Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 351 Jiajing made a fierce statement, vowing to fight to the end!
Next, Zhu Houcong did issue an imperial decree ordering all civil and military officials to gather in the Wenhua Hall for a trial.

"Why do we need to hold a court trial for this case? Our three judicial departments have already examined it clearly. The confession presented by Shanxi Provincial Inspector Ma Lu is irrefutable, and even the governor, provincial governor, and provincial inspector all agree that it is true!"

Dali Temple Minister Dang Chengzhi first expressed his opinion during the trial.

Minister of Works Zhang Cong said at this time: "This is not right. As far as I know, Ma Lu tortured the relevant prisoners in order to fabricate evidence, which caused the report to be false! That's why Your Majesty asked me to wait for the court trial!"

Dang Chengzhi looked at Zhang Cong and said, "How did the Grand Marshal know that this was obtained through torture? Could it be that the Governor of Shanxi and other officials would protect Ma Lu?!"

"The report submitted by the Royal Guards said that Ma Lu was tortured."

"Your Majesty showed us this report in the Imperial Study."

Zhang Cong said.

Guo Xun then echoed, "Yes, I can testify to this. Your Majesty has shown it to me."

Yang Yiqing followed suit and said, "Your Majesty showed it to me, too."

"Can we trust the report from the Royal Guards?"

"This is not a report from a gentleman. It is nothing but flattery! If we want to believe, we should only believe the reports submitted by the Shanxi governor and other officials!"

Dang Chengzhi sneered at this time and mocked Zhang Cong and Guo Xun: "Everyone knows that you are a party, colluding with each other. The so-called report of the Jinyiwei is nothing but your treacherous party colluding with the Jinyiwei to confuse the public and deceive His Majesty!"

The Imperial Censor Du Tong echoed, "That's right, the Jinyiwei's words are not credible! The traitor's theory is even less credible!"

"Could it be that Lord Yang is also a traitor?!"

Cabinet minister Lin Jun asked sternly at this time.

then.

Lin Jun then said: "The root of this matter now is whether we want Your Majesty to work hard to govern the country and whether we want to sacrifice the interests of the gentry and wealthy families to achieve the cause of rejuvenation!"

"And all of this is happening around the issue of whether to ban or open the sea. Someone is bringing this case up in order to defeat Marquis Wu Ding and the two uncles-in-law!"

"Because they have helped your Majesty to strictly ban the sea, one makes the troops obey your Majesty, and the other makes the money obey your Majesty;"

"but!"

"What we should understand is that for the sake of the country and the people, and to prevent the emperor and his subjects from becoming enemies, we should obey the emperor's will and strive to promote his great cause! Instead of fighting endlessly for the sake of personal interests, this will not benefit anyone!"

"So, I think that this case should not be pursued any further, and should end with Zhang Yin! And use this as an opportunity to strongly advocate the convenience of opening the sea!"

Lin Jun said at this time.

Dang Chengzhi, Du Tong and others sneered.

then.

Dang Chengzhi said: "The elder is really confused. Let's talk about the case. Why bother talking about whether Your Majesty should work hard to govern the country or whether to harm the interests of the rich? To make the emperor as good as Yao and Shun is the right way for scholars. Is there any need to say more?!"

"And precisely because we want to make the king as good as Yao and Shun, and be loyal to the country, we must strictly and fairly try the case and cannot let the treacherous party mess up the country's laws!"

At this time, Dang Chengzhi continued to wave his sleeves and speak.

"That's right!"

"The sea ban is an ancestral rule. There is no need to change it. Today's incident has nothing to do with the sea ban or the opening of the sea."

Suianbo Chen Hui followed suit.

Right Minister Fang Xianfu said at this time: "Mr. Lin is right. This matter is caused by the ban on the opening of the sea. As a gentleman, you should admit it frankly. There is no need to be hypocritical!"

