Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 104
As soon as he heard the other party's name, Jia Rui understood why the old man was so kind to him?

The reason is also very simple, this old man is a close confidant of the Supreme Emperor, so if you want to count it, you can count it as one of your own.

Moreover, the two people, one in charge of the official department and the other in charge of the household department, have no conflict of interest, and even complement each other, that's why the old man is so kind to him.

Since he is one of his own, Jia Rui also said with a smile: "It turns out that it is Mrs. Shen. I have heard about it a lot, but I have been busy all the time and did not go to see him. Please forgive me, Mrs. Shen."

Shen Jian said with a smile: "We are all working for the Supreme Emperor. We will have plenty of time in the future. I will ask my brother to come after a while."

"Don't dare, don't dare, how can I ask the old man to treat me? I'll treat the old man to you."

"Okay, that's it."

At this moment, a censor at the entrance of the hall suddenly walked to the middle and shouted loudly: "All officials be quiet."

All of a sudden, the hall, which was still buzzing just now, immediately became quiet.

Then a eunuch's shrill voice shouted from outside: "The emperor is here."

All the officials hurriedly stood up.

After that, I saw a group of court ladies and eunuchs walking in from the outside, and Emperor Xiaokang sat on the throne in the center of the hall surrounded by everyone.

After Emperor Xiaokang sat down, he glanced down at the officials, and then he saw Jia Rui standing among the civil servants, at a relatively front position.

Emperor Xiaokang frowned, but he didn't say anything. He gestured to Xia Shouzhong, the great eunuch standing beside him.

Xia Shouzhong immediately took a few steps forward, stood on the imperial steps, and shouted to the courtiers below: "If there is a book, the court will be played early, if there is no book, the court will be scattered."

During this period of time, apart from the severe drought in Shandong, the world was fairly peaceful, so after Xia Shouzhong shouted, all the officials below were silent.

Just when Jia Rui thought that this boring morning court was coming to an end, a clear voice shouted: "The minister has his own principles."

It was the first time for Jia Rui to go to the morning court, so he looked curiously at the servants of the civil servants, only to see a well-looking young man came out, and then knelt on the hall.

The emperor looked down, "If you have a book, play it."

"I want to join Jia Rui, Minister of the Household Department."

Jia Rui played smart in class, feeling a little innocent, how could someone interfere with him on the first day he took office.

Standing beside him, Shen Jian showed a disdainful smile, and then said softly: "Lord Jia, don't worry, you can go out and defend yourself now."

Jia Rui glanced gratefully at Shen Jian who reminded him, and hurried out of work and fell to his knees.

"Chen Jia Rui, kowtow to my emperor, long live long live."

"Jia Rui, someone wants to join you now, what do you have to say?"

"Returning to the emperor, I just took office yesterday, and I'm afraid I haven't had time to do anything illegal. This person wants to impeach me, which makes me feel wronged."

"Whether it's unjust or not, let's listen to what he has to say."

The emperor replied to Jia Rui, and then motioned to the young official kneeling below to speak.

"Returning to the emperor, Jia Rui abused his power just after he took office as Minister of the Household Department, holding down the expenses of a province in Guangdong. This is clearly an attempt to extort bribes from officials in Guangdong. Your Majesty, please be careful."

As soon as Jia Rui heard about it, he immediately gave Sun Xun, the household assistant in his class, a hard look.

And Sun Xun in the class also had an innocent face, while staring anxiously at the young man kneeling below.

To be honest, Sun Xun really didn't know about this matter. He just contacted Guangdong yesterday, and someone said hello, telling them not to worry, and he would talk to Jia Rui again in a few days. The cost of holding down the cost of Guangdong Province.

As a result, this kind of thing happened this morning. Isn't this giving yourself eye drops in front of Master Jia?
Emperor Xiaokang stared at Jia Rui, his mind was spinning wildly.

Do you want to take this opportunity to get rid of Jia Rui?
Speaking of which, Jia Rui didn't have any difficult conflicts with himself, and he respected himself in the past, but he was the emperor's confidant, and he would be a disaster one day.

Thinking of this, Emperor Xiaokang stared at the kneeling Jia Rui and said:
"Jia Aiqing, what can you say?"

Jia Rui hurriedly replied: "Long live, my minister suppressed Guangdong's approval yesterday because Guangdong's taxes have not been paid in full this year. If other provinces follow Guangdong's example, what should our Celestial Dynasty do?"

Emperor Xiaokang was stunned for a moment, then looked at the kneeling envoy and asked, "Is it true that Guangdong has not paid all taxes?"

The kneeling young man looked a little embarrassed, then straightened up, and said confidently:
"Your Majesty, the people's livelihood is difficult now. Officials in Guangdong do not compete with the people for profit, but cultivate themselves with the people. There may be some arrears."

Emperor Xiaokang was so angry that he almost vomited blood when he heard this.

Is this kid messing with me here?

If he said so, then the world's taxes would not be collected, and everyone would be disbanded.

"Nonsense, where can Li Wan, the censor of Zuodu?"

"The minister is here."

After saying this, a middle-aged man knelt down.

"Is this one of your subordinates?"

Li Wanneng looked at the censor who was kneeling, feeling a little angry.

Has this guy lost his mind by reading?How dare you speak nonsense above the court.

