Ming Dynasty 1566

Chapter 90

The so-called baking varnish means that the lacquer stick solidified on a copper stick is baked and melted on the fire first, and then the seal of the envelope is pasted, and then stamped to indicate that the recipient has opened it.

The lacquer stick was something that should be prepared, and the book office immediately baked the seal of the envelope and placed it on the desk.

Hai Rui took out his own seal from the sleeve of his robe and covered it while the paint was still on, and then took three feathers from a wooden box on the desk and stuck them on the paint.

Wang Yongji also took out his own seal from the sleeve of his robe, and Hai Rui had already picked up the letter: "The original case is my seal, and of course my seal will be used for the retrial. There is still an hour to dawn, and it will be delivered to Zhao Zhongcheng urgently. " Speaking of which, he turned to the recording room next door and said loudly: "Take Zheng Michang and He Maocai, and go to the Governor's Yamen immediately!" After speaking, he walked out of the door quickly.

Immediately there was an answering voice from the recording room next door, and the sound of tables and chairs colliding when the person was escorted out.

Wang Yongji sighed softly, tucked the seal back into the sleeve of his robe, and followed out.

A cock crow, followed by cock crows came from a distance.

When Liang Yin opened the city gate, martial law was imposed here, and the admiral of the Nine Gates personally brought hundreds of officers and soldiers here.Those who entered the city were blocked from the outside, and those who left the city were blocked from the inside. At this time, Yongding Gate in Beijing was covered like an iron bucket.

Immediately afterwards, a large sedan chair carried a eunuch Bingbi, the supervisor of ceremonies, and ten execution eunuchs from Dongchang, and ten Jinyiwei guards from the Fusi, walked outside the city gate and stopped inside the suspension bridge.

As soon as the sedan chair tilted, an execution eunuch from Dongchang immediately opened the car curtain, and another eunuch from Dongchang brought a chair over and placed it between the door opening and the suspension bridge. Eunuch Shi, his hands behind his back, walked to the chair and sat down, looking at the post road in front of him.

The scholars and civilians who were blocked outside the city were all curious, so they didn't leave. They gathered there far away, discussing a lot, thinking that a victorious general was about to enter the capital, and waited to see.

Horseshoe cart dust, but what was waiting was a prison cart for escort, which stopped by the moat outside the city gate.You can see in all directions, Yang Jinshui sat inside with his hands and feet shackled and his eyes looking up at the sky.

Eunuch Shi stood up slowly, took ten execution eunuchs and ten Jinyi guards up the suspension bridge, and greeted them.

Eunuch Shi and his party walked towards the prison cart, and the officers and soldiers guarding the city outside the city immediately drove away the officers and soldiers escorting the prison cart from the governor's office in Zhejiang. Only two guards escorting the prison cart met Eunuch Shi, and when they approached, they knelt quickly Li: "This subordinate has met Eunuch Shi!"

That Eunuch Shi didn't stop walking, walking towards the prison car: "Is it Yang Jinshui?"

Two Jinyi guards followed closely behind him: "Go back to Eunuch Shi, yes."

While speaking, Eunuch Shi had already approached the prison car, and immediately smelled a foul smell, he stopped quickly, covered his mouth and looked at Yang Jinshui in the prison car from a distance of about a few feet.

That Yang Jinshui looked up at the sky, motionless.

"Do evil." That Eunuch Shi said these two words, waved his hand, turned and walked towards the city gate.

The Jin Yiwei who came with him replaced the officers and soldiers from Zhejiang, and followed the prison cart to the city gate.

The two Jinyi guards who were escorting the prison cart followed Eunuch Shi, and each of them took out an urgent document with three feathers stuck to it from his jacket, and said as he walked, "Eunuch Shi, this is the official document that the Zhejiang governor's yamen caught up with yesterday. Zhao Zhongcheng specifically ordered that the inspector of ceremonies and the cabinet ordered to re-examine the confessions of Zheng Michang and He Maocai, and that his subordinates, together with Eunuch Yang, should submit to the inspector of ceremonies."

But Eunuch Shi didn't stop to look at it: "Take it, hand it to Eunuch Chen." While speaking, he walked across the suspension bridge and got into the sedan chair.

With the big sedan chair in front and the prison cart behind, they passed through the city gate and entered Yongding Gate.

The crowd of scholars and civilians watching from a distance immediately became a sensation.

Someone saw it at a glance: "It's a father-in-law!"

