In the past few months, the life of North Korean Governor Zhang Heming has been full of ups and downs.
When he was first released as the governor of North Korea, Zhang Heming was very prosperous. Countless wealthy businessmen and officials rushed to give him gifts, almost leveling the threshold of his home.
He also embarked on a warship to North Korea with unlimited dreams.
But who knew that this was the beginning of his nightmare.
Where are the huge profits from smuggling?
A pirate named Zheng Zhilong collected the "protection fee" directly off the coast of North Korea. He even kidnapped himself and extorted 50,000 taels.
Half of the silk shipped to North Korea from the south of the Yangtze River was contributed to the "East Ryukyu Company".
The days in North Korea are even more difficult to describe. It seems that the governor is aloof, but in fact he can't get much benefit.
The Ming army stationed in North Korea did not like him as the governor at all, and kept asking him for pay.
I finally managed to do some "small business" in North Korea, and I also encountered an internal coup in North Korea.
Less than three months after taking office, he was sent to prison in Dongchang.
Sun Yunhe, the criminal officer of Dongchang, said with a smile: "Governor Zhang, there is clear evidence that you are corrupt and perverting the law, and you have accepted bribes wantonly. I think you should take the real deal."
"This is the Dongchang Prison. No matter who comes in, they have to peel off their skin first. Come on, please loosen the muscles and bones of Governor Zhang first!"
After that, two big and powerful thugs were about to put Zhang Heming on the torture pillar.
Zhang Heming was also an old man, and he knew that even the chief assistant Ye Xianggao had no right to interfere in Dongchang's prison. Li Xianzhong had been imprisoned here for more than a month.
These Dongchang bannermen won't tell you the rule of "you can't be punished by a doctor".
He said: "Sun Lixing, if you have something to say, I understand the rules. I will ask someone to send you a thousand taels of silver!"
Seeing that Sun Yunhe was indifferent, he shouted again: "Three thousand taels!"
It wasn't until he shouted eight thousand taels that Sun Yunhe waved his hand to signal his two men to step back.
He said: "Since Governor Zhang is a sensible person, I won't stop talking nonsense. These eight thousand taels can save you from the physical pain of being in prison for the past few days, but it cannot absolve you!"
"Your Majesty is so angry this time. No matter how much money you give, your subordinates will not dare to bend the law for personal gain!"
"I would also like to advise you, just do it truthfully! Perhaps when Eunuch Wei is happy, he can spare your life for the sake of your meritorious deeds!"
Then Sun Yunhe threw a pile of materials directly in front of Zhang Heming.
Zhang Heming picked it up and took a look.
On the evening of August 17, the first year of Tianqi, in the backyard of Zhang Mansion in the capital, Suzhou silk merchant Wang Dafu offered 8,000 taels of silver and 500 acres of high-quality paddy fields in Wujiang County, Suzhou Prefecture to obtain the right to trade with North Korea.
Zhang Heming's heart grew colder and colder the more he looked at it. Dongchang had found out all the bribes he had accepted these days.
Even his conversation with the prostitute in Mianyue Tower was recorded. It seemed that he had been targeted by Dongchang for a long time.
Not only the capital, but also his plans with Jin Yu in North Korea were clearly recorded.
This time, he indeed took advantage of his position as the governor of North Korea and took the opportunity to accept a lot of bribes, as much as two hundred thousand taels.
But compared to those big guys, what does this mean?
At the time, Li Sancai, the boss of Donglin, was much more greedy than himself. There were rumors that his family fortune was more than four million taels.
It can be said that the first time the Donglin Party launched a full-scale party struggle was to defend this huge corrupt man.
In the face of the impeachment of numerous officials in the DPRK and China, Gu Xiancheng, the founder of Donglin, personally defended him. All Donglin Party members in the DPRK defended Li Sancai regardless of black or white.
Emperor Wanli was confused about the situation for a while.
