In the middle of summer in the capital, the heat is unbearable. Starting from the end of March, there has been no rain for nearly two months. The drought is still continuing from the capital to Henan and Shandong. Zhang Yuan learned from Di Bao that there were even fathers, sons and brothers in Qingzhou County, Shandong Province.
Women wandered south of the Yangtze River, and there was a so-called human market in Huai'an that specialized in buying and selling Shandong women. At the beginning of the year, hungry people Zhang Jixu, Zhou Yaode and others took advantage of the famine to cause trouble and haunted Mount Tai, Zhangqiu, Laiwu and other places. Zhang Jixu was called the King of Honggan, and Zhou Yaode
He claimed to be the king of the division, robbed wealthy households, intercepted and killed officers and soldiers, and was recently captured and executed by governor Qian Shiwan's troops, and the rest of the party collapsed——
Zhang Yuan thought: "The Ming Dynasty was a vast country, and natural disasters were inevitable. It was not uncommon for a small group of refugees to cause trouble. Fifteen years later, thieves came to Shaanxi and other places in droves. At that time, they were in dire straits and it was hard to deal with them. It should be too late now, but the party disputes in the imperial court
What's the ending? I secretly provoked this attack. In order to consolidate the crown prince's foundation, it is very necessary. Emperor Wanli is old, and Concubine Zheng's ambitions must be suppressed to avoid causing greater turmoil. Moreover, once
The emperor is a courtier, and if I want to gain a firm foothold in the court and be able to speak well, it will have to be after the new king takes the throne."
At 2:00 on the morning of May 21st, Mu Zhenzhen, Wu Ling, and Wang Dachui escorted Zhang Yuan to the North Bridge of Yuhe River. Seeing Zhang Yuan enter the gate of the Hanlin Academy, Mu Zhenzhen and the others went back the same way. In the evening, the three of them wanted to go back.
I came here to pick up Zhang Yuan, and I traveled more than forty miles every day. I was always in high spirits when I came and went——
There are several wing rooms on the left side of the Yimen of the Hanlin Academy, where the writers used to hand-copy the Di's newspaper. The Di's newspaper had one page every five days, which was compiled by the officials of Liu Kelang based on the memorials of various Yamen officials.
It will then be submitted to the General Affairs Department for review and approval, and then the General Affairs Department will arrange for it to be copied by hand. It will be delivered to all yamen in Beijing on the same day, while the provincial chief envoys and yamen will have to deliver it via post. Each yamen will only receive one copy of the Di newspaper, so it is necessary to
Then he hired newspaper copywriters to copy a few more copies and distribute them to the main officials for reading. The first thing Zhang Yuan did every day when he came to the Hanlin Academy was to go to the newspaper copying room to see if there were any new newspapers. If there were any, he would read them first. If there were not, he would read them first.
After chatting with the two newspaper copywriters for a while, I went to see the hall official, Academician Guo——
That day, Zhang Yuan walked into the newspaper-copying room. The two writers who were copying newspapers in the room quickly put down their pens, stood up and saluted with their hands crossed. One of the writers handed over a newspaper: "Zhang Xiu, there is a new copy."
"The youngest champion of the Ming Dynasty is not at all arrogant, and the two calligraphers are very happy to see this Zhang Xiuzhan."
Zhang Yuan cupped his hands and said with a smile: "You can copy by yourself, I will just watch from the side."
There was a long pine table, and two writers sat side by side. The newspaper was placed in the middle, and both sides were copying at the same time. The side rooms were low and not ventilated. Even in the morning, it was quite stuffy. Zhang Yuan took out a folding fan from his sleeve.
, while fanning myself, I read this issue of the Di newspaper. This newspaper is slightly larger than an octavo page. It is written on one side and is densely packed with small characters. There is no content related to the May 15th massacre in the Di newspaper, but there is an article criticizing Binghe.
The memorial, which talks about contempt for destiny and flattering the emperor, is signed by Liu Tingyuan, censor of Shaanxi Province——
Zhang Yuan silently read this righteous and eloquent speech. He sneered in his heart: "Contempting destiny and flattering the emperor, these two big hats are very scary. Liu Tingyuan's memorial should have been sent before the attack.
Yes, you want to ruin my reputation."
He also thought: "It would be great if I could take this opportunity to start a big discussion on the Glacier Theory within the 13 provinces of the two capitals of the Ming Dynasty. But now that the attack case has stolen the limelight, no one is paying attention to Liu Tingyuan's refutation of my Glacier Theory.