At this time, Guo Xun thought of Zhu Houcong's words that he was not serving the country and the people enough, so he also echoed and said: "Lin Gelao is right. Instead of fighting to the death over this case and even damaging the relationship between the monarch and his subjects, it is better to plead for the people and request to open the sea! Let Your Majesty really achieve the Yao and Shun career that benefits all people!"

"ridiculous!"

"How dare an ignorant military official talk about making his king as great as Yao and Shun!"

Dang Chengzhi said in a cold voice.

then.

Dang Chengzhi pointed at Guo Xun and said, "If you military officials had any loyalty, you wouldn't have allowed a mere fifty Japanese pirates to burn, kill, and loot under the city of Nandu!"

"Is this just our Wuchen's fault?!"

Guo Xun was furious and asked directly.

Dang Chengzhi smiled coldly, deliberately bullying Guo Xun for not being able to provide evidence to prove that it was the southern big family who was behind the scenes, and continued to mock:
"Why not? The garrison commander of Nanjing is the Duke of Wei, and the commander-in-chief of Caojiang is the Earl of Xuancheng. Isn't it because your military officials are incompetent?"

"Ha ha!"

Du Tong and many other civil officials also laughed, with mockery in their eyes towards Guo Xun.

Guo Xun's breathing became rapid and veins popped out on his forehead.

But at this time he discovered that military heroes such as Suianbo Chen Hui were also sneering at him.

This made him angrier.

He knew that this was because he had listened to the emperor's instructions and conducted a thorough investigation into the loss of the musket, and had not shielded Duke Dingguo, thus offending these military heroes who did not want to expand the imperial power.

But he had to admit that this was one of the reasons why the emperor was unwilling to give him great power. Because these military heroes were too disappointing!

What's more, there are scums like Chen Hui, who have long been sitting on the side of the civil officials. Instead of feeling ashamed of the civil officials mocking their military achievements, they are proud of it.

And just as Your Majesty said, his moral character is not that good!

Guo Xun felt angry and ashamed at the same time.

However, some civil officials present, such as Lin Jun and Zhang Cong, looked up to Guo Xun's statement.

Because Guo Xun actually advocated opening the sea and was willing to consider the people.

Zhang Cong ignored Dang Chengzhi and others' ridicule of Wu Xun, and even insulted him and Guo Xun as traitors. He only echoed Guo Xun and Lin Jun at this time:

"As Elder Lin and Marquis Wu Ding said, if we really want to open the sea for the benefit of the people along the coast, I would like to say here that as long as Your Majesty issues an order to open the sea, I, the Zhang family of Yongjia, would like to ask the Emperor to grant the qualification of imperial merchants, so as to support more people to go out to sea to do business under the protection of the imperial power, and make up for the lack of geographical advantages!"

"good!"

After hearing what Zhang Cong said, Lin Jun had to admire Zhang Cong's selflessness. After all, there were only three imperial merchants now, and Zhang Cong's family was one of them. Logically, Zhang Cong should not give up the opportunity to monopolize the imperial merchant qualification.

Therefore, Lin Jun also praised him highly and took the initiative to bow to Zhang Cong: "The Grand Marshal is really noble and upright!"

Zhang Cong returned the greeting:
"He is indeed a man of high character and integrity, worthy of being the one who spoke out for the Grand Ceremony Debate in the past!"

"He is truly a man who serves his country and his people!"

At this time, the Minister of Revenue Xi Shu also praised Zhang Cong and bowed to express his admiration.

Zhang Cong also returned the greeting.

However, civil officials such as Dang Chengzhi and Du Tong, who had ulterior motives, had gloomy expressions.

Because they also knew that what Zhang Cong did was indeed noble and upright, but it also made them seem too selfish and hypocritical. For their own selfish interests, they could only speak empty words and put accusations on others, but in fact, they were betraying their king and their country.

Therefore, the more upright and selfless Zhang Cong, Lin Jun, and Xi Shu appeared, the more they felt like they were being held up in the mirror, and the more jealous they became.

