Chapter 466 Only Lord Xiao Yan can save us!
In Beijing, Lord Xu, who had been in the court for decades, finally and surprisingly left the cabinet. He was confined at home by the emperor's order, waiting for court officials to come south to find out the truth.

This moment has arrived.

It seems a bit abrupt.

No one expected that the Cifu family, which was fine a moment ago, has now become so precarious.

Such a contrast undoubtedly confuses and shocks people.

And such a result was achieved just by Hai Rui, who was recalled to the capital by the court.

This time.

That's this time.

Hai Rui's talent truly caught the attention of all the civil and military officials in the court.

Similarly, in the Ming Dynasty's political arena, a loyal minister who could single-handedly overthrow the cabinet ministers of the time finally made everyone realize his mistake.

However, just when people thought that Hai Rui would stop after getting Xu Jie out of the cabinet.

But in fact.

When Hai Rui officially took over the Northern Zhili Provincial Surveillance Office and the Shuntian Prefecture Office from the Ministry of Personnel, he once again launched a new round of investigation into Xu Jie and his cronies.

The investigation is blatant and unconcealed.

Because it was the first day that Hai Rui officially took office as the Northern Zhili Provincial Surveillance Commissioner and Shuntian Prefect.

He submitted a memorial to impeach an official in Northern Zhili who had a teacher-student relationship with Xu Jie in the past for corruption and illegal activities.

No one could have imagined that Hai Rui's next move would come so soon.

When Hai Rui, in his capacity as the Northern Zhili Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, impeached an official for illegal activities, he immediately, in his capacity as the Right Vice-Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, dispatched officers from Shuntian Prefecture to capture the official across regions, and eventually detained him in a cell in Shuntian Prefecture.

all.

They are all absolutely in line with the procedures and rules of the court.

When the Jinyiwei came to demand the person, the Shuntian Prefecture prison let the person out without any hindrance.

He didn't stop!
He is still attacking!
Hai Rui continued to use his terrifying methods against Xu Jie, whom he had driven out of the cabinet and the court, forcing the emperor to issue an imperial decree to confine him at home under other names.

Then came the fifth day since Hai Rui took office.

The second Northern Zhili official was arrested by Hai Rui on charges of killing civilians and plundering their land.

For a while.

The entire northern Zhili was shaken and in panic.

Because everything was happening right under their noses, all the dignitaries in the court began to become nervous and uneasy.

It was the tenth day since Hai Rui took office.

As expected, he impeached the ambassador of the Weaving and Dyeing Institute of the Ministry of Industry in the capacity of Right Vice-Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, pointing out that this man had committed many illegal acts. Then the Jinyiwei was dispatched immediately, and as expected, they found the money and stolen goods hidden by this man in the place mentioned by Hai Rui.

Only ten days.

Three people had already been imprisoned in Northern Zhili and the imperial court because of Hai Rui alone.

No one knows who Hai Rui will target next.

But if you observe carefully, you will find that the three people targeted by Hai Rui in the past ten days all have close ties with Lord Xu's family.

in this way.

People then roughly understood it.

Hai Rui wanted to torture Xu Jie and the Xu family to death, and he had already taken the initiative to show his attitude of fighting to the death.

What he is doing now is like cutting meat with a blunt knife.

During these ten days, Xiyuan remained eerily quiet, as if it really wanted to rule by doing nothing and turned a blind eye to anything outside the palace.

Xufu Lane was also unusually quiet. Even Xu Kun went to the yamen on time every day to report for duty and do his work.

But everyone knows it.

A bigger storm was being brought about by Hai Rui himself.

Now it is just the calm before the storm.

at the same time.

Jiangnan, thousands of miles away.

Master Gao Hanwen has also gone crazy with killing.

Back to the beginning, Gao Hanwen first left Beijing and headed south to Nanjing City. He then sent officials from all departments and offices in Nanjing to Beijing as an imperial envoy.

Not long afterward, other officials from the three judicial departments also arrived late.

Then these officials who were also imperial envoys were dumbfounded, because Gao Hanwen had already set the tone and done the job, which forced them into a situation where they could only do things according to Gao Hanwen's will.

Therefore, when Gao Hanwen was vigorously investigating the ownership of land and population in the twelve prefectures under the jurisdiction of the Yingtian Governor's Office, these so-called imperial envoys could only follow the tone set by Gao Hanwen.

After all, our Master Gao has already said it.

Since the court asked them to investigate whether Nanjing officials were corrupt or illegal, they would naturally investigate thoroughly.

Then according to this logic, the number and ownership of land in the twelve prefectures in Jiangnan must be thoroughly investigated, so that the court will not wrongly accuse a good person or let a bad person go.

This is the natural reason.

