Nanyuan, located twenty miles outside Beijing, has been a royal hunting ground since the Yuan Dynasty. It is also called Nanhaizi because of the Yongding River passing through it and its dense springs.
When Emperor Taizong was still King of Yan, he often came to Nanyuan for hunting. After moving the capital, he expanded the place and built 120 miles of walls and many palaces, making Nanyuan famous. "Southern Autumn Wind" among the Ten Scenes of Yanjing.
As a royal hunting ground, Nanyuan was affiliated to Shanglin Garden. Like Neiku, Huangzhuang, and Huangdian, it was a private property of the royal family. There were thousands of people in the sea who were responsible for raising animals for the royal hunting.
However, with the death of the late emperor and the young age of the orthodox emperor, there has been no large-scale hunting in Nanyuan for more than ten years. Nanyuan has gradually become a place to supply cattle, sheep, fruits and vegetables to the palace.
The emperor personally presided over the spring hunt this time, which should be regarded as the largest hunt in Nanyuan in recent years. Therefore, from the moment the order was received, everyone was busy, and finally everything was ready.
On the fifteenth day of March, early in the morning, the ministers met outside Fengtian Gate. The sky was getting brighter and the palace gate was opened wide. Two chariots drove side by side and went out from the palace gate at the same time. Following them, the Chang A long procession of honor guards.
Since it is spring hunting, even if it is a national ceremony, the battles must not be small. Naturally, it cannot be completed in one day. In addition, in addition to the emperor and the emperor, there are also people participating in the spring hunting this time. The civil and military ministers in the court, noble families, envoys from all over the world, and even elite soldiers selected from the capital camp.
A mighty team stood up with whips and headed towards Nanyuan.
According to the etiquette submitted by the Ministry of Rites, the spring hunting lasted for three days. On the first day, they worshiped the heaven, on the second day they hunted, on the third day they performed martial arts, and after giving a banquet, they returned to the capital on the fourth day.
Although it was only twenty miles away, except for a few highly respected ministers who were given carriages by the emperor, most ministers could only follow the team obediently and walk on their feet.
Therefore, this spring hunting was a hard job for them. The meandering team set off early in the morning and by the time they arrived at Nanyuan, it was already sunrise.
After arriving at the palace, we settled down for a while and had lunch, followed by the tedious ceremony of offering sacrifices to the heavens. After a whole day, it was not finished until the evening.
Of course, only ordinary ministers took a break, and a group of important ministers couldn't take a break because they had to go to the palace to meet the emperor.
The palace was brightly lit, and the emperor was sitting next to the case. Beside him were Huai En and a eunuch who didn't look too familiar. Next to him was Lu Zhong, the commander of the Jinyi Guards in a flying fish robe. There were several documents on the case. .
Looking down, three ministers in crimson official robes were standing nearby with bitter expressions on their faces. These three people were none other than Wang Wen, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Shen Yi, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and the Governor of the Ducha Yuan. Chen Yi, the censor of Zuodu.
"Tell me, what's going on?"
Correspondingly, the emperor above him looked relaxed and asked with a smile.
But the more this happened, the more bitter the expressions of the three people below became. You looked at me, I looked at you, but no one responded.
After a while, Chen Yi said bravely.
"Your Majesty, there may be a misunderstanding about this matter. How about calling Linyuan Supervisor Chen Yong over? Maybe he can explain it clearly?"
"Chen Yong?"
Hearing this name, the emperor's expression changed, and then he said casually while the three people below looked at him.
"I don't want to see him. He should be in prison right now. Oh, by the way, take a look at the things that the Jin Yiwei just confiscated from his mansion?"
As he spoke, the emperor took out a booklet from the case and asked the chamberlain to pass it on. When several people looked at it carefully, they immediately broke out in cold sweat.
Among them, Shen Yi reacted the most, almost jumping to his feet.
At the same time, Zhu Qiyu's expression finally turned cold.
"A mere supervisor of Shanglinyuan, under the eyes of the imperial court, collected nearly 30,000 taels of silver. The gold and silver utensils at home, land deeds, mansions, shops and houses, in total, amounted to nearly 100,000 taels at least. It's so big. Courage!"
"Shang Shu Shen?"
"I'm here!"
Chen Yi complained endlessly in his heart, but he did not dare to neglect and responded immediately.
He had happily followed the emperor to spring hunting today, but who would have thought that he would be called over as soon as he arrived at the palace.
When the emperor told him, he realized that it was because someone had sued Shanglinyuan.
The matter is actually very simple. The emperor wants to personally preside over the spring hunting, so he sends the imperial army in advance to take over the defense of Shanglinyuan.
The day before the emperor's arrival, Lu Zhong, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, went to Nanyuan for inspection as usual. As a result, after such an inspection, he discovered something was wrong.
In the huge Nanyuan, there are only some hares, deer, pheasants and other common folk animals. There are only a few elk that were specially raised in the early years, as well as tigers and leopards.
