Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

December 19, Chang Dynasty.

With Zhu Youjian's permission, the case concerning the eunuch party was formally held in court.

According to Jin Yiwei's suggestion, the participants of Tingjing this time include Jiuqing, Liu Ke, and Jin Yiwei. The other ministers who attended the Chang Dynasty watched from the sidelines.

Tingji was interrogating criminals in the court, and Wei Liangqing, Hou Guoxing, Li Yongzhen, Tian Ergeng, Xu Xianchun and other eunuch criminals were all brought here.

Zhang Jiude, one of the Nine Qings of Dali Temple, read the case file on behalf of Dali Temple and put forward opinions on how to handle the case based on the trial of the left and right Shaoqing.

Those who were convicted naturally cried out for injustice. Even Wei Liangqing said something to defend his crime:
"I grew up in a farm house, and I was satisfied just being able to cultivate the land. How can I know how to be rich?"

"Just because I am Wei Zhongxian's nephew, I will be praised today and praised tomorrow, so I will be worshiped."

"The man who praises me and praises me is forcing me to do so with wealth and honor, so why am I guilty?"

These words made the ministers furious. Yao Shishen, Zuo Shaoqing of Dali Temple, said:

"Did someone force you to accept the positions of Uncle Suning, Marquis Suning, and Duke Ning?"

"If you only want to farm the land in your hometown, why don't you go back to your hometown as soon as possible?"

For a time, the Donglin Party officials shouted and cursed one after another. People in the eunuch party who had contacts with Wei Liangqing also agreed. He was afraid that Wei Liangqing would say something again and implicate them.

Zhu Youjian had anticipated this, so when he made a promise to Wei Zhongxian, he also said that Wei Liangqing could not keep it. This man had contacts with many officials in the court. If he did not die, many people in the court would be uneasy.

Therefore, Wei Liangqing's disposition was quickly decided. He was sentenced to death for "counterfeiting three letters".

Hou Guoxing was the son of Mrs. Feng Sheng's Hakka family. He was almost knighted, but was accused of "complicity in treason" and was also sentenced to death.

Both of them were co-conspirators, second only to Wei Zhongxian and Hakka, and their charges were quickly determined.

Also convicted as a co-conspirator was the former eunuch Bingbi Li Yongzhen, who was a confidant of Wei Zhongxian and participated in many cases and was also convicted of death.

Li Chaoqin, who hanged himself together with Wei Zhongxian, and Cui Chengxiu, who had already committed suicide, were also designated as accomplices. There were also two people, Xiao Weizhong and Liu Zhao, who were involved in secrets such as the unauthorized deployment of troops. They were not allowed to speak and were directly convicted.

After these people were sentenced to death, everyone in the court felt very happy, and no one raised any objections.

But what happened next became controversial:

"Li Yongzhen's confidant Liu Ruoyu, who used his sword and pen to murder others, must be the leader and accomplice."

Liu Ruoyu was re-employed by Zhu Youjian and had been promoted to eunuch in charge of the internal affairs department. How could he be sentenced to death?
The case between him and Li Shi was deliberately arranged by Jin Yiwei in order to interrupt the momentum of conviction in the court and facilitate the reduction of the crimes of those behind.

With the support of Zhu Youjian, Liu Ruoyu was prepared in advance. After some defense, he was judged by Zhu Youjian as "unsubstantiated". Liu Ruoyu was promoted to eunuch Bingbi because of his meritorious service.

This treatment made many courtiers feel a sinking feeling and realized that something was wrong. Not only was Liu Ruoyu not convicted under their impeachment, but he was promoted to one of the internal ministers.

This means that the emperor does not fully agree with Dali Temple’s trial decision. Many people also vaguely understood the purpose of holding court:

"This is to overturn the trial results of some cases. I wonder who your Majesty wants to protect?" 』

Having guessed the emperor's intention, many ministers related to the eunuchs were secretly relieved.

