Red Mansion Royal Cat

Chapter 585 Pulling One Group and Beating Another

Although Jia Cong was puzzled by the sudden appearance of Chu Bangzheng, he still accepted the old prime minister's active help without hesitation.

Regardless of the fact that he once had very close relations with the Xilin Party and other party members from the southeastern provinces, just based on the fact that his eldest son and grandson died because of the lotus cream, Chu Bangzheng now absolutely hated those wealthy businessmen who stretched their hands to power, and he hated the court officials who were corrupt and embezzled for personal gain even more.

Chu Bang was an upright person himself. In the past few years since his retirement, he had witnessed the prosperity of Daxia after the implementation of the political reform.

He looked back at the so-called upright officials of the past, all of whom were only good at talking but had done nothing at all. Even the old prime minister felt ashamed.

"It was hard to get it back to normal, but in the past two years it has become like the Xilin traitors who controlled Jiangnan. Although I am old, I am not dead yet. I have been investigating secretly for a long time..."

This man is Chu Bangzheng, a former cabinet minister. How could his methods be compared to those businessmen who suddenly became rich?

Even the officials of Nanzhili did not realize that the old prime minister who was living in retirement in the countryside had already secretly sent his confidants to various prefectures to secretly investigate the newly-promoted officials and merchants who had colluded with each other, as well as the emerging powerful families who were gradually forming groups.

"That's great. I'm worried about getting help from the capital, but distant water can't quench immediate thirst. Please take a seat, old prime minister..."

Jia Cong was happy. It turned out that the old ones were the wisest. With this person, wouldn't it be easy to handle the imperial examinations?
However, Chu Bangzheng was quite stubborn. He rejected Jia Cong's courtesy and asked his men to bring a large box and place it in the hall.

"You are the imperial envoy sent by His Majesty, so naturally you will be the one to preside over the trial. I have been waiting for an opportunity these days. As it happens, from today on, I will be your dog-headed advisor."

"No, no, you are my senior... Well then, old Prime Minister, please sit beside me and give me some pointers."

Jia Cong had no choice but to follow Chu Bangzheng's wishes, helped him sit aside, and then returned to his main seat.

The personal soldiers took out the account books, letters, etc. from the big box, classified them one by one under Chu Bangzheng's instructions, and placed them on Jia Cong's desk.

Either the old saint has a sharp eye, or none of the old foxes who can enter the cabinet are simple people.

On Jia Cong's desk were documents showing the amount, time, bribe-givers, places where bribes were received, etc. of bribes received by officials involved in the case from various prefectures and counties in Southern Zhili, including the Provincial Administration Commission, the Provincial Surveillance Commission, prefectural schools, and county schools.

What surprised Jia Cong the most was the evidence of Dragon Guard Jinling Pacification Division taking bribes, which confirmed his previous speculation...

As one of the emperor's eyes and ears in the local area, the Dragon Guards of Jinling City also fell.

"My Lord, how did you get these?"

Everything else would be fine, but the Dragon Guards are a fucking secret service agency. Not only were they counter-detected, but their lair was also raided. This is too embarrassing.

Back when my second brother Jia Lian was in charge of Jinling, the Dragon Guard Jinling Pacification Division was almost the nightmare of the entire Jiangnan officialdom...

Chu Bangzheng just laughed: "After all, the truth will come out. If you investigate carefully, you will find that their tricks are just what I used to do!"

This is his confidence. Having served in the central government and as prime minister of the country, the old prime minister can sometimes guess how these people do things with just one glance.

Using money and women to seduce, coercion and inducement to corrupt court officials, isn't that what the Xilin Party did back then?
Today's Jiangnan clans are no better than the Xilin Party members back then. Their methods are too immature...

"Marquis Yongfeng may as well first interrogate Sun Wei, the pacification envoy of the Dragon Guard Jinling Pacification Division. He has more detailed evidence in his hands than I do."

Jia Cong immediately understood what Chu Bangzheng meant when he heard his suggestion.

Although Jinling's Dragon Guards kept the matter secret from the capital, they would not change their habits easily.

Even if they don't report it, they will record Jiangnan's every move in a book in case of emergency.

It's ridiculous that this group of Dragon Guards, who were corrupted by interests, actually had a trick up their sleeve. They hid the criminal records of every one of the officials, businessmen, and gentry who lured and corrupted them in a secret room in the Pacification Office.

Jia Shiyi only used a little trick to take out everything inside.

There were more than a dozen boxes containing evidence of crimes committed by every major family in Jiangnan and every official who had abused their power for personal gain and accepted bribes since the ninth year of Yuanyou.

"It's only been three years, and the Jiangnan officialdom and scholars that were finally cleaned up have been messed up again by these people."

Chu Bangzheng suddenly became extremely serious, even a little disappointed.

