Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 91: Officialdom Doggerel (Additional chapter for the Captain)
The government rarely interfered in the appointment of officials below the third rank, so he did not leave a deep impression on the emperor. However, the promotion of officials above the third rank was decided by him, so he left a deep impression on the emperor.

The third rank was already considered a high-ranking official, and the changes each year were very small, so he naturally remembered them very clearly.

Last year, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice retired due to old age. Among the two candidates reported by the Ministry of Personnel, the emperor originally preferred another one. However, the one the emperor favored was impeached by the Censorate, and the emperor had no choice but to appoint the other one to take over after being promoted.

According to the intelligence sent by the Imperial City Bureau, the person who was promoted last had visited Feng Deguang's house many times before that, and every time he visited, he brought a wooden box.

The wooden box was not large, but it was quite difficult for the attendants to hold it. The Imperial City Bureau speculated that it must be filled with gold and silver.

The official recalled the promotions of officials in recent years and found that every time someone he valued was eventually impeached.

The government did not have any doubts before because many people finally found out through investigation that it was true. Although some of them were eventually proven to be false, that was also normal.

After all, the Censorate reports matters based on hearsay and does not need any evidence.

"Let the Imperial City Bureau continue the investigation. I want concrete evidence." The official said in a cold tone.

If the official had the intention to kill before, it was only because he was angry. After the anger subsided, he did not actually kill anyone.

But at this time the government really wanted to kill him.

Manipulating the promotion of officials has existed since ancient times, but Feng Deguang dared to manipulate the promotion of officials above the third rank, completely treating him as a fool. This is something that no emperor could tolerate.

"Yes!" It was the first time that Eunuch Liu saw the emperor so angry. He responded and hurried down to notify him.

……

After hearing the news, Yin Hanzhang clenched his fists tightly.

When he sent the information up, he still felt a little unsure, after all, there was not enough evidence for a lot of the information.

However, after careful consideration, he decided to report it.

He was very satisfied with the final result, and the government asked him to collect evidence, which proved that the government believed the content of the intelligence.

As long as we do things better in the future, the government will definitely pay attention to the Imperial City Bureau.

However, after several days of investigation, the results were not good.

Feng Deguang was a cautious person. Although many people came to him to give him gifts, the gifts were all packed in boxes and their specific value was unknown.

Giving gifts to each other among officials has become an unspoken rule.

Every time someone gave a gift, Feng Deguang would meet the person alone, with no one else around.

Even if there is, he is an old servant who is trusted by the Feng family and is loyal and devoted. We can't capture him and interrogate him.

Last year, the country just went through a three-year exam and officials were transferred, so now is the off-season for Feng Deguang to accept gifts.

There had been no progress, and Yin Hanzhang was so anxious that he even thought of conducting a sting operation.

However, if you think about it carefully, it is simply not feasible. Officials of low rank do not even have the qualifications to meet Feng Deguang.

Even those of higher rank cannot be persuaded by him.

……

Mr. Yu secretly sent people to Shezhou to find the yamen runners who survived the incident and collect evidence.

However, when the people he sent arrived in Shezhou, they did not find the yamen runner at the address provided by Li Daoquan. After some inquiries, they learned that the yamen runner had moved away with his family.

The official knew that things were getting troublesome. It would be fine if the yamen runner was just relocated, but it would be troublesome if he was silenced.

So he sent people to track down the whereabouts of the yamen runner according to the clues he had obtained, and at the same time sent people back to Bian Jing to report to Mr. Yu.

He stayed in Shezhou to search for the missing person.

However, so many years have passed since the incident, and Zhou Weimin has now been transferred to another state to serve as a magistrate. The rest of the officials have either been promoted or transferred to serve in other places.

The granaries that were burned down have now been rebuilt.

However, after careful investigation, he still found some clues.

Before the drought that year, 60% of the farmland in Shezhou was in the hands of the people.

Now it is less than 30%, and most of them are fields with poor soil and low value.

These fields were almost all sold by the people to the landlords at extremely low prices during the drought.

He also inquired about the official reputations of Li Daoquan and Zhou Weimin and found that Li Daoquan had a very good reputation.

Logically speaking, when the disaster relief grain was burned, the government announced that it was due to Li Daoquan's negligence, so the people should hate Li Daoquan.

However, the people praised Li Daoquan highly, while Zhou Weimin had a very bad reputation as an official.

……

Zhao Xing didn't know that Li Daoquan had been secretly taken to the capital and his father was investigating the matter.

