Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 257 Hai Shou’s Certificate of Vocation
a few days later.

Yu Ma Jian.

Premises.

Royal Horse Superintendent Cheng Haishou was lying on the bed, biting a silk scarf in his mouth. Royal Horse Supervisor Young Supervisor Jin Ying personally took the white medicine bottle and replaced the golden sore medicine on Haishou's back.

Jin Ying put away the medicine bottle, then put down his shirt for Hai Shou, and sighed: "Fortunately, the medicine was taken in time, and there is no danger of life. It's a pity that those people were too heavy-handed, and the scars on this back will never go away."

"You're welcome, Young Inspector Jin, thank you very much!"

Hai Shou endured the pain, sat up, straightened his clothes, cupped his fists and thanked Jin Ying.

"Hai Gong's words are serious. I'm afraid Xing'an and others who were your guardian back then would have been beaten to death by Huang Yan's men."

Jin Ying helped Hai Shou sit down again, and said at the same time: "Although Xing'an and I are young eunuchs now, I will never forget how kind Hai Gong was to me."

Seeing that there was no one around, Hai Shou said bluntly to Jin Ying: "The day before yesterday, His Majesty officially issued an order to transfer Huang Yan to the inner official prison and serve as eunuch, and ordered him to start rectifying the tax and bank chaos in Huangzhuang, which was managed by various supervisors in the inner court. Yesterday, our family was beaten with a cane by Huang Yan for some reason. This old thief Huang Yan deliberately used our family to establish his authority!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a deep and majestic voice coming from outside the door: "Prince Hai, we heard that you were punished by Huang Yan yesterday?"

Hai Shou was overjoyed when he heard this. He knew from the voice that the person outside the door was Kang Ping.

Jin Ying, with quick eyes and quick hands, helped Hai Shou stand up to greet him.

"Alarming Duke Kang to come, the lower official is guilty."

Hai Shou bowed and cupped his fists.

Kang Ping slightly bowed his hands in return, walked straight to the living room, sat down, and asked straight to the point: "After His Majesty learned about this, he asked us to ask for details. What is Huang Yanzhang's reason for scolding you?"

"I beg Duke Kang to make the decision for me!"

Hai Shou endured the severe pain and suddenly knelt down to Kang Ping and said: "Since I was demoted to the position of Royal Horse Supervisor by the Emperor, I have already changed my ways and is no longer greedy for money. Then Huang Yan can rectify the imperial estate tax." On the pretext of the silver incident, I falsely accuse my slaves of embezzling the royal village’s tax money. Please give me a clear warning from Mr. Kang!”

"What do you think of Huang Yan?"

Kang Ping asked.

Jin Ying was very sensible. After hearing Kang Ping's question, he excused himself from the living room and closed the door casually.

"Kang Gong, Huang Yan is loyal on the surface but treacherous on the inside. He uses the stick to punish his subordinates because he is afraid that his subordinates will report him!"

Seeing that there was no one around him, Hai Shou immediately answered bluntly.

Kang Ping asked again: "Do you know what Huang Yan is afraid of?"

"Years ago, Xiaguan went to Korea with Huang Yan on many missions, so he had a close relationship with him. What he did when he was also in charge of Huangzhuang was concealed from the court, but not from Xiaguan."

Haishou explained.

Kangping responded with silence.

Hai Shou knew that Kang Ping was waiting for him to reveal all the details he knew.

After hesitating for a moment, he said decisively: "Okay, I'll give it a go."

"In those days, Huang Yan wantonly exaggerated his political achievements in order to claim credit from the emperor, and forced the administrators of various imperial villages to falsely report their property, population, and taxes."

Hai Shou told an old story.

“In the second year when he was in charge of Huangzhuang in Wanping County, less than [-] hectares of newly cultivated land were cultivated to promote the planting of sweet potatoes and winter potatoes, but he reported that the newly cultivated land was [-] hectares, and there was a bumper harvest.”

Kang Ping said: "As far as our family knows, Governor Zheng was ordered to inspect various Huangzhuangs to promote the planting of sweet potatoes, winter potatoes and other new crops. However, he saw with his own eyes the two hundred hectares of new crops in Huangzhuang, Wanping County, which Huang Yan also managed. Cultivate the fields.”

"What Zheng Duong saw was just a layer of floating soil on the surface. Once he left, those cultivated fields became wasteland again."

Hai Shou explained: "Kang Gong Mingjian, most of the wasteland is covered with weeds and thorns. The dense grass roots are deeply rooted in the ground. How can it be easily transformed into fertile land?" Kang Ping asked: "But that area In [-], Huangzhuang of Wanping County handed over [-] tons of sweet potatoes and winter potatoes as taxes. How can this be explained?"

Hai Shou whispered: "Half of this was forced by Huang Yan from the rations of farmers and tenants. The other half was the money he allocated from internal funds to Huangzhuang to purchase hoes, shovels, plows and other agricultural tools. Silver, bought quietly from Liaodong!"

