Fenghou

But in fact, the imperial court did not entrust the Sichuan-Shanxi Xuanfu Commissioner, which led to the illegal jurisdiction of the Yongwang Mansion or the Sichuan-Shanxi Xuanfu Commissioner over various places.

Therefore, at the end of the year, two major events will happen in Jingzhao. One is that the local governments will restore the Tang system, Zhizhou will be renamed Cishi, Tongju will be renamed Changshi, and other official positions will be renamed Sima, Biejia, Recorder and Join the Army, etc. At the same time, The county magistrate was also renamed the county magistrate, and a county worker was added to stand side by side with the master book, and three judges were promoted to nine-rank officials, so that the number of officials at the county level in the Yongwang Mansion increased from four to eight. Strengthened the control of Yongwang Mansion over the county.

Don't underestimate this small name change and restructuring. It directly decouples the states and counties under the jurisdiction of Yongwang Mansion from the imperial court from a legal point of view. The government has nothing to do with the imperial court. You appointed Zhizhou, but I don’t have the position of Zhizhou here. When Zhizhou takes office, he can’t even touch the door, and the appointment becomes meaningless.

The second major independent event of Prince Yong's Mansion was the founding of the country. The founding of the country is not the establishment of a new dynasty, but the establishment of a kingdom, which is equivalent to the enfeoffment system. The Han Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, Sui Dynasty, and Ming Dynasty all had enfeoffment systems, and the clan children were entrusted to various places. Establish a kingdom, so there is the theory of cutting the vassal.

There was no enfeoffment system in the Tang and Song dynasties. The court granted Chen Qing a Yongwang and allowed him to build a palace. This is actually a false title, just the title of a prince. What Chen Qing has to do now is to put the prince on the throne. In fact, that is, to build a kingdom.

Of course, the imperial court would not recognize the kingdom established by Chen Qing, but his officials, the army, and the prefectures and counties under his jurisdiction all recognized it, and the imperial court had no way to stop it.

A kingdom is not a dynasty, but it is only one step away from a dynasty, and it is just one step up.

On the first day of October, Chen Qing promulgated the Yong Wang Decree, officially restoring the Tang system to the prefectures and counties in various places, and at the same time reorganized the county level.

This major restructuring was quickly reported by the "Beijing News". In the turmoil of Jingzhao, officials all took the restructuring as a matter of course, but felt that it was too late and should have been changed long ago.

But in Lin'an, it caused an uproar, especially the faint mention of the word "Yongguo" in the King Yong's decree, which is even more imaginative.

But unexpectedly, the emperor Zhao Gou was very calm, he didn't fly into a rage, he didn't fly into a rage, and he didn't even summon the ministers for emergency military affairs, which made the ministers confused.

In the Hongyan Teahouse, the academicians Tao Lin and Xu Xiantu drink tea together.

"What's going on with the officials? There's no movement at all? Doesn't he know?" Tao Lin asked puzzled.

Xu Xiantu sighed and said, "How could he not know? He also subscribed to the "Beijing News" and read it every day! He read it more seriously than anyone else. It's no wonder he didn't know about such an important event and the headlines on the front page. Probably pretending to be calm! Or he doesn't know what to do."

"fear?"

"I guess there will be a little bit. It can be seen from the breakdown of the last negotiation that he is worried about Chen Qing's further actions."

Tao Lin frowned and said, "Then it's better to agree to give up Fujian Road to Chen Qing, and there won't be so many worries."

Xu Xiantu was surprised and said, "You haven't noticed it for a long time?"

"See what?"

"Even if an agreement is reached and Fujian Road is given to Chen Qing, he will still introduce these reforms and establish the Yong Kingdom. This does not violate the agreement, does not overstep, and does not add a yellow robe. Haven't you noticed?"

Tao Lin gasped, "It turns out that the other party has already prepared!"

Xu Xiantu smiled and said: "They have indeed been prepared for a long time, step by step, reforming the official system, and establishing the Yong Kingdom has been brewing for a long time. No matter whether they have reached an agreement with us or not, they will definitely launch it. I don't think there is any need to make a fuss. They just It’s just a name for what you’ve been doing.”

"But still different!"

Tao Lin shook his head and said: "In the past, there were many things that people couldn't think of, but now once it is renamed the Yong Kingdom, everyone thinks of the Yong Dynasty. In fact, there is no difference between the two. At most, Chen Qing did not ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor. I guess the Counselor of the Internal Affairs Hall The name will be changed to political affairs, the chief political affairs officer is Yong Wangcheng, and there are three provinces, six ministries and nine temples, which must be implemented at any time. Doesn’t he follow the Tang system? There are all governors, and they still care whether they are lower than the imperial court?

