Chapter 109: The Crocodile and the Turtle Respond, Sacrifice Relatives for the Sake of Justice

Wuchang Prefecture, early morning.

As soon as the sky was getting light, a commotion was heard inside and outside the governor's office.

As the residence of the three imperial envoys, the governor's yamen was unprecedentedly lively during this period, and the officials in the yamen were no longer surprised.

But Wu Jinghe was a light sleeper and was woken up by the noise.

He stretched, sat up from the bed, leaned on the pillow and rubbed his eyebrows.

He then casually called over his long-serving attendant and asked, "What time is it?"

The attendant lowered his eyebrows and replied in a low voice: "My Lord, it's already midnight."

Wu Jinghe sighed absentmindedly, his face looking a little bewildered, and said nothing more.

The attendant had been with him for more than twenty years and could guess what he was thinking. He asked cautiously, "Did Prince Consort dream about the princess again?"

When leaving Beijing, the prince consort stopped by to pay his respects at the princess's tomb.

Since then, I have been tossing and turning for many days, and I have been troubled by the thought in my dreams. It has not stopped yet.

Otherwise, how can we say that the old man is considerate and knows the inside story? This is what the prince consort does every time he comes back from visiting the graves.

When you have no children and are getting older, it is easy to miss the people in the past, let alone a loving couple.

In the 35th year of the reign of Emperor Jiajing, Wu Jinghe paid homage to the princess' tomb. Seeing the mound was covered with dense bushes and untrimmed thorns, he burst into tears on the spot.

Then he submitted a memorial to Emperor Sejong saying, "The fox has died in the right place. I, your Excellency, have entrusted my life to you. I am alone with the spirit of the deceased thousands of miles away, unable to offer sacrifices in spring and autumn. I am filled with sorrow and regret, and my heart is broken."

He asked the Emperor to allow him to "live with me forever, and die without regrets."

Every word comes from the heart, showing deep affection.

Seeing that the prince consort was absent-minded and speechless, the attendant considerately put aside the refreshing hot soup and asked someone to bring warm water, coarse salt and a toothbrush.

Then she called softly, "My Lord, come wash up."

Wu Jinghe finally came to his senses.

He took the warm towel and covered his face with it, saying in a muffled voice, "There's a commotion outside the mansion so early in the morning, what happened again?"

The noble only works during the day, so the attendants on duty have to work longer hours.

When asked about this, the long-servant quickly replied, "My Lord, the Prince Consort is a member of the gentry, officials and royal family of the province. Those who cry out for injustice cry out for injustice, and those who impeach impeach. These are all the grievances left by Grandpa Taishi when he worked in the provincial government."

"A few days ago, I heard that Grand Master broke into Minwang City and killed many members of the royal family of Lishan Palace!"

"Now they are joining forces and making a fuss about this matter."

Everyone has their own way of addressing Zhu Xizhong, and the most respectful title is always used. Chang Sui loved reading storybooks since he was a child, and he thought that calling Zhu Xizhong "Grand Tutor" was the most respectful.

When this was mentioned, Wu Jinghe naturally understood.

Recently, Zhu Xizhong has been leading the Jinyiwei in killing people in local prefectures and cities, acting tyrannically and doing his best.

Whether it was the gentry, the provincial and county governments, or the royal cities and palaces, they were all stained with blood.

But the consequences are also obvious.

Not only did the people of Huguang hate him deeply, but even the central government had to issue an imperial edict, requiring him to abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty and not commit murder at will.

The other three imperial envoys all understood that this man was here to do the dirty work, so they did not support him and even joined in the rebuke.

However, judging from Zhu Xizhong's increasingly aggressive attitude, he probably has no intention of taking this bad debt away.

I don't know what the emperor promised him, why he tried so hard...

Thinking of this, Wu Jinghe took off the towel, took the toothbrush, and murmured inexplicably: "Do you think His Majesty really keeps his word?"

A few days ago, I heard a rumor that the emperor agreed to Yang Bo's request to let Zhang Siwei join the cabinet, but he did not keep his promise.

Not sure whether it is true.

I don't know how effective the emperor's promise is...

