Chapter 61: The altar was destroyed, a shocking incident occurred, the heaven was cruel, the emperor and his ministers made mistakes, Wen Zhao died, Hai Rui was angry, and he wrote a memorial to the emperor!
"Jiao altar?" Wang Yongji was stunned and didn't quite react. At this time, the servants of the county government rushed in hurriedly.
"Report to the Lord, there is a fire in the altar of the Luotian Grand Ceremony to the east of the Third Master (the name given to the third in command by the county servants)!"
"What?!" Wang Yongji was startled, and finally reacted, and then shouted angrily: "It was raining so hard today, and the altar was fine, how could it flood!"
At this moment, his first reaction was that the Yan Party had taken action.
The altar of the Luotian Grand Ceremony was burned, and Hai Rui, the magistrate of Dinghai County, could not escape the blame!
However, there is no reason for the Yan Party to destroy the altar. The National Master is a member of the Yan Party. Could it be that the Qingliu did it?
In this dispute, neither the Yan Party nor the Qingliu Party has given up. Is the real fight still going on?
"It was man-made!" At this time, the servant said quickly, "The arsonist has been caught!"
Man-made? And someone caught him?
Wang Yongji was stunned, caught off guard by this sudden and strange news that seemed like a child's play.
However, he reacted quickly and noticed the abnormality of the situation immediately. He spoke up immediately:
"Where are the Dinghaiwei garrison? They have been in charge of guarding the altar since its construction. How could anyone set it on fire?"
This is sheer nonsense. It's impossible for a flood to occur if it rains during the day. Well, you say it's man-made, then that's possible... bullshit!
But how important is the Luotian Grand Ceremony? The Imperial Master personally came to preside over it and pray for the people of Dinghai County. The Dinghai Guards garrison can be said to have allocated a lot of troops to guard the altar and patrol day and night!
Then someone said, "The fire was set by humans?" This sounds even more ridiculous than a natural fire!
"No, there are no garrisons..." However, facing the angry Wang Yongji, the servant said with a somewhat ugly expression.
"What did you say?!" Wang Yongji was stunned by the answer, and then subconsciously looked towards Hai Rui.
"Who is the commander of Dinghaiwei?" Compared with Wang Yongji, Hai Rui was calmer and asked suddenly.
"It seems his name is Lin Chongyi," Wang Yongji lowered his head and thought for a moment before saying, "He was transferred to Dinghai Guard half a month ago and served as the guard commander. The person in charge of negotiating with him is..." Wang Yongji paused, looked up at Hai Rui, and said, "Wen Zhao!"
Hai Rui's eyes flickered, and after a moment he suddenly turned around and headed towards the lobby. He quickly walked to the desk and found the Lin family's files.
"Shua!" With a wave of his hand, the long file was thrown away. Soon, Hai Rui found the name Lin Chongyi in the Lin family's genealogy list, "Sure enough, he is from the Lin family!"
"Lin family, then he is from the Qingliu faction," Wang Yongji frowned and said, "Wen Zhao is a member of the Yan party, how could he be with the Qingliu faction..." After saying this, Wang Yongji suddenly stopped.
"Half a month ago, he was appointed as the commander of Dinghaiwei. Who has the authority to appoint him?" Hai Rui seemed to be talking to Wang Yongji, but also seemed to be talking to himself.
"Governor-General of Zhejiang, Hu Zongxian, Hu Minister!"
"Then everything makes sense." Hai Rui took a deep breath, walked to the window, and looked at the fire rising into the sky in the east.
"The Yan Party and the Qingliu have joined forces. They want to use this fire to completely settle all the issues in Dinghai County!"
"The Yan Party has let go, and Qingliu has also voluntarily abandoned the Lin family, as well as all the interest families in our hands that are involved with the Lin family. Since we want to settle the matter, we must settle it cleanly."
"Their meaning is very clear. Don't I want to investigate? Don't I want to hold on to it? Then give it all to me!"
