Why did the emperor rebel?

Chapter 901

Above the court, everything changes rapidly.

Originally, when Du Ning opened his mouth, he denied the possibility of bribery and fraud in the imperial examination, which was enough to shock the people present, but when his purpose was revealed, all the ministers present were still in shock.

You know, once this case came out, it was already a certainty for Xiao Yi to pack up and go back to his hometown. Originally, this matter should have ended here, and it was enough to have such a Hanlin scholar to take the blame.

However, no one expected that Xueshi Xiao would value face so much in his bones, and after being scolded at the gate of the house by his disciples, he would hand over a letter of self-report to the emperor, and then cut his own pulse and committed suicide.

If you just die like this, forget it, some people will do this kind of thing when pouring dirty water on the dead body, and it is easy to say that they committed suicide in fear of crime.

However, the person was saved!

This time, it becomes interesting.

As we all know, the idea of ​​suicide is often impulsive. If you really get over that energy, you may not be able to make up your mind to do it again.

Especially at the moment of life and death, few people would want to experience that feeling of powerlessness again.

Therefore, Xiao Ying's life was saved, and the possibility of him committing suicide again was very small.

It is precisely because of this that this case will usher in a turning point. Since Xiao Ying committed suicide, it means that he is very likely to be wronged.

For a courtier like him, this kind of stigma is unbearable, so he wants to prove his innocence by death.

Although he is not dead now, the resentment in his heart will not be alleviated in the slightest. In other words, if someone really framed him, then Xiao Ying will definitely bite back desperately, even if he catches him, he doesn't care.

In this case, as long as Du Ning can use it properly, then Xiao Yi can completely become his helper to bring down Jiang Yuan and even the people behind Jiang Yuan. This is the most sensible approach.

However, Du Ning did not do this. Although he pointed the finger at Jiang Yuan, he did not only target Jiang Yuan alone, but incidentally brought along Zhang Min, Zhu Jian, and even, his words turned all Readers were all impeached.

If only from the facts of the case, as long as what Du Ning said is true, then these examiners are indeed inescapable.

But in matters of the court, one cannot just look at the facts.

It is already very risky to rashly involve the three members of the cabinet at the same time. You must know that no one who can achieve the position of cabinet minister will be alone in the court.

The reason why all the ministers felt that Du Ning would target Jiang Yuan was that he was the biggest suspect because of this incident.

More importantly, in fact, most of Jiang Yuan's contacts in the court have been cut off after he and Chen Xun fell out.

In addition, Du Ning and Jiang Yuan are both from Qingliu, so it is not convenient for the ministers of other factions to intervene in their disputes.

But even so, those who are well-informed in the cabinet know that since Jiang Yuan and Zhu Jian failed to run Yu Shiyue together, he switched to Wang Ao's sect.

With the chief minister supporting the scene, Mr. Jiang Ge is not so easy to be manipulated.

Besides Jiang Yuan, although Zhang Min has never had a strong sense of presence in the cabinet, he is a practical talent.

The five ministers of the cabinet, Wang Ao and Zhu Jian, were promoted by meritorious service, and foreign officials came to Beijing. Yu Shiyue was transferred from Dali Temple. The six departments transferred by the hospital have no local experience.

Among these individuals, only Zhang Min started as a magistrate of the seventh grade in a serious manner, and was promoted step by step to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Industry. .

With such solid political achievements and qualifications, plus Zhang Min's good temper in the court, his reputation in the court has always been good.

Especially after entering the cabinet, whether it was Wang Ao, Yu Shiyue, Jiang Yuan, or Zhu Jian, they all had troubles due to various reasons. A good relationship, however, has been peaceful and orderly, without any trouble.

Such a person looks easy to bully, but in fact is the worst kind of bully.

Because once you point the finger at him, everyone will think that you are bullying an honest person.

Although there are many people fighting for power and profit in the imperial court, people like Zhang Min who do things in a down-to-earth manner are also indispensable.

If Du Ning beat him down together, it would easily arouse the resentment of the court officials.

As for Zhu Jian, although he was defeated in the previous struggle with Yu Shiyue, and even because of his pursuit of Zhan's affairs in the Prince's Mansion, he became notorious.

But what I have to say is that Mr. Zhu Ge, after all, is carrying a mission on his back to rescue the Supreme Emperor.

Not to mention, many people are actually guessing that behind Zhu Jian, the Supreme Emperor is actually supporting him secretly.

