Chapter 589 588 Arrest

Chapter 589 588 Arrest

"Mr. Xu Ge, I think it's better to send these to Xiyuan and ask His Majesty to make a decision."

The evidence is conclusive, so Li Chunfang will naturally not speak for Hu Zongxian.

Even though I had received gifts from him in the past, in the face of major issues of right and wrong, everything still focused on court affairs.

Although, in Li Chunfang's heart, she still felt that the appearance of this letter was strange.

But doubts can only be buried in the bottom of my heart at this time.

"Zhong Cheng, what about you?"

Xu Jie just nodded slightly when he heard Li Chunfang's words, then turned to look at Zhang Yongming and asked.

"Since the matter is serious, I think it would be better to present it to His Majesty for his inspection."

Zhang Yongming replied without thinking. In fact, he had already thought about how to deal with it on the way from the Metropolitan Procuratorate. It was better to let a few adults make the decision.

Although he has the right to speak, if he dares to forge an imperial edict, Emperor Jiajing may not let Hu Zongxian off as lightly as he did last time.

He has not doubted the authenticity of these things, because Wang Ruzheng is one of his people, and he has not given such an order to Wang Ruzheng. Therefore, these things should have been discovered during the search of Luo's house, and they should be regarded as non-false.

However, he could not guess Emperor Jiajing's attitude, so he did not intend to take a stand on this matter.

Last time, he took a premature stance on the issue of dealing with Hu Zongxian. After all, the Metropolitan Procuratorate had received information confirming Hu Zongxian's corruption. They even found out that Hu Zongxian had forged a pardon edict,

Therefore, Zhang Yongming was not surprised at all to find Hu Zongxian's "self-drafted imperial edict" from Luo Longwen's home.

Thinking about it, Zhang Yongming felt that it was still necessary to inform the two cabinet elders about the matter. Although the evidence in that matter had been destroyed by Hu Zongxian, the officials who participated in the arrest and interrogation of Wang Zhi at that time were all witnesses.

"Two pavilion elders, Zhong Cheng has something else to tell you."

Thinking of this, Zhang Yongming spoke again.

"What's the matter?"

Xu Jie turned around and asked.

"According to what I, the Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, heard about during my inspection in Zhejiang, when Hu Zongxian colluded with Wang Zhi, he gave Wang Zhi a 'pardon edict' to the effect that His Majesty pardoned Wang Zhi for his crimes. .”

Zhang Yongming said bluntly.

"What?"

Hearing this, Li Chunfang was shocked and immediately turned to look at Xu Jie, her eyes full of questioning.

Wang Zhi, that was the person who was beheaded by Emperor Jiajing's order. What does this mean?

This shows that Emperor Jiajing has never issued such a decree. Otherwise, no matter how excited the courtiers are, Emperor Jiajing will never break his promise and will definitely pardon Wang Zhi's crimes.

It's just that at that time, Li Chunfang had not entered the upper echelons of the court, so he could only look at Xu Jie with inquiring eyes and wait for his confirmation.

He believed that Xu Jie should be able to give him the answer. Xu Jie was the second minister of the dynasty at that time.

Xu Jie also felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by Li Chunfang, but at this time he was also shocked by Hu Zongxian's boldness.

He was certain that Emperor Jiajing had never issued such a decree, although at that time, Yan Song did ask Emperor Jiajing to pardon Wang Zhi's crime.

However, because of the hatred of the Japanese pirates by all the officials and the people of the world, Emperor Jiajing did not listen to Yan Song's words, but decided to kill him to vent the people's anger.

Facing Li Chunfang's questioning gaze, Xu Jie shook his head.

"Zhong Cheng, this matter is not trivial. Do you know the consequences if the charges are proven? Do you have any evidence for what you say?"

Li Chunfang got the answer from Xu Jie, then turned to Zhang Yongming and asked.

"This matter was discovered by the imperial censor when he was monitoring Zhejiang, and was subsequently confirmed by many officials involved in the arrest and interrogation of Wang Zhi."

Speaking of this, Zhang Yongming suddenly sighed and said: "It is said that everyone in Hangzhou at that time knew about this matter, otherwise Wang Zhi would not dare to go to Hangzhou.

It is said that before he was arrested by the Procuratorate in Hangzhou, he was accompanied by Zhejiang officials for banquets every day, and his life was extremely comfortable.

After he was beheaded by the imperial court, the people of Hangzhou were still spreading rumors that the imperial court kept its words, saying that His Majesty was a king. "

"Why didn't you report this matter before?"

Li Chunfang said angrily.

He was single-handedly selected by Emperor Jiajing, and he was very loyal to the emperor. Hearing that the people of Hangzhou had arranged the fault of Emperor Jiajing, they were filled with anger.

"If the edict was not found, there is a high probability that it was destroyed by Hu Zongxian. Without evidence, it is difficult to prove it with just witnesses. After all, the crime is too big, and it is difficult to convince people without real evidence."

Zhang Yongming had no choice but to reply.

If Li Chunfang had doubts about Wang Ruzheng's memorial before, after listening to Zhang Yongming's words, she no longer had any doubts about the letter.

