Chapter 988. Epilogue and Beginning (II).

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When Emperor Deqing was waiting for Zhan Shanchang to enter the palace to meet him, he also discussed the matter of the vassal king involved with the officials.

However, the officials were all taboo about this matter and did not dare to show any clear attitude.

After all, there are a lot of strange things about this matter.

The Metropolitan Procuratorate suddenly received a secret letter of report, which detailed the evidence of Zhan Shanchang's collusion with the vassal kings, but who sent this report letter to the Metropolitan Procuratorate? How did you get the evidence? What exactly is he for? Is it to target Zhan Shanchang or to target those feudal kings?

No one can say these things clearly, and not many people can deduce the subsequent development of this matter.

At the same time, after all, this matter involves the royal family, even if Emperor Deqing made the decision to cut the feudal domain today, it is impossible to target all the clan members, and after the feudal domain, he may have to try to appease him.

What's more, the source of this incident is only a report letter, and the content of the report letter seems to be conclusive evidence, but it may not necessarily be true, and there is also the possibility that there is no evidence.

Therefore, after Emperor Deqing and the officials discussed for a long time, he still did not come up with any conclusion, but asked the household department to transfer the relevant fish scale atlas and yellow album for inspection, and indeed found many traces of secret modification and replacement.

Emperor Deqing and the officials all knew that this matter still needed to wait for Zhan Shanchang to explain it himself.

Perhaps, after Emperor Deqing questioned Zhan Shanchang, he would further summon Zhao Junchen, who was recuperating at home.

Zhao Junchen's influence in the household department can be said to be deep-rooted, if he said that he didn't know about this matter at all, no one believed it.

However, after waiting for more than a quarter of an hour, Emperor Deqing and the officials did not wait for Zhan Shanchang to appear, but instead met Xue Gui, the Tongzhi of Shuntian Mansion.

After Xue Gui entered the Taihe Palace, he immediately knelt down and reported: "Your Majesty, Zhan Shanchang, the former household servant, was found dead in the study by the people in the Zhan Mansion this morning!" When Your Majesty summoned Zhan Shanchang, Weichen was investigating the cause of death in Zhan's mansion, and found that Zhan Shanchang had written a letter asking for guilt before he died, and asked His Majesty to read it. ”

After speaking, Xue Gui took out Zhan Shanchang's invitation to sin and held it on his head.

At the same time, after hearing Xue Gui's report, all the officials in the Taihe Hall were shocked, and no one thought that Zhan Shanchang would die like this.

Soon, Emperor Deqing took over this petition through the hand of the great eunuch Zhang Dezhi, and read it carefully with a frown.

After reading Zhan Shanchang's recital, a trace of doubt flashed in Emperor Deqing's eyes.

Just looking at Zhan Shanchang's death, it seems that he received the news from the Metropolitan Procuratorate in advance, knowing that his crime could no longer be concealed, so he committed suicide in fear of crime.

This seems reasonable.

However, Emperor Deqing understood Zhan Shanchang's character and thought that Zhan Shanchang would be lucky no matter what he did under such circumstances, even if he sat still and waited to die, he would definitely not have the courage to commit suicide!

Therefore, Emperor Deqing thought that Zhan Shanchang's death was quite strange.

If Zhan Shanchang is still alive, Emperor Deqing doesn't care if he still has the use of spying on Zhao Junchen, the collusion of the court ministers with the vassal king is one of the biggest taboos in Emperor Deqing's heart, Emperor Deqing must be severely punished, even if he loses Zhan Shanchang's eyeliner, Emperor Deqing will have a way to find another eyeliner in the future.

However, Zhan Shanchang died suddenly, which aroused the suspicion and attention of Emperor Deqing!

Moreover, Emperor Deqing suspected Zhao Junchen for the first time.

Because, Zhan Shanchang's sudden death, Zhao Junchen will undoubtedly be one of the beneficiaries!

If Zhao Junchen had detected Zhan Shanchang's betrayal in time through some channels, then Zhan Shanchang's death would be to eliminate hidden dangers and cut the grass and eradicate the roots! If Zhao Junchen hadn't discovered Zhan Shanchang's betrayal, Zhan Shanchang would have borne all the crimes alone before his death, and he could also completely clear the criminal relationship between Zhao Junchen and the vassal kings.

However, after Emperor Deqing doubted Zhao Junchen in his heart, he remained silent.

This is just Emperor Deqing's speculation, and there is no tangible evidence, so Emperor Deqing cannot show his suspicions in public, and this matter can only be investigated secretly.

So, after Emperor Deqing read this recital, he just said to the officials with a solemn expression: "In this recital, Zhan Shanchang confessed his crime of colluding with the vassal kings...... From this point of view, the fact that the feudal kings secretly colluded with the household officials to tamper with the atlas should not be fake. ”

While speaking, Emperor Deqing handed over Zhan Shanchang's plea to the great eunuch Zhang De, and asked Zhang De to hand over this note to several cabinet elders and ministers for circulation.

Just when several important ministers of the court were circulating this letter of plea to each other, Emperor Deqing looked down at Xue Gui and said: "Zhan Shanchang's sudden death does have the possibility of committing suicide in fear of sin, but he also knows how to be in awe...... But this matter involves several vassal kings, so Shuntianfu should not be involved, and leave everything to Jinyiwei to be responsible. ”

After hearing Emperor Deqing's order, Xue Gui felt a long sigh of relief in his heart, and hurriedly agreed.