It’s been three days since Liu Tingyuan, Hu Shixiang and Lao Yongjia of the Zhejiang Party reviewed the assault case, and the results should be out.”
Just that afternoon, news came from the Sixth Section Corridor inside the Meridian Gate that the Ministry of Punishment had completed the retrial of the assault case. The facts of the case were roughly as follows: The criminal, Zhang Cha, is from Jing'eryu, Jizhou. He is thirty-eight years old this year and has no wife or children.
, lived by selling firewood on weekdays, because Shenzong was building an iron tile palace in Huanghuashan, Jizhou for Concubine Zheng, eunuchs Pang Bao and Liu Cheng planned to bake bricks and sell them for profit. Locals Li Ziqiang and Li Wanchang met Pang because they sent charcoal.
After Bao, Liu Cheng, and Er Li failed to forcefully buy Zhang Cha's firewood, they burned the firewood. Zhang Cha sued the matter. Because it involved eunuchs, the local officials not only refused to accept the case, but detained Zhang Cha.
Zhang Chai got up, which made Zhang Chai angry and went crazy. Then he came to the capital in May to redress his grievances. On May 15th, he broke into Ciqing Palace from Donghua Gate with a jujube stick and wounded the eunuch Li Jian who was guarding the gate.
He passed through the palace in front of Fengchen Palace and wounded the eunuch Zhong Benhua. He was captured immediately. Therefore, the Ministry of Punishment recommended that Zhang Cha be executed for the crime of shooting arrows, setting off bombs and throwing stones at the palace to hurt people. Zhu Xiong, the commander of the Yanshan avant-garde who was on duty that day, was dismissed from his post to serve the people -
—
The sun was setting, the Jade River was clear, and a group of Ci Lin officials were talking in front of the gate of the Hanlin Academy. They all said that the second trial of the Ministry of Punishment was exactly the same as the first trial of Liu Tingyuan, the imperial censor who inspected the imperial city that day. Even if the criminal Zhang Cha was a lunatic, he was a lunatic.
If you can break into the imperial city and the palace city, if you say that there is no internal response, who will believe it?
Wen Zhenmeng said to Zhang Yuan and Qian Shisheng: "The emperor should be most satisfied with the result of the retrial reported by the Ministry of Punishment. In a shocking case of breaking into the East Palace and murdering the prince, he only executed a madman and demoted a palace guard commander.
The people can be settled, it is really calm, gentle and gentle."
Qian Shisheng said in a low voice: "Liu, Hu and others are obviously catering to the emperor's wishes and do not want to delve into the case. Tomorrow the results of the case will be reviewed by Dali Temple. Dali Temple should have objections."
Wen Zhenmeng said: "Brother Yi, don't you know that Wang Shichang, the Prime Minister of Dali Temple, Liu Tingyuan, and Hu Shixiang are from Zhejiang Province, so there will be no problems in the review."
Zhang Yuan smiled and said: "Brother Yi and I are all from the same hometown."
While they were talking, Huang Zunsu came out of Dong Gongshengmen and came over to meet Zhang Yuan and the others. Huang Zunsu was watching politics in the Ministry of Punishment. When he talked about the assault case, he was very angry and said that he had seen Zhang Cha and he was strong.
, his eyes are clear, and he doesn’t look like a crazy person——
Zhang Yuandao: "This is not the final verdict. Dali Temple will need to review it, as well as the supervision of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. We will wait and see what the case is like."
From a distance, Zhang Yuan saw Mu Zhenzhen, Wu Ling, Laifu, and Wang Dachui walking from East Chang'an Street. Although Zhang Yuan's eyesight was not good, anyone familiar with them could recognize them based on their outlines.
He immediately said goodbye to Wen Zhenmeng and others, walked to the North Bridge of Yuhe River, and hired a rattan sedan. Mu Zhenzhen had already ran over and asked, "Master, are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?" She knew that Zhang Yuan was very willing to walk for exercise.
Yes, we generally don’t take cars or sedans.
Zhang Yuan said: "I'm very fine. I'm fine. Zhenzhen, you and Xiao Wu go back first. Da Chui and Lai Fu will follow me to Shichahai to visit Eunuch Zhong." He didn't know before that the injured eunuch of the East Palace was Zhong Benhua, but now he knows.
Of course I have to visit. Although it is an extraordinary period, there is nothing to avoid suspicion.