But logically speaking, Gao Hanwen's move simply turned the imperial envoy into the Yingtian Governor's Office before Hai Rui left.

only.

If you say something jokingly, the listener may think it is a joke.

But it is.

The people of the twelve prefectures in Jiangnan are now beginning to miss Hai Rui, whom they sent away.

Because Gao Hanwen's methods are even better than Hai Rui's.

"Unjustly accused!"

"Unjustly accused..."

"Help... Help! We didn't do anything! We didn't do anything!"

"You can't do this to me! You can't do this to my family!"

"Injustice!"

"..."

Right in the city of Nanjing.

Countless people gathered on the street, but the noise was blocked off by the newly trained Loyal and Brave Bandit Suppression Battalion.

Following the orders of the imperial envoy Gao Hanwen, the Loyal and Brave Bandit Suppression Battalion had to obey the orders and be seconded to work under these imperial envoys.

And today.

as always.

It was Imperial Envoy Gao who once again discovered that another family in the twelve prefectures of Jiangnan had illegally occupied the people's land, and had used various means to conceal the excess and evade the court's land tax.

Therefore, those present in the court today include not only the officers and soldiers of the Loyal and Brave Bandit Suppression Camp, but also the clerks and tax soldiers of the Taxation Office.

These people were all led by Gao Hanwen himself.

After having people cover the mouths of those who kept shouting.

Gao Hanwen walked up to the head of the family with a calm expression.

With a snap, Gao Qinchao slapped the man hard on the face.

"It's fine if you do evil things on a daily basis."

"How dare you occupy the people's land? Occupation is one thing, but how dare you conceal the land tax that should be paid?"

"Do you still have the emperor in your eyes? Do you still have the Ming Dynasty?"

With murderous intent in his eyes, Gao Hanwen turned around and waved his hand: "Take them all away, and let the three courts in Nanjing issue charges as usual and keep them on file."

For the people in the Loyal and Brave Battalion and the Tax and Military Office transferred to Nanjing, such things have become a skill they are used to.

As long as a local tycoon is found to have encroached on the people's land, he will now have to go through a set of fixed procedures.

First, the charges were announced in public, then the Loyalty and Bravery Battalion and the tax soldiers arrested him, and then the tax soldiers' office went to check his property and calculate how much land he owed to the court over the years. During this process, the signatures and seals of the three judicial offices in Nanjing were also required for confirmation, and finally the money would be kept in the residence of Gao Hanwen and the imperial envoys.

As soon as Gao Hanwen arrived in Nanjing, he escorted all the officials from the various departments and yamen in Nanjing to the capital. Now the officials of the three judicial offices in Nanjing are just letting it go.

Not to mention asking them to sign and seal the documents on the trial of the wealthy families in Jiangnan, endorsing what Gao Hanwen and others have done.

Even if they were asked to take the initiative to lead people to investigate and punish local bigwigs, they would be willing to do so.

after all.

This man called Gao Hanwen is actually more ruthless than the Hai Rui who got away. He is really merciless and will kill people if he disagrees with them.

At least.

In the past few days, many local gentry and wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River outside the city of Nanjing were beheaded on the spot for the crime of disobeying Gao Hanwen's order because they refused to obey the investigation.

After so many days, it has become clear what Gao Hanwen is going to do.

He wanted to force the gentry and wealthy families in Jiangnan to return all the land they had occupied over the years to the people.

He also wanted to investigate the land taxes and grain taxes that had been owed to the court over the years.

The people of the twelve prefectures had thought about resisting or seeking help, but faced with the officers and soldiers of the Loyal and Brave Camp who were eyeing them covetously, as well as the tax soldiers who had been trained long ago, these people eventually lost their courage.

Moreover, even if they wanted to seek help, all the well-known officials from various ministries and yamen in Nanjing City have been sent to the capital. To put it bluntly, the situation in Nanjing City is not good now.

That’s the surname Gao!
at last.

These people seemed to have reacted.

"Let's go find Elder Xiao Yan!"

"Now only Lord Yan can save us!"

"Yes, yes, yes! At this point, only Lord Xiao Yan can save us!"

"No matter how powerful Gao Hanwen is, can he ignore the Yan family's reputation? Can he forget that his current position was given to him by the Yan family?"

In Nanjing city.

As another family was taken away in public on the street by Gao Hanwen today, the remaining people finally could not sit still anymore and gathered together to seek the last way to survive.

When Yan Shaoting was mentioned, everyone's eyes lit up.

"I've said it before. When Lord Yan came to Nanjing, we should have taken the initiative. At that time, he just wanted us to clear the land we had occupied in recent years, but you didn't listen to me."

"It's all right now. Here comes Gao Hanwen, who is here to destroy our family and clan!"

