Why did the emperor rebel?

These words sound a bit difficult. After all, if a person has not done this, it is very difficult for him to produce evidence that he has not done it.

But don't forget, there is a premise for Jin Lian's words, that is, Wang Xuan has produced evidence to prove that Chen Ying took the money. Although this evidence has not been confirmed yet, it is not necessary to want to prove it. difficulty.

On this basis, if Chen Xun cannot produce evidence to prove that he did not do it, then he can only accept the evidence of the other party. This is the basic principle in criminal trials.

Although it seems a bit embarrassing for Chen Xun to bring it up on this occasion, but from Jin Lian's point of view, his situation is actually very embarrassing.

After all, Chen Xun was a minister of the Seven Ministers and six ministers, unless he was in front of the emperor, it would be difficult for him to have the opportunity to question Chen Xun again.

Therefore, if there is any doubt, he must inquire clearly at this time, otherwise, if he wants to inquire next time, he will have to wait for stronger evidence to appear.

Of course, when Jin Lian asked this, he was probably reminding Chen Xun what he needed to do if he wanted to get rid of the crime.

However, for Chen Xun, he was obviously not unprepared.

After all, as an important minister with connections all over the court, and who made his fortune by relying on Qingliu, Wang Xuan made such a big commotion, if he didn't get any news, he would have been in the officialdom for so many years in vain.

Now that he got the news, no matter how short the time is, Chen Xun must have his own plan to deal with it, or in other words, he already has a countermeasure in his heart...

Facing Jin Lian's questioning, Chen Xun's expression was still stable, without any panic, frowning for a moment, he seemed to be thinking about something, but soon, he spoke.

"Although Lu Dingzhong's reputation is not obvious, I had read his official documents and reports when I served in the cabinet before. At that time, I felt that this person is a talent, and I also praised him in front of the Supreme Emperor."

"When the performance was correct, Gao Gu, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs of Nanjing, was also at the side, which can be a witness!"

After all, Chen Xun never denied it from the beginning to the end. Chen Ying may have indeed received Lu Dingzhong's money, because it is difficult to deny it.

After all, for such a large amount of silver, if you want to check, there must be traces to follow, it's nothing more than whether you are willing to make the effort.

If Chen Xun denied it at this time, but it turned out to be true in the end, then his other testimony would also lose any credibility.

Therefore, what Chen Xun kept saying was that he didn't know whether Chen Ying had collected the money. Besides, what he wanted to emphasize was that even if Chen Ying did collect the money, he didn't know it. Not to mention bending the law for personal gain because of accepting bribes.

To put it bluntly, this is a routine of abandoning the car to protect the handsome man. From this point of view, although there are still many details that need to be checked one by one, Chen Xun's attitude can actually make people see a lot something.

It should be said that Chen Xun's strategy is correct, and the evidence he presented is indeed hard to refute.

According to Wang Xuan's confession, Lu Dingzhong sent money to Chen Ying many times, but the large transactions were only twice in the 12th year of Zhengtong and the 14th year of Zhengtong. At that time, Chen Ying was still studying in his hometown in Jiangxi.

Judging from the contents of the correspondence, Chen Ying's promise to Lu Dingzhong was that he would "recommend" Lu Dingzhong after he entered Beijing, and the time Chen Ying entered Beijing happened to be the few months before the Civil War, and Lu Dingzhong The bribe in the 14th year of Zhengtong was also given in the name of seeing him off.

So from this point of view, the order should be that Lu Dingzhong bribed Chen Ying, Chen Ying went to Beijing to inform Chen Xun of the matter, and then Chen Xun recommended Lu Dingzhong to the imperial court.

Now, Chen Xun denied this, and the evidence he gave was that he had expressed his appreciation to Lu Dingzhong a long time ago, and it was at the same time as the Taishanghuang's performance.

Since the Civil War, the Supreme Emperor Beishou, and after returning to Beijing, he has not summoned civil servants many times, and Chen Xun was not among them, so this also means that Chen Xun's praise of Lu Dingzhong was before the Supreme Emperor's personal conquest.

Then, there is a difference in time. If it is said that Chen Xun has long intended to promote talents to the court, from the side view, it can indeed be ruled out that he promoted Lu Dingzhong because of accepting bribes.