The attendant was a close confidant. He was startled when he heard the words and quickly walked outside the room to look around. Seeing that there was no one around, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He walked back to the room, figured out what the prince consort was worried about, and whispered to comfort him: "Sir, your majesty has no reason to go back on his word about such a small matter as you and the princess being buried together, so please relax."

Wu Jinghe sighed and nodded absentmindedly.

Burying the princess and her husband together is considered a trivial matter because it is a precedent.

But whether this precedent is established also depends on who dies first.

If the prince consort dies, he can be buried in the cemetery first, and the door of the underground palace will not be closed. After the princess dies, he can be buried in the underground palace and buried together.

However, as the saying goes, the humble cannot move the noble.

If the princess died first and was buried in the cemetery, after the prince consort died, the underground palace could no longer be opened and she could only be buried elsewhere.

Now that the princess has been buried, if Wu Jinghe wants to be buried together with her, he must have an exceptional reason.

For example, a princess might be given a higher title, a new cemetery might be built and the burial site might be relocated, or the tomb might be opened and repaired under the pretext that the tomb was damaged, and the prince consort might be buried there as well.

All of these can only be accomplished if the emperor is willing.

This is also the reason why Wu Jinghe was willing to come to Huguang to work for the emperor.

You have to know that Wu Jinghe was born as a top scholar in the military examination. He was good at writing poems and had a unique style of writing. He was proficient in both civil and military affairs. His talent was beyond words, but he was a person who was arrogant because of his talent.

At the beginning, Emperor Shizong asked Wu Jinghe to go to the Western Garden to write metaphysical texts and serve by his side, but Wu Jinghe declined on the grounds that he was not familiar with metaphysical principles.

Later, when Emperor Shizong offered Wu Jinghe some rewards, he refused them on the grounds that "I would be rewarded without any merit and would be more guilty."

Being so arrogant, if the emperor were to act like Emperor Sejong, no matter what righteousness the emperor had in mind to send Wu Jinghe to do so, they would probably end up parting on bad terms.

But now the emperor has tried to persuade him with both emotion and reason, and with the idea of ​​posthumously conferring the princess a title and moving the tomb to be buried together with her, and he really has no way to resist.

I have to say that the emperor is very good at judging people.

While washing up, Wu Jinghe's mind was full of thoughts about the emperor's character - whether he would keep his promise.

After he had washed and dressed, he suppressed his extra thoughts and pushed the door open to go out.

Before leaving, the emperor said that if Zhu Xizhong started killing people, it would be time for him to show mercy and reconcile the two.

Now that the time is right, it is time to get down to business.

Wu Jinghe walked on the corridor from the backyard to the lobby of the yamen, taking deep breaths and swinging his arms from time to time.

Hai Rui was naturally easy to find. At this hour, he was basically sitting in the lobby, and he would not take a healthy nap like himself.

Sure enough, as soon as Wu Jinghe arrived at the door of the governor's lobby, he saw Hai Rui sitting in the lobby, just like he was on duty in his own yamen.

Li Zaiting was also there, and the two of them got together to discuss something.

Seeing Wu Jinghe coming, the two men stood up and saluted: "Captain of the Imperial Consort's Household."

Wu Jinghe was used to being lazy, so he waved his hand casually and walked straight forward.

He looked at Hai Rui and asked about the matter: "Have you made any progress on the matter of the Yueyang Palace?"

He glanced at Hai Rui and felt a little emotional.

The emperor had different instructions for each of them, but the most sincere one was to Hai Rui.

Only he came to act according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

The emperor allowed Hai Rui to investigate the case thoroughly, so that he could give a clear explanation to the deceased Zhang Chucheng and Tang Bin, and give a true account to the emperor himself, the central governors, and even the future governors.

Of course, compared to whether or not the truth can be uncovered, the act of investigating the case itself is more important to Hai Rui.

The emperor needed to use Hai Rui's golden signboard to silence those gossipers and make those who just followed the crowd, had evil intentions, and were unwilling to obey shut up.

Handle the case with integrity and avoid damaging the holy virtue!

Hai Rui didn't know what Wu Jinghe was thinking.

Hearing this question, he did not hide it and nodded calmly: "Zhu Yingyan's rebellion is indeed showing some signs."

Upon hearing the blunt statement of treason, Wu Jinghe's expression immediately brightened.

