Cross the Sea in the Red Chamber

What?Is there something about Wang Ziteng?

Lin Jun was taken aback by Song Chen's words.He wasn't sure if Song Chen really knew what happened to Wang Ziteng or if he was talking nonsense just to delay time and save his life.However, according to what he meant, he regarded his group of people as the ones sent by the Wang family to kill him, and there was no need to point it out. Lin Jun really wanted to hear what Song Chen could say.

Lin Jun remained calm, raised his eyebrows, showed an extremely arrogant smile, and said: "Now that things are going on, Mr. Song still uses this well-known little trick? In order to die later, you are really Dare to say anything."

Lin Jun was originally from the south of the Yangtze River. He lived in Jinling for a while when he was a child, and he really didn't show any flaws in learning Jinling dialect.He has lived with his father in the capital for many years, so his accent has a bit of a Beijing accent, more like the accent of nobles who were born in the south of the Yangtze River but grew up in the capital.

Sure enough, Song Chen didn't hear any flaws from Lin Jun's voice. He already believed that Lin Jun must be a member of the Wang family, and it was even possible that he was a member of the Wang family who had returned to Jiangnan from the capital to deal with him.He once heard that Wang Zisheng, the eldest son of the Wang family in the capital, had a son named Wang Ren, who was about the same age. Could it be that the man in front of him was Wang Ren?

Song Chen has never seen Wang Ren's appearance, but he knows that life or death is at this moment. If he can tell what Wang Ziteng's secret is, in order not to let this secret leak out, maybe the other party will keep him. It is estimated that he will not kill him until he is sure that the rumor will not be passed on. It is better to delay as long as possible than to die immediately.

Song Chen pursed his lips, gritted his teeth and said, "No one knows about the good things you did when you were Wang Ziteng? When the San Francisco rebelled, he was the one who proposed delaying Qin Wang, and he was the one who forced the historian He was the one who delayed the march, and he was the one who stretched out his hand when the Yongwang Palace changed, and he was the one who contacted..."

When he heard about these crimes, "Wang Ren" on the opposite side didn't even change his face, and he seemed to be listening casually from the beginning to the end.Song Chen knew that these few words could not save his life, so he could only continue to say: "Your Wang family caught the white duck and gave it to someone to die for. Don't you know that I don't know? Cutting the white duck is a clear order of the Dajing Law. Forbidden, according to Emperor Gao's will, if an official dares to do it, no matter how high or low his position is, his head will be beheaded!"

Lin Jun knew all the previous things, they were all old Huangli back then, I believe that the civil and military men of the Manchu Dynasty knew a lot, but killing the white duck?Did the royal family of Jinling even do such evil things? !

What is "cut white duck"?Killing white ducks, also known as slaughtering white ducks, refers to the fact that powerful people commit crimes against human life and do not want to die, so they either buy them with a lot of money, or threaten and force them to make innocent poor children plead guilty for the perpetrators and take the blame.

I heard that in the beginning, the perpetrator was willing to spend a lot of money to bribe another person, only to let that person go to the government to confess his guilt. If the official is a stupid person and is eager to close the case, this crime will be done.Taking the initiative to die for money is like a white duck being played and slaughtered arbitrarily because of greed, so it is called this.

Later, things gradually evolved. The offender simply colluded with the government and deliberately forced the poor family to confess his guilt. The guilty person had nowhere to complain.

If lending loan sharks is a crime of dismissal from office, ransacking one's home, or exile, then beheading a white duck is a heinous crime!Not only did it hurt people's lives, but it also wronged innocent people and completely destroyed the strictness of the law.

At the end of the Yan Dynasty, Emperor Gao was just a low-ranking citizen with no power and power, and his elder brother was killed by the rich and powerful as a white duck, so the law of the Jing Dynasty condemned the killing of the white duck Extremely strict, no matter how high the official title is, anyone who dares to commit this crime must die.This Wang Ziteng is so confident that he won't leak it, how dare he stick to such a thing?

