The Prosperous Era of Longwan

After leaving the prison of the Ministry of Justice and walking out, Wei Guangde was still thinking about what news Chen Yiqin would give him when he returned to the cabinet.

Yes, has Emperor Longqing lost his anger? Or is he still angry and unwilling to let him go?

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde, who had already walked to the sedan, suddenly stood still.

Yin Shizhen, who was about to bend down and get into the sedan next to him, stopped unconsciously and looked over suspiciously.

Wei Guangde only thought about it for a moment, then walked over, pulled him to a quiet corner of the wall and whispered: "Brother Zhengfu, I'm thinking about this matter in case something goes wrong.

Brother Yifu, if we don't persuade His Majesty, then we have to find a way. At the very least, let the Ministry of Punishment delay the verdict until His Majesty calms down. "

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Yin Shizhen asked.

"The area around here is the territory of the Ministry of Justice. I will visit Mao Shangshu to find out what he says. If he also sympathizes with Eunuch Li, this matter will be easier to handle."

Wei Guangde said.

Yin Shizhen nodded after thinking about it, "That's fine, you go see Mao Kai, and I'll go back to check on Yifu's news. There are a lot of things in the pavilion. Let's work on both sides to make sure nothing goes wrong."

They have already come here, and they have actually expressed their discord with Teng Xiang and others.

However, they and Li Fang have been in a relationship for many years anyway. Teng Xiang and the others are not happy at all, but they don't dare to make any small moves.

"I think he should have come out of the palace by now."

Wei Guangde shook his head and said.

At this time, Chen Yiqin did not send anyone to send a message, and there was no decree. The result can be imagined.

Wei Guangde actually had some ideas at this moment, but he couldn't express them to Yin Shizhen.

In his opinion, Li Fang had been with Emperor Longqing for so many years, and their relationship was quite deep.

Therefore, Li Fang's life should be safe.

It's just that Emperor Longqing was also angry that he didn't know how to praise him and often displeased him. Maybe he had the idea of ​​​​teaching him a lesson.

But Wei Guangde knows better that the so-called feelings are actually just like that, what kind of feelings can be discussed with Tianjia.

Last year, Li Fang's favor in front of Emperor Longqing was probably gone, but he just couldn't get the emperor to be cruel to him.

So why did Emperor Longqing lose his temper this time, beat Li Fang to the ground, and send her directly to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment?

Wei Guangde guessed that it might be a warning to them.

Don't think that just because Yu Zhuan's old friend can be pampered, he can deal with Li Fang ruthlessly.

After breaking up with Yin Shizhen, Wei Guangde got into the sedan chair and ordered: "Go to the Criminal Department."

The bearer obeyed the order, lifted up the sedan and went to the Yamen of the Criminal Department.

Not long after, I got off the sedan outside the gate of the Xingbu Yamen.

Wei Guangde appeared in official uniform, so the guard guard naturally did not dare to stop him. While welcoming him into the Yamen, he quickly ran to the Shangshu's duty room to report the news.

Not long after, Wei Guangde saw Mao Kai coming out to greet him.

"Master Mao, Mr. Wei is disturbing me."

Wei Guangde first bowed his hands.

"Mr. Wei Ge is too polite. Why bother? Please go inside and talk."

Mao Kai hurriedly returned the gift, invited Wei Guangde to the Shangshu's duty room, and asked for tea.

After the others exited, Mao Kai asked with a smile: "Mr. Wei Ge has come to our criminal department with great honor, but who has been sent just for today?"

"Mao Shangshu has not been in the capital for a long time. I wonder if he knows Li Fang and Eunuch Li's personality."

Wei Guangde saw that the other party had already guessed his intention, so he didn't show off and simply made it clear.

"Jie Chuan has heard about it and knows that Eunuch Li is an upright man and a rare talent in the inner court."

Mao Kai nodded and said.

"For what he committed this time, I wonder if there is any document from the inner court? As long as Mao Shangshu takes a look at it, he should know what's fishy."

Wei Guangde sighed and said.

"There is a document saying that Li Fang is pampered and disrespectful to His Majesty."

Mao Kai replied.

To be honest, he didn't understand that Emperor Longqing sent the former chief internal officer of Prince Yu's Palace to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment.

If the emperor's servants want to beat or kill you, they can just do it in the inner court. Why do they need to send you to the Yamen?

As for the so-called crime of disrespect, it is even less clear.

To be honest, after the inner court sent the person here, he felt like a hot potato, but he couldn't send it out.

He even considered bringing in Dali Temple and the Metropolitan Procuratorate to form a joint trial among the three departments, so that at least there would be an explanation to the outer court.

If the result does not satisfy the inner court, he is not afraid.

Hearing that Yin Shizhen and Wei Guangde went to the prison of the Ministry of Justice to visit Li Fang, and even brought the doctor with them, he was considering whether to involve the cabinet in this matter.