"If I had known this earlier, why would I have done it in the first place?"

"You should have come with me to West Garden at that time, instead of waiting until now."

Some people have already started talking after the fact.

However, at this time, no one among those being scolded spoke up to refute.

At the beginning, they didn't know that a more ruthless Gao Hanwen would come, nor did they know that the conditions proposed by Yan Shaoting at the beginning would now seem like no conditions.

But it is because there are no ifs and no regret medicine in this world that they are forced to this point today.

"No matter what, we should go to the West Garden today."

"Although Gao Hanwen is an imperial envoy sent by the court, Xiaoge Lao Yan is also in charge of the six provincial governments' money and grain storage. Now that the officials of various ministries and offices in Nanjing have been taken to the capital by Gao Hanwen, Xiaoge Lao Yan should be the one who makes the decisions in Jiangnan!"

Several old men have already skillfully started to find a fig leaf for them.

Someone else asked quietly, "But at this time, even the Loyal and Brave Camp has been taken away by Gao Hanwen. Will it be useful for us to go to Old Yan? Will he take advantage of this opportunity to raise the price? We have already agreed that at most the land occupied in the past five years will be returned. If it's more, it would be better for Gao Hanwen to chop off my head!"

When these people thought they had found a way to survive, they once again showed their usual greed.

But the five-year agreement has been settled.

So, after these people reached an agreement, they started heading towards the West Garden.

And in the West Garden.

Yan Shaoting was just calling Zhang Juzheng and Wang Xijue over.

As for Zhao Zhenji, who was invited by officials from various departments in Nanjing to act as a lobbyist, he had already returned to Hangzhou.

After all, he was the Governor-General of Zhejiang and the Governor of Zhejiang. The battle to eliminate Japanese pirates in the southeast had reached a critical moment, and it was impossible for Zhejiang to allow him to stay in Nanjing forever.

So after Hai Rui left the West Garden, there were only three people left.

Yan Shaoting placed the letter he had just received on the table and looked towards the water not far away.

He was not unaware of the recent events in and around Nanjing, nor was he clear about the impact Gao Hanwen's actions would have.

As for the curses from the gentry and wealthy families in Jiangnan, such influence was not important at all. He was just a little worried that if Gao Hanwen continued to do this, the court would label him a cruel official.

But Gao Hanwen never came to West Garden from beginning to end, which made Yan Shaoting undecided and unable to persuade him.

After all, even when the Loyal and Brave Battalion was mobilized and requisitioned, it was Gao Hanwen who went directly to the military camp with the identity of an imperial envoy to make the mobilization.

Put aside the concerns about Gao Hanwen's future.

Yan Shaoting turned his eyes to the letter on the table.

"The latest news from the court was delivered today at full speed. Hai Rui was ordered to return to the capital. After completing his assignment, he blocked the door of the Xu family. The next day, he impeached Xu Jie in court. In the end, the emperor had to issue an order to retain only the title of Junior Tutor of Xu Jie and ordered him to stay at home and wait for the truth to be ascertained."

"According to the news, Xu Jie has been kicked out of the cabinet and is temporarily leaving the court."

After finishing speaking, Yan Shaoting looked up at the two people in front of him.

There was not much reaction on Zhang Juzheng's face, as if he thought Hai Rui would definitely do these things when he came to Beijing.

Wang Xijue showed a hint of excitement on his face, but he quickly controlled it.

But the young man still said: "This is great news! Very good news! Getting Xu Jie out of the cabinet and temporarily leaving the court is the first step to overthrow Xu! Mr. Gangfeng was able to accomplish such a great thing when he first returned to the capital. It is really... really admirable!"

Yan Shaoting looked at Zhang Juzheng with a smile on his face.

Under the gaze of the teacher and student, Zhang Juzheng could only speak: "Since we have taken the first step, we cannot stop. If I am not mistaken, Hai Rui has already started to take targeted actions against officials of the Xu family while serving as the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner of Northern Zhili. So we must help him in Jiangnan."

When talking about the Northern Zhili Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, Zhang Juzheng looked at Yan Shaoting with an obviously ambiguous look.

Thinking of Hai Rui's return to Beijing and the letter he had sent to Xu Wei, Yan Shaoting just smiled.

Hai Rui had those things himself, and he needed to accuse the officials in the court who were controlled by the Yan family. This was like Zhou Yu fighting Huang Gai, one willing to fight and the other willing to be beaten.

It is this time.

Liu Wan came over from outside and said, "Guest, a group of wealthy gentry in the city have come here jointly, hoping to meet you."

Yan Shaoting immediately smiled and looked at Zhang Juzheng.

"Look."

“This is not an opportunity that just came to you.”

…………

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(End of this chapter)