Chapter 7 Chapter 7: Striking Suspicious Clouds

After the assassin was captured, he was handed over to Zhu Xiong, the gatekeeper of the Donghua Gate, and Liu Tingyuan, the imperial censor who inspected the imperial city, was in charge of interrogation. The gains from the first interrogation were minimal. The assassin admitted that his name was Zhang Chai, a native of Jingeryu, Jizhou, and then he started talking nonsense—as if he had lost his mind, and said some inexplicable things. Liu Tingyuan had no choice but to play it according to the facts.However, no matter what the confession that Liu Tingyuan heard, the public opinion in the capital has already boiled over, and everyone is guessing and discussing with one voice, and the target is unanimously aimed at Concubine Zheng.

Almost eight or nine out of ten people believed that this assassin named Zhang Chai was bought and instigated by Concubine Zheng, who ordered him to sneak into the palace and kill the Crown Prince Chang Luo so that her own son, Fu Wang Changxun, would be killed. To inherit the crown prince. It is convincing, but not without basis. Someone with a heart bluntly pointed out a few points: "The imperial palace has always been heavily guarded, how can ordinary people get in? To escape the heavy guards, unless it is a fairy!" Those who echoed said, "That's right! Even if someone can fly over a wall, it's hard to hide in broad daylight and under the eyes of everyone!"

The second point is: "Even if you enter the palace, you don't know where the Ciqing Palace is, and where the crown prince is!" The person who echoed said: "Yes, unless someone leads the way!" After a few words, the conclusion became clearer: "If it's not Concubine Zheng, who else?" Of course, it cannot be Emperor Wanli himself, or the queen who has been ill for a long time—— Therefore, this inference has been extended: "Since more than 20 years ago, Concubine Zheng has had the heart to set up her own son-there has been no interruption in the past 20 years!"

"Everyone, count them carefully. How many disputes have arisen? There are too many to count!" "Isn't it? Just the 'demon book', there have been two troubles-a few years ago, the 'Wang Yue's crime', isn't it related to the ambitions of Zheng Guifei's mother and son?" Everyone talked about each other, the more people said, the more people participated, the louder the voice--of course the pressure on the court was heavier. Emperor Wanli gritted his teeth in hatred: "Why do so many things always happen, teaching me to live a life with clean ears!"

However, after all, the matter involved the inner palace, and the "assassination" was even more important; Liu Tingyuan couldn't find out what happened, so he had to order that the three courts be interrogated, and the confession must be tried to clarify the truth and wrong. So, the case was sent to the Ministry of Criminal Justice——it became more and more serious. The criminal department, which was already understaffed, took this case as the most important thing, put down all other cases, and gathered all the manpower to handle this monstrous case. However, the discussion among the common people did not stop for a while because of the efforts of the officials of the Ministry of Criminal Justice—everyone did not understand Concubine Zheng, no matter what the truth of the case was, they first identified Concubine Zheng as the culprit.

This kind of situation, no official can improve and bear it. As a result, Emperor Wanli became more and more anxious. The case of the assassination of the crown prince has turned into a prairie fire, and it is out of control. Even if he does not go to the court, he cannot be completely free from interference. However, although there are many ministers in the court, no one can handle it properly-every time. As soon as he heard the reports from the eunuchs, he wished he could beat people with his hands. And this day, a light flashed in his heart: "Why don't you ask Ye Xianggao to come back and take care of this matter!"

Ye Xianggao became an official, of course, because he was full of powerlessness towards the Ming Dynasty and resigned several times; he was also tired of Ye Xianggao's old love to persuade him, so he simply agreed-but now he regrets it a bit. After all, Ye Xianggao is a capable person—— He thought of two years ago, in the 41st year of Wanli, Ye Xianggao handled a suspicious case about the crown prince Chang Luo in a very clever way, and made a big deal into a small one, so that there was no disturbance. It was a boring man, Wang Yueqian, who reported that the "traitor" Confucianism was instructed by Concubine Zheng to poison the crown prince to death; he also cited many "witchcraft" used by Confucianism as evidence.

The matter was handed over to Ye Xianggao, who schemingly used another name to arrest a group of criminals and imprisoned them, and ordered the three courts to interrogate them severely; The troubles like this time are full of troubles, out of control, and they are handled without knowing it, as if nothing happened at all. He sighed, and ordered the eunuch: "Let someone find a way to restore Ye Xianggao!" On the other hand, he instructed the eunuch: "Go to the Ministry of Punishments every day to see if there is anything wrong?" Then, he also simply said: "The longer the matter is delayed, the worse it will be - go tell a few people in the Ministry of Punishment, and follow Wang Yueqian's precedent!"

His meaning is very clear: Just like last time, just find any reason to execute Zhang Chai, once everything is done, you can also seal the mouths of the people, and stop talking about it. However, what he didn't expect was: Two years ago, the king was sentenced to death and said that he would silence all the incidents and annihilate all incidents. Before the case was spread, it could be done without any traces or disputes without anyone noticing it. Now that the facts of the case have been leaked, how can there be such a "covering the sky with one hand" again? What's more, because this matter has become the subject of the most heated discussions among the people, many officials from the Ministry of Criminal Justice have made up their minds to investigate the case to the bottom in order to comply with public opinion.

Wang Zhicai, who is in charge of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs, Hu Shixiang and Yue Junsheng, the doctors, Wang Shichang, the minister of the Dali Temple, and Si Zhenglu, who is in the household department—although these officials are not first- and second-rank officials, they are The best middle-level officials have always had an excellent official reputation and clear hope, because this matter has become more and more integrated with public opinion-if Zheng Guifei, Fu Wang, Zheng Guotai and others are pulled out, then It is difficult. The follow-up domino reaction will be more serious and more intense——

Sure enough, the matter dragged on for nearly a year before it came to an end, and the damage continued all the way. Zhang Chai confessed a lot of inside information and was executed. After these confessions were reported by the ministers, although they were put on the shelf by Emperor Wanli and the masterminds of Concubine Zheng and others were not held accountable, the inside information of the case was widely known to the people. And it spread to all parts of the country, becoming a topic of discussion in the streets and alleys, and an evil thing known to every household. After all, paper cannot wrap fire, but this fire is evil fire, evil fire, silently and invisiblely burning up all the resources of the Ming Dynasty, including justice, right and wrong, and morality in people's hearts.