They are not afraid that the emperor will hold the eunuchs responsible, but they are afraid that the consequences will be too wide and they will be implicated.

Now that the emperor wants to save some people, that would be the best. They are just people who are involved, so they can naturally be saved.

The Donglin Party naturally disagreed with their idea. Yao Shishen said:

"Your Majesty, Zhou Qiyuan, Gao Panlong and others were arrested and killed. It was Li Shi, the weaving eunuch of Suhang, who falsely accused Li Yongzhen and Liu Ruoyu."

"The crimes of these three people are unpardonable and must not be let go."

These three people were involved in the Seven Gentlemen case and were extremely guilty in the eyes of the Donglin Party. Moreover, the death of the Seven Gentlemen had a great impact, and it was difficult for the emperor Zhu Youjian to protect him. Otherwise, they will be criticized by the scholars and cause their alienation.

However, if Zhu Youjian dared to exonerate Liu Ruoyu, there was naturally evidence.

At his signal, Liu Ruoyu argued:

"In order to participate in the impeachment of Zhou Qiyuan, Gao Panlong and others, Ni Xian sent people to ask Li Shi for the empty seal memorial."

"That blank copy was filled in by Li Yongzhen and has nothing to do with the minister."

"Your Majesty can order someone to fetch the memorial. You will know this at a glance."

The ministers were shocked when they heard this. They did not expect that there was such a secret.

Zhu Youjian was furious. He didn't expect anyone to dare to use the empty seal, so he immediately ordered:
"Bring me the memorial and I will check it with all my ministers."

Soon, the memorial was sent.

Zhu Youjian took a closer look with his cabinet ministers and Jiu Qing, and found that the ink mark was on the red seal. Sure enough, the seal was used first and then the words were written.

Moreover, this handwriting was also written by Li Yongzhen, which was different from Liu Ruoyu's.

Furious about this, Zhu Youjian said calmly:

"Taizu punished many officials because of the Kongyin incident."

"Have everyone forgotten it now?"

"Li Yongzhen is good at using blank seals to write memorials, and his crime will be punished with an additional first degree."

"Let Li Shi go to the palace and tell you how the memorial he printed was obtained by Li Yongzhen?"

Li Shi was the former Suhang weaving eunuch. After Zhu You punished Wei Zhongxian, he sent Wang Guotai to take over this position. Later, this position was revoked and changed to the inner government supervision of the weaving workshop.

Because Li Shi was deposed and involved in the eunuch party, he was ordered to be escorted to Beijing. He had already arrived a few days ago. Jin Yiwei learned this news, so he set up this plan. He wants to use Li Shi's case to attack the Donglin Party's arrogance.

Liu Ruoyu also chose to cooperate with them because he wanted to be completely free from crime.

Now, after Li Shi went to the palace, he immediately defended:

"In December of the fifth year of Tianqi, Li Tianxiang, Wei Ni's confidant, waited in Hangzhou and ordered his ministers to impeach Zhou Qiyuan and others. The ministers were shocked and refused to comply."

"Not long after, Wei Ni sent officers to Hangzhou to ask for the empty seal memorial from Huang Zixin, the minister's chamberlain. He was also worried that he would leak it and put him to death." "I later read the imperial newspaper and saw the memorial to impeach Zhou Qiyuan. , is my name. Unexpectedly, my soul was frightened, and I lost both sleep and food."

"The matter involving Zhou Qiyuan and others actually has nothing to do with me. I beg your Majesty to make a final judgment!"

This explanation made all the ministers in the court talk about it. They really didn't expect the case of the Seven Gentlemen and the inside story.

The cause of the case of the Seven Gentlemen was that Li Shi, a weaving eunuch in Suhang, accused Zhou Qiyuan, Zhou Zongjian, Miao Changqi, Gao Panlong, Li Yingsheng, Huang Zunsu and Zhou Shunchang of seven people to the emperor on the charge of "deceiving the emperor and defying the edict". Because of this, Li Shi has always been considered the culprit of the Prison of Seven Gentlemen, and his accomplice was Mao Yilu, the governor of Yingtian at the time.