Of course, there are many imprecise points in this reasoning. For example, when is the exact time of playing the correct match? If it happens to be two months after Chen Ying entered the capital and before the Emperor Taishang went out for an expedition, then this evidence is naturally not tenable. .

However, since Chen Xun dared to say that, there is a high probability that he got it right earlier, at least before Chen Ying entered Beijing. Otherwise, his evidence would become ironclad evidence of his guilt.

However, this is only one of the possibilities. Taking a step back, even if Chen Xun had recommended Lu Dingzhong before Chen Ying entered Beijing, he was still suspicious.

For example, although Chen Ying was in her hometown, she had written to Chen Xun to inform him of the matter. Another example, when Chen Xun was collecting money, she had expected this day, so she thought of ways to avoid it in advance. Or, Chen Xun had already colluded with Gao Gu to tell this lie...

These possibilities all exist, but they are just possibilities!

Judging from the existing evidence, it cannot be proved that Chen Xun knew about the bribery a long time ago, so if it is said that he did not know, then the accusation of favoritism is naturally difficult to prove.

The importance of the ministers of the Seven Ministers cannot be underestimated in the court. Chen Xun's prestige and connections over the years are not for display. Say, now the evidence is simply not sufficient.

If the Ministry of Criminal Justice cannot rule out all possibilities and form a complete chain of evidence to prove Chen Xun's guilt, then it is impossible to do anything to him.

But then again, why did Jin Lian do this?
The reason why he hastily entered the palace to ask for an order was simply because this matter could no longer be concealed. If the Ministry of Punishments did not act, then the whole court would discuss the Ministry of Punishments. He was not an incarnation of justice. It is of no benefit to him to be convicted.

Now, Chen Xun gave a fairly satisfactory statement, and he also gave the Ministry of Criminal Justice the space to handle the case decently, so why should Jin Lian pursue it so hard?

Putting away all his thoughts, Jin Lian turned around and said.

"Your Majesty, I'm done asking."

Seeing this situation, Zhu Qiyu nodded and said.

"This case is of great importance. The Ministry of Criminal Justice must conduct a careful and detailed investigation. If it involves other ministers in the DPRK and China, you can enter the palace to ask for orders at any time."

"The minister obeys the order..."

Hearing this, Jin Lian's eyes flickered, and he cupped his hands and opened his mouth.

At this point, the matter can be regarded as a temporary conclusion. After all, this matter is only the beginning now, and there are still many details and questions to be verified. Therefore, Zhu Qiyu did not intend to settle the case in court. He roughly asked about the situation and asked several people to withdraw. down.

Therefore, the two ministers, Jin Lian and Chen Xun, together with the three cabinet ministers, saluted together and said.

"I'm waiting to retire."

Then, he exited the hall respectfully.

After leaving the gate of the palace, Chen Xun politely bid farewell to Jin Lian and the others. Yu Shiyue and Zhang Min beside him were also people with good eyesight. Soon, only Chen Xun and Xiao Xun were left.

After waiting for several people to walk away, Chen Xunfang said as he looked at the silent Xiao Xun in front of him.

"Old Xiao Ge, don't you plan to explain to Mr. Chen what happened today?"

Even though he had just experienced a crisis, and at present, the crisis was only temporarily resolved, but Chen Xun did not forget Xiao Xun.

He learned the news from the Ministry of Punishment, but judging from the situation in the hall just now, the cabinet had already received Zhou Jian's impeachment memorial earlier than the Ministry of Punishment.

However, under such circumstances, Xiao Xun did not choose to notify him, but went directly to Yu Shiyue and Zhang Min.

You know, Chen Xun also came from the cabinet, so he knew very well what Xiao Xun, as a cabinet minister, could do if he wanted to help in such a situation.

The easiest way is to suppress the memorial temporarily, and then send someone to inform Chen Xun to discuss countermeasures. This method is almost risk-free. After all, Zhou Jian is just a small censor, not an important official of the court, and the cabinet has a lot of government affairs. The memorials to be dealt with every day piled up like a mountain, like this kind of impeachment memorials, which piled up for ten days and half a month, was nothing new at all.

Even, if Xiao Xun is willing to take a little risk, then it is not impossible to directly give opinions in favor of Chen Xun on the proposal. After all, no one has stipulated that the proposals of cabinet ministers must be Yes.

