The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Lu Bu was a spy of Jinyiwei. Wei Guangde had already suspected him, but he had never thought of touching him.

Anyway, he is not plotting rebellion, so why should he deal with him? It would be better to leave an informant for the palace to reassure them.

Wei Guangde only needs to pay attention to his words and deeds in front of Lu Bu, as long as he does not say any extreme remarks.

Therefore, it is not a bad thing to leave such a person who is not sure whether it is Jinyiwei or Dongchang. At least Emperor Jiajing will know that he has been collating "Yongle Dadian" during this period. It is not a big or small achievement, right? .

When Yan Shifan arrived on the case, the Ministry of Punishment became busy. Together with the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple, they began to interrogate Yan Shifan, Luo Longwen and others many times.

However, a group of old scholars focused their interrogation on Yan Song's private revenge and attacks on upright officials during his administration, as well as Lin Run's impeachment of slandering the court and private recruitment of elites for rebellion, but they were resolved one by one by Yan Shifan, who was well prepared.

The so-called retaliation for personal gain and the attack on officials who opposed Yan Song, Yan Shifan readily admitted that it was indeed him who did it, including the use of frame-up and other means, which directly led to the unjust deaths of Yang Jisheng and Shen Lian.

As for slandering the imperial court, he firmly denies it. Privately-owned elites are naturally his own long-term workers. Yan Shifan does not deny that his family has purchased extensive land. With so much land, it is natural to recruit more workers to help cultivate it.

The interrogation by the Ministry of Punishment attracted the attention of many people in the court at first. However, when Wanping and Daxing counties, together with the instructors of the school, gathered all the students in Minglun Hall to investigate the counterfeiting incident and triggered bloody conflicts, everyone's attention Their attention shifted to Xu Xu, the censor of Tixue, because this matter was inseparable from him.

But Xu Xu himself couldn't help himself.

Since he returned to Beijing as the Censor of Yanxing and served as the Censor of Education, he has received many reports about many students in Wanda Er County taking the exams without their nationality. He has had many discussions with Zhang Yongming, the Censor of Zuodu. .

This time, because a large number of Beijing officials had to be arranged to go on business trips, it was natural to find a lot of old debts accumulated over the years to settle. The matter of students from the capital who had impersonated their nationalities was also mentioned by Zhang Yongming of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and was also discussed at the meeting of the Ministry of Nature. This matter is included in the scope of disposal.

This incident happened because Xu Xu, the censor of Tixue, mishandled it, but after all, it was because the fake scholar had a guilty conscience and deliberately added fuel to the flames to create the illusion that all living beings were being oppressed by imperial officials to deceive the world.

However, this caused a fierce conflict between the police officers and the policemen, which was ultimately mishandled.

At this time in the capital, although most of the strict clique members were sent as foreign missions, the remaining officials in the capital were not monolithic after all.

Although Xu Jie and Yuan Wei were powerful, remembering how much power they had invaded the government and the opposition during Yan Song's reign, there were still officials who impeached them one after another. It can be seen that the third force, mainly the Qing Dynasty, still existed.

Their existence is also a help for the imperial court to rectify its origins.

When the cabinet, together with the Ministry of Rites and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, discussed how to handle the matter, the Ministry of Rites reported to He Qiming that he had already impeached Xu Xu, the imperial censor, for being falsely educated and talking too much, which had caused him to lose his moral integrity for a long time.

Xu Jie was in the cabinet at this time and handed He Qiming's memorial to Yuan Wei.

"Injuring the medical officer Ren Ziyu and others is a trouble after all. It would be fine if he is a fake scholar, but he is just a stupid young man who was instigated."

For them, this is the most annoying person.

I had nothing to do with you, but I thought I was strong-willed and took the lead in rushing against the arresting police officers. The purpose was just to rescue the arrested classmates. How pedantic. I have no ability to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong.

"Xu Xu was present at the time and handled it improperly. It's really difficult to handle. I'd better ask His Majesty to judge."

Yuan Wei read the memorial and handed it to Zhang Yongming. After all, he was from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and proposed the cabinet's opinions on how to deal with it, but he still had to listen to their attitude first.

"I met with Li Shangshu when I came here. He also said that the Ministry of Rites will not hold Xu Yushi responsible for his misconduct in this matter. Everything is for the imperial court after all."

Zhang Yongming felt relieved after briefly reading the content of He Qiming's impeachment. He thought that the most the Jiajing Emperor could do was reprimand Xu Xu, and there was nothing wrong in it.

As long as Xu Xu could take a step back at that time, not let the situation worsen in front of Minglun Hall, and arrest the fake scholar afterwards, this bloody conflict could be completely avoided.

When Xu Jie heard this, he just glanced at Zhang Yongming and then fell silent.

In fact, this kind of thing is not big or small.

If the generals are making trouble, it is really possible that the court will lose its scholarly heart. This is a major event that will shake the foundation of the country.

It sounds illusory, but in this society, this is really the way it is.

In fact, the seemingly inconspicuous so-called scholar's heart is also what later generations call the people's heart.

In the eyes of scholars, only those who share the same ideals are worthy of being called the people.