Under the protection of the Donglin Party and facing numerous impeachments, Li Sancai simply resigned and returned to his hometown.
Zhang Heming knew that the situation was different this time. His Majesty simply sent him to prison without using the three-level trial.
The Ministry of Punishment and the Supervisory Office controlled by the Donglin Party could not help at all.
Looking at Dongchang's posture, he should have prepared these materials a long time ago. It is impossible to investigate after receiving the accusation from the North Korean envoy.
Could it be that the Governor of North Korea was originally a bureau?
No wonder Wei Zhongxian didn't voice any objection at the beginning and allowed himself to successfully win the position of Governor of North Korea.
At this time, Zhang Heming's whole body was soaked in cold sweat. If this was the case, he might be doomed!
Of course, the last way for him to survive is to seek refuge with Wei Zhongxian.
Nowadays, there is a popular saying in the official circles of the capital: If you commit a crime, as long as it is not a serious crime of treason, Eunuch Wei will definitely keep you safe!
After Wang Huazhen was defeated in Liaodong and took refuge with Wei Zhongxian, he was finally acquitted and is now in charge of Taiyuan Hospital.
Of course, the price is also huge. Not only will he be ridiculed by the civil and military officials of the court, and he will be scolded as an "eunuch", he will also have to betray his previous companions.
At this time he fell into deep thought.
When Sun Yunhe saw that this guy was still hesitating, he decided to give him a warning.
Soon a skinny prisoner covered in blood was dragged up in heavy shackles.
Sun Yunhe asked: "Zhou Yunshen, have you figured it out? Are you willing to admit your crime?"
Zhang Heming was shocked. The person in front of him turned out to be Zhou Yunshen, the head of the Household Department. He was arrested and imprisoned for Wang Huazhen's betrayal at the beginning of the year.
Zhang Heming always thought that he had been tortured to death by Wei Wei, but he didn't expect that he was still alive?
He remembered that Zhou Yunshen used to be a fat man, but now he has been tortured into shape.
I saw Zhou Yunshen curse angrily: "Grudge, I will not surrender to you!"
Sun Yunhe snorted coldly and said, "Someone give Zhou Yunshen some 'red embroidered shoes'!"
I saw a pair of red-hot iron shoes in the fire. At this time, Zhou Yunshen was tied to the torture stake, and he could not move at all.
Banzi from Dongchang used a clip to put the "red embroidered shoes" directly on Zhou Yunshen's feet.
The moment Zhou Yunshen's feet came into contact with the "red embroidered shoes", he immediately made a "sizzling" barbecue sound, and his hysterical screams continued to echo in the prison!
Banzi said: "Report to Sun Li that the prisoner has passed out!"
Sun Yunhe said: "How can it be so easy to die?"
"Go to the Imperial Hospital to call the Divine Doctor Wang, and we must rescue him. As long as Zhou Yunshen doesn't bite out a few Donglin gangsters, we will ask him to live and die!"
This scene directly frightened Zhang Heming who was standing beside him. He immediately shouted: "I want to see Eunuch Wei Bingbi, the Supervisor of Ceremonies. Zhang is willing to serve Eunuch Wei!"
Sun Yunhe said: "Governor Zhang is still aware of current affairs, and he is much better than Zhou Yunshen this time!"
Soon someone threw him a book and said, "You have to think clearly about how many people on this list have been in and out of your house, and how many people have bribed you."
"They are your gift to the Governor!"
Zhang Heming picked up this book "Donglin Dianjianglu".
After opening it, it read the founding marshal: King Tota, former Minister of Household Affairs Li Sancai.
Then there are the two leaders of the general army:
Tiankuixing, timely rain, cabinet chief minister Ye Xianggao.
Tiangang Star, Jade Qilin, Zhao Nanxing, Shaoqing of Taichang Temple in the Ministry of Rites.
Two members of the secret military division in charge:
Tianji star, many wisdom stars, Zuo Yu Demu Changqi.
