There is a large open space on the left side outside Yongding Gate.
In this open space, the two left and right ministers of the Punishment Department, and hundreds of officers and soldiers of the Punishment Department stood behind them, preparing to hand over prisoners.
A large group of people gradually appeared in everyone's field of vision, becoming increasingly clear.
Dongchang Changgong Lin Shangli, Minister of Rites Wang Changlian, and Minister of Punishments Li An. The three of them walked side by side at the front of the team, talking and laughing.
Seeing the team approaching, the crowd stopped commotion and looked forward.
Chen Wei stood next to the gongs and drums team, paying attention to everyone in the motorcade. As soon as Xiao Chen appeared, he would order the gongs and drums to start beating.
There was a huge crowd of people around, squeezing each other, wanting to see what the scene would look like when these hundreds of corrupt officials were gathered together.
"Squeeze whatever you want. If you cross this line, I will arrest you and enjoy the feeling of being detained."
A military captain in Jinyi looked at the agitated crowd, pointed at the temporary dotted line drawn on the ground, and said coldly.
But even so, the commotion of the crowd still did not stop.
On the edge of the dotted line, there are densely packed human feet, but no one dares to step on the dotted line.
"Move forward, isn't there still a distance from the dotted line?"
"Where there is still distance, if you squeeze in again, you will really cross the line."
"That person in front, can you stop standing on the rock and cover a large area behind me?"
"I just want to see what the purple-clad captain looks like. When I see him, I will come down right away."
"Who doesn't come here to see the captain in purple clothes? What's so good about those corrupt officials?"
"..."
There was a lot of discussion among the crowd.
Unknowingly, the motorcade had arrived at the gate of Yongding Gate.
Chang Wei, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and Su Buwei, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, rushed to greet him.
"Mr. Factory Master, you have worked hard all the way. Oh, Mr. Li, Mr. Wang, how come you are back with the team?" The two of them saluted and asked with a smile. However, their eyes passed through the three of them, looking for them in the team.
That purple figure.
Lin Shangli clasped his fists in front of everyone, with a smile on his face: "Thanks to the love of hundreds of officials today, they are so concerned about Dongchang's actions. However, these hundred and ten people were all once imperial officials, and they only accepted bribes for corruption.
, and ended up where we are today. It is a great blessing for the imperial court that everyone can watch the handover of prisoners and encourage themselves to clean up their political affairs and become officials."
These words fell on Baiguan's heart, and his face suddenly felt a little hot.
Especially Hong Tianren, Minister of War, hid among the crowd, touched the banknotes in his arms, and really wanted to turn around and walk away.
But at this moment, if I just leave like this, I'm afraid I will become the object of everyone's attention. By then, there will really be no three hundred taels of silver here.
Chang Wei and Su Buwei were not much better.
The question I asked with a smile on my face was not only not answered directly, but also choked on intentionally or unintentionally. I suddenly felt a little embarrassed.
But now that they are here, I still feel unwilling to let them retreat like this.
"Mr. Factory Lord, you don't know. When you retire from the court today, the emperor asked everyone to come here to greet the purple-robed captain." Chang Wei, the Minister of Personnel, explained in a low voice with a smile on his face.
Before Lin Shangli could speak, Li An, who was standing next to him, interrupted: "Let me tell you, everyone unanimously targeted Xiao Chen at the beginning. How could it be possible that now we are all here to welcome him back to Beijing? It turns out that the emperor asked you to
Came here."
"Master Li's words are wrong. Hundreds of officials were arrested at once. For the Ministry of Personnel, the next step will be to rearrange personnel to fill the vacancies. Master Chang just came to see who these people are.
Who is he and what position is he holding? I just want to make plans later." Seeing Li An's aggressive look, Wang Changlian hurriedly tried to smooth things over.
In any case, everyone is an official in the same dynasty, and has only one purpose, which is to assist the emperor in governing the Ming Dynasty better.
Such tit-for-tat confrontation is not only detrimental to unity, but future mutual cooperation may be ineffective due to resentment in the heart. This will do a lot of harm to the entire court, but not a single benefit.
"What Mr. Wang said is absolutely true. There are now hundreds of official positions vacant. Our Ministry of Personnel must re-examine officials as soon as possible to fill these vacancies." Chang Wei, the Minister of Rites, hurriedly followed the words.
There is a war of words going on here, and the officers and soldiers of the Ministry of Punishment have already begun the handover of prisoners.
From the beginning to the end, Duan Tianming and Du Shaoqin proofread the documents and prisoners one by one and handed them over to the Criminal Department. The purple figure that everyone was waiting for did not appear from the beginning to the end.
"Which one of these people is the captain in purple?"
"Who knows, the purple-clad captain should be wearing purple."
"But I looked for a long time and didn't see anyone wearing purple."
"Even so, I didn't see anyone wearing purple clothes."
"Could it be that the captain in purple didn't come back at all?"
"Who knows, maybe the purple-clothed captain doesn't want to be so public and secretly returns to Beijing early."
"Then what's the purpose? We just came to see the purple-robed captain. We took a walk and went back."
"The captain in purple clothes is not here. It's quite comfortable to see those corrupt officials being taken away by the Ministry of Punishments. Why are you so anxious?"
"It's up to you to see, I'm leaving."
"..."
The legendary captain in purple was not seen, and there was a lot of discussion among the crowd.
Standing next to the gong and drum team, Chen E, the Minister of Rites and the Yi of Shuntian Prefecture, also looked a little embarrassed.
I went to great lengths to get the gong and drum troupe here. Xiao Chen really wouldn't let him go in advance.
Squeezing through the crowd of officials, Chen E leaned into Wang Changlian's ear and asked in a low voice: "Master Wang, when you arrived in Daxing, didn't you pick up Xiao Chen?"
"Got it." Wang Changlian said with a smile.
"Received it?" Chen E looked around, "Where is he? Why didn't I see his figure?"
Wang Changlian smiled: "Take a small road and have already returned to Dongchang."
Hearing this, a trace of anger appeared on Chen E's face.
"This guy, doesn't he know that all the officials at Yongding Gate are waiting to greet him? He took a small road back to Dongchang, obviously embarrassing all the officials, right?"
Wang Changlian glanced at the waiting gongs and drums team, and asked in a low voice: "Did you arrange this gongs and drums team?"
"Yes. I originally wanted to greet him properly, but who knew he was so disrespectful." Chen E was very angry in his heart, and his words were not nice to hear.
"Master Chen, I know you want to create a good atmosphere to welcome Xiao Chen's return, but you are doing bad things out of good intentions." Wang Changlian said in a low voice.
Chen E was startled.
Doing bad things with good intentions? How can you do bad things with good intentions? Could it be that in welcoming Xiao Chen's triumphant return, he committed some taboo? After working together for the past few days, Chen E quite recognized the views of his immediate boss.
He couldn't help but look at Wang Changlian with suspicion: "Master Wang, how do you say this?"
