Does fire come from the bottom up or from the top down?
Cai Que asked this suddenly, and the official looked at Yuan Jiang's panic expression, and immediately thought a little.
When he learned that the Third Division was burned, he was very shocked and angry, but after being the emperor for so long, he naturally waited for a reaction. Was he being tricked?
When Cai Que mentioned this, the officials immediately realized that things might not be as simple as expected.
However, there was no sign of suspicion on the official's face. From last night's fire, to Cai Ting's urging that non-Privy Council members should not deploy troops to fight the fire, to Zhang Dun's sudden appearance at the scene of the fire, the Accounting Department of the Third Division suddenly appeared just as he was about to audit the accounts. Fire, is it really such a coincidence?
In the past few years, the emperor and the emperor have become increasingly sophisticated, and their ability to judge and manage affairs has also improved a lot.
After Yuan Jiang finished speaking, he saw that Han Jiang was already halfway out of work. He was already planning to admit his mistake to the emperor and take the whole incident of the fire in the Third Division on himself.
Seeing Han Jiang like this, Lu Huiqing was slightly happy. As long as Han Jiang could be implicated in this matter and go out, then he, who was the second in the book of Zhongshu, would be able to successfully replace him as prime minister. Zhao Wen Xiang might not be able to do it, but the History Museum The problem of appearance is not big.
The position of prime minister was what Lu Huiqing had always dreamed of.
Just when Han Jiang was halfway out of the room, Zhang Yue, who was standing behind Han Jiang, suddenly jumped over him and said: "Your Majesty, I moved the Accounting Department of the Third Division into the Third Division to facilitate the inspection of past accumulated records. The accounts for the year ended up being stacked too much in the warehouse because I went through too many old files or cleared out some accounts that should have been burned by moths and fires.”
"It caused the fire in the third division. I cannot absolve myself of the blame for this. I beg your Majesty to take heavy responsibility!"
The ministers immediately understood the fishiness and fishiness of Zhang Yue's seemingly meaningless yet meaningful words.
However, such a matter cannot be put on the table without evidence, and it is easy to be dismissed.
Deng Wan, the censor Zhongcheng, was motionless at the moment and had no intention of standing up to speak for Lu Huiqing. In the past, he was the vanguard of the new party.
But another censor, Deng Runfu, couldn't bear it and said: "A fire is a dereliction of duty. Is there any other reason to shirk it? It is known that accounts that have been decayed for many years are prone to fires. Why not take precautions early so that you can only notice it later."
Zhang Yue said: "Your Majesty, I was negligent. I did not expect that there would be a fire in the Third Division. I did not take precautions in advance. I am willing to bear the responsibility for the fire in the Third Division together with Yuan Jiang. Please also ask Your Majesty to issue an edict."
Zhang Yue's move was equivalent to taking all the responsibility for Han Jiang on himself.
Han Jiang glanced at Zhang Yue with great emotion, but he thought to himself, how could Zhang Yue carry such a huge responsibility on his own? Just as he was about to take responsibility, he felt his wrist being pulled.
Han Jiang was stunned, turned around and saw that it was Wu Chong who stopped him.
Seeing this, Han Jiang showed a look of helplessness, but still retreated to the class.
Seeing Han Jiang return to the class, Lu Huiqing felt a pity in his heart, but thought that if he brought down Zhang Yue, he would break Han Jiang's arm. He left the class and said: "Zhang Duanming, why do you need to share the blame with others? As far as I know, you have been with me these days." There should be no time to stand aside when discussing the exemption law."
The official was a little suspicious of Lu Huiqing, but when he heard what the other party said, he suddenly became confused again. However, the officials could see that it was far-fetched for Zhang Yue to be involved in this matter, but the burning of the Third Division was such a major event that as long as he was involved, he would not be able to escape.
At this time, someone said: "The person in charge of the Accounting Department of the Third Division is Zuolang Su Zhe."
