The cabinet elders then remembered that Jin Yiwei did have the right to submit memorials, but in recent years the power of the cabinet had become more and more powerful, usurping Jin Yiwei's authority, especially after Liu Shouyou took office and took refuge with Zhang Juzheng, coupled with the lack of support from the emperor. , so it became even more unbearable! Even documents are usually sent to the cabinet first and then forwarded to the inner court.
At this time, everyone turned their attention to Zhang Juzheng, because Zhang Juzheng passed the memorials handed over by Jin Yiwei first. Zhang Juzheng was also very curious about this matter and wanted to know the contents of these memorials.
And normally, when there is any big event in Jinyiwei, Liu Shouyou will report it in advance and will not submit the memorial for no reason. And there are thirty books in one volume, which is a bit outrageous! So he stretched out his hand and said, "Bring it to me!"
Hearing Zhang Juzheng's words, the eunuch obviously breathed a sigh of relief and ordered someone to bring up a plate with these thirty memorials alone on it.
Zhang Juzheng opened the top book, glanced at it, and frowned. Then he put down the memorial and picked up the second one, his frown getting tighter. But after reading seven or eight books in a row, he relaxed his brows and said with a smile: "This person is more interested in revenge! Take a look."
The eunuch hurried forward and assigned the memorial duties to several other pavilions. Shen Shixing took a memorial and opened it. After a quick glance, he said: "This person has no literary talent in his composition, and he actually uses vernacular! But things are written clearly and in an orderly manner."
Zhang Siwei also followed up and said: "No wonder the chief minister said that this person is a little more revengeful. It turns out that the person who submitted the letter was Liu Haojia, and the people who impeached him were actually the same people who impeached him last time."
Zhang Han also said: "This is really insulting! Why is Jin Yiwei doing things so inappropriately? But if what is said in the memorial is true, it will be really difficult to handle!"
Zhang Siwei said: "Chief Assistant, are these memorials going to be suppressed?"
Zhang Juzheng was silent for a moment and then frowned and said: "I'm afraid I can't suppress it! Since he dares to submit the memorial, it means that he will continue to make trouble about this matter! And the most important thing is that the things mentioned in the memorial seem to be true. He How can you let go so easily if you hold onto the truth?"
Zhang Han snorted and said: "I don't believe that a small general banner dares to change the world!"
But the words he spoke were tough, and he still looked at Zhang Juzheng. After all, the only person who can really make the decision in this room is the Chief Assistant.
At this time, Zhang Juzheng said: "As far as I know, Liu Haojia has been in contact with Zhang Jia, who is next to His Majesty. Maybe this matter has been reported to His Majesty. And Your Majesty may have been waiting for these memorials."
In fact, other pavilion elders have also thought of this issue, but no one is willing to raise it. Now that Zhang Juzheng said this, Zhang Siwei took advantage of the situation and asked again: "Then how should we deal with the matter according to the memorial?"
Zhang Juzheng said leisurely: "Of course it will be dealt with in accordance with the law! You don't want to leave an impression in His Majesty's mind that you are bending the law for personal gain, right? What's more, His Majesty might be coming soon!"
When all the pavilion elders heard this, they immediately understood! Zhang Siwei, who had been paying attention to Zhang Juzheng, even noticed that the corners of the chief assistant's mouth were slightly raised for a moment.
Just in the afternoon of that day, a shocking news quickly spread among the capital! That is, all thirty people headed by Zhao Minghua, the censor of the Inspectorate, were punished! Among them, Zhao Minghua received the heaviest punishment! He was dismissed from office, his house was ransacked, and his whole family was sent to the frontier, where he would never return!
As for the remaining twenty-nine people, they also suffered different punishments in Chengdu, ranging from fines to dismissal from office! The reasons range from disrespect to champerty and so on! In short, these thirty memorials were all approved!
As soon as the news came out, there was an uproar among the officials in the capital! Because the court has not punished so many officials at once for a long time, this makes the officials find it unacceptable! These officials have long been spoiled by their own family members being in power for a long time!
Because civil servants are in power, civil servants naturally have to be more polite to their own families! After all, you dealt with someone else today. If you make a mistake next time, you will naturally hope that others will show mercy! Therefore, the court’s treatment of civil servants became increasingly lenient!
Moreover, after they got used to this situation, not only did they not think it was a problem, but they even advocated that the punishment should not be used to punish the scholar-officials! Anyway, they think they are scholars, so they must have some privileges! Therefore, the officials and scholars who discussed this matter believed that the penalty was too severe!
Unexpectedly, in the evening, news came out that this matter was not decided by the elders at all, but by His Majesty! Even the elders were reprimanded for begging for mercy!
The specific reason is that His Majesty sympathized with the hard work of several ministers and personally sent some fruit snacks to them. As a result, he found the article of impeachment when looking through the memorial. Although His Majesty was a little unhappy when he first saw it, he didn't say anything. But when he saw Zhao Minghua taking a concubine during the national mourning period, he became furious and was charged with it!
Later, more accurate news came, and Zhao Minghua's crime was confirmed! In fact, Zhao Minghua was originally a womanizer, but since his family was rich, it didn't matter if he often bought people into his house. It's just that he went to Cangzhou, Hebei Province for business a few years ago, and the local officials naturally wanted to invite him to see the beautiful scenery of Cangzhou, including the local brothel Chuguan in Cangzhou!
As a result, he fell in love with a newly minted prostitute from a local brothel and insisted on spending money to buy her! However, this woman has just made her debut and has not yet earned enough money for the brothel, so the madam naturally refuses to let her go! So I found an excuse and said that I could buy my own girl, but she would only be a concubine, not an ordinary girl!
Zhao Minghua naturally knew that this was just a way to raise the price, but he really fell in love with this upright husband, so he spent a lot of money to buy this upright official with 700 taels of silver. Not to mention, he also wrote down the concubinage document on the spot. !
With this amount of money and an explanation for the girl under her control, the madam naturally let go! But what no one noticed was that on the day they wrote and handed over the purchase and sale documents, there were still six days before the national mourning ended!
At this time, the power of civil servants in the Ming Dynasty was already very great. Most officials felt that they were the ones who had the final say in the court, so they inevitably did not pay attention to the rules. In addition, Emperor Wanli was young and lacked deterrence, and Zhao Minghua was so lustful that he completely ignored the time of national mourning.
The most important point is that Zhao Tianhua himself is the censor. Only he can find fault with others, so no one dares to find fault with him! So I forgot about everything and wrote the concubinage document, and happily embraced the beauty! But the archive of this document in the yamen fell into the hands of Liu Haojia!