"Clearly cut it off with one stroke, this case ends here!"
"Is this what Wen Zhao said, to settle the matter?" Wang Yongji said, staring with disbelief, "What about the Imperial Master? The Luotian Grand Ceremony was organized by His Majesty..."
"If you do this, doesn't it mean that the Qingliu and Yan party..." At this point, Wang Yongji felt cold all over and said in a low voice: "Deceiving the emperor? Aren't you afraid that the emperor will investigate?"
"If the Yan Party and the Qingliu can join forces, then Your Majesty..." As Wang Yongji spoke, his voice disappeared.
Will the emperor allow the two factions to join forces?
Moreover, the matter was done so blatantly. The files are all there and the truth will be revealed with a little investigation.
Upon hearing this, Hai Rui did not answer. He just looked up and forward, and opened his mouth. In the end, he did not say anything in front of Wang Yongji. He just thought in his heart, "What if this is all the emperor's instructions?"
In an instant, Hai Rui's brain started working rapidly.
He began to recall how he was recommended by Lord Zhang to come to Dinghai County to investigate a case. The whole process had gone extremely smoothly.
There was only one thing he needed to do, and that was to take the files and confiscate the properties of those merchant families that had close ties with the Xu Jie family. Why did Lord Xu do this?
Is it because there is too much money that he wants to abandon some merchant families in the name of the court and give money to the court?
No, the only reason could be that he had to do it!
Then, the Yan Party suddenly became obsessed with it and, through Wen Zhao, gave their own gentry families clues about how they had annexed the land of military households.
This might be a struggle between the Yan Party and the Qingliu Party. After receiving the case, he completely stopped listening to the Qingliu Party's arrangements.
After that, it has been dragging on until now, and both sides suddenly stopped fighting in a strange way. The Yan Party is even now cooperating with the Qingliu Party.
Now that the Lin family has been singled out, many gentry families in the southeast will be uprooted.
Who will eventually pocket all this money and land? Who will be the biggest beneficiary?
Who else could it be other than the emperor who lives alone in Yuxi Palace!
The money and property seized from the house will go into his treasury, and the land will become his imperial farm and fields!
What does he want these for? To cultivate the Way! Yes, what else can he do besides cultivating the Way!
For a moment, Hai Rui was in a trance.
On that dark and upright face, even though he knew that he was caught in the vortex of the struggle between the Qingliu and Yan Party, and even though he knew that he might be despised by both the Qingliu and Yan Party, his expression did not change even if he died.
Finally at this moment, I was moved!
An unprecedented feeling of powerlessness swept over my whole body.
In his resolute and unyielding eyes, there was now a surge of sorrow and grievance. He was feeling wronged and helpless on behalf of all the people in the world!
He couldn't imagine that the king and father of the people of the world could be so selfish and greedy, and even join hands with his subjects for money... to deceive the world and steal from the people!
The king is not a king, and the ministers are not ministers. The king does not act like a king, and the ministers do not fulfill their duties. The powerful officials in the court are all doing the beastly things. Do they have the slightest thought of caring about the people of this world?
At this point, the misunderstanding between Hai Rui and Jiajing as emperor and minister was born.
If Jiajing knew what Hai Rui was thinking, he would definitely cry out that he was wronged, because he was taking from his ministers and giving back to the people.
"Gangfeng, what's wrong with you?" Wang Yongji noticed that Hai Rui's expression seemed to be wrong, and shouted a few times with some concern. At this time, Hai Rui suddenly came to his senses.
"Ming Shou?" Hai Rui looked at Wang Yongji and opened his mouth. But when the words came to his lips, he could only suppress his thoughts, slowly sat down, and said to himself, "It's okay, I'm fine..."
He felt an unprecedented weakness.
This is not physical weakness, but psychological weakness. He seems to have lost his spirit.
At this moment, Hai Rui was confused as he looked at the mountain of files and evidence in front of him that needed to be thoroughly investigated.
