The candles in Chongwen Hall were burning brightly, and Yang Yuanpu's figure standing behind the imperial desk was reflected on the tall wall by the candles, making him look particularly majestic.
Except for Chen Ruyi and Anji Xiang, who were kneeling on the cool grindstone floor in front of the imperial court, there was no other eunuch waiting on them.
In the main hall, there were only Yang Yuanpu, Chen Ruyi, Anji Xiangjun and his ministers standing or kneeling, but the main hall seemed so empty.
"Wei Chen knew that the assassination case was not a trivial matter. A slight mistake or omission would lead to instability in the country. He alienated his generals. After leading Jinyun Division's men to withdraw, Wei Chen returned to Donglu Mountain in civilian clothes to see if there was any possibility of the thief sneaking back. He felt in his heart
I thought that if I could see the assassin in person or catch the assassin, it would be much more reliable than guessing based on his body shape. But I didn't expect that I would sneak back to the vicinity of Shangjia Fort and see dozens of Shangfu's slaves rebelling.
Shang Wensheng was imprisoned in his room. Shang Wensheng had been seriously injured by an assassin and was captured by a traitor slave. The minister thought that there was no way he could escape this disaster. To see if there was anyone behind the traitor slave, he held his humble position.
To alert the snake..."
Anji Xiangtong knelt in front of the imperial case. Hearing Chen Ruyi's words, he was also secretly shocked. He didn't expect that Chen Ruyi witnessed the slaves of the Shang family rebelling just to see if there was anyone else behind these rebellious slaves.
Shang Wensheng, who was considered an important minister of the imperial court, actually refused to save him?
However, he saw that His Majesty stood in front of the imperial court with an indifferent look, and seemed to have no concern for Shang Wensheng's death?
Shang Wensheng replaced Shen Yang in Guangde Mansion. Naturally, many people in the court did not want Guangde Mansion to be too peaceful.
There are many reasons for this.
Some people, especially officials from aristocratic families in neighboring prefectures and counties such as Jinling and Xuanhu, were the most direct victims of the rise of the Chishan Army.
Except for a small number of destitute civilians, most of the nearly 300,000 women and children gathered in Guangde Mansion were slaves who had escaped from nearby aristocratic families; even during the escape of the slaves, there was more or less bloody armed resistance, and some successful ones
Thousands of children of aristocratic families were killed or injured as a result.
Now that they have become the ministers of the new emperor Conglong, how could they be pleased with the Guangde Mansion, and how could they not hold a grudge?
By extension, in the eyes of most officials who came from aristocratic families, Guangde Mansion is a taboo existence.
It was just that before pacifying Shouzhou and Chuzhou, they were still wary. They were afraid of intensifying conflicts, so they did not directly propose the abolition of Guangde Prefecture, and did not even more nakedly demand that the women and children of Guangde Prefecture be demoted to slaves again.
Just take back the land.
But no matter what, most people in the court still hope that someone like Shang Wensheng can make some waves in Guangde Mansion, right?
As for the reason why His Majesty agreed with the Ministry of Civil Affairs to recommend Shang Wensheng to be sent to Guangde Mansion, Anji Xiang had previously guessed that His Majesty might be eager to transfer Shen Yang back to Beijing and had to make some compromises. But looking at His Majesty's attitude at this time, he thought in his heart,
His Majesty probably had the intention to take advantage of the situation at the beginning, and was he worried about the existence of Guangde Mansion on a deeper level?
Think about it, after the recapture of Jinling, in addition to the more than 7,000 generals of Zuo Guangde Army and nearly 50,000 women and children of their dependents, they were gradually moved out of Guangde Mansion and moved into the camp military mansions of various ministries as military households for resettlement.
, in addition to the nearly 50,000 Longque Army generals who had moved back to Taowuji, they were finally resettled in the three counties of Guangde Prefecture. The number of slaves and maidservants who were granted good citizenship was still as high as 170,000.
This includes the family members of the generals who died in the battle of the Chishan Army (Zuo Wude Army); by the time Jinling City was recaptured, more than 12,000 Chishan Army generals died in battle, and the corresponding family members were nearly 70,000.
In addition, when the Chishan Army was downsized into the Zuo Guangde Army, the generals and their families were disbanded and resettled. The population of this part was even more than 100,000.
No one can deny that Han Qian has gained a very high reputation among these people in a short period of time.
Besides, Han Qian really handed over military power completely before and didn't do anything secretly in the three counties of Guangde Prefecture?
Zuo Si was created by Han Qian, and spying can be said to be what Han Qian is best at.
Your Majesty originally agreed to Shang Wensheng go to Guangde Mansion. Is this the real reason?
