Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1001 0996 [The monk also has a role]

There were too many people involved in the case and the Dali Temple could no longer hold them all, so some were sent to the Ministry of Justice's prison.

Qin Hui's relatives were arrested one after another.

Three brothers, Qin Bin, Qin Zi and Qin Di.

Qin Zi was a former Jinshi of the Song Dynasty and currently serves as a councilor of Hubei Province.

The other two were arranged to be promoted from clerks to officials: Qin Bin had limited ability and only became a ninth-rank tax officer, while Qin Di was much more capable and was already a seventh-rank provincial tax official.

In addition, Qin Zi's son Qin Changshi, Qin Hui's nephew, was also promoted to the ninth rank - this was a serious violation of regulations, because there were qualifications and age restrictions for promotion from civil servants to officials, and Qin Changshi did not meet any of the requirements.

Wang Yu (cousin), the son of Qin Hui's uncle, was recommended when the Ming Dynasty was founded.

At that time, there were many former Song officials, and even non-official former Song scholars, who could be appointed as officials as long as they passed the basic assessment after being recommended. Wang Yu was an official at that time, and he was currently the Tongpan of Nanyang Prefecture.

Huang Dui, the son-in-law of Qin Hui's elder brother, was a genuine Jinshi of the Ming Dynasty.

Xu Chen (cousin), the son of Qin Hui's aunt, was a Jinshi in the early Song Dynasty.

Li Qiu, the father-in-law of Qin Hui's brother-in-law, was a Jinshi in the early Song Dynasty.

Zhao Shipeng, the brother-in-law of Qin Hui's wife, was a Jinshi in the early Song Dynasty.

Wang Xun, the cousin of Qin Hui's wife, was a Jinshi in the early Song Dynasty.

Zheng Yinian was the cousin of Qin Hui's wife and the son of Zheng Juzhong, the former prime minister of the Song Dynasty.

Wang Bing, the cousin of Qin Hui's wife...

……

Grab a bunch.

Among them, Zheng Yinian, Qin Zi, Wang He and Wang Fu had the most serious problems.

These four men were all extremely corrupt, and a large number of their subordinates were also arrested.

Li Qiu was a bit interesting. The more we investigated, the more we found that he was an honest official and had made outstanding achievements in the early Song Dynasty. However, Li Qiu's son stayed in Kaifeng and hung out with Qin Hui's brother-in-law Wang. Some of them even set up a private casino in Kaifeng.

"Confused!"

Li Qiu looked at his son's various crimes, tears streaming down his face and sighing.

Li Gang couldn't bear it and asked, "You didn't know that your son was doing bad things in Kaifeng?"

Li Qiu explained helplessly: "I have been working as an official in various places for many years. In the past ten years, I have only returned home briefly when I returned to Beijing to report on my work. I left my useless eldest and second sons in Kaifeng to look after the family business. They have shops in the city and land outside the city. How could I have expected them... Alas!"

During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, Li Qiu was demoted for opposing the expedition against Liao, demoted again for offending the eunuch Tan Zhen, and demoted a third time for reporting on the banditry in Shandong and Hebei.

Historically, even the long-abandoned Dujiangyan was repaired by Li Qiu in the early Southern Song Dynasty, and the people of Sichuan even built a shrine for him.

Li Gang admired Li Qiu's outspokenness and courage in the Former Song Dynasty. He stood up and said, "Your case has been basically investigated. The two provinces where you have recently served have censors investigating the local area. Officials and people unanimously praised you as a good official. You can stay in the Ministry of Justice for the time being. I will arrange a single room for you. I will ask His Majesty for instructions on how to deal with you."

"Thank you." Li Qin expressed his gratitude, but his tone was extremely low, as if he had lost all desire to live.

He was not afraid of power and worked diligently for half his life, but was betrayed by his two sons.

The youngest son is quite promising. He has always been raising him by his side. Now he has passed the imperial examination and has been an official for several years. I wonder if he will be implicated this time.

He was taken to a solitary cell in a daze, and since he didn't have any problems, the jailer didn't keep a close eye on him.

