Except for Su Hao, who was already aware of the matter, everyone in the room was stunned. With the two cabinet ministers Wang Xijue and Wang Jiaping present, it was easy to deal with Liu Qichang, but when the matter involved Prince Chong, it became a bit sensitive.
The affairs of these feudal kings are to be handled by the clan government. Although the two elders have high status, they would not dare to convict a feudal king casually.
"Two pavilion elders, let's tell the guilty officer what happened now." Liu Qichang said pitifully. In fact, in his heart, there was a kind of faint pride. He knew that once he pulled King Chong out, things would go wrong.
Things have turned around.
"Prince Chong has 100,000 acres of fiefdom in Runing. A few years ago, Li Hui, the steward of Prince Chong's Mansion, found the criminal and said that some of Prince Chong's fiefdoms had become barren due to floods and droughts. The income of Prince Chong's Mansion was decreasing day by day and it was no longer enough to make ends meet.
. He asked the guilty officer to help Prince Chong’s Mansion exchange some land, and said that this was a matter involving Prince Chong’s face. The guilty officer thought, today’s emperor cares most about family ties, how could he ignore the vassal prince’s family’s financial difficulties?
In order to share the worries of the Holy One, the sinner made some expedient measures." Liu Qichang said.
"You mean, everything you did was a temporary measure?" Wang Jiaping asked.
"That's right. The guilty officer had no choice but to do what he did." Liu Qichang said, "The guilty officer knew that what he had done was unpardonable and he was willing to accept all punishments. But the land had already been assigned to King Chong's name. If
To return these lands to those farmers, we need King Chong’s approval.”
"Prince Chong is here!"
Before Liu Qichang finished speaking, he heard a guard outside the door announcing loudly. In fact, this was not a coincidence, but Su Hao knew in advance that Liu Qichang wanted to push out Prince Chong as a shield, so he notified Prince Chong's palace early.
, King Chong came here on a special trip after receiving Su Hao’s notification.
When they heard that King Chong was coming, Wang Xijue, Wang Jiaping and other officials quickly stood up to greet him. Although the vassal king had no power, his status was there, so it was not inconvenient for everyone to neglect him.
"My lords, I'm sorry to disturb you!" Chongwang Zhu Yijue walked into the hall with a loud voice, raised his hand and saluted everyone.
"Prince Chong has arrived, but we were unable to meet him from far away. Please forgive me for your sin!" Wang Xijue and Wang Jiaping said at the same time.
The two sides exchanged a few words, and Wang Xijue asked someone to bring a chair and asked Zhu Yijue to sit at the top of the table with them. After Zhu Yijue sat down, he looked up at Liu Qichang who was kneeling below, and asked Wang Xijue pretendingly: "Mr. Wangge
.Why is Magistrate Liu kneeling there? Could it be that he did something improperly and made the two elders angry?"
"Prefect Liu did not handle some things properly." Wang Xijue nodded. He knew that Zhu Yijue's arrival at this time must be related to what Liu Qichang just said, so he no longer concealed it and said bluntly: "This
Speaking of which, it seems to have some small connection with Prince Chong’s residence.”
"Oh. In that case, it's a coincidence that I'm here." Zhu Yijue said. Before Wang Xijue could say anything else, he shouted loudly to the door: "Come here. Bring the things up and invite the two academicians Wang.
Take a look."
Six or seven people came in loudly outside the door, all dressed as guards of Prince Chong's Mansion. Each of these people held a large plate in their hands, covered with red cloth. They didn't know what was on it. Zhu Yijue asked with his eyes.
After considering the opinions of Wang Xijue and Wang Jiaping, they asked the palace guards to put everything on top of the public case.
"Your Majesty, what is this?" Wang Xijue pointed at the trays covered with red cloth and asked Zhu Yijue.
Zhu Yijue stood up and walked forward, lifting the red cloths on each tray one by one. Under the red cloth, he saw that there were booklets one by one. Zhu Yijue pointed to the booklets and said: "These are the land deeds of Prince Chong's Mansion.
There are 50,000 acres in total. I will bring these land deeds over and ask the two pavilion elders to deal with them."
"Why is this?" Wang Xijue also stood up. When he was talking about the land in Prince Chong's Mansion, Zhu Yijue brought over the land deed. What is going on? The land in Prince Chong's Mansion was given by the emperor, but he didn't.
What to do with the power? In his opinion, King Chong might have done this to blackmail them.
Zhu Yijue bowed and saluted: "The two cabinet elders are unaware of something. Because I have neglected my employment, Li Hui, the steward of the palace, colluded with Liu Qichang under the pretext of my name and did many illegal things. A few days ago, Mengsu Mengsu
The bachelor reminded me that I asked someone to investigate and found out that Liu Qichang, through Li Hui, transferred a large amount of embezzled fertile land to the name of Prince Chong's Mansion. Most of the annual harvest fell into the pockets of Li Hui and Liu Qichang, and what was handed over was still
Prince Chong's Mansion used to be the product of Susukada. Prince Chong's Mansion has gained a bad reputation, and the benefits are all taken by these guys."
"That's it." Wang Xijue understood.
