The gates in Fuzhou City overlap. On a central axis from south to north, there are seven towers: Hesha Gate, Ningyue Gate, Lishe Gate, Huanzhu Gate, Hujie Gate, Mighty Military Gate and Dudu Mansion Gate. It is tall and spectacular, and the poem says, "The seven-story building moves toward the blue sky."
Heshamen is the south gate of the outer city, roughly near the Xima Bridge in later generations.
Hujiemen is the south gate of Zicheng. In later generations, the east intersection of Hujie Road was its approximate location. The main road from it to the Dudu Mansion Gate was flanked by government offices on both sides, commonly known as Dongyamen and Xiyamen. There are still some names in later generations. Dong Ya Alley, Xi Ya Alley.
The Weiwujun Gate is located between these two gates. Its name comes from the old name of Fuzhou, Weiwujun. It is also commonly known as the Drum Tower because it is the chief drummer.
The Dudu Mansion was also the old name of the Tang Dynasty. At this time, it was changed to the Office of the Pacifier. However, the current pacifier was Uncle Xie Fang, and the yamen moved to Quanzhou. It was vacant for a while, so Zhao Mengqi set up the Southeast Jiedu Mansion here.
After the news of Gutian's success was sent out, bigwigs from all levels on Fuzhou Road gathered at Jiedu Mansion to discuss matters.
On the surface, everyone was beaming with joy, but after everyone had released their emotions and the atmosphere relaxed a little, Zheng Taiqing mentioned some prison business and pretended to cough a few times to express that he had something to say.
"This special service team did a great job in subduing the thieves, but it is lawless to extort huge sums of money from Gutian County in the name of bandits. Furthermore, it is also ridiculous to lead troops to attack the gentry's home without judicial review based on one-sided words. It can be seen from this that without the restraint of civil servants, military generals will act arbitrarily, and if they continue to indulge, I am afraid that it will eventually lead to catastrophe. Therefore, I implore Your Highness to severely punish the relevant personnel and strengthen the control of the army to avoid similar incidents from happening again. "
As soon as these words came out, they immediately aroused the worries of many civil servants, and some people directly echoed them.
"Warriors are domineering by nature and do not know loyalty, filial piety and justice. It is better to keep them under tight control and never give them the right to act independently."
"The warrior is greedy, and now he dares to use tricks to steal official and private property. Soon he will be robbed directly with a knife. Youdao is that thieves are like combs, and soldiers are like grates. We have to guard against this matter."
"The Wang family comes from a scholarly family. Wang Tongsu served the imperial court for half his life before becoming an official. How could he do anything illegal? Even if there is a real suspicion, it should be carefully investigated and judged. How can he be arbitrarily classified as a traitor to the party? ?」
"Could it be that the military generals are greedy for their family property and are persecuting them for unwarranted crimes? In this case, wouldn't the gentry and the common people be in danger of themselves?"
Zhao Mengqi'an sat on the throne and looked at the noisy group of civil servants with cold eyes, and couldn't help but laugh in his heart.
Is everyone in danger? It would be better to say that officials are in danger.
Now that the entire Fujian Road is in chaos, Fuzhou can be said to have stayed out of the trouble, but it does not mean that the bottom of the bottom of the Fuzhou officials and gentry is clean.
Zhao Mengqi knew very well that it was the collective will of the bureaucratic landlord class to cause chaos and resist reform.
But it was impossible for him to bring down the entire bureaucracy, so he adopted a softer strategy and exchanged interests, so-called pulling one faction to fight another.
Those who are willing to be aware of current affairs and change their stance in time and follow his footsteps will forget about the past.
At present, the effect is there. Most of the gentry in Fuzhou have made the right choice. However, some officials in office are still unclear about the situation and still maintain an ambiguous attitude.
Perhaps it was because Zhao Mengqi was breaking the existing civil and military structure and was ruthless and severe in the management of officials, which made them feel dissatisfied and uneasy.
Seeing that these people were still self-righteous and stubborn at this time, Zhao Mengqi couldn't help but feel a little irritated. He felt that the carrot alone was not enough, and he had to raise the knife as well.
