Chapter 17 Chapter 17 The Demon Book

The planned action will be carried out sooner or later - in order to protect the position of the crown prince Chang Luo in the Ming Dynasty, the action to attack Concubine Zheng's easy storage was carried out in full swing in November. Early this morning, the vast majority of families in Beijing—especially those who were officials in the court— found a booklet at the door when they opened their doors in the morning. The pamphlet has only a few thin pages, and the content is an article titled "Continued Concerns and Discussions". Anyone with a discerning eye can tell at a glance that this is an imitation of the "Worry and Dangerous Discussion" written in the 26th year of Wanli.

At that time, the author of the article was named Zhu Dongji, and the original title of the article was "Postscript of Gui Fan Tu Shuo". The first disturbance caused by the imperial concubine and the "Illustration of Boudoir Fan". But now, since "Girlfriend Illustrated Story" has been circulated again, the turmoil will naturally come back; moreover, this time the scale has expanded a lot. In the past, it was nothing more than someone writing an article mobilizing several ministers to impeach. This time, someone not only wrote an article, engraved it, but also delivered it to every door in a carpet style.

Hundreds of thousands of copies were distributed overnight. How many people will be mobilized?Moreover, it is even more impossible for the matter to be a "temporary idea" or "personal action", it must have been carefully planned. The content of the article has only one point, and that is to attack Concubine Zheng, saying that she intends to be in the middle palace, and that she intends to abolish the registered crown prince Chang Luo and replace her own son Fu Wang Chang Xun; The imperial concubine vigorously promoted the list of ministers for this matter. The first one listed is Zhu Geng, the current cabinet scholar, and the reason is so absurd—the article says:

Said: How do you know it?Said: It is known to the public by Zhu Xiang.When the husband is in the field, there are no shortage of people, but those who must meet Zhu are named Geng, and Geng is Geng, so it means that he will be more established in the future. Therefore, Zhu Geng took the meaning of his name as "replacement" and became the culprit. However, this article is not an anonymous work; the clear signature behind the article is: Shi Kedu wrote it for Xiang Yingxiang in the middle of the matter, and he was in charge of Henan Daoshi Sichuan Daojian Street Shi Qiaoyingjia's book.

Both of them are real people, which greatly improves the credibility of the article and gives full play to the role of the article. In a short morning, from the court to the public, from the palace gates to the streets, there was a lot of discussion—the whole city of Beijing was erupting, no matter the officials or the common people, they were all in an uproar. Even the most conservative people who didn't dare to say anything because it involved the secrets of the palace, now they can't help it anymore; and the people who had been whispering about Zheng Guifei before became more and more unscrupulous , discussed it heartily.

What's more, because the title of the article is too "literary", the common people simply referred to the above example and called this article a "demon book"; The courtiers reacted in several ways. The first is the list mentioned in the article-these ten ministers who are accused of supporting Concubine Zheng to be in the middle palace, everyone is in danger. Since Zhu Geng, a cabinet scholar, ranked first among the ten, he was even more panicked. He immediately made a memorial to defend himself, and asked Emperor Wanli for permission to resign and return home. Other people attached to it also went online one after another. Although they did not resign like Zhu Geng, they defended with more fierce words, asking Emperor Wanli to find out the whole story of the dissemination of the article and arrest the mastermind so that the truth of the matter would be revealed. Give them a clean slate.

Officials who are friendly with these many people echo their voices, go to court together, and discuss in the court together; but some people are secretly gloating, and some continue to operate—the court is far more chaotic than the people Up a few points. Emperor Wanli, who hid in the Qixiang Palace, took drugs and didn't care about world affairs, couldn't hold on any longer. The first person to report this to Emperor Wanli was Chen Ju, the eunuch of Dongchang—he knew that Emperor Wanli was too lazy to answer anything, but he still bit the bullet and went to Qixiang Palace to report.

Because, this is a big matter, no one dares to take responsibility, and the matter has to be dealt with—— "In one night, not only the gates of the houses were scattered, but even dozens of volumes were placed at the gates of the imperial palace—" Chen Ju presented all the dozens of pamphlets collected by Jin Yiwei and scattered at the gate of the palace, and deduced: "When the weather is still dark and the school captains take turns to patrol, they secretly put them away—it is said that they were scattered among the people. Yes, there are hundreds of thousands of volumes!"

