Ming Dynasty 1566

Chapter 144

"What's going on? It's time!" Seeing the eunuch Shi Bingbi and two other Bingbi eunuchs walking into the lobby with a group of eunuchs, Chen Hong stood up and asked loudly, and when the Shi surnamed eunuch walked in front of him, he asked in a low voice. said, "Is there another purpose?"

Countless eyes in the lobby looked at the eunuch Shi Bingbi who walked to the door.

"Yes." The eunuch surnamed Shi Bingbi was very courteous to him and replied the word in a low voice, then raised his voice, "There is a purpose!" and walked into the hall.

Headed by Xu Jie, the four members of the cabinet immediately stood up and picked up their cushions, stepped aside from the upper part of the hall, went to the hall, put down the cushions, and knelt down on the cushions.

The Qingliu officials sitting on both sides saved their troubles, and just changed their sitting postures to kneeling postures on their respective cushions, and soon knelt down on the ground.

Chen Hong and the other eunuchs had no choice but to kneel outside the door.

The eunuch Shi surnamed Bingbi stood on the south side of the north wall with his back on his back: "The emperor said: 'Who is Hai Rui? Jie, Chen Hong led the cabinet, and the Ceremony Supervisory Committee discussed the crime with all the officials. This is it.'”

Asked all the ministers to write a debate, and after nearly a month of busy work, "there is no need to argue with him".However, when all the ministers heard this change of purpose, everyone was as numb as a stone, without any sudden feeling, as if a boat would naturally lower its mast when it reached the bridge hole.If the emperor does not change the order, perhaps they will be surprised instead.

Xu Jie and Chen Hong were called by name, so they should be the first to express their opinions: "Your minister, this servant leads the order!"

All the kneeling officials: "The minister waits for the order!"

Chen Hong stood up: "Move the chair!" He strode in.

The supervisor of ceremonies and several eunuchs with pens followed and walked in.

Xu Jie and others stood up, and the officials sitting on both sides also stood up.

Immediately, someone brought eight chairs and arranged them in a semicircle above the north wall.

Chen Hong and the other three eunuchs of Bingbi sat on the four chairs on the left, and Xu Jie and the other three members of the cabinet sat on the four chairs on the right.

Xu Jie looked at the other officials in the hall kneeling on the cushions: "Everyone, please sit down."

Those officials changed their kneeling posture to sitting posture again, and they all sat back on their respective cushions.

"What did the emperor say?" Chen Hong looked at the eunuch Shi Bingbi, "Is it a crime or a conviction?"

Eunuch Shi Bingbi: "It's about crime."

"Then discuss it." Chen Hong looked at Xu Jie, "Mr. Xu Ge, how to discuss it, let the cabinet make up its mind."

Xu Jie raised his eyes and looked at the people in the hall one by one.

Chen Hong understands, and Xu Jie also understands that every word used by the current emperor actually implies a deep meaning, and one must understand the subtleties.As far as the word "discussion of crime" is concerned, if it falls on the word "crime", it will inevitably be interrogated by officials from the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate. But today, none of the three law departments are present, and all the officials are Wenyuan Neo Confucianism. As a minister, it can be seen that we can only speak from the word "On".Shengyi understood very well that even though Hai Rui didn't escort him, he still wanted these officials to refute him, so that everyone in the world would know that the officials thought he was guilty!

Xu Jie spoke slowly: "Hai Rui's memorial was distributed to all of you a month ago, and you all wrote the memorial to refute him. Let's discuss it according to your own memorial."

But after Xu Jie finished speaking, the whole room was still like a pool of stagnant water, and no one spoke.

Xu Jie, Li Chunfang, Gao Gong, and Zhao Zhenji would not force everyone to speak at such a time. It was a matter of reputation, and if a wrong word was made, the notoriety would immediately spread throughout the world.So all four were silent.

Now it was the supervisor's turn to speak, and Chen Hong was the first to attack: "What's the matter, do you all want to resist the order? Start with the one on the left and speak one by one."

The first one on the left was Li Qingyuan, and seeing Chen Hong's gaze fixed on him, he picked up the memorial on his lap: "Eunuch Chen, we were ordered to write a memorial to refute Hai Rui, and we wrote it all. But Hai Rui himself is in the future, who will answer our questions? If no one answers, how can we judge the crime?"

"That's a good question!" Chen Hong stared at him and sneered, then glanced at all the officials one by one, "What do you mean, what do you mean, if Hai Rui doesn't come, you won't be able to discuss his crimes? That's okay." Alright, let me ask you one by one, and you guys answer. Li Qingyuan!"

