Chapter 455: Domineering Hu Butang

The second assistant knocked on the table.

No matter how people argue in the cabinet duty room, they have to stop and keep quiet.

Li Chunfang had something else to say but was suddenly interrupted by Xu Jie. He could not help but turn his head and look at the other party with a puzzled look on his face.

In the duty room.

The officials from various ministries and government offices also restrained their expressions and looked at the Second Assistant, even Yan Shifan, who was the first to criticize this matter in the cabinet today.

As his son's career was flourishing, Yan Shifan was not a fool after all. Even if Yingzi was irritable, it would only be when it was right.

For example, today he can be the first one to curse in the cabinet duty room without restraint as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice and concurrently the Minister of Justice.

This is his power and his responsibility.

No one can blame.

However, when the duty room quieted down and Xu Jie was about to speak.

Yan Shifan continued to mutter casually and without concealment: "The Deputy Prime Minister has always been the most disgusted with treacherous and lawless people. No matter what happens this time, the Deputy Prime Minister is definitely different from these people."

After saying this, Yan Shifan turned around and looked away.

Anyway, since it is a legitimate and reasonable way to squeeze the bank and can also block Xu Jie's retreat in advance, it might as well be done.

Yang Bo, who was closest to Yan Shifan, immediately lowered his head after hearing this, to prevent himself from laughing out loud.

That's not good.

Xu Jie slowly looked at Yan Shifan, secretly cursing him for being cunning, but with a smile of approval on his face, he nodded: "The national law cannot tolerate treacherous and illegal behavior. I have been in the cabinet with Lord Yan for many years, and I also hate such corruption and illegal behavior."

As he spoke, Xu Jie glanced at Prime Minister Yan Song, who was still resting with his eyes closed in the upper seat.

A trace of anger flashed across Yan Shifan's face.

Everyone present had different thoughts, but everyone had to be mentally expecting to see the Xu family and the Yan family confronting each other face to face and making sarcastic remarks about each other today.

In the beginning, Yan Shifan mocked Xu Jie for always shouting in the court that he wanted to overthrow the Yan Party, which was gathering people to commit crimes. Now that Xu Jie had gotten into trouble in his hometown in the south, it would be unfair if he failed to take an attitude and bring the case to justice and conduct a thorough investigation.

Xu Jie immediately replied secretly that the Yan family had done many illegal things in the past, and even though the Yan family had a prime minister, he had never condoned them.

In terms of irony, neither of them lost.

It livened up the crowd of spectators present.

Then, Xu Jie said: "The law does not allow partiality! I think everyone present here today has reached a conclusion on this point!"

He took a deep breath and raised the tone, and the expressions of everyone present suddenly became serious.

Xu Jie continued, "We are discussing and arguing here. I think it is because everyone cares about the country and does not want chaos to happen in the local area..."

As soon as these words came out.

Yan Ne immediately followed up, "This is what Lord Xu meant! If there is a major disturbance in the local area, it will be troublesome for both the court and the people. In addition, Nanjing is thousands of miles away from the capital, and it takes twenty days to travel on the canal. Once something happens in Jiangnan, let alone how to solve it, it will take a long time for the news to spread."

Following Xu Jie's words, Yan Ne naturally hinted again that Nanjing officials should not be punished lavishly. Of course, according to him, this was not for personal gain, but for the peace of the court and local people.

Now it was Xu Jie's turn.

I saw that he actually shook his head in public.

"What the Ministry of Rites said makes some sense, but the distance is not a problem. If something happens in the local area, should we ignore it or give a lighter sentence just because of the distance? This is obviously not acceptable."

Xu Jie publicly refuted the words of Yan Ne, the Minister of Rites, who clearly supported lenient sentences for Nanjing officials.

Yan Ne's expression also changed.

There was confusion in his eyes.

But Yan Song, who had seemed drowsy all the time, finally slowly opened his eyes.

Xu Jie then immediately said: "However, Jiangnan, especially the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, has always been an important place for the imperial court's finances and taxes. Now that the summer harvest is about to begin, the summer taxes must also be stored and transported. The imperial court is also continuing to trade silk with that Spanish merchant. These are the imperial court's top priorities..."

No one expected that Xu Jie would shift the topic to another level and direction so quickly.

Xu Jie continued, "So for reasons of both reason and public and private, Jiangnan, especially the area around Nanjing, cannot be in chaos. The court must conduct a strict investigation and prosecute, but it cannot disrupt the good situation. Even if it wants to investigate, it should send a steady person, and first resolve the unstable issues in the south in advance."

When everyone didn't know what this meant.

Xu Jie then said, "If Nanjing is in chaos at this time, it will be difficult for Jiangsu and Zhejiang to store millions of dan of summer grain, and the tens of millions of yuan of profit from the silk trade with foreign countries this year will also be in doubt."

Having said this, Xu Jie finally shut up.

