After hearing that Yunxi had ordered the Jin Yiwei to retrial, the three of them praised "Your Majesty is wise" in unison and were about to leave. But Yunxi suddenly said: "Mr. Fang, Li Qianshi, Lu Yushi, I am still I have something to tell my dear friends."
"What do you dare to ask Your Majesty?" Fang Xiaoru asked.
A look of hesitation flashed across Yunxi's face, and he thought for a while and said: "Mr. Fang, I was ill a few days ago. I was in low spirits when I received the envoy from the Fan Kingdom on the first day of the year, and I didn't talk to the envoy from the Fan Kingdom properly. But I also It can be seen that things are arranged very appropriately, which makes me feel very happy."
"This is all the credit of Lian Shangshu and Fu Yuanshi. I dare not take credit." Fang Xiaoru said hurriedly.
"In a few days, I plan to summon Quijano, the envoy of the Kingdom of Castile, again. After you return, discuss with Qing Lian and Qing Fu about the etiquette to summon him. After all, the Kingdom of Castile is different from other countries. It’s different. It’s my first time to come from a country tens of thousands of miles away to pay homage to the Ming Dynasty. What’s more, I have something to talk to the envoy Jijano and the deputy envoy.”
"I obey the decree."
"I still have a few requests. Let me tell you, Mr. Fang first, and tell Qing Lian and Qing Fu when you go back. Firstly..." Yunxi said again.
Although it was unnecessary for Yunxi to attach such great importance to receiving an envoy from a foreign country, the truth in his words was not bad. It was Castile's first time to pay homage to the Ming Dynasty, so it would be okay to pay more attention to it. But he felt a little bit in his heart. Strange: 'If you tell him about this, just keep him, why should you keep Hiru and Jizen?'
Yunxi said a few words, and Fang Xiaoru hurriedly lowered his head and agreed, and at the same time waited quietly for Yunxi's other instructions. Yunxi paused, and then said: "Well, this matter is very important to me. I will send a young eunuch to take care of it." Lian Qing, Fu Qing called over, and we, the monarch and his ministers, will discuss this together."
"Your Majesty, I don't need to wait for you to receive the envoys from the foreign countries. I request to leave." Li Shilu said.
"I beg you to resign." Lu Yuanzhi also said. At first, the two of them thought that they would have some instructions after receiving the envoys from the country. However, they did not expect that His Majesty would discuss this matter with Lian Zining and Fu An face to face. thing. Then what are they still doing here?
"This," Yunxi was about to say something to persuade them to stay, but there seemed to be no reason to stay. Just as he was anxious, he suddenly heard the footsteps of "Deng Deng Deng" coming from outside, and then a young eunuch held a memorial in both hands. He walked in, walked up to Yunxi, bowed in front of him, and then said: "Your Majesty, this is a report from Qin Song, the commander of the Jinyi Guards. Your Majesty ordered that all reports from the Jinyiwei be sent over immediately, so I sent them here."
"Okay, you did a good job." Yunxi reached out and picked up the memorial from his hands, complimented him casually, and turned it over to read. Li Shilu and Lu Yuanzhi were also very concerned about Jin Yiwei's report and no longer asked to resign, waiting. On the side, he occasionally raised his head to look at Yun Xi's expression.
They saw that Yun Xi's expression was normal at first, but soon became a little surprised, and then became even more surprised. It seemed that he had seen something unbelievable, and even his eyebrows stood up.
After a while, Yunxi finished reading the memorial, flipped it forward, and looked at some places again. Then he raised his head and looked at Li Shilu, and then at Fang Xiaoru.
"May I ask Your Majesty, what is said in the memorial?" Fang Xiaoru asked. He was the most senior of the three people present and had the most respect from Yunxi, so he spoke.
"Yesterday morning, when the confession was just made public, I ordered Qin Qing to re-verify the matter. After doing this, Qin Qing said, he also verified the confession, and sent people to travel five hundred miles a day and night to Suzhou to check the local area.
Whether the person investigating the case has forged evidence. After preliminary verification, there should be no mistakes in this matter."
"Your Majesty," Li Shilu was about to speak when he saw Yunxi making a gesture telling them not to speak yet, so he could only stop talking. Yunxi waved the memorial in his hand and said: "And Suzhou Prefecture has reported something new.
The confession was made by Zhao Yan, the prefect of Suzhou. In his confession, he said: "Not only Mingliang, the censor of Henan Province in the Duchayuan, was involved in the misappropriation of the Li family's property, Li Shilu of Su Songdao was promoted in Zhejiang based on the Chagian affairs, and Fang Xiaoru, the minister of Honglu Temple, was also involved.
involved.”
"Your Majesty, this must be slander!" Fang Xiaoru said immediately: "I have no involvement in this matter!"
"Your Majesty, I have not participated in this matter." Li Shilu knelt down and said: "If I participate in embezzling the Li family's property, I am willing to suffer the punishment of Ling Chi."