The people's hearts and minds are actually the hearts of the scholars.

The imperial court is not at fault in this matter, but when it comes to people's hearts, I'm afraid it won't be handled that easily.

"Go back and tell Xu Xu to write a self-defense statement as soon as possible. This matter cannot be delayed. We must cut through the mess quickly and end it as soon as possible."

Xu Jie said to Zhang Yongming.

Zhang Yongming understood, and he also understood the severity of this, but he felt that there would be no punishment, and reprimand was the greatest punishment.

Prince Yu's Mansion naturally knew about this kind of thing, but it did not come into Prince Yu's eyes, and it did not attract the attention of Wei Guangde, Zhang Juzheng and others. They had no idea and just let the court handle it.

However, when Xu Xu impeached He Qiming as an evil party, Wei Guangde took it out and had fun with Zhang Juzheng for a while.

"The same goes for Xu Xu. You just need to report the incident in detail. Your Majesty will naturally be able to distinguish right from wrong. Unexpectedly, he said that He Qiming was a member of the evil party and directly escalated the incident into a dispute between psychology and Neo-Confucianism."

Zhang Juzheng said cheerfully.

In fact, both he and Wei Guangde have read about psychology and Neo-Confucianism, but they would never say that they belong to that school. They are more practical.

If it is beneficial to the current situation, their identities can be switched back and forth between the two factions, so there is no need to compete.

However, this kind of competing mentality is the correct solution that most of the scholars of this era understand and support.

"Xu Xu can't be used in a big way."

Wei Guangde laughed softly.

He couldn't see the situation clearly and spoke indiscriminately. Zhang Yongming did the same. Why did he find such a thing? It's no wonder that Xu Xu overturned Yan Maoqing's salt policy reform and demanded restoration to the original status quo, which directly caused the court to lose one million taels of silver in revenue.

"There are many pedantic people in Neo-Confucianism."

Zhang Juzheng shook his head and commented, "It's no wonder that mental learning is flourishing now."

Xu Xu's self-defense undoubtedly made the situation between North Korea and China tense again.

The imperial court itself is divided into clear stream and turbid stream. Since the emergence of Xinxue, the official faction has added Neo-Confucianism school and Xinxue school. It has already been extremely complicated. The fight between He Qiming and Xu Xu is about to turn to Xinxue and Xinxue. If the struggle between the two Li factions really develops to that point, the situation in the government will inevitably get out of control.

However, Emperor Jiajing, who liked to watch his courtiers fight each other the most, was uncharacteristically different this time. Instead of hanging up the matter and letting the courtiers fight for a while as usual, he issued an order the next day.

"When you raise a voice to discuss impeachment, you are rash, and when you argue against someone, you are violent. They are all not official. Each of them will receive two months of salary."

Amidst the chaos, forty-three years of Jiajing passed.

In the first month of the forty-fourth year of the Jiajing reign, as in the past, Zhu Xizhong, Duke of Chengguo, performed a worship ceremony to heaven at the Xuanji Palace. Instead of the imperial palace, all civil and military officials and pilgrim officials went to the Huangji Gate to perform five bows and three kowtows. Officials expressed their congratulations, exempted them from banquets, and gave them festival money.

Wei Guangde felt that he had never seen the Zhengdan court meeting since he became an official, and it seemed that he could only wait until King Yu ascended the throne to be lucky enough to see that grand scene.

However, half a month has passed, and no news has reached the capital about the matter Gao Gong mentioned at the beginning. This makes Wei Guangde a little confused. Has the situation changed?

However, by this time, the Ministry of Punishments had already sorted out Yan Shifan's charges, and they were waiting for Xu Jie and Prince Yu's Mansion to review them before sending them to Xiyuan.

Wei Guangde was once again urgently recalled to the palace by King Yu. Before, King Yu asked Wei Guangde to go to the Ministry of Punishment more often, but he found an excuse to shirk it. He was worried that the matter would spread to the ears of Emperor Jiajing of Xiyuan and cause trouble.

King Yu also understood the truth, so he nodded and approved what he said.

But now that the palace has received the charges compiled by the Ministry of Punishment, this matter cannot be publicized. Huang Guangsheng, the Minister of Punishment, only copied two copies and sent them to the Xu Jie Office of the Cabinet and Prince Yu's Mansion.

Wei Guangde frowned as he took the charge sheet from Li Fang. What was written in it?

Old accounts and the unjust killings of Yang Jisheng and Shen Lian are all listed among them. Does Huang Guangsheng feel that his neck is harder than a knife?

In the entire crime, there is almost no mention of Yan Shifan's intention to rebel. They are all the evil things he did in order to gain power. Many of the key things were actually approved by Emperor Jiajing, either explicitly or secretly.

As for Yang Jisheng, Emperor Jiajing may or may not know about it, but judging from the lack of investigation after the incident, he may have had a premonition about it, otherwise he would never have been allowed to stay in prison for two years.

Yan Shifan admitted that he bribed the jailer to torture and extort a confession, which led to his death. It seemed to be a serious crime, but it still depends on the extent of the involvement of Emperor Jiajing.

