Chapter 76 Li Dongyang goes to Jinyi Prison
Inside Longzongmen, the fire in the bronze cauldron was burning red, and Zhu Houzhao's face was as red as the fire in the bronze cauldron.
Even though the room was as warm as spring, Zhu Houzhao was still trembling all over. He scrubbed his face with his hands and gritted his teeth:
"I want to kill someone!"
Zhu Houzhao said this in a very low voice, so small that the air flow generated when he spoke was not enough to blow away the smoke in the incense burner, but it still hit the ears of the cabinet ministers and ministers of rites like a thunder. .
Liu Jin, Li Dongyang, Ma Wensheng, Jiao Fang, Xu Jin and others consciously bowed and bowed, without daring to breathe loudly:
"Your Majesty (the Emperor) calm down!"
Zhu Houzhao glanced at Li Dongyang, waved his sleeves, and clenched his fists: "Tell me, how should we deal with these two things?"
It is now the twelfth lunar month of winter and the New Year is approaching, but it is also at this time that Zhu Houzhao finally received the news that the team escorting Wang Shu was massacred by the Tatars, so that the whereabouts of Wang Shu's body were unknown, and many villages were occupied by the Tatars. News of the massacre.
After all, Tatar harassment is also a major military matter, and it is routine to report it to the emperor in an urgent manner.
Zhu Houzhao did not expect that someone would directly attack a court official like Wang Shu, and even when he sent the Juesheng Guard to protect him, it was actually a Tatar who attacked Wang Shu!
Zhu Houzhao knew the geographical location of Sanyuan County and how far the Guanzhong area was from Yansui Guyuan and other places. He did not expect that the Tatars would directly invade the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty in places like Guanzhong to massacre villages and genocide.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao has reason to believe that this matter should not be as simple as Yang Yiqing said in the memorial.
"Poor prince! How sad!"
Li Dongyang sighed first and covered his face with his sleeves. At this time, he had not received news from Shao Daxia about the failure of the silence and the failure of the assassination of Wang Shu. He only received the news from Yang Yiqing about the murder of Wang Shu and his group of officers and soldiers and the destruction of the village. Tu's eight-hundred-mile expedited military report suggested that his conspiracy to silence him had succeeded, so his tense mood for a long time relaxed and he began to continue acting.
Xu Jin looked at Li Dongyang and snorted:
"The prince is pitiful, and the common people in the villages that were massacred are even more pitiful. The prince may have been fighting in the court, or someone with ulterior motives made a conspiracy, and did not want the prince to come to the capital, but what are the crimes of the people in the villages that were massacred? They What does it have to do with the imperial court! How can some people be so cruel! They are willing to destroy the foundation of our country for their own selfish interests!”
Zhu Houzhao also agreed with Xu Jin's words in his heart. Although this incident seemed to be seamless. It was the Tatars who killed Wang Shu but the village and had nothing to do with the local officials or the officials in the court who hated Wang Shu, but anyone with a discerning eye could guess it. , no matter how much the Ming Dynasty's armaments were depleted, the Tatars would never dare to go deep into Guanzhong to massacre villages and kill people!
But some things are true, but after all, there is no way to prove the truth without evidence.
Zhu Houzhao knew that this was the conspiracy of Li Dongyang and other officials and their conspiracy, that is, even if he knew that it was them who did it, he could not do anything to them, because the facts that happened on the surface did not have anything to do with them and only had something to do with the Tatars. .
This kind of game has always been played by officials and gentry, not just once or twice, and the Tatars have not never gone deep into the interior. Therefore, even if Zhu Houzhao and others suspected that it was done by Li Dongyang and other people, they could not provide any evidence for the time being. It was them.
Zhu Houzhao was both disappointed and angry in his heart. He was disappointed that he might have lost an admiral of Dongchang and a future great philosopher Wang Yangming in vain, but in the end he still failed to catch the murderer of Emperor Hongzhi. These people were even killed by Li Dongyang. The people were silenced. What made Li Dongyang angry was that not only was he silenced, but he also allowed the Tatars to massacre so many villages.
