Su Yan, the minister of Dali Temple, was responsible for coordinating the Three Law Departments and presided over the trial of Zhang Youfeng.
Every official in the Three Laws Department carefully investigated the eucalyptus in their hands.
Everyone knows that this project must be completed without any mistakes.
Su Yan carefully reviewed Zhang Youfeng's file. He found no problems. Taking the file and the list of prisoners, he came to Qianqing Palace to report.
Emperor Su He asked Su Yan to sit aside while he looked through Zhang Youfenggu's files.
Su He looked at the contents of the file and stopped from time to time to ask Su Yan for details about the case.
Zhang Youfeng refused to confess, but the evidence collected from his home also included what his accomplices confessed.
The Third Law Division has formed a complete chain of evidence to prove the facts of Zhang Youfeng's related crimes.
Zhang Youfeng used to work in the Ministry of Rites. He just used his power to win over some new imperial examination candidates and new imperial examination scholars.
At this time, these people formed a small group just because of their common interests.
Zhang Youfeng really began to form cliques for personal gain after he took office as governor of Shandong and gained real power.
When Zhang Youfeng was appointed governor of Shandong, he vigorously promoted his own people.
The power in his hands can be realized, and the small group expands rapidly and officially becomes a force.
Officials who do not join this force, if they do not have a strong background, will all be squeezed out of Shandong officialdom.
Zhang Youfeng's power is stable, and forming a party for personal gain requires a lot of money.
Zhang Youfeng and his party were in Shandong, and they cleverly created a pretext to steal the wealth of businessmen and embezzle the government's allocation at the same time.
They make one of the most typical pieces.
Zhang Youfeng and his party embezzled the money from the imperial court to build the reservoir in order to prevent the matter from being exposed.
They levied corvettes and apportioned project funds from the poor, allowing the people at the bottom to bear the cost of building the reservoir, even if they had to contribute their own efforts.
Thousands of people died as a result of corvées.
Emperor Su He looked at what Zhang Youfeng and his party had done.
What these people are doing is digging up the foundation of the Great China Dynasty.
They are exactly the same as the corrupt officials of the previous Ming Dynasty.
Emperor Su He's hands were shaking with anger. He looked at the list of prisoners and drew a circle on Zhang Youfeng's name with a pen.
A striking red circle surrounded Zhang Youfeng.
Anyone with a red circle drawn in ink will be shot at the market entrance in three days.
Emperor Su He circled sixteen people in succession based on what these officials had done.
He handed the circled list to Su Yan, the minister of Dali Temple.
"Su Yan, the official who sentenced him to death, was shot to death at Caishikou three days later, and the people were allowed to watch the execution.
The direct family members of these criminal officials had their property confiscated and were exiled to the frontiers. They were not allowed to take imperial examinations within five generations, and all those in the family who were officials were dismissed from office.
Officials who were deeply involved had their property confiscated and were exiled to border areas. They were not allowed to take the imperial examination for three generations.
Officials who were not deeply involved were demoted to the frontier as officials and were not allowed to be transferred back for life. "
Su Yan was ordered to withdraw from Qianqing Palace and make arrangements for the execution in three days.
Emperor Su He asked the General Affairs Department to notify the cabinet to deal with Zhang Youfeng's prisoner as soon as possible.
…………………………
4337 (1640 AD), September 19th.
Su Yan, the minister of Dali Temple, came to the cell.
He personally carried the food box and delivered it to Zhang Youfeng, who had some gray hair.
Zhang Youfeng looked at the food box in front of him and immediately understood his current situation.
He was so frightened that he kicked the food box to the ground and said angrily: "I am not guilty, you are killing Zhongliang.
I want to see His Majesty the Emperor, I want to see His Majesty the Emperor in person. "
Su Yan saw Zhang Youfeng's attitude, which was as he expected.
During this period of interrogation of Zhang Youfeng, he always looked like an upright official who had been wronged.
Su Yan sometimes felt that she had made a mistake and that someone was plotting against Zhang Youfeng.
But when he saw the irrefutable evidence, he immediately put an end to this idea.
Zhang Youfeng is the main envoy. This is a case with conclusive evidence.
Even if there is someone behind Zhang Youfeng, they are at most his accomplices.
Zhang Youfeng is very good at acting. He was an opportunistic bureaucrat before, but he pretended to be an upright official serving the country and the people.
Zhang Youfeng can be regarded as path dependent. Qingliu of the Ming Dynasty enjoyed excellent treatment.
But he has forgotten that the dynasty has changed.
Su Yan immediately ordered her subordinates: "Since Mr. Zhang doesn't want to be decapitated, then he will be a starving ghost. You can't blame the others.
You take Mr. Zhang to the Caishikou execution ground. I also want to visit the other prisoners and will soon go to the execution ground to supervise the execution. "
Zhang Youfeng was dragged out by the officials of Dali Temple on his arms.
He knew that he would definitely die today, so he laughed loudly and said: "I am just one move away from you, it is destiny.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha……"
Zhang Youfeng behaved quite well, and the other fifteen prisoners were beheaded when they saw it.
