Prince Min's Mansion.
Soon after Zhu Huixuan returned to his mansion, the imperial edict arrived.
The leader respectfully arranged the incense table and politely sent away the passers-by who announced the decree. The father and son returned to the hall and looked at the yellow silk imperial edict in front of them with somewhat complicated expressions.
"Father, what exactly does your Majesty mean by this?"
Obviously, Zhu Yinxi also saw that the emperor's move might have a deeper meaning.
Zhu Huixuan frowned, remained silent for a moment, and said.
"Don't think too much about it. His Majesty allows you to live in another courtyard, so you can live there!"
Seeing this situation, Zhu Yinxi hesitated for a moment, and did not continue to ask questions. He could only nodded and said.
"yes……"
As the night grew darker, Zhu Qiyu finished approving the last memorial, looked up at the sky, and then arrived at Kunning Palace.
"I have met your Majesty!"
Wang obviously did not expect that Zhu Qiyu would still come so late. After receiving the report, he hurriedly led people out to greet him.
After getting off the chariot, Zhu Qiyu helped Mr. Wang up with a smile and said.
"Where's Brother Zhi?"
Nowadays, Xiao Jianzhi is almost half a year old. Zhu Qiyu is very fond of this legitimate son and often comes to visit. However, it is rare to come so late at night.
Therefore, after hearing this, Mr. Wang was stunned for a moment and then said.
"It's inside, but several children are asleep..."
"It's okay, let me look at him!"
For some reason, Zhu Qiyu seemed to be a little preoccupied. Mrs. Wang was also aware of this, so without saying anything more, the two of them were led by the palace servants to the bedroom in the side hall.
Now in Kunning Palace, there are three children raised. Sister Hui will not talk about it. This girl is getting older and she no longer needs to be taken care of by her side every day. Therefore, Zhu Qiyu has long given her to Kunning Palace.
She lives in the Qiyun Palace next to the palace. Sister Yun is over two years old during the Chinese New Year. She has a nanny to take care of her, so she doesn't have to worry too much.
Only the child Jianzhi is not yet one year old, so he is raised in the side hall of Kunning Palace and is taken care of by Wang himself.
When several maids who were keeping watch at night saw the emperor and empress coming together, they quickly knelt down and saluted, but they did not dare to make a sound.
Zhu Qiyu walked to the crib. The little baby in front of him was sleeping soundly, with his fat fingers sucked in his mouth, as if he was having a sweet dream.
With a hint of kindness in his eyes, Zhu Qiyu didn't stay too long. After looking at it for a while, he withdrew, sat down in the main hall, took off his coat, and leaned on the couch to take a nap.
A palace maid brought a soothing tea, and Mrs. Wang personally brought it over, placed it in front of Zhu Qiyu, and asked softly.
"Your Majesty, what troubles have you encountered?"
"Today, I met the great-uncle of King Min. He told me that King Zhennan has arrived in Beijing, and the imperial doctor has just diagnosed that the princess is pregnant for three months."
Zhu Qiyu opened his eyes, his gaze was somewhat meaningful, and he said.
"So, I gave a house and a palace maid to help Princess Zhennan have a good pregnancy."
Hearing this, Wang didn't think much, nodded and said.
"My uncle has been busy for the court for a whole year. It should be so. Since this is the case, I will personally select someone tomorrow and have Xing'an send him to the palace."
"Princess Zhennan is pregnant. She is afraid that she may have fetal motility during this journey. When sending the palace attendants there, I will order someone to select some good medicinal materials and send them along."
"You arrange it..."
Zhu Qiyu naturally didn't care about such a trivial matter, so he responded and fell silent.
Wang didn't say anything either. She could feel that her husband was in a low mood, but since he didn't say anything, she didn't ask any more questions.
After a moment, Zhu Qiyu suddenly said.
"When I met my uncle King Min today, his eyes and eyebrows were all smiling. It can be seen that my uncle was happy from the bottom of his heart to see the King of Zhennan and his wife again."
"To put it bluntly, this is all my fault. Originally, my uncle should have lived in peace in the fiefdom, but now, I have asked him to take charge of my family affairs in the capital."
"Father and son can only meet and reunite during this Chinese New Year..."
Wang didn't know how to proceed for a moment, so she could only comfort herself.
"Your Majesty, isn't this your fault? The imperial regulations are like this. If the sect is in the capital, it is natural that a highly respected clan should be responsible for it. I think my uncle is willing to serve the country."
However, after she finished speaking, what she didn't expect was that Zhu Qiyu sat up straight, turned his head and looked at her, saying.
"Queen, you said that Princess Zhennan is pregnant, and I'm afraid it's inappropriate to go back and forth like this. How about letting Prince Zhennan and his wife stay in the capital to raise the baby?"
