There is only less than 200 miles from Jiankang in Kyoto to Jiangdu. If you ride a horse, you can get there in one day or even half a day. Even if you ride a carriage, it only takes a day or two. Therefore, on the day when Jiangdu grain merchants went on strike, In the afternoon, the imperial censor and officials from Dali Temple rushed to Jiangdu.
The Supervisory Yushi is an official of the Yushitai, and Dali Temple is equivalent to the Supreme Court, responsible for reviewing the trial of prison cases.
Originally, this matter involved the prefect of Jiangdu, who was already considered an upper-middle-level or even upper-level official of the imperial court. In addition, it involved the state system, so the Ministry of Punishment should also send someone. However, after the censor reported to the prefect Chen, after several ministers, The discussion did not involve anyone from the Criminal Department.
To be precise, it was Yang Jingzong and Yang Xiangguo who denied the participation of the Ministry of Punishment on the grounds that a minister of the Ministry of Punishment was a fellow villager of Chen Yu, the prefect of Jiangdu, and should avoid suspicion.
This reason is very far-fetched, because it is impossible for the Minister of Punishment to personally participate in this kind of case. At most, a junior official of the sixth or seventh grade will be sent to investigate. Moreover, the Ministry of Punishment has more than one minister, and there is also a minister of the Ministry of Punishment. How can one minister be involved? You cannot cover the sky with just one hand in the Ministry of Punishments.
In the afternoon of the same day, the "task force" sent by the imperial court arrived in Jiangdu. Chen Yu, the prefect of Jiangdu, led a group of officials from Jiangdu to personally greet them at the city gate.
Magistrate Chen arrived in person, so it was naturally impossible for those grain merchants not to come. A dozen grain merchants and hundreds of Jiangdu locals all knelt at the city gate to welcome the imperial envoys. They waited until the imperial people arrived in the city. At the door, hundreds of people kowtowed directly to the court's carriage, their voices uniform.
"People of Jiangdu, please ask the imperial envoy to make the decision."
Hundreds of people shouted this sentence together with great momentum. It happened that two "imperial envoys" had just got off the carriage at this moment. They were startled by the neat voice. The two imperial envoys looked around and saw someone walking towards them. Chen Yu, the prefect of Jiangdu, came.
Dali Temple judges Yue Zheng.
The censor Zhang Lu was supervised by the censor station.
Both of them are seventh-grade officials.
Dali Temple's judgeship was originally a job that was carried out in Beijing and did not need to leave the capital. Moreover, yamen like Dali Temple were not of high rank but had considerable authority. They were very different from the local seventh-rank county magistrates.
As for the supervisory censor, there is no need to say more.
Although this official position is only in the seventh rank, and some censors who have just entered the Yushitai are only in the eighth rank, they have the power to supervise hundreds of officials, which is equivalent to a disciplinary inspection unit and is very powerful.
The two people walked towards Chen Yu head on.
At this time, Magistrate Chen no longer had the poker face he had before, but was smiling all over his face. He bowed his hands in salute to the two imperial envoys and said with a smile: "Brother Changping, Brother Jisheng, you have worked hard all the way."
Changping is the name of Yue Zheng, and Jisheng is the name of Zhang Lu.
Yue Zheng and Zhang Lu also greeted each other with smiles. Yue Zheng bowed to Chen Yu and said, "It's rare that Brother Fengde still remembers our cousins. We thought that Brother Fengde had forgotten our old friend after he became a high official. "
The supervisory censor Zhang Lu looked around, looked at the Jiangdu people kneeling on the ground, frowned slightly and said: "Brother Fengde is too upright to be an official, and I don't want anyone to chase them away. It's a good thing that I and the other two are here today, as I know something about Brother Fengde's character. If someone else had come, I'm afraid they would have sided with them when they saw these people kneeling on the ground."
Chen Fuzun smiled calmly and said: "You are not afraid of shadows as you are upright. The imperial court sent two of you here. You two are the imperial envoys of the imperial court. After detailed investigation of this matter in Jiangdu, you will report the truth."
