A Clash of Gods - Chapter 535

[Chapter 536]

Longtai handed the book to the side, looked at Sima Changshen, and asked, “Marquis Zhongyi, what Feng Ruohai said, do you know what happened?”

Sima Changshen stepped out of the queue and knelt down and said loudly, “Your Majesty, the minister is not in the household department. I don’t know what the taxation of the imperial court is like.”

Long Tai said: “Feng Ruohai, since the Hou Zhongyi doesn’t know, you should tell everyone that Yi’an’s tax has been reduced by half after two years?”

“Your Majesty, I noticed that the tax was wrong. At first, I thought that there was some kind of natural disaster over there, so the tax was delayed, and I sent someone to ask questions, but I didn’t get an answer.” Feng Ruohai said: “The officials of the Ministry of Household went to Yi’an. After checking the accounts, it turns out that all the taxes that Yi An should pay have been paid, and there is no arrears. I was curious, and only later learned that the original land delivered by Yi An has been reduced by half in just two years.”

“Why is this?” Longtai frowned and said, “How can a good land shrink?”

Feng Ruohai said: “It’s just because some land has been occupied, and these lands have become private fields that do not need to be paid.” He took out the account book from his sleeve again, “Your Majesty, here is the detailed land accounting, within two years. , more than 1,400 hectares of land have been occupied by people.”

The important officials in the DPRK looked at him and were slightly surprised. He thought to himself that he was afraid that something big would happen today. Feng Ruohai was obviously prepared and had sufficient evidence. Shen, Feng Ruohai has done a lot of work here.

Qi Ning watched the battle between the King of Huainan and Duke Zhen Guo, but when he saw Feng Ruohai taking out the evidence piece by piece, he felt that this was the real tough battle. The evidence came, and the matter involved the rivers and lakes, Qi Ning didn’t take such characters seriously at the beginning of the fight.

Sima Lan and Huainan King Xiao Zhang appeared calm and calm from the beginning to the end, and the waves were not disturbed. It seemed that Jin Dao waited for Tantai Huang just to feel the atmosphere in Fengtian Hall. on.

Longtai looked at it carefully, with a solemn expression, and asked, “Feng Ruohai, who is occupying these lands, and they don’t even have to pay taxes?”

“Your Majesty, among the more than 1,300 hectares of land, 800 of them are official fields, and the other 500 are civilian fields, all of which are fertile fields with abundant water and soil.” Feng Ruohai said loudly: “The official fields are The harvest has always been directly included in the official treasury, and the 500 hectares of civilian land have always been paid in full. Although the area in Nie An is not large, it has a good weather and a good harvest. Now the 800 hectares of official land has been Openly seized, the five hundred people’s land was also plundered and robbed by people, bit by bit swallowing the past, the tax originally belonging to the imperial court, because it was occupied, it was exempted from the tax and could not be collected, so the tax in the past two years was suddenly halved.”

The ministers are very clear in their hearts, but there are three types of people who do not have to pay taxes on their fields. One is the land that has been conferred food towns, and the other is that after obtaining fame, private fields do not need to pay taxes, but there are strict restrictions on the number of mu. , the important officials of the imperial court are old and serve, and there are naturally more fields that do not have to pay taxes. The lower the fame, the less the number.

As for the last category, it is useful to the imperial court, and the imperial court decrees to exempt taxes.

In addition, it was suffering from natural disasters, and the emperor was kind and decreed to be exempted from paying taxes.

And what Feng Ruohai said did not need to pay taxes, and only the Sima family had the ability to look at the entire Yi’an.

Many people were secretly surprised, thinking that when Sima Lan was awarded the title of Marquis of Loyalty and Righteousness back then, he only ate five hundred fiefs. Among the four marquis, he was already second to none. The land is more than double the amount of food that Sima Lan received. If this is the case, then the 1,300 hectares of good fields are occupied by the Sima family. Today, this matter can be seen.

Qi Ning also knew in his heart that Feng Ruohai was not like Zhao Bangyao. Since he said that someone had swallowed 1,300 hectares of fertile land, it must be true, and the person who devoured the fertile land was of course the Sima family.

Since the King of Huainan sent a servant of the household to the battle, and he was well prepared, he was obviously going to tear a piece of meat from the Sima family.

But it is not impossible to pull down Sima Changshen.

Above the hall, there was a sudden silence.

Everyone knows that King Huainan and Duke Zhenguo have been brewing for a long time, and they are all looking for an opportunity to attack each other, but no one thought that this time would come so quickly. Anyone would know, so it would be unusually abrupt.

In this tense atmosphere, no one dared to speak rashly.

“You are participating in the court of loyalty and justice today, and you are naturally referring to the man who occupies the fertile land.” After a while of silence, the little emperor finally said slowly.

Feng Ruohai said solemnly, “Returning to the emperor, the person who invaded the 1,300 hectares of fertile land is the Sima family.” He took out a stack of paper again, “Your Majesty, this is the confession that the minister sent to Yi’an to investigate carefully. Among them, there are local officials, as well as people who have occupied fertile fields. There are many people. The ministers recorded twenty-three confessions, all of them signed and signed, and these people were also brought into the capital and can testify at any time.” Then he continued: “The minister sent people to investigate and found out that as early as a few years ago, the Sima family had begun to occupy land in Yi’an in various names, and even forced the local people to do free corvée and cultivate the fields. It’s You Sheng, these taxes that should belong to the imperial court have now entered the hands of the Sima family.”

