Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 122

The new censor of the Lianghuai patrol salt is called Zhang Huangshan, a decent official just by hearing his name.

During his tenure as the supervisory censor in Guangdong and Jiangxi, he did not talk about personal affairs with other officials, and handled all cases impartially, so he was given the title of "iron-faced censor".

When the Ministry of Officials was redesigning the important position of the Lianghuai patrol salt censor, the iron-faced censor came into the sight of the officials of the Ministry of Officials, and Zhang Huangshan finally defeated several other candidates for the post.

Since Yangzhou Mansion is not under the jurisdiction of the governor of Yingtian, the Lianghuai patrol salt censor is the most binding official to the transfer envoy of the Lianghuai capital, and the Lianghuai governor censor is the most typical representative of humble power.

Since Zhang Huangshan took office, he has truly adhered to the principle of being an official and not a group of officials. He has completely ignored Li Zhiqing, the transfer envoy of the Huaihe River and Huaihe Rivers, and other officials, but has focused on supervising the salt here.

It's just that many things can't just look at the appearance, but look at the essence through the appearance.

In the system of salt administration, a huge network of interests has already been formed. Naturally, there are already strategies to deal with the lowly and powerful Lianghuai patrolling salt censor.

In fact, before the transfer order came down, people from the Lianghuai Chamber of Commerce took the initiative to find Zhang Huangshan, and brought a lot of money with them.

Faced with such a generous bribe, Zhang Huangshan finally chose to compromise.

In fact, after living as an ascetic monk for so many years, and he does not think that he will earn more in the future than he is now, so he decided to reward himself well.

After taking office, the Huaiyan merchants had already prepared the mansion and beauties, allowing Zhang Huangshan to start a depraved life.

Although Zhang Huangshan did not contact Li Zhiqing and others publicly in order to avoid suspicion, he has met several times in private, and the two sides can be said to have met each other.

Now someone is going to sue the Taizhou Branch under the Transshipment Envoy of the Huaihe River and Huaihe Rivers. Zhang Huangshan is distressed because he has not shown his worth since he took office, but he doesn't want Gou Huowang to be a timely help.

Zhang Huangshan's mentality was completely different at this time, and it was time to reward himself for years of hard work, so Dang even summoned Gou Huowang to the hall for questioning.

"The villain, Gou Huowang, pays homage to Master Qingtian!" Gou Huowang came to this shabby courtroom, and immediately bowed respectfully.

Zhang Huangshan is a middle-aged man in his early 40s, with fair skin, somewhat handsome, with a goatee and a heavy official authority.

Although he is still wearing a seventh-rank official uniform, he has been in the officialdom for many years. As long as he resigns normally this time, he will wear at least a fourth-rank official uniform.

The most promising officials in the Ming Dynasty were Hanlin officials, but many officials were envious of those officials who could be promoted to seven ranks.

The best place to be a Kodao speaker is the governor, followed by the Jingqing in the non-six yamen, but the vast majority of officials are promoted to participate in politics in a province.

Since a province's participation in politics is from a "leisure job" of the third rank, it is actually disliked by the officials of science and Taoism, so it is described as "the official is promoted to seven ranks, and the power is greatly reduced."

Naturally, Zhang Huangshan would not be interested in participating in politics. He looked at the simple and honest middle-aged man in front of him and asked indifferently: "Gou Huowang, you want to sue the Taizhou branch?"

"That's exactly the case. The statements in the grassroots confession are true, and please be careful!" Gou Huowang immediately emphasized, not knowing whether the other party was loyal or traitorous.

Since ancient times, the people did not fight with the officials. Now Gou Huowang not only sued the Taizhou Branch Yamen, but also charged him with shrinking his rope to hide in the salt fields.If it weren't for Wang Yue's support behind him, he wouldn't dare to do this even if he had a hundred guts.

It is precisely because of this confidence that Gou Huowang changed his fear of seeing officials before, and now he is very calm when facing this superior inspector and censor.

Zhang Huangshan couldn't help but sneered in his heart, and asked solemnly with a face of justice: "Is there any evidence for the crime you sued the Taizhou branch?"

"Master Qingtian, you only need to go and take a test to find out that those ambassadors and chief executives used this method to steal the court's benefits!" Gou Huowang was stunned for a moment, and then he said with certainty.

In fact, Zhang Huangshan didn't know whether this problem really existed, so he said calmly: "Besides this, do you have other evidence?"