If Yang Jisheng's death was really ordered by Emperor Jiajing, the Yan family was actually following the order. If they come out to talk about it now, wouldn't it be a slap in Emperor Jiajing's face?

"Your Highness, this charge is unacceptable."

Wei Guangde shook his head after reading it hastily.

"Why?"

Of course King Yu read it, and he felt the same way as the evidence of the crimes of the Yan Party's traitors was listed in it.

Just ask anyone, and no one will say that Yan Shifan is a treacherous and sycophantic minister.

"A strict party cannot be judged as a 'treacherous party'. Otherwise, if the charge is brought to His Majesty, the matter will remain unsolved, and Huang Shangshu and others will have to suffer."

Wei Guangde replied, and then he explained some doubts in Yang Jisheng's death to King Yu in detail.

Of course, the key point is the attitude of Emperor Jiajing towards this matter that cannot be verified.

"How could you say that?"

After hearing what Wei Guangde said, King Yu couldn't believe it.

"Your Highness, regardless of whether His Majesty was deceived at the time or otherwise, for them to overturn the verdict is undoubtedly to say that His Majesty mishandled the situation in the first place, which is embarrassing to His Majesty.

Even if His Majesty knew that the handling was wrong at the beginning, he would never admit it now.

His mistakes can only be corrected by you, Your Highness. "

Finally, Wei Guangde said softly to Prince Yu, "I think this matter will definitely be mentioned in the edict, so that you can bring order to the chaos and give His Highness a chance to clean up people's hearts."

"this"

King Yu didn't know what to say for a while. Even if Wei Guangde was right, he always felt that it conflicted with what he had learned, and he couldn't change his mind. But even if it was wrong, he didn't dare to gamble.

This matter was not a trivial matter. It was related to a major event in the future of the government. He would never tolerate Yan Shifan coming out of the Ministry of Punishment Prison.

In fact, what they didn't know was that Yan Shifan also noticed something was wrong at this time.

Since he entered the capital, the foreshadowing he left behind has not been in contact with him.

No matter how tightly Huang Guangsheng and others guarded the prison, it was absolutely impossible that no one would pass on the news to him.

It takes a thousand days to be a thief, but there is no way to guard against a thief for a thousand days.

As long as you are willing, the message will definitely come through.

It's understandable that one or two people change their minds. What he prepared was not just a few, but many secret tricks.

Therefore, Yan Shifan readily admitted many crimes and even explained in detail how he murdered those upright ministers.

Yan Shifan's confession was a treasure for Huang Guangsheng and other investigators. Unexpectedly, Yan Shifan admitted all his culpability and could finally give an explanation to his colleagues who died unjustly. At this time, he was also carrying that He went to visit Mr. Xu Ge's house with a copied confession.

It's just that Huang Guangsheng had only been in the capital for a short time as an official, and he didn't know the secrets at all.

Yan Shifan knew the character of Emperor Jiajing too well. He was headstrong and face-saving. If the emperor accused Yan Shifan, it would be equivalent to a slap in the face, so Yan Shifan was confident.

"How should I write the confession?"

King Yu was a little shaken by what Wei Guangde said and asked immediately.

"Yan Shifan is a 'rebel' rather than a 'treacherous party'. This must be done to protect His Majesty's reputation."

Wei Guangde began to say: "Since he is a rebel, there must be evidence of rebellion. Lin Run's accusation of slandering the court and private equity are only evidence, and his crime is"

Speaking of this, Wei Guangde hesitated for a moment, and finally said cruelly: "Yan Shifan colluded with the Japanese pirates and intended to rebel. In addition to the evidence reported by Lin Run, Luo Longwen, who was captured with him, is the best evidence.

Luo Longwen was not only familiar with the big Japanese pirates Xu Hai and Wang Zhi, but also had close contacts with other pirate leaders. There are traces of this.

When Luo Longwen served as an aide in Hu Zongxian's mansion, he wiped out the Japanese pirates in Xuhai. Hu Zongxian also asked for credit for Luo Longwen, and later served as an aide in Yan Shifan's mansion.

Why did Luo Longwen escape from Guangxi and go to Fenyi, Jiangxi instead of returning to She County in Huizhou? This was to maintain the connection between the Japanese pirates and Yan Shifan."

Wei Guangde told King Yu in detail the rhetoric he compiled to deceive Yan Shifan, and asked King Yu to judge from the side to see if there were any omissions.

However, King Yu was not stupid now. He said that when the son of the chief minister of the dynasty contacted the Japanese pirates in order to rebel, didn't he know that it would be more useful to contact the border generals?

Wei Guangde's words are logically feasible, but they are flawed according to Yan Shifan's identity and status.

As he shook his head, Wei Guangde just smiled and said: "As long as it makes sense logically, your Majesty will understand."

"Um?"

King Yu was slightly startled when he heard this, and then asked: "Is this the only crime?"

"It is mentioned in Lin Run's memorial that 'the people of the world used Peng Kong's words to use the king's spirit in the land of Nanchangcang to rule the country and create a king.'"

Wei Guangde said calmly.