You must know that the late emperor was fond of hunting and had specially ordered people to raise many ferocious beasts. To this day, the imperial court still allocates a special amount of silver to Shanglin Garden to raise these ferocious beasts every year.
But now, when it's time to hunt, there are very few of these ferocious beasts.
Therefore, Lu Zhongdang rushed back to the palace and reported the matter to the emperor, which led to the current scene.
"If I remember correctly, the supervisor of Shanglinyuan is a fifth-grade official with an annual salary of one hundred and ninety-two dan. Rice is expensive in the capital, but at most it only costs eight dan of silver per dan."
"Shang Shu Shen is a famous golden abacus. Come and calculate it for me. How many years does Chen Yong have to save without eating or drinking to have a fortune of one hundred thousand taels!"
When these words were spoken, Shen Shangshu could clearly hear the emperor's uncontrollable anger. He was really angry!
"Your Majesty, calm down, I am guilty!"
Although the emperor's calculation is a bit far-fetched, there are only a few officials in the capital who really rely on their salaries to survive.
Even if we don't talk about some gray income, just the firewood silver, the tax-free silver from the farmland, and the regular silver tacitly approved by the court, all added up, a fifth-grade official can get dozens of taels of silver every month, which is higher than his salary. Much.
If you add in those gray incomes that are illegal but everyone is doing, such as sending land under your name, writing inscriptions and refining pens, local officials' charcoal respect and filial piety from gentry and merchants, etc., even if it is an ordinary Qingshui Yamen, combined, it will be more Not to mention, there are always hundreds of taels of silver a year.
However, one hundred thousand taels is a bit too much!
You know, even if Shen Yi is an important official in the court and is in charge of Ming Dynasty's money bag, his family wealth is only tens of thousands of taels.
Of course, this is because Shen Shangshu has a bright career and cherishes feathers, so he disdains some tricks of corruption and bribery.
But don't forget, Shen Yi is already in the first echelon of civil servants, and there are only a few people in the court who have the same status as him.
But even he didn't have a hundred thousand taels in his family, which shows how daring this Chen Yong is.
On the other side, Chen Yi's face was also livid. He was called here today. He only knew that Shanglinyuan had lost many tigers, leopards, elk, elk and other rare and exotic animals, but he never thought that such a serious matter was involved behind this.
Looking at the people kneeling on the ground, Zhu Qiyu's face softened slightly, but he still said with a bit of anger.
"Shanglinyuan Supervisor is not a powerful yamen. I think there are only a few ways for Chen Yong to get money. There is probably no chance of accepting bribes, but corruption must be investigated."
"In addition, all the tigers, leopards and elk raised in Shanglin Garden have disappeared. I'm afraid they have something to do with him as the prisoner."
"The primary responsibility for this matter lies with the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Sixth Section and the Thirteen Roads. The Guizhou Taoist Association is in charge of the Shanglinyuan Supervisor. Chen Yong has been in office for several years, but the Guizhou Taoist censors are not aware of it. This is a dereliction of duty!"
Chen Yi lowered his head and was scolded silently.
Although, he can actually argue with many reasons.
For example, in recent years, there have been many things happening in the court, especially after the turmoil of the civil war. The whole court is full of waste and many things. It is inevitable that an unpopular place like Shanglinyuan cannot be taken into consideration for a while. .
For another example, the personnel of the Metropolitan Procuratorate have undergone serious changes in the past two years. In addition to Chen Yi, the Zuodu censor, there are often vacancies in the six subjects and thirteen roads, plus the Qiandu censor and the deputy capital censor, and there is a serious shortage of manpower. , and the flow is very serious.
For another example, in recent days, the Metropolitan Procuratorate has been fully cooperating with the Ministry of War to conduct an inventory of the military settlements. At least half of the censors have been scattered across the border to measure acres of land and redraw the fish scale atlas.
These reasons can all be given, and they are real.
However, Chen Yi didn't say anything.
Because no matter how many excuses there are, the mistake cannot be covered up. The emperor is right. Such a big mistake was made by the Shanglinyuan Supervisor. It is the fault of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. As the head of Fengxian, he, the Zuodu Censor, is the first to bear the brunt.
What's more, Chen Yi also knew very well in his heart that the emperor was not an indiscriminate person, and he was also aware of the actual situation of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Therefore, there was some reprimand, but he would not be too harsh in his thinking.
As expected, the emperor cursed a few words, seemed to be a lot more angry, and continued to speak.
"After passing the decree, the censor of Guizhou Dao will be demoted one level and return to the government for investigation. The remaining censors of Guizhou Dao will all be fined three months' salary and handed over to the Ministry of Punishment and Jin Yiwei for investigation. If there is any concealment, failure to report, corruption or bribery, they will be punished. Extra sin!"
"According to the order!"
Chen Yi sighed in his heart. Sure enough, even if the emperor understood the difficulties of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he could not escape the punishment.
However, this is normal. Chen Yong was able to amass such a huge amount of wealth, which shows that what he did has not been done in a day. Even though the affairs of the court have been complicated recently, no one cares about the small Shanglinyuan Supervisor.
