Three hundred and seventieth chapters sound east and west
.. Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun came to the throne at the age of ten. When Zhang Juzheng was in power, all political affairs were irrelevant.
After the great liquidation after Zhang Juzheng's death, and since then he disliked the exercise of power by his ministers, when selecting cabinet ministers, he deliberately selected some soft and familiar people, such as Zhang Siwei, Zhao Zhigao, and Zhu Geng. Those who were loyal and admonished were not used, and the cabinet became completely
The emperor's secretarial agency has been replaced, and its power is less than before——
However, without capable ministers who dared to take on the responsibility, all government affairs would have to fall on Emperor Wanli. Emperor Wanli did not have the talent of Zhang Juzheng. After the abolition of Zhang Juzheng's New Deal, there were no better governance measures, let alone the ability to balance various political issues.
Strength, so that the government becomes worse and worse, and party disputes arise——.
In the past ten years, Emperor Wanli has mastered a good way to deal with his ministers, which is to stay silent and not respond to his ministers' memorials. In addition to incompetence, laziness and paranoia, he uses the so-called "governing by inaction" to eliminate them.
Weak, restrict the pressure from the cabinet and the outer court on the imperial power. Anyway, the sky will not fall. Everything can be put aside. Let's wait and see. This time, Wu Daonan, the second assistant to the cabinet, issued a memorial on the imperial examination fraud case. On the evening of February 27th,
Sent to the Supervisor of Ceremonies, the eunuch in charge of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, Lu Shou, did not dare to neglect, and went to the Hongde Hall of Qianqing Palace overnight to report to Emperor Wanli that there was a serious case of frame-up and fraud in this triennial examination. Emperor Wanli said: "
There is no rush, let’s wait for approval and see how the foreign court responds.”
Sure enough, on the evening of the 28th, Li Song, the imperial censor of Guangdong Province, Zhou Shidan, the imperial censor of Zhejiang Province, Yao Zongwen, the official official, and Liu Wenbing, the engineering official, wrote four memorials to impeach Wu Daonan, criticizing Wu Daonan for being arbitrary when presiding over the examination.
The exam paper that was dismissed was assigned to a high school on the list, but the test results were mediocre, and the Huiyuan obtained was suspected of cheating, causing an uproar among the candidates——
Yao Zongwen also wrote a special memorial to impeach Xu Guangqi, the Zuo Chunfang Zuo Zanshan of Zhanshi Mansion, saying that Xu Guangqi secretly communicated with the candidate Zhang Yuan and forcibly recommended an examination paper that violated the late emperor's taboo. The reason was that both Zhang Yuan and Xu Guangqi were anxious.
Hong's disciple.
Emperor Wanli continued to wait and see——
On the first day of March, Liu Chuxian, the Minister of Rites, He Zongyan, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, Yao Yongji, the minister of Rites, and Zhu Jie, the censor of the Ministry of Hucao, asked the emperor to order the Ministry of Rites to join the Kedao to deal with Bingchen Ke Huiyuan Shen Tonghe, the seventh
Zhao Mingyang also had 115 candidates whose ink scrolls were burned due to the fire in Gongyuan to take the reexamination in order to appease the candidates' grievances——
Emperor Wanli saw that the heat was up. He first approved the re-examination. There was only one test, and he had to write five eight-part essays, three from the four books, and two from the classics. Zhang Yuan, the sixth candidate in this subject, was extremely controversial. Likewise,
You will also have to take a re-examination, and if your craftsmanship is sloppy, you will be dismissed.
The approval was sent to the cabinet. Fang Congzhe, the first assistant, breathed a sigh of relief. It was a great wisdom for the emperor not to immediately demand a strict investigation of the imperial examination case. Many things become more confusing the more they are investigated. It is better to live in confusion and settle the matter. Of course, this is just Fang Congzhe's idea.
, Wu Daonan was very dissatisfied. Wu Daonan felt that it was unfair to ask Zhang Yuan to participate in the reexamination. This was tantamount to not investigating the crime of framing the cheater, but making things difficult for the victim. However, this was the emperor's will, and he could only obey it and pass the reexamination with Zhang Yuan's talent and learning.