Liu Qichang and others used various means to occupy farmers' fields. In order to evade investigation, they lied that they were helping Prince Chong's Mansion to exchange land. In this way, even if someone came to investigate, they would not dare to investigate anymore if they found out about Prince Chong's Mansion. However, Chong Chong's Mansion
In this matter, the palace only had a name, and no actual benefits were obtained at all. The output of these fertile fields was privately divided by Liu Qichang and Li Hui, the steward of Prince Chong's mansion. What Prince Chong could see was still
This is the original output of those Sussukadas.
To achieve this, Li Hui, the steward of Prince Chong's Mansion, is a key figure. Internally, he can hide Prince Chong's knowledge about the possession of fertile land; externally, he can represent Prince Chong's Mansion and complete the land acquisition.
Replacement. A vassal king like Zhu Yijue had no chance to visit his fief in person, so he was completely unaware of what the people below him were doing.
"So, Your Majesty, where is your steward Li Hui now?" Wang Xijue asked. Since King Chong put all the crimes on steward Li Hui, it is time to summon Li Hui for questioning.
Zhu Yijue uncovered the red cloth on the last tray and said, "Here it is!"
Everyone took a closer look and couldn't help but be shocked. On the tray, there was a bloody head. Judging from the wet blood, it should have been chopped off not long ago.
"This, this, this... is this Li Hui?" Wang Xijue was also frightened. He stammered, not knowing what to say, "Your Majesty, how did you kill him? Originally... well, now
It’s useless to say this.”
"What's the point of keeping this kind of traitor who is cheating on others?" Zhu Yijue said angrily, "After I found out the evidence of his collusion with Liu Qichang, I had him arrested for interrogation. He has already put the matter to rest.
After all the confessions were made, here is the confession he made in custody. I also knew that I should keep him alive, but after hearing what he had to say, I became so angry that I cut him down with a sword.
"
"It's okay to chop it off..." Wang Xijue reluctantly continued Li Hui's confession handed over by Zhu Yijue, knowing that this case could only be tried to this point.
The fact that Zhu Yijue killed Li Hui is still very intriguing. What is the truth of the matter can no longer be explained clearly after Li Hui was killed. Li Hui was a steward of the palace and was regarded as a domestic slave. Zhu Yijue treated him
He has the power of life and death, so cutting off his head with a sword is not illegal, and Wang Xijue can't do anything to him. From Zhu Yijue's point of view, Li Hui knows too many things. If Li Hui is handed over to Wang Xijue as a suspect,
Maybe he would talk nonsense, so it would be better to just kill him to save the trouble.
"Liu Qichang, what else do you have to say?" Wang Xijue slapped Li Hui's confession on the case and shouted loudly.
"The guilty officer deserves to die!" Liu Qichang was at his wits end. He originally hoped that King Chong would help him, but now it seems that King Chong has chosen a wise strategy to protect himself and is unwilling to take a dip in this muddy water.
"But... this matter is a bit troublesome." Wang Jiaping frowned after hearing the cause and effect.
"Uncle Zhong, please speak." Wang Xijue said.
Wang Jiaping said: "Liu Qichang colluded with Li Hui to replace the lower fields of Prince Chong's palace with the upper fields they had seized from the people, and these lower fields were sold at a discount. Now the case has been investigated, and these upper fields
It should be returned to the farmers who lost their land, so that the land of Prince Chong’s Mansion cannot be restored.”
"Yes, unless the original land is redeemed, but where will the money come from to redeem these lands? Also, the people who bought these lands may not be willing to withdraw." Wu Boxing was also gloating at the side.
added.
Zhu Yijue smiled faintly and said: "Don't worry, gentlemen. I brought the land deeds here today just to solve this matter. The land exchanged by Li Hui is almost 50,000 acres. I will bring the land deeds to
I have brought them all. I am willing to hand over these lands for free and let the two pavilion elders do whatever they want."
"Hand over the land!" Wang Xijue and Wang Jiaping looked at each other, both wondering if they heard wrongly.
The vassals of the Ming Dynasty were all greedy and would occupy other people's land for no reason. I have never heard of anyone willing to hand over their own land. In this case, although it was the steward of the palace who had tampered with it, Zhu Yijue was also completely
You can ask to maintain this fait accompli. After all, the land granted by the emperor to Prince Chong's Mansion is 100,000 acres. If Wang Xijue and others want Prince Chong's Mansion to hand over the 50,000 acres of occupied land, then they must exchange the original 50,000 acres of land.
Just fine.
Wang Jiaping had just been thinking about how to get the original land back, and he thought of several plans, but none of them were feasible. Who knew that Zhu Yijue would be so straightforward and just gave back 50,000 acres of land.
"Your Majesty, Prince Chong's fiefdom is 100,000 acres. It was customized here. If you hand over 50,000 acres all at once, how can we dare to take it?" Wang Xijue said half-truthfully.
Zhu Yijue said: "This matter is the fault of the palace, and I should be punished. The livelihood of the people of Runing is very difficult, and I should donate these lands even to share the burden. As for the customary fiefdom of Chongwang Palace, it is 10
Ten thousand acres, I have also thought about it, so I will settle for 50,000 acres of barren hills west of Runing." (To be continued)