Late in the night of May 20, the 27th year of the Jiajing reign, a fire broke out in the Hangzhou government prison.
The fire was so intense that it burned all night long.
By the next day, the prison had been reduced to ruins, and all the prisoners inside had naturally been burned to death.
This incident alarmed Zhu Wan, the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang.
Governor Zhu rushed to the Hangzhou government office to inspect the situation as soon as possible.
Faced with the Governor's harsh rebuke, Hangzhou Prefect Zheng Youhe was silent as a cicada, not even daring to breathe.
Although he was not directly responsible for this incident, he was inevitably held jointly responsible. If we investigate further, he would undoubtedly be held responsible for negligence.
It would be fine if it happened under normal circumstances, but recently a group of prisoners with special identities were locked up in the Hangzhou government jail.
These prisoners were pirates captured after the Shuangyu naval battle a month ago.
Most of the pirates have been executed, and the governor deliberately left some leaders behind to interrogate them for some useful information.
Isn't it just a coincidence that a big fire suddenly broke out at this time and burned the prison to ashes?
Zhu Wan was naturally very angry.
But he suppressed it and didn't lose his temper.
There is no doubt that the fire was set deliberately.
The arsonists didn't want Zhu Wan to extract any useful information from them. Moreover, the arsonists might have accomplices within the government.
Officials and businessmen collude, and snakes and rats are from the same nest.
This is something Zhu Wan could never tolerate.
Today, Zhu Wan finally understood why the Japanese threat in the southeast could never be completely eliminated.
"Pass the order down and get to the bottom of this matter."
Zhu Wan flicked her sleeves and walked away.
This is an attitude.
He Zhu Wan will not give in.
Hangzhou prefect Zheng Youhe followed closely behind, wiping the sweat from his temples with his sleeves from time to time.
Things have come to this point, and there is no way they can be resolved peacefully.
The Governor also expressed his intention to get to the bottom of the matter.
As the prefect of Hangzhou, Zheng Youhe naturally had to express his position.
But the person behind the arsonist is not easy to deal with.
On one side were the Zhejiang merchants, and on the other side was the governor. Zheng Youhe was caught in the middle, feeling as aggrieved as a bullied young wife.
Arriving at the back hall, Zhu Wan lifted his robe and sat down.
Zheng Youhe didn't dare to sit down, but stood with his hands clasped together like a servant.
"These maritime merchants are truly a cancer to the Ming Dynasty."
Zhu Wan said hatefully.
"What the Minister said is absolutely right."
Zheng Youhe quickly flattered him.
"Others dared not touch this cancer, fearing it would contaminate them. Over time, the cancer grew larger and larger. Little did they know that it was absorbing the very blood and bones of the Ming Dynasty."
After a brief pause, Zhu Wan continued, "Now that it's too big to be removed, it's difficult to move even if we want to."
Seeing Zhu Wan's thorough understanding of the true nature of the Japanese invasion in Zhejiang, Zheng Youhe offered some advice, "Your Excellency, I admire your loyalty to the Emperor and your patriotism. However, a long time passed without a single day. The current situation of the Japanese invasion in Zhejiang is not the fault of just one person. Why should you take all the responsibility on yourself? As long as His Majesty and the Cabinet are satisfied, that's all."
Unexpectedly, Zhu Wan scolded him harshly after hearing this: "If everyone thinks like you, the Ming Dynasty will rot to its core sooner or later."
Zheng Youhe tried to persuade her kindly but seeing Zhu Wan's attitude, he said nothing more.
"I have made up my mind. Magistrate Zheng, just follow my orders. I will not betray you. If the sky falls, I will hold it up. I will bear all the responsibility."
The purpose of Zhu Wan's words was to tell Zheng Youhe not to worry and to just go ahead and do it.
If something really happens, he won't be blamed.
"This subordinate will follow the instructions of the Minister."
Zhu Wan had said so much, so Zheng Youhe naturally had to express his opinion.
Although he admired Zhu Wan very much, he really didn't think Zhu Wan could be more successful than the Fujian-Zhejiang Maritime Merchants Group.
After all, Zhu Wan was only one person, while the other party was a group of people.
No matter how brave the Governor is, he cannot defeat four people with two fists.
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The fire in the Hangzhou government prison was like a mirror, reflecting all kinds of monsters and demons.
There are pro-maritime business factions, neutral factions, and anti-maritime business factions in the Zhejiang officialdom.
For example, Zhu Wan, the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, was a complete advocate of banning maritime trade.
As for Hangzhou prefect Zheng Youhe, he was a neutral person and did not want to offend either side.
The Governor ordered him to investigate the arson case, and he did so. But he was able to maintain a proper balance from beginning to end, neither crossing the line nor going over the line.
After all, the core of getting into officialdom is the word "muddling in." The more you do, the more mistakes you make.
Naturally, there were also many officials who were pro-maritime.
They took the silver as a tribute from the local merchants, so naturally they couldn't just sit back and do nothing.
As a result, Prefect Zheng encountered many obstacles in his investigation. Every time he got a clue, something unexpected would happen, causing the clue to be suddenly cut off.
Prefect Zheng certainly understood what this meant, and pretended to continue investigating in another direction.
Zhu Wan naturally couldn't sit still as the efficiency of the investigation was so low.
Considering everything that had happened before, he felt a sense of powerlessness for the first time.
He had never imagined that Zhejiang's officialdom had become so corrupt that those high-ranking officials had become the umbrellas for local smuggling merchants.
This is so heartbreaking!
However, Zhu Wan showed no intention of retreating.
Even if he was outnumbered, even if he was standing against the entire pro-Shanghai faction.
Even if there are thousands of people against me, I will still go.
There must be one or two people standing up in the Ming Dynasty officialdom!
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After staying in Ningbo for more than a month, Xu Yan set off for Hangzhou.
Accompanying him was Shen Mingchen.
Shen Mingchen has already taken care of the household affairs and wants to change his environment.
As for Xu Yan, apart from going to Hangzhou to see his mentor and fiancée, the most important thing is to meet Zhu Wan.
Although Xu Yan won a good public opinion environment for Zhu Wan by writing "Records of the Anti-Japanese War", enabling him to handle government affairs in a more ideal state.
But Xu Yan was still a little worried about Zhu Wan's straightforward nature.
After some consideration, Xu Yan decided to recommend Shen Mingchen to Zhu Wan as a guest.
Historically, Xu Wei and Shen Mingchen both served as Hu Zongxian's aides.
There are two reasons why Xu Yan chose to recommend Shen Mingchen instead of Xu Wei.
First, Shen Mingchen is older than Xu Wei.
The job of aide requires extremely rich life experience. As of now, Shen Mingchen is obviously more suitable than Xu Wei.
Second, Xu Yan had selfish motives.
Xu Wei was a member of his team that he had carefully cultivated, and he wanted to bring him with him when he entered the government. Xu Yan was a little unwilling to recommend Xu Wei to Zhu Wan.
Shen Mingchen and Xu Wei were both very capable aides, and it was fair and reasonable for them to each take one position.
However, upon arriving in Hangzhou, Xu Yan learned shocking news: the Hangzhou government jail had been burned down. This was clearly a warning from smuggling merchants to Zhu Wan.
Xu Yan originally wanted to go and see his grandfather and mentor first, but now he has to change his schedule and go to visit Zhu Wan first.
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