Seeing that everyone was seated in order, Zhu Qiyu asked Zhu Qizhen with a smile on his face: "Brother, how about we start?"
Zhu Qizhen nodded: "I'll let my brother arrange everything."
Zhu Qiyu gave Chen Xun a look, and Chen Xun stood up and shouted loudly: "I would like to invite Dingxiang Boguo to come forward and accept the questions from the relatives."
Guo Deng hurriedly came from the auditorium to the steps and saluted the emperor.
Zhu Qiyu nodded.
Chen Xun then guided Guo Deng to the south side of the long table, where he stood facing the Second Saint and the three Zongzheng opposite the long table.
King Min was old and frail, and King Dongwu had been imprisoned for a long time and was not good at speaking, so King You Zongzheng of Qin was responsible for questioning.
King Qin also signaled to Chen Xun first, and Chen Xun handed Sun Zhong's suicide note to Guo Deng.
The King of Qin asked: "This is the suicide note of Sun Zhong, the Marquis of Huichang, which lists the seven major crimes of the Empress Dowager. Please confirm it carefully, and then give an explanation for the crimes Sun Zhong identified."
Sun Zhong said that the imperial concubine had an affair with Xuanmiao and gave birth to a son before she entered the palace. Is this true?
Sun Zhong said that when the Empress Dowager was still a noble concubine, she secretly took the son of the imperial concubine and thought she was his own son. Is this possible?
The two saints are here in person and all the royal family members are here. Please answer Ding Xiangbo truthfully and don't make any mistakes. "
Guo Deng read Sun Zhong's suicide note carefully and confirmed that it was Sun Zhong's own handwriting. He frowned and thought for a moment before replying:
"It was difficult for the Empress Dowager to have children. She was married to Xuanmiao for eight years before she gave birth to Princess Changde. Moreover, she was physically injured when she gave birth to Princess Changde.
By the time Emperor Gongrang was born, the Empress Dowager was already twenty-nine. For the next eight years, until the death of Xuanmiao, the Empress Dowager had no more children.
In the second year of Xuande, which was the year Emperor Gongrang was born, it was true that the imperial concubine and Xuandiao had a private relationship. It is also true that the imperial concubine is pregnant and giving birth to a son.
It is also true that the Marquis of Huichang received the Empress Dowager's instruction to bring the son of the imperial concubine into the palace for adoption.
From then on, the imperial concubine became depressed and unhappy. Within three months, she became sick with worry and became seriously ill.
In early March of the third year of Xuande's reign, Xuanmiao brought the imperial concubine into the palace. Only twenty days later, the imperial concubine passed away. "
When it came to the emotional part, Guo Deng, who was nearly fifty years old, broke down in tears.
King Qin looked around at the nobles present and saw that no one raised any objections, so he had to sigh.
Guo Deng has made it very clear that the Empress Dowager did not have any children in the first eight years before marrying Xuanmiao, and she did not have any children in the next eight years. This is a fact.
Moreover, Emperor Gongrang was conceived around February of the second year of Xuande, and in the third year of Xuande, she hurriedly deposed Empress Hu. If you don't have children early, you won't have children too late. Just when Xuan Miao ascended the throne, you also gave birth to children, which makes people have to think about it.
With Sun Zhong's handwritten suicide note, Guo Deng's testimony, and the timeline, motive, and supporting evidence all matching up, the case can actually be finalized.
As for the specific details of the private meeting between the imperial concubine and Xuanmiao, no one dared to delve into it.
Among the relatives present, half were the emperor's people, and the other half were some vassal princes who had just followed the rebellion and whose life and death were in the hands of the emperor. They had no motivation to overturn the conclusion before them.
However, someone stood up from the spectator seats. Yun Lin Cong, the right center member of Youchunfang, came to Guo Deng's side, bowed to the emperor and Gongrang, and then saluted the three Zongzheng, and then asked:
"Three Zongzhengs and minor ministers do not agree with Uncle Dingxiang's statement. The so-called imperial concubine had an affair with Xuanmiao and gave birth to a son. This is just the opinion of Uncle Dingxiang's family. There is no physical evidence, so how can it be easily accepted."
The King of Qin heard this and scolded him: "First of all, this is not the words of Uncle Dingxiang's family, but the testimony of two people, Marquis Huichang and Uncle Dingxiang.
Secondly, twenty years have passed. If you insist on physical evidence, wouldn’t it be too difficult for others to do so?
Third, today is a meeting of relatives. You can only observe, but there is no need to comment. "
At this time, Ye Sheng, Li Kan, and Zhu Ying stood up again to support Lin Cong. Ye Sheng was the first to retort: "Today is indeed a meeting of relatives, but it involves the empress dowager, and the origin of the emperor Gongrang. It is not only a matter for the royal family, but also a matter for the court.
Is there any reason why court officials should not be allowed to speak? Doesn’t this mean disregarding the laws of the country? "
Just as King Qin was about to speak, Zhu Qiyu replied from above: "Ye Aiqing's words are reasonable. The matter involves the Queen Mother and the eldest brother. There is no reason why all officials should not be allowed to speak.
Then the three judicial departments should continue to call witnesses. "
Wang Wen stood up to receive the order and ordered the prisoner Jin Ying to be taken with him.
Now it's okay. It's okay that Lin Cong and Ye Sheng didn't ask for details. Jin Ying came up and confessed everything like beans poured out of a bamboo tube.
Not only did the Queen Mother Sun seize the imperial concubine's son's confession, but also how the Queen Mother Sun conspired and arranged to poison the two princes of Emperor Gongrang in order to frame the emperor, divert attention, and save the Sun family. Jin Ying explained everything clearly.