Someone even recognized Yang Jinshui: "It's Eunuch Yang! The director of the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau's Zhejiang Shipbuilding Department manages enough money to spend half of the Ming Dynasty!"

An old man from Beijing was even more astonishing: "What day is it today? July [-]th, tomorrow is Ghost Festival! The emperor is going to kill someone!"

Under heavy escort, the huge wheels of the prison cart slowly rolled forward on the brick floor.However, the voice of discussion spread like waves among the gathered people, and Yang Jinshui, the great god of wealth stationed in the palace outside the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau and the director of Zhejiang Shipping Department, was arrested and brought to Beijing!
In the Ming Dynasty, it was common for officials to come to Beijing to arrest criminals.This time, it is rare for a eunuch stationed abroad to be arrested with such great fanfare.The holy intention is clear, it is to let everyone know that the big case of ink corruption in Zhejiang is about to be rooted out.No matter who is involved, he will be just and fair, and will never be lenient!Of course, the root of this digging into the cabinet is Mr. Yan Ge and Mr. Xiao Ge. If it is dug into the palace, it may involve Lu Fang.A political tide has spread from Zhejiang to Beijing, and the undercurrent is raging!

After entering Xiyuan, Eunuch Shi could only walk, and now he strode into the outer courtyard.Behind him, Yang Jinshui was sitting on a clumsy chair, and was being carried by two eunuchs, but his hands were handcuffed to the armrests of the chair, and he was carried here.

The chair was placed in the middle of the courtyard, and Eunuch Shi went straight to the round door in the inner courtyard of the supervisor's room by himself.

A group of crow-like eunuchs on duty had long been waiting in the courtyard.A group of people looked at Yang Jinshui from afar, their faces showing sorrow.A group of people were led by the eunuch who Chen Hong had recently promoted as his personal entourage, and they surrounded him, rolled up their sleeves and rolled their eyes, their eyes revealing the light of falling stones, they stood there before they got close but were suffocated by a stench.

Yang Jinshui was sitting on the chair, staring straight at the sky. The hot sunlight in July was so dazzling that he didn't even blink his eyes.

The head of another eunuch on duty came out of the round door in the inner courtyard of the duty room, and he was also suffocated by a stench before he approached. He frowned and said to the two escort guards: "Eunuch Chen and the others are waiting How can you carry it in if it smells so bad?"

A guard in Jinyi: "Leaving Luhe Station in the middle of the night to give him a bath, but halfway through the journey, he was covered in feces and urine. I have to thank you for washing him before carrying him in."

The head eunuch on duty immediately said to the eunuchs around him: "Bring a suit of clothes, fetch water from the well, and wash yourself here."

There used to be a well in the courtyard, and an eunuch rushed to the well to shake the wheel to draw water.An eunuch hurried out to get clothes.

Then the head eunuch on duty said to the two Jin Yiwei who were escorting him: "You go in with me first." He led them to the round gate of the inner courtyard.

Water was brought up.The two execution eunuchs uncuffed the armrests of Yang Jinshui's chair, walked away and stood aside.

Two eunuchs walked over with cold faces, stretched out their hands, stretched out their claws to grab Yang Jinshui's clothes, and then yanked them violently. The clothes were originally silk, and they tore as soon as they tore them. They threw them on the ground, He tore off the clothes inside and threw them on the ground.The eunuch who was promoted by Chen Hong as his personal entourage poured a bucket of water over his shoulder.

It was a hot day, and Yang Jinshui still didn't feel the cold well water splashed on him.

All the eunuchs stared blankly with their eyes wide open.

The eunuch who carried the water brought another bucket of water and handed it to Chen Hong's personal attendant eunuch.The accompanying eunuch went around to Yang Jinshui, picked up the bucket and poured it down again.

The whole body was still dripping with water, so the accompanying eunuch ordered another eunuch: "Take the clothes and put them on!"

Another eunuch came over with the clothes.

"Stop!" A voice stopped him.

It turned out that Huang Jinzheng was ordered from Yuxi Palace to pick up the urgent delivery from Zhejiang. Standing outside the gate of the courtyard, he had seen their abusive behavior. At this moment, he caught a glimpse of the clothes torn by them on the ground, and a surge of anger rushed to his forehead: " The bastard bastard has no conscience! Long live God and the ancestors haven’t punished him yet, how dare you not treat him like a human being like this?” He glanced at the eunuchs with piercing eyes, and finally fixed on the eunuch who was promoted by Chen Hong On the face: "Do you usually dress like this after washing your corpse? Take off your skin and dry your body for Yang Jinshui!"

