Chapter 232 One ring within another
However, people are extremely interested in this kind of gossip inside the home.
In just half a day, various versions of the news spread throughout Bian Jing.
As the saying goes, words change when they are passed from person to person.
When one person fights with another, it may be spread by word of mouth that someone was beaten to death, or someone killed someone else.
People always like to add some embellishment when spreading news, as if this can show the truth of what they say.
However, it is obvious that various versions of gossip and rumors, when linked together with various pieces of information, will form a complete story.
At first glance, people who don't know the truth will think it is true.
These pieces of information were passed on by Zhao Xing through Yin Hanzhang, and were also his means of dealing with those people.
Indeed, this method is a bit vulgar and even childish in the eyes of many people.
actually not.
As the saying goes, if more people spread the word, a fake will become true.
For civil officials, reputation is very important.
Rumor has it that when Prime Minister Zhou learned the news, he was so angry that he fainted.
Zhao Xing didn't know whether it was true or not, but in the afternoon, Prime Minister Zhou sent people to the Kaifeng government office and the Wucheng Bingmasi, asking them to investigate the people who spread the rumors.
Not only Mr. Zhou, but also those who were spread rumors also sent people to put pressure on him.
The prime minister and so many court officials were slandered and reported to the authorities. Sheng Hong naturally took it very seriously and agreed to it immediately.
However, when he sent someone to investigate, he was overwhelmed.
There were simply too many people talking about it, and these rumors seemed to have spread throughout Bianliang suddenly, making it impossible to trace their source.
Sheng Hong has been an official for many years and his sense of smell is still very keen. It seems that someone did this on purpose.
He targeted so many officials at once, including the prime minister of the dynasty. No matter who they were, he could not afford to offend them.
Sheng Hong's smooth character was immediately revealed, and he went directly to the East Palace to ask for an audience with Zhao Xing.
After meeting Zhao Xing, he briefly explained the situation but did not express some of the guesses in his mind.
He only said that Kaifeng Prefecture was short of staff and asked Zhao Xing what to do.
After hearing this, Zhao Xing looked at Sheng Hong with a half-smile. This guy is quite good at passing the buck.
He came to ask for instructions, and no matter what happened afterwards, he was just following orders and it had nothing to do with him.
"Even the emperor is willing to accept advice with an open mind, so how can the government stop the people from speaking? Besides, what the people say has not been proven to be false. If it is not false, it is naturally not slander, and it does not constitute a crime. Let's put it this way, the Kaifeng government office does not have to worry about this matter. If Prime Minister Zhou and his men send people here, tell them that unless it is proven first that what the people say is false, they can arrest the people who are talking about it." Zhao Xing said.
Sheng Hong was stunned. How could he prove that what the people were saying was false?
Then we can only check it.
Can Mr. Zhou and his men ask the government to investigate these things?
Totally impossible.
Not to mention whether there are similar problems in their home, even if there aren't any, they would not agree to it.
Rumors spread, but instead of investigating the rumors, the government investigated them.
No matter what is found out in the end, it becomes true in the eyes of the people.
What, the government finally investigated and said that the rumors were false?
It's impossible, absolutely impossible. It must be that officials are protecting each other.
Sheng Hong was not stupid and reacted quickly.
Could this matter be related to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?
Otherwise why would Zhao Xing act like the bigger the problem, the better?
However, Sheng Hong didn't dare to ask and could only answer, "Yes!"
"Okay, if there is nothing else, you can leave." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
"I'm leaving now!" Sheng Hong bowed and left.
"The good show has just begun." Zhao Xing sneered.
He had previously said that this was a case of giving someone a taste of their own medicine because the conservatives had used this tactic when the New Deal was implemented.
My father said that the new policy was implemented hastily and had too many drawbacks, so it had to be stopped for the sake of the stability of the Song Dynasty.
These words are true, but they are not all.
Over the years, Zhao Xing has also carefully studied the reasons for the failure of the new policy.
The new policy started from the very beginning by targeting the official class and affecting their interests.
In order to stop the new policy, many officials began to discredit the reform officials headed by Fan Daxianggong.
The conservatives found all sorts of reasons to impeach officials who supported reform.
They even impeached Prime Minister Fan for forming a clique for personal gain.
My father might not believe it at first, but if more people tell him, that may not be the case.
Moreover, the means of reform could not be gentle. When Prime Minister Fan was implementing the new policy, he must have dealt with some uncooperative officials to make an example of them.
If the emperor does not waver, these measures will seem normal.
But once the emperor becomes suspicious, it will be seen as an attempt to exclude dissidents.
Even if the emperor trusted his son Zhao Xing, he would definitely not tell Zhao Xing about such despicable things.
The conservatives used smear campaigns to prevent the implementation of the new policy, while Zhao Xing used smear campaigns to make these people unwilling to take care of the matter of measuring the land.
There is no point in reasoning with them, because scholars are the ones who master and formulate principles.
Confucianism has become increasingly feudal and distorted, and it is these scholars who are responsible.
But these rumors alone are not enough, we still have to see what happens next. …………
Sheng Hong had already roughly guessed the truth in his mind and was no longer concerned about finding the source of the rumor.
