Reincarnation of the powerful minister

Su Yan and the guards of the Eastern Palace went to the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, only to find out that the Ministry of Criminal Justice in Nanjing, Dali Temple, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate are located next to the Houhu Lake in the north of the outer city.

Because of his position, the criminal officers were more civilized when interrogating the businessmen surnamed Qian, and did not use any instruments of torture.

After walking back and forth between a row of independent cells for a long time, Su Yan, who was on the go hearing the trial, felt that these wealthy businessmen were not the "money benefactors" they were looking for.

He came out of the prison and was about to go back to look for the prince when a small group of guards galloped over and said: "Lord Su, I invite you to go to the Yamen of Yingtian Mansion."

The official office of Yingtian Mansion is located next to the inner bridge in the center of Nanjing. When Su Yan entered the main hall of the yamen, he saw the crown prince sitting on the head of the chief official.

There are two people standing under the hall, a middle-aged man wearing a third-rank civil official robe, with a yellow face and a slight beard, is the prefect Guo Chang.

Another white-faced man in his fifth decade was born with kind eyebrows and kind eyes, and was dressed as an internal official.Su Yan had never seen this person before, so he must have been Yan Yiyi, the eunuch of Nanjing's defense.He saw the big red python robe on Eunuch Yan's body, which was the same as the flying fish suit, and he guessed that the eunuch had worked as a supervisor of ceremonies in the Imperial Palace in the capital before, and his position was not low.

"Hey, Eunuch Yan and Governor Guo, what's the matter?" Su Yan bowed his hands with a smile as he bowed to his peers, "Ask the yamen servant to bring two chairs to sit on."

"Don't dare! His Highness the Crown Prince is here, how can he be an official..." Guo Fuyin looked restless, and the forehead was wet in the cold.

Eunuch Yan folded his arms, and looked like an internal official respectful in front of his master, with a calm expression on his face: "If you have eyes but don't know Mount Tai, you offended the young master, you should be punished, you should be punished."

"Leave them alone, Qinghe, come here and sit here." Zhu Helin beckoned and asked Su Yan to sit on the grand teacher's chair beside him, "Today, the young master and you are the chief interrogator, and they are suspects."

As he spoke, he picked up the gavel on the table, fiddled with it twice curiously, and slapped it on the table with a loud sound like thunder, which startled everyone in the hall.

The prince looked dissatisfied at the guards of the East Palace on both sides of the hall: "Shout!"

"Shout...what are you calling for?" the leader of the guards asked in embarrassment.

"Shouldn't it be called 'mighty', as the common people say... By the way, we have to hit the ground with a stick, orderly, come, try again."

So under the plaque of "Mirror Hanging High", the prince grabbed the gavel again and slapped it hard, louder than the one just now.

The guards hurriedly hit the ground with water and fire sticks, the sound was dull and the rhythm was extremely oppressive, and at the same time they shouted mightily: "Wei——wu—" The sound was like a thunderbolt.

Guo Fuyin in the hall trembled all over: It's obviously his usual routine, why is it so frightening after the position of up and down has changed?

The prince lowered his voice to make him look more mature and majestic, and said solemnly: "Hey, who is in the hall, please report your name! What crimes have you committed, tell me honestly!"

Su Yan rested his elbows on the edge of the table, turned his head and rested his forehead: It seems that our young master took the opportunity of the trial, wanted to get addicted to the magistrate, and took the opportunity to play cospy.

Guo Fuyin opened his mouth, but didn't make a sound, as if he didn't know what to say in this ridiculous scene.

Eunuch Yan bowed and said: "The maidservant is Yan Yiyi, the eunuch on guard in Nanjing. She committed the crime of stealing the sheep, picked up the house deed lost by the nobleman and took it as her own. I would like to return the occupied mansion immediately to the original owner. Pay a fine to the law, and then compensate one... no, three houses, gardens, or corresponding gold and silver, to show the heart of reforming and doing good."

The prince was visibly taken aback.

He was ready for the other party to cry out, or make excuses to make excuses.Unexpectedly, this eunuch Yan's character is not good, and he is No. 1 in climbing trees along the pole. Then he used the excuse of deliberately causing trouble before, and confessed the false charges very simply.

Stealing the sheep... What kind of crime is this?According to the law, there will be a fine at most.Eunuch Yan was not only willing to pay the fine, but also offered to pay three times the compensation—this kind of low-profile, good-mannered person is simply impossible to pick.

