Putting down the two apology notes in his hands, Huang Qiong picked up the two eight hundred miles from Zhengzhou Magistrate and Ruzhou Magistrate and read them hurriedly. In these two urgent reports, an official died unexpectedly in each place. Moreover, it was stated in the memorial that after examination, although the two men died in accidents, they were not homicides.
The Zhengzhou prefect reported that the magistrate of the county in charge of his government accidentally knocked over a candlestick in his bedroom and caused a fire after drinking too much. Because he was too drunk, he not only failed to escape and was burned to death, but his family members were also burned to death. One of his surviving family members and the surrounding neighbors who helped put out the fire can attest to this.
Not only did the county magistrate's whole family suffer in the fire he caused, but more than ten surrounding families were also affected. Although no one died, all the belongings in these people's homes were burned. As for the inspection department inspector in Ruzhou, his death was even more strange. While taking a walk after dinner, I was bitten to death by a wild dog.
Huang Qiong could only shake his head and sigh when he saw the strange deaths of the two people written on the memorials by officials from both places. A man who was equivalent to a deputy county magistrate killed his whole family in a drunken manner. A person from the police station where the prefecture's headquarters is located was actually bitten to death by a wild dog that came out of nowhere. Anyone with a discerning eye would know at a glance that this was not a normal death.
These two people were obviously silenced. When this happened, unless King Duan and King Jing were able to find the real culprit in the shortest possible time, their crime of killing and silencing would be truly confirmed. As for death in an accident, that was simply a matter of going to a grave and burning newspapers, not fooling the devil.
And for these two people who have the right to go to the secret book, their true identities are not high. One was an eighth-grade official who could be selected from Juren, and the other was a ninth-grade official who didn't even use Juren. Huang Qiong was not surprised at all. The people who do these things are all selected by the North and South Town Fusi.
Although these people have great power secretly, their public identities cannot be too high. Without him, the higher the position, the easier it is to attract attention. On the contrary, no one will notice these low-level officials even if they are not transferred for ten years. And out of checks and balances, the emperor could not give them too high a public identity.
The most important thing is that although these two people are not of high rank, their positions are very important. Although the Inspection Department is only a ninth-grade official, he is responsible for the security of the area under his jurisdiction, and even has some responsibilities of tax collection and supervision. He also has more than a dozen infantry archers and horse archers in his hands.
The areas on the ground within their jurisdiction are upright, and people of this type are also under their jurisdiction. The tentacles can be said to stretch to the bottom. Once there is any trouble, it is difficult to hide it from their eyes. As for the county magistrate of Guancheng County, although he is not as sharp as the inspection department's eyes and ears, the Zhengzhou Prefecture Office and Prince Duan's Mansion are within Guancheng County.
Moreover, although the county magistrate does not hold real power, he is in charge of all the robbery matters in the county. In other words, all the local snakes in Guancheng County are under his governance. It can be said that the movements of officials of all sizes in the entire Zhengzhou city, as well as any changes in Prince Duan's palace, cannot be hidden from his ears.
What's more, although there is a saying in the Daqi officialdom, if you are unlucky in the third life, you will be attached to Guo County; if you do evil in the third life, you will be attached to Guo Road; if you are full of evil, you will be attached to Guo Jingcheng. The county magistrates whose jurisdictions are in Fuzhi, Luzhi, and Jingcheng are relatively depressed compared to other county magistrates in Bailihou. Without him, although the average county magistrate's rank is not high, he is a grass-head king in his own jurisdiction.
But the county magistrates of Fu Zhi and Lu Zhi where they are located are more miserable. Although there are more opportunities to contact superiors, the problem is that it is under the nose of superiors, and this job is also the most difficult to do. If you work well under the nose of your boss, it may not be a good thing to make a fuss in front of your boss. If you don't do your job well, you're bound to be unlucky, and you might even become the boss's killer.
As for county-level officials attached to the capital, it is even more difficult to become such officials. Where is the capital? It is the most virtuous area at the feet of the emperor. Throughout the dynasties, even if it was a separatist regime that favored one side, the capital would be filled with princes and first- and second-rank officials. When there are people, all kinds of struggles are inevitable.
What's more, with so many senior officials involved in party disputes and different political opinions, disputes are inevitable. Today the prince's steward fights with the princess's servant, and tomorrow the son of the Minister of War gets drunk and beats a descendant of a certain founding lord. The day after tomorrow, in a certain university scholar's house, the young lady eloped with the young master who was in the residence of a certain minister.
Various incidents can be described as numerous. The big bosses in Zhongshu Province and the Sixth Ministry will naturally ignore these things. Some officials even regard the fight between their children as a fight between themselves and their political opponents. Although the internal fighting between these young masters is far from life-and-death. But privately, with the disguised encouragement and even secret connivance of the elders in the family, disputes, big and small, continued.
These so-called trivial matters are not handled by the bachelors, ministers, and princes, or they do not want to deal with them personally for some reasons. Then the unlucky ones are naturally the officials below. The first level of the official university is overwhelming, not to mention the gap between a first-grade bachelor, a seventh-grade county magistrate, and an eighth-grade county magistrate.
