Jiuxi

Chapter 130 129 [Such a Monarch]

Xu Zuo's cold words were like a basin of ice water poured on the heads of some courtiers.

Generally speaking, the impeachment of Yushitai is based on hearsay. For example, if a certain minister is suspected of violating the law, the court will give him an opportunity to defend himself, and at the same time let the official examine it carefully.

But Xu Zuo was not vague this time, but clearly pointed out the evidence of Qu Fenghua's crimes. He could even tell clearly how many businesses he was connected with and how many manors he built in his hometown.

When Qu Fenghua was horrified to death, Xu Zuo continued without mercy: "According to the information left by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, it can be seen that Qu Shilang was born in a poor family and was just an ordinary member of the Ministry of Industry 13 years ago. After His Majesty established Yongjia as his capital, As a student and disciple of Zuo Xiang, Qu Shilang rose through the ranks by relying on this relationship. In just a few years, he was promoted to the third rank of Minister of Industry. The Qu family originally only had one old house in the local area. Now, in less than six years, the Qu family owns There are countless fields, mansions, estates, surplus wealth, and shares in businesses.”

He turned to look at Qu Fenghua and said with a stern look: "Shilang Qu is really good at making money. No wonder the official road from Beijing to Chengzhou has been built for six years, and half of the road is still full of potholes! When I first received the secret report, I didn't even know that I believe that the minister is so bold, so he asked several censors to spend half a year to personally visit this official road, and then I know how much national money has gone into the private pocket of the minister!"

At this moment, the entire palace was silent, and the ministers bowed their heads in silence.

Qu Fenghua stood tremblingly, as if he might fall down at any time.

On the dragon chair, Li Duan said quietly: "I just listened to the words of Zuo Xiang and Privy Council Guo. I had already given up the idea of ​​strengthening the border army because the imperial court has to spend money on everything. It would be unavoidable to just use national funds on the military. Regardless of the people's livelihood, they resorted to military force. And I heard Shilang Qu's righteous words, which made Liu Aiqing speechless, and I deeply believed it. After all, all the ministers are thinking about the country, so how can they favor one over the other? "

He raised his head, looked at Qu Fenghua and said, "What a great Shilang Qu who is attentive to state affairs."

"Your Majesty! I deserve death for my crime! I...I support what General Liu said!"

Qu Fenghua no longer cared about his manners and fell to his knees with a plop, his lips trembling.

If Xu Zuoyu couldn't produce conclusive evidence, he still had the courage to argue. After all, Li Daoyan was his mentor, and many civil servants would support him because of this relationship.

However, the other party made detailed accusations, and he couldn't even find an excuse to defend himself. Any more harsh words at this time would only provoke the emperor's anger.

The leader of the civil servants, Li Daoyan, frowned slightly, with a cold look on his old face.

He sighed in his heart, it seemed that His Majesty's determination to strengthen the border army was unstoppable.

Qu Fenghua's change of attitude seemed ridiculous, but the other courtiers had no intention of ridiculing him, especially the ministers who had participated in the siege of Liu Shouguang before. They were all uneasy at this moment.

Even those children from well-off families who have served as officials for many years cannot guarantee that they are absolutely clean. If the Yushitai is ruthless enough to investigate, he will naturally find some clues.

But what they didn't expect was that before Xu Zuo continued to fire, another minister stood up.

This person is Qin Zheng, the Sutra Weaver, who always stands in a corner where others don't pay much attention. Unless the emperor asks, he rarely takes the initiative to report.

"Your Majesty, I have the original play."

Qin Zheng said calmly.

Li Duan seemed to have forgotten Qu Fenghua, who was waiting for the verdict in fear. He turned to look at his most trusted minister, nodded slightly and said, "Come on."

Qin Zheng coughed slightly and said in a slightly higher tone: "The commander of the Dingwei Army, Xu Wen, collaborated with the enemy and treason. The case has been closed. His Majesty ordered his ministers to continue to conduct in-depth investigations. The Sutra Weaving Department did not dare to slack off. Now we have preliminary results. "

Li Duandao: "Report."

