The sky was just beginning to break, and the Jin Yiwei had already led the imperial troops to pick up people according to the list. In Yan Mansion, Yan Song and Yan Shifan.
In the Xiao Mansion, there are Xiao Feng, Yu Dayou and Gu Xuzi. Among the agents, Lu Bing, Lu Yi, Shen Lian; Zhang Yuan and two stalls.
Among the officials, there are Zhang Juzheng, Liu Tai, Ding Rukui, the commander of the Central Division of the Wucheng Army and Horses Division, Guo Jun of Shuntian Prefecture, Xu Hui of Dali Temple, and Zhao Wenhua of the Ministry of Industry.
Among the royal family, Princess Chang'an, King Yu, and King Jing each led their guards. There are also prison chiefs from the Punishment Department, Tan Xinren, Yan Zhihu, and several prisoners from the Punishment Department.
When Jiajing was sitting in the inner hall of the palace, all the people on the list, except Zhang Yuan and Yan Zhihu, were already waiting outside the inner hall.
Jiajing sat on the throne with a tired look. He glanced at the people below and spoke slowly.
"Today is New Year's Eve. I should have had a rest. I called you here because there was chaos in the capital last night, and there were traitors who entered the palace to assassinate. It is complicated and involved, and I have to deal with it urgently." Among the people present, Many of them were personally involved last night, so there was no need to pretend to be surprised.
Those who were not involved, although they had already known something about it through various channels, all expressed their surprise in a timely manner.
Especially Ding Rukui. Although the actual command of the Jinyi Guards and the Forbidden Army is not in his hands, he is the Minister of War after all.
If someone commits rebellion and assassination, he is the first person responsible and must show more indignation than others.
"Rebellious ministers and traitors are so bold! Apart from the White Lotus Sect, no one else would dare to be so heartless and crazy!" Jiajing expressed satisfaction with his indignant attitude and nodded slowly: "Lu Bing, please tell me the specific matter." Lu Bing He bowed and agreed, turning to the people below, his voice was extremely calm, as if he was saying that eggs in the capital yesterday cost two cents each.
"Last night, the White Lotus Sect, together with the Japanese pirates, launched attacks on the Imperial Palace, Prince Yu's Mansion, Prince Jing's Mansion, Yan Mansion, and Xiao Mansion. The rebels made deliberate plans and came out in large numbers. They also took advantage of the New Year's Eve, when the emperor's grace was great and he was enjoying himself with the people. , went crazy and burned more than a dozen private and official houses, creating chaos! However, all departments in the capital worked together, and after fierce and bloody battles by the Jinyi Guards, the Forbidden Army, the Five-City Military and Horse Division, Shuntian Mansion, and Dali Temple, in the end all the rebel plots were defeated, and almost The whole army was wiped out!" Lu Bing's speech was very official, especially the last sentence, which included all the departments that could be praised, and he was not partial to one.
The middle sentence raises the cunning and cruelty of the rebels to a very high level, which reflects the bravery and tenacity of each department and their unafraid of sacrifice.
Guo Jun and Xu Hui secretly admired that although the incident happened in a hurry and the war was almost over by the time Shuntian Mansion and Dali Temple were dispatched, Lu Bing still gave them the credit.
Xiao Feng's heart moved and he looked at Yan Shifan. Yan Shifan was also looking at him and sneered, obviously knowing what he was thinking.
What a good idea. Prince Jing's Mansion and Yan's Mansion were also attacked at the same time, thus confusing the rebels' real target of attack and clearing Yan Shifan's suspicion.
It goes without saying that the attacks in these two places must have been symbolic, involving at most a dozen people, probably separated from those who entered the palace of Prince Yu.
The momentum was expected to be greater than that of Prince Yu's Mansion and Xiao Mansion, which were actually attacked, but since the thunder was louder and more gunpowder was shouted, the casualties would definitely be minimal.
But what really surprised Xiao Feng was Lu Bing's next words, which were like thunder, making Xiao Feng understand everything at once.
"This rebellious operation was well planned and had many masters. The complete victory in the defense of the capital depended on three things. First, Xiao Feng was profound in Taoism. He tested the characters for Zhang Yuan and learned that someone in the capital might be plotting something treacherous. Although he didn't know who it was. Who also allowed the Jin Yiwei to prepare in advance. The second is that after Yan Shifan left the capital, he noticed the suspicious traces of the White Lotus Sect and the Japanese pirates entering the capital, and returned to the capital in time. He asked Yan Shoufu to inform Long Live and beware of assassins. The third was that Long Live Hongfu Qitian, talk about new things Ren just surrendered a few days ago and confessed that the construction captain of Shengshi Construction had left a drawing of the loopholes in the palace wall, allowing us to further lock in the prevention area!" Xiao Feng looked at Yan Shifan steadily, he really underestimated Yan Shifan, not only Not only did he underestimate Yan Shifan's cunning, but he also underestimated Yan Shifan's cruelty and shamelessness.
