prosperous age

Chapter 853 The mastermind behind 942

"Are you sure that this guy named Minister Wang just wants to enter the palace and steal things?"

Feng Bao looked at the confession in his hand and asked Liu Shouyou, the commander of the Jin Yiwei, in disbelief.

"Eunuch Feng, this is the result of the interrogation. He said that he was from the south of the Yangtze River. He was transferred to the north with the Zhejiang soldiers. Because he was not accustomed to the climate in the north, he committed an offense in the military camp. He was worried about being punished by General Qi. deserter.

I moved to the capital because I didn't have the trouble to go back to my hometown, so I started to make a living by sneaking around.

He stole the clothes of the eunuch from Fulong Temple. He sneaked into the palace with the eunuch who was on a business trip in the morning. He wanted to find an empty palace to steal something, but he didn't want to go to Qianqing Palace. He happened to meet His Majesty was caught as he was leaving the palace. "

This matter is not trivial, so Liu Shouyou would do nothing wrong by staring at an experienced torturer and extorting a confession with severe torture.

Feng Bao was silent after hearing what he said, and he didn't know what he was thinking at this time.

After a long while, he said: "The person who asked you to come out first, I will ask the people from the East Factory to scare him again, so as not to make up lies to deceive me and others.

This matter was not a trivial matter, and the emperor was frightened. The empress in the palace was still waiting for news. "

After Feng Bao finished speaking, he waved to the fanzi beside him to enter the execution room to continue the interrogation.

Seeing Feng Bao's insistence, Liu Shou didn't say much. He just recalled the torture experts from Jin Yiwei and asked them to wait outside. When he left, he also issued a hush order to keep the results of the previous interrogation strictly confidential.

"Commander Liu, go and do your work first. Jinyiwei has a lot of work to do. After I finish asking questions here, he will go back to the palace to resume his duties."

Feng Bao looked at Liu Shouyou who was waiting aside and said.

"Uh"

Feng Bao drove people away, but Liu Shouyou was surprised and immediately clasped his fists and said, "Thank you, Eunuch Feng. If you have any errands, please send someone to notify me."

The status of the commander of the Imperial Guard is very high, but no matter how high it is, it cannot be higher than the people around the emperor.

Liu Shouyou joined the Jinyiwei because of his cuteness, and he wanted to make some achievements, so he worked hard and worked hard after joining the Jinyiwei. He was gradually promoted to the commander of the guard based on his merits.

He was not in charge of the Beizhen Fusi. He was just Zhu Xixiao's deputy. However, Duke Cheng Zhu Xizhong was seriously ill recently and seemed to be about to suffer. Therefore, his brother Zhu Xixiao requested an order to return to the government to take care of him and handle the affairs of the Duke's government. So Beizhen Fusi was temporarily replaced by him.

The Duke of Cheng, Zhu Xizhong, was already a veteran of three dynasties. He was born in the eleventh year of Zhengde, and became Duke of Duke in the fifteenth year of Jiajing. He was the admiral of the 12th Regiment Camp and the 5th Army Camp.

In the 17th year of Jiajing's reign, Emperor Jiajing's biological mother, the Empress Dowager Jiang, passed away. Jiajing decided to return to Chengtianfu in Huguang, where she had been away for many years, to pay homage to the mausoleum, and at the same time consider the burial of his parents.

On February 16, the 18th year of Jiajing's reign, Jiajing led hundreds of civil and military officials and an escort of 8,000 soldiers to leave the capital in a mighty manner. Zhu Xizhong was the commander of the escort.

This southern tour was not smooth. First, two palaces caught fire in Zhaozhou and Linming Town, Hebei Province. Fortunately, the fire started after we started driving, so there was no danger.

On February 28, the car arrived at Weihui.

According to the "Ming Dynasty Chronicles", after entering Weihui, a strange celestial phenomenon suddenly occurred, and a whirlwind surrounded the holy driver.

Jiajing was surprised and asked Tao Zhongwen, the accompanying Taoist priest, what the sign was.

Tao Zhongwen recited silently and replied: "The main fire."

