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"Your Majesty, what Su Changzhen did is a heinous crime that is outraged by both humans and gods. It must not be leniently spared. I hope Your Majesty will give you a warning!"
"Although Su Changzhen is a feudal official and an important minister of the imperial court, we must be careful when dealing with him. But now that he has been exposed to so many serious crimes, we must not tolerate it. Please make a decisive decision to remove Su Changzhen from his official position and let him be replaced by others." He awaits trial!"
"Your Majesty, I personally request you to go to Nanzhili to arrest Su Changzhen and collect further evidence of the crime, and then the three departments will interrogate him!"
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Immediately, countless ministers came out to ask for orders, asking Emperor Deqing to severely punish Su Changzhen. They all looked righteous and impassioned, as if they were clean.
At the same time, officials quietly began to fight openly and secretly for the job of going to South Zhili to arrest Su Changzhen.
You must know that "three years to clear the prefecture and one hundred thousand snowflakes of silver" has become a common practice in officialdom. Su Changzhen has served in the local government for many years and has served as a parent official in many places. In the past six years, he has served in the richest city of Nanzhili. The position of governor is also a corrupt official. How many "one hundred thousand snowflakes" would such a person have?
Thirty? Fifty? or more?
If you can become an imperial envoy and go to South Zhili to investigate and arrest people, even if you just steal someone during a house raid, or take the opportunity to blackmail Su Changjin, you can make a lot of money!
Therefore, when they saw that Su Changzhen was going to be unlucky, not only did the officials not feel sad about the death of a rabbit, but their eyes were shining with inexplicable excitement, just like hungry wolves staring at their prey.
As for asking them to plead for Su Changzhen out of collegiality? How can it be! How much can camaraderie be sold for? What qualifications does Su Changzhen, who is about to collapse, have to be their colleague? It’s just a piece of fat that everyone wants to take a bite of!
Therefore, in the Huangji Hall, what Emperor Deqing saw before his eyes was a scene of the wall falling down and everyone pushing him away.
Seeing this situation, Emperor Deqing frowned slightly.
As mentioned above, Emperor Deqing still does not want Su Changzhen to fall. He originally hoped that someone among the officials would say a few good words for Su Changzhen, so that Su Changzhen could still have some hope. Who knows the officials? Either they protect themselves wisely, or they smell good things, but not only do no one say good things, but on the contrary, there are a lot of people who add insult to injury.
In desperation, Emperor Deqing could only turn his attention to the other pavilion elders, hoping that they would have some different opinions.
However, Emperor Deqing was still disappointed.
Just as officials were scrambling to add insult to injury, Zhou Shangjing, Zuo Lanshan, and Cheng Yuandao all read Li Yu's impeachment excerpt.
Seeing Emperor Deqing's eyes turning to them, several pavilion elders also expressed their opinions one after another.
Zhou Shangjing was the first to go out and said: "Your Majesty, no one wants to see something like this happen to the second-grade border officials of the imperial court. After all, it is the reputation of the imperial court that is damaged. However, our dynasty has its own laws and regulations, whether it is Anyone who commits a crime needs to be prosecuted according to law, even important officials of the imperial court are no exception. Now that there are evidences for the impeachment of Li Yu, Su Changzhen is not suitable to continue to serve as governor and must be dismissed. Send an imperial envoy to take him into custody in the capital, where he will be interrogated by the three departments, or even by His Majesty himself!"
At this point, Zhou Shangjing changed the subject and said: "However, the candidates for the imperial envoy to South Zhili must be carefully selected. After all, Su Changzhen is an important minister of the imperial court. Now even if he is under suspicion, he needs a matching person." The important ministers will go, otherwise it will not be enough to control the place. I think Du Bai, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, has a prudent character and has made many meritorious deeds after entering the Metropolitan Procuratorate, so he is the best candidate!"
Zhou Shangjing clearly did not want to participate in this matter, and his speeches were all mature and upright, but he was also fighting for the interests of the "Zhou Party" and recommended Du Bai of the "Zhou Party" to go to South Zhili to arrest Su Changzhen.