Besides, even if Shang Wensheng causes some big trouble in Guangde Mansion, His Majesty can definitely kill Shang Wensheng to quell the dispute. He can even use this as a bargaining chip to hold him responsible until he recommended Shang Wensheng to Zhiguang.
Go to the ministers of the Imperial Household.
One stone kills many birds, why not?
In the final analysis, Shang Wensheng was always just a chess piece in His Majesty's eyes.
As long as there are other chess pieces available in his hand, if he breaks off one or two chess pieces that were not directly played by him in the first place, it is understandable that His Majesty will remain indifferent, right?
Thinking of this, Anji Xiang secretly felt that it was not easy to serve such a master. He knelt down in front of the emperor's case with an even more respectful attitude and listened to Chen Ruyi continue to tell the subsequent plot.
"On the second day after the rebel slaves of Shang Mansion escaped with their children, the ministers found an opportunity to enter the castle. At that time, Shang Wensheng had died of anger. There were no new injuries on his body. He should have been angered to death. There were still six unwilling
The libertine slaves were tied up indoors. Wei Chen asked them and found out that one of the rebel slaves, a soldier named Su Lie, was probably acquainted with the assassin. And the reason why the assassin broke into Shangjia Fort and started killing people was probably not someone else.
The reason is just the revenge of a woman killed by Shang Zhongjie,"
Chen Ruyi noticed that His Majesty's expression did not change, so he truthfully reported some of the things he had investigated over the past few days.
"This girl is Shang Zhongjie's wife, Wei. Shang Zhongjie suspected that Wei was having an affair with Han Donghu, the guard around Qianyang Marquis, and accidentally beat her to death. She should also be the family soldier named Su Lie, who was in Jinling
An unexpected encounter with Han Donghu in the city revealed the matter. When Xuzhou sent an envoy to congratulate His Majesty on the appointment of the Queen, Jinyun Division sent spies to watch every move of the envoy from Xuzhou, and there was indeed someone who looked similar to Su Lie.
We met Han Donghu in front of Caiyuanzi Restaurant. Weichen speculated that Han Donghu was mostly angry that his adulterous affair was exposed and his adulterous wife was killed, so he attacked Shangjiabao in anger. It should not be the direct instruction of Marquis Qianyang..."
Anji Xiang glanced at Chen Ruyi in confusion, wondering why Chen Ruyi came to clear the grievances of Han Qian, the Marquis of Qianyang. Could it be that he didn't know that His Majesty would not like such speculation too much?
"Han Donghu killed someone for adultery. Why did he kill Shang Zhongjie and then go straight into the inner house with the intention of assassinating Shang Wensheng?" Yang Yuanpu couldn't help but ask at this time. He obviously didn't think Chen Ruyi's speculation was reasonable.
The letters from the Ministry of Justice and the Jingzhao Mansion are more inclined to believe that the assassin did not find the exact whereabouts of Shang Wensheng at the beginning, or mistakenly believed that Shang Wensheng was in the yard where Shang Zhongjie was at that time.
Chen Ruyi continued:
"Shang Zhongjie had no official status. When he left Jinling this time, he probably wanted to return to Shangjiapu to run his family business. However, Shangjiapu was occupied by more than ten households of refugees for farming. After Shang Zhongjie captured these people, he killed them all.
To vent their anger, the Shang family wanted to cover up the report. The report to Lishui County only said that these refugees refused to surrender and drove the women and children into the houses and burned them to death. This happened before the assassination. Wei Chen boldly guessed that Han Donghu
After assassinating Shang Zhongjie, after learning about this incident, he turned his hatred towards Shang Wensheng and temporarily aroused the intention to kill Shang Wensheng. And it was this incident that chilled the Shangfu's slaves. When the assassin broke in, most of them did not try their best.
Savior…”
"The dozen rebel slaves who rebelled against the family master, is this the cause of the disaster?" Yang Yuanpu asked, standing with his back to the tall candle, his face hidden in the shadow of the candlelight, making it look even darker and gloomier.
"Wei Chen inquired about the six people who were bound. It was indeed Shang Wensheng who woke up and learned that the savior of these slaves was incompetent, so he wanted to send someone to notify his eldest son Shang Mengtong to come back to deal with these slaves, but the news somehow leaked out, and these slaves were
The domestic slave took a preemptive strike," Chen Ruyi replied, "Weichen also verified the list of people coming from Xuzhou. Although Han Donghu was included in the list of people entering and leaving the city, the envoy from Xuzhou left the city by boat.
The division's warships headed for Yueyang, and the ministers thought they were trying to cover up the truth..."
