prosperous age

Chapter 324 323 Confessions
Wei Guangde weighed the pros and cons in the sedan chair, and calculated whether the "pardon edict" could be used as a condition to get Yu Dayou out of prison.

But this matter is also very difficult, after all, Wei Guangde can imagine that the imperial edict has been destroyed countless times, there is no physical evidence, only the confession of a Japanese pirate leader, how effective it can be.

Now the biggest official in Hangzhou is none other than Hu Zongxian, but in the matter of killing Wang Zhi, the leading official is Zhejiang Xunyan Censor Bengu.

In fact, combining Hu Zongxian's memorials before and after, Wei Guangde can still see that Hu Zongxian really planned to ask the court to pardon Wang Zhi, but he was firmly opposed by Wang Bengu.

Thinking back to the reception banquet when he arrived in Hangzhou two days ago, Wang Bengu was obviously picky with Governor Hu Zongxian, and he didn't like to see him.

According to the information Wei Guangde inquired about Wang Bengu, he was "mature and prudent, serious in speech and smile".

It is said that this man is a clean and honest official, diligent in administration and loving the people, and jealous of evil in character. Obviously, it is precisely because of the distinction between right and wrong that he chose to kill Wang Zhi by force.

Wei Guangde estimated that if future generations talk about this person, it should be that he has a noble character, but his achievements are slightly insufficient.

The residence of Wei Guangde and his party is a wealthy merchant's courtyard arranged by the prefect of Hangzhou in the city. The courtyard is full of the charm of Jiangnan gardens.

Water is the most important thing in gardens in the south of the Yangtze River. Most of the house gardens are located near the water system. Even if there is no place, a pond must be dug to store water. The earthwork obtained from the mound is not large, and it often imitates the shape of a mountain. Veins or hillocks.

Most of the stacked stones are sketches, and if you get a strange stone occasionally, you will set it up independently for appreciation.

It has been nearly 200 years since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty. Although affected by the Japanese invasion in the south of the Yangtze River, the overall economy is prosperous and the culture is developed, especially in Nanzhili and Zhejiang, so the construction of gardens is also very popular.

The Jiangnan garden style in the Ming Dynasty inherited the tradition of freehand landscape gardens in the Tang and Song dynasties, emphasizing the use of waterscapes, ancient trees, flowers and trees to create a simple and elegant artistic conception full of wildness, setting up garden buildings according to the scenery, and skillfully borrowing the scenery.

These gardens were developed on the basis of freehand landscape gardens in the Tang and Song Dynasties, emphasizing subjective interest and emotional expression, emphasizing creative skills such as stacking mountains, stacking stones, and water management; highlighting the beauty of landscapes and emphasizing the literary interest of gardens.

The layout of the house garden is influenced by the palace garden. The number of garden space divisions is small and the area is large. The central axis symmetrical layout is commonly used, and the layout of the garden has obvious axes running through.

Wei Guangde had heard before that Zhao Wenhua had more than ten gardens of various sizes in Hangzhou, Suzhou and other places. I am envious of those rich local businessmen.

No wonder those people are so obsessed with Jiangnan gardens, it is really a good place to live for the elderly.

My family's house in Jiujiang Mansion actually looks like this garden, with few buildings and a large garden, but it is obviously not as refined as the people here require, and it lacks a lot of charm.

Walking through the corridor and returning to his own room, Wei Guangde whispered to Zhang Ji who was behind him: "Call Jin Yiwei and those two to come to my place later, I have something to say."

Wei Guangde had already made up his mind when he came back here and got off the sedan chair. Regardless of whether it can be done or not, he will send a message to Lu Bing. He doesn't care whether he needs it or not, but he can't miss this opportunity.

The rumor of the "pardon edict", even if it can't shake Hu Zongxian's position as the governor of Jiangnan, at least it will greatly affect him, especially the impression of Emperor Jiajing. I think the Yan family and Hu Zongxian will not be willing to take the risk of revealing the matter of.

Wei Guangde felt that there should be something interesting in exchange for letting go of an unimportant person in exchange for keeping this secret.

Unexpectedly, after a prison sentence, Hu Zongxian's pigtails could be found.

Wei Guangde shook his head, and walked to a brazier placed in the center of the room to enjoy the fire. Now the weather is getting colder.

Not long after, Zhang Ji brought two Jinyiwei captains in blue battle jackets to the door, and brought them in after a briefing.

Wei Guangde waved to Zhang Ji, signaling him to wait outside the door, and then he said to the two people unhurriedly: "In this weather, if I have a letter for you to send back to the capital as quickly as possible and hand it over to Lu Commander, how long will it take?"

The two school lieutenants heard Wei Guangde's words as soon as they got up after saluting, and they were sure in their hearts that they were really looking for Dudu Lu in the capital for something.

