Chapter 78 Who is the traitor
There is another reason why this line of officials unscrupulously cursed Ma Wensheng and others as traitors.
After Tang Bohu came to Beijing, Zhu Houzhao immediately appointed Tang Bohu as the director of his attendant office, specifically responsible for building public opinion.
Zhu Houzhao asked Tang Bohu to summon storytellers and children from the market to spread rumors that there would be an earthquake in Qifu and the emperor's mausoleum crying at night because there were treacherous ministers in the court.
Zhu Houzhao even asked the eunuch of the Royal Horse Guard to find someone to go to the imperial mausoleum to cry every night.
Zhu Houzhao was naturally confident in doing this, because he clearly remembered that in September and October of the 18th year of Hongzhi, earthquakes would occur in Nanjing and other seven prefectures one after another, and the news would be delivered to Beijing after November or February.
At this time, it happened that Zhu Houzhao was dealing with Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others in the cabinet. By creating rumors about traitors in the court and using the earthquake in Qifu and the night crying in the imperial mausoleum as evidence, he could naturally make the lower-level soldiers and civilians more convinced that there were traitors in the court. There are indeed treacherous ministers, which will naturally lay the foundation for Zhu Houzhao to eliminate Liu Jian and others from the cabinet on a large scale.
After all, people in this era believe that these supernatural phenomena will herald something. At that time, as long as they have the evidence of Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others who committed regicide, they will be able to completely characterize Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian and others as traitors and imprison them. The eighteen levels of hell will never allow you to escape.
At the same time, Zhu Houzhao also asked Tang Bohu to establish the Huangming Newspaper Bureau, and began to publish and compile the "Huangming Newspaper". Tang Bohu and other low-level literati began to publish articles questioning the death of Emperor Hongzhi.
In addition, Zhu Houzhao also appointed a group of lower-level literati as newspaper readers, and first appointed them as newspaper readers in each square of the capital. Xichang assisted these newspaper readers in reading newspapers for the people in each square.
Being a newspaper reader meant having an official position and a salary. Naturally, these impoverished lower-class literati were willing to do this job for the emperor. Naturally, they did not feel ashamed but rather honored, and they all praised themselves for educating the people for the emperor.
As a result, many people in the entire capital now know that there are treacherous ministers in the court, and they also know that the late emperor may have been killed by treacherous ministers, and they know that this will cause earthquakes in Qifu and the emperor's mausoleum to cry at night. Some people naturally believe it, and some people It's natural to be skeptical.
Naturally, Li Dongyang and other officials of the Qing Dynasty also heard these rumors and read the doubts about the death of the late emperor from the Huangming Newspaper. However, they used this to directly criticize Ma Wensheng and others as traitors, and also directly said Ma Wensheng and others colluded with Liu Jin and others to control the imperial court, causing traitors and traitors to run rampant in the imperial court.
So, now, the rumors in the entire Gyeonggi region have become two versions, but the right to speak is still in the hands of civil servants. Therefore, most of the people in the court are still saying that Ma Wensheng and others are traitors and eunuchs.
……
Li Dongyang had been taken to the imperial prison at this time, but he did not feel fear at this time. He walked in the imperial prison very calmly, even with a smile on his lips.
After all, Li Dongyang now thinks that Zhang Yu and others have been successfully silenced, and Wang Shu has also been killed. Li Dongyang knows that Zhu Houzhao can no longer produce any evidence to prove that he has committed the serious crime of treason and regicide, and naturally he cannot deal with him. Chief Assistant to the Cabinet.
Although Zhu Houzhao forcibly ordered him to be imprisoned, Li Dongyang did not panic at all. He believed that most civil servants in Beijing would help him prevent Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao from punishing civil servants for no reason, not to mention that he was the chief minister of the cabinet.
Zhu Houzhao's behavior was challenging the bottom line of the entire civil service group. Li Dongyang believed that Zhu Houzhao did not dare to be an enemy of his entire civil service group, and in the end he could only compromise and release himself.
