Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Han Yilian's memorial caused an uproar in the court.

First, it is extremely rare for a disciple to impeach his master, and it is a violation of official rules.

From then on, many people would avoid Han Yilian when they saw him, and were unwilling to associate with such an official who was so heartless.

Second, the emperor's attitude was unusual. Unlike before, he did not keep most of the rumors reported by the censors to himself, which seemed to be directed at Han Yu.

This has led some people to speculate:

Is the emperor dissatisfied with Han Yu and wants to take him down?

After all, what Han Yilian reported was not a big deal. It was just that Han Yu's relatives accepted gifts.

This kind of thing can be dealt with by drinking three cups of wine as punishment. Is it worth discussing it in the court meeting?

For a time, all kinds of rumors were rampant, most of which were discussing the next prime minister.

As for the gift money case itself, not many people talked about it.

After all, the evidence Han Yilian provided was so solid that the Anti-Corruption Agency even arrested the person who gave the gift and obtained a detailed confession.

Unless Han Yu's relatives can prove that they are not acquainted with the person who gave the gift and have never accepted any gift money, they will not be able to escape the crime of tax evasion and will be punished according to law.

This made many officials sigh that they should be careful when asking relatives and friends to collect gifts on their behalf in the future.

This area was a bit vague in the past, but with the introduction of gift tax, the court could openly investigate such behavior.

If relatives and friends cannot stand being controlled, they may give themselves away and be charged with the crime of taking bribes.

This worry almost reached its peak after Han Yilian received approval to bring Han Yu's relatives to the Anti-Corruption Bureau for questioning.

Almost all officials in the capital have started paying attention to the issue of gift money, and are trying to quietly return the large gifts they received this year, especially those received after the gift tax was passed.

Otherwise, it would be a ready-made sin, and the person who gave the gift could even use it as a handle.

Who knows, at some point they will take the initiative to pay the taxes and expose themselves.

Some people are really scared of such a risky thing, so they plan to observe the wind direction first and then find a way to accept the gifts later.

It can be said that Zhu Youjian's idea of ​​using Han Yilian to curb corruption had a certain effect.

The custom of gift-giving was temporarily curbed and did not continue to deteriorate.

One manifestation is that expensive gifts are difficult to sell this year, and most businesses have begun to focus on gifts below ten taels.

This avoids gift tax and makes it affordable for more people.

The Economic Intelligence Department of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, which collected information on commodity prices, provided this information.

The royal merchants who were related to the royal industry also confirmed the accuracy of the news.

Zhu Youjian was very pleased when he found out about this. He felt that it was right to target Han Yu as a target. The impeachment of a junior minister did indeed shock many people.

Now, he was looking forward to Han Yu's performance. He wondered what Han Yu would do to become the Prime Minister.

Last time, in order to be appointed as the Grand Secretary, Old Han changed his arrogant and domineering attitude to a three-language political platform of obeying the superiors in everything, which really shocked him.

Now he is looking forward to Lao Han's performance to strengthen his confidence in using him.
-
At this time, Han Yu was under even greater pressure than Zhu Youjian imagined.

It was not because his relatives accepted gifts, nor because of the alleged tax evasion.

It was because his relatives accepted gifts from the remnants of the eunuch party and concealed the memorials praising Wei Zhongxian.

In the eyes of many Donglin Party members, this was a betrayal of the Party.

This is the main point they blame Han Yu for.

When Wei Ni was in power, upright scholars and officials were ashamed to be associated with him, and they gave up their official careers and resigned. Some people were even murdered by Wei Ni, and their families are still seeking justice.

Most of the Donglin Party members who are now famous have fought against Wei Ni. Their fame in the world mainly comes from this.

Han Yu's relatives concealed the memorials praising those who supported the rebellion, and removed those villains who curry favor with the powerful and succumbed to the Wei traitor from the rebellion case. Many radical Donglin Party members could not stand it and regarded it as a betrayal of them.

How can we show that these people are steadfast and unyielding now that they have been freed from the charge of treason?

Serving in the same court with these people was already something they had to endure. If these people who submitted to the Wei traitors were not even charged with any crime, then what was the point of their previous resistance?
The hidden sense of superiority in them was ruthlessly trampled upon by Han Yu.

Therefore, many Donglin Party members harshly criticized Han Yu, believing that he was sorry for the Donglin Party members who had died.

The pressure on Han Yu mainly comes from this.

Because of this gift money case, he lost the support of many people within the Donglin Party.

This made him sigh and regret that he should not have allowed his relatives to accept gifts.

He had thought it was a trivial matter before, and most of the hidden memorial authors did not commit any serious crimes, and at most they would be classified as eighth-class poems.

In the late Tianqi period, when the whole court was praising Wei Zhongxian, the actions of these people could not really be considered a serious crime. The emperor retained the rebellious personnel of this level in their original positions, but only stripped them of their official ranks and reappointed them.