The question is, can he change his words now and say that the crime of "not returning the house deed" was fabricated by the prince. Isn't this a slap in the face?

After all, even if a child who grew up in the palace is strong and smart enough, he is still not experienced enough... Su Yan smiled silently.

The prince couldn't hold back his face, so he squinted at him: "You do what you want."

Su Yan looked at it with a smile, coughed, and said, "Eunuch Yan, you know that a court lady who escaped from Chunhe Palace with the intent to assassinate the crown prince hid in your mansion in Changliu Lane and was searched out? "

Covering the assassin is the same crime as the assassin.As soon as this hat is buttoned, no hard head will fall to the ground.

Eunuch Yan hurriedly explained: "Young master, I really don't know why there is an extra person in the house. Recently, the servant has been busy patrolling inside and outside the city to prevent bad people from disturbing the mausoleum ceremony, and has never lived in that house. Maybe it is some servant I have an old relationship with that court lady, and I will take him in secretly, the servants will definitely investigate thoroughly, and those who should be tied up to come to the court to obey the law will not be tolerated!"

That's been wiped clean.Su Yan said again: "The servant girl in the expensive house gave a statement, saying that the maid's name is 'Tao Ling', and she is the righteous daughter of your father-in-law."

Eunuch Yan immediately denied: "This servant girl is talking nonsense, her heart is to be punished! I must have punished her, so she harbored a grudge and framed the master. If you don't believe me and Mr. Su, you might as well send her to the court and confront me face to face. "

When the guards from the East Palace rushed into Tao Ling's boudoir to take her, the maid yelled in panic: "Which thief dares to be rude to Eunuch Yan's righteous daughter!"

Later, all the servants in the house were tied up. She knew that she had leaked her words. She was afraid that Eunuch Yan would punish him if he found out. Hospital treatment, how to go to the court?

Su Yan saw that Eunuch Yan was a hob meat, and he was not easy to subdue, so he said, "Since the rightful owner has arrived, it's fine to summon the rightful owner directly. Someone, bring Tao Ling to the hall."

A guard of the Eastern Palace led away, but after a while, no one came back.

The prince was not happy, and told another guard: "Why are you so slow? You go to remind me."

The guard responded, but before he left the hall, the previous guard hurried back and whispered to the prince, "Tao Ling... committed suicide in prison."

"Dead?" The prince frowned greatly, "How did he die? There are so many jailers, but they can't stand a little girl!"

"It is said that she hit the wall and died while others were unaware. I just checked the wound on her head, and it was indeed hit by a hard object. She was extremely decisive when she committed suicide, and a piece of her skull was dented."

The matter has come to this point, and it will not help the matter to scold the jailer for being careless.The prince turned his head to look down the hall, eunuch Yan seemed to have guessed something, and his expression became more composed.

Hearing their whispers, Su Yan also felt that without Tao Ling as a key witness, it would be difficult to convict with solid evidence, so he had to find another way.

He flipped through the information presented by the guards on the table, and suddenly asked: "I heard that Mr. Yan's belief in Buddhism is extraordinary, to the point where he must worship at every temple. I don't know if Mr. Yan has ever worshiped at the Linggu Temple at the eastern foot of Zhongshan Mountain." ?”

Eunuch Yan recalled, and replied: "It's a bit far away from the city, and it's on the mountain. I have old cold legs and it's inconvenient to climb the mountain, so I haven't paid my respects."

Su Yan ordered people to bring the monk from Linggu Temple to the hall.Those who were summoned were not the presiding officers who were open to money, nor the vigilant deacons, but the young and lively young monks at the bottom who responded most positively when the prince and others disguised themselves to collect information.

Having never been to the lobby, the young monks were very nervous. Su Yan comforted him kindly: "Just answer truthfully, and I will let you go back to the temple after you finish the answer."

He asked these young monks: "During the chat a few days ago, it seemed that a young master said that he had seen 'Qian Shanren'. Who is it?"

A young monk clasped his hands together and said timidly, "Yes...it's a young monk. But he didn't look carefully. The host personally received him. The young monk just glanced curiously when delivering tea."

Su Yan pointed to the eunuch Yan under the hall and asked: "Look carefully, is it him?"

The little monk plucked up his courage, and quickly looked up and down from a distance of more than ten feet: "It seems...not."

Su Yan was slightly startled: "Look carefully."

The little monk squinted his eyes, looked left and right, and shook his head: "It's not like, Mr. Qian Shan has a long beard, but this man is an eunuch."