For most of the courtiers, the situation at today's court meeting was like looking at flowers in a fog, complicated and confusing without a clue.

Except that the initial reward for the two border army commanders was a normal procedure, the next focus of the debate between Guo Congyi, Li Daoyan, Liu Shouguang and a group of civil servants was whether to enhance the strength of the border army. So far, we can barely see clearly, but the left The appearance of Xu Zuo, the censor Zhongcheng, made the situation take a turn for the worse. He not only confirmed Qu Fenghua's crime in a few words, but also severely frightened others.

In the case of Xu Wen's collusion with the enemy and treason, Li Daoyan took the initiative to give in and proposed that the Weaving Department investigate the various yamen of the imperial court. This was regarded as a concession to the emperor. The purpose was to limit the actions of the border troops and prevent Xiao Wangzhi from counterattacking Beiyan and dragging down the entire imperial court.

However, the Sutra Weaver Department has been investigating for two months with no progress. So far, even Li Jingda, who is Xu Wen's direct superior, is standing safely in the court. Many people have gradually forgotten about this matter and did not remember it until Qin Zheng mentioned it.

Could it be that the Warp Weaving Department has made another discovery?
Li Jingda looked at Qin Zheng extremely nervously, thinking that he had never done anything to collaborate with the enemy and had no knowledge of Xu Wen's affairs. He couldn't force himself to be dragged into the water and force him to support the emperor's decision, right?
Qin Zheng stood solemnly and said slowly: "Your Majesty, the Sutra Weaving Department has been conducting careful inspections during this period and has not found anyone in the court who betrayed Da Qi like Xu Wen."

Li Jingda secretly breathed a sigh of relief and cursed in his heart: "Then is there something wrong with you for standing out for no reason?"

Qin Zheng added: "But the Guangling Yamen of the Sutra Weaving Department discovered something else. Half a year ago, on the eve of the Battle of Guangling, the Guangling Yamen captured several spies from the Puppet Yan Procuratorate, and found out that the Gu family of Guangling had colluded with the enemy. The Gu family was The local wealthy merchants often went north to do business before the war broke out. In the process, they were recruited and corrupted by the puppet Yan's Procuratorate, and they frequently provided various local intelligence in Huaizhou to the puppet Yan."

Upon hearing this, Qu Fenghua, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, turned pale and his body collapsed to the ground.

Qin Zheng didn't look at him at all and continued: "The Warp Weaving Department followed this line and found that the biological sister of Gu Zisi, the head of the Gu family, was taken as a concubine by Qu Fenghuahua, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, eight years ago." It was from that time that Qu Shilang began to rise in the court. At present, the Sutra Weaving Department has some evidence that can prove that part of the Qu family's property was privately bribed by the puppet Yan Procuratorate."

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! I didn't. This is slander. I really didn't collude with the fake Yan spies!"

Qu Fenghua shouted in panic, his eyes full of horror.Although corruption is a serious crime, as long as he hands over the dirty money to the court and Li Daoyan and other important ministers help with a few exculpatory words, he will be exiled for three thousand miles at most, and he will be exiled at the worst. The death penalty will not implicate family members.

Da Qi has been a country for more than 100 years, and it has never been able to eradicate corruption crimes.

However, the crime of liaison with the enemy is countless times more serious. The example of Xu Wen's family being confiscated and exterminated is right before his eyes.

Qu Fenghua dared not admit to this crime no matter what.

Li Duan said indifferently: "Qin Zheng, he said you were slandering."

Qin Zheng said calmly: "Your Majesty, the Weaving Department strictly abides by the laws of the imperial court and does not dare to go beyond the slightest. The files on this case are complete and detailed. I and my colleagues in the Weaving Department checked day and night for two months and determined that Qu Shilang and The spies of the Puppet Yan Prosecutor's Office colluded and betrayed the internal secrets of our court many times."

Qu Fenghua cried and said: "Your Majesty, I am a minister of Da Qi. I have no reason to collude with the enemy. I hope your Majesty will understand clearly. There must be many misunderstandings here -"

"shut up!"