But according to Li Shi, he didn't know about it at all. It was his blank seal that was seized by Wei Zhongxian, and Li Yongzhen wrote on it, which framed the Seven Gentlemen.

This overturned everyone's previous impressions and left many people doubtful.

The ministers in the palace, most of whom had witnessed this incident, raised many questions. Many people suspected that Li Shi was talking nonsense and wanted to exonerate himself.

However, Li Shi was notified by Jin Yiwei in advance and had an empty printed memorial as proof. The ministers could not deny this, and naturally they could not overturn his statement.

Coupled with the various details Li Shi said, they are also consistent with known facts.

Therefore, after answering those questions, the ministers already tended that Li Shi had nothing to do with the case. Su Maoxiang, the Minister of Punishment, said:
"It is true that the memorial is printed in blank and white, and the handwriting is indeed Li Yongzhen's."

"I think I should let Li Yongzhen go to the palace and interrogate this person again."

Zhu Youjian nodded in agreement and had Li Yongzhen, who had just been convicted, escorted up again.

Li Yongzhen was also greeted by Jin Yiwei. In addition, he had already been convicted of death, so multiple charges were nothing. On the contrary, if you don't listen to Jin Yiwei's greetings, you will suffer even before death. So he admitted the matter in a bachelor manner, admitting that Wei Zhongxian gave him a blank seal and he later wrote on it. Li Shi and Liu Ruoyu were picked out.

At this point, the matter of Kongyin is revealed. Li Shi and Liu Ruoyu were also extracted from the Seven Gentlemen case. The Donglin Party's momentum to pursue the murderer suddenly stagnated.

Of course they didn't want to see this scene, and they also pointed out that Li Shi had participated in the construction of the temple. However, the construction of the temple cannot be regarded as the main culprit in the crime. Zhu Youjian only classified Li Shi as the fifth class and confiscated his family property.

In this way, after convicting several treason and accomplices of the crime of death, one of the eunuchs was finally freed from the death penalty and did not continue to be executed.

This makes many people feel that the direction of the wind has changed, and it will not be so easy to continue to convict people of death.

As they expected, the next third-level rebellious official was sentenced to death by Dali Temple in the name of befriending a close servant. After Zhu Youjian looked at it, he said:

"Except for Liu Zhixuan and Liang Menghuan, who deserved death for shaking the palace, the case details of the others have not yet been determined."

"In order to prevent what happened to Li Shi, innocent people were mistakenly killed. I thought I would not kill these people if they could, so I sent them to the garrison for the time being."

This was the purpose of his holding this court battle. He wanted to banish Tian Ergen, Xu Xianchun and other people in the third class to exile overseas.

This decision clearly dissatisfied the Donglin Party officials. Yao Shishen said:
"Although the facts of some cases are unclear, cases that have been cleared should be handled in accordance with the law."

"Xue Zhen and Zhang Tiqian falsely accused Liu Duo and should be sentenced to death to pay for their lives."

This is the culprit in the Liu Duo case, and there are many other people involved in the case. Just killing these two people is already a light sentence, and it cannot be reduced any further.

Moreover, life for life was the policy that Zhu Youjian had previously set for the third class. He went back on his word at this time, which was overturning the previously set policy for dealing with the eunuchs. It was really inappropriate.

Therefore, the matter of downgrading the third-class death penalty to being sent to garrison cannot be passed in the court. Most of the ministers of Jiuqing and Liuke did not agree with this matter.

Zhu Youjian didn't want to overthrow the previous policy casually, and he didn't want to be said to have changed his orders overnight. Therefore, he could only give up the idea of ​​giving a lighter sentence to the third-class additional crimes and interrogate these people one by one to see who could get a reduced sentence.

