Why did the emperor rebel?

Chapter 431 The Bombshell That Comes One After Another

After getting the emperor's permission again, Lu Zhong completely ignored it.

Turning around, he took out another document from the case, and said to Du Ning.

"First answer Sir Si Qing's first question, whether the mission leaked it on its own initiative? According to the results of Jin Yiwei's interrogation, the mission wasn't being tricked by others, nor did it accidentally slip up, but during the negotiation, it voluntarily revealed Sha The defense status of the nest."

In fact, although Tingju tried criminal cases, it was different from ordinary trials.

The general trial is to bring the prisoner up, then present witnesses and physical evidence, obtain the criminal's statement, clarify the truth, and then make a judgment.

But the problem is that this process is often not completed in a day or two, even if the case is simple or not serious.

But if it is a major case or the case is complicated, then this process may take a long time.

All the civil and military officials of the imperial court are very busy, obviously they don't have the time to play the trial game with Judiciary.

Therefore, the significance of Tingju actually lies in the fact that the case is in a stalemate, or the case has been concluded but has been questioned.

Take the case to the court meeting and accept the joint questioning of civil and military officials.

In this case, it is particularly important whether the logical chain of a case is complete and whether the evidence is accurate and credible.

But in contrast, the interrogation process is often omitted, and only when the key and core facts of the case are involved, the prisoner will be brought to the palace for interrogation in front of all civil and military officials.

Therefore, Lu Zhong's voice fell, and before he could produce evidence, the censor came out and questioned.

"May I ask Commander, what is the basis of Jin Yiwei's conclusion? If it is the confession of the members of the mission, how can it be proved that it is not a trick of torture?"

It was rude to ask this question, but after asking, most of the ministers in the court nodded and waited for Lu Zhong's answer.

In fact, this was the courtier's impression of Jin Yiwei.

Because the Jinyiwei is directly under the emperor, the various yamen of the imperial court actually have no power to supervise and restrain the Jinyiwei.

Therefore, in the minds of the courtiers, Jin Yiwei's trial is mostly about extorting confessions by torture, and what's more, it is also good at fabricating crimes and making them out of nothing.

Of course, the courtiers could not be entirely blamed for this, because Jin Yiwei had indeed done this before, and there were quite a few of them.

Several well-known Jinyiwei commanders before, Mao Xiang, Jiang Yu, Ji Gang, and Ma Shun who were beaten to death by court officials at Zuoshunmen.

When a few of them were in charge of Jinyiwei, if any ministers entered the imperial prison, few of them could come out whole. No wonder Jinyiwei has such a reputation.

Therefore, Lu Zhong was not angry, but said calmly.

"Jin Yiwei may use torture sometimes in judging cases, but he also pays attention to evidence. The commander's statement that the mission deliberately leaked military information is indeed based on confessions."

"However, in front of all the ministers and His Majesty, I must say that in the case of the mission, Jin Yiwei never tortured anyone in the mission."

As he spoke, Lu Zhong unfolded the document in his hand and continued.

"In addition, this confession is not from the mission, but from the treacherous eunuch who was also arrested by the mission, Xining!"

When the name was spoken, there was another commotion in the hall.

Xining's reputation in Daming is no better than Wang Zhen's.

Of course Wang Zhen is domineering, ambitious, bewitching the Supreme Emperor, and arbitrarily commanding. His crimes are numerous, and the bosses can scold him for three days and three nights.

But there is only one thing, everyone still recognizes it, Wang Zhen is still loyal to the Supreme Emperor.

Especially the bosses who are in high positions basically have a solid foundation in their hearts. There are many absurd things that Wang Zhen did, and there is no shortage of people who have taken the blame for the Supreme Emperor.

Kexining is different.

Also as one of the emperor's favored eunuchs, Xining even dared to occupy the fields and houses of the British government when he was at his most arrogant.

You know, that was when the British Duke Zhang Fu was still there. In the end, the Supreme Emperor didn't do anything to Xining, but sent out all the servants who did it.

It was such a powerful eunuch, who saw that the general situation was over during the civil engineering battle, he didn't even care about the emperor's kindness to him, and turned to the enemy without looking back.

Not only became the leading party, but also told Yexian all the terrain conditions he knew, led Yexian's army all the way, and repeatedly offered treacherous tricks to help Yexian.

From the perspective of the country, the courtiers must hate Wang Zhen the most, but from the perspective of personal feelings, Xining is probably the well-deserved leader of the treacherous eunuch.

