Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 229: Cause and Effect

Yang Hongbin, the Left Chief Justice of the Dali Temple, was promoted from the position of Right Chief Justice of the Dali Temple because of his contribution in helping to solve a major case of the Water Supervision Bureau in Nanjing.

He and Jia Cong had worked together and experienced hardships in Jinling, and they had a close personal friendship.

Yang Hongbin is an upright and prudent person. In recent days, he had heard rumors in the market about the Zhen'an Prefecture Governor Zhang Shouan's abuse of power.

However, based on the principle of citizens suing officials, even though there was widespread criticism in the market, the Dali Temple could only sit back and watch.

Even if the Dali Temple exonerates a wrong case, the lower-level government offices must submit the case for reexamination before the Dali Temple can fulfill its duty of supervision and correction.

However, in the case of Xiuniang's incense shop, Zhen'an Prefecture imprisoned the person, but tortured him to extract a confession before a complete case was formed. He was rescued in time by Jia Cong, and the procedure had not yet reached the stage of the Three Judicial Departments.

This is why, even though rumors of Zhang Shouan's abuse of power and harming the people were rife in the market, the three judicial offices, namely the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, and the Censorate, remained inactive.

This is because the regulations have not been issued, the ministry’s legal power is difficult to exercise, and the three judicial offices lack a reasonable fulcrum for exercising their power.

You can't just hastily question a fifth-rank official in Beijing just because of the comments of the common people. If it gets out, it will become a laughing stock in the officialdom.

At the same time, rumors about Zhang Shouan's abuse of power reached a boiling point in the streets of Shenjing.

The three judicial offices were in a state of distress, and the talkative censors in the Censorate were rubbing their hands in anticipation, but they could find no excuse to vent.

When the situation was brought to a head, Feng sounded the drum of complaint in the Dali Temple as if to scout the time.

If not everyone knew, she was just the wife of a shop owner, a victim persecuted by cruel officials, and a woman who lacked experience in officialdom and politics.

We must be skeptical about her filing a complaint at this critical juncture.

Because the lawsuit was filed at this juncture, with the support of boiling public opinion, even if there were connections behind the scenes in the three judicial departments, it would be impossible to exonerate Zhang Shouan.

Because that would be a huge offense against the whole world!
This was also the result that Jia Cong wanted. Zhang Shouan had been able to sit firmly in the position of Zhen'an Prefecture Governor for three years, and he must have some connections in the court.

From the moment he saw the tragic scene of Feng being tortured, he never thought of letting Zhang Shouan go. He was determined to cut off his retreat and kill him!

……

The back hall of Zhen'an government office.

These days, as the gossip in the market became more and more intense, everyone in Zhen'an Prefecture, from assistant officials like Liu Binfang to ordinary police officers and prison guards, felt a sense of oppression as if a storm was about to come.

As the rumors outside became more and more heated day by day, Zhang Shouan, who was at the center of the vortex, was completely helpless. How could he stop people from talking?

All he could do was feel anxious and worried every day.

He once called his trusted think tank Liu Binfang to discuss countermeasures, but Liu Binfang, who was always smart and shrewd, became tongue-tied and could not explain anything at all.

But the next day, Liu Binfang's subordinates came to report that Liu Tuiguan had suddenly fallen ill and had left a note stating that he needed to stay at home to recuperate for a while.

Although Liu Binfang was promoted by Zhang Shouan and had devoted himself to Zhang Shouan in the past, he had more bottom lines than Zhang Shouan, and was more calm as a bystander.

Ever since that day when Jia Cong came to Zhen'an Prefecture, he used his eloquent words to control the usually cunning Prefect Zhang, forcing him to release the man on the spot.

He heard from the bailiffs present that Jia Cong was extremely angry because the people from Xiuniang's incense shop were tortured by the Zhen'an Prefecture.

Things got out of control after that, and the news spread throughout the capital city within a few days, as if it had been fueled by something invisible.

He then thought of the witchcraft incident that happened in Rongguo Mansion and the young man's unusual behavior.

Although the incident at Xiuniang's incense shop broke out like this, he couldn't be sure that it was the young man who was behind it.

However, as the situation had deteriorated to this point, he had already realized that Zhang Shouan would not be able to escape this time. Although the other party had done him a favor, he would not die with him.

He was extremely grateful that when he first learned about Xiuniang's incense shop, he had the wisdom to stay out of the matter, otherwise he, Liu Binfang, would have been blamed for the rumors in the market.

