Reborn Ming Dynasty as Emperor

Chapter 477 Asking Guo Yunhou, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs

Guo Yunhou, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, indeed found Shang Zhouzuo, the censor of Zuodu, and Zhang Junning, the left servant of the Ministry of Punishment. Both of them also agreed to Guo Yunhou to negotiate with Dongchang to transfer Yin Qiu Maohua of Shuntian Prefecture to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment.

But it is obvious that Dongchang's action is faster. Before the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Punishment had time to act, Qiu Maohua, Yin of Shuntian Prefecture, confessed that he was the secretary of the household department and a businessman named Lan Duo.

In addition, Wu Youke directly mentioned in front of Zhu You that a batch of medicinal materials from the Royal Pharmacy was missing, which made Zou Yingquan, the young supervisor of the Royal Pharmacy, arrested by Dongchang in advance, and Li Mingyun did not have time to send Yin Shuntian Qiu Maohua was told to Zou Yingquan, the young prison supervisor of the Royal Pharmacy, about his dismissal and imprisonment.

As a result, the reaction of these reformist officials who tried to take advantage of the cholera outbreak to make a fortune was significantly slower than that of Emperor Zhu Youxiao's minions. Even if Li Mingrui did not directly participate in this matter, it was not even very important. Knowing about it, but after knowing the news that Guo Yunhou, Shangshu of the household department, was summoned into the palace, he already had a feeling that the mountains and rains were about to come.

Even Guo Yunhou, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, was implicated, and he, a cabinet scholar, might not be able to escape the involvement. For a while, Li Mingrui couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Guo Yunhou, the Minister of the Household Department who was lying on the ground under Danbi, and asked in a cold voice: "Tell me, what's going on, who is that businessman named Lan Duo, and how did you get along with Shuntian Mansion?" Yin Qiu Maohua and Zou Yingquan, the young supervisor of the Imperial Pharmacy hooked up, and I don't want to use Dongchang's soldering iron to force you, a veteran of the three dynasties, to tell the truth!"

Guo Yunhou was very calm at this time. The old ministers who came from Wei Zongxian's era had long been in high spirits. Without Zhu Youxiaoming's words, he had already guessed that Qiu Maohua or Eunuch Zou from the Royal Pharmacy had betrayed him, and His Majesty had already betrayed him. To make it clear, it would be futile for him to quibble again, but he can also be sure that His Majesty should not know that this matter has something to do with Ge Lao Li Mingrui, or even that this businessman named Lando is Ge Lao Li Mingrui's younger brother.

Thinking about the situation in the court again, Guo Yunhou quickly decided to sacrifice himself to protect Li Mingrui, so as to prevent the strength of the reformers from being greatly damaged by it. I am extremely ashamed, this matter is indeed caused by the criminal's stupidity and greed. Seeing the outbreak of the epidemic, the price of various medicinal materials has skyrocketed, so the criminal minister wants to cooperate with Zou Yingquan, the young supervisor of the Royal Pharmacy, and let Qiu Maohua, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, transfer the batch of medicinal materials to A businessman named Lan Duo, and then took advantage of the fact that the criminal minister is the Minister of the Ministry of Households, and used official money to buy back this medicinal material at a high price, in order to obtain money for greed!"

As soon as Guo Yunhou finished speaking, Zhu Youxiao directly threw out a piece of jade beside him, and threw it heavily on Guo Yunhou: "You are so courageous! I have given you a lot of benefits to the Guo family, why are you so greedy?" ! You are not only old and feeble, you simply have no court law!"

Guo Yunhou naturally didn't dare to say a big word at this time, and he was not sure how His Majesty Zhu Youxiao would punish his Guo family in his anger. Now he can only kneel on the ground as humble as possible and kowtow: " Yes, the guilty minister is guilty, please Your Majesty grant the minister the death penalty!"

