Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 150 Accident or Man-made
September nineteenth.

Afterwards.

Chunhe Hall, Prince's Study Room.

Zhu Gaoxu held his chin with his right hand, lowered his head slightly, looked at the memorial under his eyelids, and was speechless for a long time.

This memorial was sent by Li Xing just on the order of Zhu Di, and the writer of the memorial was none other than Zhu Yunzhen, the king of Wujun.

After Zhu Gaoxu accepted Jigang into the Shenji fleet yesterday, he handed Mu Su over to the commanding officer Sai Hazhi of Jinyiwei.

Mu Su was immediately taken to the Zhenfu Division Prison, but he didn't even last for half an hour. He had just been put on three rounds of torture instruments, and he was completely pissed off.

And how could Pang Wensheng and Hu Xiaoliu be Jin Yiwei's opponents?

Although the two were hiding in a cave on the outskirts of the capital, with Mu Su leading the way, they were quickly caught.

Pang Wensheng knew that he was bound to die, so of course he wanted to do his best to slander Zhu Gaoxu and create enemies for Zhu Gaoxu.

Therefore, after being tortured by the Jin Yiwei, he confessed to the so-called behind-the-scenes instigator-Wu Commandery King Zhu Yunxu.

Yesterday evening, Zhu Di was furious when he learned about the incident, and immediately ordered the commander of the Jinyi Guards, Jiang Yu, to lead people to surround Zhu Yunzhen's mansion.

However, just after Zhu Di issued this order, the General Affairs Department presented an urgent memorial.

Zhu Di looked at the memorial and found that it was the "application letter" written by Zhu Yunxu.

Zhu Yunzhen was not stupid. He secretly sent people to keep an eye on Pang Wensheng and his group.

When he learned that Mu Su had been taken away by the Jin Yiwei, he knew that what Pang Wensheng had done would be exposed, so he quickly wrote a memorial, which was an apology letter, and submitted it to Zhu Di against the clock.

In this so-called "pleasure letter", Zhu Yunxuan introduced in detail how he met Pang Wensheng, how he faced Pang Wensheng's temptation, how he rejected Pang Wensheng, and finally decided to petition Zhu Di to punish him for not reporting the crime of knowing.

After Zhu Di read the memorial submitted by Zhu Yunxu, he immediately canceled the order to Jiang Yu, and then sent Li Xing to give the memorial to Zhu Gaoxu after the morning court.

But if Zhu Gaoxu wanted to figure out the relationship between Zhu Yunxu and Pang Wensheng, he could only speculate based on common sense.

He never expected that Pang Wensheng would harbor hatred towards his Highness the Crown Prince because of the last "accident in the pharmaceutical room".

Zhang Yixian was poisoned by the drug and became blind, deaf and mute. This was not his intention.

As for whether Zhu Di secretly sent someone to manipulate the pharmaceutical reagents and wanted Zhang Yixian to shut up forever, that is not what Zhu Gaoxu is currently considering.

"Your Highness, Minister Yu of the Ministry of Finance wishes to see you."

Just when Zhu Gaoxu was lost in thought, Kang Ping came in and bowed to report.

"Please come in, Minister."

Zhu Gaoxu sat upright, stretched his brows, and said loudly.

"Your Majesty Yu Xin pays homage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Yu Xin, the Minister of Household Affairs, immediately bowed and bowed after seeing Zhu Gaoxu.

"Yu Shangshu will grant you a seat without any ceremony."

Zhu Gaoxu stood up and made a gesture with his hand out of respect and courtesy to the six old ministers.

After Yu Xin sat down, he first said some polite words to Zhu Gaoxu, then talked a few words about the issuance of national bonds, and finally got to the main topic.

"I dare to suggest that your Highness investigate the corruption secretly committed by the magistrates of Qingzhou, Dengzhou and Laizhou in Shandong Province in the name of disaster relief."

Yu Xin, who was over sixty years old, suddenly stood up, walked ten steps in front of Zhu Gaoxu's desk, knelt down and worshiped.

