The Lonely Family in the Red Chamber

"Ah Li, you didn't say anything before, what do you think about this?" After the court, Emperor Chengqing looked at Tu Jingnian who was helping him with the memorial, and suddenly said.

Tu Jingnian put down the things in his hands, thought for a while, and said: "Father, you also know that my son has some properties in Jiangnan, and about the affairs of Jiangnan, I also heard from the steward who comes back every year to deliver accounts. Jiangnan is indeed quite powerful. As for things like annexation of land, every family has it, and I didn't pay much attention to it. On the contrary, I told my father before that the Zhen family might have stolen a lot of salt tax! The other ministers are not clear, but since Bai Hao, who was beating the drum before, dared to break the boat, he must have been close to the matter. Even if the head of the Zhen family didn't know about it, the servants below made such a move. When the matter of disregarding human life comes, I'm afraid the Zhen family will also have a crime of ineffective control!"

Tu Jingnian was actually quite blunt, Emperor Cheng Qing frowned and said, "I know you don't like the Zhen family, but why did you come to this?"

Tu Jingnian pursed his lips, and then said: "Father, my son knows that Father has always been very tolerant to the Zhen family, but hasn't Father noticed the actions of the Zhen family over the years? Just look at today's In the middle of the court, Bai Hao filed a lawsuit against the imperial court, and how many people came out to complain to the Zhen family! I don't believe that the Zhen family's conduct is so good that people who have never met before will fight for the Zhen family! Father, the Zhen family hates it It's not just here, Father, you also said that I don't like the Zhen family, because the Zhen family instigated our brothers to discord!"

Seeing that Emperor Chengqing's expression eased a bit, Tu Jingnian continued: "The third younger brother used to be young, at most he was angry with his brothers for trivial matters, he was essentially a good boy, smart and capable, but the Zhen family is now Holding the third younger brother as the gunman, the third younger brother is the prince, although he is born of the concubine Demu, but he is still an apprentice, but the third younger brother was fooled by the Zhen family, and he listened to everything from the Zhen family. Forced to eat vegetarian food and recite Buddhism, the concubines and concubines are almost all from the Zhen family or from people the Zhen family has made friends with. In the court hall, the third brother seems to have become a thug for the Zhen family. In the Ministry of Criminal Justice, many of the people recommended by the Zhen family have already achieved the position of the head of the Ministry of Criminal Justice. There are many incidents of disorder, but the third brother ignores them, and instead helps the Zhen family to reject dissidents and promote party members..."

"Enough!" Emperor Chengqing's forehead was twitching with veins, and with a wave of his hand, he brushed the fine white jade unicorn paperweight to the ground, and a corner of the paperweight fell off, and the unicorn immediately looked a little ridiculous.

Tu Jingnian fell silent, and Emperor Cheng Qing took a few deep breaths, and waved his hand wearily: "Forget it, Ah Li, you should go back to the East Palace first, and I will take a good rest first!"

Tu Jingnian resigned tactfully, and when Emperor Chengqing saw Tu Jingnian going away, he said quietly: "Cao Anping, tell me, am I being too indulgent to the third child and the others!"

Cao Anping groaned inwardly, but he couldn't help but say it. After thinking about it, he chose a saying that would not offend others: "A saint is just a loving father!"

No matter what, Tu Jingnian set a fire here, and Emperor Chengqing became wary of the Zhen family, and immediately ordered someone to thoroughly investigate the matter of the Zhen family, and directly sent imperial envoys, and Emperor Chengqing was chosen His confidant, Cui Jun, the Imperial Envoy of the Right Capital, is a native of Luoyang, Henan. It is said that it was originally a branch of the Qinghe Cui family among the seven surnames and ten families in the Tang Dynasty. Only they know about posting gold.

Cui Jun also complained in his heart. Although he was the Imperial Envoy of the Right Capital, being able to sit in this position is obviously not the same as the ordinary supervisory censors below. He knows who he should be loyal to. For a while, I can only pretend that I didn't see it.What he knows best is to understand Emperor Chengqing's mind. As long as Emperor Chengqing winks, he will know whom Emperor Chengqing is dissatisfied with. Unleash the verbal sword skills, beat people to the heart with ten thousand swords, and directly gameover!This time, he discovered Emperor Chengqing's intentions. Emperor Chengqing was afraid that he wanted to clean up the Zhen family. The problem is that the Zhen family is already in trouble. If the Zhen family is cleaned up, Jiangnan and even the entire officialdom will have to happen. big shock.Cui Jun has no friendship with the Zhen family, and even has a bit of hatred. The Cui family originally relied on the convenience of the canal to make a living, but after the Zhen family took control of Jiangnan, they cheated the Cui family of a lot of business.

The problem is, this bit of hatred doesn't require Cui Jun to fight in person!

Cui Jun held the attitude of success or benevolence, and when he took his men and horses to Jiangnan, Bai Hao, who was protected by a group of servants from Shuntian Mansion, died in his room in the inn. The dead man directly stabbed a dagger into the heart, and the dead man was found immediately, and he committed suicide on the spot without escaping.

After hearing the news, Emperor Chengqing was furious, and the governor of Shuntian Prefecture was directly dismissed because of this. Not only did the guards who were in charge of protection lose their jobs, but they were also arrested and interrogated repeatedly, because the newly appointed governor thought that a person who was completely wrong The person who looked like Xiao Er dressed as Xiao Er, and entered Bai Hao's room with a murder weapon, there must be an internal response, and the internal response was among those guards.Sure enough, two servants couldn't stand the punishment and confessed. Someone gave them 500 taels of silver each to make it easier for them to guard the gate. They were greedy for a while, so they agreed. The child was suspicious, but he did not follow the usual body search and let him go.However, they couldn't tell at all who gave them the 500 taels of silver.The confession was only made here, and early the next morning, someone found the two dead in the prison of Shuntian Mansion.

