Chongzhen did not go directly to the Governor's Office of Water Transport, but first came to the Huai'an Government Office.
Fan Zhongjie, the prefect of Huai'an, was so frightened that his shoes ran away and he hurriedly came outside the gate to pick him up.
"I, Fan Zhongjie, the prefect of Huai'an, kowtow to your Majesty." Fan Zhongjie grabbed the ground with his head and knelt down. The magistrate of Huai'an Prefecture, the magistrate and the officials of the prefecture also knelt on the ground, not daring to breathe.
I don’t know about other prefectures, but in the hearts of Huai’an officials, Chongzhen is almost as great as Taizu.
Liu Zeqing, the commander-in-chief of Shandong Province, was an arrogant figure and had tens of thousands of troops in his hands. However, he was captured by the Holy Emperor without any effort and executed on the spot.
"Pingsheng, everyone, get up."
Chongzhen glanced at the kneeling Huai'an officials and walked straight into the lobby.
After entering the government office lobby, Chongzhen sat directly on the magistrate's chair under the "Upright and Bright" plaque.
Fan Zhongjie and a group of assistant officials and officials came in and wanted to kneel down again, but Chongzhen stopped them with a wave of his hand.
"No need, just stand and answer." Chongzhen waved his hand and asked, "I ask you, what's going on with the hundreds of merchant ships gathering on the canal dock outside?"
Fan Zhongjie hesitated slightly.
Chongzhen immediately said with a straight face: "Fan Zhongjie, you'd better tell me the truth!"
"I accept the order." Fan Zhongjie shivered with fright and subconsciously knelt down again, but as soon as he was halfway down, he saw Chongzhen glance over at him, and he straightened his legs and stood up.
"That's right." Chongzhen said, "Master Fan, your father named you Zhongjie. He must have hoped that you would become a hero when you grow up. As a king, I also hope that you can stand tall and do what you want."
A magistrate who stands upright, even if the sky falls, you can still support the people of Huai'an!"
"I accept the order." Fan Zhongjie's face flushed.
In a daze, Fan Zhongjie recalled the scene when he first became a Jinshi.
When Chongzhen first became a Jinshi in the tenth year, he was very arrogant and dreamed of achieving great achievements. Even if he could not achieve the three immortal saints, he would at least leave a mark in the history books.
However, I don’t know why, but as I walked, I got lost in the vast world of officialdom.
From then on, I only knew how to follow the crowd and never regained the passion and passion of the past.
But what Chongzhen said just now was like a yellow bell that alerted him.
"Your Majesty." Fan Zhongjie said solemnly, "The cause of the matter is that Lubu Tang wanted to bypass the various state capitals and no longer purchase grain from each state capital according to the amount of grain collection, but planned to buy grain directly from the grain merchants.
."
Several assistant officers standing nearby winked repeatedly, but Fan Zhongjie ignored them.
Fan Zhongjie paused and then said: "Lubu Tang purchases grain from the grain merchant at a price that is 50% higher than the market price, but the premise is that the grain merchant must be responsible for transporting the grain to Shanyang City."
"After the news spread, grain merchants from eight prefectures and prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River came one after another."
"However, at this moment, Qi Biaojia, the imperial censor of Nanzhi Province, participated in the Lubu Hall. Immediately afterwards, Luo Wanxiang, a member of the Hu Kedu Council, united with dozens of Kedao officials to impeach the Lubu Hall.
The ministry purchases grain at a price that is 50% higher than the market price, so there must be a transfer of interests between the ministry and the grain merchants."
"Faced with the fierce public opinion, the Lubu Tang was unable to defend itself, so it had no choice but to dismiss itself as the Governor-General of Water Transport and go to the public to defend itself."
"Lu Bu Tang resigned from the post of governor of water transportation. Several assistant officials in the governor's office were either Ding You or suddenly fell ill. Because no one was paying attention, hundreds of grain ships blocked the canal wharf."
"Ha!" Chongzhen said angrily and laughed, "Is it such a coincidence?"
Zhu Cijiong also said angrily: "It's okay to fall ill suddenly. Ding You happens to be at this time?"
Chongzhen snorted and asked: "Where is Lu Zhenfei now? Is he still in Shanyang?"
"Yes." Fan Zhongjie nodded and said, "Lu Butang chained himself and sent him to prison, and he also said that he would never leave the prison until the court found out his innocence!"
"This is simply not possible!" Chongzhen was furious.
But no one knew who Chongzhen was angry with.
"Let's go to the Caoyun Yamen!" Chongzhen stood up and left.
Fan Zhongjie bowed his head to the ground and said: "My lord, Fan Zhongjie, respectfully sends you to Your Majesty."
When the people from Chongzhen came to the door, another voice came from outside: "Fan Zhongjie, as the prefect, you summoned all the grain merchants and said that the imperial court always kept its promises. If the governor's office of water transportation said that if you buy grain at a price that is 50% higher than the market price, you will definitely pay the price.
We have agreed to buy grain and ask them to be patient and wait for half a day. We will have an agreement before evening today."
"I accept the order." Fan Zhongjie just stood up and bowed to the ground.
…
"Lubu Tang, let's have something to eat."
The prison head handed a bowl of plain noodles to Lu Zhenfei through the fence.
The prison boss looked sad, and he and his own father were sent to prison.
The prison here is the Water Transport Governor's Prison, so Lu Zhenfei is the immediate boss of the cell leader's immediate boss. Now the immediate boss's immediate boss has come over to jail in his own prison. How can the prison chief feel better?
Lu Zhenfei turned sideways and didn't even look at the bowl of plain noodles.
"Lu Bu Tang, please take a bite." The cell leader was about to kneel down.
"You haven't eaten a grain of rice in three days. If you continue like this, something will happen."