"You have to understand that this is a serious crime of deceiving the emperor. If there is no evidence, you can't talk nonsense."

Kang Ping frowned.

"Kang Gong, the reason why Xiaguan knows this is because he had a close personal relationship with Huang Yan back then. It was he who asked Xiaguan to send people to secretly buy sweet potatoes and winter potatoes from Liaodong in the name of selling goods."

Hai Shou analyzed: "Huang Yan has now taken the position of eunuch and eunuch, probably because he is afraid that his slaves will reveal this and ruin his bright future."

"Also, the several acres of land that Huang Yan is responsible for cultivating are all worked by his servants at night. He has no time to go to the fields at all."

Seeing Hai Shou's silence, he added: "Kang Gong, do you still remember the piece of sweet potato weighing nine pounds and eight taels that Huang Yanjin presented to the emperor?"

"Of course I remember that it was a rare thing in the world. At that time, all the eunuchs in the inner court praised and envied Huang Yan. His Majesty at that time and now the Supreme Emperor was overjoyed and regarded it as auspicious."

Kang Ping looked shocked and lowered his voice and asked, "Could it be that that nine-pound piece of sweet potato didn't grow from Huangyan's responsibility field?"

"Huang Yan spent ten taels of gold and asked his sworn brother who works in Beijing to find the crew to buy it from overseas."

Hai Shou replied in the same low voice.

Kang Ping then asked: "Do you know who Huang Yan's adopted brother who serves in the Beijing camp is?"

"Huang Yan never mentioned such secret matters to his subordinates. However, one time he invited me to drink for no apparent reason. Seeing that he was in a particularly good mood that day, I asked him if he had met any happy events. He said that he was in Beijing. The foster brother who served in the battalion was promoted. I wanted to trick him, so I flattered him and gave him a few more drinks. Finally, I learned that his foster brother’s surname was Ji, which means ‘Ji’ for strict laws and disciplines.”

Hai Shou said slowly while recalling.

Kang Ping secretly wrote down the keywords and asked: "Aside from the contact with the military attache named Ji from the Shenji Camp, does Huang Yan have any personal relationships with other military attaches and civil servants?"

"Since Huang Yan and his subordinates were demoted, all the civil and military officials who had private contacts with Huang Yan have lost contact with him."

Hai Shou hesitated slightly, and then said a name that made Kang Ping's heart tremble.

"There are not many officials who still keep in touch with him over the years, including Lu Zhen, the minister of Dali Temple."

Seeing that Hai Shou was hesitant to speak, Kang Ping asked, "What else do you know?"

"Kang Gong, my subordinates guessed that the leaked test questions for the law exam in the 16th year of Yongle's reign should be an unjust case created by Lu Zhen, the minister of Dali Temple, together with Huang Yan. Yin Changlong, the Prime Minister of the Right Temple of Dali Temple who was executed by the Supreme Emperor , or a scapegoat.”

Haishou said softly.

In the middle and late Hongwu period, Lu Zhen, a native of Lintong, Shaanxi Province, entered Taixue through a provincial examination. Because of his outstanding performance, he successively served as the examiner of the Shandong Procuratorate, the head of the household department, and the Prime Minister of the Beiping Procuratorate.

After Zhu Di succeeded to the throne, Lu Zhen was promoted to minister of Dali Temple.

In the early Yongle period, Lu Zhen was ordered to visit his relatives three times, and twice when there was a famine in the Guanzhong area, he ordered local officials to open warehouses to release grain and provide relief to the victims. After returning to Beijing, he reported the truth and received Zhu Di's approval.

It can be said that Zhu Di has considerable trust in Lu Zhen.

Kang Ping said in a deep voice: "This matter involves the ministers of the DPRK and China. Do you have any evidence?"

"Xia Guan has no real evidence. It's just that before the law examination that year, when I went to the temple to burn incense, I accidentally bumped into Huang Yan and Lu Zhen in casual clothes. Since I was also wearing casual clothes and a hat at the time, they didn't Discover me.”

Hai Shou added: "Kang Gong, now that Huang Yan has been promoted to an internal official, eunuch, the officials who had lost contact with him before will inevitably fawn over him again, and the lower officials are willing to be responsible for collecting evidence."

Seeing Kang Ping's solemn expression, he seemed to be weighing the pros and cons, so he spoke while the iron was hot.

"Kang Gong, I know that I am guilty, but I don't want to die. I have written a letter of accusation and have been hesitating whether to submit it to His Majesty. I learned that Huang Yan was reinstated a few days ago. I am in panic all day long. I am afraid. Huang Yan found a reason to kill Xiaguan. Now Kang Gong came to see Xiaguan, and Xiaguan risked his own life to reveal Huang Yan's crimes."

After Hai Shou said this, he stood up and walked to the closet in the bedroom next to him, and began to look for the report letter he had written and the witness statements he had collected.

(End of this chapter)