Chapter 283 282 Overthrow Zhao

Zhao Wenhua was deeply regretful in his mansion, and around the Zhao Mansion, more and more suspicious people appeared nearby, closely monitoring every move inside, patrolling the front and back doors of the Zhao Mansion and the surrounding walls.

They were naturally the people arranged by Jinyiwei Lu Bing, and their purpose was to completely block the channel for Zhao Wenhua to transfer the stolen money.

Word had spread in the palace that Emperor Jiajing was furious again after reading the memorial and wanted to deal with Zhao Wenhua.

Dealing with such corrupt officials was naturally what Jinyiwei liked to do the most, because every action meant that there was a lot of money to be pocketed, so the people who were selected were all excited and immediately summoned their men to rush over.

After the incident, several eunuchs holding small signs also left the palace through different gates in the palace and ran to official residences in various parts of the capital.

The news spread quickly without being affected by the night ban.

Soon, the people sent out by various families to observe the situation in Zhao's mansion reported that there were many people suspected to be Jinyiwei outside Zhao Wenhua's mansion. They had surrounded Zhao's mansion tightly. It seemed that they did not break in to search and seize things because they did not receive orders.

Now Zhao's mansion was still calm, but they also observed a situation, that is, at this time, Zhao's mansion seemed to be in a state of not allowing people to leave. Several people who left Zhao's mansion would soon be quietly dragged into a secluded alley, and then they would never see anyone again.

At this time, Yan Song, who was resting at home, had naturally received the news.

Unlike other high-ranking officials who lived a life of singing and dancing after rising to prominence, Yan Song only had his wife, Ouyang, and did not take in several concubines to live a colorful life. In terms of life, he was completely different from Yan Shifan.

It was also because of Ouyang's relationship that he and Ouyang Bijin had a relative relationship.

"Is Wenhua really hopeless?"

In the past, Zhao Wenhua was very filial to Ouyang, her godmother. At least on the surface, she coaxed her very well, and Ouyang was also willing to act and show her love for Zhao Wenhua.

Last time, Ouyang actually had an opinion of Zhao Wenhua in her heart, but Yan Shifan felt that it was not easy to turn against Zhao Wenhua immediately, so Ouyang pretended to mediate their relationship and reconcile them. Everything seemed to be back to the past.

"No matter what, I still have to try to save him tomorrow, otherwise how will others see me."

Yan Song's turbid eyes radiated a brilliant light at this moment. Many officials in the court still depended on him. They didn't know that the relationship between the Yan family and the Zhao family had already cracked. If they didn't try at this time, they might lose their hearts.

He already knew that Emperor Jiajing had sent a message to the cabinet to dismiss Zhao Wenhua from all his official positions.

The emperor's order must be carried out immediately tomorrow morning, and it cannot be delayed.

After the decree was drafted, neither the Imperial Household Department nor the Six Departments would stop it. It can be said that Zhao Wenhua's fate was already determined when the decree was issued, and he could only pretend.

"Qing'er said before that he would send someone to deliver a letter to Wenhua. Why didn't you stop him at that time?"

Ouyang asked again. Qing'er, of course, did not refer to Ximen Qing, but Yan Shifan.

Qing'er was Yan Shifan's nickname, so it was rumored that the character of "Ximen Qing" in the book "Jin Ping Mei" was actually fictionalized by the author Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng based on the real person Yan Shifan.

"Nothing, if he is sensible, he will know what to do at this time."

What Yan Song meant by his words was naturally some of his previous correspondence with Zhao Wenhua, after all, they had a so-called father-son relationship for so many years.

When Zhao Wenhua toured Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Southern Zhili two years ago, he and the Yan family also kept exchanging letters.

Send a message to Zhao Wenhua. If you are sensible, you should deal with these things. If you want to use this as evidence to threaten anyone, you are dreaming and will only die faster.

Although Lu Bing is extremely trusted and favored by Emperor Jiajing, Yan Song is not a pushover. Even in terms of power, the Yan family definitely suppresses Lu Bing.

In any case, Yan Song is still the chief minister of the cabinet. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is extremely powerful.

And what about Lu Bing? He is just a minion of Emperor Jiajing and the head of the secret service.

Ordinary corrupt officials are naturally afraid of him, but officials with a certain status and level are not afraid of him. After all, all actions cannot bypass the one in the Western Garden.

As long as you still have the emperor's favor, you don't have to worry about what the Jinyiwei will do to you.

So if Yan Song and Lu Bing are against each other, Lu Bing will generally choose to retreat and will never confront Yan Song.

