The Red Mansions

Chapter 460 Emperor Chongping: Sentenced to the Great Punishment

Chapter 460 Emperor Chongping: He should be punished with great punishment...

Daming Palace

"Chen, Jia Heng, pay homage to the Holy One." Jia Heng bowed to Emperor Chongping who was behind the case, and said with cupped hands.

Emperor Chongping smiled and said, "Zi Yu is flat, Dai Quan is watching."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Jia Heng hastily bowed to thank him.

Emperor Chongping looked at the boy in the python suit on the opposite side, with a calm expression, and said: "Military Aircraft Department, these few days have been dealing with military affairs, and military information has been uploaded and distributed without any hindrance.

In the past, whenever there was a major decision, Emperor Chongping had to gather his ministers to discuss it, arguing for a long time, the decision-making efficiency was low, and he also had to worry about being rejected by the six divisions. Now he directly instructs the Minister of Military Affairs and issued an edict to deal with special matters, and the decision-making efficiency is greatly improved. Not to mention the improvement, the monarchy is getting stronger.

It is equivalent to starting a new stove, and the imperial power can be used more freely. If the Minister of Military Affairs is not obedient, then just replace it. Anyway, the Minister of Military Affairs does not care about his background.

And as time passed, the civil servants group gradually realized that there were two sets of teams, and whoever was disobedient would be replaced.

Jia Heng cupped his hands and said: "The military plane is only set up to assist the Mingjun. If there is no sage, there is no clothes and food for the night, and there is no military order."

Emperor Chongping smiled, did not continue this topic, and picked up the confession statement after the case, and said: "The first-class Shenwei general Jia She confessed to his evil deeds of smuggling, but the case involved Cui Ling, the governor of Ping'an. According to what Jia She said, the generals of Datong, Xuanfu and the generals under his command have smuggled people to the Hulu, what does Ziyu think I should do with them?"

"I have said before that Jia Amnesty's smuggling and smuggling is just the tip of the iceberg. As far as I know, the Shanxi Merchants Association consists of eight major merchants, Qiao, Chang, Cao, Hou, Qu, Kang, Fan, and Kong. They strengthen each other. Smuggled to Mongolia for a long time, and transferred to Dedong captives." Jia Heng said in a deep voice with a serious expression.

In the later years of Emperor Taizong of the Han Dynasty, Mongolia gradually split into the tribes of Chahar, Khalkha, Horqin and other tribes.

Because of the continuous attack of famous generals during the Longzhi period of the Han Dynasty, and the rise of Lin Dan Khan after the Mingqi and Chongzhen years, the historical trajectory has undergone a huge deviation.

At this moment, among the tribes of Chahar in Monan Mongolia, E Zhe, the son of Lin Dan Khan, is still lingering, and has not completely surrendered to the Eastern captives. That's why there have been repeated prohibitions and prosperity in the mutual market.

As for the Neikalkha tribe, except for the Bahrain tribe and the Jarut tribe, which still maintain some independence and autonomy, the rest of the tribes, together with Horqin, have long surrendered to the Eastern Captives.

Donglu has always wanted to unify Mongolia, but natural disasters have continued in recent years. Their strategy is to plunder the south to protect themselves and wait for opportunities.

It can be said that the attitude of the Han court towards the Chahar ministries is quite contradictory.

Emperor Chongping said in a deep voice: "Ziyu, according to the previous memorial, the Kang family in Linfen is the head of Shanxi merchants, with tens of millions of taels of wealth?"

Jia Heng said: "To tell you the truth, as far as I know, the Kang family does have such wealth, all of which are ill-gotten gains over the years. They even win over officials in Beijing. Their intentions are unclear."

Most likely, the Son of Heaven was thinking of stealing money and not putting it into the national treasury. Speaking of it, it was the money that the Sanhe Gang ravaged the East City, and the money they confiscated gave the Son of Heaven some excitement.

But in the end, it is still necessary to steal some people's property without specific charges, and the gentry and literati in the world are bound to condemn them verbally.

Jia Heng said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, Shanxi merchants have today because of the mutual market in those days. They used the Mongolian trade route to do business with Jurchen, selling ironware and arms to Jurchen. Now that the Eastern Captives are so powerful, they have their share. help."

