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Chapter 1426. It¡¯s hard to get off the tiger.

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    The head of the Song family in the south of the Yangtze River, Song Chengren, was a close friend of Zhou Shangjing, the chief minister of the cabinet. He was a former high-ranking official in the imperial court and a feudal official. His two sons were Song Qiwen, the minister of the Ministry of official affairs, and the second grade Cong, who was left to serve.  Song Qili; The head of the Li family in southern Anhui, Li Ping, is nothing special. His knowledge, ability, and reputation are all ordinary, but he has a cousin named Li He who is the current court elder and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy; Nanjing Wang Family  , the head of the family is named Wang Jiahe. The characteristic of this family is "extremely good at raising children." It can be said that it is full of children and grandchildren. Although there are not a few outstanding figures, there are a large number of children spread across all walks of life in the government and the public, and a large number of daughters and granddaughters are married to major forces.  He is called the "Spider King" by the outside world, which means he is good at weaving webs; The patriarch of the He family in northern Jiangsu is He Lian, a famous scholar in the world. He served as the dean of Yingtian Academy for many years, and the former prince and grand master He Ming  He is also his brother of the same clan. There have been many great scholars born in his family throughout the ages, and it can be said that his disciples are all over the world; In addition, there are also the Du family in northern Anhui, the Bai family in northern Jiangxi, and the Zhang family in Suzhou none of them should be underestimated.  of the noble family.  Together, these wealthy gentry families can naturally exert an extremely amazing influence.  In the court, at least 20 to 30% of the officials have a direct relationship with these wealthy gentry families, either as disciples or former officials, or as relatives, or at worst, they are fellow townsmen, students in the same department, and classmates; among the people, there are tens of thousands of them  The scholars were their disciples and disciples, and they controlled the ideological trends of the scholars in the Ming Dynasty. The vast majority of the scholars believed in what they said; at the same time, the Jiangnan area had always been a tax center for the imperial court, and the Jiangnan tax revenue increased every year.  How much can be paid is also decided by these wealthy Jin gentry families. If these wealthy Jin gentry families forcefully resist, Jiangnan taxes will not be collected, and the entire temple will be in chaos; At this time, seeing the heads of the families of these wealthy Jin gentry families all  They all stood up and expressed their intention to enter the Jinyiwei prison and be interrogated by the Jinyiwei. Even Zhu Hejian, who had always been calm-tempered, was immediately caught off guard and even a little panicked.  If there was only one member of the Song family, Zhu Hejian would certainly dare to show his courage and hand over all members of the Song family to the Jin Yiwei for interrogation.  Although this approach will completely break up the relationship between him and the "Zhou Party", since it is the "Zhou Party" who actively plots against him, Zhu Hejian will not have any scruples or hesitations. ??????????????????????????? But now, the eighteen wealthy gentry families are united as one, making a joint statement, advancing together and retreating together!  "If Zhu Hejian had inherited the throne and ascended the throne as emperor, he would also be willing to show great courage to meet the requirements of these eighteen gentry families and send them all to the prison of Jin Yiwei.  The worst case scenario is to just dispatch the imperial army and factory guards to control the situation.  At that time, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang could kill the Southern Jin gentry with heads rolling in and blood flowing like rivers, and Zhu Hejian was definitely not bad either.  But unfortunately, Zhu Hejian is not the emperor yet, and has not even successfully taken over the throne. He is just a prince who has a chance to ascend to the throne.  Therefore, in the face of the joint statement and collective petition of these eighteen gentry families, Zhu Hejian was a little bit in trouble!  Song Chengren's attitude is very straightforward. Since you, Zhu Hejian, secretly ordered the eunuchs of the inner court to criticize the Song family and throw dirty water on the Song family, then I, the Song family, will not resist. We will directly wait for arrest and take the initiative to hand over all the members of the clan to the Jinyi guards for interrogation.  .  