Maybe it was because it was August, so this day passed extraordinarily slowly.
Outside the governor's office, Governor Liang Menglong and a group of officials were waiting for the emperor's imperial edict.
The Sansi Yamen was not far away and came in a hurry.
Liang Menglong calmly asked to the left and right: "Have you gone to invite King Wugang?"
Most of the Huguang clan is guilty of crimes.
To clean up the situation, Chu Fan's cooperation is essential.
What's more, if something happened to tarnish the lineage, the Chu vassal had to send someone to take over the order and understand the emperor's will.
The people on the left and right hurriedly smiled and said: "I said that I have finished burning incense, bathing and changing clothes, and I am halfway down the road. I will be there soon!"
Liang Menglong frowned dissatisfied.
Just changing clothes, burning incense and bathing, it’s not a sacrifice, so who should show it?
It’s no wonder that these clans were so punished that they were unable to fight back.
Don't worry about delaying the order.
When Liang Menglong thought of this, he seemed to remember something.
He took a curious look inside the yamen again and saw what Feng Shiyu was still doing inside.
…
There was a lot of noise outside, but inside the governor's hall, it was very quiet.
Feng Shiyu, whom Liang Menglong was still talking about just now, said nothing and had a silent confrontation with Li Zaiting.
Ever since Li Zaiting asked, "Do you have any grudge against His Majesty?", the atmosphere had become stagnant.
Li Zaiting did not press any questions, but looked at Feng Shiyu quietly, waiting for his answer.
Feng Shiyu turned away and looked aside, as if unaware.
A long time passed.
Until the noise outside became more and more noisy.
Feng Shiyu finally spoke.
He still did not look directly at Li Zaiting, but looked away: "At that time, I reported to Your Majesty, begging for forgiveness, saying..."
"Corrupt officials are just degrading and asking questions. As for speaking up against officials, they are nothing more than national interests. They are punished and expelled at the first sign of holy wrath. This is a crime of madness and cruelty. It is reflected on the greedy and cruel man. Please forgive Hu Wei.
"The crime of waiting for others"
Feng Shiyu's words were an answer to Li Zaiting's previous question - was he, Feng Huazhi, resentful of the emperor?
This incident involved a series of events including the burning of Ciqing Palace last year, the execution of Hu Chui, and the exile of Shen Yiguan.
At that time, there were many officials who petitioned for Hu Wei, and Feng Shiyu was among them.
Corruption is nothing more than demoting an official position, but contradicting the emperor will result in death and exile. Which one is more serious?
Moreover, he is still an official who has heard about the incident, and his true intention is mostly for the sake of the country. Why on earth?
Just listen to Feng Shiyu continue to say: "After the memorial was sent up, His Majesty Zhu Bazi said, for the sake of the country, he must be killed."
"After I resigned from the cabinet, Mr. Lu Ge met me in person and comforted me by saying that we must bear with each other for the sake of the country."
"Yingfeng also knew what happened later. Hu Wei was killed, and I was demoted to Huguang immediately."
Li Zaiting listened silently and did not interrupt. This matter had been raging for so long last year, so he naturally knew everything about it.
It is enough for others to intercede for Hu Wei.
But as a native of Suzhou, Feng Shiyu was naturally regarded by the emperor as a member of the Southern Zhili Township Party.
Afterwards, he did not move closer to Shen Shixing, a royalist provincial party member, and actively expressed his willingness to support the work of the emperor and the cabinet.
If you don't take a political stance, it will naturally be regarded as opposition, and it is only reasonable to demote you to a lower position.
Li Zaiting looked at Feng Shiyu with a complicated expression: "So, you are resentful towards His Majesty?"
Since the previous Min kings were aware of the Huguang incident and someone was adding fuel to the flames, naturally the several imperial envoys involved in the situation were not unaware of it either.
In fact, after the third son of Jing Fan slipped to his knees for no apparent reason, Zhu Xizhong immediately informed Hai Ruili and the others in court.
In many things, as long as you carefully investigate, there will always be clues.
When Feng Shiyu heard Li Zaiting's words, he seemed to have heard a joke and couldn't help but smile: "I'm not so small-minded that I would blame others for being promoted."
He looked at Li Zaiting and said seriously: "Yes, I told Zhang Chucheng that the posthumous sons of the King of Chu may not be his biological children, and I was the one who induced him to go and check."
Li Zaiting nodded expressionlessly.
Although this matter had already been speculated before, the meaning was naturally very different when it came from Feng Shiyu's mouth.
Feng Shiyu's eyes were full of memories, and he continued: "After arriving in Huguang, I didn't care about anything else, only a little doubt."
"His Majesty keeps saying that he is for the sake of the country, and the cabinet earnestly instructs each other to be tolerant for the sake of the country. As a native of Nanzhili and a native of my hometown, I have suffered a loss. I can't help but think about how much of the overall situation between your majesty and the cabinet is true and how false.
