Chapter 324 323 Confession

Wei Guangde weighed the pros and cons in the sedan chair, calculating whether the "pardon edict" could be used as a condition to get Yu Dayou out of jail.

However, this matter was also difficult to handle. After all, Wei Guangde could think that the edict had been destroyed many times. Without physical evidence, there was only a confession from a Japanese pirate leader. How much effect could it have?

The highest official in Hangzhou now was none other than Hu Zongxian, and the leader of the killing of Wang Zhi was Ben Gu, the inspector of Zhejiang.

In fact, combined with Hu Zongxian's memorials before and after, Wei Guangde could still see that Hu Zongxian had really intended to ask the court to pardon Wang Zhi, but was firmly opposed by Wang Ben Gu.

Recalling the welcoming banquet when he arrived in Hangzhou two days ago, it was obvious that Wang Ben Gu was very critical of Governor Hu Zongxian and was quite unpleasant. He mocked Hu Zongxian for corruption many times, making the atmosphere of the banquet awkward.

According to what Wei Guangde had heard, Wang Bengu was "mature and serious, never smiling".

It was said that he was an honest official, diligent in his work and loved the people. He hated evil and hated evil. It was because he could distinguish right from wrong that he chose to kill Wang Zhi.

Wei Guangde estimated that if people in later generations talked about this person, they would say that he had a noble character, but his achievements were a little lacking.

The residence of Wei Guangde and his party was a wealthy merchant's villa arranged by the prefect of Hangzhou in the city. The courtyard was full of the charm of Jiangnan gardens.

Jiangnan gardens valued water. Most of the houses and gardens were located near water systems. Even if there were no water systems, a pond had to be dug to store water. The earth was piled up into a hill with a small volume, often imitating the remnants of a mountain or a small hill.

The stacked stones were mostly small pieces, and occasionally strange stones were placed separately for appreciation.

It has been nearly two hundred years since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty. Although it was affected by the Japanese invasion in the south of the Yangtze River, the overall economy was prosperous and the culture was developed, especially in the areas of Nanzhili and Zhejiang, so the construction of residential gardens was also very prosperous.

The residential garden style in the south of the Yangtze River in the Ming Dynasty inherited the tradition of the freehand landscape gardens of the Tang and Song Dynasties, focusing on the use of waterscapes, ancient trees, flowers and trees to create a simple and elegant artistic conception full of wildness, setting up garden buildings according to the scenery, and cleverly borrowing scenery.

These gardens were developed on the basis of the freehand landscape gardens of the Tang and Song Dynasties, emphasizing subjective interest and expression of mood, attaching importance to creative techniques such as picking mountains, stacking stones, and managing water; highlighting the beauty of mountains and rivers, and paying attention to the literary interest of gardens.

The layout of residential gardens was influenced by the palace gardens. The number of garden space divisions was small and the area was large. The central axis symmetrical layout was often used, and the layout of the garden had a clear axis running through it.

Wei Guangde had heard before that Zhao Wenhua had more than ten gardens of various sizes in Hangzhou, Suzhou and other places. At that time, he thought that he had money but had nowhere to spend it, and wasted it. After living in this garden for two days, Wei Guangde envied the local wealthy businessmen.

No wonder those people are so obsessed with Jiangnan gardens. It is really a good place to live in retirement.

His house in Jiujiang Prefecture actually looks a bit like this garden, with few buildings and a large garden, but it is obviously not as exquisite as the people here require, and lacks a lot of charm.

Passing through the hall and returning to his room, Wei Guangde whispered to Zhang Ji behind him: "Tell the two Jinyiwei to come to me later. I have something to say."

When Wei Guangde got off the sedan chair when he got back here, he had already made up his mind. No matter whether it could be done or not, he would send a message to Lu Bing. It didn't matter whether he used it or not, but he couldn't miss this opportunity.

Even if the rumor about the "pardon edict" could not shake Hu Zongxian's position as the governor of Jiangnan, it would at least have a great impact on him, especially in the eyes of Emperor Jiajing. I think the Yan family and Hu Zongxian would not be willing to take the risk of revealing the matter.

Letting go of an insignificant person in exchange for all parties keeping the secret, Wei Guangde thought it should be possible.

Unexpectedly, Hu Zongxian's pigtail could be found during the prison sentence.

Wei Guangde shook his head and walked to a brazier placed in the middle of the room to warm himself by the fire. Now the weather was getting colder.

Not long after, Zhang Ji brought two Jinyiwei captains wearing blue battle jackets to the door and brought them in after reporting.

Wei Guangde waved to Zhang Ji, signaling him to wait outside the door, and then he said to the two men in a leisurely manner: "In this weather, if I have a letter for you to send back to the capital as quickly as possible to give it to General Lu, how long will it take?"