"My lord, this matter is not considered a secret in the saltworks. You can find out when you go down and ask, the real evidence is in the saltworks!" Naturally, Gou Huowang said very sincerely because he couldn't find any real evidence.

The evidence is based on murder and arson, but to find out whether Yantian has shrunk to hide the fields as he said, take the field book to the salt field and compare it, and it will be clear.

Wang Yu and Hu Jun accompanied the trial. Although they felt that Gou Huowang's words were a bit convoluted, they didn't think there was any problem, so they couldn't help turning their heads to look at the stern-faced censor.

As long as this iron-faced censor shows the courage of the past and re-measures the salt fields on the side of the Taizhou branch, the matter of shrinking the rope and hiding the fields will be revealed to the world.

If that time comes, the ills of the salt government will be exposed, and his grandfather Wang Yue can hold Shang Fang's sword to cut off the head of the salt official involved.

Snapped!
Zhang Huangshan snorted coldly, then slapped the gavel forcefully and said, "I don't need you to come here, how can I try this case! You are so bold, you dare to fabricate the Taizhou Branch Shuosheng Yintian without evidence, do you know what you should do?" What crime?"

"Master Qingtian, what Caomin said is true. The salt farms under the Taizhou branch are hiding in the fields. Please pay attention!" Gou Huowang was stunned for a moment, and then he said that he was wronged.

Although he knew that it was unwise for the people to sue an official, even if the official in front of him was known as the stern imperial censor, but facing Zhang Huangshan accusing him of fabricating things, he couldn't accept this statement anyway.

Zhang Huangshan looked at Gou Huowang coldly, and said sternly and honestly: "It's just a mouthful of nonsense! Come here, beat this person with fifty sticks, as a warning to others!"

"My lord, is your judgment too hasty!" Wang Yu and Hu Jun came with Gou Huowang, and when they saw that the stern censor was so confused, they immediately stood up and stopped loudly.

Seeing that Wang Yu's skin was dark and did not look like a scholar, Zhang Huangshan asked disdainfully, "How do you know what crime you should be guilty of by roaring at the court like this? Do you have a reputation?"

"Ben... the grassroots are not well-known, but the judgment just now was too hasty, and the grassroots refuse to accept it!" Wang Yu knew that he had made a mistake, so he argued hard.

"Dissatisfied?"

Facing Wang Yu's doubt, Zhang Huangshan immediately snorted coldly with a smile back.

He found that he had been too tolerant of these untouchables earlier, but now that he was a patrol censor, these people dared to challenge his authority.

If it is said that he had to suffer some useless anger in the past because of his future, but now that he is a low-ranking inspector and censor, how can he still be angry with these grassroots people?

Hu Jun saw the reaction of the stern censor in the hall, and couldn't help but sigh secretly.

After all, they were still too young. They just heard about Zhang Huangshan's glorious deeds and saw that Zhang Huangshan had no contact with Li Zhiqing and other officials, so they thought that Zhang Huangshan was really a good official who could judge cases impartially.

It's just very possible that the prince used Gou Huowang to throw stones to ask the way, and Zhang Huangshan really showed his true colors in the end.

Zhang Huangshan took the gavel and slapped it hard, and immediately pronounced the verdict: "Come here, take down this roaring court man together, fifty rods, and retreat!"

I?
Wang Yu pointed to the bridge of his nose in astonishment, never expecting that the stern censor would even beat him, and his inner belief suddenly collapsed at this moment.

The official in front of him may have been a stern censor before, but when he came to Yangzhou to serve as the salt censor, he might have already been in cahoots with those salt officials.

Judging from this person's reaction, the reason why he was able to uphold official ethics before was that those people didn't give enough, and he wasn't worth that much.

It's just that now that Zhang Huangshan got the lucrative job of patrolling the salt censor, he naturally wanted to collude with Li Zhiqing and the gang of corrupt officials, so as to make more efforts to get it back.

After all, Wang Yu's enlightenment came too late, but he followed Gou Huowang to the gate of Lianghuai Xunyan Yushi, where he received a punishment of [-] boards.

Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!
The board was lifted high, and then fell heavily, hitting Wang Yu and Gou Huowang's buttocks torn apart, and Wang Yu was screamed from the beating.

Ah!
Huh?
After Gou Huowang took two boards, he found that the executioner seemed to have suddenly lost his strength.