The most important thing is that once the names are rectified, ordinary people will recognize that they are parallel and independent dynasties parallel to the Song Dynasty, not the Yong Kingdom under the Song Dynasty. "

Xu Xiantu nodded, "You are right. Officials and scholar-bureaucrats know that they are not dynasties, but ordinary people don't care about these things. Kingdoms and dynasties are the same thing to them."

As he was speaking, an eunuch ran into the teahouse out of breath, and ran up to Xu Xiantu, panting heavily: "Our family is looking for Mr. Xu everywhere, please enter the palace immediately, the official has an important matter to summon!"

Xu Xiantu and Tao Lin looked at each other, and the officials really couldn't hold their breath anymore, Xu Xiantu got up and said, "I'll go right away!"

……

In the imperial study room, Zhao Gou was indeed extremely calm. It wasn’t that he wasn’t in a hurry, that he wasn’t angry, that he wasn’t afraid, or that he wasn’t anxious, but that he was anxious, angry, afraid, anxious, and bewildered. Timidity has turned into avoidance, or into numbness.

He is like an ostrich, as long as Chen Qing doesn't announce his enthronement as emperor, then he can pretend not to see it.

This is Zhao Gou's character, he is weak in his bones, stern and timid, he will be furious and preoccupied with small problems, and he will run away from big problems.

Unless the ministers forced him to deal with it, he really couldn't escape, so he had to face it.

At this time, Zhao Gou was reading another secret report, which was written by Yushi Zhongcheng Zhao Xing, accusing Xu Xiantu's son, Xu Shou, to be the county magistrate in Yuchi County, Kaifeng Prefecture under the alias of Xu Shou.

This report made Zhao Gou startled and angry. He never dreamed that his most trusted confidant would secretly take refuge in Chen Qing.

But he still restrained his anger, and he wanted to confirm this to Xu Xiantu himself.

At this time, the eunuch reported at the door, "Your Majesty, Mr. Xu is here!"

"Show him in!" Zhao Gou said coldly.

The first thousand and 330 chapters and six denials

Xu Xiantu quickly walked into the imperial study room, bowed and saluted, "See Your Majesty!"

"Xu Aiqing is free!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Zhao Gou walked a few steps and suddenly asked, "How is the situation at home?"

Xu Xiantu was a little puzzled. He thought that the officials would ask Chen Qing about his countermeasures, but he didn't expect to ask about his own family situation. He could only answer in a daze, "Weichen's family is fine, thank you for your concern!"

Zhao Gou asked again expressionlessly: "I remember Xu Aiqing has three sons!"

Xu Xiantu brain 'hum! With a bang, he knew what the officials were going to ask. It must be his third son Xu Shou. Various news had been spreading before, and he was quite panicked. He turned to Hu Yun for help. Fortunately, Hu Yun did it for him. a plan.

He has never tried this plan, and now he can only bite the bullet and give it a try.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, among the three sons of Weichen, the eldest son and the second son are all officials in the imperial court. The eldest son is serving as Yuanwailang in the Duzhi Division, and the second son is serving as the magistrate of Qingtian County in Chuzhou. Only the third son is not an official at home."

"Oh? Where is your third son now?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the third son, Xu Shou, is currently in Mingzhou. I felt that he had nothing to do at home, so I found something for him to do. Last year, I took over a shop selling spices. My son took care of it. He went to Guangzhou to buy. The ingredients are gone."

Zhao Gou was taken aback, why is it different from what was written in the report?

He picked up the report and said calmly: "Someone impeached Xu Aiqing's third son to serve as county magistrate in Yuchi County, Kaifeng Prefecture, so I want to ask clearly."

Xu Xiantu showed a wry smile on his face and said: "Your Majesty, this rumor has been out for a few months, I don't know who made up this rumor, and I just scoff at it and ignore it. In the past, the rumors were spread to His Majesty, I want to know, who fabricated the rumors? Who wanted to stab Weichen in the back?"

Zhao Gou hesitated and said, "It was the report from Yushitai. I didn't know it was a rumor!"