"In this way, uncle and son can also be reunited. Isn't it a good thing?"
"this……"
After hearing this, Mrs. Wang also felt a little surprised. After hesitating for a moment, she said.
"Okay, okay, but this is against the rules..."
King Min and King Xiang stayed in the capital because they both had errands at the Zongren Mansion. However, the King of Zhennan was different. He stayed in the capital just to allow his princess to have a baby. You know, it must be
It will cause criticism.
After all, no matter whether they are county kings or princes, once they leave the vassal state, they rarely return to the capital, let alone stay in the capital for a long time.
Nowadays, Princess Zhennan is only three months pregnant. If she really wants to have her baby in Beijing, she will have to stay in the capital for at least half a year.
As soon as this move comes out, I am afraid it will cause a lot of discussion in the court...
Zhu Qiyu didn't speak, just frowned, seeming to be thinking about something.
Seeing this situation, Mrs. Wang thought of Zhu Qiyu's actions after he came over. Combined with what she just said, she vaguely thought of something in her mind and asked tentatively.
"Could it be that Your Majesty is reluctant to be separated from his father and son because he thinks that his brothers will also join the feudal clan in the future?"
After a moment of silence, Zhu Qiyu nodded slightly, then he looked at Mrs. Wang and said.
"Queen, from now on, if I let the children stay in the capital and lead the vassal far away, what do you think?"
this……
Mrs. Wang bit her lower lip and hesitated.
From the bottom of her heart, she naturally agreed with this idea. After all, according to the ancestral system, when a prince reaches adulthood, he must become a king and a vassal. Once he becomes a vassal, he has almost no hope of returning to the capital for the rest of his life.
In fact, if Zhu Qiyu hadn't established the Zongxue after he ascended the throne and gave the vassals a reason to come to Beijing, then most of the vassal princes would rarely go to Beijing once in their lives.
Therefore, as a mother, she naturally wants her children to stay with her.
However, as a queen, she knows better that this matter cannot be summed up in just a few words of flesh and blood.
Taizu established a system of enfeoffment, whereby kings became feudal lords after they came of age. This was not only to protect the country, but more importantly, to avoid the possibility of seizing direct descendants.
When the kings are away from home, they cannot interfere in the political affairs of the court. Naturally, they cannot cultivate power and covet the throne. Once the kings stay in the capital, there will inevitably be competition around the throne. This is something that has been proven by all dynasties.
In the beginning, the reason why Zhu Qiyu was able to stay out of the feudal clan was largely because, although he was already an adult when he was made king, Zhu Qizhen had already ascended the throne, so there was no issue of seizing the direct lineage.
However, under the current relationship between the Tian family, if the brothers are really allowed to stay in the capital, then the impact will be inestimable.
After thinking for a moment, Wang sighed inwardly, but did not dare to persuade her openly, she just said.
"Your Majesty, the days are still long and my brothers are still young. Even if you have to worry about this matter, there is no rush..."
Seeing this situation, Zhu Qiyu sighed and said without saying anything more.
"That's right. My uncle, King Min, worked hard for the country and made great achievements. Now that the King of Zhennan and his wife have arrived in the capital, they must not treat them lightly. You should choose carefully the palace servants sent there. If you have leisure, you can also give more.
The princess entered the palace to talk..."
"yes……"
Wang's eyes flickered, but finally she agreed.
…………
A night of silence.
The next day, after the morning court, Zhu Qiyu left Jin Lian, the Minister of Punishment, alone.
Standing in Wuying Hall, Jin Shangshu couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. You must know that although he is also one of the Seven Qings, he has not had many experiences of being detained alone.
Moreover, according to experience, if the emperor is left alone, nothing good will happen in all likelihood.
Unsurprisingly, as soon as the ceremony was over, the emperor didn't even offer him a seat before he spoke.
"I have read the memorial submitted by the Ministry of Punishment. In this plan, as many as 162 officials were detained for trial on various charges. However, until now, the Ministry of Punishment has only completed one-third of the trial.
Once it arrives, Jin Shangshu, this speed is not enough!"
Hearing this, Jin Lian couldn't help but feel bitter in his heart.
This is indeed what happened!
This plan is different from the past. It coincides with a disaster year. The drought in Jiangxi naturally has the greatest impact. But in addition, there is also the earthquake in Nanjing. After the autumn, the continuous rains in Yongping, Yanzhou and other places have caused
The city collapsed...
All kinds of things happened one after another, and many problems were exposed. In addition, the emperor's requirements for the big plan were very strict.