At this time, Xu Jie, Prince Jing's Mansion, Prince Yu's Mansion and other people who were enough to stir up the situation in the capital had already known the news, and no one deliberately concealed it.

Wei Guangde's house was particularly quiet tonight, and no one came to deliver the letter. Chen Ju's message was delivered much faster than others, but Wei Guangde did not intend to do anything about it, but chose to watch from the sidelines.

At this time, the gate of the Jinyiwei Beizhenfu Division was wide open, and teams of Jinyiwei were sent to the inside and outside of the capital to arrest the criminals.

Emperor Jiajing certainly would not directly take action against the second-rank officials of the court because of a memorial, even if he was already unemployed at home.

When the birds are gone, the good bows are hidden, and Emperor Jiajing would not take such a blame.

Naturally, the memorial impeaching Zhao Wenhua for embezzling royal assets and embezzling brick and stone materials from the West Garden for the construction of his own mansion has been handed over to Lu Bing. Now all the criminals involved in the case are immediately arrested and interrogated strictly to ensure that there are all the evidence.

The case ordered by Emperor Jiajing was naturally an imperial case. Lu Bing did not dare to neglect it. He immediately summoned his elite soldiers to analyze the case, identify all the people involved in the case, and deploy the arrest operation.

That night, Beijing was in turmoil. From time to time, the streets were filled with the scene of Jinyiwei Tiqi riding horses and shouting loudly. At this moment, Beijing, which was under night curfew, seemed to be rejuvenated.

The officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp who were patrolling at night were also confused by this unexpected battle, but they did not dare to stop these knights in red uniforms. They avoided the roadside and made way when they saw them from a distance.

For many years, there has not been such a large-scale Jinyiwei in Beijing to arrest people.

The Jinyiwei in red uniforms are different from those Jinyiwei in gray-blue uniforms on the streets. They are responsible for arresting people, but they don’t care about what happens on the streets.

Many low-level officials and craftsmen who participated in the construction of the West Garden were dragged out of their beds and taken back to the North Pacification Office in their sleep. Soon, someone screamed miserably, drifting through the walls and reaching the alley, making the already eerie alley even more terrifying.

The movement in the capital naturally reached Zhao Wenhua's ears, especially the news sent by the Yan family. The servants climbed up the wall and looked around, and soon found the whereabouts of those suspicious people around the yard.

All this made Zhao Wenhua go from regret at first to deep fear now. He didn't know what Emperor Jiajing would do to him next.

Think about it, a few years ago, Xia Yan, the chief minister of the cabinet, was beheaded in the street.

The next day, when the sun rose, the capital was the same as before, only outside the gate of the mansion in Dashiyongfang, there were few people. In the past, there were a lot of cars and people coming in and out to visit.

After the news fermented overnight, the civil and military officials in Beijing knew what happened last night, and the source of everything pointed to this former second-rank official of the court.

Those officials who participated in the impeachment of Zhao Wenhua were naturally excited, and gathered in groups to discuss what to do next, whether to continue impeachment, expose Zhao Wenhua's illegal facts or something else.

After Yan Song entered the cabinet duty room with the help of Yan Shifan, he immediately found Xu Jie to discuss how to draft the imperial edict that Emperor Jiajing wanted to dismiss Zhao Wenhua from his official position.

After repeated revisions and deliberately downplaying Zhao Wenhua's guilt, he was personally sent to the Western Garden to meet the emperor. When he arrived there, he naturally had to say a few good words for his godson Zhao Wenhua.

The result was already destined, and everything did not exceed Yan Song's judgment. Although Emperor Jiajing did not refute his face in person, he only said that everything was under investigation and he should be patient.

With such a result, Emperor Jiajing had already given Yan Song a lot of face.

Naturally, such news soon spread in the capital.

Wei Guangde was arrogant and could not escape the common practice after entering the Hanlin Academy. He gathered with his colleagues to curse Zhao Wenhua, the corrupt official. This was a politically correct performance. They were all clean officials.

However, they only talked about such things. Soon, Yin Tai and the head of the academy came over and told them not to get involved in this matter.

For the senior officials in the court, they had more experience and would naturally think more. Yin Tai stopped someone in the academy from continuing to impeach Zhao Wenhua at this time. In fact, he saw that there might be more turmoil after this incident, so he spoke out to protect these subordinates.

As for whether they listened or not, that was another matter. It was none of his business.

Some people in the Hanlin Academy also impeached Zhao Wenhua a few days ago, and they were still encouraging everyone to continue, but after listening to Yin Tai's words, most people chose to wait and see.

