Chapter 317: Divine Sword Stabs Hua Ting

Inside the main hall of Wanshou Palace.

The emperor once again used the old method.

The thoughts in the minds of several people are similar.

Hai Rui brought up the laws of the Ming Dynasty as his argument, and also took into account the current work of rectifying the administration of officials in the court.

What else?

That's just not sensible.

But I can't not say it.

How could the second assistant's face be thrown away in vain?

How could Ci Fu's face be slapped so easily?

Dali Temple Judge Chi Fengxiang stood up.

"Reporting to your Majesty, as Hai Rui, the Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate, said, the court should supervise all officials and should use the laws of the Ming Dynasty to supervise and punish civil and military officials."

"But Hai Rui's memorial this time was to impeach himself. Should he be punished according to the court's laws?"

Chi Fengxiang glanced at Hai Rui with a dim gaze.

There is no need to talk about this and that at this time. Since you, Hai Rui, said that you made mistakes when you were in Huizhou Prefecture, and you yourself said that the court should not consider human relationships and worldly affairs, but should first enforce the law and criminal law.

Then you can wait to be punished.

This trick is certainly useful.

Even Jiajing couldn't help but frown.

If we really follow Hai Rui's advice today, then what Chi Fengxiang, the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple, said is correct.

Hai Rui needs to be punished.

Because he did something wrong.

And if what Hai Rui did in Huizhou Prefecture was true, seizing the Xin'an Guard Seal, this would be a serious mistake, and he would at least be dismissed from his post and investigated.

If it weren't for leading troops to suppress the civil unrest.

Then Hai Rui would be guilty of a capital crime.

but……

Jiajing smiled in his heart, with a hint of amusement in his eyes, which swept across Xu Jie's face and then fell on Hai Rui's face.

"Hai Rui."

Hai Rui knelt on the ground, bowed his hands and looked up: "I am here."

Jiajing restrained his expression and said softly, "The Dali Temple said that your advice today was correct, and you did make mistakes in Huizhou Prefecture. In this case, shouldn't you also be punished?"

Hai Rui was very straightforward.

He didn't even give himself time to think.

Under the gaze of everyone.

Hai Rui said in a deep voice: "I am willing to accept the punishment!"

I'm being punished!

Hai Rui's voice reached his ears.

Yan Shaoting raised his eyebrows immediately.

This stubborn donkey really has a bad and stubborn temper.

He couldn't help but look at Hai Rui, who said he was willing to accept the punishment, and was very curious about the memorial he had written yesterday.

But in a blink of an eye.

Yan Shaoting immediately realized Hai Rui's true intention.

He wants to be a lone minister!
In the current Ming Dynasty, Hai Rui was the only lone minister who really wanted to leave.

So he wanted to submit a memorial to impeach himself and distance himself from Xu Jie, who had spoken for him on the matter of Huizhou Prefecture.

and then?
The thirty-two memorials that Hai Rui submitted to Huizhou Prefecture!

He must use this matter to speak.

really.

Just as Yan Shaoting thought.

After hearing that Hai Rui was willing to accept the punishment.

Jiajing chuckled: "In this case, do you have anything else to say?"

Hai Rui nodded.

"I have one more thing to say!"

Knew it!
There was a gleam in Yan Shaoting's eyes, and he couldn't help but glance at Xu Huating not far away again.

The emperor hummed.

Hai Rui began to say: "Last year, I was ordered to take charge of increasing silk production in Suzhou and Songjiang Prefectures, and I will work with Zhang Juzheng, the then cabinet minister, to take charge of the affairs of the two prefectures.

"At that time, I traveled to the countryside of the counties of Suzhou and Songjiang, and I witnessed various events and wrote 32 memorials, describing all the affairs of officials, clerks, gentry, merchants, and common people in Suzhou and Songjiang.

"According to what I learned from my secret investigation at that time, officials in Suzhou and Songjiang were in collusion with each other, officials and gentry colluded with each other, merchants exploited and oppressed the people, and the people were increasingly suffering and struggling to make ends meet.

"Is it not just the concealment of farmland in the two prefectures of Suzhou and Songjiang that has caused problems for tenants, farmers, and merchants for hundreds of years?

