Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 325 The Emperor's Times
Early the next morning, Shi Kefa returned to the cabinet to watch matters.

I met several censors on the road, and they pointed at him as expected.

No need to think about it, you can guess that these censors must be saying behind his back that he is shameless and not going to Lianzhan.

In the past, Shi Kefa would definitely be ashamed to see this, but now there is no wave in his heart.

After Shi Kefa returned to the cabinet, he immediately summoned Xie Xuelong and Lu Zhenfei to his office to discuss the aftermath of the regicide case and the frame-up case.

"Shoukui, it's great to have you back."

The expression on Xie Xuelong's face is still very happy, whether it is like this in his heart, only God knows.

Lu Zhenfei also cupped his hands and said: "If the first Kui can come back to the cabinet to take care of things, the servant and the old man will have a solid foundation. Otherwise, I really don't know how to deal with the current situation."

The current situation in the court is indeed very delicate.

More than two hundred Donglin Party members went on strike at home.

With so many positions vacated at once, many of them are positions of real power, other officials will inevitably have strange thoughts, and many people have already started operations in secret.

In the past two days, the thresholds of Jiefu and Lufu were broken by visitors.

But Xie Xuelong and Lu Zhenfei knew that this was a hot potato, so they didn't dare to promise easily.

Now that Shi Kefa has returned to the cabinet, this hot potato can be thrown to Shi Kefa.

But after a long talk with Chongzhen last night, Shi Kefa's mood was completely different, and he immediately said: "There is nothing difficult to do, the Holy Majesty has given a clear regulation."

"Oh?" Xie Xuelong and Lu Zhenfei were stunned when they heard this.

Shi Kefa added: "Immediately give an ultimatum to the Donglin Party members who self-resign and stay at home. Within two days, they will report to the Huangming Times to declare their separation from the Donglin Party. Otherwise, they will be dismissed and returned to their hometowns."

"Emperor Ming Times? Announcement in the newspaper?" Xie Xuelong was taken aback again.

Lu Zhenfei knew about Huang Ming Times, but he didn't know about the newspaper statement.

Shi Kefa had already written a statement, and handed it to Xie Xuelong and the two: "Mr. Xie Ge, Mr. Lu Ge, you should write a statement too."

By the way, Lu Zhenfei is actually a member of the Donglin Party, but the brand is not obvious.

Xie Xuelong took Shi Kefa's statement and said after reading it: "Okay, I will write the statement now."

After Xie Xuelong and Lu Zhenfei finished writing, Shi Kefa called Shi Dewei in again, and ordered: "Longjiang, you go to Lu Daqi, Qian Qianyi and the others with the statement of being your father, Mr. Xie Ge, and Mr. Lu Ge, and let them They do the same, and if anyone doesn't want to write, let them dismiss themselves and return home."

"Yes." Shi Dewei left with three statements.

Shi Kefa said to Xie Xuelong and Lu Zhenfei again: "It's easy to let the Donglin party members make a statement in the newspaper to disclaim their innocence, but the real difficulty is to let Gao Hongtu, Jiang Yueguang, Zhang Youyu, Zuo Guangxian go to the sparse confession!"

Xie Xuelong frowned and said, "Your Majesty still wants Gao Hongtu and the others to confess their crimes?"

"Yes." Shi Kefa nodded and said, "All criminals have to go to court to plead guilty."

Lu Zhenfei's expression turned serious, and he said solemnly: "Shou Kui, this matter is not easy to deal with."

Pleading guilty in Shangshu is not the same as signing a confession. From a legal point of view, the effect is actually the same, but from the perspective of a scholar, the nature is completely different.

Because the confession will not be entered in the history books.

But the guilty plea will surely go down in the history books.

That's right, this is Chongzhen's murderous intention.

Not only do I want to kill people, but I also want to destroy your inner persistence.

I want to make this case an iron case that can be proven in history, so that the Donglin Party will never stand up.

"This matter is difficult." Shi Kefa nodded and said, "But it must be done if it is difficult."

After a pause, he continued: "The three of us can only talk to these criminals separately, starting with the lowest-ranked clerk of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and finally talk to Gao Hongtu together."

……

The entire conversation lasted for three full days.

Three days later, Shi Kefa, Xie Xuelong and Lu Zhenfei appeared in Gao Hongtu's cell at the same time.

Although he heard footsteps behind him, Gao Hongtu, who was sitting with his back to the door, did not look back.

"Gao Hongtu." Shi Kefa bowed in the direction of Guozijian, and said, "I am here to talk to you by order of the emperor."

"It turned out to be Shou Kui." Gao Hongtu turned around dragging the shackles, saw Xie Xuelong and Lu Zhenfei and said, "Old Xie Ge and Lu Butang are also here."

Gao Hongtu deliberately didn't say Lu Ge was old.

In this way, he expressed his contempt for Chongzhen's central purpose.

Gao Hongtu said again: "Are you here to persuade the old man to write a confession letter?"

Shi Kefa said solemnly: "The Holy Majesty has made it clear that as long as you take this step of pleading guilty, you will not be as guilty as your family members. Not only will the Gao family be exempted from the barbarians, but the Gaoge elders and your family members will also be able to save their lives. cheap."

"Can you be exempted from the Yi tribe? Do you actually believe this?" Gao Hongtu said with a smile, "According to the law of the Ming Dynasty, killing the king and seizing the dynasty is the first of the ten unpardonables. !"

