After a while, Zhu Yijun returned to the palace and sat down on the dragon chair, asking the eunuch to send a message to the Wenhua Palace, and stopped the daily lecture. Zhu Xixiao was done with the convenience here and saw him again. Zhu Yijun was not as pleasant as before, even though he called Ci Sitting down, he didn't talk nonsense. He stepped back and asked directly: "The case of Minister Wang driving while holding a knife was reported on the 19th of the first lunar month. How was the trial?"
The case of Minister Wang was originally a famous mystery in history, and it was also one of the mysteries of the Ming Dynasty that later generations of historians invested a lot of energy in studying. The case is very simple: on the 19th of the first lunar month of this year, the little emperor who had not traveled through time came out of the palace as usual. As soon as the emperor's sedan chair left the Qianqing Gate, a man wearing the clothes of a prisoner came down the west steps and was captured by the guards. After a search, a sword and a sword were found. After preliminary interrogation, the man claimed to be Minister Wang. , is from Wujin County, Changzhou Prefecture, and the rest are not mentioned. At that time, Queen Mother Li heard about this and was greatly horrified, so she went to Dongchang to investigate.
Dongchang investigated for several days and found out that this person's real name was Zhang Long, and he was a deserter from the commander-in-chief Qi Jiguang's department. Feng Baobao told Zhang Juzheng that Minister Wang said that the main messenger was Gao Gong. At that time, Gao Gong had been defeated and ordered him to return home. Zhang Juzheng was living idle but had not yet left the capital. On the 22nd day of the first lunar month, Zhang Juzheng invited the emperor, who was Empress Dowager Li at the time, to speak for him, and drafted an order to thoroughly investigate the envoy. As a result, the official circles in the capital were in an uproar. The officials in the capital generally believed that this was Zhang Juzheng. Zheng and Feng Bao's conspiracy was intended to kill Gao Gong. Later, under the strong backlash from Beijing officials and officials represented by Yang Bo and Ge Shouli, Zhang Juzheng changed his mind again and invited Zhu Xixiao and Ge Shouli, and Feng Bao to represent Jinyiwei respectively. The Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dongchang will jointly review the case.
The trial lasted for more than a month. A few days ago, Zhang Juzheng reported that it was not appropriate to go into details - completely different from what he said on the 22nd of the first lunar month. Zhu Yijun was originally unable to intervene, but in the past few days, the relationship between mother and son has reached MAX, and he gained the right to participate. When I got the chance today, I directly asked the person involved in the case, Zhu Xixiao.
When Zhu Yijun later read historical materials, he had two questions about this: First, was this person sent by Feng Bao? Second, did Zhang Juzheng know about it in advance, or did he know about it during the incident and went along with the flow to kill Gao Gong? Today, he is about to get an answer. This answer is not trivial. If he was sent by Feng Bao, Zhu Yijun would have to expel Feng Bao immediately because he was too dangerous; if Zhang Juzheng knew about it in advance, then Zhu Yijun would have to get to know Zhang Juzheng again and might not dare to entrust all the important affairs to him, lest he be If the bully is informed and pushed along with the situation, then you can still beat it and save it for use.
During this period, Zhu Xixiao, the left governor of Jinyiwei, had been trying the case together with Ge Shouli, the left governor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Feng Bao of Dongchang. Knowing what was going on, when Zhu Yijun asked questions, he felt a sense of joy in going back to history to solve the mystery, but it was not enough. It’s revealed to outsiders.
Zhu Xixiao secretly complained in his heart at this time. He did know the inside story in detail, but how could he dare to offend the government? He had received an orthodox aristocratic education since he was a child, and he had no problem doing an upright job, but he lacked the energy to adapt to situations. Nowadays, When the emperor asked, he was hesitating and sweating profusely, but could not speak.