Mrs. Yan Song's death was strange. Xiao Feng thought about it afterwards and realized that Jiucheng had prepared with Yan Shifan, and it was closely related to losing the car to protect the commander.
Xiao Qin and Yan Shifan have been colluding for many years to plan big things. This time they all come out to fight to the death. He will sell out when he says it, without hesitation!
All this makes sense. Luo Wenlong was the person he depended on for life and death. His report would directly put the Japanese pirate team led by Luo Wenlong to death.
No matter whether the assassination of King Yu can be successful or not, with the prepared defense of the capital, how many Japanese pirates can escape?
In his opinion, these people are all pawns. Not only must he risk his life to achieve his goal, but he must also use his life to help him regain his trust and turn over!
Lu Bing looked at Xiao Feng and coughed: "The battle between Prince Yu's Mansion and Xiao Mansion was the fiercest last night. Fortunately, the Xiao Mansion was able to survive because of the Wudang Taoists who came to congratulate them. Prince Yu's Mansion suffered heavy losses, with most of the guards dead and injured. Fortunately, Yu Prince's Mansion suffered heavy losses. The king suddenly thought of it and followed Princess Chang'an to spend the night in Xiao Mansion, thus escaping the disaster." Yan Shifan also looked at Xiao Feng, with not only resentment but also appreciation in his eyes.
Xiao Feng guessed that he would send someone to assassinate King Yu, so he planned an empty city in advance, but made the guards the victims.
In order to prevent Yan Shifan from noticing in advance, he could neither add too many manpower to scare off the opponent nor allow Zhan Yu to leave to arouse alarm.
In order to lure the enemy into annihilation, Xiao Feng was ruthless enough. Xiao Feng didn't look at Yan Shifan, but at Zhan Yu who was standing next to King Yu. Zhan Yu had an arm wrapped in white cloth, and his waist and legs were also wrapped in white cloth, and blood was oozing out.
Zhan Yu naturally knew that King Yu was not in the palace, but he still led his guards to desperately delay time, just to wait for reinforcements to arrive and annihilate the enemy.
Xiao Feng didn't ask Zhan Yu to stick to it, but he also didn't tell Zhan Yu that he could run away in advance. This is a war in which every soldier has his own mission and faces sacrifice, including himself.
Lu Bing continued: "It's just that this incident is too huge and complicated, and there are many things that are difficult to understand. Therefore, we have invited everyone to come and find out more about it, so that we can reward people based on their merits." Since it is mentioned that people will be rewarded based on their merits, it is Jiajing. The tone has been set. Although he was tortured so much that he couldn't sleep well in the middle of the night, overall, this was a successful battle and a victorious battle.
What is the emperor afraid of? Some people think that the emperor is afraid of disasters and rebellions. In fact, as long as these do not threaten the imperial power, the emperor does not care much.
The emperor was afraid of assassins. China has a long history of assassins. From Zhuan Zhu, Nie Zheng, Yao Li, and Jing Ke during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, to Bolangsha's Big Hammer, every rebel with some skill is just a boot that failed to hit the ground in the middle of the night.
Jiajing is no exception, he is also afraid of assassins. This time the world's assassins gathered in the capital, and it was really a pleasure to be spoiled by myself.
The girl upstairs has finished throwing away her boots, and the old man can sleep peacefully. But happy to be happy, after all, someone dug a big hole in the palace wall, and Huang Jin was still leading people to repair it this morning.
Moreover, Dongchang got into a fight with the agents of the Xiao Mansion and the Ministry of Punishment, and many prisoners died in the prison. This matter must be clarified!
You don’t have to be rewarded for your merits, but you can’t go without punishment for your mistakes! This is the principle of all emperors throughout the ages. Because failure to reward meritorious deeds will result in resentment at best, while failure to punish delinquents will result in the loss of the majesty of the emperor.
It's nothing to have complaints in your heart. Which emperor doesn't have a group of people secretly scolding the emperor for delaying eating or drinking?
Someone said it well, there are many people complaining, who are you? But it is indeed extremely fatal for an emperor to lose his majesty. If not, the people below may have inappropriate thoughts. This is done step by step.
Step one: The emperor is very nice and very humane! Step 2: The emperor also has seven emotions and six desires, no different from ordinary people!