After making a decision in his mind, he said calmly, "If the SWAT team members put that money into their own pockets, it would be a serious crime!"
Then his voice changed, "But, as far as I know, this money was raised by Gutian Magistrate to relieve the people who suffered from banditry. The special service team only distributed it on behalf of them. What crime is there?"
"In addition, when it comes to rebellion and rebellion, the court's rules have always been to err on the side of rebellion. Since the Wang family was betrayed by Tian Zhenzi, of course they must take timely measures. If the Wang family dares to resist the official army, then they will commit rebellion. If he is really wronged, I will also clear his family's name."
Zheng Taiqing's face
Yibai said anxiously, "How can I believe Tian Zhenzi's words? Didn't the report say that he had confessed to more than a dozen companies? This is obviously nonsense..."
Zhao Mengqi smiled contemptuously and interrupted what he was saying, "Haha... are you talking about it? I will find out after I investigate. There is no law that will not punish everyone for the crime of rebellion. I will investigate every one of them. By the way, There were actually many miners involved in this chaos. This pit is probably rotten to the core, and it’s time to clean it up thoroughly... Zhu Zuojian."
After hearing the roll call, Zhu Yi stood up and said, "I'm here, I wonder what your Highness's orders are."
Zhao Mengqi looked at him seriously, "You have always been upright, so I will leave these matters to you to investigate. What do you think?"
Could it be that because of what happened yesterday, His Highness felt that I was in some way, so he wanted to move me away?
A wry smile appeared on Zhu Yi's lips, "I accept my order."
"Very good." Zhao Mengqi nodded with satisfaction and added, "I heard that the former bank supervisor Zhong has a net worth of 100,000 yuan. How did he get such a huge fortune? There is obviously a big problem here, so let's start with Start investigating this Zhong, investigate carefully and thoroughly, and no matter who is involved, we will all be dealt with strictly!"
"I understand that I will live up to His Highness's trust!" Zhu Yi solemnly accepted the task without hesitation.
At this time, many people present became panicked, and then they heard Zhao Mengqi say, "It is said that people can't help themselves in the world. Gu Ye knows that the current officialdom is outdated, and it is not easy to clean up oneself, and Gu is not It's unkind, so I'm willing to give everyone a chance to change their ways. Tomorrow, a copper box will be set up in the Dudu Gate to allow bootstrapping. As long as you explain the problem clearly and hand over the illegal gains, you will be exempted from prosecution. I hope you all Take care of yourself!"
Next, Zhao Mengqi transferred Wen Tianxiang and a dozen other Jinshi who were supposed to enter the Integrity Department, a dozen people from the Imperial City Department, and a battalion of Dongwei to Zhu Yi's staff.
An hour later, Zhu Yi left Fuzhou City with the fresh investigation team and rushed to Gutian by boat.
After dozens of officials from Fuzhou left Jiedu Mansion with heavy steps, some of them quietly gathered in the other courtyard of the transfer envoy Zhou Lian.
Zheng Taiqing couldn't hide the panic on his face, "Envoy, what should we do now? Please make up your mind quickly, otherwise we will all be ruined."
More than a dozen officials were looking forward to Zhou Lian, who was pacing back and forth in the hall.
Zhou Lian tugged at his gray beard, with a confused look on his face, "This Tian Zhenzi is really a waste. It's just that he didn't get the job done. He was actually caught alive and fucked."
"It's all because of that bastard Zhong Genci. Not only did he cause trouble and leave a trail, but he also raised a granddaughter who is as stupid as a pig..." Zheng Taiqing felt a little regretful.
He is actually an old subordinate of Chen Wei, and his official career has been very smooth through this relationship, and most of them have been serving in Fujian for more than 20 years.
It's just that Zheng Taiqing was very greedy for money and was particularly good at amassing money. Zhong Genci followed his path and became the supervisor, becoming one of his many interests.