Seeing him hesitating, Zhu Yijun felt dissatisfied. He thought that he was good at beating, pulling, and writing. Could it be that he showed his pretty eyes to the blind man? He said solemnly: "Do you want to protect the leader?!" This question was two words. One meaning is literally, asking him if he still wants his head? The other meaning is, is there a leader above you? Who do you want to protect?
Zhu Xixiao's head was agitated, and he suddenly recalled. "Hey, who am I, Old Zhu, afraid of now?!" The emperor sang and composed well today, and it was obvious that he had the intention of using the royal guards. What else should he hesitate?
"I don't dare. This case is very complicated. I just want to talk about it." Zhu Xixiao suddenly knelt down and answered: "After receiving the imperial edict, I will meet with Ge Shouli, the censor of Zuodu, the chief minister of etiquette and the admiral of Dongchang.
Feng Bao will interrogate the case. Before the trial, I asked someone to secretly interrogate Minister Wang and asked him where he was from. Minister Wang replied: 'He comes from Feng Bao's family. If Gao Gong was the main assassin, it was Feng Baojiao.'" Empress Dowager Li on the screen
After hearing this, my world was spinning.
I heard Zhu Xixiao say again: "During the interrogation, the ministers followed Yang Tianguan's idea and compared it with Minister Wang's previous confession, and mixed Gao Gong's family members Li Bao, Gao Ben, and Gao Lai among the people for Minister Wang to identify, but Minister Wang failed.
Can't identify it - it can be seen that it is a false accusation to say that Gao Gong ordered it."
Zhu Yijun listened and asked: "What did you ask?" Zhu Xixiao replied: "I asked Minister Wang where the sword came from, and Minister Wang replied: 'It was given by Xin Ru, a slave of the Feng family.'"
After hearing this, Zhu Yijun asked: "Who ordered him?"
Zhu Xixiao smiled bitterly and said: "During the interrogation, Feng Bao also asked this question. Minister Wang stared up and replied: 'You ordered me to come, but you asked me again.' Feng Bao asked again: 'Yesterday you said you were an old envoy from the high cabinet.
Why don't you tell me today that you are here to assassinate me?" Minister Wang replied, "Tell me, tell me, how did I ever know Mr. Gaoge?"
Zhu Yijun heard this, glanced at the screen, and then asked: "What did you say next?"
Zhu Xixiao saw sweat on his forehead and replied: "I saw him falsely accusing the interrogator - this is common in interrogations, so I stopped the interrogation."
After hearing this, Zhu Yijun asked without comment, "Is there a record of the interrogation? Let me see it in the future." Zhu Xixiao kowtowed and said, "He falsely accused the interrogator, but I didn't dare to record it, but the words were not included in the transcript." Upon hearing this, Zhu Yijun said,
He shouted angrily: "I said Gao Gong ordered me before but I dared to remember it. Now I say Feng Bao ordered me but I'm falsely accused. How dare you deceive me?" Zhu Xixiao kept kowtowing and communicated with tears. Behind the screen, Empress Dowager Li was angry at being deceived by Feng Bao.
It was stuck in my chest, and I actually shed tears.
Zhu Yijun said solemnly: "I heard that you have a good relationship with Gao Suqing, and you paid thousands of taels of bribes and palace crotch to keep yourself high in front of your mother and queen. You are so rich and righteous!"
Like a thunderbolt exploding on his head, Zhu Xixiao almost collapsed to the ground. He was indeed a kind person, and had a good personal relationship with Gao Gong, and he could not bear to have Gao Gong be tainted for no reason and end up being executed. After the incident, Feng Bao had Gao Gong executed.
The Gong family was surrounded, but Gao Gong hung himself but did not die. - Therefore, Zhu Xixiao took out the money to bribe and wanted to save Gao Gong, but this was done one-on-one without telling everyone. How did the emperor find out? This emperor is really deep.
Unpredictable! When I was so devastated, my ancestors suddenly appeared, and inspiration suddenly appeared. I kowtowed violently and shouted: "I dare not deceive you! I dare not deceive you! But I am afraid of Feng Dangchao'er! I have realized the truth.