One of these people was already difficult to deal with, not to mention, Du Ning had to deal with three at once.

Oh, by the way, this is more than that. Although Du Ning put the main responsibility on the three members of the cabinet, he did not forget the responsibilities of the other ministers.

Although these servants changed their tune, they basically didn't move much. They could be regarded as influential and well-connected figures in the court. Behind them, near or far away, stood a few important ministers of the Seven Ministers.

If these people unite, Du Siqing will offend most of the court this time.

The most obvious point is that after Du Ning's words fell, the seven ministers in the court, including the cabinet Wang Ao, all turned their attention to Du Ning's teacher Chen Xun.

That means, you disciple, what are you doing?
However, facing the probing eyes of a group of ministers, Chen Shangshu remained calm and expressionless, as if what Du Ning did had nothing to do with him.

That being the case...

There was a moment of silence in the hall, and the bosses looked away one after another.

They gave them face, but since Chen Xun didn't accept it, then don't blame them.

All the elders lowered their eyebrows and kept silent. The discussion in the hall became louder and louder. Finally, Zhao Xin, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, strode out and said.

"Your Majesty, since Dali Temple investigated this case according to the imperial decree, it should be prudent. Now, Du Siqing said that the imperial examination was a deliberate collusion between Hanlin scholar Xiao Yi and cabinet ministers Jiang Yuan, Zhang Min, and Zhu Jian to set standards privately. I don’t know where the evidence is for taking advantage of the court’s talent ceremony to seek personal gain? What is the selfishness they are seeking?”

Since Du Ning was going to make a fuss, he had to have the confidence to stand doubt.

The silence just now was due to the fact that the ministers in the court gave Chen Xun face and asked him, Du Ning's teacher, to come forward and clean up the situation.

However, if Chen Xun didn't move, he tacitly allowed the officials to fight back.

In fact, this is the reason why all the ministers in the DPRK and China were surprised by Du Ning's move.

Cheating in the palace examination is not a small crime. For the ministers who participated in the review, it is the best reason to end it with insufficient talent and a momentary mistake.

Of course, since the Son of Heaven is angry, it is obviously impossible to cover it up so simply.

However, Du Ning is a veteran of criminal cases, so he can use the spring and autumn style of writing to focus on Jiang Yuan and the others, or even Jiang Yuan alone.

But he refused, so since Du Ning impeached them first, they can't be blamed for resisting.

There is always no reason why Duning can only impeach them and not allow them to question.

Of course, the ministers involved will not be the first to speak.

Taking the Ministry of Officials as an example, it was Yu Shan, the former Minister of the Ministry of War and the current Minister of the Ministry of Officials, who took part in the review of the examination papers. It was Zhao Xin, another minister who came forward to question him.

This Zhao Shilang has a lot of experience in the court. He has been the Minister of the Ministry of Officials since the time when the old Shangshu Wang Zhi was not in office.

Moreover, the experience of Zhao Shilang is very legendary. He is one of the few officials in the court who did not have a Jinshi background.

In the third year of Yongle, Zhao Xin won the provincial examination and was selected to study in Taixue. Later, by chance, he participated in the compilation of "Yongle Dadian". Later, Xu Gong was awarded the head of the Ministry of Industry. Minister of the Ministry and other positions, as officials, they are known for their honesty, integrity, integrity, and are good at grain storage, official management, and many other aspects.

More importantly, when Wang Zhen was powerful and Yu Qian was framed, Zhao Xin, like Yu Shiyue, was one of the few ministers willing to stand up and speak out for Yu Qian.

Even because of this matter, Zhao Xin was hated by Wang Zhen for a while, and then imprisoned. Because of this matter, although Yu Qian is now an official in Shaobao, he still respects Zhao Shilang very much.

In fact, if Wang Wenheng hadn't been born, Zhao Xin was considered to be the most likely person to take over the post of Minister of the Ministry of Officials from Wang Zhi.

What's more, although Wang Wenheng stepped in and directly became the Minister of the Ministry of Officials by air, this Zhao Shilang did not have any complaints. Instead, he assisted Wang Wen conscientiously and completed the previous large-scale Beijing inspection.

Such a minister, except that his official position is not as good as that of Qiqing, his influence in the court is not weak at all.

It's just that this old man has always kept his own place, and doesn't participate in the battle between the court and China, and only cares about his own affairs, but this time, it's different. It is none other than Zhang Min from the cabinet.