Li Chunfang immediately followed him: "What Lord Xu said is a good idea for the country! Strict investigation and prosecution must also be in line with the situation. In my opinion, it is better to follow the memorial sent from the south and detain the two most serious offenders, Yang Zongqi, the Governor-General of Nanjing and Minister of Grain Storage, and Xu Yangzheng, the Right Vice Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, to the capital first. The rest should be warned first, and then the capital will slowly select people to go south to investigate and deal with them."

Seeing Xu Jie, Li Chunfang and Yan Ne speaking one by one, the matter was about to be settled.

Yan Shifan immediately looked anxious and turned to look at Yang Bo beside him.

Just today, the Ministry of War also requested a thorough investigation, so Yang Bo had to speak up at this time.

Yan Shifan then looked at Gao Gong who was sitting in the duty room.

When something happened in the south, the happiest people in the court would definitely be these people from the Northern Faction and the Jin Party.

The principle of one thing rising while another falls applies here as well.

however.

Li Chunfang, who had just been agreeing with Xu Jie and Yan Ne, suddenly spoke again.

"Moreover, I think that in the current situation in the south, it is not appropriate to do anything else, and all parties should focus on stability. Since this memorial was sent back by Yan Binke today, I am afraid he is inclined to investigate and deal with this matter immediately. Wouldn't this intensify the current situation? I think it would be better to recall Yan Binke to the capital first? First, it is to allow him to explain the current situation clearly in front of the court. Second, it is also to avoid suspicion."

As soon as these words came out.

Yan Shifan and others' faces suddenly changed.

Yang Bo looked at Xu Jie with a deep gaze. It turned out that the instability in the south that the other party had mentioned before was actually Yan Shaoting.

But it's reasonable to think so.

If Yan Shaoting hadn't gone south, how could what happened today have happened?

But how could Yan Shaoting be allowed to return to the capital easily at this time?

Both his family and the Jin Party had boarded Yan Shao's ship, and now he was needed to stay in the south. Whether it was to clean up the situation in the south or to build ships, they needed to deter the other side.

Yang Bo immediately spoke again: "Prime Minister Yan went south this year for the Emperor's order. I'm sure you all understand the purpose. Whether the court can double its fiscal revenue in the future now depends on Prime Minister Yan. What's the reason for recalling him at this time? If you want to explain it clearly, Prime Minister Yan has people from the Jinyiwei and the Imperial Guards around him, so just recall a few of them. And if you want to avoid suspicion... His Majesty's original decree was very clear, Prime Minister Yan also inspected the local areas. Now that Nanjing has just discovered this kind of thing, isn't it a good time for Prime Minister Yan to inspect the local areas?"

I watched Xu Jie and others put on a great drama, with their priorities and recalling them to the capital.

Anyway, there is no mention of strict investigation and severe punishment.

Gao Gong also said with a serious face: "I think what the Ministry of Justice said today is the most reasonable."

Gao Suqing has a loud voice.

Now, as soon as he opened his mouth with anger in his heart, his voice was the only sound left in the entire duty room.

After shocking the scene.

Gao Gong continued in a deep voice: "What if something happened in the south? What if it involves countless officials from various departments in Nanjing? What if it might cause chaos?"

Three questions in a row.

Gao Gong had already glanced at Xu Jie and others.

He sneered: "Do they still want to rebel?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the duty room suddenly turned cold.

However, Yang Bo smiled slightly, his eyes turned and said: "If there is really a rebellion, it is probably wishful thinking." Following this ambiguous remark from the Minister of War.

A person who no one expected suddenly spoke.

"If anyone rebels, the troops of the five southeastern provinces can immediately stop fighting the Japanese pirates and suppress the rebels with all their strength! Anyone who dares to cause chaos will be killed without mercy!"

The murderous words made the temperature in the duty room drop by several degrees.

Everyone looked over in the direction of the sound.

Suddenly I saw that the person who spoke was Hu Zongxian!
Hu Butang, who holds the title of Minister of War and is in charge of the military forces of the five southeastern provinces!

Hu Zongxian, however, remained calm, his eyes swept across the crowd, and finally said in a cold voice: "Jiangnan is an important place for the imperial court's finances and taxes, and it is also the source of money and food for the suppression of the Japanese in the southeast. If there is unrest in Jiangnan, and someone is plotting something bad and harboring evil intentions, in order to fulfill the promise I made to Your Majesty in the past, I can only order the front-line Qi Family Army Shanzi Camp and other units to turn their guns around and quell the unrest. By then, when the army is pressed down, it will only be the loss of heads, the confiscation of property and the extermination of clans. But for the sake of suppressing the Japanese, this department will never tolerate it!"

It's so murderous!

An undisguised threat!
After finishing his words, Hu Zongxian lowered his head again, unwilling to pay attention to the debate in the court.

then.

He stopped talking, and others didn't dare to speak either.

Everyone knows that in the court today, for someone like Hu Zongxian, he is an exception.

Usually, they don't fight with anyone and just do their own thing.

