Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 295: Parting on good terms (asking for monthly ticket)

"Don't you know how to control your strength? Can you hit me a few more times? You need to practice more in the future and don't make any more mistakes!"

As soon as the two arrived at the door of the torture chamber, they saw Zhu Ji lecturing his subordinates.

"Eunuch Wei, Eunuch Chen..."

Zhu Ji was getting angry when he suddenly saw the two of them and greeted them hurriedly.

As the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Zhu Ji was familiar with the situations of these people in the palace, and he could basically recognize every powerful eunuch.

Wei Tai pointed inside and asked, "Why is there no sound?"

Zhu Ji said: "He fainted from the pain, but still refused to confess anything."

This is a sensible way of saying it.

It's not that we didn't show him the way, it's that he was just being stubborn and didn't mention at all that Wei Xing didn't even know what he had done wrong and was completely clueless.

"Look..."

Wei Tai pointed at Chen Gui and said, "Eunuch Chen, you must make it clear when you go back that there is no abuse of lynching here. It is the criminal who is trying to protect himself and refuses to confess the mastermind behind the scenes. What can we do?"

Chen Gui was not ignorant of the situation, so he said quickly, "That's true."

Wei Tai said, "You said he wanted to protect the previous owner, which we can understand, but he refused to even mention the next owner. Does he want to get out of here in one piece and then ask for a bribe from the next owner? Let's go in and take a look."

"Please."

Chen Gui felt relieved at this time.

He noticed that from Wei Tai to Zhu Ji, they all seemed to hate his rival Wei Xing to the core, which was enough to show how unpopular Wei Xing was in the past.

It can also be said that Wei Xing brought this upon himself!
Although I am also in the Imperial Household Department, I don't have as many opportunities to embezzle and abuse power as Wei Xing, nor do I have any direct conflicts of interest with this group of bigwigs. So I shouldn't fall into their hands in the future, right?
Thinking of this, Chen Gui's heart, which had been relieved a little, suddenly became anxious again for some unknown reason.

……

……

Inside the torture chamber.

Chen Gui saw Wei Xing screaming miserably after being knocked unconscious and then woken up by salt water.

Compared with the eunuch Wei who had enjoyed such great glory before, the man in front of him was just a hunchbacked old man. He had no aura at all, his face was full of sorrow, and he even had a numb feeling as if he had lost the desire to live.

Chen Gui was a little confused for a moment. What was Wei Xing insisting on?

Wei Xing himself, with his eyes half closed, was thinking about life.

Who am I provoking?

I was sent to prison, but they didn't even tell me what I had done wrong, and asked me to explain myself. So what should I explain?

Do I have to explain to you all the sneaky and dirty things I did before I was exterminated in my childhood?

Not so!

"How did it become like this?"

The second time Wei Tai entered the torture room, he did not feel the same discomfort as at the beginning. Seeing the blood on Wei Xing's body seemed to stimulate him, and he seemed very excited.

Zhu Ji shook his head and said, "It was just simple torture. Nothing valuable was found out during the trial... He still kept shouting that he was wronged..."

"Chen Gui?"

Wei Xing opened his eyes wide when he heard the voice, and looked at Chen Gui behind Wei Tai with an incredible look.

At this moment, the thought that the culprit who caused all this was finally found was Chen Gui, who was rebelling against him.

"Ah? Eunuch Wei."

Chen Gui walked over slowly and asked with concern, "Why are you like this? I... I just followed the order of the Queen Mother to come and see you... You said that it has become like this now, what are you still insisting on? You'd better confess honestly, so as to avoid physical pain."

"Empress Dowager... Ancestor?"

Wei Xing was even more confused now.

How could what I did have anything to do with the Queen Mother?
Wei Tai said with disdain: "You said he didn't even know who he had offended, and he's still standing here trying to be stubborn. Doesn't he deserve to die?"

"Have I offended the Queen Mother?"

Wei Xing was in a state of confusion.

"Humph!"

When Wei Tai saw this situation, he got angry again and ordered, "It seems that the torture is not enough. Try harder and keep going!"

