Among the many buildings in the Ming Dynasty Palace, Ziguang Pavilion is small and small, but it is the most mysterious one. Many historians in later generations agree that this is the place where Emperor Mingguang Wu handled confidential matters.
The insidious and ruthless Emperor Guangwu liked to set up conspiracies here, and countless political storms were brewing here. The more bloody the storm, the more mysterious it became.
The tranquil lake, the elegant bamboo forest, the chirping of birds, and the tumbling of fish. In the Ziguang Pavilion, incense curls up.
Ma Jixiang knelt meticulously. If he wanted to kneel to the emperor's satisfaction, he must be meticulous. "Hidden on the ground with your knees, stretched out your waist and hips. If you are in danger or uneasy, kneel down." While kneeling, he slowly reported the facts of the imperial mausoleum forgery case.
.The old emperor sat on the dragon chair with his eyes closed and meditative. He seemed to be listening, but he seemed not to be listening.
"That Li Guoxiang was so disgusting that he dared to write a poem to slander His Majesty. In order not to harm the holy name, I did not show the confession to others. Because I hated this man and had no father, I ordered him to be tortured. Unexpectedly, this traitor actually had the intention.
He was ill and died of suffocation during the execution. I have neglected my duty, please punish me."
Hearing this, the old emperor finally opened his eyes and glanced at Ma Jixiang coldly. Just one glance made him feel cold and trembling all over, feeling that the depths of his soul had been penetrated.
"You mean that you are the only one who has seen the contents of this letter of dedication from beginning to end?" Zhu Hengjia asked lightly, with a half-smile between his brows.
Ma Jixiang suddenly felt the heavy pressure coming on him, like a monkey being pressed under the Wuzhi Mountain, unable to move. He gritted his teeth to contend with this force, and said in a trembling voice: "It is true, your Majesty, please take a closer look."
"Who has met Li Guoxiang in the end?" Zhu Hengjia asked again.
"Hu Li, the prisoner of Qianhu, visited the cells to check the conditions of the prisoners; in addition, Zhao Donglai, the prisoner of Qianhu, and the guards on duty may have had contact with Li Guoxiang."
Hearing this, the old emperor nodded slightly and ordered: "Send Prime Minister Li's confession to me!"
"The roc flies to Zhenjin Ou, and I am a prisoner of Chu because of bad luck. Who can pity the scraps of soup accompanying the waning moon, and sing the late autumn with iron ropes tied to the body. The emperor's favor is so great, but the people deep in the mausoleum are worried. It doesn't matter if a person dies, how can the corrupt officials in the world be willing to do so?
Hugh?"
After reading this poem, a rush of blood rushed to his forehead, and the old emperor had the urge to revive Li Guoxiang first and then cut him to pieces.
Dear Prime Minister Li, are you still justified in being corrupt? It is nonsense to say that I am building a large-scale construction project to build an imperial mausoleum, which makes the people worry. The people are willing to serve me, and it is too late to be happy, so how can they be worried? There are too many corrupt officials in the world, and they are killed one after another.
Inexhaustible. Huh, what do you know? This is my cleverness. Confiscating the wealth of corrupt officials and putting it into the national treasury is what evil people and corrupt officials do. I get the benefits. Li Guoxiang, Li Guoxiang, he committed a crime and did not reflect on it, but wrote a poem to express his gratitude.
My demonstration is extremely hateful!
However, this matter is a bit strange. Only Ma Jixiang has seen this confession from beginning to end. Although Ma Jixiang has always been loyal to me, as the emperor, I cannot listen to one side or believe it. I still have to check it out.
"Ma Qing, you did a good job, thank you for your hard work," the old emperor calmly comforted Ma Jixiang.
"I will serve your Majesty until my death." After hearing the emperor's praise, Ma Jixiang finally breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed his nervousness. But then he tensed up again, because the old emperor said the next sentence: "
Although I believe Ma Qing, the prisoner died in the imperial prison after all. In order to avoid suspicion, the case was transferred to the Three Justices Division for trial, and the persons involved, the bodies, and the confessions were handed over. Jin Yiwei will not interfere anymore."
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The trial efficiency of the Three Judicial Division is very high. After all, it is a specialized judicial department. From a certain perspective, it is more professional than Jinyiwei.