The government is oblivious, the merchants and gentry are enjoying themselves, and the common people are emaciated. The two prefectures are named Daming, but they are actually the homes of the local gentry!"

On the throne.

Jiajing looked calm, but he felt a chill in his heart.

Even though he had already read the memorial that Hai Rui had sent to the palace yesterday, he was still filled with anger when he heard his words again.

What did Hai Rui mean?
The Suzhou and Songjiang prefectures of the Ming Dynasty were formerly owned by the Zhu family and were the territories of the emperor's family.

but now.

Who actually owns Suzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture is a question that remains to be answered.

Do not!
This is no longer a question of doubt.

Because Hai Rui has already given the answer.

The two prefectures of Suzhou and Songjiang in the Ming Dynasty had become the two prefectures of Suzhou and Songjiang for the local gentry and wealthy families!

As soon as these remarks came out.

Xu Jie's heart suddenly trembled.

Although he secretly expected that Hai Rui was going to target him this time.

But when it really happened, he was still a little shocked.

Inside this hall, the officials from the southeast also looked at each other with a tense look.

Although Hai Rui was only talking about the affairs of the two prefectures of Suzhou and Songjiang.

However, the two prefectures of Suzhou and Songjiang account for half of the tax revenue in the southeast.

If this is the case in these two prefectures, what about other places?

But Hai Rui changed the subject: "At that time, I felt deeply that how could the country be like this, how could the people be hungry and clothed, and how could your Majesty's name as a holy monarch be humiliated by corrupt officials and greedy people in the countryside.

"So, I traveled all over Suzhou and Songshan and wrote 32 memorials, which I sent to the capital. In my capacity as the Censor of the Censorate, I presented them to Your Majesty. However, I have not heard of any discussion of this matter in the palace or the court until today.

I would like to ask, where are the 32 memorials I submitted at that time? Are the six ministries and cabinets aware of them? Has the emperor read them?"

A buzzing sound.

Inside the Wanshou Palace, everyone seemed to hear the sound of a sword.

Yan Shaoting's eyes lit up. Draw the sword!
Hai Rui drew his sword!

Hai Rui actually didn't know where the 32 memorials he had sent to the capital had gone, or who had interfered with them.

But he knew it.

As long as I pick this matter out today.

Then the other party will definitely stand up.

At this time, whoever speaks is the one who did it.

Yourself.

It will also be clear who was involved in the incident in the first place.

above.

Jiajing pretended to be ignorant, with a puzzled look on his face, and asked curiously, "Oh? When you were working in the two prefectures of Suzhou and Songjiang, you actually submitted 32 memorials to the capital?"

Hai Rui nodded heavily, "I have never lied, nor have I been deliberately making up stories to stir up trouble in the court. Your Majesty, you can send someone to verify. I was originally in the Suzhou Prefecture's Grain Supervision Office, and in the name of the Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate, I urged the Suzhou officials to take the official roads and post stations to submit the memorials to the capital. The official post stations along the way should have recorded this according to the law."

Officials like Hai Rui who hold the title of Censor of the Censorate.

No matter where they are.

As long as they were memorials, they could be submitted directly to the capital, or even directly before the emperor.

At the local level, starting from the place where they set out, the official post stations and post soldiers along the way would keep detailed records.

For example, on a certain day, a memorial from a certain official was received and sent to a certain place.

Such records must be kept.

Whether Hai Rui submitted 32 memorials at that time can be clarified by checking the official post station that sent them to Suzhou Prefecture.

Hai Rui even said, "Zhang Juzheng, then the Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion and the Minister of the Cabinet, was in charge of increasing silk production in the southeast and was stationed in the Suzhou Prefecture's Grain Supervisory Office, and he also knew about this."

Zhang Juzheng also knew about this matter!

The first person to react to this statement was Xu Jie, who was silent in the crowd.

He just glanced sideways at Hai Rui quickly, and then lowered his head again.

However, Xu Jie's heart was filled with endless speculation and suspicion.

If his good student Zhang Juzheng had known about the 32 memorials at the beginning, he would definitely know the contents of the memorials.

However, these memorials did not cause any waves in the court.

As a smart student like myself, I will definitely understand what happened in the capital.

