In the afternoon, Zhao Hongrun brought Zong Wei Weijiao and Gao Kuo to the headquarters of the Ministry of Punishment.
Compared with the Ministry of Rites, he thinks it is easier to communicate with the Ministry of Punishments. Because of the Wenqi fraud incident, the difficulty lies in unblocking three joints, which are the Chui Gong Hall, the Ministry of Rites and the Yushi Jian.
The Chui Gong Hall was the will of Zhao Hongrun and his father. Based on the current relationship between father and son, if Zhao Hongrun asked his father for a man, it was impossible for Emperor Wei not to give his son this face.
Perhaps for other people, this is the most difficult relationship to clear, but for Zhao Hongrun, it is the easiest to accomplish.
Next is the Ministry of Rites. After all, in the Wenqi fraud case, the Ministry of Rites was the victim. It suffered great loss because of a candidate. Not only was it impeached by the Ministry of Personnel, but it was also severely reprimanded by the Emperor of Wei. In addition, Du You, the Minister of Rites,
Due to his character, it would be difficult for even Zhao Hongrun to get the Ministry of Rites to acquiesce to this matter based on his status alone.
The third one is the Yushi Supervisory Committee. Since the nature of the case is quite bad, Zhao Hongrun’s attempt to rescue Wen Qi is in a sense a violation of the criminal law. It is no surprise that the Yushi Supervisory Committee impeached the matter afterwards.
In this regard, Zhao Hongrun had no good solution. After all, the censor's status in the court was very transcendent.
Fortunately, he had a special status. Therefore, as long as Emperor Wei nodded and acquiesced, even if the imperial censor tried to impeach him in every possible way, he would not dare to actually send people to surround Prince Su's palace to find trouble.
Compared with these three joints, the Xingbu joint is easier to clear.
Firstly, the backstage of the Ministry of Punishments is King Yong Hongyu. This brother-in-law has always had a good relationship with Zhao Hongrun, so he will give the latter some face. Secondly, Zhou Yan, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishments, is cold-faced and warm-hearted, and he knows how to adapt, so he is not like the Minister of Rites.
Du You was so stubborn that Zhao Hongrun had to use soft threats to allow this to take the overall situation into consideration.
Because of all these reasons, Zhao Hongrun came to the Ministry of Punishment this time without any pressure in his heart.
Similar to the treatment he received at the Ministry of Rites, when he learned that a certain King Su was coming to visit, Zhou Yan, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishments, also temporarily put aside his official duties and went out to greet him in person.
It's not that Zhao Hongrun's status was really high enough that these ministers had to come out to greet him in person. The fundamental reason was that Zhao Hongrun had rarely set foot in the Six Books in the past three years, so these ministers treated him with extremely high courtesy.
On the contrary, if Zhao Hongrun ran back and forth to Liubu every three days, I believe these ministers would have other opinions.
"His Royal Highness Prince Su came today, which really surprised Zhou... I wonder why His Highness came here this time?"
Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, welcomed Zhao Hongrun into the hall of the official office with a surprised expression.
Seeing Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, asking about the purpose of his visit, Zhao Hongrun did not hide anything. He cupped his hands and said with a smile: "The king of Japan came here today because he wants to beg for mercy alone, and I also ask the Minister to be accommodating."
"Oh." Zhou Yan responded suddenly, and he already had some idea in his mind: Someone close to His Highness Prince Su must have committed something.
You must know that although Zhao Hongrun is by no means a peaceful master and has committed many crimes in the past few years, these matters are judged by the clan and it is not the Ministry of Punishment's turn to interfere.
After thinking for a while, Zhou Yan lowered his voice slightly and asked tentatively: "Are you from His Highness's palace?"
"Not for the time being..." Zhao Hongrun smiled bitterly, and simply stopped hiding it and said truthfully: "It's the student who disrupted the order of the examination room a while ago, Wen Qi."
"Wen Qi..." Zhou Yan stroked his beard and thought for a moment, and then seemed to remember something. He bared his teeth and took a breath, with a look of embarrassment on his face: "This... this son deliberately ruined the face of the imperial court. The plot is bad.
, this... is not easy to handle."
Seeing Zhou Yan's excuse, Zhao Hongrun didn't care and said in a low voice: "Master Shangshu, I have just asked for the tacit consent of Master Du Youdu, the Minister of Rites, and will also go to Chui Gong Hall to ask for permission from my father... You
See this?"
Hearing what Zhao Hongrun said, the embarrassment on the face of Zhou Yan, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, immediately faded away, and he said with a smile: "That will be easy... After Zhou writes a warrant for His Highness, His Highness can go to Dali Temple to mention the person."
At this point, there was a hint of hesitation on his face, and he whispered: "According to the rules, the ransom of gold..."
"I know the rules." Zhao Hongrun nodded to show that he didn't care.
The so-called ransom is the unique right of the nobles. To put it bluntly, it is to use money to settle a lawsuit. Although in name it is similar to temporarily bailing someone out, in fact, it is no different from releasing someone.
As for the criminal cases recorded in the Ministry of Punishment, there are many criminals in the prison of Wei State, so they can be solved if they are replaced.
In a sense, the ransom money can also be regarded as the gray income of the Ministry of Punishment.
It has to be said that in fact there are many dark and dirty things in Wei State, some of which have even become commonplace and unwritten rules, but Zhao Hongrun has rarely been exposed to them in the past.
While Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, was writing the order, Zhao Hongrun had nothing to do but observe the face of the Minister.
He felt that this Lord Shangshu had not had a good rest for several days, so his complexion was sallow and his eye sockets were somewhat sunken.
