Chapter 255 254 Conspiracy
"What do you want to sue him for?"
Chen Ju frowned and said, if this matter is not handled well, their close ministers in the inner court will suffer.
Wei Guangde was a foreign minister, so he accepted the memorial, but nothing happened in the end.
But the inner court is different. In addition to serving the royal family members, their job also has a very important job, which is to monitor every move of other members of the clan.
King Hui left his fiefdom without authorization and went out for fun. Their failure to report it to the inner court in time must have been a serious dereliction of duty.
At that time, given King Hui's position in Emperor Jiajing's mind, it was naturally not a big deal. It was enough to just give him the imperial edict.
The situation is a bit complicated now. His Majesty is dissatisfied with King Hui because of Liang Sanren's words. At this time, Wei Guangde wants to read a copy of King Hui. King Hui will definitely be unlucky, but His Majesty will also think of the negligence of their inner court.
"Have you ever had a relationship with King Hui?"
Chen Ju stared at Wei Guangde for a long time, then suddenly these words came out of his mouth.
Wei Guangde shook his head first, and then nodded.
"What's going on? Let me listen, otherwise I won't be able to help you. When the time comes, you will go directly to the memorial, and the result will be unpredictable."
Seeing Wei Guangde nodding and shaking his head, Chen Ju knew that there might be some misunderstanding, so he simply let Wei Guangde speak for himself.
Chen Ju had made speculation before, but he rejected it in the end. The reason was actually very simple. Wei Guangde was from Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, and King Hui was from Junzhou, Henan Province. The two places were incompatible with each other.
King Hui went out to have fun and never set foot in Jiangxi. The possibility that they had met before was very slim, so naturally there would be no conflicts.
"Come to think of it, this matter actually has nothing to do with me."
Wei Guangde thought about it in his mind, and it seemed that he had nothing to hide, so he just said it directly. Chen Ju probably could guess what he was thinking.
Therefore, Wei Guangde told Chen Ju in detail the story of his encounter with Geng An, who had no way of complaining.
"This King Hui is really cruel. He is capable of doing such a thing. He would do such a thing just to destroy the corpse and eliminate traces."
Chen Ju frowned, "What you mentioned was not reported in Junzhou. They only said that there were incidents of bullying men and women and seizing houses and fields. It seems that those little bastards have also learned to avoid the important things."
"Yes, I doubt it too. Just talking about King Hui running away for fun, the information reported by the father-in-law sent by the inner court may not be accurate."
Wei Guangde whispered.
"Do you think King Hui is really rebellious?"
Chen Ju looked at Wei Guangde and asked.
"Probably not. Now that the world is at peace, I wouldn't dare to lend him ten more courage. However, I'm afraid there are a lot of transgressions. It's obvious that he is pampered and doesn't take the emperor seriously."
Wei Guangde replied.
"Besides bullying the common people and leaving the fiefdom without authorization, what else do you know? Tell me about it and I'll think about it."
For a vassal king, eunuchs like them don't actually take it seriously. In their hearts, they only have the emperor, and the vassal king is nothing.
An important reason why Chen Ju was willing to make friends with Wei Guangde was because his godfather Gao Zhong wanted to find a reliable foreign aid outside the palace.
There were quite a few people who quietly took the initiative to seek refuge, but there were none who liked him.
The last time Wei Guangde met, he gave him a thousand taels of silver. Gao Zhong was so happy that he naturally set his sights on Wei Guangde. This boy is a holy man and is worthy of investment. However, the official is a bit small and will not be used in many cases.
However, as the successor of this imperial examination, his appeal in the same year was also good. Especially when he entered the rites department, it can be seen that Wei Guangde's appeal in the same year was no less than the number one scholar in other major titles.
This is awesome.
In the same year, the fastest-promoted people were only those in the first and third grades. They were awarded officers after passing the exam.
The group of people who selected the Hanlin Academy can only say that they have a promising future, but they are not as quick as Wei Guangde in appointing officials.
Because of Gao Zhong's words, Chen Ju did not refuse Wei Guangde's proactive approach.
Knowing what Wei Guangde had planned at this time, he would naturally have no objection. Anyway, he would tell his godfather later that everything was decided by his godfather.
Chen Ju and the others have seen a lot about the fact that scholars like to gain fame.
Those imperial staffs are the tools that make these people famous. Although sometimes they, the palace people, are itchy with hatred, they still can't beat people to death. At most, they can only cripple them so that they can no longer serve as officials.
To beat the minister to death, it could only be done under the secret instigation of a high eunuch in the palace like his godfather.
If a minister is beaten to death with a royal stick, the emperor will intervene if he has no intention of killing.
Wei Guangde thought for a moment and then said: "I heard from Geng An that there was a pond in the back garden of King Hui's palace. He built a private Long Live Mountain in the pond, and often summoned the warriors he raised to swim in the water and on the shore. practice."
