Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 224: Whipping the Censor, Jinyiwei handles a major case!

After Linda finished speaking, the Yuntai Gate suddenly became extremely quiet, and you could hear a pin drop.

Qin Wen, Lu Song and Lin Da all glanced at Zhu Houcong cautiously.

Zhu Houcong was very calm about this and only asked Linda: "How do you know it was these people?"

"Because the father-in-law and several wealthy families in Fujian have planned to move to Donglai with the Western Barbarians. However, the father-in-law and his family are reluctant to give up the profits from sea trade. But if they want to engage in smuggling sea trade, they need a big family to continue to purchase goods from the inland so that they can continue to sell them at sea."

"So, the family father-in-law and his men reached an agreement with my father. They used the fact that my father had been the Minister of Personnel of His Majesty to let the Western Barbarians cooperate with the Lin family to make a contribution. When they retreated, they fabricated the illusion that it was our Lin family that cooperated with the officers and soldiers to repel the Western Barbarians. In this way, they could persuade His Majesty not to implicate our Lin family because my father was once the Grand Chancellor and had made contributions."

"What our Lin family has to do is to promise them that we will provide them with food, various goods from the mainland, and people every year. We will also contact the powerful officials who are tied to them, and let these people pass the news they need to our Lin family, and our Lin family will pass it on to them."

"So, the old man informed my father of the list of powerful officials who were on the same side as them. Even this time, I came to Beijing on behalf of my father to contact these people."

After Linda finished answering, Zhu Houcong sneered: "Sure enough, they are greedy! They still want more even though I already know through Xia Yan that they are plotting to get the gold mine."

Next.

Zhu Houcong then asked Lin Da to continue reporting on who the local tyrants were in Fujian, in order to compare it with Zhang Lun's confession.

Zhu Houcong didn't say anything after hearing this, but thought to himself:

"These people are not much different from the ones Zhang Lun provided, except that there are more important officials in the court such as the Grand Tutor, Grand Secretary, and Shangshu, as well as the emperor's close ministers such as the Jinyiwei Commander."

But the more such people are involved, the more cautious we must be. Therefore, since this is just verbal evidence, we cannot arrest these people. However, since Linda's confession and Zhang Lun's confession both mention Lai Yuan, we can strictly interrogate the arrested patrol censor Lai Yuan!"

to this end……

Zhu Houcong ordered Lu Song: "Go back to the prison immediately and interrogate Lai Yuan strictly. Make him confess who he knows!"

"But don't make today's events public for now."

Zhu Houcong ordered.

Lu Song nodded in agreement.

Qin Wen then asked Zhu Houcong: "Your Majesty, should the Grand Tutor, the Ministers of the Cabinet, and the Grand Guard send someone to keep an eye on him first?"

Zhu Houcong knew that these people were not easy to deal with, especially Fei Hong and Yang Tinghe.

It’s not that Zhu Houcong was afraid of them.

Rather, it is because these two people have a special status and great influence in the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, since he wants to do great things and achieve great things, he will inevitably have to make some considerations and choices in the overall situation, and even have to make good use of these people's handles and influence to make them work for him.

In other words, it was actually a good thing for Zhu Houcong to have leverage over these two people, and it made it more valuable for him to keep these two people!
However, if he directly ordered people to keep an eye on these people, once the other party found out, they would inevitably overthink and ask whether the emperor did not trust them, believed the slander of others, and turned around to bite the people around him, and even use his influence to aggravate internal divisions.

But if we don't keep an eye on them, they will become more unscrupulous in secretly acting as the umbrella for local tyrants. On the one hand, they will cater to us in front of us and make suggestions with all their heart in order to keep the local area. On the other hand, they will sabotage us secretly, play the role of a double-dealer, and be ready to defect to us at any time.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong needed to be strategic in dealing with these people.

then.

Zhu Houcong looked at Lin Da and said, "Go and meet Yang Tinghe and Fei Hong tonight and tell them that you came to see me."

Lin Da was greatly shocked, but did not dare to ask more questions. He just kowtowed and said yes, then left the palace with Lu Song.

As soon as Lu Song left the palace, he met Zhang Jie, the commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, who was walking towards him.

"Brother Lu!"

Zhang Jie first greeted Lu Song with a smile.

Lu Song also hurriedly bowed and saluted: "Great Jinwu!"

"You and I are brothers, why be so polite!"

Zhang Jie smiled and asked Lu Song, "Why did the emperor ask you to enter the palace?"

"It's about the Donglai gold mine."

Lu Song replied and glanced at Zhang Jie.

Zhang Jie was slightly stunned, his eyes evasive, then he smiled and said, "It seems that they really need to send people to Fujian to investigate?"

Lu Song nodded: "We have the confession, but we still need to go to Fujian to find the actual evidence."

“Who are the people involved?”

Zhang Jie asked hurriedly.

Lu Song smiled and said, "As the governor of Donglai, he only knows a limited number of people who could be involved. They are only related to a few wealthy people in Fujian that he has met."

"Why do you suddenly care about this?"

After Lu Song said this, he deliberately asked about Zhang Jie.

Zhang Jie laughed awkwardly, "What a stupid question! What a stupid question!"

Lu Song nodded, smiled slightly, and then returned to the Northern Pacification Division and asked his subordinates in the Northern Pacification Division: "How is Lai Yuan now?"

"Still shouting that you are innocent!"

Lu Song's subordinate replied.

After hearing this, Lu Song walked in and came to the room where Lai Yuan was imprisoned.