"Hmph, how I want to punish you is up to you. Let me ask you, are there other people involved in this? You'd better recruit them truthfully. And what is the origin of that man named Lando?" Zhu Youxiao didn't think that this matter only involved Guo Yunhou, the Minister of the Household Department, because Zhu Youxiao knew that Guo Yunhou and Li Mingrui had a close relationship, so it was hard for Zhu Youxiao not to think that Li Mingrui had nothing to do with this matter.

"The guilty minister dare not hide His Majesty. This matter was done by the guilty minister, Eunuch Zou of the Imperial Pharmacy, and Yin Qiu Maohua of the Shuntian Mansion. The merchant named Lan Duo is a medicine merchant that the guilty minister knows, and he is from Mount Wutai, Shanxi," Guo Yunhou replied. Before finishing speaking, Zhu Youxiao stood up first, and angrily reprimanded Guo Yunhou: "You are already deceiving me! You really think that I am blind and don't know what you people will do behind my back? Since you don't say Well, well, let me tell you for you, that businessman named Lando is Li Mingyun, the third brother of Li Mingrui, a scholar of Zhongji Temple, whether you say so or not!"

When Guo Yunhou heard what Zhu Youxiao said, he suddenly looked up at Zhu Youxiao. He didn't expect that His Majesty already knew this, and he knew what to say for a while.

"Let me ask you, does this matter have anything to do with Li Mingrui?" Zhu Youxiao also knew that Guo Yunhou couldn't say anything or didn't dare to say anything at this time, so he took the initiative to ask him. He hoped that Guo Yunhou could I understand that all I care about now is whether Li Mingrui is involved in this.

And Guo Yunhou also knew what His Majesty Zhu Youxiao wanted to get by asking himself this way. He didn't dare and didn't want to drag Li Mingrui into the water, so he immediately shook his head like a rattle: "No, absolutely not, Mr. Li Ge didn't know anything about it. These are all things done by the criminal ministers, and really have nothing to do with Mr. Li Ge, Your Majesty!"

Zhu Youxiao couldn't help snorting angrily, and said with a sneer: "Okay, Guo Yunhou, you are really a dead pig who is not afraid of boiling water, and even if you are dying, you will take the blame for Li Mingrui. Are you really not afraid of my torture? ?”

Guo Yunhou couldn't help shivering, and just shook his head to say that he was not afraid, but when he saw His Majesty Zhu Youxiao's creepy eyes, he immediately nodded again: "The guilty minister is afraid, but the guilty minister is even more afraid of deceiving your majesty!"

Zhu Youxiao obeyed and laughed. Although he deliberately expressed anger, he was still willing to see Guo Yunhou's behavior of protecting Li Mingrui to death, because this would indeed prevent the reformists from being greatly damaged. Guo Yunhou admitted that Li Mingrui was involved in this big ink corruption case, so he had to dismiss Li Mingrui from his position.

But the superficial work that should be done is still to be done, at least the officials of the old school cannot see that they are partial, and other officials cannot be mistaken for the emperor to be fooled. Zhu Youxiao still ordered angrily: "Come on, Take Guo Yunhou to the Imperial Prison and give him a heavy blow of [-] boards!"

Guo Yunhou obviously also guessed what result his Majesty wanted, so in order to cooperate with Zhu Youxiao, he deliberately made a very painful look and cried: "Your Majesty is wronged, Mr. Li Ge really didn't have this case. , it's all the fault of the guilty minister alone!"

Although in fact, Li Mingrui did not participate in this matter.

On the second day, when Li Mingrui and others came to the Xinuan Pavilion of Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youxiao informed the cabinet members present of the corruption of ink by Guo Yunhou, Zou Yingquan, Qiu Maohua, Li Mingyun and other officials, and said that Guo Yunhou, Minister of the Ministry of household affairs, had already The prison committed suicide in fear of crime, Qiu Maohua also committed suicide in fear of crime, and Zou Yingquan was shown to the public. Li Mingyun was also sentenced to death, and Li Mingrui was guilty of lax supervision of his younger brother. He was fined for one year and dismissed He was given the title of Prince Taibao, and Wang Chengen was also demoted to eunuch.

(End of this chapter)