Lin Jun looked at Song Chen who was lying on the ground, and saw that his face was red and angry, and he was not sure whether he really knew about this private matter or just made it up for his life.He simply pretended not to care and said, "What do we people from the Wang family need to kill white ducks? With the power of our Wang family, no officials dare not give the Wang family some face, and dare to blatantly convict the children of the Wang family." ? Still using this kind of thing to catch you? What a joke!"

"Why not?!" Song Chen didn't care about anything at this time in order to survive, and dared to shake everything out, "Your Jinling royal family is indeed a big family, with great influence, and you can walk sideways in the entire Jiangnan, killing you. People don't have to worry about being sentenced to heavy sentences. Of course, there is no need to kill a white duck to find someone to die for. But don't your Wang family have any down-and-out relatives? Wouldn't you use your power to buy someone's life and fill the blame? ?”

"You guys pretended to keep this matter secret, thinking that no one knew about it? That Wang Ziteng's nephew, Xue Pan, the eldest son of the Xue family in Jinling, caused a life lawsuit because he ordered his servants to beat the son of the squire to death. According to the law, killing people to pay for their lives should be punished by beheading. If this is the only way, Wang Ziteng can still suppress it. Who would have thought that the dead person had a reputation, and he was caught in the same year when he was the censor. If you don’t let it go, you can’t hold it down any longer, and you must be sentenced.”

"But Wang Ziteng felt sorry for his nephew, and wanted to spend money to settle the matter. He specially ordered someone to send a message back to Jinling from northern Xinjiang, bribed the new Yingtian Fu Yin, let Xue Pan go privately, and captured the white duck to replace him. Die! That White Duck is still locked up in the prison in Jinling at this time, waiting to be killed by Qiuhou, don't you think I don't know?!" Song Chen shouted dissatisfied.

Is there really such a thing? !Lin Jun frowned slightly, but he knew clearly in his heart that the reason why someone was willing to avenge the squire's son must be because the power of nobles and nobles had been hit hard in the past few years, and it was difficult to become popular in the court. Belonging to His Majesty the Emperor, if he had no power to rely on, how could he react so quickly, and he refused to settle the matter after being bitten to death, so the chief culprit must be killed?

Hearing about Wang Ziteng, Lin Jun felt extremely resentful.If it's just general corruption and bribery, he has seen a lot. Even the records in the "Hundred Officials" even colluded with the enemy country. This group of stupid officials can do it, which shows the darkness of the Jiangnan officialdom.However, as a first-rank member of the imperial court, this Prince Teng actually caught a white duck and died for his relatives. Not only did this person have no loyalty at all, he even lost the bottom line of being a human being!

Do these bastards know what life is at stake?Do you understand what strict laws are? !

Lin Jun didn't say much at this time, and waved his soldiers to suppress all the people in the Song family and escort the money away. Tonight, he still needs to search three more houses to complete the work. The entire Jiangnan University cannot be delayed because of one Song official. progress of the case.

Jiang Yuan's strategy is indeed very effective. First, he led troops to seize the strategic resources in the hands of the honorable family, making them completely lose the ability to rebel, and then ordered people to search the farm with all their strength, making the farm lose the power of leadership. People, so that the tenant Zhuang Ding below was unable to revolt, and finally wiped out all the corrupt officials in the south of the Yangtze River, leaving the nobles of the family completely lost their minions, and had no power to fight back.

These three steps can be described as interlocking. A series of fists completely beat the nobles of the aristocratic family, and then gradually nibbled away all their eagle dogs in Jiangnan, uprooting their power in Jiangnan!

The tenants and land of the farm still need to be further dealt with, the officials who have been escorted away need to wait for their replacements, and the remnants of noble families need to be wiped out bit by bit, but this trick of capturing the thief first and capturing the king is really very effective.

