Ming Dynasty 1566

Chapter 140

Among the Ming Dynasty emperors' skills of controlling ministers, the most powerful one is to ride all over the place, spies everywhere, and always detect the movements of those ministers who hold great power.There are occasional exceptions, that is, some middle and lower-level officials who have abnormal behaviors are also sent to monitor.Hai Rui is just a sixth-rank officer in the Ministry of Household Affairs, and he is not in the scope of investigation and prosecution. It is because he caused trouble in Liubiju as soon as he entered Beijing, which attracted Jiajing's attention. The Zhenfu Division has records.Now, as Chen Hong said, Hai Rui's records have been transferred quickly and placed on Jiajing's imperial case one by one. Zhang Zhang watched carefully.

Several pages of records caught Jiajing's attention.

"At the end of December 44nd, 22th year of Jiajing, Wang Yongji, the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, sent his family to send New Year's goods to Hai Rui's house, but they were returned."

"At the hour of December 44th, 27th year of Jiajing, Qi Dazhu, a thousand households of the Zhenfu Division, sent his wife to deliver New Year's goods to Hai Rui's home, but was closed. At noon, Hai Rui returned, sent Qi's wife away, and accepted four eggs. At the end of the day, Hai Rui took a piece of cloth weaved by his family to Ruixing Cloth Shop on Qianmenwai Avenue and sold it for fifteen tangs for copper coins, bought a chicken, a fish, and fifteen catties of rice to return home."

A dazed look appeared in Jiajing's eyes, and he looked down.

"At Shenshi, Hai Rui received an urgent report from the Ministry of Household Affairs and went to the Tongzhou Military Grain Depot to unload the grain. On the 28th, he sent the grain to Daxing for disaster relief."

"From New Year's Eve on December 44th in Jiajing 29 to the fifth day of the first month in Jiajing 45, Hai Rui's house was closed, and his mother and wife did not go out. At the end of the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, Hai Rui returned from great prosperity and suddenly became seriously ill. Hai Rui's wife begged Neighbors called Wang Yongji and Li Shizhen to come to treat Zishi's illness. At Zishi, Wang Yongji received an urgent report from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and returned to the Ministry to write a congratulatory form. It was night, and Li Shizhen stayed at Haijia."

Jiajing raised his head and thought silently, after thinking for a moment, he looked down again.

"The canal opened on the seventh day of February in the 45th year of Jiajing, and Hai Rui sent his mother and wife to the south on Li Shizhen's passenger ship."

"Since July 44, Jiajing, Hai Rui has not visited any official's home except when he went to Daxing to serve as an errand; among the officials, no one has visited Hai Rui's home except Wang Yongji and Qi Dazhu."

After reading the last page, Jiajing froze there with the lamp in his hand, and the light in his eyes dimmed.

There was the sound of cock crowing in the distance, and the south window was already bright white.

"Long Live, Master Qizuo, Wang Wuyi, the servant of the Judiciary, has been ordered to accompany Zhao Zhenji, Minister of the Household Department, to interrogate Hai Rui." The voice of the eunuch's head came from outside the hall.

"The cutscene is going fast!" Jiajing's eyes wanted to flash, but they were no longer bright, "Come in."

Holding a thin sheet of trial records in his hand, the head of the eunuch who raised the sentence walked in with bowed head and stooped, and Zhao Zhenji followed him to the door of the jingshe.

Zhao Zhenji knelt down, and the head of the eunuch who was punished, holding the thin paper trial record, went into the abbot, knelt down and raised his hands up.

Zhao Zhenji lowered his head, but he was feeling Jiajing's movements.

"Throw it there, I won't look at it." Jiajing's voice was cold and empty.

"Yes." The head of the criminal eunuch placed the case record on the imperial case, bowed his head and backed out.

"The defense of the cabinet and the six ministries and nine officials should be perfunctory, right?" Jiajing was obviously asking Zhao Zhenji.

Zhao Zhenji buried her head deeply: "Did your majesty ask the minister to urge you to take it?"

Jiajing: "Come on, come on, call them all."

Zhao Zhenji was stunned for a moment, and had no choice but to answer: "I obey the order." After kowtowing, she got up and retreated towards the gate of the palace.

Jiajing then picked up the thin trial record sent by the head of the eunuch who was punished, and looked at it. His eyes became more vacant, and he looked at the south window outside the jingshe.

Roosters are crowing from far and near, and the window is filled with morning twilight.

"Slave Chen Hong has come to restore the order to the master, Long Live God!" Chen Hong's voice came from outside the hall again!

Jiajing threw the piece of paper in his hand onto the imperial case and closed his eyes: "Come in."

