jdhmnovel Chapter 528 Go and beat the drum of grievance, let's see who dares to stop you.
Chapter 528 Go and beat the drum of grievance, let's see who dares to stop you.
Old Zhu was furious.
No matter how hateful the Plowshare Case and the Empty Seal were, they were ultimately not things that Old Zhu witnessed with his own eyes.
Most importantly, regardless of whether it was the Plowshare Case or the Blank Seal Case, although that scoundrel who was good at being sarcastic and disgusting was at the scene, Emperor Zhu could at least avoid seeing him and being bothered by him.
Now, a woman from Yexian County, Laizhou Prefecture, stopped the carriage of the prefect of Dengzhou Prefecture next door to plead her case because she had nowhere else to turn. Unfortunately, a certain scoundrel was standing by, and although he did not say a word, his meaningful gaze seemed to say everything.
Look at this, this is the Ming Dynasty under your rule. Officials refuse to accept the people's petitions in order to settle disputes, and even if they do accept them, they destroy the petitions and drive the people away because they are unreasonable. This is the peaceful and prosperous Ming Dynasty under your rule.
Emperor Zhu wished there was a crack in the ground he could crawl into.
Compared to Emperor Zhu, Yang Shaofeng seemed completely unfazed.
It's normal for officials in the Ming Dynasty to do all sorts of strange things; those who wholeheartedly serve the people are the exception.
To change this situation, it's not as simple as Zhu Yuanzhang killing a few officials, nor is it as simple as the Ningyang County School and Dengzhou Prefectural School training a few students.
To put it bluntly, the problem lies at its root.
Without addressing the root cause of the problem, killing more officials won't stop this trend, and cultivating more scholars won't solve the problem either.
Yang Shaofeng smiled and stopped Emperor Zhu, who wanted to go to Yexian to uphold justice. He then pointed to his official robes and said, "If Father-in-law is going to Yexian, he should at least change his clothes first."
Although Lao Deng wasn't wearing a dragon robe, his clothes were clearly not ordinary, and Yang Shaofeng was wearing the official robe of a fourth-rank prefect.
If he just went there so casually, the magistrate of Yexian County would probably be kneeling down faster than anyone else.
After all, Yexian was attached to Laizhou, so the magistrate of Yexian must know the prefect of Laizhou. A prefect who was neither the prefect of Laizhou nor the prefect of Laizhou, yet dared to swagger into Yexian to cause trouble, was as conspicuous as a firefly in the dark.
After being reminded by Yang Shaofeng, Emperor Zhu suddenly realized what was going on.
With a slight snort, Emperor Zhu simply ordered someone to fetch two sets of coarse cloth clothes for him to change into.
After thinking for a moment, Emperor Zhu squatted down again, rubbed his hands vigorously on the ground, and then brushed some dust onto his clothes, not even sparing his hair.
In the blink of an eye, the mighty emperor of the Ming Dynasty was transformed into an old farmer in the countryside.
Yang Shaofeng was too lazy to go through the trouble of being like Emperor Zhu, so he simply changed into an ordinary set of clothes and then took Wang Xiuniang to Yexian.
Upon arriving at the Yexian County government office, Emperor Zhu, with a dark expression, said to Wang Xiuniang, "Go and beat the grievance drum. Let's see who dares to stop us."
Wang Xiuniang completely ignored Emperor Zhu, instead glancing cautiously at Yang Shaofeng.
Yang Shaofeng smiled and said, "Go ahead and knock."
Wang Xiuniang was finally relieved.
Before Wang Xiuniang could even reach the grievance drum, she was stopped by the yamen runners of Yexian County.
"Wang, it's you again, you shrew!"
The yamen runners from Yexian County stopped Wang Xiuniang directly, glanced at Emperor Zhu and Yang Shaofeng, and shouted, "Did you come with Wang?"
Yang Shaofeng took a small half-step back, letting Emperor Zhu stand in front of him: "Ask my father-in-law, he's the one who decides."
Emperor Zhu was almost driven to his death by Yang Shaofeng.
What kind of son-in-law is this?!
