Chapter 60: His Evil Conduct is Recorded

The Northern Pacification Division was a subordinate division of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, in charge of criminal justice. It had the power to inspect, arrest, and interrogate without having to go through the Three Judicial Divisions. It was specialized in using torture to suppress corrupt officials.

It is a secret agency that has the power to handle cases and belongs only to the emperor.

It was his subordinate who reported Wang Ruyan's case to the Northern Pacification Office.

The official's name was Xu Fuyuan. He was originally the head of the Ministry of Personnel. In July of this year, he was demoted to the position of judge of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner's Office because he was impetuous during the inspection and submitted a memorial to the emperor to explain his gains and losses.

This man felt guilty for failing to live up to the emperor's grace, so he decided to do his job well.

But as soon as he took office, he discovered that his superior Wang Ruyan was corrupt and it was shocking. Then Xu Fuyuan could not bear the torment of his conscience, so he secretly collected evidence and exposed Wang Ruyan.

Xu Fuyuan is now in the Northern Pacification Office. Of course, he is not imprisoned but under care.

It stands to reason that for cases that the Three Judicial Departments are involved in, the person should not be kept in the custody of the Northern Pacification Department.

But Xu Fuyuan was a cautious person. He said that the matter was of great importance and he would rather stay in jail than leave the Northern Pacification Office for fear of being killed.

The Jinyiwei had no choice but to give him good food and drink and take care of him.

As a result, in the prison of the Northern Pacification Office, there appeared wooden tables, low beds, fine wines and delicious food.

When Hai Rui arrived and saw such a cell, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.

He was accompanied by Chen Dong, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, and the two worked together on the case.

Luo Sigong lagged behind half a step and followed closely. Even in the Northern Pacification Office, he carefully observed his left and right.

Hai Rui pushed open the door of the prison, looked at Xu Fuyuan, and asked in confirmation, "Judge of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner's Office, Xu Fuyuan?"

Xu Fuyuan was originally leaning on a low bed to rest. When he saw the two people who came in were both wearing scarlet official uniforms, he immediately realized that they were bigwigs in the court.

He stood up and saluted hastily: "I am the Judge of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner's Office, Fu Yuan, and I am honored to meet you two superiors."

Xu Fuyuan was not the criminal, but only a witness, so he still held an official position.

Hai Rui and Chen Dong looked at each other, then pulled out their chairs and sat down.

The former pushed aside the food and wine on the wooden table, took out the file and placed it on the table, and got straight to the point: "You reported Wang Ruyan? What's the matter?"

Chen Dong waved his hand to let the clerks follow him to leave, and personally picked up a pen to take notes.

As a witness, Xu Fuyuan didn't have to stand and sat down opposite.

He did not answer directly, but looked at the two men hesitantly and confirmed: "I wonder what your duties are, superiors?"

Hai Rui straightened his back, sat upright and replied, "I am the Supervisor of Lianghuai Salt Tax, Chief Censor, Hai Rui."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Fuyuan seemed to have a switch pressed.

Without waiting for Chen Dong to speak, he immediately straightened his body and said loudly: "If Censor Hai asks anything, I will answer it with all my knowledge!"

Chen Dong swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth and simply kept silent.

Hai Rui nodded, indicating that he could reply.

Xu Fuyuan did not stop and talked about the whole story: "I used to be the head of the Ministry of Personnel, and I probably have some impression of officials from various places."

"After being demoted to Lianghuai, I saw that my superior was Wang Ruyan, so I became wary."

"I have seen case files when I was in the Ministry of Personnel, and I remember this man. During the Jiajing period, he was the head of the Zhejiang Division of the Ministry of Revenue, and his rank was not low."

"But after that, he was demoted three times in a row. He was first demoted to Tongzhou Tongzhi, then to Jiangdu and Haimen, and then to Xinghua County Magistrate, downgrading to the seventh rank."

"This shows his ability. Although he was later appreciated by a certain superior officer named Li..., he was promoted back to the Ministry of Revenue."

"But after that superior retired, this person was demoted to Lianghuai."

"As for this kind of idiot, I must be careful to avoid being implicated by him."

"as expected!"

"In the following two months, I secretly observed this person and discovered how he acted in defiance of the law and deceiving the heaven and earth!"

He swallowed when he said this.

This was a long preparation, but the main topic had not yet arrived. Chen Dong just felt that this person was deliberately making fun of him.

I wanted to give you a reminder, but Hai Rui was in charge of the trial and since he didn't say anything, it was not convenient for me to interrupt.

Instead, Hai Rui frowned.

He asked in a cold voice: "What do you mean by a certain superior? There is no official without a name or surname in our dynasty! Explain clearly!"

Xu Fuyuan hesitated for a moment: "It has nothing to do with this case, so let's not mention it..."

