Overnight, a piece of news spread wildly among Jiankang's upper-class circles.
That was the little official who originally redeemed the famous prostitute Gu Hengbo at Chunyi Tower. He was the nephew of Eunuch Gao, the chief eunuch in the palace, and had recently come to Jiankang to join Eunuch Gao.
And the reason why this news came out was because people from the Ministry of Punishment captured Eunuch Gao's nephew for some unknown reason and beat him half to death. Eunuch Gao was so furious that he went to the jail of the Ministry of Punishment to arrest him in the middle of the night. Lose your temper.
This is very normal.
Eunuchs have no heirs, so they want whatever they lack. In this case, a eunuch treats his nephew as his own son.
Comparatively speaking, the so-called godsons and godsons accepted by the palace are just workplace routines that are just for fun and cannot be taken seriously.
As soon as this news spread, many things that everyone had not figured out before suddenly became clear.
For example, why the little-known Xu Fu was able to "accept a beautiful woman" in Chunyi Tower, and why he was able to start a business in Jiankang in a short period of time and open several shops in a row.
Why did Mr. Xu just buy Huangshizhai? Huangshizhai was listed in the Di newspaper and the business was booming.
With such a powerful uncle, everything is normal.
The Ministry of Punishment also completely angered Eunuch Gao because of this incident. This also led to the next day, someone from the Yushitai wrote a letter impeaching the Ministry of Punishment for robbing good people and acting wantonly!
As for Zhao Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue, he also submitted a letter, but everyone didn't think much about it.
Duke Chang Ping was recognized by the court as an upright man. In recent years, he would write a letter of impeachment whenever he could not see anything that he could not see. It had nothing to do with Eunuch Gao.
With so many memorials impeaching the Ministry of Punishment, Zhongshu Sheng could not pretend that he had not seen them. In fact, in the afternoon of the same day, Prime Minister Wang Dan summoned Xie Yuanli, the Minister of Punishment, to question Zhongshu.
Xie Shangshu had just learned about this matter not long ago. The old Shangshu was also holding back his anger. He immediately patted his chest in the meeting hall and said that within three days, all the people in the Ministry of Punishment who were doing wrong would be found out and brought to justice. The court gave a satisfactory answer.
Xie Shangshu returned to the official office of the Ministry of Punishment, full of anger, and immediately summoned all the senior officials of the Ministry of Punishment to the squad room for a lecture.
Soon, all senior officials from the Ministry of Punishment arrived, including the right servant of the Ministry of Punishment, as well as the lieutenants, Yuanwailang and other principals.
Looking around, Fan You, the left minister of the Ministry of Justice, was the only one missing.
Xie Shangshu sat on his chair and frowned slightly: "Where is Minister Fan?"
The right servant Zheng Ping stepped forward, bowed his head slightly to Xie Shangshu and said: "Go back to the hall, Sir, Fan Shilang came here in the morning. Later, he seemed to be feeling a little unwell, so he said hello to the lower official and went home to rest."
"Well…"
Xie Shangshu was thoughtful and said slowly: "Then leave him alone and let's talk about our affairs."
He said solemnly: "The night before yesterday, a businessman from Dongshi Street was captured in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment. The businessman's name is Xu Mingfu. Who ordered the capture? Who took it? Who established the file?"
Xie Shangshu glanced at his subordinates and said coldly: "Who is going to beat him?"
Everyone was as silent as a cicada, not daring to speak.
Xie Shangshu slapped the table hard and said angrily: "We are the Ministry of Punishment!"
"It's the yamen in charge of the country's laws!"
He said angrily: "You guys are so lawless! How dare you send people to Dongshi Street to arrest people in broad daylight?"
"Is there any more royal method?"
At this time, Doctor Xing Duzhong of the Ministry of Punishment came forward, bowed and said cautiously: "Your Majesty, I know something about this matter. That night, Eunuch Gao from the palace came to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment in person and asked for his release. So I went there
I checked the cause and effect of the matter..."
Having said this, Du Langzhong swallowed his saliva and said cautiously: "Your Majesty, I would like to ask this Xu Fu..."
"What's the origin?"
Xie Shangshu glanced at Du Langzhong and said in a low voice: "They are just ordinary people, do you just take them as you say?"
No one answered this question.