But if Guizhou Dao, who is responsible for the custody, says that he has not noticed it at all, it is probably impossible. There must be some partiality and perversion of the law.
If it were normal, that would be fine, but now that the emperor personally presides over the spring hunting, this matter is obviously unsolvable. Chen Yi is prepared for this.
However, what surprised him was that the candidate assigned by the emperor turned out to be the Ministry of Punishment and the Jin Yiwei...
You know, this kind of case is usually handled directly by Jin Yiwei. This time, it was handed over to the Ministry of Punishment, which reminded Chen Yi of the emperor's handling of the Ren Li case in the same way.
Thinking again of the palace examination case, the emperor also handed it over to the Dali Temple for trial, with the assistance of the Jin Yiwei. Chen Yi seemed to have some sense of the connection between these cases, but he couldn't think clearly.
However, since the emperor said this, it means that the responsibility of the Procuratorate in this matter ends here.
So next...
"In addition to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the staff cannot escape responsibility!"
After scolding Chen Yi, Zhu Qiyu turned his head and focused his attention on Wang Wen.
Mr. Wang Lao Shangshu knelt on the ground with sullen eyebrows and drooping eyes, as if he was ready to be beaten and scolded.
In the whole court, this person only behaves like this in front of the emperor. Anyone else dares to say whether this old man is reasonable or not, he will cause trouble.
But in front of the emperor...
"Wang Shangshu, how long has Chen Yong been serving as Supervisor of Shanglin Garden? How is his evaluation?"
It should be said that as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Mr. Wang's business ability is still very good. From top to bottom, whether it is the capital or the local government, the resumes of all officials above the seventh rank are stored in his mind.
Therefore, when the emperor asked, Wang Wen immediately answered.
"Back to Your Majesty, Chen Yong was transferred to the post of Supervisor of Shanlinyuan in the sixth year of Zhengtong. In the ninth year of Zhengtong, he was promoted to the position of Supervisor due to excellent evaluation. He was re-evaluated in the twelfth year of Zhengtong. His performance was average. The Ministry of Personnel planned to stay in office until now. Last year, when he was inspected in Beijing, Chen It is rated as average or above in the mediocrity test, so the tune has not been changed.”
"In this case, including the time he served as the eunuch, Chen Yong has been in Shanglinyuan for nearly ten years. No wonder he dares to do this!"
With a cold snort, Zhu Qiyu's tone became a little unhappy again and said.
"I won't mention many things before, but Chen Yong's actions in the Beijing inspection last year were still rated as average and above. It can be seen that the Beijing inspection still has some untrue things, and this is the fault of the official department."
"After returning to Beijing this time, you will do three things."
"First, check the Lang Guan who was responsible for evaluating the officials in the Shanglin Garden during the Beijing inspection last year, and strictly investigate whether there was any bribery, favoritism, malpractice or dereliction of duty."
"Secondly, a gentleman should correct himself first. After you return, you will personally preside over it, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate will coordinate with you to investigate all the officials and members of the civil service department. Anyone who shows favoritism will be severely punished!"
"Third, immediately add the censors of the Departments of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and temporarily give in to the rest of the selection matters. Priority will be given to ensuring that the posts of the six departments and thirteen departments are full, so as to avoid the recurrence of the Shanglinyuan Supervisor incident."
After Wang Wen finished speaking, Chen Yi cast an envious and jealous look at Wang Wen.
Damn, the same people have different fates!
For this matter, it is clear that both the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Personnel are taking the blame. Even if we look at it in detail, the Ministry of Personnel is even more responsible.
After all, just after the Beijing inspection last year, Chen Yong was not found out for being so lazy and derelict in his duties, and he still got an above-average evaluation. This is a proper dereliction of duty by the officials.
But what's the result?
His subordinates who were suspended from duty and those who were awaiting investigation were directly handed over to the Criminal Department and Jin Yiwei.
When it was Wang Wen's turn, he was asked to investigate favoritism in the ministry by himself, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate was asked to cooperate with him in rectifying ministry affairs.
This is not punishing him, it is clearly helping the old guy further control the staff!
However, after thinking about the emperor's last words, Mr. Chen had to suppress it no matter how dissatisfied he felt.
After all, if you get benefits, you have to work.
Nodding reluctantly, Mr. Chen reluctantly followed Wang Wen.
"I accept the decree."
So, Zhu Qiyu shifted his gaze to the last person.
"Shang Shu Shen!"
"I'm here..."
Chen Yi carefully looked at the emperor's expression, feeling a little uneasy. Logically speaking, this matter had nothing to do with Hu Bu.
So, under Shen Shangshu's anxious eyes, Zhu Qiyu said.
"Originally, this matter should have something to do with the Ministry of Household Affairs. However, the number of livestock and animals raised by Shanglin Yuanjian should be different every year. However, the fodder, grain, and silver required by Shanglin Yuanjian every year are almost the same. When you checked the accounts before, Didn’t you notice?”
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