Hai Rui stared at him quietly, his voice without any emotion: "Since you've spoken out, you should include a name."

Xu Fuyuan looked at Hai Rui, then at Chen Dong.

His voice was very low, almost whispering, "It's... the former Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace, Junior Tutor and Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, Li Chunfang."

Chen Dong was startled, stopped writing, and looked at Hai Rui.

Li Chunfang is from Yangzhou, so it is not impossible that he is involved, but this statement is really ambiguous.

After all, it was just a promotion and might not be related to the Lianghuai salt tax.

Whether to remember or not was a matter of debate, so Chen Dong naturally had to ask Hai Rui for his opinion.

Hai Rui had no expression on his face. He turned his head and nodded slightly at him, "I'll record it."

Chen Dong gritted his teeth, wrote down the three words "Li Chunfang", and continued recording.

Hai Rui looked at Xu Fuyuan again and said, "Go on, how did Wang Ruyan deceive the world?"

Xu Fuyuan looked at Hai Rui deeply, with a hint of admiration flashing across his face.

Although he was being interrogated, this courage did not disappoint him.

He continued, "Lianghuai has three administrative divisions, namely Taizhou, Huai'an, and Tongzhou."

"We should issue 700,000 salt permits per year and store 210,000 salt permits per year."

"But, I have seen the Lianghuai Salt Depot..."

Xu Fuyuan raised his head and glanced at the two officials in red robes, and said softly, "I'm afraid the salt reserves are less than 50,000 yuan."

The two of them looked up suddenly.

Chen Dong's expression changed several times.

Hai Rui was solemn, and reminded him word by word: "Witness Xu Fuyuan said that the salt depot has a deficit of 160,000 yin. This is recorded in the file."

Chen Dong found it increasingly difficult to write, so he wrote it down.

Hai Rui asked, "Where did the salt deficit go? Judge Xu, do you know?"

Xu Fuyuan nodded: "Wang Ruyan colluded with the salt merchants and sold all of it as private salt."

"It's not just the salt depot."

"There are thirty salt fields in Lianghuai. I have visited the remaining seven and privately asked the salt workers. I'm afraid the output of each field is twice the expected amount!"

Times that, that means 700,000 more.

The normal tax for these 700,000 taels should be 4 million taels. The value of this case is already shocking.

But... Chen Dong had to admit that this was in line with common sense.

How come the salt tax in the former Song Dynasty was 12 million strings of cash per year but only 2 million taels in the Ming Dynasty?
Hai Rui remained calm, nodded, and reminded Chen Dong, who was in a daze, "Record it."

He looked at Xu Fuyuan again: "The salt merchants sold the official salt as private salt, and Wang Ruyan got all the benefits?"

Chen Dong was in mixed emotions. His reason told him that the answer to this question couldn't be this. How much could a mere transport envoy eat?

After all, that was several million taels.

However, he was afraid of the real answer from the bottom of his heart. He couldn't even imagine the people involved in this case involving millions of taels of silver.

Xu Fuyuan shook his head: "I am not very clear about this matter."

"However, judging from Wang Ruyan's daily behavior, I'm afraid he can't eat so many benefits."

"Besides, he has only been in Lianghuai for a short time, but this matter has clearly been going on for a long time and has become a precedent."

Hai Rui could tell that he had something unfinished in mind.

He leaned forward and questioned, "If you have a clue, just speak up."

Xu Fuyuan paused and looked outside. Hai Rui understood and motioned Luo Sigong to stand further away.

The former then said: "There are some rumors."

"Those salt merchants would give benefits to certain wealthy families every now and then."

“The company claims that this is just a favor, but people say it is a dividend distribution.”

Hai Rui pressed on: "Which salt merchants? Which wealthy families?"

Xu Fuyuan was silent for a while, as if he was preparing himself mentally and trying to overcome himself.

After a long while, he said, "There are quite a lot of salt merchants. I have listed them in my notes. Censor Hai can follow the map after he arrives in Lianghuai."

"As for the big households..."

He looked outside again to make sure no one was there.

Then he continued, "There is the Duke of Wei's mansion..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Dong's pen fell to the ground.

He shuddered and came to his senses.

He bent over to pick up the pen and gave Hai Rui a forced smile with some apology.

Hai Rui patted him on the back without saying anything, then turned around and motioned Xu Fuyuan to continue.

Xu Fuyuan had no intention of turning back the arrow once he had shot it, and said with a fearless look on his face: "Young Master and Grand Master of the Crown Prince, Li Chunfang."

"Young Master and Grand Master of the Crown Prince, Xu Jie."

"Ji Lian, the Right Vice Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War."

"Cao Bangfu, the Minister of Finance of Nanjing"

"..."