Xue Zhen and Zhang Tiqian, whose evidence was conclusive, were also sentenced to death.

However, he could not agree with the fact that Sun Rulie was classified as the third class because he was the first to build the Shengshi in the capital, and Pan Ruzhen, who was the first to build the Shengsi, was classified as the fourth.

Let the ministers continue to discuss and see what crime should be sentenced.

Because there were too many things involved in the construction of the temple, most of the officials agreed with the emperor's penalty and confiscation of property to the main culprit in the construction of the temple. Only the person who built the temple in the first place was designated as the principal culprit and pursued.

However, most of the officials were unwilling to convict the two main culprits of the crime. After deliberation, most of them believed that Sun Rulie and Pan Ruzhen should be classified as fourth class, lowering their charges to first class.

Tian Ji, Wu Chunfu, Li Kuilong, and Ni Wenhuan, the four officials who were among the Five Tigers together with Cui Chengxiu, except Ni Wenhuan, who was still classified as the third class because of his involvement in the Seven Gentlemen case, the other three were all classified as the fourth class.

If the Five Tigers are like this, the Five Biaos will naturally be lighter. Although some Donglin Party officials insisted that they should be punished with their lives for killing people through torture, many others believed that they were deceived by Wei Zhongxian's isolation from the inside and outside. Even if you make a mistake, your sin will not lead to death.

Jinyiwei contributed a lot to this, and most of the officials influenced by them had this attitude.

The other officials related to the Eunuch Party, after seeing Jin Yiwei's attitude, were worried that if they objected, Jin Yiwei might expose their previous interactions with the Eunuch Party. Therefore, most of them agreed with Jin Yiwei's attitude and believed that Wu Biao should be determined. For the fourth grade.

Especially after Zhu You retrieved Wei Zhongxian's confession document and put many charges on Wei Zhongxian. These people had more reasons to believe that the case should be closed with this confession document, so as to avoid the eunuch's case being too widely implicated and making the officials uneasy.

In this mentality, Tingjiu's result was finally as Zhu Youjian wished. Wubiao was reduced to the fourth rank, and was sentenced to a reduced rank and exiled from the army for the crime of befriending a close servant.

Very satisfied with this, and in order to appease those who demanded severe punishment, Zhu Youjian ordered:

"Although these fourth-level rebellious officials were unaware of Wei Zhongxian's rebellion, they nevertheless participated in the rebellion."

"If you are exiled from the army, you will be exiled to an overseas guard station. You will not be pardoned in the future."

"In the future, you are not allowed to return to the Central Plains unless there is a special purpose."

This treatment is naturally more serious than ordinary exile. You can survive for a few years in exile on the frontier, and you may even be pardoned and resurrected.

Exiled to a barren land overseas, most people would not live long.

Moreover, the emperor also made it clear that no one could return to the Central Plains without pardon and no special order, which meant that it was impossible for these people to recover, and it was impossible for the eunuchs to come back.

As a result, the political life of these people can be said to be over. He even suffered more than being directly executed.

This makes many people satisfied and no longer bother with it.

Regarding this scene, Zhu Youjian also breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the incident was finally over.

What he is most worried about is that the Donglin Party has been holding on to this matter and insisting on killing these people, causing the dispute between the Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party to become even more intense, and no one can retreat.

Fortunately, most of the Donglin Party in the court are moderates, and those who have deep hatred against the Eunuch Party have not yet come to the capital. Use this time to settle the case so it doesn't get too intense.

If the relatives of Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, Huang Zunsu and others come and demand the punishment of those who killed them in the name of brothers and wives, this matter will be difficult to handle.

Therefore, after Wei Liangqing, Hou Guoxing and others were executed on December 23, Zhu Youjian immediately ordered Tian Ergeng, Xu Xianchun and others to be sent to garrison and overseas immediately. (End of chapter)