serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 330 Matters in the Capital City

As the old saying goes, "On August [-]th, clouds cover the moon, and next year the Lantern Festival will be illuminated by snow."

On the Mid-Autumn Festival in the fourth year of Jianwu's reign, clouds covered the moon, and the capital, which had been sunny since the seventh day of the first lunar month, suddenly started to snow heavily early in the morning.

The snow is pouring all over the sky, one after another.

Nearly a hundred death row prisoners were tied and kneeling on the snow outside Liangxiang City.

A white-haired old man knelt at the head, and the sign on his back clearly read: "Magistrate of Liangxiang County!"

Behind him, kneeling were Liangxiang County's county magistrate, chief registrar, diary and other officials, as well as back-room staff and police officers such as Master Xingming, Master Qiangu, Master Copywriter, etc. Almost everyone in the county government was here.

In the heavy snow, Li Jin, the Minister of Punishment, sat in front of a major case, with white snow floating on his body, sitting there in a daze.

This matter eventually became a major case. Except for a very small number of officials such as Jiao Yu in Liangxiang County, all officials were executed. Nearly half of the officials in Daxing and Wanping counties were also sentenced to death. This time, the 24 prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture were executed. Nearly 3000 people were killed, and more than [-] family members of criminal officials were exiled outside the customs.

Lee Myung-bak, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, was dismissed from his post and sent to jail to await his punishment. More than [-] people, including Zhizhong and Tongjian, were either killed or dismissed from office.

In addition, the matter has also been transferred to the cabinet and the six ministries.

The Ministry of Industry was overthrown in one fell swoop. Except for a few officials such as Yang Jian, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Qin Ye, the camp manager of the Ministry of Industry, nearly 200 people were imprisoned, ranging from the minister of the Ministry of Industry and the chief officials of various departments to the chief officials and clerks.

The situation in the Household Department was relatively good. Only one doctor, two ministers and more than ten heads and clerks of the Household Department were imprisoned.

However, Zhao Zixun, a cabinet scholar in charge of the Ministry of Household Affairs, was frantically impeached by the Mei Party and the Royalist Party. In the end, Zhao Zixun resigned from his post as Minister of Household Affairs under pressure.

Fortunately, the emperor has no plans to build a prison, otherwise he doesn't know how many people would be implicated.

All members of the cabinet were fined half a year's salary.

After this incident, the royalist party's reputation in the court has greatly increased, and it may even seize a large number of positions from the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Industry, and the Shuntian Prefecture. This makes Li Jin feel a crisis!

"Bu Tang, it's almost three o'clock noon!" the official from the Ministry of Justice behind him reminded in a low voice.

Li Jin came back to his senses, glanced at the pocket watch on the case, stood up, and then pulled out a command arrow from the command quiver, stared at the pointer of the pocket watch, and shouted: "Behead!" With that, he took out the command arrow. Throw it on the ground.

The executioner stepped forward and pulled out the death penalty symbol.

The people watching saw a flash of white light and heads falling to the ground.

The people gave out bursts of heartfelt cheers!

The same scene happened at the same time in the 24 prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture
At the same time, the cabinet duty room was full of people.

Even though two large open fires were lit, the chief assistants Wang Hetang, Yang Cifu, Shi Guangzhu, Li Shouzhong and Zhao Zixun who were sitting around the brazier still felt cold. The emperor had returned to the palace for two days and had not summoned any of them so far. The official documents were sent out directly after review and were not sent back to Wenyuan Pavilion. This made them all confused and unable to guess the emperor's thoughts!
Yang Cifu stood up, walked to the door and opened the thick cotton curtain.

A gust of cold wind immediately blew a lot of snowflakes in.

Everyone was trembling from the blow. They looked at the heavy snow falling outside the door, only to see a man staggering towards the duty room in the snow.

The man approached and turned out to be Yang Jian, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry.

Yang Cifu asked urgently: "What happened?"

Yang Jian rushed in like a gust of wind, panting: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty has approved Jin Shuqing's chapter. Ma Ruifang will be appointed Minister of the Ministry of Industry."

Everyone was startled when they heard this, and Shi Guangzhu stood up suddenly.

Li Shouzhong sighed. This Ma Ruifang was the top candidate in the Enke Palace Examination in the second year of Jianwu. What did the emperor want to do? !

