Chapter 128: Entire Family Executed, Promotion
After dinner, Zhao Yi asked Jiang Mu to get some ice cubes and put them in the inner room so that it would be cooler when it was time to go to bed.
Shen Qingtan was worried that Zhao Yi would catch a cold, so she asked Liu Yue to change into a thicker brocade quilt.
After turning off the lights, the couple lay in bed, one thinking about the Guanzhou case, the other thinking about Gu Zongci's purpose tomorrow.
In the deep palace, Emperor Jing'an secretly summoned the Chief Censor, the Minister of Punishment, the Chief Justice and Lin Zhenxing. In order to prevent any further complications, he decided to investigate the Guanzhou corruption case as soon as possible and had them hold three trials overnight.
In addition to Lin Zhenxing, the officials who went to Guanzhou for inspection this time included the left and right Shaoqing of the Dali Temple, who secretly visited, investigated and collected evidence.
After receiving the imperial edict, several officials opened the court to hear the Guanzhou case.
The Guanzhou granary was managed by the Provincial Governor's Councillor, and this time the disaster relief was also in the charge of Provincial Governor's Councillor Cao, while the Assistant Censor of the Censorate and the Doctor of the Ministry of Revenue were responsible for supervising Cao.
They were all involved in this case.
After being arrested, Yong Yibo committed suicide in the dungeon out of fear of punishment.
Lin Zhenxing arranged for the people who supervised Yongyibo to infiltrate Lord Cao's spies and murdered him during the shift change.
He traced the case back to Lord Cao, and when he rushed over, Lord Cao had committed suicide after leaving a letter of confession.
They suspected that there was someone behind Lord Cao, and he killed people to silence them and then committed suicide just to protect the person behind him.
As for the person behind Lord Cao, they suspected it was Marquis Cheng'en who was being used by Earl Yongyi, but unfortunately there was no evidence.
After a night of trial and several rounds of torture, everyone's confessions pointed to Councillor Cao.
Several officials brought the final verdict and files to the palace before the morning court session and reported them to Emperor Jing'an.
Emperor Jing'an looked at the file and his face darkened.
At the beginning, he received a secret report from Lin Zhenxing from Guanzhou, saying that the official in charge of the grain road had revealed that the person who embezzled grain was Yongyi Bo, and Yongyi Bo had been arrested and thrown into prison. He was just waiting to recover the embezzled grain and then dig out the officials who colluded with Yongyi Bo.
He immediately ordered people to guard the Yongyi Marquis's mansion, but the people he sent came back to report that the Yongyi Marquis's wife had committed suicide out of fear of punishment.
Before committing suicide, the wife of the Earl of Yongyi received the news that the Earl of Yongyi had been arrested, and then went to the Marquis of Cheng'en's Mansion.
Emperor Jing'an guessed that the purpose of the wife of the Marquis of Yongyi going to the mansion of Marquis Cheng'en was either to ask for help from Marquis Cheng'en, or that Marquis Cheng'en was the mastermind behind the Guanzhou case.
Yong Yibo became the scapegoat. She went there to seek justice for Yong Yibo, but was later brutally murdered.
As for why the suspicion fell on Marquis Cheng'en, it was because Marquis Cheng'en had promoted Earl Yongyi openly and secretly over the years, and the relationship between the two families was very close.
The deaths of Earl Yongyi and his wife were so strange.
"It would be fine if the masterminds of the Guanzhou case were Councillor Cao and Earl Yongyi, but if it were someone else..." Emperor Jing'an said in a deep voice, "Counselor Cao's crimes warrant the execution of his entire family. If someone else was able to convince Councillor Cao to commit suicide out of fear of guilt, it shows how scheming and manipulative he is. Having such an official under my nose truly makes me uneasy."
Several adults did not dare to respond. After all, with their status, even if they had doubts in their hearts, they had to rely on factual evidence.
Emperor Jing'an waved his hand and said, "Alright, you can leave."
The adults took their leave.
Before Emperor Jing'an went to the morning court, he asked someone to draft an imperial edict and a document of appointment.
Afterwards, he went to the Golden Palace for the morning court session.
Emperor Jing'an sat on the throne and looked at the officials who were bowing and saying, "My dear ministers, please stand up."