However, Xiao Xun didn't do anything. He sent the memorial directly to Yu Shiyue and Zhang Min. In this way, the three elders in the cabinet knew about it at the same time. Even if the other two wanted to help, they still had to worry about it. Will my actions become a source of criticism?

Therefore, in a sense, Xiao Ting was the one who pushed this incident directly in front of the emperor!

Facing Chen Xun's questioning, Xiao Xun was a little silent, and after a while, he spoke.

"I know Master Chen is angry, but I really have to do this for a reason, it's inconvenient here, I will visit Master Chen's mansion tonight, and we will talk about it in detail..."

After finishing speaking, Xiao Xun cupped his hands apologetically, then turned and went back to the cabinet, leaving Chen Xun standing there frowning, not knowing what he was thinking.

At the same time, after sending these ministers away, Zhu Qiyu waved his hand and asked Wynn to come forward and give him instructions.

"Xuan Shuliang enters the palace!"

Today's matter, Zhu Qiyu always feels that something is not right. Indeed, it is not surprising that the ministers of the court were found in the investigation of the case. However, Chen Xun was involved so quickly, but it really made Zhu Qiyu a little confused. Unexpected.

On the surface, this is just an ordinary corruption case, but when Chen Xun is involved, it cannot be ordinary.

You must know that among so many ministers in the imperial court, Chen Xun has the most reputation among the scholars and the most extensive connections in the court. If he is involved, then other ministers in the court who are related to him must not Will just sit back and ignore it, so if it is going to make a big fuss, it will definitely be very difficult.

But at the same time, the cause of this case is the corruption case that is being investigated by the Ministry of Criminal Justice. If it is suppressed, then Zhu Qiyu ordered the Ministry of Criminal Justice to thoroughly investigate the cases involving officials in Beijing, it will become a dead letter, and even, It may also affect the Jingcha next year.

At this point in time, such a case just happened to make Zhu Qiyu more vigilant.

Moreover, the timing of Wang Xuan and Zhou Jian's choice is so coincidental. Whether there is any other inside story behind this really needs to be investigated...

Unsurprisingly, with the issuance of the imperial decree, within half a day, this case aroused discussions in various places in Beijing.

Some people thought it was a deliberate framing, some people thought it happened for a reason, and some people didn't express their opinions, but in private, they had already started to visit the government offices of officials with close acquaintances...

As night fell quietly, a sedan chair stopped in front of the Chen Mansion's gate, Xiao Xuan, dressed in Confucian clothing, got off the sedan chair, and the housekeeper who had been waiting outside hurried forward and said.

"I have seen Mr. Xiao Ge, my master has been waiting in the study for a long time, and invited Mr. Xiao Ge to come along with the younger one..."

As he spoke, he brought Xiao Xun to the study of the Chen Mansion. It seemed that after a day of precipitation, Chen Xun did not have the mood swings during the day. Welcomed in.

Afterwards, the two sat opposite each other as the guest of honor, and after the servants served refreshments, they quietly retreated, leaving only two maids in the room to wait on them.

The fragrance of tea lingered, Chen Xun looked at Xiao Xuan calmly, and said.

"There is no one else here, now, can Mr. Xiao Ge talk about it?"

Xiao Xun sat opposite, pondered for a moment, and said.

"Actually, when I first saw this memorandum, I really wanted to suppress it first, and then come to discuss it with Master Chen after I leave the office, and then make plans..."

Hearing these words, Chen Xunwei nodded inexplicably, expressing his understanding.

After all, although he was involved in this memorandum, the person who presented it was just an ordinary science and Taoist official, it was not a big deal, and it would not make Xiao Xun legitimately worthy, so he ran over to inform him.

"So, what made Mr. Xiao Ge change his mind?"

Looking at Chen Xun, who was slightly displeased, Xiao Xun smiled wryly, and said.

"Just when I finished processing this memorial, a person suddenly came and brought me a piece of news."

"Who? Said what?"

Chen Xun frowned, leaned over and asked.

Xiao Xun seemed to be hesitant, but after hesitating for a moment, he opened his mouth and said.

"Master Chen is also familiar with this person, he is... Xu Youzhen, the young master of the Crown Prince's residence, Zhan Shi!"

As soon as the name came out, Chen Xun's expression also changed. He had expected that there must be someone manipulating behind this incident...

However, he never expected that it would be Xu Youzhen!