The Red Mansions

Chapter 516 In ancient times, the treacherous and sycophant was the best at bewitching and bewitchin

Chapter 516 In ancient times, the treacherous and sycophant was the best at bewitching and bewitching people!

Rongguo Mansion, Xikuanyuan

Orange lights covered the entire room like water. Ping'er was sitting in front of the dressing table, removing the jewelry on her head. This young girl in her twenties wore a blue jacket and a light red dress, with willow eyebrows and almond eyes. flirtatious.

Since Ping'er lived in Ningguo Mansion and helped Qin Keqing with all kinds of trivial matters in repairing the garden, Sister Feng was immediately placed on the order. Although she often went to live there for a while, it was inconvenient to travel. Today, the two returned to their courtyard.

At this moment, Sister Feng was sitting cross-legged on the bed, with the lamp on, looking at an account book, which clearly recorded the wood, labor and other expenses that the mansion had recently paid for the demolition and construction of the garden.

Now, the income and expenditure of the Ningrong Second Mansion, especially for such large-scale civil engineering projects, every expense has to be entered into the account, which is convenient for checking and checking afterwards.

After removing the jewelry, Ping'er turned around, with a slight smile on her delicate and picturesque eyebrows, and said, "Grandma, let's see it tomorrow, it's a bit of a waste of eyes."

"Well, I don't want to read it." Sister Feng put away the account book, and the master and servant took off their clothes while talking, and lay on the bed, the curtains slowly fell, and the candles on the high table outside were still on.

"She is really lucky."

Suddenly, a faint sigh came from the bed.

"Grandma is talking about Grandma Heng?" Ping'er asked softly.

Sister Feng said in a complicated tone: "Yes, in this backyard, apart from the old lady, she is considered to have a higher status, and she is the first rank."

"Humans and human lives are different, so I'm not envious." Ping'er reassured.

Sister Feng said: "I don't know, but it's inevitable that I feel a little emotional in my heart."

While talking, Sister Feng suddenly stretched out her hand into Ping'er's lapel, and said with a smile: "Ping'er in our family may not be able to have a good life in the future."

Then, he said: "No wonder those men like this."

"Grandma, don't make trouble, go to bed." Ping'er felt his whole body go limp, and he pushed away Sister Feng's hand, her face turned red slightly, and her mouth was filled with embarrassment.

Sister Feng put away her hands, sighed, and suddenly said in a low voice: "Ping'er, what about things?"

The so-called object refers to the thing wrapped in silk handkerchief earlier.

"Grandma, it's not an option to go on like this day after day." Hearing this, Ping'er propped up his arms with one hand, looked at the young woman who looked like a fairy concubine through the light through the gap in the curtain, and sighed faintly.

"Otherwise, what should I do? It's a tough day." Sister Feng said, also a little bit ashamed, her voice trembling slightly, but the red phoenix eyes under Liu Shao's eyebrows were filled with sadness.

Ever since Lian Er was concocted by the Sanhe gang in Dongcheng, she never...

It has been half a year now, and now that Lian Er is exiled to other provinces, she is like a widow, what else can she do?

Suddenly, his mind flashed, and something suddenly came to his mind, and he wondered how Sister-in-law Zhu had lived these years, and whether she was also like her...

With this thought, for some reason, he couldn't help laughing, and laughed "Puff".

Because, thinking of that elegant and dignified sister-in-law Zhu tossing and turning the quilt on the bed, I found it indescribably funny.

Seeing Sister Feng laughing endlessly, Ping'er was startled, almost dropped the brocade box in her hand, and asked in amazement, "Why is grandma laughing?"

This is fine, why are you laughing all of a sudden?Hysterical?

"I laughed at that...it's nothing, I just suddenly found it funny." Sister Feng said, and felt that it was not appropriate to say this about a woman who had been widowed for many years and was steadfast.

Just for a moment, I suddenly thought of myself, my nose felt sour, and I felt hot in front of my eyes, and tears rolled down silently along my smooth and jade-like face.

