Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 712: When the Wall Falls, Everyone Pushes Back
Today, Zhang Shou and others were summoned to the court. Many officials felt strange. When they heard that many houses were broken into by thieves last night, including Zhang Yuan and the elegant house where Yue Shanchang and others lived, they suddenly realized what was going on.
However, after the emperor heard the imperial censor impeach Zhu Tingfang for being domineering, he decided on the rewards and punishments, and immediately asked Zhang Shou and others, instead of the nobles such as Duke Zhao and Duke Qin who also encountered thieves in their mansions. The court officials could not help but smell something different. For a moment, I don't know how many eyes were focused on Zhang Shou and the other four.
Therefore, several scholars of the Imperial Academy who were originally glad that their families had escaped the disaster felt a little jealous. They were also lecturers in the Eastern Palace, but those thieves did not come to their homes. Did they look down on them and think they were insignificant?
Shanzhang Yue first glanced at Zhang Shou, and saw him nod at him with a smile, as if he was signaling him to speak first in a very graceful manner. He then glanced at Shanzhang Xu and Shanzhang Xiao, and found that their eyes were more confused than silent, as if they were saying to him, we slept until dawn and know nothing. He suddenly felt helpless.
After being awakened last night, he first sent students out to inquire, and then went out to check himself, but no one else came out to inquire about what was going on. Since Dean Xiao and Dean Xu pretended to be deaf and dumb, he had to take the responsibility of coming forward. After he stepped out and bowed, he briefly explained what he had seen and heard.
"Your Majesty, after I was awakened last night, I heard my students come in and report that there seemed to be thieves in the Yashe. I remembered that I and my students have practiced martial arts, and if anything happened, we might be able to help, so I left."
"But when I arrived, there were only bloodstains on the ground, but I didn't see any thieves. I only heard from a chattering servant in Yashe that someone suddenly climbed over the wall and lit a rocket as if preparing to set fire. Fortunately, the soldiers of the Sharp Cavalry Battalion sent by the emperor reacted very quickly. Not only did they kill one thief on the spot, they also captured the others in one fell swoop."
"I was naturally relieved at that time. After all, I and my students did not want us to use force, because that would mean the worst had happened. Later, the troops from the North City Military Department also arrived. I met Lord Zhu at that time, and it was from him that I learned that the thieves had not only come to Yashe, but also captured in many other places."
At this point, Shanzhang Yue hesitated for a moment, and ultimately did not add, "Such rebellious and rebellious behavior truly outrageous. I implore you to punish them according to the law to serve as a warning to others."
With such a vicious incident happening in the capital, it is conceivable that the emperor would impose severe punishment, so there is no need for him to add such a statement.
Yue Shanzhang's words sounded comprehensive, but in fact, he said nothing - after all, he didn't see the thieves coming, and the scene of the two fighting each other was a typical case of irrelevant text according to the precedent of the examination papers. However, when Xu Shanzhang and Xiao Shanzhang apologized and said that they slept very soundly at night and knew nothing, no one blamed Yue Shanzhang.
After all, at least Yue Shanzhang of Zhaoming Academy went out to see what was going on and asked some questions carefully. Isn't he much better than the other two who were completely clueless? He was still sleeping soundly despite such a big commotion. How brave he must be!
These three people knew nothing. The emperor smiled noncommittally and then looked at Zhang Shou and said, "Jiu Zhang, what about you? It is said that thieves broke into your Zhang Garden last night. You were also so sound asleep that you don't know anything?"
"I have been busy and exhausted for the past few days, so I did sleep until dawn. I am not sure about the specific situation."
Zhang Shou said this calmly, and saw that many of the court officials had expressions of "as expected". As for whether they really thought it was so, or whether they thought he was making excuses, he didn't care, and said calmly: "But last night, Ah Liu led the guards at my house, so when I was woken up early in the morning and learned that something had happened, I naturally went to him to ask him about it."
He repeated what Anlu had said on behalf of Liu in the morning, including how someone fired a feint into the wall in front, and how the blocked exit of the secret passage in the back was suddenly dug open, allowing the thief to sneak in. As for Hua Qi's trick, he did not mention it, and only said that Liu had foreseen it and was lying in wait there, thus achieving a remarkable feat.
But even so, Zhang Yuan was attacked from both sides, and ended up with four deaths and two injuries on one side, while capturing two alive on the other side, which really made many court officials gasp.
