The Reborn Duke of Ming Dynasty

"What Eunuch Feng said, the evidence about the relationship between Eunuch Meng and Liu Shan is now here with Weichen," Zhang Fan said, and after saying these words, Zhang Fan had already taken out a book from his pocket. Something like a booklet, it was one of the account books that Zhang Fan got from Liu Shan, and what was recorded on it was the part about Meng Chong.

At the moment, the little eunuch beside Long Qing was also very colorful. Seeing that Zhang Fan had already taken out his things, he hurried down to pick them up, and respectfully sent them to Long Qing's side.

After Long Qing took the account book, he didn't rush to open it to read it, but put it on the case in front of him, but put his hand on it and weighed his fingers, as if he was thinking about something.

"Zhang Aiqing, what is this and where did Aiqing get it?" Long Qing asked about it.

"Return to Your Majesty." Zhang Fan didn't care about why Long Qing asked such a question, he just answered, "This booklet is an account book, which is exactly what the principal culprit used when we investigated the corruption case in the south of the Yangtze River. This account book was obtained from Liu Shan. This account book is one of the account books Liu Shan used to record the amount of his embezzlement, the distribution of dirty money, and the handles of officials in Jiangnan. The account book given to His Majesty happens to be what Liu Shan recorded. Regarding Eunuch Meng's corruption and breaking the law and extorting money from him, the amount of money each time and the time of sending the money are all clearly recorded. "

"False, this is a false accusation," Meng Chong, who was kneeling there, suddenly yelled, his whole body was writhing, and his face was already distorted to the extreme, "Your Majesty, this slave is wronged, this is definitely a false accusation... ..."

"Come here," Long Qing said suddenly, "hold Meng Chong down and give me ten slaps. If he dares not ask what he said again, give me ten slaps without saying a word."

Immediately, two palace guards who were waiting outside the gate of the palace strode in, and one of them came to the back of Meng Chong, ignoring Meng Chong's age, and grabbed his arms with both hands, It was firmly locked behind his back, while another person took out a wooden sign and hit Meng Chong's mouth.

Speaking of this kind of hand-slapping, there are often people in the courts of the ordinary people, and they use tokens, but there is no such thing as a token in the court, and besides, if the emperor will punish him in the court If a person is a person, that person is also a courtier, and the courtier breaks the law, there are no more than three situations, either nothing happened; But this punishment of slapping the mouth is very rare in the court. After all, the targets are these civil and military ministers. Treating these literati, even if they make a big mistake, slapping the mouth is too insulting.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, many strange things happened. It is not uncommon for the ministers to hold their mouths in the court, but it is only limited to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, the two emperors with the word "ancestor" in their temple names, but But they still let people use their fleshy palms to execute the punishment, and now this wooden sign was made by Zhu Di, for this time, but after Zhu Di made the wooden sign, he didn't hold anyone's mouth No one mentioned this wooden plaque for more than a hundred years, but when no one mentioned it, it was preserved like this. Now it is rare for Longqing to issue this order, which also makes the court Only then did the ministers know that there is such a thing.

"Crack, crack, crack..."

The wooden sign was hit on the face with great force, the sound is absolutely crisp and pleasant, but this scene is really cruel, for these ministers who are standing on the court today, Especially the civil servants, they were not used to it, but although they thought it was cruel, none of them stood up and said anything. First, this was an order personally issued by the emperor Long Qing, and no one would dare to disobey it; second, , the reason is very simple, because the person who was tortured was a eunuch.

Most of the people who didn't respond were generals, Long Qing who didn't see this scene at all, and Zhang Fan and Feng Bao who had long been immune to this "pediatric" criminal law.

It didn't take long to slap his mouth ten times, but the scene created by these short ten slaps was extraordinary. Meng Chong's face was covered with blood, and his whole mouth was already flushed red. Big streams of blood are still gushing out, and it is impossible to see what he looks like now. Although Meng Chong has not passed out yet, looking at his current appearance like a gossamer, he is far away from him. The coma is not far away. It can be seen that the executioner's technique is superb, and the precision of the power control between his hands is definitely an old hand. As Meng Chong panted violently, there were fragments of teeth in his mouth rolling down with blood. When it reached the ground, it brought a gleam of blood to the Huangji Hall, which has always revealed the aura of majesty, but at this time, no one would care about this matter.

