Is one hundred thousand taels a lot?
Li Weijian had been an official in the Ministry of Rites since the previous dynasty. According to the tradition of accepting bribes and favors over the ages, with various human interactions, not to mention one hundred thousand taels, even five hundred thousand taels would be little!
But now, considering the current Emperor is the founding Monarch with strong means, he deliberately offered multiple discounts, finally settling on the figure of one hundred thousand taels with the nodding approval of the Celestial Master's Mansion.
However, Your Majesty, turned around and went to the Jin Sect, found a funeral agency among the common folk, and managed what would have cost one hundred thousand taels with just three thousand taels of silver!
Where does that leave the reputation of our Ministry of Rites and the Celestial Master's Mansion?
Now it's worse, nearly one hundred thousand taels of profit disappeared into thin air, and most importantly, how dare a small-time operator, a lowly forensic doctor from the Jinmen Prefecture, take the lead in exposing their cover?
Li Weijian was utterly frustrated.
"The prestige of a hundred thousand taels was made a joke by your three thousand taels, where is the face of my Ministry of Rites?"
In Li Weijian's eyes, that Funeral Master was merely fortunate to catch Your Majesty's attention, which is why he had the opportunity to undertake the royal rites. Unfortunately, the other party was oblivious to his status, not even bothering to greet him, and even touched the lion's whiskers of his Ministry of Rites.
"If this trend continues, who will still regard my Ministry of Rites in the future? If we don't deal with you, how can we correct the law and order?"
Just as Zhu Huai'an returned to the capital, Li Weijian immediately began to gather evidence of Xu Qing's mistakes while hosting the rites.
Yet Xu Qing's work was as impenetrable as an iron wall. No matter how he searched, he couldn't find any major flaws, and even trivial errors were hard to come by. Even those he found were insignificant and not worth mentioning, insufficient for a conviction.
But these weren't a problem; evidence can easily be fabricated if desired, can't it?
Li Weijian, having navigated the officialdom for decades, serving both previous and current dynasties, wasn't afraid of dealing with a small-time operator?
So Li Weijian ordered his trusted aides, with the head Minister of the Ministry of Rites leading, to unite the Priest of the Sect, the Monk Department, and officials from the Ministry of Rites to collect Xu Qing's crimes.
Check the monks and nuns reciting sutras, to see if any have violated the precepts. If there are, Xu Qing should be blamed for selecting inappropriate people, desecrating the grand ceremony.
Furthermore, among the porters at the Funeral House, didn't any have old issues? Find one or two with a criminal record, and Xu Qing can be accused of misusing people with ulterior motives.
These are minor schemes, with bigger ones still to come.
The most crucial aspect of the rites is the funerary etiquette.
As the Minister of Rites, Li Weijian is well-versed in this!
From framing the Jin Sect Funeral House for stealing sacrificial items, to disrespecting the rites by offering a pig head...
A pig is swine; the late Emperor's surname was Zhu, and so is the current Emperor. Isn't this clearly cursing the current Emperor and disrespecting the Hongren Ancestor Emperor?
With this accusation, even ten heads wouldn't be enough!
But, did Xu Qing truly offer pork during the rites?
Of course not!
Although the three-sacrifice ritual traditionally included cattle, sheep, and pigs, Xu Qing had replaced the pig with a cockerel out of consideration for Zhu Huai'an.
Moreover, Chief Eunuch Sun Mingli had specifically reminded Xu Qing about this.
However, when there's a desire to accuse, why worry about lacking words? Now that the ritual is over and all offerings withdrawn, if someone insists you offered pork, what evidence do you have to refute?
The official script has two mouths, able to turn black into white however it pleases!
Despite this, Li Weijian was still not satisfied.
According to the Dayan law, if these charges were proven, the maximum penalty would be flogging or exile, which was hardly enough to vent his anger!
Li Weijian's ultimate move was still hidden.
This ultimate move was what Li Weijian believed to be ground-tight evidence - 'theft of the grand rites.'
The rites for the Emperor are the most solemn ceremonies of the dynasty. The divine offerings and sacrificial items transferred to the Ministry of Rites officials for safeguarding after the rites is a legal procedure.
However, if a private funeral agency without official capacity took back the offerings, it would be a serious crime of theft of the rites!
The Emperor, though the Son of Heaven, must adhere to the rites regulations and ancestral rules.
These accusations fall within the realm of rites law; as long as no one examines deeply, they aren't much of a problem.
But upon deeper inspection, they are completely out of order.
Emperor Zhu has only been in power for three years, and Li Weijian could not yet grasp the Emperor's disposition. To ensure success, he personally refrained from direct involvement.
Instead, he secretly ordered the head Minister of the Ministry of Rites to gather testimony, and instructed the Monk Department and his ministry's officials in charge of funerary rites to issue judgments, solidifying Xu Qing's guilt.
If the charge of misconduct in the rites stands, Xu Qing will undoubtedly be exiled three thousand miles away to Ningu Tower as a laborer.
If the charge of theft of the grand rites stands, the principal will be sentenced to hanging, and everyone in the Funeral House involved in the rites, including the monks and nuns, will each receive fifty floggings.
Li Weijian's plan was twofold: to set an example and show the world the consequences of meddling with the Ministry of Rites' and the Celestial Master's Mansion's "means of wealth," and to root out any ideas of others emulating Xu Qing!
In short, Li Weijian was determined to punish the Jin Sect Funeral House from top to bottom, to show everyone the consequences of offending the Ministry of Rites and the Celestial Master's Mansion.
However, while the Ministry of Rites oversees rituals, they do not have the power to convict.
But this did not trouble Li Weijian.
Minister Li believed in mutual protection between officials and had his subordinates transfer the charges to the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate, waiting for the formality to resolve the matter.
But what Li Weijian did not expect was that even before the charges fabricated by the Ministry of Rites against Xu Qing were established, the court had already become turbulent.