Chapter 265 264 Excluding the Country

When Lu Bing said that the big fish he wanted to catch was in the Imperial Household Department, Wei Guangde first ruled out Huang Jin.

If it wasn't Huang Jin, then the first candidate left was Gao Zhong, whom he had bribed with the silver.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde's face was uncertain.

The changes in Wei Guangde's facial expression naturally could not be hidden from Lu Bing. He raised the corners of his mouth and smiled.

Wei Guangde saw Lu Bing's expression, and naturally felt more certain in his heart. Although he was not sure what Lu Bing was laughing at, Wei Guangde was thinking at the moment that it was time to cut ties with Gao Zhong.

Unexpectedly, Gao Zhong also took a share of the money he used to buy the house. No wonder he was so confident in himself.

He gave him silver twice, not just one thousand taels as he thought.

What surprised Wei Guangde was that Lu Bing seemed to see through him, but shook his head after laughing, "It's not the person you think."

Did Lu Bing know that he and Gao Zhong were in cahoots?

When Wei Guangde heard what Lu Bing said, his first reaction was that Lu Bing, or Jinyiwei, knew about his giving money to Gao Zhong and Chen Ju, so he said this.

But thinking about it carefully, it was true.

Outside the capital, Lu Bing could only see various information through the reports of his subordinates, which might not be true and accurate.

People's hearts are separated from their stomachs. Lu Bing didn't dare to completely believe that those Jinyiwei Qianhu and spies outside would strictly follow his rules. It was nothing more than finding that his subordinates had made mistakes and bringing them to the Southern Pacification Division for severe punishment.

Jinyiwei called the execution of family law for dealing with such people.

In the capital, Lu Bing's eyes were naturally brighter.

Perhaps Lu Bing didn't pay too much attention to him at the beginning. Anyway, Wei Guangde didn't cause any trouble, so there was no need to help. It was all about the imperial examination. Whether it was the joint examination or the palace examination, it was a national talent selection ceremony. He Lu Bing didn't have the courage to take care of it.

However, after Wei Guangde fought his way out of the imperial examination, he was obviously valued by the emperor, so it was impossible for the Jinyiwei not to pay attention to his every move, and naturally his dealings with Chen Ju could not be hidden from their eyes.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde suddenly had an idea and asked without thinking: "Is the big fish Li Bin?"

Wei Guangde naturally didn't know whether Li Bin was executed or died of old age, but now he was guessing who the big fish Lu Bing valued was, so he might as well talk nonsense, maybe Lu Bing would confirm the candidate if he let out a little.

Who to talk about, of course, is that Li Bin.

Lu Bing's action to cut off the father-in-law's support in the palace is also a help to the brother-in-law, but it's disgusting no matter how you think about it.

When Wei Guangde said Li Bin's name, his eyes looked at Lu Bing, observing the subtle expression on his face.

Sure enough, although Lu Bing's facial muscles did not tremble at all, there seemed to be a gleam of light in his eyes.

It was really him.

Wei Guangde was very sure that the big fish mentioned by Lu Bing was Li Bin, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department. Come to think of it, Xu Bangrui's letter also said that Li Bin was greedy for money.

He was a little surprised. Although he knew that officials should not show their emotions, he was not good enough to prevent others from easily seeing his inner thoughts. His face showed it unconsciously, although it came and went quickly.

Naturally, Wei Guangde's fleeting joy was captured by Lu Bing. He asked calmly: "Why, do you have a grudge against Li Bin?"

"How is it possible? I don't remember seeing him."

Wei Guangde immediately denied it.

He really should not have seen Li Bin, so he couldn't say why. It was best to deny it.

After thinking about it, he felt that Lu Bing might easily find out something, so he simply continued: "I heard from Chen Ju, the eunuch, that Li Bin of the Silijian is very greedy for money. If you have any difficult problems, you can go to him."

"Haha. Don't you know who is more capable in the outer court? Why would you go to him?"

After listening to Wei Guangde's explanation, Lu Bing did smile and had a plan in his mind.

It seems that in the Silijian, Huang Jin can still suppress the people below, but Gao Zhong and Li Bin may have some grudges in private.

Of course, Lu Bing knew that Wei Guangde and Chen Ju were flirting, but he didn't care.

If he didn't have that status, he would have to curry favor with the people in the inner court if he wanted to secure his position as the head of the Jinyiwei.

When he left the Northern Pacification Office, the lights were on. After a trip to the Jinyiwei, Lu Bing didn't even prepare a meal for Wei Guangde.

Fortunately, the carriage was still parked quietly outside the gate of the Northern Pacification Division, so Wei Guangde didn't have to walk back all the way.

Not sure what Lu Bing was thinking, Wei Guangde got on the carriage, and with the crisp sound of horse hooves, the carriage drove out of Maoer Hutong and headed towards Nanxunfang.

When the carriage arrived in front of Wei Guangde's house, Wei Guangde got off and found that several people were standing there stealthily observing the movements here, until the captain on the carriage made a gesture to them, and they scattered and left.

