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The next day, in the Taihe Palace, after the court meeting began.

With the great eunuch Zhang De's "play early if you have something, and retreat from the dynasty if you have nothing to do", the crown prince Zhu Heyu, who participated in the early dynasty again after many days, stepped out of the ranks.

When they came out, the expressions of Prince Zhu and Yu were extremely serious, and there was a faint hint of determination.

Yesterday afternoon, when Lu Chunxiao, the imperial capital of the Imperial Palace, informed him of Zhan Shanchang's collusion with the vassal kings, Zhu Heyu was angry in his heart, but also a little hesitant.

Zhu and Yu were not sure whether they should take the initiative to expose the matter.

For more than a year, Zhu Heyu has gradually understood the truth of "doing more wrong, doing less wrong, and not doing well", and now he finally ended the grounding and returned to the court, the most important thing should be to be a low-key person, stand firm, and reshape his reputation.

For Zhu Heyu, the biggest trouble in this matter is not the deep-rooted vassal forces, but Zhao Junchen who stands behind Zhan Shanchang.

Zhu Heyu already wants to ease relations with Zhao Junchen, and Zhan Shanchang is Zhao Junchen's confidant on the surface, if Zhu Heyu comes forward to impeach Zhan Shanchang for the crime of colluding with the vassal kings, maybe Zhao Junchen will be implicated, and his relationship with Zhao Junchen will continue to deteriorate.

But just when Zhu and Yu were hesitant because of this relationship, Zhao Junchen "happened" to send someone to send a return gift to Zhu and Yu.

Some time ago, when Zhao Junchen became an auxiliary minister of the cabinet and a new uncle, the crown prince Zhu Heyu sent a valuable congratulatory gift to the Zhao Mansion, and it was natural for Zhao Junchen to send a return gift to the East Palace at this time.

Zhao Junchen's return gift is also very simple, it is a volume of the ancient book "Zhou Yi" at the end of the Song Dynasty.

After Zhu Heyu got this "Zhou Yi", he looked at it twice, but found that Zhao Junchen deliberately used a Zhu pen to outline one of the sentences in this "Zhou Yi".

"If you are poor, you will change, and if you change, you will be able to do it for a long time" - from "Zhou Yi's Resignation".

After seeing this sentence, Zhu Heyu suddenly became enlightened.

Emperor Deqing wanted to depose himself and replace the prince, and Zhu Heyu naturally knew it in his heart.

Therefore, he must find a way to change his situation at this time!

And if you want to change your situation, you have to do something!

If he does nothing, just blindly maintains stability in a low-key manner, his situation will only gradually erode and will never be recovered!

For Zhu Heyu, his current situation is too bad to be worse, since he has found an opportunity, he should take the opportunity to do it immediately! Even if this matter is not done well and is punished by Emperor Deqing, at most he will be deposed a few days in advance, but if he can handle this matter beautifully, maybe he can save the situation.

What's more, looking at Zhao Junchen's hints, he doesn't seem to care about Zhu Heyu's impeachment of Zhan Shanchang.

So, Zhu Heyu finally made up his mind to stand up and take the initiative to expose the matter.

Not only should we take the initiative to expose this matter, but also try to get the right to investigate and judge this case.

For Zhu Heyu, this is his ruined move!

*

In the Taihe Palace, after seeing Zhu Heyu take the initiative to come out, several ministers who received the news in advance all looked solemn.

However, most of the officials did not realize the seriousness of the situation, and their eyes when they looked at Zhu Heyu were full of schadenfreude, and they only felt that Zhu Heyu couldn't help but do something again, and in the end, nine times out of ten, he hit the south wall hard, bleeding profusely.

Zhu Heyu didn't pay attention to the different eyes of the officials, but just raised his voice with a solemn expression: "Father, the son has important things to do!" ”

Emperor Deqing's gaze at Zhu Heyu was very complicated, as if he saw a fawn falling into a trap and was dying.