What Zhu Houzhao never expected was that Li Dongyang would collude with the Tatars, and being able to collude with the Tatars only meant that Shaanxi Governor Yang Yiqing or Inspector Lu Zhonghe, the two most powerful local officials in Shaanxi, were the same party as Li Dongyang.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao gave Li Dongyang a meaningful look when he first heard this report. "Your Majesty, thousands of villagers were killed by the Tatars. We should order the Ministry of Household Affairs and the local officials to provide generous compensation. Regarding the death of the prince, we can order the Jin Yiwei to investigate strictly. As for what Xu Jin, the Minister of War, said, I cannot agree with it. The Tatars It is inhumane to kill princes and massacre villagers, but how can it be blamed on the officials of the court! What Da Sima said is completely true!”
Li Dongyang added at this time, raised his drooping old eyes, and glanced at Zhu Houzhao quietly. Seeing that Zhu Houzhao's lips were tightened and his anger was still there, for some reason, he felt a little proud in his heart.
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help laughing at this time: "Check, since it was the Tatars who killed him, what else should I investigate? If I want to investigate, I should start from the Qianqing Palace, Longzongmen, and the cabinet! Someone, give Li Dongyang to me Sent to prison! Strictly interrogate his case of framing Wang Shu, the Minister of Civil Affairs!”
As soon as Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, the Jin Yiwei on duty lifted Li Dongyang down.
Li Dongyang was greatly surprised at first: "Your Majesty, why did you put the old minister in jail? What does the old minister have to do with the death of the prince? If it were not for today's cabinet meeting, the old minister would not know that your majesty appointed the prince as the minister of the Ministry of Personnel. How could the old minister know about it in advance and harm the prince? How could the old minister not allow the prince to be in charge of the staff as the chief assistant? There is no need to harm the prince! The old minister is wronged, the old minister is wronged! ”
But soon, Li Dongyang also guessed that Zhu Houzhao was making a desperate move, and that he was imprisoned indiscriminately out of anger.
In this way, Li Dongyang felt a little complacent in his heart, and he just pretended to be confused and shouted that he was wronged!
Ma Wensheng was still immersed in the pain of Wang Shu's murder, but now he saw Li Dongyang being imprisoned by Emperor Zhu Houzhao in the blink of an eye, and he also hurriedly tried to persuade him: "Your Majesty, please calm down! This is not the time to incarcerate a big prison, and the evidence is not yet available." Moreover, the whole story is not clear. Now that you have imprisoned the first assistant, it may dissatisfy all the officials and it will be a disservice to your Majesty! Please think again!”
"Your Majesty! What Ma Cifu said is true. The top priority now is to find out the truth of the matter. I should order a minister to go and investigate in detail. If you want to see a person dead, you must see a corpse. The prince's body must be found. In addition, , why the Tatars were able to enter the pass and go deep into the land in the pass We must also find out whether the civil and military officials in the border town are derelict in their duties or whether there are internal and external officials colluding with the Tatars! Acting rashly now can easily scare the enemy, and may even affect the whole body and cause unnecessary trouble! "
Jiao Fang also suggested at this time.
Zhu Houzhao just sneered: "Why, I can't send Li Dongyang to Jinyi Guard Prison, so what about the chief assistant!"
"Your Majesty! I also care about your Majesty's reputation. I also understand your Majesty's mood. I also hate traitors and rebels. I even suspect that this matter has something to do with Li Dongyang like your Majesty. However, everything must be proven before a crime can be punished! Now we are dealing with it rashly. Therefore, it is easy to be opposed by hundreds of officials!”
Ma Wensheng said hurriedly.
"What are you afraid of! I'm also afraid that if they fail to succeed, the worst case scenario is that they won't recognize me as the emperor. I will go back to Huaiyou to learn from Taizu and start anew!"
Zhu Houzhao said this directly in a moment of anger.
Ma Wensheng and others were speechless after hearing this, because besides, the emperor was going to rebel on his own, so they could only shut up.
"Everyone, please step back! Go and tell Zhang Yong to enter the palace!" Zhu Houzhao said.
(End of chapter)