"Is this happening?"
Chen Ju was horrified when he heard Wei Guangde's words and asked sharply.
"I feel that the emperor is inseparable. Although King Hui has no objection, he takes his holy family too seriously, thinking that the emperor will not care about him, so he has done too many things.
Let's just say that his palace, by occupying surrounding houses, has already exceeded the standards of a prince. The court has a system, so how can he just do whatever he wants?
If we don't take action against King Hui now and kill him as a warning to others, I'm afraid other vassal kings will follow suit and chaos will break out.
People's ambitions are constantly expanding and changing. Who knows if someone will want to do the unspeakable thing in the future. "
Seeing that Chen Ju was still meditating there, Wei Guangde continued: "Now that the emperor is dissatisfied with King Hui, I guess the news has spread among the top officials of the court, and naturally more people will know about it.
At that time, once someone inquires about King Hui's misdeeds, he will inevitably write a letter of impeachment suddenly. Rather than being caught off guard when he turns to Eunuch Gao and others, it is better for me to report the matter here first, so that the father-in-law can be prepared. "
After Wei Guangde finished speaking, he looked at Chen Ju, waiting for his reaction.
In fact, Wei Guangde also knew that it was definitely not Chen Ju's decision to facilitate such a big event. He had to report it back to the palace and have the big eunuchs weigh it.
However, if Chen Ju is to report the matter in detail and analyze the pros and cons, he must be willing to support it.
If he is unwilling, even if he agrees to save face, it may be counterproductive if he goes to the palace to report the matter despite his appearance.
As for what Wei Guangde said, the news that the emperor was dissatisfied with King Hui spread out of the palace was actually not alarmist. I am afraid that Chen Ju knew it himself. There must be many people around him who were also serving Emperor Jiajing. At this time, Similar is sending messages to his "friends" in different ways.
It seems that the memorial to impeach King Hui will soon fill up the General Affairs Department, the Cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and will also fly into the Yongshou Palace.
"Are you going to write in the memorial about King Hui building Long Live Mountain in the palace? And also training the guards?"
Chen Ju continued to ask with a frown.
Wei Guangde shook his head, "I will only tell King Hui about illegal things, bullying men, dominating women, and seizing houses. I won't tell you anything else."
"Just what?"
Chen Ju stared at Wei Guangde and asked.
"I will ask Geng An to write down his grievances and submit them together. As for what he will say, it has nothing to do with me."
Wei Guangde's answer satisfied Chen Ju, and he nodded slightly after hearing Wei Guangde's plan.
"Do you have any other ideas? Tell them together so that I can go back and talk to my godfather."
Chen Ju continued.
"Once this matter is revealed, the Emperor will definitely order a thorough investigation."
When Wei Guangde said this, his eyes were also fixed on Chen Ju. The two looked at each other, but neither of them spoke.
After a long while, Chen Ju asked leisurely: "Do you want to join the Metropolitan Procuratorate or just take a job? Do you want to go to Henan to investigate King Hui's illegal activities?"
When Wei Guangde saw that Chen Ju understood what he meant, he nodded slightly, then clasped his hands and gave a slight salute to Chen Ju, but his hands were stretched a bit too long.
Chen Ju's face was expressionless, and he stretched out his hands to support Wei Guangde's bow. In an instant, a piece of paper fell from Wei Guangde's hand into Chen Ju's.
Afterwards, the two continued to chat while eating, but the topic turned back to the court.
In recent days, the border has become unsettled.
After Anda Khan withdrew from Xuanfu, reports came from Liaodong some time ago that there were gatherings of Tatars, who seemed to intend to attack and plunder the border towns.
After several years of wreaking havoc in the south, the Japanese pirates seem to have subsided somewhat this year.
It’s not that the Japanese pirates didn’t come ashore to rob. In fact, from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year, the Japanese pirates were still active along the coast. They were attacking governments and counties and causing panic. It was only with the capture of Xu Hai, the leader of a huge group of Japanese pirates, that they stopped a little bit last month. down.
At this moment, Chen Ju and Wei Guangde were naturally talking about Hu Zongxian's encirclement and suppression of the Japanese pirate Xu Hai. As for the battle report Hu Zongxian reported, please take a look at it casually.
"I heard from my godfather that Hu Zongxian and Hu Ruqin are really nothing. They tricked Xu Hai into surrendering, secretly encouraged Xu Hai's subordinates to rebel, and then took advantage of the chaos to surround and kill the thieves. They also lied to people about being rewarded and made them high-ranking officials, and then went back on their word and wanted to be strong. With Xu Hai’s wives and concubines, hehehehe”
Hearing what Chen Ju said, Wei Guangde naturally knew that the matter might be true. There were reports from Jinyiwei and Dongchang in the inner court. Even if the governor of the mainland might not pay much attention to Dongchang, Dongchang should have placed someone inside Jinyiwei, otherwise How to monitor Jinyiwei.