There is no need to investigate. If his guess is correct, Lin Chongyi, who was pushed out, will confess everything.
After that, there is no need to investigate at all, they will hand over all the people on their own, and the case in Dinghai County will be over.
What if the emperor does the same thing again? What will be the final result? Countless money will go into the treasury, countless lands will become imperial farms and fields, and the people will live a life worse than death!
Finally, the Ming Dynasty was really over!
"Your Excellency, the altar is on fire. The Imperial Preceptor and Eunuch Huang have already rushed over. The Second Master asked me to notify you to take charge of the situation..." At this time, the servant just came in again.
"Gangfeng, why don't you go back and rest first? I can do the same. If there is any accountability, I can take the responsibility for you first..." Wang Yongji spoke up when he noticed that Hai Rui was not in good condition.
"It's okay, let's go." Although he was almost collapsed by disappointment, Hai Rui still forced himself to stand up.
Moreover, he will not be defeated easily!
These cases have been handled by the higher-ups, but not by him!
Seeing this, Wang Yongji wanted to speak up and persuade him several times. He didn't understand why Gangfeng was so out of control when the Qingliu and Yan party joined forces to deceive the emperor. It seemed that there was some hidden story.
However, seeing that Hai Rui was unwilling to speak, he had no choice but to remain silent.
Based on his understanding of Hai Rui, he must have his reasons for not saying anything.
What the two of them didn't know was that shortly after they left, Zhang Ziming, a tall man carrying a pot of wine and staggering from drinking, walked into the back hall of the county government in a dissolute manner.
At this time, the back hall of the entire county government was empty.
Not long after, a fire broke out in the county government office, and all the files and evidence in the back hall were burned.
When they were discovered, they could only hear laughter in the back hall, as if a madman was shouting, "I am a madman from Chu, singing and laughing at Confucius."
"Hold the green jade staff and bid farewell to the Yellow Crane Tower."
"It's a magnificent view from a high place... Between heaven and earth... the vast river flows away and never returns, hahahaha..."
"There's a fire, there's a fire, help!"
"Second Master, it's Second Master...Hurry up and save them, save them..."
Hai Rui and Wang Yongji turned back halfway through their journey. When they rushed into the county government office, they saw a raging fire.
Only the poem "Lushan Ballad Sent to Lu Shiyu Xuzhou" written by the poet Li Bai to his friend Lu Xuzhou was read over and over again.
And there was the wild laughter that was drowned out by the fire.
"Help, help! Help!" Hai Rui, dressed in cloth, had sweat soaking his chest and back. He ran over to grab a wooden barrel and wanted to save people. Wang Yongji was also very panicked.
"Bang!" The wooden barrel fell down. After Zhang Ziming's voice completely disappeared, Hai Rui stood there in a daze.
Everything happened too suddenly and too fast.
A night passed and at dawn, it rained heavily.
The fire in the east and the county government office has been extinguished. Some houses in the county government office were affected, but fortunately no one else was killed.
Hai Rui and Wang Yongji stood in the heavy rain, looking at the back hall of the county government office which had turned into ruins, with dazed expressions.
After a long time, Hai Rui raised his head and closed his eyes, letting the heavy rain pour down on his face, feeling the biting cold.
After a while, Hai Rui wiped the rain off his face, took a deep breath, and turned to the other side of the county government office.
in the room.
Hai Rui stood in front of the table.
With one hand spreading out a piece of white paper and the other holding a pen, everything that had happened during this period of time flashed through my mind.
Then he swung his brush with great force, and on the snow-white paper, six large characters "Jianxiuzhaijianjiaoshu" were inscribed.
Overnight, the altar was destroyed and a shocking incident occurred. The heaven was cruel and the emperor and his ministers made mistakes. Wen Zhao died and Hai Rui was furious. He wrote a memorial to the emperor!
"..."
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(End of this chapter)
