prosperous age

Chapter 322 Chapter 321
As the north wind whistled, the territory of the Ming Empire cooled rapidly from north to south, and it was time for the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to stop sailing.

The tank boats and other merchant ships had already chosen to go south early to avoid the severe cold from the north, and if they stayed in the north, they would inevitably end up being frozen.

At this time, on the Grand Canal, a fleet of ships was driven by the north wind all the way southward, and there were few other ships before and after.

In this fleet, the big ship at the head was flying with flags and all kinds of guards of honor, all of which revealed that it was an official ship.

Some of the dozens of large and small ships in the back are obviously official ships, and people in official uniforms can be seen walking around the bow from time to time on the ships, but more merchant ships are full of ordinary civilians. in activity.

After the news that Wei Guangde was going south on a business trip spread in central Beijing, Wei Guangde was preparing to salute and arrange housework, and at the same time sent people to the Ministry of Rites to collect various documents and guards of honor, just in time to set off before the canal was frozen.

For the merchants who had long been preparing to run the last shipment of the year and were waiting to return to their hometown in Jiujiang for the festival, they immediately sent someone to contact Wei Guangde like a shark smelling blood, with the purpose of going south together.

It was not the first time, Wei Guangde of course nodded in agreement.

For Wei Guangde, this trip was also very different from the past.

The previous two times he was sent to Beijing on business, his identity was only a deputy envoy, and there was an official envoy above him, but this time he was no longer a deputy envoy, but went south to participate in handling the case on behalf of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Because he had already prepared before, Wei Guangde accepted the decree in the Metropolitan Procuratorate. It is conceivable that there were envious and jealous eyes from his colleagues around at that time, and there were many people who wished to replace him.

Going to Beijing as an imperial envoy and supervisory censor is a job that most of the censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate dream of.

In the Ming Dynasty, words such as "Xunyan Yushi" and "Supervision Yushi" were often recorded in books. In fact, they all refer to a type of person, that is, the Yushi of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

The reason why there are different titles is because of their different tasks.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the Metropolitan Procuratorate set up thirteen supervisory censors. They would go out of Beijing in turn to inspect local areas. Supervise the censor.

The roles of supervisory censors and patrol censors are interchangeable, and daily supervision and inspection by inspectors are also connected with each other.

The task this time is to supervise the trial of the criminals involved in the case in Suzhou and the prison sentence in Hangzhou, which is different from the previous patrols in the Northland.

The fleet moved quickly, and like last time, the fleet was divided into two teams after leaving Yangzhou and entering the Yangtze River. It is the Zhenjiang-Hangzhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

The fleet docked at the Suzhou wharf, and the governor of Yingtian, Weng Dali, brought the prefect of Suzhou and other officials to greet them here. The officials from Nanjing who came to participate in the trial had already arrived, but they were all waiting in the prefect's office and did not come. Welcome, after all, everyone is an imperial envoy who is ordered to handle the case.

Wei Guangde was the first to disembark and greet the officials on the shore. Wei Guangde just took a second look at Weng Dali. His official position was no longer secure. It was only because the subsequent remedy was timely and proper that the black veil was not taken off his head now, but it will be soon. .

In fact, when Wei Guangde went south, there was already a discussion about who should replace him as the governor of Yingtian. He thought that after the evaluation of officials at the end of the year, he should be dismissed and return to his hometown.

Weng Dali's friends in Beijing also sent him news. He knew that his official career might be over, but this time Weng Dali made great efforts to welcome Wei Guangde, hoping to get more useful news from Wei Guangde.

He had heard that although this Wei editor had a small official position, he still had a great status in Xiyuan.

It is really out of date that civil officials meet to discuss seniority, which is not performed in today's Suzhou Wharf.

There was a custom in the Ming Dynasty when civil servants met for the first time, that is, to report their family background, in which year they were Jinshi, and whoever they were.

It's just that Weng Dali saw that his resignation was a foregone conclusion, so it was meaningless to say these vain words. After a few simple greetings, he invited Wei Guangde to board the sedan chair that had been prepared and headed to the Yamen of the prefect of Suzhou.

After his governor's house was set on fire by the evil young master, he just temporarily found another courtyard to live in temporarily, and he didn't have the intention to re-govern the yamen. It's better to wait for the next governor to take over the matter.

That night, the front and rear lobbies of the Yamen of the prefect of Suzhou were filled with lanterns and candles. Officials from Nanjing and local officials from Suzhou were all present. This was also a welcome feast.