Tianxianxing, Ruiyunlong, Zuodu Yushi Gao Panlong.
Soon he found his name: Sky Star, Vanguard, Right Minister of the Ministry of War, and Governor of North Korea Zhang Heming.
Obviously, this "Donglin Dianjianglu" is based on "Water Margin". Judging from the ranking, it is quite high!
Most of the people on this list are his colleagues, but now he has to betray some of them in order to protect himself.
He knew that if two important people were not involved, Wei Zhongxian would never give up.
It happened that Liu Yijing, a great scholar, and Zhou Jiamo, the official minister, had visited Zhang Heming at his residence before he went to North Korea.
So Zhang Heming reported that more than 20 Donglin Party members, including Liu Yijing and Zhou Jiamo, had bribed or pressured him to seek benefits from North Korean smuggling!
Although Wei Zhongxian was still a little dissatisfied, Liu Yijing was General Donglin and a member of the cabinet; the staff department controlled by Zhou Jiamo was also a crucial department.
He decided to use these two to attack the Donglin Party first.
Of course, these two people had high positions of power after all. He did not send them to prison directly, but used Zhang Heming's accusation to accuse them on the spot of abusing power for personal gain.
As for other small figures in the Donglin Party, they were directly sent to prison.
When the time comes, I'll give them a beating and maybe get them to reveal a bunch of more accomplices. By then, won't Eunuch Wei be able to kill whoever he wants?
Dongchang's large-scale arrest of Donglin Party members in the capital also caused great panic in the capital.
The chief assistant Ye Xianggao was also distressed by Wei Zhongxian's actions.
He did not expect that Wei Zhongxian would continue to attack the Donglin Party through the Governor of North Korea.
Zhang Heming's corruption and smuggling did not come out of nowhere, and some Donglin officials were indeed involved in North Korea's affairs.
Wei Zhongxian's false frame-up is far more lethal than a false frame-up.
Eunuch Wei directly presented a large amount of evidence at the court meeting to prove Zhang Heming's corruption and smuggling.
He even pointed the finger directly at the Donglin Party.
The honorable nobles who had previously suffered a loss in the matter of the Governor of North Korea also sided with Wei Zhongxian, accusing the Donglin Party of deliberately removing Ning Yuanbo and Li Xianzhong as the Governor of North Korea just to make profits for themselves. Their intentions are to be punished!
Liu Yijing and Zhou Jiamo became the targets of criticism for no apparent reason.
How could his reputation be ruined by Zhang Heming?
Emperor Tianqi was even more angry at the court meeting. There were so many corrupt officials among the Donglin Party members, which made him both annoyed and angry!
He directly asked Liu Yijing and Zhou Jiamo to prove their innocence!
They had indeed been to Zhang Heming's house. Now Zhang Heming insisted that the two of them were using power for personal gain. In the face of this long-planned frame-up, the two of them could not defend themselves.
In the end, the two had to resign angrily to prove their innocence.
Due to common practice, no matter what the reason for the resignation of a court minister, the emperor always wants to retain him symbolically.
But under Wei Zhongxian's instigation, Emperor Tianqi actually directly approved their resignations!
His behavior still broke the hearts of many civil servants.
Nowadays, Wei Zhongxian is domineering in the court, and Emperor Tianqi has no independent opinions. He has completely become Wei Zhongxian's puppet, which has made many people want to quit.
After Liu Yijing and Zhou Jiamo resigned, many Donglin Party officials submitted their resignations on the grounds of "old age and frailty."
Wei Zhongxian graciously approved their return to their hometown for retirement.
Although he didn't say it explicitly, Eunuch Wei's meaning was very clear. Only by resigning and returning to his hometown could he and the Donglin Party members escape unscathed.
If you continue to fight against him, be prepared to be sent to prison.