The official's eyes narrowed and he asked, "Where is Su Che?"
After a while, an official said weakly: "Your Majesty, after the fire, Su Che tried his best to put out the fire and protect the manager's books, but was finally attacked by the fire poison and collapsed and fell unconscious!"
After hearing this, Zhang Yue thought, if something happened to Su Che, how would he explain it to Su Shi?
Zhang Yue couldn't help but feel guilty. If he had known this, he shouldn't have involved Su Che in this matter.
When Lu Huiqing heard that Su Che had collapsed and was unconscious, he thought, "It's best to be like this, and it would be better to die."
The official said: "Okay, all officials involved in this matter will take away their posts and go out!"
But see the thunder falling!
In addition to Han Jiang, the three envoys below Yuan Jiang, the deputy envoy of Yantie, the deputy envoy of Hubu, the deputy envoy of Duzhi, the judge of Yantie Song Di, as well as Zhang Yue and Su Zhe were all dismissed from their posts.
At the same time, all Mabusi officials who failed to rescue were dismissed from their posts.
Only Zhang Dun was greatly praised for his contribution to putting out the fire.
Zhang Yue was in the whirlpool and was dismissed from the post of promoting the third accounting department. He, Yuan Jiang and others were about to go out.
Zhang Yue walked out of the main hall and saw that Yuan Jiang had regained his relaxed look and was talking to Lu Huiqing, Deng Wan and Cai Ting.
Zhang Yue glanced at him from a distance and left.
He immediately rushed to visit Su Che.
Su Che is settling in at Su Mansion.
When they arrived at Su Che's house, they saw Su Che's wife Shi and several of Su Che's children crying beside Su Che's bed.
When Shi met Zhang Yue and arrived here, he was busy paying homage to him.
Zhang Yue knew that although Mr. Shi was from an ordinary background, he was also generous and well-managed. Su Che has no romantic brothers, no concubines, only his wife. Perhaps because of this, Zhang Yue and Su Che became more attached to each other.
But when Shi Shi sent his children away, he bowed to Zhang Yue in front of Su Zhe's bed and said, "The official said just before he fell into coma that if something unexpected happened to him, he would give this to Zhang Yue and tell him that with his This will surely bring justice to him."
Zhang Yue took a note, glanced at it, put it in the center of the boot page and said, Su Che almost died for this note.
Zhang Yue thought to himself that fortunately he did not relax his inspection of Lu Huiqing's accounts because of his pretentious peace talks.
Su Zhe also first reviewed the old accounts of Sinong Temple over the years. He found some clues, so he kept the evidence... However, he did not expect the enemy's ferocity. Yuan Jiang, the envoy of the Third Division, actually set fire to the Third Division himself. .
Thinking of this, Su Zhe woke up on the couch and shouted: "Is it Zhang... Duan Ming?"
Zhang Yue was immediately overjoyed and held Su Che's hand and said, "Ziyou, it's my fault that brought you here."
Su Zhe said feebly: "Ziyou deeply regretted not being able to repay Zhang Gong, but fortunately he did not disgrace his life and found the real evidence here. But Thief Lu is extremely cunning, and now he is in power. Even with this evidence, I am afraid he will not be able to defeat him for a while." You can keep this as a clue, as Thief Lu is a person, he will come in handy sooner or later."
"Actually, it was Su who was negligent this time. The old officials in the Third Division were the ones behind the scenes. They had been worried about Su checking his accounts before, so they sent people to report the matter several times, and even bribed him with heavy sums of money. But Su But he didn’t accept it.”
Zhang Yue suddenly realized that everything was clear in his heart. The Third Division is known as the world of public servants.
In other words, the real power is not in the hands of officials, but in the hands of the officials in the yamen, that is, the public servants.
When the officials below reported accounts, and if there was any discrepancy in money, they had to give the official a benefit. This is the so-called Song Dynasty that "anything that affects the world can't be accomplished without money."