All the officials were arrested, and all the stewards of the farm were also arrested. The title deeds and slave deeds that control the life and death of the tenants are all in the names of those stewards. Once their homes were ransacked, the nobles of the family wanted to use these things Coercing the tenants to rebel with them will not work.

The spies under His Majesty the new emperor just sat at the gates of noble families and looked at them openly, but how dare these people move around?If the aristocratic family and Xungui took advantage of their power not being completely eroded, they might be able to fight against the [-] army for a while if they joined hands.But don't say that it is almost impossible for them to join forces, even if they really join forces, then what?

Is it over after fighting against the [-] army? How many soldiers and horses are still stationed in the south of the Yangtze River?Even if the commanders-in-chief of these soldiers and horses are all members of the Supreme Emperor, once the nobles of the family join forces to fight against the armies of the Three Kingdoms, it can be regarded as rebellion. Even the paralyzed Supreme Emperor can't tolerate their rebellion?Once the soldiers from the south of the Yangtze River also join the battle, the nobles of the family will only have a dead end.

If they still had armaments and food in hand, they might still have a chance, but Jiang Yuan took the first step to raid there, and all the good things accumulated over decades were taken away by Jiang Yuan, even if they had a lot of people You can't fight the army with your bare hands.So what if they occupy a place in the south of the Yangtze River?Could it be that there are many armies in the world, and there is no food reserve, how can such a small population in the south of the Yangtze River resist the strong army in the north?

Under this strategy of drawing salary from the bottom of the pot, the noble minions of the family will be consumed slowly, but they can only watch helplessly as their power shrinks, and when Jiang Yuan and the others completely digest these minions and accept these forces, the noble family He Xungui may only have less than [-]% of his strength left, so why be afraid then?

These two powers are not without other enemies. Dajing does not know how many officials and powers have suffered from the aristocratic family and nobles.At the beginning they were too powerful, of course they could suppress others so that they had no way to resist, but now that the power of noble families has been almost disintegrated by the court, it is much easier to deal with them.A swarm of ants can kill an elephant, not to mention Shijia and Xungui are no longer elephants...

The Supreme Emperor said that he wanted to keep the aristocratic family and nobles, yes!If they are too eager to eradicate them, these forces will inevitably be swallowed up by Situ Sheng, and it will inevitably take advantage of others.But now that the aristocratic family and nobles have not been completely eradicated, and someone is helping the court to suppress them, Situ Sheng can taste it slowly, even if he can't swallow it all, he can eat [-]% or [-]% of it.

The situation in the south of the Yangtze River is a delicious crab. To deal with it, you must be fast and slow. First use thunder to break off their crab claws and legs on both sides, and then cook slowly. Taste slowly, and there is no need to worry about them rebelling.

After the death of the Supreme Emperor, the last layer of protective crab shells of the aristocratic families will also be peeled off, so the crab meat and crab roe inside can be eaten as the imperial court wants?

Now that everything has been decided, Jiang Yuan went to Yangzhou to meet Lin Jun, exchanged the progress of the matter during this period, and heard about Wang Ziteng beheading the white duck.

Jiang Yuan frowned, and immediately wrote the secret and quickly sent it to the capital to be handed over to His Majesty the Emperor.The beheading of the white duck is no small matter. If the murder case can still arrest people and take the blame, then what about other small cases, can they all be avoided by relying on power and money?If things go on like this, the law will be lawless, the law will have no majesty at all, without the shackles of the law, won't it become a country that will not be a country?

Lin Jun was born in Legalism, and he always attached the most importance to the law and the system. He saw the impact of this matter more thoroughly than Jiang Yuan.

"Master Jiang, the laws of a country are the top priority of state affairs. Benevolence, righteousness and kindness are only temporary appeasement, and the laws and regulations can last forever. The legal system is the rules, it is justice, it is restraint, and it is order. If the law is destroyed and justice is lost, then no matter how strong the foundation is, it will be turned into a mess. At that time, no one will believe in the law, but will only obey the power, the people will be full of resentment, and the government will force the people to rebel. Just like the previous dynasty, sooner or later it will decline... ...destroyed." Both Lin Jun and Jiang Yuan were Situ Sheng's confidantes, and their trust in each other was extraordinary, otherwise, Lin Jun would never have said such things.