She will be a widow for the rest of her life, but what right does she have to laugh at Mrs. Zhu, she has a son and she has nothing.

"Grandma, what's the matter." Ping'er was even more startled when she saw that Sister Feng was shedding tears not long after she laughed.

Grandma laughed and cried, so horrible.

Generally speaking, this is a harbinger of mental problems.

As she said that, she handed over a handkerchief, and said in relief, "Grandma, why are you crying so well? Anyway, life is still going on."

Sister Feng took the handkerchief, wiped away her tears, and recovered a little.

……

……

The next day, early in the morning, the sky was just dawning, and the cold wind of early spring was blowing on my face, which was still dry and biting, and the chill went straight into the neckline and cuffs.

Jia Heng asked the general of the Jinyi Mansion to prepare the relevant files, and then rode to the palace to go to the court. Today is the day to discuss and deal with the criminals related to corruption in the imperial mausoleum.

Daming Palace, Hanyuan Hall stands majestically, and the eaves are full of octagonal palace lanterns. With the ringing of the clean whip, all the civil and military officials lined up with respectful faces. After a while, there were crowds of people inside. .

Because the palace lanterns and candles are lit on the left and right of the four directions, the lights are brilliant and bright as day, reflecting the figures of hundreds of officials on the luminous floor of Hanyuan Hall.

Emperor Chongping sat on a golden chair guarded by eunuchs and female officials on the left and right, his eyes flicked to the dark crowd of civil and military officials below, and the ministers of the Daming Palace standing beside the throne held whisks in their hands and bowed slightly.

"How is the Jinyi Mansion's investigation of the corruption case in Gongling?" Before the ministers below held their wats to play, Emperor Chongping was the first to speak.

The sound of gold, stone, ice and iron suddenly resounded in the hall, making the hearts of all the officials in the hall tremble, and also made the officials who came out of the class to put down the feet they had just raised.

The emperor opened his mouth, and the others could only wait to ask about the matter before making further progress.

In fact, in the past two days, the memorials received by the Secretary of General Administration were like snowflakes, and they were all about the collapse of Gongling.

"Holy."

Under the attention of all the officials, Jia Heng held the ivory jade wat, cupped his hands, and said: "My lord, after the interrogation of the ministers in the past few days, the officials who have committed crimes in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Households have been found out. In the construction of the Gongling Mausoleum, there was a conspiracy between the upper and lower levels, and the greedy court allocated a huge amount of 600 million taels of work. Because of this, most of the projects were shoddy, fooling around, and when the earthquake happened, the Gongling Mausoleum killed."

The clear and clear voice of the young man resounded in the hall, making all the civil and military officials present feel awe-inspiring.

Emperor Chongping's face was gloomy, and his sharp eyes wandered over the officials below, and finally his eyes fell on the face of Zhao Yi, a scholar of the cabinet and Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry.

Zhao Yi felt a chill in his heart, he lowered his head tightly, and sighed inwardly.

The day before yesterday, the wife of the family actually entrusted Princess Bei Jing to go to the Rongguo Mansion to plead for mercy. He knew what happened today, and he was afraid that the day when he would leave the court was not far away.

Jia Hengdao: "According to the confession made by the construction secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, under the instigation of the common man Chen Rong, he colluded with Pan and Lu, the left and right servants of the Ministry of Industry, and delayed the construction period through false reporting of accounts. At the same time, Liang Yuan, the right servant of the household department, who is the hall official of the household department, knows the affairs of the branch, audits and silver, but he has not inspected the mausoleum project, and he is in the same rank as Pan, Lu and others. Hiding is evil, and Liang Yuan is still in Yangzhou, and I have already sent a letter to the Jinyi Guards in Yangzhou to capture this officer and send him to the capital."

Among the civil servants, Yang Guochang, the chief assistant of the cabinet, looked gloomy. Liang Yuan was involved in the case. He has also heard rumors these days that the Zhejiang Party and others may use this to make trouble later.

