Liu Guitian held back his anger and walked out of the door. He was in the warm room with a brazier burning. He was only wearing a thin official robe. He didn't even put on his cloak and rushed out of the room. By the time he reached the Yamen of the Ministry of Justice, he was already shivering from the cold wind.
Liu Guitian was almost frozen when his attendants announced his arrival and Chen Dong and Sun Yuxuan came out to greet him. Chen Dong and Sun Yuxuan ignored the clamoring students and the crying families of the criminals in front of the door. They just smiled and asked Liu Guitian why he was here.
The families of the suspects were actually instigated to come and didn't have the guts to offend the officials. Moreover, there were more than 20 military academies guarding the Ministry of Justice officials with a murderous look on their faces. Therefore, they could only cry out their grievances.
As for the students from the Imperial College and the Imperial College, although they were angry, most of them were deceived. Only the leaders knew the inside story. However, they had already received orders to wait for the Chancellor and the others to bring the Headmaster's statue before storming the yamen. Therefore, they didn't make a move.
Liu Yutian said with a sullen face, "Since the two officials said that they received a complaint and wanted to investigate the case of the brawl and officials taking bribes, I don't know what's going on and don't want to get involved. However, the two officials sent people to arrest the Junior Magistrate Qi Anrun, Sima Zhao Haochen, County Marquis Wang Shixiu, Imperial College Chancellor Li Jianbai, and the others. What's the reason for this? Could it be that all of the officials in this mansion are involved in the transport of the Ba River? "
Chen Dong said in surprise, "Why do you say that? This official received a report saying that there were gangs of boatmen on the Ba River. They were fighting and causing trouble, causing the transportation to be halted, and many people were injured. Among them, there were also officials and gentry accepting bribes and sheltering tyrants. Therefore, this official sent people to lock them up and interrogate them. Now, only General Gao, County Lieutenant Wu, and County Lieutenant Lang are in the Ministry of Justice's yamen and haven't been mistreated. As for the officials mentioned by the Liu officials, I didn't arrest them. "
Liu Guitian was startled and asked suspiciously, "They really weren't arrested by Chancellor Chen?"
Chen Dong said unhappily, "Master of the Liu Residence, is there a need for me to be secretive and speak nonsense?"
Sun Yuxuan stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Master Liu is really reckless this time. Look at the front of our yamen. It's a sea of people and people are angry. Even if we only bring one person in, how can we hide it from the eyes of the crowd, let alone so many officials?"
Liu Qietian replied, "Does Sun Xuanlang mean that I lied?"
Sun Yuxuan was not annoyed. He smiled and said, "Why don't you go to the Censorate? The Ministry of Penalty is not the only one who has the power to arrest people in Chang 'an!"
Liu Qian Tian came to a sudden realization. Not bad! There was also the Imperial Censor. Could it be that those people were arrested by the Imperial Censor? Liu Qietian immediately saluted them and said, "Dear candidates, I will go to the Censorate now. If I have offended you in any way, please allow me to apologize!"
Liu Qietian then turned around and left. He hurriedly got on his horse and galloped towards the Censorate. He was not wearing much to begin with. After all the running, his face had turned blue from the cold. After being delayed in front of the Ministry of Penalty for a while, the anger in his heart gradually subsided and his rationality gradually returned.
If the Censorate arrested people, it would not be as simple as the Ministry of Penalty arresting people. The Censorate would not interfere with ordinary criminal or civil cases. If they were to intervene, it would definitely be related to an official breaking the law. The more Liu Qietian thought about it, the more suspicious he became. When he arrived at the Censorate, he no longer had the aggressive attitude he had when he went to the Ministry of Penalty.
"I did not know that the Master of the Liu Residence had arrived. Sorry for not coming out to greet you. Hahaha, Master Liu, please!"
Hu Yuanli heard the news and came out of the Censorate. He smiled before saying anything and politely invited Liu Qietian into the second hall of the Censorate. After the two of them sat down, Liu Qietian immediately explained the purpose of his visit. However, his tone was no longer questioning, and his words were much more cautious.
Hu Yuanli listened to him and said with a troubled expression, "That's right, I did arrest those people. However, the case is still under investigation. The details of the case should not be revealed to anyone, but …"
Hu Yuanli smiled at Liu Qietian and said, "As the Governor of Chang 'an, you are an important official of the Emperor. Naturally, you are not included in this. Someone come! "
Hu Yuanli gave the order and a low-ranking official immediately walked in front of him and bowed respectfully. Hu Yuanli said, "Bring me the files that have been sorted out!"
In a short while, a pile of files was piled in front of Liu Qietian. Liu Qietian opened the file and read it carefully. The more he read, the more shocked he became. His body was already frozen stiff from the cold, and now his fingers seemed to be even more stiff. He flipped through the file several times but couldn't open a single page.
These files were filled with all kinds of crimes committed by these arrested officials, such as corruption, bribery, such as Marquis Wang Shixiu abusing his power to bully others, forcibly occupying people's land, and so on. Every crime was clearly investigated, and there were witnesses and material evidence. It was completely possible to convict them based on this.
Such detailed information could not have been gathered and sorted out by interrogating these officials right after they were brought to justice. In other words, these things had been in existence for a long time. They were only officially used as evidence today to bring these officials to justice for interrogation.
Just these files alone, how many people and how much effort did they have to expend to complete them? The officials from the Censorate had only been in Chang 'an for slightly more than a month and had been accompanying the Ministry of Justice on some kind of public order reform. When did they find out about these things?
