After a suffocating silence in the Wenhua Palace, Zhu Di finally spoke again: "Dear gentlemen, do you have anything to ask this guy?"
The King of Han and Ji Gang exchanged glances again, and the former rushed out and said: "Father, I have something that I don't understand. I want to ask Zhou Xin."
"Ask." Zhu Di nodded.
"Zhou Xin, I am here to ask you." The King of Han turned to Zhou Xin and asked in a deep voice: "If you feel that Tang Yun is wrong, can you report it to the court and ask the emperor to make a decision?"
"It's too late to return to the King of Han Dynasty." Zhou Xindao: "It took five days to go back and forth from Pujiang to the capital, and there was no time to report."
"Then why didn't you report it afterwards?" King Han asked: "You said it so righteously, but you concealed the matter and did not report it. Isn't this the crime of deceiving the emperor?"
"..." Zhou Xin was speechless.
"This is an article." The King of Han was tall and handsome, less than thirty years old. He was wearing a well-tailored royal robe, and his whole body was full of arrogance. Sitting opposite him, he was fat and rubbed frequently.
Khan's brothers are really very different. It's no wonder that Zhu Di is so partial. No matter what parent he is, facing two sons like this, they will be equally partial. I saw him staring at Zhou Xin closely and said: "If you were really loyal, you would have been there long ago."
You should be honest with the emperor like you are now. Why did you wait until the royal guards found out before you said anything?"
These words were sinister, and Zhou Xin had no answer at all. Could he say that the reason why I didn't retaliate was because I knew that the emperor also wanted the Zheng family to die? Although the emperor's original intention was definitely to exterminate the Zheng family. But now
In this situation, the emperor would definitely not admit it even to death, and Tang Yun would definitely not admit it either. The result was a big hole that Zhou Xin could not climb out of.
Sure enough, Zhou Xin was speechless.
"You still say that you have nothing to do with Jianwen's remnants?" King Han said coldly: "If it really doesn't matter, why don't you dare to say it?"
"It is human nature to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages." Zhou Xin then said slowly: "I know it is a capital crime, so naturally I can hide it for a day..."
"Since it is a capital crime, what else is there to say?" The King of Han snorted, turned around and cupped his fists towards the emperor and said: "Father, since this beast has confessed his crime, let's punish him as a warning to others."
"Does anyone else have something to say?" Zhu Di asked slowly with a somewhat uncertain expression.
"Your Majesty, I have something to say." Huang Huai came out and said: "His Royal Highness the King of Han's words are a bit redundant. Zhou Xin did not deny that he was guilty of a capital crime. He only denied his relationship with the remnants of Jianwen. Even if the emperor wanted to kill him,
I also sincerely request that this crime be removed.”
"" Zhu Di said coldly: "Nonsense." He didn't know whether he was talking about Huang Huai or the King of Han.
"Furthermore." Huang Huai changed the topic: "Zhou Xin's own violation of the law and the case he tried are two different things and cannot be confused. I sincerely ask the emperor to review the files he submitted and not to waste the matter on personal grounds. Please forgive Xu Yingxian and other criminals
.”
"It's ridiculous. Is the case tried by a criminal credible? This case will naturally have to be retried." King Han said.
"Well..." Zhu Di nodded slowly, looked at Zhou Xin and said: "Zhou Xin, someone complained that you realized that the Jin Yiwei wanted to find you, so you took the risk and secretly took the Jin Yiwei detectives sent by my decree, and then openly robbed you.
The imperial edict and behavior can be described as extremely crazy. Do you recognize this clause?"
After hearing the emperor's words, a trace of joy flashed on the faces of Yang Rong and Yang Shiqi. It seemed that Zhou Xin had successfully eliminated the suspicion that he was Jianwen and rebelled against the party, so he asked about the case in Hangzhou. In this way, the situation
There are variables
Sure enough, Ji Gang's face turned extremely ugly...
Zhou Xinchao kowtowed to Zhu Di and said in a deep voice: "Reporting to your Majesty, Xu Yingxian, a member of the Jinyi Guards, from thousands of households, pretended to extort money in Hangzhou, robbed women of the people, and wantonly tortured the people. The people were furious, and papers were gathered. As an envoy, I
In charge of a province's prisons, I have to severely punish evil officials and save the people." He paused and said: "In fact, at that time, Zhu Jiu, a member of Qianhu, Jin Yiwei, once proposed to me that as long as I let Xu Ying go first, the counter-case would not be involved.
It came to my head, but Wei Chen refused..."
"Oh?" Zhu Di looked at Ji Gang and said, "Is this true?"
"That's nonsense." Ji Gang said angrily: "Reporting to the emperor, the Jinyi Guards are investigating important cases, whether they are searching or arresting people, they are all within the meaning of the title. How can it be said to be extortion? This guy is clearly slandering."
"Whether it's extortion or not, it's not you, Commander Ji, who has the final say, and it's not me, Zhou Xin, who has the final say." Facing Ji Gang, Zhou Xin showed off his sharp edge, and said in a cold voice in the Wenhua Palace: "Xu Yingxian and his group are in Hangzhou City.
In less than a hundred days, the gold, silver, jade and silk, gold stamps and land deeds that could be estimated to be worth as much as six million taels, as well as antique calligraphy and paintings, jades and pearls that could not be valued... All of this is well documented, and the emperor once
You’ll know just by looking.”