Su Yan frowned and thought.

The prince's eyes suddenly lit up, and he whispered in his ear, "I am not as good as you in handling the case, but you are not as good as me in understanding eunuchs."

He turned his head and told the guards: "Go up and touch Eunuch Yan's middle and chin, and see how it feels different from the skin on other parts of his face?"

The guards stepped forward in response, held up the eunuch Yan who was retreating, stretched out their hands to grope his face, and then said: "Master Hui, the skin on the rest of his face is smooth, but the skin on the middle and chin is rough to the touch. , and a faint fishy smell."

The prince twitched his mouth as expected, and ordered the guards to go back to the house in Changliu Lane, and searched carefully the bedroom of the main house. Sure enough, they found some silk robes worn by merchants, and several strands of fake beards, because they were The human hair is well made and maintained, and looks very realistic.

After taking it back to the hall, the prince ordered someone to strip off Eunuch Yan's python robe, put on a silk coat and a cap, and stick a fake beard with fish maw glue.Dressed up like this, he looks like an old merchant, and he asked the little monk to identify him.

The little monk was probably a little short-sighted. He squinted his eyes to look up and down, then approached for a closer look, and shouted, "That's him! This is Qian Shanren."

"Are you sure?" Su Yan asked.

The little monk nodded vigorously: "The monks don't tell lies, it is indeed the Qian Shanren I have seen. I didn't have a beard just now, and my clothes and hats are very different, so I didn't recognize him for a while."

The crown prince looked at Su Yan with a look of complacency: "These eunuchs go out when they are not on errands. They are always afraid that others will find out that they have been clean, so they use fish maw glue to stick fake beards on themselves. After a long time, The skin there will inevitably become rough, and the residual fishy smell is not easy to wash off. The servants who serve by my side are not allowed to stick their beards in private."

Eunuch Yan's face was a little pale buried in the fake beard, but he still managed to calm down, and said: "I forgot, I once dressed up as a merchant to go to Linggu Temple to offer incense, and donated a lot of incense money, this... no Break the law?"

Su Yan smiled: "Donating incense money is not illegal, but using money to buy and bribe monks, under the guise of building medicinal mountain roads, covering up mining roads and ziplines, digging mines on Zhongshan privately, and selling gold and copper Mine, that would be a serious crime of ransacking one’s family and exterminating one’s family!”

Eunuch Yan argued: "I really don't know what kind of mine! Zhongshan is where the imperial mausoleum is located. No matter how courageous I am, I dare not break ground on the dragon's veins! Someone must have pretended to be me and went to Linggu Temple. Based on the testimony of this little monk with bad eyesight, I will be charged with an unfounded crime, and I will not accept it ten thousand times. If Su Shilang insists on framing me and slandering the young master, I will write to the capital and ask the emperor to make decisions for me !"

The prince reached out and patted the desk table, but felt that it was not loud enough, so he grabbed the gavel and patted it again, which was full of momentum: "Stop his mother—"

Su Yan kicked the prince under the table.

The prince's voice turned a corner, and he changed his words immediately: "Hugh to mention the word 'unnecessary', tarnishing the legacy of a loyal minister and good general! Still have the face to ask the father to make decisions? The young master makes decisions for you, and you will be sentenced to Ling Chi!"

Su Yan said: "Eunuch Yan, recognize the reality, if we can find you out, we can firmly convict you."

"There are many people who can testify against you, such as the abbot and deacon of Linggu Temple, the eunuch Yao and Shaojian Lin of the Jinggong Supervisor, the Yi Cheng of the post station, and even this person under the hall—" He pointed at the trembling pot Shovel... No, Guo Chang, "As a foreign minister, he colluded with internal officials, covered up your crimes for you, and made all the government servants of Yingtian Mansion your private soldiers."

"Guess, when the punishment is over, will these people be as loyal as Tao Ling? Would they rather die to protect you, or would they change the color of your underwear to get rid of the crime and reduce your sentence?" Confess?" Su Yan looked at Yan Yiyi with a mocking smile, "I think we might as well start with Lin Shaojian from the Jingong Supervisor, and see how many times he has been tortured, he will confess that he was ordered by you to go to the post station to transfer the package Lu Shangshu's memorandum, committed the crime of deceiving the emperor!"

Eunuch Yan shouted: "I didn't instruct Lin Shaojian to adjust the Bao Zouben at all, Su Twelve, you are bloody!"

