I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 359 Must be severely punished
Zhu Yijun in Xiyuan soon received a report from Song Gongliang, the commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

"Assassinated Lord Gangfeng at the Anbaoli Posthouse in Xiong County, Baoding Prefecture?"

"Yes, Your Highness. According to preliminary investigation, the leader of the assassination should be a member of the Jinyiwei Military Academy, who was assigned to the prince's palace as a guard. His true identity has not been verified, and it is not known which prince he belongs to.

The rest are gangsters who were bought with huge sums of money."

"Guards of the prince's palace? Liao, Xiang, Zhou, or Chu?"

"Your Highness, I am still investigating the identity of the thief, so I am not sure which clan he belongs to."

"Is it so blatant? They actually called in the Fanwei Military Academy!"

Zhu Yijun was very confused.

Song Gongliang was also speechless.

Assassinating an official of the imperial court was tantamount to treason; unauthorized transfer of military schools of the provincial guards was also punishable as treason. No matter how it was judged, it was inseparable from treason.

Too arrogant. You don’t care about other charges, right?
But it makes sense.

All the vassal states are filled with people who just want to eat and wait for death. How many of them are smart?

Few smart people would do such a stupid thing! Only those who are stupid and smart would do such a thing.

Zhu Yijun also realized this, "What a bunch of stupid idiots! Gongliang, immediately send someone to pick up Gangfeng and his party, and at the same time escort the wanted criminal back to the capital for strict interrogation.

Qi Yan!"

"The slave is here!"

"Tell the Supervisory Office to send a letter to the Henan and Huguang Military Preparation Departments, as well as the Huguang Jiang Commander-in-Chief, to transfer the land and water guards to the four cities of Jingzhou, Wuchang, Xiangyang, and Kaifeng."

"As ordered!"

Zhu Yijun shook his head and couldn't help cursing, "What a bunch of idiots!"

When Zhao Zhenji received the report, he was stunned for a moment.

You are good at mobilizing military academies of the vassal guards, bribing gangsters, and assassinating officials of the imperial court. You vassal kings, are you trying to stir up trouble or are you trying to make people laugh?
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is holding a knife and has no reason to attack, yet you just stick your necks in front of him.

Zhao Zhenji flipped through the notification document.

To find out which vassal king it is, we have to escort the criminal to Beijing and conduct a strict interrogation.

But the basic situation is clear. The leader should be a military school of the imperial guards. The imperial guards are verifying his identity. It is well known that Hai Rui left the capital to go to Jingzhou to investigate the case of the thirteen major crimes of the Liao king.

From this, we can infer that Hai Rui might have found evidence of the crimes of other princes and became desperate.

Hai Rui had the gift of self-reflection, a venomous eye, and extraordinary means, so he could easily find out something, and everyone believed him.

Judging from this, the most suspicious ones are the Chu, Xiang, Jing, Min and other vassal states in Huguang, as well as the Tang, Zhou and other vassal states that may pass by.

Zhao Zhenji considered it and felt that the most suspicious ones should be the three feudal lords of Chu, Zhou and Xiang. Once the criminals were brought to the capital, the truth would soon be revealed.

But no matter which clan did it, it would stir up a storm, a storm against the royal family. For Zhao Zhenji, this was a divine help from heaven!
He tapped his fingers on the document for dozens of breaths and ordered, "Come here, go and get the Junior Official of the Ministry of Rites, Cai Maochun."

"Yes."

Li Zhi was promoted to the position of Minister of Taichang, and Cai Maochun, who came to him, was naturally promoted to Junior Minister of Taichang because of his hard work and outstanding political achievements in his position as the Minister of Taichang Temple.

Upon hearing the invitation from Prime Minister Zhao Zhong of the Censorate, Cai Maochun immediately put down what he was doing and rushed to the Censorate in a carriage.

"Your humble servant Cai Maochun, Junior Minister of the Imperial Court, pays respects to the Minister of State, Lord Zhao."

"Hua Qiu is here, come on, please take a seat!"

Zhao Zhenji politely invited Cai Maochun to sit down in the signing room and served him tea.

After a few sighs, Zhao Zhenji got down to business: "The day before yesterday, at the Anbaoli Posthouse in Xiong County, Baoding Prefecture, a thug took advantage of the night to assassinate Hai Rui and Hai Gangfeng who were returning to Beijing."

Cai Maochun was shocked. "Assassinating Lord Gangfeng? These thieves are so bold!"

"Yes, it is appalling and unprecedented in our dynasty. Hai Gangfeng is the Right Vice-Censor of our Metropolitan Censorate. As the Minister of the Metropolitan Censorate, I must thoroughly investigate this matter."

