Chapter 564 563 Confession

Lu Bu was a spy of the Jinyiwei, and Wei Guangde had long suspected him, but he had never thought of touching him.

Anyway, he was not plotting a rebellion, so why bother dealing with him? It would be better to leave an eye in the palace to reassure them.

Wei Guangde only needed to be careful about his words and deeds in front of Lu Bu, as long as he did not say anything radical.

Therefore, leaving such a person who was not sure whether he was arranged by the Jinyiwei or the East Factory was not a bad thing. At least Emperor Jiajing would know that he had been editing the Yongle Encyclopedia during this period, which was a great achievement.

After Yan Shifan was brought to justice, the Ministry of Justice became busy, and together with the Censorate and the Dali Temple, they began to interrogate Yan Shifan, Luo Longwen and others many times.

However, a group of old scholars focused their interrogation on the private revenge and the crackdown on honest officials during Yan Song's reign, as well as the slander of the court and the private recruitment of elites by Lin Run, which were resolved one by one by Yan Shifan who was well prepared.

Yan Shifan admitted that he was indeed responsible for the so-called revenge and attack on officials who opposed Yan Song, including the use of frame-ups, which directly led to the unjust deaths of Yang Jisheng and Shen Lian.

As for slandering the court, he firmly denied it. The private placement of Jingzhuang was naturally his own long-term worker. Yan Shifan did not deny that his family had a lot of land. With so much land, he naturally needed to recruit more workers to help farm.

The interrogation at the Ministry of Justice attracted the attention of many people in the court at first, but when Wanping and Daxing counties, together with the instructors of the school, gathered all the students in Minglun Hall to investigate the incident of false registration, which caused bloody conflicts, everyone's attention shifted to Xu Yu, the Imperial Censor of Education, because this matter was inseparable from him.

However, Xu Yu himself was actually helpless.

Since he returned to Beijing from the Imperial Censor of Salt Inspection to serve as the Imperial Censor of Education, he received many reports about many students in Wanping and Daxing counties who took the exam with false registration. He naturally discussed and dealt with them many times with the Left Imperial Censor Zhang Yongming.

Because a large number of Beijing officials were to be arranged to go on business trips abroad, a lot of old accounts accumulated over the years were naturally to be opened. The issue of Beijing students impersonating their parents was also mentioned by Zhang Yongming of the Censorate, so naturally the Ministry of Education also included this issue in the scope of handling.

When this happened, there was the improper handling of the case by the Imperial Censor Xu Yu, but after all, the impersonating scholars were guilty and deliberately fanned the flames to create the illusion that all the students were oppressed by the court officials to deceive the world.

However, this led to a fierce conflict between the students and the officials, which was ultimately improper handling.

At this time, although most of the Yan faction's followers in the capital were sent on business trips abroad, the Beijing officials who stayed behind were not a monolithic group after all.

Although Xu Jie and Yuan Wei were powerful, thinking back to how Yan Song's power invaded the court and the public during his reign, there were still officials who continued to impeach him, which shows that the third force dominated by the clean stream in the court still exists.

Their existence is also a help for the court to rectify the source.

When the cabinet discussed how to deal with the matter with the Ministry of Rites and the Censorate, He Qiming, the Censor of the Ministry of Rites, had already impeached Xu Yu, the Censor of Education, for his false learning and talkativeness, which had long lost the hearts of scholars.

Xu Jie was in the cabinet at this time and handed He Qiming's memorial to Yuan Wei.

"It is troublesome to injure the student Ren Ziyu and others. If he was a fake scholar, it would be fine, but he was just a foolish young man who was instigated by others."

For them, this kind of person is the most annoying.

It has nothing to do with you, but you think you are stubborn and take the lead in colliding with the arresting officers. The purpose is just to save the arrested classmates. How pedantic, you have no ability to distinguish between good and evil.

"Xu Yu was present at the time and handled it improperly. It is really difficult to deal with him. Your Majesty should make a holy judgment."

After reading the memorial, Yuan Wei handed it to Zhang Yongming. After all, he was from the Censorate. He proposed the cabinet's handling opinions, but he still had to listen to the attitude of the other side first.

"When I came here, I went to see Li Shangshu, and he also said that the Ministry of Rites would not hold Xu Yushi responsible for his misconduct in this matter. Everything is for the court after all."

After reading He Qiming's impeachment, Zhang Yongming felt relieved. He thought that Emperor Jiajing would at most reprimand Xu Yu, and there was nothing wrong with it.

As long as Xu Yu could step back a little at that time and not let the situation worsen in front of Minglun Hall, and arrest the fake scholar afterwards, the bloody conflict could be avoided.

After hearing this, Xu Jie just glanced at Zhang Yongming and then kept silent.

In fact, this kind of thing is not big or small.

If it gets out of hand, it is really possible that the court will lose the heart of the scholars, which is a major event that shakes the foundation of the country.

It sounds illusory, but in this society, it really eats this.

In fact, the so-called heart of the scholars, which seems insignificant, is what later generations call the heart of the people.

In the eyes of scholars, only their fellow people are worthy of being called the people.

