Chapter 564 563 Confession
Lu Bu was a spy of Jinyiwei. Wei Guangde had already suspected it, but he had never thought of touching him.
Anyway, he is not plotting rebellion, so why deal with him? It would be better to leave an eyeliner 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.
So, 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, which is not a big deal. Being small can be considered a credit.
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 personal 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. However, Yan Song, who was well prepared, was World troubles are resolved one by one.
The so-called self-retaliation and attacks on officials who opposed Yan Song were indeed done by Yan Shifan, including the use of frame-up and frame-up, which directly led to the unjust deaths of Yang Jisheng and Shen Lian.
As for slandering the imperial court, he firmly denies it. Private equity is naturally his own long-term work. Yan Shifan does not deny that his family has purchased extensive land. With so much land, he naturally needs to recruit more workers to help. Farming.
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 illegal registration incident, it triggered After the bloody conflict, everyone's attention shifted to Xu Xu, the censor of Tixue, because the matter was inseparable from him.
But Xu Xu himself couldn't help himself.
Since he returned to Beijing from the role of the censor of Xunyan and served as the censor of education, he has received many reports about many students in Wanda Second County pretending to be registered for examinations. Since then, he has been the censor of Zuodu Zhang Yongming Many discussions were held.
This time, because a large number of Beijing officials have to be arranged to go on business trips, naturally a lot of old debts accumulated over the years have to be settled, and the matter of students from the capital who have impersonated their nationality has also been mentioned by Zhang Yongming of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Naturally, The matter was also included in the scope of disposal at the ministry meeting.
This incident happened because of the improper handling of the matter by Xu Xu, the imperial censor, 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 court officials to deceive the world.
However, this caused a fierce conflict between the police officers and the policemen, and it 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 are powerful, one can think of how much power they had when Yan Song was in power and invaded the government and the public. However, there are still officials who impeached one after another. It can be seen that the third force, mainly the Qing Dynasty, still exists. of.
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, were discussing how to handle the matter, the Ministry of Rites reported to He Qiming that he had already impeached Xu Xu, the imperial censor, for false learning and excessive talk. Scholar's heart.
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 was a fake scholar, but he is just a stupid young man who was instigated."
For them, they are the most annoying. That's the kind of person.
I have nothing to do with you, but I think I am strong-willed and take the lead in rushing against the arresting officers. The purpose is 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 is really difficult to deal with it. It is better to ask His Majesty to judge."
Yuan Wei read the memorial and handed it to Zhang Yongming. After all, it was the Metropolitan Procuratorate. people, put forward the cabinet's opinions on how to deal with it, but we still need to listen to the attitude of the other side 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 court after all."
Zhang Yongming briefly read He Qi After hearing the content of Ming's impeachment, I felt relieved. I 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, not let the situation worsen in front of Minglun Hall, and arrest the fake scholar afterwards, this bloody conflict could have been completely avoided.
Hearing this, Xu Jie 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 it is really the same thing.
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 their fellow citizens 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 understands, and he also understands the severity of this, but he feels that there will be no punishment, and reprimand is the greatest punishment.
Prince Yu’s Mansion naturally knows about this kind of thing, but it has not caught the attention of Prince Yu, and it will not attract the attention of Wei Guangde, Zhang Juzheng and others. They have 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. His 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 to Xinxue and Xinxue. The debate over 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.
It is beneficial to the current situation. Their identities can be switched back and forth between the two factions. Why bother 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 of great use."
Wei Guangde laughed softly.
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 reform and demanded restoration to the original status quo, which directly cost the court one million taels. Income of silver.
“There are many pedantic people in Neo-Confucianism.”
Zhang Juzheng shook his head and commented, "No wonder Xinxue is prosperous 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 the Xinxue school, the official faction has added the Neo-Confucian school and the Xinxue school. It has long been extremely complicated. The fight between He Qiming and Xu Xu is seeing. It will then transition to the struggle between the Xin and Li factions. If it really gets to that point, the situation in the government will inevitably get out of control.
However, Emperor Jiajing, who loved 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 edict the next day. .
“It is imprudent to raise a voice and argue impeachment, and to argue and argue violently, both of which are not official. Each of them will take away 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.
But 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 prepared them. They were waiting for Xu Jie and Prince Yu's Mansion to review them before presenting 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 include the unjust killings of Yang Jisheng and Shen Lian. 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 fact that he did not investigate after the incident, he may have had a premonition about it, otherwise he would never have been allowed to stay in prison. Two years.
Yan Shifan admitted that he bribed the jailer to torture and extort a confession, which led to his death. It seems to be a serious crime, but it 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 not enough.”
Wei Guangde shook his head after reading it hastily.
“Why?”
Of course King Yu read it, and he felt the same way as it listed the evidence of the crimes of the strict party’s traitors.
Ask anyone and they will say that Yan Shifan is a treacherous and sycophantic minister.
“Strict Party members cannot be judged as ‘treacherous Party members’, otherwise if the charge reaches His Majesty, the matter will remain unsolved, and Huang Shangshu and the 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 can you say that?”
After hearing Wei Guangde’s words, 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 he had made a mistake in dealing with it 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 King Yu, "I think this matter will definitely be mentioned in the edict, so that you can set things right and give His Highness a chance to clean up people's hearts. "
"This"
Wang Yu didn't know what to say for a while. Although Wei Guangde was right, he always felt that it was in conflict with what he had learned, and he couldn't change his mind. , but even if it was wrong, he wouldn'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 walking out of the Ministry of Punishment Prison.
Actually, 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 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 is understandable that one or two changes of mind could occur. 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. Shi Ye was visiting Mr. Xuge's house with the 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?"
At this time, King Yu was a little shaken by what Wei Guangde said, and asked immediately.
"Yan Shifan is a 'rebel' and not a 'treacherous party'. This must be done to protect your majesty's reputation."
Wei Guangde began to say: "Since he is a rebel, he must There is evidence of rebellion. Lin Run's accusation of slandering the court and private fundraising are just evidence, and his crime is"
After saying 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, Hu Zongxian once asked for credit for Luo Longwen in the annihilation of the Japanese pirates in Xuhai, 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? It is to maintain the connection between the Japanese pirates and Yan Shifan."
Wei Guangde told King Yu in detail the story 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?
These words of Wei Guangde 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."
"Huh?"
Wang Yu heard this He was stunned for a moment, 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, because the land of Nanchangcang has a king's spirit, and they use it to rule the country and create a king.'"
Wei Guangde said unhurriedly.
(End of this chapter)