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Chapter 548 Big Fish
"Yes, since it is a law, it should be dealt with impartially. There should not be so many exceptions. I think that not only can officials not be forgiven for breaking the law, but they should also be punished with a higher penalty. The people have not read the books of sages, do not understand the law, and do not understand the road. There is no love. That’s right. But if the officials don’t do it, then all the sages’ books will be read into the dog’s belly.”

The reason why Hong Tao wanted to question Gao Panlong face to face was because he was sure that he would not plead shamelessly. This man has the biggest flaw: he cherishes his feathers too much and values ​​his reputation more than anything else. As long as he can be raised to a certain height, even if he is facing his biological father, there is a high probability that he will not recognize him.

Isn’t it bad to be selfless? Why is it said to be a shortcoming? It doesn't matter what other people think of Hong Tao. Anyway, in his eyes, such people have serious flaws. If you have no desire, you will be strong. Fame is also a desire. If you pursue fame too much, you will easily be taken advantage of.

But it doesn’t matter if you have shortcomings. Everyone has shortcomings. As long as you put them in the right place, the shortcomings will be infinitely reduced. Letting Gao Panlong be in charge of the law and prisons is to make full use of his strengths and avoid weaknesses, and to use his own beliefs to fight against the class in which he lives.

"What your Majesty said is absolutely true, and I will be sentenced accordingly. There is just one thing that is unclear, please make your decision." Gao Panlong expressed his full approval of the emperor's suggestion and planned to accept it in full. His attitude is very correct, and his selfless attitude is also very full.

"Speak..." The emperor's gloomy face finally had some warmth, and his expression was very pleased to have his ministers fully agree with his ideas.

"After verification by the Three Law Departments, both the Dai Palace and the Jin Palace were directly involved in smuggling at the border, and the Lu Palace was inseparable from the artillery case. I wonder if the one-level increase for official crimes mentioned by your Majesty can also be applied to the vassal king ?”

At this time, Gao Panlong slowly took out several memorials from his robe sleeves and placed them squarely on the table. With a determined expression on his face, he explained his intention word by word.

It seems that he was just trying to support the emperor in killing everyone in his family. He knew that begging for mercy in person would be useless, so he came up with a way to use it as an excuse. He planned to first put the emperor on the level of Mingjun, and then talk about the three vassal princes.

In front of the six ministries and nine ministers and the cabinet's bachelors, the emperor can't go back on his word. If you want to keep the lord, you have to make concessions on the issue of dealing with criminals. Otherwise, you can treat them equally and let the three lords be buried together, which is worthy of your friends.

Of course, this method is not 100% effective. If the emperor becomes shameless, not only will his friends not be able to save him, but he may also be punished for it. If he fails to save everything, there will be another Wuxi Gao family added to the list of people who will be executed.

But now that the matter has come to this, it is absolutely unacceptable to be a coward, and we can only treat a dead horse as a living horse. Otherwise, not only will he not be able to hang out in the court in the future, but he will also be criticized by everyone in the government and the public, and his face will be completely lost.

"Oh? There are other things like this. Let me take a look!" Sure enough, when the emperor heard that the three feudal princes were guilty of serious crimes, his expression that had just eased became tense again, and his eyes were no longer as firm as before. .

"...Wang An, have Dongchang and Jinyiwei verified it?" In front of everyone, the emperor took the memorial and read it carefully. The expression on his face was very complicated. He raised his eyebrows and grinned at the same time. After smelling the fragrance, he raised his face and asked.

"Both Prince Dai's Mansion and Prince Jin's Mansion have confessed, and most of the confessions have been verified. Prince Lu's Mansion... is not on the arrest list. After knowing this, I have already sent people to Wei Hui Mansion."

Wang Anxian glanced at Gao Panlong, his eyes full of hatred. This matter had been discussed before the meeting and a consensus had been reached. It was not discussed for the time being and would be reported to the emperor after it was found out. Who would have thought that this guy would go back on his word and unexpectedly attack.

"My uncle is really capable. He controls most of the salt fields in Henan and Shanxi by himself, and built a mausoleum that is more magnificent than my father's. But I know nothing about it. Who is the governor of Henan?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this is Liang Zuling."

"Let him enter the palace immediately, I want to ask him face to face!" This is really not Hong Tao pretending to be confused. Prince Lu's palace was indeed not included in the prior arrest plan and investigation results.

However, the case file handed over by Gao Panlong not only contained the confessions of the King of Jin and the King of Dai, but also the confessions of several Shanxi merchants, all pointing to Prince Lu's Mansion. If what they say is even five points true, then this King Lu really has a big problem.

