The Reborn Duke of Ming Dynasty

"Zhang Aiqing, what are you talking about?" The Queen Mother was the first to speak, and although the others did not speak, they looked at Zhang Fan with surprised expressions, as if he had said something outrageous. Things are normal.

But Zhang Fan, who is the focus at this moment, is very calm on the surface. He knows what he said in his heart, which caused such a big reaction from the people present. Obviously, Zhang Fan is not worried about these things. .

The reason for the surprise is very simple, it is because of Zhang Fan's last sentence, the sentence "It was Zhang Siwei who recruited those people", on that day, that is, the second day after the incident, Zhang Fan and Feng Bao In front of all the officials, when he talked about this matter in the hall of the court, he did not say this sentence, nor did he mention anything related to Zhang Siwei, but now he said this, it is obvious It is to say that I already knew it before, but I didn't say it. If this is really pursued, it can be regarded as a crime of deceiving the emperor.

And Feng Bao didn't worry at all about what Zhang Fan said. After all, what Zhang Fan said just now was very clear. Feng Bao was also present at the time, which means that Feng Bao also knew about this matter. Feng Bao didn't say anything about the news, obviously he and Zhang Fan were considered accomplices, but now Feng Bao is not worried about it.

"Queen Mother," Zhang Fan said calmly and without panic, facing Queen Mother Li, "At that time, I did ask Zhang Siwei's name from the mouths of those people, but when I came, I asked them But when there is evidence, they say no, since there is no evidence, then you can't just talk about it, secondly, it is impossible for Wei Chen to arbitrarily make such an arbitrariness based on this few words, and there is no evidence. Speaking of this matter, not to mention how Zhang Siwei is, although he is recuperating at home at the moment, he is indeed an official of the imperial court. If he is punished or investigated based on these rumors, it will inevitably be a crime. It hurt the hearts of other officials in the imperial court. The reason why the minister postponed the report was not because of favoritism. He really wanted to clarify the matter before making a decision, so as to show fairness. Now, Eunuch Feng has presented evidence , but it is different from what those people said at the time, so I have to ask clearly, "

Queen Mother Li is not a dogmatic person. After listening to Zhang Fan's explanation, the shock at the beginning also gradually subsided, and it was replaced by a kind of calm thinking. She was thinking carefully, Zhang Fan just now Those words said should be pursued, or should be considered as appropriate.

On the other hand, Zhang Juzheng, who already knew why, didn't say anything, but Ge Shouli had already heard something. Logically speaking, it was impossible for Zhang Fan to do this, even if he was a good person, even if he had morality in his heart, even if he He still has a lot of righteousness in his life, but in the final analysis, he is also the commander of Jin Yiwei.

What Zhang Fan said would make sense if it were placed on an ordinary minister, or a minister of the Metropolitan Procuratorate like him. The body of the envoy is completely unreasonable. After all, Jin Yiwei is the emperor's personal guard. Although their mission is not expressly stipulated, it is actually to eliminate any possible threats to the emperor.

In this way, there is no certainty or uncertainty in Jinyiwei. As long as there is any possibility of catching wind and shadows, they will definitely investigate and find out. However, in this matter, Zhang Fan did so. To be clear is to explain that there is a problem here, and only by thinking about it in this way can we explain why Zhang Fan will not ask questions, and only by thinking about it in this way can we explain why not only Zhang Fan, but even Feng Bao did not take any action.

Ge Shouli thought of this, but because he didn't understand many things, he still couldn't figure out what happened to make the two of them like this, but no matter what it was, it was a good thing, Zhang Fan didn't The investigation of Zhang Siwei was carried out immediately, perhaps because he understood something, but Feng Bao did not act, so it must be because of Zhang Fan.

Anyway, Ge Shouli could tell that Feng Bao wanted to investigate this matter very much. After all, there were many people in the court who knew about the matter between him and Zhang Siwei, but Feng Bao was also caught by Zhang Fan. After delaying for so many days, he was naturally grateful to Zhang Fan.

However, since this matter has been said now, Ge Shouli, who heard this matter, naturally thought of a question in front of him, why, between Feng Bao and Zhang Siwei? After such a short period of awkwardness, such an incident happened, and everything was precisely directed at Zhang Siwei. Doesn't this clearly give Feng Bao an excellent opportunity to make a move?