Yang Lian and other upright Donglin Party members were definitely unwilling to give in to this. These days, they also had a lot of evidence of Wei Zhongxian selling his official position and accepting bribes, especially his nephew Wei Liangqing, who was misbehaving in Suning County.
In recent years, there have been many memorials for impeachment of Wei Zhongxian by court officials, but all of them are like a mud cow sinking into the sea, and there is no news!
So he decided to impeach Wei Zhongxian directly at the court meeting.
Yang Lian knew that this move would not only anger Wei Zhongxian and the Hakka family, but also anger Emperor Tianqi.
However, for the sake of the people of the world, Yang Lian naturally has no shirk in his duty.
He also wanted to let the world know that the Donglin Party did not bow to Wei Wei.
On January 13, the second year of Tianqi, Yang Lian, the left deputy governor, impeached Wei Zhongxian and Hakka's monopoly on the spot, and listed 24 charges against them.
Finally, Yang Lian said loudly: "In the tenth year of Emperor Hongwu's reign, Emperor Gao had an internal servant who had been serving the inner court for a long time. He spoke calmly about political affairs. He immediately dismissed him and told the officials: 'The disasters in the Han and Tang Dynasties were caused by the eunuchs' crimes, but they were also caused by the trust and love of the masters." This is because of the fault. When envoys are entrusted with eunuchs, they are not allowed to prepare troops and advance the government. Even if they want to cause chaos, how can they achieve it? Although this eunuch has served me for a long time, I cannot tolerate it and will resolutely get rid of him, so I will punish the future." Yangyang Sheng "Mo, the middle-ranking official talks about political affairs and punishes the future. How can he be allowed to continue to punish the virtuous and deceive the emperor, and accumulate evil and sins?"
"Emperor Fuqi was so furious that he bound the loyal and virtuous people to the front of the Nine Temples. He gathered his relatives, both civil and military, and ordered the Department of Justice to conduct rigorous inquiries one by one. He examined the internal and external affairs of all the officials in the dynasty. He was good at imposing authority, violated the laws of his ancestors, and ruined the affairs of the court. , lost the heart of the world, bullied the king, betrayed his kindness, and set the right example, in order to quicken the anger of God and the public. He was a guest of the holy lady, and was also ordered to live outside. With full grace, he was ordered to poison the palace without any further duties."
"I know that as soon as these words come out, the loyal and virtuous party will never tolerate me, but I am not afraid. But if a loyal and virtuous person is removed, and he does not miss the name of the emperor Yao and Shun's order, he can repay the order of the late emperor and see the second ancestor ten years ago. The spirit of the sect, the loyalty and righteousness of the whole life, and the kindness and understanding of the two dynasties. I hope that I will die without regrets, but the emperor will see that I am sincere and will implement it immediately."
Yang Lian was preparing to impeach him in court, and Wei Zhongxian had already received the news.
The reason why he didn't stop it in advance was because he knew that Yang Lian's move would definitely anger His Majesty.
At that time, not only will it not have any effect, but he will be compensated for it.
It's just that Wei Zhongxian didn't expect that Yang Lian would be so decisive and directly show his cards to His Majesty.
His meaning was very clear, asking Emperor Tianqi to either depose Wei Zhongxian or kill himself.
Wei Zhongxian scolded angrily: "Yang Lian is bold and dares to threaten His Majesty. Isn't this the way to serve as a minister?"
"You slander our family, and our family can ignore it, but you actually threaten His Majesty. This is treason."
"Come here, take Yang Lian to prison first and wait until he is punished!"
Wei Zhongxian's move undoubtedly angered everyone in the Donglin Party.
Chief Assistant Ye Xianggao Geng knelt down and said with sobs: "The 24 counts of Yang Lian's impeachment against Wei Zhongxian are conclusive and the evidence is conclusive. Please ask Your Majesty to investigate clearly. Although Yang Lian's move is disrespectful to Your Majesty, it is also for the sake of the Ming Dynasty!"
