prosperous age

Of the two confessions in hand, the first one is much simpler, it is the answer Wei Guangde wanted, the origin and content of the "pardon edict", while the second one is a bit beyond Wei Guangde's imagination.

There is no such money in the dossier, which means that this money has been divided privately, but who are the people involved?

Hu Zongxian must have participated, and he even took some of the dignitaries in the capital to take a share, but whether the upright and honest Lord Wang Bengu participated, this, maybe he really did.

Wei Guangde didn't believe that Wang Bengu dared to arrest Wang Zhi, so he didn't know what Wang Zhi was carrying.

With so much money, it is impossible for Wang Bengu to remain indifferent and be taken away by Hu Zongxian alone.

Putting the confession on the table, Wei Guangde couldn't help but look at the young Captain Jinyi, "What's your name?"

"Liu Shouyou, a lowly post."

"What is your position in Jinyiwei?"

Wei Guangde was a little curious. This person is obviously a scholar. It is said that anyone who can provide money for their children to study should be an official.

"The general banner under Fusi of Beizhen."

Liu Shouyou replied neither humble nor overbearing.

"hereditary?"

Wei Guangde asked questions one after another like a curious baby.

Liu Shouyou didn't remember the name, and didn't know who it was, but judging from his work, he knew the seriousness, and he also knew how to transcribe Wang Zhi's words, obviously he understood the value of Wang Zhi's confession.

But this is not surprising, after all, he was born in Jinyiwei.

"Yes."

Hearing Liu Shou's answer, Wei Guangde thought that this person might be like his cousin, who studied when his father was there, but could only join the Jinyiwei when his father was gone. After all, the imperial court has a system.

But just as Wei Guangde thought about it, he heard Liu Shouyou continue to say: "The meritorious deeds of the Quannai family earned the emperor the position of guarding the General Banner of Jinyiwei."

"Well, I don't know who the family ancestor is?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously, just now Liu Shouyou was full of pride when he talked about his family ancestors. What he meant was that his position as chief banner was passed down by his ancestors, but he was talking about the emperor instead of the first emperor. Interesting.

Which famous minister of the Jiajing Dynasty?
Surnamed Liu.
Wei Guangde was too lazy to think, so he might as well just ask.

"Family Patriarch Songshi Gong Liu Tianhe."

Liu Tianhe. Liu Tianhe.
Wei Guangde thought of this name silently, he must be a minister of the Jiajing Dynasty, otherwise Liu Shou would not have spoken like that before.

Soon, Wei Guangde found the name Liu Tianhe in his memory, the official is really not small.

"Governor Shanxi, that Governor Liu of Xuanda Military Affairs?"

Wei Guangde is not very sure, but it seems that Liu Tianhe was the only one in Jiajing Dynasty in his memory.

The reason why he is not sure is because in Wei Guangde's memory, that person died earlier than Zhou Shangwen.

Zhou Shangwen is powerful enough, "In the end of the Ming Dynasty, the commander-in-chief and the three princes are just Shangwen." This week, Zhou Shangwen was Liu Tianhe's subordinate before the Governor Xuanda.

In other words, the big reason why Zhou Shangwen was able to stand alone was because of the training of Liu Tian and his subordinates here.

"It is the ancestor."

Liu Shouyou admitted it generously.

"After the famous minister, have you had breakfast? Sit down and eat together."

Wei Guangde is not putting on airs anymore, the other party is a descendant of Liu Tianhe, probably a grandson or great-grandson, anyway, he is not familiar with Liu Tianhe, but this is not important, this Liu Shouyou looks pretty good Not bad, with sharp eyesight, worth wooing.

But Liu Shou had a look of embarrassment on his face at this moment, and Wei Guangde understood it in seconds.

He was also accompanied by a member of Jin Yiwei, who seemed to be more qualified than him.

"We all sat down to eat together. I am also from a military family, and I am not an outsider. It is easy to do things when I am full."

Wei Guangde smiled and waved to another Captain Jinyi.

In fact, the two people who followed knew Wei Guangde's family background. Indeed, everyone was a military household, but Liu Shouyou's military household status was a bit special and short.

"I don't know what else the lord has to order?"

At this time, Liu Shouyou who had just sat down stood up again and asked with a bow.

"Sit down, and do it after dinner. It's not difficult, just send this confession to Beizhen Fusi and hand it over to Governor Lu. You Jinyiwei should be able to do it."

Hearing that it was just sending things to the capital, it was easy to say, and it was not difficult.

In fact, when they got the confession, the two recorded another one in private, which was to be reported to Beizhen Fusi. Now it is good, the one they copied is useless, and they directly took the confession of Wang Zhihua Just send the original.

Two days later, Hangzhou Fugong Port was already crowded with people, and a large number of Hangzhou people gathered here to wait.

