Chapter 595 594 His Actions Can Be Forgiven, but His Heart Can Be Punished

Throwing the memorial to the ground, Emperor Jiajing said angrily: "He's coming, order the Jin Yiwei to arrest him immediately, don't let him escape."

"Yes, yes, as ordered."

Chen Hong, who had been waiting below, saw the furious emperor and obeyed the order while crawling. He picked up the memorial on the ground and prepared to go out to deliver the order.

"His Majesty."

At this time, Huang Jin, who had always been like a transparent person next to Emperor Jiajing, called out in a low voice.

His call calmed down the furious Emperor Jiajing.

He is a stubborn person, doesn't he know that Xuan Xiu will not have results?

But if he persists for so many years and gives up at the last moment, not only will he not become the wise monarch that the civil servants say, but he will become a fool, a fool deceived by those charlatans.

This was something he couldn't tolerate as an emperor.

Just now, Emperor Jiajing had the intention to kill Hai Rui. This man was really evil and he wanted to rub salt into his wounds.

However, Huang Jin's soft call was just right and made him gradually calm down.

"Your Majesty, this man has always had a stupid reputation. I heard that before he came to the throne, he knew that he deserved to offend the emperor, so he bought a coffin, said goodbye to his wife, and the servants scattered in all directions, leaving no one behind. He himself would not run away. ”

Seeing that Emperor Jiajing had calmed down, Huang Jin hurriedly spoke.

After the news about Hai Rui's appointment today, he learned the details from the factory guard, but the memorial was not sent to the palace, so he couldn't mention it first.

However, this did not prevent him from finding someone to find out Hai Rui's true identity beforehand.

Everyone in the family had been sent away, and there was a coffin in the main room, and he, Hai Rui, was sitting next to the coffin.

Huang Jin's words completely calmed down Emperor Jiajing. He realized that something was wrong with this matter. It seemed that someone was digging a hole for him. When he thought about what Xu Shuli said, he figured it out.

"This man compares himself to Bigan, but I am not King Zhou of Shang."

Exhaling a breath of bad breath from his chest, Emperor Jiajing returned to his original appearance.

Chen Hong below was a little at a loss at this time. He had just received the order to arrest the person, but now judging from the emperor's intention, it seemed that he did not intend to pursue the matter.

"Ignore him, I'm staying here."

Emperor Jiajing seemed to notice his embarrassment and said casually.

When Wei Guangde packed up his desk and left the school recording hall, he didn't hear any news about the palace's arrest.

Sitting on the carriage, Wei Guangde already understood that most of the rumors from later generations were unbelievable, such as the Jiajing Emperor being furious and wanting to kill Hai Rui, and the officials admonishing him. Without reading "Public Security Shu" and combined with the current situation, it would be impossible to imagine the current situation. situation.

Even if Hai Rui was arrested later and not released until King Yu ascended the throne, it might just be a means left by Emperor Jiajing to King Yu, so that King Yu could face the people of the world with a virtuous name.

This knowledge is enough for Wei Guangde at the moment, and it can prevent King Yu from making mistakes.

The carriage soon arrived in front of Prince Yu's Mansion. Wei Guangde got out of the car and walked into Prince Yu's Mansion.

After entering the door, a waiter greeted him.

"Master Wei, His Highness has been waiting for you for a long time."

"Lead the way."

The young chamberlain said attentively, Wei Guangde nodded and gave a casual order.

Soon, under the guidance of the little chamberlain, Wei Guangde walked into the room where King Yu was.

"Greetings to Your Highness."

Wei Guangde stepped forward to salute King Yu, but King Yu hurriedly asked him not to do so.

Wei Guangde stood up and cupped his hands to Yin Shizhen, "Brother Zhengfu, you are well."

During this period, Yin Shizhen spent less time in Prince Yu's Mansion, and Wei Guangde did not see him during his several visits to the Prince's Mansion.

It's not that he avoided seeing him intentionally, but he was not in the palace at all.

Of course, Wei Guangde didn't want to see him either. After all, his purpose of coming here was mostly for Li Fang.

However, Wei Guangde believed that the news of his coming to the palace could not be hidden from Yin Shizhen's ears.

"Shandai, you're all right. I heard you've been extremely busy these past two months, haha."

Yin Shizhen said happily as usual.

"Oh, Your Majesty just presses when there is nothing wrong. Mr. Li Ge also sends people to ask about the progress from time to time. I don't dare to delay it."

Wei Guangde pretended to be helpless and replied.

"Listening to the progress of the book revision, you are the fastest. Moreover, the book handed in from your room was reviewed very highly by Mr. Li Ge, and not a single mistake or omission was found. This is very rare."

Yin Shizhen smiled.

