This sounds a bit overwhelming. After all, if a person has never done this thing, it is very difficult for him to provide evidence that he has not done it.
But don't forget, Jin Lian's words have a premise, that is, Wang Xuan has produced evidence to prove that Chen Ying received the money. Although this evidence has not been confirmed yet, it is not possible to confirm it.
difficulty.
On this basis, if Chen Xun cannot produce evidence to prove that he has not done it, then he can only accept the evidence of the other party. This is a basic principle in criminal trials.
Although it seemed a bit embarrassing for Chen Xun to bring it up on this occasion, from Jin Lian's perspective, his situation was actually very embarrassing.
After all, Chen Xun is a minister of the Seventh Qing Dynasty and a minister of the Sixth Ministry. Unless he is in front of the emperor, it will be difficult for him to have the opportunity to question Chen Xun.
Therefore, if he had any questions, he had to ask clearly at this time. Otherwise, if he wanted to ask questions next time, he would have to wait for stronger evidence to appear.
Of course, by asking this question, Jin Lian was reminding Chen Xun what he needed to do if he wanted to escape guilt.
However, for Chen Xun, he was obviously not unprepared.
After all, as an important minister of the imperial court with connections all over the imperial court and a wealthy family, Wang Xuan caused such a big commotion. If he didn't get any information, he would have been in this officialdom for so many years in vain.
Now that he has received the news, no matter how short the time is, Chen Xun must have his own plan to deal with it, or in other words, he actually already has a plan in mind...
Facing Jin Lian's question, Chen Xun's expression remained calm, without any panic. He frowned and pondered for a moment. He seemed to be thinking about something, but soon he spoke.
"Although Lu Dingzhong is not well-known, I once served in the cabinet and read his official documents. At that time, I felt that this person was a talent, and I also praised him in front of the Emperor."
"When the report was first made, Gao Gu, the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing, was also there, and he can be a witness!"
After all, from beginning to end, Chen Xun never denied that Chen Ying might indeed have received money from Lu Dingzhong, because it was difficult to deny this matter.
After all, if you want to check such a large sum of money, there must be traces to follow. It's just a matter of whether you are willing to put in the effort.
If Chen Xun's denial at this time turns out to be true in the end, then his other testimony will become devoid of any credibility.
Therefore, what Chen Xun has been saying is that he does not know whether Chen Ying has received money. In addition, what he wants to emphasize has always been that even if Chen Ying did accept money, he did not know about it.
Not to mention bending the law for personal gain by accepting bribes.
To put it bluntly, this is a trick to abandon the car to save the handsome man. From this point of view, although there are still many details that need to be verified one by one, Chen Xun's attitude can actually tell a lot.
Something.
It should be said that Chen Xun's strategy was correct, and the evidence he presented was indeed difficult to refute.
According to Wang Xuan's confession, Lu Dingzhong sent money to Chen Ying many times, but the large transactions were only twice in the 12th year of Zhengtong and the 14th year of Zhengtong. At that time, Chen Ying was still studying in his hometown in Jiangxi.
According to the contents of the exchange of letters, Chen Ying's promise to Lu Dingzhong was that he would "recommend" Lu Dingzhong after he came to Beijing. The time when Chen Ying came to Beijing happened to be in the months before the Civil War, and Lu Dingzhong
The bribe given in the 14th year of Orthodoxy was also given in the name of seeing him off.
So from this point of view, the sequence should be: Lu Dingzhong bribed Chen Ying, Chen Ying went to Beijing to inform Chen Xun of the matter, and then Chen Xun recommended Lu Dingzhong to the court.
So now, Chen Xun has denied this. The evidence he gave is that he had already expressed his appreciation to Lu Dingzhong, and it was during a memorial to the Supreme Emperor.
Since the Battle of Tumu, the Supreme Emperor went to the north for hunting. After returning to the capital, he summoned civil servants only a few times, and Chen Xun was not among them. Therefore, this means that Chen Xun praised Lu Dingzhong's actions before the Supreme Emperor personally went to war.
Well, there is a time difference. If it is said that Chen Xun had long wanted to recommend talents to the court, from a side perspective, it can indeed be ruled out that he promoted Lu Dingzhong because of bribery.
Of course, there are many imprecisions in this reasoning. For example, when was the specific time of the performance? If it happened to be in the two months after Chen Ying came to Beijing and before the Emperor went on an expedition, then this evidence would naturally not be established.