And everyone knows that once the Japanese threat in the southeast is eliminated, the emperor will guarantee a cabinet position for the other party.

It was because of this person that everyone present today realized that he actually had hundreds of thousands of troops under his command from the five southeastern provinces, and even tens of thousands of elite troops such as the Shanzi Camp of the Qi Family Army, which was named by the emperor.

No matter who you are, you must not offend Hu Zongxian.

Otherwise, people might really use the reasons he gave to confiscate your property and destroy your clan.

No one expected it.

The cabinet would become completely quiet because of Hu Zongxian's words.

Even Yang Bo, who had long expected Hu Zongxian to show up, was still surprised.

He knew that Hu Zongxian would definitely come forward, so he only said half of his words earlier, just to leave it to this good man who also held the title of Minister of War but never interfered in the affairs of the Ministry of War.

But Yang Bo did not expect that this good guy in the Ministry of War, whom he regarded as a good guy, could speak so harshly.

As soon as they opened their mouths, the army came down, confiscated their property and exterminated their clan.

Who the hell dares to mess with this guy?

Yang Bo felt that if it were him, he would definitely not dare to offend.

As he thought about it, he felt a little envious.

Although both of them were the Minister of War, Hu Bu Tang's subordinates actually held the military power, while he only had influence, which was mostly limited to the nine frontiers.

envy!

Life is just these two words.

Yang Bo looked at Hu Zongxian, who had clearly kept his mouth shut and nodded, but he only felt that the other party was so domineering.

The Minister of War should be like this!

A sigh in my heart.

Yang Bo's face darkened, and he spoke again: "Since Hu Butang took over everything, the Japanese invasion of the five southeastern provinces has been raging, and the war has been raging. The five-year agreement will come true soon. The Ministry of War is also going all out here, waiting to lead to a great victory for our dynasty. If there is chaos in Jiangnan and it causes changes in the five southeastern provinces, the Ministry of War will severely punish all parties. Anyone who illegally makes trouble for no reason, this department will directly ask Your Majesty to execute their entire family to stabilize the morale of the army!"

In his heart, Yang Bo envied the domineering Hu Zongxian, and for once he was so domineering that he didn't care about anything, and his words were equally murderous.

After saying this, Yang Bo turned his eyes away silently.

Especially his glances at Yan Ne, Li Chunfang, and Xu Jie, whose face was already tense.

Still no one spoke.

Yang Bo had a big drama in his mind.

Cool!
Seeing that the momentum has changed, both the wind direction and momentum are now on his side.

Yan Shifan immediately followed up with a grim smile: "The Ministry of War can rest assured. The affairs of the southeast are for the long-term development of the country, and the Ministry of Justice has an unshirkable responsibility in this regard. I think the three judicial departments in the court are the same as the Ministry of Justice. They will never sit idly by and watch the chaos in Jiangnan, and will not condone lawlessness."

"The Censorate will send a letter to all the censors in Jiangnan today to investigate and deal with illegal activities in various places."

After Yan Shifan, Ouyang Bijin, who was in charge of the Censorate, said lightly.

But the attitude is clear.

Then the Dali Temple also stated that it would not allow evildoers to run rampant.

This is the end.

In the attitudes of most people in the court, the issue of Nanjing has basically been settled.

No matter how Xu Jie and others tried to argue, at least after Hu Zongxian made a rare statement of his attitude, the matter was difficult to change.

finally.

Yan Song, who had never spoken to express his attitude, finally opened his eyes.

He seemed to have just woken up.

Although everyone knew that this was just Yan Song's humility as he did not want to get involved too much in the tedious affairs of the court.

But no one can make random comments about the old prime minister's attitude and performance.

After opening his eyes, Yan Song first looked around at the people present.

Then he nodded slowly a few times.

"State affairs are complicated. As the emperor, I am in charge of the country and have different responsibilities. It is normal for us to have different political views..."

Yan Song spoke slowly, looking like a good old man.

He continued, "Now that the dispute is over, I see that most people agree that the situation in the south cannot be tolerated, and the war and situation in the southeast cannot really allow the front-line soldiers to withdraw. In this case, I think we should follow everyone's ideas. The prince's guests will continue to stay in Nanjing to host the mission, and the three judicial officials in the capital will send people over to see what the situation is, and do what needs to be done."

After finishing speaking.

Yan Song glanced sideways at Xu Jie on his left.

It was obviously to seek the final attitude of Xu Jie, the second-in-command of the cabinet.

But now things have come to this and that’s all I have to say.

What else can Xu Jie do?

I want to refute it, but it is unreasonable.

He could only nod and say hum.

"The Prime Minister is an experienced person in charge of the country. After reviewing the current situation, I think this is the most appropriate..."

between words.

In the end, I still felt helpless and frustrated.

Yan Song smiled, turned to look at everyone and waved.

"Then let us present today's discussion to Your Majesty for approval."

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(End of this chapter)