In fact, he didn't dare to take it seriously, otherwise if something was really found out, it would be even more of a headache.
But the situation is different with the Wucheng Bingmasi.
The Wucheng Bingmasi was responsible for patrolling Bianjing to arrest thieves, dredging streets and drains, and handling prisoners and fire bans.
Some are similar to the combination of a certain security, management and fire department in later generations, which naturally also have the authority to investigate.
However, the Five Cities Army was a military position, and most of the sons of nobles were assigned to the Five Cities Army.
The commanders-in-chief of the Five Cities Military Division were not as smart as Sheng Hong.
If you can find clues, you can gain favors from the prime minister and many important officials in the court.
They are naturally willing to do it.
In order to control the rumors, the Wucheng Bingmasi dispatched a large number of personnel, and anyone who talked about it in private was arrested.
The several cells of the Wucheng Bingmasi were overcrowded for a while.
A large number of people were arrested, and people dared not discuss anything. For a time, the prosperous capital of Bianjing became a little depressed, and there was a feeling of panic.
…………
"Cough cough..."
"Dad, are you okay?" Zhou Xiwen hurried forward and patted his father's back.
Zhou Yizhong coughed for a while, felt better, and asked, "What's the situation outside?"
"The rumors have stopped. I think no one will talk about it in a few days." Zhou Xiwen said.
"How come it's so fast? Have the person who spread the rumors been caught?" Zhou Yizhong asked in surprise.
"The person who spread the rumors has not been caught yet, but it should be soon. The Five Cities Army has arrested many people who talked about it, and no one dares to talk about it anymore." Zhou Xiwen said.
"What... ahem..."
Zhou Yizhong became anxious when he heard this, and before he could finish his words, he started coughing again.
"Father, are you okay?" Zhou Xiwen asked anxiously, "Someone, go get a doctor!"
"No... no need!" Zhou Yizhong's face turned pale, and he said weakly, "The people from the Five Cities Military Department are simply idiots. The law does not punish everyone. What's the point of them arresting so many people? It will only make the matter worse!"
Although he did not ask how many people the Wucheng Bingmasi had arrested, the rumors were quelled so quickly and no one dared to talk about it, so a lot of people must have been arrested.
No one dares to talk about it now, not because no one is talking about it, but because they are shocked.
However, arresting so many people only made him look guilty and his attempts to cover up his crimes only made them more obvious.
He asked people to put pressure on the Kaifeng government office and the Wucheng Military Department in order to ask them to investigate the person who spread the rumors as soon as possible.
Only in this way can the storm be calmed down as soon as possible.
"Should we go now and ask them to release them?" Zhou Xiwen said.
"It's too late." Zhou Yizhong shook his head, closed his eyes and thought for a while, then asked, "Is there any movement at the Kaifeng government office?"
"There is no movement in the Kaifeng government office. That Shao Yin Sheng relies on the fact that his daughter is the prince's concubine and doesn't take his father seriously at all!" Zhou Xiwen said hatefully.
Although Zhou Yi Zhong called the people of Wucheng Bingmasi idiots, Wucheng Bingmasi at least acted quickly.
But there was no movement at all in Kaifeng Prefecture, which showed that they did not take his father seriously.
"Send someone to ask about it, and send another person to tell the Wucheng Bingmasi that the captured people must not be tortured, and their safety must be guaranteed." Zhou Yi Zhong said.
"Those untouchables maliciously slandered my father, why should we care about their lives?" Zhou Xiwen said hatefully.
"Go quickly!" Zhou Yizhong said with his eyes wide open.
"Yes!" Zhou Xiwen didn't dare to talk nonsense. He responded and was about to walk out.
Just then, a middle-aged man hurried in.
Zhou Xiwen was startled and was about to curse, but stopped when he saw who was coming.
The man who came was Zhou Fu, his father's long-time attendant, who was deeply trusted by his father and was given the surname Zhou.
"Master, it's bad!"
"But what happened to those people captured by the Five Cities Military Department?" Zhou Yi Zhong asked anxiously.
"No." Zhou Fu shook his head, then nodded and said, "It was the family members of the arrested people. Many of them beat the drum to file a complaint, and some went to the Kaifeng government office to file a complaint."
"Now the rumors are spreading outside that the Lord ordered the Five Cities Military Department to arrest the man."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yizhong’s eyes went dark and he passed out.
Before he lost consciousness, his last thought was that what he worried about had happened.
He originally thought that the person behind the scenes might kill a few of the captured civilians, which would make the matter worse.
Unexpectedly, although the person was not dead, his family members went to beat the drum and file a complaint with the Kaifeng Prefecture.
Zhou Yi Zhong could even imagine that when the government sent people to investigate, someone from the Five Cities Military Department would confess that he was the one who ordered them to do so.
He felt like he had fallen into a trap, a series of traps within a circle.
However, before he could say anything, he fainted from rage.
…………
Zhou Yizhong was right, this was indeed a trap.
But the trap doesn't end there.
When the arrested people were beating the drum to report their crimes and going to Kaifeng Prefecture to file their complaints, several officials from the Censorate wrote a letter to impeach Zhou Yi Zhong.
(End of this chapter)