Every name was like thunder, exploding in Chen Dong's heart.

No wonder the emperor even sent troops to accompany him.

This is only a part of the scene, but it is already so horrifying!
He glanced at Hai Rui, whose expression remained unchanged, and felt extremely impressed. "..."

"Nanjing Minister of Rites Qin Minglei"

"Li He, the son-in-law of the emperor..."

At this point, Chen Dong finally couldn't help but interrupt Xu Fuyuan: "Wait!"

He didn't even realize that his voice sounded dry and hoarse when he called out.

Seeing Xu Fuyuan looking at him, he remembered that he had not yet introduced himself, and subconsciously added: "I am the Junior Official of the Dali Temple, Chen Dong."

He asked in a hoarse voice, "Li He, the son-in-law of the emperor, is clearly in the capital, how can he be involved with Nanzhili!?"

He had to ask this question, and he even stopped recording.

There is no way. It’s okay for nobles, but this is a royal relative!

Li He was the consort of Princess Ning'an.

Princess Ning'an is the third daughter of Emperor Sejong and the aunt of the current emperor.

In July, she was promoted to Princess Ning'an, a person to whom the emperor had to bow whenever he saw her.

Can it really be done with this kind of person involved?!
Nobles, senior ministers of superior rank, the nine ministers of Nanzhili, and royal relatives are all involved in this. What should we do about this case?
Xu Fuyuan glanced at Chen Dong and did not take back his words. Instead, he said meaningfully, "Salt merchants can also enter Beijing."

Chen Dong was silent and hesitated.

There was no movement for a moment.

Suddenly, Chen Dong saw Hai Rui take action.

The latter moved the file in front of him and looked at him gently: "Chen Shaoqing, give me the pen, I will do it."

Chen Dong pursed his lips and did not respond.

After a long while, he reached out and moved the file back in front of him.

He looked at Hai Rui and said firmly, "Censor Hai, please continue. I will take notes."

After saying that, he recorded Li He's name stroke by stroke in the file.

Hai Rui looked at him deeply, with recognition and appreciation in his eyes.

Then he looked at Xu Fuyuan: "Do you have any evidence?"

Xu Fuyuan nodded and explained everything.

……

Qianqing Palace, evening.

Zhu Yijun was concentrating on writing.

In the past few months, he has been living a much more tiring life than in his previous life.

Court meetings, imperial archery, and greetings from the two palaces were all part of daily life.

I also had to take care of Lianghuai, Xinbao, and Xinxueyuan, interfere in personnel matters, and influence the Beijing camp, which was really tiring.

Finally, when Zhu Yijun finished writing and was about to look up and rub his eyes, he found that Li Jin was holding a lamp beside him.

He was so absorbed in thought that he didn't even notice it.

Zhu Yijun casually said, "If you have anything to say, just call me. Why are you imitating Zhang Hong?"

Zhang Hong is such a person. When you see him doing something, you never disturb him. He will only make some noise when he comes to his senses.

Li Jin said respectfully: "Your Majesty's studies are the most important thing. How dare I disturb you?"

Zhu Yijun sighed inwardly. Li Jin was becoming more and more respectful.

He looked up at the sky outside the window and asked, "Is Hai Rui still trying him?"

Hai Rui went in before noon, and now it was already evening. It seemed that he had lunch in the prison cell of the Northern Pacification Office.

Li Jin nodded: "Yes, I have been in the Northern Pacification Office for most of the day, but I haven't seen anyone come out."

Zhu Yijun reminded him, "Go and remind her at night that her mother is waiting for her at home. Go home early."

Although devoting all his life to the cause sounds touching, he still hopes that Hai Rui will take good care of his health and do his work slowly.

Xu Fuyuan has too much content in his hands, and he certainly won’t be able to review it all today.

The Censorate and the Embroidered Uniform Guard had already heard some rumors about Wang Ruyan's affairs.

Zhu Yijun found out about this person from Zhu Xixiao, and then hinted to Gao Gong to let Wang Zongmu pay attention to this person.

After that, Zhu Yijun specially demoted Xu Fuyuan to Lianghuai for a secret visit.

Also accompanying him was the Taibao of the Northern Pacification Office, who was responsible for investigating the salt merchants and gentry.

It can be said that this time the information was obtained through secret investigation by subordinates, distracted observation by superiors, and evidence collection by the people of the Northern Pacification Division. The three sources corroborated each other, and both human and physical evidence were available.

I'm hoping to use this to break through the Lianghuai border.

There are a lot of materials, a lot of evidence, and many people involved, so it is naturally not something that can be reviewed in a day or two.

You might as well go to Lianghuai and examine it slowly, there is no need to rush.

