Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 358 The traitor has been executed, please ask the Queen Mother to return to the palace!

"The traitor has been executed, please return to the palace, Queen Mother!"

Although Wang Ke and others were lying in a mess outside Zuoshun Gate, the vermilion blood was spreading on the white stone slabs like a trickle.

But the ministers simply turned a blind eye to this.

Grand Secretary Lin Jun even came and knelt in the blood porridge behind Empress Dowager Zhang, letting the blood splatter on his robe, and only said this to Empress Dowager Zhang in a deep voice.

"The traitor has been executed, please return to the palace, Queen Mother!"

Yang Yiqing, who had already arrived, also knelt in front of Empress Dowager Zhang and shouted.

"The traitor has been executed, please return to the palace, Queen Mother!"

"The traitor has been executed, please return to the palace, Queen Mother!"

The civil and military officials also shouted the same thing.

for a while.

The shouts were like thunder.

Now they really just want the Queen Mother to return to the palace as soon as possible.

Because they didn't want to see the situation of ruling from behind the scenes in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, they could not tolerate Empress Dowager Zhang staying in the previous dynasty.

However, this time it was because their ministers in the outer court broke the ancestral rules first.

But since they had already cleared out those in their own ranks who did not abide by the ancestral system and etiquette, they naturally had reason to ask the empress dowager to comply and not break the rule that "the harem is not allowed to interfere in politics."

Empress Dowager Zhang turned around and looked at these people.

Huang Jinze hurriedly helped her up at this time.

Lin Jun and others all looked at Huang Jin with gratitude.

Empress Dowager Zhang stood up.

She knew that it was impossible for her to interfere in politics and she had no desire to exert power. She made such a fuss this time only to protect her brother.

After she stood up, she just looked back at the officials with a hint of disdain on her face.

The officials bowed their heads.

Of course, there were also people who felt indignant at Empress Dowager Zhang's expression, but they could only be indignant in their hearts.

Snapped!
After returning home, the Minister of Rites Wu Yipeng suddenly gritted his teeth and slammed the table.

But he didn't dare to curse her openly, and only cursed in his heart: "This bitch!"

Xu Jie, who followed, understood why Wu Yipeng was angry, but he could only smile bitterly and said:
"Your Majesty is truly a sage king who can restore the country. That is why the harem is so harmonious and the two saints can help to protect the cause of restoration. This is a blessing for the country and the people! Especially the Empress Dowager Zhaosheng, who represents the main line of the Heavenly Family and also represents the two previous emperors. Under her guidance, we can always stay clear-headed on major issues, which makes the inheritance of the empire stable, and the world is also governed by it!"

"You are right, but it is not just Your Majesty who is patient and persuasive. This Empress Dowager Zhaosheng seems to have gained great wisdom since the death of the previous emperor."

"At the beginning, it was because of her sudden decree that Yang Xindu, Mao Kunshan and others were unable to allow His Majesty to enter the capital through the Dong'an Gate as the crown prince, and instead entered the capital through the Daming Gate as the emperor!"

"Yang Xin couldn't do anything to Empress Dowager Zhaosheng, so it's certainly impossible for the people who come after him to do anything to her."

Wu Yipeng looked at Xu Jie as he spoke: "Zisheng, remember, no matter what His Majesty does next, you must not go against His Majesty's will, and don't learn from them! At least before His Majesty dies, you must honestly follow the way of the saints! Even after His Majesty's thousands of generations, if you can govern the country, even if you have to re-determine this case, you can only rehabilitate the people except Wang Ke and others. After all, Wang Ke and others must die, because the monarch's authority must be respected, otherwise the father's authority and the husband's authority will also not exist. If the monarch and father want to follow public opinion, the emperor must take the initiative to follow public opinion. The minister cannot force him, just like a son cannot force his father."

"Junior understands!"

Xu Jie bowed and went back.

For the bureaucrats, the fact that Empress Dowager Zhang finally returned to the palace was indeed a relief.

They were really afraid that the Ming Dynasty would see a situation where someone would rule from behind the scenes and the external relatives would become even more difficult to control.

Simultaneously.

As a result, the bureaucrats began to clearly realize that their power was essentially dependent on imperial power to achieve its current status. Otherwise, if the emperor really borrowed the power of eunuchs, military officials, and even relatives by marriage, their power would lose its foundation, just like a river without a source. No matter how turbulent it is, it will dry up sooner or later.

And power is only responsible to the source of power.

