After a while, Zhu Yijun returned to the hall and sat down on the dragon chair. He asked the eunuch to send a message to the Wenhua Hall and stopped his daily lecture. Zhu Xixiao's convenience is over and he meets the driver again. Zhu Yijun was not as amiable as before. Although he asked him to sit down, he didn't talk nonsense. He stepped back and asked directly: "How was the trial of the case of Minister Wang driving while holding a knife that was reported on the 19th of the first lunar month?"
The case of Minister Wang was originally a famous mystery in history, and it was also one of the mysteries of the Ming Dynasty that later generations of historians invested a lot of energy in studying. The case is simple: on the 19th day of the first lunar month of this year, the little emperor who had not traveled through time left the palace to visit the court as usual. As soon as the emperor's sedan chair left the Qianqing Gate, a man wearing the clothes of an eunuch came down the west steps and was captured by the imperial guards. After a search, one sword and one sword were found. After preliminary interrogation, this person claimed to be Minister Wang and was from Wujin County, Changzhou Prefecture, and did not say anything else. At that time, Empress Dowager Li was horrified when she heard about this incident and went to Dongchang to investigate.
Dongchang investigated for several days and found out that this person's real name was Zhang Long, and he was a deserter from the commander-in-chief Qi Jiguang's department. Feng Baobao and Zhang Juzheng said that Minister Wang said that the messenger was Gao Gong. At that time, Gao Gong had been defeated, so he ordered Guiji to live in peace, but he had not yet left Beijing. Zhang Juzheng invited the emperor on the 22nd day of the first lunar month - Empress Dowager Li was the spokesperson at the time, and drafted an order to thoroughly investigate the envoy. As a result, the officialdom of the capital was in an uproar. The officials generally believed that this was a conspiracy between Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao, and they wanted to kill Gao Gong. Later, under the strong backlash from Beijing officials and officials represented by Yang Bo and Ge Shouli, Zhang Juzheng changed his mind and asked Zhu Xixiao, Ge Shouli, and Feng Bao to jointly review the case on behalf of Jinyiwei, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Dongchang respectively.
The trial lasted for more than a month. A few days ago, Zhang Juzheng reported that it was not appropriate to delve deeper into the matter - completely different from what he said on the 22nd of the first lunar month. Zhu Yijun could not intervene originally, but in the past few days, the relationship between mother and son has reached MAX, and he has obtained the right to participate. Today, he got the opportunity to directly question Zhu Xixiao, the person involved in the case.
When Zhu Yijun later read historical materials, he had two questions about this: First, was this person sent by Feng Bao? Second, did Zhang Juzheng know about it beforehand, or did he know about it during the incident and follow the trend to kill Gao Gong? Today I'm going to get an answer. This answer is not trivial. If he was sent by Feng Bao, Zhu Yijun would have to expel Feng Bao immediately because he was too dangerous; if Zhang Juzheng knew about it in advance, then Zhu Yijun would have to get to know Zhang Juzheng again and might not dare to entrust all the important affairs to him, lest he be betrayed by him. Bullying, if you are aware of the situation and follow the trend, you can still beat it and save it.
During this period, Zhu Xixiao, the left governor of Jinyi Guard, had been trying the case together with Ge Shouli, the left governor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Feng Bao of Dongchang. Knowing what was going on, when Zhu Yijun asked questions, he felt a sense of joy in going back to history to solve the mystery, but it was not enough. For outsiders.
Zhu Xixiao secretly complained in his heart at this time. He did know the inside story in detail, but how could he dare to offend the government? He received an orthodox aristocratic education since he was a child, and he had no problem doing an upright job, but he lacked the energy to adapt to situations. Now when the emperor asked, he was hesitating and sweating profusely, but could not speak.
Zhu Yijun was dissatisfied when he saw him hesitating. He thought that he was typing, having diarrhea, and writing. Could it be that his pretty eyes were made for the blind man to see? Senran said: "Do you want to protect the leader?!" This question has two meanings, one is literally, asking if he still wants his head? Another meaning is, is there a leader above you? Who do you want to protect?
Zhu Xixiao's head was agitated, and he suddenly came back to his senses. "Insert, who am I, Lao Zhu, afraid of now?!" The emperor sang and composed well today, and it was clear that Da Yong, the royal guard, had his thoughts in mind. What else did he have to hesitate about?
"I don't dare. This case is very complex. I just want to talk about it." Zhu Xixiao suddenly knelt down and answered: "After receiving the imperial edict, I will meet with Ge Shouli, the censor of Zuodu, the chief minister of etiquette and the admiral of Dongchang. Feng Bao will review the case. Before the trial, I asked someone to secretly interrogate Minister Wang and asked him where he came from. Minister Wang replied: 'He comes from Feng Bao's family. If Gao Gong was the main assassin, it was Feng Baojiao.'" Empress Dowager Li on the screen After hearing this, the world was spinning.
Zhu Xixiao added: "During the interrogation, the ministers followed Yang Tianguan's idea and compared it with Minister Wang's previous confession, and mixed Gao Gong's family members Li Bao, Gao Ben, and Gao Lai among the crowd for Minister Wang to identify, but Minister Wang failed Can't identify it - it can be seen that it is a false accusation to say that Gao Gong ordered it."
