Chapter 18 Section 18

So the Ministry of Internal Affairs notified the respect room, the head of the respect room did not dare to make decisions, and had to discuss it with Li Lianying. "From the Ministry of Internal Affairs, depending on Liu Ye's intentions, the matter is afraid that there will be troubles. It is said that outsiders can't enter the Changchun Palace. If you want to do it, you have to start from the inside. I advise you to do it yourself." "Aren't we just doing it? Alright," Li Lianying said, "Let's make a show for them to see." So I conducted a secret investigation, and I went to a suspected young eunuch to torture him.

The little eunuch who was tortured had nothing to do with the case, he just wanted to talk about Jia Fu.He likes to talk a lot, and has said several times that this is a trick Li Sanshun came up with to frame the guards.He was not the only one who said this, everyone believed it, even Li Lianying was no exception.But the eunuch always has to help the eunuch, and he should be punished just because he doesn't know how close he is, how his own people hurt his own people, and what a big deal it is?Li Lianying warned again and again not to speak nonsense casually, for fear that it would spread to the ears of the Empress Dowager Cixi and cause a big prison.

In order to warn the public and establish her prestige, Li Lianying took this opportunity to deal with it severely.Asked the little eunuch how he wanted Li Sanshun to set up a frame, put gunpowder and foreign lamps on the ceiling, did he see it with his own eyes, or did he get rumors, if it was a rumor, who told it? How can there be a definite answer to these words, if not, he was dragged to an empty room to beat him, and tortured the man until he was out of shape for several days.At the same time, Li Lianying sent someone to tell En Cheng, Minister of Internal Affairs, that according to King Gong's wishes, the palace is strictly investigating, but the truth is really unknown.Those who were tortured couldn't survive the torture, and they talked nonsense. Anyone who had worked in the inner court had the possibility of being bitten.This time, the case escalated.He also said that the gunpowder must have been released by outsiders, and the eunuch who sits on the night watch cannot escape responsibility, and the palace gate cannot escape responsibility.

Hearing this, En Cheng was naturally worried, because the only ones who could enter the bedroom were those who were on errands from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Once the case became serious, it would be very inconvenient.Therefore, he hastily discussed with Boyan Nemo, and asked Bao Jun to meet Prince Gong together, and asked for the case to be settled. It was Bao Jun who made King Gong change his original intention. He used history as a mirror and talked about the suspicious cases in the palace in the late Ming Dynasty.Of course, there are quite a few people who hold positive opinions, and there are also many people who are partisan and dissidents by using this topic.

As a result, turmoil occurred one after another, which ruined the overall situation.Now that this case is about to break out, just the words "Gunpowder was found in the Empress Dowager Cixi's bedroom" is appalling, enough to shake people's hearts and shake the foundations of the country.For the current plan, it is advisable to do nothing except to take precautions. "That's true. However, the eunuchs in the palace are too outrageous. We need to make a regulation and rectify it." Gong Wang said: "In the case of Li Sanshun, I also urged the Department of Probation to find a way. End it now!"

Baojun and Encheng followed Prince Gong's will and split up.The case of Li Sanshun was settled long ago, and interrogation was ordered, which means that the Ministry of Punishment suspected that the crime was too light, while the "Eight Great Sages" thought that the crime was too serious, and insisted on not changing the sentence, so they received the urging of King Gong. Still according to the original charge to repeat.The charges were: "Yulin was sent from Zhongzhong to Jilin as a drudgery; Xiangfu was sent to the garrison from Chongzhong to be a garrison; Jue Luozhong and Zhonghe folded the circle for three years;

As soon as this replay was played, Empress Dowager Ci'an did not dare to show it to Empress Dowager Cixi, because she insisted on the original replay without any changes.Let's not say whether the imitation of the crime is right or not. Just this point will make the Empress Dowager Cixi very angry, which is very unsuitable for the sick body. "The Ministry of Punishment brought it up as it is, and it doesn't seem to be outrageous." Empress Dowager Ci'an summoned Prince Gong and said, "Return the original book and let Pan Zuyin draw it up again!" "If the empress dowager returns to his mother, Pan Zuyin will not be able to be the leader of the staff."