He had already hinted to Hai Rui that he should continue to advance into Lianghuai with a slow and long-term approach as the premise, using Wang Ruyan as a fulcrum and the salt merchants as a lever.

But what I didn't expect was that when Hai Rui started working on a case, he would be so absorbed in it that he would forget to eat and sleep.

Li Jin responded but did not leave immediately.

Zhu Yijun then remembered that he had something to do, so he waved his hand and asked directly, "What is it? Tell me."

Li Jin said carefully: "There is some progress on Sun Yizheng's matter."

Zhu Yijun immediately turned his head and looked at Li Jin, waiting for what to come.

Sun Yizhen has been giving instructions for this matter for a long time.

Previously, Feng Bao had confiscated Li's house and had intended to put Li in jail.

But in order to get a few key positions from the cabinet at that time, he had to make concessions and promised not to use spy politics casually. Of course, Zhu Yijun also suspected that Zhang Juzheng might have some black material in Feng Bao's hands, which was why he had to block the Jinyiwei from taking action.

Anyway, in the end this job was taken over by the outer court and fell into the hands of Sun Yizhen, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture.

But Sun Yizhen was really ignorant of the consequences, so he copied out 60,000 taels and treated the emperor like a beggar.

If not him, who else should we investigate?
He immediately ordered the Eastern Depot to take the lead and the Embroidered Uniform Guard to cooperate in a secret investigation.

Zhu Yijun almost forgot about this matter, but he didn't expect that there would be a result now.

Li Jin reported everything in detail: "The eunuchs have made many inquiries and have a rough estimate."

"The cash in Feng Bao's house is probably only 80,000 taels, but the calligraphy and paintings, jewels, and jades are far more than that amount."

Zhu Yijun leaned forward, his face focused, listening carefully.

If we didn't want to check the specific number, it wouldn't take so long.

Li Jin continued: "A rough estimate is that it is about 130,000 taels."

Zhu Yijun yelled, "Sun Yizheng! The real Sun!"

"I haven't settled accounts with this bastard about the Huguang mining tax case yet, and now he's blatantly bullying me!"

"It's so lawless!"

In the mining tax case of Huguang, Sun Yizhen was the governor of Huguang. Now that he has arrived in Shuntian Prefecture, he still does not know how to restrain himself!
Zhu Yijun suddenly turned around and stared at Li Jin: "Who is the big Buddha behind him that he is so fearless of death!?"

It is hard to say whether, as the emperor, I can get back my dignity. It depends on the specific situation.

Li Jin said cautiously: "This matter has not been investigated clearly, but..."

Zhu Yijun said nothing and waited for his reply.

Li Jin hesitated and said carefully, "After that, Sun Yizheng went to Yuanfu's house."

"Afterwards, a carriage of goods was sent to the son-in-law, Li He."

"And the father-in-law's family was not left out either."

Zhu Yijun paused.

He asked, "Did you send treasures to Yuan Fu?"

Zhang Juzheng was not a kind person. He reminded me again and again, but I still didn't give him face.

Do we have to wait until the last two months and then stop in the first year of the Wanli period?

Li Jin shook his head: "He was driven out by Yuan Fu, and his property was returned. Then Sun Yizheng sent the property to Zhang Siwei's house."

Zhu Yijun's expression relaxed.

It's fine as long as Zhang Juzheng doesn't sabotage Zhang Siwei; Zhang Siwei will be killed anyway.

He asked, "What's going on with Li He?"

The prince consort Li He is his uncle.

Li Jin hesitated and said, "Prince Consort Li personally met Sun Yizheng. It is said that Prefect Sun gave a lot of jewelry, and the Grand Princess was also very happy."

Zhu Yijun secretly resented.

He even took out his own nephew's family fortune. These people really don't take him seriously!
This is called a tangled web.

A mere confiscation of property could implicate the Prime Minister, the Jin Party, the Grand Princess, the Emperor's father-in-law, and who knows how many more people might be involved underneath the surface.

That’s not all. The mining tax case in Huguang must be more complicated than this.

We sent someone there in July, but there's still no news.

He even wondered if he would receive news of death next.

Fortunately, a reply was received this month, saying that the situation was complicated and was still under investigation.

Zhu Yijun's expression was uncertain.

After a long while, he ordered: "Go, give half of the jade ring to my aunt."

"Let me just say that although I am short of money, I still remember who my relatives are. I heard that my aunt likes jade, so I have no reason to be stingy."

Li Jin was about to leave when Zhu Yijun stopped him again. After thinking for a long time, he added, "Go and tell the Prime Minister about Sun Yizheng's case and tell him that I want Li Zaiting, the official in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, to personally examine this person."

Li Jin waited for a while, and when he saw that there was no more talk from above, he slowly retreated.

　Ten thousand words, the black guy speaks!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)