Duke Cao's Mansion.
Li Jinglong has learned the news from the court's informants, and Xie Jin, Bao Zhao, and Gu Sanshen have joined forces to investigate the matter of Piaomiao Pavilion. All officials involved in the opening of Piaomiao Pavilion, regardless of whether they were involved in the case, have been controlled, and Piaomiao Pavilion has been closed for rectification.
Li Zengzhi looked at Li Jinglong uneasily, his face full of sorrow, and he shouted with anger: "Isn't it necessary for a woman to expand this matter to such an extent? Brother, the emperor wants to take action on us!"
"you shut up!"
Li Jinglong slammed the table and scolded him sternly.
Since Zhu Yunwen came to the throne, he thought that he would be favored, have unlimited glory, and be at the top of the martial arts list. But as a result, he first went to Guangdong to fight pirates and build ships. After returning, he lost his power, and the Zuo Army Governor's Mansion no longer had the final say.
Facts have proved that the emperor does not really trust himself.
Li Jinglong knew that Xu Huizu was at the height of his power and could not compete with him, so he thought of secretly making friends with court officials and Wu Xun, waiting for Xu Huizu to make mistakes, and then sealing his throat with a sword to become the number one Wu Xun!
This dormant force had won over many officials, and the secret power was getting stronger and stronger. But who would have expected that just because Li Zengzhi opened a restaurant, and because an official tried to rape a woman, the whole thing got out of control!
Officials are not domestic slaves!
Zhu Yunwen's words made Li Jinglong deeply afraid. The emperor was already warning him that his hand was stretched too long! Now, by ordering the Cabinet, the Ministry of Justice and the Security Bureau to investigate, you are cutting off your own hand!
Li Jinglong looked at Li Zengzhi bitterly. He had failed in many things and failed in many things. He gritted his teeth and said: "The matter has come to this. We have no way out. We are going to submit a memorial to plead guilty and resign from the post of Governor of the Left Army."
"Brother!"
Li Zengzhi was surprised.
If there is no official position, the Li family will lose control of the army. At that time, Xu Huizu will truly control the central army and the left army governor's mansion.
"You still have me as your elder brother in your eyes? We have broken with King Yan long ago, why are you still so close to Zhu Gaoxu? You know that we have a rift with Xu Huizu, why are you still close to Xu Zengshou? They two have brains, you Do you have any brains? You are being taken advantage of without even realizing it! Tell me, what happened to bring the three of you so close?!"
Li Jinglong asked angrily.
Li Zengzhi looked ugly, struggled for a while, lowered his head and said, "Brother, I am doing this for the future of our Li family!"
"The future? You should tell me!"
Li Jinglong narrowed his eyes slightly, his eyes cold.
When Li Zengzhi saw that the doors and windows were closed and no one was around, he whispered: "When my father was here, he was a lot of jealous of Taizu. When his father was ill in bed, Taizu sent Huai'an Hou Huazhong to treat him. Later, his father died and Huazhong was expelled from the capital. , was sent to Jianchang Guard, and all the other doctors were killed. My eldest brother once said that my father died of illness, but as far as I know, my father was poisoned!"
Li Jinglong shook his fist. The death of his father Li Wenzhong was a mystery.
Whether he died at the hands of Huaian Hou Huazhong or Taizu, Li Jinglong did not dare to say anything. After all, Taizu had murderous intentions for his father not once or twice.
Back then, people in high positions were not honored, but miserable.
"What exactly do you want to say?"
Li Jinglong asked in a deep voice.
Li Zengzhi sneered and said: "The glory and wealth we enjoy was obtained by our father with his life. But eldest brother, the new emperor doesn't trust us at all. He sent us to Guangdong. After returning to Beijing, although there were many rewards, he cut us off." power. Why should we serve such an emperor?"
"Snapped!"
Li Jinglong slapped Li Zengzhi angrily, knocking Li Zengzhi back two or three steps.
"You're crazy! You dare to say such double-hearted words. Do you want our whole family to be guillotined?!"
"Brother! Don't you think we live a useless life?"
"Shut up! If you dare to say such treacherous words again, I will destroy you without the Emperor taking action!"
Li Jinglong never thought that his brother could be so bold.
Although before this, Li Jinglong also had intentions to support King Yan Zhu Di, but now that he has broken with King Yan, Li Jinglong can only stand on Zhu Yunwen's side.
No matter whether Zhu Yunwen is reliable or not, it cannot be changed.
Li Zengzhi covered his face, his mouth trembled a few times, and said: "Brother, we are about to lose the Zuo Army Governor's Mansion. What else can we lose after this? What are we afraid of when we have nothing?"
Li Jinglong took a step forward, and Li Zengzhi quickly backed away.
"You remember, today is different from the past. The emperor's control over the court is already solid and cannot be shaken by anyone! It is better to lose military power than to lose your head! Don't be stubborn and drag down the entire Duke Cao's palace!"
Li Jinglong suddenly shook his sleeves and walked out.
Fight against Zhu Yunwen?
Li Jinglong didn't know where Li Zengzhi got the courage, Xu Zengshou? Zhu Gaoxu? Just these two guys who don't have much power? They don't deserve it!
Soon after, Zhu Yunwen received the confession documents from Li Jinglong and Li Zengzhi.
After Zhu Yunwen read it, he threw it aside without comment, waiting for the investigation by Xie Jin and others.
This was the first implicated investigation in the Jianwen Dynasty. There were more than 60 officials involved in the case, and even officials of the third grade of Yin Zheng in Yingtian Mansion were involved. Some of the imperial officials, such as censors, gishizhong, yuanwailang, and chief officials, had low official positions. , there were as many as sixteen officials with great power, and some generals from the Fifth Army Governor's Office were involved.