"How do you say that?" The Empress Dowager Ci'an was very surprised, "Can't the court officials be the masters of the officials?" "Yes. The Ministry of Punishment is different from other places. The judges of the Autumn Trial Division handle cases according to the laws of the Qing Dynasty, saying that one is one, and that two is two. If the cited example does not match, it can be refuted, but if the cited example is correct, no one can refute it. "Prince Gong felt that the words were too harsh, so he pulled back the words: "It is possible to refute, but the empress dowager can't bear it. "

Empress Dowager Ci'an was silent.It was an extremely embarrassing scene for the court to summon the right party.Prince Gong wanted to talk about something else, to resolve the deadlock, it would be easy, but the case that was brought back by the Ministry of Criminal Justice was shelved, and the night would be full of dreams, so it was better to take this opportunity to make a conclusion, so he also kept silent. This silence was tantamount to forcing the Empress Dowager Ci'an to speak. She sighed and said in a tone almost forgiving: "Ah! Who made her sick? At least let her be punished according to her wishes!"

"She" refers to the Empress Dowager Cixi. According to "she", the guards who were on duty at the Meridian Gate that day and had disputes with Li Sanshun should be executed.Prince Gong thought to himself, even if the Ministry of Punishment was willing to follow the imperial edict to make a draft, he still had to argue, because what he said just now was too blunt and he couldn't change it right away. So he promised: "Yes!" He took back the original play of the Ministry of Justice from the imperial case, thought for a while and said, "The minister announced the decree and asked the Ministry of Criminal Justice to re-draft it. However, the original play stipulated the crimes of each person, and added "seriousness" The words, please learn from the empress dowager and the empress dowager."

