Jingtai Fengyun: The First Absurd Emperor of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 444 Sun Zhong’s Testimony and Jin Ying’s Confessions Are Made Public to All Officials
Xing'an has lost his mind.

Others may not know what happened, but Xing'an knows it all.

Cao Jixiang saw that Xing'an kept his head down and did not speak, so he stood up and answered Zhu Qizhen's question: "My lord, Chen Xiang left the palace yesterday and went home, and he never came back.

The imperial city was under martial law early this morning, and no one was allowed to enter or leave. He was afraid that he would be blocked outside, and he would not be able to enter for a while. "

Zhu Qizhen asked again: "Who initiated the martial law? Marquis Wu Ding?"

Cao Jixiang shook his head: "Surrounded outside the imperial city are Tiance Guards, that is, the original Four Guards of the Imperial Horse Supervisor. Jin Yiwei is nowhere to be seen.

From this point of view, the one who enforced the martial law should be Hao Yi, the eunuch in charge of the imperial horse supervisor. "

"Isn't Jinyiwei tens of thousands of people? My brother doesn't need it at all?"

Cao Jixiang replied: "As far as I know, the emperor is quite afraid of Dongchang and Jinyiwei. Not only are they not reused, but they are extremely guarded, for fear that Jinyiwei will be unfavorable to the emperor.

At the beginning of last year, Wala was repelled, and the capital had just calmed down. The emperor reformed the Jinyiwei, and transferred all the six military craftsmen and thousands of households under the Jinyiwei to the outer city to build a new ordnance factory.

And it is strictly ordered that Jinyiwei in Beijing must not be equipped with heavy armor and firearms. "

Zhu Qizhen was very surprised when he heard the words: "Jin Yiwei, as the first guard of the Shangzhi, is not allowed to be equipped with heavy armor and firearms. What's the reason?"

Cao Jixiang smiled wryly and said: "Jin Yiwei is no longer the number one guard in Shangzhi, but Tian Cewei, who belongs to the Imperial Horse Supervisor, is now the veritable number one guard in Shangzhi.

The emperor did not allow Jin Yiwei to have heavy armor and firearms, so that when Jin Yiwei launched a rebellion, he could be wiped out immediately.

You also know, my lord, that without regard to firearms, heavy armor against light armor is a unilateral massacre. "

Zhu Qizhen took a deep breath: "That is to say, if I plan to launch a mutiny, Jin Yiwei will not be able to count on it? My brother's thoughts are really careful. When I was still in Oala, he was preventing me from planning a mutiny." gone."

Cao Jixiang replied: "Not only Jinyiwei, but also the soldiers and horses of the five cities have been greatly adjusted by the emperor. Only the soldiers and horses of the North City and the South City have been granted to Queen Zhou's father and brother.

The three most important soldiers and horses in Zhongcheng, Dongcheng, and Xicheng are all controlled by Wu and Guo. "

Zhu Qizhen pondered for a moment, then asked again: "Will Queen Zhou's family follow me to launch a mutiny?"

Cao Jixiang shook his head: "It is said that Empress Zhou and the emperor are very close, and Empress Zhou is very satisfied with the status quo, and even told the palace people around her that the prince only needs to be a prince safely in the future."

Hearing this, Zhu Qizhen frowned tightly.

Cao Jixiang quickly persuaded: "Don't worry, the emperor, the emperor ordered the servants to supervise the 2 Beijing troops that were transferred back from Datong. With the [-] Beijing troops, plus the honors, vassals, slaves and others There are [-] family members, a total of [-] people, you can give it a go."

Zhu Qizhen was still worried: "Ren Li and Mao Zhong are really willing to bring this ten thousand Beijing troops to launch a mutiny with me?"

Cao Jixiang replied very positively: "They may not be willing now, but what if the situation changes? What if the emperor is seriously ill? The soldiers of the Fifth Army Battalion and the Three Thousand Battalion all have hearts for His Majesty. What is lacking now is just the opportunity."

"What about the Shenji Battalion and Xiaoqi Battalion?"

Cao Jixiang laughed and said: "The emperor made Shanxi a civil uprising, and the emperor had no choice but to transfer the main forces of the Shenji Camp and Xiaoqi Camp to Shanxi.

My lord, don't believe that the Shenji Battalion and the Xiaoqi Battalion went to Shanxi to supervise the construction of the Great Wall defense line and collect the remains of civil engineering soldiers.

In fact, Shanxi is about to undergo a civil uprising on the same scale as the southeast, and the Tartars in Hetao have been driven away by the imperial army in the past two years, and they are likely to flow to Shanxi.

The emperor had no choice but to send a large army to garrison in advance. "

Zhu Qizhen suddenly realized that there was such a hidden secret in it.

After being excited, Zhu Qizhen calmed down and looked at Cao Jixiang thoughtfully, but he had doubts in his heart: Why didn't he say these things earlier.At that time, I couldn't get the actual information, and what I heard was what others wanted me to hear, and this was the failure of civil engineering.

Does this Cao Jixiang have any other plans now?
Thinking of this, Zhu Qizhen waved away the crowd, ready to wait and see what happened.