After half a month of investigation, Xie Jin and the Ministry of Punishment came to a conclusion:
The Duke of Cao made friends with officials and generals and formed his own faction with evil intentions.
At the same time, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, which had been silent until now, suddenly seemed to be well-informed. Impeachment memorials were handed in one after another. Some censors even began to investigate the matter of Li Zengzhi visiting a brothel during Taizu's hot mourning period. Li Jinglong and Li Zengzhi Corruption and collusion with businessmen in Guangdong were also exposed.
After Zhu Yunwen heard this, he was furious and ordered Li Jinglong to be dismissed from the post of governor of the Left Army and Li Zengzhi from the post of governor of the Left Army. At the same time, Li Zengzhi was arrested and imprisoned, and he ordered Li Jinglong to be banned until the matter was found out.
For a moment, people inside and outside the court were shocked.
Less than two years after Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne, he took action against the Duke, and he used thunderbolt methods and showed no mercy.
Officials from the Ministry of Punishment and the Security Bureau did not have a good impression of Li Zengzhi, but after all, Li Jinglong was Cao Guogong, and his energy was still there. Although he was banned from home, there were still some people in the court who excused him, especially those from the army. There were many petitioners, including Youdu commanded Yang Song, Gu Cheng and others, and even later, Wu Gao, the Marquis of Jiangyin, and Wu Jie, the Marquis of Anlu, also submitted memorials begging for forgiveness of Li Jinglong and Li Zengzhi.
The reason why these military honors are like this is not because of Li Jinglong himself, but because of Li Wenzhong, because they owe Li Wenzhong and admire Li Wenzhong.
In the thirteenth year of Hongwu's reign, Zhu Yuanzhang executed Prime Minister Hu Weiyong on charges of abuse of power, perversion of law and conspiracy, and deliberately expanded the case to implicate as many as 10,000 people.
At that time, Li Wenzhong had only taken over the governor's office for a year. Faced with such a bloody storm, everyone in the court was in danger and did not dare to say anything. Only Li Wenzhong submitted three memorials to urge Zhu Yuanzhang not to kill officials wantonly.
Zhu Yuanzhang suppressed the first two performances and ignored them. But when he presented the memorial for the third time, Li Wenzhong really angered Zhu Yuanzhang. In the memorial, he wrote the following words: "Rebels and traitors will be punished without mercy, but they will practice false accusations, kill innocent people indiscriminately, make people uneasy, and harm the vitality of the country."
Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at Li Wenzhong and cursed: "You are so bold and talk nonsense. I will put an end to rebellion, what does it have to do with you?"
Li Wenzhong was not afraid and replied loudly: "The emperor has killed all the heroes and generals. Once there is police on the border or there is a rebellion in the country, who will serve the country on the battlefield? I hope the emperor will think twice."
Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and decided to kill Li Wenzhong as well. If Empress Ma hadn't knelt down and begged later, Li Wenzhong's head would have been moved.
Although Li Wenzhong's admonition did not stop Zhu Yuanzhang's butcher knife, the officials and generals at the time undoubtedly saw Li Wenzhong's courage, trust, and righteousness in "preservation", and they sincerely admired him.
Although Li Wenzhong died later, the spiritual property he left behind still existed, protecting the Duke Cao's palace.
Zhu Yunwen saw this power of protection and understood why "he" trusted Li Jinglong in history. He stood in the position of commander-in-chief and had a military background.
It's just that Wu Xun's risking his life to plead for mercy is obviously not enough when compared with the civil servants' adding insult to injury.
The censors were very efficient. They listed Li Zengzhi's crimes as many as sixteen, and gave a simple and easy summary:
According to the law, beheaded.
Zhu Yunwen looked at the documents delivered by the Ministry of Punishment and the Cabinet and scratched his head a little. His original intention was to punish Cao Guogong and warn others not to collude with officials and form cliques for personal gain. But it was unexpected. Things have gone beyond his expectations.
Whether or not Li Zengzhi was executed was not a big deal in Zhu Yunwen's eyes. After all, it was not Li Jinglong who was going to die.
However, in this incident, the high degree of unity shown by the civil officials, the close cooperation of the censor, and the manipulation of the right to speak made Zhu Yunwen a little uneasy.
"Order Dongchang to take over the investigation and find out whether Li Zengzhi's crime is true."
Zhu Yunwen was not led by the civil officials, but suppressed the case and transferred the case-handling power to Dongchang.
In addition to this incident, the confrontation between the Ministry of Rites and Annan's envoys also came to an end.
At the court meeting, the Annan envoy proposed to cede part of the land in order to ask the Ming court to forgive the offense, and said that the captive people would be sent back to the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yunwen did not agree with this result, but considering the support of the cabinet and the excessive expenditure and too many affairs of the imperial court this year, it was not suitable to expedition to Annan, so he issued an order: "Annan's ceding of land is not enough to compensate for the disaster, and Annan is ordered to pay back 10 million taels." , for compensation.”
The Annan envoy was shocked. Ten million taels was not a small number. Annan was a small country with few silver mines. How could he get so much silver.
"I don't dare to be expert in this matter. I should ask the Lord and report back to the Heavenly Court."
Annan's envoy replied reluctantly.
Zhu Yunwen looked at the envoy coldly and said: "Let me tell Hu Jiyou that if he dares to deceive the Ming Dynasty, I will send millions of troops to march to Annan!"