There is absolutely no problem. This can also clear Yao Zongwen's accusation of Xu Guangqi and Zhang Yuan being secretly connected. It will also be good for Wu Daonan. Because the impeachment of the officials put Wu Daonan under a lot of pressure——
Today is the second day of March. As usual, the palace examination will be held on March 15th. Time is very tight. Fang Congzhe and Wu Daonan went to the lobby of the Ministry of Rites and convened Liu Chuxian, the Minister of Rites, He Chengyan, the right minister, and the official of the Department of Science and Technology to discuss the re-examination and agreed on the re-examination. The date is the eighth day of March. The venue is the lobby of the Ministry of Rites. Shen Tonghe, Zhao Mingyang, and Zhang Yuan will all avoid being suspected of being the examiners of the re-examination. They will also be replaced as the sealing officer and the copying officer. There will be five eight-legged essay questions. The exam will be randomly selected during the exam, and the exam time will start from the first quarter of the morning to the first quarter of the afternoon. No further candles are allowed, and the marking officer must finish reading the exam papers overnight. On the ninth day of March, the numbers will be split, the roll call will be made, and the six Chinese candidates for the re-examination will be announced. On the list of candidates, as for Zhang Yuan, Shen Tonghe, and Zhao Mingyang, as long as their production skills are equivalent to what they were during the examination, they will not be dismissed——
After the re-examination matters were agreed upon, it was already time to hold the lights, and the officials were waiting to disperse. At this time, a shocking news came: a corpse was found in the villa of Dong Qichang, a scholar in the Imperial Academy. The corpse was suspected to be Zhuo Xiaosheng, a copywriting student who had fled. It was the candidates who discovered it. There are now thousands of candidates gathered by the Paozi River. No wonder it is so quiet outside the Rites Yamen today!
…
To the east of Paozi River, there is an abandoned observatory of Qin Tian Prison, which is a hundred feet high and less than a mile away from Dong Qichang's villa. Neng Liang and Ming Yan, on the orders of Zhang Dai, started from early morning on February 28th. I started to use the telescope to monitor the activities of Dong's house on the observatory. It was raining lightly. The two people were wearing bamboo hats and raincoats. It was very strange at first. When I looked down with the telescope, Dong's house a mile away seemed to be beside the observatory. It can be reached in just a few steps. The peach blossoms in Dong's residence are in full bloom, with a large area of bright red. You can clearly see the pavilions and pavilions hidden among the flowers and trees as long as they are not blocked. There are many female relatives of the Dong family. Walking up and down the corridor with red and green colors, Neng Liang and Ming Yan scrambled to look through the telescope. They saw two carriages from Dong's house going out, and they came back about an hour later. The people who got off the carriages were because of There were trees blocking the view, so the person entered the house directly. No one was seen entering or leaving the house for the whole day, and there was nothing unusual in the house——
Neng Liang and Ming Yan were tired after only being fresh for a long time, but the young master Zongzi had a fate, so they had no choice but to stay on this desolate platform with trees, grass, and foxes infested. You two were watching for half an hour, and I was watching for another half. At that time, someone brought food and drinks to the table, but it was quite leisurely. It was just boring. The two of them stayed up until midnight, and they didn’t bother to look through the telescope. They just looked around with their eyes. It was late at night, and all the lights in Dong’s house were turned off. What are you monitoring?
The day of the 29th was even more boring. No one came or went in Dong's house all day. By the end of the night, people on both sides of the Paozi River had almost turned off their lights. I could sleep on the floor for half the night, wearing a long coat over Mingyan and sitting cross-legged. On the edge of the observatory, I drank Beijing yellow rice wine from a wine gourd to keep out the cold. I glanced in the direction of Dong's house from time to time, thinking that it would be a good thing if it didn't rain today. I sat there bored, humming softly "The Story of the West Tower" that Master Tian Zongzi loved to sing these days:
"My heart trembled, I saw a piece of cold blue lake, it was the shadow of tears, shaking my dreamy eyes. I put on my clothes, hurriedly looking for pens and inkstones, a curtain of flower shadows and half a bed of books, hugging my knees and moaning, and staying in the sky, tonight the moon should be bright Dream. I have so many worries and haven’t examined the dream yet. I, Yu Juan, have little thoughts and only wish to die from an illness, so I ended this marriage——"
Mingyan suddenly shut up. He saw the lights on Dong's house a mile away. When he picked up the telescope and looked at it, the lights went out again. Mingyan didn't care. He continued to sing. After half a gourd of wine,
After finishing the drink, it was already late at night, and I was three or four times drunk. Sleepiness also came over me, so I went to wake Neng Liang up to take over——
Neng Liang stared at the telescope and took a look at Dong's villa. He muttered, "Why is there anyone still awake?" Suddenly his voice tightened and he said, "Mingyan, come and see, what are the people in Dong's house doing?"