Having said this, Gao Hongtu said again: "Now you tell me that Chongzhen only intends to pursue me alone, not only will there be no disaster for the barbarians, but even my descendants will be saved. Do you think this old man will believe such nonsense?"

"Gao Hongtu, how can you speculate on the magnanimity and mercy of the Holy One?" Xie Xuelong said, "Just from his punishment for this regicide case, it is enough to see that he is a sage of benevolence and righteousness that is rare in ancient times. I advise you not to make mistakes."

Lu Zhenfei said: "Gao Hongtu, even if you don't want to think about yourself, you should think about Gao Yan."

Speaking of Gao Tan, Gao Hongtu's expression darkened suddenly. His son died early, and now only his grandson, Gao Tan.

Thinking of Gao Yan who was about to go to the execution ground with him when he was approaching his age, and even be tortured by Ling Chi, Gao Hongtu couldn't help feeling like a knife was twisting his heart, how miserable is it?

But soon, Gao Hongtu became iron-faced again: "You don't need to persuade me any more, the old man has made up his mind, this old man will not write this confession, no matter whether it is the Yi tribe or the nine tribes, the old man will not write it. plead guilty."

You can kill people, but you can never think about killing your heart. I, Gao Hongtu, will never give up my inner persistence no matter what.

As long as he doesn't write this confession, after thousands of years, later generations will naturally give him a fair judgment.

But if he wrote this confession, he, Gao Hongtu, would be forever nailed to the pillar of shame in history. How could he not see how powerful it was?Chongzhen is a faint king, his heart can be punished!

……

In the Imperial College.

Wang Wei handed Chongzhen a copy of Huangming Times that had just been printed.

Stretching out his hand to touch it, Chongzhen knew that the newspaper was made of high-quality jute paper. This fact is a bit extravagant, but it is just an instant reading material, and there is no need for such good jute paper.

Looking at the style, it is basically no different from the newspapers of later generations.

On the right side of the front page is the title of Huang Ming Times, which was written by Wang Duo. After Dong Qichang passed away, Wang Duo's calligraphy was recognized as the first, so Chongzhen asked Wang Wei to ask Wang Duo to write this title.

Then the front page is the political news column. This issue mainly publishes the Yangzhou regicide case and the Zuo Guangxian plantation case. In addition, there are fifteen Donglin party members' statements of leaving the party.

Wang Wei said: "From now on, every issue will publish the statements of [-] Donglin party members, and it will be serialized for [-] issues."

Chongzhen hummed, and turned to the second edition. This is a comprehensive page, but now it mainly publishes contemporary essays, and there are also some poems, songs, or operas.

The third edition is a column on novels about fox fairies and ghosts.

This is specially designed by Chongzhen for the volume of Huangming Times.

When the reading group of Huangming Times is cultivated in the future, this page can be changed to a science column.

The fourth edition is a column on industry and commerce. For example, the information about the third tranche of bonds was announced in Huangming Times, and the time is tentatively scheduled for August [-].

In addition, there are sales information and prices of raw silk, wood, and tea.

To put it bluntly, this is advertising, but the service fee at this time is extremely low, almost like advertising for nothing, but Chongzhen believes that it will not take long for this income alone to turn Huangming Times into a profit.

Seeing Chongzhen just flipping through pages without speaking, Wang Wei was unavoidably nervous.

Because no one had ever run a newspaper before, Wang Wei didn't know how he was doing.

Finally, Chongzhen put down the newspaper and said with a smile: "That's right, it's pretty good that the first issue can be done like this."

Hearing Chongzhen's words, Wang Wei's heart fell to the ground, and he asked again: "Does Your Majesty have any other instructions?"

After thinking for a while, Chongzhen said: "I remember that a scholar named Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng wrote the original Jin Pingmei Ci, and it should also be serialized on the third page of Huangming Times."

"Huh? Jin Pingmei's words?" Wang Wei was dumbfounded.

Naturally, Wang Wei has read Jin Ping Mei Ci Hua, but putting such an erotic novel in the Huangming Times for serialization, will it really not cause damage to the image of the Huangming Times?
"Don't pay attention to those fake Taoist comments." Chongzhen said.

"I hope you can make Huangming Times a down-to-earth newspaper, not a high-ranking newspaper."

"Since the third page of the Huangming Times is a novel column, it is natural to publish stories that the common people love to hear. The words of Jin Pingmei are undoubtedly wonderful stories that the common people love to hear."

Letting Chongzhen say this, the matter suddenly became lofty.

At that moment, Wang Wei said solemnly: "I understand, from the second issue onwards, the words of Jin Ping Mei will be serialized."

Chongzhen knocked on the table, and continued: "I won't ask you for profit within a year, but after one year, Huangming Times will have to pay the profit, and the specific amount will be determined at that time."

Chongzhen does not intend to lift the ban on newspapers for the time being, so as a monopoly publication, Huangming Times is guaranteed to make a profit, and the only suspense is the amount of profit.

Don't underestimate Huangming Times.

Because this is a big industry, news publishing industry.

Of course, the cultivation and growth of this industry will take time.

But to borrow a cliché, the future is bright and the future can be expected.

But then again, the original intention of Chongzhen to found Huangming Times was to guide public opinion. With this sharp weapon, it would be easier to twist Daming into a single rope.

(End of this chapter)