Chapter 479 The Last Step

The emperor was severely scolded in a memorial?
This incident really made the officials present look stunned. They wondered who had the guts to scold the emperor.

What’s more crucial is that the emperor actually endured until today to reveal such a memorial.

Combined with various signs today, it can be known that this memorial certainly does not only blame the emperor.

in this case.

I'm afraid that today's palace banquet in Xiyuan is only half over.

Everyone was silent and followed the emperor back to Wanshou Palace.

At this time, the palace banquet in the hall had been removed, and the tables were replaced with new fruits, cakes and wine. Of course, if some people had special requests, the palace could also replace the wine with warm rice wine.

This is just normal procedure.

When everyone saw that the emperor was already sitting on the throne, they sat down one by one.

Jiajing also looked at Lu Fang at this time: "Read it!"

Lu Fang nodded, took two steps forward under the gaze of everyone in the hall, and opened the memorial that he had been carrying with him.

"Hai Rui, the Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, the Censor of the Northern Zhili Censorate, and the Prefect of Shuntian, respectfully submits this report."

Lu Fang was reading in a loud voice.

The people inside and outside the hall were already in an uproar.

It’s Hai Rui!
"It's actually Hai Rui's memorial!"

"What on earth did he write that the Emperor would read it out in public today?"

Everyone looked curious and looked for Hai Rui, who was sitting in the Wanshou Palace because of his position as the Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

It was because Hai Rui's past military achievements were so outstanding that people had to respect and value him very much.

Let’s not talk about how Hai Rui served as an official or did things outside the capital in the past.

Just because he was summoned back to Beijing to take up an official post this time, what Hai Rui did in the first two days after returning to Beijing was something that not everyone would dare to do, not to mention that Hai Rui subsequently caused panic and fear in the entire Northern Zhili officialdom, to the point that in the end many people actually submitted petitions to the court confessing their crimes and requesting punishment.

Such a person as Hai Rui wrote a memorial to the emperor to hold him accountable.

No one dared to think about how severe the contents of the memorial would be.

Some people with sharp minds have already cast their eyes on several cabinet ministers in the hall.

Hai Rui has angered the Emperor, so I'm afraid the cabinet members will have to persuade and appease the Emperor before lightly punishing Hai Rui.

Correct.

That's right.

Even though all the officials in the court felt that Hai Rui was too ruthless, no one dared to attack Hai Rui directly.

Because Hai Rui is now a movable sign.

His integrity and observance of the law were so great that even if many people checked his entire ancestry, they would still not find any fault with him. People like Hai Rui were not to be easily provoked, and one had to stay away from them.

In fact, in the eyes of many people, Hai Rui was just a fig leaf for the imperial court and these civil and military officials.

Although it is a bit ridiculous, it is the fact.

In the eyes of these people, as long as Hai Rui is in the court, it means that they are also pure and clean.

It was precisely based on this that, even though Hai Rui had investigated and impeached illegal officials in Northern Zhili at the end of last year, officials in the court only commented on Hai Rui's repeated requests to execute these illegal officials, and felt that there was no need to execute them at every turn.

Absurd reality.

At this time, Lü Fang had continued to read the memorial: "To speak frankly, the most important thing in the world is to rectify the way of the monarch, clarify the duties of the ministers, and seek peace and order for all generations."

As soon as these words came out of Lu Fang's mouth, the whole hall trembled.

Everyone looked at Hai Rui, who was sitting silently in the hall, with surprise and fear.

People's faces were filled with fear, but Hai Rui looked calm, as if he had not written the memorial.

The right way of the king!
Ming minister's duty!
Pray for peace and order for all eternity!

What a bold statement this is.

In simple terms, Hai Rui wanted to teach the emperor how to be an emperor, and to teach all officials in the world how to fulfill their duties as subjects.

No wonder the emperor would hold back on this memorial until today.

Did he hope that they would fight back against Hai Rui on behalf of their king and father in public in the Wanshou Palace?
People began to speculate on the emperor's intentions, and when they looked at Hai Rui again, there was already a glimmer in their eyes.

It would be a pleasant thing if the emperor really hoped that they would use this memorial to fight back against Hai Rui.

Gao Gong, who didn't know the whole story, was also surprised and confused.

Hai Rui did submit a memorial to the palace a few years ago. Everyone knew about it, and some people even speculated that he was impeaching someone. But there was no news from the palace later, so everyone thought it was not a big deal.

Who would have thought that it would be such a huge thing.

In Gao Gong's view, Hai Rui was his greatest help in rectifying the administration of the court and the country. Gao Gong even had a plan to find an opportunity this year to promote Hai Rui to the position of Right Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate. If Ouyang Bijin could be transferred to another department at that time, Hai Rui would be able to completely control the Metropolitan Censorate.