Hai Rui stood up, walked to another desk, opened a stack of files, turned sideways and gestured to Wu Jinghe. He said, "Excluding some unnecessary false evidence, based on the letters left by Zhu Yingyan, the physical evidence in the cellar, the confessions of the mine robbers, the testimonies of the people in the mansion, etc., we have a rough outline."

He paused and said, "It was this man who dispatched the pirates and miners, contacted Qiu Qiao, the garrison commander of Dongting Lake, spied on their whereabouts, and organized the assassination of Zhang Chucheng and Tang Bin!"

Hai Rui poked the file heavily with his finger, his words full of disgust.

Wu Jinghe nodded thoughtfully.

Li Zaiting saw this and took up the conversation.

He sneered, "It's because the Central Government cut off the succession of Prince Yueyang's throne, and the direct descendants of the royal family in the palace have been holding a grudge against them."

"In addition, this time Zhang Jishizhong investigated the mining tax in Huguang, which affected the government's financial resources. After being instigated by certain people, he did something big."

After the death of Prince of Yueyang Zhu Jijing in the seventh year of Tianshun, there was no more prince in the Prince of Yueyang Palace - this is why Zhu Yingyan, a general who assists the country, can represent the Prince of Yueyang Palace.

This involves the so-called central government's obstruction of Prince Yueyang's succession to the throne.

At that time, Zhu Junxun was the only male left in the Yueyang royal family. Although he was the nephew of the late King of Yueyang, his circumstances were special, so he petitioned Emperor Yingzong to inherit the throne.

However, after Emperor Yingzong was restored to the throne, his favorable attitude towards the royal family immediately changed.

He immediately hit it off with the Ministry of Rites and made up a random excuse - there had never been a precedent for a general to be promoted to a prince.

So he was sent away by Zhu Junqian.

That's all, after all, the reason is reasonable.

But the problem is that the later Emperor Xiaozong didn’t remember this at all.

The auxiliary generals of Ning and Han were successively enfeoffed as King of Shicheng, King of Leping and King of Le'an.

You're not treating the bowl of water equally, so you don't even bother to do the superficial work, right?

Is this okay?

Zhu Junxun naturally refused to accept the result, and he submitted memorials to the emperor for more than ten years in a row, using harsh words and an angry tone, requesting to inherit the throne, otherwise he would not accept the result.

For this purpose, he also invited many princes from the Chu Palace to help him stand up and comfort Emperor Xiaozong.

In the end, Xiaozong became impatient and changed his reason - his nephew could not inherit the throne.

Finally the dispute was over.

Although the matter was settled, the resentment was probably also planted at this time.

In the cellar of Yueyang Palace, there is a strange ritual seat with straw figures of emperors of several generations poked all over it, and no one knows how resentful they were in their hearts.

In short, the evidence is simple and the motive is clear.

Wu Jinghe did not ask who the "certain people" who instigated were referring to.

He immediately asked with concern: "Then the evidence of the crime of treason committed by the people in Yueyang Palace is solid?"

Hai Rui and Li Zaiting exchanged glances, and the latter answered with a question: "How is the Prince Consort going to deal with this?"

Your Majesty summoned this Zongzheng to deal with the royal family members involved.

This Zong Zheng was naturally here for this reason - he was nearing the end of his life and had no children, so it was naturally much more appropriate to deal with him than the two emperors' close ministers.

Wu Jinghe had already prepared a plan, and he stood up immediately: "I will go to Yueyang immediately to deal with the Yueyang Palace."

He was about to turn around and leave, but stopped.

He turned around and explained in advance: "According to the instructions before departure, lieutenants above the rank of assistant to the state and lieutenants guarding the country, etc., do not need to report to the emperor, and can be executed directly."

"Below, the lieutenants of the state, as well as the princesses of the prefectures, counties, and townships, should not be punished."

"I will have people take over the palace's farms and properties temporarily and turn them into imperial estates and properties."

At the beginning of the Ming Taizu period, the system of inheritance was set. The sons of the princes were granted the title of General Guarding the Country, the grandsons were granted the title of General Auxiliary the Country, and the great-grandsons were granted the title of General Serving the Country.

