Shaodi Chunxin

Yan Jifan took Wu Jingyi into Dongnuan Pavilion, and placed two jars of peaches, plums and spring breeze on the gold bricks among the crowd.

Yan Jifan knelt down and said: "Your Majesty! I found evidence of Fu Yuanqing's embezzlement of the Mexican state money in Fu Yuanqing's private house today!"

"Criminal evidence?" Pu Ying said, "Isn't this the Taoli Chunfeng wine from Qiongyu Building? During the Chinese New Year, Mr. Xiaoge even sent me two jars, isn't it, Tongda?"

Yu Ruicheng walked out from behind the crowd. He first saluted the emperor, and then politely said to Pu Ying: "I have never brought you wine, be quiet."

Pu Ying was taken aback: "Who gave the two jars of peaches, plums and spring breeze that are placed in my guard's room?"

"You should ask your concierge?" Yu Ruicheng smiled.

Pu Ying was at a loss for words, her brows gradually tightened, and she asked in a deep voice, "Even if you didn't give it to me, Spring Breeze of Peach and Li is still Spring Breeze of Peach and Li. How did two jars of wine become evidence of private embezzlement of state money?"

Yan Jifan straightened his sleeves, and laughed: "This minister dare not move, let someone else inspect the bar. Don't say that I intend to frame you."

Lai Liqun was present at the scene, heard this and said: "Master, I would like to check."

Zhao Xu stared at Yan Jifan with a gloomy expression: "Test!"

Lai Liqun then went forward to check: "A jar has been unsealed, and I drank half of it, there is nothing abnormal."

He looked at another jar of wine.

"The other jar is unopened, and the clay sculpture is old. It hasn't been touched recently." Lai Liqun said again.

"Okay." Yan Jifan replied, "Commander Lai, please break open this wine jar."

Lai Liqun glanced at him and punched him. The one-foot-high wine jar suddenly shattered, and the rich aroma of wine wafted through the entire East Nuan Pavilion. In the broken jar, a wax-sealed oil paper was exposed after the wine had run out.

Lai Liqun took out the paper bag and put it on the gold plate that Debao brought over, opened it, and the folded paper inside fell apart immediately.

Everyone here already understands that something is wrong, but no one knows what to say, dare to say,

After a while, from the quiet crowd, Yu Ruicheng walked slowly to Lai Liqun's side, rolled up his sleeves, as if to prove his innocence.Under the eyes of everyone, he held the loose paper bag between his fingers, and the wine flowed down his arm. He didn't care, and carefully opened the paper bag

Then he laughed: "If I remember correctly, when Hou Xinghai was arrested, there was only half of the accounts at home, and Commander Lai searched all over Shuntian Mansion later, but he didn't find the second half?"

He lifted up the compressed and crumpled account book.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Wei Feilong captured Hou Xinghai and sent him to imperial prison.

Corruption of 200 million taels of ink, selling officials to sell nobles is horrifying, involving hundreds of government officials in the central and central yamen, so far the distribution, sentencing, and execution have not all been determined.

The missing second half of the accounts is directly related to whether there will be another wave.

Unexpectedly, it was hidden in Fu Yuanqing's house.

Everyone changed color.

Yu Ruicheng said: "If I'm not mistaken, the second half of the account transactions may have something to do with Fu's palm print... So, the Fusi of Beizhen took Jin Yiwei to raid officials in the capital, and arrested so many people to go back. Interrogation, this matter is intriguing."

Yan Jifan laughed: "Could it be that the thief shouted "Stop the thief?"

Yu Ruicheng raised his hand to look at the stack of papers again, he shook his head and sighed.

"Fu Zhangyin didn't enter the palace. He was supposed to be selfless. There are lands belonging to someone else, and here are the land deeds of fertile fields in Jiangsu and Zhejiang... [-] hectares."

One hundred thousand hectares.

Everyone in the hall stopped breathing for a moment.

"I am in charge of the household department, and the household department has its own statistics. Five acres of land can live people. Fifty acres can be used for clothing, and a hundred acres of land can keep a family warm without hunger. One hundred thousand hectares is 15 mu of fertile land. To support 15 families, if a family has a population of six or seven, it will be nearly ten thousand people." Yu Ruicheng sighed, "May I ask how many people in Fu Zhangyin's family need [-] mu of land to support?"

Heng Jing coughed next to him, and asked in a dry voice, "I think there are still some things left, what are they?"

"It's a banknote." Yu Ruicheng put down the land deed and counted the remaining banknotes, "Ruihe Bank's banknote is 150 million taels. It's the same amount that Hou Xinghai never found."

He shook his head amusedly.

"I thought Fu Zhangyin really cared about the country, so it is so... so..."

Fu Yuanqing put down the brush and put his hands on his knees. No one knew that there seemed to be ice in his heart that was slowly freezing.

When he saw the two altars of peaches and plums presented in spring breeze, he already understood everything.

why?