Li Qiu got up in the middle of the night, untied his belt, and wanted to hang himself to end it all.

The main purpose is to find a future for my youngest son!
He bit his finger and wrote on the wall. When the blood had coagulated, he bit his finger again and wrote: "My young son is innocent. Please have mercy, Your Majesty."

The next morning, the jailer came to deliver breakfast, and Li Gang also took special care of the food.

Seeing Li Qiu hanged, the jailer was stunned and shouted: "Someone hanged himself! Someone hanged himself!"

Soon, Li Gang rushed over after hearing the news. He looked at Li Qin's body and the bloody words on the wall, and said with an extremely grim expression: "No matter who they are, they must be kept under strict supervision. Don't give them the chance to commit suicide again!"

After arranging everything, Li Gang rushed into the palace.

Zhu Ming was also quite sad after hearing this, and sighed, "Let Li Qiu's three sons separate the family property. If his youngest son is not corrupt, he should be reinstated immediately after verification. Then let the Ministry of Rites give Li Qiu a posthumous title, a middle posthumous title will do."

"As you wish." Li Gang took his leave, feeling very unhappy.

Some committed suicide, some refused to speak out.

Qin Hui's wife, Wang, claimed she had no knowledge of the incident.

She is a woman, and even if she is implicated by her husband, as long as she does not commit any crime, the most she would suffer is exile.

Pan Lianggui produced a bunch of confessions: "Your brother Wang has confessed. Before you separated from Qin Hui, you helped to connect many of Qin Hui's affairs. After you separated from Qin Hui, you also used his name to let your brother Wang seek personal gain..."

"You dare not do evil in Luoyang, but let Wang stay in Kaifeng to do evil. Many officials sent their cronies to the casino opened by Wang and his gang to lose money. These officials don't even know that you and your wife have fallen out. They lost money to you but didn't help you with your work, and they didn't dare to make it public. Surprisingly, no one has come forward to report it."

"You probably don't know that your brother is no pushover either. He teamed up with other officials' sons to bully men and women in Kaifeng, and dragged many officials from the Five Cities Military Department of Kaifeng into the water. Li Qiu has already committed suicide in the prison of the Ministry of Justice because his two sons were hanging out with Wang."

Wang looked at the confessions of Wang and others for a few times, and was so frightened that she couldn't help shaking, but she still said with all her might: "I really didn't know anything. It was Wang who broke the law under my name!"

Pan Lianggui threw out another confession: "This is from your brother-in-law Zhao Shipeng. He doesn't even know that you and your wife are separated. He sends his confidants to Beijing every year to give you a valuable gift. Among them is a red coral purchased from a sea merchant. It is a birthday present for you and is worth tens of thousands of strings of cash!"

"I didn't receive any gifts." Wang denied it flatly.

Pan Lianggui asked, "Where did you hide all the gifts and money you received, as well as the casino profits your brother Wang sent you?" Wang cried and said, "I really didn't accept any gifts. I am wronged!"

Seeing that the woman was stubborn, Pan Lianggui packed up the confessions and left, ordering: "Send people to watch her in shifts for twelve hours a day. Interrogate her repeatedly and don't let her sleep!"

Wang's willpower was so strong that she managed to hold on for two and a half days.

After being woken up again, Wang was already in a trance. She was extremely tired but couldn't fall asleep: "I say... I say..."

If she still doesn't tell me, then she should rest. This thing can kill people.

The old official from the Ministry of Justice asked, "Where are the stolen money and dirty items hidden?"

"Tianwang Temple...Abbot..." Wang said and closed her eyes.

Pan Lianggui personally led several officials and borrowed some runners from the Luoyang government office, and rushed towards Tianwang Temple in a hurry.

Tianwang Temple in Luoyang and Xiangguo Temple in Kaifeng are the two most influential temples in the Ming Dynasty, and each of them enshrines a Buddha tooth.

It was a cloudy day with pleasant cool temperatures.

Countless devout believers come here to worship Buddha, and many ordinary people also come here to stroll around.

Just like shopping in a mall, the area around Tianwang Temple belongs to the central business district of Luoyang, where a wide variety of goods are available.

