Why did the emperor rebel?

Chapter 1176 Confrontation in front of the palace
Not long after, Zhu Qiyu also finished reading the memorial.

What is written above is basically consistent with what Zhang Min said. However, many details are relatively brief, and the handwriting is not neat enough. It can be seen that it was written in a hurry.

Putting down the memorial, Zhu Qiyu frowned, his eyes fell on Shu Liang beside him, and he asked.

"what happened?"

The current situation is not difficult to understand. At least one thing is certain, that is, what Shu Liang just reported is not the entire truth.

However, Shu Liang is someone who has served the emperor for a long time, and being thorough is the most important thing. It is said that before considering victory, consider defeat first. After hearing the emperor's words, Shu Liang stepped forward and bowed his head, saying.

"Back to the Emperor, I have just received a report from my subordinates. When I got the news, I was ordered to count the collected fuel. I just came back from Wanping County and did not have time to find out the whole story. I hurriedly reported it to the Emperor. Lord forgive me."

This is said to be watertight. After all, Shu Liang, the dignified eunuch of the East Factory, has so many things to do every day. How can he personally keep an eye on a mere Daxing County? Naturally, he can only listen to reports from his subordinates for a lot of news. .

Moreover, as far as Dongchang is concerned, no matter what reason Lin Cong arrests, he is arrested if he is arrested. The mission ordered by the emperor is to raise more charcoal as soon as possible. As for other details, not to mention that Lin Cong did not inform Dongchang before arresting him, even if he said it in advance, it is also true that he delayed the errand ordered by the emperor. For the eunuchs below, That's what matters most.

Therefore, this matter cannot be blamed on Shu Liang in any case. At most, it is a fault of lax control. However, Shu Liang also said that the reason why he did not check carefully was because he was busy with the emperor's affairs. Others don't know about the errands, but Shen Yi knows that Eunuch Shu has raised hundreds of thousands of catties of fuel for the court this time. He cannot be expected to do the errands properly. He has to do everything personally and check every detail carefully. That would be too embarrassing.

Of course, whether this matter was accidental or intentional, I am afraid only Eunuch Shu himself knows...

Naturally, Zhu Qiyu is not an unkind person. Hearing this, his expression softened a little, and he said.

"Forget it, it's not your fault. If that's the case, you don't have to go to Daxing County. Go back and count the charcoal you've collected."

"Wynn?"

"The servant is here."

Upon hearing the emperor's voice, Wynn immediately stepped forward, and then the emperor continued to give instructions.

"Send an order to the Military and Horse Division of the Five Cities to dispatch a thousand officers and soldiers to Daxing County to maintain order and prevent further chaos. The safety of Huangzhuang and the county government must be ensured. In addition, Shuntian Prefecture Yin is asked to rush to Daxing County immediately to take charge of the overall situation and appease the people. People, when the situation stabilizes, summon Liu An, the eunuch of the mining tax, and Lin Cong, the magistrate of Daxing County, to come together to have an audience."

"According to the purpose..."

As a result, the matter calmed down, and Chen Yi on the side finally felt relieved. Since the emperor did not send Shu Liang to go, he still became suspicious of this matter.

The advantage of eunuchs is that they can meet the emperor at any time. As long as Lin Cong can meet the emperor and explain the matter clearly, naturally nothing will happen.

However, what Chen Yi didn't expect was...

The next day, in the Wuying Hall, Shen Shangshu looked blankly at the cabinet ministers around him, as well as the two ministers of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Punishment, as well as Wang Hong from the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

So many ministers all looked at Lin Cong and the mining tax eunuch Liu An in the palace. For a moment, everyone was a little confused.

We already know that they were summoned because of the incident in Daxing County.

After the imperial edict was issued, the news naturally couldn't be concealed. There was civil unrest in the capital. It was not a trivial matter, so all the ministers couldn't help but pay attention to it.

However, he only paid attention to it. As the magistrate of Daxing County, Lin Cong handled it properly. He controlled the people in time as soon as they surrounded the outside of Huangzhuang, and then reported to the court in time.

After the people from the Wucheng Military and Horse Division and Shuntian Prefecture arrived, they also successfully controlled the situation. With the grace of the emperor, the thousands of kilograms of firewood were finally planned to be divided according to the household registration registered by the government and based on the number of heads, and the court would get a penny. Not taken.

Although due to time constraints, the distribution has just begun, the emotions of the people have been completely calmed down. Except for a few people who took the lead in making trouble, this matter has almost been eliminated as quickly as possible.

