Today, Feng En's situation is like this. The emperor has told the ministers that Feng En is "hatred of the emperor" and "criticizes the gift". He wants to find out the behind-the-scenes instigator and seek death penalty.
But when Feng En was tortured in Jinyiwei Prison, he did not confess anything and refused to plead guilty. How could he be recruited in the Ministry of Punishment?
Here in the Criminal Department, everyone is a decent civil servant. Although it is an interrogation, they will not be sentenced easily. It is even less likely that Feng En will plead guilty.
Besides, in the hearts of the officials from the Ministry of Justice, they don’t think Feng En is guilty. And with so many people watching Feng En’s case, who knows if there is anyone behind Feng En?
However, when the imperial case was sent to the ministry, it had to be tried, so the most evil bureaucratic behavior emerged.
On this case, the entire Criminal Department worked hard together, and the Thirteen Puritans took turns trying Feng En, but no results came out after each trial.
Wang Shizhong, the Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment, had previously summarized the trial situation and reported to the emperor, asking for lenient treatment of Feng En. Then he was severely reprimanded by the emperor and asked the Ministry of Punishment to interrogate "understand", otherwise you, Wang Shizhong, will be dismissed from office!
Wang Shizhong didn't care. He was almost seventy. After being dismissed from his post, he would go back to his hometown to take care of his old age. As he neared the end of his official career, he decided that the reputation of a scholar was more important.
The case still needs to be handled, and the Criminal Department can only continue to interrogate Feng En at intervals, and there is no telling when it will end.
In the past few days, the attention paid to Feng En from the emperor to the court suddenly dropped, and everyone went to eat Huo Tao's melons.
Qin Dewei saw Mr. Feng coming out of the Criminal Department and went to the Metropolitan Procuratorate next door.
Wang Tingxiang, the censor of Zuodu, knew that Qin Dewei was going to see Feng En in the Ministry of Punishment Prison today and would definitely come to see him after seeing it, so he sent a message to the foyer in advance.
As soon as Qin Dewei arrived at the gate of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he reported his name and was taken in directly.
Seeing Dazhong Cheng, Qin Dewei asked: "What is the situation of Huo Shilang now? Has the court made any decision? Or what are the trends?"
This made Wang Tingxiang very surprised. He didn't expect Qin Dewei to ask about Huo Tao first instead of talking about Feng En. But it wasn't too strange, after all, Huo Tao's turmoil was caused by Qin Dewei.
Wang Tingxiang thought Qin Dewei was worried, so he introduced the situation and said: "Now Huo Tao is still staying in Linqing Prefecture, saying that he is ill, obviously waiting for the court to explain. In recent days, there have been many memorials to impeach Huo Tao and Maixiang, but they have all been dismissed.
Your Majesty, I will keep it in mind."
The meaning of "retaining but not distributing" means that after the memorial was delivered to the emperor, the emperor temporarily (or permanently) withheld it and did not send it to the ministers for processing. This clearly illustrates Emperor Jiajing's attitude of protecting Huo Tao.
Currently, there are only four officials who are recognized as having relatively high official positions and are still in the temple. The first is Zhang Cong, the bachelor Fang Xianfu, then Huo Tao, and the very low-key Huang Zongming.
So how could Emperor Jiajing be willing to give up "one of his own" Huo Tao?
The year before last, Master Xia, a then-famous minister of Houlang, had already driven Huo Tao from Qianlang back to his hometown eight thousand miles away.
As a result, last year, Emperor Jiajing still wanted to recruit Huo Tao back.
"This was expected." Qin Dewei was not surprised at all that he was staying in China. "What happens next? The matter must be dealt with. We cannot let Huo Tao stay in Linqing Prefecture to recuperate."
Wang Tingxiang continued: "Then the emperor has another instruction, asking the cabinet to discuss Huo Tao's matter. The date will be the day after tomorrow."
Qin Dewei was not surprised. This was a very common political procedure.
As for the final result of the court meeting, it depends on the political wisdom of all parties. Even one court meeting may not have any results. Several times is the norm.
The ministers all knew what result Emperor Jiajing wanted, but whether the ministers would give the emperor this result was another matter.
Games between kings and ministers are everywhere.
"Is my father going to be okay?" Qin Dewei asked again.
"What can happen to your Majesty? No one will embarrass your Majesty in this matter." Wang Tingxiang made a very clear judgment: "The Emperor has always strictly controlled his ministers, and this time he will probably punish Mai Xiang severely and retain your Majesty in order to stem public opinion.
, and then I can indulge Huo Tao."
Qin Dewei thought about the time point, and after some calculations, he said to Wang Tingxiang: "After the court meeting tomorrow, Lord Feng's eldest son Feng Xingke will go to beat the drum. Please take care of me then."
The Dengwen Drum is located outside the right gate of Chang'an, and is guarded by a special army of uniformed guards. Anyone who plays the drum is immediately sent to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, which is where Wang Tingxiang is, so Wang Tingxiang was asked to take care of it.
Let Feng Xingke beat the drum first to stir up the atmosphere, and then write a letter saying that he would die on behalf of his father. This is the first step in committing suicide.
Wang Dazhongcheng had talked with Qin Dewei before and knew Qin Dewei's idea. At that time, he also felt that it was feasible and there was no risk.
But now he felt that the timing might not be good, so he reminded: "Now that the whole court is paying attention to Huo Tao's matter, the Feng En case can just be left alone, so there may be no need to rush.
Maybe the Emperor has gradually forgotten the Feng En case, but if you make noise like this, it may attract the Emperor's attention again."
Qin Dewei sighed and said: "With the emperor's temperament, if you can hide something clearly, you can't hide it for a lifetime. He will be able to remember it in ten or twenty years. It is impossible to delay it until it is dealt with coldly."
For example, according to original history, a Zhang Yanling case will break out this year.
Emperor Jiajing insisted on taking the opportunity to kill Zhang Yanling, but all the ministers opposed it, so he kept delaying the execution.
So Zhang Yanling was imprisoned in the Ministry of Punishment Prison from the twelfth year of Jiajing to the twenty-fifth year of Jiajing, and then Emperor Jiajing still beheaded him. This shows the "persistence" of Emperor Jiajing.
Wang Tingxiang was shocked. He was not surprised because Qin Dewei dared to complain about the emperor, but because Qin Dewei seemed to know the emperor very well.
"That's right." Qin Dewei reminded again: "In the court meeting the day after tomorrow, sir, you should say less and don't give others any excuses. Just watch the excitement."
Hearing this, Wang Tingxiang was even more shocked: "The court meeting the day after tomorrow is going to discuss Huo Tao's affairs. I thought you would advise me to criticize Huo Tao? If Huo Tao returns to the capital, will he be good to you?"
Qin Dewei said calmly: "No, no, no! I can deal with him. I can just sit back and watch! Don't talk too much during the court meeting, otherwise you may make a joke."
Wang Tingxiang: ""
This feeling of having a particularly bad experience comes again. How can you, a poor scholar, get the courage? Do you even dare to pretend to be in control of this kind of court discussion?
Do you know who participates in this kind of cabinet meeting? The chief minister, the bachelor, the six ministers, the minister, the minister, anyone who is interested will come to join in the fun!
People are talking too much and everyone has different opinions, and even the emperor may not be able to control the direction of the court discussions.
And you, Qin Dewei, who can't even enter the imperial city, how dare you tell me what I should do out of thin air?
Okay! I will listen to you just once! If I miss the opportunity to make my presence known because I keep a low profile, I will come back to settle the score with you.
