Chapter 41 It turns out to be Hai Rui, no wonder
"Your servant Lu Fang, respectfully reports to... Your Majesty the Master..."
"Qingliu has messed up things, and things are out of control. The Yan Party is targeting Qingliu again. Please give me some instructions, Master..."
Jiajing looked at Lu Fang, who was constantly praying and explaining to him devoutly at the entrance of Yuxi Palace, and suppressed his dissatisfaction.
"Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng and other people are smart people. They wouldn't be so stupid. It's impossible for them to delay by deliberately not paying the money." Thinking of this, Jiajing had an idea and began to observe the Ming Dynasty.
His sight shifted from Yuxi Palace to Yan Mansion, and the movements of Yan Song and his son were all in sight.
In the brightly lit study room of Yan's residence.
"Hahaha!" In the study, the young cabinet minister Yan Shifan laughed heartily with a letter in his hand.
Yan Song sat upright on the couch, holding an official document in one hand and drawing with a pen in the other. He looked up at his laughing son, snorted, and said nothing more, continuing to draw.
He is the chief minister of the cabinet, so naturally he has to handle official business.
"Oh, this Hai Rui, Hai Gangfeng, is so likable!" Yan Shifan smiled and patted the letter with the back of his hand. "Qingliu has shot himself in the foot this time!"
"Hai Rui? Tsk tsk!" Yan Shifan said, placing the letter on the table, and sitting down on the other side of Yan Song. He leaned his elbows on the small table and leaned forward to say, "Dad, here's the chance!"
Yan Song did not say anything either. He glanced at his son who was cunning and looking for trouble, snorted and ignored him.
This laugh was like watching a child being doted on.
"We all understand what the emperor means," Yan Shifan continued to persuade his father when he saw that his father was unmoved, "It means that Qingliu should abandon some merchants and pay a sum of money in hand."
"The Qingliu sent Hai Rui, a young and incompetent man, to demonstrate their impartiality and selflessness, and to have Hai Rui wipe out the Zhou family completely."
"Then do the same thing and raid the Shen family in Jinjiang County and the merchant families in other counties, and the matter will be over."
"I originally thought that Hai Rui was just a name for himself. Qingliu dared to bring him out, which means they are in the same group."
"Placing Zhao Ziming beside him, the imperial envoy, was just to keep abreast of the trends of the Qing Dynasty," Yan Shifan said with a smile on his face. "I didn't expect that he was actually a truly honest official!"
"Not only did we check the Zhou family's smuggling accounts from the 35th to the 39th year of the Jiajing reign, but we also checked the accounts before that!"
"So I took advantage of Hai Rui's trick and used Zhao Ziming, who was close to Hai Rui, to reveal some things about the Lin family, a local gentry family in Dinghai County, to Hai Rui."
"He is really like a cat that smells fish. He is willing to take this hook and will not stop until he overthrows Dinghai County!"
"Dad!" Yan Shifan said, his face full of excitement. "If we support Hai Rui in the court at this time and let him continue his investigation, he will definitely be able to trace the Xu Jie family's network of interests in Jiangsu and Zhejiang through the Lin family and uproot them!"
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we must not miss... Dad, please take action!"
However, no matter how Yan Shifan persuaded him, Yan Song remained unmoved. He slowly put down the document in his hand, then took out another one from the side and continued to review it.
"Pa!" Yan Shifan grabbed him and said earnestly, "Dad, the opportunity is fleeting. If you miss it, it will be gone!"
"Even if we can't uproot them in one fell swoop, we can still cause them some trouble. Don't forget that we are going to attack the fields on the border next. This will be a fight to the death with Qingliu."
"So you must not hesitate when it's time to take action!"
"The court is not a place for private fights. As officials in the same court, we are all dedicated to the public good. There is no such thing as a fight to the death," Yan Song said slowly, and then changed the subject and said:
"But if there are officials in the court who use their positions to seek personal gain, then we must investigate thoroughly and not let them off lightly!"
Hearing this, Yan Shifan knew that his father was about to take action.
"Don't worry, Dad. I know what to do!" Hearing Yan Song's words, Yan Shifan's eyes flashed with brilliance.
He immediately stood up and went out to find his two trusted followers, Luo Longwen and Yan Maoqing to discuss countermeasures.
"No wonder."