“No, oh…”

Soon, Wei Xing's shrill screams were heard from the torture chamber again, and then he begged for mercy, "I... I confess, is it not enough for me to confess? You... I will answer whatever you ask, without any hesitation..."

……

……

Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Chenghua Zhu Jianshen was sitting on the couch, with Tan Chang, Wei Tai, Li Zisheng and Chen Gui standing in front of him. At this time, Zhu Jianshen's face looked very ugly.

"The Crown Prince went to see the Queen Mother, and then the Queen Mother said that she had a dream about the golden Buddha falling to the ground?"

Zhu Jianshen questioned sternly.

Chen Gui replied timidly, "Yes."

"When did the prince learn to use one's own strength to defeat the opponent? He can even use the empress dowager. What is he trying to do?" Zhu Jianshen seemed angry and asked sternly.

Li Zisheng quickly signaled to Chen Gui, meaning that since you have exposed this matter, you should know how to smooth things over.

Chen Gui hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince must have been doing this out of filial piety... The Crown Prince learned that the Buddha Bathing Festival was coming soon, and the Queen Mother was going to Wanhe Temple to worship Buddha. He also knew that someone was not careful when rebuilding the Buddhist temple. He was afraid that it would affect the Queen Mother's cultivation, and that the building was not solid and the Queen Mother would be in danger, so he..."

"Hey, you are quite good at speaking for the prince... Tell me, what benefits did the prince give you?"

Zhu Jianshen interrupted Chen Gui with an aggressive tone.

"It's unfair... unfair! I... I haven't even seen the Crown Prince, how can I talk... talk? I... I am just telling you... my speculations!"

Chen Gui knelt down with a plop, his forehead pressed to the ground, not daring to move. After finishing his appeal, he said nothing more.

Qin Chang and Wei Tai had no idea of ​​the situation.

They were wondering, when had the prince ever been so aggressive? How dare he directly deal with Liang Fang and Wei Xing? And he even hit the queen mother with precision?

"Get up!"

Zhu Jianshen asked Chen Gui to stand up, then looked at the people present and asked, "When the prince encounters trouble, he goes directly to the queen mother. Tell me...what is he thinking?"

Wei Tai and Chen Gui, who seemed to have been pardoned, did not dare to speak.

This is equivalent to asking Tan Chang and Li Zisheng.

Qin Chang first glanced at Li Zisheng, and when he found that Li Zisheng had no intention of replying, he said, "Your Majesty, this may be a way for the prince to show his filial piety. He can tell the Queen Mother directly, so that the Queen Mother may give up the plan to go to Wanhe Temple. It is equivalent to..."

"To conquer the enemy without fighting?"

Zhu Jianshen asked sternly.

Tan Chang said: "Maybe... the prince doesn't want to make a big deal out of this!"

"Humph!"

Zhu Jianshen snorted lightly without commenting.

Li Zisheng saw the clue and said with a smile: "My opinion on this matter is exactly contrary to that of Eunuch Tan."

"Say!"

Zhu Jianshen said.

Li Zisheng said, "From what I see, the Crown Prince did this to escalate the situation. He chose to bring it up the day before the Queen Mother was crowned, which was equivalent to making the matter so chaotic that no one could retreat. Perhaps it was because of this that Your Majesty ordered the investigation to be carried out to the end, and no matter who was involved, no one would be spared."

Zhu Jianshen had a stern expression and seemed to be angry.

"Who told the prince that there was something fishy about the construction of Wanhe Temple?" Zhu Jianshen asked. Now even Qin Chang didn't dare to express his opinion casually.

Li Zisheng said, "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager may have learned about this matter through the Imperial Academy Editor Zhang Luan... It seems that this matter was discovered by Zhang Luan."

"Zhang Luan?"

Zhu Jianshen frowned.

He has heard this name frequently recently. Even the storybook that he cannot live without for a moment was presented to him by Zhang Luan.

For a time, the prince's father-in-law, who was a student of the Imperial Academy, seemed to have become an important figure in the court.