.
However, since Chen Xun dared to say this, there is a high probability that he would have made the right statement earlier, at least before Chen Ying came to Beijing. Otherwise, his evidence would become ironclad evidence of his guilt.
However, this is only one of the possibilities. To say the least, even if Chen Xun had recommended Lu Dingzhong before Chen Ying came to Beijing, he would still be suspicious.
For example, although Chen Ying was in his hometown, he had written to Chen Xun and told him about it. Another example was that when Chen Xun was collecting money, he had expected this day, so he had thought of ways to avoid it in advance.
Or maybe Chen Xun had colluded with Gao Gu a long time ago to tell this lie together...
These possibilities all exist, but they are just possibilities!
Judging from the existing evidence, it does not prove that Chen Xun knew about the bribery. So, if he did not know, then the accusation of favoritism would naturally be difficult to prove.
The importance of the Seven Ministers should not be underestimated in the court. Chen Xun’s many years of prestige and connections are not something to show off. Even if it is finally proven that Chen Xun is indeed guilty, there will definitely be many people interceding on his behalf, let alone
He said that the evidence is simply not sufficient now.
If the Ministry of Punishment cannot rule out all possibilities and form a complete chain of evidence to prove Chen Xun's guilt, then it is impossible to do anything to him.
But then again, why did Jin Lian do this?
The reason why he hurriedly entered the palace to request the order was simply because this matter could no longer be covered up. If the Ministry of Punishment did not take action, then the whole court would just talk about the Ministry of Punishment. He was not the incarnation of justice, and he had to punish Chen
It would do him no good to be condemned based on sentence.
Now, Chen Xun has given a fairly satisfactory explanation, and he has also given the Ministry of Punishment the space to handle the case decently, so why does Jin Lian need to pursue it so fiercely?
Putting away all his thoughts, Jin Lian turned around and said.
"Your Majesty, I have finished asking questions."
Seeing this situation, Zhu Qiyu nodded and said.
"This case is of great importance. The Ministry of Punishment must investigate it carefully and carefully, and do not indulge in any mistakes. If other ministers of the DPRK are involved, they can go to the palace at any time to request orders."
"I obey the decree..."
Hearing this, Jin Lian's eyes flashed, and he raised his hands and spoke.
At this point, the matter can be considered to have come to an end for the time being. After all, this matter is just the beginning, and there are still many details and questions that need to be verified. Therefore, Zhu Qiyu did not intend to decide the case in court. He asked a few people about the situation and asked them to withdraw.
Got off.
So, the two ministers Jin Lian and Chen Xun, together with the three ministers of the cabinet, saluted together and said.
"I'll take my leave."
Then, he respectfully exited the hall.
After leaving the palace gate, Chen Xun politely bid farewell to Jin Lian and others. Yu Shiyue and Zhang Min, who were also discerning people, exchanged greetings for a few words and turned to leave. Then, the huge square in front of the palace
Go up, and soon only Chen Xun and Xiao Han were left.
After the others had gone away, Chen Xunfang opened his mouth and looked at the silent Xiao Han in front of him.
"Mr. Xiao Ge, aren't you going to give Chen an explanation for what happened today?"
Although he had just experienced a crisis, and, at present, the crisis was only temporarily lifted, Chen Xun had not forgotten Xiao Han.
He got the news from the Ministry of Punishment, but judging from the situation just now in the palace, the cabinet had received Zhou Jian's impeachment memorial earlier than the Ministry of Punishment.
However, under this situation, Xiao Yan did not choose to notify him, but went directly to Yu Shiyue and Zhang Min.
You know, Chen Xun also came from the cabinet, so he knew very well what Xiao Han, as a cabinet minister, could do if he wanted to help when faced with such a thing.
The simplest thing is to temporarily suppress the memorial and then send someone to notify Chen Xun to discuss countermeasures. This method is almost risk-free. After all, Zhou Jian is just a small censor, not an important minister of the imperial court. There are many cabinet affairs.
There is a mountain of memorials to be processed every day. It is nothing new for impeachment memorials like this to pile up for ten days and a half.
Even if Xiao Han is willing to take a little risk, then it is not impossible to directly give opinions in favor of Chen Xun on the voting plan. After all, no one stipulates that the voting plan of cabinet ministers must be
Yes.
