Chapter 301 The knife rises and falls, blood splatters three feet
The Jin Yiwei who escorted King Chongyang back couldn't stand it anymore: "Prince Shu, how about we talk about business first?"
"Yes, yes, you have to tell the truth."
King Shu came to his senses, dug into his sleeves, took out a large banknote, and muttered, "Hey, I don't know where to put this banknote. How about... you keep it for me first?"
With that said, he forced the bank note into Jin Yiwei's hand.
Jin Yiwei glanced at it and couldn't help but clicked his tongue.
A full two thousand taels of silver, this is not a treasure note to fool people, it is a real silver note, which can be exchanged for an equal amount of silver at the corresponding bank account in Sichuan.
This Prince of Shu is really generous in his actions.
Jin Yiwei said: "Your Majesty, to be honest, Beijing has already sent a letter to Jin Yiwei."
The King of Shu was in awe, and took out another banknote and asked Jin Yiwei to keep it for him first.
Jin Yiwei said: "What the person in the East Palace means is that since King Gu has surrendered, there is no need to go into the matter further. As for the 'little things' that happened in Chengdu before, that person thinks that, Your Majesty, you are asking for forgiveness this time.
Yu Guwang has meritorious deeds, and the merits and demerits are equal to each other, so the Jinyiwei of Chengdu will withdraw. As long as the prince no longer touches related matters, the Jinyiwei will not investigate again."
King Shu nodded and stuffed another banknote.
The Jin Yiwei immediately changed his words: "Your Highness, please rest assured. You can come as you please. The Jin Yiwei in this area of Chengdu is under my control. As long as you don't make too much trouble, I will pretend not to see you. Alas, Alas, Your Majesty, what are you doing?"
Here comes another one..."
"Ahem, actually I am blind and can't see anything."
"My lord, stop stuffing it, stop stuffing it, I can't hold it anymore, uh... how about I sing a song for you?"
…
After Jinyiwei left the Shu Palace, he took a detour and saw a man standing as immobile as a stone statue under a lush tree.
It was Zhang Muzhi.
He looked at the Jin Yiwei and asked: "When you go to see the King of Shu, what is his attitude?"
Jin Yiwei took out all the silver notes that the King of Shu had given him before and handed them to Zhang Muzhi respectfully: "This is what the King of Shu gave to Beizhi. It seems that he is also a little guilty and wants to use silver to buy Beizhi."
Zhang Muzhi did not take the silver note, but pushed it back into the hand of the Jin Yiwei: "You can keep this money for yourself. I will make a decision for you. It will be regarded as the extra money to support your integrity this year."
"Thank you, sir."
Jin Yiwei did not refuse, but honestly put it into his sleeves.
The money he collected from the King of Shu from the beginning was actually included in Zhang Muzhi's budget. He just wanted to take this opportunity to observe the attitude of the King of Shu.
Jin Yiwei asked: "Sir, do we still want to take action against Gao Zheng, the guard of Chengdu? This Gao Zheng has a close relationship with the Shu Palace. If we take action against Gao Zheng, then..."
Zhang Muzhi's eyes were cold: "Kill him."
…
After seeing off the Jin Yiwei, the smile on King Shu's face gradually faded.
King Chongyang, who had experienced a life-and-death catastrophe, had obviously improved his IQ a lot, and he was also more keen on observing words and expressions. Seeing his father's solemn expression, he asked: "Dad, is there anything wrong with this Jin Yiwei? I see.
He was so happy when he collected money..."
The King of Shu shook his head and sighed: "Your uncle Gao, I can't save you this time."
King Chongyang was shocked: "Dad, what do you mean? Uncle Gao is in-laws with our palace. His son, brother Gao, married my eldest sister. Since the court has no intention of taking action against our palace, why does it still attack Uncle Gao?"
, is it possible that...the imperial court still has murderous intentions towards our palace?!"
"That's not the case."
The King of Shu said, "I sold King Gu this time and expressed my position to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in the East Palace. The Prince of Shu's Mansion is firmly on the side of the court. This helped the Prince of Shu's Mansion escape the disaster. The court should also not
We will investigate again the matter of the Shu Prince’s government embezzling people’s land and selling public taxes, otherwise you will not be able to come back to Chengdu.”
King Chongyang was puzzled: "If that's the case, then why does the father still say that something is going to happen to Uncle Gao?"
"Silly son, your Uncle Gao can't escape this disaster. Don't forget, the reason why Jin Yiwei wanted to investigate Prince Shu's Mansion and Prince Gu's Mansion in the first place was because of selling private salt."
The King of Shu said quietly, "This matter is very involved. The Prince of Shu's Palace, the Prince of Gu's Palace, and even the Prince of Gan's Palace are involved. Now that all the members of Prince Gu's family are dead, the vassal king has to die with dignity in public. This crime must be
If it's not Prince Gu's turn to carry it, then only Prince Gu's Mansion and Prince Gan's Mansion will be left."
"The involvement of the Prince of Gan in this matter is not very deep. At least it has nothing to do with the Prince of Gan himself. At most, some of his subordinates were disobedient and tricked him. After all, we are the only ones left in Shu.
It’s the palace.”
"Since the imperial court has no intention of taking action against our Shu Prince's Mansion, who do you think the imperial court will take action against?"
King Chongyang blinked: "So, Uncle Gao was the scapegoat and he resisted all charges in the case of selling illegal salt?"