"I see." The Empress Dowager Ci'an nodded and said, "I always persuade her, and the best way to persuade her is to listen." On the second day—the eighth day of November, a strange thing happened that was even stranger than the discovery of gunpowder on the ceiling of Changchun Palace. It was around noon, on Yuehuamen Long Street, a middle-aged man wearing an old sheepskin jacket with a green cloth surface came, and he meandered south, looking around all the way, but he didn't meet anyone. As soon as he reached the Suizhi Gate, he turned to the left and slowly groped in step by step. Tired of walking, he sat on the steps of the West Side Hall of Tiyuan Hall, took off the dry tobacco bag tucked in the black cloth belt, Use "foreign fetching lamp" to burn and inhale.Probably because he smoked too fast, choked his throat, coughed uncontrollably, and spit thick phlegm to the front of the steps. There is a wall across the West Side Hall, which is where the Empress Dowager Cixi sits. After the careful diagnosis and treatment by Xue Fuchen and Wang Shouzheng, her condition has improved greatly and she can move about freely. Surprised.The eunuch who served also turned yellow with fright, and rushed over to check what happened. "Where's Lianying?" Empress Dowager Cixi said angrily, "Is this still a rule?" When Li Lianying was found, the unknown middle-aged man had been caught. Accompanied by Princess Rongshou, the Empress Dowager Cixi watched the eunuch from the window and questioned the man. " "Last name?" "My surname is Zhang." "What is your name?" "It's called Liu Zhensheng." "Why is your surname Liu?" The chief eunuch Liu Yuxiang asked, "What do you do?" "I am the eunuch." "This is a lunatic!" With this loud shout, Li Lianying strode forward, stretching out his hand to hit him.His body was tall, his arms were long and his palm was wide, when he hit the man's face, he couldn't stand upright immediately, fell on his back, foaming at the mouth, and murmured something "hohoho". Li Lianying's drink was a reminder to remind everyone to treat this person as a lunatic.However, half of it is also true. Seeing that his words are upside down and his mind is insane, he is an idiot if he is not crazy. "Tie it up!" So he got a rope, tied up this idiot who didn't know whose surname was Zhang or Liu. "Buddha was shocked! The servant deserves to die." Li Lianying pleaded guilty on the ground, kowtowing her head "bang, bang". She was frightened but never frightened, but she was quite angry, "It's too insignificant," said the Empress Dowager Cixi sternly, "We must find out who this person is? How did he come into the palace? What are you doing here? Get up." , do it quickly." Li Lianying agreed, got up and left the hall.First, I asked Liu Yuxiang and others to discuss it, and both of them were also surprised. The palace is strictly forbidden, why did this person enter? "Of course they came in through the corner gate of the West Garden." Liu Yuxiang said, "We can't blame the guards for this matter." The West Garden is in the northwest corner of Da Nei. It is called the Garden, and it has been abandoned. The south side of it was originally the original site of the Xuanji Palace in the Ming Dynasty. There is a corner gate that has been closed for many years. After it was opened from Andehai, it became a place for eunuchs to come and go without permission. shortcut.Judging from the location where this person appeared, Liu Yuxiang's guess was correct.However, upon further investigation, doubts remain. "But you have to enter the Shenwumen first before you can enter the corner gate. If no one takes him, can he enter the Shenwumen?" Li Lianying's question was equivalent to providing an answer.From the case of Li Sanshun, the guards were guarding the gate of the palace, and they were very careful. No matter what, such a person dressed as a countryman would not be able to get in.However, although the guards guard the door strictly, they are extra polite to the eunuchs, following Li Sanshun's lesson from the past, so if there are eunuchs leading them, anyone can sneak in. "I think someone is doing something wrong here!" Li Lianying looked serious, "We have to investigate first. The gunpowder case has been suppressed, and this strange incident has already reached the heavens! If it cannot be suppressed, send it to the Department of Punishment , everything will be exposed, then we will be untenable." "That's right!" Liu Yuxiang said, "If you want to investigate, you have to ask that lunatic first. I'm afraid that if you are crazy, you won't be able to find anything out of it." "You can't scare him. If you scare him, you will lose your sanity. I can't ask. He must be scared when he sees me." Li Lianying thought for a while and said, "Go to Cui Yugui, he has many tricks, let him ask." So Cui Yugui, the chief eunuch who was in charge of the Changchun Palace's small kitchen, was called to tell him that he knew the truth. Cui Yugui promised that he would be able to find out the truth, but he said, "I have to use my own method, Uncle Li, please leave me alone. " "I don't care about you. As long as you can ask and understand, you can use any method." Cui Yugui's solution was not to treat that person as a prisoner, but firstly untied him, and secondly went to the small kitchen to get some food, as if entertaining a good friend, and ate with him in a friendly manner.While eating and chatting, the truth was soon revealed.That person's real name was Liu Zhensheng, he was neither crazy nor insane, but a bit silly, so his nickname was "Liu Dasha". Although Liu Zhensheng's language is messy and upside-down, he