The two lieutenants had just stood up after their salute when they heard Wei Guangde's words, and they were sure that he really had something to ask General Lu in the capital.

They were sent by the Jinyiwei to follow Wei Guangde to the south to do business, which was actually a kind of supervision, but they had received instructions from their superiors when they went south, "Listen to Lord Wei together."

One of the older lieutenants, a man in his thirties, immediately bent down and smiled: "Sir, the fastest way is to use the intelligence in the guards, which will take at least seven or eight days."

"It takes so long?"

Wei Guangde frowned when he heard this. He thought that the Jinyiwei would have some special communication channels, and perhaps the news could be sent to the capital in three to five days.

But when he heard that it would take seven or eight days, wasn't this just using the fast horses of the post station to deliver the news?

However, this time his letter was to Lu Bing, not a memorial, so he couldn't use the post horse. It seemed that he could only let the Jinyiwei to deliver the message.

"Can you approach the person you met today without being noticed?"

Wei Guangde asked again.

"Your Excellency wants to meet Wang Zhi in private?"

The man frowned when he heard Wei Guangde ask this.

There is a Jinyiwei Baihu Station in Hangzhou, but the military man is not very sure whether it is capable of arranging this matter. When he said this, he glanced at the young captain next to him.

Although the young captain was also a royal guard, Wei Guangde could see a bit of bookishness on his face, and he must have read books.

In fact, among the children of various guards in the capital, there are many who have achieved fame through studying.

Moreover, because the literary style in the north is far inferior to that in the south, the chance of scholars in the northern guard office to achieve fame is actually far greater than that in the southern guard office. Many civil servants from military families have emerged, and even reached the position of chief minister, as was the case with Li Dongyang in the previous dynasty. .

Li Dongyang was born on June 9, the 12th year of Zhengde, and died on July 20, the 11th year of Zhengde. His courtesy name was Binzhi and his nickname was Xiya. His ancestral home was Chaling, Huguang. Because his family had been in the military for generations, he joined the capital to garrison. Jin Wuzuo Wei Ji.

He joined the cabinet during the Hongzhi Dynasty and formed the "iron triangle" of the Hongzhi cabinet with Liu Jian and Xie Qian, which is quite famous.

After Zhengde succeeded to the throne, Liu Jian and Xie Qian resigned one after another, and he became the chief minister of the cabinet. During the Zhengde period, he played a great role in stabilizing the political situation.

Therefore, Wei Guangde was not surprised to see such a literate Jin Yiwei. Who said that someone from a military family could not study, wasn't he?

"It's not me who goes to see him, but you guys."

Wei Guangde shook his head and said, he absolutely cannot go.

He now has a special status. Wei Guangde is not sure whether Hu Zongxian will be wary of him. If someone discovers that he has a secret meeting with Wang Zhi, it will be a bit troublesome. Even if Jin Yiwei arranged it, he can't tell clearly.

"What is your purpose in wanting to see Wang Zhi?"

At this time, the slightly younger captain who had been silent next to him asked.

"You followed me into the prison today. You should have heard what Wang Zhi said about the imperial edict."

Wei Guangde made a suggestion and said, "You think of a way to see him without anyone noticing, find out what the edict is, whether it is still in his hand, and sign it."

Wei Guangde's request was very simple. According to the official document, Wang Zhi would be executed in three days. This was inevitable.

The person is dead, and just because they heard Wang Zhi's words doesn't matter. They have to keep Wang Zhi's confession. Otherwise, there is no way to persuade the Yan family to give in on Yu Dayou's case.

Wei Guangde had already thought about it, and he would blame the Jin Yiwei people for this matter.

When Wang Zhi said the "Edict of Pardon", the Jinyiwei people were there. When they heard it, they naturally collected evidence and reported it to Beizhen Fusi. This had nothing to do with him, Mr. Wei.

In this way, even if Lu Bing knew the news too late and Wang Zhi had already surrendered, he still had evidence to impeach Hu Zongxian.

If the Yan family is dissatisfied, then they will escalate the matter. Hu Zongxian deceived the emperor, forged edicts, and showed disobedience, which was enough to make the Yan family drink a pot.

The two of them had naturally heard the words of the "pardon edict", but like most people, they had no intention of delving into it because they were about to be executed, so who would care about what they said.

Perhaps, only a thoughtful person would be interested in this.

But obviously, Wei Guangde was one of the people with intentions. When the inspector Si Qianshi told him to leave the prison, Wei Guangde did not delve into the matter. Instead, he pretended not to know and fooled them. When he returned to the house, he asked the Jinyi Guards to use their own methods. Immediately afterwards, Wang Zhi obtained a confession.

The confession was originally meant to be given to Lu Bing, so Wei Guangde didn't bother with it and just left the job to the Jin Yiwei people.