The accompanying eunuch has been enjoying the spring breeze for the past few days, and today he also intends to ask for this job to further win Chen Hong's favor. Immediately became popular, and with a compensatory smile, he wanted to save some face: "Back to Eunuch Huang, this slave also acted on the orders of his ancestor, Eunuch Chen..."

"Things that don't have roots, how can you have an extra ancestor!" Huang Jin became even more angry, "You still dare to talk back to me. Come here, peel off his skin and dry Yang Jinshui's body!"

When it comes to forming gangs, the eunuchs in the palace are the best in the world.The only exception is the chief of ceremonies, because Lu Fang has been in charge for many years, from the eunuch holding the pen to the eunuch running errands at the bottom, he is the only one who recognizes him, so he dare not and cannot form a gang.However, since Chen Hong temporarily signed the palm seal, he had the heart to change the dynasty and promoted a few people to their positions, with the intention of suppressing those who were still loyal to Lu Fang. There are two factions in the supervisor of ceremonies.The bullied eunuchs have been bullied these days and have been afraid to speak.At this moment, Huang Jin came forward to support them. It is reasonable that they were venting their anger. They were more timid and less daring. After all, they were afraid of Chen Hong, who was now in the palm print. People also lowered their heads.

Huang Jin felt even more uncomfortable seeing it in his eyes, and looked at the two execution eunuchs standing at the door: "It seems that our family has to be called the Criminal Division. You come here and skin this slave! "

Chen Hong temporarily signed the palm seal, Huang Jin naturally acted as chief Bingbi temporarily, and he was directly in charge of the punishment department. Of course, the two execution eunuchs obeyed, replied: "Yes!" and strode in.

"Don't!" The eunuch was really scared, "I'll pick it up myself, I'll pick it up." While saying that, he took off his long gown with a bitter face and gave it to Yang Jinshui to wipe.

Huang Jin shouted again: "Take off the clothes inside and wipe!"

The accompanying eunuch didn't dare to say anything, so he had no choice but to take off his close-fitting short jacket again, naked himself, and went to wipe the wet water on Yang Jinshui's body.After drying off, he went to get clothes for him to wear again.

Huang Jin stopped him again: "You don't need to do the work here, you are not worthy of serving people. Didn't your original partner go to the clothing bureau? You can go to the Shangsi prison to wait on the horses!"

The eunuch's face turned pale, and he gritted his teeth naked and replied: "This slave is now Eunuch Chen's man, if you want to send me a slave, you have to report to Eunuch Chen."

Huang Jin looked at his face, lowered his voice, but clenched his teeth even tighter: "I'll tell you to go to the prison right now. If any father-in-law comes out to speak for you, our family will argue with him in front of the emperor! Get out of here , Get lost immediately to the prison prison!"

The accompanying eunuch was really stunned, he picked up the clothes on the ground like a ghost, didn't wear them, and walked out naked again like a ghost.

Some of the other eunuchs were secretly happy, some were depressed, and they all stood there with their heads bowed.

Huang Jin's eyes slowly swept towards them: "Here, let me say hello to you, don't look at the change of dynasty, just look at the height of this mountain! I want to understand that we are not human, because we have the emperor. We are only half human, and because of the care of our ancestors for so many years, we can live like half human. If anyone doesn’t even have a conscience, he doesn’t want to be half human. If you don’t want to be human, you can be a beast! Listen to it Have you arrived yet?"

"Yes!" All the eunuchs answered in unison, some with high voices and some with low voices.

Only then did Huang Jin look carefully at Yang Jinshui, and seeing that he was like a wooden man, he sighed lightly, and ordered the two eunuchs who were responsible for the punishment and execution: "Put Yang Jinshui into clean clothes, and don't need to wear handcuffs. Now, carry it to the shade of the trees in the inner courtyard."

The two eunuchs of the Criminal Division: "Yes." After answering, they went to remove the handcuffs and put on clothes for Yang Jinshui.

Huang Jin then walked towards the guard room in the courtyard.

King Yu, who never put down his book, got up this morning and didn't even have the mind to read. After washing and washing, he put on the prince's court clothes and sat quietly with his eyes closed on the chair in the middle of the outer hall.Even though it was Chen Shi, it was still the season of sweltering heat, and I don't know if it was because of the layers of court clothes, or something was going on in his heart, and there were dense beads of sweat on his forehead.