After being tricked by the captain, Wei Guangde didn't like him, whether it was Lu Bing's instruction or not, he just bowed politely, didn't say anything, went up the steps with his hands behind his back, and knocked on his own door.

Soon, the door opened.

Wei Guangde hadn't eaten dinner yet, and didn't greet the guard who opened the door. He strode in directly, shouting for the cook to make him dinner immediately.

Wei Guangde's sudden return home naturally caused a turmoil in the Wei residence for a short period of time. When Zhang Ji came back, he had already learned the whole story from Li San and others. He wanted to go out immediately to discuss with Wei Guangde's friends of the same year, at least he had to inform them.

However, the people standing outside the door directly blocked them back. They could enter the door, but they could not get out.

Zhang Ji, Li San, Zhao Hu and other guards were anxious in the house. There was a knock on the door outside. Unexpectedly, it was dark and Wei Guangde, the master, came back by himself.

They were naturally surprised and happy to see Wei Guangde. In the capital, they had nothing.

If Wei Guangde was really captured by the Jinyiwei, they had no way. In addition to looking for his peers and colleagues, they could only ask Zhang Ji to write a letter back to Jiujiang Prefecture to report the news.

Wei Guangde was taken away by the Jinyiwei, and no one in the mansion had the heart to eat. Everyone was delayed for dinner tonight. Fortunately, Wei Guangde came back and naturally arranged to have dinner immediately.

After Wei Guangde finished his meal, Zhang Ji asked him curiously, "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask."

"What about Xu Huai?"

At this time, Wei Guangde thought of Xu Huai who came home two days ago and asked casually.

"He went out to eat and went back to his room to rest. He was also scared."

Zhang Ji laughed on the side.

"Yeah."

Wei Guangde went to his study and asked Zhang Ji to grind ink for him. Then he took out a piece of letter paper and quickly wrote a letter to Xu Bangrui in Nanjing.

After the ink on the paper dried, he folded it and put it in an envelope, and sealed it carefully.

"Xu Huai is resting tonight, so forget it. You give him the letter tomorrow morning."

Wei Guangde pointed to the written letter on the table and told Zhang Ji, and then asked about the ginseng.

Zhang Ji didn't understand why Wei Guangde was so concerned about ginseng. He didn't want to buy so much ginseng at home, and he had to store it carefully to avoid it from going bad.

Although many dignitaries in Beijing buy ginseng from time to time, none of them hoard it on a large scale like Wei Guangde.

However, Zhang Ji still answered Wei Guangde's questions honestly and explained the details he had learned during the purchase process, especially that the ginseng in the Beijing market now heavily depends on the Liaodong line, and the supply of ginseng in the mainland is almost completely cut off.

Days passed one by one, and soon more than half a month had passed.

On this day, Wei Guangde arrived at the Hanlin Academy. At about noon, he heard the news from the academy that the censors in Henan had sent the investigation memorial back to the capital.

Good guy, it is said that there are hundreds of illegal things listed by Prince Hui in Junzhou, but this is not the point.

The matter of the Chaozhi Wangfu and the Wansui Mountain in the backyard of the Wangfu that Emperor Jiajing was concerned about was also investigated, and it really happened.

It can only be said that there is no smoke without fire. The things that Geng An heard in Junzhou are probably based on prototypes, but they may be slightly deformed.

It is Wansui Mountain, which was built according to the construction standards of the palace set by Prince Hui.

When the Beijing Palace was built during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, according to the four stars of Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird and Black Tortoise, there must be a mountain at the position of Black Tortoise in the north, so the soil excavated from the Tongzi River in the Forbidden City and the South Sea of ​​Taiye Lake was piled up into a mountain, which became the "mountain guarding the palace" and was named Wansui Mountain.

During the private expansion of Prince Hui's Palace, the specifications of the four stars of the palace were also referred to, and a mountain guarding the palace was piled up to the north of the palace, and the name was also Wansui Mountain.

This is a complete violation of the rules, and even to put it in a bigger way, it is a rebellious heart.

How can there be a Wansui Mountain in the palace? Although Prince Hui summoned the palace to unify the caliber before the censor arrived in Junzhou, don't forget that there are people from the inner court in Prince Hui's Palace.

Although they had seen that Prince Hui violated the rules in some places before, Prince Hui was really good to them. Basically, they were slaves in the palace, and they were masters outside the palace. They lived a carefree life in Junzhou, so they naturally didn't want Prince Hui to fall.

But now, it seems that it can't be concealed. Even if the people in the palace don't talk nonsense, they can't keep these secrets in front of the civil officials.

It's just that Prince Hui's palace was too domineering in Junzhou in the past and didn't take outsiders seriously.

When the people in the palace go out, they dare to do anything and say anything.

The reconstruction of Prince Hui's palace was carried out according to the standards of the imperial palace. This is already a semi-open secret in Junzhou.

