Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

The royal guards on both sides opened the sedan curtains at the same time, revealing the true contents of the sedan.

Lu Song stood in front of the sedan chair and conveyed his holy will to the kneeling officials and the people: "Managing salt is like managing an army, and you will not accept the orders of the foreign emperor. Now I give the left deputy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to the Imperial Censor Wang Yue's sword Shang Fang, which can be used to cut upwards." Princes, I am going to kill the common people. Anyone who interferes with the salt affairs will act in an expedient manner. I will kill them first and then report them. I appreciate this!"

ah?

Huguang Inspector Yang Jizong always thought that what Wang Yue wanted to invite was the Wang Ming Banner, but he was stunned when he heard that it was the rumored Shang Fang Zhan Ma Jian.

Just taking a closer look, he saw that there was a royal flag placed in the sedan chair, but instead it was an exquisitely crafted sword.

The sword is about three feet long, with finely chiseled patterns and clear patterns. One side of the sword is engraved with a soaring dragon, and the other side is engraved with a spreading phoenix. The sword is also decorated with the Big Dipper. It is a sword of exquisite craftsmanship. .

Shang Fang's sword?

When the tens of thousands of people kneeling around heard that it was Bao Zheng's Shangfang Sword in the play, they immediately raised their heads and looked into the sedan as if they had met a big star.

Shangfang, this is the place where the royal family specializes in supervising royal swords and other utensils.

The earliest record of Shangshu's sword is "Book of the Former Han Dynasty - Zhu Yun Zhuan". Zhu Yun wrote: "Now the ministers of the imperial court cannot help the master, and they are dead to benefit the people. They all lie in plain food. I would like to give Shang Fang a horse-killing sword to kill the sycophant." ." But when Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty learned that he wanted to kill Zhang Yu, the Marquis of Anchang, he almost killed Zhu Yun, but the Shangfang Horse-Slaying Sword was not awarded.

In the Song Dynasty, when generals led their troops on expeditions, in order to emphasize their authority and the trust of the royal family, the emperor would reward them with the Shangfang Sword, giving them the power "as if I were here in person", but the authority of the sword was clearly defined, like the one given by Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty. His general Cao Binshang Fang Baojian specifically ordered: "Anyone below the rank of deputy general who disobeys orders will be killed."

The Shangfang Sword of the Ming Dynasty still remained in the military field. Now Zhu Youtang gave the Shangfang Sword to Prime Minister Wang Yue Yan Zheng. This undoubtedly gave the Shangfang Sword a new function and is of epoch-making significance.

Lu Song came to Wang Yue with the secret decree in hand and asked solemnly: "Master Wang, have you thought about it?"

The king's flag is an open chess move, while Shang Fang's sword is Zhu Youtang's hidden chess move.

It's just that this secret move is conditional. If Wang Yue wants to use this big killer weapon, he will have to be the enemy of the entire civil service group, and he will have to shoulder Zhu Youtang's trust.

You can't take such a big weapon and kill people quickly, but nothing can be done. Where do you put Hongzhi, the great emperor of tomorrow?

Just as Zhu Youtang said, "If you want to take Shangfang, you must first bear its weight. As soon as the sword comes out, the blood will flow into the salt river. If the insects are less than a hundred, don't talk about returning to the court." This is Wang Yue's responsibility in choosing Shangfang's sword.

"Since I want to pay tribute to Fang's sword, I also want to be sworn in with the salt worm!" Wang Yue knew that Lu Song was actually asking on behalf of His Majesty, so he responded resolutely.

As early as at the border, he had already put his own life and death aside several times. Now that he actually wants to accept this military order, he is also aware of death and knows that only killing can solve the current salt problem.

Seeing that Wang Yue had come to his senses, Hu Song no longer stopped Wang Yue from taking the sword.

Wang Yue held Shang Fang's sword and questioned Li Guangming on the stage: "Your Majesty gave Shang Fang's sword to kill princes and common people! Li Guangming, you are selling private salt and colluding with Xiao Zhixian to monopolize the salt business, causing harm to the people of Jingshan. Can I kill you today?"

The people in the audience thought of Li Guangming's arrogance earlier, and now they all looked at Li Guangming on the execution platform.

"No, Lord Imperial Envoy, please have mercy on me, please have mercy on me, I am willing to offer ten thousand gold, please have mercy on me!" Li Guangming suddenly panicked, pretending to be begging for mercy.

Huguang Inspector Yang Jizong looked at Li Guangming so anxious that tears flowed out, and his crotch was obviously wet. He knew that this man was a scared man after all.

It’s just that if we had known it would happen today, why bother with it in the first place? If he had been more respectful to the demoted Wang and kept the affairs of running the salt shop a little more secret, he probably wouldn't have ended up like this.

Of course, His Majesty broke the rules and gave Wang Yue the Shang Fang Sword. This was something no one expected, but it was somewhat inconsistent with the rumored image of the wardrobe prince.