Cai Maochun looked at the expression on Zhao Zhenji's face and echoed indignantly, "Mr. Zhao is right. This case must be severely punished. Has the murderer been found?"

Zhao Zhenji replied: "We have caught the main culprit. After preliminary interrogation, it is suspected that he is a certain military school of the Fanwei Army."

Cai Maochun's face changed, and his heart beat faster. He now understood the purpose of Zhao Zhenji calling him here. Zhao Zhenji continued, "This matter is of great importance, and no official document has been issued yet. But Hai Gangfeng will go to Beijing tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, and the prisoner will be escorted there as well. The government offices will be informed soon.

Hua Qiu, the Taichang Temple and the Metropolitan Censorate have cooperated very well before, and I admire your talents very much. This time, I and the Metropolitan Censorate will rely on your help. "

Cai Maochun replied respectfully: "Please let the chancellor give your instructions."

"The various vassal clans have brought disaster to the local areas, and their crimes are too numerous to list! Now they are so arrogant as to mobilize the vassal guards and hire assassins to kill officials. Is there anything in the world that they dare not do?
The Taichang Temple is in charge of the court's mouthpiece, promoting good and condemning evil, and educating the people. It has a heavy responsibility. "

Cai Maochun thought for a moment and replied, "Mr. Zhao, I will keep an eye on this matter. Once the criminals are brought to the capital and the Jinyiwei come up with the results of the interrogation, I will immediately arrange for them to be published in the Shuntian Political News."

Zhao Zhenji nodded happily, "This is such a great kindness, thank you Hua Qiu for your hard work."

"Mr. Zhao, you are too polite. This is my duty."

After seeing Cai Maochun off, Zhao Zhenji shook his head and said to himself, "This Cai Huaqiu is very thoughtful and steady in his work. No wonder Li Zhuowu trusted him to handle the affairs of the Taichang Temple.

Talent, indeed talent. "

The arrangement in Cai Maochun's words was very steady.

Get the interrogation results from the Embroidered Uniform Guard and then publish them in the newspaper.

The Jinyiwei is willing to provide information, which means nothing else is involved.

First publish it in Shuntian Zhengbao to see how Xiyuan reacts. If no one says anything, it means tacit approval, and then publish it in Huangmingchao Bao and other newspapers.

As soon as Hai Rui arrived in Beijing, he went to the post house to wash up.

The old servant Shu Youliang brought a clean official uniform from home and was waiting outside the bathhouse room while talking to Hai Rui through a wooden door.

"Master, I heard this time it was very dangerous?"

"It's dangerous! If Liu Da hadn't noticed something was wrong, I would have died and the six months' wages I owed you would have been settled once and for all."

"Master, how can this be? I still need these wages to hire a wet nurse for my son."

"You serve others, and when you earn money, you hire someone to serve your son. Your son, should he be treated the same as I, the master?"

"Master, to be honest, my son's status in my family is much higher than yours. When he is in the mood, I am willing to lie on the ground and let him ride on me like a horse."

"What about me, sir?"

"At least ten taels of silver."

"Haha, you bastard! I never thought that you were in your forties and could find a wife and give birth to a big fat boy. Youliang, did your wife go to temples to burn incense and pray for a child?"

"Master, I know what you want to say. I have also heard stories in teahouses and taverns about monks helping women get pregnant. There is no doubt that it is definitely my child."

"So sure?"

"That's right. He was only two or three months old, but his forehead was just like mine, so bright and spacious."

Hai Rui came out laughing, wearing a clean official uniform and a black gauze hat.

"Youliang, it's a good thing that your wife gave birth to a child this time, so you didn't go to Jingzhou with me, the master. Otherwise..."

Shu Youliang also looked sad, "Chen San, what a pity, he was such a good person."

"So I will avenge Chen San. Those murderers behind the scenes, don't even think about escaping. And you, Youliang, you have to work harder. Chen San is about the same age as you, and he's already a grandfather."

Shu Youliang led Hai Rui out.

"Master, the carriage is ready and waiting outside. Master, you can't blame me for this. When you went to Beijing to take the exam, you found me on the way when I was almost starving to death. In order to save me, you and I begged all the way to Beijing. We had no time to review our lessons, and ended up failing the exam."

"I am a dull person, and my fortune is not good, so I can't pass the imperial examination."

“Master, if you had passed the imperial examination and become a high-ranking official earlier, I wouldn’t have been so poor like you. It was only because of the help from the Crown Prince that I had the chance to marry and start a family because of the extra money he had from me to compensate for my wages over the past ten or twenty years.

Master, if you had passed the imperial examination, I would have been a grandfather like Chen San."

Shu Youliang helped Hai Rui into the carriage and sat down on the front crossbar.

The coachman cracked his whip, and the carriage started running, heading straight for the West Garden.

(End of this chapter)