seeks common ground in differences, and the truth can be generally understood.He lived in the Ma's compound in Zhuwei Hutong, Xicheng, and in the same courtyard lived a palace servant, Su La, whose surname was Wei and who was on the fourth line. Every time he went home, he always boasted about how rich and prosperous the palace was.Liu Zhensheng often said that living "at the foot of the emperor" and having a neighbor next to the emperor, in this life, he must go to the palace to see it, so that it is not in vain to travel in the world. So one day——a day not long ago, Wei Si told Liu Zhensheng that if he really wanted to go to the palace, he could lead the way.It's just that first, you have to be bold, and second, you have to listen to him. Liu Dasha didn't know the heights of the heavens and the earth, and he never said anything, but Wei Si didn't take him into the palace at that time.I didn't make an appointment with him until I went home yesterday. This morning, I entered the palace, led into the Shenwu Gate, meandered west, bypassed a rockery, pointed to a corner gate and taught him to go south, and taught him a set of words. Zhang, "come from the sky", "come to set fire" and so on are all taught by Wei Si. After listening to Cui Yugui's report, Li Lianying gnashed her teeth and scolded, "This damn Wei Si should be cut to death." He asked, "What's Wei Si's name?" "How does he know? Just call him 'Brother Wei'".Cui Yugui said, "Just take a book and look it up, and there is a Su La named Wei who lives in Zhuwei Hutong." "It makes sense." Li Lianying immediately sent someone to the respect room to check the roster. It was found that Su La, whose surname was Wei, lived in Zhuwei Hutong, whose name was Wei Feng, and who was sent to work in the Royal Garden.Li Lianying, together with the head of the respect room, "moved the bottle for advice", found an empty room in the imperial garden and sat down, and summoned Wei Feng. "Do you want to die or live?" Li Lianying asked in the first sentence, her voice was calm, but there was a murderous look on her face. Wei Feng was also bold and calm, and asked with a smile: "Uncle Li, what are you talking about, I don't quite understand?" "Send you to the Punishment Department, and you'll understand." Li Lianying was a little impatient, "I don't have time to talk to you about mushrooms! You want to live, tell me all the good things you have done, and I will give them to you." You make trouble, hide there for a while. If you want to die, I will give you a good time. I will go up and explain it right away, and I will send you back to grandma's house after a meal. Let me say one more thing, I have no time to grind with you, you just need to Hesitate for a moment, I'll slap my legs and leave!" Then he stood up. Only then did Wei Feng feel that the situation was serious, so he had to tell the truth that he was instigated by a group of young and good eunuchs, including Li Sanshun, to deliberately trick Liu Zhensheng into the palace, in order to confirm the charge of dereliction of duty by the guards. Li Lianying kept his promise, so he gave him five taels of silver to escape to his hometown in Jingdong, and then wrote down a note in the book of the respect room: "Sula Weifeng will be on leave for ten days from the fifth day of August. At the same time, Liu Zhensheng was sent to the Punishment Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for interrogation. Naturally, the officials there would not be like Cui Yugui, coaxing him to confide the truth with kind words. Under the harsh words, Liu Zhensheng was frightened even more stupid, talking nonsense without knowing what to say.The Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not dare to carry out the punishment. He was afraid that the punishment would be too heavy and he would die. He couldn't bear the responsibility, so he had to repeat, saying that Liu Zhensheng looked crazy and his confession was unknown, but he was imprisoned in the palace. trial. Before the replay reached the imperial court, the Empress Dowager Cixi had called Li Lianying to ask about the case.Li Lianying's original intention of sending Wei Feng away was to cut off the clues and prevent the situation from escalating, but he had no intention of blaming the guards.Because Wei Feng's request for leave was a fake trick of "reversing the years and months", and he couldn't hide it. If he insisted that the guards' access control was not strict, maybe the guards would report the situation at that time according to the facts. Even in the palace, many people have seen it, one hand can't cover all the eyes and ears, the flaws are exposed, but it seems to be hypocritical. Therefore, the answer was vague, leaving a lot of leeway. "This is a lunatic, I don't know how he got in here?" He said, "The slave is thinking, someone must be negligent and unintentionally bring this lunatic in. It can't be blamed on that one person, if everywhere The eunuchs on duty are able to do things with sincerity, and pay attention everywhere, this lunatic can't get in no matter what. The servant should ask for punishment first." "It has nothing to do with you." The Empress Dowager Cixi said, "The first pass is the guards of Shenwumen, and then the people on duty everywhere should be punished." "Yes." Li Lianying seized the opportunity to seize power, but it was inconvenient to say clearly, "I request that all places in the palace should be thoroughly inspected and rectified, and these accidents must not happen again. If the holy car is really shocked, there is no way for the slave to die. land." The Empress Dowager Cixi nodded