For half a month, Jiajing has been lurking in Yuxi Palace, Yan Song has been lurking in his own mansion, Xu Jie has been lurking in the cabinet on duty, the gate of Prince Yu's mansion has been closed, Yang Jinshui was taken into the palace, and the confession of the retrial in Zhejiang is of great concern. Like a boulder weighed heavily on King Yu's heart.

Concubine Li also changed into the dress of Concubine Wang, and was walking out of the bedroom at this time, she saw the sweat on King Yu's face at a glance, she hurriedly walked to the basin beside her, twisted the face towel from inside, and walked lightly Walking up to King Yu, gently drying the beads of sweat on his forehead, he asked softly, "My lord, today is July [-]th, and tomorrow is the day to worship ancestors. It's a hot day, so why don't you wear court clothes tomorrow?" ?”

"Yang Jinshui has been escorted to Beijing." King Yu didn't reply to her words, his eyes were still closed, and he suddenly mentioned Yang Jinshui.

Concubine Li froze for a moment, understood what he meant, and replied softly: "Yes."

King Yu still kept his eyes closed: "The case files for the retrial in Zhejiang should also be sent to the palace today."

Concubine Li replied softly, "Yes."

"Father might call us into the palace today." Only then did King Yu open his eyes and look outside the door.

Concubine Li thought for a while: "The concubine thinks, no."

King Yu looked at Concubine Li.

Concubine Li: "At this time, the emperor will not involve the prince."

King Yu stood up and looked out of the door again. His eyes were filled with disappointment or relief, and his heart was empty: "Then invite Master Gao and Master Zhang to enter the mansion. I haven't seen each other for more than [-] days. These days When I read Zhu Zi's books, I couldn't understand some things, so I asked them to come and talk about it."

Of course Concubine Li understood his mood at this time, but she also understood that summoning Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng to enter the mansion at this time would only arouse suspicion, and it was really difficult to answer, so she remained silent.

King Yu became a little anxious, "Father and emperor can't go to court, ancestral temple can't pay homage, masters can't be invited to give lectures, it doesn't matter if I, the prince, don't do it."

"Then invite the masters to come." Concubine Li no longer discouraged, and agreed according to his wishes, but said tactfully, "I am worried that Master Gao and Master Zhang will not be able to come by themselves on this day. The prince You can send someone to call, and when you ask, do you ask if their department has any official business, and can you get away?"

This was already considered to the extreme, King Yu looked at Concubine Li knowingly, and then shouted to the door: "Come here."

The two court ladies quickly lowered their heads and walked in: "The servant is here."

King Yu looked at the older maid: "Go to the front yard and tell Wang Zhan about it, and ask him to send someone to invite Master Gao and Master Zhang to give lectures."

The maid: "Yes."

King Yu then said: "The person sent to ask if Master Gao and Master Zhang have official business and can they come."

The maid said: "This servant understands."

King Yu: "Hurry up."

The maid: "Yes." Then she pulled up her skirt and backed out.

Another court lady followed suit and also withdrew.

"Wait." Concubine Li felt relieved at this moment, stopped the maid, and turned to smile at King Yu, "My lord, this year is the first time for the son to worship the ancestors. The ancestors are anxious to see the son today, and they will be happy to see the son grow strong. Master Gao and Master Zhang will take some time even if they come, so they simply ask the son to come here to play, and the prince will also relax."

King Yu slowly looked at Concubine Li, and saw that she was so flattering and sincere, so he said, "Call me."

Concubine Li immediately ordered to the maid: "Go to the front yard and ask Feng Daban and the others to bring the prince here to play."

The court lady immediately squatted down and replied: "Yes." She also walked out holding her skirt.

There is no better flower to bloom than peony, but once spring is over, it will inevitably wither and fall away.Among the one hundred thousand eunuchs, Yang Jinshui is like the peony that was once very popular, having enjoyed too much wealth and honor, it has fallen to dust.Feng Bao, like a lotus seed that has been lurking in spring, has slowly passed through the water from the mud, and is waiting to bloom.

In the courtyard in front of Prince Yu's palace, Feng Bao was lying on his back on the ground in a tight-fitting short suit, but he saw his arms stretched out, one leg arched, the other leg stretched straight in the air, with a ball hooked on his ankle, his eyes closed. Turning up, he was looking at the eldest son who was sitting on the shoulder of an eunuch not far from the top of his head.

From the perspective of the ground, the prince riding on the eunuch's shoulders looks like a small tower, with the bun on the top of his head pointing directly at the sky of the courtyard.

(End of this chapter)