These people were full of ugliness, and none of them finished their meal quietly.
Some people were crying and talking nonsense.
Some people wanted to step forward and grab Su Yan, saying they wanted to explain, but he did not.
Some people were so frightened that they became incontinent, and a smell of urine filled the air.
Su Yan carefully checked the identities of all the prisoners, and after verifying their identity, put them into the prison van.
The prison van dragged the prisoner to Caishikou execution ground to await execution.
People along the way saw the prisoner in the prison car.
They took vegetable leaves and rotten eggs and threw them into the prison van.
Since the founding of the Great China Dynasty, this is the first time that a second-rank official or above has been executed.
Many people got the news and were waiting along the way.
The people threw rotten eggs and other objects to vent their anger, and shouted loudly: "Smash you rotten and corrupt officials to death."
The Caishikou execution ground was surrounded by people.
Su Yan led the officials to forcibly evacuate the people and opened a road, and then allowed the prison car to enter the execution ground.
They waited for the arrival of noon.
In the restaurant next to Caishikou, Emperor Su He and his concubine Liu Rushi were sitting by the window watching the execution.
Su He had to see Zhang Youfeng shot in person to relieve his anger.
Liu Rushi poured wine for Su He and advised him softly: "Master, calm down. It's really not worth it to hurt your body because of Zhang Youfeng, a corrupt official."
Just as Liu Rushi finished speaking, an eight-foot-tall old man in gorgeous clothes stood up from the table next to him and walked towards them.
He said happily: "It seems that my nephew was also harmed by Zhang Youfeng, a corrupt official.
I'm an old man and I've been screwed. I heard that Zhang Youfeng was imprisoned a few days ago. I was so happy that I ate two more bowls of white rice.
Today is the day to shoot Zhang Youfeng. I want to see him shot with my own eyes. "
Su He smiled and nodded. They had a common experience, so he started chatting with the little old man.
I found out that this man was Zhu Wenbiao, a big businessman from Shandong, who ran a grain store in Shandong.
At that time, Zhang Youfeng did not allow any merchants to transport grain to Jiaozhou, artificially creating fluctuations in grain prices to attack his political opponents.
Zhu Wenbiao did not pay attention to this order and was attacked by Zhang Youfeng's party.
Zhu Wenbiao recalled the past, wiped the sweat from his head and said: "If I hadn't escaped from Shandong in time, the whole family would not have survived."
Su He frowned and asked: "Old sir, you suffered such a blow, why didn't you file a complaint?
Our Emperor, His Majesty, can still uphold justice for the people.
The emperor upheld justice for the Han people as far away as Southeast Asia. "
Zhu Wenbiao waved his hand and said: "How can it be so easy to file a complaint?
The most critical issue is that I don’t have any evidence, so I can’t win at all.
The court punished false accusations extremely severely.
No one dares to file a complaint without complete preparation.
How could the governor directly attack me, a powerless businessman?
He only needed to give the order, and many people started to suppress me in order to hold my thigh.
Nowadays, the laws of the imperial court are still imperfect, and charges can be placed casually.
What can we, powerless people like us, do?
In some places, no charges are even required. I heard that there were officials in Fujian who directly ordered businessmen to be arrested.
By writing an IOU by hand, all the family property is legally given to others, and there is no point in filing a lawsuit. "
As a junior, Su He asked this businessman for his experience.
He learned from it that the government offices in various parts of Dahua looked glamorous, but there were many dark sides.
Powerless people entered the yamen.
A well-to-do family can be ruined by just using legal means.
Act in accordance with the law, this is just a slogan.
If we really want to turn this sentence into reality, it will take a long time to change.
Su He knew these things, and he also knew which places the Metropolitan Procuratorate should focus on supervising.
When Zhu Wenbiao heard the bell ringing outside, he said excitedly: "It's noon now, let's talk later.
I want to see Zhang Youfeng shot to death with my own eyes. "
After Zhu Wenbiao finished speaking, he lay down by the window to observe the situation at the Caishikou execution ground.
Su He also stood by the window, observing the execution at Caishikou.
When the bell rang, the people chatting around the market became energetic and stared at the entrance of the market.
Su Yan, the supervising officer, waited until the time came, picked up the token, threw it down, and said loudly: "The time has come, let's execute the execution."
The patrolmen in charge of executions were holding rifles and pointing the muzzles at the back of the prisoner's head.
Zhang Youfeng felt the coldness on the back of his head, and he knew he was about to be shot.
He shouted loudly: "I was wronged! I am not guilty and I want to see Your Majesty!"
boom! boom! boom!
Neat gunshots rang out, and all the main members of Zhang Youfeng's party were shot.
Many prisoners' bodies did not have family members to collect them, so the ancestral temple had to come forward to cremate these prisoners.
The ashes were scattered on the road and trampled by thousands of people.
The immediate family members of these prisoners have been exiled before them.
Many members of their family were influenced by these prisoners and lost their positions.