Therefore, Li Dongyang even said calmly to the Jin Yiwei of Beizhen Fusi:
"I am different from Wang Yue and other traitors. I did not commit rebellion or regicide, but I was sent to prison because I offended His Majesty for a moment. Your Majesty will naturally let me out after your Majesty calms down, so you don't need to send me to the felon cell. Give me three plates of side dishes and a bottle of wine. The side dishes are from Gulinlou and the wine is from Huang Erwa’s house! I haven’t had dinner yet.”
Tonight, the one on duty at Fusi in Beizhen was Peng Zhong, a member of the Imperial Guard. He didn't know what happened in the court, and he thought that it was just as Li Dongyang said. The chief minister of the cabinet was sent to prison just for a moment by His Majesty. Yan was just furious, and when he saw that Li Dongyang also took out a silver ingot, he didn't say anything more, and asked people to prepare wine and food for Li Dongyang, and he still respected Li Dongyang as his first assistant:
"Please wait a moment, Mr. Chief Assistant. I will feel aggrieved in this prison for the time being." Li Dongyang nodded and smiled slightly: "You are a wise man, and your future future should be more than this."
As he spoke, Li Dongyang entered a relatively clean cell, sat on a pile of hay and meditated like an old monk pretending to be calm.
However, at this moment, Gu Dayong came in a hurry.
"Where's Li Dongyang!"
"Back to the Governor, the Chief Assistant is in prison No. 5 with yellow characters."
Li Dongyang opened his eyes when he heard Gu Dayong's voice, and couldn't help but smile. He guessed that Gu Dayong must have come to let him out according to the order. He could guess that the civil servants outside must be interceding for him. Zhu Houzhao didn't Maybe he was sent to Jinyi Guard Prison as a chief minister for no reason, regardless of the opposition of the entire civil service group.
Snap!
But who knows, Gu Dayong came over and gave Peng Zhong a slap in the face: "Asshole! Who asked you to put this traitor in a cell like this that only holds accomplices involved in the case, and send Li Dongyang to a prison for serious offenders! This is Your Majesty's Go quickly!”
Peng Zhong, a member of the Jinyiwei family, had no choice but to obey the order and ordered people to open the cell door and forcefully drag Li Dongyang out.
Li Dongyang was shocked when he saw this and couldn't help shouting: "What are you doing! I am the chief minister of the cabinet. What crime did I commit to be treated like this by you? Let me go quickly. I want to see your majesty. I want to see your majesty. ! Gu Dayong, you are taking revenge on me!”
"Revenge! I, Gu Dayong, am not qualified to retaliate against you. It is His Majesty's will to interrogate you strictly! It's not like you didn't hear it in front of His Majesty."
As Gu Dayong said that, he took Li Dongyang and others into the place of serious crime.
Li Dongyang was also hung up like Wang Yue.
Moreover, Li Dongyang also saw Wang Yue here who had been tortured into a human form. He suddenly felt a little scared and hurriedly struggled: "Let me out, let me out quickly! You can't treat me like this. I am not guilty. I am not guilty!”
"Li Dongyang, Li Shoufu, it's not you who has the final say on whether you are guilty or not!"
As Gu Dayong said this, he asked the Jin Yiwei in the prison to begin to torture Li Dongyang, and directly asked Li Dongyang to tell him about the murder of Emperor Hongzhi.
At this time, Li Dongyang also guessed that Gu Dayong must have obtained Zhu Houzhao's order to forcefully open his mouth and obtain evidence from him that he, Liu Jian and others conspired to kill the king.
In order to ensure that his family would not be implicated in the nine clans, and for his own life, Li Dongyang would naturally not admit it. He laughed directly and shouted: "Hahaha! Zhu Houzhao, Ma Wensheng, you want to force me to plead guilty, no way! Even if I am jailed, You won’t admit it even if I’m beaten to death. Just wait. In less than three days, the officials outside asking for my orders will be kneeling all over your Forbidden City!”
(End of chapter)