As for Wei Guangde, after Yin Tai finished speaking and left, he also clasped his fists to his colleagues and went back to his official room first. He still had to think about how to write a petition for leave, let alone get involved.

The imperial edict was delivered to Zhao Wenhua. Although he had been mentally prepared, he still looked ashen.

This was just the first step. Since last night, his mansion had been monitored by the Jinyiwei. He had received news that many of his confidants had been taken to the Northern Pacification Division by the Jinyiwei. This was Emperor Jiajing's plan to settle accounts with him.

The families of those arrested officials did not know the details, and they ran here to cry after dawn, hoping to get the protection of Mr. Zhao and use their connections to get the people out, which made him even more frightened.

Zhao Wenhua was really sick after receiving the edict. He felt uncomfortable all over and could only lean on the recliner and rub his bulging belly.

He was pretending to be sick before, but now it was really like that. He couldn't even stand up.

He has been in the officialdom for more than 30 years, and he doesn't know if he will have a chance to be reinstated.

However, despite his physical discomfort, Zhao Wenhua did not dare to stay in Beijing at this time. He did not dare to stay in Beijing any longer while the new edict of Emperor Jiajing had not been issued.

Lying on the recliner, he ordered his family to quickly harness the carriage and leave the city, leaving Beijing, a place of trouble.

As for the family property, take as much as you can pack up, and leave others to pack up slowly if you don't have time, and then set off again.

Zhao Wenhua has made a lot of money over the years, but he has not actually saved much for himself.

In Zhao Wenhua's view, as long as he holds on to the big tree of the Yan family, he can have a prosperous career and enjoy a long life, so most of the embezzled property was given to Yan Shifan and his godmother Ouyang.

Of course, he also purchased a lot of properties in Jiangnan. He is from Zhejiang, and naturally he has accumulated a lot of property for his life after retirement.

In the past, life was full of extravagance and luxury. Naturally, one could gather and disperse wealth. However, the money around him was really not much, which disappointed Mr. Lu of Jinyiwei.

At this time, Zhao Wenhua has been dismissed from his post, and he can naturally leave the capital at any time, at least as long as there is no new decree from the palace.

When Wei Guangde was off duty in the evening, Lu Bu quietly came to Wei Guangde and reported in a low voice: "Sir, at noon, Mr. Zhao Wenhua left the capital in a carriage and rushed to Tongzhou. By this time, he was probably on the boat and heading back south. Hometown.”

"So urgent?"

However, Wei Guangde soon understood. Now that Zhao Wenhua had completely lost power, it would only be more unsafe to stay in the capital. He might as well take this opportunity to escape as soon as possible.

Being far away from the capital, out of sight and out of mind, maybe the man from Xiyuan would still think of sparing his life in the past.

This was indeed the case. Lu Bing had already received the news when the Zhao Mansion was preparing to drive, and he hurriedly sent someone to the palace to report the news, but he still received no response from the palace.

The imperial guards deployed around the Zhao Mansion did not receive orders and could only watch as Zhao Wenhua was carried into a carriage and drove away.

Beizhen Fusi has collected some evidence, including witness testimony, confirming that Zhao Wenhua did embezzle some Xiyuan materials to build his own house, and the craftsmen were also privately transferred craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry. However, the reported number was too small, which reminded Emperor Jiajing of Yan Song in the morning The way he looks when he comes to plead for mercy.

When the Jinyi Guardian came to Zhao Wenhua to pack his things and leave the capital, Emperor Jiajing finally did not issue an order to arrest him.

Zhao Wenhua left the capital, and the storm centered on him gradually calmed down.

Wei Guangde didn't want to gain much benefit from this movement to overthrow Zhao at the beginning. He was too junior and struggled to do anything, so he had to marry his wife first.

I have already written a first draft of the leave petition, but of course I cannot hand it in. I have to revise it and make it more touching. I will write it as prose to express my feelings for my family and hometown, and I will try to let Emperor Jiajing read more than one month of the memorial. Marriage leave.

After confirming that Zhao Wenhua had fled the capital, Qingliu in Beijing also gave up his intention to continue to entangle him.

There are still unwritten rules in the officialdom, that is, you can impeach someone before you leave office, but you should not do it again after you leave office. After all, everyone has to leave the political arena. Giving up their position will also settle the past grudges.

The officialdom in the capital returned to calm, but a few days later an urgent report arrived in the capital, reinvigorating the cooling movement against Zhao.

"Wenhua was ill with Gu, and was condemned to lie in a boat. He couldn't talk to himself. One night, he touched his abdomen with his hands, and his abdomen split and his internal organs came out. He died."