In other words, you need money to do anything. As you can see from Water Margin, if anything passes through the hands of public officials, they must be rewarded with benefits, otherwise they will use their legal power to harm you.
And Sansili is where the world's money comes in and out, and there are no need to explain the tricks in it. Han Jiang had to live within his means and re-audit past accounts, which would inevitably involve a lot of old accounts, putting everyone in the third department at risk.
Because officials can leave after working for a year and a half at most, even if they are unclear about what they have to say, it can be discussed, and those petty officials have worked for more than ten years. They have collected money for so many years, and they do not have the talisman of a civilian official. , it is a capital crime if found out.
Why were there no problems with previous audits? Because in the past, the third department audited itself, but now Han Jiang has set up the third department accounting department to audit from the outside, and he has used Su Che, who is not good at doing oil and salt...
In the end, Lu Huiqing took advantage of the situation and took advantage of the matter...
That night Han Jiang's confidant Zhang Duan came to look for Zhang Yue and brought a handwritten letter from Han Jiang. There were only a few words on it, regretting not listening to your words.
Zhang Yue was speechless about Han Jiang's letter. What's the point of talking about it now?
When he first advised Han Jiang to fight for "state power" with Lu Huiqing, he didn't listen. Later, when he advised Han Jiang to protect Feng Jing, he didn't listen either. Now he thinks that setting up a third accounting department can strangle Lu Huiqing. When Huiqing's throat was cut, the other party struck first.
It's too late to say anything now.
Now that she had taken all the blame for him, what was the use of Han Jiang expressing guilt to herself.
The next day's political affairs hall meeting, Han Jiang excused his absence, and Lu Huiqing presided over it. Compared with previous political affairs hall meetings, there was one less Feng Jing and one more Zhang Dun.
Because of Zhang Dun's meritorious service in putting out the fire, the emperor had ordered him to send three envoys to replace Yuan Jiang who was dismissed due to the fire. Lu Huiqing asked Zhang Dun to attend the political affairs hall meeting as the third envoy.
Today, Lu Huiqing is sitting where Han Jiang used to sit. In the past, when Han Jiang was away, Lu Huiqing would not dare to sit in this position. Lu Huiqing was particularly imposing and looked at everyone with cold and stern eyes, changing their original respectful attitude.
Because Wang Gui, who participated in Feng Jing's politics, had left, he was even more isolated and alone. He even bowed to Lu Huiqing to please him. Even Zhang Yue, who was sitting in the audience, secretly felt embarrassed for his teacher.
However, Wang Gui didn't realize it at all. He was smiling and complimenting Lu Huiqing, who was much younger than him.
A fire in Sansi changed everything.
Zhang Yue sat aside and watched Lu Huiqing preside over the meeting with an unquestionable tone.
Lu Huiqing was first indignant about the burning of the Third Division: "This time the Third Division burned 1,800 houses, nearly all the eucalyptus slips, and lost millions of goods. The Third Division now has no choice but to work in Shangshu Province, and the imperial court It is planned to transfer wood from the Xihe River to rebuild the Third Division, which is another first-class expenditure. The emperor was furious about this, so he issued an edict to severely punish it."
"The third envoy Quan, Hanlin bachelor and attendant bachelor, Yuan Jiangluo, the attendant bachelor, dismissed the third envoy, Zhang Wenzhi, the deputy envoy of salt and iron, and the doctor of the Ministry of household affairs, Li Duanqing, the judge of Guozhou, and the doctor of the Ministry of Jin, Li Duanqing, became the general judge of the army, and One official was demoted; Jia Changheng, deputy envoy of the Ministry of Hubu and Taichang Shaoqing, Sun Tan, deputy envoy of Duzhi and doctor of the Ministry of Punishment, and the remaining 12 judges, prosecutors, Tiju Zhang, and Gouyuan were all reassigned and fined thirty coppers. Jin; Song Di, the chief minister of the imperial court, supervised the three ministers and Li Shiliang, the head of the inner chamber, and seized two officials and restrained him. Su Zhe, the Zuo Lang, seized one official and restrained him. Do you have any objections? "
As expected, Lu Huiqing conducted a major shake-up of all the forces in the three divisions.