After hearing this, Zhu Yijun asked: "What did you ask?" Zhu Xixiao replied: "I asked Minister Wang where the sword came from. Minister Wang replied: 'It was given by Xin Ru, a slave of the Feng family.'"
After hearing this, Zhu Yijun asked: "Who ordered him?"
Zhu Xixiao smiled bitterly and said: "During the interrogation, Feng Bao also asked this question. Minister Wang stared up and replied: 'You ordered me to come, but you asked me again.' Feng Bao asked again: 'Yesterday you said you were an old envoy from the high cabinet. Why don't you tell me today that you are here to assassinate me?" Minister Wang replied, "Tell me, tell me, how did I ever know Mr. Gao Ge?"
Zhu Yijun heard this, glanced at the screen, and then asked: "What did you say next?"
Zhu Xixiao saw sweat on his forehead and replied: "I saw him falsely accusing the interrogator - this is common in interrogations, so I stopped the interrogation."
After hearing this, Zhu Yijun asked without comment, "Is there a record of the interrogation? Let me see it in the future." Zhu Xixiao kowtowed and said, "He falsely accused the interrogator, but I didn't dare to record it, but the words were not included in the transcript." Upon hearing this, Zhu Yijun said, He shouted angrily: "I said Gao Gong ordered me before but I dared to remember it. Now I say Feng Bao ordered me but I accuse him falsely. How dare you bully me?" Zhu Xixiao kowtowed and exchanged tears. Queen Mother Li was behind the screen, her chest filled with anger at being deceived by Feng Bao, and she actually shed tears.
Zhu Yijun said solemnly: "I heard that you have a good relationship with Gao Suqing, and you bribed thousands of taels and crotch in the palace to protect your status in front of your mother and queen. You are so rich and righteous!"
Like a thunderbolt exploding on his forehead, Zhu Xixiao almost collapsed to the ground. He was indeed a kind man, and had a good personal relationship with Gao Gong, and he could not bear to have Gao Gong be tainted for no reason and end up being executed. After the incident, Feng Bao surrounded Gao Gong's family, and Gao Gong hanged himself, but he did not die. ——So, Zhu Xixiao used money to pay bribes to save Gao Gong, but this was done one-on-one without telling everyone. How did the emperor find out? This emperor is really unfathomable! When he was so devastated, his ancestor suddenly appeared, and with a sudden inspiration, he kowtowed and shouted: "I dare not deceive you! I dare not deceive you! But I am afraid of Feng Dangchao'er! I have found out the truth. This case is Xin Ru, a slave of Feng Bao's family, went to find a shabby residence in Beijing and pretended to be a deserter from Qi Jiguang. Because Qi Jiguang and Zhang Juzheng were thick, they wanted to bring Zhang Juzheng into trouble! Zhang Juzheng wanted to hide Qi Jiguang's affairs, so he conspired with Feng Bao to cause Gao Xinzheng's death. The officials' backlash was violent. Officials Yang Bo, Zuo Du Yushi Ge Shouli, Tai Pu Qing Li Youzi, etc. argued with Zhang Juzheng, and Zhang Juzheng regretted it again——"
There was a loud bang, but the marble screen fell to the ground and shattered into pieces! A person was revealed from behind the screen, it was Li Caifeng, the empress dowager who was in power!
Zhu Yijun jumped up with an ouch, and saw the Queen Mother's face full of anger, but the tears were still wet on her face. Knowing that she was deeply sad, he hurriedly walked up to support her, and gently stroked her back with his hands to calm her down. When Zhu Xixiao saw Ci Sheng sitting behind the screen, his heart was pounding. Today he told one by one how Feng Bao, Zhang Juzheng and even the foreign ministers were plotting or collaborating for their own political purposes. He has made up his mind to only be a pure minister of the emperor in the future - at this point, he is not afraid anymore.
A loud noise in the hall had already alerted the eunuchs and others waiting outside the hall. Cao De, the manager of Qianqing Palace, and others came into the palace and saw that the three people were in no danger and no one was injured. Just as he was about to speak, Zhu Yijun said: "Back off!" He stopped and said: "Does anyone dare to leak a word about today's incident? If you do, behead them all! Go get the list of servants around you and report it to me!" Cao De and others responded solemnly, and then exited the hall again.
Seeing that the emperor handled things appropriately, the Cisheng Queen Mother showed a sad smile on her face. She said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, Mother and Queen... Mother and Queen... they will only bully orphans and widowed mothers like me..." Before she could finish her words, she started to cry.
Zhu Yijun said solemnly: "What's wrong with my mother? They are used to deceiving the superiors and concealing the truth from the inferiors. They have changed the medicine without changing the medicine for many years - it has always been like this, why should you be sad? You are sad, but you are just like these slaves and so-called loyal ministers. , how can we kill them as we want?" Queen Mother Li was stunned by what she said, and forgot to cry. She grabbed Zhu Yijun's sleeve and said: "Your Majesty, please don't say this, how can we kill them all? The affairs of the state are as thick as thick. , we still have to... we still have to rely on these -" I cried again, speechless.
