Looking at the memorial in front of him, Zhu Qiyu's face became more and more ugly, and his finger joints turned a little white. He did not expect that a little Ji Tong would be implicated in such a series of things.
After tasting the sweetness of using money to open a road, Ji Tong wanted to repeat his old trick and use money to seek advancement. According to what Shu Liang found, he had already bribed the prefect of the state capital. At the same time, the governor's Yamen He also bribed people.
It can be said that Ji Tong simply bribed everyone he could see, but this was not enough. In the end, the inspection by the Ministry of Officials not only had to refer to the report from the state capital, but also the local inspection censor. conclusions given.
Ji Tong couldn't bribe these patrolling censors. That's not to say that the censors couldn't be bribed. The point of this sentence is.
'Ji Tong' cannot be bought.
In order to prevent Kedao officials from practicing favoritism and colluding with local officials, the imperial court had particularly strict jurisdiction over Kedao.
These inspection censors basically have to rotate the areas they monitor every once in a while. Moreover, the area each of them is responsible for covers at least several counties. Each county can only stay for a month or two at most. Therefore, if we have not had a long-standing friendship, it would be difficult to establish a tacit understanding of trusting the other party in such a short period of time.
To put it bluntly, after only knowing each other for a month or two, he was already giving money to others in a hurry. Ji Tong dared to give it, but the other party did not dare to accept it. Who knew if there was some trap hidden behind this.
However, Wang Xuan was different. He had been in the capital since he became an official. Moreover, he had been a royal censor before, and now he was considered a member of the imperial court. His network of contacts was much wider than that of Ji Tong.
Over the years, Ji Tong and Wang Xuan have always been in contact, and Ji Tong often sends "gifts" to Wang Xuan during holidays. Therefore, the relationship between the two has always been good.
After Ji Tong planned to borrow money to pave the way, he took advantage of the opportunity to return to Beijing to report on his work and met with Wang Xuan. It is not clear what they discussed specifically, but after Ji Tong left, Wang Xuan began to move around and replace Ji Tong. The same relationship as dredging.
With Wang Xuan's many years of connections in Beijing, as expected, he soon found the censor responsible for inspecting Jiangxi. According to the results of the Dongchang investigation, in the past few years, through Wang Xuan, Ji Tong has successively visited several people responsible for Jiangxi. The censor had nearly ten thousand taels of silver stuffed in his body.
Such a waste of time, the effect is naturally significant. Although there were many troubles under Ji Tong's rule in the past few years, with the protection of the government office and the fact that the patrolling censor turned a blind eye, he was allowed to remain under the supervision of the official department. Evaluations have always been excellent.
Of course, the role of money is naturally indispensable in this. If there had not been this disaster, then at the end of this year, with the excellent evaluation given by the government and the help of people from the staff, Ji Tong would have been successfully promoted to Beijing. It is said that, He even chose the position, starting from the sixth rank of Guanglu Temple Cheng.
Unfortunately, something like this suddenly happened in Jiangxi. The victims rioted, looted places, and various incidents occurred frequently. Coupled with the official plan, many newly promoted censors were activated. It happened that they were on a tour of Jiangxi. He was the candidate who had just passed the examination in the first year of Jingtai. Therefore, Wang Xuan and he were not familiar with each other, and this case was revealed...
After reading this memorial, Zhu Qiyu's face became even more ugly. Judging from the current situation, Ji Tong was not the only one involved, but Wang Xuan, the local government officials, and several imperial officials in Beijing who were bribed by him. Officials from the history and even the Ministry of Civil Affairs were involved. Taken together, there were at least a dozen. It can be said to be the first major corruption case in the Jingtai Dynasty.
but……
After reading the memorial, Zhu Qiyu's eyes fell on Shu Liang beside him and he asked.
"This case is indeed shocking, but there are still two questions. First, why did Wang Xuan take the initiative to surrender? Second, why did Xu Youzhen get involved in this matter?"
Although it is said that the Ministry of Justice has now traced Wang Xuan through Ji Tong, it has still not taken any action because the evidence at hand is not enough.
Under this situation, Wang Xuan actually still has some time to save himself. Now that he has taken the initiative to surrender, even if he drags Chen Ying and even Chen Xun into the water, his own guilt cannot be alleviated in the slightest.
