allonlinenovel Chapter 107 The Duke Yansheng's Mansion is truly spineless!
Chapter 107 The Duke Yansheng's Mansion is truly spineless!
In the trivial matter of exiling criminals, Yang Shaofeng truly wronged Lao Zhu.
In fact, ever since he returned to the capital with Zhu Lao Er and Zhu Lao San, Emperor Zhu Chongba had been busy dealing with the backlog of memorials. He spent almost every day from morning till night processing memorials and had no time to deal with the messy affairs of Liu Hongchang and Master Geng.
Several days after the Mid-Autumn Festival, Emperor Zhu, burning the midnight oil, finally finished processing all the memorials that had been piling up for more than half a month. Then he saw the memorial submitted by Magistrate Yang, impeaching the Duke of Yansheng and the magistrates of Qufu and Wenshang. Only then did Emperor Zhu remember that there were still cases involving Liu Hongchang, Lord Geng, and others that needed to be dealt with.
He summoned Crown Prince Zhu Biao, and Emperor Zhu Chongba went straight to the point, asking, "What does the Ministry of Justice say about the case of Liu Hongchang from Ningyang County and those dozen or so local gentry?"
Zhu Biao pursed his lips slightly and said, "The Ministry of Justice said that these people did not deserve to die, and that exiling all their families was a bit too much. But now that the die is cast, we can only go with the flow."
Emperor Zhu Chongba sneered and said, "So, it turns out we were wrong after all?"
Zhu Biao also sneered and said, "After all, Liu Hongchang and others are local gentry. These officials are also local gentry after they retire. Now, because of a seventh-rank official, they have killed Liu Hongchang and others and exiled their families. It is inevitable that these officials will feel a sense of sorrow for the loss of their own people."
After a slight pause, Zhu Biao continued, "However, this can be considered a precedent. The Ministry of Justice's intention is that those local gentry who were identified by Liu Hongchang and others should also be dealt with in the same way."
Emperor Zhu Chongba hummed in agreement and asked, "What do you think?"
Zhu Biao chuckled, “Liu Hongchang and his group wanted to take advantage of Magistrate Yang’s youth and kindness. However, the officials that Liu Hongchang and his group identified were slandering government officials. Their despicable nature is even greater than that of Liu Hongchang and his group. Even if we judge them according to the example of Liu Hongchang’s case, or even add another crime, we will never wrong them.”
After the Executive Vice Emperor Zhu Biao convicted those gentry, Emperor Zhu Chongba (Zhu Chongba) brought out another memorial submitted by Yang Shaofeng through the Office of Transmission.
Faced with the memorial submitted by Magistrate Yang Shaofeng through the Office of Transmission, which consisted of only two pages but whose every line was filled with the words "lacking manpower and money," even Zhu Biao, the Crown Prince, couldn't help but feel a great headache.
"Need manpower?"
"Right now, the entire Shandong and Hebei provinces, or rather the entire north, are sparsely populated. If enough people could be organized to migrate there, why would the imperial court allow such a large area of land to be left uncultivated?"
Zhu Biao rubbed his forehead and sighed, "If we follow his suggestion and allow Uncle Xu and Uncle Chang to send the prisoners to Ningyang, it will inevitably affect whether the people of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun can return to the country smoothly, and this..."
Just as Zhu Biao was secretly worrying, Zhu Chongba handed him another memorial.
"Imposing an impeachment against the Duke Yansheng of the current dynasty, Kong Xixue, for lax household management, and incidentally impeaching Kong Xida, the magistrate of Qufu, for dereliction of duty?"
Zhu Biao suddenly felt that the temperature in the Qianqing Palace was a bit low, otherwise why would every breath he took be cold air?
"Good heavens, it would have been fine if Magistrate Yang hadn't submitted any memorials, but the one he did submit was an impeachment of the Duke of Yansheng and the Magistrate of Qufu. He really isn't afraid of offending people!"
Emperor Zhu Chongba smiled, then picked up the third memorial and waved it around.
Zhu Biao was slightly taken aback and asked, "Anything else?"
After taking the memorial from Emperor Zhu and glancing at it, Zhu Biao felt uneasy.
