The lights swayed, and the cry of the little insects that woke up from the cold of winter outside the house was crisp and loud. The cool breeze of the night blew in from outside the door, and there was no coolness, with the vitality of spring.

Xu Ping looked at the paper that Wu Zunlu brought back in his hand, looked over and over again. After a long time, he raised his head and asked, "When is it now?"

"It's not long after the Xu hour." Sima Chi, who was anxious, rushed to answer.

Xu Ping stood up and said to Liu Han, Wu Zunlu and Sima Chi, who had been guarding the yamen, "This case is too much to be involved, and we cannot decide. I will go into the palace now and wait for the emperor to come to the end. You are here to wait for my news."

The three of them said together: "Go and go back quickly!"

Xu Ping nodded, left the Sansi Yamen, and only brought a handful of soldiers to the great expert behind the palace.

When he arrived outside the Chuigong Hall, he saw that Li Zhang was on duty again today, Xu Ping breathed out. His own people are always easy to talk to, and if someone he didn't know came, he would inevitably have to pay more attention.

After writing the letter, Li Zhang still took it to the previous Political Affairs Hall to report.

After a moment, Li Zhang came back and Xu Ping asked him: "Which relative is on duty tonight in the Political Affairs Hall?"

"It's Xianggong Cai, who is easier to talk to than the others."

"Okay!" After hearing Li Zhang's words, Xu Ping let go of half of his heart. Cai Qi does not belong to Lu Yijian's party. If there is really something to be agreed to by the Secretariat tonight, Cai Qi will always be easier to talk.

Xu Ping and others were outside, and Li Zhang personally entered the palace to convey Xu Ping's request for entering the right place.

After waiting for a little time, Li Zhang hurried out and said to Xu Ping: "Brother, come with me. The official family is reading the memorial in Yanhe Palace. Let's hurry up."

Following Li Zhang all the way to Yanhe Hall, Xiaohuangmen went in and reported to Xu Ping to the next meeting.

After entering the hall, Xu Ping walked with rituals.

Emperor Zhao Zhen was already a little tired at this time and asked, "What big thing is going to get right at night?"

Xu Ping said: "A few days ago, Weichen followed the imperial edict and worked with the Censorate and Kaifeng Prefecture to investigate the case of troubles caused by office officials. He did not want to find out the hidden information behind the scenes today, and it was implicated. Weichen thought that this matter must be decided by the emperor."

"What is hidden, let's hear it."

"The public officials who made trouble that day were mostly motivated and forced to go out to the streets and colluded with the Prime Minister and the Censor's Office. The reason why some people wanted to make trouble was because these public officials had no power and refused to support them. Today, there was a public official Cui Youde who was a civil servant in Kaifeng City who was dismissed from service in the Three Divisions. He was called Liu Taishi, who recruited party members and connected with the public officials in the capital to corrupt public property, disrupt the government affairs, and often did illegal things. Han Jingshi proposed to eliminate the public officials in the Three Divisions. These people were afraid of being sacked, so they used means to encourage irrelevant public officials to go out of the streets to cause trouble and remove these people. Their people just happened to be safe and sound."

Zhao Zhen was silent for a while and looked at Xu Ping and said, "Is this really so serious? Being able to threaten so many public officials to go out and cause trouble is simply an underground court."

"I'm afraid that what the empress said is not as bad as the real situation. This is Cui Youde's confession, please ask the emperor to read it."

The little yellow door standing next to him took the confession of Cui Youde from Xu Ping and presented it to Zhao Zhen.

Looking at the confession, Zhao Zhen was distracted at first, and soon frowned. He opened his eyes wide, then opened his mouth wide, looking like he couldn't believe it.

Putting down the confession in his hand, Zhao Zhen asked Xu Ping: "What is said in the confession is true?"

Xu Ping said: "The criminal Cui Youde was still in the prison of Kaifeng Prefecture and committed a death sentence. Weichen promised not to implicate his family. He wrote this confession and should not lie. Moreover, according to the case that Weichen has investigated in the past few days, he can compare it with what he said in his confession. I think this is the case."

Zhao Zhen opened his eyes and looked at the papers on the table, but he still couldn't believe it. After a while, he slapped the table and said, "So bold, I don't take the imperial court seriously! It's as hateful as treason!"

Xu Ping hurriedly said: "It is just collusion with corruption, and it cannot be compared with treason. The court has its own code. Your Majesty calms down and just follow the code to strictly follow it."

Even though things are bad, you should not make any progress. Be a subordinate. You should always prevent the emperor from acting recklessly, because you don’t know when the consequences will fall on yourself.

After calming down for a while, Zhao Zhen said: "This case is strictly investigated, and it is not appropriate to go and get people immediately!"

"This matter cannot be handled by one of the Yan and Iron Departments"

Zhao Zhen nodded, thought for a moment, and ordered the eunuchs beside him: "Immediately Prime Minister Xuan enters the palace! Also, the Chief Censor Xuan Han Yi and the Chief Secretary of the Imperial City Company Li Taoist come."

The eunuch took the order and hurried away.

Generally speaking, even if the eunuch preached the oral edict, he would have to have the emperor's imperial pen and seal, but he would just let the ministers enter the palace to see the emperor, and the monarch and ministers could face it in an instant. This step was omitted. The late Tang and Five Dynasties were the head of the Privy Council, so in this era the orders issued by the Privy Council were still called "Xuan". Later, the Privy Council became an external dynasty like the Secretariat, and the Xuan-Guo imperial edict was the eunuch. The eunuch obviously had no authority, so the oral eunuch could only be used for these small matters.