Hu Zongxian was so bold that he couldn't do anything.

"Mr. Xu Ge, I think we should enter the palace quickly and report this matter to His Majesty."

Li Chunfang said with a frosty face.

Li Chunfang's gratitude to Emperor Jiajing was not an act. Like most other famous ministers, his path to the imperial examination was full of legend.

At the age of twenty-one, Li Chunfang had already passed the provincial examination and became a master of judicial examination. This was the age when she was young and frivolous and high-spirited, so she naturally had to dream about the beautiful days of being named on the gold medal list.

But history seems to have played a joke on this person. After more than ten years of participating in the examinations, he failed and fell into the dust. It was not until he was in his thirties that he made the list in the 26th examination of Jiajing, but his ranking was only ranked first. In the tenth position.

The tenth place, this ranking is certainly not low, but it stands to reason that he has no chance to take the imperial examination.

But luck played a joke on him again. When Emperor Jiajing was selecting the number one scholar, he actually selected Li Chunfang as the number one scholar.

It is also rumored that when the number one scholar was selected, Emperor Jiajing originally wanted Zhang Chun to be the number one scholar, but cinnabar dripped on Li Chunfang's paper.

Emperor Jiajing, who believed deeply in Taoism and the way of heaven, believed that this was God's arrangement, so he changed his mind and selected Li Chunfang as the top scholar.

In the list of Jinshi in the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing, there are many famous names from later generations.

Zhang Juzheng, known as a reformer in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, ranked ninth among the top two.

Yang Jisheng is known as the toughest guy in the Ming Dynasty and the eleventh in the second class.

Wang Shizhen was a famous historian and writer at that time. He was known as one of the seven sons of the Ming Dynasty. It was said that he was good at writing novels and ranked 80th among the top two.

Wei Guangde's old acquaintance Yin Shizhen was also on the list this year, but he was only ranked 106th in the top three. Behind him was the famous operatic Wang Daokun in later generations.

There are many other celebrities, but they are slightly inferior to these few.

No matter how Li Chunfang came to be the number one scholar, he was grateful to Emperor Jiajing anyway.

When I heard that Hu Zongxian was so rebellious, I was immediately furious.

"Okay, then we will go to Xiyuan to see His Majesty now."

The current situation is what Xu Jie has dreamed of. With Li Chunfang's support, these evidences are no longer evidence. What's more, the things Zhang Yongming mentioned are also very easy to investigate.

Even if all the officials have doubts about what Wang Ruzheng handed over, the matter in Hangzhou can be verified. There is no evidence, but enough witnesses can confirm it.

Immediately, the three of them left the cabinet and headed to Xiyuan with the memorial and the box of letters.

Wei Guangde had long forgotten about the Hangzhou incident, otherwise he might have made a fuss about it.

You know, others don't have physical evidence, but there is it in Jinyiwei's files.

Wang Zhi's confession was handed over to Jin Yiwei, so it was naturally kept on file.

As long as Emperor Jiajing sees the documents left in the Jinyi Guards, he will be convinced that this is true.

No matter what the purpose is, forging a decree is a capital crime. This is something that touches the bottom of the emperor, because it will shake the imperial power, and no one sitting on the throne of the emperor will be safe.

But so far, the entire imperial court, even the censor in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, still knows nothing about this matter, but it has already revealed the truth.

Wei Guangde was still diligently proofreading "Yongle Dadian" in the school record library, completely unaware that the big event planned by Xu Jie was about to come true.

At this time, Emperor Jiajing had already received three people in the Yongshou Palace, the two pavilion elders and the censor Zuo Du of the Ducha Yuan. Such a formation was obviously a sign of something big happening.

Sure enough, after reading Wang Ruzheng's memorial and the letter, Emperor Jiajing was still skeptical.

I was just looking for officials in the Manchu Dynasty who could rival Xu Jie, but I didn't expect that one of them would be impeached for reporting such a big crime.

Although Emperor Jiajing's face was flushed at this time, showing his anger, he was actually thinking about the strangeness of this matter.

"Your Majesty, according to Yushi Zhang, when Hu Zongxian said that Wang Zhi surrendered, it was actually because he forged a pardon edict that led to it."

At this time, Xu Jie spoke again at the right time.

"A pardon edict?"

Emperor Jiajing was dumbfounded, why he didn't remember this thing at all.

"Your Majesty, when the court was discussing how to deal with the bandit leader Wang Zhi, someone in the court did propose to pardon Wang Zhi, so that the Japanese pirates would surrender after hearing the news, and the court would be able to avoid the Japanese troubles without fighting."

Xu Jie did not identify those who put forward this opinion, but he knew that Emperor Jiajing should still remember it.

As he expected, Emperor Jiajing's expression changed when he heard this. He looked at Zhang Yongming and asked, "Does the Metropolitan Procuratorate have evidence on this matter?"

Zhang Yongming could only stand up at this time and explain the situation he knew to Emperor Jiajing in detail.

For a moment, Emperor Jiajing's expression was uncertain.