The little emperor read the confessions again and again, then rolled them into a ball and threw them in front of Sima Changshen, saying, “Sima Changshen, see for yourself, are these confessions true?”

“Your Majesty, Duke Zhenguo is loyal to the country, conscientious and conscientious, and is an important official of the country.” One of the ministers walked out, with a slightly fat body, and said loudly: “What Feng Ruohai said is pure slander, I implore the emperor to investigate!”

The ministers looked at it and immediately recognized that it was Chen Lanting, the left servant of the Ministry of Personnel, so they were not surprised. This Duke Zhenguo also served as the minister of the Ministry of Personnel. It is a reasonable thing.

“Chen Lanting, you don’t have to rush to refute.” The little emperor said lightly: “Feng Ruohai did not participate in the impeachment of Duke Zhen Guo, but he participated in the impeachment of Duke Zhongyi. Although Duke Zhen and Duke Zhongyi are father and son in private, they are colleagues in the upper class. , don’t mess around.”

Chen Lanting was stunned, and said hurriedly: “This minister is reckless. It’s just that the Sima family on the left and the Sima family on the right in Feng Ruohai’s mouth are deliberately slandering the Sima family. Now they are going to be slandered by the villain and their family, I am really angry, and I ask the emperor to convict.”

The little emperor waved his hand and ignored it. Sima Changshen took those confessions and quickly read them, his face was ugly.

“Marquis Loyalty, in these confessions, it is very clear that the enclosure and land occupation were all ordered by your Marquis Loyalty.” Feng Ruohai sneered: “But I don’t know if it is true?”

Sima Changshen looked at Feng Ruohai, his eyes glinted with ferocity, and was about to speak, when he heard an old voice say: “Master Feng, these confessions are not false, as far as the old man knows, Sima Changshen really ordered people to do this. “As soon as these words came out, everyone was shocked. They looked at the sound, and they were even more shocked when they saw the speaker, but it turned out that the person who suddenly spoke was Ma Lan of Zhenguo Company.

The ministers looked at each other, thinking that the Sima family would try their best to argue, but who knew that Sima Lan would take the initiative to admit it as soon as he opened his mouth, some people couldn’t help but wonder, is this Sima Lan confused? Feng Ruohai has tried his best to deal with you. Sima’s family, it’s better now, you didn’t say a word of refutation, but you actually admitted the matter. Isn’t this pushing Sima Changshen into the fire pit.

Feng Ruohai’s eyes flashed with joy, and King Huainan’s body was shocked, but his expression became cold.

Sima Changshen opened his eyes wide and felt a little weird, but he saw Duke Zhen Guo take two steps forward and bowed: “Your Majesty, this old minister urges Sima Changshen to be imprisoned immediately and dealt with in accordance with the laws of the court.”

“Father!” Sima Changshen was shocked and couldn’t help exclaiming.

Sima Lan turned around and said coldly, “Above the court, there are no fathers and sons, only monarchs, ministers and colleagues.”

The ministers were all stunned, thinking that the old prince seemed really crazy, and he took the initiative to send his son to the big prison.

There are also people who think that this Sima Lan may have seen something wrong and wants to abandon the car to protect the handsome.

Many people know in their hearts that this Sima Lan has the supreme authority in the Sima family. Although Sima Changshen is over forty years old, he is very afraid of Sima Lan. Many officials’ children are quite arrogant in the capital, but the children of the Sima family are very arrogant. He has always been very low-key. This is obviously because Sima Lan’s family is extremely strict and disciplined, so that the children of the Sima family will not cause trouble outside.

Yi’an encloses the land, although Feng Ruohai sued Sima Changshen, and there is solid evidence, but without Sima Lan’s advice, Sima Changshen would not have the courage.

At the moment, Sima Lan felt that things were going to go bad, so he asked Sima Changshen to convict him first. As long as the fire didn’t burn him for the time being, he would be able to find a way to deal with it if he had time.

Many people know that the Punishment Department is closer to the King of Huainan. If Sima Changshen is really imprisoned as a boss of the Punishment Department, he will be offended.

Longtai obviously did not expect Sima Lan to come out like this, and frowned: “Old Prince, you mean that everything that Feng Ruohai said in the memorial is true?”

“Yes!” Sima Lan said, “Yi’an has occupied some fields, and the taxes for the past few years have not been paid into the state treasury.” Looking back at Sima Changshen, he said, “This is Sima Changshen was indeed involved in this matter, and asked the emperor to convict him.”

Dou Kui, the minister of households, saw this scene and went out: “Report to the emperor, I have a few words to ask the old prince, and ask the emperor to answer.”

Longtai looked at Sima Lan, who turned around and asked, “What do you want to ask, Mr. Dou?”

“Old Duke, the lower officials are in charge of the Ministry of Households. There are a few words that are quite offensive, but I do my best in my position. I also ask the old gentleman to be considerate.” Dou Kui asked with a cold expression: “Loyal and righteous Hou Zai Yi’an instructed people to enclose the land and occupy the land. I don’t know when the old prince knew about it? The old prince did not read these confessions, and admitted that Hou Zhongyi did this. It can be seen that before today’s court meeting, he already knew about it.”

Sima Lan nodded slightly and said, “This old man has known about it for a long time.”

There was a slight uproar among the ministers, and Dou Kui took a step forward, with a great momentum, and asked aggressively: “Then the lower official dares to ask the old prince, this is obviously a violation of the law of the country, the old prince is a veteran of the country, and he is dedicated to the public. Why didn’t you tell the court for a long time, but instead helped Sima Changshen to conceal this matter?”