Li Qingyuan: "The next official is here."

Chen Hong: "Is Hai Rui guilty or not?"

Li Qingyuan: "Guilty."

Chen Hong: "What crime?"

Li Qingyuan: "You shouldn't scold Father Jun with disrespectful words in the memorial."

Chen Hong stared at him closely: "No more?"

Li Qingyuan: "The lower official has already answered."

Chen Hong: "Let me ask you now, is it right for him to scold Mr. Jun's father?"

Li Qingyuan: "It's wrong to scold Jun father."

Chen Hong: "Is it going around in circles? I want you to answer those words and things he scolded, right?"

Li Qingyuan: "There are no wrong parents in the world, and there is no wrong father."

All the Wenyuan Qingliu in the hall showed their expressions of approval. It was obvious that everyone approved of Li Qingyuan's answer.

Chen Hong was annoyed: "You all want to answer these two sentences, right?"

Li Qingyuan: "Back to Eunuch Chen, these two sentences, the first sentence was said by a sage, and the second sentence was said by Prince Yu to his subjects in the first month of this year. If Eunuch Chen thinks it is inappropriate, we will take it back."

Chen Hongfan was stopped by his question, his face immediately changed, and he turned to look at the eunuch Shi Bingbi who was next to him: "Go ahead and ask!"

The eunuch Shi surnamed Bingbi cleared his throat: "Since everyone has written a memorial to refute Hai Rui, I think we should extract the words from the memorial and compile it into a book, and then the cabinet will send it to the provinces in the 'Residence Report'. The Sanju can also use this to convict Hai Rui."

Chen Hong's eyes slanted into a line, looking at the eunuch Shi Bingbi.The eunuch Shi surnamed Bingbi was determined as usual, so Chen Hong lost his mind, because he didn't know whether what he said was his own idea or the emperor's order just now.

Xu Jie made a decision at the right time: "I think Eunuch Shi is right. Otherwise, everyone would read their melodies once, and they wouldn't be able to finish reading them in a few days."

"Then collect everyone's playbooks." Gao Gong immediately echoed Xu Jie.

"Wait." Chen Hong knew that these people were going through the motions, and he was worried that he would be the one who could not deliver the job with the emperor in the end. "Some people's memorials have been copied and handed over to the palace, but some Haven't watched it yet. Wang Yongji!"

He finally fixed his eyes on Wang Yongji who had rushed back to the capital yesterday.

Wang Yongji, who was sitting at the end of the first row on the left, responded: "The lower official is here."

Chen Hong: "It seems that your memorandum has not been submitted."

Wang Yongji: "Yes. The official's memorial was rushed to write last night, and I finished it this morning."

Chen Hong: "How do you discuss Hai Rui's crimes in your memorial?"

Wang Yongji picked up the memorial: "Go back to Eunuch Chen and report to Elder Xu Ge that the subordinate official's memorial is about the case of the mine riots in Kaihua and Dexing counties due to officials' corruption of ink. From the beginning to the end, I ask the cabinet minister to pass it on to the emperor."

"The tail is exposed, isn't it?" Chen Hong seized the opportunity, squinted at Xu Jie and Gao Gong, and then stared at Wang Yongji, "On February [-]th, the officials came to the congratulatory table, and Hai Rui went on the road to insult the father. Today’s decree is to ask everyone to submit a memorial to refute Hai Rui, but you are presenting a memorial to investigate corruption. The two of you cooperated well! Wang Yongji, let me ask you, how did Hai Rui’s memorial work? Discuss with you?"

Seeing that the turmoil was gradually calming down, and Chen Hong was about to make another big wave, the officials and the supervisor of ceremonies were all disgusted, and they couldn't show it on the surface, and they all remained silent.

In fact, Chen Hong didn't want to make waves without wind, he really figured out the emperor's thoughts to the extreme. For more than 20 years, the emperor lived in Xiyuan Xuanxiu, and pushed Yan Song's party to the front. He wanted to find a substitute to block and kill those Confucianism ministers who tried to govern together. Once the strict party fell, Xu Jie and others had to be used , but Xu Jie and others blindly kept things quiet, and Lu Fang was perfunctory on both sides, so whenever there was a dispute between the officials and the court, the emperor had to put on his tenacity and go to battle in person, feeling bitter.Knowing this, he expressed to the emperor many times that he was willing to be the substitute, thus replacing Lu Fang.Last year on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, the ministers went to Shuhe to block the emperor for a while, and the emperor really praised him deeply.The earth-shattering event of Hai Rui happened this year, the cabinet, the six ministries and even the ministers of the whole court did not have a single person who was angry with the emperor and father, and now they want to make the big thing small, and this result is reported, Tianwei Thunder can imagine Know.The law does not rule the masses, let alone involving King Yu, others can slip away one by one.Only myself, if I don't catch a few people to use thunderbolt means to destroy this court food for the emperor, this palm print eunuch will not be long.