Wang Yue had never been a money-grubbing person, and what he pursued in his life was justice. Thinking of Hu Daniu's death and Li Guangming's many evil deeds during his tenure, he immediately sternly ordered: "Behead!"

puff!

puff!

The two executioners' broadswords were swung down fiercely, and two streams of blood immediately flew up. The heads of Li Guangming and Xiao Zhixian fell on the execution platform, and they both died resolutely.

"died!"

"The dog officer is really dead!"

"Haha... good and evil will be rewarded in the end! Dad, have you seen it?"

…

The tens of thousands of people in the audience were a little disbelieving at first when they saw Li Guangming and Xiao Zhixian commit suicide, and saw these two evil pests beheaded, but soon they cheered.

The people do not fight against the officials. This is an eternal truth.

After Li Guangming's official career prospered, the children of the Li family began to live in the fish and meat village, especially the Xiaozhi County, who was the echo of the Li family, causing the people of Jingshan to suffer bullying.

How can we not make them happy now that they see two major pests fighting against each other?

The sky in Jingshan is still gloomy.

The Hu family originally wanted to bury Hu Daniu's body nearby, but after receiving Wang Yue's support, they chose to use a carriage to transport the body back for burial.

Yang Jizong was responsible for searching the homes of Li Guangming and Xiao Zhi County. Fifty thousand taels of silver and some jewelry, calligraphy and paintings were confiscated from Xiao Zhi County, while 150,000 taels of silver and a box of jewelry, calligraphy and paintings were confiscated from several houses of Li Guangming.

Wang Yue did not stay in Jingshan County for long. After reporting the crimes of Li Guangming and Xiao Zhixian, he led the imperial guards to leave here and go to Anlu Prefecture, where the price of salt per kilogram was as much as 400 Wen.

Just three days later, a execution platform was built in Anlu Prefecture.

Anzhou Zhizhou and the profiteer Qian were pushed onto the top. As two sword flashes flashed by, two more blood spattered, and the two pests were both killed again.

After seeing Wang Yue's actions, the people praised him one after another. Many good people gave Wang Yue the reputation of "Wang Qingtian", and some people called him "Shang Fang Qingtian".

Although Wang Yue's actions were praised by the people, he was naturally not welcomed by the civil servants.

When they learned that Wang Yue was going to Changsha Mansion, officials in the entire Huguang system panicked. Under the leadership of Huguang Inspector Jiang Hong, they went to court to impeach Wang Yue.

In the Forbidden City, in the East Nuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, sandalwood curls up.

Zhu Youtang, who was wearing regular clothes, was sitting at the table. He saw more and more memorials to impeach Wang Yue coming from Huguang, and he clearly felt that some officials were really panicked.

"Today the emperor's favor comes unexpectedly. Is the old man holding a sword yet young again?"

When Zhu Youtang saw that some officials were criticizing Wang Yue's poems again, he didn't think there was a problem at first, but he couldn't stand the repeated emphasis by so many officials, so that he felt that Wang Yue seemed to have objections.

"Your Majesty, this is the draft document just sent by the cabinet!" Guo Yong came in with a large stack of memorials and gently placed them on the desk next to him.

Liang Fang has successfully retired from the Qianqing Palace, and now the new eunuch in charge of the Qianqing Palace is Guo Yong.

Guo Yong entered the palace at the age of four and has lived in the Forbidden City for more than thirty years. He was an ordinary eunuch in the Qianqing Palace during the original Xianzong period. He was later promoted to the eunuch Bingbi, the eunuch of the ceremony, and now he is back in charge of the Qianqing Palace.

Unlike other resourceful eunuchs, Guo Yong is cautious in doing things, almost never making mistakes, and always knows where he is and what he has to do.

Zhu Youtang was very satisfied with the new head of Qianqing Palace, and suddenly asked in confusion: "Jiang Hong, the Inspector of Huguang? Why does this name sound so familiar?"

"Reporting to your majesty, this is Xu Pu's disciple, the censor who asked Huaien to return to the court earlier!" Guo Yong recalled for a while and immediately reported the report.

Zhu Youtang suddenly realized it, and immediately said with a bit of joking: "He has done something for Xu Pu, so he was promoted to Huguang Inspector?"

"Xu Pu presided over two general examinations and served as the left minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs for many years. There are actually many local disciples and former officials!" Guo Yong knew the situation in the court very well and explained the situation immediately.

The implication is that Xu Pu is indeed a disciple who holds important local positions.

Zhu Youtang knew that it was easy to control the court under his nose, but the local government was still beyond his reach. He couldn't help but said bitterly: "I'm afraid the local officials only know Xu Pu but not the emperor!"

Guo Yong couldn't accept this. In fact, Emperor Chenghua also had similar problems, so he sent a large number of eunuchs from the general town. But this move will undoubtedly increase the conflict between His Majesty and the civil service group, and it is not easy for him, the eunuch, to initiate this move.

When Zhu Youtang saw the memorial that had just been sent, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "Now there is a minister who is the most greedy and accurate since the Ming Dynasty. The minister is using the topic to prevent me from reusing your ministers. If I had known, I might as well not have copied it!" "