prosperous age

"Old Xu Ge, I think it's better to send all these to Xiyuan for His Majesty to decide."

The evidence is solid, and Li Chunfang will naturally not speak for Hu Zongxian.

Even though he has received gifts from him in the past, in the face of big right and wrong, everything is still the most important thing in the court.

Although, in Li Chunfang's heart, she still felt that this letter appeared strange.

But doubts can only be buried in the bottom of my heart at this time.

"Zhong Cheng, what about you?"

Xu Jie just nodded slightly when he heard Li Chunfang's words, then turned to look at Zhang Yongming and asked.

"This is a big matter, I think it's better to submit it to His Majesty for review."

Zhang Yongming replied without hesitation. In fact, he had already figured out how to deal with it all the way from the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Let the adults decide.

Although he has the right to speak, he dared to forge the imperial decree. This time, Emperor Jiajing may not spare Hu Zongxian as lightly as last time.

He never doubted the authenticity of these things, because Wang Ru was his own, and he never gave Wang Ruzheng such an order, so these things should have been discovered during the search of Luo's house, and they must not be fake.

However, he couldn't figure out the attitude of Emperor Jiajing, so he didn't intend to express his position on this matter.

Last time, he expressed his position prematurely on the issue of dealing with Hu Zongxian. After all, the Metropolitan Procuratorate has received information confirming Hu Zongxian's corruption of ink. They even found out that Hu Zongxian had forged an amnesty edict,

Therefore, Zhang Yongming was not surprised to find Hu Zongxian's "self-made imperial decree" from Luo Longwen's home.

Thinking about it, Zhang Yongming felt that it was still necessary to tell the two elders about this matter. Although the evidence of that matter had been destroyed by Hu Zongxian, the officials who participated in the arrest and interrogation of Wang Zhi at that time were all witnesses.

"Two elders, Zhong Cheng still has something to tell."

Thinking of this, Zhang Yongming spoke again.

"What's the matter?"

Xu Jie turned around and asked.

"According to my censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, I once heard something when I was inspecting in Zhejiang. When Hu Zongxian and Wang Zhi hooked up, he gave Wang Zhi a 'pardon edict', to the effect that His Majesty pardoned Wang Zhi's crimes. .”

Zhang Yongming said bluntly.

"what?"

Hearing this, Li Chunfang was shocked, and immediately turned to look at Xu Jie, his eyes were full of inquiries.

Wang Zhi, that is the person who was beheaded by Emperor Jiajing's decree. What does this mean?
This shows that Emperor Jiajing never made such a decree, otherwise, no matter how excited the courtiers were, Emperor Jiajing would never break his promise and would definitely pardon Wang Zhi's crimes.

It's just that at that time, Li Chunfang hadn't entered the upper echelon of the court, so he could only look at Xu Jie with probing eyes, waiting for his confirmation.

He believed that Xu Jie should be able to give him the answer. At that time, Xu Jie was the second assistant of the court.

Xu Jie also felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by Li Chunfang, but he was also shocked by Hu Zongxian's audacity.

He can be sure that Emperor Jiajing never made such a decree, although at that time, Yan Song did ask Emperor Jiajing to pardon Wang Zhi's crime.

However, because of the hatred of the Japanese pirates by the officials and the subjects of the world, Emperor Jiajing did not listen to Yan Song's words, but decided to kill him to vent public anger.

Facing Li Chunfang's questioning gaze, Xu Jie shook his head.

"Zhong Cheng, this matter is no small matter. Do you know the consequences of being convicted of a crime? Do you have evidence for your statement?"

Li Chunfang got the answer from Xu Jie, and then turned to Zhang Yongming and asked.

"This matter was discovered when the censor was inspecting Zhejiang, and many officials involved in the arrest and interrogation of Wang Zhi were also found to confirm it."

Speaking of this, Zhang Yongming suddenly sighed and said: "It is said that this matter was well known in Hangzhou at that time, otherwise Wang Zhi would not dare to go to Hangzhou.

It is said that when he was in Hangzhou until he was arrested by the Procuratorate, he was accompanied by Zhejiang officials for banquets every day, and his life was extremely chic and comfortable.

After he was beheaded by the court, the people of Hangzhou still spread rumors that the court's words were not worth it, saying that your majesty is a joke. "

"Why didn't you report this before?"

Li Chunfang said angrily.

He was single-handedly selected by Emperor Jiajing, and he was loyal to the emperor. Hearing about this matter, the people of Hangzhou arranged for Emperor Jiajing, and they were very angry.

"If we haven't found that edict, it should probably be destroyed by Hu Zongxian in all likelihood. Without evidence, it's hard to prove it. After all, the crime is too big, and it's hard to be convincing without real evidence."

Zhang Yongming had no choice but to answer.

If Li Chunfang had doubts about Wang Ruzheng's memorials before, after hearing Zhang Yongming's words now, she no longer has any doubts about the letters.

Hu Zongxian was so bold that he couldn't do anything.