"
"That's why I told Zhang Chucheng privately about the Chu vassal's stain on the Tian family's bloodline."
"I want to see if he is like Hu Wei. He must be killed for the sake of the country."
"It's still the same as Emperor Xianzong's treatment. If the clan breaks the law, they will be fined three drinks."
Facing Feng Shiyu's sincere confession, Li Zaiting's expression did not change much, but remained gentle and calm.
This is very different from the angry look he had when he was in Beijing or even when he first came to Huguang.
During this trip to Huguang, his biggest lesson learned was to have reservations about any colleague, no matter who he is in the same department or his teacher.
It would be impossible for him to make the same omission in revealing his likes and dislikes so easily in the past.
The most important thing is to exercise the mind, and in turn, you can see things more clearly.
Feng Huazhi's words are much more sophisticated than when he was still in the capital.
The unfinished meaning and self-exculpation are completely unspoken.
Feng Huazhi did not report directly, but instead lured the imperial envoy to investigate secretly.
This must be because the former was an official document from the Chief Secretary, a public memorial, and the emperor couldn't handle it even if he covered his quilt.
As an imperial envoy who was trusted by the emperor, Zhang Chucheng would definitely tell the emperor alone.
As long as the emperor is willing, let alone the story of Emperor Xianzong's treatment of Min Fan, Chu Fan can even save the need to reflect this time.
It can be said that this was a deliberate attempt to lure the emperor to settle the matter.
Feng Shiyu said that he wanted to see the emperor's overall situation, whether it was the country or the Zhu family. In fact, he probably wanted to see the emperor's selfishness.
This also means that once the emperor really favors the clan, Feng Shiyu will definitely have something to say.
Trying to figure out the Holy Heart and scheming against the emperor is unfaithful and unfilial!
But Feng Shiyu was using the small zoom again.
Feng Shiyu seemed to be telling the truth, but secretly he was trying to excuse himself.
After all, the prerequisite for testing the emperor was that Zhang Chucheng wanted to expose the matter to the emperor, and only then could he, Feng Shiyu, see the emperor's reaction.
According to this reason, he should be eager for Zhang Chucheng to return to the capital.
Therefore, the murder of Zhang Chucheng had nothing to do with him.
The posture was extremely low, but the most important things were removed.
"So you then secretly reminded King Dong'an that Zhang Chucheng was investigating the matter, prompting him to kill him?"
Li Zaiting seemed not to hear what Feng Shiyu meant, but still followed his words and made malicious assumptions.
Feng Shiyu's eyelids twitched.
He smiled bitterly: "Ying Feng, since your majesty regards me as a country party member, how can someone like me, who forms a party for personal gain, frame up my fellow party members?"
"Furthermore, since I hope that Your Majesty will know about this matter, why should I cover it up for King Dong'an?"
"It's probably because Zhang Chucheng acted without covering up and exposed his traces. I didn't expect King Dong'an to be so heartbroken and crazy."
Li Zaiting was noncommittal.
After being decentralized, Feng Shiyu made great progress in both his political abilities and his veneer of officialdom sophistication.
If Feng Huazhi could really pick it so cleanly, then when the imperial envoy came to Huguang, this matter should have been told to him as a clue, instead of pretending to drink with him by the river and test himself.
Therefore, if Feng Shiyu was really given the opportunity, he would not take it well - whether it was given by His Majesty back then or given by Li Zaiting now.
Li Zaiting sighed inwardly when he thought of this.
He finally stopped asking, and instead said to himself: "At that time, Hua Zhi wanted to use this to test His Majesty, and was almost convinced of His Majesty's selfish motives, thinking that Your Majesty would protect the clan and keep this matter secret."
"So, Hua Zhi made preparations in advance to embarrass His Majesty with this matter."
"But he also refused to come forward on his own and suffered the hostility of His Majesty, so Hua Zhi colluded with King Wugang and asked him to use the excuse of competing with King Dong'an for the control of the Chu vassal to prepare to expose the matter and cover up His Majesty 'by the way'
The selfishness behind this matter has been exposed to the public."
"Unexpectedly, King Wugang had his own plan and secretly revealed Zhang Chucheng's affairs to King Dong'an."
"This makes the situation beyond your control."
He looked straight at Feng Shiyu and said word by word: "Feng Shiyu, what I said is correct?"
Li Zaiting's words not only contained the facts he grasped, but also made speculations based on Feng Shiyu's previous statement.
It was said in a matter-of-fact way, as if he had witnessed it with his own eyes.
During this trip to Huguang, the King of Wugang was quite inconspicuous, so naturally he would not be suspicious of him.
However, there are always traces to follow in political affairs - among powerful people, whoever benefits the most will be the most suspect.