However, many wealthy Jin gentry families in Jiangnan are all related to each other, and in terms of interests, they all prosper and suffer losses. Therefore, if you want to rectify my Song family, the other Jin gentry families will definitely not be able to escape the relationship, so I will simply leave them all to you.  Feel free to let it go!  In this way, if you, Zhu Hejian, finally carry out the crimes of the Song family, then the power of the Jin gentry in Jiangnan will be wiped out, and thousands of court officials and private students will also be implicated. You will be taxed in Jiangnan in the next few years.  Don't even think about expropriation. The situation in the imperial court must be completely corrupt. Are you, Zhu Hejian, able to shoulder this kind of responsibility?  On the other hand, if you, Zhu Hejian, are unable to carry out the crimes of the Song family in the end, then you will persecute the Jin gentry and insult the wealthy family. You will definitely lose the support of the people and be infamous. The chaos you will cause will be far greater than that of Prince Zhu Heyu's rectification of the vassal king.  What qualifications will you have to inherit the reserve then?  In short, when Song Chengren stood up and took the initiative to send all the members of the Song family to Jin Yiwei for interrogation, and when all the major Jin gentry families united and responded, Zhu Hejian was forced into a corner and completely lost his way out.  Under such circumstances, Zhu Hejian had no choice but to compromise and take the initiative to clear the suspicion of the Song family. He publicly stated that the matter of digging up the dam and submerging the imperial village had nothing to do with the Song family, and tried his best to appease Song Chengren's anger, otherwise this matter would be ruined.  Absolutely?Maybe give up and give up.  * Zhu ??Hejian originally just wanted to use the crime of destroying the dam and flooding the imperial village to intimidate Song Chengren, and also took the opportunity to attack the arrogance of the Jiangnan Jin gentry, but he never thought of completely overthrowing the Song family.  But now, Zhu Hejian discovered that he had obviously underestimated the Song family's appeal to the Jin gentry clan, and also obviously underestimated the consistent interests and close ties of the Jiangnan Jin gentry group.  The most important thing is that Zhu Hejian completely underestimated the tyranny and unreasonableness of the wealthy gentry family!  Zhu Hejian himself is also a domineering and unreasonable person, but his unreasonableness is "those who follow me will prosper and those who go against me will perish", which means that he cannot tolerate dissidents.  But the tyranny and unreasonableness of these wealthy gentry families is another kind of situation, that is, "too big to fail", "a single move can affect the whole body", "defensive", and "what can you do to me"!  "Compared with Zhu Hejian's tyranny, the tyranny of these wealthy gentry families is the real tyranny!"  Thinking of this, Zhu Hejian's heart was filled with chills, and he secretly swore that when he inherited the throne in the future, he would not spare these Jiangnan gentry lightly!  But now, Zhu Hejian can only choose to give in.  Zhu Hejian's expression was full of sincerity and fear. He stood up and waved his hands and said: "Dear sages, why is it like this! Why is it like this! I completely believe that the Song family is innocent. The Song family has been loyal for generations and the predecessors of the Song Dynasty are also highly respected. How can they destroy the dam?  , the submersion of the Imperial Manor? Xi Zhenshou said that he asked the Jinyi Guards to investigate the Song family, and he just wanted to completely prove the Song family's innocence to prevent it from affecting the Song family's reputation. It was all out of good intentions What's more, Xi Zhenshou just wanted to send the Jinyi guards.  Investigate the truth, but never said that anyone from the Song family would be sent to the Jinyi Guard Prison" Song Chengren sneered and asked: "So, His Highness the Seventh Prince is convinced that the Song family is innocent?" Zhu Hejian nodded repeatedly and said, "Of course he is.  I am convinced!" Song Chengren was unreasonable and asked: "I am very grateful for your highness's trust, but the crime of destroying the embankment and flooding the imperial village is too serious. Your highness's trust alone is still far away.  It's not enough. Now that there is indirect evidence pointing the suspicion at my Song family, whether it is to severely punish the real culprit or to prove the reputation of the Song family, we need to do our best to find out the truth! Our Song family is indeed loyal for generations, and it can be regarded as an example of Jiangnan Jin gentry!  , so we should set an example and let the Jin Yiwei torture and interrogate us, and we must not enjoy any privileges, so that we can show the justice of the court to the world." Seeing that Song Chengren is still entangled, he must send all the Jiangnan Jin gentry to the Jin Yiwei for interrogation. It is completely unacceptable!  