Lu Huiqing is really cruel and ruthless.
At this moment, Zhang Yue suddenly remembered a sentence that was circulated on the Internet in later generations.
Never doubt the cruelty of political struggle, never underestimate the shamelessness of intellectuals, and never forget the ignorance of the people.
Now Zhang Yue fully agrees with the first two sentences, and this time he finally paid enough tuition.
After the Zhengshitang meeting, Lu Huiqing said to Zhang Yue: "Stay here!"
Zhang Yue stayed behind, leaving only him and Lu Huiqing in the hall, and all the minor officials on the side also left.
Lu Huiqing smiled at Zhang Yue, but this smile was a little different from the previous smile that looked humble and had a hint of unruliness. Today, Lu Huiqing's smile seemed a little inquiring, as if he was assessing the damage caused to him this time. How many.
Zhang Yue spread his hands to Lu Huiqing and said with a smile: "Brother Jifu, it was your clever move and you won."
Lu Huiqing smiled and then said seriously: "I don't understand what Du Zhi said."
Zhang Yue smiled when he heard this, and then said: "Brother Jifu, where do you plan to help me arrange my trip this time?"
Lu Huiqing smiled and said: "Duzhi, you and I have known each other for many years. I will speak for you when it comes to officials. Just stay in Beijing. I will need more help from you in the future."
Zhang Yue said: "Brother Jifu, what are you talking about? If I stay in Jingli, you may not be able to sleep well at night!"
Lu Huiqing smiled and said: "Du Zhi, you are really good at joking. Since you plan to go out to relax, you can come back after a while. In addition to several prefectures in the world, if you want to know any state, I will arrange it for you. That’s it.”
For example, at the level of Jiangning Prefecture and Daming Prefecture, only Prime Ministers Wang Anshi and Han Jiang can concurrently serve as magistrates or magistrates when they are abroad.
At the level of Zhang Yue, it is almost as good as participating in political affairs, but the states below the government can choose at will.
Zhang Yue smiled and said: "That's easy to handle. What do you think of me returning to Jianzhou to know the state?"
After saying this, Zhang Yue and Lu Huiqing looked at each other and laughed.
Lu Huiqing smiled and said: "I really admire Duzhi for having the leisure to joke at this time. It seems that you will be back soon."
Zhang Yue said: "It doesn't matter whether you come back or not. Let me ask Brother Jifu, what do you think about the reform of the exemption law that you and I discussed before?"
Lu Huiqing's face darkened and he said, "I never compromise my words when doing things because of people. In less than a month, the exemption law will be changed, and everything will be as you and I discussed before."
Zhang Yue was delighted when he heard this. He thought Lu Huiqing would default on his debt.
"That's great. Zhang thanked Mr. Lu on behalf of those poor people."
Lu Huiqing sneered and said: "Who do you think Lu is? Am I a person who breaks my word? Besides, you are the one who pushed this matter. When the time comes, in front of the officials, Lu will be fully aware of your achievements." stated.”
Zhang Yue smiled and said: "It doesn't matter if you have credit or not. The law of exemption from service was originally established by me and Mr. Han, but now everyone thinks it belongs to Mr. Wang and Mr. Lu. What can I say?"
Lu Huiqing was a little unhappy when he heard this and said, "Du Zhi, now you and I won't say these unhappy words."
"I leave you here today because I want to say something from the bottom of my heart. Lu has offended too many people over the years, and I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to be in his position. He may even not be able to go out safely in a few days. Or maybe it's just as you said. You can’t even tell if you eat a sword.”
At this point, Lu Huiqing sighed.