Emperor Chongping pondered for a while, as if he was weighing the pros and cons, and said: "This matter is still up to you to preside over. I will ask the inner factory to assist you and arrange it secretly. You must not startle the snake and let the wind leak."

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

Sure enough, the emperor was moved, and no one could stop the emperor from copying his home and making a fortune.

"My lord, now Shanxi Chamber of Commerce, with the help of Yang Sihong, seems to want to intervene in the salt affairs rectification of the Ministry of Households." Jia Heng whispered.

Emperor Chongping's expression was silent for a moment, and he said in a low voice, "Elder Yang Ge didn't mention this matter."

Jia Heng nodded, and no longer entangled in this matter.

Emperor Chongping turned to ask again: "Cui Ling, the governor of Ping'an Prefecture, is involved in the smuggling case of Jia Amnesty, how do you think we should be punished?"

Jia Heng said in a deep voice: "Ping'an Prefecture faces the barbarians directly, and it is a battleground for military strategists. You should choose loyal and diligent generals to guard, otherwise, if you secretly communicate with the enemy captives, something unpredictable may happen during the war. He thought that for Cui Ling, he should be promoted to Shenjing for his many years of guarding the border and his hard work. The governor and prefect Qi Jianhui took over."

If you look at the map of the Han Dynasty, you will find that the three important towns of Ping'an Prefecture (Shuozhou), Datong, and Xuanfu (Xuanhua, Zhangjiakou) constitute a line of defense facing the Mongolian tribes, and Ping'an Prefecture is deeper in comparison. enemy territory.

If Ping'an Prefecture is lost, the Hulu can go straight to Taiyuan, the important town in Shanxi. Once there is another mistake in Taiyuan, the world will be shaken at that time.

"Cui Lingjiu was in Ping'an Prefecture, commanded [-] soldiers, and faced the Mongolian tribes. Now it is time to check the border, and it is not appropriate to make troubles outside the festival. Kuang Datong, Xuanfu and other generals have heard of smuggling and smuggling. In my opinion, right now Don’t act rashly, and when the king of Beijing checks the border and returns, if they know the general situation and have no disadvantages in the big festival, it’s not a bad thing for me to open the net.” Emperor Chongping thought about Jia Heng’s idea of ​​"rising brightly and falling secretly". method, I feel that the operability is acceptable, but it needs to be slowed down.

Jia Heng was silent for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "My sage, my sage."

According to his intention, the leading generals in Datong, Xuanfu, and Ping'an Prefecture will be reassessed and dismissed, so as to prevent the enemy from defeating Beiping and using the Chahar tribes in Monan Mongolia to threaten the important town of Taiyuan .

It's just that the Son of Heaven has become more assertive since he set up his own Military Plane Department, and of course it's because of his priorities, lest he will force Cui Ling back, scare Datong, Xuanfu and other generals, and cause some unpredictable things.

The reason is obvious, if you have a pile of shit under your ass, and you are severely punished, who will cooperate with you in eliminating generals?

Speaking of which, this Cui Ling was a general of Duke Jiarong in his early years, and one of his daughters married the king of Xining County as his side concubine. The emperor may have considered the feelings of the king of Xining County, but it is unknown.

Emperor Chongping pondered for a while, and finally mentioned the matter of Jia Amnesty, and said: "Jia Amnesty, the Shenwei General, was interrogated by the Internal Investigation Factory to investigate his evil in detail and recorded it in his confession. His evil has been revealed. You are the head of the Jia clan. How to deal with it?"

This is asking Jia Heng, this is the respect for the important ministers of the military and the country, after all, they are of the same clan.

However, Jia Heng's complexion changed, and he cupped his hands and said: "The law of the country is brilliant, the prince's crime is the same as that of the common people, he should be punished according to the law, not to mention the attention of the government and the public, and the anger of the people, the holy majesty should be punished according to the law."

Jia Amnesty couldn't even resist, and basically confessed. The subsequent procedures depended entirely on the emperor's will, and because the matter involved a frontier general, it was not easy to hand it over to a judge.