In this way, he could fully leverage the power of the Censorate to complete the final step of rectifying the administration of officials.

Now that this memorial had been submitted and this had happened, even if Gao Gong wanted to speak out to help, he could only keep his mouth shut and not say a word.

But no matter what everyone in the hall thought, Lu Fang continued reading the memorial.

The more Lu Fang read, the darker the faces of the civil and military officials in the hall became.

The meaning of the memorial was very straightforward. It not only scolded the emperor, but also scolded them, the ministers.

Some people were already beginning to feel impatient and were waiting for Lu Fang to finish reading so that they could be the first to criticize Hai Rui in public.

These people had even thought of the criticisms and had already decided on the charges against Hai Ruian.

Disrespecting the emperor is a serious crime!
however.

next moment.

Lu Fang finished another sentence: Recently, Xu Jie was deposed, and Xu Fan was executed in his early years. This was somewhat satisfactory to the people, and it was called the Qing Dynasty for a while.

moment.

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly changed.

People immediately shifted their gaze from Hai Rui to Master Xu's face.

Something is wrong!
Things are starting to go wrong!
Even though the beginning of Hai Rui's memorial was full of criticisms of the emperor and his ministers, the meaning of the memorial immediately became different at this point.

When Lu Fang read again: The sage monarch is in the clear, and the treacherous and corrupt officials are in the court, deceiving the monarch and confusing the emperor. The treacherous and corrupt officials are Xu Ye from Songjiang Huating. The court is indignant and generous, and the southern people have reported it with thousands of words. The sage monarch should remove the treacherous officials from the court.

Even Xu Jie, the person involved, had to admire the wonderful writing of Hai Rui's memorial, but that did not stop his face from being as black as charcoal.

All the officials in the hall were in an uproar again.

The officials who had originally planned to criticize Hai Rui in order to gain the reputation of being loyal ministers in front of the emperor were completely dumbfounded.

Hai Rui can no longer be scolded now.

Not only can they not curse him at all, but everyone present today should also thank Hai Rui sincerely.

Gao Gong, who originally wanted to speak out to save Hai Rui but couldn't say anything, had his eyes wide open and a look of surprise on his face.

Wonderful!

It's really wonderful!
Originally, he thought Hai Rui was a stubborn and inflexible person. But today, he heard this memorial.

This person is clearly the most flexible one!
The hall couldn't help but become quiet, and for a moment it seemed extremely strange.

This is the current situation.

The court has been in great difficulty in recent years, and people inside and outside the court have been working hard. But this is not a problem of the emperor or the civil and military officials, but was caused by Xu Jie, the biggest treacherous person in the Ming Dynasty!
Almost instantly.

Just as Yan Ne was about to speak and criticize Hai Rui for seeking fame and integrity, Ouyang Bijin, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, stood up and walked to the front of the hall.

"Your Majesty, a few years ago, officials and civilians in and outside the court all talked about the Songjiang incident. The people were enthusiastically discussing it, and the censors wrote a book. However, although Your Majesty heard about it, he never dealt with it. He kept it all to himself without discussing it."

"Today, the old man Yan, in his eighty years old, has come to ask for a new policy, and is willing to be a pillar of prosperity. The court should make new changes and reform the old. The civil and military officials hope that Your Majesty will make a decision soon. Today, Hai Rui's memorial makes us ashamed."

"As the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Metropolitan Censorate, I am in charge of the Xiantai, the head of the censors. I should set an example and humbly request that the emperor investigate the matter of the Holy Judge Xu Jie."

Ouyang Bijin then spoke up and seconded the motion.

In an instant, dozens of censors from six departments came out and asked the emperor for approval.

Although the censors of the six departments were not of high rank, they were allowed to sit in the palace because of their power and honor.

When Ouyang Bijin, the Left Censor-in-Chief, and a group of censors and imperial censors came out of the hall.

This matter immediately turned into a direct attack on Xu Jie.

Minister of Personnel Guo Pu spoke directly and loudly: "Your Majesty, the country has laws and the court has rules. Only by clarifying the laws and punishments and making the punishments fair can the country be just and the officials and people be stable. In the past, Junior Tutor Xu Jie and his family were reported by the people of Jiangnan for their mistakes, and there were also censors and censors in the court who impeached their crimes. Your Majesty is a wise and wise monarch. How could you not make a judgment for so many months and not invite the officials to discuss it? The whole country, the millions of people are all your subjects. We all hope that you will make a judgment as soon as possible. I humbly ask your majesty to make a fair judgment."

Ouyang Bijin and the censors spoke out, which can also be understood as the responsibilities of the censors.

But when the Minister of Personnel Guo Pu spoke, the situation immediately became more serious and had to be dealt with.

As for why Guo Pu dared to say this in public.