Su Yan pretended to be surprised: "Ah, you didn't instruct me? I thought the Confucian scholar Lin Shaojian brought with him belonged to you. This is strange. I think the Confucian scholar's handwriting is also imitated, and the tricks are also used. Not your subordinate, but who is it? It seems that he should be tortured first."

The prince's bodyguards indeed detained all the supervisors in the palace, including Eunuch Yao and Shaojian Lin, but they didn't see the figure of the Confucian scholar grasping the knife at all. They thought they had been alerted in advance and fled after hearing the news.

Su Yan bet that the other party left in a hurry, so he didn't have time to inform Eunuch Yan, so he used it to blackmail him, and also wanted to take the opportunity to find out the identity of the Confucian scholar.

Eunuch Yan really fell for the trick, and gritted his teeth: "He forced me! He is the villain... No, he is the devil!"

The people involved in the case were all imprisoned in the prison of the Nanjing Ministry of Criminal Justice and interrogated one by one.As for whether to punish him this time, Su Yan just turned a blind eye and pretended not to know.

After a day and night of continuous interrogation, the confessions of all parties basically came out:

It started eight years ago.

Yan Yiyi, the guard eunuch who is a local snake in Nanjing, accidentally discovered a shining golden stone while visiting Zhongshan Mountain.Suspiciously, he took it to a miner for identification, and it turned out to be gold and copper ore.

He wanted to report the matter to the imperial court, but met a fortune teller.The fortune teller said that this was a windfall that he deserved, and if he didn't accept it, it would be contrary to God's will.

Windfall is touching, let alone a gold mine, Yan Yiyi changed his mind and planned to mine it privately.

He recruited eunuchs Yao and Shaojian Lin, who were under his command, to strengthen the defense of the imperial mausoleum, and put the entire Zhongshan under martial law.

The south slope is where the imperial mausoleum is located, and if you want to dig mines and build mountain roads, you must not go from this side. Yan Yiyi found the east slope where the mountains are relatively gentle.

There is Linggu Temple at the foot of the mountain in the east, which is an ancient temple in the Southern Dynasties, and it has a plaque written by the late emperor, so it cannot be easily removed, so Yan Yiyi threatened and bought the abbot, under the guise of donating money to the temple to build a "monk road" for collecting medicine , Under the cover of the host, a mountain road and a zipline for transporting ore were built.

In order to prevent leakage of secrets, the miners were recruited from other counties and arranged to live together in a remote village between Zhongshan and Tangshan, under special supervision.

The raw ore mined cannot be smelted nearby, because there is too much movement, and people are afraid of being discovered.

While Yan Yiyi was worrying, the fortune teller appeared again and said that he would cooperate with him, and that he would be responsible for smelting and transportation, and he could share [-]% of the final finished gold and copper.

[-]%?Trick me!Eunuch Yan was furious and wanted to kill the fortune teller.

Unexpectedly, this fortune teller is a master with unique skills, not only his own martial arts is very good, but also a group of murderous soldiers under his command, he took the eunuch Yan to death, and almost lost his life.

Yan Yiyi was crushed to the point of no return, and after bargaining, he finally settled on [-] to [-] points, two for him and eight for the other party.Fortunately, the gold mine is rich in content, even if it is only [-]%, it is still a huge wealth.

He asked who the other party was?The fortune teller claimed to be a subordinate of the "player".

"Player"?WTF?After Yan Yiyi saw that the other party used cruel means to assassinate the former governor who was in the way, he didn't dare to ask any more questions, and recommended to the imperial court Guo Chang, the minister who hugged his thigh, as the new governor of Yingtian.

Because of the generous bribes, this recommendation was supported by the eunuch Lan Xi, the supervisor of ceremonies.

Guo Chang himself was capable and experienced enough, so the court agreed.

The Nanjing garrison eunuch was sent by the Lijian to monitor and sit in the town. He was in charge of guarding Liudu.Later, even Ying Tian Fu Yin was taken in as a younger brother, mopping up for him and acting as a thug, and now he has nothing to fear.

Gold and copper mines have been mined on Zhongshan Mountain for eight years, but they have not been discovered by the court. Yan Yiyi is getting bolder and richer, and his wealth is getting richer.

But in the late summer and early fall of this year, the mining ran into trouble-they dug a hard rock formation across the bottom of all the pits.

Experienced miners judged that the ore veins were blocked by rock formations and could not be bypassed. The rock formations had to be broken to continue mining.Otherwise, no ore will be mined.

