The Red Mansions

Chapter 517 Jia Heng: I dare not speak nonsense

Chapter 517 Jia Heng: I dare not speak nonsense...

Daming Palace, Hanyuan Hall

This silence didn't last long, and it was ended by the Kedao speaker.

"Chen, Wang Xueqin, the censor of Shanxi Province, impeached Zhao Yi, a scholar of the cabinet and minister of the Ministry of Industry..."

After discussing the relevant criminal officials, the question about Zhao Yi, a cabinet scholar and Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, was once again placed in front of the court officials.

As a cabinet member in charge of the Ministry of Industry, the two court officials under him were both involved in the case, so it can be said that they cannot escape the blame.

At this moment, the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate took the lead in impeaching the cabinet scholar Zhao Yi.

"Hurrah..."

The Kodao speech officials who had just been quiet for a while came out one after another to impeach and testify.

Jia Heng watched this scene with cold eyes, thinking about the changes in the court situation after Zhao Yi's resignation.

Just when Ke Dao's successive impeachments came to an end, Zhao Yi, who was among several cabinet ministers, arched his hands, lifted his official robe, knelt down, took off his black gauze hat, and put it on the floor beside him, with an ivory wat board horizontally He raised his head and kowtowed and said: "My lord, Zhao Yi is old and stupid. He doesn't know the virtuous and foolish. He can't be sensitive to the deception of Pan and Lu, which caused them to cause disasters. I have the responsibility of negligence. I implore the sage to agree." The minister begs for the bones, and returns home when he is old."

As soon as these words came out, there was silence in the hall.

Emperor Chongping looked indifferent, noncommittal.

After a while, he turned his eyes to Yang Guochang, Han Huang and other cabinet ministers, and said in a deep voice: "What do you think should be done?"

It can be said that in every court meeting, the Kandao spokesperson is the initiator of the problem, but it is the cabinet and the Jiuqing who actually make the decision.

On the contrary, the affairs officers of the six ministries are quite cautious in the matter of impeachment.

That is to say, the court situation of the Han Dynasty "starts with the way of speech and ends with the courtiers." Of course, the emperor can also directly approve the impeachment memorials of the Kedao Yushi.

However, at this moment, no one in the cabinet took the initiative to speak out.

Since He Juncheng, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, became an official, the Minister of Rites is now vacant, just because the two ministers are actually in charge of the affairs of the Ministry, and it does not affect political affairs.

It's not that no one went to the court to ask the emperor to recommend candidates, but they were all retained.

Now I go to a Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and it is bound to be pushed by the court.

But when a cabinet minister resigns, who knows what the emperor thinks, if Zhao Yi doesn't leave, he will offend a colleague at that time and make enemies for himself for nothing.

And it is easy to be suspected of selfishness.

When all the ministers in the cabinet were silent, Emperor Chongping suddenly cast a pair of scorching eyes on Jia Heng, and asked: "Jia Qing, you are the presiding judge of this case, and you are also the minister of military affairs. As far as you know, from what you have seen, how much is Zhao Yi, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, involved in the case, and how should we deal with it?"

Jia Heng was originally watching the play with no expression on his face, but when he suddenly heard Emperor Chongping call his name, he was startled and hurried out of the train.

He was actually thinking about whether to speak a fair word for Zhao Yi.

Earlier, when Zhao Yi's wife came to plead for mercy, he refused righteously and sternly, but he might not be able to say something fair to her afterwards.

And what did the emperor mean when he asked him at this moment?

The emperor knew about Zhao Yi's wife, Mrs. Wu's pleading at the Rongguo Mansion, and rewarded Keqing for it.

Ordinarily, he shouldn't have asked him, he would have just gone straight to the point, but he just asked...

Jia Heng's thoughts changed, and he understood Emperor Chongping's intentions.

Zhao Yi's political life is not over yet!

In other words, the emperor also needs a Minister of the Ministry of Industry who is neither group nor party to balance the court.

Just a little analysis, if the Minister of the Ministry of Industry resigns, the imperial court will inevitably push the candidate for the Minister of the Ministry of Industry. At that time, it will lead to a political game between the two parties of Qi and Zhejiang. situation.

After trying to figure out the holy intention, Jia Heng didn't dare to make mistakes, and said with cupped hands: "My lord, the ministers of the cabinet are discussing the matter, and the ministers dare not speak nonsense."

"Now that it is a court meeting, all officials can speak freely." Emperor Chongping said lightly.