Jia Heng said: "In addition, the relevant officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs all confessed to embezzlement of ink wages. The confession is now recorded in the file. The evidence is solid and the truth is revealed. I respectfully ask the Holy Majesty to investigate."

As he said that, four captains of the Jinyi Mansion came from outside the hall, and under the eyes of all the officials, they carried a mahogany box. Inside were the confessions, documentary evidence, physical evidence and other relevant evidence of the officials involved in the case interrogated and taken by the Jin Yi Mansion.

Jia Heng took out another memorial from the sleeve, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, according to the order, I seized all the property in the treasury of Prince Zhongshun to make up for the shortfall in internal funds. Now 580 million taels of stolen silver have been seized and sent to the internal affairs department. The Guangchu Department of the government also found that Chen Rong, a commoner, has been in charge of the internal affairs of the government for many years. , and please take a look at it, Your Majesty."

As soon as this remark came out, all Chinese and military officials in the palace were in an uproar.

Although we all know that King Zhongshun, as the eldest brother of the emperor, has always acted arrogantly and lived extravagantly, and since he has been in charge of the House of Internal Affairs for many years, he is bound to fill his own pockets, but he still does not expect to accumulate such a huge amount of wealth!

Jia Zheng was also near the gate of the palace at the moment, because the officials in front lined up and couldn't see the young man's voice, but hearing that familiar voice speak generously in the huge Hanyuan Palace, his mood was also stirred up.

Not far away, Qin Ye, the official secretary of the Ministry of Industry, was also emotionally agitated, because his stature was slightly tall, and there were few officials from the Ministry of Industry in front of him. A boy in a python suit.

Secretly thought, this is his son-in-law, the minister of military aircraft, and a first-rank official.

Well, he heard yesterday that Keqing also made a first-rank wife.

At this time, Dai Quan from the Daming Palace came close enough to receive the memorabilia delivered by Jia Heng Gao, and turned to present it to Emperor Chongping.

Emperor Chongping's face was indifferent, he took the memorial, and read it by lighting the lamp.

In fact, yesterday a load of gold and silver was delivered to the Guang Chu Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The emperor already knew that his elder brother had been greedy for a lot of silver over the years, but looking at the records in this memorandum, he felt shocking. The accumulated wealth almost exceeds the annual tax of the big man!

While all the officials were anxiously waiting for Emperor Chongping to speak, there were already some officials who spoke in science and Taoism and Hanlin Qingliu couldn't hold back, and were ready to go out to impeach him.

These people are in charge of impeachment and have the right to hear about things, which is cheaper than the affairs officers of the six ministries to impeach their colleagues.

Emperor Chongping said in a deep voice: "The common man Chen Rong has been sent to Gongling. He has been in charge of the House of Internal Affairs for many years. He has been corrupted by corruption and indulged in lawlessness. Now the House of Internal Affairs and the Jinyi House should inspect the stolen money and fill it into the internal funds. There must be no mistakes!"

Jia Heng arched his hands and said in a deep voice: "I obey the order."

This can be regarded as a clear purpose, to seize Zhongshun-related property and include it in internal funds.

In fact, there is no conflict between ransacking the house first and returning the house and property at the end. The former is punishment, while the latter is grace.

Emperor Chongping put down the memorandum, and said in a deep voice: "All the ministers and workers also discussed what crimes Pan and Lu Erliao of the Ministry of Industry should be. Law, how to deal with it?"

This can be regarded as an upright procedure for the previous Xingda Prison.

Otherwise, without the court's discussion, sending so many civil servants at once, not to mention the bad laws, will easily make the officials panic.

And this kind of discussion gives people the feeling that you are not talking with the criminal officials who fell into the water, but standing on the dry shore, so that you can discuss and punish the criminal officials with the emperor.

Firstly, the harsh atmosphere of torture and killing is slightly reduced, and secondly, the monarchs and ministers talk about it in an upright manner. This is the way to combine hardness and softness.