Zhang Yue said: "Brother Jifu, you are also participating in politics now, why do you have to say such depressing words?"
Lu Huiqing said: "Du Zhi, I regard you as a confidant and someone I can talk to you about. I want to say a few words from the bottom of my heart to you. But what do you mean by laughing at Lu?"
confidant? I send you away from your close friend thousands of miles away?
"Brother Jifu's words are serious, that's all you need to say. The word "confidant" is beyond the reach of Zhang. However, there is a saying that there is no friend in the road ahead. I believe Brother Jifu will definitely find friends on the road."
Lu Huiqing laughed and said: "Du Zhi, you and Zihou are really brothers, and you always say that you will never forgive others. But Zihou, haha..."
Lu Huiqing glanced at Zhang Yue, and the implication seemed to be that Zhang Dun and I are the same people, but our friendship with you is deeper.
Having said this, Lu Huiqing clasped his hands behind his back and walked slowly in the hall: "But having said that, after Lu, you are the only one in the world who can be regarded as a prime minister, Zihou is the other, and your nephew is also one. "
Zhang Yue thought of this and said: "Brother Jifu, please don't involve my nephew in your affairs."
Lu Huiqing said: "Let's face it, Lu is not an unreasonable person. Don't tell me whether I am willing or not? If Zihou knew that I had this intention, he would not forgive me."
Zhang Yue nodded.
After a pause, Lu Huiqing said: "But having said that, do you know that since the Duke of Xi became the prime minister, our Fujian people Xuan Ma worshiped the prime minister, and there was an endless stream of officials and political parties. Why is this?"
Zhang Yue said: "Taizu said that he was not allowed to use southerners as prime ministers. After Wang Qinruo and the Duke of Xi, of course southerners were more appreciated by the emperor."
Lu Huiqing said: "Yes, the so-called ability to know the emperor's will is the only reason why Lu is more conceited than you and Mr. Han."
"In the final analysis, neither you nor Mr. Han can take the path that the emperor wants to take in his heart. Only Lu can take it!"
Zhang Yue chuckled to himself. Lu Huiqing's words sounded similar to Li Shizhong's words, "Your Majesty, who else would you rather me?"
Zhang Yue said with a smile: "Listening to your words is better than ten years of reading. Zhang has been taught a lesson. How will Brother Jifu take this path in the future? Zhang is really willing to wait and see, so I say goodbye!"
Lu Huiqing nodded when he heard this and personally escorted Zhang Yue out of the political hall. In the eyes of the court officials and outsiders, the two said goodbye like good friends.
Before leaving, Lu Huiqing said to Zhang Yue: "Du Zhi, you and I only have political opinions, but it does not hinder our personal relationship. If Lu cannot continue on this road in the future, it is time for you to come and do something about it." ."
"But if I see with my own eyes that all these years of hard work have been changed by you, it would be better for Lu to die!"
Zhang Yue said: "Brother Jifu, what are you talking about? Didn't you just change the exemption law? If this day comes, you and I can discuss the issue of national affairs together."
Lu Huiqing smiled and shook his head: "I'm afraid this day may not come to an end."
The two bowed to each other and then said goodbye.
At this moment, in the palace, the emperor, who was feeling a little cold, looked at Li Xian, who had just returned to Beijing from Xihe to report on his duties, and said, "You will slowly tell me about Xihe's affairs in the future."
"There must be something fishy about the fire in the Third Division. The first thing you have to do after returning to the capital is to lead the Imperial City Division to investigate the matter."
"I want to take down the real culprit!"
"promise!"
Li Xian agreed immediately.
PS: The historical fire of the Sansi Accounting Department happened before the establishment of the Sansi Accounting Department. Some people suspect that the New Party deliberately planned this conflagration, completely abolishing the power of the three departments, changing a group of people from top to bottom, and making the financial power belong to Zhongshu from now on.
Yuan Jiang and Song Di were punished very lightly afterwards, and this book has adapted them.