After passing the Fire Temple, Zhang Yuan got off the sedan in front of Eunuch Zhong's outer house. He saw Eunuch Zhong, whose right arm was splinted and hung around his neck, escorting an internal official out. The internal official was nearly fifty years old, with a thin body and a face.
He looked sick and stood still, squinting at Zhang Yuan.
Eunuch Zhong did not expect that Zhang Yuan would come, and was surprised and happy. He hurriedly said to the official: "Eunuch, this is Zhang Xiuzan, the number one scholar in the Jin Dynasty. He is a friend of the Za family who was fortunate to make acquaintance in Hangzhou." Then he said to Zhang Yuan:
"Zhang Xiuzhan, this is Mr. Qiantose's companion, Mr. Wang An——"
Zhang Yuan bowed his head and said: "The prince is knowledgeable and talented, and he is also brave and loyal. He has been famous among my subordinates for a long time."
Wang An was very happy to receive Zhang Yuan's comments like this, even if it was just a polite word, he reciprocated the courtesy respectfully: "The number one scholar is too praised. How dare I call myself loyal to a disabled person? I just read some sages' books.
I just know what is good and what is evil." After saying a few pleasantries, he said goodbye and returned to the palace.
Zhang Yuan then asked Eunuch Zhong how he was injured. Eunuch Zhong said: "My forearm was slightly injured, but it's not serious. Lord Qiansui asked the Za family to recuperate outside the palace, so I don't have to go to the palace for the time being. Thank you Mr. Zhang for your concern."
Sit in the teahouse.
When the two secretly exchanged words, Zhang Yuan resigned, and Eunuch Zhong ordered a carriage to see them off. Zhang Yuan sat in the carriage and thought about what he had just said to Eunuch Zhong. Eunuch Zhong did not know how Wang An contacted the foreign officials and how he found Zhang Cha.
For such an individual, Eunuch Zhong has no connections in Beijing. This attack was all planned by Wang An. Wang An has a close relationship with Donglin officials. So which Donglin general was the one who specifically planned this case?
…
On May 22nd, there was a meeting of the Ministry of Punishment, which was attended by officials of the sixth rank and above. The doctor of the Ministry of Punishment reported the results of the retrial of the assault case, and then the results of the trial were to be handed over to Dali Temple for review. At this moment, the Ministry of Punishment
Wang Zhicai, the person in charge of the prison sentence, took out a sticker from his sleeve and said loudly to Li Rong, the Minister of Punishment, and all the officials in the hall: "Li Shangshu, my lords, this is the result of the secret interrogation of the criminal Zhang Cha when the official was in jail yesterday.
Cha confessed that he had met an unknown eunuch in Huanghua Mountain. After following the eunuch to the capital, in a large house on an unknown street, another unknown eunuch handed Zhang Cha a jujube stick to guide him on the road.
He broke into the palace and beat each other when he saw them, and promised to kill Zhang Cha who could save the others——"
There was a sound of "coaxing", and the lobby of the Ministry of Justice suddenly exploded. Officials from various departments looked at each other in shock. The eunuchs in the palace were involved, and the matter finally got serious.
Hu Shixiang, the doctor presiding over the case, said sternly: "Master Wang, the law of the Ming Dynasty is above us. If you fabricate it, your crime will not be trivial."
Wang Zhicai said calmly: "Yesterday it was the official's turn to jail. I saw that Zhang Cha showed no signs of madness, so I interrogated him in prison. Zhang Cha still refused to confess at first. He only said that he rushed into the palace to complain and beat him.
He always said that if he wanted to die, so the subordinate officer threatened to tell you that he would give you food if you wanted to recruit him, otherwise he would starve to death. Zhang Cha replied that he did not dare to tell you, but the subordinate officer knew that there must be something hidden in it, so he ordered the officials on the left and right to retreat.
Only two jailers were left, so Zhang Cha confessed."
Hu Shixiang sneered: "So Zhang Cha confessed to you alone!"
Wang Zhicai said: "Hu Langzhong really believes that there is no insider in the palace. Can a madman armed with a jujube stick break into Ciqing Palace?"
Hu Shixiang was at a loss for words. This was the most criticized aspect of their second trial result, and it is difficult to explain.
Wang Zhicai said categorically: "The lower official immediately went to Shu to ask the Holy Spirit to instruct Jiuqing, Kedao, and the Three Legal Departments to review the case together. The truth will be revealed immediately."
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Something delayed, the update is late, sorry. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to (.) to vote for recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my biggest motivation.)
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