"Old Xu Ge, I think we should hurry to the palace and report this matter to His Majesty."

Li Chunfang said with a frosty face.

Li Chunfang's gratitude to Emperor Jiajing was not feigned. Like most other famous ministers, his road to imperial examinations was full of legends.

Li Chunfang passed the provincial examination at the age of 21 and became a Juren master. This age is when he is young and frivolous, and he is full of energy. Naturally, he can't imagine the beautiful days of being named on the gold list.

But history seems to have made a joke for this person. After more than ten years of participating in the general examination, all of them fell into the sand. It was not until his 30s that he was listed in the 26th Jiajing examination, but the ranking was only tenth. bit.

The tenth place, of course this rank is not low, but it stands to reason that he missed the first place in the palace examination.

But luck once again made a joke for him. When Emperor Jiajing was nominating the champion, he actually chose Li Chunfang as the champion at the end.

It was also rumored from the outside world that when Emperor Jiajing wanted Zhang Chun to be the number one scholar at that time, he picked up a pen and dripped cinnabar on Li Chunfang's paper.

Emperor Jiajing, who believed in Taoism and believed in the way of heaven, thought it was an arrangement from heaven, so he changed his mind and chose Li Chunfang as the number one scholar.

In the list of Jinshi in the 26th year of Jiajing, there are many famous names in later generations.

Zhang Juzheng, known as a reformer in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, No.9 in the second class.

Yang Jisheng, known as the No. 11 tough guy in Ming Dynasty, ranked No. [-] in the second class.

Wang Shizhen, a well-known historian and writer at the time, was known as one of the last seven sons of the Ming Dynasty. It is said that he was good at writing novels and ranked No. 80 in the second class.

Wei Guangde's old acquaintance Yin Shizhen was also on the list this year, but only ranked 106th in the top three, and after him was the famous dramatist Wang Daokun in later generations.

There are many other celebrities, but they are slightly inferior to these few.

Li Chunfang, the number one scholar, no matter how he got here, he is always grateful to Emperor Jiajing.

At this time, hearing that Hu Zongxian was so rebellious, he was immediately angry.

"Okay, then let's go to Xiyuan to meet His Majesty now."

The current situation is Xu Jie's dream, and with Li Chunfang's support, these evidences are not evidence, not to mention the matter Zhang Yongming said, which is also very easy to investigate.

Even if the officials had doubts about what Wang Ruzheng handed over, the incident in Hangzhou could be verified. There was no evidence, but enough witnesses could prove it.

Immediately, the three of them left the cabinet and went to Xiyuan with the memorial and the box of letters.

Wei Guangde had long forgotten about the incident in Hangzhou, otherwise he might have made a fuss about it.

You know, no one else has physical evidence, but there is in Jinyiwei's files.

Wang Zhi's confession was handed over to Jin Yiwei, so of course there was a record.

As long as Emperor Jiajing saw the files left in Jinyiwei, he would be convinced that this was true.

No matter what the purpose is, forgery is a capital offense. This is a matter that touches the emperor's bottom line, because it will shake the imperial power, and no one will be safe sitting on the emperor's throne.

But so far, the entire imperial court, even the censor in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, still knows nothing about this matter, but it has already penetrated the sky.

Wei Guangde was still diligently proofreading "Yongle Dadian" in the school record hall, completely unaware that the big event planned by Xu Jie was about to happen.

In the Yongshou Palace at this time, Emperor Jiajing had already received three people, the two elders and the Zuodu Yushi of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Such a situation was obviously a sign of something big going on.

Sure enough, after reading Wang Ruzheng's memorial and the letter, Emperor Jiajing still had a skeptical attitude at this time.

I just searched for officials who could rival Xu Jie in the Manchu Dynasty, but I didn't expect that one of them would be impeached and reported such a serious crime.

Although Emperor Jiajing's face was flushed at this time, showing his anger, in fact he was also thinking about this matter.

"Your Majesty, according to what Zhang Yushi said, when Hu Zongxian said that Wang Zhi surrendered, he was actually attracted by his forged pardon edict."

At this time, Xu Jie spoke again at the right time.

"The edict of amnesty?"

Emperor Jiajing was dumbfounded, why didn't he remember this thing at all.

"Your Majesty, when the imperial court was discussing how to deal with the bandit leader Wang Zhi, someone in the imperial court indeed proposed to pardon Wang Zhi, so that the Japanese pirates would come down upon hearing the news, and the imperial court would be free from the Japanese invasion without a fight."

Xu Jie didn't point out who made this opinion, but he knew that Emperor Jiajing should still remember it.

As he expected, Emperor Jiajing's expression changed when he heard this, and he looked at Zhang Yongming and asked, "Does the Metropolitan Procuratorate have evidence for this matter?"

Zhang Yongming could only stand up at this time and explain the situation he knew to Emperor Jiajing in detail.

For a while, Emperor Jiajing's face was cloudy and uncertain.

If the decree in his hand was to be framed by others, then the pardon edict that appeared in Hangzhou was a complete false imperial edict, and he never said that he would issue the pardon edict to Wang Zhiguo.