This resulted in a considerable number of officials falling out of office during this major plan. Either because they were unable to provide relief food, they were found guilty of corruption, or because they colluded with the gentry to hide the disaster, or because they bullied the people.
In bad years, they were kicked out of the yamen... Anyway, due to various reasons, they were found out by the supervisory censors in charge of various places, and hundreds of them were dismissed on the spot.
According to the previously agreed upon regulations, these people are now being held in the Criminal Department, awaiting further interrogation.
But the problem is that only when I actually took over this task did I realize how difficult it was.
Apart from anything else, the first thing that bears the brunt is that there are not many precedents in the Ministry of Punishment for the interrogation and handling of officials.
For a long time in the past, when officials made mistakes or committed crimes, the general process was that the common people or the imperial censor reported the impeachment, and the imperial court sent special officials to investigate, verify and report to the emperor, and then the emperor dealt with it directly.
In this process, there is only investigation and no interrogation. If the investigation is indeed unclear and an interrogation is needed, then it will be the Jin Yiwei who will take over, and the Criminal Department will basically be unable to intervene.
When he originally took this job, Jin Lian thought that he could further expand the authority of the Ministry of Punishment.
However, when I actually got it in my hands, I realized that this was a hot potato.
Mainly because he didn't expect that the emperor would make such a big decision this time. More than a hundred officials, ranging from the third-rank chief envoy to the seventh-rank county magistrate, all rushed over.
This posed a big problem for the Ministry of Punishment.
Although it is said that with the emperor's special permission, a trial can be held, but as far as the Ministry of Punishment is concerned, these people are still officials and they are not imperial guards, so they must not be tortured. This is one of the reasons.
As a result, the methods available to the Ministry of Punishments have been greatly reduced. Although many officials have been found to have problems by the censor, upon closer inspection, the evidence may not be complete. This is a huge pressure on the Ministry of Punishments.
After all, the Ministry of Punishment only has so many people, and it is impossible to send people to various places to investigate cases. This is not the most difficult thing to handle.
The most troublesome thing is all kinds of resistance, both overt and covert. In the officialdom, the most important thing is connections. Who doesn't have people who are from the same hometown and the same age, and who are old friends?
Right from the beginning of the big plan, the first official was pressed into the Ministry of Justice, and there was an endless stream of people who used various methods to put pressure on Jin Lian or intercede.
Under various constraints, for Jin Lian, if he could interrogate one-third of the officials, he had already tried his best.
But now it seems that the emperor is still not satisfied...
Jin Lian sighed in his heart and gave up on himself.
"I am incompetent, please forgive me."
Looking at Jin Shangshu who was planning to act rogue, Zhu Qiyu snorted and said calmly.
"If the Criminal Department has any inconvenience during the trial, they can send these people to Beizhen Fusi. I believe that Jinyiwei will be able to find a solution."
Ah this...
This sentence immediately cheered up Jin Lian.
The way he acted just now was because he wanted to show pity and let the emperor give the Ministry of Punishment more time, but he never thought about handing over the power he had already obtained.
No matter how hot this potato is, as long as it is allowed to cool down, it will still be delicious!
In his heart, he secretly complained harshly to a certain household minister who taught him this move, but Jin Lian spoke righteously on his face and said.
"Your Majesty, don't worry. I will speed up the trial and try to, uh, try to clear all these cases within half a year."
Even so, when it came time to actually make the guarantee, Jin Shangshu still hesitated for a moment and did not dare to say anything too big.
It should be said that his number is already conservative. There are at least hundreds of officials who have not yet been dealt with by the Ministry of Punishment.
Based on the completion of all trials in half a year, the time it takes for a case to be settled is less than two days, which is already quite fast.
Of course, this calculation is not very accurate. After all, it is impossible for the Criminal Department to only try one case at a time. However, in addition to trial cases, there are also verification of case files and other daily matters. This speed is already quite fast.
However, Zhu Qiyu was obviously not very satisfied with this answer and said.
"Before April, all cases will be concluded. If there are any too complicated cases that have not been concluded by then, they will be transferred to Jin Yiwei for trial."
"His Majesty……"
Hearing this, Jin Lian was a little anxious.
However, as soon as he started speaking half a sentence, Zhu Qiyu stopped him and said:
"Jin Shangshu, this plan is not only for exams, but also for the purpose of reorganizing the atmosphere of the officialdom. Therefore, during the interrogation, the crimes of corruption, bribery, colluding with the gentry to oppress the people, and privately selling arms, food and grass will be dealt with severely.
Do you understand that the rest of the cases can be given a lighter sentence as appropriate?"
this……
Jin Lian was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and said.
"I obey the decree. Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will conclude these cases as scheduled!"
This chapter has been completed!