"In addition, the officials also pulled out more than a dozen corpses from the lotus pond in the backyard of Qianhu Residence. Some of them had sunk just a few days ago, and their faces were clearly identifiable. After autopsy, each corpse
They were all subjected to inhuman torture during their lifetimes, which was also the cause of their death." Zhou Xin asked Ji Gang: "Commander Ji, if he didn't have something evil in his heart, why would he bury people in the lotus pond? Shouldn't he have informed him?
Will the family collect the body?"
"After an investigation, the evidence of the crime piled up like a mountain, and the ministers' documents were recorded and presented to the emperor. It sounds like the emperor didn't know anything about it." Seeing the shock on Zhu Di's face, Zhou Xin said in a deep voice.
"The sinner's slanderous words have only tainted the saint's hearing." Ji Gang snorted.
"The evidence is as solid as a mountain, right before your eyes. Your Majesty only needs to send someone to check to know whether I am lying." Zhou Xin and Ji Gang confronted each other tit for tat.
Ji Gang was speechless by his words. He became more and more angry and rebuked: "Let alone whether Xu Yingxian has done anything to disturb the people, it is not something that your local officials can arrest casually. There is also the Qianhu Station of Jinyiwei, are you there?
If you have the evidence, you dare to order someone to search it. Who gave you the heart and the courage of a leopard, or were you instructed by someone else?"
"I am the imperial envoy who has been ordered to investigate this case." Zhou Xin's eyes shot out two sharp rays of light and he said word by word: "If anyone gave me the courage, it is the emperor. If someone instigated me to do this,
That’s the emperor too”
"I didn't instruct you to search for Jinyiwei..." After hearing Zhou Xin's words, Zhu Di looked a little weird and said coldly: "Your courage was not given by me, but grew by yourself."
"The emperor's words are very true." Ji Gang hurriedly agreed: "Zhou Xin, a small official, is so lawless that he even dares to arrest the emperor's imperial envoy. If all the provinces follow his example, how can the emperor's decree be carried out? How can the world do it?
No big chaos? Just for this reason, he should be charged with rebellion."
After hearing this, Zhu Di's expression changed again. It was obvious that what Ji Gang said touched his heart. This emperor had an extraordinary spirit, but was extremely insecure. He was very sensitive to ministers violating his authority. In order to
To maintain the majesty of the imperial power, he did not hesitate to shed blood. Ji Gang grasped this point, which made Zhu Di feel angry again.
"That's not true," Zhou Xin said loudly, "Your Majesty, under the guise of your Majesty's name, Jinyiwei officials are committing crimes everywhere, raiding good people without reason, beating innocent people, and framing loyal ministers. They have long been criticized by the people of the world. If they are not brought to justice in time,
, What is the use of the Ming Dynasty’s criminal law? Moreover, if this evil deeds are not eliminated in time, in the future, when the Jin Yiwei envoys go out of Beijing to follow the old laws, they will be even more unscrupulous, and sooner or later they will provoke a civil uprising, and then I am afraid that the world will really be in chaos."
After a few words of advice, Zhu Di turned out to be impeccable, but the anger in his heart became more and more intense. Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong looked at each other and knew that they could no longer remain silent, because at the critical moment, Zhou Xin still suffered from dementia...
Yang Shiqi took a step out of the classroom and said, "I'm going to report to the Emperor. I have something to say."
"Speak." Zhu Di said coldly.
"I don't know what happened in Zhejiang, so I am not qualified to comment on specific cases." Yang Shiqi said solemnly: "But listen to the words of the sage, 'The people do not obey my ability but obey my father. If the government is public, the people will not dare to be arrogant, and obey the minister.
In my humble opinion, as long as the emperor's rewards and punishments are fair, the officials and the people will be convinced. By extension, if Zhou Xin, the imperial envoy, is fair in handling matters, it will not damage the emperor's authority, but will preserve the emperor's authority." Pause.
Said: "The same is true for Xu Qianhu of Jinyiwei."
As soon as these words came out, the princelings nodded in their hearts. It was Yang Shiqi who was worthy of the name of a wise man. His words were so level and he stood from the emperor's point of view, so that the emperor could listen and not protect anyone.
, just being reasonable. If you are so impartial, the emperor will not be disgusted. But obviously, Zhou Xin is on the side of reason, and Jin Yiwei is not reasonable, so in the final analysis, he is still speaking for Zhou Xin...
Sure enough, Zhu Di's mood relaxed a lot after hearing this. Yang Shiqi, a close minister of the emperor, understood the emperor's thoughts better. What the Yongle Emperor cared about most, besides the loyalty of his ministers, was his own authority. Only by making the emperor feel,
Only if his authority is not damaged can he have room for slow change.
It's just that Zhu Di's scheming is as deep as the sea, and the courtiers can't see any clues from his face. The emperor said coldly:
"I am busy with state affairs, and I have been busy solving this case today. The delay is too long. Let's stop here for today. I will take this guy under custody and take good care of him." After saying that, he waved his hand, and the Jinyi Banner School had already put a torture device on Zhou Xin.
, and was taken to prison.
"Retreat from the court." Zhu Di flicked his sleeves, got up and left at a fast pace.
"I will respectfully see off Your Majesty." All the ministers bowed and respectfully saw him off. After the Emperor left, they each stood up and left the Wenhua Hall.
The prince had difficulty moving, so two strong eunuchs came forward, helped him stand up slowly, and moved towards the palace door. The King of Han looked at his brother coldly, and after a while he said: "Watch the threshold, who is that, hurry up and get the prince
Carry it." You think he has good intentions, but he is deliberately trying to make the prince look ugly, so that people can see that the prince of the Ming Dynasty cannot even cross a threshold.
Although, the threshold of the palace is unusually high.