The Gongyuan finally burned down. Everyone had different reactions, and Wang Tong became more serious.
Shu Liang frowned, feeling surprised at the accuracy of the emperor's prediction.
Lu Gao and Lu Zhong were eager to try and make meritorious deeds against the thief.
Wang Chun looked calm, neither surprised nor eager to make meritorious deeds. Anyway, since I am young and in the heart of the emperor, fame and wealth will fall on me sooner or later, and I can't push it away even if I want to.
Zhao Xuan is also the old god, sitting firmly on Diaoyutai. Anyway, my job is to supervise everyone, so just watching with a cold eye is enough.
Between the Gongyuan and the Armor Factory, slightly to the east and close to the city wall, there is an observatory.
Wang Tong led everyone up to the observatory and took a look at the fire from a high position. Seeing that the fire was expanding, he quickly ordered Tiance Guards to put out the fire.
The Paozi River passes through the observatory and flows to the east side of Gongyuan.
The two thousand soldiers of Tiance Guard were prepared in advance. They used water carts and buckets to collect water on the spot, and then traveled back and forth between Paozi River and Gongyuan.
Lu Gao and Lu Zhong led the Jin Yiwei to catch the arson suspect.
Shu Liang took Wang Chun and Zhao Jing to the gate of Gongyuan.
Upon closer inspection, as the emperor expected, the gate of the Gongyuan was locked, and Zhang Lun, a doctor in the Ministry of Rites, was guarding the gate. On the grounds that the exam has not yet ended, Tiance Guards are prohibited from entering to put out the fire.
Shu Liang looked left and right and motioned to the Jin Yiwei beside him to pull Zhang Lun away.
Zhang Lun shouted loudly: "The rural examination has not yet ended, Gongyuan is not allowed to enter without permission. Anyone who disrupts the examination room will be punished by death."
Hearing this, Shu Liang waved the Shang Fang Sword in his hand: "This governor is acting under the king's orders. It is not a capital crime. Come here, arrest this man and send him to Jinyi Guards Prison."
Zhang Lun wanted to scold him, but the Jin Yiwei didn't care. Several people swarmed up, grabbed Zhang Lun, and took him down.
With no one to stop him, Shu Liang pulled out Shang Fang's sword, cut off the door lock himself, and then instructed Tiance Wei Xunxun to put out the fire.
Due to adequate preparation, the fire was extinguished in less than half an hour.
…
the next day.
Zhu Qiyu slept soundly until noon.
After eating and freshening up, I leisurely went out to manage the affairs of state.
At this time, Chen Xun, Wang Wen and other cabinet bachelors had been waiting for a long time. When they saw the emperor coming out, they quickly knelt down to apologize.
Zhu Qiyu smiled and waved his hand: "Forget it, just let it go. It has nothing to do with you. Just because I came up with these three strategies, some people wanted to set fire to it and give me some color.
These are all expected, and the candidates taking the provincial examination will be fine. "
Chen Xun quickly replied: "Your Majesty, some candidates' answer sheets were destroyed by fire, and some examination booths were burned down. Do you think we should postpone the last session of the provincial examination?"
"No need, let's just take the test like this. Let these candidates go to the square between Fengtian Hall and Fengtian Gate to answer again tomorrow.
Just three strategies, one day is enough. "
Zhou Chen asked again: "Gongyuan is narrow and close to Mingshifang Grassland. This fire started from Mingshifang Grassland. Part of Gongyuan was damaged, while Mingshifang Grassland was completely burned down."
After discussion, officials from the Ministry of Industry felt that the existing Gongyuan could be demolished, and the Mingshifang Grassland and the Gongyuan could be merged to build a new Gongyuan that was larger, more spacious, and safer. "
Zhu Qiyu nodded: "It's accurate. At the same time, a culvert can be dug to introduce the water from the Paozi River into the new Gongyuan. As for the cost of building the new Gongyuan, the Ministry of Household Affairs will provide the land at Mingshifang Grassland, and the Ministry of Works will be responsible for the construction."
Zhou Chen heard the words and accepted the order happily.