He knelt down on the ground, his face couldn't be seen clearly, but there was an obvious tremor in his voice - Emperor Wanli understood in his heart when he heard it, and he had to cheer up and ask a few words. Chen Ju is not someone who has never seen the world, if it is an ordinary matter, how can it make his voice tremble? So he asked, "What's written on it?" Chen Ju knelt down, immediately raised his hands above his head, and held up the dozens of booklets he had brought. Two young eunuchs went over to continue, and then one of them opened a book and read out loudly word by word.

Emperor Wanli was still lying down and listening, and after listening to a few sentences, he closed his eyes and remained motionless. However, this time, he did not fall into a deep sleep like usual - he closed his eyes, and the sound could still be heard in his ears; When asked, nothing bothered him. When the little eunuch finished reading this "demon book", he slowly opened his eyes. Immediately, he asked: "Is there anyone on the memorial?" So, the little eunuchs rushed to fetch them and read them aloud for him——the first letter read was Zhu Geng’s memorial: ——The minister, with a seventy-year-old sick person, covered the field and kept it secret. Enrong was out of sight, and death is now.Why do you want to change it?And slandering the hearts of traitors and thieves, and sitting on the scourge of the clan and the red clan——

He still closed his eyes and listened, and then asked Chen Ju: "This is Zhu Geng's—well, the article said there was 'Ten Chaos'. Among the ten people, who else played the performance?" Chen Ju swallowed his saliva forcefully, and held back a sentence: "The first of the ten chaos is Zheng Guifei!" Skipping this sentence, he reported the remaining "nine chaos" in detail: Minister of War Wang Shiyang Governor of Baoding Sun Wei Li Wen, Governor of Shaanxi Zhang Yangzhi, Shaoqing of Guanglu Temple Jin Yiwei Zhang Wei Zuo Dudu Wang Zhizhen Chen Ruzhong, Governor of the Beijing Camp Jin Yiwei Qianhu Wang Mingshi, Wang Chengen Zheng Guoxian, commander of Jinyiwei After listing them one by one, he added: "Except for Baoding and Shaanxi, which are far away and have not received it yet, the rest of the adults have all gone to school!" However, Emperor Wanli was too lazy to listen one by one, and he ordered: "Look carefully, if you have any special words to report, if there is nothing special, the words of several people are the same, just accept it!" Then asked: "What did Shen Yiguan say?" The little eunuchs quickly translated Shen Yiguan's memorial, but he didn't bother to listen to it word by word, and asked Chen Ju to explain the righteousness to him. Chen Ju read Shen Tongyi's memorabilia, and reported to him carefully and carefully: "Mr. Shen Ge, please be dismissed from office, thinking that it is a precept to serve without a reputation--and he was also mentioned in the demon book, and he was given a vicious tone. He slandered him; he asked Long Live God to send an order to arrest the Yamen and investigate it. Who wrote this demon book? Who published it? What is the plan? What is the plan? Who is the real master—" The words were the same, nothing new, and Emperor Wanli became impatient after listening halfway through, and interrupted before he finished speaking: "Okay—I have a verdict!" This time, he raised his upper body very rarely, and asked several eunuchs to support him to sit up. Then, after taking a sip of ginseng tea and clearing his throat, he solemnly instructed Chen Ju: "This 'demon book' is nonsense. Talking nonsense is an unforgivable crime—you need to spread banner schools, carefully visit secretly, and arrest yamen in Beijing and arrest them outside, and make strict arrests to ensure that you will be caught." Secondly, he instructed: "The first and second assistants of the cabinet and those listed in the 'Demon Book' do not need to resign - I understand in my heart that this is an unprovoked rumour, and you don't need to be disturbed, and you will still serve the court wholeheartedly!" Moreover, he added an order to Chen Ju: "Zhu Geng was wronged the most, go and comfort me for me!" Chen Ju hurriedly took orders: "Observe the order!" After a pause, Emperor Wanli ordered him again: "This demon book is written by Xiang Yingxiang and Qiao Yingjia—in my opinion, these two people are by no means stupid enough to write a demon book and list their own names. It is obvious that the enemy is falsely accusing you, you go and tell these two people, there is no need to panic, but you also need to think about the reason carefully and come back!" Of course Chen Ju said again: "Observe the order!" And Emperor Wanli had finished giving his instructions, so he lay down slowly and closed his eyes. Chen Ju knew what was going on, so of course he bowed his head respectfully and quit the palace. Emperor Wanli handled the matter very quickly. However, even when Chen Ju's footsteps were too far away to be heard, he had not fallen asleep with his eyes closed. His heart was clear, and he felt that something was choking him. He closed his eyes for a long