So……

Was it also because of this incident that he returned to Beijing this time and shouted slogans of reform?

Unavoidable.

Xu Jie felt a little regretful. What would have happened if he had allowed the 32 memorials to be submitted to the capital at the beginning? In the end, the two prefectures of Suzhou and Songjiang still measured the land.

Although these fields were simply included in the court's land tax, the ownership of these fields was not changed.

In the main hall.

Hai Rui's voice was heard again.

"According to the law, the imperial court's Censorate's censors submit memorials from local areas. The memorials are directly sent to the capital, handed over to the Tongzhengshi Yamen for record, copied and forwarded to the cabinet ministers for their knowledge, and the original is sent directly to the palace for His Majesty to review."

"I would like to ask whether the Tongzhengshisi Yamen knows about this matter, and whether the cabinet knows about this matter?"

Hai Rui's eyes slowly turned, scanning the officials present one by one.

The world's God is peaceful.

But it makes people feel that there is a sharp edge behind it.

To put it simply, this was a memorial from the current Censor that was lost in an official office of the imperial court.

To put it in a broader sense, it means that someone deliberately intercepted and destroyed the memorials of the current censor!

In fact, Hai Rui already had a suspect in his mind.

There are many officials from the southeast in the court, but the only ones who were born in Suzhou and Songjiang and are still in high positions are the second-in-command Xu Jie and the recently dismissed Minister of Justice Pan En.

Under his gaze.

Xu Jie finally stood up.

"Your Majesty, the Cabinet is not aware of what Censor Hai said today, nor have we heard that thirty-two memorials were sent to the capital."

Now in the cabinet, the old prime minister is no longer doing anything, and everyone knows this. Even the emperor knows about it and he just says that the prime minister has worked hard and the country cannot do without him.

But now it is Xu Jie who is doing the work.

What he said, of course, meant that the cabinet had no prior knowledge of the situation.

By the way, it also means that Xu Jie doesn't know about this matter.

Jiajing narrowed his eyes slightly and asked calmly, "As Hai Rui said, where is the Tongzhengshisi?"

The Tongzhengshisi seems to be an unknown government office.

However, under the imperial court system, the chief official of the Tongzhengshisi, that is, the Tongzhengshi, was one of the nine ministers of the imperial court.

If the court wanted to discuss the appointment and removal of the six ministers, once a court meeting was held, the Minister of Public Administration had the right to participate and vote.

The current Minister of Public Security, Hu Ruolin, immediately bowed and left the room.

"Reporting to the Emperor, the Ministry of Public Administration has not heard of the 32 memorials submitted by the Imperial Censor last year."

Hu Rulin.

He was born in Jinzhou.

At that time, he was a Hanlin Academy scholar and a Censor-in-Chief of the Household Department.

In April of the 20th year of the Jiajing reign, a disaster occurred in the nine temples in the capital. Hu Ruolin submitted a memorial to impeach 26 people who were slow in putting out the fire. From then on, he attached himself to Yanfu Lane in the capital.

Last year, he was promoted from the position of Governor of Gansu and Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Public Security.

And now.

The emperor made it clear that he had not heard of the thirty-two memorials.

Then the Cabinet and the Ministry of Public Security both said that they had never seen or heard of it.

Hai Rui's eyes darkened.

He immediately clasped his hands and said, "I have done something illegal while working in Huizhou Prefecture, and I am willing to be punished."

"But last year I was the Censor of the Censorate of the current dynasty, and I submitted 32 memorials, but none of them have been found."

"I beg your majesty to order the officials to investigate this matter and severely punish the officials involved!"

After saying that.

Hai Rui then glanced at Xu Jie's back.

Although just now three people including the emperor said they didn't know.

But only Xu Jie made a mistake in his words.

As the second assistant.

Even if he didn't know about it at first, now that he knows about it, he should have spoken out and stated that the matter should be investigated, instead of saying nothing after saying that the cabinet didn't know about it.

He was confused.

So he didn't say that sentence.

Hai Rui's gaze, like a sword, pierced straight at Xu Jie, the Second Assistant Minister of the Ming Cabinet, who had his back to him!

…………

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(End of this chapter)