However, Xiao Yan did nothing. He sent the memorial directly to Yu Shiyue and Zhang Min. In this way, the three ministers in the cabinet knew about the matter at the same time. Even if the other two people wanted to help, they had to worry about it.
Will your actions become a basis for criticism?
So, in a sense, Xiao Han was the one who pushed this incident directly to the emperor!
Faced with Chen Xun's questioning, Xiao Yan was somewhat silent. After a moment, he spoke.
"I know Master Chen is angry, but I really have to do this for a reason. It is inconvenient here. I will visit Master Chen's house tonight and we will discuss it in detail..."
After saying that, Xiao Yan bowed his hands apologetically, then turned around and returned to the cabinet, leaving Chen Xun standing there with a frown on his face, wondering what he was thinking.
At the same time, after sending these ministers away, Zhu Qiyu waved his hand and asked Wynn to step forward and give him instructions.
"Xuan Shuliang enters the palace!"
Zhu Qiyu always felt that something was not right about what happened today. Indeed, it was not a surprise to find out the ministers of the DPRK during the investigation of the case. However, it really made Zhu Qiyu a little surprised to involve Chen Xun so quickly.
Unexpected.
On the surface, this is just an ordinary corruption case, but when it involves Chen Xun, it can never be ordinary.
You must know that among the many important ministers in the imperial court, Chen Xun has the most clear aspirations among the scholars and the widest connections in the imperial court. If he is involved, then the other ministers who are related to him in the imperial court will inevitably not be involved.
He will sit back and ignore it, so if it gets serious, it will definitely be very difficult.
But at the same time, the cause of this case is a corruption case that is being investigated by the Ministry of Punishment. If it is suppressed, then Zhu Qiyu's previous order to the Ministry of Punishment to thoroughly investigate cases involving officials in Beijing will become a dead letter, or even,
It may also affect next year's Beijing inspection.
At this point in time, such a case happened to appear, which had to make Zhu Qiyu even more vigilant.
Moreover, the timing chosen by Wang Xuan and Zhou Jian is so coincidental. Whether there is any other secret behind this really needs to be investigated...
Unsurprisingly, after the imperial edict was issued, within half a day, this case aroused discussions throughout the capital.
Some people think it was a deliberate frame-up, some people think it happened for a reason, and some people don't express their opinions, but in private they have begun to visit the houses of officials with whom they have close friendships...
Night fell quietly, and in front of the Chen Mansion, a sedan stopped. Xiao Han, dressed in Confucian attire, got off the sedan. The housekeeper who had been waiting outside hurriedly stepped forward and said.
"I've met Mr. Xiao Ge. My master has been waiting in the study for a long time. I also asked Mr. Xiao Ge to come with me..."
As he spoke, he took Xiao Yan to the study room of the Chen Mansion. It seemed that after a day of settling down, Chen Xun did not have the same mood swings as during the day. Instead, he stood outside the study room as usual, smiling and looking at Xiao Han.
Welcomed in.
Afterwards, the two of them sat opposite each other as the guest of honour. After the servants served tea, they quietly withdrew, leaving only two maids in the room to serve them.
The fragrance of tea lingered, Chen Xun looked at Xiao Han calmly and said.
"There is no one else here. Now, can Mr. Xiao Ge speak?"
Xiao Yan sat across from him, pondered for a moment, and said.
"Actually, when I first saw this memorial, I really wanted to suppress it first. After I went to the Yamen, I would discuss it with Master Chen and then make plans..."
After hearing this, Chen Xunwei nodded his head to show his understanding.
After all, although this memorial involves him, the person who submitted it is just an ordinary science and technology official. It is not a big deal, and it is not enough for Xiao Han to come over and inform him while he is on duty.
"So, what made Mr. Xiao Ge change his mind?"
Looking at Chen Xun who was slightly unhappy, Xiao Yan smiled bitterly and said.
"Just when I was finishing this memorial, a person suddenly came and brought me a piece of news."
"Who? What did you say?"
Chen Xun frowned, leaned over and asked.
Xiao Yan seemed to be hesitant, but after only a slight hesitation, he spoke.
"Master Chen is also familiar with this person. He is... the young master of the Prince's Mansion, Xu Youzhen!"
As soon as the name came out, Chen Xun's expression also changed. He had long expected that there must be someone behind this incident...
However, I didn't expect that it would be Xu Youzhen!