"He is not a scapegoat, he is one of the main conspirators."
The King of Shu let out a long sigh, "At first I advised him to stop, but he didn't listen. He felt that the mountains in Sichuan were high and the emperor was far away, so the court couldn't find it. But now that disaster is approaching, we had to fly away separately, and he died alone.
If the court and the prince can turn over this article, then it will be considered a worthy death."
"father……"
King Chongyang couldn't bear it, "Isn't this too cruel?"
"Isn't it cruel? This is reality."
The King of Shu turned around and waved his hand, "Go to your uncle Gao's house and ask him to come to the palace to see me."
"yes."
…
Gao Zheng hurried to the palace to meet him, and after searching for a long time, he found King Shu at a dining table: "Your Majesty, the third prince said you are looking for me?"
"Lao Gao, I've been waiting for you for a long time."
The King of Shu held a bowl of Chaoshou and placed it in front of Gao Zheng, "No hurry, let's eat first."
"I've been busy these past two days. How can I take care of eating? Your Majesty, please tell me something first."
"Not urgent."
"..."
Helpless, Gao Zheng had no choice but to eat first. After seeing two zaoshou stuffed in his stomach, he suddenly froze and stared straight at the zaoshou in the bowl.
Chaoshou, some places call it Bianshi, are all dumplings in the final analysis.
"Get on the train and get the dumplings off the noodles", this sentence originated from a nobleman named "White Crab" in the Yuan Dynasty. Although the word dumplings did not exist at that time, the specific meaning was similar.
Today, the King of Shu had to let him eat this bowl of Chao Shou, which was really weird. Only halfway through eating did Gao Zheng realize what the problem was.
It seemed like he was about to be sent away.
Gao Zheng put down his chopsticks and said in a deep voice: "Have you still not settled the matter after all?"
The King of Shu shook his head: "I have tried my best."
"That's fine."
Gao Zheng smiled bitterly and said, "I should have expected such a day, but I didn't expect it to be so sudden."
The King of Shu said: "You have more or less shouldered some sins for the Prince of Shu's palace. You and I are in-laws. Do you have anything to say before leaving? I will try my best to help you."
Gao Zheng clenched his palms tightly: "Can my son survive? He is a guest of honor in the clan's mansion, a relative of the emperor, and he is a member of the same family as your Zhu family."
In his hopeful eyes, King Shu shook his head.
"I can't save you. You are charged with selling illegal salt this time. It belongs to the Yi clan. Your son can't escape, even if he marries the eldest daughter of my family. After all, the Yi clan wants to be exposed to the public.
If your son survives, your death will be in vain."
The King of Shu changed the subject and said, "Your son's name must be on the imperial court's list of the Yi clan. However, if I come forward, I can save your third brother's nephew, which can also be regarded as continuing the continuation of your Gao family.
Incense.”
Gao Zheng lowered his head and was silent for a long time.
He picked up his chopsticks and wolfed down what was left in the bowl until not a drop of soup was left.
After eating, go on your way with peace of mind.
Gao Zheng raised his head and said with relief, "I will ask the prince to take care of my nephew."
"Um."
As soon as the words fell, guards in golden uniforms holding swords walked out around the two of them.
"Prince Shu, I have been ordered to do something, please excuse me."
The King of Shu glanced at Gao Zheng, stood up and left.
The hawks and dogs of the Jin Yiwei surrounded Gao Zheng. He looked up at the sky, took one look at it, and then closed his eyes.
The knife rises.
The knife falls.
Blood splattered three feet.
…
Zhu Gaojie glanced at the cover of the file in his hand, which read "August of the 15th year of Yongle, the case of King Gu", which started with private salt, ended with King Gu, and ended with Gao Zheng's head.
This case should actually be divided into two cases: the "Guwang Case" and the "Private Salt Case", but Zhu Gaojie finally merged the two cases together.
The rebellion of King Gu resulted in the murder of King Gu's family and the eradication of King Gu's gang, and finally ended with the death of Zhang Cheng. In this case, all the guilty persons involved in the case died.
Compared with the King of Valley case, the private salt case was much more relaxed, including embezzling private land, usurping public taxes, reselling private salt... A series of people involved in the case were purged, and in the end, the king of Shu was not charged, but a high official was killed.
Government, serve as a warning to others.
In these two cases, Zhu Gaojie's methods may have been bloody and despicable, but none of the people he killed was innocent.
The process is not important, what is important is the result.
He put the files on the shelf. In order to prevent insects from eating, the shelves in the secret room could only be made of wood instead of bamboo. He glanced at it and saw that the shelf was filled with hundreds of similar files, from the Hongwu Dynasty to Yongle.
During the Jianwen Dynasty, the Jianwen Dynasty can be ignored. They are all files that cannot be shown to others.
This secret room was built on Yuquan Mountain in Beijing. Only the emperor was qualified to step in. It contains too many secrets and darkness since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. No lights are allowed here. Boats are sailed across the lake on the first or sixth day of every ten days.
Completely isolated from the outside world.
Two thousand elite Twelve Guards patrolled the perimeter day and night, killing anyone who came close regardless of reason. The tight defense was comparable to the Huangceku in Houhu, Nanjing.
Zhu Gaojie became the second person in the Yongle Dynasty who was qualified to step into this secret room.
This also means that he will take over the sharp blade called power from the emperor's hands.