met free Chapter 558 We just defended them, and they immediately caused such a commotion?
Chapter 558 We just defended them, and they immediately caused such a commotion?
Emperor Zhu glanced at Xia Yu and asked, "What is it?"
Xia Yu glanced cautiously at Yang Shaofeng, then bowed to Emperor Zhu and said, "Your Majesty, the men of the Jinyiwei Dengzhou Thousand Household Office have been transferred to Ningyang, and are just waiting for Your Highness to arrange for the men to take them over."
"Besides, all the officials and gentry involved in the Chen case have been arrested, and similar cases of illegal coal mines throughout Shandong have also been largely solved, but..."
Emperor Zhu frowned slightly and asked, "But what?"
Xia Yu glanced at Yang Shaofeng again, and finally steeled himself, cupping his hands in a gesture of respect and saying, "The problem of illegal coal mines in Luan County is even more serious than in other places."
Yang Shaofeng stared blankly at Xia Yu for a moment, then asked, "Where?"
Xia Yu said in a deep voice: "Luan County, Magistrate Zhou Liangyu, the problem of illegal coal mines and iron mines in Luan County is more serious than in any other place. Although there are no Ming Dynasty people in the illegal coal mines and iron mines in Luan County, more than twenty people have died in the illegal coal mines in just these two months."
After a slight pause, Xia Yu added, "Actually, they can't really be considered illegal coal mines and iron mines, because these coal mines and iron mines were set up by the magistrate of Luan County. The county has records of them, and they have also been reported to Yongping Prefecture."
Damn it.
Xia Yu felt like dying right now.
If a county magistrate in another place were to uncover a case involving illegal coal mines, the Imperial Guards would simply arrest the perpetrators.
Unfortunately, the coal mines and iron mines in Luan County were all registered.
If it were just a matter of reporting, that would be one thing, but more than twenty people died in two months, so those who should be arrested should still be arrested.
Unfortunately, the magistrate of Luan County was named Zhou Liangyu, who was a graduate of Ningyang County School and a second-class Jinshi in the first imperial examination of the Ming Dynasty. He was both a true disciple of the emperor and a staunch supporter of the crown prince.
To put it bluntly, arresting Zhou Liangyu is easy, but directly arresting Zhou Liangyu would easily offend Emperor Zhu, Zhu Biao, and Yang the Madman.
Which of these three people is a magnanimous person?
Moreover, the people who died in the mines of Luan County were Koreans.
As everyone knows, Yang the Madman never treated Koreans as human beings, and neither did Emperor Zhu and His Highness the Crown Prince.
Whether Koreans die or not, and whether Koreans are even human, are not the key issues.
The key question is, where did Zhou Liangyu get the sticks from?
Emperor Zhu was also dumbfounded.
Where is the problem of illegal coal mines most serious?
Luan County?
County Magistrate Zhou Liangyu?
Damn it.
We just used the excuse of "still a child" to defend them, and they immediately caused such a big commotion for us.
Also, where did Zhou Liangyu get the sticks from?
After thinking for a long time without coming up with a solution, Emperor Zhu simply glanced at Yang Shaofeng and asked, "The Korean slaves you transferred to Luan County?"
Yang Shaofeng vehemently denied it: "Dengzhou Prefecture doesn't even have enough laborers, where would I get extra workers to send to Luan County?"
After a slight pause, Yang Shaofeng added, "Also, the legitimate laborers on the Korean side are all managed by Park Sung and his group. Every laborer is registered in Dengzhou Prefecture and can be checked at any time."
“If the Koreans in Luan County came from Dengzhou Prefecture, and more than twenty of them died in two months, Park Sung and his men would definitely have intervened.”
After all, the Koreans were also a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and they were among the vassal states that stood at the front during the grand court assembly.
The death of more than twenty South Korean laborers in two months is definitely a major accident. Park Sung-hwan and Park Deuk-hwan would definitely take the opportunity to cry poverty and play the victim, not remain completely silent like this.
Emperor Zhu grunted in agreement, then turned to Xia Yu: "Where did the laborers from Luan County come from?"
Xia Yu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said in a trembling voice, "Goryeo."
"According to the information I have gathered by sending people over this period of time, the laborers in Luan County all came from Korea. Their route was by sea to the Leting area, and then north along the Hulu River to Luan County."
“These people were not brought over by Park Sung-hyun and Park Deuk-hwan, but were relatives and friends of Park Sung-hyun and Park Deuk-hwan who smuggled laborers under the name of Park Sung-hyun.”
Yang Shaofeng's face immediately turned even uglier.
I just thought it was only Zhou Liangyu, but it turns out that Wang Zhaohu, the magistrate of Leting County, has also gotten involved.
Well, the people from Xihe Village and Tantou Village are colluding to smuggle laborers, and they even submitted a memorial to impeach the Zunhua County Magistrate who came from Gengzhuang Village and the Jinghai County Magistrate who came from Tantou Village.
You guys are all so awesome.
I underestimated you before!
Yang Shaofeng gritted his teeth, thinking this, while Emperor Zhu cursed with a dark face, "These bastards!"
"No wonder the old saying goes, 'If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too,' it's absolutely true!"
"They led yamen runners to rob people and smuggled laborers; they're all incredibly audacious!"
Yang Shaofeng was immediately very dissatisfied.
You can scold those four, but why are you scolding me?
Explain to me what it means when the upper beam is crooked and the lower beam is crooked as well.
"They led their constables to seize people and smuggle laborers. Did I teach them to do these dirty deeds?"
He is clearly self-taught and has no teacher!
Just as Yang Shaofeng was furiously complaining in his heart, Emperor Zhu turned his attention to Yang Shaofeng again: "The magistrates of Jinghai, Zunhua, Luanxian, and Leting are all your good students."
"You can handle the rest."
"We must not discourage the children, but we must also punish them appropriately."
"They've all been spoiled rotten!"
Yang Shaofeng was dumbfounded, but Emperor Zhu snorted coldly and said, "Ningyang County produced twenty-six Jinshi this year."
"Besides those four and Zhou Jingxin, the remaining twenty-one might not be any better."
"Instead of wasting your time causing trouble for us, you should worry about those twenty-one little bastards first."
Emperor Zhu walked to the side and sat down, cursing. Yang Shaofeng and Xia Yu exchanged a glance, then raised their sleeves to wipe the cold sweat from their foreheads.
Let's consider this matter closed for now.
After all, the emperor had scolded them, saying things like "they are all spoiled children," and he even specifically demanded that "the children's hearts should not be chilled."
Therefore, the nature of today's matter is: some greedy, ill-intentioned, and ignorant Koreans took advantage of the young and naive county magistrate of the Ming Dynasty to smuggle some Korean laborers into the Ming Dynasty to work illegally.
To put it more bluntly: Zhou Liangyu and Wang Zhaohu will definitely be scolded, but once the scolding is over, it will be over. At most, they will be fined three or six months' salary, and they will find a way to make up for it later.
It's all the Koreans' fault.
However, while today's matter is in the past for Emperor Zhu and for Xia Yu, Yang Shaofeng cannot let it simply pass.
Why did Emperor Zhu characterize the mess Zhou Liangyu made as "childish nonsense"?
Why didn't Xia Yu arrest the person immediately, but instead came to report to Emperor Zhu?
It wasn't because Zhou Liangyu was particularly capable.
It wasn't because of the importance of the coal mines and iron mines that Zhou Liangyu established in Luan County.
It was because of Yang Shaofeng.
However, it is precisely for this reason that Yang Shaofeng cannot let this matter be let off lightly.