At this moment, he asked himself why Yu Ruicheng was the only one who ignored him. He was obviously the son of Mr. Yu Ge and a person closely related to the situation in the court, but he just didn't take precautions.

Maybe it's because he has always regarded Yu Ruicheng as a close person, and he has never been on guard against Ruicheng and Pu Ying.

Perhaps it was because, after the disaster of Fu's family, Yu Ruicheng was the first to get close to him, and helped him save the bones of his mother and sister, and buried them in Gyeonggi.

Or maybe it was because he was too lonely, too deserted, and had received countless slanders over the years, but Yu Ruicheng still called him Lanzhi and respected him as a brother.

He would rather stay away from these well-meaning people than to avoid them being implicated.

Over the years, he has clearly known who his opponent is and what kind of ending he will face.

In every dark night, everyone in the court is like a pawn on a chessboard, and all kinds of deduction are in front of his eyes.

He counted Heng Zhiye, Liu Jiu, Yan Jifan, the queen mother, the cabinet, and even Yu Luqiu...but the only person who was not in his deduction, the one who has been upholding it for more than ten years. The eldest brother with a gentle temper - escaped from his chess game, became the person in charge of the chess, and became the pusher behind the chessboard.

Yu Huaimu, Chief Procuratorate of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, bowed out from the crowd, took out the playbook he had written long ago from his bosom, knelt down and presented it, and said loudly, "Your Majesty, I have a playbook for you, Yu Huaimu!"

Zhao Xu's face was extremely ugly at this time: "No!"

"I'm risking my life to play!" Yu Huaimu didn't listen to him, and said loudly: "I'm going to play the traitor Fu Yuanqing, who deceived the emperor and accumulated crimes! Ever since Fu Yuanqing took power, he has coveted the country's money privately and seized good land. Covering the sky with one hand, wanting to destroy my Daduan community. Violating the ancestors' patriarchal law, corrupting the affairs of the court, and being private, using your majesty's favor and favor to bully the king, showing that his evil disease has aroused the anger of both people and gods. The minister Yu Huai admires and begs the emperor to be decisive Judging, with the posture of thunder, bound these ten thousand-year-old traitors to the front of the Nine Temples, and gathered all the civil and military officials, big and small, and the three jurisprudence officers to question them one by one, and they are facing the court, the Qing emperor's side, and imitating others! 【Note 1】”

Before he finished speaking, the two cabinet ministers of the Yu family, together with several other members of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, knelt down and begged, "I beg your majesty to order you to be at the court and the Qing emperor's side, so as to serve as an example to others!"

Pu Ying angrily scolded in disbelief: "Yu Huaimu, you are the chief constitution of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Mr. Yu Ge is the chief assistant of the cabinet, and you, you -- you planted and framed things before the truth came out, are you worthy of wearing this black hat?! Are you worthy of the conscience of heaven and earth?!"

"Master Pu, the matter hasn't come to light yet?" Yu Huaimu asked him, "These evidences were all found from Ting Tao, so Fu Yuanqing didn't own them?!"

Fang Jing stepped forward and said, "The two altars of wine were sent to Tingtao House by Mr. Xiao Ge himself. They are not belongings of my ancestors. I, Fang Jing, can testify."

Yu Huaimu laughed: "A palace slave has no evidence to speak and can't prove. Besides you, besides Fu Yuanqing's slave, are there other people who can be witnesses?!"

Fang Jing was stunned, and before he could speak again, he heard Yan Jifan say: "The palace servants can also testify, but I just want Fang Bingbi to go to my Ministry of Punishment to go up the mountain of swords and down the sea of ​​fire, and go through ninety-nine and eighty-one punishments. If you don't change your mouth, your testimony will be destroyed Make the numbers!"

Fang Jing's face was gloomy. After all, he was young and energetic. After hearing this, he stood up straight and wanted to agree.

"Fang Jing! Don't agree." Fu Yuanqing stopped him.

Fang Jing's eyes were red, and he looked at Fu Yuanqing: "Godfather!"

Fu Yuanqing stood up: "I can't agree. No one can survive 81 sentences."

"But--"

Only the emperor lowered his voice and said: "Enough."

Everyone was startled.

Zhao Xu pinched the bridge of his nose: "If you need someone to testify, there is actually one person who can testify. In fact, at that time, I—"

"There is no witness." Fu Yuanqing interrupted him.

"There is no witness." Fu Yuanqing walked to the dragon chair, bowed and said, "Except for Fang Jing, there was only one dead man from the East Factory in the servant's house at that time, and the dead man died not long ago, so there is no witness."

Zhao Xu looked at him in disbelief: "Fu Yuanqing, you—"

Fu Yuanqing sighed and raised his eyes to look at him: "Your Majesty must understand that although the dead man is somewhat similar to His Majesty, but he is a dead man after all, and he can only be a dead man. Some things cannot be told to others at the beginning. At the last moment, it cannot be exposed to the light of the sky."