Yang Cifu came to his senses, slowly lowered the door curtain, then slowly walked to his chair next to the brazier and sat down.

Zhao Zixun couldn't help it anymore: "There are several floors between the editor of the Hanlin Academy and the minister of the Ministry of Industry! It's simply unheard of! How can he, Ma Ruifang, be so virtuous? This makes those who work hard for the imperial court but never get promoted. How can an official feel so embarrassed?" After saying that, he stood up suddenly and said loudly: "No! I can't watch the emperor make mistakes."

"Be careful what you say!" Yang Cifu hurriedly interrupted Zhao Zixun's words.

Zhao Zixun was unconvinced, but he had no choice but to swallow the breath with saliva.

"That's it!" Wang Hetang, who had been silent all the time, stood up at this time, "Everyone has worked hard these days. From today on, we will take turns on duty, don't all gather here." He turned to Zhao Zixun again and sighed. He took a breath and said, "Listen to my advice and don't say such instructive words. Do you know how many pairs of eyes are staring at you now?"

Zhao Zixun's expression changed immediately and he stared into Wang Hetang's eyes: "What does the Chief Assistant mean by this?"

Wang Hetang stopped beating around the bush: "In the past few years, you have offended a lot of people in order to raise money to fill the national treasury deficit. I have just heard some of the words, saying that you fell out of favor with the emperor, so you lost your position as Minister of Household Affairs. If the words just spread out, the villain will definitely add insult to injury."

Zhao Zixun lowered his head.

Yang Cifu went on to say: "Although a righteous heart is not afraid of thunder, and a righteous person is not afraid of slanting shadows. But it is also necessary to guard against subtle changes."

Zhao Zixun nodded again.

Li Shouzhong spoke: "Now the royalists are eyeing everyone. We must be careful in our words and deeds and not let them seize the opportunity."

Shi Guangzhu sneered: "You guys, don't run into my hands, or you'll make them look good!"

"That's it." Wang Hetang said. He immediately felt footsteps outside the door and quickly looked towards the door.

Suddenly the thick door curtain was lifted and a gust of cold wind blew in. Niu Jizong, Minister of the Ministry of War, walked in hurriedly holding a box wrapped in red cloth: "It's six hundred miles from Ulia Sutai, expedited!"

Shi Guangzhu: "We must have won!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone stood up and looked at the baggage in Niu Jizong's hand.

Niu Jizong put the baggage on the case and untied the red cloth.

A brass box was exposed, and everyone was startled.

Glancing at the seal above, Shi Guangzhu asked Niu Jizong, "What did the military envoy say?"

Niu Jizong: "He doesn't know either. He only knows that what's inside is very important." He tore the seal open and took out the key from his sleeve to unlock the door.

Wang Hetang, Yang Cifu and others gathered around.

Niu Jizong opened the lid of the box.

There was a military newspaper in the box. Niu Jizong took out the military newspaper with both hands and saw a cowhide envelope with the seal of Commander Jia Hu underneath.

Everyone was startled again.

Wang Hetang thought for a while and said, "Read the military report first."

Niu Jizong nodded, took the fire certificate from Li Shouzhong, blew it to melt the paint on it, and opened the military newspaper to read.

Everyone put their heads together.

Shi Guangzhu struck the big case with his palm and said loudly: "Well done!"

Wang Hetang, Yang Cifu and others nodded excitedly.

Niu Jizong closed the military newspaper and looked at the leather envelope: "Do you want to read this contract?"

Before he could finish his words, he heard the sound of footsteps outside, and then the voice of the clerk on duty came: "First Assistant, the new Minister of Industry Ma Ruifang, the Right Minister of the Ministry of Revenue Jin Shuqing and the Hanlin Academy editor Zhang Guangru entered the Qianqing Palace."

Wang Hetang was the first to change his expression.

Yang Cifu, Zhao Zixun, Shi Guangzhu, Niu Jizong and Yang Jian looked at each other.

Li Shouzhong's face also looked a little ugly.

Shi Guangzhu came back to his senses: "The Minister of the Ministry of Industry is not satisfied. Is it possible that he wants to win the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue? He is too greedy!"

After being silent for a while, Wang Hetang spoke: "With these, we can enter the study room!" After speaking, he glanced around and said, "Let's go together."

Several people looked at each other and replied in unison: "Together." After that, they took the military newspaper and the cowhide envelope and followed Wang Hetang out.

(End of this chapter)