It's not as if Zhu Qiyu cared about Chen Xun, the seventh minister, and forgave him along with him. So from this point of view, Wang Xuan's behavior is indeed suspicious.
Next is Xu Youzhen. At present, this case has nothing to do with Xu Youzhen. Even in the list of Wang Xuan's bribes, Xu Youzhen's name is not included.
In this case, why would he take the risk and get involved in this matter?
Shu Liang lowered his head, obviously he had expected Zhu Qiyu to ask this question. After a moment of hesitation, he spoke.
"Your Majesty is aware that this matter is of great importance. I have not verified it yet, so I dare not make false claims."
Hearing this, Zhu Qiyu frowned.
What this means is that some things have been found, but there is no conclusive evidence. Shu Liang's character has never been such a forward-thinking person. From this point of view, I am afraid that there is something hidden behind this matter that is indeed not simple. .
When things got to this point, Zhu Qiyu actually had no time and said it bluntly.
"If you have anything to say, just say it and I will forgive you."
So, Shu Liang slowly raised his head and said.
"Your Majesty, the context of the same case this season is now clear, but behind this case, there are indeed other cases hidden."
"When I was investigating the relationship between Wang Xuan and Xu Youzhen, I found that although the two of them had some contacts, their friendship was not particularly deep. The reason why they were able to get together was all because of Liu Yi, a member of the Criminal Department. .”
Hearing this name, Zhu Qiyu was a little confused. He couldn't be blamed for this. After all, there were too many officials in the imperial court. Even if he had lived in two lifetimes, the only ones he could remember were some important figures. A mere doctor from the Ministry of Justice, It wasn't enough for him to take note of.
Seeing this situation, Shu Liang explained.
"This person, like Xu Youzhen, was a Jinshi in the eighth year of Xuande's reign. He served successively as the censor of Shanxi and the magistrate of Liuhe County. He was later transferred to the Ministry of Punishment and served as a doctor in the Jiangxi Qing Dynasty."
Shu Liang had already investigated this information in advance, and when he took it out at this moment, he naturally picked it up easily. After saying this, Zhu Qiyu thought about it and reluctantly remembered this person.
After all, the Ministry of Punishment has thirteen Purification Officials Division, and the manpower is the most complex. He has no impression of Liu Yi, but he still has some impression of this official of Jiangxi Purification Officials Division.
If I remember correctly, this person's ability is pretty good. Jin Lian once praised him, saying that he was familiar with criminal laws, handled things neatly, and was a talented person.
After thinking about this, Zhu Qiyu couldn't help but ask.
"Is this Liu Yi involved in this matter?"
Shu Liang nodded cautiously and said.
"Your Majesty Mingjian, Liu Yi is good friends with Wang Xuan and Xu Youzhen. Wang Xuan has often sent some money to Liu Yi before. However, Wang Xuan has sent money to many officials, and Liu Yi is not one of them. The most collected among them.”
"Moreover, many of Ji Tong's previous matters were suppressed before reaching the Ministry of Justice. Therefore, although Liu Yi received some money, he did not help Ji Tong. Therefore, Ji Tong's case this time, Liu Yi is not involved."
"If that's the case, why check him?"
Zhu Qiyu frowned, slightly confused.
Offering and accepting bribes is certainly a serious crime, but it must also be combined with bending the law for personal gain, which is a serious crime. Otherwise, just accepting bribes will be punished, but it will not be too serious.
So Shu Liang continued.
"When I first investigated the case, I thought so too. However, because he, Xu Youzhen, and Wang Xuan are good friends, I investigated more carefully. After such investigation, I found out a major incident."
As he spoke, Shu Liang took out another secret memorial from his sleeve, handed it over and said.
"Your Majesty, although this Liu Yi has never done anything for Ji Tong, he himself is not clean. He not only accepted money from Wang Xuan, but also accepted bribes many times. The amount was large and small. No, and it’s basically all related to the case in his hands.”
"This memorial was discovered by a slave. Among the cases handled by Liu Yi, there may be cases of accepting bribes, bending the law for personal gain, or even cases of dereliction of duty and violation of judgment. At present, there are a total of twenty-six cases, which are as serious as murder. , as small as raping civilian girls, everything is involved.”
"Some of the criminals involved in the case are court officials, and some are the children of officials. However, most of them have a common characteristic, that is, they were either born in Suzhou, or they were Jinshi in the same field in the eighth year of Xuande..."