"After I took over the throne, I applied more lenient policies to Shandong. In the past three years, corruption in Shandong's officialdom has been increasing day by day, especially in the disaster-stricken areas. Most of the people are complaining and dissatisfied."

"Although His Majesty, on the one hand, moved the victims to Dongchang and other places, on the other hand, he used work as relief, built roads, embankments, and canals to divert water in the three prefectures. However, corruption, if not controlled, will definitely lead to the disaster of the victims. Without real relief, the consequences will be disastrous."

"Yu Shangshu, please get up and speak."

Zhu Gaoxu winked at Kang Ping, who was standing by the door.

Kang Ping hurriedly stepped forward and leaned over to help Yu Xin, but the latter deliberately avoided him.

Yu Xin stubbornly bowed again: "Your Highness, a small county government now recruits nearly a hundred low-level officials and government servants, and the government offices have even more. Among them, the servants and maidservants of the former magistrate of Qingzhou, There are hundreds of people!”

"Not to mention the servants and maids in the officials' homes who bully others, but most of the low-level officials and servants in the yamen at all levels are morally corrupt people, which have seriously damaged the justice and majesty of the court. From the bottom of my heart, I beg Your Highness to strictly investigate corruption in the three states of Shandong. Corruption, rectification of officialdom, and restoration of a bright future for the people of the three states."

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Yu Xin, whose forehead touched the ground, and immediately chose silence.

Of course, he understood that what Yu Xin said was not an exaggeration, because during his tenure as the captain of Zhili, he punished many local corrupt officials in Zhili, let alone in Shandong, which is far away from the capital.

However, rectifying officialdom cannot be achieved overnight.

Even if he is now the prince, if he wants to free up his hands to punish those corrupt officials, he still needs to plan carefully and cannot act haphazardly.

The reason why Zhu Gaoxu was silent was not because he had no plan to rectify the officialdom, but because the first person who came to see him this morning was not Zhu Yunxu, the king of Wu County, but Yu Xin, who was devoted to the country.

"I will ask my father to seriously deal with corruption in Shandong."

Zhu Gaoxu said slowly.

Yu Xin moved slightly and raised his head slightly.

Kang Ping, who had quick eyes and quick hands, quickly stepped forward to help Yu Xin up, and helped Yu Xin sit down slowly.

"To investigate the corruption case in Shandong, does Yu Shangshu have a suitable candidate in mind?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked.

Yu Xin cupped his hands and said: "Reporting to Your Highness, I believe that Gu Zuo, the censor of the city, is an upright man and has made many new achievements since he became the censor. Therefore, he can be sent as an imperial envoy to Shandong with full authority to investigate corruption."

Zhu Gaoxu's eyes lit up when he heard this.

The current chief envoy of Shandong, Liu Fu, was appointed by Emperor Taizu. Since taking office in the 28th year of Hongwu, his political performance has been quite good.

He managed Shandong in an orderly manner, and repeatedly attacked bullies and tyrants in various prefectures and counties within the territory. He eradicated many evil forces that harmed the people at the bottom, and was quite popular among the people.

The imperial court wanted to take action against this "honest official" who had won the hearts of the people. If the imperial envoy sent did not have a strong background, he might not only be unable to find anything after arriving in Shandong, but he might also die in some accident.

Because Shandong is close to the sea and has developed river transportation within the territory, the imperial envoys might fall into the water and die of illness, or directly drown.

Gu Zuonai, the censor of the city patrol in Yu Xin's mouth, was promoted and appreciated by Zhu Gaoxu. If he became an imperial envoy, he would not only represent the emperor but also the prince after leaving the capital.

When such a person arrives, if he dares to attack him, it is tantamount to treason.

Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu will never tolerate this. They will investigate to the end and uproot those corrupt officials.

"Then according to your words, I will ask my father when I have time today to appoint Gu Zuo as the imperial envoy and rush to Shandong to deal with the official corruption there."

Zhu Gaoxu said in a deep voice.