They were sent by Jin Yiwei to go south with Wei Guangde on errands. In fact, they were also a kind of supervision, but they had been ordered by their superiors when they went south, "Listen to Mr. Wei together."

One of the captains who was a little older, a man in his thirties, immediately bent over and said with a smile, "My lord, there is nothing faster than the spy in Zouweili. It will take seven or eight days anyway."

"It takes so long?"

Wei Guangde frowned when he heard the words, he thought Jinyiwei would have some special channel for communication, maybe the news could be sent to the capital within three to five days.

But I heard that it will take seven or eight days. Isn't this just using the fast horses of the post station to deliver the news?

It's just that his letter this time was written to Lu Bing, not a playbook, and he really couldn't use a posthorse. It seemed that he could only let the people of Jinyiwei pass the news.

"Can you get close to the person you met today without being noticed?"

Wei Guangde asked again.

"My lord wants to see Wang Zhi privately?"

When the man heard Wei Guangde's question, he couldn't help frowning.

There are hundreds of Jinyiwei offices in Hangzhou, but the military man is not very sure whether he has the ability to arrange this matter. When he said this, he glanced at the young school lieutenant next to him.

Although the young lieutenant is also Jin Yiwei, Wei Guangde could see a bookish look on his face, he should be someone who has studied.

In fact, among the children of the various guards in the capital, there are many who have achieved fame through education.

And because the style of writing in the north is far inferior to that in the south, the chances of scholars in the northern garrison to achieve fame are actually far higher than those in the southern garrison. Many civil servants from military families have emerged, and they even achieved the throne of the chief assistant. Li Dongyang in the previous dynasty was like this .

Li Dongyang, born on June 12th, 11th year of Zhengtong, and died on July [-]th, [-]th year of Zhengde, with the word Binzhi and the name Xiya, his ancestral home is Huguang Chaling, because his family was born in the army for generations, he entered the capital to guard, and belonged to Jinwu Zuo Wei Ji.

He joined the cabinet during the Hongzhi Dynasty, and formed the "iron triangle" of the Hongzhi cabinet with Liu Jian and Xie Qian, which is quite famous.

After Zhengde succeeded to the throne, Liu Jian and Xie Qian resigned successively, and he became the chief assistant of the cabinet, and played a great role in stabilizing the court during Zhengde's time.

Therefore, Wei Guangde was not surprised to see such a Jin Yiwei who seemed to be able to read and write. Whoever said that no one from the military family should come out to study, didn't he?

"I'm not going to see him, but you guys."

Wei Guangde shook his head and said, he absolutely cannot go.

He has a special status now, Wei Guangde is not sure whether Hu Zongxian will be on guard against him, if someone finds out that he is meeting Wang Zhi privately, it will be a bit troublesome, even if it was arranged by Jin Yiwei, it is not clear.

"My lord wants to see Wang Zhi because of this."

At this time, the slightly younger captain who had been silent beside him asked.

"Today you followed me into the prison, you should have heard what Wang Zhi said about the edict."

Wei Guangde made a point and said, "You guys find a way to meet him without anyone noticing, find out what kind of edict it is, whether it is still in his hands, and sign it."

Wei Guangde's request was very simple. According to official documents, Wang Zhi would be executed in three days, which was unavoidable.

The person is dead, but it doesn't matter if they just heard what Wang Zhi said, they have to keep Wang Zhi's confession, otherwise the confession is useless, and there is no way to persuade the Yan family to give in on Yu Dayou's case.

Wei Guangde had already made up his mind, so he pushed this matter to Jin Yiwei.

When Wang Zhi uttered the "pardon edict", the people from Jinyiwei were there. When they heard it, they naturally wanted to collect evidence and then report it to Beizhen Fusi. These have nothing to do with Mr. Wei.

In this way, even though it was too late for Lu Bing to know the news and Wang Zhi had already obeyed the law, he still had evidence to impeach Hu Zongxian.

If the Yan family refuses to accept it, then they will make matters worse. Hu Zongxian deceived the emperor, made false edicts, and has the heart of disobedience, which is enough for his Yan family to drink a pot.

The two of them naturally heard the words of the "pardon edict", but like most people, they didn't bother to delve into it, because they were about to be executed, and no one would pay attention to what they said.

Perhaps, only those with a heart will care about it.

But obviously, Wei Guangde is one of those people with a heart. When he left the prison according to what the inspector Si Qian said, Wei Guangde didn't delve into the matter, but pretended to be ignorant. Immediately after Wang Zhi, a confession was obtained.

The confession was originally intended to be given to Lu Bing, so Wei Guangde didn't bother with that, and just handed over the errand to the Jinyiwei people to do it.

Although he knew that the imperial edict was probably destroyed, Wei Guangde still reminded him that it depends on whether Wang Zhi is smart or not.