However, he also knows that those who take the initiative to plot against the cabinet may have backlash.

When he heard that Wei Guangde came to the Punishment Department Yamen but Yin Shizhen did not come, he guessed that he was here because of Li Fang's affairs, so he took the initiative to start a conversation.

There were only Wei Guangde and Mao Kai in the duty room now, but they looked outside the door first and then whispered: "The so-called Eunuch Li is disrespectful to Your Majesty is completely unfounded.

Shangshu Mao may have heard that since His Majesty ascended the throne, Eunuch Li has been urging you to be a promising king."

It had been two years since Emperor Longqing ascended the throne, and the courtiers had already had a rough impression of him, which should be said to be very bad.

His ability to handle memorials or court affairs was far inferior to that of his father, Emperor Jiajing. Although he was not keen on practicing Taoism, he was greedy for beauty and liked precious things such as pearls, jade and gems.

The courtiers also discussed this in private, accusing Gao Gong, Chen Yiqin and others of not teaching His Majesty well when they were in Yu Zhuan.

"Since the impeachment of Xu Gao, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Eunuch Li has been strictly rectifying the expenditures of the inner and outer court, blocking many people's financial opportunities, and his relationship with other eunuchs in the inner court is not good.

Last year, Long Yan was offended because he repeatedly warned his majesty to avoid women and treasures. This time, it was because of the palace renovations and the Aoshan Lantern Festival that Teng Xiang and Meng Chong were responsible for. Eunuch Li found that some of them were not up to par, so he said it in front of his majesty. A few words.

After that, some people came forward to slander Your Majesty, saying that Eunuch Li was dissatisfied after being punished by His Majesty last year and said disrespectful words towards Your Majesty. "

Wei Guangde briefly explained the situation to Mao Kai, and he naturally understood what was going on.

Regardless of how civil servants make money in private, they do it publicly and are upright. After all, at their level, they will not take dirty money, but only the subsidies and benefits distributed by the yamen.

Influenced by later film and television works, many people believe that the rich and unkind people of this era would secretly bribe local officials after committing crimes in order to obtain a favorable sentence. In fact, this is a big mistake.

Maybe the officials at the county magistrate level are willing to take over this kind of money. Compared with the income of the county magistrate, the money they usually receive from the yamen is not that much, so of course they will not be able to withstand this temptation.

But local officials like county magistrates and magistrates look down upon tens or hundreds of taels of silver, and taking such money is risky.

Why let them take such risks?

If you don't burn incense on a regular basis and just do it temporarily, no one will care about you.

One hundred thousand snowflakes and silver from the Qing Prefecture in three years is not just talk.

If you are not greedy, just follow the rules of your predecessor and add the miscellaneous taxes on government expenses on top of the national taxes. You will have a lot left over in a year. These are the legitimate income of the prefect.

No one can say the word "greedy".

Local squires who are sensible will choose to give gifts on New Year's Day to build a good relationship so that they can ask for help when needed.

The benefits will not be given at that time. Isn’t that true?

Afterwards, adding a generous gift at the right time is the perfect operation. Even if the imperial censor comes to investigate, everything will be justified.

China is a country of etiquette. During festivals and festivals, local gentry would give gifts to local officials from afar. This was certainly not a bribe.

As for worrying about not receiving benefits from doing things, have you ever heard of the old saying, "The county magistrate who ruins his family is the prefect who destroys his family"?

Even though the gentry behaved like 2,580,000 yuan in front of the common people, they were as well-behaved as quails in front of the government officials.

This is also the reason why every rural gentry has to send their children to study hard. Even if they can't read well, they still have to find ways to spend money to get an official position, even as a minor official.

As long as there is no scholar in the family for three generations, the family will inevitably fall.

But the eunuch group is different from the civil servants. They like money even more.

Perhaps he just lost his beauty and could only like yellow and white things. Regardless of whether he was a high official or a small official, eunuchs had to make money from everything they did, and they worked hard to make money.

The consequences are non-existent.

There is no principle and no bottom line. This is one of the reasons why civil servants look down on eunuchs.

"Mr. Wei Ge, I've heard people say something about Eunuch Li's character, so naturally I admire him very much, but His Majesty has issued an order to sentence him for disrespect."

Mao Kai is wrong.

When he arrived at the Criminal Department, the crime had already been decided, and there was no way he could exonerate Li Fang.

He knew what kind of person Li Fang was, so he didn't intend to embarrass him, but when it came to helping, he, Master Mao, was not willing to agree easily.

The stakes are too high.

"As the saying goes, if you catch an adulterer, you'll catch a double, and if you catch a thief, you'll get the dirt. Since you want to be convicted, there must be witnesses and physical evidence, let alone such a serious crime as disrespecting His Majesty."

Wei Guangde smiled and said, "In the palace, we will also find a way to prevent Master Mao from being in trouble."

"That's very good. To be honest, I also admire Eunuch Li's character, but I really don't want to do this."