Step 3: The emperor is an ordinary person, and I am also an ordinary person. Why can’t I be the emperor? Step 4: Princes, generals and prime ministers, would you rather have the seed?
The emperor takes turns, come to my house this year! Things got mixed up, and Lu Bing decided to start with simple things, such as the big hole in the city wall, which was relatively simple.
"Tan Xinren, although you have made a contribution to the painting, the renovation of this palace wall was your work for the construction of the prosperous age. You said that you didn't know about the loopholes left intentionally. What evidence is there?" Tan Xinren came here. On the way, I had been thinking about this issue all the way. At this time, without any hesitation, I knelt on the ground and cried out for injustice.
"Master Lu, I am just the boss. The construction team leader has always been responsible for the drawings and construction of Shengshi Construction. Everyone in the capital knows this. This is not only true for my family, but also for any construction team with a large enough scale. I am a real villain. I don’t know, but the villain was a drawing obtained from the construction captain’s room after he went bankrupt.” Lu Binghe asked: “Then where is the construction captain now?” Tan Xinren said sadly: “The construction captain died in Chunyan Tower. He died immediately. Later I heard that he was actually killed by people from the White Lotus Sect." In fact, Lu Bing had already briefly asked these words yesterday when Xinren was taken to the prison. At this time, he reiterated Ask once, mainly for everyone to listen to.
"Who told you that there was something fishy about the death of the construction captain?"
"My lord, it's General Wang Zhiwang. The villain has been hiding on the island during this period and has been taken care of by General Wang. Therefore, the villain informed General Wang about the blueprint. General Wang was shocked when he heard it and immediately asked me to hurry up. I just came back after returning to Beijing and surrendering."
"You are fine, why did you hide on the island? Since you saw something wrong with the drawings, why didn't you report it to the court in time?" When the key part came, Tan Xinren gritted his teeth, mustered up his courage, and answered loudly.
"Sir, the villain deserves death! The villain is greedy for profit! The villain really didn't know how powerful he was at first! When the villain saw the drawings, he only thought that the construction captain and Zhao Wenhua, the assistant minister, were using inferior products to line their own pockets. He did not expect that More. At that time, the villain paid Mr. Xiao three hundred thousand taels of silver. He was very poor. He thought he had caught Zhao Shilang, so he wrote to him with the intention of blackmailing him. Unexpectedly, Zhao Shilang not only refused to pay him, but also sent someone to A fire came and burned down my house. I thought those people looked like ninja killers, so I ran away for my life." When he heard the word ninja, Lu Bing's heart moved and he glanced at Yan Shifan.
Yan Shifan looked calm as if he hadn't heard anything. Zhao Wenhua has been on tenterhooks ever since he saw Tan Xinren in the palace.
Although he didn't know why Tan Xinren was here, he and Tan Xinren had colluded to make profits not once or twice, and the amount was not small.
But even so, he never expected that it would be a matter of the palace wall drawings! When he heard that this rebellion was related to the palace wall drawings, Zhao Wenhua's mind buzzed, and he lost more than half of his three souls and seven souls!
At this time, when he heard that Xinren was blaming him, Zhao Wenhua quickly shouted that he was wronged.
"A bold maniac who dares to slander people and slander the imperial officials! Mr. Lu, this maniac and I only have a working relationship! He has written to me to borrow money, but I have always been poor, so how can I lend him the money? ? So he declined him politely. He later wrote another letter, which was nonsense, saying that he had the captain's drawings in his hands and extorting 10,000 taels of silver from me. But I just thought he was poor and crazy. , what kind of drawing is worth ten thousand taels of silver, so I ignored him and have never seen this drawing." Lu Bing looked at Zhao Wenhua: "As the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, all projects that pass the Ministry of Works must have Are you reviewing and accepting the drawings of the palace walls? Haven't you seen the drawings of the palace walls?" Zhao Wenhua said: "Of course there are drawings for acceptance, but there is nothing wrong with the drawings of the palace walls. The drawings are in the Ministry of Works. Your Excellency can ask someone to do so right now. Go get it and you'll know at a glance!" Lu Bing didn't waste any time and immediately asked Jin Yiwei to go to the Ministry of Works to get the drawings.
At first glance, as Zhao Wenhua said, the drawings were very rigorous and the material requirements were very clear. The drawings submitted by He Tan Xinren were completely different.
Lu Bing held two drawings and pondered for a moment: "The project must be inspected at the end. How did these shoddy palace walls pass the inspection?" Zhao Wenhua has been in the Ministry of Industry for a long time, and he is not just greedy for money and ignorant of business. Of waste, there is still some business ability in engineering.