Han Yu never thought it was a big deal, and even if someone reported it later, it would not harm him at all. So when his relatives received the gift and made a request, he chose to let it go.

Unexpectedly, when the list of rebels was about to be finalized, the emperor suddenly enacted a gift tax.

What he didn't expect was that the gift money was exposed by Han Yilian, who charged him with tax evasion.

As a result, he was put at the center of public opinion and accused by many Donglin Party members.

So Han Yu was beginning to wonder if his luck was too bad this year, leading to so many disasters:

"Why exactly?"

"Is your Majesty dissatisfied?"

"But I am following His Majesty's wishes. His Majesty does not want to implicate too many people in the rebellion."

"Why should we allow Han Yiliang to target my relatives?"

Looking back on my performance over the past few months, I basically followed the emperor's wishes, helping the emperor implement the five-institution reform and suppressing the voices of opposition in the court.

Even when the property tax was forcibly enacted by the emperor, he did not organize officials to oppose it, and allowed this tax, which was unfavorable to many officials, to pass.

It can be said that the three-language policy was fully implemented, returning power and authority to the master.

The emperor never expressed dissatisfaction with him, and even chose his opinions on many draft bills.

So now Han Yu was very confused, not knowing why the emperor wanted to attack him:

Could it be that he didn't want his prestige as prime minister to be too great and threaten the emperor's power?
He would accept this if it was the case. Compared to losing some support in the Donglin Party, he was more looking forward to regaining the position of Prime Minister.

As long as he becomes the prime minister, most of the Donglin Party members will naturally come close to him and recognize him as the leader of Donglin.

He felt that he could lie dormant for a while and let down the emperor's guard.

Now that the power to appoint the Prime Minister is in the hands of the emperor, he needs to please the emperor.

With this idea in mind, Han Yu wrote a humbly written memorial, admitting that he had not disciplined his relatives strictly, which led to their crimes, and asked the court to sentence them accordingly.

Then he took the initiative to reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors and stopped interacting with anyone else.

The Han Mansion, which used to be crowded with people, became deserted again, just like the treatment he received before he was appointed as the Grand Secretary.

However, the accusations against him did not ease, especially after his relatives were prosecuted by the prosecutors of the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the details of the gift money case were disclosed in the newspapers. Many people pointed fingers at him and believed that Han Daxueshi was a corrupt official.

No one thought that he was unaware of the acceptance of gifts, and many people believed that his relatives accepted the gifts on his behalf, otherwise those memorials would not have been hidden.

The news spread so much that there were even rumors outside that Han Yu had mountains of gold and silver in his mansion and was the most corrupt official in the world.

Although Han Yu was reflecting on his mistakes behind closed doors, he was not isolated from the news.

After he learned about these rumors, he could no longer sit still. He felt that his response strategy was too conservative and no longer appropriate.

In a time when newspapers can greatly influence public opinion, he cannot let the outside world judge him. Otherwise, the influence of the gift money case will become greater and greater, and even if the emperor wants to use him in the future, he will have to consider public opinion.

He must now find a way to save himself and cannot just rely on the emperor to protect him.

This made him try every possible means to figure out what the emperor's purpose was in allowing Han Yilian to impeach him.
-
Not only Han Yu, but many ministers were also wondering what the emperor was planning.

They did not think that the emperor was just fighting corruption, because the Anti-Corruption Bureau had not found any evidence that Han Yu had accepted bribes. Even the concealment of the memorial was admitted by some of Han Yu's relatives as something they did privately.

Based on the existing evidence, at most Han Yu's relatives could be convicted. Han Yu could only be accused of not managing his family properly and making mistakes in handling memorials.

If Han Yu was arrested for these two reasons, people all over the world would think that the emperor was too harsh.

What's more, the emperor had no intention of taking down Han Yu, and he had never revealed it before.

Therefore, many people believed that this might be a warning from the emperor to Han Yu, so that the second assistant who was about to take over as the first assistant would be more honest after taking the position.

Lu Tunan also had the same idea, but Yang Jingchen, who discussed it with him, had a different opinion.

Pointing to an article in the Beijing News, Yang Jingchen said:

"Brother Lu, have you read this article, "Anti-corruption requires everyone to pass the test?"

"If you haven't seen it, take a look now!"

After reading it, Lu Tunan still didn't understand and asked:
"Is your majesty really really fighting corruption?"

"Starting from a deputy assistant, the commotion is really a bit big."

"Don't even mention that there is insufficient evidence of Han Gelao's corruption. Even if there is enough evidence, arresting him for such a small matter would damage the Holy Name."

As one of the Nine Ministers, Lu Tunan thought he was well-informed. He had dealt with the cabinet a lot and had some acquaintance with all the grand secretaries.

Han Yu could not really be called a corrupt official, otherwise he would not have been unable to take out even two thousand taels of "stolen silver" at the beginning. At most, it was because of the help of his relatives and friends in the past, so he was a little more indulgent to his relatives after he was reinstated.