Yu Xin exhaled a big breath of relief, then stood up, bowed to Zhu Gaoxu and saluted: "Your Highness, I take my leave."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said: "Kang Ping, send Yu Shangshu."

A quarter of an hour later.

"Your Highness, Mo Lin, the Minister of Punishment, would like to see you."

Kang Ping bowed to the study and respectfully reported.Mo Lin, courtesy name Shizhen, was born in Guoxiali, Gaoling, Shaanxi (later Yaohui Township).

He passed the imperial examination in the 17th year of Hongwu's reign, and successively served as the censor of Fujian Province and Beiping Province, and the deputy envoy of the inspection department of Beiping.

When Zhu Di sent troops to conquer Timur's kingdom, he ordered Mo Lin to supervise the transportation of grain and grass and also be in charge of military pay.

After the soldiers returned from the expedition in triumph, Mo Lin was promoted to the right minister of the Ministry of Punishment. Later, when Xia Shu, the former Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, became old and became an official, he was promoted to Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment by Zhu Di.

As far as Zhu Gaoxu knows, Mo Lin is fair and honest, and does not show favoritism.

When he was serving as deputy inspector in Peiping, his family had accepted bribes and secretly hid them in the well for fear that he would know about it. However, after he found out about it, he actually ordered the bribes to be returned.

Zhu Gaoxu heard that the person who came was Mo Lin, the Minister of Punishment. Although he felt a little strange in his heart, he did not show any emotion and said with a normal expression: "See you."

"I pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Mo Lin, the Minister of Punishment, bowed respectfully.

"No need to be polite, just sit down."

As a sign of respect, Zhu Gaoxu stood up and stretched out his hand to signal Mo Lin to take a seat.

Mo Lin did not sit down, but took out a memorial from the wide sleeve pocket on his left.

"His Majesty ordered his ministers to submit the list of death row prisoners who will be executed according to the law at the end of this month to His Highness for review, and His Highness will make a decision."

Zhu Gaoxu took the memorial from Mo Lin and opened it to see that it was filled with a dense list of death row prisoners.

He made a rough estimate in his mind and found that there were more than 850 death row prisoners waiting to be executed by the end of the month, and he couldn't help but be surprised.

"Why are there so many death row prisoners this time?"

Mo Lin said respectfully: "Reporting to Your Highness, due to the disasters in many places in Shandong, Guangdong, and Yunnan this year, many refugees have turned into bandits, killing people and robbing wealth, and even more, killing officials and rebelling. Such criminals are all punishable by death."

"Can the Ministry of Punishment examine clearly the crimes committed by these death row inmates?"

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the list carefully, lowered his head and asked.

"Human life is at stake. I would never dare to wrongly accuse a good person, but I would never let a bad person go."

Mo Lin said solemnly.

China has had the traditional idea of ​​careful killing since ancient times, that is, the system of recording prisoners, in which the emperor or relevant officials interrogate the prisoners and decide whether they can be pardoned.

This system began in the Han Dynasty. Emperor Ming of the later Han Dynasty "drove his chariots into Luoyang Prison to record prisoners and sorted out more than a thousand people."

Wei, Jin, Sui, Tang, Song, etc. each had their own system of recording prisoners.

"New Book of the Tang Dynasty: Criminal Law Chronicles" records: In the sixth year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong "personally recorded the prisoners, arrested 390 people who were guilty of death, and allowed them to return home." "History of the Song Dynasty·Criminal Law Chronicles": "The emperor himself recorded himself as a prisoner in the capital at the age of [-], and sent envoys from within the province."

The prison system demonstrates the seriousness of the law and is very cautious in imposing death sentences. Those who can be reduced or reduced will be commuted immediately, and those who cannot be reduced will be immediately executed, which increases the deterrence of the criminal law.

In the 30th year of Hongwu's reign, Zhu Yuanzhang established the system of huiguan adjudication, a system in which the emperor directly appointed officials from various administrative agencies of the imperial court to adjudicate major cases and serious prisoners.