He pointed to Tan Xinren's drawing.
"Mr. Lu, it seems from this drawing that the construction captain is very cunning. He used adobe bricks instead of green bricks, but the adobe bricks are not sand, but rammed earth. The rammed earth itself is also very compact and cannot be punctured by sharp objects. There is no problem with its load-bearing, and the sound when struck is similar to that of blue bricks. The outer skin of the palace wall is very thick, and the mud they use is cement. Even if no white soup is added, it will not peel off within a few years. Because the palace wall After the wall was completed, it was painted with red paint. When the Ministry of Engineering inspected and accepted the project, they were afraid of damaging the paint surface, so they could only hit it with a wooden hammer instead of an iron hammer, so they kept it secret. This matter was not strictly managed by the official. I am willing to convict you of the responsibility. However, I have no knowledge of the falsification of the drawings and the project. Please let me know!" Lu Bing turned to Tan Xinren: "Do you think this matter is related to Zhao Shilang? Do you have any evidence?" Tan Xinren really has no evidence, but he has his own reasons.
"Sir, if the construction captain is so good, why would he pass it off as a good one and leave loopholes? If this is found out, it will be a crime of losing his head! If no one instigates him, why would he do this? If someone instigates him , only Shilang Zhao is in charge of this matter, if not him, who could it be?" Zhao Wenhua was furious, pointed at Tan Xinren and said: "And you! You can also instruct the construction captain to do this! He will carry you to Of course I will listen to you!" Tan Xinren kowtowed repeatedly: "Long live Mr. Lu, if it was really done by a villain, I wish that no one would know about it for the rest of my life. Naturally, the villain would not dare to do anything to Minister Zhao. He wrote a letter to extort money, let alone come to the capital to report the matter! Moreover, as soon as the villain blackmailed Mr. Zhao, his house was burned to the ground. If he hadn't hid in advance, I'm afraid the whole family would have been silenced. Mr. Zhao If you don't have a guilty conscience, why would you want to kill people and silence them?" Zhao Wenhua was angry and anxious: "You wrote a letter and talked nonsense, and I just ignored you. I have so many important things in a day, how can I care about you! What about killing people? Shut up, have I eaten enough to survive? Not to mention your letter, I didn’t even kill the imperial censor who impeached me by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, what the hell did I do to kill you!" Zhao Wenhua didn’t even care about the disgrace in front of you. Is that true? He was so angry that he was slandered for no reason and participated in the rebellion. This was a serious crime that destroyed the nine races!
For heaven's sake, I, Zhao Wenhua, am just an ordinary corrupt official who does my duty, and I never think of anything wrong!
I have worked diligently for half my life and reached the position of a third-rank official, half a step away from the second rank. Is it too much to be greedy for money and sleep with a few female stars in a brothel?
At this time, Yan Shifan coughed, attracted Lu Bing's eyes, and spoke slowly.
"Master Lu, this matter is actually not difficult to explain. The common people have some opinions and don't know whether to talk about it or not." Yan Shifan had just died of his mother and his wife, and this time he had reported the news and rescued him. Jiajing had already treated him He was no longer as disgusted as he was two days ago. He nodded slightly, and Lu Bing naturally agreed.
"Master Lu, the grass-roots people listened for a while and felt that this matter should actually be the means of the White Lotus Sect. Thinking of the White Lotus Sect's spies in Beijing, they learned that Boss Tan's Shengshi Construction had taken over the palace wall project. So they found The construction captain. I don’t know what kind of coercion and inducement was used to make the construction captain hide the truth and leave a loophole in the palace wall. Later, in order to prevent the secret from being leaked, he killed the construction captain to silence him. This is the consistent method of the White Lotus Sect, and it is not surprising. It’s just that They didn't expect that the construction team leader kept a secret and hid the real drawings in his own home. Naturally, Zhao Shilang didn't know about this, and there was indeed some negligence in his work, and he failed to check the quality of the palace wall. As for Boss Tan, After he went bankrupt, he took away everything in his apprentice's room. Later, he accidentally discovered the drawings and thought that the matter was related to Minister Zhao. Therefore, he extorted money from Minister Zhao. Minister Zhao didn't know the reason, so he naturally ignored it. But in the world There is no airtight wall, and the White Lotus Sect's meticulous work is all-pervasive. This matter should have been learned by the White Lotus Sect. In order to eradicate the root cause and avoid future troubles, the White Lotus Sect's people burned down the boss Tan's house with the intention of destroying the drawings. Mr. Lu, the speculation of ordinary people , what do you think?"
