Chapter 76 Justice
"What..." Chongzhen almost shouted out, but then stopped talking. He and Wang Chengen looked at each other, and they could see the shock on each other's faces.

Naturally, everyone present knew who Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen was.

A hero in the Jingnan Campaign, he was the ninth-generation grandson of Zhu Neng, a fierce general under Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di. He was a hereditary Duke and was known among the nobles in Beijing for his knowledge of military affairs.

Moreover, this person was well-versed in ancient and modern knowledge. When he spoke and did things in front of Chongzhen, he showed his loyalty to the emperor and love for the people. Whenever he mentioned the late Emperor Tianqi, he would shed tears and remember him.

He seemed to be a man of both civil and military talents, loyal to the emperor and patriotic. Because of this, Chongzhen decided to let him supervise the compilation of "The Veritable Records of Emperor Xizong", which is not only a biography of his elder brother Tianqi, but also the official history of a period of the Ming Dynasty.

The fact that he was able to oversee the compilation of an official history shows that Chongzhen had great regard for Zhu Chunchen.

However, now he was suddenly reported to the emperor by his brother Wang An, who even threatened that he was about to be forced to death by Zhu Chunchen. What was going on?
Shi Fenglai and Qian Longxi were even more confused. The protagonist of the number one injustice case that the emperor went to so much trouble to try turned out to be Zhu Chunchen?
Is this just a coincidence, or did the emperor do it on purpose?

If it was intentional, does that mean that Your Majesty had already intended to deal with Zhu Chunchen?
However, Wencheng and the nobles had been at odds for a long time. Although there was no life-and-death feud, they were happy to watch each other's fun.

Chongzhen was silent for a moment, then picked up the pen and wrote a few words again.

Fang Zhenghua took it as usual and said, "What is the injustice, and why did Zhu Chunchen force you to death? Tell me in detail."

Wang An did not waste time and told him how Jiang Zhu Chunchen took advantage of the situation and tried to take over his Wangji Coal Warehouse but failed, so he occupied his coal mine in the West Mountain, ordered the Beijing Coal Industry to ban him, and then sent his servants to smash the coal warehouse.

He added fuel to the fire, saying how he had worked hard to allow the people of the capital to use cheap coal, but now he was cornered by merchants who had taken deposits to collect debts, and he was deserted by his friends and relatives.

He also talked about how the servants of the Duke's Mansion were arrogant and domineering. Not only did they smash his coal warehouse, they also threatened to make him prepare his coffin and wait for death!
After saying this, Wang An let out another hypocritical cry, pretending to wipe away tears and said, "I thought that the people would not fight against the officials, let alone the Duke? Although my life's property has been taken away, the other party is a Duke! For the sake of my life, I will just consider it as a loss to avoid disaster. It's a pity that the people of my capital will never be able to use cheap coal again."

"However, I have admired Emperor Taizu since I was a child. I have heard from storytellers that Emperor Taizu issued an iron decree at the beginning of the founding of the country, which clearly stated that dukes and marquises were not allowed to forcibly occupy the mountains, lakes, tea gardens, reed marshes, and gold, silver, copper and iron fields of officials and civilians."

"I thought the coal mine was one of them, so I had no other options and couldn't bear the hardship of the people in the capital city in the cold winter, so I risked my life to come and file a complaint with the emperor!"

"Your Majesty, please understand and make the decision for the common people!"

After saying that, he took out a contract document from his arms and raised it above his head with both hands.

Fang Zhenghua didn't need any instructions. He walked over to the gap between the screen and the wall, took it, and passed it to Wang Chengen.

Wang Chengen knew the authenticity of the contract without even taking a glance, because he had personally asked the Minister of Revenue Bi Zhiyan to prepare the contract document, and his handwriting was still on it.

However, in front of the two cabinet ministers, Wang Chengen pretended to hand it to Emperor Chongzhen.

Chongzhen just glanced at it casually and put it aside.

He picked up the pen and wrote a few words on the paper. Fang Zhenghua took it and read it, "Your Majesty has learned about your injustice. If Zhu Chunchen has indeed violated the law, the national law will not forgive him!"

"But this is a serious matter, and the court will not listen to your one-sided story. His Majesty will order someone to investigate this matter, so you should go back and listen to his orders."

Wang An rolled his eyes and felt that this matter was not safe. After all, the other party was a duke, the one with the highest title among the foreign relatives.

It is hard to predict whether the emperor would really pursue a duke for the life and death of a commoner like him. However, putting aside the doubts of later generations about Chongzhen's ability, we have to admit that he was indeed a good emperor.

Although he is not as impartial as Bao Zheng and Hai Rui, he is not the kind of person who would bend the law for personal gain.

Since this matter has reached Chongzhen's ears, even if Wang An does not get a satisfactory result, it is expected that it will not be worse.

Just as he was about to kowtow to express his gratitude, the figure on the other side of the screen had already rushed out of the room.

Not to mention how conflicted and anxious Wang An was, as he went home while preparing to escape in case his plan failed and to guard against Zhu Chunchen's revenge.

On the other side, Chongzhen led Wang Chengen, Shi Fenglai and Qian Longxi back to the Wenhua Hall. Before they sat down, he asked with a gloomy face, "What do you two think of Zhu Chunchen's seizure of the coal mine property of innocent people?"

Originally, Chongzhen had decided that no matter who dared to mess with his brother, he would be sentenced to death.

But after all, the other party was a duke and a descendant of a great contributor to the Fengtian Jingnan Rebellion. Not to mention that Chongzhen had a good impression of Zhu Chunchen and wanted to use him, so he became a little hesitant.

Moreover, the origin of this imperial complaint was suspicious, which made the two masters unwilling to get involved in this mess.

On the surface, this was a case of accusing nobles of seizing the property of the common people, and even no one had been killed.

When ordinary people encountered such things, they would either swallow their anger or go to the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen to file a complaint. They would never go directly to the Wumen Gate to file a complaint with the emperor.

From this point of view, Wang An is indeed a weirdo in the eyes of Qian Longxi and Shi Fenglai.

This inevitably made these two old foxes suspicious, with all kinds of conspiracy theories swirling in their minds.

But since the emperor had asked, there was no point in keeping silent.

As the chief minister, Shi Fenglai had to answer first: "Your Majesty, it is not uncommon for dukes and marquises to seize the people's land and property. What this little shopkeeper named Wang An said is not necessarily unjust."

"Besides, the contract documents are all there. We only need to send someone to investigate privately to find out whether Duke Cheng really occupied the coal mine. If so, Your Majesty will order him not to oppress the people and return the coal mine to the owner."

Qian Longxi looked at Shi Fenglai in surprise. He didn't expect that Shi Fenglai would dare to speak for the people in such a turbulent time.

Although there is no insistence on investigating the matter thoroughly and holding those responsible accountable, it is understandable.

After all, Zhu Chunchen has been quite popular with the emperor during this period, and it doesn't seem like the emperor is intentionally planning to deal with him.

In this case, this imperial complaint is most likely a coincidence.

And if it was just a coincidence, then it seems self-evident which side one should stand on between an ordinary citizen and a duke.

What's more, these university scholars are very good at smoothing things over. Before the situation becomes clear, it is almost impossible to get them to make a clear statement on something.

(End of this chapter)