Emperor Chongping's expression paused, and he said in a deep voice, "If you want to smuggle barbarians, you should be punished with great punishment..."

Jia Heng's heart paused, and he thought to himself, then he will be punished with great punishment!

But for some reason, he had a faint intuition, guessing whether Emperor Chongping would sacrifice the butcher knife.

Without him, since Cui Ling was suppressed during the Ping An Festival, it seems impossible to justify Jia's death penalty alone, and it is easy to startle the generals.

After all, it is still related to the rampant smuggling activities in the border town. If it is an ordinary person, it would have been death, and even affected the family.

After all, this is an era of rule by man.

But it was impossible for him to say, quickly execute Jia Amnesty, quickly!

Emperor Chongping thought for a while, and said in a low voice: "After thinking about Jia She's success for the country... Dai Quan asked the cabinet to draw up an order to deprive Jia She of the first-class supernatural general, and exile Jia She and his son to Guizhou. "

It is worth mentioning that in the Ming Dynasty, most people were exiled to Lingnan, Hainan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other humid southern places. Because people from the north went to the south and people from the south went to the north, there was a sense of punishment. Only in the Qing Dynasty would they be exiled to Liaodong.

Jia Heng frowned, sighed inwardly, and at the same time swallowed back the recent rebellion of the Guizhou chieftain.

Can it be said that Jia Enhou was exiled to Guizhou, enlightened in Longchang, and then suppressed the rebellion chieftain and made great achievements, he is not easy to hinder, just deprived of the title, if he is pardoned?

However, all in all, Emperor Chongping still did not grant Jia pardon to death, or this is due to the atmosphere of "punishment cannot be punished by a doctor".

The punishment of exile originated from the exile of the four evildoers by Emperor Shun, and most of them were the second choice of the virtuous emperor and the master.

"Actually, because I was leading the army, I gave grace intentionally or unintentionally." Jia Heng thought about it.

For a general who leads the army, his clansman broke the law, and it was not a crime of treason. If he killed his clansman all at once, it would not look good on his face.

But what about titles?After winning the title, whether or not the title will be removed in the future, the emperor's intention is unclear, and perhaps he intends to leave room for mercy.

Emperor Chongping also seemed to be thinking about the inheritance of the title, pondered for a while, and asked: "Jia Qing, it seems that there is no one to worship the incense in the Rongguo lineage?"

Jia Heng's face turned serious, and he cupped his hands and said, "Jia Amnesty still has a concubine, a direct brother."

Emperor Chongping frowned, and said coldly: "Father and son are guilty of the same crime, how can we offer incense again?"

It means that this branch has a serious illness, and all members are wicked, so they need to change their clan branch. In other words, Emperor Chongping didn't want to give Rongguo Mansion another chance.

Jia Heng was speechless for a moment, feeling that Emperor Chongping had some map bombs.

Jia Lan, for example, has a good temperament.

Emperor Chongping suddenly cast a pair of quiet eyes on Jia Heng, and asked: "Jia Qing, you were originally a member of the Ning family, right?"

Jia Heng was stunned for a moment, and said in a deep voice: "Returning to the sage, the ancestors of the ministers were originally the descendants of the Duke of Ningguo. He was simply pulled out by the sage and given military service, so he has the rank and salary of today. Even if the minister is smashed to pieces, it is difficult to repay the sage's kindness. "

His title was all due to his own meritorious service, and it would have been impossible if he hadn't been reused by the emperor.

Emperor Chongping looked at Jia Heng with meaningful eyes, and said: "Then you will sacrifice the incense of Rongguo first, and the title of Rongguo will be inherited, no merit and no virtue... We will discuss it later."

The last time I heard what Zi Tong said, Xianning seemed to have a heart for Ziyu. For example, the Ministry of Rituals said last time that "the people are both respectful, and rituals are based on righteousness. , are all wives, but they are all happy.

However, it still depends on how the war against the captives goes...Leave a hole first.

In fact, Emperor Chongping also needed to win over Jia Heng, the general in charge of the army. What could be stronger than the relationship between Weng and his son-in-law?