But after all, they are the people under his command, and they still have to protect themselves. "Your Majesty, this person had a mental illness today, so he talked nonsense. Please forgive him."

The emperor was not prepared to deal with this censor. Even if he knew that this censor was talking nonsense, he was still a person under his command and could not let his relatives and enemies suffer.

"Since he is sick, I will let him take two months off and go home to recuperate."

Said the emperor flicked his sleeves.

Xia Shouzhong, who was standing next to him, quickly waved his sleeves, and immediately two young eunuchs came over to help the censor and walked out.

The censor also knew that he had said something wrong just now, so he didn't struggle and let the eunuch mix him out.

Jia Rui also breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the matter was over, but the emperor above did not let him go.

"Jia Aiqing, Guangdong's taxes are in arrears. You can call for payment in the name of the Ministry of Revenue, but if you don't release the money and Guangdong is in chaos, you can't afford it."

"Your Majesty, I can lend money to Guangdong in accordance with the regulations, but I ask Your Majesty to send imperial envoys to Guangdong to inspect the situation of tax arrears in Guangdong. At the same time, send people to check the Thirteen Banks in Guangdong to see if there is any tax evasion in the Thirteen Banks."

Just after Jia Rui finished speaking, all the ministers below were in an uproar.

You must know that the Guangdong Thirteen Banks are the pocketbooks of many ministers in the court.

If Jia Rui sent someone to investigate and find out something tricky, these great gods in the court would not have a good life.

But if Jia Rui is not allowed to investigate, Guangdong is indeed in arrears of paying taxes, which cannot be justified anyway.

So these ministers standing below gestured to each other with their eyes, and finally reached a tacit agreement.

Only an old official stood up, knelt on the ground and began to play.

"Your Majesty, Guangdong's tax arrears are delaying the court's important affairs. If Mr. Jia lends money now, wouldn't he be conniving with them? Therefore, I ask your Majesty to issue an order to make Guangdong pay up the taxes immediately."

The emperor saw that this old minister was a scholar of the Wenyuan Pavilion, but he was old and rarely asked about the affairs of the court, but today he made an exception and stood up.

The veteran minister had just finished speaking, and seven or eight ministers knelt down behind him to "second the proposal."

Then the emperor looked at the people below, and finally his eyes fell on Li Wanneng, the censor of Zuodu.

"Li Aiqing, what do you think?"

Li Wanneng knelt there and stared at Jia Rui for a few times, and finally lowered his head and said, "I second my opinion."

The reason why Li Wanneng compromised was that there was no other way.

One must know that he is the Qingliu leader in the court, and he has long disliked Jia Rui as a courtier, and wished that Jia Rui would step down as soon as possible.

But today when Jia Rui was asked to stand still, he couldn't say anything to refute.

Moreover, this time it also involved the taxation of the entire Guangdong. He dared not make a rash decision. Once he made a wrong step, the court would be in great turmoil.

Sitting on the throne, Emperor Xiaokang had some regrets in his eyes, but he was not too angry.

There is no way to take Jia Rui today, but it will be a long time in the future, and one day he will be able to take Jia Rui.

"Okay, since that's the case, then pass on my order to let Guangdong pay the taxes quickly. If the taxes are not paid, Guangdong's money will not be released."

After the emperor gave his orders, he thought for a while, and said to the ministers: "The governor of Guangdong can't even handle such a trivial matter. What do you think should be punished?"

Official Minister Shen Jian who had been speaking for Jia Rui just now suddenly jumped out to object.

"Your Majesty, although the governor of Guangdong is in charge of all government affairs in Guangdong, the chief envoy of Guangdong is mainly responsible for taxation. Sometimes the governor of Guangdong cannot intervene too much, so your majesty please be careful."

When he said this, he even winked at Jia Rui.

When Jia Rui saw this meaning, he immediately understood that the governor of Guangdong should be the emperor's man.

So Jia Rui also continued to play upwards.

"Your Majesty, the chief envoy of Guangdong should be responsible for deceiving his superiors and his subordinates. As for the governor of Guangdong, it is enough to reprimand him."

After Jia Rui finished speaking, seven or eight senior officials stood up one after another, and they all pleaded for the governor of Guangdong together.

The emperor sat on the top and saw that these people who came out to intercede were all bigwigs in the court and held great power. If he offended all these people, he might really become a puppet.

Up to now, the emperor once again began to lament the strict control of the Supreme Emperor over the court. Although he did not go to the court, all the affairs of the court could not escape his palm.

It seems that I still have to dormant like before, and wait until the Supreme Emperor Bintian before I can move.

The emperor sighed, then waved his hands weakly, and Xia Shouzhong who was standing beside him hurriedly shouted:

"Your Majesty has a decree: to retreat from the court."

All the ministers below quickly fell to their knees and shouted long live three times.

As for the punishment of the governor of Guangdong and the chief envoy of Guangdong, it is over.

However, the general direction has been set, which is to severely reprimand Guangdong officials and make them pay taxes immediately.

After the emperor left, Shen Jian took Jia Rui's hand, talked for a long time outside the gate of the Wu Dynasty, and then left the palace, but Jia Rui turned a corner and went straight to the dragon. first palace.

(End of this chapter)