This case was committed by Xin Ru, a slave of Feng Bao's family, who was looking for a broken home in Beijing. He pretended to be a deserter from Qi Jiguang. Because Qi Jiguang and Zhang Juzheng were thick, they wanted to drag Zhang Juzheng into trouble! Zhang Juzheng wanted to hide Qi Jiguang's affairs, so he conspired with Feng Bao to cause Gao Xinzheng's death.
, due to the violent backlash of the officials in the capital, Yang Bo, the official, Ge Shouli, the imperial censor of the left capital, Li Youzi, the imperial servant, and others argued with Zhang Juzheng, and Zhang Juzheng regretted it again——"
There was a loud bang, but the marble screen fell to the ground and shattered into pieces! A person was revealed behind the screen, it was Li Caifeng, the empress dowager who was in power at that time!
Zhu Yijun jumped up with an ouch and saw that the Queen Mother was full of anger but with tears on her face. Knowing that she was deeply sad, he hurriedly walked up to support her and gently stroked her back with his hands to calm her down. Zhu Xixiao saw Cisheng sitting there Behind the screen, his heart was pounding. Today he told Feng Bao, Zhang Juzheng and even the foreign ministers one by one that they were plotting or collaborating for their own political purposes, but he had made up his mind to do this in the future. The emperor's pure minister - to this point, he is not afraid anymore.
There was a loud noise in the palace, which alerted the eunuchs and others who were waiting outside the palace. Cao De, the manager of Qianqing Palace, and others came into the palace and saw that the three people were in no danger and no one was injured. Just as he was about to speak, Zhu Yijun said: "Back off." "Exit!" He stopped and said, "Anyone who dares to leak even a few words about today's events will be killed! Go get the list of servants around you and report it to me!" Cao De and others responded solemnly, and then left the palace again. outside.
Seeing that the emperor handled things properly, the Cisheng Empress Dowager showed a sad smile on her face. She said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, your mother... your mother... they will only bully orphans and widows like me..." Before she could finish her words, she started to cry. Got up.
Zhu Yijun said solemnly: "What's wrong with my mother? They are used to deceiving the superiors and concealing the truth from the inferiors. They have been doing this for many years without changing the medicine. Why should you be sad? You are sad, but you are just like these slaves, so-called loyal ministers." , How can we kill them as we want?" Queen Mother Li was stunned by what she said. She forgot to cry and grabbed Zhu Yijun's sleeve and said: "Your Majesty, please don't say this, how can you kill them all? The affairs of the country are as thick as thick. , we still have to... we still have to rely on these -" I cried again, speechless.
Seeing that Zhu Yijun was not a fool, and that some of the ways of an imperial minister were not suitable to be spoken in front of Zhu Xixiao, he turned around and asked Zhu Xixiao: "You have also seen the situation of your mother, why don't you show these bastards to your mother and me?" look?!"
Zhu Xixiao cried and said: "I deserve death! According to my investigation, Zhang Juzheng did conspire with Feng Bao to get rid of Gao Gong at the beginning, and he did regret it later. Previously, according to the report of the detective, Zhang Juzheng When the case first broke out, they suppressed the officials and did not allow them to report Gao Gong's grievances to Cisheng. Later, they went to the Guan Sheng Temple outside the Meridian Gate to ask for a signature. The signature was annotated: "If your plans are not good, why pray to God? It is better to make up your mind and change your ways." "Zixin", and because of the advice of Yang, Ge, and Li, he asked the ministers to have a trial with Ge Shouli. Otherwise, the imperial decree was for Dongchang to investigate, so why would there be a trial? This is why Zhang Juzheng wanted to protect Gao Gong through Wei Chen and Ge Shouli. .”