Lu Zhenfei still ignored the prison guard, and just stared at the small window above his head.
When the prison boss wanted to persuade him again, a majestic and cold voice suddenly came: "So, starving to death is a small matter, but losing integrity is a big deal, isn't it? Does Lubu Tang intend to die to prove his innocence?"
"Who?" The cell leader turned around in surprise.
I saw a stranger standing in front of me, wearing plain clothes.
Just when the prison boss was about to get angry, a middle-aged man in civilian clothes behind the stranger showed his waist card. The prison boss was so excited that he quickly turned over and knelt on the ground.
Chongzhen crossed the cell head and walked directly to the fence.
"Lu Bu Tang, answer me, are you planning to die to prove your innocence?"
I? Lu Zhenfei turned his head in astonishment. When he saw that it was Chongzhen standing in front of the cell, he quickly turned over and knelt on the ground: I, Lu Zhenfei, kowtow to the Holy Lord.
"Answer me!"
Chongzhen stared into Lu Zhenfei's eyes and said solemnly.
"I'm confused." Lu Zhenfei's high head finally drooped.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Of course you are confused, and you are extremely confused!" Chongzhen cursed like a barrage of bullets, "You claim to be a wise minister, but you don't believe in your words.
The pleadings of hundreds of grain merchants are indifferent. You claim to be a good minister but you neglect your duties. You turn a blind eye to the soldiers and soldiers in the 28 towns on the front line of Xuzhou and the millions of refugees who are crying for food. You claim to be a loyal minister but you are unworthy of your father. Military and national affairs are at stake.
In your eyes, personal reputation is not more important, right?"
"I'm confused." Cold sweat broke out on Lu Zhenfei's body.
The sentence I just said was confusing and just for the occasion.
But the current sentence "I am confused" comes from the bottom of my heart.
Apart from being frightened, Lu Zhenfei also felt a little confused. He remembered that he was not like this before. When did he start caring about his personal reputation so much?
It’s because the entire officialdom is as dusty as the light,
So it aroused your own rebellious psychology?
"Zuo Chuan said, "Who can't keep it? If you can correct your mistakes, there is no greater good!"
After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "Lu Zhenfei, do you know what you should do now?"
"I know it. Your Majesty, please forgive me for being rude." Lu Zhenfei motioned to the prison boss to unchain him, and immediately picked up the bowl of plain noodles in front of him and started to devour it.
After eating the plain noodles, he stood up and walked out: "I will go back to the Yamen to take care of things and handle the food supply matter as soon as possible."
"Lu Zhenfei." Chongzhen said loudly to Lu Zhenfei's back, "I will only give you half a month. If the third batch of grain cannot be delivered to Xuzhou within half a month, if a refugee starves to death,
I’m the only one asking!”
"I accept the order!" Lu Zhenfei turned around and bowed his head, then turned and left.
…
At the same time, in the court room of Wenyuan Pavilion in Nanjing.
Shi Kefa summoned Gao Hongtu, Jiang Yueguang and Jie Xuelong to discuss the matter together.
Shi Kefa said with some worry: "Everyone, Lu Zhenfei has been on a hunger strike for three days in order to prove his innocence. I am worried that if he continues to be hungry, he will suffer from hunger, which will not be easy to handle."
"What are you afraid of?" Gao Hongtu said disapprovingly, "I don't believe he can really die on hunger strike."
In fact, Gao Hongtu was not a direct descendant of the Donglin Party. He even fought with the Donglin Party in his early years. It was only because he was suppressed by the Eunuch Party that he joined the Donglin Party. Now he seems to be the leader of the Donglin Party, and Shi Kefa has to give him three courtesy orders.
point.
Shi Kefa said: "What I'm worried about is not Lu Zhenfei, but that the supply of grain will not disrupt the morale of the frontline troops."
"Mr. Shi Ge is worrying too much." Jiang Yueguang waved his hand and said, "The delay is only a month or two, what could happen? Besides, haven't we already shipped two batches of 280,000 stone grain to Xuzhou before?"
Gao Hongtu said: "Lu Zhenfei doesn't follow the rules. If the governors from all over the country act like him and leave the court to do their own thing if they disagree, what will happen to the court's affairs? So we must capture him this time.
, replace it with one of our own people, in short, water transportation must be in the hands of our own people."
Jiang Yueguang asked Xie Xuelong again: "Mr. Xie Ge, how is your investigation going?"
Although Xie Xuelong had already joined the cabinet as Prime Minister, he was still the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, so this time it fell to him to find out whether Lu Zhenfei had any interests in transferring money with grain merchants from various places.
"We're checking, we're checking." Jie Xuelong said hurriedly.
"We are investigating every time." Gao Hongtu said angrily, "I will give you accurate information this time!"
"Mr. Gao Ge, this matter is really difficult." Xie Xuelong was also anxious, "Lu Zhenfei has an excellent official reputation in Huai'an, and the people from the Ministry of Punishment have been conducting secret visits for several days and have not found any evildoing."
"Then you don't have to do this." Gao Hongtu ignored Shi Kefa's presence and decided directly, "I asked Zhang Cai, the head of the Ceremony Department of the Ministry of Etiquette, to handle it. There are many people who have returned to the society, so I don't think they will let me wait.
disappointment."
Jie Xuelong was furious, but he looked at Shi Kefa and finally endured his anger.
Shi Kefa actually acquiesced to Gao Hongtu's decision and changed the topic: "Now let's discuss the tax issue. Huang Shushangshu, the censor of Huguang Patrol Bureau, said that Hubei suffered a flood this year and a large-scale grain failure was a foregone conclusion. Therefore,
I request that Huguang be exempted from the three-year salary and small tax this year, and the corvee will be reduced. What do you think?"