When Lai Yuan saw Lu Song, he asked, "When will your majesty let me out?"

"Let you out?"

Lu Song asked back with a smile, and then said: "You did such a deceitful thing, and you still think you can easily get away with it. You are really fearless!"

"I told you that I was deceived by Zhang Lun, the governor of Donglai, and that's why I mistakenly submitted a memorial saying that the gold mine had been mined out!"

"I am not deceiving you."

Lai Yuan said this, and suddenly shouted at Lu Song in a timid tone: "I just neglected it!"

"Zhang Lun has confessed that you ordered him to do this."

"In addition, the emperor has obtained solid evidence and knows that you were not merely negligent, so he has ordered a strict trial."

Lu Song said as he ordered: "Hold Lai Yuan up and beat him with a whip before questioning him!"

"Yes!"

Lai Yuan was greatly surprised, and then hurriedly shouted: "You can't do this to the Northern Pacification Division. I was once a censor. You tortured me without any evidence. The outer court will investigate and denounce your Pacification Division!" "We in the Pacification Division never need to look at the faces of the outer court. We only need to listen to the orders of the emperor."

Lu Song said as he waved his hand.

Lai Yuan had already been lifted up by this time.

Snapped!
"what!"

Suddenly, a captain in brocade uniforms lashed at Lai Yuan with a whip.

Snapped!
Snapped!
Then, there was another whip, and then another.

The Northern Pacification Office's flogging punishment was always carried out while dipping the whip in salt water.

Lai Yuan naturally couldn't bear it and started screaming after just a few whippings.

But not long after, Lai Yuan's face suddenly became ferocious, and then he suddenly lowered his head.

Lu Song suddenly felt something was wrong, and hurriedly waved his hand to stop the whipping of the Jinyi captain under his command, and walked over to ask Lai Yuan: "You won't faint from the pain so soon, right?"

"Head, he doesn't seem to be breathing."

At this time, a captain of the Jinyiwei under Lu Song's command pointed at Lai Yuan's chest and asked.

Lu Song discovered that Lai Yuan's chest was indeed not moving, and then he immediately tried his breathing.

"broken!"

Lu Song suddenly felt something was wrong.

Because Lu Song had been in charge of the Pacification Office for such a long time, he naturally knew that whipping someone would not kill him, even though Lai Yuan was just a weak civil servant.

Moreover, although salt water will certainly increase the pain, it also often has an antibacterial effect to prevent the injury from worsening and affecting the interrogation.

Lu Song looked at the bucket of salt water in front of him and asked, "Who is responsible for delivering this salt water?"

"Try Baihu Moufu!"

After hearing this, Lu Song immediately brought people to Mou Fu's residence, but found that Mou Fu had collapsed at home.

Lu Song couldn't help but grit his teeth.

……

……

"Lai Yuan is gone?"

When Qin Wen hurried to the imperial study and reported to Zhu Houcong, who was writing with Empress Yao, Zhu Houcong immediately stopped smiling, asked Empress Yao to step back, and asked this question.

Qin Wen looked at the floor tiles and replied tremblingly, "It was Lu Chenshi who reported it himself."

"Where is Lu Song now?"

Zhu Houcong suddenly asked seriously.

Qin Wen replied: "Wait outside the palace!"

"Let him in!"

Zhu Houcong waved his robe sleeves and immediately sat on the throne. He took the gilded wooden hammer in the bronze chime in his hand and struck it gently, frowning and baring his teeth.

For Zhu Houcong, he did not expect that the power of the Protection of Rites Faction was still so strong that they could actually cut off the clues on his side.

Not long after.

Lu Song has already arrived in front of Zhu Houcong.

Zhu Houcong looked at him askance and asked, "Why did Lai Yuan suddenly disappear?"

"Your Majesty, it was because the salt water used for whipping was mixed with a deadly poison. I only discovered this when I was beating him."

Lu Song replied.

"Who poisoned me?"

Zhu Houcong asked in a low and cold voice.

Lu Song hurriedly said: "Try Bai Hu Mou Fu! But he has already committed suicide by taking medicine!"

Zhu Houcong said nothing after hearing this.

After a long time, Zhu Houcong asked Lu Song: "Why would a trial centurion want to kill the imperial censor?"

"Your Majesty, of course Mou Fu would not do that, but I suspect that Mou Fu was instructed by Zhang Jie. He has some connections in the Pacification Division, and like many of the people in the outer court who protect the rites, they all hate that Your Majesty does not recognize Xiao Miao as the Emperor's father!"

"I ask that this man be strictly interrogated!"

Lu Song replied.

Zhu Houcong said: "Not yet! In order to avoid alerting the enemy and letting the Fujian nobles in the south know the details of the Lin family in advance!"

Lu Song said yes, and wondered in his heart: "Since the emperor was afraid of alerting the enemy, why did he let Lin Da take the initiative to reveal the secret to Fei Hong and Yang Tinghe?"

……

Fei's house.

When Linda saw Fei Hong, he immediately performed the salute as a junior.

Fei Hong and Lin Junjie were both famous upright figures in the Zhengde Dynasty, so naturally they had a close relationship with each other and were also very familiar with Lin Da.

When Fei Hong saw Linda, he picked up the tea and asked while drinking, "When did you come to Beijing?"

"today!"

Linda replied.

Fei Hong asked again: "Before coming to me, have you been anywhere else?"

"In the palace!"

Linda replied.

boom!
The hot tea in Fei Hong's hand suddenly slipped onto the carpet, and he became stunned.

(End of this chapter)