Su Hao reported the existence of a huge corruption group in Runing, ranging from officials at the prefecture and county level to local tyrants and evil gentry. The government and gentry colluded to use the opportunity of natural disasters to lure people into gambling, take advantage of the opportunity to issue usury loans, and then Seize the land of farmers who are unable to repay their debts, pushing the farmers into the abyss of poverty. ◎Literature Museum, after investigating the farmers, Su Hao also found that the disaster relief grain funds distributed by the court were not distributed to the disaster-stricken people, but fell into the hands of large and small people. Officials' pockets. If all these crimes are true, at least dozens of heads will fall on the ground in Runing Mansion from top to bottom.
At the same time, the Runing Mansion also sent a special person to submit a report to Beijing. The report stated that Su Hao was eager to perform meritorious deeds and resorted to frame-up methods to frame innocent merchants, widely implicated them, and arrested and killed indiscriminately. Under the torture, Su Hao yielded a large number of perjury and used these perjury to create a large number of unjust cases in Runing.
Behind Su Hao's report, there are attached a large number of copied account books and documents as supporting evidence. Behind the report of Runing Mansion, there are also the testimonies and signatures of more than a thousand local merchants and gentry, and there is a crowd of black crows. It's amazing.
The two reports were sent to the court at the same time, which naturally caused an uproar.
A large number of officials, led by Chief Assistant Shen Shixing, believed that Su Hao's report was exaggerated. It was true that there were problems in Runing Mansion, but it would be too shocking to say that all the officials in Runing Mansion were bad people. Especially since Su Hao was arresting After arresting the suspect, it was against the rules to refuse Runing officials to participate in the interrogation. Many officials believed that the court should reprimand Su Hao, remove him from his post, and transfer him back to the capital for questioning.
A small group of officials, headed by Wanli and Wang Xijue, believed in Su Hao's investigation conclusions because the logic of the report he provided was very clear and all conclusions were supported by a large amount of evidence. Although out of caution, Su Hao did not The original account books searched from various places were sent to the capital, but only the copies were attached. However, Su Hao also said that the imperial court could send officials to Runing for review, and he would provide all the original evidence at that time. .
In the court of the Ming Dynasty, even Wanli's occasional black eye would arouse doubts from the officials and lead to protracted quarrels, not to mention the corruption of officials in the same government. Officials in Runing Prefecture and officials in the court There are countless connections, not to mention fellow villagers, teachers and students, classmates, brothers-in-law, aunts and other relationships. Even the ice and charcoal tributes Liu Qichang sends to various departments every year are enough to make many people willing to do it for him. A few nice words to say.
"The responsibility for what happened in Runing lies with Wei Chen." Wu Boxing, the minister of household affairs, made a heartfelt self-examination to Wanli, "Wei Chen just thinks that Su Hao is young, talented and quite energetic. He wants him to go to Runing to check out the powerful people. Who would have thought that this son would be so arrogant and favored that he would not hesitate to create injustice and bring misfortune to thousands of people in Runing in order to make a name for himself. I sincerely request the Holy One to issue a decree as soon as possible to summon Su Hao back to the capital to find out the truth and inform the world. .”
"Wu Shilang's words are wrong." Wang Jiguang stepped forward and said during the incident. "Everyone in the court knew about the violent occupation of land in Runing Mansion, but the officials who were sent to Runing to investigate the case in the past were not able to investigate. To find out the truth, they could only catch a few minions each time and failed to cure the root cause. When Wu Shilang recommended Xu Xueshi to Runing, he also hoped that he could thoroughly investigate the matter and dig out the big fish behind it. Now Su The bachelor has already done it, why did Wu Shilang break his promise and get fat again?"
Wu Boxing said: "Let Su Gaizhi investigate the case. Although he was recommended by me, he is not allowed to do whatever he wants. Now he does claim that he has found a big fish. But thousands of Runing gentry jointly signed a petition against him.
Could it be that he is hypocritical? If he had not acted arrogantly and made people angry, how could he have aroused such great public anger?"
"We don't know the truth about the matter where thousands of gentry signed the petition. If the officials of the Runing Prefecture forced the gentry to sign the letter, how credible is the statement of the Ten Thousand People's Letter?" Wang Jiguang
Reluctantly, he continued to retort.
Wu Boxing and Wang Jiguang were competing with each other, and other officials also got involved. The one said that Su Hao lacked experience, so the investigation may not be very reliable, and the other said that Liu Qichang was a treacherous treacherous person. He could only believe 30% of what he said.
Limit. The words of Ming Dynasty officials are all time-tested. If such a matter is to be broken up, it will not be finished in three to five months.
In fact, the reason why many people are against Su Hao has nothing to do with the affairs of Runing Mansion. One thing Su Hao did this time was contrary to the objections of many officials, that is, he was mainly responsible for handling the case.
Relying on the army he had, this was a typical example of using force to defeat civil society. In this era when culture was valued over military force, this approach was simply treasonous. What's more, when Su Hao first started his career, he relied on the eunuch Li Long.
He had the word "eunuch" plastered on his forehead, which was enough to make everyone hate him.