time but couldn't let go of everything and fell asleep, so he simply opened his eyes. Subconsciously, he ordered: "Concubine Xuanzheng!" Of course the eunuchs said: "Observe the order!" Someone immediately went to do it, but when the eunuch's footsteps reached the threshold, his thoughts suddenly changed, and he corrected his order: "Ah, no, Crown Prince Xuan is here to see you!" He said clearly: "The crown prince must have been frightened—I'm here to have a few words with him!" However, being summoned by his father for the first time in his life, Chang Luo was even more panicked than when he heard about the "demon book". He didn't witness the so-called "demon book", but only listened to the eunuchs of Ciqing Palace tell him something; even the eunuchs didn't say the whole thing - the eunuchs only spoke half of what they said He was interrupted by the seasoned senior eunuch Wang An. Wang An was afraid that it would affect his psychology—— Taking care of Chang Luo for many years, Wang An knows everything about Chang Luo best; since he was a child, he and Concubine Wang Gong depended on each other for life, and were not taken seriously. All the supplies and treatment were poor, which seriously affected Chang Luo's psychological and physical development; not to mention his thin body , intelligence is surprisingly low, poor memory, slow response, not to mention the ability to think and judge in all aspects; in terms of temperament, Chang Luo is surprisingly timid, fearful, and easily frightened. In fact, he had long worriedly thought about Chang Luo: "I finally became the crown prince—but I don't know, is this a blessing or a curse?" Those who fought for Chang Luo to be the crown prince for many years, do they really understand Chang Luo? Sometimes, he secretly fantasizes from the bottom of his heart: "This young master has no ability at all, so he insists on making him the crown prince—in the future, when he succeeds to the throne, how will he manage state affairs? Let alone the court There are all civil and military officials in the palace, even these people in the palace, which one can he cover?" When it is more clear, it is sighing: "It's really better to give up the position of crown prince to others, go out and be a vassal, don't care about any major national affairs, and be at ease!" However, by chance, the idea of ​​enlisting Chang Luo won the victory - no one in the imperial court considered Chang Luo's ability and talent, just because he was the "eldest son" he desperately supported him! And Wang An can only hide these worries in his heart—he is an honest man, not to mention, he has worked in the palace for a long time, and knows the need to "be careful in words and deeds", and there are many things that he wants to return to. Anyway - he also made a principle for himself: "I just need to do my best to take care of this young master, other things are beyond my ability and responsibility - from now on, I will Just try to think as little as possible!" Therefore, when the other eunuchs mentioned the "demon book" to Chang Luo, not only did he not want to study it carefully, he immediately interrupted it, preventing the eunuchs from finishing their speech, and he also covered everything in one mouthful: "There is no business for Your Highness!" He told Chang Luo in the gentlest tone: "There is always some chaos outside, it's no big deal! It has nothing to do with His Highness, His Highness doesn't need to pay attention to it, it's better to study in the study by yourself!" On the one hand, he instructed the eunuchs in private: "Don't tell your highness about such messy things—you frightened your highness, and you all can't afford it!" He is very clear about Chang Luo's timidity and cowardice-the deepest memory is: when Chang Luo was finally registered as the crown prince, he had to move from the Jingyang Palace where he used to live with Wang Gongfei to the place where the crown prince lived. When she was in the Ciqing Palace, Chang Luo, who had reached adulthood, lived alone because she left Concubine Wang Gong for the first time. She was so scared that she curled up in the quilt and cried at night. She cried for several days until she gradually adapted to the life of living alone. improve-- And when he thought of this, he realized more and more that he had to do his best to protect Chang Luo, and try not to scare Chang Luo as much as possible. Unexpectedly, Emperor Wanli actually summoned Chang Luo—— Hearing the summons on the first day of junior high school, Chang Luo's face turned white in an instant, and his hands and feet couldn't stop trembling. As soon as the visitor left, he took Wang An's hand and asked in a low voice, "What should I say to Father?" Wang An thought for a while, and made a judgment: "Just ask for your peace - first listen to the instructions of the Long Live Lord. If the Long Live Lord mentions the demon book, His Highness will say that he doesn't know it, and no one will show it to me; that's all right!" However, Chang Luo was still afraid: "You accompany me—" Wang An was duty-bound, and resolutely accepted the order: "Yes—serving servants!" However, this trip turned out to be as expected by Wang An, and the situation was not too serious, and there was no need to say anything to Emperor Wanli. Moreover, Emperor Wanli himself performed extremely well - when Chang Luo arrived, he had already gotten up and sat upright. After Chang Luo saluted, he showed the greatest kindness in his life, and said to Chang Luo with good words: "Now there are people talking nonsense outside-you don't need to panic, and they don't do anything about you; you just go to read and write. , close the door earlier, open the door later, don't ask what is right and wrong!" Then he told Wang An: "The crown prince should be well served—take care of the gentlemen who lecture, and use extra snacks!" All these words he said only made Chang Luo and Wang An repeatedly kowtow in praise, and they also played a great role-Chang Luo felt his love, and gradually stopped the trembling of his body; after a while, he also reluctantly I can say a few words about his question and answer. Although what Emperor Wanli asked was nothing more than ordinary words such as "what books have you read recently", this extremely rare moment of father and son getting along with each other made the atmosphere of the entire Qixiang Palace very good . Moreover, after a conversation, Chang Luo saluted and resigned. Emperor Wanli not only ordered to reward four boxes of meals, four pairs of hand boxes, and four bottles of wine, but also stood up like never before, and personally sent Chang Luo out of the eaves of the palace. Like a belated father's love that suddenly fell out of thin air—— On the way back to the Ciqing Palace, Chang Luo’s mood was of course different—it was only in his twenties that he first tasted his father’s love. He was a little surprised, a little dazed, and a little flattered, and he couldn’t even tell what it was like for himself. . The seasoned Wang An felt something unusual, so he made a suggestion to Chang Luo: "In the future, when Your Highness is free, you should visit Qixiang Palace more and listen to the teachings of the Lord Long Live!" He felt that in the past, Emperor Wanli's indifference towards Chang Luo was probably due to the fact that father and son rarely got along with each other; this time, with such a good start, as long as it continues well, the relationship between father and son will definitely be more harmonious. And Chang Luo also felt very good because of this trip, he was in a good mood, the original panic completely disappeared, and he responded to this suggestion with a full mouth. Unexpectedly, all this "goodness" only lasted for a few days - things changed drastically again, and he fell into panic again; that was Guo Zhengyu, one of the lecturers he gave lectures, who had always been respected by him. He was arrested for being involved in the demon book case. Moreover, Guo Zhengyu was not the only one who was arrested and imprisoned because of the "Demon Book Case"—— Due to Emperor Wanli's "strict arrest" and "Wu Huo" orders, Dongchang and Jinyiwei, who were in charge of investigation and arrest, were under great pressure, and they all hoped to capture the author and messenger of the demon book as soon as possible so that they could communicate; Therefore, not only were the banner schools widely used for reconnaissance, but also as long as they were considered suspicious or had been informed by others, they were first arrested and imprisoned, and then tortured one by one. In just a few days, hundreds of people were arrested from the people. , although I can't find out why, it is of no help to the investigation of the case; however, this arrest has made everyone in the capital feel insecure, and they dare not talk about anything casually, and the originally boiling voice has dropped a lot , the streets and alleys have become calm, but it is a very big effect. However, the arrest of the officials was a case of slander involving power struggles, and Guo Zhengyu's involvement was not a matter of "no wind and waves". The one in charge of the matter is the head of the cabinet, Shen Yiguan,—— However, the reason why Shen Yiguan used the demon book case to purge Guo Zhengyu was just a layer of smoke—the number one enemy in his heart, and the person who insisted on knocking him down was actually Shen Li. Shen Li and him are ministers in the same palace, and both are cabinet scholars, but they are third assistants after him and Zhu Geng; although Shen Li is inferior to him in official position, his reputation among the people is far higher than that of Zhu Geng. It has already made him jealous and hated, and he has to be on guard all the time: "I don't know when it will climb on top of me - it will take my position as chief assistant!" In this demon book, both he and Zhu Geng were listed, but only Shen Li was not listed, adding a suspicion to his original jealousy. "There are only three people in the cabinet, why is Shen Li the only one? Could it be that he instructed him at all?" After the thoughts turned here, they couldn't be taken back, and they continued to develop all the way - finally, he made up his mind: "It's not him, it's him!" What's more, with the demon book case this time, both himself and Zhu Geng had to avoid suspicion because they were listed, and stayed at home. Only Shen Li was appointed to the cabinet—this was too much of a threat to him: "If you take advantage of this In the spare time, Shen Li behaved badly in front of the Long Live Lord, and let the Long Live Lord promote him as the first assistant?" Thinking about it this way, he couldn't tolerate Shen Li even more, and he was afraid that Shen Li would spend more days alone in the cabinet and take over more things alone, so he acted quickly. He first ordered a few officials to report to the officials who worked for him, accusing Chen Chenli and Guo Zhengyu of being involved in the Yaoshu case, and then ordered Jin Yiwei's men to search and arrest, and even surrounded Shen Li's mansion for three days and nights. And the reason why Guo Zhengyu was implicated was another grievance—— Guo Zhengyu was a Jinshi in the eleventh year of Wanli. He was selected as a good scholar and taught editing. When he first entered the library, Shen Yiguan was a teacher; Make friends with Shen Li, who is highly valued by scholars-the rift has been deeply planted as early as this time, and it is not surprising that it has developed all the way since then. The two often have disagreements, which have accumulated for many years, and not long ago, they had a falling out because of the "Prince Chu" case. It turned out that King Chu Gong had been suffering from impotence and had never been cured, so he had no heirs. Unexpectedly, after King Chu Gong passed away in the fifth year of Longqing, the palace servant Hu gave birth to two posthumous sons, one named Hua. Kui, one named Huabi, was raised together in the palace. Someone with knowledge of the inside story also revealed the news: This is Princess Chu Gong fearing that King Gong would be abolished because she would have no offspring, so she ordered Guo Lun to bring her two children from outside to raise her. Hua Bi was the child of Wang Yu, a slave of Wang Ruzhen, a member of the concubine's clan. At that time, someone also pointed out this matter; but because Princess Chu Gong insisted very much, the court also let it go because it was just a "housework matter" and it was not easy to manage. In the eighth year of Wanli, when the two children were ten years old, Hua Kui succeeded the king of Chu, and Hua Bi also became the king of Xuanhua. Unexpectedly, many years later, this matter gave birth to a new disturbance. Hua Yue, a patriarch of Chu, married the daughter of Wang Ruyan. Knowing the inside story, he felt unwilling, so he united twenty-nine members of the clan and went to the capital to criticize Hua Kui, saying that Hua Kui was a son of a different surname. It is not appropriate to inherit the throne; and Hua Kui also collected all kinds of illegal things in Huayue and reported them in Shushu. The two parties complained to each other, and it happened that Guo Zhengyu was in charge of the deployment—the case was in his hands, so he immediately showed his upright side of his personality, and carefully deduced the antecedents of the case. Now Hua Kui was in a hurry, and quickly asked someone to talk to Guo Zhengyu, willing to give a bribe, but please don't chase the past. How could Guo Zhengyu accept it? Therefore, Hua Kui turned to Shen Yiguan for entrustment—— Shen Yiguan accepted the bribe and settled the matter easily - soon, the court came to a conclusion that Huayue was a false accusation. Moreover, Shen always took advantage of this to attack Guo Zhengyu: he ordered many people to go to Shu, pointing out that Huayue's censure was ordered by Guo Zhengyu. Guo Zhengyu had no choice but to try his best to defend himself and prove his innocence; but since he was framed by a traitor, what's the use of being innocent?What good is it to defend yourself? He ended up "returning to his hometown after listening to investigation". When sadly getting ready to go on the road, he didn't say anything, but only let out a light sigh and took a step. What he conveyed was the complete discouragement and disappointment of a well-educated and honest gentleman towards the dirty political environment—he secretly made up his mind that when he returned home this time, he would be a countryman in his hometown of Jiangxia, and he would never return to his hometown again. Officials in Beijing said: "Since you are unable to take care of the world at the same time, let's be a person who takes care of yourself alone!" After serving as an official for twenty years, his only feeling is that he is powerless, and he no longer has any hope for the politics of the Ming Dynasty. He was walking by water, walking along the river, and the road was full of smoke and water—— Unexpectedly, Shen Yiguan, who is good at political struggle, would kill him even after he quit the officialdom—— As soon as his boat reached Yangcun, Captain Jinyi, who was instructed by Shen Yiguan, caught up and arrested him, together with fifteen maidservants and servants on board.