This was probably because when the position of Minister of Personnel became vacant, Xu Jie preferred Li Chunfang rather than himself.

This led to his promotion to the Minister of Personnel and Li Chunfang's entry into the cabinet.

This is what happened when there was a grudge.

Minister Guo can be said to have repaid a grievance with honesty.

Nothing wrong with that.

However, when Guo Pu, the Minister of Heaven, spoke up in support of the proposal, the situation in the hall instantly became one-sided and overwhelming.

Almost ninety-nine percent of the officials seconded the motion requesting the emperor to deal with the impeachment of Xu Jie and the Xu family of Huating in Songjiang Prefecture by officials and civilians.

This is the situation and circumstances.

As the person involved, Xu Jie had to stand up and kneel in front of the hall.

Thinking back to everything that had just happened in the hall.

Xu Jie was already filled with endless sighs in his heart, thinking back to several years ago, when so many people in the court impeached one person and his family at the same time. That was when all the ministers were against Yan.

With emotion in his heart, Xu Jie knelt on the cold ground and looked up at the emperor.

"The Holy Emperor is above, and I, a guilty minister, am begging for forgiveness. My colleagues in the court and the public have all accused me, so I must be blamed. I dare not use my broken body to damage the reputation of the Holy Emperor, and I dare not sit on the throne above him. Now all the loyal opinions in the palace are the fault of this old minister. I dare not beg for forgiveness, but I hope that the Holy Emperor will punish me, and I will give away all my family property, return it to the court, and serve the people."

He did not say that he had done nothing wrong, nor did he say that he hoped the emperor would forgive him.

Xu Jie readily admitted all the impeachment charges and also expressed his willingness to give away all his wealth.

Now all these could not be retained, especially Xu Jie was recalling the trick that Yan Song had played earlier tonight by the Taiye Lake.

It is hard to say that this was not a conspiracy between the emperor and Yan Song.

As the chief minister, Yan Song took the lead and proposed the new policy in public. With the support of other ministers, the emperor could then go along with the situation and approve the implementation of the new policy.

If that's the case.

Then he and the Xu family would be completely doomed.

It would be better to be decisive now, give up all these and save his life. Who knows, there may be a turning point in three to five years, and he and the Xu family will be able to return to the court, be among the Nine Ministers, and join the cabinet.

of course.

This was just what Xu Jie was thinking at the moment.

in case.

If we say that the matter ended here, it would have ended with Xu Jie apologizing.

Maybe what happened later wouldn’t have happened.

but.

But there is no "if" in this world. The reality is that after Xu Jie admitted his guilt, the Minister of Rites Yan Ne immediately stood up.

Yan Ne said sadly, "Master Xu has been in the court for decades. He has made no contributions but has worked hard. The court has sent officials to investigate the matter of Songjiang Prefecture, and no heresy has been reported so far. Although there are many impeachments in the court, they are just the duties of the censors. How can they be convicted? I think that if you want to say that the court is fair, you should have a clear goal."

What is a pig teammate?
This is the pig teammate.

Even Xu Jie felt dizzy when he saw Yan Ne speaking for him at this time.

It would actually be a good thing if no one spoke up for me today.

In this case, the emperor saw that everyone in the court was impeaching him, and no one was speaking for him, so he might be lenient and forgive him.

But you, Yan Ne, spoke at this time.

That can be said to be a factional struggle in the court.

Sure enough, just after Yan Ne spoke, a cold light flashed in Jiajing's eyes.

Guo Pu looked at Yan Ne, unwilling to be outdone. "Minister Yan, are you so sure that Xu Jie did nothing wrong? Is the Xu family of Songjiang Huating really an honest family? Today, all the officials in the court are discussing Xu Jie's mistakes in front of the emperor. Why do you have to talk about forgiveness today? I have never seen that in the past, when others were impeached in the court, Minister Yan did not forgive them."

He did not mention who had impeached others in the past.

But everyone knows that this is talking about the old story that most officials in the court impeached Yan Song and the Yan family.

At that time, Yan Ne was never like today.

This is undoubtedly a slap in Yan Ne's face.

By the way, Guo Pu also took this opportunity to confirm the fact that Yan Ne was a member of Xu Jie's clique.

Everything is afraid of comparison.

Once you compare, everything seems bad.

Xu Jie turned around and looked at Yan Ne, who was still at a loss. He felt extremely helpless, but he also understood that this matter was not something he could control, and he could not blame it all on the other party.

however.

Xu Jie turned around.

But he saw Huang Jin walking in from outside the hall.

What made Xu Jie's eyes filled with horror was that following behind Huang Jin was an acquaintance who was being detained by two factory guards.

Sun Kehong, the transport commissioner of the Lianghuai Salt Administration!

…………

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(End of this chapter)