In fact, Emperor Chongping had already made a decision on how to deal with the criminals involved, and it was just a process.

The officials below, who had been holding back for a long time, came out one after another to make a statement.

Almost all of them sprayed Pan and Lu to pieces. At the same time, someone impeached Zhao Yi, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, for a vegetarian meal.

After the Emperor Chongping listened quietly, he showed the image of the sage De Mingjun, who accepts advice with an open mind and speaks widely, in front of all civil and military officials.

At this time, Jia Heng returned to the train, listening to the sounds of shouting, beating and killing in his ears, which can be described as one after another.

These speech officials were all sharp in their words, describing Pan and Lu as unfaithful and unfilial, as if they were expelled from the ranks of scholars.

There was even Zhuge Liang, an official who spoke afterwards, who proposed that in a certain year and a certain month, he had impeached Pan and Lu for being greedy and despicable. Misfortune, and proposed that the name of the memorials he submitted at the beginning can be checked at the archives of the Secretary of General Administration.

This is the same as the stock market answerer in later generations, the big A is cut in half, I have said it a long time ago, and then I will attach the link.

After the performances of all the lecturers and Hanlin Qingliu were completed, Emperor Chongping looked indifferent, and cast a pair of shining eyes on Dali Temple Minister Wang Shu, and asked: "Wang Qing, how can we break the slander with the law of the Han Dynasty?"

As soon as this remark came out, the officials of Ke Dao also quietly waited for the important officials of the court to discuss.

Wang Shu held the wat board and said in a cang voice: "The veteran thinks that not all the criminals involved in the case will be punished with death. Since Pan and Lu are the chief villains, they should be punished severely. The other criminals are forced to rule by them. The sage said, God has the virtue of loving life, and I ask the sage to punish him lightly."

This is a kind of euphemistic remonstrance-compassionate punishment and careful killing.

Jia Heng glanced at Wang Shu, and thought to himself, is this old man really a fan of "Abandoned Death", or was he persuaded by the relatives of the offenders such as Princess Nan'an and Princess Beijing?

However, at this time, Zhao Mo, Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice, came out of the class with an ivory jade wat in his hand. He looked cold and solemn, and said in a loud voice: "My lord, I don't agree! If you dare to touch your finger, it can be said that you have committed a crime of deceiving the emperor, and the crime is extremely heinous, and you should be sentenced to death, let's face it!"

Emperor Chongping was expressionless, or the collapse of the mausoleum was originally a serious matter.

Xu Lu, the censor of Zuodu, held a jade wat and said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the criminals involved in the case will be handed over to the three judicial departments for joint trial and discussion according to the law."

Jia Heng frowned, knowing that it was Xu Lu who wanted to take back the leadership of the case and maintain the so-called discipline.

Emperor Chongping pondered for a moment, and said: "Now that the ministers of the court have discussed it together, it is more solemn, and there is no need to hand it over to the San Judiciary. Xu Qing, how do you think these people should be dealt with?"

Xu Lu's heart trembled, his face was solemn, he cupped his hands and said: "I think that the relevant criminals should be distinguished between masters and slaves, and judged by law, so that the officials involved in the case should be punished according to the severity of the crime. Probably dead."

In fact, it is based on the lightness of the crime and the seriousness of the crime, and you cannot kill indiscriminately due to anger.

Looking at Xu Lu, Jia Heng suddenly remembered an allusion, Di Renjie and Quan Shancai.

Emperor Chongping was noncommittal, but turned to Yang Guochang and asked, "Yang Qing, what do you think?"

When Yang Guochang heard this, his heart was shocked, and he said in a cang voice: "My lord, the old minister thinks that the relevant criminals should be severely punished if the mausoleum is involved, and everyone should be vigilant. However, the relevant officials will all punish the crime with a big punishment, which may damage the sanctity."

This attitude is actually inclined to Dali Temple Qing Wang Shu.