Mingyan squinted and saw only a little light in Dong's house. She took the telescope and saw clearly. Under the peach blossom tree in the back garden, there seemed to be three people in the dark. One person was holding a lantern, and two people seemed to be digging.
What? Qi asked: "Why are you digging in the ground in the middle of the night? To hide treasure?" I stared at it for a while, and saw that the two men had been digging for a long time. The pit must have been very deep. They hadn't found any treasure yet, so I couldn't help but yawn.
——
Neng Liang said: "You go to sleep, I'll keep an eye on it." When he took the telescope and looked at it, he said "Hey" again and said: "They stopped digging. They are filling the hole with soil."
Mingyan yawned and said, "I guess I didn't dig anything." She went to sleep. When she woke up the next day, she asked Neng Liang if he saw anything else. Neng Liang shook his head.
After watching for two days and two nights, I only saw that the digging of holes in the middle of the night was rather strange, so naturally I had to report it to the eldest son and young master. After hearing this, Zhang Dai felt that there was a lot of secrets in it. He immediately rushed to the Dongsi Archway to see Zhang Yuan and told him his story.
Guess: "Could it be that Dong killed people and silenced them?"
Zhang Yuandao: "A dog jumps over the wall in a hurry. There is nothing that can't be done. The person who is silenced is either the framer in the Gongyuan or the transcription student——"
Zhang Dai said excitedly: "If this is true, then the imperial examination case that framed you can be easily solved. Dong and his son have committed many unjust acts and will be killed."
Zhang Yuandao: "It's just a guess now. I'm not sure. If you report the case to the Five Soldiers and Horses Division rashly, Dong Qichang is a well-known gentry. The people from the Soldiers and Horses Division will not break into Dong's house and search based on our report. It would be bad to alert the snake.——
"
Zhang Dai frowned and said, "Then how to verify it?"
Zhang Yuan said resolutely: "Combined some criminals, rushed in, said that they were motivated by righteous indignation, and traced the evidence of Dong Qichang and this imperial examination case. I am the leader. I am the victim. It is okay to go too far. Dong's people
Digging holes in the backyard in the middle of the night will never do anything good."
Zhang Dai waved his fist and said, "Yes, that's it. Neng Liang had followed Uncle Zhong to Dong's house before, and he roughly knew the location of the hole, so he directly asked someone to dig it with a hoe."
Zhang Yuan said: "Brother, don't make any noise for now. Let me discuss it with my brother-in-law."
That evening when Shang Zhouzuo came back, Zhang Yuan explained the situation to his brother-in-law. Shang Zhouzuo frowned and said, "Is this appropriate?"
Zhang Yuandao: "I can't break through without a risky move. I can't bear the injustice and go to Fengtian Palace to take the exam."
Seeing Zhang Yuan's resolute attitude, Shang Zhouzuo couldn't stop him. He only told Zhang Yuan to be careful and not to cause casualties. Zhang Yuan said: "Brother, don't worry, I have a strategy to attack the east and west, which can avoid a direct conflict."
On the first day of March, Zhang Yuan and Zhang Dai separately went to contact all the candidates. Of course, the members of the Han Society were the main force, and they also made an appointment with some candidates from Suzhou Prefecture, and agreed to gather at the bank of the Paozi River tomorrow morning. At the same time, Neng Liang and Ming Yan continued to gather at the bank of the Paozi River.