As Zhou Shangjing finished speaking, Cheng Yuandao also made a statement, saying: "Your Majesty, the evidence of Su Changjin's various crimes is unforgivable. The imperial envoy should be dispatched to Nanzhili as soon as possible to arrest him. Arrest! The old minister believes that Lu Chunxiao, the censor of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, is an upright man and devoted to justice, so he is the best candidate for the imperial envoy!"
Cheng Yuandao was naturally elated when he saw that the corrupt official Su Changzhen was about to suffer misfortune, but at the same time he did not forget to secure imperial envoys for the "princelings". In Cheng Yuandao's view, it is best to leave this matter to the "princeling party" as the most compromise. Candidates from other parties will only seek benefits and harm the interests of the court.
When it was Zuo Lanshan's turn to speak, Zuo Lanshan secretly glanced in Zhao Junchen's direction.
After noticing Zuo Lanshan's gaze, Zhao Junchen shook his head first, and then nodded.
The shake of the head means not to plead for Su Changzhen. At this time, just follow the development of the temple situation and speak impartially. The nod of the head means that after Su Changzhen's fall, the "Zhao Party" will also take a share of the pie and let Zuo Lan Shan actively took action to fight for it.
In fact, just as officials were adding insult to injury, Zhao Junchen also thought carefully about what happened.
Obviously, the news that Zhao Junchen was going to officially accept Fang Ru as his concubine leaked out - Zhao Junchen had not deliberately concealed this matter in the first place - so the seventh prince Zhu Hejian concluded that Zhao Junchen was about to marry his first wife.
Zhu Hejian has always wanted to get Zhao Junchen's support. Marrying Chen Zhirong to Zhao Junchen is his most important means to win over and control Zhao Junchen. Seeing that Zhao Junchen is about to marry his real wife, the candidate may not be Chen Zhirong. With Zhu Hejian's character, he naturally wants to If something happened, Su Changzhen would be unlucky, and Su Xiuning would naturally not be able to catch Zhao Junchen's attention.
In addition, Cui Qianxue had been kicked out of the Cui family under Chen Zhirong's calculations, and two of Zhao Junchen's three candidates for the main wife had changes. In this case, the possibility of Zhao Junchen marrying Chen Zhirong greatly increased.
After understanding Zhu Hejian's wishful thinking, Zhao Junchen only hesitated for a moment and decided not to participate in the matter and allowed Su Changzhen to collapse. After all, except for Su Changzhen who wanted to marry Su Xiuning to Zhao Junchen, the two People did not have deep interests. Su Changzhen's downfall had no impact on Zhao Junchen. On the contrary, interceding for Su Changzhen at this time would cause some trouble. So after weighing the pros and cons, Zhao Junchen naturally decided to sit back and watch.
Although Zhao Junchen had a good impression of Su Xiuning, it was just a good impression and could not affect Zhao Junchen's decision.
Regardless of what Zhao Junchen was thinking, Zuo Lanshan immediately understood Zhao Junchen's attitude after seeing Zhao Junchen's actions.
So, Zuo Lanshan said: "Your Majesty, I also agree with the speeches of several cabinet ministers. At this point, whether it is for the sake of the court or the people, Su Changzhen has to investigate, and must investigate strictly. Please send your Majesty immediately. As an imperial envoy, officials went to Nanzhili to investigate the matter. If the crime is true, Su Changzhen should be arrested as soon as possible! However, this matter is of great importance and involves many things. It may be difficult for just an imperial envoy to handle the compromise. I think it should be It would be better to send a few more capable and prudent ministers to cooperate. Gu Quan, the censor of Zuo Qiandu, has always been good at investigating cases and interrogating, and I think we should join him."
On the other side, seeing Zhou Shangjing, Cheng Yuandao, Zuo Lanshan and others competing for the job of investigating the imperial envoy for their respective parties, Shen Changmao, the chief assistant who spoke first, also reacted. Naturally, he was not left behind and stepped forward again: " Your Majesty, I believe that the Prime Minister of Dali Temple, Shiwen, has rich experience and outstanding abilities, and is the best candidate for the imperial envoy! Please give your Majesty a clear warning!"
In this way, as several cabinet elders spoke one after another, the subject of this matter quietly changed direction, from the controversy over whether Su Changzhen was guilty to the competition between several major factions in the imperial court for the selection of the imperial envoy.
In comparison, the latter represents huge interests, so the former is not important and no one will care about it soon.
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ps: Well, first update.
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