But judging from Wang Zhi's mental state today, it's probably not going to happen.

"I will contact this matter as soon as possible. I don't know when the adults will see the confession."

The young Jin Yiwei bowed and said.

"The sooner the better, tonight if I can."

Naturally, Wei Guangde would not procrastinate, Wang Zhi only needed two days, and it would also take time to clear the prison guards of the Procuratorate, and they couldn't afford to wait.

"I'll wait and do my best."

Seeing that Wei Guangde attached great importance to this confession, the captain did not delay, and immediately clasped his fists and said.

"Go down, hurry up, don't be found."

After Wei Guangde gave the order, he waved his hands, signaling the two to back down.

Jin Yiwei's toughness in front of officials depends on who he is.

If they were taking people by order, they would naturally be arrogant, but now it is different, they are ordered to follow Wei Guangde on business, so naturally they have to stick to their duties and follow Wei Guangde's orders.

After the two saluted again, they left the room. Not long after the two left, Zhang Ji came in.

He screened off the others at the door, and he was the only one standing guard there.

After following Wei Guangde for so long, he naturally knew that his master must have some errands to tell those two people, so he naturally didn't want to be heard by others.

Now that the two Jin Yiwei had left, Zhang Jicai entered the room to see if Wei Guangde had any orders.

"Get something to eat, I'm hungry."

Wei Guangde spoke directly.

Wei Guangde didn't want to care about how Jin Yiwei would fulfill his orders, nor did he want to know.

Insects have worms, and rats have rats. It may be a little troublesome to do things in the countryside and in small county towns, but in Hangzhou, the prefectural city of Zhejiang, Wei Guangde thinks that Jinyiwei should be able to do such small things. In fact, the difficulty is whether there is anyone He has been monitoring Wang Zhi.

Wei Guangde did not underestimate the strength of Jin Yiwei during this period, nor did he overestimate it.

Jin Yiwei claims to be able to monitor the entire Ming Dynasty, but in fact it relies on government offices at all levels and some local powerful families that need to be controlled.

In these places, most of Jinyiwei's secret agents are not of high status, and they only do odd jobs, but they monitor everything around them keenly and try their best to control everything that needs to be controlled.

In the prison of the Inspectorate in Zhejiang Province, there really are spies of Jinyiwei, who are publicly identified as lowly slaves, but in fact they are military households and Jinyi's pro-military.

After the two Jinyiwei left Wei Guangde's house, they naturally contacted the hundreds of Jinyiwei households stationed in Hangzhou for help. It would be more secure to do things with these local snakes.

At night, a few people dressed as jailers carried a basket full of wine and vegetables, and entered the prison of the Zhejiang Procuratorate.

The next day, Wei Guangde got up to exercise as usual, and then sat in the lobby to pick up today's breakfast and prepare to eat. Outside, Zhang Ji notified that the two captains of Jinyiwei asked to see him.

"Let them in."

Wei Guangde opened his mouth and ordered.

Soon, the two entered the room, but today they didn't look as energetic as yesterday, their eyes were red as if they had suffered a lot.

"what happened?"

Seeing their appearance, Wei Guangde was surprised.

"My lord, we went in there last night and got what you asked for."

The young captain replied in a low voice at this time, then took out two pieces of paper from his bosom and handed them to Wei Guangde.

"Didn't you rest well?"

Hearing this, Wei Guangde smiled, took the two pieces of paper and looked down, "Is he still cooperative?"

At the beginning, Wei Guangde thought that the two sheets were confessions, but soon found that they were both confessions by Wang Zhi, but the descriptions were different, but the signatures and affidavits were the same, so he couldn't help but frown slightly.

Immediately after reading the second statement, his brows suddenly relaxed, and he couldn't help but look up at the school lieutenant.

They had reported their names when they came here, but Wei Guangde didn't care.

These two confessions both described in detail who provided the pardon edict and the words in the edict, and the spearhead was naturally directed at Hu Zongxian.

In itself, the edict was indeed forged by Hu Zongxian, which is not a lie, but it is a pity that the edict has been taken away.

Regarding the whereabouts of the imperial edict, one of the confessions stated in detail that it was confiscated by the Governor's Mansion, and it also mentioned the record of several 10 taels of silver that Wang Zhi carried with him, which was also recorded in Wang Zhi's case file. Not expressed.

According to what Wang Zhi said, some of the money was going to be given to the dignitaries of the dynasty, and some was going to be donated to Emperor Jiajing.

Emperor Jiajing spent a lot of money in cultivating Taoism, even Wang Zhi, who is far away overseas, has heard of it.

With silver, this is also the reason why Wang Zhi thinks he can save his life, because he can contribute a large amount of gold and silver to the imperial court and the inner court every year.

(End of this chapter)