The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Last time, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng teamed up to cut off Feng Bao's claws to reach out to the outer court, pushed Lu Shusheng to be appointed as the Minister of Rites, and privately threatened any high-ranking officials who dared to defect to Feng Bao.

This time, if Feng Bao showed favor to Zhang Juzheng, he couldn't believe that Zhang Juzheng would handle the case impartially.

You know, in Zhang Juzheng's judgment, he should not be too embarrassed to stand up for Gao Gong.

Speaking of which, whether it is Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde, or Gao Gong, they are all old friends of Yuzhuan, but they each have their own interests, and they all do not deal with each other, and they only maintain superficial harmony.

The only thing that needs to be settled is to construct enough so-called evidence to fool the courtiers.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng was also doing the same thing as Wei Guangde in the house.

"Yuan Shu, the cabinet will enforce the law impartially in this matter, and there won't be the scene you are worried about. Feng Bao will do whatever he says, and all the princes in the court will be watching?"

Zhang Juzheng explained to Li Youzi earnestly that the cabinet would not listen to the factory guards' one-sided words and would definitely consider all the testimonies and details carefully.

"Besides, in the end, the cabinet will not accept that this case was only completed by factory guards. They were only responsible for the investigation and collection of evidence. In the end, it will take a three-party trial to convict.

In court, it is not his factory guards who have the final say, everything must withstand scrutiny. "

Zhang Juzheng carefully told Li Youzi the results of the cabinet deliberations.

"Then the Tiqi went south to Xinzheng to arrest people. You just said it. The factory guard now only has one side of the assassin's story.

People are in their hands, and under the three boards, they can make whatever confessions they want. "

Li Youzi was still worried: 'Unless the criminal is sent to the Ministry of Punishment for interrogation, it will be difficult to appease the public. ’

"I understand your concerns. There are many officials outside waiting for me to meet for this reason."

Zhang Juzheng sighed and said that he himself did not want to get deeply involved in this matter. After all, it was Feng Bao who had the power, and the person he wanted to deal with was also his opponent.

When Feng Bao ousted Gao Gong from power and sent his followers to escort Gao Gong all the way back to Xinzheng, a group of ministers also came to him to talk about it, forcing him to file a petition and request to facilitate Gao Gong's return home.

Unexpectedly, the situation is still like this now.

It's really frustrating to be the first assistant.

Everyone usually has no kind words for Gao Gong, but when the scholar really loses his face, they still come out to speak for him.

Zhang Juzheng thought for a while and then said: "I will report this matter at the meeting tomorrow. As I said just now, the people who went to Xinzheng were not to arrest Gao Gong, but to monitor him, fearing that he would actually abscond in the case.

Here, only when the evidence is sufficient and most of the officials in the court agree, will the order be issued to bring the person back to Beijing for questioning. You can rest assured about this.

The factory guard submitted evidence, but if there were any flaws, he would not issue this decree.

In any case, Gao Gong is the former chief minister of the cabinet and represents the face of the world's scholars.

All the ministers in the cabinet can still see this clearly. "

After seeing off Li Youzi, Zhang Juzheng went to meet other people.

Good guy, there is a room full of officials, the lowest grade is fifth grade.

What followed was another conversation similar to the one he had with Li Youzi, to appease all his colleagues.

Everyone actually accepted it. Although they couldn't understand Gao Gong's purpose of doing this, if it was really about Gao Gong, the case would definitely be investigated thoroughly. Gao Gong would never escape, and they would not dare to plead for him.

They've all assassinated the king and killed him, so what's left to talk about?

But it would be different if the factory guard tried to frame the minister.

Today’s goal is high arch, then who will be the target tomorrow?

When the factory guards were rampant, many courtiers were frightened to death. They, the officials in the capital, really didn't want to see such a scene happen again.

So even if you don't like Gao Gong in your heart, you can't watch him being framed and imprisoned.

So he entered the cabinet the next day, and the memorials of Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng were sent to the palace invariably.

The officials they faced were different, and the pressure on Zhang Juzheng was more obvious and huge, so his memorial seemed more sharp than Wei Guangde's.

In the memorial, Zhang Juzheng not only questioned the evidence submitted by Feng Bao, but also stated that the person behind Minister Wang should be further traced and those who dare to commit crimes should be brought to justice.

As for Wei Guangde, the memorial only mentioned a public trial and required that the evidence must convince the public, but said nothing about pursuing the people behind the scenes.

There are only two people he can think of behind the scenes.

One is Minister Wang, who is an assassin, and someone pays for the assassination.

Needless to say, the factory guards will investigate clearly and will never let the suspicious person go, and the Queen Mother of the two palaces will not let the case be closed in a haphazard manner.

On the other hand, if Minister Wang was not the assassin, who manipulated Minister Wang's confession and pointed the finger at Gao Gong.

There is no doubt that it was Feng Bao who took the opportunity to cause trouble.

