Liu Shuxiang is the third-ranking prefect of Shuntian, and can be regarded as an important official in the court. Naturally, Jiajing could not have handled the man because of several memorials.

His understanding of Liu Shuxiang is limited to the records of the Ministry of Personnel and the Censorate's assessment officials, as well as the performance of people's report in the morning court. After all, he could not have attracted tens of thousands of officials in the Ming Dynasty to ask carefully one by one, nor could he stare at them every day to see what they were doing.

At this time, he could only ask for advice, that is, the ministers below, how is Liu Shuxiang like? Should he do it?

There are many types of this procedure, including light punishment and salary warning, key demotion and retention, key dismissal, and key dismissal, dismissal, exile for three thousand miles, or even dragging them out to make decisions, etc. He had to consult the opinions of his ministers before he could make a decision.

At this time, there are many ways to solicit opinions, such as court discussions, such as soliciting opinions from important officials in the court.

He thought it would be better to ask for opinions from his ministers. After all, Liu Shuxiang is an important official in the court. If he was wronged and directly organized a minister to discuss the matter, everyone would know that the face would be lost and this official would be difficult to do.

Jiajing is very willful, but he is not a fool. Before things are completely determined, he still has to keep the face he should give. For such major events in the court, he is not stupid enough to do anything.

Speaking of this consultation, the first thing that comes to mind for Jiajing is Li Shi, the chief minister of the cabinet.

Although Li Shi is not very capable, he is still very loyal and his evaluation of court officials is naturally the most objective. Therefore, whenever Jiajing wants to understand court officials, the first thing he thinks about is Li Shi.

Li Shi didn't know what Jiajing was looking for him. After becoming the chief minister of the cabinet, he was still as loyal and honest as ever. After the monarch and ministers greeted him, he stood there respectfully, just waiting for Jiajing to inquire.

Jiajing thought about it carefully before saying seriously: "Zong Yi, what do you think of Liu Shuxiang as an official, and what do you think of Liu Shuxiang as an official?"

How to answer this question?

Of course, Li Shi knew that someone was impeaching Liu Shuxiang. He knew Liu Shuxiang's behavior well, and he didn't mind saying a few good things to others at this time.

He bowed solemnly: "When I go back to the emperor, I think that the prefect of Shuntian Liu Shuxiang is a rare capable official. He started from the county magistrate to the prefect of Shuntian. Every time he went to the place, he did a lot of practical things for the people, and his achievements were obvious to all."

Jiajing nodded and then asked again: "Then what do you think about his cancellation of the assistant silver?"

Li Shi still said solemnly: "Your Majesty, I think it's better if this kind of harsh taxes are cancelled."

Jiajing nodded slightly again, and then asked Li Shi to retreat.

It is true that Li Shi is a loyal and honest person, but he will not just listen to Li Shi's one-sided words. Immediately afterwards, he ordered someone to recruit Xia Yan, a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet.

Xia Yan's performance some time ago really made him a little dissatisfied. However, I heard that Xia Yan has become much more honest during this period and is still as diligent as ever. He almost has to leave his dissatisfaction with Xia Yan. Of course, he has heard from Chen Hong, the eunuch of Silijian.

Jiajing didn't have time to talk too much. After the monarch and ministers greeted him, he asked directly: "Gong Jin, what do you think of Liu Shuxiang as an official, and what do you think of Liu Shuxiang as an official?"

This question is similar to when asked by Li Shi, but Xia Yan's answer really surprised him.

Xia Yan wanted to defeat Liu Shuxiang, so he naturally turned the person to death!

He pretended to be angry and said, "Back to the emperor, this Liu Shuxiang is greedy and uses his power for personal gain. He has not known how much money he has greedy for more than ten years."

Jiajing really didn't know that Xia Yan was going to mess with Liu Shuxiang this time. Every time Xia Yan asked someone to make a comment, he was very careful. The censors who made the comments were either newly dependent on him or had a force with him. He basically didn't need his own village party. Except for the last time when he impeached Yang Cong, Jiajing was basically kept in the dark by him at other times.

This time Jiajing was blinded again.

Is this Liu Shuxiang really that greedy?

Jiajing said with some doubts: "Really?"

Xia Yan nodded without hesitation and said, "How dare I deceive the emperor?"

Jiajing then asked again: "Then is it true that he accepts bribes and cancels the assisted silver?"

Xia Yan nodded repeatedly and said, "The emperor is wise and this matter is absolutely true. I suggest that the emperor issue an order to ask the Censorate to investigate and everything will be clear."

When Jiajing heard this, he frowned. Did he really issue an order to ask the Censorate to investigate?

As soon as the Censorate took action, Liu Shuxiang was basically done. He also knew that no one was perfect. No court officials under his command could be like a saint and had never made any mistakes. If the Censorate asked to investigate, he would definitely find out something. Could it be that he would just deposed a third-rank court official?

He felt that it was a bit hasty to issue an order at this time, so he would like to ask others for their opinions. After all, Li Shi and Xia Yan said the same thing, and he didn't know who was right and who was wrong.

After thinking about it, he asked Xia Yan to retreat and ordered someone to recruit Zhang Bangqi, the Minister of Personnel.

Although he didn't know that Xia Yan was going to mess with Liu Shuxiang this time, Xia Yan's tone made him vaguely notice something. Liu Shuxiang's matter is probably not simple, so he wanted to hear what the Yangming lineage, the rival of Xia Yan's party, had.

After Zhang Bangqi came in and saw him, he couldn't wait to ask: "Chang Fu, what do you think of Liu Shuxiang as an official, and what do you think of?"

The same question is still there, but he got a different answer, because Yang Cong had already secretly told the boss of Yangming's lineage that he would find a way to protect Liu Shuxiang, and this important minister of the court would join their camp.

To put it bluntly, Liu Shuxiang's incident was not a big deal. Xia Yan was a little arrogant at this time. He thought that he was just a prefect of Shuntian, and he could use some means to cure others.

We won't let you succeed.

Zhang Bangqi pretended to be serious and said solemnly: "According to the assessment records of the Ministry of Personnel, Liu Shuxiang has outstanding abilities, fairness and strictness, and is a rare official."

Is this over?

The assessment records were not written by you, just pretend I don’t know!

Jiajing then asked, "What do you think about Liu Shuxiang's cancellation of the military service?"

Zhang Bangqi still said seriously: "I think this assistant silver is already under the jurisdiction of the Tianfu, and he is the prefect, so he naturally has the right to cancel it."

Jiajing asked again: "He said he would cancel it. Shouldn't he consider the income of the treasury?"

Zhang Bangqi hurriedly said: "Emperor, according to relevant records, the assisted servant silver was specially built for the capital. Now that the capital has been built, the assisted servant silver should naturally be cancelled. Moreover, the assisted servant silver is not a tax paid by the state treasury, but the expenditure for the construction of the capital by major yamen in the capital. Now that the capital has been built, the expenditure is obviously unnecessary."

There is something like this!

Jiajing couldn't help but frown and said, "What do you mean, the collected silver was not turned over to the state treasury at all, but the major yamen spent it themselves?"

Zhang Bangqi nodded without hesitation and said, "Yes, the emperor, this assisted service silver was originally a tax levied. Many descendants of wealthy businessmen escaped because they were overwhelmed. There were only hundreds of households left after thousands of wealthy businessmen who migrated to the capital. If they were taken over, these hundreds of households might have escaped because they were overwhelmed."

So that's the case. Jiajing nodded slightly, and then ordered Zhang Bangqi to retreat.
Chapter completed!