A few days ago, the news that the government wanted to execute Wang Zhi, the leader of the Japanese pirates, spread throughout the streets and alleys of Hangzhou City.

The Japanese pirates, all the people along the coast hated them to the bone, and the other party was the leader of the Japanese pirates, so the hatred was even stronger.

On the prison platform, Wang Bengu and Wei Guangde sat on the left and the right respectively, looking at the street in the distance.

Not long after, a group of Ming soldiers appeared in their eyes, followed by another group of yamen servants. They waved their knives and guns to separate the crowded crowd, and the bustling street showed a scene of chickens and dogs jumping around for a while.

Wang Bengu looked at everything in front of him blankly. The common people love to watch the excitement, so he was not surprised that such a scene would appear.

On the other hand, Wei Guangde shook his head, these ignorant people didn't know what was going on, and they were still interested in watching the fun here.

With a slight sigh in his heart, Wei Guangde still couldn't help turning his head to look at the unsmiling Lord Wang Bengu, and said in a low voice: "Master Wang, are you really not waiting for news from the capital?"

"Master Wei, go up and wait for a reply. How long will the delay be? The execution time is set by the imperial court, so there is no delay."

Hearing Wei Guangde's words, Wang Bengu glanced sideways at him and said.

"That letter, I still think we should be cautious. After all, it concerns tens of thousands of people along the coast. If it is true as stated in the letter, killing one person will harm the people along the coast."

Just as Wei Guangde said a few words, he was interrupted by Wang Bengu without thinking: "My lord, the Japanese pirates are so arrogant that they dare to write a book and threaten me and other court officials. If the execution is really suspended, the Japanese pirates will follow suit in the future. How about using such means to threaten the court?"

Just yesterday, someone sent a threatening letter to Governor Xingyuan, in which it stated that if the imperial court really killed Wang Zhi, the Japanese pirates would attack and wash Zhejiang with blood.

After discovering the letter thrown in, the subordinates did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly handed it over to Governor Hu Zongxian.

In fact, such a threat is really nothing to Hu Zongxian, but the season is sensitive now. If it is true that the Japanese pirates invaded Zhejiang after beheading Wang Zhi, it is okay to block the Japanese pirates' attack. If there is a mistake, he, the governor, will have to bear the burden responsibility.

Who knows what happened on the battlefield.

Although the Ming army has reversed its previous decline in the past two years and has repeatedly won victories in the battle against Japanese pirates, Hu Zongxian still has no idea, probably because the Japanese pirates came by sea, and the landing place is erratic, so it is really difficult to defend.

Therefore, after seeing the threatening letter from the Japanese pirates, Hu Zongxian invited Wang Bengu and Wei Guangde. They are officials in charge of supervising the execution, and they need to discuss it.

The result is naturally doomed, Wang Bengu insisted on beheading Wang Zhi according to the court's will, Wei Guangde was noncommittal about this.

As a result of the deliberations, it is natural that Wang Zhi should be executed on time. At the same time, Hu Zongxian urgently ordered the coastal prefectures and counties to strengthen their defenses to guard against possible retaliation by Japanese pirates in the near future.

As for the threat of Japanese pirates, Wei Guangde, as a bystander, was naturally inconvenient to say more, but suggested that the letter should be submitted, and Hu Zongxian would report on the matter.

Although the ending is difficult to change, it is best to report the connection with the Japanese pirates to the imperial court, so as not to be accused of secretly collaborating with Japanese pirates in the future, Wei Guangde does not want to bear such a blame.

At that time, there were only Hu Zongxian, Wang Bengu and him in the room. Wei Guangde didn't have much thought at that time, but just today, seeing the dense crowd of people around the stage, Wei Guangde suddenly felt that the threat of Japanese pirates was really worthy of attention.

Most of these people are good people, and when they encounter the vicious Japanese pirates, they are like pigs who have been slaughtered and have no power to fight back. Just look at their reactions in front of officers and soldiers.

These days, most of those who are more courageous and want to make a fortune have joined the Japanese pirates, engaged in business without capital, and killed people and plundered goods.

The so-called Japanese pirates, in fact, are mostly composed of local people who have been forced to die along the coast and local hooligans who are daring to make a fortune. There are not many real Japanese.

Soon, after the officers, soldiers and yamen servants opened a passage, a prison van appeared at the end of the street, and there was a person in the prison van, which was naturally Wang Zhi.

The front, rear, left, and right sides of the prison car were closely guarded by armored officers and soldiers. Since yesterday's threatening letter, the level of security guards who executed Wang Zhi had increased infinitely.

Hu Zongxian not only issued a warrant to transfer armored warriors from the elite supervisory battalion directly under him, but also secretly ordered Tan Lun, who was training the new army near Hangzhou, to gather the whole army near Gonggang port today to prepare for possible robbery of prison cars by Japanese pirates.