"If Your Majesty wants to imprison them, he will imprison them both together, and then hand them over to the three departments for trial together. A conclusion will be drawn after detailed investigation."
Then all the Donglin Party members knelt down and kowtowed.
No matter how ignorant Emperor Tianqi was about government affairs, he still knew the seriousness of this matter. Although he was quite dissatisfied with the Donglin Party's act of forcing the emperor to convict, he did not choose to further intensify the conflict.
Instead, he said: "During the reign of Emperor Gao, the Supervisor of Ceremonies did not have the power to 'praise the red', so eunuchs involved in politics would naturally be punished; now, the Supervisor of Ceremonies' 'praising the red' is also an ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty, and it is not Wei Zhongxian's exclusive authority."
"It is inappropriate for Yang Lian to attack Wei Zhongxian in this way, and he is ordered to return home to think about his mistakes."
"As for the other crimes for which he was impeached, I will work with the royal guards to find out. It will not be too late to draw a conclusion then!"
Emperor Tianqi seemed to have hit fifty big shots each.
In fact, Wei Zhongxian was still favored, but Yang Lian's move still greatly boosted everyone's morale.
His courage to regard death as his own was not inferior to that of Hai Rui who wrote a letter scolding Jiajing.
It has also won a huge reputation and reputation among officials.
But anyone with a discerning eye can see that Tianqi is only dealing with the Donglin Party and does not really want to punish Wei Zhongxian. It seems that the Donglin Party's defeat in this dispute between the DPRK and China has been decided.
Many ministers even became followers of Wei Zhongxian, waiting to fill the vacancies of the Donglin Party.
The fence-sitting faction also saw that the Donglin Party was now weak in the court, and Eunuch Wei would soon take control of the court.
Those who had originally bet on the victory of the Donglin Party in heaven and earth now feel regretful.
Tian Ergeng's reputation in the circle of distinguished people is also growing.
He was the first person in heaven and earth to bet on Wei Zhongxian and win.
More than half a year ago, he was just a young man fooling around relying on the shadow of his ancestors.
As the first official to recognize Wei Zhongxian as his adoptive father, Tian Ergen not only took control of the Jinyi Guards, but was also promoted to the first-level Zuo Governor. He was a popular figure around Eunuch Wei.
At this time, Xu Xianchun, the commander of Jin Yiwei, said: "Now that the governor trusts Dongchang, we Jinyiwei must keep up, and we can't let Dongchang monopolize the limelight!"
Dongchang successively used Wang Huazhen and Zhang Heming to frame a large number of Donglin Party officials, and it can be said that they stole the show in front of Wei Zhongxian.
Isn't it just a frame-up?
His Jinyiwei's Beizhen Fusi also had a prison sentence, and Tian Ergen decided to share the worries for his adoptive father!
Nowadays, the person Wei Zhongxian hates the most is naturally Yang Lian, but due to Emperor Tianqi's will, he cannot attack Yang Lian.
Then they would simply frame Yang Lian directly, and then arrest and imprison these Donglin Party members. In the prison of Fusi in Beizhen, are there still people who won't speak up?
Soon they found a businessman to send money to the houses of Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and others.
Just when a few people were confused, a large number of Jinyi guards surrounded their mansion and directly captured Yang Lian and others into the prison of Fusi in Beizhen.
Yang Lian, the deputy governor of Zuo, Zuo Guangdou, censor of Zuo Qiandu, Wei Dazhong, censor of Li Kedu, Yuan Huazhong, censor of Henan Province, Zhou Chaorui, Shaoqing of Taipu Temple, and Gu Dazhang, the official of the Ministry of Rites.
These people are the six most violent people in the impeachment of Wei Zhongxian. Tian Ergeng and Xu Xianchun decided to do both.
Anyway, one sheep can be knocked down, and two sheep can be driven away. Let's just knock down all six of them at once.
In this way, their Jin Yiwei will definitely be able to overwhelm Dongchang.