These prisoners were so hated by the rest of their family that they didn't even want to take in their corpses.
…………………………
Su He and Liu Rushi waited until the execution was over and then walked down the restaurant.
Liu Rushi asked in confusion: "Sir, the Ming Dynasty in the previous dynasty almost never killed civil servants.
Even if you form a party for personal gain, the most you can do is lose your official position.
The case of Zhang Youfeng had just been reported, and many people thought that the imperial court would not kill anyone. "
Su He gritted his teeth and said: "Not killing is not enough to anger the people, and not killing is not enough to deter other officials.
Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty killed officials until their blood flowed into rivers.
The emperors after the Ming Dynasty grew up in the deep palace.
They relied on eunuchs to fight civil servants, but they only retained little authority.
It was not that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty did not want to kill officials, but that they did not dare to kill them.
Officials of the Ming Dynasty had a special way of fighting the emperor - the deception stick.
The descendants of the officials who were killed by the Ming Emperor were supported by the civil service group and soon became prosperous.
The situation in Dahua is different from that in Ming Dynasty. Only death can deter officials with different ideas.
Dahua no longer has any involvement in the common people except for rebellion.
But for criminals, family reasons will still be implicated. "
Su He knew that party strife could not be avoided, and officials would definitely stick together for warmth because of their common interests.
But he must resolutely crack down on party strife that harms the country and the people.
Limited party struggle can prevent the emergence of powerful ministers.
Suhe has prepared the place for these officials where the parties will fight, which is the current parliament.
Su He will never allow excessive party strife to occur in Dahua officialdom.
Liu Rushi nodded thoughtfully. She accompanied Su He and visited the bustling capital.
After she was officially selected as a show girl, she had very few opportunities to leave the palace. She cherished this opportunity to leave the palace very much.
The two of them were walking on the streets of the capital, observing the bustling scene on the streets, and were far away from Caishikou.
Liu Rushi saw a chaos ahead.
At the entrance of Tai'an Chamber of Commerce.
A large group of people were kneeling on the ground. They were wearing coarse cotton clothes, and some of them were holding hoes and sickles.
They held banners with blood stamps in their hands that read "Give me back my hard-earned money".
The patrolmen of Shuntian Prefecture blew their whistles to maintain order, and they had nothing to do with this group of farmers.
Su He always felt that this situation seemed a bit familiar.
Are there still migrant workers in the capital of the Great China Dynasty?
He thought about it and realized that this was unlikely to happen.
The main job of farmers now is farming.
During the off-season, I would engage in some handicrafts or small business in the countryside.
Now there are not that many jobs in Dahua City to absorb a large number of migrant workers.
Su He asked Zhuque Wei to take Liu Rushi around the capital and wait until she was tired before returning to the palace.
He had already seen the carriage of Chen Zhenhui, the prefect of Shuntian.
When Su He walked to the carriage, Chen Zhenhui saw that it was His Majesty the Emperor, and he was just about to bow.
Su He waved his hand, and they boarded the carriage together.
Su He asked: "What's going on?"
Chen Zhenhui introduced: "Your Majesty, these are farmers farming near Daxing County.
They mainly supply vegetables from the capital.
Part of the food in the capital is transported by land and transported by train from Northeast China, Shandong, and Henan.
The other part is sea transportation, which transports grain from Nanyang to the capital through large cargo ships.
Because vegetables cannot be stored for a long time, they are mainly supplied from the surrounding areas.
Tai'an Trading Company is mainly engaged in selling vegetables in the capital.
They purchased vegetables from farmers with commercial notes and promised to exchange the commercial notes for money in the coming year.
A commercial note is a document in which a merchant promises to repay a loan. The merchant's ticket stipulates a date after which the person who obtains the merchant's ticket can get the money back from the merchant.
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Tai'an Commercial Bank has been fulfilling this promise in the past few years.
Tai'an Commercial Bank has not been operating well this year, and the commercial bills in the hands of farmers have become waste paper and can no longer be exchanged for money.
Many farmers who got the news came to Tai'an Commercial Bank in the capital to block the door.
The minister learned that a large number of farmers were flocking here, so he brought people here to understand the situation. "
Su He stared at Chen Zhenhui and asked doubtfully: "Prefect Chen, this kind of thing is easy to solve.
If Tai'an Commercial Bank is not doing well, it can be sold directly to repay the merchant bills in the hands of farmers.
Or use more forceful means to seize the property of the owner of Tai'an Commercial Bank and use it to repay the commercial bills.
Commercial bills, a new thing, can be regarded as private loans.
The government will handle it as private lending. "
Chen Zhenhui said a little aggrievedly: "Your Majesty, Tai'an Trading Company can still be handled like this by Shuntian Mansion.
As far as I know, many commercial banks in Shuntian Prefecture have now turned their business tickets into waste paper.
The money involved was tens of millions of taels of silver coins.
We sold all these businesses, but we couldn't raise the money. "
When Su He heard this, he somewhat understood Chen Zhenhui's difficulties.
These businessmen were so ahead of their time that they even used financial tricks in this era.