Jin Yiwei must be able to detect such information, so it is not surprising that it was leaked to Dongchang.
However, from this, Wei Guangde also had some opinions about Hu Zongxian. This man was a bit back on his word and could not be trusted.
Wei Guangde searched his memory and found nothing about the killing of Xu Hai, but he vaguely remembered that Hu Zongxian had used a similar strategy to kill the Japanese pirate leader Wang Zhi.
Wei Guangde was very disdainful of what Hu Zongxian did. Although according to the records, it seems that Hu Zongxian wanted to keep Wang Zhi and also wrote a letter to plead for mercy. However, the truth is unknown. After all, he, Hu Zongxian, was not the only one to do such things. once.
Look at the process of killing Xu Hai, isn't it a replica of the killing of Wang Zhi?
"It is said that the wives and concubines around Xu Hai are all famous prostitutes from Jiangnan, tsk tsk tsk"
Hearing what Chen Ju said, Wei Guangde felt a little ashamed.
You, a eunuch, are also concerned about this matter, and you still tut, tut, tut, what the hell, your life is gone.
However, seeing that Chen Ju was in high spirits at the moment, Wei Guangde naturally would not disdain his "elegant" mood, and asked very cooperatively: "Then Xu Hai's wives and concubines will become his, Hu Zongxian, Governor Hu?"
"That's not clear. It's just that there seems to be a wife named Wang or something who chose to commit suicide. Before committing suicide, she cursed Hu Zongxian, hehehe."
Chen Jujian said to Wei Guangde with a smile.
After drinking for a while and looking at the sky outside, Chen Ju stood up and said to Wei Guangde: "It's getting late, so I have to go back first. I'll contact you if I have news. Don't act in a hurry before that." ’
"I understand."
Wei Guangde nodded in agreement.
At this time, Wei Guangde still chose to believe Gao Zhong and Chen Ju.
Regarding the situation in the palace, Wei Guangde might as well analyze it from the worst perspective.
If he wanted to take all the credit for capturing King Hui this time, he had to rely on the help of Gao Zhong in the palace, because if he just reported the misdeeds of King Hui, the gains would be very limited.
Moreover, Wei Guangde also noticed that most of the official positions he currently holds are nominal and very flashy.
Whether it is the Hanlin Academy or the Taichang Temple, they sound noble, but they have positions but no power.
If you can seize the opportunity this time and get a censor from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, you can impeach this and that without any problem. Naturally, your power will be much greater, and you will no longer be an empty airs.
Only if you participate in the entire process from impeachment to final conviction can you be called full success.
And if you want to go down to investigate the case, it will definitely not work if there is no one in the palace to speak for you. Emperor Jiajing may not think of sending him there.
Sometimes, having a person next to the emperor can not only play a role in informing the emperor, but at critical times, a seemingly unintentional word may have a great effect.
Wei Guangde couldn't volunteer to recommend himself to investigate the case in the memorial, he had to be praised by someone.
When this is done, I will give Chen Ju 300 taels of silver later and give him another 500 taels.
Wei Guangde thought in his heart, and he felt happy and naturally had a smile on his face.
After spending so much time thinking about it, I finally got to see the results.
Wei Guangde stood up and walked out of the private room. Zhang Ji, who was outside the door, had already settled accounts with the restaurant owner. Now he saw Wei Guangde coming out and naturally followed him out of the restaurant.
Wei Guangde naturally didn't know what Chen Ju told Gao Zhong when he returned to the palace, and whether Gao Zhong discussed the matter with other people.
But two days later, he received a message from Chen Ju: Yes.
After receiving the approval letter, Wei Guangde immediately took out the memorial he had prepared and called Geng An to ask for the petition paper he had written.
This petition was not the one that Geng An brought to Beijing. The original petition only truthfully recorded the misfortune that his daughter had suffered and did not say anything else.
After Wei Guangde decided to take action against King Hui, he naturally instructed Geng An to rewrite a petition. Not only did he write down what happened to his family, but he also listed everything he had heard about or even seen with his own eyes, and then It was also revealed that King Hui had left his fiefdom without permission and that the Long Live Mountain was built in the palace.
In fact, the fact that King Hui left the fiefdom was really not a secret in Junzhou. After all, everyone had been detained in Fengyang.
Wei Guangde took the petition in his hand, looked at it carefully, and compared it with his own memorial. He gave up after finding no problems.
"Your daughter's revenge should be avenged."
Wei Guangde said to the opening.
"Thank you sir for your kindness."
Geng An heard what Wei Guangde said and immediately knelt down.