After returning his sight from the Yan residence, Jiajing immediately understood what was going on through the conversation between Yan Shifan and Yan Song. He couldn't help but sigh, "So it was Hai Rui. This is not surprising..."
"Humph!" Jiajing couldn't help but chuckled, "Yan Shifan is right. Xu Jie and his men really hired the wrong person."
Given Hai Rui's personality, let alone Yan Shifan's intention to cause trouble, even if he did nothing, the investigation would sooner or later dig deeper and deeper.
Hai Rui was a man who could not tolerate any grain of sand in his eyes. They thought that they could just abandon a few merchant families and let Hai Rui go through the motions, but they were wrong about him.
They only saw Hai Rui's fairness and justice as a sword, but did not realize that it was a double-edged sword, destined to hurt others and themselves.
In fact, in Jiajing's view, only he could use this sword, because Hai Rui was destined not to belong to any faction!
"I didn't expect that the issue of replacing rice with mulberry trees would be dropped, but Hai Rui was still employed. This is much earlier than expected."
Thinking of this, Jiajing's gaze went to the back hall of the county government office in Dinghai County, Ningbo Prefecture, and found Hai Rui.
Zhang Juzheng recommended Hai Rui, and then because of the Zhou family's smuggling, the original magistrate of Dinghai County was dismissed.
Hai Rui appointed the magistrate of Dinghai County and asked him to thoroughly investigate the Zhou family's smuggling case.
Wang Yongji was originally a teacher in Chun'an County. Because he had a special relationship with Hai Rui and was a much gentler person than Hai Rui, he was transferred to Dinghai County in advance by Zhang Juzheng.
It was natural for him to be appointed as the chief clerk!
As for Zhang Ziming, he was a censor sent directly by the cabinet.
It is obvious that the Yan Party used it to monitor the behavior of Qingliu in Dinghai County.
Although Zhang Juzheng and others were dissatisfied with this, they were not too worried. After all, everything had been arranged.
Hai Rui and Wang Yongji are both their people, and the local gentry, officials, and even the Zhou family will cooperate with them.
Cut the Gordian knot and get rid of the matter!
After that, they could use Hai Rui's meritorious service in investigating the case as an excuse to transfer Hai Rui to the border and use this sword to fight against the Yan Party.
However, even with such a foolproof arrangement, something went wrong.
"Ruxian, what are you thinking about?" Wang Yongji put down the account book in his hand, walked to the window and stood side by side with Hai Rui.
"It went very smoothly," Hai Rui said slowly, "The investigation went very smoothly."
"It's like someone has woven a net for me in advance, tied the prey in the middle of the net, and then led me over to capture the prey."
"It's really going too smoothly." Wang Yongji thought for a moment, nodded, and then smiled slightly, "Didn't Wen Zhao already find out about the Lin family who are hiding deeper? Just keep investigating."
Upon hearing this, Hai Rui turned around and glanced at his friend, then said in a deep voice, "Someone is weaving a web. Let me investigate the Zhou family!"
"So, what Zhang Ziming found is helping me tear open the big net and see the person who wove it!"
"They want me to point the blade at the Weaver! But, what is the purpose of this person who helps me?"
Hai Rui looked at Wang Yongji with burning eyes.
"This..." Wang Yongji was startled. He lowered his head and thought for a moment. Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he looked up at Hai Rui and said:
"It was Lord Xu's idea for us to come to Dinghai, and it was also Lord Xu's idea to investigate the Zhou family. So the person who wove the web must be..."
"Lord Xu and others." Before Wang Yongji finished speaking, Hai Rui spoke up.
"Apart from the Yan Party, who else in the court can fight against Lord Xu and his gang?" Hai Rui said, and walked towards the desk.
"Zhang Ziming is also a member of the Yan Party!"
"If that's true, you and I might be caught in a vortex that will tear us to pieces if we're not careful. Why don't we..." Wang Yongji knew Hai Rui's character and subconsciously stepped forward to persuade him.
"Why not?" Hai Rui raised his head as he picked up his pen. "Why not just stop here?"
"But the Zhou family's case has been closed, and no one asked us to investigate anything else!" Wang Yongji argued.
"If we don't find out the truth, how can we comfort the people?" Hai Rui slowly put down his pen, staring at Wang Yongji with a sharp gaze.
"..."
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(End of this chapter)