At this banquet, Wei Guangde also met other officials who participated in the interrogation, He Qian, the right servant of the Ministry of Punishment, and Bai Qichang, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple in Nanjing.

He Qian is quite enthusiastic about Wei Guangde, everyone is from Jiangxi, and the most important thing is that it is Wei Guangde's old acquaintance, the old leader Weng Pu, who arranged for him to come here to try the case.

After the end of the Battle of Baoanzhou, Weng Pu was transferred from the Minister of the Ministry of War to the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment of Nanjing, and he came to Nanjing to retire.

Although the power of Shangshu in Nanjing is not as good as that in Beijing, after all, the rank has been raised, and Weng Pu is old, and he has no desire to continue to improve.

This time in the case of Suzhou Mansion, he heard that Wei Guangde was the censor sent by the Capital Procuratorate. He was a little surprised, so he sent Wei Guangde's fellow villager here, and He Qian taught Wei Guangde some local criminal cases. Methods.

After the banquet was over, Wei Guangde went back to the resting place and had a good sleep.

The previous days were all spent in the cabin, and Wei Guangde hadn't fully adapted to it in just half a day, lying on the bed only felt as if he was still shaking on the boat.

On the second day, Wei Guangde got up to wash up under Zhang Ji's service, and exercised his hands and feet in the yard as if at home.

During breakfast, Wei Guangde said to Zhang Ji: "People are going to disperse today to inquire about the news, tell them not to worry, first find out the situation below, and then contact the merchants on the list for more details."

"Master, don't worry, I have assigned errands according to the instructions before. Everyone has their own prefectures and counties, and the Jiujiang merchants they contacted have also been assigned. There will be no mistakes."

Zhang Ji hurriedly replied.

Same as last time, on the night before Wei Guangde's departure, Chen Ju, who hadn't seen him for a long time, came to the door quietly again.

Wei Guangde did not show the slightest impatience, but received him warmly as usual.

As for his purpose here, Wei Guangde also had his own guesses, as before, maybe it was Xiyuan who asked him to learn something along the way.

Sure enough, after leaving the others, Chen Ju explained the purpose of his trip to Wei Guangde in detail.

Emperor Jiajing wanted to know the current situation of taxation and lijin in the south of the Yangtze River, and the reaction of the people to this.

Wei Guangde can understand this.

As far as he knows, the tax increase has bankrupted some farmers who were already financially stretched, so they could only sell their land and become tenants. The flexible commercial tax of lijin in the south of the Yangtze River has even increased the burden on the merchants. Businessmen no longer go out to do business, the cost is too high and it is not profitable.

Of course, the embarrassment faced by the merchants was also what Wei Guangde heard from Jiangxi merchants.

People who do business naturally have their own business partners, so they often hear similar complaints.

However, Wei Guangde didn't take it seriously.

Although there are fewer people doing business, there are still people doing business after all, which shows that it is still profitable, but the big businessmen have encroached on a part of the small businessman's market.

In fact, what Wei Guangde cares about is not what Emperor Jiajing wants him to do, but whether there is any hidden meaning behind it.

Did Emperor Jiajing become dissatisfied with Hu Zongxian, or did he really care about the suffering of the people?
However, Chen Ju didn't give Wei Guangde an answer, which made Wei Guangde realize that maybe his relationship with Chen Ju had ended here.

Although he was puzzled, Wei Guangde could only send Chen Ju out.

After that, it is natural to arrange how to complete the errand assigned by the emperor.

People's sentiments about taxation and labor can only be arranged for family members to go down to the local area to inquire about the situation. There is no shortcut, but Lijin can inquire with businessmen, which is easier to do.

Hearing Zhang Ji's assurance, Wei Guangde nodded and started to eat breakfast.

There are quite a few people who followed Wei Guangde to the south this time, including people from the Department of Pedestrians and officials from the Ministry of Rites. No one would notice that Wei Guangde's entourage was missing a few people. After all, they were not from any government office, but from Wei Guangde. servant.

Today, the lobby of the Yamen of the prefect of Suzhou is very crowded. In the past, there was only one koan on it, but now there are three of them side by side.

After the third class of yamen servants stood still in the lobby, Wei Guangde followed He Qian and Bai Qichang out from behind.

Wei Guangde is on the far right desk, He Qian is sitting in the middle, and Bai Qichang is on the left.