If the decree in his hand was framed, then the pardon edict that appeared in Hangzhou was a complete false imperial edict. He had never said that he would send a pardon edict to Wang Zhi.

Although Yan Song did mention this matter in his ears at that time and said many good things, believing that the benefits of pardon outweighed the disadvantages, he still did not agree in the end.

"Huang Jin, please send an order to Jinyiwei quickly. Check the Hangzhou documents to see if there is any mention of this matter."

The authenticity of the words of the ministers needs to be judged first, but the information recorded by Jin Yiwei does not.

Emperor Jiajing did not think that courtiers could put their hands into Jinyiwei and tamper with Jinyiwei's records.

If such a big thing happens in Hangzhou, it is impossible for the Jinyiwei Hundred Household Office in Hangzhou to remain indifferent, and it should be reported.

Huang Jin agreed, hurriedly left the hall, waved to a eunuch, and gave him a few instructions, and then the eunuch flew out of the Yongshou Palace.

Soon, when the decree from the palace reached Beizhen Fusi, Zhu Xixiao and his people hurried to the place where the documents were stored, and dug out all the documents sent from Hangzhou, especially those dated around the 37th year of Jiajing. The documents are also reviewed one by one.

"Sir, please take a look at this."

Soon, several documents were dug out and placed in Zhu Xixiao's hands.

Zhu Xixiao has read these documents, which include Wang Zhi's original confession when he was secretly interrogated, as well as subsequent reports on rumors about the emergence of Hangzhou.

After carefully checking the documents and records and confirming that they were correct, Zhu Xixiao knew that something was serious.

Not to mention anything else, the Jinyiwei who participated in it can be found in the capital.

"Let Liu Shouyou wait outside Xiyuan immediately."

Zhu Xixiao gave an order to the people around him, and then he took the documents he found and went directly out of Beizhen Fusi and rushed to Xiyuan. Emperor Jiajing was still waiting for his report in Yongshou Palace, so there was no delay.

When Zhu Xixiao sent the found documents to Emperor Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing's face had become extremely ugly.

He knew that Hu Zongxian was so courageous that he dared to forge an edict, so this "self-drafted edict" seemed to no longer need to be so cautious.

It's all a result of growing up courage step by step.

"So bold."

Emperor Jiajing said angrily, "The guards in royal robes immediately arrested him and sent him to Beijing for questioning."

"According to the order."

Zhu Xixiao immediately accepted the order and immediately left the hall with Huang Jin.

After Huang Jin left, he naturally asked someone to prepare a driving sticker. At first, Zhu Xixiao sent someone to find Liu Shouyou as a witness, but unexpectedly Emperor Jiajing didn't even see anyone and believed it directly.

However, when he walked into Yongshou Palace and saw Xu Jie, Li Chunfang and others beside him, he actually had a suspicion in his mind that Hu Zongxian was so bold that he might have done more than one forged will.

Huang Jin ordered people to issue driving stickers in the palace, but Zhu Xixiao had already ordered Jin Yiti's cavalry to assemble. Once the driving stickers were obtained, they would immediately leave the capital and rush to Jixi County, Huizhou Prefecture to get the people.

When the large group of Jinyi Tiqi rushed out of the capital city gate, the news spread throughout the capital official circles at an extremely fast speed.

Emperor Jiajing ordered the Jin Yiwei to go to southern Zhili to capture Hu Zongxian. Many people were still confused when they heard the news.

You know, we are no longer continuing to clean up the Yan Party. In fact, everything that needs to be cleaned up has been cleaned up.

Of course they knew that Hu Zongxian was a key member of the Strict Party, but Emperor Jiajing wanted to protect him, so naturally no one would continue to make trouble with him.

But who would have thought that at this time, the emperor suddenly issued an order to arrest people, and judging from the situation, it was not a big deal.

At this time, in Fusi, Jinyiweinan Town, Hu Songqi, from a thousand households in Jinyiweinan City, walked into the lobby, but what greeted him was the stern looks from around him.

Hu Songqi is the son of Hu Zongxian. He was granted the title of Jinyiwei Qianhu because of his contribution in suppressing Japanese invaders.

When the Hu family was in turmoil, Emperor Jiajing remembered his old feelings and did not show mercy to the Hu family. He just dismissed Hu Zongxian and returned to his hometown to live leisurely. His son still served in the Jinyi Guards.

Today he was suddenly called from Qianhu to Nanzhen Fusi. Although it was strange, he did not dare to delay.

At this time, the governor in the lobby was no longer the one he was familiar with, but the commander Zhu Xixiao, the commander he didn't usually see often.

When Hu Songqi was about to kowtow, he heard Zhu Xixiao's voice.

"Here, we have Hu Songqi tied up and imprisoned temporarily to wait for his release."

"Sir, what is Hu's crime?"

Hu Songqi was frightened. He was a member of the Jinyi Guards and knew that the prison of Fusi in South Town was actually more terrifying than the notorious Fusi Prison in North Town. There were no royal laws at all here, only Jinyiwei family rules.

However, Zhu Xixiao was obviously not in the mood to explain to him. He waved his hand casually, and the school captain swarmed up and dragged him out.