After Wei Guangde's memorial was handed in, Feng Bao naturally saw it quickly.

He was very shrewd and could guess Wei Guangde's thoughts at once.

In fact, he had already made a mistake when he deceived Minister Wang. At this time, on the one hand, he had to complete the evidence and vindicate Gao Gong, but on the other hand, he was worried about exposing himself if the incident failed.

Compared with Zhang Juzheng's memorial, Feng Bao naturally valued Wei Guangde's opinions more.

Therefore, when the two memorials were handed over, he could still grasp the order.

"come here."

However, this was not all Feng Bao's operations. He called his confidant eunuch and whispered: "Go to the cabinet and tell Mr. Wei Ge that this minister Wang was once a soldier under Qi Jiguang."

Feng Bao did not say that Minister Wang was a deserter under Qi Jiguang, but only said that he was Qi Jiguang's soldier. Without the word "escape", the impact would be different.

Although Qi Jiguang's responsibility cannot be cleared even if he is labeled as a deserter and he really wants to settle accounts, it is better after all.

But it was only said that it was Qi Jiguang's soldiers, but in fact it was secretly pointed out that Qi Jiguang might also be involved in the case.

Wei Guangde wanted to stay out of this matter, but there was no way.

When the time comes, if something happens to you, you will have to come out and support the Zajia family.

Yes, Wei Guangde has become his last life-saving straw in Feng Bao's heart, not Zhang Juzheng.

In fact, in this fight against Gao Gong, for reasons well known to everyone, no one would have thought that Feng Bao and Wei Guangde had any friendship.

A few days ago, when all the officials in the court were discussing this matter in private, some people speculated that Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng had a secret conspiracy to defeat Gao Gong.

After all, whoever benefits has an incentive.

From the current point of view, the biggest beneficiary of this incident was Zhang Juzheng, who became the first minister of the dynasty.

Well, in fact, there were many conspiracy theory enthusiasts in ancient times. They liked to think about problems from the worst angles and piece together what they thought was the truth.

Of course, such truths are most likely untrue, but there are occasionally real events, but the clouds and fog are not clear enough. This is why there are folk unofficial histories circulating in addition to official history.

As for Wei Guangde, he was still on the ship at that time. With the communication technology of this era, no one would think that Feng Bao had the opportunity to contact Wei Guangde when he was handling this matter, so he was naturally excluded.

Rather than guessing that Wei Guangde was involved, it would be more appropriate to say that Gaoyi was involved.

It was also because there were rumors that he and Zhang Juzheng were secretly colluding, so Feng Bao had to consider closing the case.

This case will definitely not be settled easily. Someone must intervene strongly, and the only ones who can do it now are Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde.

Zhang Juzheng has been eliminated. Otherwise, if the news of his collusion with Zhang Juzheng reaches the ears of the Queen Mother of the two palaces, he will also be embarrassed.

Cabinet, Wei Guangde is in charge of the house.

"Go back and tell Eunuch Feng that I understand."

Wei Guangde saw the people sent by Feng Bao and knew what Feng Bao had said, which strengthened Wei Guangde's determination to deal with the matter.

If Feng Bao could perfect the so-called evidence and trap Gao Gong, he would naturally not say much.

Once there is insufficient evidence and Gao Gong is removed from the case, the case must be closed quickly. Only by having Minister Wang executed as soon as possible can the incident not continue to develop and bite more courtiers.

Wei Guangde certainly didn't believe Qi Jiguang was involved in the case.

But once this matter is made public, the Chief Military Officer of Jizhen will not want to do anything anymore. It will be good if he can avoid going to jail.

Wei Guangde temporarily put aside his official duties, sat behind the desk and thought for a while, and roughly understood Feng Bao's plan.

Wei Guangde had heard about the rumors about him and Zhang Juzheng. In fact, they were all news released by Gao Gong's gang members when they left the capital.

Otherwise, it would be difficult for ordinary people to connect the two together.

Only their opponents know them best. This is absolutely true.

Although Zhang Juzheng was well-covered, he still couldn't escape Gao Gong's eyes, and clues about the connection between him and Feng Bao were discovered.

However, Gao Gong was so powerful at that time that he was careless and underestimated Feng Bao's influence in the palace and the power of Zhang Juzheng's tactics.

Wei Guangde did not plan to get involved in this matter for the time being. He would rather let the rumors fly for a while and wait until Minister Wang came to court to see the situation before taking action.

Zhang Juzheng's plan at this time was actually similar to Wei Guangde's. He didn't want to get involved too deeply, which would really lose the face of his chief minister.

In his opinion, since Feng Bao has talked through Minister Wang, as long as Minister Wang kills Gao Gong during the trial, the case seems to be promising.

As for improving the evidence, Zhang Juzheng is not worried at all.

After all, the factory guards were handling the case, how could they not know this.

At this time, Liu Shouyou was facing the questioning of his boss, Jinyiwei Commander Zhu Xixiao, in the Fusi lobby of Beizhen.