He pointed at the large wooden boxes in the hall and said solemnly, "In just three years, so many corrupt officials have emerged. The Jiangnan literary world has been stuffed with so many unqualified people. The Jiangnan academic atmosphere is full of filth. Marquis Yongfeng, how can this continue?"

"We can't go on like this!"

Jia Cong felt his scalp tingling when he looked at the evidence found in the Jinling Pacification Office.

My goodness, these people are really crazy!
Most of the officialdom and scholars in Southern Zhili were corrupt, and even many teachers in public schools were controlled by them.

No wonder that in Jiangnan, the educational efforts that the imperial court had spent years of hard work and tens of millions of taels of silver to promote turned out to be a tool for fame and fortune for those emerging clans.

"This is ridiculous! If we hadn't happened to find this place today, even if Jiangnan had changed completely, the imperial court would still not know what happened!"

Jia Cong was furious. He drew his goose-feather knife and walked in front of Sun Wei.

At this time, Sun Wei had already been beaten black and blue. He actually dared to resist the imperial edict of Panlong Jinling. If Jia Shiyi had not held back, he would have gone to see the King of Hell by now.

Jia Cong didn't plan to chop this guy directly, but used the back of the knife to hit Sun Wei's face and back again and again...

"You really bring shame to our Dragon Guards. You are the emperor's personal soldiers, but you are actually trying to undermine the imperial court..."

Thinking back to when Jia Cong joined the Dragon Guard at the age of eight, he felt such a pity when he saw the list of names of those Dragon Guard soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country in the Dragon Guard's secret book.

They are all good men of Da Xia. Many of them cannot be exposed even after they die.

Even their families only knew that the old man’s son, the child’s father, and the wife’s husband died for the country. Even their bodies were not brought back, and only an identity card was left at the Dragon Guards...

"You're fucking worthy of wearing this flying fish suit?"

Jia Cong reached out to strip Sun Wei of the Dragon Guard uniform, his eyes red with anger.

In a few moves, he stripped off Sun Wei's Feiyu suit, and whipped him hard on the back of the body with the knife, until Sun Wei's eyes and nose bled and he collapsed on the ground twitching. Then he stopped the knife, gasping for breath.

"Drag him to the prison and use the best medicine to keep him alive. Three days later, I will skin him alive in front of the entire population of Jinling City!"

If it were someone else, immediate execution would have been almost certain.

But as for Sun Wei, Jia Cong would definitely cut him into pieces.

Sometimes, not reporting something is even more hateful!

The case was too big, with too many files and evidence, and Jia Cong simply could not finish the trial today.

Therefore, he could only temporarily withdraw from the court and invite Mr. Chu into the inner hall.

As a "newbie", it is difficult for him to make up his mind about many things at once, so he has to ask the opinions of the old foxes.

"It seems that Yongfeng Hou has learned a lot in the past few years..."

This is Chu Bangzheng's most appropriate evaluation of Jia Cong today, and it is definitely a compliment.

"This case is not just about cheating in the imperial examination. Someone is trying to undermine the court and test the court's bottom line."

Among the four classes of people, scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, merchants are the last.

In Chu Bangzheng's opinion, this kind of ranking is the most correct hierarchy.

Even though Jia Cong opposed such a grading system, he had to admit that among the businessmen, too many were blinded by interests and clouded by desires.

"Merchants pursue profits, and profits are often related to power. Marquis Yongfeng, I have seen all kinds of things in the world in my life. Many times, you cannot cure hundreds or thousands of years of chronic diseases just by your passion!"

Chu Bangzheng dipped his finger in tea and wrote two words on the table - forming a clique.

Form a party?

"Pull one group together and beat another. What about the Xilin Party? What about these new party members? Why can they form a party, but you, the Marquis of Yongfeng, can't?"

Chu Bangzheng clasped his fists and bowed towards the north: "The imperial party is also a party!"

……

Whenever a clique is formed, the word "selfishness" is often involved.

Although Jia Cong often said that he was a member of the emperor's party, in fact he never formed a party with others and always regarded himself as the emperor's lone minister.

This is the biggest lesson the Ningrong Jia family has learned after the so-called "Four Major Families of Jinling", "Four Kings, Eight Dukes and Twelve Marquises" and other interest groups fell apart.

Everyone in the Jia family, including Jia's son-in-law Lin Ruhai, has always been objective in the court, not personal.

When Master Bao scolds someone, as long as you do something wrong, he will even scold his father, Master Zheng.

As long as someone made great contributions to the court, even if he was at odds with Jia Cong and often caused trouble for the Jia family, Jia Cong would still insist on recommending credit for him.

This is what he believes court officials should have as their professional ethics, not just opposing for the sake of opposing...

"I heard that Mr. Chu went to the Censorate today?"

