serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 201 Wang Ziteng's Debt

Imperial City
Qianqing Palace

It was not yet bright, and there were wisps of faint light in the upper study.

The two small yellow doors were lit with lanterns in front, and Dai Quan walked into the upper study room carrying a food box.

The imperial case was full of memorials again, and Emperor Jianwu kept waving his forehand to review them.

Dai Quan put the food box beside the imperial case, went to the side and twisted a face towel from the copper basin, and handed it over: "Your Majesty, it's been half an hour, you should take a rest."

Emperor Jianwu didn't look up, but asked, "Is Wenyuan Pavilion gone?"

Dai Quan: "Nothing. As soon as the palace gate opened, Mr. Wang Ge took the official documents from the cabinet to Uncle Zhongrui's mansion and asked Wang Ren to come to the cabinet to answer."

Emperor Jianwu frowned, and was about to lose his temper.

Dai Quan: "Shoufu and the others also act according to the rules. Now it's not whether Bo Zhongrui was defeated and captured, and he used money to redeem his life. It's because he may have killed the imperial court official, and he was also involved in the Xuzhou case."

With a "hmph", Emperor Jianwu put the approved memorial on the high pile of approved memorials on the imperial case, took the face towel and wiped his face, and then said: "Everyone knows what you know very well." , why are you still talking about Wang Ziteng? I think what Niu Jizong said is right, this Mei Changwen needs to be investigated carefully."

Dai Quan opened the food box, took out a bowl of lotus seed soup with rock sugar, put it in front of Emperor Jianwu, put his hands on the imperial case, took the towel, and said: "I heard that the king of Yizhong County and Mei Yushi I met recently."

Emperor Jianwu picked up the spoon in the bowl, took half a spoonful and put it in his mouth.

Dai Quan also stopped talking, and twisted another face towel, holding it there.

Emperor Jianwu glanced at him, drank the remaining soup in one gulp, put down the bowl, and took the face towel in his hand: "Check it out!"

"Yes. The old slave must investigate and find out!"

Dai Quan put away the bowl, picked up a rag to wipe the imperial case, and said, "I have something to say to the Emperor Chen."

"what's up?"

"Last night, a murder case occurred in Nancheng, killing five members of a family."

"That's it?"

"There is another strange thing. Jia She went to Nancheng at the time of Xupai, and there is only an alley away from there."

"Oh?"

"The old slave also heard that the male master of that family used to work in Zhongshun Palace."

Emperor Jianwu glanced at him: "Go ahead."

"This is already the fourth homicide case in the past half month."

Dai Quan washed his hands in the copper basin on the ground, "The deceased are all related to Jia's family and Prince Zhongshun's mansion. It seems that the two families are fighting secretly again."

Emperor Jianwu glanced at him again, picked up a memorial, unfolded the memorial, and said: "Let them make trouble, it won't turn the world upside down. Just use this incident to see what kind of person he is. People's hearts Evil is hard to guard against! Tell me the truth, what kind of person do you think he is?"

Dai Quan was startled, and then said after deliberation: "Your Majesty is a brother of flesh and blood. It is a great joy to recover from illness. You should not hide it from Your Majesty, nor can you hide it."

Emperor Jianwu suddenly stood up and started pacing back and forth.

Dai Quan's heart suddenly lifted, he held his breath, and his eyes moved quietly with the emperor's footsteps.

Emperor Jianwu stopped in his tracks: "The decree is that Zhongyi Hou Feng Tang will be the commander of the infantry yamen, and [-] elite soldiers will be drawn from the troops left behind in the Beijing camp to reorganize the infantry battalion and the fifth battalion for patrolling. The Ministry of War will make proper arrangements, and the rest of the soldiers will be dismissed."

Dai Quan replied loudly: "Observe the order."

At this moment, Chief Assistant Song Chengliang came in with a stack of trial records, walked to the side of the imperial case, put the stack of trial records on the imperial case, saluted, and then said: "Qizou Your Majesty, The case is basically clear."

Emperor Jianwu walked to the imperial case, picked up the stack of trial records, and carefully looked at them one by one. After looking at them, his face darkened, and he turned his gaze to Song Chengliang: "What do you mean by being captured?"

Song Chengliang: "Return to Your Majesty, Wang Ren said that Wang Ziteng was trapped by the defeated army that day, accidentally fell into the river and was rescued by others. He didn't know the real identity of the other party. It may be the local people, or it may be the money-grubbing Cao Gang. Help the public, it’s hard to say.”

Emperor Jianwu sneered, then looked down, and after reading the last page, he frowned, and asked again: "You have been busy all night, it is all speculation, there is no real evidence at all."

Song Chengliang: "The letter that Niu Shangshu and Wang Ren bit to death is a fake. Since the letter is fake, Wang Ziteng has no motive to kill Quanjiao County Magistrate. To prove that the letter is true."

Emperor Jianwu was a little dazed, but he didn't expect a private letter with only a dozen words to become a key evidence. He reached out and took out a piece of ink from the case file, on which it was written: "I fell into the water and was captured, come and redeem me quickly. Prince Teng! ", he glanced at Dai Quan.