Because of his elder brother's illness, Zhu Xixiao has not come to Jinyiwei to take care of things these days. When he has time, he goes to the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion to help process official documents.

Although the power of the Fifth Army Governor's Office has been evaded, there are still a lot of official documents reported from the various security offices every day, and they all need to be processed in a timely manner.

"You're saying that Minister Wang is actually a gangster living on the streets in Sijiu City. He stole the clothes of the chamberlain and only wanted to steal things in the palace?"

"Yes, my lord, I have led an interrogation by a torture expert from the Guards in my humble position, and this is the result."

"Then how come he was ordered by Gao Gong to assassinate the emperor?"

"After that, the prison was taken over by Dongchang, and I don't know what happened next. The situation will develop like this."

As the two talked in low voices, Zhu Xixiao quickly understood the whole story, and also knew that an ordinary case had been turned into a shocking case by Feng Bao.

It's actually normal for the bastard to have a sword hidden on his body. They are all brave and ruthless people. How can he not bring something to defend himself?

"This matter is a bit troublesome. The most important thing is that this matter has nothing to do with our Jin Yiwei, but those people from the outer court associate us with Dongchang. It is really disgusting."

Zhu Xixiao said angrily.

"Yes, those people are used to seeing things come rain or shine. They don't know anything and can only make random accusations."

Liu Shouyou also complained.

"Since this has nothing to do with us from the beginning, we have to figure it out. I don't want to involve us in the fight between gods."

Having said this, Zhu Xixiao looked at Liu Shouyou and asked in a more serious tone: "Do you understand what I mean?"

"Yes, sir, I understand."

Liu Shouyou immediately bowed and replied.

"Then I'm leaving. I heard the news and was worried about something happening at home, so I came over to take a look."

Zhu Xixiao said something more, stood up and walked out, "You have to worry about it here. There are many things going on in the Governor's Mansion, and I may not be able to take care of it."

After Zhu Xixiao left, Liu Shouyou had a wry smile on his face. Today, Zhu Xixiao apparently came back to ask about the matter, but in fact he wanted to distance himself from the relationship.

After thinking about it, Liu Shouyou returned to his seat, took out a piece of letter, laid it out, picked up the pen and started writing.

After writing the note, wait for it to dry before folding it in half and putting it in an envelope and sealing it.

"Someone is coming."

He shouted outside and a confidant, the captain, came in.

Liu Shouyou handed the envelope into his hand and waved.

The captain hurriedly listened.

Soon, Liu Shouyou said a few words in the man's ear, and then the captain bowed, clasped his fists, and left the hall.

In the afternoon, Wei Guangde was still busy handling official duties in the cabinet room, and Lu Bu came in cautiously.

"What's the matter?"

Wei Guangde asked casually, thinking that another memorial was being distributed to his room, so he didn't even raise his head.

Lu Bu didn't answer, and quickly walked to Wei Guangde's side, leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"give it to me."

Wei Guangde only frowned slightly after hearing Lu Bu's words, and then said.

Lu Bu hurriedly took out an envelope from his arms and handed it to Wei Guangde's hands.

After Wei Guangde waved, he turned around and left the check-in room.

Wei Guangde and others left, then tore open the envelope and took out the note inside.

After browsing it quickly, Wei Guangde opened his mouth slightly.

Liu Shouyou and Wei Guangde were still impressed, but mainly because his name was on the list Lu Yi gave Wei Guangde before leaving Beijing.

Liu Shouyou was able to be promoted from Jinyiwei Baihu to Jinyiwei's current knowledge, thanks to his acquaintance with Wei Guangde, and the two sides cooperated tacitly.

In addition, without Lu Bing in recent years, the Jinyiwei's power has declined. Liu Shou, a civil servant who joined the Jinyiwei due to his meritorious service, will naturally receive additional support.

In fact, when it comes to Liu Shou's choices, they are really wide.

Liu Shouyou is a native of Macheng, Huguang. The Macheng Liu family has been passed down from the ancestor Liu Meng to the tenth generation Liu Dong. It has continued its achievements from generation to generation. It is a famous family in history and has achieved "ten generations of Yuankui Shizhou, nine official titles". To protect the glory of famous people.

He and Zhang Juzheng are both from Huguang, but the Liu family actually followed the immigration trend of "Jiangxi filling up Huguang" in the early Ming Dynasty before settling in Macheng. The Liu family's ancestral home is Yiyang, Jiangxi.

Liu Shouyou and Zeng Xingwu were similar in that they both had a constant relationship with Jiangxi.

However, in the final selection, Liu Shouyou still chose Wei Guangde, a cabinet minister he had contact with. After all, when the Lu family supported him in the guard house, it was because of his reputation.

Today, Zhu Xixiao came to Beizhen Fusi, which directly accelerated Liu Shouyou's political choice. He passed the information held by Jin Yiwei to Wei Guangde.

However, this is just the beginning.