Specifically, the Fifth Military Governor's Office, the Sixth Ministry, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Sixth Section were assigned to Shizhong, the General Affairs Department, and the Zhanshifu, sometimes including the prince-in-law, to jointly try the prisons, capital crimes, and unjust cases to the emperor. Other cases were reported to the emperor according to the law. legal judgment.

Historically, this system of interrogation by officials was the predecessor of the Autumn Trial System in the Qing Dynasty. As for the Chao Trial System, it began during the Yingzong period of the Ming Dynasty.

At present, Zhu Di maintains the system of official review and recording, but he has not given up the traditional system of recording prisoners. He asked Mo Lin to submit the list of death row prisoners to Zhu Gaoxu for processing. Obviously, he wanted Zhu Gaoxu to be open-minded and establish benevolence. The name of virtue.

Zhu Gaoxu naturally understood what Zhu Di meant.

Therefore, he looked at Mo Lin, who was fair and honest, and spoke.

"Although many of these death row prisoners committed capital crimes because of desperation, the state has national laws and should be handled in accordance with the law. However, God has the virtue of good life, and according to my wishes, those who kill officials and rebel will be put to death, and the rest will be drawn one out of ten Execution, those who are not drawn will be converted to exile and sent to Nurgan Dusi to be exiled to the army."

"I have no objection." Mo Lin said respectfully.

Afterwards, Zhu Gaoxu took up his pen and wrote down his instructions at the end of the memorial. Then he closed the memorial, handed it out and said, "Mo Qing, take it."

Mo Lin bowed and walked to the desk, took the memorial, then bowed and said: "I take my leave."

After about two quarters of an hour.

"Your Highness, the King of Han wishes to see you."

Kang Ping showed a strange expression and bowed to the study room to report.

"Please."

Zhu Gaoxu thought for a moment and then said immediately.

"Meet His Highness the Crown Prince."

As soon as Zhu Gaochi entered the study, he immediately bowed and bowed.

When he heard that Zhu Gaochi was coming, Zhu Gaoxu had already stood up.

From the moment Zhu Gaochi stepped into the study, Zhu Gaoxu's eyes never left Zhu Gaochi.

Every move of the other party, including all kinds of subtle movements, whether he pursed his lips or blinked, or touched his nose or scratched the back of his hand, was all seen by him.

But he didn't catch the slightest bit of uneasiness from the other person's micro-expression.

Although Zhu Gaoxu was observing Zhu Gaochi, he did not forget the etiquette.

At this time, he had already walked around the table and helped Zhu Gaochi with his own hands.

"Brother, there is no need to be polite. Please sit down and watch tea."

While Zhu Gaoxu was speaking, he helped Zhu Gaochi sit down, and he himself also sat down next to the latter.

After a while, two steaming cups of tea were brought up by Kang Ping.

Zhu Gaoxu ordered Kang Ping: "Let everyone outside the door go down."

"Yes."

Kang Ping respectfully accepted the order, then bowed and retreated.

"I wonder if big brother is here, can you teach me something?"

Zhu Gaoxu stretched out his hand and made a gesture of inviting tea, then looked into Zhu Gaochi's eyes and asked quietly.

A flattered expression immediately appeared on Zhu Gaochi's face. He stood up quickly, bowed to Zhu Gaoxu and said, "His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, has betrayed me. How can I dare to teach His Highness how virtuous I am?"

"You are my eldest brother, so you are naturally qualified to teach me."

Zhu Gaoxu said reluctantly.

Zhu Gaochi's expression suddenly changed. He didn't know whether it was intentional or he was really frightened. He was about to kneel down, but Zhu Gaoxu stopped him abruptly.

"Everything I say is from the bottom of my heart. Brother, please don't have any other ideas."

Zhu Gaoxu changed his tone and brought the topic to the case of Prince Wu Zhu Yunxu, and then said: "Is the eldest brother entrusted by Prince Wu to plead for him?"

When Zhu Gaochi heard the words "Prince Wu", he understood the attitude of the Crown Prince in front of him towards Zhu Yunxian.

PS: Guys, guess, was Zhang Yixian’s poisoning an accident or man-made?
(End of this chapter)