Is Gao Panlong pretending to be a public official to pour dirty water on King Lu's head and intend to mess up the situation, or is there a huge loophole in his own intelligence system, and some people are even cheating? Don't worry, just call the governor of Henan and ask. If what he said is not the same as Gao Panlong, it doesn't matter. There are still chief envoys in Henan, and if not, there are also inspection envoys and capital commanders. They can't all have confessed in advance.

"... Signed and stamped his name, and sent him to imperial prison for the crime of deceiving the emperor!" Liang Zuling was from Chengdu, Sichuan. He was in his fifties. At the beginning of this year, many censors in the Imperial Court were involved in the murder of his son. Case was forced to resign, and he was appointed as the censor of Qiandu and made governor of Henan.

But he was the right one to find. He had been governor of Henan for a few months, but he was originally the chief envoy to Henan and had been there for four years. If he dared to claim that he was not familiar with the local situation, he would be deceiving the emperor.

Unfortunately, he was forced to tell everything about Prince Lu's actions in Henan, but he still did not escape the charge of deceiving the king. He was captured on the spot by the little eunuch of the Cuju team and sent to the imperial prison for strict interrogation.

Why is Hong Tao so angry? There is only one reason: he was cheated. No one reported to the local government what King Lu had done in Henan these years. No, it’s not that no one reported it, but it was a lie. Every time, they said there was nothing abnormal. In fact, not only was there an abnormality, but it was extremely abnormal.

King Lu's name is Zhu Yiliu (liu). He is the fourth son of Emperor Muzong Longqing of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Zaihe. His biological mother is the Empress Dowager Xiaoding Li. He is also the half-brother of Emperor Shenzong and Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun of the Ming Dynasty.

Just as Emperor Wanli treated Zhu Changxun, King of Fu, Emperor Longqing treated Zhu Yili, King of Lu, even worse. In a word, King Lu has been the darling of his parents since he was a child. He wants the stars but not the moon.

The difference is that he was better off than King Fu, and did not have a ruthless brother like Hong Tao. After Emperor Wanli came to the throne, he protected him in every possible way, and Empress Dowager Li, who had always been a very strict family member, also loved him.

In the tenth year of Wanli, Zhu Yili got married. According to the records of the Director of Ceremonies, a total of 3869 taels of gold, 8000 small gemstones, more than 24000 pearls, and 10 taels of silver were consumed.

"Although department stores collect them, the rare treasures are different from daily necessities. They are purchased by merchants and cannot always make a profit." This sentence comes from the archives of the Ministry of Rites. It roughly means that all gold and silver shops, jewelry stores, In the silk shop, all the best goods were sold out.

Wang Lin, the Minister of Household Affairs at that time, couldn't stand it any longer, so he brought up the Ming Dynasty Law and the Wanli Emperor's hard support, and pointed out that King Lu's wedding was arrogant. But in the end, it didn't stop the wedding from happening. The Ministry of Revenue did not pay for it, so Emperor Wanli embezzled military funds, allowing his brother to have a glorious wedding.

After their wedding, King Lu and King Fu had the same virtues. They always found various excuses not to go to the fiefdom and become a vassal. This delayed them until the 22th year of Wanli. After being constantly promoted and dismissed by the ministers, the -year-old reluctantly left the capital.

At first Emperor Wanli chose a very wealthy place for his younger brother, Hengyang, Hunan. But when Zhu Yili heard this, he thought it was too far to cross the Yangtze River, so he ran to his mother and cried, saying that it was not convenient to go back to Beijing to visit his mother because of the long distance.

Empress Dowager Li, who was almost harsh on her eldest son, no longer had the courage to dominate the harem. She turned around and asked Emperor Wanli to move her younger son to a place closer to him, and finally settled on Weihui Mansion in Henan.

The cost of building Prince Lu's Mansion is close to 80 taels. It is known as the No. 20 Prince's Mansion in the Ming Dynasty and is comparable in size to the Forbidden City. How could the imperial censors and officials tolerate such troubles and swallow their anger? They wrote letters one after another to impeach King Lu for his transgression. It's a pity that Emperor Wanli not only ignored it, but also snatched taels from the Ministry of Household Affairs, which was regarded as King Lu's settlement expenses.

Zhu Yili and Queen Mother Li were satisfied now, but the people of Wei Hui Mansion were in for a disaster. All the local money, grain, and taxes went to Prince Lu's Mansion. He spent the whole day drinking, drinking and living, but he was still not satisfied, and even sent people out to rob the women of the people.

As long as there is a marriage in the fief and Prince Lu's palace knows about it, someone will definitely be sent to check it out. If the bride is a little bit pretty, the one who enters the bridal chamber first will become Prince Lu, and the groom can only be ranked second.

(End of this chapter)