Li Zhi walked into the third hall of the Duke's Mansion and glanced at the Li family officials standing in the hall. His face was already ashen.
Some officials in the palace saw Li Zhi's expression and immediately realized that something was wrong this time. It seemed that the collective petition was not only ineffective, but also angered Li Zhi.
Li Yousheng felt the cowering of his party members and coughed hard, trying to boost everyone's fighting spirit.
Li Yousheng brought the officials of the Li family to plead for mercy and complain.
Today is New Year's Eve, and it was originally a day off. However, Cui Changwu went to Li Zhenpin's house early this morning and took Li Zhenpin away. During the arrest, he also beat Li Zhenpin. After Li Yousheng got the news, he immediately sent people to contact various yamen.
The Li family bureaucrats wanted to come collectively to Li Zhi's Duke's Mansion to request orders.
Li Yousheng waited at the gate of the Duke's Mansion for an hour and a half before entering Li Zhi's third hall before lunch.
During this hour and a half, bureaucrats from the Li family kept coming to join Li Yousheng, and finally a team of more than a dozen people was assembled. There were officials from Fanjiazhuang, as well as officials from Tianjin and Shandong. It was the Chinese New Year at this time.
At that time, officials from all over the country returned to Fanjiazhuang to celebrate the New Year. It was a good time to recruit people.
Of course, the biggest official is undoubtedly Li Zhi's uncle, Li Dao, the governor of Jilin.
More than a dozen officials gathered in front of the Duke's Mansion, and then marched into Li Zhi's third hall, waiting for Li Zhi's arrival.
However, the momentum of this "Li Family Party" disappeared with just a cold glance from Li Zhi.
Most of the Li family members in the Three Palaces are Li Yousheng's die-hard allies.
The elders in Li Zhi's team were nothing more than Li Zhi's first batch of soap factory workers. These people had been following Li Zhi since the beginning of the seventh year of Chongzhen. Over the years, they all became officials based on their qualifications. Those with senior officials became prefects, and officials
The younger one was also the county magistrate, or the general manager of the factory. And all of these people were grateful to Li Yousheng.
Because everyone knows that it was Li Yousheng who wrote the list when the Li family was stuffed into the soap factory. It can be said that the official status of these Li family members depends entirely on Li Yousheng’s list. At that time, there were only a few members of the family who were looked down upon by Li Yousheng.
Several people are still civilians today.
Based on this kind of kindness, Li Yousheng is very kind among the Li family. Now that Li Yousheng's only grandson Li Zhenpin is in trouble, everyone must help Li Yousheng and say a word for Li Zhenpin.
Everyone felt that Li Zhi reused the Li family, and the Li family had a special status. In this case, it didn't matter what he said.
But when everyone in the Li family saw Li Zhi's expression, they realized that the matter was not that simple. Li Zhi was very dissatisfied with the people who came to the Duke's Mansion to speak out. It could be described as angry.
If Li Xing and Li Laosi are also in Li Yousheng's team, everyone will still have some confidence. Two of Li Zhi's four division commanders are from the Li family. If these two people stand up to speak for Li Zhenpin, Li Zhi will give him some face anyway.
However, the actual situation is that neither Li Xing nor Li Laosi responded to Li Yousheng's call, and the dozen or so people who came to ask for orders were all civil servants.
Li Xing and Li Laosi have been obeying Li Zhi's orders all year round, and they know that Li Zhi has zero tolerance for cliques and selfish interests, so they did not get involved in this muddy water.
Without the support of military attachés, the momentum would be completely different.
Li Zhi flicked the front of his official robe and sat coldly on the main seat of the third hall, looking down at the dozen or so Li family members below.
Seeing Li Zhi's posture, the co-president of Tianjin Qing Military Hall was frightened and lost his mind on the spot. He touched his stomach, shouted "bloating", and exited the third hall without looking back, heading outside the Duke's Mansion.
Escape.
Seeing that the magistrate of Tianjin had escaped, the magistrate of Jinghai County did not dare to stay for a long time. He didn't even find a reason, he just walked out the door with his head lowered, and became a deserter in full view of the public.
Li Yousheng was afraid that everyone would run away if he waited any longer, so he hurriedly knelt down on the ground and shouted loudly: "I've met the Duke of Guo!"
More than a dozen people were kneeling on the ground.
"I've met the Duke!"
Li Zhi looked at the officials in the hall quietly and said nothing.
Seeing that Li Zhi didn't even say anything to show off his courtesy, the officials of the Li family knelt down and didn't dare to get up.
Li Yousheng was eager to protect his grandson, but he risked his life. He shook his red official robe and stood up, cupped his hands and said: "Master Guo Mingjian! This morning, Cui Changwu, the direct son of the Cui family, broke into Li Zhenpin's residence, forcibly captured Li Zhenpin and sent him to the disciplinary inspection team.
"
Speaking of excitement, Li Yousheng's face turned red with excitement: "Li Zhenpin stood up straight and did not do anything to betray the Duke. Cui Changwu did not have any evidence, but he punched and kicked Li Zhenpin until Li Zhenpin was unconscious.
personnel."
"Master Guo, Li Zhenpin was the first group of elders who defected to Duke Guo in the seventh year of Chongzhen, and he was a member of the Li family! Being treated like this by Cui Changwu, I am afraid that all the elders will be heartbroken, and all the Li family members will be heartbroken!
"
Li Yousheng's words resonated with more than a dozen Li family officials. Li Zhenpin was a member of the Li family, but he was bullied by the Cui family. This was simply intolerable.
Before Li Yousheng finished speaking, the prefect of Hejian Prefecture, who had returned to Fanjiazhuang for the New Year, stood up and said loudly: "My lord, if Cui Changwu's illegal behavior is not punished, I am afraid that people in this town and four provinces will no longer know that I, the Li family, exist.
You respect my Li family, but you don’t know the special status of my Li family.”
Upon hearing the words of the Hejian Prefecture magistrate, more than a dozen officials were a little angry and stood up together.
"May the Duke investigate Cui Changwu strictly!"
"Strictly investigate Cui Changwu and set the record straight!"
In the crowd, Li Dao, the governor of Jilin, looked at Li Zhi's face and felt something was wrong. He took a step back without saying a word.
Li Yousheng immediately noticed Li Dao's strange movement and stared at Li Dao with wide eyes, making Li Dao's face turn red.
Li Zhi looked at Li Yousheng's movements coldly and said slowly: "Did I mention that the Li family has any special status?"
Hearing Li Zhi's words, the Li family below were stunned.
Over the years, when they saw Li Zhi spreading the Li family to various places to serve as officials and control the situation, they all felt like relatives of the emperor. This feeling continued to ferment, and the final result was that the Li family considered themselves the masters of one town and four provinces.
special status.
With this feeling, they became bolder in their actions and their voices became louder when they spoke. Because of this, other officials in the town and four provinces were somewhat afraid of the Li family and were afraid of offending this extremely powerful group.
Even Cui Changwu, the head of the disciplinary inspection team, is afraid.
However, Li Zhi overturned this delusion of the Li family as soon as he came up.
"One town and four provinces is not the Li family's one town and four provinces, but the common people's one town and four provinces. The Li family is just the managers of one town and four provinces."
"The reason why I promote and train the Li family is that I feel that the Li family has a minimum bottom line in doing things and will not harm the public interest for private gain. I want to train people from this family to govern because I hope you will do better than ordinary people and be able to punish evil.
Promote good deeds and deter small things."
"I am not promoting the Li family so that you can form cliques for personal gain and have officials protect each other!"