In recent days, the matter of the arrest of the mission group has caused a lot of noise in the court, but few people have actually read Tao Jin's memorial and just followed the discussion.

In addition, the case of the mission has never been made public, so even the news about Xining has not been publicized.

Therefore, most of the courtiers heard for the first time that Xining was also arrested.

At the moment, the officials suddenly became commotion.

"What, Xining was also arrested?"

"God bless Daming, finally let this thief be arrested. Your Majesty, such treacherous eunuchs will destroy the nine clans."

"That's right, Your Majesty, please execute this traitor Ling Chi to vent the hatred of the army and the common people."

All of a sudden, the court discussion was turbulent.

Seeing that the building was tilted like this, Zhu Qiyu raised his hand and pressed down, and after everyone's emotions calmed down a little, he said.

"Don't be in a hurry, Xining's crime has long been determined by the imperial court, and he will be killed sooner or later. However, Xining is an important witness in this case, so we need to deal with it after the case is over."

After speaking, Zhu Qiyu turned to Lu Zhong and said, "Lu Zhong, go on, what did Xining confess to?"

Therefore, Lu Zhongcai continued to speak under the eyes of everyone.

"In Xining's statement, he described the details of a series of negotiations between the mission and Ye."

"According to Xining's confession, at the beginning of the mission's arrival, he suggested that the mission should also be snubbed first, to check its sincerity in welcoming the Emperor back, and put forward conditions according to the situation. Therefore, the negotiations with the mission have not been smooth."

"It wasn't until about half a month later that the mission proposed to cede part of the border city, and promised to welcome back the Supreme Emperor in exchange for gold, silver, and silk. However, because the matter was so important, they could not fully make the decisions, so they had to send out the people that Daming was familiar with and trusted first. people, and return to Beijing with the mission for peace talks."

Lu Zhong handed over the confession in his hand to Chen Yi, Jin Lian, and Du Ning who were listed, while narrating the main content of the confession.

The faces of the three elders who got the testimonies turned ashen after they were circulated.

As for the other ministers, they were even more shocked and angry.

But this time, they were not facing Xining, but the mission.

"What? Cut the city?"

"Who gave them the courage to agree to such conditions?"

"It's simply a scum of the court."

It should be said that the Ming Dynasty had passed down several dynasties and once gave up some territory, but that was all voluntarily given up by the court out of strategic considerations.

Things like being forced to cede land can stir up the sensitive nerves in Wen Chen's heart.

You must know that after the Civil War, the imperial court once tried to negotiate peace with Yexian, sent over a lot of gold and silver, and even tolerated Yexian's repeated breaches of trust.

In the end, the biggest reason why the imperial court couldn't bear it and decided to go to war even if they were beaten to the capital was that they first proposed a condition that the imperial court would never accept.

He wants Datong City!
It should be said that the civil servants of Ming Dynasty still don't know much about it. In their opinion, such a thing as cutting a city will leave a bad name for thousands of years and be reviled by future generations.

Not to mention an important town like Datong, even an inch of land cannot be forced to cede it.

It was precisely because of this condition that the space for peace talks between the two sides was completely cut off, and the subsequent Battle of Bauhinia Pass took place.

But there are also a few who are calm, questioned.

"Master Commander, Xining's words may not be credible. Lord Xu and Lord Xiao are important ministers of the court. How could they agree to this matter indiscriminately? What's more, even if they agreed, I, the emperor and minister of the Ming Dynasty, would never agree. What's the point?"

Faced with these doubts, Lu Zhong continued.

"Don't worry, everyone. Listen to me. When the mission proposed to cede the city, it also had doubts. Therefore, in order to gain Yexian's trust, the mission agreed to give away part of the army that could be ceded. Let me know the status of the town's defenses first, to show my sincerity."

"Because of this, the commander said that the mission was deliberately leaking military information, and it was not a routine. As for the more specific details, it was recorded in the confession. Your Excellency, Jin Shangshu, Du Siqing, the commander Can what he said be different from the confession?"

The eyes of all the officials focused on the three important officials of the judiciary. Under the eyes of everyone, the three of them looked serious and shook their heads in unison.

At this moment, the testimony was in the hands of Jin Lian, Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice, his expression was extremely complicated, he sighed and said.

"What Commander Lu said just now is consistent with what was written in the confession..."

(End of this chapter)