"Your Majesty, I guarantee with my life and property that Qing Fang Si and Li Qian will definitely not be involved in such a thing." Lu Yuanzhi also said.
"I don't want to believe it either. But," Yunxi laid out the memorial again and continued: "Zhao Yan said in his confession that he had never met Mr. Fang and Li Qianshi in person, but he had met Li Qianshi No.
Li Xuanfa, his son, and the second housekeeper of Mr. Fang’s family. These two people also took out letters written by Li Qianshi and Mr. Fang. However, they did not keep the letters, so Zhao Yan took them back after taking a few glances.
"Zhao Yan also understood that senior officials like Mr. Fang and Li Qianshi did not want to leave evidence, so he did not leave it."
"How can Zhao Yan be sure that these two letters are indeed written by Fang Siqing and Li Qianshi?" Both Fang Xiaoru and Li Shilu became suspects. After one sentence of defense, it was not convenient to talk, so he asked.
"When Zhao Yan was an official in Beijing, he saw the memorials written by Mr. Fang and Li Qianshi, and he remembered the style of the calligraphy and the seal. On that day, the handwriting and seal on the letter that Li Xuanfa and the second housekeeper took out
The seal is exactly the same as the one he saw before." Yunxi didn't show any impatience at all and continued to explain.
Lu Yuanzhi was about to ask again when he suddenly saw Li Shilu trembling and seemed about to fall to the ground. Immediately, Yunxi, Lu Yuanzhi, and Fang Xiaoru all looked at him.
'I remember that just in May this year, I couldn't find the seal once. I looked around and found that it was at Xuanji's place.
I went to ask the accountant that he was indeed short of such a sum, so I punished him in public and confiscated his monthly salary. Moreover, although Xuanji was not very good at reading, his handwriting was as good as mine.
Very similar.'
'And from June to September this year, he suddenly said that he wanted to return to his hometown to serve his grandparents. I thought that it was rare for him to be filial, and it might be better to study in the countryside than in the capital. It was true that he would return to his hometown in Dongyang from the capital.
Passing through Suzhou Prefecture.'
Thinking of this, Li Shilu suddenly understood that it was probably his third son who used his name to participate in this matter and wanted to get money. Since his son was indeed involved, how could he confidently say that this matter had nothing to do with him.
"Your Majesty, minister," Li Shilu was thinking about telling these things, but Yunxi looked at his expression and seemed to understand what he was going to say, and said: "Li Qian's matter, you don't have to say it. You will reply right away.
Family, I want to ask if your third son has participated in embezzling the Li family’s property.”
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness." Li Shilu said these five words slowly, kowtowed and thanked him. After that, he wanted to stand up, but found that the bones of his legs seemed to have softened. After standing for a few days, This time he couldn't stand up, but it was Lu Yuanzhi who helped him up.
"Mr. Fang, maybe you can go home and ask the second housekeeper. But since he is just a servant of Mr. Fang's family, I don't want to show any dignity. If he does participate in embezzling the Li family's property, I will ask the Jin Yiwei to arrest him and punish him." Yunxi said to Fang Xiaoru again.
"If the steward of my family is indeed involved in this matter, I will not bother the Jinyi Guards sergeants. I will tie him to the Jinyiwei Zhenfu Division." Fang Xiaoru bowed and said.
"You two dears, please step back. Lu Aiqing, you should also go back. I originally had something to tell you, but after something like this happened, I didn't have the mood to tell you anymore." Yunhe said again.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." The three of them agreed one after another. Fang Xiaoru was the first to straighten his back and walk out. Lu Yuanzhi supported Li Shilu and left the Qianqing Palace.
Yunxi looked at their backs, sighed, and turned his head away from looking at them.
Soon, word spread throughout the capital that the second housekeeper of the Fang Mansion and Li Shilu's third son were involved in embezzling the Li family's property. It was said that the news came from the relatives of Jinyiwei Xiaowei who participated in the investigation of the matter. Because it was not confirmed by Jinyiwei, Yunxi didn't say anything, and he didn't know whether it was true or not, but the news spread like wildfire.
Another day later, Fang Xiaoru personally took more than a dozen people who had been tied up to Fusi, Jinyiwei Town. He pointed to the tied person at the front and said to Qin Song who hurried out to greet him: "This person is Qin Song. The second housekeeper of the Yu family who was involved in the Li case mentioned in the commander's memorial. Since he has done something that violates the national law, Yu will not protect him. Today, he will be handed over to the Jinyi Guards and dealt with according to the national law."
"The other eleven people are also people from Yu's family who are involved in Li's case. Among them is Yu, a relative of the same clan. They are all handed over to Jin Yiwei for disposal."
Hearing Fang Xiaoru's words, the onlookers immediately burst into laughter! It turned out that the rumors were true!