Now Lin Cong, Ye Sheng and others were completely scratching their heads: Empress Dowager Sun ordered Jin Ying to poison the prince and frame the emperor. In the end, both the man and the man got the stolen goods. With all the witnesses and physical evidence, it is absolutely impossible to deny.
Everyone present was not stupid. With the emperor's current authority, this one crime alone was enough to depose the queen mother. There was really no need to deliberately frame her.
And this is also evidence that Emperor Gongrang is not the biological son of the Empress Dowager: Emperor Gongrang is not the biological son of the Empress Dowager, so the two princes of Emperor Gongrang are not the biological grandchildren of the Empress Dowager, so the Empress Dowager does not need to take into account family ties and instructs Jin Ying to generalize the two. A prince was poisoned.
Then everything makes sense.
And the most important thing is that Sun Zhong's suicide note listed the seven major crimes of the Empress Dowager. The first one is that the Empress Dowager colluded with San Yang, and everyone knew it after the conspiracy was abolished. This is a fact.
Article 4: The Empress Dowager attacked the concubines of Xuan Temple, making it impossible for them to have children. Although only Jin Ying confessed to this, everyone knew it well.
There were so many concubines in the Xuanmiao Palace, but only Empress Hu and Empress Dowager Sun had children. The emperor in front of him was born outside the palace by Concubine Wu.
From the time of marriage to the death of Xuan Miao, it took a total of nineteen years, and he could only allow two women in the palace to give birth. If there was no problem in this, then it would be a ghost.
Article 5: Empress Dowager Sun ordered the imperial physician to poison Empress Hu and Princess Shunde. Judging from the strange death times of Queen Hu and Princess Shunde, they are almost the same. Besides, the evidence was conclusive that the consort Shi Jing poisoned Princess Shunde, and he had already been sentenced to Lingchi by the emperor.
As for whether Shi Jing's poisoning of Princess Shunde was ordered by the Empress Dowager Sun, it is difficult to say.
Article 6: Empress Dowager Sun colluded with King Yi's deposed concubine Wang, with the intention of drugging the emperor to cut off the emperor's heirs. It is also difficult to say.
Article 7: The Queen Mother Sun colluded with the Sun brothers and participated in launching a mutiny to force the palace. This really cannot be true anymore and there is no need to refute it.
King Qin took Sun Zhong's suicide note and read it loudly in front of everyone. At this time, everyone fell silent.
Most of the seven charges listed by Sun Zhong were not problematic and were enough to depose the Queen Mother several times. There was really no need to frame the case anymore.
At this moment, Commander Lu Gao of the Imperial Guards stood up, knelt in front of the emperor, and held up a piece of testimony: "Your Majesty, the general is guilty.
Mo Jiang was previously ordered to try the case of the Prince Consort Shi Jing poisoning Princess Shunde. In fact, Shi Jing has confessed that he was ordered by the Empress Dowager, but the final general felt that the matter was important and chose to hide it selfishly.
Now Shi Jing's complete confession is here, please read it clearly. I will be guilty in the end, and I am willing to receive a heavy punishment. "
Ruan Xi took the confession and presented it to Zhu Qiyu.
Zhu Qiyu pretended to read it carefully. In fact, this confession had been submitted truthfully to Lu Gao at that time, and he had kept it, patiently waiting for the day it would come into play.
Sure enough, the idle move that was ambushed back then has now played a key role. Just today, Shi Jing's confession became the straw that broke the camel's back.
After Zhu Qiyu read it, he respectfully handed the confession to Zhu Qizhen: "My brother is not familiar with Shi Jing, but I heard that the empress dowager and his eldest brother have always admired Shi Jing very much and have close contact with him.
Shi Jing is also famous for his talent, and he loves to write and draw to show off everywhere. I think the eldest brother knows Shi Jing's handwriting, right? Please give me some advice, brother. "
What Zhu Qiyu said is also true. Shi Jing is the consort of Queen Hu's biological daughter, but he is highly valued and loved by Sun and Zhu Qizhen, and there are problems even from afar.
Zhu Qizhen took the confession and only took one look at it, and his heart went cold: This is really Shi Jing's handwriting, and there is no falsehood at all. Shi Jing is not only handsome and handsome, but also good at playing music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and is extremely elegant. I have close contact with him, how can I not recognize his handwriting?
Everyone below saw the reaction of Emperor Gongrang and knew that this confession was indeed written by Shi Jing.
In this way, they all matched up: in the former, the empress dowager ordered the concubine Shi Jing to poison Princess Shunde, in the middle, the empress dowager instigated King Xi's deposed concubine Wang to give the emperor sterilization medicine, and in the latter, the empress dowager instigated the eunuch Jin Ying. The poisoning of the two princes was the same thing. They were both habitual offenders.
It's over, there is no room for argument now.
Even civil servants such as Lin Cong, Ye Sheng, Li Kan, and Zhu Ying who firmly sympathized with the empress dowager and respected the emperor had nothing to say.
With so much evidence on the table, it would be sheer arrogance to insist on it.
Zhu Qiyu also thought that the case was not solid enough, so he ordered: "The Queen Mother was assassinated by palace guards. Now she is seriously injured and cannot get up from her bed. Please invite the three Zongzhengs to go to the Yinghua Palace together with the chief officer of the Sanfa Department.
After presenting the evidence to the Queen Mother, we should listen to what the Queen Mother herself has to say. "
(End of chapter)