When Jia Heng heard the words, under the watchful eyes of all the officials, he pondered for a moment, and said: "This humble minister has the courage, just in terms of this case, in the case involving Pan and Lu of the Ministry of Industry, although Zhao Shangshu is a minister, he is also a member of the cabinet. , predicting the maintenance, so I didn't know, of course he should be responsible for negligence, but the affairs of the six ministries of our dynasty are mostly controlled by two ministers, and the construction of the imperial tomb is undertaken by the prime minister of the country. Ford..."

As soon as these words came out, all the officials in the palace were stunned.

What does this mean?

This recently famous minister of the emperor, is speaking for Mr. Zhao Ge?

And Zhao Yi, who was kneeling, was startled and quite surprised.

The day before yesterday, my wife went to the Rongguo Mansion to ask Mrs. Rongguotai to plead for mercy. After he heard about it, he was very angry. The woman has long hair and short knowledge, how can she ask for Wu Xun's family?

But after hearing that the young dignitary refused, he felt a little relieved, and felt a little bit disappointed.

But right now... are you really helping me to say something fair?

Yang Guochang, the chief assistant of the cabinet, has an ugly face, and whether the cabinet ministers will stay or not, is this the only one who can talk about it?

At this moment, the eyes of Han Huang, the second assistant to the cabinet, moved slightly, and he faintly understood the emperor's intentions in his heart.

However, someone has to be responsible for the collapse of the imperial mausoleum. A prince has been deposed as a commoner, and there is not a single important cabinet minister convicted in the foreign court. How to stop Youyou's mouth?

At this moment, after Jia Heng's words were finished, all the officials in the Hanyuan Hall, who were Chinese and military, felt cold.

While Han Huang was thinking about it, all the officials were waiting for Emperor Chongping's opinion on how to deal with it.

At this time, the sky outside the hall was already bright, and the golden morning light passed through the vermilion carved windows and projected into the hall, and the originally slightly dim sight suddenly brightened.

Emperor Chongping seemed to be thinking about it, and murmured: "What Jia Qing said is not unreasonable. Zhao Yi was ordered to return to the headquarters and reorganize the affairs of the ministry in addition to his titles of Wenyuange University scholar and cabinet member."

As soon as these words came out, all the officials in Hanyuan Hall were shocked.

This is nothing more than a cabinet member, returning to the director of the Ministry.

However, it also saved political life.

Jia Heng immediately cupped his hands and said, "My sage, my sage."

The current cabinet has become a confrontation between the two parties of Qi and Zhejiang, and the party struggle may become more intense. Jia Heng speculates about Emperor Chongping's intentions.

Zhao Yi, who was kneeling below, already kowtowed in thanks, his voice was almost crying, and he said in a trembling voice: "Minister, thank you, Lord Long En."

Just now he talked about retiring and returning to his hometown, but he is only over 50, how can he willingly return to his hometown, raise his grandchildren and take care of him for the rest of his life.

In other words, this matter depends on the advice of the Lord of Ningguo.

Emperor Chongping glanced at the ministers and said: "Liang Yuan, the servant of the household department, was arrested in Beijing and handed over to the Ministry for discussion. As for the construction of the imperial tomb, it still needs to allocate money. The Ministry of Internal Affairs must strictly copy the property of the officials involved in the case to make up for the deficit. It collapsed, and the wages allocated for several years have been folded in it, and the money they have embezzled must be returned to give back to the construction."

The faces of the officials below were terrified, and they knew that they were going to search the house.

At this time, Emperor Chongping said: "In addition, the decree is drawn up. The king of Chu and the king of Qi County will be the chief and deputy envoys to supervise the construction of the imperial mausoleum. The two kings must work together to ensure that the mausoleum is completed on schedule."

After the previous earthquake, the Taishanghuang's body probably won't last long, and the imperial mausoleum needs to be repaired quickly.

The officials below responded in unison.

So far, the handling of the relevant officials in the imperial mausoleum case has been settled, and the rest is the supplementary matters for the corresponding officials such as the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households.

However, since Emperor Chongping didn't mention the matter of making up the quota just now, no one should speak rashly.

However, at this moment, Emperor Chongping said, "Han Qing."

"The minister is here." Han Huang came out of the class and played.

Emperor Chongping said in a deep voice: "The two servants of the Ministry of Industry are both involved in the case. Now the Ministry of Industry is short of two officials in the affairs hall. The Ministry of Officials will jointly recommend the three ranks and above in Beijing. In addition, the recent Beijing inspection and evaluation will be gathered, and the candidates will be reported to the cabinet for preparation. Circle it."

Han Huang's face turned solemn, he cupped his hands and said, "My minister obeys the order."

So far, the case of the collapse of the imperial mausoleum in the early dynasty has been finalized, and then there is competition among all parties for the officials of the Ministry of Industry.

After a while, Emperor Chongping finished discussing several matters with a group of ministers, and after a while, the court meeting was over, and all the officials left the palace one after another, and began to work for the vacancies of the two third-rank servants of the Ministry of Industry.