Zhu Qiyu then ordered: "The examination papers for the first two sessions will be reviewed by your cabinet together with the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate. The third session and examination papers will be sent over and I will review them personally."
Everyone had no objections to this either.
After the matters are resolved, the next step is to punish the officials involved. Wang Wen asked: "Your Majesty, please tell me how to deal with the invigilator."
"The Ministry of Punishment, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Dali Temple will examine the officials involved one by one. As for those who are already in the Jinyiwei Prison, you don't need to worry about it for now.
The cabinet will select a new batch of invigilators for the final session of the provincial examination the day after tomorrow. "
This arrangement actually means that Zhu Qiyu is prepared to control the punishment within a very small range.
If the invigilator is handed over to the Three Laws Division for review, nothing will be found in the end.
Just pick it up hard and put it down gently to scare officials with evil intentions.
But killing chickens to scare monkeys is indispensable. Zhang Lun, the doctor in the Ministry of Rites, will definitely die.
Even though there was a fire in the Gongyuan, he didn't want to save the candidates, but he still locked the door of the Gongyuan. This is similar to the censor Jiao Xian who also locked the door when the Gongyuan was in fire in Tianshun.
The matter was thus decided, and the ministers raised no objections.
Although Zhu Qiyu had constant conflicts with the courtiers sent by the emperor, he was in great harmony with important ministers such as the cabinet and the six ministries.
In addition to Zhu Qiyu's support for these important ministers, another reason was that there was too much pressure from middle- and lower-level officials. The important ministers could only choose to fully support the emperor and speak unanimously to the outside world.
We must focus on the overall situation now, and this is not the time to engage in internal strife.
The ability to control the cabinet and the heads of the six ministries gave Zhu Qiyu the confidence to repeatedly take tough measures.
The monarch and his ministers reached a consensus and dispersed.
Zhu Qiyu then summoned Shu Liang, Lu Gao, and Lu Zhong.
First of all, Zhu Qiyu fully affirmed the performance of the three people last night, and then ordered: "Zhang Lun doesn't need to be tried. No matter how hard you torture him, he won't do it.
The most you can do is let him starve for a few meals, and don't do anything else.
As for those arrested arson suspects, you can interrogate them however you want. "
The three of them quickly took orders.
Zhu Qiyu added: "From today on, Dongchang will strengthen monitoring of the entire capital, and Jinyiwei must fully cooperate with Dongchang.
I can't predict what will happen in the capital for you every day. From now on, you will have to control all the disturbances in the capital on your own.
Okay, you go and see Wu Dinghou, and then go back to the capital. "
After hearing this, the three of them bowed and left. Then he went to see Guo Chang, Marquis of Wuding.
Now that Guo Chang has to personally guard the palace and escort Princess Qi, he cannot return to the capital, and he has no time to take care of Jin Yiwei's trivial matters.
For Lu Gao and Lu Zhong, Guo Chang just made some superficial remarks and asked them to perform their duties faithfully and interrogate the suspect this time.
On the other hand, Guo Changzai gave a lot of detailed instructions to Shu Liang. Guo Chang and Zhu Qiyu had the same idea, and both hoped that Dongchang could comprehensively strengthen monitoring of the capital.
However, Guo Chang's starting point was more based on concerns about his daughter's safety. Half of Princess Qi's belly might be the emperor's eldest son. Guo Chang was always worried that someone would do something.
With the connections accumulated by the Wuding Hou Mansion over the years and the influence of Princess Yongjia, Guo Chang was confident that he could persuade most of the royal family and nobles.
But there is always a small group of nobles who support the Supreme Emperor more rigidly.
On the bad side, the enemy is in the dark and we are in the clear, making it impossible to defend against.
On the bright side, the three most respected nobles of the Shanghuang faction, Anyuan Hou Liu Pu died in the Ping Miao Rebellion; Ningyang Hou Chen Mao was stranded in Nanjing; Jingyuan Bo Wang Ji led an army to station in Gansu, and his attitude has changed. becomes ambiguous.
(End of chapter)
