Zuo Guangxian didn't notice it yet, so he said to himself: "As long as Ma Mingluan dies, everything will be unconfirmed. It's not just what we say. Lu Zhenfei and Jin Xuan can't find out the beginning or the end."
"What nonsense are you talking about? Why do you strike first?" Gao Hongtu said angrily, "The reason why the Metropolitan Procuratorate raided the Ministry of Internal Affairs and jailed the deputy director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ma Mingluo, was because of the banditry case. There is no beginning or end to this case.
?Why are you afraid of being investigated? If Lu Zhenfei and Jin Xuan want to investigate, just let them do it."
"Uh?" Zuo Guangxian looked at Gao Hongtu with a confused look on his face, his whole person was in a mess.
The case of collusion with pirates? Mr. Gao Ge, you know that Zhan Yangzhi and Ma Mingluan did not have any affair with pirates at all. This is simply the dirty water we poured on Zhan Yangzhi and Ma Mingluan, okay? You actually said that you are not afraid of investigation?
But soon, Zuo Guang reacted first, and his eyes slowly lit up.
"Shut up!" Zuo Guangxian was about to speak, but Gao Hongtu stopped him, "Hurry up, come to me when you have nothing to do, and don't talk nonsense around. Give me some peace of mind during this time."
"I accept my order," said Zuo Guang, bowing his head.
…
Wu Linzheng, Wu Ganlai and Chen Liangmo also gathered in Meng Zhaoxiang's room.
"Have you heard about it, Uncle Zong?" Wu Ganlai said solemnly, "In recent days, the big case of Zhan Yangzhi, a wealthy businessman in She County, colluding with pirates has suddenly spread on the streets!"
Meng Zhaoxiang snorted coldly and said: "Forget it, on the way to Shangzhi just now, I even heard two beggars squatting on the roadside talking about how many blunderbuss Zhan Yangzhi gave Gu Sanmazi, and Gu Sanmazi promised Zhan Yangzhi that he would wait until the breakthrough
How many benefits were given to him after Nanjing, I can tell you with my own nose and eyes, as if I heard it with my own ears."
Wu Linzheng said: "Uncle Zong, there must be a black hand behind this."
"Yes." Wu Ganlai said, "otherwise it would never have spread so fast."
"Isn't this obvious?" Meng Zhaoxiang said coldly, "The Holy One is going back to Beijing soon. If the case of Zhan Yangzhi's conspiracy with the bandits cannot be settled before the Holy One returns to Beijing, they will be very passive."
Wu Linzheng said: "But as long as Mr. Liu Zongzhou is here, they can't even think of succeeding."
"In my opinion, Mr. Liu Zongzhou may not be able to protect himself." Meng Zhaoxiang sighed, "This old man is on a steep cliff and values his reputation more than anything else. Those people before were also worried about Mr. Liu Zongzhou's identity and status.
Because of his reputation, he did not point the finger at him, but now that the Holy Emperor is about to return to the court, there is not much time left for these people. They can do anything. In less than three days, those censors and officials should gather together and come.
Attacked."
Chen Liangmo heard this and said: "No wonder Lu Lang, Huang Erding and the others have been sneaky these days. They are planning to attack Mr. Liu Zongzhou. We cannot sit idly by and watch this matter."
Wu Ganlai said: "Brother Shi Liang is absolutely right, we must stop them."
"It's useless, we can't stop it at all." Meng Zhaoxiang sighed and said, "You still can't see it now? The entire Nanjing officialdom belongs to them, and no one can stop what they want to do, Shi Ge
As the chief minister of the cabinet, I was still forced by them to resign and stay at home."
Chen Liangmo said: "I don't believe that they can really do whatever they want."
Meng Zhaoxiang said: "At least in Nanjing they can really do whatever they want."
…
It's July 25th, the 18th year of Chongzhen's reign, which is the hottest season of the year.
The prison in the Nanjing Criminal Department was even more stuffy and hot. Ma Mingluan was sweating even while sitting still. However, this small physical hardship was nothing to Ma Mingluan.
What really makes Ma Mingluan sad is the ignorance of the people of Nanjing.
These ignorant people have no idea that they have been fooled by others.
Thinking of this, Ma Mingluan hated the people of the Donglin Party even more. These people really had no bottom line in their actions and could do anything. They were as hateful as the Eunuch Party.
It's funny that he once thought that the Donglin Party members were all upright.
However, it turns out that these people are no different from eunuchs. Are they all in power? Bah!
"Bang bang." Ma Mingluan turned sideways, and the iron chain tied to the shackles immediately made a crisp sound. Because he was the only one in the entire prison, it seemed particularly abrupt in the quiet prison.
But soon, the sound of light footsteps reached Ma Mingluan's ears, and someone came over.
Ma Mingluan couldn't help but feel a little puzzled. Since he was imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Punishments, the prisoners in the same cell and adjacent cells have been moved away one after another. It is said that they are worried that he can use these prisoners to communicate with the outside world and pass on news.
Ma Mingluo sneered at this. I acted in an upright and upright manner. What message did I send?
Furthermore, since he was imprisoned, he has not been interrogated once.