Daming Palace, Inner Study Room

Emperor Chongping sat behind the case, picked up the dossier brought by Jinyi Mansion in his hand, read the dossier, pondered for a while, then took up the imperial pen to write out the verdict, only occasionally asking Jia Heng for the details of the confession and evidence of the criminals involved.

The emperor had been in charge of the Ministry of Punishments when he was in his residence, and he was familiar with the laws and regulations of the Han Dynasty. He handled these things with ease, without stagnation, and punished many officials in a short while.

Sentence and exile, according to the severity of the crime, the punishment should be the crime.

Putting the dossier aside, Emperor Chongping stared at Jia Heng, and said, "Ziyu, all the stolen money from the Zhongshun Palace must be recovered as soon as possible. In the past six months, the commander in the north will need it."

Jia Heng said: Your Majesty, Prince Zhongshun has hidden a lot of stolen money in various other gardens. I am currently interrogating the relevant cronies of Prince Zhongshun's mansion, so the stolen money must not be hidden. It's just that even the cronies of Prince Zhongshun don't know about some places where the silver is hidden. "

Emperor Chongping frowned, and said, "Is there still a lot of other hidden stolen money?"

Jia Heng thought for a while, and said: "Yichen estimates that there are a lot of people, and there are still seven or eight million taels."

Emperor Chongping pondered for a moment, and said: "Chen Rong has been in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for many years, and he wanted to embezzle a lot of official money. Waiting for these two days, I will personally go to Gongling to inquire about him."

Jia Heng: "..."

Sure enough, silver is so charming that even the emperor can't sit still.

"Silver is used everywhere in the imperial court. The floating wealth alone comes and goes quickly." Emperor Chongping didn't look happy, his brows were frowned, he got up from behind the desk, and walked to the window of the pavilion with his hands behind his back Said: "The Ministry of Households has been urging internal funds to allocate silver for emergency these two days. In the past few years, there have been natural and man-made disasters, and money has been demanded everywhere, and the treasury cannot make ends meet."

Jia Heng paused, Gein, this was the first time that Emperor Chongping had talked to him about finances and taxes, he hesitated for a moment, and then said: "As far as I know, there should be a balance in the household department last year."

At the beginning, the Sanhe gang had a windfall of tens of millions before and after being copied by Jia Heng. Of course, with so much money, the real cash was only a few million taels. It was just that the various goods were later sold by the tax collectors in the east and west cities, and the gold and silver they gained came one after another. Continued according to a certain percentage are filled into the internal money, treasury.

Afterwards, the money was used to reorganize the army in the Beijing camp, officials owed salaries, and the frontier army paid part of the salary. It can be said that money is spent like water.

Emperor Chongping nodded and said: "The balance is 200 million taels, but the money has to be prepared until the summer tax. Officials' salaries will be halved starting from the first month. As for the soldiers' salaries in the Beijing camp, I will allocate them from internal funds." , to ensure that the real soldiers are paid, and the training will not be affected."

Jia Heng thought for a while, and suggested: "In the past few years, the imperial court's expenditures have been huge, and it is still necessary to find new sources of income."

"It is necessary to open up new sources of income." Emperor Chongping nodded, and suddenly said: "Old Yang Ge has worked hard, and he is still meritorious."

Jia Heng paused for a moment, but couldn't answer the question.

I can probably guess some of the emperor's thoughts. Although Yang Guochang has various mistakes and omissions, his ability to manage money and spend money is currently unreplaceable, and he still needs to be valued by the emperor.

Maybe Yang Guochang will have to hold out for a while before the emperor finds a replacement.

Therefore, Qi Kun was sent south.

Jia Heng suddenly realized that this arrangement was to accrue credit and qualifications to Qi Kun, let him raise the banner of the Qi Party, and this was still to suppress the Zhejiang Party.

At this moment, Emperor Chongping interrupted Jia Heng's thoughts again, and said: "In addition, the frontier army has been begging for wages recently. What I and the Ministry of Household mean is that the army should be reorganized first, and then pay. The disarmament depends on how Bei Jing and Nan An are going to check the border."

Jia Heng quietly listened to the emperor's narration. In other words, the emperor was not asking for his own opinion, but just wanted to find someone to talk to, and he, the minister of military aircraft, was the right candidate.

"Salt tax, I don't know how much will be handed over this year. The money you have confiscated from the criminals and the profits from various properties must be carefully prepared in the internal funds. Except for the payment to the Beijing camp, you are not allowed to tamper with it. "Emperor Chongping solemnly exhorted.

Jia Heng agreed to say yes.