deeply: "I'll send you! Check it out, and replace anyone who is incompetent." "I dare not refuse. However, I have the courage to ask the Buddha to tell the chief eunuch of the respect room in person, so that I can let go of the matter." "I know." Empress Dowager Cixi handed him the Ministry of Internal Affairs' replay: "Go to the east and tell me what I mean. Send military planes to interrogate with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Criminal Justice." Li Lianying immediately went to Zhongcui Palace to present the matter.Empress Dowager Ci'an naturally complied, and the next day she gave an order to the military plane.So Liu Zhensheng was transferred from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Ministry of Punishment.Pan Zuyin, Shangshu of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, has a big headache. The Meridian Gate case is still pending, and the Shenwu Gate is in trouble again. It still involves the guards and eunuchs, and it is still a difficult matter. However, the judge at the Qiu Trial Division was overjoyed, thinking that the Wumen case had been settled by a god-given opportunity.Because he entered the palace and went to the Empress Dowager's bedroom, this lunatic must surely die, and as long as the guards and eunuchs did not intend to rebel, they would only be accused of rebelling against the army.But the seriousness of the case is quite different from that of the Wumen case. Compared with the two, the conviction of the Wumen case is too much. If the Empress Dowager Cixi is sensible, she will never be more demanding. When Pan Zuyin heard this, he made a lot of sense, and when he went away with sorrow, he asked Liu Zhensheng to interrogate himself first.The judges of the jury are all good hands, and the questioning is on the knuckles, so in a short while, the truth has been revealed, and I went to Prince Gong's mansion with the statement to ask for instructions. "According to the decree of the interrogation, please give Liu Ye's instructions, which one will be sent on the military plane? The Ministry will send a notice." "Let Peiheng go!" Prince Gong held the statement, but didn't read it, and asked Pan Zuyin, "Is the eunuch trying to harm the guard?" Pan Zuyin smiled, "You can't hide anything from the sixth master." He said, "There is a Su La surnamed Wei who tricked this lunatic into making trouble." "Then we have to chase! Write the text directly from you, and talk to the dignitaries in the respect room." "The Ministry of Punishment has never exchanged official documents with the palace, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs still has to write." "That's fine." Prince Gong specially warned: "The wording must be strict." When Pan Zuyin returned to the Ministry, he told his subordinates that the clerk who was in charge was very experienced, and put aside the fact that the Ministry of Internal Affairs asked Sura, surnamed Wei, to come to the case.He first summoned the guards on duty at Shenwumen on that day, conducted extensive research, and confirmed that it was correct, before notifying the Ministry of Internal Affairs, detailing Wei Sula's age and appearance, and pointing out that he is a very relevant criminal in the case, "Please send him to the Ministry of Criminal Justice immediately. He will be brought to justice." Li Lianying has been inquiring about how the Ministry of Criminal Justice handled this case. At the same time, she also knows that Prince Gong advocates strict handling. It seems that it is not easy to deal with this case according to the original method. What is the purpose of deliberate false cover? It's hard to tell.So he changed the file in the respect room again, indicating that Wei Feng had asked for leave to leave the palace on the day of the accident.This is closer to the truth, even if there are flaws, it is easy to make up for. So when the Ministry of Internal Affairs transferred the official documents, the Respect Office responded accordingly. When the official documents were completed and shown to Li Lianying, he had concerns. "We can't do things without thinking about the past and the future." He asked: "This official matter, when it comes to the Ministry of Criminal Justice, think about it, what will they do?" "Naturally, we should arrest Wei Feng and bring him to the case." Liu Yuxiang said, "If the Ministry of Punishment is going to go to Zhili governor's yamen, it will take some time. I'm afraid that the military plane will directly notify the infantry commander's yamen to send someone to Jingdong. Then you can catch it." "That's it. I don't think Wei Feng can escape! Instead of waiting for him to have a confession in the future and then asking for someone, why don't we send a few first." "That's true." Liu Yuxiang said: "The military plane was ordered to send Bao Zhongtang to interrogate. This old man is easy to talk and can make big things into small things. He always has some confidence." "That's exactly what I thought. Let's do it!" Therefore, according to the truth that Cui Yugui coaxed from Liu Zhensheng, some of the eunuchs who had abetted Wei Feng were found to be ineffective on weekdays, and they were directly transferred to the Ministry of Punishment.Of course, the official document has also been revised, and I played it up for myself, saying how to investigate carefully and find out the root cause, but as for the reason for deceiving Liu Zhensheng into the palace, he repeatedly stated that it was the foolish jokes of those eunuchs, "There is no He agrees." After sending off the official business, Li Lianying personally went to see Encheng, the Minister