"Eating the emperor's salary and being loyal to the emperor, aren't these what we ministers should do?"

Wei Guangde pretended to be humble.

"Yes, yes, yes."

Yin Shizhen agreed.

"Okay, Shandai, I invited you here today because I want to ask you, what should the royal family's attitude be towards the matter of Hai Rui's appointment?"

King Yu interrupted the conversation between Wei Guangde and Yin Shizhen impatiently. It had been almost a day since the incident had developed, and the news had spread throughout the court.

Although Hai Rui seemed to be flattering Emperor Jiajing, most people after reading the memorial felt that he was actually criticizing Sang and Huai, accusing Emperor Jiajing of believing in religion and giving up on governing the country and the people of the world.

After all, in that book, the taboo words "two dragons never meet" were written, and there was also a lengthy commentary on Emperor Jiajing's Xuan Xiu, who was building massive construction projects that exhausted the people of the world.

Regardless of whether Hai Rui was right or not, as the son of Emperor Jiajing, King Yu felt that he should not turn a blind eye.

How can a son tolerate it when others criticize your father?

"How does Your Highness want to deal with Hai Rui?"

Wei Guangde put away his relaxed smile when communicating with Yin Shizhen, looked at King Yu and asked.

"I was hesitant, so I asked you and Zhengfu to come back and help me go through the details."

King Yu said.

No high arches were found, which seems to be a good sign.

Wei Guangde was thinking in his heart, but his facial expression remained unchanged. He just looked at Yin Shizhen, wondering how he told Prince Yu.

"I read Hai Rui's official report and I think he did a good job. It is the duty of a minister to advise the emperor."

Yin Shizhen seemed to understand what he meant and answered.

"Because Hai Rui just pointed out some of the mistakes His Majesty made, at least the mistakes that the ministers thought His Majesty made?"

Wei Guangde asked.

"Exactly. Does Shandai think Hai Rui's memorial is untrue?"

Yin Shizhen asked suspiciously.

King Yu, who was at the head, also moved slightly and sat upright inadvertently, seeming to be listening attentively.

In response to Yin Shizhen's rhetorical question, Wei Guangde did not answer immediately. He just blinked and asked with a smile, "So, in Brother Zhengfu's opinion, not only should Hai Rui not be dealt with, but he should also be properly protected."

Yin Shizhen did not answer this time, but nodded slightly to express his true thoughts.

This may be the unanimous view of officials in the DPRK who consider themselves clean.

Dare to advise the emperor, such an official is at least not a bad person.

"But His Highness is also worried that if the palace releases a signal to the outside world with such an attitude, it will attract criticism?"

Wei Guangde looked back at King Yu and asked.

King Yu was expressionless at this time, but Wei Guangde was used to it.

It doesn't really matter whether King Yu is really stupid or pretending to be stupid. What's important is that this expression of his appears often, and in the eyes of some people who are not familiar with him, he has an unpredictable look.

Wei Guangde really doesn't know how Hai Rui died, but he has an impression that Hai Rui and Xu Jie later had a very tense relationship. Even after Xu Jie became an official, he was sent to Jiangnan to do rectification. Xu Jie.

As for the rumor that Xu Jie rescued Hai Rui from prison, Wei Guangde just laughed.

Anyway, he no longer believed that future generations' impressions of Hai Rui had been deliberately beautified.

"Whatever attitude you adopt towards Hai Rui, Your Highness just needs to follow your heart."

Wei Guangde also noticed that King Yu seemed to agree with Hai Rui's memorial, but he did not dare to stand up and agree because the person being accused was his father.

Wei Guangde asked King Yu to follow his true heart, that is, since you think you cannot recognize Hai Rui, then just take a small revenge as you think.

This is not only for Xiyuan, but also for the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty, and for the people of the world to see what your attitude is as a son.

King Yu's expression still changed slightly at this time, but his eyes flickered, as if he had listened to Wei Guangde's words.

After lowering his head and thinking for a long time, King Yu raised his head and said to Yin Shizhen who was standing beside him: "Mr. Yin told the public after he went out that he doesn't like Hai Rui."

"Your Highness, Sir Hai."

"No need to say more, this matter is settled."

King Yu directly waved his hand to interrupt Yin Shizhen's words. He knew what Yin Shizhen was going to say. He couldn't help it, it was nothing more than that if the emperor made mistakes, his ministers should remonstrate, point out the king's mistakes, and let him correct them, so that the world could be stable.

Gao Gong had heard these things in class when he was a child, and at that time he felt that they were right.

But over the years, as he grew older and saw more and more things, he also discovered that that didn't seem to be the case.

Tang Taizong's approach seems to be correct, but after careful consideration, it always feels very strange and not that simple.