The Yueyang Palace has experienced several generations of Jun, Rong, Xian, and Ying, and has fallen to the level of General Fengguo. There are not many even Lieutenant Zhenguo, and they can be counted on two hands.

Those below them who have not been given the title of general are the powerless side branches.

Sparing him is also a sign of Your Majesty's benevolence.

Of course, the specific handling will also depend on whether there is any involvement in the case.

Hai Rui and Li Zaiting understood that Wu Jinghe was just communicating and not discussing with them.

He nodded but did not express his opinion.

Li Zaiting seemed to be thinking about something.

It was not that the farms and properties were taken over, which was expected - after all, Sun Long was a eunuch from the Imperial Household Department, and it was impossible that he followed them just to serve them tea and water.

But it was the sentence "Don't punish those who are involved"... He had some vague guesses in his mind that the emperor pardoned these members of the royal family and left them a way to survive, which was probably not just a favor.

Hai Rui didn't think too much about it and nodded casually: "The Prince Consort will do it himself."

As he said this, he handed the files of the Yueyang Palace case, which were stamped with the seal of the Censorate and signed by the imperial envoy, to Wu Jinghe.

Wu Jinghe did not continue to interrupt their conversation. He took the file, turned around and walked out.

Hai Rui and the other man greeted them and watched them leave.

After a while, Wu Jinghe's back disappeared, and the two of them withdrew their gazes.

Li Zaiting couldn't help but feel a little emotional in his heart. Duke Chengguo and Prince Consort Wu were truly courageous.

Now there are only one or two royal palaces, but there are more than that in Huguang.

In the eighth year of Jiajing, there were 587 members of the royal family with titles in Huguang. Now, more than 40 years later, the number has grown to more than 2,000.

According to what the emperor said, those with the title of general or above who were involved in treason would be sentenced to death, which would mean nearly three hundred people would have to be killed!

The two people who committed this kind of murder will probably not have a good ending.

Yes, that’s right, there are indeed so many royal family members involved in the case!

Except for Prince Rong's Mansion which knew nothing about it, almost all the vassal states, including Chu, Min, Xiang, Jing and Ji, were involved to varying degrees!
Li Zaiting was thinking when Hai Rui's voice called him back to his senses: "I just mentioned the matter of the three divisions. I'm sorry to trouble Ying Feng."

This was what the two discussed before Wu Jinghe came.

The former came to his senses and immediately responded: "Mr. Qiongshan is too kind. This is my duty."

He sighed with a serious look on his face, "I just didn't expect that the Huguang area would be so corrupt."

Last month, he followed the clues and manpower given by Zhao Xian and went to Tusi.

They used the reward money to clear the way for the local barbarians, and managed to capture a group of merchants who were trading privately and intercept a batch of weapons.

If we trace the case further, it goes without saying that it is related to the royal family, and most of the local officials in Huguang are also involved.

Especially the Command Department!
They would even scrape off the inscriptions on the armor issued by the imperial court and sell it to the barbarians.

No wonder Wang Daokun said last year that there were endless bandits to be eliminated in Huguang!
Hai Rui looked at him for a long time before he said earnestly, "We are just selling iron weapons and armor to the barbarians."

"If Ying Feng has the chance to visit Shanxi and the southeast, he will understand what it means that officials and bandits are one family. This is a deep-seated disease."

Li Zaiting said nothing.

I learned a lot during this trip to Huguang.

Just at this time, a eunuch walked into the court and whispered, "Li Jieshi, Hai Yushi, there is a sneaky person in the front yard. He did not reveal his identity, but said that he had an appointment with Hai Yushi."

Li Zaiting turned his head away in confusion.

Hai Rui waved his hand to let the eunuch go first and closed the file that had just been messed up.

Then he looked up and met Li Zaiting's gaze: "It was the prince of Wugang. He said he had important clues to reveal."

"Would Yingfeng like to go and meet him together?"

Li Zaiting hesitated for a moment, then bowed and said, "As I wish."

He paused, then asked curiously, "What does this prince want to reveal?"

Hai Rui's usually solemn face also showed a strange look: "It is said that he wants to expose his uncle, the Prince of Dong'an Zhu Xianzhen, who ordered Zhu Yingyan to kill Zhang Chucheng and then plotted to assassinate Zhu Yingyan."

(End of this chapter)