"Impose an impeachment against Zhao, the magistrate of Wenshang County, for colluding with Kong Xidapeng, the magistrate of Qufu County?"
"Good heavens, this is a serious crime, enough to send Magistrate Zhao to keep Liu Hongchang and his gang company!"
Emperor Zhu Chongba smiled and said, "That's right. At first, we thought he was a good official who loved the people like his own children. Later, we thought he was a capable and efficient official. But only now have we realized that he is also a master at fabricating charges."
Despite using the phrase "fabricating charges," both Emperor Zhu Chongba and Zhu Biao knew in their hearts that Yang Shaofeng had not wronged Magistrate Zhao and Kong Xida at all.
After all, the Kong family's reputation was impeccable, and Emperor Zhu Chongba had personally experienced firsthand what kind of people the Duke Yansheng's family was, and not long ago at that.
In March of the first year of the Hongwu reign, around the time when Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate of Ningyang County, had just been forcibly conscripted by Chang Yuchun to serve as the magistrate of Ningyang County, when Xu Da led his troops to Qufu, Kong Kejian, the then Duke Yansheng, did not personally come out to greet him, but instead sent his son Kong Xixue to do so.
Even when summoned by Emperor Zhu Chongba, Kong Kejian repeatedly declined, even failing to appear after three invitations. He instead sent his son, Kong Xixue, to the capital, much like he had done with Xu Da. This angered Emperor Zhu Chongba, who wrote a letter to Kong Kejian stating: "You claim to be ill, but I do not know if this is true. To use illness to slight me is unacceptable."
It means you, Master Kong, had better be really sick. If you're not sick but faking it to fool us, we can make you so sick you can't get out of bed!
This once again proves that the Duke Yansheng's mansion is truly spineless!
After receiving Zhu's letter, Lord Kong Kejian was terrified. His original intention to be loyal to the Yuan Dynasty was completely forgotten, and he hurriedly rushed to Nanjing.
Unfortunately, by this time, Emperor Zhu Chongba was already very dissatisfied with Kong Kejian. When he summoned Kong Kejian to the Jinshen Hall, Emperor Zhu Chongba directly addressed him as "Old Scholar" and bluntly said, "I will not entrust you with any tasks." He also said, "I hope that the Kong family of Qufu will produce another good person in our dynasty."
Emperor Zhu Chongba even said, "The descendants of the former sages are treated with special courtesy, and are supported with salaries but not entrusted with any tasks."
To put it bluntly, they were treating the lineage of the Duke Yansheng as a mascot and raising it up.
Now that Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate of Qufu, has suddenly submitted a memorial impeaching Duke Yansheng Kong Xixue and Qufu magistrate Kong Xida, Emperor Zhu Chongba is naturally very pleased.
As long as someone steps forward, he can legitimately give the Duke of Yansheng's mansion another warning.
After pondering for a while, Zhu Biao sighed slightly and said, "That's not appropriate. The matter of the Duke of Yansheng's mansion is related to the hearts and minds of the students and people of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. We should prioritize treating them with kindness. Otherwise, it would have been better to choose the Southern Sect to inherit the title from the beginning."
Emperor Zhu Chongba grunted and asked, "Then what do you suggest we do?"
Zhu Biao pondered for a moment and said, "Issue an imperial edict reprimanding Kong Kejian for failing to properly discipline his family and for postponing the ceremony for his son Kong Xixue to inherit the title. Kong Xida, the magistrate of Qufu, is also punished with twenty strokes of the cane and a three-month salary deduction.
"As for Magistrate Zhao of Wenshang County..." Zhu Biao sneered and said, "He was absent from his post to Ningyang County and threatened his colleagues. It would be better to demote him to assistant magistrate, deduct half a year's salary, and then temporarily appoint him as the magistrate of Wenshang County."
Upon hearing Zhu Biao's ruling, Emperor Zhu burst into laughter, "Good, good, what a brilliant two-birds-with-one-stone strategy!"
Before Zhu Biao could even enjoy his triumph for three seconds, Emperor Zhu Chongba waved the memorial in his hand again and asked, "Then tell me, how should we resolve the manpower shortage in Ningyang County?"