Emperor Chengqing was furious, the more secretive things were, the deeper the water was!Although the plaintiff is gone, the case will still go to trial, and this kind of obvious killing and silence, that is, the crime is aggravated!

Tu Jingnian also felt a little uncomfortable. In order to collect evidence of the Zhen family's crimes before, Tu Jingnian just let the people below watch. This time, Tu Jingnian originally wanted to protect Bai Hao, who knows, It's still a bad move, the Bai family's lineage is completely cut off!

It's just that Tu Jingnian was such a person, he felt that he was a sinner who stood by and watched, but he didn't really push this matter, but he swore in his heart that the Zhen family must suffer retribution.Since the Bai family was originally born in Yuncheng, Shandong, there are probably still members of the clan over there. Looking back to see which family has more children, and adopting a child in the Bai family's lineage, it can be regarded as a beginning and an end.Therefore, Tu Jingnian raised the matter with Emperor Chengqing.

Emperor Chengqing was almost [-]% sure that this matter was the fault of the Zhen family, and he was extremely annoyed. This time when he heard Tu Jingnian talking about Bai Hao, he was taken aback for a moment, and sighed: "Ah Li, you I'm still so soft-hearted, but that's all, I'll ask someone to check it later!" That is to say, I acquiesced to this matter.

At the same time, Emperor Chengqing had developed extreme distrust of the Secretary of General Affairs in the south of the Yangtze River. There was no news from the Secretary of General Administration of the Zhen family when there were so many incidents. It seemed that he trusted the Secretary of General Administration too much. Therefore, Emperor Chengqing sent Jin Yiwei directly to investigate secretly.

Compared with Cui Jun who had to show off the imperial guard of honor and swagger all the way through the city, Jin Yiwei had his own news channel, and originally collected a lot of information about Jiangnan, but because of the different powers, the Secretary of General Administration was in charge of Jiangnan's officialdom. Jin Yiwei is in charge of military administration, and exceeding power is a taboo. Therefore, the person in charge of Jin Yiwei in the south of the Yangtze River watched coldly that the Tongzheng Secretary colluded with the Zhen family to deceive the emperor, but he didn't get angry, and he didn't report tricks behind his back. After getting the evidence, wait to turn around and step on the General Secretary completely. Only when the saint doesn't want to use the General Secretary can he show the benefits of the Jinyiwei, isn't it?

Because Emperor Chengqing only issued the order, within less than ten days, news of Jin Yiwei spread in large numbers.The Zhen family colluded with each other to withhold salt tax, sell private salt, and deceive the emperor.But it is said that the Zhen family has been operating in Jiangnan for so many years, how many officials have colluded with them, how many disobedient officials and law-abiding businessmen have been ruined by the Zhen family, how many treasures have been robbed by force, and how arrogant and domineering the Zhen family's children are. , doing whatever they want, how arrogant the servants of the Zhen family are outside, how many people have been killed...

With Emperor Chengqing's ability to bear it, it was horrifying to see that the secret report had written about the contacts between the Zhen family and the Xue family for so many years. Emperor Chengqing saw that the Secretary of General Affairs had been controlled by the Zhen family so many years ago. No wonder I don't know anything!Emperor Chengqing became furious immediately, and the Zhen family couldn't be alarmed casually, lest the Zhen family would jump over the wall in a hurry, but Xue Jian couldn't let it go!Thinking of this white-eyed wolf, holding his own salary and enjoying the benefits brought by the General Secretary, he dared to betray himself!What is the Xue family? It was just a speculative businessman back then. The Taizu was generous and rewarded them with an official position as Ziwei Sheren, and was also granted the qualification of an imperial merchant. This is how the family is now worth millions. Pearls are like earth and gold is like iron. The Xue family, but the dog he raised actually wagged his tail at others and bit himself back. Emperor Chengqing is a saint, and he can't stand it anymore. Besides, he is only honored as a saint, but he is actually an ordinary man. !

Emperor Chengqing directly ordered that Jinyiwei kill Xue Jian without leaving a trace, and then immediately sent someone over to take over Xue Jian's position with his own warrant, and all Xue Jian's confidantes and those who were infiltrated by the Zhen family were killed. clean up.

At the order of Emperor Chengqing, thousands of miles away, on the way back from discussing business outside, Xue Jian caught a cold for some reason, and fell ill after returning home. He found a doctor he trusted, and the doctor prescribed the medicine normally. As a result, no matter how much he used the medicine, his condition became more and more serious. Xue Jian just found out that something was wrong, and he couldn't even speak clearly. When he was dying, he vaguely heard the half-dead voice of the old servant who served him with the medicine: " Master, this old slave has served you for so many years, and I really miss you, but who told the superiors to know what you did? I shouldn't say that, but I have a friendship with you for most of my life after all, and I can't make you a fool, master, you can rest assured, this old slave will help you look after your wife, uncle and girl!"

Xue Jian's eyes widened, and he pointed at the old servant. He was speechless for a long time, and there was an indistinct "grunt" sound in his throat, and then he couldn't catch his breath, and then he lost his breath!Seeing that his eyes hadn't closed, the old servant stretched out his hand to close his eyes, and then made a mournful voice: "Master, master is out of breath!" The Xue family was in chaos.