On the other hand, Wang Bengu mobilized all the manpower that could be mobilized by the procuratorate and the Hangzhou magistrate's yamen. From the city gate of Hangzhou to the streets in the city, officials and yamen servants could be seen patrolling everywhere, because they were also afraid of accidents happening today.

Passing through layers of crowds, the prison van entered the execution ground. When the door of the prison van was opened and Wang Zhi was roughly pulled out by the guards, the crowd outside finally erupted into commotion.

Today's Wang Zhi should have taken care of himself, he is not as unkempt as Wei Guangde was when he first met him a few days ago.

After he got out of the car, several people standing next to him suddenly rushed up, separated and dragged Wang Zhi's yamen servant to embrace him.

Wei Guangde knew that these people should be Wang Zhi's relatives.

According to Wang Zhi's request, he only wanted to see his family before the execution. Even Wang Bengu had no reason to refuse, so he accepted it straightforwardly and made arrangements.

Wang Zhi's family was taken to Hangzhou by Hu Zongxian a long time ago, so there was no need to travel long distances from Nanzhili to pick them up.

For Wang Zhi's family, Wang Bengu didn't make things too difficult for them. After all, Wang Zhi has been at sea for more than [-] years, and he has never returned home. He has little contact with his family. This stubborn old man has nothing to do with his family.

It's just that because of the court's laws, Wang Zhi was convicted, and his family will always be affected by the pond, and distribution is still inevitable.

It was still early before the execution time, Wang Bengu and Wei Guangde did not break up the meeting between Wang Zhi and his family, but let them cry together.

Perhaps, the 20 years have made the relationship between Wang Zhi and his family alienated, but during the more than a month since Wang Zhi arrived in Hangzhou, the contact with his family gradually eased the family relationship, but he did not expect the final outcome to be Such a field today.

Back then, Wang Zhi's family was very happy when they learned that Wang Zhi had chosen to abandon the dark side and join the court. At least they didn't have to continue to wear the hat of a prisoner's family and get out of prison.

"Is that Wang Zhi's son?"

Seeing Wang Zhi and a young man hugging and crying at this moment, he asked strangely.

"Yes, before Wang Zhi went to sea to become a pirate, he had a son who lived in Shexian County, Huizhou Prefecture. Because Wang Zhi has not contacted his family, the local government is only arresting people, and now he is still living in Hangzhou."

Zhang Ji on the side replied hastily.

Wei Guangde nodded slightly, and then saw that after the two suffered a lot, Wang Zhi seemed to take something from his head and handed it to his son. His bun was immediately untied, and he looked embarrassed.

Wei Guangde knew that it should be the last thing on Wang Zhi's body, the hairpin, it might be the last relic his father could leave him.

Wei Guangde shook his head, thinking that Wang Zhi's wealth was more than a million at the beginning, and in the end he didn't know who was taking advantage of it, and all he could leave to his son was a hairpin.

After all, gold and silver are belongings outside the body. If you don't bring it with you, you don't take it with you when you die.

Not long after, a small official came up to the high platform, knelt down in front of Wang Bengu and Wei Guangde, and said, "My lords, it's time for execution."

Wang Bengu turned his head to look at Wei Guangde and said, "Then verify his integrity and execute the sentence."

"Alright."

Wei Guangde nodded, and immediately followed Wang Bengu to get up and stand beside the high platform.

Despite their movements, the yamen guards around Wang Zhi moved, they pushed away the people beside Wang Zhi, set up Wang Zhi from left to right, dragged him to the prison platform, and then pressed him to kneel on the ground .

"Make him look up."

Wei Guangde said loudly on the stage.

"Yes."

A yamen servant below agreed, and then grabbed Wang Zhi's hair to make him look up.

Wei Guangde took a closer look, and found that he was the same person he saw in the cell that day, then nodded, and signaled the two officials around him, Liu Shouyou and others to confirm the identity of the prisoner.

Wang Bengu and Wang Zhi had been in contact for a long time, and naturally Wang Zhi had already confirmed his identity when he was dragged over. There was no mistake, so there was nothing to say about Wei Guangde's repeated confirmation of the prisoner's identity.

He is not afraid of the shadow slanting, he has no intention of playing tricks and pretending to be a fake king to fool the court.

Up to now, Wang Bengu believed that what he did was right. For a pirate leader like Wang Zhi, he should be punished according to the law and killed as an example to others.

Soon, everyone nodded to Wei Guangde, confirming Wang Zhi's identity.

"My lord, the execution is ready."

At this time, Wei Guangde turned sideways to Wang Bengu and clasped his fists and said.

"Then, let's execute."

Wang Bengu ordered with a wave of his hand.

The two executioners in red on the execution platform stepped down immediately, took Wang Zhi from the yamen servants, and put him on the execution platform.