Soon Wei Zhongxian reported to Emperor Tianqi that these six people participated in North Korean smuggling, were stolen by the Jinyi Guards, and were directly arrested.
Emperor Tianqi was doing carpentry work at this time and did not read the list carefully. After all, many corrupt officials of the Donglin Party had been arrested before, and he quickly approved the arrest.
Soon Yang Lian and others were taken into prison in Fusi, Beizhen.
Xu Xianchun originally thought that they were just a group of weak scholars, how could they withstand torture? If you scare them a little, they will confess.
But I didn't expect that these scholars were actually very strong-willed. No matter how hard the Jin Yiwei's thugs tortured them, they just refused to admit it.
In desperation, Xu Xianchun had no choice but to go out in person and torture six people. He beat them once every three days and tortured them once every five days. Several people were chained with three sticks and tortured all five times, until their flesh and blood flew everywhere and maggots grew on the flesh.
Among the six, Yang Lian was their spiritual leader. Xu Xianchun decided to capture Yang Lian directly. As long as Yang Lian was captured, the others would be defeated.
However, all kinds of criminal methods were used. At this time, there was no good skin on Yang Lian's body. He could neither stand nor sit, and could only lie down. But Yang Lian refused to plead guilty, and even continued to accuse Wei Zhongxian using the pen and paper he was asked to confess to.
At this time, Yang Lian's family also knew that they could not rescue him, so they secretly put gold nuggets in the food so that he could commit suicide by swallowing the gold to avoid further suffering. However, he was caught by the prison guards and Yang Lian's family was not allowed to deliver meals.
Wei Zhongxian was so angry after seeing the charge sheet written by Yang Lian that he ordered Tian Ergeng to get rid of Yang Lian directly.
Tian Ergeng knew that killing Yang Lian would definitely lead to infamy, so he asked Xu Xianchun to take action.
Xu Xianchun ordered Tiqi to kill Yang Lian.
Late at night on February 24th, Tiqi sent Yang Lian on his way. Yang Lian bit off his index finger, wrote a letter in blood, looked up to the sky, laughed and was tortured.
Xu Xianchun asked the jailer to lock Yang Lian to death, and ordered someone to drive a large iron nail through Yang Lian's Tianling Cap. In this way, Yang Lian, a famous minister, finally died under torture.
During this period, Zuo Guangdou's student Shi Kefa spent a lot of money trying to rescue his mentor, but Zuo Guangdou was afraid of hurting his student and refused to meet him, so he asked him to leave quickly!
On the same day that Yang Lian died, Zuo Guangdou was also killed.
The murders of Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and other "Six Gentlemen of Donglin" brought Wei Zhongxian's arrogance to its highest climax.
After the chief assistant Ye Xianggao learned that Yang Lian and others had been killed, he was so angry that he vomited blood on the spot.
There was no way, Wei Zhongxian just used such a rogue method to deal with them.
So he angrily resigned as the chief assistant of the cabinet and went home to recuperate.
After Shi Kefa failed to obtain the body of his mentor Zuo Guangdou, he was intercepted and killed by a masked man in an alley.
Just as the masked men were slashing at him with knives, someone suddenly chopped down the masked men from behind.
Shi Kefa was then sent to a ship with Yang Lian's two sons on board.
Shi Kefa clasped his fists and said, "Thank you so much for asking me. I wonder if I can tell you my name so that I can repay my kindness someday."
The man said: "The capital is already dominated by Wei Zhongxian. It is difficult for you to fight against the eunuchs without soldiers. Next, Wei Zhongxian will definitely take action against Jiangnan's money and food. You should prepare early, right?"
"If one day you can no longer survive in Jiangnan, you can go to Liaodong and have a look!"
After the ship sailed away, Mao Yuanyi came out of the darkness and said, "Tell Uncle Ning Yuan that Wei Zhongxian has already claimed to be 'Nine Thousand Years Old'!"
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(End of chapter)