Xu Xiantu said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, since Yushitai is going to sue the imperial court, saying that Weichen's son is an official under Chen Qing, please show them evidence, why do they say that the county magistrate of Yuchi County is my son? Is it because they look alike? Is it because Wei Chen’s ancestral home is Yuchi County? Wei Chen wants evidence!”

Xu Xiantu flatly denied it, and his attitude was firm. Zhao Gou was a little shaken. After all, the report on Yushitai meant that they did not have conclusive evidence. If the evidence was conclusive, it would not be a report, but an impeachment letter.

"Let's do this! I will ask Yu Shitai to clarify the matter. If they make a mistake, I will ask them to apologize to you!"

Xu Xiantu knew the officials too well, and knew that there should be no concessions at this time, and the emperor would be more suspicious if he eased the concessions.

He did not give in and said: "Your Majesty, Yu Shitai's reputation cannot be slandered wantonly. If Yu Shitai has no evidence and talks nonsense, Zhao Xing must be held accountable, then I will resign!"

Speaking of this, Zhao Gou lost all his doubts. He began to suspect that Yushitai was ordered by Qin Hui to bring down Xu Xiantu by means of catching wind and shadow.

Zhao Gou nodded, "Don't worry, Aiqing, if Yushitai is a false accusation, I will give you an explanation!"

……

Xu Xiantu retreated, Zhao Gou immediately ordered someone to find Zhao Xing, Yushi Zhongcheng, and after a while, Zhao Xing rushed over and bowed to salute, "My minister Zhao Xing, see Your Majesty!"

"Zhao Zhongcheng, I want to ask you, in your report, it is said that Xu Xianggong's third son is the county magistrate in Yuchi County, Kaifeng Prefecture. What evidence do you have?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, when Yushitai heard about this, he immediately sent people to Yuchi County to check, and found that the Yu County Prime Minister was indeed Xu Xiangguo's third son, Xu Shou!"

"Who did you send to check?" Zhao Gou asked.

Zhao Xing hesitated for a moment. In fact, it was not Yushitai who sent people to check, but Xiangguo Qin Hui sent his confidant He Li to Kaifeng Mansion and recognized Xu Shou.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, I did not send officials, but sent someone who knew Xu Shou to Kaifeng Mansion. He told me with certainty that he recognized Xu Shou, and it must be him."

Zhao Gou frowned, "Is this called evidence? There are too many people who look alike in the world, and you can be sure just by their looks. Mr. Xu denied it. He said that his son opened a shop." , his son has gone to Guangzhou to buy goods, who do you ask me to trust?"

"Your Majesty, I must have read the right person!"

"That's useless. I want evidence to prove that Yu Shou in Yuchi County is the third son of Xu Xianggong. If you can't find it, you don't need to be a censor Zhongcheng!"

"The minister obeys the order!"

Zhao Xing was sweating profusely and retreated slowly, he hurried to find Qin Hui.

At this time, in the private room of Changfeng Teahouse, Xu Xiantu worriedly told Hu Yun about today's events. Hu Yun took a sip of tea and said with a slight smile: "Mr. Once His Royal Highness takes down Fujian Road, you can say that the son who bought spices in Guangzhou will not come back, and the way back will be cut off. If it is not possible, we can also find someone like your son to show up in the shop, so that the neighbors can see Look, then he will go to Nanyang to buy goods.

As for Yuchi County, you don't have to worry at all, the people who went to investigate will not come back. "

Xu Xiantu let go of his heart, nodded and said, "Then I'll leave it to you."

Hu Yun smiled again: "Let me tell His Highness, change your son to be an official in another county, so that this group of people won't stare at him."

"So much the better!"

Xu Xiantu didn't dare to sit for a long time, so he got up and left in a hurry.

Hu Yun pondered for a moment, then called the shopkeeper Dong An, and said to him: "Qin Hui will definitely send someone to Yuchi County, this time I have to keep an eye on him, let him go and don't come back."

Dong An nodded, "I'll arrange it!"

……

In the afternoon, as soon as Qin Hui returned to the mansion, the housekeeper told him that Yushi Zhao Zhongcheng had arrived and had been waiting for a long time.

Yushitai has always been controlled by Qin Hui. Over the years, he has used Yushitai to catch rumors and squeeze out dissidents.

Qin Hui drove to the guest hall, and coughed heavily in the hall, Zhao Xing, who was sitting in the hall drinking tea, stood up quickly, went forward and saluted: "See Mr. Xiang!"

Qin Hui asked slowly: "I heard that the officials summoned you today?"