The two monarchs and ministers talked for a while, and at noon, Emperor Chongping wanted to stay with Jia Heng for lunch, but declined on behalf of Jia Heng.

After that, Jia Heng left the Daming Palace, thinking about the matter of the Ministry of Industry's response to the vacancy of officials, or how to plan official positions for the old father-in-law and Jia Zheng.

As soon as he came out of the palace, he saw a butler in a short jacket, who greeted him with a smile, bowed his hands and said, "Lord Jia, my master has already prepared food and wine in Zuixianlou, please come with me."

Jia Heng nodded, and followed the butler to Zuixianlou.

This is also something that I made an appointment with Song Jing before, so it's not good to release Uncle Song Guo's pigeons again.

Zuixianlou

Jia Heng followed the steward to the second floor. This is a simple and elegant box. Song Jing seemed to wait for a long time, then got up, cupped her hands, and said with a smile: "Zi Yu, you can count on it."

"Lord Song, I've been waiting for a long time. Just now, the Holy Majesty left me to talk for a while." Jia Heng also cupped his hands and said in a friendly manner. Seeing Wei Wang who was smiling and cupping his hands, he was surprised and asked, "His Royal Highness Wei Wang ?”

"Zi Yu." Wei Wang saw a prosperous smile on his face, and explained: "I just led my men to find a place to have lunch, and I happened to meet my uncle, so we had a conversation together, and I heard that uncle is going to invite Zi Yu over After eating, I came over to take a look, I took the liberty to come here, Ziyu doesn't mind."

Jia Heng also didn't expose this pretentious rhetoric, but smiled and said: "Your Highness, you are serious. You are working with the yamen and eating together, so why talk about it presumptuously."

Before King Wei could resign modestly, he took the initiative to ask: "Your Highness, how is the situation over there in Gongling these two days?"

His current strategy for the King of Wei is not to get too close, give him some unrealistic fantasies, and at the same time arouse the suspicion of the emperor, but also not be too sarcastic to make him jealous.

Wei Wangdao: "People from Jingzhao and Wucheng Bingmasi went to the rescue. Many craftsmen were buried under the imperial tomb. After two days and two nights of non-stop digging, more than 100 craftsmen were rescued, and 80 people were killed or injured. , Ziyu didn't know, it was really horrible, and the family members were crying and screaming, and it was desolate to hear."

At the end, King Wei seemed to have a look of unbearable expression on his face.

However, it is obviously impossible for the Tianhuang nobles raised in the deep palace to have much empathy. It can only be said that a large part of it is due to the image of a benevolent king.

Jia Heng sighed, and said: "It's all these corrupt officials who have caused disasters. Today's court meeting, the Holy Majesty has severely punished them all."

The king of Wei nodded, with a bit of indignation on his face, and said: "It is a crime that cannot be punished for doing such a thing that angers both humans and gods because of one's own self-interest."

Jia Heng looked at King Wei and thought to himself, although the skills are not perfect yet, at least the attitude is good.

"Now the imperial court has to re-allocate money to build the imperial mausoleum. I don't know how much money it will cost." Wei Wang said with emotion, and then said: "I hope that the two brothers will be able to do things with their hearts and bring the emperor to the mausoleum sooner." The mausoleum is finished."

He had already learned from his uncle that the construction envoy of the imperial mausoleum had been handed over to the two princes, and he wanted to share the worries of his father, but he was the first to do so.

Song Jing quietly watched her nephew talking to the young honorable young man holding a heavy soldier, at this moment, he said: "Zi Yu, every tael of the hidden silver seized by the Zhongshun Palace needs to be used in the right way."

These words are more like a statement. Although he is the uncle of the king of Wei, he will not enrich himself for personal gain.

Jia Heng said: "Just now, the Holy Majesty was talking about this matter. In the past two years, the national treasury has been empty, and various expenditures have been wasted. This money that was copied and inspected needs to be used properly."

Song Jing said solemnly: "Don't worry, Ziyu, since I'm in charge of internal affairs, I have to take care of the treasury for the Holy Majesty. In fact, these years, the Holy Majesty does not respect luxury, does not run palaces, does not indulge in sensuality, and the daily expenses are even more common than those of ordinary middle-class families. Far worse."

Jia Heng nodded and said: "The Holy One advocates frugality, and the government and the public know it."

They all secretly thought, and they don't know what Song Jing is thinking after Jinyang squeezed Song Jing away.

Don't be afraid that you will blame yourself, right?

Well, probably not, because he doesn't know the relationship between him and Jinyang.

A few people were talking, and it was not appropriate to exchange shallow words for the first time in such a dinner party, they were all casually chatting romantically, before realizing it was the afternoon, they dispersed.

(End of this chapter)