Willing to leave a step for himself, Zhu Hejian felt increasingly resentful.  But on the surface, Zhu Hejian became more and more humble, shaking his head and saying: "Master Song, you also said that it is just a little indirect evidence! Our laws have always been fair and strict, how can we arbitrarily accuse someone based on a little indirect evidence?  Your statement seems to be fair, but in fact it violates the court's laws. Even if the Song family's innocence is finally proved, it will lead to even worse consequences, which is absolutely impossible! "  This answer can be regarded as a hidden secret. On the one hand, it prevented Song Chengren from pressing forward step by step, and on the other hand, he labeled Song Chengren as a destroyer of the laws of the Ming Dynasty, implying that Song Chengren would not hesitate to shake the overall situation just to maintain the reputation of the Song family.  It can be regarded as gaining some truth for oneself.  Then, before Song Chengren could speak again, Zhu Hejian turned to look at the heads of the Jin gentry family. ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?? At this moment, seventeen Jin gentry families have already stood up to express their support for the Song family and expressed their stance of advancing and retreating with the Song family. However, there are still two Jin gentry forces sitting there motionless, seeming to want to wait and see what happens.  It seems that the position is different from that of the Song family.  These two Jin gentry are the Lu family and the Xu family.  The head of the Lu family is named Lu Youjie, who is Lu De's father. He did not stand up with the Jiangnan gentry to express pressure on Zhu Hejian at this time, probably because of the influence of his son Lu De.  As for the Xu family, their origins are even more extraordinary. They are descendants of Zhongshan King Xu Da. Zhu Hejian has been temporarily living in Zhanyuan during this period, and the Xu family is the real owner of Zhanyuan. They moved there after Zhu Hejian arrived in Nanjing.  In the other courtyard, Zhanyuan was temporarily lent to Zhu Hejian for use.  In terms of power and influence, the Xu family is not inferior to the Song family at all, and even the Song family can only be regarded as a rising star in front of the Xu family, so the Xu family does not need to look at the Song family's face at all, and the Xu family has always had a close relationship with the royal family.  Not only is he a member of the Jin gentry class, but he is also among the top members of the noble class. He is closely related to the Jiangnan Jin people.His interests are many different, and he will not embarrass Zhu Hejian just to protect the Song family.  At this time, Zhu Hejian turned his attention to the two family heads Xu and Lu, naturally hoping that these two people could stand up and smooth things over for him.  Seeing Zhu Hejian's eyes turned to his position, the two heads of the family, Xu and Lu, looked at each other and then stood up to express their opinions.  Xu Jingxian, the head of the Xu family, took the lead in advising: "Brother Song, please stop it! What His Highness the Seventh Prince said is reasonable. It seems that you want to prove your innocence by making such a statement, but in fact you are treating the court's laws as nothing, and will make everyone  It's all embarrassing and I can't step down! Since His Highness the Seventh Prince has expressed his belief in the innocence of the Song family, let's just let this matter go!" As he spoke, Xu Jingxian looked at Song Chengren with a warning look in his eyes.  The head of the Lu family, Lu Youjie, also nodded and said: "That's it. Why make things so unmanageable" Seeing the Xu and Lu families one after another coming forward to smooth things over, Song Chengren frowned and looked a little dissatisfied, but he had to give in.  These two have some face.  In the end, Song Chengren softened his attitude slightly, but it was just three steps forward and one step back. He put forward more conditions to Zhu Hejian on the spot.  "Since the two heads of the family, Xu and Lu, have such an attitude, I naturally don't dare to embarrass His Highness anymore, but we can't just let this matter go! First of all, Jiang Dawei, the eunuch in charge of the village, just because of some unbearable reasons  After examining the indirect evidence, he repeatedly spoke rudely to me and slandered Zhou Shoufu. How should this matter be handled? Secondly, should we continue to investigate the truth behind the dam excavation and the submergence of the imperial village? And finally  I still want to bring up old matters again. Today¡¯s events have once again proved the domineering eunuchs in Guanzhuang, so I once again implore Your Highness to request an order from the imperial court to reduce the number of imperial villages in South Zhili!¡±?¡­?¡­
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