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that this is a coincidence. This kind of thing is not only in history, but also in the Ming Dynasty, which has only been founded for more than 100 years, and has encountered many more coincidental things. However, there are many People don't really believe in the existence of such things as coincidences. In these people's eyes, there must be necessity behind the coincidences.

Ge Shouli is a person who stands in the middle of the two parties. He understands the importance of inevitability, but he does not object to the factors brought about by coincidence, but the matter before him is really too coincidental. There was just such a quarrel between Bao and Zhang Siwei, and then the flood came, and then Zhang Siwei stood in such an unfavorable position today. It is not inevitable, but in Ge Shouli's view, it should be There is something hidden.

What makes Ge Shouli think so is that he understands Zhang Siwei's behavior, and not only him, but many people in the court understand that although Zhang Siwei is not a high-ranking official now, he has a reputation for being an upright and honest official. He is quite famous in the imperial court. No one would be surprised if he used some political tricks in order to attack Feng Bao. As a clean and honest official, he would definitely not be merciless when attacking political opponents. , It is also possible to use some seemingly unkind methods.

However, the problem is that, let alone Zhang Siwei, even those officials with bad records, when they do this kind of thing, they will not hit the common people with their ideas, especially those who have just happened. The common people, moreover, rioting the common people and rioting in the capital is no different from rebellion, not to mention Zhang Siwei, and other people would not do this.

And this is precisely why, although Ge Shouli suspected that Feng Bao was playing tricks behind the whole incident, he couldn't confirm it. He felt that Feng Bao would not go to the point of inciting the people to rebel and achieve his own method of sweeping away political enemies. It is really the worst way.

If it's done, and no one else knows, it's okay to say, but if this matter is exposed, it will not be worth the loss. Don't say that you can't bring down others, even if you do, that person will Not to mention that you saved yourself from danger because of this incident, and you yourself have to bear the name of committing a riot. It is normal to lose your life.

In Ge Shouli's view, Feng Bao shouldn't be so crazy, but what he harbors is just this kind of wishful thinking. He hasn't seen clearly what Feng Bao is like. Zhang Fan and Zhang Juzheng, who knew each other well, did not believe that Feng Bao would do such a thing at first, but when they found out that Feng Bao had done it, they were not too surprised.

"This... the Ai family understands." After listening to Zhang Fan's words, the Empress Dowager Li thought for a long time before she said, "Although it is indeed inappropriate to say that it is not appropriate to do so, but this kind of news does not sound good at first. It's too shocking, even if you don't believe it, it's nothing. Zhang Qing's family is doing a good job. If Zhang Siwei is checked and checked based on this matter alone, if the fault is not found out, I am afraid that the whole court will be panicked. up,"

"Thank you Queen Mother," Zhang Fan said.

"However," Empress Dowager Li continued, "Now that there is evidence, no matter whether it is true or not, we can't sit idly by."

"What the Queen Mother said, I understand," Zhang Fan said, and looked at Feng Bao, "Because of this, I want to ask my father-in-law what's going on, obviously. I already said that at that time, this letter should have been burned, why did I find it again now?"

"This matter sounds incredible, but it's really simple to explain." Facing Zhang Fan's question, Feng Bao didn't panic, and said, "Master Zhang, please think about it, if you stand among the eight people From the standpoint of this kind of thing, would you burn that letter?"

"Of course not," Zhang Fan said directly without thinking, "If I were to do this kind of thing against the court, and it must be a capital crime, I must think of a way out. If it is like this , these people were caught by the court, if they refuse to explain, their heads must fall to the ground, then keep this letter and explain who the culprit is, maybe it is impossible to let them out, at least they can save their lives, "

"That's right, that's the reason," Feng Bao nodded, and said, "After those people gave Zhang Siwei's name before, I ordered someone to question him again, and this letter came out. They said they burned it because they hadn’t been sentenced to punishment at that time, but now they only need to resort to a little bit of tricks, and they have recruited them. This letter has been hidden by them, and now they have found it.”

When everyone heard it, they all looked the same.

What Zhang Fan cares about is not these, but...

"Punishment," Zhang Fan asked suddenly, "Eunuch executed those people."