Chen Hong came in lightly with Feng Chen, Jiajing opened his eyes and looked at him, but saw that his hands were empty, and immediately cast doubts in his eyes: "Didn't King Yu write anything?"

Chen Hong: "Return to master, of course I wrote it."

Jiajing: "Where is it?"

Chen Hong knelt down: "Master, Long Live, please forgive me. Lord Yu handed over the written chapter of the apology to Princess Li and Shizi, and asked them to bring it in person to present to Master."

A sad look crossed Jiajing's face immediately, and he was silent for a while: "Call them in."

"Yes." Chen Hong got up and walked out quickly.

Jiajing walked back to the futon and sat down.

Chen Hong led Concubine Li and the eldest son to appear outside the door of the Jingshe.

Concubine Li dragged the eldest son and knelt down outside the door: "The concubine Li led the eldest son Zhu Yijun to kowtow to father, emperor, and grandfather!"

"Come in." Jiajing looked at his grandson.

"Yes." Concubine Li led Shizi to kowtow, pulled him to stand up and walked into the Abode.

After entering, Concubine Li wanted to lead the prince to kneel down again, Jiajing immediately said: "That's all. Chen Hong, give me a seat."

"Yes." Chen Hong replied and hurriedly moved an embroidered pier and placed it on the left side in front of the futon. Concubine Li had no choice but to bow her head and sit down next to the edge of the embroidered pier.

The son was standing in front of his mother, and Jiajing looked at him: "Come here."

Shizi walked over slowly, Jiajing pulled him and wanted to hug him on his lap, but suddenly felt that he had no strength.

With sharp eyes, Chen Hong took a few steps over and picked up the prince and placed him on Jiajing's lap.

For the first time since he was furious last night, Jiajing showed compassion: "I haven't seen you for a few months, and my grandson has actually gained a lot of weight."

Tears flashed in Concubine Li's eyes, but she forced a smile, and knelt down in front of the embroidered pier with her skirt: "My daughter-in-law, Mrs. Li, has brought this chapter of King Yu's apology, and I respectfully present it to my father."

Jiajing only looked at her, at the chapter in her hand, without saying a word.

Chen Hong stood there with his head bowed nervously.

Jiajing: "Chen Hong."

"The servant is here." Chen Hong hurriedly replied.

Jiajing: "Go outside the door to see if all my loyal ministers have come."

Chen Hong: "Yes."

Xu Jie's voice came from outside the door: "The guilty minister Xu Jie is waiting for the holy order!"

Chen Hong: "Back to the master, it's already here."

Jiajing: "Please!"

Chen Hong was stunned again, and shouted to the outside of the hall: "All the ministers of Xu Jie see you!"

After a whole night of tossing, Xu Jie's eye circles were already a little dark, and Li Chunfang, Gao Gong, and Liubu Jiuqing, the officials who followed closely behind, all had green eyes. With his defense in his hands, he walked outside the door of the Vihara and knelt down on the floor.

Jiajing looked at them: "What did you take?"

Xu Jie: "The criminal minister Xu Jie and others wrote the defense by order."

Jiajing: "What are you arguing about?"

Xu Jie: "Is there any relationship between the guilty ministers and Hai Rui?"

Jiajing glanced at Chen Hong, motioning for him to put it away.

Chen Hong hurried to the door, took away the defenses in the hands of Xu Jie and others one by one, walked back to Jiajing, and held them there.

At this time, Jiajing's eyes turned to Concubine Li who was still kneeling in front of him and King Yu who he was still holding up to plead guilty to this chapter.

The prince was still sitting on his lap at this moment, being hugged by him in front of his chest, Jiajing actually asked the prince: "Zhu Yijun, do you know what your father and the ministers at the door sent?"

The crown prince timidly replied: "What you say to Grandpa Huang is something that makes Grandpa Huang unhappy."

Xu Jie and the others who were kneeling outside the door of the Jingshe raised their heads slightly, and saw the crown prince sitting on the emperor's body, and there seemed to be some hope in their green eyes.

Jiajing still asked the prince: "It's my grandson who knows what the grandpa thinks. Let me ask you again, since it's something that the grandpa doesn't like, should we watch it or not?"

Shizi suddenly said an astonishing sentence: "Burn it!"

"Quasi-decree!" Jiajing praised loudly, "Chen Hong, I burned all these things they wrote and the chapter of King Yu's apology. I didn't read a single word."

"Master, Long Live Lord Shengming!" Chen Hong replied loudly, and then took the chapter from Concubine Li's hand, then walked to a censer, lifted the lid of the incense burner, and took a copy of the chapter and the statement of defense. put it in.

Immediately, an open flame was lit in the incense burner.