Everyone present looked amused.
Xie Shangshu sighed and shook his head helplessly: "I heard that he is the nephew of Eunuch Gao."
He glanced at everyone and emphasized: "My nephew."
Only now did the officials from the Ministry of Punishments really become serious.
Zheng Ping, the right servant, stepped forward and bowed: "Don't worry, sir. I will check it out personally and I will give you an answer today."
"Then go check it out quickly."
Xie Shangshu glanced at Zheng Ping and said in a helpless tone: "When it is found out, you can go to the council hall and tell the ministers that I don't want to be scolded anymore."
Zheng Ping lowered his head with a smile and said: "I obey my orders."
…………
Just when the officials of the Ministry of Punishment were busy, Fan You, the Minister of Punishment, was in the house of Yang Jingzong. At this time, the Minister of Punishment had already taken off his official uniform and stood beside the old Prime Minister, begging.
Said: "Xiangguo, please save me!"
Old Man Yang was fishing by the pond in his backyard at this time. Hearing this, he put down the bamboo pole in his hand, looked back at Fan You, and said lightly: "Servant Fan said before that if I want to find a way to deal with that Shen Yi, I can't think of a way to do it."
I understand why Minister Fan moved so much that he moved on Xu Fu."
Hearing these words, Fan Tong couldn't help but twitch her face.
He suppressed the anger in his heart and said: "Xiangguo, it's because I didn't take action against the man named Shen. I asked someone to check him over and over again. I really couldn't find anything fatal about him. I just found him."
I found two places where I can take advantage of it.”
Fan Tong's voice was hoarse: "The first one is that when Shen Yi took part in the childbirth examination, one of the people he denounced was suspected of fraud, and the subordinate officer had already obtained the evidence, but..."
Yang Xiangguo glanced at Fan You and said calmly: "But you are afraid of completely offending Ganquan Academy, so you don't dare to use this reason to take action, right?"
"That's not true."
Fan Tong sighed and said: "Xiangguo, you also know that local county examinations are presided over by the local county magistrate. Even if there are any problems in the county examination, the county magistrate can solve them by himself without asking for instructions from above."
"If it were a similar county, the Ministry of Rites might be able to step in and conduct a thorough investigation. However, since the Jiangdu County Magistrate is the direct grandson of Prime Minister Zhang, I am afraid that the Ministry of Rites would not be willing to get involved. In addition, even if this matter is confirmed, it is not Shen Yi cheated on his own and could not hurt his roots, so the official did not take action..."
"The second reason is that after Shen Yi entered the Di newspaper department, he used his power for personal gain..."
Speaking of this, Fan Shilang's face became even more ugly: "As for Xu Fu, I also sent people to find out his background. This person is clearly Shen Yi's servant. When he entered Jiankang, he still used the identity of Shen Yi's scholar. !”
"This Huangshi Zhai is clearly opened by Shen Yi himself, and Xu Fu is just a small shopkeeper!"
"The lower official already has enough evidence, but who would have thought that this Xu Fu would somehow transform into some kind of nephew of Eunuch Gao!"
Fan Shilang was so angry that his face turned dark: "I've been thinking about it for two days, but I really can't understand it!"
"If you don't understand, don't think about it."
Yang Xiang glanced at Fan You and said calmly: "Things are getting serious now. Xie Yuanli from the Ministry of Justice will probably not protect you. Zheng Ping, the right assistant minister, has been keeping an eye on your position for a day or two. The Ministry of Justice... probably will Push you out."
"However, three of the five prime ministers in the council are familiar with me. You will probably be demoted by one or two ranks this time. If you are lucky, you may just be fined."
There is actually nothing wrong with Yang Jingzong's analysis, but the information he received was not sufficient.
If Fan Tong really just offended Gao Ming's nephew, the most he could do was to be demoted and fined.
However, the reasons behind the development of this matter are quite complicated, and even Yang Xiangguo may not be able to figure it out clearly.
"Even if you are demoted and punished with salary, you will not be afraid of lower officials..."
Fan Tong lowered his head and gritted his teeth and said: "I'm just afraid that those people will take this opportunity to attack Xiaguan's clan..."
"It's time like this..."
Yang Xiangguo silently lifted the pole and threw a big fish into the fish basket with a calm tone.