If they want to maintain their power, they must ultimately maintain the imperial power. After the emperor instigated Empress Dowager Zhang to make such a fuss, the entire bureaucratic group had to take the initiative to maintain the imperial power and actively request an order to kill Wang Ke and others who resisted the imperial power with their lives.

Therefore, if they really want to control the emperor and make him follow public opinion, they can only find a new source of power, that is, they have to mobilize the people and get the people to support them in resisting imperial power.

But the same thing goes, allowing a group of landlords to mobilize the people and let them be the masters of their own affairs is tantamount to letting them rebel against themselves and destroy themselves.

Anyone who has such courage can only be called a true saint.

But the reality is that saints are very rare.

Most of them are selfish, the only difference is that some have more conscience, some have less, and some have none at all and are extremely selfish.

Naturally, no bureaucrat would do this, at least no one wants to do so now.

Therefore, Wang Ke and others did not obstruct Zhu Houcong from exercising his power of special appointment. Not only did he replace the officials of the three judicial departments, but he also allowed Zhu Houcong to use this opportunity to strengthen his ruling power, making the bureaucrats even more afraid to openly confront him.

Zhang Cong, Gui E and Fang Xianfu, the three new judges of the Sanfasi, then successfully re-examined the case brought by Ma Lu.

When Ma Lu was taken to the Sanfasi and interrogated by Zhang Cong, Gui E, and Fang Xianfu, Zhang Cong first asked him, "Jinyiwei reported that you tortured the magistrate Dai Ji to extract a confession. Is this true?"

Ma Lu did not answer.

As soon as he was arrested and brought to the capital, he was imprisoned. Naturally, he had no idea what was happening outside. When he saw Zhang Cong, Gui E and Fang Xianfu as the three judicial officials, he guessed that something might have happened in the capital.

But he didn't know how serious the situation had gotten, so he could only remain silent.

Gui E laughed at this time: "You can choose not to answer, but as long as we ask County Magistrate Dai Ji to examine your injuries, and ask for witnesses, and Peng Ze's selfish motives for you as circumstantial evidence, we can still convict you, but the severity of the punishment will be different."

Ma Lu looked up suddenly and his eyes widened.

He didn't expect that even Peng Ze knew about Gui E.

Ma Lu had no choice but to answer truthfully: "I did use torture."

“Why torture?”

Fang Xianfu asked.

Ma Lu said: "Of course we have to prove that Zhang Yin is Li Fuda, so that public opinion can prevail."

Zhang Cong asked in a deep voice: "County Magistrate Dai Ji is also a scholar of filial and honest origin, and he is also an official appointed by the court. You tortured him to extract a confession without authorization, just to prove that Zhang Yin is Li Fuda. As a censor, you knew the law but broke it, and forcibly falsely accused the nobles and relatives. You can't be said to be guilty of dereliction of duty and false accusation for personal gain. Do you plead guilty?"

"I plead guilty!"

Ma Lu closed his eyes and replied.

then.

Ma Lu raised his voice again: "But Zhang Yin did have contact with the evil thief!"

"Is there any evidence?"

Zhang Cong asked.

Ma Lu replied helplessly: "No!"

Gui E then said, "Since there is no evidence, there is no need to talk about it any more. Besides, it was reported that Zhang Yin, the commander of Taiyuan Guard, died suddenly on the road two days ago! Therefore, whether Zhang Yin was a traitor or not is a mystery. The only thing you, Ma Lu, did was dereliction of duty for personal gain and even framed the nobles and relatives, which is a proven crime."

After hearing this, Ma Lu collapsed to the ground with lifeless eyes.

He didn't expect things to come to this point, and couldn't help thinking that if he had known this would happen, he would have listened to Guo Xun and not brought this matter up.

The Three Courts tried other criminals here. Finally, Xue Liang, who had initially accused Zhang Yin of being Li Fuda, changed his statement and said that he had made a false accusation. The governor of Shanxi and the officials of Shanxi also began to confess that they had also determined the results of the initial trial that Xue Liang had made a false accusation, but they were forced to change their minds by Ma Lu and Peng Ze, Min Kai and Wu Jing behind him.

After the trial, Zhang Cong, Gui E and Fang Xianfu, on behalf of the three judicial officials, reopened the case and determined that Zhang Yin was not Li Fuda. Ma Lu and others harbored a grudge against Guo Xun and the two royal uncles and deliberately fabricated a wrongful case, and convicted the case of false accusation for personal gain.

Zhu Houcong was satisfied and approved the case.

He knew that this meant that he, the Son of Heaven, was above the entire bureaucracy and could overturn the mainstream opinions of the bureaucracy and force them to obey him.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong was very satisfied with this.

(End of this chapter)