Wang Yongji was also silent there.He thought about standing up and admitting that many of the words in Hai Rui's memorandum were his own, and sharing his guilt, but he had never discussed it with Hai Rui beforehand, so he couldn't deceive his heart; Complicity, on the contrary, will aggravate Hai Rui's crimes. There are completely different crimes in the court when there is a party and no party.But he decided to speak for Hai Rui, and he couldn't let future generations not know the sincerity of going to the disaster on Haigang Peak.

Wang Yongji stood up slowly: "Go back to Eunuch Chen, Hai Rui didn't discuss this with me."

Chen Hong: "It's you who our family looks down on. According to the report received by the Supervisor of Rituals, Hai Rui was transferred to the capital last July, and it was you who kept in touch with him frequently and had many long talks all night long. When Hai Rui was about to go to the school Yes, you asked the Metropolitan Procuratorate for an assignment to investigate the case in the south. Now that Hai Rui has arrested you, and you are back, of course you can push it clean. But you feel that writing a memorial to refute him is really unreasonable, So I made a play to investigate the case, so I can get away with it. Wang Yongji, are you really a villain?"

Wang Yongji is an old-fashioned and warm-hearted person by nature, but he has always been a man who does not show his sharpness, and only seeks to be good when he can't treat both. Today, he said that it is his duty to do it for Hai Rui. Even Chen Hong's insult, he also had to rise up, but his tone remained the same. Ping He: "I don't need Eunuch Chen to look down on me as an official of the Ming Dynasty. There are so many officials in the Ming Dynasty, and it's not that Eunuch Chen said whoever is a villain is a villain."

Almost all the officials in the room, including the eunuchs who held the pen, sat up straight at the same time. They couldn't see it but could feel it. Everyone applauded his words in their hearts.

After all, Chen Hong was Chen Hong. At this moment, he was ashamed and smiled back on his face: "Then you can go back to the questions we just asked at our house. Why are you not a villain?"

Wang Yongji: "Hai Rui's memorial is not because I have discussed it with him, but because he has always been selfless in his behavior and does not want to discuss it with anyone. It is because I have known him for a long time, Just before he went to college, he tried his best to persuade me to apply for the job from the Metropolitan Procuratorate to go to the south to investigate the case. Thinking about it today, he just didn't want to implicate me. In this regard, Hai Rui is worthy of the style of an ancient gentleman. Compared to me, I am willing to admit that I am a villain. But it is not the kind of villain that Eunuch Chen said."

"What did you say!" Chen Hong's voice sharpened sharply, "You said that Hai Rui has the style of an ancient gentleman!"

Wang Yongji: "Hai Rui dares to act boldly in doing things, and does not bring harm to others in his life, such is the ancient gentleman!"

Chen Hong: "Have you all heard that?"

Most people looked at the ground, but the four members of the cabinet had to look at each other, using their eyes to communicate how to express their views.

At this time, Chen Hong was also staring at Xu Jie, asking him to make a statement.

Of course Xu Jie had to make a statement: "Wang Yongji, the first of the five relationships is the ruler and his subjects. Today we are talking about Hai Rui's crime of disrespect to the ruler and father. You don't need to talk about how to be friends."

Chen Hong looked at Zhao Zhenji again: "Master Zhao, this Wang Yongji seems to be the person you elected when you were the governor of Zhejiang. Tell me, what should you say about what he said just now?"

The Ming Dynasty was governed by the Minister of Rites and the Cabinet at the same time. If the Supervisor of Rites wanted not to take responsibility, he had to shift the responsibility to the Cabinet. But now among the four members of the Cabinet, Xu Jie and Gao Gong are the masters of King Yu. I would like to offend, Li Chunfang has always been a good person, Chen Hong can't find him, so every time he catches Zhao Zhenji to top the tank.Zhao Zhenji was furious and had no choice but to reply: "What Xu Ge said just now is the truth."

Chen Hong had to ask the cabinet to express his opinion: "How can it be righteous? When you come out to be an official, you will eat the king's salary, put aside the righteousness of the monarch and his ministers, but talk about the way of friends. Mr. Zhao is a famous minister of the Taizhou School of Confucianism. Wang Yongji and How do you interpret the word 'friend' in Hai Rui?"