Dai Quan understood what the emperor was thinking, and immediately asked, "May I ask the chief minister, since this letter was sent to Prince Teng's soldiers, why did it fall into the hands of the county magistrate Quanjiao?"

"It is said that it was sent to the county government by one person"

"Who? Could it be that the Cao Gang rebelled? If so, should the county magistrate of Quanjiao also investigate? If not, why didn't he send this letter to Beijing instead of threatening Wang Ziteng?"

Song Chengliang was startled.

Emperor Jianwu immediately gave Dai Quan an appreciative look.

Song Chengliang came back to his senses: "This county magistrate of Quanjiao couldn't have committed suicide, could he?"

Dai Quan: "There is no evidence."

Song Chengliang fell silent, took out a letter from his pocket, and sighed deeply: "Please forgive me for the crime of deceiving the emperor."

Emperor Jianwu was slightly startled, took the letter, took it out to read, his face changed suddenly, and asked Song Chengliang: "You already knew?"

Song Chengliang nodded, "Not only did I receive this letter reporting that Wang Ziteng was captured, but even Li Shouzhong, the censor of Youdu, also received this letter. It's just because of the war in the south that he also chose to remain silent."

After a pause, "The situation is different now. Duke Ning has wiped out most of the rebels. Even without Wang Ziteng, it will not affect the battle situation in Luzhou Prefecture. He will definitely impeach Wang Ziteng. As long as he submits the memorial With impeachment, this matter will become a big issue, and officials from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Imperial Academy, Guozijian and the six ministries will all submit memorials."

Suddenly, a low voice from a senior eunuch on duty came from outside: "Old Wangge, you can't go in."

Wang Hetang hurried in with the memorial in hand, and said, "Your Majesty, the memorial to the impeachment of Prince Teng by Li Shouzhong, the censor of the right capital, was forwarded by the Minister of General Affairs."

Emperor Jianwu took the memorial and quickly looked at it. Suddenly, he threw the memorial on the imperial case with a "slap", and shouted: "Why do you have to impeach Prince Teng!"

Wang Hetang hesitated for a moment, and then said: "The officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate have already started to submit the memorial. It is estimated that the officials of the Imperial Academy and the Imperial College will also submit the memorial soon."

Song Chengliang sighed, Wang Ziteng killed so many gentry, offended the entire gentry group, and his own ass is not clean, sooner or later.

At this moment, Elder Yang Ge, Zhao Zixun and Qian Shangshu from the Ministry of Officials walked in.

Emperor Jianwu: "What's the matter?"

Elder Yang Ge took out a letter from his sleeve: "Return to the emperor, this is sent to the cabinet by Li Shouzhong, the censor of the right capital. It is a letter to report that Prince Teng was defeated and captured, and ransom his life with money. It also mentioned that he will The official seal was handed over to the rebels, so that the rebels could easily cross the line of defense of the official army and appear in Henan."

After saying this, Song Chengliang and Wang Hetang all looked at the letter in his hand.

Emperor Jianwu: "Is there any evidence?"

Elder Yang Ge: "Return to Your Majesty, according to the rules, Prince Teng must be sent back to Beijing for questioning."

Emperor Jianwu: "The war in the south still needs him."

Elder Yang Ge: "The old man and Ning Guogong are both here. With him or without him, it will not affect the battle situation."

Everyone was silent.

Dai Quan said: "The war in Anhui has entered the most critical stage, and we can't let it fall short! Miscellaneous people dare to say that it is better to wait for the war in Luzhou Prefecture to stabilize and the army to besiege Hefei, and then call Zhong Ruibo back to Beijing."

Emperor Jianwu's eyes lit up: "Okay. You go and tell them that as long as the army besieges Hefei, I will order Prince Teng to return to Beijing."

Several people looked at each other and replied in unison: "Yes."

Metropolitan Procuratorate Hall

After seeing off Mr. Yang Ge who came to pass the word of mouth, Mei Changwen walked in.

All the officials surrounded him.

Mei Changwen shook his hand: "Don't play the memorial anymore. Elder Yang Ge has repeatedly told you that the most important thing is the war."

Everyone showed expressions of grief and indignation.

Wang Rulin spoke: "Yang Ge said just now that His Majesty meant that as long as the army besieged Hefei, he would order Prince Teng to return to Beijing. Isn't that right?"

Mei Changwen: "What's wrong?"

Wang Rulin smiled: "It was reported in the former court report that Lord Ning led his army to break through Lujiang, Wuwei and other places, and he is leading his army northward. Counting the days, it should be not far from Hefei. It is impossible to say that the next battle report will be that the army besieged Hefei. city."

Mei Changwen's eyes lit up, and he nodded knowingly.

All the officials shouted:
"Yes! Ning Guogong is victorious in every battle, and he will definitely defeat the rebels quickly and besiege Hefei City!"

(End of this chapter)