Xu Ping felt relieved after hearing Zhao Zhen's arrangement. Judging from the propaganda personnel, the case was probably handed over to the Censorate and the Imperial City Office, and even Kaifeng Prefecture went around. The Censorate and the Imperial City Office were in contrast to the Political Affairs Hall, so they could not be disturbed by the priest. Obviously, Zhao Zhen was also worried that the ministers of the Foreign Court would be involved.

After the eunuch went out, Zhao Zhen asked Xu Ping in detail about the case.

Xu Ping explained in detail the process of investigating the case in the past few days and the guesses with several joint investigators during the process.

At this time, Zhao Zhen's anger slowly subsided. After hearing Xu Ping's words, he said, "These minor officials are so bold and reckless. The so-called "freezing of ice for three times is not a day's cold. I'm afraid that they have been colluding and cheating for a while. After this, the public officials of each yamen must be eliminated. If the three yamen are like this, how can other yamen stay outside?"

"What Your Majesty said is that many public officials in the various yamen in the capital have been passed down from generation to generation, and there is a saying that officials are not feudal, but officials are feudal. You cannot take them seriously just because of what they do. These minor officials control specific government affairs. Once they are willing to cheat, no matter how good the government affairs are, they will be distorted. They face the people directly, causing trouble, and what ruins the reputation of the court. You cannot be careless."

Zhao Zhen looked at the paper on the table again and asked Xu Ping: "This time I checked, most of the officials from the third company went there. Without the minor officials doing specific things, what should I do with daily government affairs? Have you ever thought about it?"

"White ministers were also thinking about this on the way to the palace. For the current plan, I believe that there are only one way to recruit public officials. After all, there are more officials in the capital than in other places, and there are many scholars who have not entered the government. In order to prevent this kind of collusion from happening again, most public officials still have to come from outside the capital. For emergency response, familiar public officials should be transferred from Jingdong and Jingxi provinces to Beijing to take care of some money and food, but I don't know if it's appropriate."

Zhao Zhen said: "During the Tiansheng period, a minor official died in poverty. I asked Wang Qinruo, and he said that even if his salary was small, he should still abide by the law. Now it seems that Wang Qinruo is a treacherous person and is clever and charming. Is it also related to the fact that the salary is too small? The ancients said that when the granaries are full, they know etiquette, and when they have enough food and clothing, they know honor and disgrace. If they have no worries about food and clothing, how could those minor officials be so bold and unruly? They should test the law with their own body!"

Xu Ping bowed and bowed: "Your Majesty! Your salary is for hard work. Although it comes from the treasury, you cannot make people who are loyal to work without food and clothing. The salary is not enough to support your family. No matter the official, you will naturally use the power in your hands to exchange for money and food, and you cannot wait to starve to death. Due to the corruption of the minor officials, the loss of money and food in the treasury is caused by countless times. After this incident, the salary of the public officials should be adjusted. It is naturally inappropriate to be too high. People are greedy and have endless people. There is also a saying among the people that they are promoted to mien and fight against rice, but they must always be safe. Everything is in the same word. As long as it is moderate, there should be severe punishment for corruption and corruption. In this way, the public officials can do their work with loyalty."

"After this matter, please invite officials to discuss it." Zhao Zhen nodded to express his feelings. "By the way, in addition to the officials of the Third Division, are you planning to start some new business. Now that something happens to the Third Division, what should you do if the public officials are needed there?"

"I ask to transfer some of the public officials of the sugar sugar business to Beijing. I have been in Yongzhou for six years and have been in many places for many years. There are many experienced people in the sugar sugar business now. It can help you get twice the result with half the effort."

"Okay, you should have trained some talents for so many years in Yongzhou and just happened to be transferred to Beijing to serve."

At this moment, the door reported to Li Yonghe to see him.

Tonight, the Imperial City Department was Li Yonghe on duty, so he was the closest to him, so he came the earliest.

After coming in to pay the ceremony, Zhao Zhen hurriedly ordered that he would not give him a seat.

The uncle of the country naturally treated differently. Xu Ping stood for half an hour before he got into the seat with Li Yonghe.

Zhao Zhen said to Li Yonghe who was sitting down: "Xu Ping just came to report the case of the three officials causing trouble on the streets two days ago. There is a great illusion behind the scenes. This matter is very important. I want the Imperial City Department and the Censorate to handle it together with the three officials."

Li Yonghe bowed and said, "I will accept the order."

Zhao Zhen nodded: "Let's wait for the Prime Minister and the Censor to come and talk together."

Only then did Li Yonghe turn around and nodded at Xu Ping, saying hello. The two families were close and often came and went, but it was the first time they sat together on such occasions, and they were a little uncomfortable.

After a while, the two prime ministers, Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and the Chief Censor Han Yi arrived one after another.

Zhao Zhen introduced the situation and sent the confession on the imperial case to the Xiaohuangmen to see it.

After seeing it, the three of them looked at each other and almost said to Zhao Zhen together: "How could this matter be so ridiculous? It has really been found out? If it is true, then it will be not only the Three Divisions, but also the public officials in the yamen in the capital! "To be continued.

...
Chapter completed!