Zhu Yijun saw that this was not the case, and that some of the ways of an imperial minister were not suitable to be spoken in front of Zhu Xixiao, so he turned his head and asked Zhu Xixiao: "You have also seen the situation of your mother, why don't you show these bastards to your mother and me?" look?!"
Zhu Xixiao cried and said: "I deserve death! According to my investigation, Zhang Juzheng did conspire with Feng Bao to get rid of Gao Gong at the beginning, and he did regret it later. Previously, according to the report of the detective, Zhang Juzheng When the case first broke out, they suppressed the officials and did not allow them to report Gao Gong's grievances to Cisheng. Later, they went to the Guan Sheng Temple outside the Meridian Gate to ask for a signature. The signature was annotated: "If your plans are not good, why pray to God? It is better to make up your mind and change your ways." "Zixin", and because of the advice of Yang, Ge, and Li, he asked the ministers to have a joint trial with Ge Shouli. Otherwise, the imperial decree was for Dongchang to investigate, so why would there be a joint trial? This is why Zhang Juzheng wanted to protect Gao Gong through Wei Chen and Ge Shouli. .”
Zhu Yijun asked: "Minister Wang committed a driving offense with a knife, was Zhang Juzheng involved in the conspiracy?" When he asked, his voice trembled, and Empress Dowager Li grabbed his hand tightly, as if a drowning person was trying to grasp the only remaining thread. of driftwood.
Zhu Xixiao kowtowed and said: "This minister has not found out. However, if Zhang Juzheng was involved in the conspiracy, Minister Wang could not falsely accuse Qi Jiguang at the beginning. This can be evidence that Zhang Juzheng was not involved in the conspiracy." Empress Dowager Li and Zhu Yijun breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
Zhu Yijun asked again: "What do Yang Bo and others want to do?"
Zhu Xixiao said: "Yang Bo and others were afraid of digging into the case, setting off a big prison and shaking the country; they were also afraid that the various factions would conflict with each other and ruin the political style. He knew that Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng were in charge, so he recommended Wei Chen to Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng will only accept it if he regrets it."
Zhu Yijun asked: "Why didn't Yang Bo and others tell the Queen Mother and me about it?"
Zhu Xixiao smiled bitterly and said: "Zhang Juzheng was the one who posted the yellow papers and drafted the votes, and Feng Bao was the one who criticized the red ones. Important ministers and the like did not have the right to secretly report special reports. Because the empress dowager was a daughter, men and women were different and could not please the right one. And the emperor... the emperor... "But I can't take it. I thought that Yang Bo and others didn’t know that you were so powerful at such a young age? Otherwise, I would have come to you to file a complaint, which would make Zhang Juzheng disgusted.
When Ci Sheng heard this, he completely understood the whole story. Because she trusted Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng too much, she actually blocked the way of communication and allowed these two people to deceive Sheng Heng. The entire case of Minister Wang, with internal and external collusion, completely kept her and the emperor in the dark. If the emperor hadn't subdued the Jin Yiwei today and had Zhu Xixiao under control, the case might have passed in a muddle. She calmed down a little and said to Zhu Xixiao: "You are also a meritorious official. You have retired from the country and have been married for many generations. How can you collude with them and not reveal the true information?"
Zhu Xixiao smiled bitterly and replied: "I know I was wrong. I didn't know that the Holy One was so smart before, so I always wanted to be wise and protect myself. I also wanted to use my identity to preserve some vitality and righteousness for the court-" He took off his hat, kowtowed and cried. :
"Because of the trial of this case, I have been worried all day and night, and I can hardly sleep. Today, I am so ashamed that I want to die - I ask the Queen Mother and the Emperor to tell me that I am a warning to those who come after me!"
The Empress Dowager Cisheng sighed and looked at Zhu Yijun. Zhu Yijun nodded and said filial piety to Zhu Xi: "The imperial court has always been like this before. The Jin Yiwei has not been able to cheer up, but it is difficult for you to be considerate - this is just this time, and it will not be the same next time. If there is a next time, it will not be your hat, nor your head." Bao, but it will bring down your family's reputation and humiliate it, do you know the seriousness of it?"
Zhu Xixiao exchanged with tears: "Thank you, Queen Mother, for your kindness! Thank you for your kindness! Today, the emperor used your words to remind me, in the future, if I try to protect myself and deceive Sheng Cong, I will be killed by the thunder of heaven!"
Zhu Yijun asked: "How is Minister Wang doing now?"
Zhu Xixiao replied: "The review was completed yesterday, and now the East Factory is closed."
Zhu Yijun nodded: "Go and pass on my instructions and take him to Fusi Prison in Beizhen. Don't let him die!" After thinking about it, he picked up paper and pen again and wrote an edict in handwriting: "Dongchang may not listen to you. Jinyiwei, please take my handwriting and do it!"
Zhu Xixiao respectfully took the calligraphy, picked up his hat from the ground, and exited the hall.
When Queen Mother Li saw him leaving the palace, she stood up and said to Zhu Yijun: "Emperor, I have made a decision to seal the palace!"