Especially because Grand Scholar Kong got up early and took temporary sick leave and was unable to attend the court, Master Kong Jiu took advantage of the chaos to slip out of the Kong family to attend the court session. He wanted to see how the situation was. When he heard that Zhang Shou, who was previously scolded by his brother as a nouveau riche, actually had a group of such cruel people in his mansion, even though he knew that Ah Liu, who claimed to be Zhang Shou's butler, was very powerful, he couldn't help but feel awe-inspiring.
It's not surprising that one person is powerful, but Zhang Garden is so big that it is definitely not something that one person can take care of! So, the reason why he misrepresented the news that Zhu Tingfang was assassinated and seriously injured was probably not leaked by Ah Liu unintentionally, but leaked intentionally!
The emperor was not surprised by the overall result that four of the thieves who sneaked into Zhang Garden died, while the other four were captured alive - if Ah Liu did not have this ability, he would not seem like the true successor of Hua Qi.
However, he certainly couldn't summon Ah Liu to ask him again in this situation - of course he would do so after the morning court session - so at this moment he just smiled and praised him for being worthy of his reputation. But just as he was about to continue asking Zhao Guogong Zhu Jing and others, Zhang Shou spoke again.
"There is another matter that I have to report to His Majesty. Last night, Ah Liu went to the headquarters of the Ruiqi Battalion, but when he came back, he encountered someone who wanted to kill him..."
In front of all the officials, Zhang Shou calmly recounted the whole story of how Jiang Zhuoer was captured by Ah Liu, and how he confessed like a bamboo tube pouring out beans. However, he stopped talking when he confessed that he was doing the dirty work. Even so, more than half of the hundreds of civil and military officials who were able to attend the regular court suddenly changed their expressions.
Even if they had never done it, they had to desperately recall and examine whether there were any unfilial descendants, relatives, or servants in their family who would contact that dirty and dark circle under their name. As for those who had actually ordered people to contact these people, they were so nervous that their hearts were about to jump out.
This... naturally includes Master Kong Jiu, whom Jiang Zhuoer confessed to.
He had just had a fight with the eldest brother, who was the most knowledgeable and the highest-ranking official in the clan, and was scolded by him by the collar. Afterwards, he saw that Academician Kong fainted because of Zhu Tingfang's words. He personally experienced the undisguised hostility towards him after Zhu Tingfang brazenly broke into the Kong Mansion. He was worried, of course, but it was not to the point of being imminent.
Zhu Tingfang's revenge could at most make him dismissed from his official position - and even that might not be possible. After all, although he was a fellow Jinshi, he had been in office for several years. If they were not fellow townsmen, he had fellow students, and if they were not fellow students, he had his teacher. In addition, he had been very good at networking over the years and had made quite a few acquaintances. Since he knew he had offended Zhu Tingfang, he would not sit idly by and wait for death.
Besides, no matter how much the eldest brother hated or was angry, he had to protect him.
However, what Zhang Shou revealed could very well cost him his life! You know, the clan fully supports his eldest brother, and the resources and supplies that fall to him are quite few, and he has to spend a lot of money to make more connections, so he often has to use some underhand means, and he has done a lot of things like robbing people by trickery.
If this matter in a certain circle were really exposed...he would be really finished!
Seeing that all kinds of eyes were looking at him, and that there might be a lot of people who would feel insecure, Zhang Shou smiled and said, "A Liu said that there are many such villains in the market who use their knowledge of the secrets of officials to cheat people, so Jiang Zhuo'er's words are not credible. Therefore, if the emperor hadn't asked just now, I would have almost forgotten about this person."
"If he's locked up for two more days, he might have died..."
The emperor was amused by Zhang Shou's words. However, Zhang Shou explained the whole story in front of him, and did not even hide the fact that this guy was in the black market circle. Of course, he was very satisfied. As the only abnormal emperor since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, he had wandered around in Bailongyu clothing when he was young, and when he grew up, he personally went deep into some places to find out the bottom, so he was not unfamiliar with certain activities.
At this moment, he stroked his chin and laughed, his eyes fell on Zhu Tingfang: "Since the Five Cities Military Department was in charge of last night's events, then the matters and people mentioned by Zhang Qing are all left to you, Zhu Qing. The four people in his house... No, including Jiang Zhuoer, there should be five survivors, you send someone to take over."