Although Yan Song did mention this matter in his ear at that time and said a lot of good things, thinking that the benefits of the pardon outweigh the disadvantages, but in the end he still did not agree.

"Huang Jin, quickly pass the decree to Jin Yiwei, and check the Hangzhou documents to see if this matter is mentioned."

It is necessary to judge the authenticity of the words of the ministers, but the information recorded by Jin Yiwei does not need it.

Emperor Jiajing didn't think that courtiers could reach into Jinyiwei and tamper with Jinyiwei's records.

With such a big incident happening in Hangzhou, it is impossible for the Jinyiwei Baihu Office in Hangzhou to be indifferent, and it should be reported.

Huang Jin agreed, and hurried out of the hall, waved for a eunuch, gave him some instructions, and then the eunuch flew out of Yongshou Palace all the way.

Soon, when the order from the palace reached Beizhen Fusi, Zhu Xixiao hurried to the place where the documents were stored, and dug out all the documents sent from Hangzhou, especially the documents from around 37 Jiajing. It's even more of a look.

"My lord, please take a look at this."

Soon, several documents were dug out and in Zhu Xixiao's hands.

Zhu Xixiao has read these documents, including Wang Zhi's confession when he was interrogated secretly, and the report of the rumors about Hangzhou.

After carefully checking the documents and records, and confirming that they were correct, Zhu Xixiao knew that something was serious.

Among other things, the Jinyiwei who participated in it back then can be found in the capital.

"Let Liu Shouyou wait outside Xiyuan immediately."

Zhu Xixiao gave an order to the people around him, and then he took the found documents and went out of Beizhen Fusi directly, and rushed directly to Xiyuan. Emperor Jiajing was still waiting for his report in Yongshou Palace, so there was no delay.

When Zhu Xixiao delivered the found documents to Emperor Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing's expression became extremely ugly.

He knew that Hu Zongxian was so courageous that he dared to forge the will, so this "self-made edict" seemed to be less cautious.

It's all about getting bolder step by step and getting used to it.

"So bold."

Emperor Jiajing said angrily, "Let Jin Yiwei immediately arrest and go to Beijing for interrogation."

"According to the order."

Zhu Xixiao immediately accepted the order, and then left the hall with Huang Jin.

When Huang Jin left, it was natural for people to prepare driving stickers, and Zhu Xixiao sent someone to find Liu Shouyou at the beginning, just as a witness, but he didn't expect Emperor Jiajing to believe it without seeing anyone.

However, when he walked into the Yongshou Palace and saw Xu Jie, Li Chunfang and others beside him, he actually had a guess in his heart. Hu Zongxian was so bold that there might be more than one forgery of the decree.

Huang Jin ordered people to issue driving stickers in the palace, and Zhu Xixiao had already ordered Jinyi Tiqi to assemble, and when he got the driving stickers, he immediately left Beijing and rushed to Jixi County, Huizhou Prefecture to pick up people.

When the brigade of Jinyi Tiqi rushed out of the gate of the capital, the news spread throughout the official circles of the capital at an extremely fast speed.

Emperor Jiajing ordered Jin Yiwei to go to Nanzhili to arrest Hu Zongxian. Many people were still puzzled when they heard the news.

You know, now there is no further clean-up of the Yan Party, in fact, everything that needs to be cleaned up has been cleaned up.

Hu Zongxian, of course they knew that he was a key member of the strict party, but Emperor Jiajing wanted to protect him, so naturally no one would continue to talk about him.

But who would have thought that at this time, the emperor suddenly issued an order to arrest people, and it seemed that the situation was not trivial.

At this time, Hu Songqi, a thousand households in Jinyiwei Nancheng Fusili, Jinyiwei Nancheng, walked into the lobby, but he was greeted by fierce eyes around him.

Hu Songqi is the son of Hu Zongxian, who was conferred as a thousand households of Jinyiwei for his meritorious service in suppressing the Japanese.

At the time when the Hu family was in turmoil, Emperor Jiajing thought of the old love and did not let the Hu family go. He just dismissed Hu Zongxian and returned to his hometown to live idle. His son still served in Jinyiwei.

Today he was suddenly called from Qianhu Office to Nanzhen Fusi, although it was strange, he didn't dare to delay.

At this time, the hall was no longer the governor he was familiar with, but the governor and commander Zhu Xixiao who was not usually seen.

When Hu Songqi was about to bow down, he heard Zhu Xixiao's voice.

"Come here, tie up Hu Songqi, and temporarily put him in a prison to wait for his release."

"My lord, what is Hu guilty of?"

Hu Songqi was frightened. He was a member of Jinyiwei, and he knew that the prison in Nanzhen Fusi was actually more terrifying than the notorious Beizhen Fusi Prison. There was no royal law here, only Jinyiwei's family rules.

However, Zhu Xixiao was obviously not in the mood to explain to him, so he waved his hand casually, and the captain rushed up to take him down and drag him out.