"Your Majesty is as benevolent as heaven, and the ministers are inexplicably ashamed!" Xu Jie exhaled this excited cry on behalf of all the ministers.

Everyone got down on the ground.

Concubine Li also lay down in the abode.

Jiajing: "That bastard Hai Rui scolded me for nothing in his memorial. He wanted to be Bigan, but I was not King Zhou! He wanted to make a name in history, but it was my country that was in chaos! I also thought it through clearly, and I don't want to. Be fooled by him! Now you have to read the thing he wrote. After reading it, you can discuss what to do! Chen Hong."

Chen Hong immediately threw the rest of the defense in his hand into the fire, and quickly turned around: "Master, the slave is here."

Jiajing: "Give what that bastard wrote to Mr. Xu Ge, and send it to the six ministers of the cabinet and nine ministers to read it!"

There was no precedent in the Ming Dynasty for a small sixth-rank principal to be interrogated by cabinet members in conjunction with the chief and deputy officials of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, Dali Temple, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

At the time of Chenshi, all the cabinet members and the chief and deputy officials of the Three Law Departments had arrived. The four cabinet members Xu Jie, Li Chunfang, Gao Gong, and Zhao Zhenji were still sitting in front of the big case in the middle, and the main hall official of the Three Law Department was sitting on the left side of the big case. Before the case, the deputy court official sat in front of the big case on the right.

According to the decree, each of the chief and deputy officials of the Sanfa Division has paper, pen, ink and inkstone in front of them, and records at the same time. After the trial, the six records must be submitted to the emperor for comparison and review.

Since he was still wearing shackles and handcuffs, Hai Ruiz specially appointed a prison van to bring him directly from the imperial prison to avoid delay.

The prison car ran over to the door of the duty room and stopped.

It was still the head of the eunuch who raised the sentence, and he added a thousand households to the Zhenfusi. The two walked into the duty room, stood still at the door, and bowed to the ministers of Xu Jie: "Old Xu Ge, my lords, Hai Rui is here."

Everyone looked at each other subconsciously.

Xu Jie: "Let's push it in."

The door at the rear of the prison car was unlocked and opened. Two Jinyi guards stood beside the rear of the car, and the two eunuchs each reached in to lift Hai Rui out of the prison car.

Hai Rui stood on the ground, and first raised his head to look at the sun that had just risen from the east. The sunlight shone on his face, shining brightly.

A criminal eunuch: "Go in!"

Only then did Hai Rui turn his head and look at the square on the door of the duty room. There were two large characters written on the square: "Cabinet!"

The gate of the duty room was open, and the ministers inside all looked at Hai Rui who was slowly moving up the stone steps step by step.

Hai Rui stopped before the stone steps at the door of the guard's room. Although the stone steps were not high, they still couldn't lift their legs up.

Those in the Division of Prosecution and Division of Zhenfu knew that the emperor hated this man at this time, so no one dared to unchain him, and no one reached out to help him climb the stone steps.

The officials who were interrogated in the past also had this problem. They knelt down and climbed up the stone steps step by step.At this moment, all eyes were on Hai Rui, imagining how this daring man knelt down and climbed up the stone steps.

All eyes were on him.

But seeing Hai Rui struggling to sit down on the first stone step, he sat down, his eyes were slightly closed, and he didn't move when he sat there.

Before the big case, Zhao Zhenji grabbed the gavel and patted it: "Hai Rui! Are you still so stubborn when you get here? Come to court for trial!"

Hai Rui was still sitting on the stone steps: "My lords, have you convicted me?"

Before the case, Zhao Zhenji replied loudly: "Today I am here to convict you!"

Hai Rui: "If your lord has not returned to his humble position, is he convicted or not?"

Zhao Zhenji raised the gavel again, Gao Gong glanced at Zhao Zhenji, and then said, "Hai Rui, what do you mean by this question?"

Hai Rui replied: "According to the "Law of the Ming Dynasty", the incumbent officials will all remove their instruments of torture during the interrogation period before they are convicted, and accept the interrogation."

Gao Gong glanced at all the officials: "This is clearly stated in the "Law of the Ming Dynasty", and the instruments of torture should be removed."

All the officials did not answer his words.

Gao Gong stood up and said loudly to the head of the eunuch who was in charge of punishment: "Unshackle!"

Before the head of the eunuch who raised the sentence answered, Zhao Zhenji couldn't bear it anymore, and looked at the head of the eunuch who raised the sentence: "Would you like to remove the instrument of torture for Hai Rui? Did the higher-ups say hello?"

The head of the provoking eunuch immediately replied: "Go back to Mr. Zhao, the higher-ups said hello, this Hai Rui's shackles can't be removed."