Up and down the court, now apart from Meng Chong's violent breathing, there is no other sound. Everyone is silent, and I don't know if they were frightened by the scene of Meng Chong being tortured just now or what. .

Long Qing, who was sitting on the throne, had already begun to flip through the account book in his hand. Although the account book that Zhang Fan handed over looked thin, there were quite a lot of things recorded in it. What is recorded is exactly the handles of those officials that Liu Shan has grasped. Moreover, since Meng Chong approached Liu Shan relatively late, the matter about Meng Chong was also recorded in the last part of the account book by Liu Shan, and Long Qing started to read from the front, so it means that whoever is related to Liu Shan in the front has also been seen by Long Qing.

Long Qing's browsing speed was not fast, and the people below didn't show any impatience, they didn't dare at all, and Gao Gong, who was still arguing with reason before, is now more like a wooden man, standing there without moving. He moved, staring closely at his feet, as if he wanted to count how many threads the pair of official boots he was wearing were made of.

Meng Chong, who was panting violently there, was gradually despairing now. At this moment, he was helpless, and was staring at Gao Gong, as if he wanted to find some hope from him, but Gao Gong Gong didn't even look at him at all, or Gao Gong had given up on him at all. Meng Chong was completely desperate when he found out about this situation.

Meng Chong couldn't help regretting in his heart, but don't get it wrong, he is not regretting that he has done these corrupt and perverted things, and now if he is given another chance, he will still do it. At this time, Meng Chong He was regretting why he was so careless at the beginning, and believed like a fool that Liu Shan would not record those things about him. Now that he thinks about it, he did that as if he was going to die. It is too late.

Not long after, Long Qing closed the account book in his hand, but his expression became hesitant. Xu Jie, who was sitting at the side closest to Long Qing's position, saw Long Qing's appearance, and his thoughts changed slightly, which meant he understood Long Qing's thoughts.

At this time, Long Qing didn't want to think about Meng Chong anymore. After all, the account book in his hand had completely recorded all the exchanges between Meng Chong and Liu Shan, and the most important thing was naturally about Liu Shan. How much silver was given to Meng Chong every time, and when did he give it? Liu Shan is really an extremely meticulous person. Every amount of money in the account book is accurate to one tael of silver. There is absolutely no fake, and Even if Meng Chong wants to play tricks, he can't do it. As long as he asks Feng Baodong's subordinates or Zhang Fan's Jinyiwei's subordinates to investigate, they can definitely find out.

Long Qing was just thinking about how to solve the matters related to other people recorded in the account books. Originally, this kind of matter was very simple, but this time, the number of officials involved was really too many. Long Qing For a while, I don’t know what to do. Let’s pursue it. There are too many people. Sitting in the seat, Long Qing felt a little unwilling.

"Your Majesty, can you allow me to say a few words," Xu Jie said in a low voice.

"Elder Ge has something to say," Long Qing said quickly when Xu Jie had something to say one day.

"This old man understands what His Majesty is worried about," Xu Jie said, "It's just that Zhang Fan has already given His Majesty the answer to this matter."

"Zhang Aiqing has given me the answer, what's going on," Long Qing didn't understand Xu Jie's meaning.

"At the beginning, when Zhang Fan got this account book in Jiangnan, he could have ordered the capture of these people immediately so that he could add some merit to himself, but he didn't do so. Isn't that obvious," Xu Jie said , "What Zhang Fan is worried about is that if they are all taken away, there will be a shortage of officials in Jiangnan, and disasters will inevitably happen,"

"I understand what Elder Ge means, but..." Long Qing didn't know what to say.

"Hehe, this old man understands," Xu Jie said without embarrassing Long Qing, "Actually, His Majesty can do this, let these people stay in their current positions, but they must be monitored at all times, and they will be dismissed if they make any moves. Moreover, Zhang Fan has already told the old man, and he suggested to His Majesty, no matter what achievements these people make in the future, they can only stay in their current positions."

"This way..." After hearing Xu Jie's words, Long Qing thought about it, and finally agreed, "Forget it, let's do it this way,"

"Come here, take Meng Chong to the jail, and after Jin Yiwei finds out Meng Chong's assets, he will obey." Long Qing loudly announced his will, "This matter is now closed, next, Zhang Aiqing, take out that seal Bar,"