Zhu Yijun asked: "Minister Wang committed a driving offense with a knife, did Zhang Juzheng have any conspiracy?" When asking, his voice trembled, and Empress Dowager Li grabbed his hand tightly, as if a drowning person was trying to hold on to the only remaining stick. of driftwood.
Zhu Xixiao kowtowed and said: "This minister has not found out. However, if Zhang Juzheng was involved in the conspiracy, Minister Wang could not falsely accuse Qi Jiguang at the beginning. This can be evidence that Zhang Juzheng was not involved in the conspiracy." Empress Dowager Li and Zhu Yijun breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
Zhu Yijun asked again: "What do Yang Bo and others want to do?"
Zhu Xixiao said: "Yang Bo and others were afraid that if they investigated the case in depth, they would set off a big prison and shake the country; they were also afraid that the various factions would conflict with each other and ruin the political style. He knew that the leaders of the government were Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng, so he recommended Wei Chen to Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng will only accept it if he regrets it."
Zhu Yijun asked: "Why didn't Yang Bo and others tell the Queen Mother and me about it?"
Zhu Xixiao smiled bitterly and said: "Zhang Juzheng was the one who posted the yellow papers and drafted the votes, and Feng Bao was the one who criticized the red ones. The important ministers and others did not have the right to secretly write special reports. Because the empress dowager was a daughter, men and women were different and could not please the right one. And the emperor... the emperor...
"But I couldn't continue. I thought that Yang Bo and others didn't know that you were so powerful at such a young age. Otherwise, I would have come to you to complain a long time ago, which would make Zhang Juzheng disgusted.
When Ci Sheng heard this, she fully understood the whole story. Because she trusted Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng too much, she actually blocked the way of speech and allowed these two people to deceive Sheng Heng. The whole case of Minister Wang, internal and external collusion, completely deceived her and the emperor.
In the dark, if the emperor hadn't subdued the Jin Yiwei today and caught Zhu Xixiao, the case might have passed in a muddle. She calmed down a little and said to Zhu Xixiao: "You are also a hero, and you will retire with the country and wear hairpins for many generations."
How can I, my dear relatives, collude with them and not tell them the real information?"
Zhu Xixiao smiled bitterly and replied: "I know I was wrong. I didn't know that the Holy One was so smart before, so I always wanted to protect myself wisely. I also wanted to use my identity to save some vitality and righteousness for the court-" He took off his hat, kowtowed and cried.
:
"Because of the trial of this case, I have been worried all day and night, and I can hardly sleep. Today, I am so ashamed that I want to die - please ask the Queen Mother and the Emperor to apologize to me, as a warning to those who come after me!"
The Empress Dowager Cisheng sighed and looked at Zhu Yijun. Zhu Yijun nodded and said filial piety to Zhu Xi: "The court has always been like this before, and the Jin Yiwei failed to cheer up, but it is difficult for you to be considerate - this is just this time, it will not be the same next time, if there is a next time, it will not be the same
If I take off your hat, your head will not be saved, but your family's reputation will be affected and humiliated. Do you know the seriousness of this?"
Zhu Xixiao exchanged with tears: "Thank you, Queen Mother, for your kindness! Thank you for your kindness! Today, the emperor used your words to remind me. If I try to protect myself and deceive Sheng Cong in the future, I will be killed by thunder from the sky!"
Zhu Yijun asked: "How is Minister Wang doing now?"
Zhu Xixiao replied: "The review was completed yesterday, and now the East Factory is closed."
Zhu Yijun nodded: "Go and pass on my instructions and take him to Fusi Prison in Beizhen. Don't let him die!" After thinking about it, he picked up paper and pen again and wrote an edict in handwriting: "Dongchang may not listen to you.
Jinyiwei, please take my handwriting and do it!"
Zhu Xixiao respectfully took the handwritten letter, picked up his hat from the ground, and exited the hall.
When Empress Dowager Li saw him leaving the palace, she stood up and said to Zhu Yijun: "Emperor, the Ai family has made a decision to seal the palace!"