Wu Zuo conducted an autopsy and determined that the time of Li Guoxiang's death was roughly between Zishi and Choushi. Jinyiwei's execution of Qianhu Huli was based on the time and suspicion of committing the crime.
The three giants, Guo Zhiqi, Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Cai Yingchang, Censor of Zuodu, and Zhang Tiaoding, Minister of Dali Temple, discussed and decided to divide their forces into two groups. They conducted an in-depth investigation into the bribery of officials such as Li Guoxiang, Shen Yuan, Liang Zhixin, and Liu Bing. The investigation went very smoothly.
, it was finally determined that 21 officials from the Ministry of Industry had accepted bribes, and that 11 Shaanxi giant businessmen, including Liu Xinxuan and Liu Zhongmu, had paid bribes; Hu Li was interrogated in another way, focusing on investigating the cause of Li Guoxiang's death. This journey was not smooth, so Hu Li himself was the interrogator.
He was a master of crime and had strong bones. He insisted that he was just inspecting the cell and that Li Guoxiang died of illness. The trial went on and on, but no result was produced.
"Mr. Guo, this Hu Li is very treacherous. I don't think he would be able to get him without punishment," Cai Yingchang said to Guo Zhiqi.
"No, Hu Li is an official of the imperial court. He uses torture rashly, and Jin Yiwei's face is not good-looking. He also tortures to extract confessions, which is suspected of being beaten into submission." Zhang Tiaoding objected.
"What Zhang Tingwei said is that you can't use torture, you can only examine carefully and grind slowly, and you can always find the tail of the fox," Guo Zhiqi said.
Hu Li was brought to the court again, and this was already the eleventh interrogation. His steps were neither hasty nor slow, and he was calm and gentle.
"Bang", the gavel sounded.
"Hu Li, according to Zhao Donglai of the Hundred Households in charge of the imperial prison and the jailer on duty, you asked them to step back when you went to inspect Li Guoxiang's cell. Why were you so sneaky?" Cai Yingchang shouted and observed his reaction.
"General Xian, this is the habit of lower-ranking officials. Generally, lower-ranking officials will ask prisoners if they are willing to confess during inspections, because the suspected confidentiality will make other people avoid it," Hu Li responded calmly.
"Oh, then when you asked Li Guoxiang, what did Li Guoxiang say? Was there anything abnormal at that time?" Zhang Tiaoding asked coldly.
"Replying to Zhang Tingwei, when the official asked Li Guoxiang to speak, he blushed and said nothing. The official thought that this person was stubborn and refused to confess, so he returned. Now thinking about it, he must have been mentally ill at that time.
There are already signs, difficulty breathing, and speechlessness. If the punishment had been withdrawn at that time and someone had been called for treatment, maybe Li Guoxiang would not have died. This official has neglected his duty!"
Hu Li's answer was so watertight that Guo Zhiqi, Cai Yingchang, and Zhang Tiaoding, who were experienced in investigating cases, could not detect any flaws and had to order him to be detained.
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In Kunning Palace, the old emperor was furious, "It's been two months and nothing has been achieved. What do Sanfasi do for food?"
The more I thought about it, the angrier I became, and I actually broke the tea cup.
When the emperor was angry, the whole world was shocked, and the people in the palace were too frightened to raise their heads.
"Your Majesty, maybe Prime Minister Li Guo really died of illness, that's why he got nothing. These days, major cases are happening frequently, and all the officials are frightened. I feel uneasy." Seeing that he was angry, Queen Shi advised him.
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The Beihai case of impersonation of nationality, the case of leaking the title of Nanzhili, and the case of forgery of imperial mausoleums caused huge losses to the forces supporting the princelings. Li Guoxiang is a close confidant of Guan Shouzhen. If the investigation continues and Guan Shoufu is implicated, he may become the crown prince of his son.
The position was in danger. So Queen Shi, who had never been involved in politics, persuaded the emperor.
"Queen, this imperial mausoleum is the home of you and me in a hundred years. Some people are shoddy and shoddy. Why don't you want to get to the bottom of it?" Zhu Hengjia's face instantly turned cold and he asked coldly.
"I made a mistake, please punish me." Seeing his displeasure, Queen Shi hurriedly apologized.
"I still have something to do, so I'll go to Qianqing Palace." Zhu Hengjia didn't even look at Queen Shi and left without looking back.
The most ruthless emperor's family, they don't care what is wrong or not!