Mao Kai said happily, now his doubts were gone and he was happy.

What Wei Guangde wants is to delay, to delay the case with no evidence of guilt. They will find a solution in the palace. This is of course the best solution.

"But what if the palace sends a chamberlain to testify?"

"As long as Mr. Mao cross-examines this matter that was never revealed in the first place, it will definitely be revealed, haha."

"Too."

After chatting for a while, when Wei Guangde stood up and was about to leave, he smiled and said to Mao Kai: "The year before last, General Yu Dayou Yu was impeached by the Censor of Guangdong Province and the Imperial College of Nanjing. I would like to thank Mr. Mao for speaking up."

"Well, General Yu is the same. He usually doesn't pay attention to what he says and offends too many people. But when it comes to the generals in Jiangnan, he is the one Mao admires the most."

Mao Kai smiled.

"Well, he is a bit reckless, but if a military general does not speak directly and aboveboard, the court may not dare to use such a general with confidence."

Wei Guangde still smiled.

Suppressing the status of military generals is a tacit thing among civilian officials, but they also know that generals who can fight must be protected appropriately.

Don't just keep people who are good at flattering others. If they go into battle, the consequences will be very serious.

After sitting for a while, Wei Guangde stood up and left, saying that he was busy with cabinet affairs. When he returned to the cabinet, he immediately went to Chen Yiqin's duty room.

At this time, Chen Yiqin had come back a long time ago, but looking at his gloomy face, you knew that things had not gone well.

"Shan Loi is back. Sit down first. Someone comes and serves tea."

He asked Wei Guangde to sit down and asked someone to bring tea.

Wei Guangde didn't move, and just asked: "Why is Your Majesty so angry?"

Chen Yiqin seemed to be hesitant to speak, and hesitated for a moment before saying: "Before, you said that you would let Li Fang go to Nanjing after he was released from prison. I was a little unconcerned and thought you were being careful. Now it seems that you are right. "

Wei Guangde remained silent and did not speak, but was thinking about the reason for Chen Yiqin's previous hesitation.

"How's it going with the Ministry of Justice?"

Chen Yiqin interrupted matters in the palace and asked about the outcome of Wei Guangde's trip.

"We have made an agreement with Mao Shangshu. He will take the case into custody because the evidence is not clear. The first trial will be at least half a month later."

Wei Guangde said immediately, "We still have time to think of a solution."

"I heard from Zhengfu before that Li Fang's injury will take half a month to recover, as long as the punishment department is not in a hurry to be promoted to court.

By the way, before you were away, Ma Shangshu of the Ministry of Finance came to visit. "

Chen Yiqin said.

"Is it about the Zhuangtian matter? I also said that I would ask Mr. Wang and the Tuntian Censor to come to the cabinet to discuss the matter later."

Wei Guangde thought that Ma Sen came here to honor Zhuang Tian, ​​so he said.

"It's not about the village affairs, it's about Liu Guangji's memorial. The Ministry of Household Affairs has already had a meeting."

Chen Yiqin smiled.

Seeing his smiling face, Wei Guangde knew that the result should not be bad.

Sure enough, I heard Chen Yiqin say next: "The Ministry of Household Affairs supports Governor Liu to re-implement the one-whip method in Jiangxi."

Just as a smile appeared on Wei Guangde's face, Chen Yiqin continued, "However, in view of the many problems that are difficult to solve during the implementation of the one-whip method, the implementation of the one-whip method in Jiangxi needs to be carried out step by step.

In the first year, it will be implemented in two to three prefectures in Jiangxi. After it is perfected, it will be implemented throughout Jiangxi.

During this process, Governor Liu must promptly report to the court the problems discovered during the implementation process and their solutions, and the court will also send people to Jiangxi for inspection. "

"Haha, as long as the Ministry of Revenue does not object, it seems that they hope that after Jiangxi perfects a whipping method, it can be promoted throughout the world."

Wei Guangde was not worried about the report and the censor sent to monitor it.

"Based on what we have seen before, it is feasible to implement a whipping method in the south of the Yangtze River, but there are many problems in the north. The court's taxation system cannot be divided into north and south. In the end, it must be unified for easy management."

Chen Yiqin said.

"As long as you don't object, it's fine. I think a whipping method is simple and direct for the people and won't waste too much of their working time. It's the most beneficial thing for the court and the people.

The poor implementation in the North is mostly due to officials. The Metropolitan Procuratorate should be used to strictly investigate the problems of local officials. "

Wei Guangde said.

"Tell Zizheng, he is in charge of the Procuratorate."

Chen Yiqin waved his hands hurriedly.

"Haha, by the way, Mao Shangshu also said that Zhang Qi was guilty of accepting bribes and neglecting his duties and falsely accusing the elder. The Ministry of Punishment will report it to the Ministry of Justice soon and plans to send him to the army to guard the border."

Wei Guangde smiled.

Chen Yiqin nodded when he heard this, "This is the best."