At this time, Zhu Qiyu's brows tightened completely. He picked up the secret music in front of him, opened it and read it carefully. After looking at it, his face became even more gloomy.
What is different from the previous one describing Ji Tong's case is that this memorial covers a wider scope. Adding up the large and small, there are dozens of officials, with grades ranging from seventh to eighth grade officials. There are officials up to the fourth rank.
In addition, as Shu Liang said, many of these cases have not been verified, firstly because the time is too short and too many officials are involved, and secondly because several years have passed in some of these cases. Even longer, it is very complicated to check.
Seeing that Zhu Qiyu had basically finished reading, Shu Liang continued to speak.
"Your Majesty, there are still many things that I have not investigated clearly. However, it is conceivable that this Liu Yi is just the beginning. Among these cases, Liu Yi did not have a cashier, but he still helped. Follow the context and investigate carefully. When I went down, I found that although no bribes were taken, these officials had helped Liu Yi in other places."
"Some of them used their power to facilitate several business relatives in Liu Yi's family, some of them bent the law for personal gain and helped Liu Yi and his relatives cover up illegal activities, and some of them put in good words for Liu Yi in court..."
At this point, Shu Liang paused for a moment, and then he spoke cautiously.
"It also involves some things worthy of careful study..."
This was not made very clear, but after reading this memorial, Zhu Qiyu already knew what Shu Liang's words meant.
Wang Xuan is not important, and Liu Yi is not important either. However, starting from them, a whole huge network of interests can be established step by step.
These people, relying on the friendship of being in the same year, hometown, and classmates, as well as money to clear the way, helped each other, took advantage of each other's power, embezzled and accepted bribes, protected relatives, annexed land, and committed all kinds of illegal things.
Then, relying on the already formed chain of interests, they cover up and protect each other, and ultimately achieve the result of getting away with it, or even getting promoted step by step.
In this way, the actions of Wang Xuan and Xu Youzhen can be explained.
The reason why Wang Xuan surrendered was because if the Ministry of Punishment was allowed to continue its investigation, it would definitely find Liu Yi, and then follow the clues to find out everything.
For Wang Xuan, the matter has reached this point and he can no longer escape the punishment of the court. However, if these "colleagues" are still there, then he may still have the possibility of revenge. On the contrary, if all these people are dragged down because of him. If he goes into the water, then not only will he have no hope of getting back up, but he will also offend a large number of people in the court. When the time comes, it will be doubtful whether he can survive.
Therefore, he could only choose to surrender and then involve Chen Ying. In this way, everyone in the court would focus on Chen Xun and not care about other people Wang Xuan had bribed. , even if they knew how to investigate, they would only stop at Liu Yi's level at most, and would not go any further.
As for Xu Youzhen, although he and Wang Xuan have friendship, they are not directly involved. However, the chain of interests between Wang Xuan and Liu Yi and them are closely related to Xu Youzhen.
Shu Liang has just said that these people have one thing in common, that is, they were either born in Suzhou or were Jinshi in the eighth year of Xuande.
Xu Youzhen was a native of Wuxian County, Suzhou, and he was also a Jinshi in the eighth year of Xuande. He had always been the most powerful and reliable helper in the officialdom, being from the same hometown and same age.
Even Xu Youzhen himself is a part of this interest network. Judging from what Shu Liang found out, when the canal was built, Xu Youzhen used his power to buy a lot of wood and stone at high prices, all with him. After the construction of the canal was completed, when relatives of officials who had friendship with them reported their merits to the court, some people also used his connections to sneak into the list of meritorious officials.
Although he has now returned to the sect of the emperor Zhu Qiyu, officialdom has official rules, and many things cannot be solved with the emperor as a backer. What's more, Xu Youzhen's identity obviously cannot be revealed. Once If this case is uncovered and all the officials involved are punished according to law, regardless of whether Xu Youzhen himself will be punished, at least the connections he has accumulated over the years will be destroyed immediately.
Without connections and relationships, it would be difficult to move forward in today's officialdom. Not to mention, for someone as ambitious as Xu Youzhen who wants to continue to move up, if he loses these connections, even if he reaches a high position in the future, it will be difficult. Stand firm.
Therefore, he must protect these people, but the problem is that he himself does not have such power, and he cannot report this matter to Zhu Qiyu. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that he uses Wang Xuan to make some articles. …
(End of chapter)