Daiyu took off her hairpins, let her hair down, and snuggled in Jia Cong's arms.

Both of them had been busy all day, and they took advantage of the free time at night to snuggle up to each other to relieve their physical and mental fatigue.

Jia Cong gently stroked Daiyu's smooth skin and nodded, "The old prime minister has given me a big problem... Sister Lin, what do you think about forming a clique?"

"Party?"

This word is a taboo, and Daiyu's originally relaxed brows suddenly frowned.

"Party formation means interests. With interests, civil and military officials can no longer be said to be pure. Why did Brother Cong suddenly bring up this?"

Jia Cong had not expected what Daiyu said. He told her what Chu Bang was saying in the inner hall today...

"I can probably guess what Mr. Chu is thinking. Although he is an upright person, perhaps because of his past experiences and his habitual thoughts on officialdom struggle, his ideas are too old-fashioned."

Daiyu finally made her own assessment: "It is absolutely not okay to form a party, even if you are still young and have enough time and energy to control it. But Cong, people will eventually grow old and their strength will eventually run out. Can you guarantee that the party members headed by you can always keep their original intentions?"

Who can guarantee that there will not be party struggles just for the sake of opposition in the future?
Since ancient times, the emergence of party struggles has often led to the destruction of a country.

The struggle between interest groups is more horrifying and more harmful than the struggle between individuals.

To form a clique for the sake of temporary convenience is to go back to the old ways and the result will be more trouble than gain.

Jia Cong also figured out the key points, especially the unpredictable consequences, and he couldn't help but shudder.

"Thanks to Sister Lin's vigilance, I almost went astray!"

Jia Cong was not just saying this to make his wife happy. Today he was really infuriated by the officialdom in Nanzhili.

When Chu Bangzheng mentioned the word "forming a party" to him, Jia Cong was actually moved for a moment.

He hugged Daiyu and gave her a kiss of gratitude.

After parting their lips, Jia Cong said cheerfully, "But Chu Bangzheng is right about what he said, pull one group together and beat another. But I don't plan to form a party. Even if I don't form a party, I can pull a group of people together to muddy the waters in the south of the Yangtze River."

An old tradition of the Jiangnan officialdom is to form cliques, such as the Donglin and Xilin factions, which rely on nepotism formed by academies and teachers and are prevalent throughout the Jiangnan region.

The greatest achievement of the court's implementation of compulsory education was that it opened a gap in the Jiangnan officialdom, which was dominated by nepotism.

Jia Cong's idea was to make the hole bigger.

“The first step to breaking the monopoly of knowledge is to put forward different ideas.”

The next morning, Jia Cong lay on his desk and began to write a letter to Zhou Jiong, the old prime minister who was far away in the capital: "Old Master, it's time for you to come out of retirement!"

……

Without Marquis Yongfeng in the capital, the common people seemed to have lost half of their happiness.

Prince Zhongshun has been in mourning for the old saint recently, and Master She is also reflecting on his mistakes in the imperial mausoleum. All the fun people in the capital are not here, and there is less gossip after dinner.

"Alas, Brother Cong has given me another difficult problem!"

The prince felt numb when he saw the documents that had been sent urgently from six hundred miles away.

As soon as Jia Cong arrived in Jiangnan, he executed several local officials above the fifth rank, including the Dragon Guard and the Nanjing Pacification Commissioner, not to mention the more than a hundred court officials he had imprisoned.

"Master Lin, ask the Ministry of Personnel to quickly select a suitable person to send to Congge..."

The urgent report only meant one thing: Jia Cong was going to kill a lot of people, and that a substitute official should be sent to him to do the job.

Otherwise, he would kill all the officials in Jiangnan and government affairs would have to come to a halt.

"Also, many officials were opposed to the idea of ​​sending eunuchs to monitor the palace. Now that this has happened, I'm afraid someone will use it to make trouble again. Master Lin, do you think we should suppress this matter?"

What gave Liu Hong the most headache was not the large number of people killed by Jia Cong, but the fact that all the eunuchs in charge of the various maritime customs offices, the eunuchs guarding Nanjing, and other eunuchs were caught in one fell swoop by Jia Cong.

It's so fucking infuriating. What do you think a dead eunuch wants with a woman?
After reading Jia Cong's urgent report, Liu Hong had almost the same idea as him.

Look at Hui E, at least he is just greedy for money...

Bah, bah, bah, none of them are good!

Liu Hong was almost angry to death. He spat and looked at Lin Ruhai who had a worried look on his face.

Master Lin pondered for a long time, then he sighed and said, "It cannot be concealed. In my opinion, Your Highness should go and listen to what Eunuch Dai and Eunuch Xia think."

Monthly ticket recommendation ticket

　I’ll stop here today and continue tomorrow.

　　Happy May Day, gentlemen!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)