Jiang Yuan nodded. He couldn't be more clear about the consequences of the collapse of the social system. The stronger the power, the more it needs to be restrained, otherwise it will lead to a tragedy beyond imagination.From this point of view, the consequences of beheading the white duck will be extremely serious, and the impact on the country is no less than that of collaborating with the enemy and traitorous country.

At the beginning, Emperor Gao saw through this point and made a clear and strict order. Anyone who touches the scapegoat, no matter how high the official title is, will be executed, even the imperial relatives are no exception.Even though this is the case, if you know about this and don't punish severely, then no matter how strict the law is, it is just a dead letter.Allowing lawbreakers to destroy the authority of the law will only lead to more severe consequences, so this matter must not be tolerated!

Not counting other things that haven't been found, just what was recorded in the official records and what Song Chen said about Wang Ziteng, there have been more than a dozen of these white-cut ducks in Jiangnan, which shows the popularity of Jiangnan officialdom.If this trend cannot be effectively contained, then when there are more and more offenders, even if the imperial court wants to contain it, it will not be able to plug the gap!

The capital, the palace, the imperial study.

After receiving Jiang Yuan's secret book, Situ Sheng frowned.

The book "Hundred Officials" records that beheading white ducks is a common practice in the south of the Yangtze River, and in collusion with officials, more than a dozen people were captured for the dead.If capital crimes can be replaced, what about other crimes?If things go on like this, won't the law become a dead letter, a tool for bullying ordinary people, and let the heinous people go in vain?

The secret booklet reads: "The way of the law lies in the mean. The middle is not partial. The mediocre is not easy. The doctrine of the mean is neither partial nor oblique. It is difficult not to change it. Nothing can be violated, and nothing can be violated. Nowadays, the officials in Jiangnan regard the mean as peaceful, protect the power and die righteousness. They only know the private but not the public, pity the rich but hate the poor, flatter the high and harm the low, love power without fear of the law, and gain power Not following the rules. Injustice in the lawsuit and injustice in the law lead to rampant thieves and the exile of the common people. There is nothing more chaotic than this..."

Jiang Yuan's attitude has always been calm and cheerful, even when encountering difficulties and dangers, he often keeps quiet and seldom speaks harshly. Now, the sentences in the memorial are so indignant, and the urgency pierces the back of the paper, how can Situ Sheng not be allowed to Pay attention?

Situ Sheng had never heard of such a thing as "killing a white duck" in the past. He thought that corrupting the law by corrupting the law and colluding with the enemy was the most serious thing in the south of the Yangtze River. Now that he heard about Wang Ziteng, he realized the seriousness of the matter.

Why was the treasury of the Ministry of Accounts unable to recover the owed money from the officials?It was because the Supreme Emperor spared the honorable family and forbade Situ Sheng to collect their money.Since Xungui refused to pay the money, how could Situ Sheng get others to pay back the money?So unfair, how can you convince others?

If this is the case with money owed, what about human life?The so-called murder to pay for life and debts to pay back money have been a matter of course since ancient times. If the murderer is let go because of wealth, but the poor and innocent people are slaughtered to take the blame, then what majesty is there for the law?Doesn't everyone dare to offend it, so it doesn't matter at all?

This is a great enemy, even bigger enemies than Beiman Kingdom and Qianxiang Kingdom. Once indulged, no matter how huge the empire is, it will be destroyed in the ant's nest, and no amount of achievements can be preserved.Compared with those external external enemies, this internal invisible enemy is more powerful and paralyzing, and it destroys the country far more than other external enemies.