Qin Chang said, "Master Li, are you sure it's this person? He just came to the court. How dare he come out to impeach Liang Fang and Wei Juan, and then impeach you, and now he's going to the crown prince to stir up trouble?"

Li Zisheng shook his head and said, "Perhaps it is because he has just entered the court and does not have so many concerns. He is a young and brave man who is not afraid of tigers. He often dares to speak out for justice... If it were an old man in the court, even the most upright censor, would he dare to raise such a matter casually?"

"Master Li, are you speaking for someone who once impeached you?"

Qin Chang responded sharply at this time.

"enough!"

Zhu Jianshen interrupted their conversation and said seriously, "I want to know who is behind the Wanhe Temple's embezzlement of money and its unauthorized use of the Beijing camp to occupy the labor."

The question was thrown to Wei Tai.

Wei Tai said: "Your Majesty, Wei Xing has confessed in the imperial prison. The mastermind behind this is Liang Fang. Most of the embezzled money was sent to Liang Fang's mansion, but was secretly transported out of the city by Liang Fang..."

"Ship out of the city?"

Zhu Jianshen frowned.

"Yes."

Wei Tai said, "So far, we have found more than 30,000 taels of silver and money in Wei Xing's private residence and his other courtyard outside the city. In addition to some land and houses, there are also gold, jade, calligraphy and paintings, antiques, etc., with a value of more than 60,000 taels..."

"What? He alone embezzled nearly 100,000 taels of silver?"

When Zhu Jianshen heard this, he suddenly became excited.

My goodness, I am so poor that I asked Li Zisheng to sell an official position, and even sold it twice, and finally got back 40,000 or 50,000 taels of silver. But an insignificant eunuch under my command has such a rich family background?
Li Zisheng looked at Wei Tai with a strange expression, as if to say, you said too little, didn’t you?
Wei Xing, the great man under Liang Fang, only embezzled 100,000 taels in all these years?

Let’s fool the ghost!
Wouldn't it be embarrassing to tell others about it?

Wei Tai said: "These are all we have found so far."

Zhu Jianshen looked annoyed, but also seemed relieved. He said leisurely, "In other words, the Crown Prince accidentally used his filial piety to stir up the issue of the 100,000 taels of silver, so that I could see that the people below are not sincere and honest?"

Everyone present was thinking, Your Majesty, your way of thinking is truly unique.

It seems that you approve of what the prince did?
Wei Tai continued, "Your Majesty, according to Wei Xing's confession, in addition to his own corruption, many high-ranking officials in the capital were also implicated, and many princes and nobles were also involved in this case."

"Who?"

Zhu Jianshen frowned.

"There are many people. I have sorted them out. Please have a look." As he said that, Wei Tai took out a list and handed it to Zhu Jianshen along with a transcript of Wei Xing's confession.

Zhu Jianshen looked carefully at the list in front of him and his expression became increasingly serious.

Li Zisheng glanced at Wei Tai, as if to say, why didn't you tell me in advance?
My name won't be on it, will it?
Before the emperor could speak, Li Zisheng spoke first: "Your Majesty, many of the princes and nobles in Beijing have private businesses. If they are involved, I'm afraid... it will not end well..."

"Ah."

Zhu Jianshen nodded, closed the list in his hand, and said, "I will not expand the implications. But now, I have to give an explanation to the Queen Mother. Who did the Wanhe Temple incident?"

Wei Tai said: "The person who used the inferior wood and stone materials to deal with the construction is Peng Hua, the eldest son of Peng Mianfu, who has already taken the position of Zhongshu Sheren."

"A person from Zhongshushe?"

Zhu Jianshen frowned.

To be an official like Zhongshu Sheren, besides having a cabinet minister background, one must also spend money, otherwise Peng Mianfu could only be a student of the Imperial Academy.

Li Zisheng reminded him, "Your Majesty, that is indeed the case. He was promoted just a year ago. He failed the Imperial Academy and was promoted as usual."

This is to remind the emperor that we accepted his money, so we promoted him.

Zhu Jianshen seemed very depressed after hearing this.