"Exactly! I handed over the report to the emperor early this morning, and he summoned Xu Xiantu, and then I summoned me."

Qin Hui said in displeasure: "I told you to use the impeachment letter directly, but you don't believe it. You use the report to show that you lack confidence, and you can easily be caught by Xu Xiantu. Seeing your frown, you must have been counterattacked by Xu Xiantu. "

Zhao Xing said with a bitter face: "Actually, it has nothing to do with the impeachment paper or not. The key is that the officials asked me for evidence. I said that the person I sent had recognized the other party. The officials said that it was just a look. .”

"And then? Do you know what Xu Xiantu said?"

"The officials told me that Xu Xiantu's son opened a store in Lin'an, and his son himself went to Guangzhou to buy goods."

Qin Hui frowned, Xu Xiantu was prepared!But think about it, this rumor has been going on for several months, how could Xu Xiantu be unprepared?

"What evidence does the official want?"

"I didn't say the specifics, I just said that I need conclusive evidence, and I guess the officials don't know about it."

Qin Hui spread his hands, "Then how do we find evidence?"

Zhao Xing thought about it: "Thinking about it just now, censors pay attention to personal and physical evidence when handling cases, and we can only look for personal and physical evidence. Yu Shou must have servants around him, and he knows Yu Shou's bottom line. As for the physical evidence, if you can get the official document that Yu Shou has corrected now, and compare it with the previous handwriting, you can also confirm the same person, this is called complete physical evidence."

Qin Hui nodded. This idea is good and can be adopted. He immediately said: "I will arrange the manpower and go to Yuchi County again!"

The first thousand and 330 chapters and seven broken thoughts

Zhao Xing left, Qin Hui returned to his study, Wang brought him a cup of ginseng tea, and asked with a puzzled face: "The officials don't care about such a big matter today, but instead pursue these trivial matters, he is not afraid of Chen Is Qing ascending the throne and proclaiming himself emperor?"

Qin Hui shook his head and said: "I have been the Prime Minister for more than ten years, and I have a good understanding of the character of the official family. He is timid, cowardly, and afraid of the strong. If it is something he can solve, he will definitely jump up. He yelled and ordered his subordinates to solve the problem. If it was something he couldn't solve, he would run away. He couldn't control Chen Qing's affairs. It can be said that as long as Chen Qing didn't ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor, everything that happened would happen to him. They will turn a blind eye and turn a deaf ear.”

"Is it because there are too many lice and they don't bite people?"

Qin Hui laughed and said, "That's what it means, but according to a very vulgar saying in my hometown, it's called dead pigs are not afraid of boiling water!"

Mrs. Wang covered her mouth with a smile and said, "Master is so bad, he actually compared the official family to..."

"It's okay for us to talk in private!"

At this time, the official reported in the courtyard: "My lord, He Li is here!"

"Let him in!"

Mrs. Wang nodded and left through the side door. After a while, a man in his thirties walked into the study quickly. His name was He Li. He went to Yuchi County and recognized Yu Shou as Xu Xiantu's son Xu Shou.

"See my husband!"

Qin Hui nodded and said, "Maybe you need to make another hard trip to Yuchi County!"

"It's not hard work in a humble job, please tell me!"

Qin Hui thought for a while and said: "I remember you seem to have said that there is a servant who has followed him for a long time in Yu Shou's mansion, and you still spend money to ask him for news, right?"

"That's right! This person's name is A Ping, and he came from the Xu Mansion in Lin'an. He knew that Xu Shou was renamed Yu Shou."

"You find a way to bring this person back to Lin'an, and then make an official document written by Xu Shou. We will check the handwriting as evidence, and Aping is the witness. Only when the witness and material evidence are complete can we file a letter of impeachment."

He Li bowed and said: "I understand the humble job, this Aping is more greedy for money, you can buy him with money, and even he can get the official documents for us."

Qin Hui happily said: "That's it, I'm going north with two warriors and 1000 taels of silver. Be sure to bring back the personal and physical evidence I want!"

……

Qin Hui immediately sent his confidant He Li to take two warriors to Yuchi County of Kaifeng Prefecture again, this time they were looking for witnesses and physical evidence.As soon as the three of them left Xiangguo's mansion, they were watched by the warriors sent by Dong An.

And Zhao Xing started to investigate Xu Xiantu's shop, but the emperor didn't tell him what kind of shop the Xu family opened?What kind of goods did Xu Shou go to Guangzhou to buy?Zhao Xing was really at a loss.