Situ Sheng immediately summoned officials from the Ministry of Punishment, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Dali Temple, and ordered them to send personnel to Jiangnan to investigate the case. He also issued an edict ordering Jiang Yuan and Lin Jun to monitor the case, in case those sent to Jiangnan The officials protect each other, and the people of the third division shield the offenders.

Situ Sheng hand-picked Jiang Ning as the representative of the Criminal Ministry to go south to try the case. Compared with other officials, he trusted his cousin more.With him, Jiang Yuan, and Lin Jun inspecting Jiangnan, they will be able to thoroughly investigate the case and will not let offenders.

In addition, he demanded that all the persons involved in the major Jiangnan case be escorted to Beijing immediately, ordered the third department to start interrogating and investigating them as soon as possible, and ordered the officials selected to replace them to take office as soon as possible, resulting in the related affairs of Jiangnan.

Although the evidence of the crimes committed by these prisoners is still in Jiangnan, and it will inevitably be troublesome to pass it back and forth in Jiangnan, the capital, but the roots of these people are also in Jiangnan. case, and may even collude with local forces.

The capital is different from the south, where some people would never want to cover these sinners under Situ Sheng's nose.As long as they are imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, they will never get away with their crimes, and they will never return to the land of Jiangnan in this lifetime.By doing so, the power of the noble family and nobles can be cut off as quickly as possible, so that they have no room for change!

Now that he knew about Wang Ziteng's collusion with officials to kill the white duck, Jiang Yuan would order someone to thoroughly investigate Xue Pan's murder, and it didn't take long for him to find out.

This Xue Pan did beat someone to death, and it wasn't the one who just killed this year, but because he was fighting over a beautiful maid last year, he ordered Hao Nu to beat him to death.

Because Xue Pan is a member of the four major families in Jinling, Yin Tian Fu Yin didn't dare to arrest people. He was afraid of losing his official title, so he procrastinated and procrastinated. He only said that the case was suspicious and needed to be investigated slowly.Later, the victim's family members came, and with the support of the censor, they must sue Xue Pan, so he had no choice but to order the guards to arrest Xue Pan.

Even if the culprit is caught, Yin Tianfu is afraid that the four big families will not let him go, so he hastily sent a letter to the prince to report.As soon as Wang Ziteng's letter instructing him to behead the white duck arrived, he was completely relieved, and Xue Pan was sentenced to be beheaded in court, and the plaintiff was temporarily coaxed away. Let go of this Young Master Xue.

This Young Master Xue was not stable at the beginning after returning home, but later on he almost caused trouble. Mother Xue, who has become a widow, was afraid that his only son would commit a crime and someone would find out about the white duck, so she simply took her with her. The sons and daughters went to the capital to escape, leaving only the captured white duck in the death cell waiting to be executed by Qiu Hou.

The Jing Dynasty had a system of review and review of death sentences, and it was stipulated that, except for heinous crimes, the death penalty was not allowed to be imposed by the local government, and at most it could only be sentenced to imprisonment.However, after the death penalty is tried in the local area, it needs to be approved layer by layer, and further review is required until the Ministry of Punishment. Finally, the Ministry of Punishment will sort out the information and report it to the emperor. The emperor will personally try the sentence. It is carried out in autumn, so it is often cut after autumn.

The time has not yet come, the re-examination by the court has not yet started, and Jinling has not had time to execute the sentence, otherwise the person acting as a white duck would have died and been buried long ago. The grass on the grave is estimated to be three feet high.

This is also thanks to the censor, if he hadn't been watching closely, Ying Tianfu Yin would not have dared to continue to strike, otherwise even if the sentence could not be determined, if he came to "death in prison" casually, the white duck would die without evidence ?Even if the facts of the case were declared afterwards and Xue Pan was beheaded, this man would not be able to come back from the dead.Fortunately, regardless of what the censor's original thoughts were, he saved the life of an innocent person...

"Xue family, Wang family..." Jiang Yuan snorted coldly, really looking for death!