So who else would benefit from tempting King Dongan to do such a stupid thing?
Of course, it is difficult to establish evidence in isolation.
But in this case in Huguang, it was too obvious that someone was secretly fueling the situation.
The prince of Wugang was reported, and the three sons of Jing Fan were instructed to rebel at key points.
Especially when I didn't find out about Chu Fan's exchange of civet cats for princes, but the Hu family members themselves exposed it!
The position of King of Chu is vacant, and the bloodlines of several Chu sons are in doubt. Who will take the position of Prince will immediately become suspenseful.
Comparing the two, except for King Wugang, it is difficult to think twice.
After hearing the words "Wugang King", Feng Shiyu twitched his eyebrows and fell into silence again.
Just when Li Zaiting thought he would have to wait for another long time.
Feng Shiyu sighed, showing a dejected look: "Hey..."
"I still haven't had enough contact with them. The minds of these clans really cannot be judged by common sense."
"The King of Wugang is the King of Kedong'an. He leaked Zhang Chucheng's secret investigation to the King of Dong'an without telling me. I watched helplessly as he committed such stupid things."
"When I found out, I was also shocked and angry, and I regretted it too late!"
According to the common sense of the clan, it is just fornication among relatives and may not be substantially punished.
In order to completely overthrow King Dong'an, King Wugang took advantage of the situation and made things more serious.
In addition, this trend can be used to expose the civet cat to the prince in an even more disgusting manner in front of everyone, and put it on the scale.
In this way, not only can the affairs of the government be guaranteed, but also who will inherit the throne of King Chu will have to be re-evaluated.
In fact, King Wugang is just adding fuel to the flames and is not afraid even if others find out.
This is why Feng Shiyu said "gram" - the culprit himself was King Dong'an, and King Wugang just allowed him to commit the crime.
In the same way, what Feng Shiyu did cannot be said to be a crime. At most, it can only be said to be a taboo violation - it is his duty to reveal clues to the officials who heard about the incident.
At most, he was hated by the emperor. After all, he was already hated by the emperor.
So Feng Shiyu barely struggled and finally accepted the matter.
He looked at Li Zaiting, who looked like he was not about to give up, and couldn't help but persuade him: "Ying Feng, the imperial edict has been sent out, and the matter in Huguang has been settled."
"If you are still angry and want to punish King Wugang, you might as well wait until you return to the capital to make a long-term decision."
When doing business in the court, there must always be rules.
Now that everyone has been given reassurance, we can't stir up trouble again and make everyone in the officialdom worried.
Furthermore, what crime did King Wugang commit?
To reveal a piece of news is not even enough to instigate.
To put it bluntly, now that the imperial edict has arrived, what else can we do to put an end to this matter?
Li Zaiting looked up at the sky, his eyes seemed to reflect his classmates and friends who had died.
He murmured: "How is it different from stabbing someone to kill? It's not me, it's a soldier."
…
Outside the governor's office.
After King Wugang burned incense, bathed and changed his clothes, he strolled in a sedan chair to the gate of the governor.
"Your Highness."
"Governor Liang."
The King of Wugang smiled and greeted the governor Liang Menglong and the officials of the Sansi Yamen.
Xuan Ji stood side by side with Liang Menglong, arranged on the left and right.
King Wugang looked around and took in the officials listed there.
Then he said with a curious look on his face: "Governor Liang, why is it that the Chief Secretary Yamen has no one to come today?"
I don't know who he is looking at.
Liang Menglong explained politely: "A few days ago, there was an earthquake in Jingzhou Prefecture. Xu Fantai and Zheng Shenzheng went to rescue the disaster personally. Today, Senator Feng is here to receive the order."
Although he was forced to follow Hai Rui, he still had to give him the face he deserved in front of outsiders.
King Wugang suddenly realized what he was saying, and looked around again.
Liang Menglong just remembered something.
He quickly ordered the people around him: "Quick, go in and ask Councilor Feng to come out to receive the order. The angel is here."
They bowed to their left and right to receive orders.
King Wugang saw this in his eyes, nodded secretly, and then they both stood at the gate and waited eagerly.
It won't take a while.
The angel's figure finally appeared at the end of the street.
It was crowded.
Flags, envoys, and ceremonial guards compete to appear in the eyes of everyone.
The officials and clan members present quickly arranged their clothes.
While King Wugang was sorting things out, he couldn't help but forget to take a look inside the governor's Yamen.
Just at this moment, Feng Shiyu arrived belatedly and walked out.
The two of them raised their heads at the same time, their eyes intersecting.
King Wugang looked inquiring.
Feng Shiyu quickly looked away and walked out expressionlessly.
It wasn't until Feng Shiyu passed by King Wugang that the latter heard a cold snort: "You will not live if you do it yourself."
Chapter completed!