As a pure corrupt official, he only liked gold and silver but not real estate. He had never thought of opposing the King of Yan. Anyway, he was going to be an official in a few years. Moreover, he was from Yangzhou. Whether Fujian was a businessman or not was none of his business.
But someone came to him a month ago and used his corruption as a threat to force him to join. The biggest one was Zhong Genci. Thanks to the publicity of Zhong Genci's precious granddaughter, everyone knew about his family. If you are rich, you will naturally become a shining torch.
If Zhong Genci is held accountable, he will have to pull out the radish and bring out the mud, and all the grasshoppers on the pit smelting line will have to be pulled out, and the Transportation Department is the direct management agency of all the smelting pits on the road, so although Zhou Lian and Zhong Gen It had nothing to do with the resignation, but he was also involved, and the charges were even more serious, because there are problems with all the traps.
So such a corrupt group half-heartedly joined the action against King Yan.
The main purpose of attacking Gutian County was to plot against King Yan, and by the way, it could also use the hands of thieves to wipe out Zhong Genci's family.
Unexpectedly, the wishful thinking failed, Tian Zhenzi, who was the liaison person, was captured alive, and Zhong Genci also came into the sight of King Yan, and the situation became urgent.
If it was just corruption, maybe they would really consider bootstrapping, but it would be different if it involved rebellion. Looking at King Yan's murderous look was really chilling to the neck.
Seeing that Zhou Lian and Zheng Taiqing had no useful words for a long time, the transfer judge Li Zhi said impatiently, "What's the use of saying this now? Solve the immediate crisis first..."
"Then what do you think we should do?" Zhou Lian and Zheng Taiqing said in unison.
A fierce light flashed in Li Zhi's eyes, "What else can I do? If I don't do anything, I will become the King of Yan!"
Everyone was shocked, "Are you crazy? That is a serious crime against the nine clans!"
"Haha, plotting rebellion doesn't mean killing the nine tribes?" Li Zhi sarcastically said.
In fact, it is not necessarily true. After all, although the laws of the Song Dynasty included the punishment of punishing the Nine Tribes, they advocated the idea of cautious punishment and benevolent treatment of scholar-bureaucrats. In fact, there was no execution of the Nine Tribes, at least there is no historical data.
But if he really kills the current crown prince, he may not be able to escape, and the dynasty, no matter how tolerant it is, will be furious.
Li Zhi continued, "The King of Yan can really skin people and cramp them. If we fall into his hands, life will be worse than death!"
Everyone couldn't help but shudder, "But he is heavily guarded, how can he be so easy to kill?"
"Have you forgotten the left-wing army?" Li Zhi replied.
Zheng Taiqing was stunned, "Left-wing Army? Although the Criminal Division can command them in name, the leader of the Left-wing Army, Nie Zhengsheng, is Chen Wei's confidant, and these days, Chen Wei has even sent his eldest son Chen Long to guard the camp. Now, how can I use it?"
Li Zhi was confident, "The gang of Qiu Ba in the left-wing army did a lot of messy things, so who among the top and bottom officials is not greedy? I don't know how happy my life is. But Uncle Xie Fang started to organize the army as soon as he came, that is, he also We haven't had time to rectify the garrison in each state. Are we in Fuzhou willing to wait to be rectified? In fact, except for Nie Zhengsheng, the others have been bribed long ago, just to prepare for emergencies. "
"You mean, as long as we try to get rid of Nie Zhengsheng, the left-wing army will be willing to be used by us?" Zhou Lian said happily.
Li Zhi nodded, "Exactly, I don't have time to go into the details. Anyway, these 800 people from the Left Wing Army can be used. In addition, there are actually 500 private soldiers hidden outside the east of the city. With so many soldiers, we can accomplish great things." , after the incident is completed, we will push the matter onto the bandits, and we will be clean. Although we still have to bear the responsibility, without the murderous star of King Yan, the court will return to what it was before, and there will be so many people trying to fish for us. If they take serious action against us, the worst they can do is lose their official positions..."
"Okay!" Zhou Lian decided immediately, "Let's discuss the plan quickly and start tonight to avoid a long night and many dreams!"