After a moment of silence, Emperor Deqing had regained his indifference and majesty, and said slowly: "Oh? What is it? Is it that serious? Go ahead. ”

Zhu Heyu's voice raised again, and he said loudly: "Erchen wants to impeach the former household servant Zhan Shanchang for colluding with several vassal kings, tampering with the household atlas, illegally annexing land, and oppressing the people!" ”

After saying this, there was an uproar in the Taihe Palace.

The impeachment of Prince Zhu and Yu is not only related to the core members of the "Zhao Party", but also related to several vassal kings! Once this kind of thing is not done well, maybe there will be chaos in the government and the opposition!

Zhu Heyu ignored the horror and uproar of the officials, and immediately reported the crimes of Zhan Shanchang and several vassal kings to Emperor Deqing in detail.

After hearing Zhu Heyu's report, not to mention the more and more shocked and discussed among the officials, Emperor Deqing's expression was also uncertain.

The impeachment of the crown prince Zhu and Yu was a mixed blessing for Emperor Deqing.

The good thing is that Emperor Deqing has indeed had the intention of cutting the feudal domain for a long time, especially for the behind-the-scenes owners of the "Eight Kings Boat Line", Emperor Deqing has hated it for a long time.

The various benefits of cutting the feudal domain, Emperor Deqing naturally understood it.

Today, the number of clans in the Ming Dynasty has reached hundreds of thousands, and nearly half of the annual court tax revenue is used to feed these moths, and Emperor Deqing will have a headache every time he sees this expenditure, if he does not try to weaken the power of the clan, the court will be dragged down by them sooner or later!

What's more, once the financial resources accumulated by those feudal kings for hundreds of years are collected into the imperial court, the financial situation of the imperial court will soon be greatly improved, not only will Emperor Deqing be fed, but the people's power will also be liberated! At that time, Zhao Junchen's importance will also be greatly reduced.

Compared with these benefits, the blood friendship between Emperor Deqing and those vassal kings is simply insignificant and not worth mentioning.

While there are many advantages, there are also many disadvantages.

The imperial court is currently focusing on the Hetao war, the plan to abolish the six departments of Nanjing is being implemented, and the matter of replacing the prince is also poised to start, which can be said to be an eventful autumn, and the Deqing Emperor is also difficult to stabilize the situation.

At this time, once the imperial court made another turmoil in cutting the feudal domain, the chaos in the temple would further expand, and it would be difficult for even Emperor Deqing to stabilize the situation at that time.

At the same time, the crown prince Zhu and Yu took the initiative to expose the matter, obviously wanting to accept the case, which also made Emperor Deqing hesitate.

Emperor Deqing was worried that once Zhu Heyu completed this matter, the prestige of the government and the opposition would be greatly increased, which would inevitably affect his plan to change the reserve.

In comparison, although Zhan Shanchang has become the eyeliner of Emperor Deqing to spy on Zhao Junchen, his life and death are just an insignificant trivial matter, even if Zhan Shanchang loses his role because of this matter, Emperor Deqing naturally has a way to find a new eyeliner.

In this way, after hearing Zhu Heyu's impeachment, Emperor Deqing did not express his position immediately, but muttered for a long time with a changing expression.

After a full tea time, Emperor Deqing finally made a decision.

However, Emperor Deqing suddenly thought that after the end of the Hetao War, if the imperial court wanted to stabilize the situation in the Hetao area, it would need to garrison, move borders, reclaim, build cities, and so on, all of which needed a lot of silver.

Therefore, if the imperial court takes the opportunity to get rid of these feudal kings involved in the case this time, this money will soon be settled!

The matter of Hetao is related to the evaluation of Emperor Deqing's history books, and it is the most important thing in Emperor Deqing's heart, which makes Emperor Deqing finally make up his mind.

