The moment the emperor cast his gaze, countless thoughts flashed through Hu Xiang's mind.
But he didn't have time to think about it carefully, so he could only make a judgment based on instinct, shook his head decisively and said: "I haven't heard of it either."
"Ministry of Rites." Zhu Yuanzhang turned his attention to Zhu Mengyan, the Minister of Rites.
"This..." Zhu Mengyan is from Nanchang, Jiangxi. He is nearly seventy years old and has gray hair. He was a Jinshi in the eleventh year of Zhizheng of the Yuan Dynasty and served as an official in the Yuan Dynasty.
From various standpoints, he was not Hu Weiyong's person. Moreover, the Ministry of Rites in this era was purely a cold yamen with few rights and no future. Therefore, Prime Minister Hu never tried to win over him.
Unexpectedly, at this time, the Ministry of Rites became the key.
Naturally, Zhu Butang had no intention of taking the blame for Zhongshu. After thinking about it for a while, he reported in a deep voice: "Back to the emperor, I know that there is a Champa envoy in Beijing."
"Zhen Shuang, where is your Honglu Temple?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked the minister of Honglu Temple again.
"Go back to the emperor." Zhen Temple Qing hurriedly reported back: "The Champa envoys are currently living in the Tongwen Hall of our temple. I naturally know them."
"Okay." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded with satisfaction and said: "After asking around, the only ones who know about the Champa envoy are the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple."
"Now the scope has been narrowed." He then added: "Just tell me what you know."
"Yes, I will come first." Zhen Siqing rushed to say: "Let me tell you, Your Majesty, the Champa envoy came ashore from Guangzhou in October last year and came all the way north to Nanjing."
"Who issued them the customs clearance document?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked in a deep voice: "We remember that the Guangzhou Shipping Department has been cancelled, and the Premier Maritime Administration has not yet re-established the Shipping Department in Guangzhou, right?"
"Yes, the emperor remembers it very clearly." Zhen Shuang flattered him and continued: "According to the edict of the 10th year of Hongwu, from now on, all envoys from the ocean should be in the Prime Minister's Hai Zheng Yamen
, only after completing the customs clearance documents can you enter China as agreed in the documents."
"Currently, the Premier Maritime Administration has not reestablished the Guangzhou Shipping Department, so the Champa envoy did not receive the customs clearance document from the Premier Maritime Administration."
"Then how did he get to Beijing unimpeded?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked in a louder voice.
"Go back to the Emperor." Fortunately, there was enough time for Zhen Shuang to find out all the ins and outs, and he quickly replied in a deep voice: "According to the reply letter from the Chief Secretary of Guangxi, the customs clearance document was from last year, when the Champa Kingdom occupied the capital of Annan.
Send an envoy to Zhennanguan to ask for it.
"However, the Cham army was immediately repelled by Annan, and the mission failed to leave. The Cham king ordered the mission to come to the DPRK by sea instead."
"Well..." After hearing Zhen Shuang's answer, Boss Zhu's expression brightened slightly. After all, he still had a yamen to handle things.
"It took two months just to verify these situations." Zhen Shuang continued to report: "In February of this year, our temple reported to the Ministry of Etiquette on our behalf according to the rules and requested to arrange a pilgrimage."
"Is that so?" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Mengyan.
"Back to the emperor, yes." Zhu Mengyan nodded and said: "After receiving the petition from Honglu Temple, the Ministry of Rites reported it to Zhongshu Province according to the rules. But a month later, Zhongshu Province said that the Champa envoys entered Guangdong
, is inconsistent with the customs clearance document, it will be rejected and the pilgrimage will not be allowed."
"Then the Ministry of Rites transferred the documents from Zhongshu Province to Honglu Temple according to regulations."
"This temple informed the Champa mission of this result." Zhen Siqing said with a bitter face:
"The Cham envoy was not convinced and kept complaining to the temple. The temple was so troubled that we had no choice but to register him twice more."
"The headquarters forwarded it to Zhongshu, but Zhongshu rejected it." Zhu Mengyan also said helplessly:
"The matter may be stuck here... I asked the Champa envoy to issue a correct ultimatum, but they have been unable to do so due to various reasons. But the province is unwilling to accommodate, and we have come to this day after repeated back and forth."
"Is that so?" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Hu Weiyong.
"Go back to the emperor, I don't know." Hu Weiyong still shook his head.
"What do you, the Prime Minister, do for food?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked angrily.
Since I have been sick in bed this year, I no longer care much about Zhongshu's specific affairs." Hu Weiyong lowered his head and reported back:
"Secondly, the Ministry of Rites has always been in charge of Prime Minister Wang, and it is difficult for ministers to give instructions."
"Wang Guangyang." Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Wang Guangyang, who had been wandering in his mind. Just like a teacher who saw a student who was distracted in class, he became angry.
In fact, in the past two years, Wang Guangyang has been silent and obedient to the emperor, which made the emperor very bored and no longer bothered to ask him questions.
But for some unknown reason, Boss Zhu, who has never cared for idlers, has tolerated him until now and has not replaced him.
He was also happy and relaxed, and had slacked off to the extent that he was openly lost in the court... and even fell asleep directly once.
Wang Guangyang was currently reminiscing about last night's "God's Hand". He suddenly came back to his senses when he heard the emperor calling him.
"I, I don't know anything." He quickly bowed and reported back.
"Yes, Prime Minister Wang devotes himself wholeheartedly to playing chess?" Zhu Yuanzhang said sarcastically: "How can he take care of these common affairs?"
"I am old and confused, so I request to resign." Wang Guangyang immediately followed the trend and resigned for the 108th time.
"Play your chess with peace of mind!" Zhu Yuanzhang still refused, and asked coldly: "If Prime Minister Hu and Prime Minister Wang don't know about it, who made the decision to reject it?"
Peng Geng and Shang Hao looked at each other and said in unison: "I don't know."
"Bastard!" Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he almost overturned the table and asked in a raised voice: "Is this the head of our court, Ming Zhongshu? What use are you guys for?"
"Back to the emperor, this matter was directly rejected by the doctor below, probably because the documents were inconsistent." Shang Hao said bravely:
"So I didn't go to the political hall at all, so I and the two prime ministers have no way of knowing."
"What might it mean?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.
"It's just that we're not sure yet. We need to investigate carefully." Peng Geng said bravely.
"It is indeed necessary to strictly investigate." Zhu Yuanzhang said coldly: "Not only must we strictly investigate where the matter is stuck, but we must also strictly investigate who has the audacity to quarrel with the temple and the ministry for so long, and dare to keep suppressing the report.
Prime Minister, the Prince and we are kept in the dark!"
The more he spoke, the angrier he became, and he knocked on the table and said:
"Does this mean that for anything in the future, the people below can just pick out any flaws in the paperwork and suppress it without reporting it? Then wouldn't we become deaf and blind!"
"This is what the emperor taught you." Hu Weiyong quickly led the crowd to kneel down and plead guilty. "I will investigate strictly, and no matter who is responsible, he will be severely punished."
"If there is such a serious problem, of course we must investigate it strictly!" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a cold face, "Don't go back, just explain the problem to us in the palace and see what went wrong. Put the problem aside
Everything has been explained clearly, and then go home if there is no problem!"
"Ah..." Hu Weiyong and others were stunned. Are they under house arrest?
