After hearing this, several pavilion elders were even more sure that Emperor Wanli and the others had a perfect plan. They were even more glad that they had not arranged for their subordinates to jump out just now. Otherwise, it would be a small matter to deal with Liu Haojia, but it would be a big deal to damage their own face!
At this time, those people standing in the middle of the hall finally felt that something was wrong! Many people are already looking a little panicked! We originally agreed to submit the letter together, but we just wanted to grab the top spot. Why didn't you say anything when we jumped out?
Some of them even began to look at the two groups of courtiers with pleading eyes, but those courtiers they saw had their eyes drooped, as if they hadn't seen it at all!
Zhao Minghua also felt something was wrong, and he even felt sweat on his forehead! Hearing what Emperor Wanli said, he hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, the actions of Liu Haojia and the Jin Yiwei have been proven conclusive, and there is no need for them to defend themselves! Your Majesty, please just issue an order to deal with it directly!"
Emperor Wanli smiled and said: "How can that be done? How can I punish someone without teaching!"
At this time, Zhao Minghua confirmed that the matter was completely beyond his control. At this time, he no longer thought about becoming famous, but just thought about how to get out of this situation! So he said loudly in a moment of urgency: "Your Majesty, I am afraid that tens of thousands of people in the capital have seen this private fight between the Liu Hao family and the Imperial Guards. Do you think your Majesty still thinks that a humble minister can't lie!"
Emperor Wanli narrowed his eyes and said, "Haven't you heard about Yan Hui stealing rice?"
What Emperor Wanli said was an incident that happened when Confucius was traveling around the world. At that time, Confucius and his disciples were trapped on the journey and could not find food at all! Finally got some white rice after being hungry for two days! Confucius asked Yan Hui to cook the white rice into rice.
As a result, when the meal was almost ready, Confucius was so hungry that he couldn't stand it any longer, so he went to the kitchen to see if the meal was ready. As a result, when he walked to the kitchen door, he saw Yan Hui grab a handful and stuff it in his mouth after cooking!
One of Confucius's ideas was respecting teachers and respecting morality, so of course he didn't want to see this happen! Although everyone has to eat together, he is the master, so he must eat first!
But Confucius did not have a fit, but immediately turned around and returned to the room. Not long after he entered the room, Yan Hui came up with a bowl of rice. Confucius saw that a piece of rice was indeed missing, so he asked, "Where did this missing piece of rice go?"
Yan Hui said: "When I took the rice out of the pot, the ashes from the beams fell down and sprinkled on top of the rice, so I ate the dusty rice!"
Confucius was very moved after hearing this and said: "Sometimes what you see with your eyes may not be true!"
This is what happened when Yan Hui stole rice. Normally, this story should become a very famous allusion! But when future generations were studying, no one could figure out whether it was the dust on the rice that Yan Hui ate first because he was afraid that the teacher would catch the dust, or whether he was so hungry that he couldn't bear it and took a bite first to fool his stomach! So this incident did not form an allusion after all!
However, the world is more willing to accept the first statement, especially when several masters taught Emperor Wanli, they also adopted the first statement!
Zhao Minghua is also a person who is familiar with the classics and history, so he naturally knows about this matter! So he felt very humiliated, and his face turned red as he stood there! And the courtiers behind him were also frightened! The emperor has never spoken much in these years. Why is he talking so much and being so cruel today?
At this moment, someone at the door of the hall said loudly: "Bring Liu Haojia, the general banner of Jinyiwei!"
Everyone looked towards the main entrance of the hall and saw Liu Haojia, wearing a bright red Feiyu suit, striding towards the courtiers in the middle and walking over without hesitation!
The courtiers were intimidated by his momentum and involuntarily made way for him to go directly to the front. When he walked to the front of the crowd and saw only one person, he knew that this person was probably the first person to submit the letter, so he quickly looked Zhao Minghua up and down before paying homage to Emperor Wanli.
When he was waiting for his visit, Emperor Wanli confirmed that it was Liu Haojia who had arrived. He felt emboldened and immediately said, "I love you!"
When everyone heard this, they felt excited again! Until now, Emperor Wanli still uses the title Aiqing. It seems that the two have a close relationship! Those courtiers who stood up suddenly felt a little frightened, while those who had not yet stood up felt relieved!
At this time, Emperor Wanli said: "Liu Aiqing, these people are impeaching you for the two major crimes of gathering a crowd to fight for private purposes and using weapons for private use! As for other things such as bullying and domination, there are more than a dozen, so there is no need to go into detail one by one! Now I I’ll give you a chance to defend yourself, you have to take advantage of it!”
Liu Haojia immediately bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for giving me this opportunity!"
As soon as he straightened up, Zhao Minghua beside him said loudly: "Liu Haojia, everything you do is in the eyes of everyone. If you still have a sense of shame, you should admit your mistakes and bear the consequences! I can tell you when the time comes. Your Majesty, please beg for mercy and get a lighter sentence!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Haojia looked Zhao Minghua up and down with an idiotic look, which made his face full of anger! However, Liu Haojia withdrew his gaze before he got angry, raised his hands and said to Emperor Wanli: "Your Majesty, they said that Wei Chen led the Jinyi Guards to fight with others. This is simply a frame-up!"
Before he could finish speaking, Zhao Minghua shouted loudly: "Everyone in the capital knows about this matter, how can you still dare to quibble?"
Liu Haojia immediately turned around and glared at him and said loudly: "I am talking to His Majesty, how can you interrupt!"
Zhao Minghua never thought that one day a general would dare to yell at him, so he was shocked! After taking a few steps back, he pointed at Liu Haojia and was speechless!
Liu Haojia ignored him, turned around and said loudly: "Your Majesty, I did lead a group of Jin Yiwei brothers to fight with others! But it was not a private fight, but an agreement between the two parties to compete in martial arts and compare battle formations!"
As soon as Liu Haojia said these words, the officials were in an uproar! These ministers all said to themselves, I think we are already very good at confusing right and wrong, but we don’t want to do it for you and we are still three points behind! You actually didn’t make any detours and just denied it completely! Even several pavilion elders couldn't help but widen their eyes after hearing this!
Especially the courtiers who stood up behind Liu Haojia loudly accused him of lying! "Nonsense! It's obviously a private fight!"
"That's right, the whole capital knows the news. Do you think we are all deaf and blind?"
While the officials were making noise, the censor in charge of court etiquette repeatedly shouted: "Quiet! Quiet!"
Under his repeated shouting, the courtiers finally settled down. But before the voice completely disappeared, Zhao Minghua pointed at Liu Haojia and said, "You are lying! This is the crime of deceiving the emperor!"
