Chapter 589 588 Arresting

"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 the matter had been destroyed by Hu Zongxian, the officials who participated in the arrest and interrogation of Wang Zhi at the 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 once 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 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 did not keep its word, 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 Emperor Jiajing's fault for this matter, 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 examination in the 26th year 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 top scholar, he actually selected Li Chunfang as the top scholar.

It was also said that when selecting the top scholar, Emperor Jiajing originally wanted to select Zhang Chun as the top scholar, but when he picked up the pen, cinnabar dripped on Li Chunfang's paper.

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

There are many famous names in the list of Jinshi in the 26th year of Jiajing.

Zhang Juzheng, known as a reformer in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, ranked ninth in the second class.

Yang Jisheng, known as the first tough guy in the Ming Dynasty, ranked eleventh in the second class.

Wang Shizhen was a famous historian and writer at the time. He was known as one of the Seven Sons of the Later Ming Dynasty. He was said to be good at writing novels. He ranked eightyth in the second class.

Yin Shizhan, an old acquaintance of Wei Guangde, was also on the list this year, but he was only ranked 106th in the third class. After him was Wang Daokun, a famous dramatist in later generations.

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

No matter how Li Chunfang got the title, he was grateful to Emperor Jiajing.

Hearing that Hu Zongxian was so treasonous, he was immediately furious.

"Okay, let's go to Xiyuan to meet His Majesty now."

The current situation is what Xu Jie has dreamed of. With Li Chunfang's support, these evidences are no longer evidence, not to mention that Zhang Yongming's matter is also easy to investigate.

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

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

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

You know, others don't have physical evidence, but there is evidence in the Jinyiwei archives.

At the beginning, Wang Zhi's confession was handed over to Jinyiwei, so it was naturally archived.

As long as Emperor Jiajing saw the archives in the Jinyiwei, he would be sure that this was true.

No matter what the purpose was, forging an imperial edict was a capital crime. This was something that touched the emperor's bottom line, because it would shake the imperial power, and anyone sitting on the throne would not be safe.

However, so far, the entire court, even the censors in the Censorate, knew nothing about this matter, but it had already been exposed.

Wei Guangde was still diligently proofreading the "Yongle Encyclopedia" in the Proofreading Office, and had no idea that Xu Jie's big plan was going to succeed.

At this time in Yongshou Palace, Emperor Jiajing had already met with three people, two cabinet elders and the Left Censor of the Censorate. Such a formation was obviously a sign of something big.

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

Just when he was looking for an official who could match Xu Jie in the court, he didn't expect that one of them would be impeached and reported for 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 Censor Zhang, Hu Zongxian's claim that Wang Zhi surrendered was actually caused by his forged pardon edict."

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

"Pardon edict?"

Emperor Jiajing was speechless. How could he not 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 upon hearing the news, and the court could avoid the Japanese threat without fighting."

Xu Jie did not point out who proposed this opinion, but he knew that Emperor Jiajing should still remember it.

As he expected, Emperor Jiajing's face changed when he heard this, and he looked at Zhang Yongming and asked: "Does the Censorate have evidence for this matter?"

At this time, Zhang Yongming could only stand up and explain to Emperor Jiajing in detail what he knew.

For a time, Emperor Jiajing's face was uncertain.

If the imperial edict 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 issue a pardon edict to Wang Zhi.

Although Yan Song did mention this matter to him 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, quickly tell the Jinyiwei to check the Hangzhou documents to see if there is any mention of this matter."

The words of the ministers need to be judged first, but the information recorded by the Jinyiwei does not need to be judged.

Emperor Jiajing did not think that the hands of the court officials could reach into the Jinyiwei and tamper with the records of the Jinyiwei.

Such a big thing happened in Hangzhou, and the Jinyiwei Baihusuo in Hangzhou could not be indifferent, and it should be reported.

Huang Jin agreed and hurried out of the hall, waved to a eunuch, and gave him a few instructions, and then the eunuch ran all the way out of Yongshou Palace.

Soon, when the imperial edict was passed to the Northern Pacification Office, Zhu Xixiao and his men hurried to the place where the documents were stored, and turned out all the documents sent from Hangzhou, especially the documents around the 37th year of Jiajing, and read them one by one.

"Sir, please take a look at this."

Soon, several documents were turned out and handed over to Zhu Xixiao.

Zhu Xixiao read these documents, including Wang Zhi's confession when he was secretly interrogated, and the report about the rumors that appeared in Hangzhou later.

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

Apart from other things, the Jinyiwei who participated in the original 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 left Beizhen Fusi directly, and rushed directly 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 arrest 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 fierce 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 await 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 Nanzhen was actually more terrifying than the notorious Fusi Prison in Beizhen. 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.