He practiced martial arts and read books every day, looked at the scissors, and cultivated his relationship with Ji Feng. A month had passed since Sheng Wei returned to Youyang, and he still hadn't come back.

My father said that Wang Anshi should be transferred to the Eastern Palace to serve as the Prince's Groom, but Wang Anshi was reluctant to come.

This made Zhao Xing a little anxious. After entering the palace to pay his respects to Queen Cao, he ran to Longtu Pavilion to see his father, wanting to ask about Wang Anshi's situation.

However, when he met his father, he found that his father looked very unhappy.

"Father, what's wrong with you? Who made you angry?" Zhao Xing asked puzzledly.

As far as he could remember, he had hardly ever seen his father angry.

"Fuer, take a look at this."

The official saw that his son's expression had eased a little, but when he heard what he said, he became angry again and picked up a piece of paper on the table and handed it to Zhao Xing.

Zhao Xing stepped forward to take it and started reading it. When he saw the content, his face looked very strange.

What was written on it was actually the record of the conversation between Feng Mingsong and several young masters.

What surprised him most was what Feng Mingsong said.

If you don't run and don't send gifts, you will stay where you are. If you only run but don't send gifts, you will be transferred to the same level. If you run and send gifts, you will be promoted and reused.

Isn’t this a catchy saying in the officialdom of later generations? Could it be that it existed in ancient times?

But if you think about it carefully, the officialdom since ancient times seems to have not been much different.

It's this Feng Mingsong who is a bit of a traitor. He even told everyone that this was what his father said, and as long as one can understand it, one will be able to have a successful career in official circles.

Doesn't this idiot know that Fanlou is the property of the Imperial City Bureau? How dare he speak so arrogantly? Now, seeing how angry his father is, the Feng family will be in big trouble.

In fact, it was Zhao Xing who wronged Feng Mingsong. Although those officials were not afraid of the Imperial City Bureau, they were still a little wary of them.

I have told the children in my family that they can play in Fanlou but they are not allowed to talk nonsense.

In addition, many children of officials have no idea about some things happening in their families, so even if they say something, it would not be a big deal. That is why they do not forbid their children from going to Fanlou.

No matter how stupid Feng Mingsong was, he would not dare to go to Fanlou and talk nonsense. He did not say that in Fanlou at all.

Yin Hanzhang stared at Feng Deguang and saw that there was little effect, so he took another approach and set his sights on Feng Mingsong.

Unexpectedly, the effect of monitoring Feng Mingsong was surprisingly good.

These words are enough to prove that Feng Deguang was often corrupt.

However, Zhao Xing did not know all this and thought that his outrageous remarks in Fanlou were reported to the Imperial City Bureau.

"Father, are you angry because of this?" Zhao Xing asked.

"Shouldn't I be angry? Is this world still the Song Dynasty? Officials' promotion depends entirely on gifts. What am I, the emperor?" the emperor said angrily.

"Father, I have heard another version of this. Would you like to listen to it?" Zhao Xing said.

He felt that this was a good opportunity. His father was very angry about Feng Mingsong's remarks. If he added fuel to the fire, his father might kill Feng's father and son in a rage.

The reason why he wanted his father to kill the civil servants was that he was worried that the civil servants would use this to restrict him in the future.

The Analects of Confucius says: If a man does not change his father's way for three years, he can be called filial.

This sentence means that even if the ideas taught by your father are wrong, it is filial piety if you do not change them for three years after your father's death.

Otherwise, it would be unfilial.

The ancients emphasized obeying the father, which means that while the father is still alive, one has to listen to him; not listening is unfilial.

Even if the ideas and morals taught by your father are wrong, you still have to follow them.

Even if it is wrong, three years cannot change it.

Filial piety was highly valued in ancient times, and ministers often used their ancestors' rules to restrict the emperor.

If my father had never killed a civil servant in his life, when he ascended the throne in the future and wanted to kill a civil servant, someone would jump out and accuse him of being unfilial.

Although Zhao Xing didn't care about these things, if his father could kill the civil servants, even just one, those civil servants would not be able to use this to restrict him in the future.

The brother who promised a reward of 10,000 yuan before has added two more chapters. This is one of them. He still owes one chapter.

I update more than 6,000 words every day, and I don’t count any one chapter as an extra update. Today there are four chapters with 8,000 words, and I have added another chapter.

There is one chapter left, I will return it when I have time.

I am very grateful for your support in subscriptions and monthly tickets and recommendation tickets. I won’t ask for monthly tickets which cost money, so please feel free to do as you please. As for free recommendation tickets, please use your little hands to give them to me. Thank you all.

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(End of this chapter)