When Jiajing heard that there was another fire, he couldn't help but panic, so he ordered Tao Zhongwen to use Taoist magic to dispel the fire.

But Tao Zhongwen did not do what he was asked to do. He said: "Fire is inevitable, but you can protect Sheng Gong'er."

This means that even if there is a fire, it is inevitable. All we can do is to carefully protect the health of the emperor's dragon body.

Legend has it that the conversation between Emperor Jiajing and Tao Zhongwen was overheard by Lu Bing, the commander of the Jinyi Guard who was escorting him in the car. He secretly paid attention to it and was always ready to protect the emperor.

Lu Bing had a close relationship with Emperor Jiajing. His grandfather followed King Xing to join the Anlu vassal, and his father took up the post of ceremonial guard. His mother was the nanny of Emperor Jiajing. Lu Bing was the same age as the emperor and grew up together. Jiajing succeeded him. Datong, he also followed him to Beijing.

In the afternoon of that day, the chariot stopped at Wei Huixing Palace.

"Records of Emperor Shizong": "Your king welcomes you in the suburbs and goes to the palace. I send you an edict to help the king and give you a banquet as expected. I have sent the prince-in-law Wu Jinghe, the commander-in-chief, and Yan Song, the minister of rites, to escort the king back to the country. I wrote a letter to the king. , Galumi is five hundred stones per year.”

After Emperor Jiajing hosted a banquet in honor of King Ru, who came to pick him up, he went to bed early.

However, at the fourth watch of the night, the palace suddenly caught fire. The temporary palace built with wood, reed mats and felt tents was instantly filled with thick smoke and a sea of ​​fire.

The guards and eunuchs on the left and right woke up from their sleep and were in chaos. In a hurry, they lost their minds and didn't know where the emperor was.

At this time, Jin Yiwei commanded Lu Bing to rush into the palace and carry the emperor out alone.

In a fire, many people were killed and injured in the harem and the chamberlain, and most of the artifacts and treasures were destroyed. After the incident, Jiajing ordered Wang Tingxiang, the censor of Youdu, to "inspect the disaster site" and thoroughly investigate the cause of the fire.

Afterwards, Lu Bing was rewarded for his merits and personally rescued Emperor Jiajing. He was quickly promoted to the commander of the Jinyiwei and took over the power of the Jinyiwei soon after.

However, Duke Zhu Xizhong was successful in arranging soldiers to rescue and extinguish the fire, and he also gained the favor of Emperor Jiajing.

Zhu Xizhong is dying now, which actually means that the Cheng Guogong line, which was once prominent in the Ming Dynasty, will temporarily withdraw from the ranks of the top nobles in the court.

Although the title is still noble, who knows who Emperor Wanli will like to use?

In the capital, in addition to the Cheng Guogong family, there are also wealthy and distinguished families such as the British Duke and Ding Guogong.

When Liu Shouyou left the prison, he just looked back. He didn't know what Feng Bao was going to do, but he knew that these matters were not something that he, the commander of the Imperial Guard, could interfere with.

At this time, Feng Bao was still thinking about the interrogation record signed by Minister Wang.

After a long time, I finally made up my mind.

As long as the person is in his hands, such interrogation records are not free to do whatever he wants.

The person is inside, and as long as he is punished, there is no fear that he will not give a confession according to his requirements.

At this moment, Xu Jue, the head torturer of Dongchang, had returned and quietly told Feng Bao the results of the interrogation just now. The confession was exactly the same as that in the Jinyiwei trial.

Of course, this was what Feng Bao didn't want. He didn't even take the confession handed over by Xu Jue, but tore up the confession that Jin Yiwei had summoned from his hand.

Seeing Feng Bao's actions, Xu Jue's eyes twitched.

Being familiar with Feng Bao, he understood that his boss wanted to use this to cause trouble, otherwise it would not be like this.

"Qi Jiguang is a member of Wei Guangde and Tan Lun, and he is a famous general of this dynasty. He now holds a heavy army to defend the country. He must not be implicated in this matter."