In the past ten days, Jinyun Division has ostensibly withdrawn from the Donglushan assassination case, but Chen Ruyi has been secretly investigating. Although Anji Xiang is in competition with Chen Ruyi, he has to admit that he secretly investigated the case very carefully and analyzed it very carefully.
Quite reasonable, His Majesty couldn't help but nod slightly at this time, admitting that Chen Ruyi's analysis was very reasonable.
Perhaps this is the truth. In the final analysis, the whole case is a case of love murder and vendetta. Although the murderer is someone close to Qianyang Hou Hanqian, he is not directly involved with Qianyang Hou Hanqian.
Seeing His Highness's expression uncertain, Chen Ruyi added: "Wei Chen thought that if these things came out, it might attract great criticism and shake the hearts of the people of Guangde Mansion, so he made an independent decision at that time and put this matter into consideration.
Six tied Shang family slaves were stabbed to death..."
"..." Anji Xiang turned his head towards Chen Ruyi in shock.
The memorials submitted by the Jingzhao Mansion and the Ministry of Punishment had various speculations about the deaths of Chen Xiang and six other Shangfu family soldiers. After final discussion, they all tended to believe that the rebel slaves sneaked back to Shangjiapu to kill and silence them.
He did not expect that these were actually done by Chen Ruyi.
Anji Xiang looked at His Majesty again, but he didn't know what His Majesty thought of Chen Ruyi's murder and silence.
Yang Yuanpu pondered for a moment and said: "Such small things can be done as soon as they are done. There is no need to ask me for instructions on everything."
Seeing that His Majesty approved of Chen Ruyi's actions, Anji Xiang felt a little jealous, so what could he say?
"Should the Jinyun Division follow up on the Shang Wensheng assassination case? Your Majesty, please make it clear." Chen Ruyi asked again.
"Since these people have all been asked to be killed by you, Jinyun Division has no excuse to follow up. Let's leave them all to the Ministry of Punishment and see what kind of trouble they can cause." Yang Yuanpu said.
Anji Xiang noticed that there was a strange light in His Majesty's eyes when he said this, and thought that even if Shang Wensheng died, His Majesty still didn't want to see Guangde Mansion too peaceful?
"By the way, the Empress Dowager's birthday is approaching. Your Majesty is considerate of the hardships of the people in the prefectures and counties, and has issued an edict to strictly prohibit the prefectures and counties from making tributes. However, Du Tao, the son of Du Chongtao, the defense envoy of Shuzhou, has friends with officials in the capital. He has said many times in private that your Majesty is considerate of the people.
Due to hardship, states and counties are forbidden to donate, but as a minister, you must not forget the etiquette..." Chen Ruyi reported again.
"I understand." Yang Yuanpu waved his hand.
Seeing His Majesty's expression of laziness and exhaustion, Chen Ruyi and Anji Xiang resigned knowingly.
After walking out of Chongwen Hall, Anji Xiang cupped his hands towards Chen Ruyi and said, "I really want to congratulate my junior brother this time. He was able to investigate the assassination case so clearly and thoroughly in such a short period of time, and he also handled it cleanly for His Majesty.
In the past, I really underestimated you, junior brother..."
"I just have more thoughts to share your Majesty's worries." Chen Ruyi smiled slightly.
"If this case is completely revealed, it has nothing to do with the Marquis of Qianyang. Now half-hidden, half-truth and half-false gossip is circulating in the ears of the princes and ministers in the court. Instead, the Marquis of Qianyang said
I don’t know,” Anji Xiang said while twisting his chin, “Your Highness is really getting more powerful. After all, I still don’t believe that Marquis Qianyang did not do anything in the three counties of Guangde Prefecture, but it is inconvenient to directly instruct you and my senior brother to take Jinyun with him.
The people of the Department turned Guangde Mansion upside down. Then they could only use the Ministry of Punishment and those aristocratic family members who were angered by the half-truth and half-false news to go to Guangde Mansion to scare the snake. According to me, what was mentioned in the official letter from Lishui County
That old slave of the Shang Family, he entered the Shang Family Fort before his junior brother and had contact with the six Shang Family soldiers who were imprisoned in the room. Maybe he had already told Wei Zhen some details..."
"So what if Wei Zhen knew about it? Didn't he torture the old slave of the Shang family to death? Didn't he omit Shang Zhongjie's murder of his wife and indiscriminate killing of refugees and not mention it at all in the official document?" Chen Ruyi said with a smile, "
Since it’s people like Wei Zhen who want to make things bigger, why don’t we and your majesty just sit back and watch from the other side?”
Anji Xiang pointed at Chen Ruyi and looked up and down laughing.
At this moment, they were elated, but they didn't know how big the fire would burn, or they thought His Majesty could control the fire, or they didn't care at all how big the fire would burn...