"Mr. Fang, Qin Song admires his understanding of justice." Qin Song saluted him.
"Yu is not strict in governing the family, which has led to such things happening in the family. How dare you say that the Qin commander admires these two words?" Fang Xiaoru said a little frustrated: "The so-called self-cultivation, family governance, and world peace, but Yu Lian's family is not even, so what? Can he still govern the country and bring peace to the world? I have already written a memorial and begged your majesty for his bones."
"Mr. Fang," Qin Song was about to say something else, but saw that Fang Xiaoru had already saluted him again, turned around, and left in front of the Zhenfu Division. After thinking for a while, he felt that it was best not to catch up and waved away. The sergeant took everyone inside and then turned around and went back.
This matter also spread throughout the capital at an extremely fast speed, and all officials immediately knew that the previous rumors were true and not a false accusation. Immediately, everyone was talking about it while staring at Li Shilu's mansion. But everyone was surprised. What's surprising is that there was no movement in Li Shilu's mansion for several days, at least from the outside, there was no movement.
…
…
"Master, I beg you, master, don't send Faier to Jinyiwei. Jinyiwei is a yamen that eats people without spitting out their bones. How can Faier come out alive after entering a place like this?" In Li Shilu's mansion, a woman knelt down. On the ground, she cried and said. The woman looked about forty years old and was wearing a used but slightly old silk dress. The woman originally looked good, but at this time, her face was covered with tears, and she could not tell at all. Well maintained.
Li Shilu stood in front of her and said seriously: "Xuanfa has violated the national law, and the matter has been heard all over the world. How can I cover it up? How can I cover it up!"
"Then you can't send Fa'er to Jinyiwei Town Fusi. If you really can't delay it, send him to the Ministry of Punishment. Sir, you have been an official in the Ministry of Punishment before, and you are all familiar with the subordinate officials. You are also familiar with several of the doctors and the foreign ministers.
People, if you ask them to take care of Fa'er, you won't have to suffer much. When you enter the Jinyiwei prison, there is no one I know in there. They abuse Fa'er, and Fa'er will suffer." The middle-aged woman said again.
"How can this be done! This case is still under investigation by Jin Yiwei. How can it be sent to the Ministry of Punishment? Moreover, according to the rules, even if it is sent to the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Punishment will transfer him to Jin Yiwei. Don't hinder me here anymore!" At this time!
Li Shilu's tone was already very impatient.
The middle-aged woman also heard his impatience, but she didn't mean to back down at all. She was Li Shilu's first wife, Qi, and gave birth to three children in total, two sons and one daughter. The youngest was Li Xuanfa, so she regarded him as
Ruo Zhenbao never let him suffer any injustice, because she always gave him money for him to squander, which made Li Shilu take back the family's financial rights to himself.
Mrs. Qi loved her little son so much that she was not willing to let him suffer even the slightest grievance. At this time, she was even less willing to let him go to jail. When Li Shilu was about to send Li Xuanfa to prison, she hid her son.
; Today Li Xuanfa was found by him, and she knelt before him again to beg for mercy.
"Sir, please go and beg your Majesty. Your Majesty always treats ministers very favorably. Sir, please go and beg your Majesty to bypass Fa'er. Your Majesty will definitely agree. Even if Fa'er is not allowed to participate in the imperial examination in the future, or even has to return to his place of origin and cannot leave for a step, that's fine.
Don't let Faier go to jail!" she said again.
"No! The state-owned legal family has family rules. How could I violate the state law for my own selfish purposes!" Li Shilu said loudly, and then ordered the servants on both sides: "Hurry up and tie up Xuan Fa!"
"Who dares to touch!" Qi shouted: "If anyone dares to touch Fa'er, I will definitely not spare him!"
Hearing this, the servants looked at each other in shock and did not dare to move. Li Shilu had been married to the Qi family for more than 20 years, and he would never divorce his wife. In other words, they would still work under the Qi family in the future, but they could not
Offend the mistress.
Li Shilu shouted several times, but when he saw that the people below him were not moving, he shouted angrily: "If you don't move, I will do it myself!" He picked up the rope and walked over to tie up his son Li Xuanfa.
"Son, let's go!" Qi grabbed Li Shilu's leg and shouted at the same time.
Li Xuanfa had been frightened for a long time. He had never seen such a situation before and didn't know what to do. He had been stunned in place just now. When he heard his mother's words, he reacted and was about to run out. But his legs were also weak.
He walked very slowly and walked for a while before walking out. The servant guarding the door was stunned and pretended to stop him, but did not use any effort and allowed Li Xuanfa to escape successfully.
Seeing him leaving the room and his wife still hugging his legs, Li Shilu sighed, threw the rope to the ground, and shouted: "I didn't expect that I, Li Shilu, had a reputation all my life, but today I was defeated at the hands of my wife and son!"
He shouted again: "Mr. Fang, I can't help you!" Then he started crying. (To be continued)