For him, the most rational thing to do now is to stay away from this matter completely and keep a sufficient distance from Zhang Shouan. It is also a good idea to stay at home and pretend to be sick. Of course, there are also idiots like Liu Erzhen, the head of the police, who are still unaware of the situation in the government office. Recently, he seems to have made a fortune and is in a good mood.

He forgot that it was he who received orders from Zhang Shouan to arrest people at Xiuniang Incense Shop that day, and it was also he who used torture on people.

……

Ever since the news that the owner of the incense shop, Mrs. Feng, went to the Dali Temple to file a complaint spread, public opinion has once again reached a peak.

This time, the common people seemed no longer satisfied with the affairs of Xiuniang's incense shop, but began to spread rumors about the various illegal deeds of Zhang Shouan, the prefect of Zhen'an Prefecture.

Such as servility to the powerful, helping the tyrants to do evil, persecuting the people and selling good land at low prices;
He protected the son of a wealthy businessman who beat someone to death and accepted a bribe of 10,000 taels, and the murderer is still at large;

A bully from a wealthy family robbed a commoner girl, and her family had nowhere to turn to for help. Instead, he was imprisoned and killed;

Every story was spread with details and I don't know where they heard it from.

Moreover, some of these things may not have been done by Zhang Shouan, but were deliberately misattributed and slandered by others.

All of this has kept public criticism at a raging pace.

……

After the Left Temple of the Dali Temple received the complaint from Xiuniang's incense shop, the news spread to the three judicial departments including the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate within half a day.

Unfortunately, the morning court session had already passed, but it also gave those talkative censors in the Censorate ample time to write impeachment memorials.

After listening to folk gossip for a few days, the imperial censors, who had been holding a lot of anger in their chests, wrote incisively and with a righteous spirit, wishing they could turn their pens into swords and behead the villain Zhang Shouan.

At the morning court on the second day, not only did the four Yongzhou Dao censors each submit a report to impeach the Zhen'an prefect for breaking the law and harming the people, but even the censors from other provinces and prefectures in Beijing also submitted reports to impeach him.

When Emperor Jia Zhao learned what had happened, he was furious. The capital was an important place, the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the prefect who was in charge of the people on behalf of the emperor had actually disregarded the law and brutally killed the people, causing such public outrage!
The emperor criticized the Ministry of Personnel in court for selecting officials and conducting assessments every year, but the affairs were so corrupt that they allowed such cruel officials to be officials, which left endless harm and greatly damaged the national dignity. This was a betrayal of the emperor's grace!
The Minister of Personnel was criticized and rebuked in court, and the Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel's Examination Office, who was said to have a long-standing friendship with the Ningguo Mansion and was in charge of the performance evaluation of officials, was dismissed and investigated on the spot.

Emperor Jia Zhao ordered the Jinyiwei to quickly arrest Zhang Shouan and put him in prison. The case was to be presided over by the Dali Temple, with the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice supervising the trial. The case was to be investigated within a time limit and all relevant criminals must be severely punished.

Finally, the secret covetousness caused by a shop and a secret recipe for making incense swept into a storm that shook the court!
……

Zhen'an government office.

Although Zhen'an Prefecture has been under a lot of criticism recently because of the incident at Xiuniang's incense shop, Captain Liu Erzhen doesn't seem to be concerned.

Anyway, this matter was taken care of by the boss, and we are just following orders. If the sky falls, there is the boss, a tall man, to hold it up, and it will never fall on us, a small constable.

Moreover, he made some small fortunes during this period, and Liu Erzhen was in a very good mood.

Jia Rong from Ningguo Mansion asked the eldest master to interrogate the owner of Xiuniang's incense shop and learn his secret recipe for making incense.

Although his actions were somewhat despicable, Jia Rong was actually a smart man. In order to get things done quickly, he bribed everyone who was in charge of the yamen.

He got fifty taels of silver from Jia Rong.

He had long had his eyes on Chun Xing, the top girl in Yicui Tower, and this sum of money allowed him to enjoy himself with Chun Xing for several days.

Yesterday, someone invited me to drink in a roundabout way and asked me who hired the master to run the Xiuniang Incense Shop. In fact, even ghosts know about this, so there is nothing to keep secret.

Just by saying Jia Rong's name, he received a benefit of one hundred taels of silver. He has been very lucky recently.

Liu Erzhen was just thinking about which girl's room he would visit in Yicui Tower tonight when he inadvertently glanced at the entrance of the government office. He was stunned and thought that he had been too dissolute in the past few days and his eyes were blurry.

There was dust flying in front of the government office, people were walking and horses were neighing, and in an instant a large group of ferocious-looking Jinyiwei soldiers rushed in.

(End of this chapter)