And there are two smaller desks on both sides of the lower head of the three desks. At this time, Yingtian governor Weng Dali and Suzhou prefect Wang Daoxing are already sitting there.

After a few simple greetings, everyone was seated.

At the banquet last night, Wei Guangde could tell that no matter it was He Qian or Bai Qichang, they both wanted to close the case as soon as possible so that they could return to Nanjing for the New Year.

Although the Suzhou case had a big impact, the facts are clear, the evidence is solid, the witnesses and material evidence are complete, and the criminals' confessions are also available. In fact, it can be sentenced without trial at all.

The gang led by Tuesday has been full of crimes in Suzhou Mansion for these years, and the people complained to the sky. Now that they are about to be executed, the people of Suzhou are naturally rejoicing and clapping their hands.

No, the trial of the case has not yet started, but many civilians have gathered outside the magistrate's office.

In fact, in the past few days, the Yamen of the prefect of Suzhou has received a lot of civil complaints, all of which are accusations of being bullied by Tuesday and others, but most of these cases were ignored at the time. For revenge, they came to sue one after another.

It was also because of these complaints that during the meeting, Bai Qichang complained to Wei Guangde that with so many complaints, he did not know how long it would take to summon the plaintiff, witnesses, and criminals.

The folks have pleadings, and at this juncture, officials like them have to accept them. Although they know that these grievances are confirmed no matter how many, in fact, the gang of prisoners are still dead, and it is impossible for people to die several times.

"This is the procedure, the procedure of handling a case. Even if the heinous crime on Tuesday is already a capital offense, we still have to receive other people's pleadings and make a judgment.

It was a simple case, but it was complicated like this. "

He Qian only complained to Wei Guangde when everyone went back to the room to rest after the banquet, and by the way, he also taught Wei Guangde some common sense of trial.

Not only was he worried that Wei Guangde did not understand the procedures, but the main reason was that Weng Pu had repeatedly warned him before he left Nanjing.

Wei Guangde impeached several people in the capital, but impeachment is one thing, trial is another.

He Qian was sent here because both of them are from Jiangxi, and it is unlikely that they will support each other in their official careers in the future. He Qian is only 40 years old now, and he can still be in the officialdom for more than ten or 20 years. He will be transferred from Nanjing to the capital in the future Also knowable.

Weng Pu really had nothing to say to Wei Guangde.

Soon, a large stack of pleading papers was carried up by the yamen servants and placed on the desks of the three of them. Wei Guangde was also taken aback at this time.

A piece of pleading paper is a plaintiff. How many people are there, and it is estimated that there are hundreds of pleading papers.

Of course, not all of these pleadings were filed against Tuesday, as well as other people in this case, but this is also a big deal.

There are only about [-] principal criminals and main accomplices, and the average share is as many as dozens of shares per person. This is only for suing. Most people probably know that these people will die, so many grievances have not been reported to the magistrate’s office. Come.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but look at Weng Dali, then at Wang Daoxing.

It was true that Weng Dali wanted to crack down on the evil young men, but he did not expect that these evil young men would react so fiercely when they heard that the government wanted to punish them because they had been used to domineering for a long time.

Wei Guangde couldn't help feeling a little sympathetic to Weng Dali in his heart, he was a good official who did things for the people, but unfortunately he was out of luck.

At this time, Weng Dali and Wang Daoxing both had flushed faces.

So many pleadings can only show that when they were in office, Suzhou was not peaceful.

Weng Dali is easy to explain, after all, he just took over as Governor of Yingtian not long ago, and he also discovered the problems in Suzhou Mansion, but it was not handled properly, which caused the incident to break out to the point of no return.

But Wang Daoxing is not. He has been working as the magistrate of Suzhou for a long time. He naturally knows these things, but due to the background and relationship of these people, he is often at a loss when dealing with them.

"The county magistrate who broke the family, the governor who destroyed the family", although it is said so, it is only aimed at ordinary people, or some middle and lower class people, who have nothing to do with people without background.

As for the group of people on Tuesday, not only themselves, but the family behind them has already woven a huge network of relationships in the local area over the years, and they often take care of each other in secret.

Wang Daoxing once tried to arrest a few of them, but the result was that the entire Suzhou Mansion was almost out of control, so he had to let go.

The people in the magistrate's yamen were almost at the point of immobility, so he slowly installed his own people, and finally successfully saved his career in this riot and suppressed the riot.

"let's start."

Looking at the paper in front of him, He Qian shook his head lightly, looked left and right before speaking.

(End of this chapter)