An old voice choked his last words.

Left Prime Minister Li Daoyan turned his head, his old eyes full of endless disappointment and anger. This attitude rarely appeared on him.

He knew that Qu Fenghua was greedy, perhaps because his family was too poor and miserable when he was young. After taking power, he plundered and made money. These things were not important to him. After all, not many officials in the court could do this. The same goes for replacing Qu Fenghua and replacing him with someone else.

A Qingliu like Xu Zuo who is willing to live in a humble family is an extremely rare exception.

As long as Qu Fenghua could work with peace of mind in the Ministry of Industry, Li Daoyan didn't bother to care whether he was greedy for money. At most, he would only hit him occasionally.

However, Li Daoyan did not expect that this guy would secretly collude with enemy spies. This was to dig into the foundation of the Qi court!
Not only is it the foundation of the Tian family, it is also the foundation of the Jiangnan family!
Thinking of this, the old man turned to the emperor and bowed, and said with great sadness and remorse: "Your Majesty, as the prime minister, I bear unshirkable responsibility for Qu Fenghua's corruption and collusion with the enemy and the country. I sincerely ask your majesty to investigate this matter thoroughly. No matter who is involved in the matter, the court cannot tolerate it. As for the veteran himself..."

Li Duan did not immediately feel relieved this time, but looked at the prime minister who had many supporters with a complicated expression.

Li Daoyan sighed and said: "The veteran is already old and cannot bear the big responsibility. I hope that your majesty will allow the veteran to resign and return home, and choose another capable person to take up the post."

All the ministers were in panic.

Li Duan took in all the reactions, and then said slowly: "Prime Minister Zuo, please don't do this. Qu Fenghua deserves death. I wish I could cut him into pieces, but this matter has nothing to do with Prime Minister Zuo. Today's national affairs The current situation is difficult and complicated, how can I leave the help of the left prime minister?"

Li Daoyan lowered his head and said: "Old minister, I am ashamed of my trust in your majesty!"

Li Duan thought for a moment and said: "In my opinion, Qu Fenghua is just an example and cannot represent all the princes in the court. Let's let the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple thoroughly investigate his various crimes, and then tell the world to make them known to the public. The civil and military officials of the entire dynasty will take this as a guide. "Jie, how about Zuo Xiangyi?"

Li Daoyan knew very well the meaning of the emperor's words. Qu Fenghua's case ended here, and his deserved fate was to confiscate his family and exterminate his clan, but the court would not be implicated in any big way.

This is the bottom line that the emperor can accept.

The old man saluted again and said: "Your Majesty is wise, I am far less likely to be able to deal with the unexpected."

When several guards entered the Duancheng Hall, they dragged Qu Fenghua down, who was pale and trembling.

In the silence, General Liu Shouguang once again said: "Your Majesty, I request you to set up four additional armies in the seven cities in the north of the Yangtze River, with a total strength of [-]. The two armies near the Shuangfeng Mountains will be under the jurisdiction of the Huaizhou Dudu Mansion, and the two armies to the west will be under the jurisdiction of the Huaizhou Dudu Mansion. It is under the jurisdiction of the Jingzhou Dudu Mansion."

Li Duan calmly looked around at the ministers and asked calmly: "Do you have any objections?"

No one said anything.

Li Daoyan and Guo Congyi did not speak, and other important ministers seemed to be still immersed in the shock of Qu Fenghua being taken away directly.

Xue Nanting, the right minister, raised his head and looked at the emperor. The eyes of the emperor and his ministers met. He immediately stepped forward and said loudly: "Your Majesty, I support General Liu's proposal!"

Xu Zuo, the censor Zhongcheng, immediately seconded the proposal.

More and more ministers came forward to express their support, and echoes were heard endlessly.

Li Bingxue's face looked better. She turned to look at Lu Chen and said softly: "It's not easy."

Lu Chen nodded, and he suddenly understood why Li Tianrun trusted the emperor so much.

(End of this chapter)