Therefore, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but curiously asked: "Zhou Shangshu, I see that Shangshu doesn't look good... Is it possible that the Ministry of Punishment has any major cases recently? Or is it that the Ministry of Punishment has tracked down any clues about the group of thieves back then?
"
At this time, Zhou Yan, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, had already written the warrant. While handing it to Zhao Hongrun, he said with a wry smile: "Please forgive me, Your Highness, King Su. Zhou Yan couldn't find out the results of that group of thieves back then, so he had no choice but to do it."
... As for the complexion, hehe, Zhou has encountered several cases recently, and he always feels a bit strange..."
"Oh? If you don't mind, could you let me take a look?" Zhao Hongrun became interested upon hearing this.
After hearing this, Zhou Yan's eyes lit up. After all, he also knew that His Highness Prince Su in front of him was always smart and sharp, so he might be able to see some clues.
Thinking of this, he rummaged on the desk a few times, pulled out a few cases, and said, "Your Highness, please take a look."
Seeing Zhou Yan's permission, Zhao Hongrun moved behind the former and looked over the cases.
The first case is written about Wang Ling, the magistrate of Jiyang County. The housekeeper of his house reported that Wang Ling had built a secret cellar in the house, which was filled with gold, silver and jewelry, which were worth a lot of money. However, Wang Ling could not explain exactly what happened.
The source of the property was therefore sent by the Ministry of Punishment to investigate.
When Zhao Hongrun was watching the case, Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, explained: "The cause of this incident was that the housekeeper had an affair with Wang Ling's concubine, and was beaten severely after being caught by Wang Ling. This man had a grudge.
In my heart, I went to Daliang to report Wang Ling to our Criminal Department headquarters..."
"Hmph! You bitch." Wei Jiao, the chief of Zongwei, couldn't help but cursed with disdain.
After all, Zong Wei, who always puts loyalty first, couldn't bear to see such a servant who betrayed his master. What's more, the housekeeper actually dared to look at Wei Jiao with his master's concubine, Zhou Yan.
, without saying anything more, Zi Guzi continued: "After hearing the news, our Criminal Department sent people to investigate the matter, and indeed a large amount of money was found in the secret cellar of Wang Ling's house... Zhou Yan personally interrogated Wang Ling,
Wang Ling can’t explain the matter clearly.”
"The source of the ill-gotten wealth is either taking money from the people or accepting bribes. How dare he admit it?" Zhao Hongrun said with a smile.
"..." Zhou Yan looked at Zhao Hongrun for a moment when he heard this, and then said seriously: "Your Highness, Wang Ling was Zhou's classmate when he was a student. He was a clean and self-sufficient person. At that time, he served as the Minister of the Literary and Selection Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
It was because he couldn't get used to all the things in the official department and was framed by others that he was transferred to Jiyang as the county magistrate... After Wang Ling arrived in Jiyang, he still exchanged letters with Zhou for several years. Therefore, regarding his situation, Zhou
A certain number
I know it well." At this point, he paused, stroking his beard and added: "Wang Ling was born in a poor family and was from Zhongyang. His father had some friendship with the local merchant Cui. Therefore, when Wang Ling's father died,
back,
Mr. Cui betrothed his daughter to Wang Ling and funded Wang Ling's studies... After Wang Ling passed the examination high school, the court asked him to serve in Daliang, and at that time he married Cui's daughter... He was a sentimental person.
A righteous person.”
"..." Zhao Hongrun was a little stunned when he heard this.
You must know that in the Wei State, although the status of merchants is not low, they still belong to a lowly industry. After Wang Ling entered the official career, he still did not forget his true heart and married Miss Cui as his wife. This is indeed enough to prove his character.
.
At this time, Zhou Yan continued: "Wang Ling has a wife and a concubine. His wife is the Miss Cui family, and his concubine was the former personal maid of the Cui family..."
"Is this the personal maid having an affair with the housekeeper?" Wei Jiao looked surprised, because logically speaking, the concubine should have a very good relationship with the main wife, and it is almost impossible for her to have an affair with a servant in the house.
Pass.
"It's not this concubine, it's another one..." Zhou Yan squinted his eyes and whispered: "Wang Ling was too embarrassed to mention this matter, but Zhou Yan had already asked Wang Cui about it and learned that she had done it two years ago.
One day, Wang Ling went to a banquet at the house of a local tycoon and got very drunk. The gentry then called his concubine to serve.
At that time, the girl had not been taken care of, so the wealthy gentleman gave the girl to Wang Ling afterwards..." At this point, his eyes showed a hint of reminiscence, and he smiled bitterly: "At that time, Zhou even laughed at his wealth.
He is almost half a hundred people, and someone actually gave him a beautiful concubine who was twenty-eight years old... Sigh."
"Master Shangshu?" Seeing the sadness in Zhou Yan's eyes, Zhao Hongrun reminded him kindly: "Has Master Shangshu interrogated the housekeeper? If Master Wang really knew nothing about the secret cellar at home,
Then the problem may lie with the housekeeper."
Hearing this, Zhou Yan showed a complicated look on his face and whispered: "The housekeeper made rude remarks during a visit to the prison. When he was fighting with Wang Ling, he was stabbed to death by Wang Ling with bamboo chopsticks..."
"Ah?" Zhao Hongrun was simply stunned.
At this time, Zhou Yan was heard sighing: "Because the housekeeper accused Wang Ling of secretly communicating with South Korea and intending to rebel. This person had letters written by Wang Ling as evidence, and Zhou could not excuse Wang Ling. Afterwards, Wang Ling
Ling was angry that Zhou did not believe what he said, so he went on a hunger strike in prison and died to show his innocence. After learning about this, his wife and concubine also committed suicide by taking medicine at home and followed their late husband..."
"..."
Zhao Hongrun frowned and picked up the case with a solemn expression. (To be continued.)