Facing Zhao Xin's questioning, Du Ning said calmly.

"Zhao Shilang, before Scholar Xiao committed suicide by cutting his pulse, he left a self-report letter. This self-report letter stated how Jiang Yuan took the initiative to connect with him and how he approved the review standards."

"On that day, before the examination papers were graded, Jiang Yuan took the initiative to stop Xiao Ying. During the break, he proposed that the marking standards should be unified. Yuqian, after convincing Xiao Yi, called Zhang Min and Zhu Jian, and both of them agreed with Jiang Yuan's grading standards, and said that Xiao Yi could select candidates on their behalf."

"Afterwards, in the middle of the examination papers, Xiao Yi summoned the examiners and circulated Cheng Zong's examination papers. Together with Jiang Yuan, he praised Cheng Zong's examination papers for being upright and peaceful, implying that they were too aggressive and not moderate enough. Exam paper."

"On this matter, except for the secret discussion between Jiang Yuan and others, which is from Xiao Yi's self-report, all other matters are well-documented and not nonsense by this official."

Hearing this, Zhao Xin frowned. Seeing this situation, Jiang Yuan finally couldn't hold back anymore, and stepped forward to speak.

"Your Majesty, Xiao Xueshi did call the examiners to praise Cheng Zong's test paper, but he did not imply that we dismissed the test papers with different arguments from Cheng Zong's. As for Du Siqing's accusation that the witnesses colluded with Xiao Xueshi, it is more Nothing exists."

"I don't know why Xiao Xueshi wanted to frame me. In this palace examination, I failed to select talents for the country. I also know that I have committed a crime. However, if I want to impose a crime, I dare not accept it. Your majesty is wise, and you will be able to see clearly and return my innocence."

At the same time, Zhang Min also stepped forward and said.

"Du Siqing, you said that this matter was planned by Mr. Jiang Ge. He joined hands with me and Mr. Zhu Ge to exchange three places for submission to the imperial court in exchange for Xiao Xueshi's recommendation of Cheng Zong. Then I would like to ask why Mr. Jiang Ge To do this?"

"You have already said before that all the examiners and I have nothing to do with the scholars including Cheng Zong. Then, Mr. Jiang Ge took this big risk just to recommend a stranger who has never met before. , I’m afraid this doesn’t make sense, does it?”

"Even if there is a reason for Elder Jiang Ge, then, I would like to ask, why did Elder Zhu Ge and I join hands with Elder Jiang Ge?"

Although Zhang Min has always kept a low profile in the cabinet, just because he looks like a bully doesn't mean he's really a bully. This series of interrogations pointed at the loopholes in Du Ning's words.

Immediately afterwards, before Du Ning could answer, Wang Yining, the servant of the Ministry of Rites, stood up again and spoke.

"Your Majesty, what Elder Jiang Ge said is true. Xueshi Xiao did call the officials to praise Cheng Zong, but he did not imply anything. The ministers and others were improperly selected and should be punished. But what Du Siqing said, It is a crime to be added, please be aware of it, Your Majesty!"

So, this is the biggest disadvantage of Duning's doing so.

Two fists are no match for four hands, what's more, what he wants to be hostile to is not four hands, but a large group of high-ranking ministers.

Zhao Xin didn't say anything, just Jiang Yuan, Zhang Min, Wang Yining and other examiners stood up, it was enough for him to suffer.

Of course, this is also because, up to now, Du Ning has indeed not produced any solid evidence, the only one being Xiao Yi's self-report.

However, this is just Xiao Yi's one-sided statement. It is quite difficult to accuse so many court ministers on this.

In fact, this is also the reason why Jiang Yuan and others were able to calmly wait until now.

They had already known the contents of Du Ning's memorial, and it was precisely because they knew that although Du Ning shouted loudly, he could not produce any solid evidence, so they didn't show any panic.

Even, some people may still think that they can take this opportunity to bite back, maybe.

Faced with such a situation, Du Ning was also a little nervous.

Of course he is aware of any loopholes in his memorials.

In fact, at the beginning, he planned to only target Jiang Yuan and not involve other people, but in the end, under Chen Xun's suggestion, he changed his mind.

Nowadays, the negative impact of such a report has gradually emerged, but where is the turning point that the teacher said?

Or, at this time, is it time to show the final hole card?

(End of this chapter)