Staring from the observatory—
At the end of the morning on the second day of March, more than fifty Hanshe candidates gathered at the bank of the Paozi River, and more than thirty Suzhou Prefecture candidates, headed by Zhang Yuan, marched to the main entrance of Dong Qichang's villa and loudly asked Prime Minister Dong Xuan to come out.
Seeing that the Dong family and his son were facing a formidable enemy, dozens of servants and servants gathered in the front yard and stood ready. Zhang Yuanyi sternly condemned Dong Qichang for framing him, and asked Dong Qichang to surrender voluntarily. He would be given leniency if he confessed, and stricter if he resisted, etc.
After talking a lot of nonsense, the members of the Han Society felt strange: Chief Zhang always speaks sharply, why is he so verbose today? What is the use of saying such innocuous words?
While Zhang Yuan was negotiating with Dong Qichang and his son at the main entrance of Dong's house, Neng Liang led Wang Dachui, Lai Fu, and Feng Hu to the back door of Dong's villa. Seeing that there was no one guarding him, he climbed over the wall and entered.
Everyone brought hoes and quickly found the peach grove in the back garden. They looked carefully at the ground and saw no traces of freshly turned soil. Neng Liang turned his head to look at the observation deck in the distance and estimated what he could see from the platform.
At this location, I saw two rows of flower pot shelves, with three floors above and below, with dozens of pots of orchids. They immediately asked Wang Dachui and Feng Hu to carefully remove the flower pot shelves, and sure enough they found that the soil on the ground here was newly plowed——
…
Zhang Yuan, who was outside the main gate of Dong's house, was still using diplomatic rhetoric to deal with Dong Qichang and his son. He kept talking for two full moments with clichés and platitudes. Dong Qichang, who was across the wooden gate, became impatient and sneered:
"I don't have time to talk nonsense with you. If you have anything to do, go to the Military and Horse Department and the Criminal Department." He turned around and went back.
Zhang Yuan was not angry and said politely: "Dong Hanlin, wait a minute. Listen to me again. Where did Dong Hanlin invite that framer from? He is really good at it. The stitched examination papers were hidden from the eyes of most people."
, if I say that the framer is in my hands, will Dong Hanlin believe it?"
Dong Qichang looked up to the sky and gave a haha, and said: "I believe it, you go and ask him to come -" and sneered: "Zhang Yuan boy, the so-called cheating in the examination room is a trap you set up to frame others to frame you."
Zhang Yuan ordered Wu Ling beside him, and Wu Ling left in response. This made Dong and his son confused. Although they knew that the framer had left the capital half a month ago, they were still uneasy. They just waited to see what Zhang Yuan could do.
What tricks——
Zhang Yuan didn't waste any words now. He thought that Neng Liang and the others had dug almost as much as they wanted. If we were not around, they would disperse. At that moment, he looked at each other in silence with Dong's father and son and all the slaves. The scene was extremely strange.
After waiting for another moment, Dong Qichang became impatient again. His old legs were sore from standing. He stopped talking to Zhang Yuan and ordered his servants to guard the front and back doors. He wanted to go back to rest. At this moment, he heard someone shouting from behind.
Yuan ran out: "There are really dead bodies. Master Zongzi, Master Jiezi, Dong Qichang killed someone."
When Dong and his son heard this, their faces suddenly turned pale. Only then did Dong Qichang understand why Zhang Yuan had been talking nonsense with him for so long. This was to lure the tiger away from the mountain and attack the west. But how did Zhang Yuan know that there were corpses in the back garden!
Neng Liang was in front, Lai Fu, and Feng Hu were behind, carrying hoes. Look at Wang's sledgehammer, dragging all the dead bodies covered in mud. These four people were so outrageous that they didn't take a detour and went directly from the back door to the front door.
Come.
Dong Qichang took several steps back, staggering, and would have collapsed to the ground if not for the help of his servants. He knew that the Dong family of Huating was completely doomed this time.
When people from the Wucheng Army and Horses Division arrived, Dong Zuchang had been beaten half to death. Dong Qichang was too old and no one beat him, but he lay paralyzed on the ground like a dead dog——
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