Zhao Zhenji was stumped, so he had to answer: "Officials in the court, regardless of the ruler and father, only friends are cronies."

"It's good to admit that you are a crony!" Chen Hong stood up abruptly, "According to the cabinet's intention, arrest this crony first!"

The people from the Division of Prosecution and the Division of Zhenfu were just outside the lobby, and two people came in immediately after hearing the sound, one on each side grabbed Wang Yongji: "Let's go!"

Wang Yongji was pulled by the two to stand up, and the playbook on his lap fell to the ground. He stood still, looked at Xu Jie and said loudly: "Mr. The eunuch of the mining department under the father-in-law is corrupt to ink, please transfer it to the emperor from the cabinet!"

This sentence made Chen Hong a little surprised and even more annoyed: "Take me away!"

The two grabbed Wang Yongji and pushed him out immediately.

The playbook lay alone on the ground.

All eyes were on Xu Jie.

Xu Jie stood up slowly, walked over in person, picked up the memorial that Wang Yongji had dropped, walked back slowly, and handed it to Chen Hong: "He is dealing with the Qin case, this memorial Let the supervisor of ceremonies submit it to the emperor."

Chen Hong didn't expect to be swayed by Wang Yongji at this time, looking at the melody that Xu Jie handed over, he didn't accept it, and he didn't accept it.

At this time, there was a murmured uproar everywhere in the hall.

"Quiet!" Chen Hong roared, took the playbook from Xu Jie's hand, and the hall became quiet again.

Chen Hong turned to Xu Jie: "Since the cabinet said that there is no way to judge crimes here, according to your wishes, I will extract the words that refute Hai Rui from each person's memorial, and submit it to the three judges to convict him. And this king uses Ji , and Huang Jin from the palace, Zhu Qi and Qi Dazhu from the Zhenfu Division are all cronies, and they discussed the crime together, and drafted a ticket to report to the emperor!" After finishing speaking, he went straight out, and the other three eunuchs holding pens Had to follow him out.

All the officials were left here, some looked at Xu Jie, and some looked at Zhao Zhenji contemptuously.

Chen Hong didn't expect to be swayed by Wang Yongji in the end, and Zhao Zhenji didn't expect to be swayed by Chen Hong again today.The embarrassing person had already left, so the embarrassing person could only look deeply at Xu Jie with a blushing face, hoping that his mentor would speak for himself.

Xu Jie couldn't explain anything for him at this moment, looked at Li Chunfang and Gao Gong: "Combined with the Sanju, let's do it according to the wishes of the Supervisor of Ceremonies."

From the main hall to the passageway to the door of the Vihara, there were many eunuchs and maids standing in a row, all of them with their mouths tightly shut, listening to the imperial physician in the Vihara reporting the name of the prescription.

At this moment, Chen Hong strode in from outside the hall. The eunuchs and maids did not dare to make a sound, and knelt down quietly.

Chen Hong also stopped by the passage, listening attentively.

The voice of the imperial physician came from the abode: "Korean ginseng five coins, Codonopsis ten coins, Angelica dahurica five coins, tangerine peel nine coins..."

"Shiquan Dabu?" Suddenly Jiajing's manic voice interrupted the imperial physician's report, "Huang Jin!"

Chen Hong immediately walked in with his robe, but saw two imperial physicians kneeling in front of the imperial bed and shivering.

Jiajing lay on the bed with his eyes closed, and called again: "Huang Jin!"

Chen Hong hurried over and knelt down in front of the bed: "Master, the slave is here."

Jiajing still closed his eyes: "Tell these two trash to get out!"

Chen Hong immediately gave a wink, and the two imperial physicians got up trembling and hurriedly retreated.

Jiajing still closed his eyes: "Go and find out the unilateral prescription Li Shizhen gave me."

Chen Hongfa was dazed, and asked softly, "Excuse me, master, what is Li Shizhen? What is unilateral?"

Jiajing then slowly opened his eyes, turned his head on the high pillow and saw Chen Hong kneeling beside the bed, with a strange look of disappointment in his eyes.

This kind of look was the last thing Chen Hong wanted to see, and he immediately said in a trembling voice: "If these two imperial physician masters are not satisfied, I will find another one immediately."

Jiajing stopped looking at him, and stared at the top of the bed in a daze.

Chen Hong held his breath and looked at him.

"What's the crime?" Jiajing asked, still looking at the top of the bed.

(End of this chapter)