It has to be said that Yu Yunwen's method was very correct. Few ministers like Xiao Mian who had rebelled would go to visit him to inquire about his welfare. Most of them came to take the opportunity to extort and seize land.
Five days later, Zhang Juzheng and Yu Yunwen investigated all the persons suspected of the matter and submitted the list to Yang Gao.
In the imperial study room, Yang Gao looked at the list handed over by Yu Yunwen and Zhang Juzheng with a gloomy face, feeling a ball of anger burning in his chest. As the saying goes, a stone blow stirs up a thousand waves. Yu Yunwen and Zhang Juzheng used Xiao Mian as a breakthrough point to investigate deeply, pulled out the carrots and brought out the mud, and found out in one go that forty-five powerful people were suspected of coercing Xiao Liang into surrendering. Purchase land at a price.
What makes Yang Gao even more intolerable is that among the forty-five families, nine people are relatives of the emperor, including the heirs of Teng Wang Yang Shen and Yang Wen, the son of Shu Wang Yang Xiu and Xingping Wang Yang Ming, and the son of the Prince Consort Li Changya. Li Sheng, the Minister of Rites, Li Duo, the Qianniu Preparation Officer, and Wang Junzhen, Dali, the son-in-law of Yang Liang, the King of Han Dynasty, reviewed the affairs.
"Okay, okay!"
After reading the list, Yang Gao looked up to the sky and laughed a few times. He gritted his teeth and said, "I was still wondering who was so bold, but I didn't expect that it was my relatives. I was really surprised!"
Yu Yunwen heard the murderous intention in Yang Gao's words, and immediately knelt on the ground and admonished: "Your Majesty, please suspend your thunderous anger. After all, they are all relatives of the emperor, and some of them are your elders. If your Majesty punishes you easily, They are afraid that His Majesty will get a bad reputation."
Zhang Juzheng immediately retorted after hearing this: "Master Yu's words are wrong. Princes who commit crimes are as guilty as the common people. Back then, His Majesty Emperor Wen dealt with the criminal King Yang Jun of Qin. All the people in the world praised His Majesty Emperor Wen for his impartiality in enforcing the law. Today's situation is exactly what His Majesty has done to us." When the people of the world declare their determination, they will surely be grateful to His Majesty!"
Yang Gao nodded and said: "What Zhang Qing said is absolutely true, I have made up my mind..."
"The Queen Mother is here!"
Before Yang Gao finished speaking, he heard a shout from the eunuch outside the house, and Concubine Xiao, who had become the Queen Mother, slowly walked into the imperial study.
Yang Gao hurriedly stood up from his seat, bowed to Empress Dowager Xiao and said, "My son, I met my mother, but I didn't know that my mother suddenly came to my imperial study. What's the important matter?"
Empress Dowager Xiao smiled and nodded: "Your Majesty, you don't need to be polite. Originally, the harem was not allowed to interfere in politics, and the Ai family did not want to come to the imperial study room to avoid any excuses. However, recently, Princess Xiangguo, Prince Si Teng and other royal relatives have frequently entered the palace. Ask the Ai family to plead for mercy, saying that they violated the emperor's laws in a moment of confusion, and hope that the emperor can show mercy outside the law!"
"The Queen Mother's words are wrong!"
Before Yang Gao could answer, Zhang Juzheng, who was kneeling beside him, straightened up and said loudly: "The law does not show favoritism, not to mention that what King Siteng and others violated was the land decree recently promulgated by His Majesty. If they show mercy outside the law, then where is the majesty of His Majesty?" ?Where is the prestige of the imperial court?"
"you!"
Empress Dowager Xiao raised her eyebrows, pointed at Zhang Juzheng and said, "You are so brave. The Ai family is talking to His Majesty. How can you interrupt?"
Zhang Juzheng said in a neither humble nor arrogant tone: "Empress Dowager, please forgive me for being presumptuous, but I really can't agree with what the empress just said!"
"snort!"
Empress Dowager Xiao snorted angrily and ignored Zhang Juzheng. She turned to Yang Gao and said, "Your Majesty, when the Xiaoguo Army rebelled, a large number of the emperor's relatives died in the rebellion. The number of people in the clan is already very few. If your Majesty does it again, Punishment, how many clan members are left in our Sui Dynasty, who else will be willing to assist Your Majesty?"