After all, why are all the others being hypocrites, but you guys insist on serving the country and the people?

Especially when everyone was mocking Wu Chen for taking advantage of the Japanese pirates' invasion of Nando, it was already too much for him not to join in the mockery. He even followed Guo Xun in continuing to bring up the issue of opening up the sea and expressed his willingness to make concessions for opening up the sea.

He has absolutely no awareness that as a scholar-official, he should stand on the side of the scholar-officials!
"I have something to say. Now that the Japanese pirates can invade the Southern Capital, it shows that the situation in the South is critical and the public opinion is not in line with the emperor's will. That's why we, the Three Law Departments, decided to follow the public opinion first. After all, the people are the most important, the emperor is the least important, and the country is the second."

"As for your opinions, please vote after the trial."

Minister of Justice Tong Rui spoke at this time.

In the end, all civil and military officials began to try the relevant criminals together under the chairmanship of Tong Rui, examined the relevant crimes, and voted by throwing beans.

among them.

Throwing red beans means agreeing with the initial judgment, that is, the verdict before Ma Lu overturned the case.

Throwing black beans meant disagreeing with the initial trial and supporting the decisions of Ma Lu, the Ministry of Justice, and the Three Courts.

Because the black beans and red beans in the ministers' hands were very small, it was not easy for people to notice what kind of beans they had thrown in.

However, the final statistics showed that most people invested in black beans.

In this case, the result of the court trial still went against the emperor's will and upheld the original verdict of the Ministry of Justice and the Three Courts, demanding that Guo Xun and his two uncles be investigated and punished for the crime of colluding with traitors!

Guo Xun was so angry about this result that he almost broke his teeth.

Because he knew that this meant that not only did most civil officials choose to stand on the side of the bureaucracy and against the emperor when their names were kept secret, but most military officials did the same.

Zhang Cong also felt upset. He had to admit that the officials of the Ming Dynasty were really rotten to the core and it would take ten to twenty years to punish them severely.

Yang Yiqing sighed because of this, he knew that this meant that the entire bureaucracy did not support the emperor's efforts to revive the country.

When the court trial results were delivered to the emperor, Zhu Houcong threw them aside without even looking at them: "I don't want to read this. I just want to know whether Huo Tao and his men have set out!"

"Your Majesty!"

"Zhejiang Governor Cai Tianyou reported that the fleet that was inspecting the East Ocean has successfully sailed out to sea, and also captured Dinghaiwei commander Wang Yue, Wu Jian, Zheng Liang and others who colluded with the Japanese pirates!"

"In addition, Jinyiwei Lu Bing reported that my uncle Zhang Sheng and my uncle Zhang Yan of Prince Yi's cousin had close contacts with the retired Minister of War Peng Ze, Deputy Chief Censor Min Kai, and Inspector Ma Lu. There are private letters between them as evidence!"

Not long after.

Qin Wen came before the emperor again and reported to Zhu Houcong.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong picked up the court trial results, took a look at them, and then stood up and went to the Imperial Study. He asked Qin Wen to inform the ministers of the Imperial Study of the two new pieces of news from the south, and then threw the court trial results in front of these people:
"Since the inspection of the East Ocean has been successful, and the so-called Japanese pirates have been completely wiped out on Shuangyu Island, and even the ministers who secretly colluded with Prince Yi and his relatives to rebel have been found out, there is no need to worry about any incidents in the South."

"Therefore, I have decided to personally try this case, put all the officials involved in the case in prison, and send people to Shanxi to arrest the officials of the various departments of government and the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, the Dali Temple, and the officials who jumped out during the trial!"

"If you say my Jinyiwei is untrustworthy, then I won't trust the three judicial officials or even all of you officials!"

"Since we are going to fight, let's fight to the end!"

"I have said before that what kind of monarch I become is not something I can decide alone!"

When Zhu Houcong said this angrily, a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

(End of this chapter)