Gao Gong: "Who said hello?"

The head of the eunuch mentioning punishment: "Eunuch Chen."

Gao Gong: "Is it Eunuch Chen's own intention, or is he following the emperor's will?"

Tixing the head of the eunuch: "This subordinate dare not speak in vain."

Gao Gong: "Since the emperor has no order, it should be handled according to the "Law of the Ming Dynasty". Officials will not wear shackles during interrogation before they are convicted, and they will be released immediately."

The eunuch's head still didn't move, and he didn't look at Gao Gong but only looked at Zhao Zhenji: "Then I have to ask Eunuch Chen for instructions."

Zhao Zhenji looked at Gao Gong: "Hai Rui's crimes are beyond comparison with any criminals in the past, and there is no comparison in the "Law of the Ming Dynasty". Mr. Gao, today's case should be handled according to the wishes of the Supervisor of Rites. Let him wear Tried in chains."

Gao Gong had a good impression of Ben last night about Zhao Zhenji's performance in the palace, and at this moment he suddenly understood that this person looks loyal and brave, but is actually cunning, and all his schemes are trying to figure out how to comply with the holy will, and he couldn't help feeling a deep hatred welling up in his heart: " Mr. Zhao, this is not like what you said yesterday. The purpose is to let us discuss Hai Rui's crimes. Now that his crimes have not been discussed, Mr. Zhao intends to convict him first. Can we leave it alone? "

Zhao Zhenji blushed: "When did I convict him?"

Gao Gong: "You said just now that his crimes are beyond comparison to any criminals in the past, and now you don't admit it?"

Cho Jung Ji: "I don't mean to condemn you by saying this."

Gao Gong: "Since there is no conviction, the shackles have to be released." Here he looked at the head of the eunuch who was sentenced: "Now we are in a joint trial, we have to follow the "Law of the Ming Dynasty", you immediately release the shackles Already!"

The eunuch's head looked towards Xu Jie.

Xu Jie sat silently.

Gao Gong became angry: "Since you don't follow the "Law of the Great Ming Dynasty", then we will leave the stage and ask Eunuch Chen to come for trial!"

Only then did Xu Jie speak, and looked at Zhao Zhenji: "According to the "Law of the Great Ming Dynasty", there is nothing wrong with it. Meng Jing, there is no need to argue, let them untie the chains."

Zhao Zhenji looked into the eyes of the teacher, and although he couldn't fully understand his meaning for a while, anyway, his attitude had been clearly shown, and he still showed the expression of dissatisfaction with Gao Gong, and turned to the eunuch's head: "You heard it, first Let go of the shackles and explain to Eunuch Chen."

"Yes." The head of the criminal eunuch agreed at this time, and then turned around and shouted deliberately: "According to the cabinet's intention, the prisoner's shackles have been released!"

Only then did the two eunuchs walk over, one opened the lock on the handcuffs, the other unlocked the lock on the leg shackles, and when the two men lifted the chains and shackles, they seemed heavy, and when they threw them on the ground, there was a loud bang. Voice!

Hai Rui rubbed his wrists, massaged his feet a few times from below his knees, stood up slowly, turned around, climbed the stone steps and walked in to the door of the guard room.

According to the rules, even if he did not commit a crime, even a low-ranking official like Hai Rui had to kneel and bow before the cabinet and the six ministers. Hai Rui knelt down, saluted, and then stood up again.

Zhao Zhenji didn't make up his mind this time, and looked at Shen Shixing, who was sitting first on the left, "Master Shen, you are the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment. Should such criminals be tried kneeling or standing?"

Shen Shixing replied, as if reciting a clause: "According to the "Law of the Ming Dynasty" on the interrogation of officials, officials who have not been dismissed before conviction can be tried sitting down, and those below the third rank can be tried standing."

Zhao Zhenji: "Then you guys start the trial."

Shen Shixing stood up and arched his hands facing Xu Jie: "Elder Ge, if I remember correctly, there was an order from the Holy Majesty of Yuxi Palace last night, ordering Mr. Zhao to interrogate Hai Rui in person. If there is no new order, we should Mr. Zhao is still the presiding judge." After speaking, he sat down.

The other is the Zhengqing of Dali Temple, the left governor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the three sitting opposite are the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment called by Chen Hong last night, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, and the left deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Agreeing with Shen Shihang's idea, they all shut their mouths and sat there silently with their eyes on the tip of their noses.

Gao Gong looked straight at Zhao Zhenji.

Li Chunfang looked at Xu Jie.

Xu Jie slowly turned to look at Zhao Zhenji: "Meng Jing, the Holy Majesty's will was like this last night, how should I ask, you are the presiding judge."

(End of this chapter)