Naturally, it couldn't have been discovered by the yacha's conscience, but Wang Yue had ordered in advance, so Hu Jun had already stuffed a silver coin in advance to the yacha who was executing the execution.

After the yacha received the money, and Zhang Huangshan was not imprisoned here, he only perfunctoryly dealt with the two boards, and the rest were basically high-handed.

It's just that Wang Yu was not so lucky. Since he didn't give money to the yamen, the result was so hard that he crawled there and cried for his father and mother. He hated Zhang Huangshan to the bone.

Naturally, Zhang Huangshan would not take Wang Yu's resentment to heart, as if he had done a very beautiful thing, when he returned to the signing room, he asked someone to send Li Zhiqing a small note: See you at the old place.

The Lianghuai Xunyan Yushi Yamen, also known as the Xunyan Inspection Court, is located on the east side of the Xincheng River (Little Qinhuai River), while the Yangzhou Yamen, Jiangdu County Yamen, and the Lianghuai Metropolitan Transit Envoy Si Yamen are all on the west side.

As night fell, the entire city of Yangzhou was lit up with lights.

The water of the Little Qinhuai River runs from the north of the city to the south of the city. There are many brothels and restaurants on both sides of the city. Famous boats are rippling on this wide river.

The side gate of the Lianghuai Patrol Salt Yushi Yamen is connected to the Little Qinhuai River. Since Zhang Huangshan took office, there will be a small boat sailing to a certain painting boat almost every night.

Zhang Huangshan's experience is in Guangdong and Jiangxi. Although the economy of these two places is not too bad, it is really not comparable to Jiangnan, and it is even more different from Yangzhou.

There are brightly lit night scenes on both sides of the strait. There are young women playing in the boat, and delicious wine and rare delicacies are placed on the table. If this is not heaven, what is it?

Zhang Huangshan enjoys his current life very much, and is intoxicated by the fine wine and night scenery.

Li Zhiqing led the two people to the boat, and after the two reported their homes, the four of them had a happy chat here.

In fact, Zhang Huangshan did not live in the Yamen of the Lianghuai patrol salt censor, but in the house donated by Li Zhiqing.

When disembarking, the owner said that he had forgotten something, and then moved out a box of gold and silver from the boat. This box was naturally presented by the two officials of the Taizhou Branch.

Zhang Huangshan saw a whole box of gold and silver, and realized that serving an official term in Yangzhou for one day was already better than a full term in Guangdong and Jiangxi.

"Husband, you are back!" Zhang Huangshan walked into the room slightly drunk, and a beautiful Jiangnan woman greeted him.

Zhang Huangshan looked at his current life, but he knew that he had finally come to the end of all hardships.The hardships and hardships endured in Guangdong and Jiangxi have now been repaid tenfold in Yangzhou.

But amidst the bright lights of Yangzhou City, a thunderbolt flashed across the night sky in the east.

While Zhang Huangshan was proud of his choice, the matter about Gou Huowang was not over yet, and the Yangzhou Yamen also received a complaint.

The person who sued was still Gou Huowang, but the crime was no longer suing Yintian, the Taizhou branch, but Zhang Xunshan, the censor of salt inspection, protecting Yintian, the Taizhou branch.

The magistrate of Yangzhou, Yang Mingyuan, naturally chose to protect his own people, and immediately asked in the same way: "Gou Huowang, what evidence do you have?"

"Your Majesty, the buttocks of the grass people are proof. Many people saw Zhang Huangshan torture the grass people yesterday!" Gou Huowang pointed to his injured buttocks and replied truthfully.

Yang Zhifu naturally knew that Gou Huowang had been beaten by Zhang Huangshan, but he said in a deep voice: "I am asking you if there is any evidence for the matter of Yintian?"

"My lord, the grassroots are not suing Yintian, but Zhang Huangshan for protecting the Taizhou branch! Zhang Huangshan asserted that the grassroots framed the grasslands without measuring the salt fields, and beat the grassroots without asking why. What is it if this is not the protection of officials and officials?" Gou Huowang said It is to avoid the question of the magistrate Yang, which seems to be reasonable and well-founded.

"Yes, this is indeed the protection of officials and officials!"

"Even if what Gou Huowang said is false, it has to be verified!"

"Hehe...the person was beaten up without any investigation, and it was clearly protecting the Taizhou branch!"