Well, yes, uncle Lang's relationship - brother-in-law and uncle.

Jia Heng couldn't figure out the emperor's mind for a while, but it was hard to say, as the patriarch, he had the responsibility of worshiping the ancestors.

Emperor Chongping no longer mentioned this matter, but changed his words and said: "The rectification of the salt law in the south is not going well. Yesterday, Mr. Yang Ge suggested to me that Lin Ruhai's prestige and talent are not enough to take full responsibility for the reform of the salt law. He should send a cabinet scholar. Qi Kun went south to supervise the reform of the salt law, what does Ziyu think?"

Talking about this step, it is no longer military secretaries, but specific government affairs. This is the biggest difference between Nan'an County King, Beijing County King and other military ministers and Jia Heng.

Emperor Chongping would never ask these people these questions.

Jia Hengdao: "I am going to report to the Holy Majesty that years ago, Liang Shilang from the Ministry of Household Affairs and Master Yu from the Metropolitan Procuratorate were ordered to go south to Huaiyang to investigate the culprits. So far, no one has been found who murdered Yangzhou Linyan Court. The murderer behind the scenes, because of the wrong direction of the investigation, has recently ordered the officials of Yangzhou prefecture and county to arrest many private salt dealers... However, Lu Jingyao, the commander of Jinyi Mansion, acted on his own at that time, causing heavy casualties in Jinyi Mansion in Huaiyang. Not long ago, the guards of the Jinyi Mansion in Henan and Jiangxi were urgently transferred to Yangzhou for reconnaissance, but they found out some details, and the details here are summarized in Shu, and I invite the Holy One to read."

As he spoke, he took out a memorial from the sleeve and handed it over.

This is the key to his face-to-face performance today, and he must intervene to correct the abuses of the law.

Simply acting as an agent for military affairs will inevitably be constrained by the Qi Party and even the Zhejiang Party that will come to power in the future. If you can get a hand in financial power and lead the reform of salt affairs, so as to ensure the supply of military expenses, it will also be beneficial to winning the war against the captives.

But how to intervene?You can't reach out all at once, you need to show the emperor what you can do.

Emperor Chongping asked Dai Quan to take over the memorial, and read it with downcast eyes. There were a lot of words in the memorial. Unknowingly, his face was gloomy, and there was a faint evil spirit in his eyes. , are they so bold and reckless?"

The memorial not only records in detail the extravagant life of Yangzhou salt merchants in Jiangnan, Huaiyang and other places, but also their friendship with local feudal officials.

"The King of Qi, Xu Shaozhen, a pianist in the mansion, has a close relationship with the salt merchant Wang Shouqi, and the King of Qi mostly receives money from him."

Seeing the expression on Emperor Chongping's face, Jia Heng thought, sure enough, this sentence really poked the emperor's lungs.

He never gave up paying attention to Duke Qi.

Recently, because of the restructuring of the Jinyi Mansion, the governor replaced him with his own people, and he was in charge of the Jinyi secret agents. He immediately stepped up the investigation of Qi Wangfu.

Jia Heng cupped his hands and said: "My lord, merchants are cunning and treacherous by nature. In order to protect themselves, they must weave a wide net. I don't have much evidence for the assassination of Yangzhou Linyan Court. The officials of the Jiangnan Fan and Standard Divisions have a close relationship, and the Holy Majesty sent cabinet ministers to the south to supervise the salt affairs, and the ministers thought it would be feasible."

Hearing this, Emperor Chongping's expression was gloomy, and a trace of coldness flashed in his heart.

Even if Jia Heng said some words in a cryptic way, with the mind of the emperor, he already understood the truth.

I'm afraid that the officials of Liangjiang are in collusion with the salt merchants, and they have become a big deal in the local area.

And Liangjiang has always been the stronghold of the Zhejiang Party, so it makes sense for Yang Guochang to send his general Qi Kun to the south to rectify the salt affairs.

Seeing that Emperor Chongping was lost in thought, Jia Heng didn't say anything else.

If there is no courage to set off a bloody storm, it is almost impossible to rectify the salt law to be a great success.

Whether to send Qi Kun south or not depends on the emperor's will.