This kind of crime is not worth mentioning at all to the ministers in the court.

What's more, Han Yu was very honest after he was reinstated, and he was very supportive of the emperor after he proposed the three-language political program.

If the emperor used this small mistake to take down Han Yu, many officials would be saddened.

The emperor couldn't even tolerate such a small mistake. What else could they do to satisfy the emperor?
Yang Jingchen listened to Lu Tunan's thoughts, smiled and shook his head, and said:
"Your Majesty has no intention of taking down Lord Han."

"Allowing Han Yiliang to impeach Han Ge Lao is a warning to Han Ge Lao, but also a protection for him."

"Your Majesty is preparing a sword, a sharp sword that can threaten all officials."

"If Lord Han wants to be the Prime Minister, he must be the sword bearer and help His Majesty wield the sword."

"It all depends on when Elder Han will figure it out and make up his mind!"

Lu Tunan still didn't understand, but he heard Yang Jingchen mention something.

That was when the emperor summoned him to the Western Garden for a talk last year, and he proposed the strategy of everyone taking sides in rectifying the sacrificial rites.

The emperor at the time approved of it but ultimately did not implement it. He used a more sophisticated method of remaking rituals and music to get everyone in the court to take sides.

The effect of the reformation of rituals and music was very good, and it enabled the emperor to promote many reforms of the court system.

But because its effect is so good, it loses the meaning of everyone standing in line——

Everyone supports the restoration of rituals and music and the establishment of a parliament.

Therefore, the emperor trained Han Yilian and wielded the sword of anti-corruption.

After the case of rebellion is decided, he will hang this sword over the heads of officials.

These were all figured out by Yang Jingchen, mainly because he knew that the emperor needed weapons to threaten officials.

Especially when the list of traitors was about to be finalized, the emperor's need for this sword was more urgent.

After listening to Yang Jingchen's explanation, Lu Tunan suddenly understood.

I even thought of Han Yilian's memorial in July, which he submitted again in November.

At that time, he thought this matter was very strange and didn't know why Han Yilian had to repeat the report.

Now he understood that this was the process of the emperor sharpening his sword, which made Han Yilian determined to put aside all his concerns.

It can be said that Han Yu was unlucky because he was Han Yilian's master and was regarded as a sacrifice by Han Yilian.
-
Han Ge Lao, who was used as a sacrifice, also vaguely grasped the thread after reading a series of anti-corruption articles in the "Beijing News" and understood what the emperor wanted him to do.

Although he didn't know that Yang Jingchen had once suggested that everyone should take sides, but as he was in charge of the trial of the rebellion case, he knew that the emperor had said that everyone should pass.

The reason why the list of traitors was drawn up so slowly was also because the emperor was dragging the matter out.

The emperor needs to hang this sword over the heads of officials so that they have to obey.

Over the past year or so, many officials have been very honest and dared not refute the emperor's opinions. It was not because they agreed with the emperor's approach, but because the sword of trial for treason was hanging over their heads.

For example, why Guo Yunhou was forced by the emperor to collect taxes, and why he did not dare to get upset and resign when he was demoted.

Because he knew that if he dared to do that, the charges against him might be increased.

The crime of praising the emperor, which was initially determined to be the eighth level, may be upgraded to the sixth level or even higher because of too many memorials praising the emperor. He will be demoted and eventually have to be appointed.

Therefore, Guo Yunhou chose to accept the emperor's arrangement honestly, and did not dare to get upset when he was demoted by the emperor. In exchange, he was only sentenced to the eighth level in the treason case, which was the lightest level of crime.

However, this approach cannot last long and cannot restrain all officials.

For example, officials of the Donglin Party were justified in their rebellion and were not afraid of the emperor's threats.

So now that the list of traitors is about to be finalized, the emperor needs to hold the sword of anti-corruption over the heads of all officials as a threat.

As the future prime minister, he needs to help the emperor wield the sword, just like judging a case of treason.

So he quickly wrote a memorial to the emperor, declaring his family property and requesting that the emperor send someone to investigate his home and confirm his innocence.

At the same time, it was proposed that all officials declare their assets as a basic requirement for officials.

He also suggested that the cabinet set up an anti-corruption agency to raise anti-corruption efforts to a new level and make it a priority in future policy decisions.

After seeing this memorial, Lu Tunan admired Yang Jingchen even more, and thought that this fellow countryman had truly grown up after more than a year of training.

Being able to perceive the game between the emperor and Han Yu, and also being able to guess the emperor's intentions, Yang Jingchen has become a qualified court official, and has a good chance of becoming a university scholar in the future, and can be called a true prime minister. If he is sent out in the future, he does not have to worry about not having support in the court.

Soon, he had someone submit the memorial to the Secretariat and the Cabinet. (End of this chapter)