So, Emperor Deqing immediately changed his angry expression and said angrily: "Is there such a thing? What a daredevil! Spread my will, and immediately summon Zhan Shanchang to meet him! I will personally question him. ”

*

However, Emperor Deqing didn't know that when he summoned Zhan Shanchang, the Zhan Mansion was already in chaos.

On the morning of this day, Zhan Shanchang's side was long with Zhan An, and suddenly he cried loudly in the study of Zhan Mansion.

"Sir! What's wrong with you, sir, sir! Come on! Come on! Sir, he ...... He's dead! ”

Such a movement immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the Zhan Mansion.

Soon, everyone hurried to the study of Zhan Mansion, but they were shocked to find that Zhan Shanchang was lying motionless on the desk, his body was cold and stiff, and he had already lost his breath.

I saw that Zhan Shanchang was still holding a small porcelain vase in his right hand, and in front of him was a note to be given to Emperor Deqing.

After seeing Zhan Shanchang's death, Zhan Mansion suddenly cried.

Zhan Shanchang's wife Guo Shi fell into a coma on the spot, Zhan Shanchang's eldest son Zhan Mingde was working as an official in other places, but his younger son Zhan Mingxin was still a little calm, and he still remembered to report to the official in a panic.

After all, Zhan Shanchang was a former member of the imperial court, and after Shuntianfu received the report from Zhan Mansion, because Shuntian Mansion Yin was in the court, Shuntianfu Tongzhi Xue Gui, Tongju Zhang He and others rushed to Zhan Mansion to investigate in person.

The cause of Zhan Shanchang's death was quickly investigated, but he died of poisoning.

In the porcelain vase that Zhan Shanchang was holding in his hand, there was still a little bit of highly poisonous crane top red.

Then, the people of Shuntianfu soon discovered Zhan Shanchang's transcript again.

This transcript was obviously to be presented to Emperor Deqing, but because of the importance of the case, Xue Gui, the Tongzhi of Shuntianfu, still cautiously opened the transcript and took a look.

Then, Xue Gui found out that this was a letter of guilt, and Zhan Shanchang confessed his crime of secretly colluding with the vassal kings in this recital, saying that his evil was unforgivable and his sin deserved death, which was quite a bit of a death to apologize.

In this era, the investigation of cases is not as elaborate as that of later generations, and there are no means such as collecting fingerprints and shoe prints, and many cases are completed as long as the facts of the case seem reasonable.

At this time, seeing the crane top red in Zhan Shanchang's hand and the plea he left before he died, Xue Gui, the same acquaintance of Shuntianfu, thought that he had found out the truth of the case, that is, the cause of Zhan Shanchang's death was suicide in fear of crime.

However, out of caution, Xue Gui deliberately invited Zhan Shanchang's youngest son Zhan Mingxin, Chang Sui Zhan An, and Zhan Mansion Steward Li Houde to question them.

Zhan Mingxin is currently only seventeen years old, and is currently studying in Guozijian, his temperament is smart and clever, and he has always been the most favored by Zhan Shanchang, and he is also quite familiar with Zhan Shanchang's handwriting.

Therefore, after seeing Zhan Mingxin, Xue Gui was a little relieved, and handed him Zhan Shanchang's plea book, and asked, "You carefully identify it, is this your father's handwriting?" ”

Zhan Mingxin hurriedly opened the notebook to take a closer look, but he recognized the handwriting in the notebook at a glance, which was the same as Zhan Shanchang's handwriting.

At the same time, the content of this recital made Zhan Mingxin's face even pale.

He originally thought that his father's sudden death was already the end of the sky, but now he found out that his father committed suicide in fear of sin, and committed the felony of colluding with the vassal king, so he was afraid that the Zhan family would also be implicated.

"Yes...... It's my father's handwriting. Zhan Mingxin said in a trembling voice.