The people's heart is actually the heart of scholars.

The righteous will have many supporters, while the unrighteous will have few supporters. The court was not wrong in this matter, but it involves the people's heart, so I'm afraid it won't be so easy to deal with.

"Go back and tell Xu Yu to write a self-defense petition as soon as possible. This matter can't be delayed. We must cut the Gordian knot and end it as soon as possible."

Xu Jie said to Zhang Yongming.

Zhang Yongming understood. He also understood the seriousness of this matter, but he thought there would be no punishment, and reprimand was the biggest punishment.

The Prince Yu's Mansion naturally knew about this matter, but this matter did not catch the Prince Yu's eyes, nor would it attract the attention of Wei Guangde, Zhang Juzheng and others. They didn't have any ideas and just let the court deal with it.

However, when Xu Yu impeached He Qiming as an evil party, Wei Guangde brought it up and had a good time with Zhang Juzheng for a while.

"The same goes for Xu Xu. You just need to report the incident in detail. His Majesty will naturally be able to distinguish right from wrong. Unexpectedly, he said that He Qiming was a member of the evil party and directly escalated the incident into a dispute between psychology and Neo-Confucianism."

Zhang Juzheng said cheerfully.

In fact, both he and Wei Guangde have read about psychology and Neo-Confucianism, but they would never say that they belong to that school. They are more practical.

If it is beneficial to the current situation, their identities can be switched back and forth between the two factions, so there is no need to compete.

However, this kind of competing mentality is the correct solution that most of the scholars of this era understand and support.

"Xu Xu can't be used in a big way."

Wei Guangde laughed softly.

He couldn't see the situation clearly and spoke indiscriminately. Zhang Yongming did the same. Why did he find such a thing? It's no wonder that Xu Xu overturned Yan Maoqing's salt policy reform and demanded restoration to the original status quo, which directly caused the court to lose one million taels of silver in revenue.

"There are many pedantic people in Neo-Confucianism."

Zhang Juzheng shook his head and commented, "It's no wonder that mental learning is flourishing now."

Xu Xu's self-defense undoubtedly made the situation between North Korea and China tense again.

The imperial court itself is divided into clear stream and turbid stream. Since the emergence of Xinxue, the official factions have added Neo-Confucianism school and Xinxue school. If the struggle between the two Li factions really develops to that point, the situation in the government will inevitably get out of control.

However, Emperor Jiajing, who liked to watch his courtiers fight each other the most, was uncharacteristically different this time. Instead of hanging up the matter and letting the courtiers fight for a while as usual, he issued an order the next day.

"When you raise a voice to discuss impeachment, you are rash, and when you argue against someone, they are violent. They are all not official. Each of them will receive two months of salary."

Amidst the chaos, forty-three years of Jiajing passed.

In the first month of the forty-fourth year of the Jiajing reign, as in the past, Zhu Xizhong, Duke of Chengguo, performed a worship ceremony to heaven at the Xuanji Palace. Instead of the imperial palace, all civil and military officials and pilgrim officials went to the Huangji Gate to perform five bows and three kowtows. Officials expressed their congratulations, exempted them from banquets, and gave them festival money.

Wei Guangde felt that he had never seen the Zhengdan court meeting since he became an official, and it seemed that he could only wait until King Yu ascended the throne to be lucky enough to see that grand scene.

However, half a month has passed, and no news has reached the capital about the matter Gao Gong mentioned at the beginning. This makes Wei Guangde a little confused. Has the situation changed?

However, by this time, the Ministry of Punishments had already sorted out Yan Shifan's charges, and they were waiting for Xu Jie and Prince Yu's Mansion to review them before sending them to Xiyuan.

Wei Guangde was once again urgently recalled to the palace by King Yu. Before, King Yu asked Wei Guangde to go to the Ministry of Punishment more often, but he found an excuse to shirk it. He was worried that the matter would spread to the ears of Emperor Jiajing of Xiyuan and cause trouble.

King Yu also understood the truth, so he nodded and approved what he said.

But now that the palace has received the charges compiled by the Ministry of Punishment, this matter cannot be publicized. Huang Guangsheng, the Minister of Punishment, only copied two copies and sent them to the Xu Jie Office of the Cabinet and Prince Yu's Mansion.

Wei Guangde frowned as he took the charge sheet from Li Fang. What was written in it?

Old accounts and the unjust killings of Yang Jisheng and Shen Lian are all listed among them. Does Huang Guangsheng feel that his neck is harder than a knife?

In the entire crime, there is almost no mention of Yan Shifan's intention to rebel. They are all the evil things he did in order to gain power. Many of the key things were actually approved by Emperor Jiajing, either explicitly or secretly.

As for Yang Jisheng, Emperor Jiajing may or may not know about it, but judging from the lack of investigation after the incident, he may have had a premonition about it, otherwise he would never have been allowed to stay in prison for two years.

Yan Shifan admitted that he bribed the jailer to torture and extort a confession, which led to his death. It seemed to be a serious crime, but it still depends on the extent of the involvement of Emperor Jiajing.