"Okay, dear friends, there is no need to continue arguing. Let's talk about how to deal with this matter." Wan Li listened for a while, and his head hurt again. He had to speak to stop this war of words and asked everyone to start voting.
"I believe that this matter is of great importance, and the evidence on both sides' paper alone is not enough to make a final decision. Therefore, it is best to call Su Hao back and ask him about it face to face." Shen Shixing suggested.
Wang Xijue said: "I agree with what Chief Shen said. However, just calling Su Hao back will not help. Su Hao made it very clear in the report that they have captured hundreds of suspects and countless witnesses. If there is no questioning,
These witnesses, just listening to what Su Hao said, I'm afraid everyone still won't believe it in the end."
"According to Fu Yu, do you want to escort these witnesses back to Beijing?" Shen Shixing asked with a frown. The movement of escorting hundreds of suspects and witnesses was too great. Even if it turns out that these suspects are innocent.
Yes, then going through this trip can be regarded as a waste of people and money.
Wang Xijue naturally wanted to do what Shen Shixing could think of. He said: "I'm afraid this is too much of a mobilization of troops. I think it would be better to send a few experienced ministers to Runing to verify it."
"This case involves Liu Qichang, the prefect of Runing. If we want to send people to investigate, I'm afraid we will need a few high-level officials." Shen Shixing said.
Wang Xijue turned around, saluted Wanli, and said, "With your permission, I would like to go to Runing Mansion in person."
Shen Shixing shook his head and said: "Fu Yu, you are quite old. It is a thousand miles from the capital to Runing. Can your body bear it?"
Wang Xijue said: "Su Hao was recommended to the Holy One by the old minister. Now that something like this has happened, if the old minister doesn't go and find out the truth personally, I really can't let go. If Su Hao is really acting recklessly, the old minister asks the Holy One to allow me to punish him on the spot.
If Su Hao's words are true, it means that our dynasty has another young and responsible leader. This is a matter that involves the foundation of our dynasty for thousands of years. Veteran, please pay a visit.
What’s the harm?”
Shen Shixing nodded: "What Fu Yu said makes sense, but it's just hard work for Fu Yu."
As the chief minister of the cabinet, there is no need to doubt Shen Shixing's loyalty to Jiangshan Sheji. Although he has various dislikes for Su Hao, on this issue of principle, he is still willing to consider the overall situation.
Seeing that Shen Shixing nodded, Wu Boxing became a little anxious. He stood up again and said: "Scholar Wang is willing to go to Runing in person, and I admire him very much. However, I think that the team will be led by Scholar Wang."
Runing investigated the case, and there was something wrong with it."
"What's wrong?" Wang Xijue asked.
"Su Hao went to Huai'an to regulate the river because he was recommended by Grand Scholar Wang. There should be a teacher-student relationship between Su Hao and Grand Scholar Wang. The official thought that at this time, it was up to Grand Scholar Wang to verify whether Su Hao
If there is suspicion of fraud, I'm afraid it's hard to guarantee fairness." Wu Boxing said bravely, and he also knew that such words would be quite offensive.
Sure enough, before Wang Xijue could say anything, Wanli said: "Wu Aiqing, it is known to the whole world that Wang Dajun is an upright official. How dare you question his unfairness?"
"Your Majesty, I naturally know the character of Academician Wang, but this matter involves Liu Qichang and other officials. If they are dissatisfied and make irresponsible remarks, wouldn't it add variables to the matter?" Wu Boxing replied.
"Let's do this. The old minister will accompany Fu Yu. This won't be unfair, right?" Wang Jiaping, another cabinet scholar, stood up and said.
"Isn't it too ostentatious to send two cabinet bachelors for such a small matter?" Shen Shixing curled his lips and said. There are only four people in the entire cabinet, managing all the affairs of the country. Now two people were sent out at once,
The remaining one, Xu Guo, is not in good health and often takes sick leave. Doesn’t this mean that everything must fall on Shen Shixing’s shoulders alone?
Wang Jiaping said with a smile: "Rumo, just work hard for a few days. Fu Yu and I will go and come as soon as possible. When it comes to the honor and disgrace of a prefect, the court should be more cautious, otherwise, other local officials will be disappointed.
?”
When Wang Jiaping's words reached this level, Shen Shixing had nothing to do. It was obviously impossible to handle such a matter without an official at the level of a cabinet bachelor. And if Wang Xijue was allowed to go alone, there would be many people in the court.
People are not happy. It seems that only by letting Wang Xijue and Wang Jiaping go together can we convince the crowd.
Wanli also agrees with this plan. He has a good impression of Su Hao and hopes that Su Hao can bring a different style to the court and get rid of the current stale atmosphere. Whether Su Hao can be reused depends on him this time
It is indeed very necessary to send two bachelors to check how Runing's case is being handled.
Of course, Wang Xijue and Wang Jiaping are only the leaders of the entire investigation team, and the person who will handle the specific tasks needs to be selected separately. The final list includes those from the "anti-Soviet" faction like Wu Boxing, and also includes people like Wang Jiguang.
The most eye-catching thing about the "Ting Su" faction is that there is also a new Jinshi among them, Cheng Dong, the seventh-rank editor of Hanlin Academy.