While cursing Yang Shaofeng in his heart, Emperor Zhu frowned and said, "I came here with Lady Wang."
After a slight pause, Emperor Zhu continued, "Since Wang's son is missing and has come to the county office to report and accuse Master Hu, your county magistrate should accept the complaint and conduct a proper trial. How can you destroy the complaint and expel the person on the grounds of being unreasonable?"
The two yamen runners in front of the county government office were slightly taken aback, then burst into laughter.
One of the yamen runners pointed at Emperor Zhu and said, "Do you know where this is?"
Emperor Zhu frowned and said, "Yexian County Government Office."
The bailiff snorted and said, "Since the county magistrate's office is the county government, it should only issue notices on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th of each month. Today is not a day for issuing notices."
Emperor Zhu was furious and snorted coldly, "This is a matter of life and death. Even if it's not the day for filing a lawsuit, shouldn't the officials hear the case?"
The bailiff glared fiercely at Emperor Zhu and shouted, "You old fool! The yamen..."
Before he could finish speaking, Emperor Zhu slapped the bailiff across the face with such force that the bailiff fell to the ground.
Yang Shaofeng quickly went up and kicked him a few times.
Damn it, this old man is my father-in-law. I can tolerate him causing me trouble, but when did it become your place to curse him?
Besides, if you call him an old man, then what am I?
As he continued kicking, Yang Shaofeng turned his head and glanced at Emperor Zhu.
Old Deng's grip was pretty strong just now!
Did he hold back when he smacked me on the back of the head before?
Seeing that the scoundrel kept looking at his hands, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but glare at Yang Shaofeng angrily, "What are you looking at? Back when I was under the command of the Grand Marshal, I was also one of the first to charge forward."
Yang Shaofeng clicked his tongue in amazement and then pointed to the yamen runner who had stood up.
At this time, a dozen or so yamen runners had gathered in front of the county government office, each wielding a fire stick. The head of the third shift even drew half of his sword from his waist and glared fiercely at Emperor Zhu.
Wang Xiuniang was terrified. Yang Shaofeng pulled her behind him and then shouted at the lame man and the guards of the prince consort's mansion, "Attack!"
As it turned out, Old Deng was indeed quite generous in his treatment of his son-in-law. At the very least, the guards assigned to Yang Shaofeng's residence were all elites, and just the two of them beat more than a dozen yamen runners to a pulp.
Emperor Zhu was still displeased and once again ordered Wang Xiuniang, "Now go and beat the grievance drum again. Let's see who can stop you now."
Wang Xiuniang glanced at the yamen runner lying on the ground screaming in agony, then looked at Yang Shaofeng and Emperor Zhu.
He was the one who stopped Yang, the imperial son-in-law, and the dark-faced man next to Yang was addressed as his father-in-law by Yang.
The prince consort's father-in-law was the emperor.
So, I managed to stop the emperor?
With her confidence greatly boosted, Wang Xiuniang was no longer afraid. She strode to the grievance drum, picked up the drumstick, and pounded it hard.
……
Speaking of the magistrate of Yexian County, he was actually quite unlucky.
There's a famous saying in the officialdom of Zhongyuan Hall: "If you were not virtuous in your past life, you will be a county magistrate in this life; if you did evil in your past life, you will be a county magistrate in the capital; if you are utterly wicked, you will be a county magistrate in the provincial capital."
Yexian was attached to Laizhou Prefecture, similar to how Penglai was attached to Dengzhou Prefecture.
To put it bluntly, if a city has both a prefectural government office and a county government office, the magistrate's status in the political arena will become quite awkward.
Especially those prominent gentry in the city, if any of them were on good terms with the prefect, they might very well disrespect the county magistrate.
Pang Zhen, the magistrate of Yexian County, found himself in this situation.
As the magistrate of Yexian County, he was not taken seriously by the local gentry.
As the county magistrate, he always had to consider the attitude of the prefect of Laizhou before he could do anything.
In addition, the fact that he was transferred from the fertile Jiangnan region to Shandong was already unpleasant enough.
Over time, Pang Zhen finally opened up completely.