Yang Gao closed his eyes helplessly, stood up, gave a deep salute to Queen Mother Xiao, and said in a deep voice: "Mother, please forgive me for being unfilial!"
"Emperor...Emperor, do you really want to attack your clan?"
Empress Dowager Xiao's beauty turned pale, and she stood up tremblingly, with disbelief written all over her face.
Yang Gao spoke resolutely, "Mother, it's not because my sons and ministers are heartless, but these people are so ungrateful. Mother, look at Yang Yanzhao, the king of Changping County. He has been in Nanyang for more than two years, and his family has nothing but the thirty hectares of land that I rewarded. Any private wealth. After the patron king was defeated from Dengzhou and returned to Jiangdu, he always felt that he was guilty. He is still living in the military camp without a house or farm. How much contribution they made to the Sui Dynasty! But King Teng, Princess Xiang and others But he has not made any achievements yet, but he is desperately amassing money and seizing land, and he is violating the government orders of my son. If I don't kill one to scare others, how will I command the world in the future?"
Empress Dowager Xiao was silent for a long time, and then she sighed, "Your Majesty, I beg you to only blame the culprit, and don't blame their family members!"
Yang Gao nodded, "I understand!"
. . . . . . . . . .
At noon that day, the New Year had just passed and the whole city was celebrating, but unexpectedly, the city gate of Jiangdu City suddenly closed. Yang Gao urgently transferred 5,000 soldiers from the camp outside the city into the city. Martial law was imposed on all sides, prohibiting people from entering and exiting, and the streets were frightened. Pedestrians on the road thought that there was another mutiny in Jiangdu City, so they hid in their houses and did not dare to come out.
Zhang Juzheng personally took charge of the operation and directed this arrest operation. The successive kings Yang Shen and Yang Wen, the king of Xingping Yang Ming, and the Minister of Rites Li Sheng were arrested one after another and were taken to Dali Temple Prison.
After all the suspected officials were arrested, the Jiangdu County Sheriff's Office posted a notice stating that Yang Xu, Yang Ming, Yang Wen and others had defied the edict and secretly occupied fertile farmland. Now that the incident had occurred, all of them had been arrested. After reading the announcement, the onlookers clapped their hands and celebrated, praising Yang Gao for being a wise man who did not show favoritism and was indeed a wise king.
The next day, Yang Gao ordered the three departments to jointly interrogate Yang Shen, Yang Ming, Yang Wen, Li Sheng and others. However, the joint trial of the three departments was actually just a formality. Yu Yunwen and Zhang Juzheng had already collected the information when they started investigating. In the face of a large amount of evidence, Yang Shen and others did not dare to quibble and admitted their crimes one after another.
Two days later, Yang Gao ordered the execution of one of the people involved in the case. Among them, Yang Shen, the king of Teng, and Yang Ming, the king of Xingping, were also traced to privately accepting bribes from the puppet emperor Li Yuan of Guanlong. Each had a large manor in Guanzhong. There were thousands of hectares of fertile land, and he was sentenced to death.
However, Li Sheng, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and Wang Junzhen, the judge of Dali, did not report the knowledge. They knew that Yang Shen and Yang Ming had colluded with Li Yuan, but they were bribed by Yang Shen and Yang Ming. official.
Most of the other people involved in the case were bewitched by Yang Shen and Yang Ming, lured by interests, and were demoted or dismissed. Most of them lost the opportunity to develop in the court.
As soon as the case was concluded, the world was shocked, especially the common people under Yang Gao's rule. Seeing Yang Gao's determination to punish the powerful and strictly prohibit the seizure of farmers' land, they all clapped their hands in celebration and thanked Yang Gao Tianen. But Yang Gao's move was also criticized by many nobles, especially the Guanlong nobles, who reacted very strongly. The head of the Dugu family, Dugu Zhen, even made a public declaration calling on the nobles in the south of the Yangtze River to resist Yang Gao, an unkind and unfilial person. 's rule.