Feng Bao opened his mouth and said to Xu Jue, "What do you think of this person?"

Xu Jue still didn't know what Feng Bao was thinking, so he just said according to his own judgment: "This person is timid, a weakling, and a little... a little stupid."

"It's a little silly, haha. It's good to be a little silly. Only when you say it can people believe it."

Feng Bao chuckled and said, "Dongchang is in charge of this place. No one from Jinyiwei is allowed to come near now. I'm guarding here."

After Feng Bao ordered Xu Jue, he went straight out of the Jinyiwei Prison. However, he did not return to the palace to repeat the order. Instead, he sent his servants outside the palace back to the palace to recruit his confidant eunuchs.

After some explanation, the eunuch went directly to Fusi Prison in Beizhen.

Under Xu Jue's arrangement, I met the somewhat naive Minister Wang alone.

"Master Xu, the Za family is lost, why are they here."

The eunuch came out of the cell and just smiled at Xu Jue.

"I told you why Eunuch Zhang is here. I'll take Eunuch out." Xu Jue didn't know what was going on yet, but he knew that this man was Feng Bao's in the palace, so he took him away with a smile. Prison.

After leaving Beizhen Fusi, the eunuch said to Xu Jue: "Master Xu, Eunuch Feng asked me to inform you that the confession of the imperial convict Minister Wang is very problematic, and you have to continue the interrogation.

Once the results are available, Eunuch Feng must be informed immediately. "

"It's a humble job, I understand."

Xu Jue didn't know what the eunuch must have said when he met Minister Wang. Now that he was asked to interrogate Minister Wang again, he must have made a good confession.

But since I am on Eunuch Feng's side, I can just do whatever he wants. This is how I have done things in the past.

Back in the prison, Xu Jue ordered Fanzi to interrogate Minister Wang.

The people just put it on the torture instrument, and Minister Wang poured the beans into the bamboo tube and began to explain, as before, without them using the torture.

The explanation was being given here, and someone was recording it over there, but Xu Jue's heart trembled when he heard the words.

Now he finally knew what his factory owner wanted to do, and he actually wanted to use Minister Wang's case to kill Gao Gong.

Come to think of it, when Gao Gong got involved with his own factory, he seemed to be going to death because he wanted Chen Hong to take his place.

By the time Minister Wang postponed the confession, the entire case had transformed from a theft case into a major case of paid murder to assassinate the emperor.

According to Minister Wang's new confession, the former chief minister Gao Gong was dissatisfied with the emperor and assigned his family members to contact him alone to help him sneak into the palace to assassinate the emperor, promising to give him as much gold and silver as possible after the incident was completed.

With the new confession in hand, Xu Jue immediately sent someone out to inform Eunuch Feng.

Feng Bao came to Fusi Prison in Beizhen again, holding this confession in his hand, and then nodded with satisfaction.

"Keep an eye on him. No one is allowed to approach him without my order."

Feng Bao ordered again.

"Yes, father-in-law."

Xu Jue immediately bowed his head and obeyed.

After getting the confession, Feng Bao left the prison. Now he found Liu Shouyou in the lobby and asked him to gather Tiqi immediately and be on standby.

"Eunuch Feng, do you have the palace's intention to send out Tiqi?"

Liu Shouyou bowed to Feng Baodao.

"The Zajia will return to the palace now. After interrogation, Minister Wang has confessed that he was ordered by others to enter the palace and do evil things."

"Who?"

Hearing what Feng Bao said, Liu Shouyou's eyes jumped wildly and he asked unconsciously.

"This matter is sensitive. I have to go back to the palace to report to the Queen and the Emperor. I will receive orders later.

What you have to do now is to prepare your cavalry and go out as soon as the order comes. "

Feng Bao looked at Liu Shouyou contemptuously and gave instructions casually.

If the commander of the Jinyi Guards was Lu Bing of the Jiajing Dynasty, Feng Bao would certainly not dare to say this with this attitude, but others, if it was Zhu Xixiao, could not do the same.

As for Liu Shouyou, he doesn't exist. He is nothing.