of Internal Affairs who participated in the interrogation, and said in his words that he should be cautious. If the case is handled too strictly and the implications are too wide, people will be shocked.At the same time, the eunuchs are panicking, and other incidents may also be triggered. I hope that Encheng can speak to Baojun and end it quickly. The eunuchs are under the control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so Encheng has to obey Li Lianying's words for his own interests, and he takes it seriously when he mentions it to Baojun.In the Ministry of Criminal Justice, it happened that the punishment according to the law was helpful to the conclusion of the Meridian Gate case, so he readily agreed to close the case after arresting Wei Feng and interrogating him twice. This case was divided into three cases. The first case was Zaihe, the commander of the guards who was on duty at Shenwumen that day.The second case was that Wei Feng and instigated him to trick Liu Zhensheng into the palace, as well as the eunuchs who were on duty in various places Liu Zhensheng passed by.After the two cases were adjudicated by Yi's decree, they were executed on the same day, and the dispatched ones were immediately escorted out of the palace by the guards. The third case was designed to deal with Liu Zhensheng alone. He was sentenced to "strangling" for the crime of "always suffering from madness, infiltrating into the palace, and talking wildly, which is completely innocent".In the large prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, a rope was caught three times and released three times, and it was unjustly sent to a life. So the Ministry of Criminal Justice continued to deal with the Meridian Gate case and resumed it as originally proposed.It was already 20 days after the lunatic entered the Changchun Palace. During these 20 days, the Empress Dowager Cixi's illness has subsided a lot, so she personally ruled in the palace. "I really don't understand," she said angrily, "Why is the Ministry of Punishment so stubborn?" "The Ministry of Punishment handles it according to the law. Please let the Empress Dowager learn from you." Prince Gong said good things for the Ministry of Punishment, "The staff of the Ministry of Punishment tried their best to push for it. They dare not break the law, let alone disobey the order. The situation is very difficult." "This is the defense of the army, and we can't compare it to the general situation." The Empress Dowager Cixi asked, "There were always cases of resistance in the past. Let them check it out." King Gong agreed, and immediately notified the Ministry of Criminal Justice to investigate the case. The case will be put on hold for a while to discuss other government affairs.Soon, the Ministry of Punishment had an answer: "There is no rule against the decree, and it is a violation of the regulations", and resistance is violation. Unless the circumstances of the violation are serious, such as leading an army to go out and not following the commanded strategy, thus delaying the military opportunity, losing troops and destroying generals, it is inevitable to die. .Like the Meridian Gate guards in this case, there is absolutely no capital punishment. Due to the efforts of King Gong and the Minister of Military Affairs, the replay of the Ministry of Punishment is pending.After retiring from the court, the Empress Dowager Cixi was very unhappy and couldn't hold her breath. She sent Li Lianying to summon the officials of the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. "You guys are taking it too lightly." Empress Dowager Cixi said with a serious expression, "It must be more serious! Quickly repeat the replay. " The Empress Dowager Cixi did not follow the regulations, but Pan Zuyin, En Cheng and others did not dare to obey the order rashly, and immediately rushed to the military plane to ask Prince Gong for instructions. If he insists on going back, there will be another uproar. After discussing with Bao Jun, Shen Guifen, and Li Hongzao, Prince Gong decided to take a more relaxed approach. The Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Internal Affairs will directly resume the replay. room. The judge of the Ministry of Punishment insisted on the same, but the tone of the replay was very tactful. At the same time, he specially submitted a book of laws and regulations, and noted the relevant provisions and cases separately.On the second day, the Empress Dowager Cixi summoned the military plane and no longer insisted that the guards must be executed, but the charges were aggravated.King Gong saw that it was not easy to achieve this result, so he ordered to issue an edict, saying that the case of the Wumen Guards beating the eunuch was proposed by the Ministry of Punishment: "The department will handle it as usual. But this time Li Sanshun will send the reward. The guards and others interrogated and obstructed them, but they were told to obey Yi's decree. They still dared to disobey and did not obey. If they were not dealt with extremely strictly, they would not be enough to show punishment. The flag file was sent to Heilongjiang to serve as a drudgery, and he was not pardoned. Zhonghe sent the leather to the guard army, and changed it to a five-year confinement. He was punished according to the shackle. The guard commander Yue Lin, and then handed over to the Ministry for strict discussion At the forbidden gate, it should be serious. Afterwards, the inspection should still be carried out with strength, and you should not be convicted because of Yulin's resistance. Let it be a little slack. Let it go!"