According to what Wei Guangde once told him, that is, everyone is performing, performing hard, and performing for others to see.

Tang Taizong acted like this in order to portray himself as a wise king, a courteous and virtuous corporal, and he was targeting the remnants of the enemy. In fact, it was just to cover up the injustice of his obtaining the throne.

He, King Yu, doesn't need to act, because he is the most upright one. He doesn't do anything, and that position is all his.

Follow your heart, since you agree with Hai Rui's words, but worry about the public opinion of Youyou, then just act like it.

"Mr. Yin, please go back first. I have something else to talk to Shandai."

King Yu spoke again.

"I excuse myself."

Although he didn't know what King Yu and Wei Guangde had to say, Yin Shizhen still saluted and left the room.

After the others left, King Yu looked at Wei Guangde and asked, "Shandai, what kind of person do you think Hai Rui is? Why is he writing this memorial?"

When Wei Guangde asked this question, he knew that King Yu had also thought about this issue, and that was the purpose of Hai Rui's promotion.

"Hai Rui served as county magistrate for two terms. It is said that he has a good reputation, so his official reputation is very good. Because he performed outstandingly in collecting land taxes when he was magistrate of Chun'an, he was transferred to the Ministry of Household Affairs."

Wei Guangde replied.

Duan Mengxian had actually mentioned these to him before, otherwise he wouldn't have known about Hai Rui's past experiences.

"Tian Fu?"

King Yu said suspiciously, looking at Li Fang.

Li Fang on the side just nodded slightly under King Yu's gaze.

"His land tax collection exceeds previous practice?"

King Yu was curious at this time. He already knew about it from Li Fang, but he was very curious about what Wei Guangde meant by collecting land taxes, and wanted to find out what was going on.

"this."

Wei Guangde was a little hesitant, because this involved some local rules. Although he had never been to a local place and governed a place, he knew what was going on from Ouyang Yijing. Combined with what he had seen and heard in Jiujiang before, he naturally came up with the whole picture.

But whether to tell Prince Yu the details, Wei Guangde was a little hesitant.

In fact, what Hai Rui did in those two counties was just the word "fairness". This should have been done by local officials, but because most of the officials who went down to do it found it difficult to do it, or didn't know it at all, Hai Rui's actions won him such a great reputation.

The collection of land tax from the people was carried out according to the land grade. If it was the county magistrate who mastered the method of sharing, it would be better to say that it was the clerks in the county government.

When sharing the land tax, these people often colluded with local big households for their own interests, and shared the land tax that should have been shared equally on the common people through the land grade.

What Hai Rui did was actually to preside over the apportionment himself, and put an end to the profiteering manipulation of petty officials by deceiving superiors and subordinates, so that the common people benefited from it.

At the same time, he handled the cases he encountered impartially, and thus his reputation as an honest official spread.

It is worth mentioning Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Perhaps because of past experience, Zhu Yuanzhang had fully considered this point when formulating the laws of the Ming Dynasty, so the punishment of petty officials was particularly severe.

In fact, officials of this era were often fooled by local petty officials because they entered the officialdom through the imperial examination and were also floating officials. It can be said that the petty officials ate a lot of benefits, and the bad reputation was borne by these officials.

In fact, think about the later generations, similar situations are not uncommon, and they are getting worse and worse.

That is why Wei Guangde's fellow villager Ouyang Yijing wanted to return to the capital even though he didn't want to be a county magistrate, because he was framed by the officials below.

Although there are many benefits, it is not comfortable to be set up by others after all.

But they all followed the rules, and he couldn't find any evidence against them, so he asked Wei Guangde to change his position.

As for the rumors in later generations that Hai Rui was honest and so poor that he couldn't afford meat for his mother's birthday, Wei Guangde just laughed.

Although the two county magistrates didn't make a fortune, Hai Rui should not be poor, otherwise he wouldn't have kept marrying wives and concubines.

It is worth mentioning that Hai Rui still has no son, so his concubines are in line with the provisions of the "Great Ming Law", and he can do these things openly without worrying about being impeached.

Wei Guangde thought about Prince Yu's character, and thought about the current situation in the world, and felt that it didn't matter to tell Prince Yu these things. At least the future emperor knew what the situation was like under his rule, and would think more about raising and reducing taxes.

So Wei Guangde simply mentioned what he knew to Prince Yu.

"So that's how it is."

After listening to this, Prince Yu was speechless for a long time, and then he said: "Just the word fairness makes the counties under his jurisdiction pay the land tax on time. It can be seen how those county magistrates who cannot pay the land tax on time are derelict in their duties. No wonder the court demoted these people."

"What do you think of his memorial this time?"

Prince Yu asked again.

"His behavior can be forgiven, but his heart can be punished."

Wei Guangde answered simply.