In the cabinet, the important ministers did not wait too long, and they received the emperor's decree: ordered the Sanju to summon Sun Zhong immediately, and concluded the case of Sanyang's collusion with the inner court and conspiracy to abolish the empress. .

When Wang Wen and Wei Ji heard the words, they immediately returned to the Ministry of Punishment.

At this time, Zou Gan suddenly pulled Wei Ji to persuade him: "This is a big matter, please think about the country, and don't shake the foundation of the country."

Wei Ji and Wang Wen looked at each other, but no one responded, and they just left.

Back at the Ministry of Criminal Justice, Wang Wen and Wei Ji saw that the Ministry of Criminal Justice was also full of heavily armed soldiers. Xue Xuan, Kou Shen, and Xiao Weizhen had already been waiting there with Sun Zhong.

After Wang Wen and Wei Ji asked, they found out that Sun Zhong was poisoned by his grandson-in-law and almost died.

Only then did the two understand why Zou Qian was afraid of shaking the foundation of the country: the Sun family actually had internal strife, and now it's all right, once the Queen Mother falls, the emperor and the crown prince will suffer accordingly.

The two comforted Sun Zhong again, and then began the trial.

Hao Yi attended on behalf of the emperor, which put a lot of pressure on everyone.

Wang Wen chose to conclude the case of Sun Zhong being poisoned first, and soon Sun Zhong's grandson-in-law was brought to the court. It was seen that the whole body of this stupid woman had been beaten to a bloody mess, and a confession was also handed over to the court. In front of Wang Wen.

Wang Wen sighed, this is also in line with the procedure, Jin Yiwei was ordered by the emperor to send the prisoner to prison, after finishing the sentence, record the confession, and then send the prisoner and the confession to the Ministry of Punishment.

Jin Yiwei has always tried cases like this, so it saves the trouble of the three courts.

Wang Wen and others confirmed the confession with Sun Zhong's grandson-in-law, and then sent him to the prison of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Immediately afterwards, Sun Zhong repeated yesterday's testimony.

Not only that, Sun Zhong perfected more details this time, and added the testimony that the Empress Dowager Sun ordered the imperial physician to poison Empress Hu and Princess Shunde, and that the Empress Dowager Sun planned to take the son of a palace man as her own son.

Xue Xuan, Kou Shen, and Xiao Weizhen were all terrified, but with Hao Yi listening, no one dared to speak out to stop them.

After Sun Zhong finished speaking, he signed the testimony very resolutely, and then sat down in the hall, waiting to confront Jin Ying.

But Sun Zhong thought too much, Jin Ying had already been subdued by Jin Yiwei's torture, and he had already recruited all the necessary tricks.Now that the queen mother's own father has betrayed her, why does Jin Ying refute it?

Things have come to this point, everything is going very fast.

Sun Zhong was in the Ministry of Punishment, and borrowed paper and pen to write the plea.

The Ministry of Punishment urgently delivered the confession, testimony, and Sun Zhong's confession to the imperial court.

The Ministry of Criminal Justice and Jin Yiwei separately went to arrest the people involved outside the palace, and Ruan Xi was responsible for arresting the people involved in the inner court.

At noon, when Zhu Qiyu was eating, all the documents from the Ministry of Punishment were delivered.

Zhu Qiyu flipped through the copywriting and shook his head again and again.

Suxi asked curiously: "Is what Sun Zhong said true or false? Did the Empress Dowager Sun really poison her mother? And she secretly took the palace man's son as her own son? Once this testimony is released, I'm afraid there will be violent turmoil in the government and the public." .”

Zhu Qiyu teased angrily: "What's true? Since Sun Zhong said so, we'll believe it. Isn't there Jin Ying's confession as evidence.

As for the civil and military officials, the ruling and opposition parties, believe it or not, let them do what they want.

It just so happens that the vassal king is about to enter Beijing, and when the time comes, a meeting of relatives will be held and let them decide how to deal with it.

Now send these testimonies, confessions, and Sun Zhong's memorabilia to the ministers for court discussion. "

Suxi confirmed: "Is it to let the civil and military officials of the fifth rank and above in Beijing gather at the Fengtianmen court meeting, and then the Sanfa Division will distribute these to the ministers in public?"

Zhu Qiyu smiled and said: "You little girl, why are you more ruthless than me! All right, you can write a reply to them. In addition, order Zou Gan to report to Gong to let the emperor know, and ask the emperor to preside over the court meeting on my behalf. .”

Lin Xiangyu praised after hearing the words: "It is obvious that you two are a loving couple. One is not a big deal to watch the excitement, and the other is to kill people. It is really a husband and wife, and the harp and the harp."

Zhu Qiyu smiled and said: "You are a concubine, you can also give half an idea for your husband."

"Then let the Marquis of Huichang also go to the court meeting and give a lecture to the officials in person."

"good!"

……

The western suburbs are more than 30 miles away from the imperial city. If you run fast and let go, you will arrive in half an hour.

Not long after all the officials finished their lunch, they were summoned by the cabinet to the court meeting in front of Fengtian Gate.

Zou Gan, on the other hand, went to Nangong to see Emperor Gongrang.

(End of this chapter)