Although he knew that that kind of edict would most likely be destroyed, Wei Guangde still reminded him that it depends on whether Wang Zhi is smart enough.

But judging from Wang Zhi's mental state today, it's probably not going to work.

"I will contact this matter as soon as possible. I don't know when your Excellency will see the confession."

The young Jin Yiwei bowed.

"The sooner the better, tonight if I can."

Naturally, Wei Guangde would not drag his feet. Wang Zhi only had two days, and it would also take time to clear the guards of the Procuratorate's Prison. They couldn't afford to wait.

"I'll do my best."

Seeing that Wei Guangde attached great importance to this confession, the captain did not delay and immediately clasped his fists.

"You guys go down, be quick, don't be discovered."

After Wei Guangde gave his instructions, he waved his hand and motioned for the two of them to leave.

If Jin Yiwei is stubborn in front of officials, it depends on who he is.

If they were ordered to take someone, they would naturally be arrogant. But it was different now. They were ordered to follow Wei Guangde on errands, so they naturally had to stick to their duties and act according to Wei Guangde's instructions.

The two saluted again before leaving the house. Not long after the two left, Zhang Ji came in.

He blocked the others at the door, and he was the only one standing guard there.

After following Wei Guangde for so long, he naturally knew that his master must have something to tell those two people, so he naturally didn't want others to hear about it.

Now that the two Jinyi guards left, Zhang Jicai entered the room to see if Wei Guangde had any other instructions.

"Get something to eat, I'm hungry."

Wei Guangde said directly.

Wei Guangde doesn't want to care about how Jin Yiwei completes his orders, nor does he want to know.

Insects have their own ways, and rats have their own ways. It may be a little troublesome for Jinyiwei to do things in rural areas and small counties, but in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, Wei Guangde thinks Jinyiwei should be able to handle such small things. In fact, the difficulty is whether there are people Wang Zhi has been monitored.

Wei Guangde did not underestimate Jin Yiwei's strength during this period, nor did he overestimate it.

The Jinyiwei claimed that they could monitor the entire Ming Dynasty, but in fact, they only relied on government offices at all levels and some local powerful families that needed to be focused on.

In these places, most of the Jinyiwei's spies were of low status and did some odd jobs, but they were very keen to monitor everything around them and tried their best to control everything that needed to be controlled.

In the Zhejiang Anchasi prison, there were really Jinyiwei spies. Their public identities were menial servants, but in fact they were military households and Jinyiwei's personal soldiers.

After the two Jinyiwei left Wei Guangde's house, they naturally contacted the Jinyiwei Baihu stationed in Hangzhou for help as soon as possible. It was safer to have these local snakes to operate.

At night, several people dressed as jailers carried baskets full of wine and food and entered the Zhejiang Anchasi prison.

The next day, Wei Guangde got up and exercised as usual, and then sat in the lobby to pick up today's breakfast and prepare to eat. Outside, Zhang Ji reported that the two Jinyiwei lieutenants wanted to see him.

"Let them in."

Wei Guangde opened his mouth and ordered.

Soon, the two entered the house, but they didn't look as energetic as yesterday, and their eyes were red as if they had suffered a lot.

"What's going on?"

Seeing their appearance, Wei Guangde was surprised.

"Sir, we went in there last night and got what you wanted."

The young lieutenant whispered back at this time, and then took out two pieces of paper from his arms and handed them to Wei Guangde.

"Didn't he rest well?"

Hearing this, Wei Guangde smiled, took the two pieces of paper and looked down at them, "Is he still cooperating?"

At first, Wei Guangde thought that both were confessions, but soon found that they were both confessions of Wang Zhi, but the records were different, and the signatures were the same, and he couldn't help but frowned slightly.

Then he looked through the second confession, and his brows suddenly relaxed, and he couldn't help but look up at the lieutenant.

When they came here, they did report their names, but Wei Guangde didn't care.

Both confessions described in detail who provided the pardon edict and the text in the edict, and the target was naturally Hu Zongxian.

In itself, the edict was indeed forged by Hu Zongxian, and he did not lie about this, but unfortunately, the edict had been taken away.

Regarding the whereabouts of the edict, one of the confessions detailed that it was taken away by people from the Governor's Office, and it also mentioned the record of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver that Wang Zhi brought with him, which was not stated in Wang Zhi's case file.

According to Wang Zhi, part of the silver was intended to be given to the dignitaries of the time, and some was intended to be presented to Emperor Jiajing.

Emperor Jiajing spent a lot of money on Taoism, and even Wang Zhi, who was far away overseas, had heard about it.

Carrying silver was also the reason why Wang Zhi thought he could save his life, because he could contribute a large amount of gold and silver to the court and the inner court every year.