……

……

Just when Jia Heng and Emperor Chongping were playing against each other, Jia's mother also put on her imperial makeup and entered the palace to ask to see the Empress Dowager Feng who lived in Changle Palace.

Chen Han's palace naming is the same as its canonical system, which gathers the essence of the Han and Tang dynasties, and can be found in the Song Dynasty.

In Changle Palace, because Emperor Longzhi and Empress Dowager Feng had no relationship, they mostly recuperated in Chonghua Palace, and the couple basically did not see each other except for national celebrations.

Empress Dowager Feng had just received the greetings from Empress Song and Concubine Duanrong, together with some aging concubines of Emperor Longzhi, and the concubines of the royal family of Leshan County, they were chatting and laughing together.

In addition, there is Empress Dowager Feng's younger sister-in-law, who is also Emperor Chongping's aunt, and Mrs. Han Guo accompanied her daughter-in-law Xu to visit Empress Dowager Feng.

There was a lot of joy in the hall, talking and laughing non-stop.

On the embroidered pier at the side, Princess Jinyang led her daughter Li Chanyue, Princess Qinghe, and Princess Xianning, Princess Nanyang and other royal princesses listened to Mrs. Han Tai telling jokes.

Mrs. Han's voice was loud and her laughter was hearty, and she told Queen Mother Feng what she had seen and heard in her hometown in Luoyang.

The silver-haired Empress Dowager Feng, with a faint smile on her rosy cheeks, said with emotion: "It is said that the trees are thousands of feet tall, and the fallen leaves return to their roots. This year is Qingming, so I have to go back to worship and sweep. I am afraid that if I don't go back, there will be no chance in the future." gone."

Mrs. South Korea's wife smiled and said: "The queen mother is very strong, and in another three to twenty years, I will have the opportunity to see it."

Princess Jinyang took Empress Dowager Feng's arm by the side, and the delicate and familiar beauty shook her arms like a little girl, with a beautiful smile on her beautiful face, and said: "Mother, I told the emperor about the previous one." , this June, I want to give my mother a good birthday."

Empress Dowager Feng waved her hand, turned her eyes to look at her precious daughter, she didn't know if it was her illusion, but she felt that her beautiful face was getting brighter and more attractive, it was only caused by makeup, she said with a smile: "No, My eyes are blurred, my ears are deaf, and after the first lunar month, one of my teeth is loose, I am old and useless, your brother is busy with state affairs, birthdays and so on, a bowl of birthday noodles is enough."

Empress Dowager Feng said, then turned to look at Empress Song, the smile on her face faded unconsciously, and asked, "But the marriage is settled?"

Empress Song had a beautiful complexion and a beautiful smile, and said: "It's decided, it belongs to the Wang family of Nan'an County. The concubine sees that tomorrow will be the first day of the second lunar month. Let Si Tianjian make a fortune telling. It's an auspicious day, suitable for canonization."

"However, I watched him grow up, and now he is leaving the palace to start a family and start a business." Empress Dowager Feng said with emotion.

The Princess of Leshan County is a woman in her forties, with bright clothes and fair skin, she gestured with her hand for fun, and said with a smile: "But she was only so tall back then, and she was already at the age of marriage in a blink of an eye. "

Empress Dowager Feng smiled, and said: "At the beginning, I said that your Qiongxian, the female junior, held a gold brick, and asked to give it to Ran'er."

Princess Leshan County sighed and said: "It's because my family, Qiongxian, is unlucky, because I fell in love with a poor scholar, and I was not less angry at the time."

"My mother, Qiongxian married a Hanlin editor from the Imperial Academy, and the other's family can be regarded as a famous family." Empress Song explained with a smile.

Empress Dowager Feng nodded, and said: "Wenhua Wuying, there will be a chance to become a bachelor in the future, and it will not insult Qiongxian's character."

While they were talking and laughing, at this moment, a nun outside the hall entered the hall, saluted, and said, "Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager, Mrs. Rong Guotai handed over the sign and entered the palace, begging to see the Empress Dowager."

Mrs. Feng paused for a moment, and said in surprise: "This is not a year or festival..."

(End of this chapter)