If you are tired of walking around, you can also go to the temple for a walk.

But an official led by a group of officials came running, and tourists and believers made way for them and watched them enter the temple in great surprise. Then, instead of being afraid, the common people were filled with gossip and followed them in to watch the excitement.

The monk in charge of reception came forward to greet them, smiling and clasping his hands together, and said, "I wonder what business you gentlemen have for me?"

Pan Lianggui was afraid of alerting the enemy, so he did not point out anyone in particular, but said, "Call out the abbot, the chief abbot, the supervisor, the vinaya master, the deputy abbot... all of them!"

"Yes, everyone, please wait a moment." The monk in charge of reception knew that something big had happened and hurried in to report the news.

Soon, the abbot of Tianwang Temple, Dahui Zonggao, came to greet them with a group of senior monks.

Dahui Zonggao was about to chant the Buddha's name when Pan Lianggui spoke first: "Where is Jinghai, the abbot of Tianwang Temple?"

A monk in his 50s stood up and said, "I am Jinghai, I don't know..."

"Catch them and search the Tianwang Temple warehouse!" Pan Lianggui ordered.

The head of a temple is, of course, the abbot, but such an accomplished monk seldom interferes in worldly affairs.

The second in command is the Du Si, who is equivalent to the chief eunuch.

The third in command is the temple supervisor, who is in charge of the temple’s warehouse and property.

Wang entrusted the illegally obtained stolen money and goods to the third in command of Tianwang Temple to hide.

She could bring small items and banknotes into the temple herself when she went to burn incense. As for large items like red coral, she would wrap them in cloth and send people to carry them into the temple, declaring that they were donations to the temple.

The highly accomplished monk Dahui Zonggao looked at the officers rushing towards the warehouse in confusion, having no idea what his subordinates had done.

He only needed to study Buddhism, receive a few distinguished guests, and preach to believers regularly. He didn't need to take care of the rest of the temple affairs.

The abbot, Jinghai, was also dragged to the storehouse, and he refused to admit that he had any connection with Wang.

After searching for more than an hour, they finally found the red coral, which was wrapped in velvet inside, linen outside, oilcloth outside, and carefully packed in a large box.

This red coral is more than half a meter high and brightly colored, so red that it seems to be dripping blood.

Pan Lianggui pointed at the coral and asked, "What is this?"

Jinghai replied: "Donated by believers."

"Why is such a treasure hidden so carefully instead of being taken out for people to see?" Pan Lianggui asked.

Jinghai argued, "I'm afraid it might get damaged if I leave it outside."

Pan Lianggui said, "The Monks' Registration Department has a rule that all the donations from believers in all the monasteries in the country must be registered. Bring out the donation book!"

There are more than a dozen donation books, all of which were made after the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

I carefully read through all the donation booklets, but still couldn't find any records of red coral.

Pan Lianggui asked, "Why isn't it in the book?"

Jinghai answered reluctantly: "Maybe... maybe I missed it."

Pan Lianggui sneered: "You can forget about the red coral worth a fortune? And can you hide it well if you forget about it?"

Ruined!
Monk Jingchun, the second-in-command of Tianwang Temple, suddenly felt his legs go weak and he could not stand steadily.

He was in charge of all affairs of the temple, but the storehouse was so big and there were so many items. How could he possibly check the storehouse himself?
His subordinates helped others hide the stolen goods. Although he did not participate in it, he was also responsible for not managing his subordinates strictly and failing to supervise them.

There is no way I can get this position as the temple chief.

Pan Lianggui looked at Jingchun and said, "Come back to the Ministry of Justice with me." He then gave the order, "Seal off this place and leave a few people to guard and search it slowly!"

……

(First, stop talking about the Industrial Revolution, which presupposes the Agricultural Revolution. Especially grain and cotton, which must reach a certain level and scale. Second, it is said that the Imperial College was just for the sake of taking the exam. It has been made clear that if a graduate of the Imperial College cannot be directly awarded the title of Jinshi, he or she can still take the imperial examination as a Juren.)
(End of this chapter)