"Public is public, private is private, you two don't need to take into account the old feelings."
Among the two imperial envoys, Zhang Lu, the supervisory censor, was in the same year as Chen Yu. They both passed the Jinshi examination in the same year. However, Zhang Lu's official career was not as prosperous as Chen Yu's, and he is still working as a supervisory censor in the censorship station.
As for another imperial envoy, Yue Zheng, although he was not from the same hometown as Chen Yu, he was also a disciple of Yang Xiangguo, so he was considered a classmate of Chen Yu.
The imperial court sent these two people to investigate Jiangdu's affairs, and the attitude behind them was already very obvious.
The horsemen were waiting for a grain merchant outside, and they were kneeling at the city gate. Although they couldn't hear what Magistrate Chen and the imperial envoys were saying, they could see them standing together, talking and laughing, and their mood immediately improved. It sank.
To be honest, if there were no fundamental interests involved, these businessmen would not go against the master of the government, let alone make trouble like this. However, the government took money from them but did not allow them to take money from the people. This made it difficult for them to take money from the people. These grain merchants had no choice but to accept it.
After all, most of these businessmen have people behind them, and they pay the money on time every year. With people behind them, they are more confident and are not afraid of going against the local officials.
But seeing the two imperial envoys chatting and laughing with Magistrate Chen, the hearts of these grain merchants immediately sank.
Some timid people immediately began to look left and right, ready to run away at any time.
Just when these grain merchants were uneasy, the supervisory censor Zhang Lu slowly walked up to these grain merchants with his hands behind his back. Zhang Yushi looked at these grain merchants and asked in a deep voice: "You are the grain merchants of Jiangdu?" Shang, or the people of Jiangdu?"
The horseman kneeled on the ground and said, "There are both grain merchants and common people."
"Since everyone is here, there is no need for me to make another trip."
"I am Zhang Lu, the supervisory censor sent by the imperial court to investigate the corruption case of the Jiangdu prefect."
Zhang Yushi said calmly: "I and Yue Pingshi will be inspecting Jiangdu in the past few days. If I ask you questions, you must answer truthfully."
"Three days later, you will send someone to the magistrate's office to confront Magistrate Chen face to face. At that time, I and Yue Pingsi will write down your words exactly as they are and relay them to the court."
The grain merchants looked at each other and could only bow their heads in agreement.
"Okay, let's all go back."
Zhang Yushi's voice was loud: "The right and wrong must be decided by oneself. If Magistrate Chen is really guilty of corruption, the imperial court will not let him go, and I, the Yushitai, will not let him go!"
After saying this, Zhang Yushi turned around and walked towards where Magistrate Chen was.
After Zhang Lu left, these grain merchants slowly stood up and dismissed the Jiangdu people they had summoned.
After everyone dispersed, the bosses of more than a dozen grain stores gathered together, with anxious looks on their faces.
They looked at Ma Yuanwai, wanting Ma Yuanwai to make an idea.
Ma Yuanwai touched his big belly with one hand, stroked his beard with the other hand, and squinted his eyes: "Chen Yu is a student of Yang Xiang in the capital. It is not surprising that the teacher favors the students, but that Yang Xiang this year He’s over seventy years old.”
"In a few months, His Majesty will be sixteen years old, and he will soon be in charge. Once His Majesty takes charge, the prime ministers will definitely have to change. The first one to be replaced will be Prime Minister Yang!"
Jiangdu is too close to the capital.
Rich Jiangdu businessmen like Ma Yuanwai, although most of their properties are in Jiangdu, they have houses in the capital. Sometimes they live in Jiankang, the capital, most of the year. Most of their relationships are also in the capital. For those in the imperial court, The situation is clear.
This is also the fundamental reason why they dare to unite and offend Chen Yu, the prime minister's protégé.
Because the people above them are not afraid of Yang Xiangguo, they will not be afraid of Chen Fuzun.
"Just wait."
Ma Yuanwai groaned: "The prefect's Yamen took the money. It is a definite matter. If these two imperial envoys favor Chen Yu, we will go to the capital to file a complaint!"