Eunuch Cao held up his whisk and said, "If you have a petition, please proceed. If you don't, please leave the court."
The Minister of Justice stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, regarding the corruption case involving the grain officials in Guanzhou, please decide on the verdict."
Emperor Jing'an's eyes darkened, and he said in a cold voice, "They dared to embezzle government grain for disaster relief, collude with profiteers, and disregard the common people. Their entire families will be executed!"
All the officials were silent.
In particular, Marquis Cheng'en lowered his head even lower. He only had dealings with Lord Cao and the grain chief regarding the matter of embezzling grain from Guanzhou.
When Prince Yu took a fancy to the Guanzhou granary, he sent several concubines to each of these two men, and each of them gave birth to children for them, which were secretly raised outside.
When the Guanzhou government grain case was exposed, Lord Cao knew that he could not escape the fate of having his entire family executed. For the sake of his son who was raised outside, he was willing to take the risk of murdering Earl Yongyi, and then confessed his guilt and committed suicide.
Because Lord Cao will weigh the pros and cons. If he exposes him, he will definitely not let him leave behind a trace of his bloodline.
The same thing happened to the grain chief, so he endured severe torture and never gave him up.
As for the others, they were all being dealt with by Lord Cao and the grain chief, and they had no idea that he was the one behind the scenes.
But he was afraid that even if he had planned everything out, there might still be omissions, so he couldn't help feeling a little nervous.
"As officials appointed by the imperial court, you must live up to your official uniform and the people. I hope you will take this as a warning." Emperor Jing'an said sternly, "I will kill anyone who commits corruption and abuses the power of law!"
All the officials knelt down.
Emperor Jing'an looked at Marquis Cheng'en and asked, "Lord Shen, Marquis Yongyi is using your name to enrich himself. What do you have to say?"
Marquis Cheng'en's face changed, and he knelt on the ground. "Your Majesty, this matter is due to my negligence. I failed to realize in time that Earl Yongyi was using my name to seek personal gain. I cannot escape the blame. I am willing to obey Your Majesty's orders."
Emperor Jing'an looked at Marquis Cheng'en who was kneeling on the ground, a dark light flashed in his eyes, and he did not punish him for a while.
Marquis Cheng'en couldn't help but tremble all over, with big drops of cold sweat dripping down.
He was afraid that Emperor Jing'an had a big move in mind and would take the opportunity to deal with him.
Just when Marquis Cheng'en was about to collapse, Emperor Jing'an changed the subject: "Lord Shen, have the refugees in Guanzhou been properly resettled?"
Marquis Cheng'en's nerves were tense, and he was unable to react for a moment when he heard Emperor Jing'an's words.
After a long while, he finally came to his senses, his hands and feet limp: "Reporting to the Emperor, everything has been properly arranged."
Emperor Jing'an added, "The Guanzhou case was entirely the work of villains. You were innocently implicated, but you also bear the blame. Now that you have made contributions to the management of the refugees, your merits and demerits will be offset."
Marquis Cheng'en was stunned. He never expected that Emperor Jing'an would pick it up heavily and put it down gently.
"In addition, the prince of the Cheng'en Marquis's mansion sold his deceased mother's dowry and bought grain to donate to Guanzhou to help the disaster victims. This is truly a great deed. According to current laws, those who donate more than 800 dan of grain can become tribute students and study at the Imperial Academy."
Emperor Jing'an praised Shen Shaoheng's achievements and said to Marquis Cheng'en, "The Crown Prince donated 100,000 dan of grain, but giving him only a tribute student is truly an injustice to him. My dear Shen, you are of the same lineage as the Crown Prince. Today, I will promote you to the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Grain Transport Army."
He was promoted from the third-rank assistant minister of the Ministry of War to the second-rank commander-in-chief of the Grand Canal Transport, a full jump of two ranks!
But Marquis Cheng'en was not happy at all, but was frightened instead.
Because Emperor Jing'an suspected him, but unfortunately he had no evidence to punish him, so he was promoted to be in charge of grain transportation.
The corruption problem here is extremely widespread and serious. Once he takes office, even if he himself does not engage in corruption, he will also be charged with negligence if the people under him are caught.
The emperor clearly intended to take action against him. Even if it was just a negligence, he would not let him off easily and would settle accounts with him at that time.
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