They came from Luoyang and had no foundation in Chang 'an. Even if they didn't do anything else during this time and investigated these people's cases with great fanfare, they still wouldn't have been able to obtain such detailed and conclusive evidence. Unless there was someone who had the full support of a powerful local figure. But who was this person?
Most importantly, they made such a big fuss. Could it be the imperial court's intention? Why didn't I hear anything about it beforehand? Could it be … the imperial court is suspicious of me?
…
Liu Qietian returned from the Censorate without accomplishing anything. When pressed by Junior Magistrate Qi Anrun, Military Advisor Gao Jingqian, Marquis Wang Shixiu and other family members, Liu Qietian was vague and didn't give a clear answer.
At this moment, his mind was not on these people. He was anxious to know if the Emperor had ordered such a huge upheaval in Chang 'an officialdom. Why didn't he, as the emperor's confidant, hear anything about it beforehand? Had he lost the emperor's trust? So when Liu Qietian returned to the government office, he immediately sent his confidant and family members to Luoyang to wait for an opportunity to gather information.
Many officials placed their hopes on Liu Qietian, but Liu Qietian did nothing. After returning from the Censorate, he sat in the government office and no longer cared about this matter. The families of the officials were greatly disappointed. But whether it was an official or a member of the royal family who had hereditary titles, they all had a lot of connections. He was not the only one who could be entrusted with this matter.
Liu Qietian couldn't go this way. In order to save their loved ones, they all used their various abilities and entrusted others everywhere. The connections they had built over the years played a huge role. Aristocratic families, rich families, relatives of the emperor, nobles, officials … All of Chang 'an was in a precarious situation.
Some powerful families even sent people to Luoyang to use their connections in the capital to directly attack the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate. Wu Yizong naturally wouldn't let go of such a good opportunity. He secretly fanned the flames while he sent people back to Luoyang to report the situation in detail to Wu Sansi.
The aristocratic families, rich families, relatives of the emperor, nobles, officials, and gentry of Chang 'an were like intersecting points. Together, they formed a huge web. This web was occupied by many big and small spiders. Yingyang Zheng Yu was one of the spiders. He kept staring at the spider with the surname Yang squatting in the other corner of the web, but the spider didn't move at all.
Now, the entire spider web suddenly shook violently. The shaking was so intense that it seemed like it was going to tear the entire web into pieces. Zheng Yu was panicking and at a loss. He saw everyone jumping up and down, but the person he had been staring at remained motionless.
But all the signs indicated that this turmoil seemed to be related to that person. Zheng Yu didn't know how things would develop, nor did he know what that person planned to do. What role did that person play in this turmoil?
Zheng Yu originally wanted to keep his eyes on that person. If the enemy didn't move, he wouldn't move. But the web was shaking more and more violently. He had to move because someone had already used their connections to get in front of him. At the same time, countless people in Chang 'an's officialdom would be implicated. Among these people, there was no lack of agents who had been cultivated by the aristocratic families. If these people were all lost, the years of painstaking efforts of the aristocratic families in Chang' an would be for naught. He had to think of a way to stop this storm!
…
In Luoyang, Wu Sansi received Wu Yizong's secret report as if he had found a treasure. This time, the court officials sent to Chang 'an for the emperor to move the capital were divided into two factions. The Ministry of Justice was clearly not on the same side as the Wu family. If he could use this reason to topple the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate, the Wu family would be able to monopolize Chang' an.
In the past, the Wu family only focused on managing Luoyang. They were too short-sighted. But who would have thought that Wu Zetian would come up with such a drastic measure like moving the capital? Now, if they could make good use of this opportunity, they could seize back the initiative. However, how could Yang Fan, who was well-prepared, and Chen Dong, who was astute and astute, be unprepared? They were stirring up trouble in Chang 'an. Would they consider the possibility of interference from Luoyang?
More importantly, the reason why Wu Zetian decided to move the capital, other than the threat of the flood, was partly because she wanted to return to her roots after getting old. She wanted to return to Chang 'an, where she had lived most of her life. But without a doubt, her main goal was to ensure that the Wu and Li families could reach a balance. Because of this goal, would she sit back and watch the Wu family take over Chang 'an again?
Luoyang, Lovely Spring Terrace.
Wu Zetian squinted her presbyopic eyes and read Yang Fan's secret report seriously. In the secret report, Yang Fan described in detail the situation he had investigated in Chang 'an. He roughly calculated the annual food consumption of Chang' an after the emperor moved to the west, as well as the amount of food that needed to be transported from other places other than the Guanzhong area. He also calculated the current transportation capacity.
There were no flowery words in his report, but his words were meaningful and persuasive. In the end, after Yang Fan proposed dredging the river to ensure the transportation, he highlighted the situation of the servants forming cliques and the serious internal friction. He suggested that the government should step in to integrate the transportation and reduce the internal friction. At the same time, he mentioned the serious exploitation of officials along the transportation route and the fact that a large number of officials benefited from it. He suggested that the imperial court strictly regulate it.
After reading the secret report, Wu Zetian said to Fu Qingqing, who was standing solemnly in front of her, "I am about to move to the west. The matter of the transportation grain is of utmost importance. Yang Fan's report must be resolved immediately. Where is Wan 'er? Quickly ask her to see me."
Fu Qingqing hesitated for a moment and said, "Wait … wait to control her …"
Wu Zetian raised her eyebrows and said unhappily, "Hemming and hawing! What about her? "
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