It can be said that for the important ministers in the court, this matter is over now. After all, the world is so big, especially in such disaster years, civil unrest of this level happens from time to time. Since there is no If something big happens, you don't have to worry about it.

Even if Lin Cong had some misunderstanding with the mining tax eunuch when he was dealing with it, or if he really did something beyond his authority, he wouldn't have called so many of them over. For such a trivial matter, the emperor can't say anything about it. deal……

However, no matter how low their interest was, since the emperor had summoned them, they naturally had to listen carefully.

So, under the gaze of important ministers, Lin Cong and the mining tax eunuch named Liu An officially began a confrontation in front of the emperor.

The person who asked the questions was Yu Shiyue, the Second Assistant to the Cabinet. On the one hand, it was because he was the first to receive yesterday's memorial. On the other hand, it was also because Yu Second Assistant was familiar with criminal cases and had already done it.

"Mr. Lin, there was a civil riot in Daxing County yesterday. You reported that some people were incited by others and besieged Huangzhuang. In order to protect the mining tax eunuch Liu An, he was brought to the county government for guarding. However, Liu An said, It was you who broke into the Imperial Mansion with the government officials and forcibly took him back to the county government office for custody. How do you explain this?"

As soon as these words came out, all the ministers in the palace raised their eyebrows. It seemed that Eunuch Liu did not have a good attitude towards Lin Cong.

Logically speaking, Lin Cong took Liu An away to protect him. Under such circumstances, how could Liu An attack him and say that it was Lin Cong who broke into the county government office?
Faced with everyone's questioning looks, Lin Cong remained calm and said.

"Master Cifu Mingjian, the situation was chaotic at that time. When the subordinate officials learned that someone had forcibly entered Huangzhuang, they first brought the servants to the scene and sent people to investigate the specific situation. Later, the people at the scene said that they heard the news that Eunuch Liu was going to All the charcoal in Daxing County was transported away and sold in the capital at a high price. These people were afraid that there would be no charcoal available this winter and they would freeze to death, so they gathered outside Huangzhuang to kill the treacherous eunuchs and grab the charcoal back."

"After the official understood the situation clearly, in order to prevent a larger-scale civil uprising, he announced to the outside world that he had imprisoned Mr. Liu, and at the same time promised the people that not a pound of fuel in Daxing County would be lost elsewhere. Under the responsibility of the county government, all the houses were sold at a fair price, and the civil unrest was quelled."

This statement was basically consistent with what was reported yesterday, so Yu Shiyue turned to Liu An and asked.

"Eunuch Liu, Mr. Lin just said that he only announced that he would put you in jail. In fact, he just took you back to the county government for protection. But you said that Mr. Lin forcibly arrested you and detained you. Your Majesty, sir. , please explain to Eunuch Liu, what is going on?" Liu An is a slender middle-aged man with a fair face and no beard, but at this moment, there are two big dark circles on his face, which are obviously full of Didn't sleep well at night.

Hearing Yu Shiyue's question, Liu An suddenly lost his temper, and said directly to the first emperor.

"Your Majesty, you have to make the decision for this slave. This Lin Cong is the one who stands up for those businessmen. The reason why this slave is surrounded by the common people in the imperial manor is because of the black-hearted businessmen who were taken advantage of by this slave. Instigating behind the scenes, Lin Cong was able to arrive in time, and it was these businessmen who were tipping him off."

"This Lin Cong, the reason why he agreed to leave those thousands of kilograms of firewood in Daxing County is to facilitate these black-hearted businessmen to continue to hoard it and make huge profits. He said he wanted to sell it at a fair price, but in fact, it still had to be handed over to these businessmen. Sell!"

"Your Majesty has long ago decreed that merchants are not allowed to increase the price of fuel charcoal without permission. Now Lin Cong is openly colluding with merchants. He clearly does not take your Majesty's decree into consideration. Please punish this person severely and make decisions for your slaves! "

All the eunuchs in the palace are full of emotions. Compared with Lin Cong's peaceful narration just now, Eunuch Liu was much more excited. By the end of the story, he was already bursting with snot and tears. It was as if he had really been greatly wronged.

However, as he made such a fuss, the matter became more and more confusing. Yu Shiyue glanced at the emperor above him, but saw that the emperor didn't show any expression, so he understood the meaning.

So, Yu Shiyue continued to ask.