It turns out that Peng Mianfu paid money to buy the official position from me, and the money he used to buy the official position was withheld from the imperial funds for the construction of Wanhe Temple... Is it equivalent to me giving him the money myself and asking him to buy the official position from me?

And then I got scolded by my old mother, right?

From the beginning to the end, I am the only one who has been taken advantage of?

Tan Chang asked, "Master Li, could it be that Peng Mianfu's position as a secretary was filled by you?"

"Eunuch Tan, this is not right."

Li Zisheng shook his head and said, "The son of the elder's family, the Imperial College came to be the Secretary of the Central Secretariat. Isn't this very common? It is also because of your majesty's great grace. I am not protecting anyone... Besides, I have no dealings with this person."

Qin Chang laughed secretly in his heart, do you dare to say that Peng Mianfu has never given you a gift?
No wonder when you saw Wei Tai on the roster, you immediately suggested not to escalate the situation and wanted to make a big deal out of a small matter. You are afraid that you will be implicated.

"enough!"

Zhu Jianshen obviously did not want to delve into this issue, because he was the mastermind behind Li Zisheng's selling of official positions, and this matter could not be known to outsiders.

"Put this man in jail."

Zhu Jianshen ordered, "Have someone conduct a thorough investigation to see where the money he embezzled went! Are all the people in the court a bunch of good-for-nothings? A minister who is recuperating at home can't even take care of his own son?"

Qin Chang said: "Your Majesty, Mr. Peng has repeatedly submitted his resignation."

"Then I will allow him!"

Zhu Jianshen said, "This incident does not involve Peng Hua, but his eldest son's line... just treat it as if this evil thing has never happened. I will give him a coachman, wine and food, and help him return home as soon as possible. I have done my best!"

At this point, it seems that there is only one most critical issue left.

That is the culprit behind the whole thing - Liang Fang.

How should this person be dealt with?

No one present dared to bring up this matter because Liang Fang was too powerful. At the end of last year, Liang Fang was still the most powerful eunuch in the capital. It had been less than three months since Concubine Wan's death. Who could have thought that Liang Fang would fall to this point?

"Tell Liang Fang to come see me."

Zhu Jianshen said with a gloomy face.

Now everyone present was a little panicked.

If Liang Fang comes to see me, then I will have the opportunity to refute.

The emperor had been suspicious of Liang Fang before, mainly because he did not give Liang Fang the space to come and complain and explain in person. If he had given him the space... there was no guarantee that Liang Fang would not be able to regain her former glory.

After all, a few months ago, even Li Zisheng did not dare to confront Liang Fang head-on, and no one would think that Liang Fang would fall out of favor one day.

Because Liang Fang is such a good person.

Now even Qin Chang had to turn to Li Zisheng for help.

Li Zisheng turned a blind eye and said, "Your Majesty, it's time to let Eunuch Liang explain... The current matter is too serious. If it is not handled properly, there will be a big mess, and it will also cause discussion among the civil and military officials in the court."

"Okay, I understand."

Zhu Jianshen propped up his head with his hands and closed his eyes, as if he was thinking about something. He then casually ordered, "Only let him come to see me, and don't bother others. I don't want to make the relationship between master and servant so awkward, so let's just part ways amicably."

After hearing this, everyone present felt a little relieved.

The emperor was preparing for the upcoming "dispersion".

That means Liang Fang will at least be exiled to be a incense burner in the imperial mausoleum, following in Huai'en's footsteps, right?

Think about Huai'en, who was so capable and trusted by the emperor, but was exiled from the capital just because of a few unpleasant words... No matter how awesome Liang Fang was, he was just like that!
"Li Qing, the matter of summoning Liang Fang to the palace to meet the emperor is now in your hands. Go to his house and pass on the message."

Zhu Jianshen's eyes were piercing, and he said with determination, "You don't have to enter the palace later. If he asks you something, you can tell him the truth. I want to see how Liang Fang will respond!"

(It’s the middle of the month, please give me some monthly tickets! Thank you!)

(End of this chapter)