Liu Shouyou didn't dare to say anything about Feng Bao's attitude, so he could only nod and agree.

Now that the emperor is young, the two empress dowagers are actually the ones who call the shots in the palace. It is difficult for him, a foreign minister, to see them now. They all deliver their respective documents to the palace through eunuchs. Naturally, they cannot offend Feng Bao.

Even if it was such a big matter as assassinating the king and killing the driver, he, the temporary commander of the Jin Yiwei, did not know the so-called mastermind behind the scenes, and he really had no shame to tell it.

Feng Bao hurried back to the palace, but did not see Emperor Wanli in Qianqing Palace. When he asked, he found out that the young emperor Zhu Yijun had been taken back to Ciqing Palace by the Queen Mother, so he hurried over again and handed over Dongchang's confession after interrogation. .

"Mother, according to the confession of the Assassin Minister Wang, he was bribed by Gao Gong's family to do such a shocking thing. The prisoner Gao Gong should be arrested and handed over to the factory guards for strict interrogation."

Feng Bao knelt in front of the empress dowagers of the two palaces and Emperor Wanli and said.

"This"

When the Empress Dowager Chen of Rensheng heard that Gao Gong was responsible for this incident, she was immediately horrified and also had many concerns. After all, Gao Gong had been the chief minister and a single and important minister entrusted by the late emperor.

If this charge is confirmed, the reputation of the late emperor will be damaged, that is, he does not know people well.

During the hesitation, Cisheng Empress Dowager Li's eyebrows were raised, showing her anger at the moment.

If she dared to kill her son, she would naturally not be merciful, so she ordered the factory guards to arrest him. Just when she was on the verge of breaking out, Mrs. Chen pinched her wrist.

"This matter is not a trivial matter. We should summon the cabinet ministers to ask how to decide."

Empress Dowager Chen said cautiously: "If this matter is really done by Gao Gong, the outer court must be involved. If the cabinet does not know about it in advance, it will be difficult to deal with it later." '

"Okay, listen to my sister and quickly invite three cabinet ministers to come here to discuss matters."

Mrs. Zhang suppressed her anger and said to the eunuch beside her.

After Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde and others came to Ciqing Palace to meet the Queen Mother and the Emperor, Minister Wang's confession was immediately handed over to Zhang Juzheng, and then circulated among Wei Guangde and Lu Tiaoyang.

After reading Minister Wang's confession, Wei Guangde raised his head and glanced at Feng Bao, who was standing next to Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun.

Dongchang's interrogation confession, this thing.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth.

After Lu Tiaoyang was dumbfounded after reading the confession and handing it back, he heard the Queen Mother Chen say: "This minister Wang committed a heinous crime in assassinating the emperor, but the person behind the scenes he confessed is very troublesome, so the Aijia asked you to come here to see what to do. It’s the right thing to do.”

"Your Majesty, I think I should send Tiqi south to Xinzheng, capture Gao Gong and return to the capital for questioning."

Feng Bao jumped out immediately.

After reading the confession, the three cabinet ministers almost did the same thing, which was to look at him. Feng Bao knew that the three of them must have guessed what he was thinking.

Fortunately, although Lu Tiaoyang did not have a close relationship with him, his status was low and he did not have much say. Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde, who had the most say in the cabinet, had a good relationship with him. This could be seen from the fact that they spoke without reading the confession. , they have scruples.

Well, this villain had better take care of it by himself. Anyway, he and Gao Gong are not the same people.

Yes, Feng Bao looked down upon Lu Tiaoyang, thinking that he was just a cabinet minister, but since he was a minister appointed by the late emperor to take care of life, his words should carry more weight than Lu Tiaoyang.

"No."

However, Lu Tiaoyang, the cabinet minister he looked down upon the most, was the first to speak: "Mother, even if Gao Gong is the mastermind behind this matter, you should first determine who is the servant of the Gao family who contacted Minister Wang before taking someone.

But it was only the assassin's confession, and it was difficult to confirm that Gao Gong had instigated this matter. "

(End of this chapter)