"Is Fu Zhangyin pleading guilty?!" Yu Huaimu asked him.

The emperor looked embarrassed, and said angrily: "Yu Huaimu resists the decree and disrespects, the imperial staff is eighty, and he is sent to the army!"

"Your Majesty is a Taoist official, what is the crime of admonishing His Majesty?!" Yu Huaimu's face suddenly turned pale, and he protested, "Your Majesty is so stupid, why should he protect this traitor?! Hundreds of officials shook the door and Fuque , Your Majesty is also indifferent?!"

Fu Yuanqing raised his eyes and searched for Yu Ruicheng in the crowd.

The former sworn brother was also looking at him, and even smiled at him apologetically... But the sarcasm behind Yu Ruicheng's harmless smile has already permeated faintly.

Everyone and himself forced him to this dead end.

There was nothing...

It's just that he didn't expect that the one who held his throat with his own hands was his own brother.

The spring breeze of peaches and plums drank a cup of poisonous wine.

The night rain in the rivers and lakes paved the way for the end.

The sadness that Xue Ye drank that day filled with endless sadness, and at this moment, it poured up endlessly, causing Fu Yuanqing's mouth to suffer.

It's because my heart is still soft.

It is my own conscience that still exists.

It's my own chess that I lost.

He bowed to Zhao Xu and said, "Your Majesty, please appease your anger."

"Father..."

"I'll go with them and come back."

Zhao Xu unconsciously grabbed the red string on his wrist, only feeling the soreness hit his nostrils.

You went, can you come back, father?

When Fu Yuanqing stood up, he was not flustered, and even smiled slightly.

He was as calm and serene as he was by Zhao Xu's side all these years... in all the moments when he was timid, flustered, frightened and helpless, and he comforted him: "Your Majesty calm down, from now on, be a wise monarch... ...The first emperor, the first emperor is still looking at your rule in the prosperous age."

After saying this, he turned his head to look at the people in the room.

The eyes of those people did not look like humans, but like beasts, and their sharp fangs showed in their smiles, they would tear him apart in the next moment.

At this time, Cao Ban'an, who was standing behind everyone, raised his voice, "Your servant has something to do."

After saying this, he walked up to Fu Yuanqing, first saluted in the direction of the emperor, then raised his hand and smiled at Fu Yuanqing, then knelt down and said: "The dirty things in Ting Tao's house are owned by slaves, and have nothing to do with Fu Yuanqing!"

"Nonsense!" Yan Jifan was the first to jump up, "How can the things about Taoju have something to do with you, Cao Ban'an?!"

Cao Ban'an got up on his knees and didn't look at his fluent answer: "I was worried that I would be involved in the case of Hou Xinghai's corruption of ink, so I put the silver that Hou Xinghai gave me, the ledger of corruption of ink, and my own private land in the wine jar. Fu Yuanqing is not here, so he is sent to Tingtao Residence."

Yu Ruicheng asked: "The Taoli Chunfeng wine is still sealed, how can you say that you put it in the jar?"

"Since Mr. Xiaoge said that this wine was not given to Fu Yuanqing by you, how can he say that it is the real Taoli Chunfeng wine?" Cao Ban'an asked back, "That is the imprint forged by the servant half a year ago. Will you accept it?"

Yu Ruicheng's face became ugly.

He asked again: "You said you wanted to frame Fu Yuanqing, why?"

"It's very simple. 13 years ago, I was already the supervisor of ceremonies, and I was young and promising. If there were no accidents, I would be the supervisor of ceremonies. But the late emperor appointed Fu Yuanqing to lead the internal supervisor. I envy Fu Yuanqing who can be the supervisor of ceremonies. I hate him for blocking my money. That's why I have been willing to be a writer by his side for so many years!"

"Then why Fu Yuanqing is about to be arrested at this moment, but you want to come out and plead guilty?"

Cao Ban'an looked at Fu Yuanqing, smiled and wept: "The ministers in the court are upright and awe-inspiring. I was influenced by you, and I only feel ashamed of my master and Qingtian. I have to admit my guilt and make an example to others!"

His logic was clear and the rules were orderly, and he couldn't find any loopholes for a while.

After a while, Mr. Yu Ge coughed several times, and said a little old and tired: "Yan Jifan, what are you waiting for, take him back to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment for careful examination..."

Only then did Yan Jifan come back to his senses, his face was pale, his fingertips trembled, and he looked at Elder Yu Ge and Yu Ruicheng in despair.

The two looked at him coldly.

Although he detained a person.

Although he seemed to have an advantage in front of the imperial court, he forced Fu Yuanqing to a desperate situation.

But Yan Jifan knew that he... lost everything.

His eyes were blurred, and he replied tremblingly: "Yes."

[Note 1: Adapted from Yang Lian's "The 24 Deadly Crimes of Impeaching Wei Zhongxian"]