The cell leader told him privately that it was because Mr. Liu Zongzhou, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, was deliberately delaying him. Otherwise, he would not have known how many times he had been to court, and he might have been sentenced to death many times.
Looking back, I saw the cell leader walking out of the shadows of the passage.
What surprised Ma Mingluan was that the cell leader not only said a few words to him this time, but opened the large iron gate of the cell and even took out the key to unlock his chains.
"Wait a minute." Ma Mingluan immediately became alert, "What are you going to do?"
"Shh!" The prison boss made a silencing gesture and came to untie his chains.
Ma Mingluan turned slightly to avoid the key at the head of the cell and said, "Can you explain clearly what you want to do?"
"Sir, I'll let you go!" the cell leader said in a low voice, "I know you are actually a good officer, and you were wronged by others when you were sent to prison this time, but those people are determined to beat you and complete this case.
An ironclad case. For this reason, they even sent Mr. Liu Zongzhou back to his hometown in Shanyin."
"What?" Ma Mingluo asked, "Mr. Liu Zongzhou has returned to his hometown in Shanyin?"
"No," the cell leader said angrily, "those people are really deceitful. Mr. Liu Zongzhou is almost seventy years old, and he has always been strict with himself. Who in the world knows about being cautious and independent?"
"But what kind of dirty things do you think they did?"
"They actually made Mr. Lao drunk by force and carried him to the boudoir of Zhu Susu, the top leader in the south courtyard."
After a pause, the cell leader sighed again: "After the old man sobered up, he almost hit his head to death. Although he was saved by his servant and Zhu Susu in the end, he had no shame to stay in Nanjing as an official, so he resigned and returned home that day."
"Hateful!" Ma Mingluan said angrily, "These people are really capable of this!"
"So, there is nothing they can't do." The prison boss reached out again to unlock the chain, "Sir, if you stay in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, you will only die."
"I will first untie your shackles and shackles."
"Then you and the villain leave here and find a place to hide."
After a pause, the cell leader said again: "Your Majesty will return to Nanjing soon. You will be fine when your Majesty returns to Beijing."
"Wait a minute." Ma Mingluan stopped the cell leader again and said, "What did you say? Is your Majesty going back to Nanjing soon?"
"Yes." The cell leader said, "The Holy Emperor's Luanjia left Xuzhou seven days ago and should have passed through Huai'an Prefecture by now. That's why those people were so eager to drive away Mr. Liu Zongzhou."
After hearing this, Ma Mingluan said: "If this is really the case, I can't leave."
"Aren't you leaving?" the cell leader said anxiously, "Sir, if you don't leave, you will die."
"My life is not worth much. If they want it, they can just take it." Ma Mingluan smiled and said, "But if I escape from the prison of the Ministry of Justice today, I will really get mud in my crotch."
Here, if this is the case, not only will I not be able to help the Holy Lord, but I will only cause trouble for him."
"How could it be?" the prison head asked anxiously, "The Holy One is a saint who has already realized the Tao, and his heart is like a clear mirror!"
"Your Majesty, your heart is like a clear mirror." Ma Mingluan subconsciously wanted to raise his hand and salute in the direction of Xuzhou, but he couldn't lift it while wearing the shackles, so he had no choice but to give up.
After a pause, Ma Mingluan continued: "But the people in Jiangnan are so ignorant. They can't tell who is really good to them and who is just talking. If I really followed you out of the prison today,
, when the news spreads, the people in Jiangnan will only think that I, Ma Mingluan, is absconding out of fear of crime."
"This..." The cell leader was stunned for a moment.
Ma Mingluan shook his head and said: "At that time, if the Holy Spirit really wants to exonerate me, Ma Mingluan, he will become a foolish king who practices favoritism and perverts the law. In this way, I, Ma Mingluan, will never be able to atone for my sins."
"To put it this way, the villain has lost his mind." The prison boss looked disappointed.
Ma Mingluan said: "Prison leader, I know you have good intentions, and I don't blame you, but this is not the case."
"This is so, Mr. Ma cherishes it." The cell leader sighed, knelt down and kowtowed three times to Ma Mingluan.
…
The prison chief had obviously heard about something, and he really didn't mean to harm Ma Mingluo by letting him go in private.
Because early the next morning, another cell leader brought Ma Mingluan a sumptuous meal.
Seeing this, Ma Mingluan understood everything. Those people didn't even bother to try the case. They directly convicted him and wanted to execute him immediately. This was really as anxious as anything.
Ma Mingluan did not waste this beheading meal.
After the prison head untied the shackles and chains, he began to feast.
After having enough wine and food, Ma Mingluan took a drink and stood up and said, "Let's go, it's time to hit the road."
After being escorted into the prison van and arriving on the street outside, I saw that the street was already crowded with onlookers. When they saw Ma Mingluan's prison van coming out, these citizens started throwing rotten vegetable leaves, rotten eggs and even filth at him.
will come over.
Within a short time, Ma Mingluan's face, body and prison cart were covered with all kinds of filth.
After walking along Gongyuan Street for several miles, we were finally escorted out of Nanjing from Sanshan Gate to the riverside execution ground.
