On October 14th of the first year of the Qingli period, amidst the wave of opposition to the new policies in the court, a major case suddenly broke out without any warning.

When the Chief Censor Zheng Jian was inspecting Kaifeng Prefecture, someone reported to him a clerk named Feng Shiyuan, saying that although this person was only a minor clerk, he had a wide network of contacts and was in possession of many contraband items.

Upon learning of this, Zheng Jian arrested Feng Shiyuan. After interrogating him, he discovered that this man not only had a wide network of contacts, but his connections could actually reach the sky.

Not only did he do a lot of dirty work for Cheng Lin, the former Three Commissioners and current Minister of Finance, he was also involved with Lu Yijian's sons Lu Gongchuo and Lu Gongbi, Sheng Du's son Sheng Shenfu, and son-in-law Zhang Yuxi.

In addition to asking Feng Shiyuan to help collect contraband, some of these people who wanted to get ahead would find Feng Shiyuan, and Feng Shiyuan would then find Lu Gongchuo to help smooth the relationship and open up new opportunities.

Historical records state that "Gong Chuo was intelligent and talented. When his father was in power, he frequently made requests for favors, and those who sought fame and advancement flocked to him. He once leaked a promotion to buy favors, and people of his time compared him to Dou Shen."

Who is Dou Shen?

During the Tang Dynasty, many Jieshizhong participated in discussions on the promotion, demotion, appointment and dismissal of officials, and often leaked information to others, taking the opportunity to accept bribes. When the incident was discovered, they were dismissed from office and exiled to Lingnan.

From this we can see that Lu Gongchuo is not Dou Shen at all, he is simply a junior cabinet minister of the Ming Dynasty.

What will happen if Zheng Jian finds out about this case?

They immediately rushed to Lu's mansion and arrested Lu Yijian's eldest son Lu Gongchuo, second son Lu Gongbi, Sheng Du's son Sheng Shenfu, and son-in-law Zhang Yuxi.

Although Lu Yijian and Sheng Du were not directly implicated, more than ten people including Cheng Lin, the Minister of Finance, Li Zhang, a direct scholar of Longtu Pavilion, were implicated.

Since these people held public office, the Censorate only had the power to review but not to arrest them, so it was necessary to report to the Central Military Commission.

However, Lü Yijian and Sheng Du were the co-directors of the Council of Political Affairs, so Zheng Jian bypassed the Council of Political Affairs that day and submitted a memorial to the emperor, requesting the dismissal of Lü Yijian, Sheng Du, Cheng Lin, Li Zhang and many other senior officials involved in the case.

This has caused a big uproar.

On the afternoon of the 14th, Lu Yijian and Sheng Du received the news and almost fainted.

Outside the meeting room of the Constitutional Council, Zhao Zhen came hurriedly.

At this time, Lu Yijian and Fan Zhongyan were arguing in the conference room, while Wang Zeng, Yan Shu and others were silent.

"The emperor is guilty of the same crime as the common people. Your son broke the law and should be punished. Why should you bend the law for personal gain? I tell you, don't even think about it."

Fan Zhongyan slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "The New Deal is to reform the civil service. Look at the achievements made in the past few months and how much the efficiency of the government has improved. Are you going to destroy the New Deal just because of your son?"

Lu Yijian's face froze as he defended himself, "I'm not doing this for my nephews, but look at how strong the opposition is now, both within the government and the public. I'm afraid it won't be long before widespread criticism arises. I think we should take it slow, step by step. Isn't that the right thing to do?"

"What should be done? Should the new policies be halted? The court has watched so many corrupt officials being investigated but not arrested, and has watched so many officials who are lazy and idle, who only receive salaries but do nothing, continue to cling to their positions and do nothing?"

Fan Zhongyan's face turned grim as he spoke, "If this is the case, and officials across the country see the court disregarding the law, who will dare to work? Who will even bother to work? It's better to just muddle through each day and live a carefree life, or even become corrupt and continue to wreak havoc on the locals. Have you forgotten that the Song Dynasty will fall in a few decades?"

Lu Yijian said dissatisfiedly, "Don't bring this up. I'm not trying to stop the new policy. I'm just telling you not to be too drastic or too fast. As the saying goes, there's no haste, no small gain. Haste makes waste, and small gains prevent great things from happening. We should slow down and discuss things later."

"Slow down and discuss it later?"

Fan Zhongyan sneered, "Now that external threats have been eliminated and internal worries have been resolved, you're telling me to slow down? Wait for the Liao and Western Xia to attack? By then, we'll still be facing internal and external troubles. What's going to change?"

"But now so many officials have been implicated. There are tens of thousands of officials and hundreds of thousands of clerks across the country. Are you going to lay them all off?"

Lu Yijian asked back.

Sheng Du chimed in, "Yes, last month alone, over 4,000 officials were arrested. And that's just in Bianliang. Tens of thousands more officials have been dismissed or punished in neighboring prefectures like Jingji Road, Jingdong East Road, Jingdong West Road, Jingxinan Road, Jingxibei Road, Huainan East Road, and Huainan West Road. The petitions filed are nearly filling up the Civil Service Bureau."

"Oh."

Fan Zhongyan sneered, "You're saying so much just for your own selfish interests. You can't hold back when your sons and sons-in-law are implicated. Hanlong is right. You are a bunch of selfish, conservative interest groups!"

Hearing this, Lu Yijian almost blushed, because Zhao Jun had already labeled them, and the reputation of this conservative interest group was really bad.

But now he really has no choice.

It is pitiful to see the love of parents in the world. His sons committed crimes of corruption and abuse of power, and helped others to get official positions through backdoor channels. Although the person he trusted the most, Lu Gong, was not involved, the eldest son and the second son would be imprisoned or even exiled.

Now, even though Lu Yijian knew that opposition might lead to serious consequences, such as making Zhao Zhen and Zhao Jun unhappy, he had to make a decision on this matter.

Otherwise, what will happen to my son?

So he could only grit his teeth and say, "Yes, you can say that to me, but don't you see what's going on outside? The entire court is full of voices of opposition, so am I the only one at fault? I'm just asking you to stop for now and discuss this later, isn't that okay?"

Lü Yijian then turned to Wang Zeng and said, "Wang Xiaoxian, do you also think that the performance evaluation system can continue to be implemented despite such overwhelming opposition? Aren't you afraid that all officials will be arrested?"

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!