"Eunuch Liu, do you think there is any evidence that Mr. Lin colluded with merchants in Daxing County?"

Liu An raised his head, looked at Lin Cong aside with cold eyes, and said.

"What more evidence do we need? Yesterday's civil unrest was the first to report the news to the county government. Those businessmen were the first ones to report it. Later, after Shuntian Prefecture took over the county government, they arrested the chief culprits of the riot. They all made clear confessions about the instigation behind the scenes. People, it was these merchants who told them that the imperial court wanted to take away the fuel coal from Daxing County."

"Moreover, some of our men were on the scene at the time and saw with their own eyes that Lin Cong and the businessmen were talking privately. Not long after, Lin Cong announced that all the fuel would be left in Daxing County, and then the people dispersed. , if it wasn't for him to make a deal with these businessmen, how could this be?"

"Perhaps this is a good show jointly planned by him and those businessmen!"

People who were born as eunuchs sometimes speak more arrogantly than the officials. The last sentence was obviously pure speculation, but Liu An said it as true.

Hearing this, Lin Cong on the side couldn't bear it any longer. He glanced at Liu An with disgust and rolled his sleeves.

"What nonsense!"

However, his reaction fell into the eyes of all the ministers in the palace, but somehow they felt a little guilty.

Seeing this situation, Yu Shiyue shook his head inwardly, and had no choice but to turn to Lin Cong and ask.

"Master Lin, is what Eunuch Liu said just now true?"

This time, Lin Cong didn't answer immediately, but pondered for a moment, then cupped his hands.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I did agree to leave the fuel coal in Daxing County to those merchants. However, I definitely did not give or take it privately with them. Please be clear to your Majesty."

"Since there is no private exchange, just make it clear!"

Facing Lin Cong's defense, Zhu Qiyu was not angry, but just set his eyes on him, and spoke calmly.

This calmness actually made people feel chills on their backs, so that all the ministers on the side sighed silently in their hearts. This Lin Cong is playing with fire!
Seeing this situation, Lin Cong lowered his head and said after a while.

"Your Majesty, there are two reasons why I agreed to them. As Mr. Liu said, I did rush to Huangzhuang after receiving news from merchants in these counties. But more importantly, before that, I have already received their complaint, suing Mr. Liu An for forcibly taking away the fuel charcoal hoarded by each of their families. According to legal principles, this is an open robbery. As a parent official of Daxing County, I cannot ignore this matter..."

"So you are standing in the same boat as these black-hearted businessmen?"

As soon as Lin Cong said these words, Liu An who was next to him jumped up and pointed at Lin Cong.

"Did you know that these merchants are hoarding fuel charcoal in order to sell it at high prices and make huge profits? Our family collects these fuel charcoal according to His Majesty's order. After it is transported to the capital, it will be distributed to the people. Mr. Lin, you just feel that you are They are the parents of these businessmen, so shouldn’t those people who can’t afford the high-priced wages be frozen to death?”

These words were so righteous that the ministers in the palace were in a daze. Could such words of concern for the country and the people really come from a eunuch?

In comparison, Liu Anqiang's move to grab the salary was not worth mentioning. No one believed that it was a normal method to obtain such a large amount of salary in such a short period of time.

The ministers present knew very well that the source of this salary was definitely not that clean, but to them, the source was not important at all. What was important was that the court needed fuel, and they got it, and that was enough. .

As for the source of the problem, if nothing happens, everyone will turn a blind eye and pass it by. Even if something happens, it has nothing to do with them. Therefore, at this time, the ministers in the palace do not care about Liu An's use. means.

Faced with Liu An's questioning, Lin Cong lowered his head, his face obviously struggling, and his expression seemed to further confirm Liu An's statement just now.

However, Zhu Qiyu was not anxious, but continued to wait for his next words. After a while, Lin Cong raised his head, sighed heavily, and said.

"Your Majesty, I just feel that the laws must not be messed with. The safety of the people is of course important, but if this happens, people's private property will be arbitrarily usurped in the future, making it even more difficult to end. As for this snow disaster, as a parent official of Daxing County, I naturally Will not sit idly by."

"The reason why I promised these merchants to keep these fuel coals in Daxing County is because they have agreed that as long as the turmoil subsides, they will sell this batch of fuel coals at last year's market price. Not only that, there are many among them. These few people are all well-known people in the local area. The situation was urgent at that time, and if we want to quickly appease the people, we can only rely on them!"

　Thanks to the book friend Old Time Mingyue_ for being the leader~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)