It can be said that the involvement of Pan Lu, Zhongshun Wang and others in the case also solved the siege of the chief minister of the cabinet to a certain extent, otherwise it is this Yuanfu who is questioned by the ministers now, and as the chief minister, he also needs to "Punishment is not a doctor" to safeguard the interests of the bureaucratic group.

Jia Heng glanced at Yang Guochang, and thought to himself, there is nothing wrong with what he said, it was just a way of saying... What does it mean to be detrimental to holiness?

Emperor Chongping was silent for a while, and asked, "Han Qing."

When Han Huang heard that he was being called, his face was serious, and he cupped his hands and said: "My lord, I think that the relevant criminals are punishable by death if they follow the law of the Han Dynasty. If you die sincerely, there will be more than enough guilt, so it is not a pity! However, the lord is the father of our subjects. He is also the son of the Emperor Chonghua, who can not only give thunder because of filial piety, but also rain and dew because of kindness. "

What Jia Heng said is the same as what Jia Heng said before, and the grace and punishment come from above.

But Han Huang added a few more points, that is, he gave an option, or a beautified statement.

Because you are the Son of Heaven, you can execute all the relevant criminals out of filial piety. This is a manifestation of filial piety. It is not indiscriminate killing and violence, and it will not damage the sanctity, because these people are too much. , death is worthwhile.

But the Son of Heaven is also the father of the people, and he can also send some officials lightly at his discretion, which is also a kindness in sight.

The latter, falling into the ears of the surrounding officials, naturally heard some advice.

But it happened to fall in the ears of the emperor, which roughly means that you are the emperor, and you have the constitution of heaven in your mouth, so you will do whatever you say, and everything you do is right.

It's true that God is also you, and ghosts are also you, and everyone can hear what they want.

Jia Heng glanced at Han Huang, and thought to himself, this Prime Minister Han, if he succeeds as the chief assistant, once he becomes an enemy, he may be even more difficult to deal with than Yang Guochang.

At this moment, Yang Guochang frowned tightly, even if he didn't want to admit it, he felt that his words were much wiser than his own, but since ancient times, he was the most skillful trickster and demagogy!

Not only Yang Guochang frowned, but Zuodu Censor Xu Lu also frowned.

Sometimes it's like this, beautiful words are beautiful, but not everyone likes them, and these words give people the feeling that they are too slippery.

Emperor Chongping nodded and said, "What Han Qing said is true."

"My sage, my sage." Han Huang bowed his hands and retreated without further words.

Emperor Chongping took the memorabilia, read the names, and said in a deep voice: "Pan Bingyi, former Minister of Industry, Lu Chengan, Guo Yuanzheng, former Minister of Tuntian Qingli, Cao Funian, Yu Congdian, Yuanwailang, Luo Chengwang, Minister of Construction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Chief Historian of Zhongshun Wangfu Zhou Shun and others are mostly the main offenders, and they should be severely punished in terms of law."

The main culprit and the accomplice still listened to the opinion of Xu Lu, the Imperial Censor of Zuodu.

But all the ministers below heard the names read from Emperor Chongping's mouth, but they felt chills on their backs, so many people were going to die, even though they were impeached just now, they still felt sad.

Jia Heng paused, knowing that Emperor Chongping wanted to end this big case earlier.

"As for the others?" Emperor Chongping looked at Jia Heng immediately, and said in a deep voice: "After the court, you will deliver the files of Jinyi Mansion to the inner study, and wait for me to separate the master and slave, make a list, and make a decision."

When he was in Qiandi, the emperor knew about the affairs of the Ministry of Punishment. It can be said that he had a clear understanding of the laws and regulations, and he had a clear mind on how to punish him.

Jia Heng cupped his hands and said, "Minister, obey the order."

The disposition of the relevant criminals is considered to be so low, and everything is decided by Emperor Chongping's imperial pen. How many people will be killed in the end depends entirely on Sacred Heart.

Jia Heng returned to the train without further words.

In the Hanyuan Hall, there was a sudden silence, as if everyone was digesting the news.

(End of this chapter)