You can shut up the mouths of the people in the palace, but you can't stop the mouths of the people outside the palace.

After the memorials of the censors of the Censorate were sent to the Tongzhengsi, they were copied and filed. They were immediately sent to the cabinet by Zuo Tongzheng and handed over to Yan Song and Yan Gelao.

After reading the memorial of the censor, Yan Song knew that Prince Hui was completely finished.

This memorial reached the Western Garden, and no one could protect Prince Hui. His son was still smart.

A few days ago, someone from Prince Hui's mansion had sent two boxes of property, wanting Yan Song to take care of them. His son, who loved money like his life, unexpectedly refused decisively this time.

Yan Song had also speculated about the fate of Prince Hui before, but he had not discussed it with his son. It can be seen that although Yan Shifan seemed greedy, he was actually very measured and knew what he could take and what he could not take.

Yan Song certainly would not take the memorial directly to the Western Garden to report. He sent someone to call Xu Jie next door, and after Xu Jie also read the memorial of the censor, the two reached a consensus on the handling opinions. As for the third cabinet member, Lü Ben, forget it. He is still recuperating in the mansion, and there is no need to tell him about this matter.

After discussion, the two took the memorial to the Western Garden to request an audience with Emperor Jiajing.

When the memorial left the Tongzhengsi, the contents of the memorial had already begun to spread rapidly among the various government offices in the capital.

There was no other reason. The locations of the government offices were too close, one office next to another, and the only boundary between them was the red wall.

After noon, the news from the West Garden also came out. After Emperor Jiajing was furious, Xu Jie wrote the imperial edict in the West Garden according to the wishes of Emperor Jiajing. After Emperor Jiajing nodded, Huang Jin directly used the seal to complete the procedures in the palace, and then Xu Jie personally sent it to the Six Departments for approval.

For such a big event, the Six Departments naturally did not dare to stop it, and they would not stop it at all.

At this point, the contents of the imperial edict also reached the ears of all officials in the capital.

"Prince Hui Zai is guilty. He is deposed as a commoner, imprisoned behind high walls, and his kingdom is abolished."

Such a big thing happened, so naturally all the six ministries and nine ministers came to the cabinet in the afternoon to discuss the details. Prince Hui was deposed, and what about other princes, generals and other royal relatives of Prince Hui? This time, their kingdom was abolished.

"Zai is guilty of treason and presumptuous, and I cannot bear to punish him severely. I will strip him of his title and demote him to a commoner, and imprison him behind high walls. I will remove his hereditary title, seal, and clothing, and confiscate his private property. I will demote pavilions and buildings that violate the rules. I will send Duke Ying, Zhang Rong, to report to the temple, and write to all the royal palaces to inform them."

Yan Song looked at the people present and repeated the final decision made by Emperor Jiajing of Xiyuan at noon. He only deposed Prince Hui as a commoner and imprisoned behind high walls in Fengyang, and other relatives of the Hui vassal were sent to Kaifeng and resettled by the King of Zhou.

Illegal buildings will be destroyed, and other royal relatives will be informed.

"Prince Hui Zai was guilty, and the emperor ordered him to be demoted to a commoner, imprisoned behind high walls, and abolished his state. Zai was cruel and violent since his father's death. For a year, the people of Zhongzhou were in dire straits. He hoped to obey the will of Emperor Xuan and was given the golden seal of the Immortal. He relied on the favor and acted recklessly. No one dared to do anything. The governors often reported his case, and he was severely punished. As a result, his evil deeds became worse and he died of old age. When Zai inherited the title, he still inherited the seal of the Immortal, and became more and more arrogant. He built Wansui Mountain in the pavilion of the government, and on top of it was called Yanwu, which was surrounded by the Moon River. He recruited strong men to row boats in the river and watch it from the top. He also privately built more than a hundred halls and corridors of various sizes, and excavated more than 70 tombs of the people. The treasurer Wang Zhang advised , but he refused to listen. He was beaten to death. He killed more than ten innocent people before and after. He once went incognito and pretended to be Zhang Shide to go directly to Nanjing. He was caught by the patrol in Fengyang and escaped after being detained for three days. Zai knew that what he did was not right and was afraid of offending others, so he secretly sent a postman to watch the movement in the capital. He forcibly seized the daughter of the civilian Geng An, but was reported by An and refused to release her. He submitted a memorial to the governor of Henan to explain the situation and the illegal acts of violating the rules and usurping the throne and harboring evil intentions. He took away the seal of Prince Gong and asked the governor to review the matter, and all of them were verified. "

Yan Song took out the edict that the six departments had just sent to approve the use of the seal and showed it to everyone.

That night, Wei Guangde invited his colleagues and classmates to drink. He got rid of a prince with an impeachment memorial and directly removed the vassal. He felt very awesome at the moment.

But the joy did not last too long. More than half a month later, Junzhou sent another memorial to the capital.

"When Zai Yu heard the order, he first killed his wife and concubines, and then hanged himself."