Those county magistrates, county seats, and county lieutenants attached to Guo County can show off their power in other counties. But in the eyes of the officials of Zhongshu Province and Shangshu Province in the capital, they are just as trivial. If you don't handle that matter well, you might offend a large group of people, or even put an end to your career.
The so-called handling of the situation is nothing more than helping one faction to fight against the other. As the saying goes, we are staggering and swaying, and there are hundreds of millions of offerings, and we are exhausted from running for our lives. This is the case with Guo in the capital, and the governance is actually the same among those high-ranking officials such as the so-called pacifiers, inspectors, and military governors, large and small.
It's just that these officials, although they are a bit aggrieved, there is no doubt about one thing. The lower these officials are at the center of high-level yamen, the sharper their eyes and ears are when it comes to matters that are difficult to deal with. Especially when there is a government office and a prince's fiefdom, these people actually have great secret rights.
But according to convention, although these two people are in important positions, their grades are too low. Without finding out their true identities, even if King Duan and King Jing want to bribe officials, it will never be their turn. I have never heard that the Daqi clan would be afraid of a small county magistrate and inspection department.
It should be said that the position selection of these two points arranged by the old man is quite wise and correct. It has both ears and eyesight, yet is absolutely unobtrusive. But the key question is, how were their identities leaked? You know, the identities of the spies placed in various places by the North and South Town Fusi are all top secret?
Although this matter may not really be done by the second king, one thing Huang Qiong can conclude is that the second king obviously knows the identities of these two people, and they have also received money and materials from the second king. At least the man behind the scenes, in order to reassure the two kings, would not haggle over this matter.
Although he didn't tell the old man explicitly, Huang Qiong understood that the key to this matter was not how the two people died, but who leaked their identities that should have been kept secret. As the emperor, I have my own espionage system in the court, and I have given some officials the right to hear and report things. This is not a secret in the court.
In particular, the North and South Zhenfu Division was established by Emperor Taizong first to hunt down the so-called remnants of the former Tang Dynasty, and then to secretly monitor the surrendered officials of the former Tang Dynasty, as well as the clan kings and people in the Jianghu. Although it has always been shrouded in mystery , but it has long been an open secret in the DPRK.
It's just that the identities of these spies, in addition to their immediate bosses, are not necessarily clear to the people in charge of the North and South Zhenfu Division. Unless one of the main messengers behind the scenes is a person from the North and South Zhenfusi, and is a person in a key position, it is impossible to know the identities of these people.
Thinking of this, Huang Qiong couldn't help but shudder. He knew that if the Nanbei Zhenfusi, a secret government office that could only be controlled by the old man, was really infiltrated by one of his brothers, then what else could this person not know? Not only the palaces of the kings and officials, but also the palace, what secrets can be kept?
Seeing the sudden change in Huang Qiong's expression, the emperor sitting opposite him was slightly startled. Although since meeting his ninth son, the father and son have not had many opportunities to interact with each other. But besides being naughty, Huang Qiong's other most important impression on the emperor was that of stability.
Not only when facing the prince, although he always showed weakness on the surface, in fact he always put himself above the ability to move forward and retreat freely. Even in the face of his own father, although he cannot be said to be calm, he has always taken the initiative in his own hands. Even when I get angry, I always deal with it with ease.
Now, his son's face turned so heavy, which was extremely rare, which aroused the emperor's curiosity. But Huang Qiong didn't wait for him to open his mouth to ask. He hesitated for a moment before speaking: "As the old saying goes, a thousand-mile embankment collapses with ant holes, and a hundred-foot room is burned with smoke from the gap."
"Father, my son believes that the most urgent task at the moment is not only to find out whether what the two kings did in the fief is really as stated in the memorial. More importantly, it is necessary to find out the identities of these two people. Discovered by the Second King. Sometimes, the harm caused by internal problems is far greater than the harm from the outside."
"Judging from the contents of these two memorials, the identities of these two people are obviously very special. But no matter whether this matter was done by the two kings or not, one thing can be confirmed, the identities of these two people are at least Between Prince Duan and Prince Jing, it is not as secret as you think, Father."
"My son thought, since your father can give these two people the right to hear about the incident, then the identity of the two people, whether they are Prince Duan or Prince Jing, should not be clear. Even including the entire incident, it is very likely that there The other person behind the scenes should be unknown."
"Even if the second king wants to bribe the officials of the fiefdom for his own use, an eighth-grade county magistrate or a ninth-grade inspector, unless he has some special status, will definitely not They will be on the second king's bribery list. In other words, the second king obviously knows their true identity, so they will pay the price to win them over."
"So how did the two kings know their identities? This is the most critical issue in this case, and it is also the most fatal issue. If not found out, it will even become the most deadly threat to our Da Qi Dynasty. Because these people appeared A problem means that there is something wrong with a certain system of the imperial court."
