only ask these river officials.
And as long as the truth is true, the family members will not be implicated in the killings, and they will not end up with no heirs or heirs.
Needless to say, everyone would expose the situation of their colleagues. If something happened to the river embankment, at least their heads would not be dislocated. However, among so many river officials, only five of them escaped death and had to be exiled elsewhere, so they would report enthusiastically.
The person who exposes the most will not only avoid death, but also be exempted from guilt, and it will also be the biggest gift package.
And because the people present are not in charge of the river, that is, they are not the first person responsible. Even if the responsibility is shared and only one person is exempted from the death penalty, it will not damage the court's regulations. Moreover, compared with the safety of hundreds of thousands of people, sparing one person will not die. , which is also the result of trade-offs. white
This incentive method can be said to be a combination of leniency and severity, fully estimating the size of the official position and the severity of the crime, so that no one is in vain or indulgent.
Xu Kai thought, his eyes brightening slightly.
Having no heirs and no descendants, I suddenly heard that although it is cruel and unforgiving, in fact, because the embankment burst and the city was flooded, I should be punished with death. In the anger of the emperor, it is normal for the three tribes to be annihilated, but it is not serious. No heirs.
But by showing the true and false status of the river embankment and surrendering to the crime, we can avoid the disaster of the Yi people.
And if you expose the corruption of your colleagues, you will avoid death, although there are only five people.
The official who exposed the most corruption among his colleagues was dismissed from office, but was safe and sound. But there was only one person, and this was the bait that made people rush to expose him.
Therefore, for the sake of flood prevention and fighting, some river officials were given a chance to survive.
Looking at the young man with a calm face, he thought about the beauty of layered treatment, but in the end he only had ten words.
Use thunderous means to show the bodhisattva's heart!
However, these harsh words will inevitably be smeared by people with sneaky intentions. What he can do is to bear witness and explain them and prevent others from taking them out of context.
As Xu Kai thought this, a strange thought suddenly arose in his mind. Did Uncle Yongning bring him with him, did he also intend to let him witness and judge for him?
This is really...
Perhaps, this can also be regarded as trusting one's own character?
As soon as these words came out, Zhao Mo's expression changed slightly, his eyes focused deeply, and he looked closely at the boy in the python suit, and he suddenly realized something in his heart.
Instead of indiscriminate torture out of anger, they used coercion and inducement to let these river officials report on each other, and then quickly find out the reality of the Nanhe dike and weir.
This is indeed the fastest method, and taking the initiative to expose it is much faster than torture one by one. Because the law does not punish everyone, it is impossible for these river officials to have ventilated their ideas in advance and advance and retreat together.
This is not unusual in the officialdom. It is a crime for officials to protect each other and conceal each other. They cannot all be jailed. Besides, they will be used in floods.
The beauty of this strategy is that making them suspicious can be used as a method of torture.
Zhao Mo was also thinking about the wisdom of this strategy in his heart, but suddenly a thought came to his mind, if it was him
How did he quickly figure out the situation on the river embankment?
With this thought, Zhao Mo's eyes flickered, and he felt unnatural in his heart, and he quickly suppressed some thoughts.
This kind of coercion and inducement is not the right way!
Moreover, only Uncle Yongning can do this. He is the governor in imperial robes and a close minister of the emperor. The emperor almost obeys his words and follows him as a guide.
"You are all river officials, well versed in water conservancy. In the land of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River today, heavy rain has been pouring for nearly a month, and there is still no sign of the rain stopping. If we are not prepared, the incident in Sizhou will inevitably happen again. At that time, the Holy Spirit was furious. You Wait until the Yi people are still unable to escape and die! You can also bet, will the river embankment you are supervising burst? Will the three tribes be wiped out!" Jia Heng paused and looked at the defeated people. With a sneer on his face, he said: "Besides, if a person is tight-lipped and conceals his guilt, how can he know that others won't report him in order to escape guilt?"
The river officials in the official hall were originally shocked, but suddenly their hearts jumped and they looked to the opposite side defensively. A few days ago, under the auspices of Ma Weifang and Hao Yingzhou, a group of river officials who had been advancing and retreating together had already started talking to each other. Became suspicious.
"Come here, take all the gentlemen down, detain them separately, and give them pen and paper to write down the facts of the embankment and the corruption situation." Jia Heng looked at the officials present and ordered Liu Jixian.
With so many people agreeing to advance or retreat, it would be hard to torture them all one by one. It would be too inefficient. When the results of the torture come out, the day lilies will be cold. And if many people are tortured to extract confessions, it is easy to be criticized.
But now so many officials are already suspicious of each other, waiting for the final results.
After the Huaiyang and Huaixu river officials left, Jia Heng also sat down, looked at Zhao Mo, who had a complicated expression, and said: "Mr. Zhao, when the actual condition of the river embankment is found out, the only thing left is to deploy the military and civilians, arrange Guard the dikes and make emergency repairs. Tomorrow you and I will go to Yangzhou to mobilize troops.
Zhao Mo had complicated thoughts at the moment. He looked at the resolute young man, nodded and said, "Go to Yangzhou tomorrow to mobilize troops."
Du Jitong picked up the tea cup, took a sip of tea, and glanced at the boy in the python suit.
This person is able to be in the position of military chief at a young age, so that Yang Xiang wants to get rid of him quickly, which is indeed a bit clever.
Peng Ye put down the tea cup, his eyes also dark and unclear.