Xue Gui confirmed the judgment in his heart more and more, but he still turned his head to Zhan Shanchang's long-term attendant Zhan An and asked, "According to the judgment of Shuntianfu, Lord Zhan passed away around midnight last night, why didn't you find out the news until this morning?" ”

Zhan An also had a trembling voice and a flustered expression, and replied: "After my lord returned to the house yesterday, he let the villain leave the study, saying that he was going to prepare an important recital alone, and strictly ordered no one to disturb him...... waited until this morning, and when the villain saw that the old man had no orders, that is, he didn't call for tea or see anyone, he couldn't help but go into the study to check, and then he found out...... Sir, he's gone! ”

As he spoke, Zhan An couldn't help but tremble even his body.

Zhan An's performance was too flustered, but it was natural to be flustered in this situation, Xue Gui thought that he had found the truth, and Zhan An's statement also made Xue Gui further confirm the judgment in his heart, so he didn't have any doubts, but just turned his gaze to Li Houde next to him.

After Xue Gui looked at Li Houde, a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes, and he only felt that Li Houde's temperament did not seem to be an ordinary person.

But Xue Gui didn't think much about it, just asked, "Are you Li Houde, the steward of the Zhan Mansion?" I heard that after Lord Zhan returned to his house yesterday, he only summoned you to talk? How was Lord Zhan behaving at that time? What did you talk about? ”

Li Houde lowered his head and replied: "Master, when he talked to the villain yesterday, he did look a little thoughtful, but the villain didn't expect that the lord was already dead. ”

Hearing Li Houde's answer, Xue Gui suddenly frowned.

Zhan An's flustered performance did not arouse Xue Gui's suspicions, but Li Houde's answer was too calm, which made Xue Gui a little suspicious.

At the same time, Li Houde did not answer Xue Gui's second question at all, that is, the content of the conversation between Zhan Shanchang and Li Houde.

So, Xue Gui's expression suddenly became more serious, and he asked, "Then what was the content of your master's conversation with you yesterday?" Why don't you say it? ”

Li Houde couldn't help but hesitate a little when he saw Xue Gui's questioning.

The content of his conversation with Zhan Shanchang last night involved Zhan Shanchang's secret of spying on Zhao Junchen for Emperor Deqing, and this kind of thing could not be told to Shuntianfu under any circumstances.

However, if Li Houde lies at will, I am afraid that he will soon be exposed by Xue Gui.

In the end, Li Houde took out an iron plate from his arms and handed it to Xue Gui, and said softly: "It involves the secrets of the imperial court, please forgive me for not being able to tell me frankly." ”

Xue Gui took the iron plate and looked at it, but saw the word "Dongchang" written on it.

After seeing these two words, Xue Gui's hands trembled slightly, and he almost dropped the iron card in his hand to the ground.

At the same time, Zhan Mingxin and Zhan An looked at Li Houde with shocked expressions, they didn't expect that this Zhan Mansion manager was actually from Dongchang!

Xue Gui's backstage is Zhou Shangjing, and under normal circumstances, he is not particularly afraid of Dongchang, but once this case involves Dongchang, it is obvious that he cannot continue to investigate, otherwise he will find some things that should not be discovered by Shuntianfu.

So, Xue Gui immediately handed over the Dongchang iron plate to Li Houde, and at the same time turned his head to Zhan Mingxin and said: "The cause of Lord Zhan's death, nine times out of ten, he committed suicide in fear of crime, and this case should be submitted to the imperial court for decision, and Shuntianfu will not interfere......"

Before Xue Gui's words were finished, he saw a Shuntian Mansion official walk into the room quickly, and reported quickly: "An angel came to the palace, saying that His Majesty has sent a decree to summon Zhan Shanchang to go to the Taihe Hall immediately to meet him!" ”

Hearing the words of this Shuntian Mansion official, everyone in the room couldn't help but look at each other.

……

ps: Well, the first update, nearly 5,000 words of big chapters, and there is one more after the early hours of the morning!

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