But the rock formation is too thick and hard, and the pickaxe can't dig it at all, unless explosives are used.

Then use it!Seeing the loss of money, Yan Yiyi's eyes turned red.

The miners said that using gunpowder to blast the rock formations is extremely risky, and it is very likely that the entire mine will be blown down, and the mining site will be abandoned.

If it is not bombed, there will be no mining; if it is bombed, there may be no mines.Eunuch Yan fell into the torment of the struggle between heaven and man.

At this time, news came that the prince was about to go to Nanjing to worship.

The fortune teller appeared again, and he asked Yan Yiyi to try to lure the prince to the waterfall not far from the mine during the mausoleum ceremony, and then detonate it.First blast the mine, and then blast the pool rock of the stream waterfall.

Yan Yiyi turned pale with shock.

Stealing mines on Zhongshan Mountain is a serious crime of beheading, but blowing up streams and waterfalls, drowning the prince with mudslides, and storming the imperial tomb are even more unforgivable evils to punish the nine clans!He shook his head desperately.

It's death anyway, why not give it a go?The fortune teller bewitched, with luck, the rock formation was blown off, and the gold and copper mine could continue to be mined.If you are unlucky, the mine collapsed, and you can use landslides to cover it up.

At that time, the crown prince died in the mudslide and the imperial mausoleum was flooded. Everyone said that the crown prince slaughtered auspicious beasts and caused the punishment from heaven, and the matter of stealing mines would be completely safe.

Yan Yiyi was shaken.But after all, he was the crown prince, the prince of the country, and designed to harm him... I always feel that I can't make it through.

The fortune teller smiled and said, the emperor is still young, he can have another son without a son, isn't there another one in the palace?Besides, this is the order of the "player", if you refuse to obey——

That night, he left without finishing his speech.Yan Yiyi woke up with doubts and was almost frightened--

The woman who played with her pillow all night turned into pieces of meat, and there was no living thing in the whole mansion, not to mention servants and maids, even cats, dogs, parrots, and koi in the pond were all dead.

In this flesh and blood hell, there is only one living person, and that is himself... This kind of safety is more terrifying and desperate than being covered in bruises.

Yan Yiyi no longer has the courage to disobey orders, so he will do as the fortune teller conveys the instructions of the "player".

According to the fortune-teller's plan, he transferred his carefully cultivated adopted daughter Tao Ling from the Jinggong to the Chunhe Palace.

Three months later, on the eve of the mausoleum ceremony, Tao Ling finally found a chance to get close to the prince.

The prince had a dream, dreaming of Zhongshan White Deer.

Su Yan could almost hear a cold sweat.

If it weren't for the severe pain of the severe punishment that was more imminent than the threat of death, eunuch Yan probably wouldn't even dare to confess.

"...What's the name of that fortune teller? What does he look like?" he asked.

Eunuch Yan said weakly: "He calls himself Mr. Zhuge, his name has never been mentioned, and he looks...young and handsome, with an elegant posture."

A figure vaguely floated up from his mind, and Su Yan asked again: "Is it the Confucian scholar Lin Shaojian brought to imitate the handwriting and adjust the script?"

"Yes...but Lin Song didn't know his identity, and thought he was also my subordinate..."

"What about others?"

"I don't know, I don't know... After I went to the post station, I didn't show up again."

"Has he mentioned to anyone where he is going and what he is going to do?"

Eunuch Yan drank some water, gasped and said, "I remember Lin Song mentioned that Mr. Zhuge didn't leave the inn with him, saying that he was going...to visit an old friend."

old friend?Who is it... Su Yan walked out of the cell, walked under the tree in the courtyard, and saw a set of Go on the stone table.

He took out a sunspot from the chess dome, flicked it back and forth between his fingers, and a flash of thought flashed through his mind——

The old man is me.

That fortune teller Zhuge is Mr. Crane!

Seven or eight years ago, the Vacuum Sect... no, the "player" behind the Vacuum Sect began to touch the gold mines of Beijing.Could the financial support behind the Seven Killing Battalion come from this?

Apart from Yinjianmen and the Seven Killing Battalion, where else is such a huge sum of wealth used?what is it used for?

"Chaser" - the code name he gave to the master behind the scenes. Unexpectedly, the other party also called himself this.Is this a coincidence?Or does the other party also think that he is a chess player who uses the country as a chessboard?

The "player"... who is it?