Because of the big news Zhang Shou broke, the emperor suddenly lost interest in the thieves from other noble ministers. Who has a monster like Ah Liu in their family? After capturing the first assassin alive, the subsequent people were scared and dared not take action. Aren't they afraid of taking the money but not taking action but ruining their reputation? After all, it is not as interesting to capture the thieves by working together as a group...
So he said solemnly, "What happened last night was that a palace maid attempted to set fire, and outside the palace, thieves invaded the residences of nobles and ministers. This was truly a treason unprecedented in recent years. The captured palace maids have confessed that they believed the rumors spread in the palace that the benevolent policy of letting palace maids out of the palace when they reached the age of retirement was about to be abolished, and they were resentful and resorted to this desperate measure."
Seeing that many officials showed expressions of shock and anger, the emperor pressed the armrest and stood up before anyone could say anything.
"As for the situation of those thieves outside the palace, I think Zhu Qing didn't have time to interrogate them last night. Well, many people are more concerned about the families that were visited by the Five Cities Army. Zhu Qing, please tell us what happened."
Since the emperor had named him, Zhu Tingfang stood up. He was not like Zhang Shou, who spoke in a gentle and gentle voice about a very serious matter. His tone was cold and there was a deep murderous intent between the lines, so the listeners could not help but shudder even if they had nothing to do with him. Especially when they heard that a certain minister had committed suicide by taking poison, many people felt even more sympathetic.
Smart people soon realized that the only way to avoid involving others was to point to the eldest prince who had completely lost hope and the dead queen. Especially Wu Ge Lao, who had a false alarm last night and didn't sleep well the whole night, and now he had lost his habit of being kind to others.
Being kind to others means making friends with people the emperor likes and showing kindness to them. It definitely does not mean being flattering with people the emperor dislikes or even hates. Otherwise, he would be unworthy of being the emperor's puppet.
As a result, Wu Ge Lao was the first to stand up and said with great sorrow that the eldest prince should be recalled to the capital for a thorough investigation, and people who agreed with him appeared one after another. Zhang Yu, a university scholar who had also encountered thieves invading his mansion last night and injured several family members, was initially hesitant about whether to add insult to injury, but seeing the overwhelming public sentiment, he finally joined the ranks of seconding the motion.
Facing this scene, Zhang Shou couldn't help but feel that the world had changed dramatically when he recalled the time when the Queen was the mother of the country and the eldest and second princes were ostentatious and domineering.
But it didn't even take too long for the sea to change, not to mention twenty years, not even a year! No wonder the ministers in the court were all on the edge of an abyss, treading on thin ice. If the boat capsized, there might be no one to rescue you, and countless oars would hit you as you tried to climb back on board. It was really terrible!
Although the emperor never liked to push others down when he was down, he was shocked and even angry when he heard the news of the second prince's shipwreck and Concubine Jing's death. But the series of events last night really angered him deeply.
It's not that he didn't give his eldest son a chance. He even let him go to Cangzhou after he volunteered to take on the responsibility. He thought that if he could see the suffering of the people and make some progress, the East Palace, which had been vacant for a long time, might have a master. But what did he give him in return? A ridiculous uprising?
And now, look at this mess! The second prince's shipwreck might have been caused by Concubine Jing before she died, just to sacrifice one son to save the other. Anyway, the one who was sacrificed had broken her heart. Concubine Jing asked for death, probably to win people's sympathy. After all, as long as the deposed queen died, there would be voices of sorrow and regret among the people.
Otherwise, why did she swallow the gold at that time when she could have done so? As for spreading rumors and instigating the palace servants to set fire to the palace... he felt that this was completely unnecessary. Sure enough, the facts proved that this was indeed the case.
He had just concealed something in front of the court officials, because he had called Chu Kuan over last night, and when he questioned them one by one, Chu Kuan threatened them with lingchi, extermination of the clan, and collective punishment. Most people could not bear the huge pressure, and some of them wept bitterly and confessed that it was the eldest prince who bribed heavily and used the reason of the sky fire as a warning to force the emperor to depose the prince and take him back.
Although only one or two people said so, several pieces of gold jewelry were found in the luggage and clothes of the two palace maids in their residences. Then, after checking the styles, it was confirmed that they were indeed the ones recorded in the inner court files and were awarded to the eldest prince when Concubine Jing was still the empress. The emperor had no choice but to believe it.
Seeing the public's indignation, the emperor did not make a decision immediately, but let the eunuch beside him loudly announce: "Dismiss the court!"