……

After the instigation of Wang Yu and others, hundreds of people came down from the hall to watch. After learning the cause and effect of the incident, they also expressed their support.

In fact, Zhang Huangshan did act too hastily. If he had not been eager to use actions to please Li Zhiqing and other officials and punish Gou Huowang with a cane, he would not have given Gou Huowang a reason to talk.

Now that Gou Huowang is holding onto Zhang Huangshan's rod punishment, Zhang Huangshan really can't explain it clearly, and the iron-faced censor he has always been proud of will probably be destroyed in one fell swoop.

The magistrate of Yangzhou saw the enthusiasm of the crowd, so he gave a startled sound and said: "Silence!".

"mighty!"

Twelve burly servants of the soap class smashed the water, fire and wood long sticks in their hands to the blue brick floor, and shouted in a mighty voice.

The people in the hall had no choice but to keep their mouths shut obediently when they heard this scalp-numbing voice, but secretly decided to help Gou Huowang to make the matter worse.

Yang Zhifu naturally had his heart towards Yan Guan, and immediately said in a deep voice: "Gou Huowang, Zhang Yushi knows that there is no possibility of shrinking the rope and hiding the field, so it is reasonable to punish you!"

"Your Majesty, even if the villain is making a false accusation, it must be verified! Zhang Huangshan didn't verify it at all, so he used the grassroots board to protect the Taizhou branch. Isn't this considered official protection?" Gou Huowang insisted that Zhang Huangshan did not verify the matter, and continued to represent the case. He called himself Qudao.

"Yes, too hasty!"

"How can there be such a treatment, it is clearly the officials who protect each other!"

"I thought there was a stern censor, but it turned out to be the same dog!"

……

When the people in the hall heard Gou Huowang's justification, they immediately stood firmly on Gou Huowang's side, resolutely pointing their finger at the new inspector of salt, Zhang Huangshan.

Yang Zhifu heard that all the people in the hall were on the side of Gou Huowang, but he gritted his teeth, held the gavel and patted it heavily: "This government sees that you are clearly a troublemaker looking for nothing, so I don't want to waste time talking with you! Come here, beat this man with fifty sticks and drive him out of the government office, and don't allow him to submit another certificate!"

This……

Seeing that Gou Huowang was going to be boarded again, the people in the hall felt chilling for a while.

Although they already knew that the officialdom in Yangzhou was protected by officials, judging from the performance of the magistrate of Yangzhou and yesterday's Yanhuai inspector Zhang Huangshan, it has undoubtedly been thoroughly confirmed.

Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!
Since the magistrate Yang was present to supervise the sentence, although Hu Jun had already stuffed the money first, Gou Huowang was beaten several times, causing Gou Huowang to scream incessantly.

"I didn't believe it before, but now I believe it!"

"From this point of view, what the stove owner said was not wrong!"

"Shrinking the rope and hiding the fields? These corrupt officials really do everything they can to make money!"

……

It's just that the turmoil didn't end. Thanks to Gou Huowang's astonishing move, a kitchen household sued Zhang Yanshan, the censor of Xunyan, for covering up the Taizhou branch, which became a hot topic nowadays.

"What, that stove owner didn't give up?"

"Hehe...that pleading paper was written by my friend!"

"My darling, this stove is going to pierce the sky!"

……

The matter is not over yet. Gou Huowang once again found someone to write a new complaint, and the new charge is that the prefect of Yangzhou is covering up the Taizhou branch with Zhang Huangshan, the censor of salt inspection.

Although it sounds awkward, the savage Gou Huowang not only pointed the finger at the Taizhou branch and the Xunyan censor Zhang Huangshan, but now he is also suing the Yangzhou prefect who beat him.

Just when everyone was not optimistic about Gou Huowang, a piece of explosive news came from Songjiang Mansion: Although the imperial envoy Wang Yue was found and seriously injured, he will visit Yangzhou Mansion soon.

"Gou Huowang must be dealt with in advance, and he must not be allowed to collide with the imperial envoy!" Li Zhiqing realized that once the matter of the Taizhou branch's shrinking rope and hidden fields were revealed, a group of people would die, so he ordered them to die.

The officials who didn't take Gou Huowang seriously panicked immediately. If Gou Huowang brought the matter to the king's beheading, how could they have any good fruit?

Just like that, they immediately thought of getting rid of Gou Huowang, but they sent people to the inn where Gou Huowang was staying, but they were all in vain.

(End of this chapter)