This pool of water is too deep, and Shuntianfu didn't want to participate in it, so it was naturally best to be able to push the matter to the factory guard.

At this time, several important ministers of the imperial court had already finished circulating Zhan Shanchang's plea.

After glancing at each other for a few moments, Shen Changmao immediately came out and said, "Your Majesty, now it seems that Zhan Shanchang's crime of secretly colluding with the vassal king and tampering with the atlas without permission is indeed true...... However, whether this matter is just Zhan Shanchang's sin alone is also worth pondering! As we all know, Zhao Junchen has always been the sole ruler of the household yamen, if Zhao Junchen has no knowledge of this matter, I am afraid that it is absolutely impossible! Therefore, Lao Chen believes that this matter needs to be further investigated. ”

When he made a statement, Shen Changmao bypassed the crimes of the vassal kings and directly pointed the finger at Zhao Junchen.

In Shen Changmao's opinion, it is better to leave it to Emperor Deqing to decide how to deal with these vassal kings involved in the case, but this time is a great opportunity to further suppress Zhao Junchen.

With Shen Changmao's first statement, several ministers and ministers echoed one after another, and after Zhou Shangjing pondered for a long time, he also agreed with Shen Changmao's statement.

Only Zuo Lanshan and Chen Dongxiang saw that everyone pointed the finger at Zhao Junchen, and they raised some objections one after another, but obviously they could not affect the direction of public opinion.

Emperor Deqing looked like he still trusted Zhao Junchen, and said slowly: "Zhao Aiqing has always been outstanding in the household department in the past few years, and it stands to reason that he should not be involved in this matter, but since everyone Aiqing thinks that there are doubts in this matter, it is natural that the investigation in the future should be more detailed." ”

After hearing Emperor Deqing's words, the ministers in the Taihe Palace had different expressions, and many officials were gloating, all thinking that Zhao Junchen was about to be in trouble.

And at this time, the crown prince Zhu and Yu asked again: "Father, what should these vassal kings deal with?" Since Zhan Shanchang has already pleaded guilty, it means that the crimes of these vassal kings illegally annexing land, oppressing the people, and concealing tax evasion are all true, and they must not be let go easily, and the sons asked themselves to investigate this case! ”

When it comes to the affairs of the clan, the crown prince Zhu and Yu are also the only people among the hundred officials who do not need to be taboo too much, but they once again mentioned the crimes of the vassal kings.

Emperor Deqing repeatedly considered the pros and cons in his heart, and after pondering for a long time, he finally nodded and said: "Since it is you who recommended yourself, the case of the vassal kings will be handed over to you to be responsible, and I will also send an order to the factory guards to obey you!" However, when handling a case, you must be cautious and measured. ”

After hearing Emperor Deqing's decision, Zhu Heyu's expression did not have much joy, but became more serious, and said in a deep voice: "Erchen obeys the order." ”

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Next, after Emperor Deqing and the officials discussed some more things, the court discussion finally ended.

However, everyone knows that with the revelation of Zhan Shanchang's collusion with the vassal kings, a huge turmoil will soon sweep the government and the opposition, and the situation in the temple will only be further chaotic.

said that after the court meeting was over, Zhu Heyu stayed in the Taihe Hall and waited for a while.

Zhu Heyu was about to start investigating several of the vassal kings involved in the case, this matter was not trivial, he originally thought that Emperor Deqing would specially summon him after the next dynasty and give him a detailed advice.

However, Zhu Heyu waited left and right, but never waited for Emperor Deqing's summons.

Then, Zhu Heyu received the news that Emperor Deqing summoned the factory supervisors and commanders of the two factories and one guard immediately after the next dynasty, but he didn't know what to explain to them, but obviously he would not summon Zhu Heyu again.

After seeing such a situation, Zhu Heyu couldn't help but feel a little cold, and moved his steps expressionlessly to leave the Taihe Hall and walked outside the noon gate.

After seeing Zhu Heyu appear, his attendant eunuch Xue Gao hurriedly asked, "His Royal Highness the Prince, are we going back to the Prince's East Palace or where are we going next?" ”

After pondering for a moment, Zhu Heyu replied: "I went to Zhao Junchen's mansion, I heard that he was seriously ill, and I was about to leave the capital to investigate the case of the vassal kings, but I wanted to take the opportunity to visit." ”

After hearing Zhu Heyu's instructions, Xue Gao's expression was full of surprise.

As Zhu Heyu's personal eunuch, he naturally knew that Zhu Heyu's attitude had changed during this time, but he didn't expect Zhu Heyu to take the initiative to meet Zhao Junchen.

But soon, Xue Gao restrained the surprise in his expression, and after waiting for Zhu Heyu to enter the sedan chair, he ordered the sedan chair drivers to rush in the direction of Zhao's mansion.

However, Zhu Heyu didn't know that at the same time as he rushed to Zhao Mansion to meet Zhao Junchen, Jin Yiwei commanded Hong Jin to have a secret conversation with Emperor Deqing, and he also left the Forbidden City and rushed in the direction of Zhao Mansion, but no one knew what the secret mission assigned to him by Emperor Deqing was.

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Well, the second update!

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