If Yang Jisheng's death was really ordered by Emperor Jiajing, the Yan family was actually following the order. If they come out to talk about it now, wouldn't it be a slap in Emperor Jiajing's face?

"Your Highness, this charge is unacceptable."

Wei Guangde shook his head after reading it hastily.

"Why?"

Of course King Yu read it, and he felt the same way as the evidence of the crimes of the Yan Party's traitors was listed in it.

Just ask anyone, and no one will say that Yan Shifan is a treacherous and sycophantic minister.

"A strict party cannot be judged as a 'treacherous party'. Otherwise, if the charge is brought to His Majesty, the matter will just go unnoticed, and Huang Shangshu and others will have to suffer."

Wei Guangde replied, and then he explained some doubts in Yang Jisheng's death to King Yu in detail.

Of course, the key point is the attitude of Emperor Jiajing towards this matter that cannot be verified.

"How could you say that?"

After hearing what Wei Guangde said, King Yu couldn't believe it.

"Your Highness, regardless of whether His Majesty was deceived at the time or otherwise, for them to overturn the verdict in this matter is undoubtedly to say that His Majesty mishandled the situation in the first place, which is embarrassing to His Majesty.

Even if His Majesty knew that he had made a mistake in dealing with it at the beginning, he would never admit it now.

His mistakes can only be corrected by you, Your Highness. "

Finally, Wei Guangde said softly to Prince Yu, "I think this matter will definitely be mentioned in the edict, so that you can bring order to the chaos and give His Highness a chance to clean up people's hearts."

"this"

King Yu didn't know what to say for a while. Even if Wei Guangde was right, he always felt that it conflicted with what he had learned, and he couldn't change his mind. But even if it was wrong, he didn't dare to gamble.

This matter was not a trivial matter. It was related to a major event in the future of the government. He would never tolerate Yan Shifan coming out of the Ministry of Punishment Prison.

In fact, what they didn't know was that Yan Shifan also noticed something was wrong at this time.

Since he entered the capital, the foreshadowing he left behind has not been in contact with him.

No matter how tightly Huang Guangsheng and others guarded the prison, it was absolutely impossible that no one would pass on the news to him.

It takes a thousand days to be a thief, but there is no way to guard against a thief for a thousand days.

As long as you are willing, the message will definitely come through.

It's understandable that one or two people change their minds. What he prepared was not just a few, but many secret tricks.

Therefore, Yan Shifan readily admitted many crimes and even explained in detail how he murdered those upright ministers.

Yan Shifan's confession was a treasure for Huang Guangsheng and other investigators. Unexpectedly, Yan Shifan admitted all his culpability and could finally give an explanation to his colleagues who died unjustly. At this time, he was also carrying that He went to visit Mr. Xu Ge's house with a copied confession.

It's just that Huang Guangsheng has only been in the capital for a short time as an official, and he doesn't know the secrets at all.

Yan Shifan knew the character of Emperor Jiajing too well. He was headstrong and face-saving. If the emperor accused Yan Shifan, it would be equivalent to a slap in the face, so Yan Shifan was confident.

"How should I write the confession?"

King Yu was a little shaken by what Wei Guangde said and asked immediately.

"Yan Shifan is a 'rebel' rather than a 'treacherous party'. This must be done to protect His Majesty's reputation."

Wei Guangde began to say: "Since he is a rebel, there must be evidence of rebellion. Lin Run's accusation of slandering the court and private equity are only evidence, and his crime is"

Speaking of this, Wei Guangde hesitated for a moment, and finally said cruelly: "Yan Shifan colluded with the Japanese pirates and intended to rebel. In addition to Lin Run's accusation, the best evidence is Luo Longwen, who was captured with him.

Luo Longwen was not only familiar with the big Japanese pirates Xu Hai and Wang Zhi, but also had close contacts with other pirate leaders. There are traces of this.

When Luo Longwen served as an aide in Hu Zongxian's mansion, he wiped out the Japanese pirates in Xuhai. Hu Zongxian also asked for credit for Luo Longwen, and later served as an aide in Yan Shifan's mansion.

Why did Luo Longwen escape from Guangxi and go to Fenyi, Jiangxi instead of returning to She County in Huizhou? This was to maintain the connection between the Japanese pirates and Yan Shifan."

Wei Guangde told King Yu in detail the rhetoric he compiled to deceive Yan Shifan, and asked King Yu to judge from the side to see if there were any omissions.

However, King Yu was not stupid now. He said that when the son of the chief minister of the dynasty contacted the Japanese pirates in order to rebel, didn't he know that it would be more useful to contact the border generals?

Wei Guangde's words are logically feasible, but they are flawed according to Yan Shifan's identity and status.

As he shook his head, Wei Guangde just smiled and said: "As long as it makes sense logically, your Majesty will understand."

"Um?"

King Yu was slightly startled when he heard this, and then asked: "Is this the only crime?"

"It is mentioned in Lin Run's memorial that 'the people of the world used Peng Kong's words to use the king's spirit in Nanchangcang to rule the country and create a king.'"

Wei Guangde said calmly.