Chapter 35: Convicting Hu Weiyong
Hu Weiyong was desperate, began to rush to the doctor, did not admit in front of Zhu Yuanzhang that he had done ridiculous things, but instead beat a rake, and fiercely bit the words of the person who testified in front of him was framed, Hu Weiyong looked a little crazy, when Chen Ning and Tujie appeared in the dormitory, his psychological defense line was on the verge of collapse, at the moment when the two of them testified against themselves, Hu Weiyong collapsed, he was no longer the former high-ranking prime minister, and began to talk nonsense, and the whole person seemed crazy.
"Your Majesty, I, Hu Weiyong, must be innocent, the four people in front of me colluded with Marven and His Royal Highness to frame me Hu Weiyong, how dare I, Hu Weiyong, be disloyal to the Ming Dynasty?" Hu Weiyong opened his mouth, he didn't believe what he said in his heart, but he was in a hurry, he couldn't find a way to clear his name, so he could only shirk his responsibility and blame everything on the person who testified against him.
Hu Weiyong was in a dilemma, he wanted to defend himself, but he didn't have Zhuge Liang's incorruptible tongue, and he didn't have a chance to clear his name in front of Zhu Yuanzhang.
"Prime Minister, you can admit it, there are still private messages you gave us in our residences, and the private messages are clearly written, we don't dare to falsify the letters, close to a few days, far away for several years, although most of them have been dealt with, but there are still reservations, Prime Minister, this can't blame me for waiting, I'm afraid that Cheng will take a bite on the contrary, so I can take precautions." Chen Ning and Tujie glanced at each other, discussed randomly, got up, and after a while, Chen Ning spoke.
The two of them can betray Daming with Hu Weiyong, and naturally betray Hu Weiyong, they have kept the letters, that is, they are afraid that Hu Weiyong will use himself to abandon himself, now, such evidence is presented, Hu Weiyong is completely stupid, the dignified prime minister of the Ming Dynasty was planted under the letters between his subordinates, Hu Weiyong refused to believe everything in front of him, he roared, in Zhu Yuanzhang's bedroom, the image of the majestic prime minister in the past is completely different.
"Oh, Wang Gonggong, take some officers and soldiers to their homes to find the whereabouts of the letters, as for Hu Weiyong's mansion, search them together, don't raid the house, search first." Zhu Yuanzhang opened his mouth and asked the prince to send people to Chen Ning Tujie's mansion, and another group of people went to Hu Weiyong's mansion, and they divided into two ways, just to find evidence of Hu Weiyong's betrayal of the Ming Dynasty.
"Hu Weiyong, wait for the letter to be searched, and see what sophistry methods you have." Ma Sanbao said, he stared at Hu Weiyong for a long time, his small eyes and smiling face made Hu Weiyong want to beat this child very much, if it weren't for this child, he wouldn't have been suspected of being involved in the prison robbery so quickly.
Hu Weiyong's brain has been thinking about how to get out for himself, but he has always been cautious, he never thought that his subordinates would leave a trace of clues, bringing disaster to himself, even his baby son is not so worry-free, and he didn't even get out of prison when he escaped.
Hu Weiyong was annoyed that he trusted Chen Ning Tujie too much, if he didn't choose to tell the two of them in a private message or verbally, maybe the evidence of the two was not sufficient, at present, the letter is the most direct evidence, and it is also the easiest crime to convict Hu Weiyong.
Hu Weiyong was silent, combing his pale hair, he wanted to cry, but he didn't dare to let himself cry in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, his spirit collapsed, extremely unbearable.
The process of waiting is tense, Hu Weiyong, who has always been calm, sat on the ground when he saw the letter taken by the prince and other guards, regardless of the authenticity of the letter, his face was pale, and he looked at the letter in front of him in dismay.
"Wenhe, you open a letter and read it to me, I am very curious, what Hu Weiyong wrote in the letter." Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand, there were not many letters in front of him, but there were more than ten, he took out a letter casually, handed it to Ma Sanbao, rubbed his temples, and waited for Ma Sanbao to explain the content of the letter to him.
Zhu Yuanzhang's order made Ma Sanbao not refuse, he opened the letter in his hand and opened it, this is a recent letter, which was written by Zhu Yuanzhang to Hu Weiyong to Chen Ning and Tu Jie after Hu Weiyong's demotion, and the two used to make them cautious, but I didn't expect that because of Wang Guangyang's appearance, the existence of Chen Ning and Tu Jie behind them was also found out and put on the table.
"Be cautious now, be wary of the scholar of the Fourth Highness Zhu Di, Marven and not to be underestimated, Pengju has planted his hands, you are looking for him in the future, and get rid of dissidents." Ma Sanbao read the letter, when he saw Hu Weiyong write in the letter that he was Zhu Di's scholar, he was angry, he was not a scholar, in his opinion, even the attendant was not worthy of his identity, but without him as a follower, Zhu Di would not be able to earn such a large amount of silver taels now, where could the scholar earn so much silver taels for his master?
The letter is very long, Ma Sanbao took a while to drag out the content of the letter, the content of the letter was exported, Hu Weiyong sat on the ground stupidly, he did not refute, but lowered his head, the arrogance of the three of Shang Hui, Chen Ning and Tujie was gone, beating his chest and feet, like a juggler on the street, it looked very funny.
"Hu Weiyong, what else do you have to argue? Even though the human and material evidence is there, you only have one last chance. Zhu Yuanzhang heard the content of the letter, nodded, and then waited with interest for Hu Weiyong's reason to defend his innocence.
It's a pity that Zhu Yuanzhang was disappointed, Hu Weiyong didn't speak, but sat on the ground in a daze, with a look of helplessness and chagrin, he didn't have any reason to refute, the appearance of Shang Wei Chen Ning Tujie broke the last layer of defense in his heart, and the appearance of the letter was the last straw that crushed him, don't look at the letter is not much, but it does bring him the greatest proof of capital crime, the appearance of these letters has achieved the evidence of Hu Weiyong's treason and collusion against the party.
"Your Majesty, minister, know your mistakes, ministers should not have different intentions, ministers, I am willing to apologize for my crimes, for my Daming, to repay the blood debt!" Hu Weiyong suddenly spoke, reaching out to take the sword pinned to the waist of the guard to die Mingzhi, however, he was subdued by the guard before he could do anything, Hu Weiyong was in tears, he couldn't think of it, he looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with his eyes, he waited for Zhu Yuanzhang's judgment on himself.
"Wei Shangshu, you help me tell the world. From today on, Prime Minister Hu Cheng will be punished for treason, ignoring national law, shielding and killing, robbing people's daughters, embezzling national property, and bending the law for personal gain! Each item is enough to convict you of a capital crime, Hu Weiyong, from today onwards, you are no longer my Ming official, you will be put into the prison of the Criminal Department, and you will be beheaded all over the house! Implemented at the beginning of the year! Parade through the streets tomorrow! Let the people see what kind of well-dressed beast their prime minister is! Zhu Yuanzhang pointed to Wei Ze, the secretary of the Criminal Department, and ordered Hu Weiyong to be punished.
"Command!" Wei Ze bowed, looked up at Hu Weiyong, and shook his head, once upon a time, Hu Weiyong sat in the position of prime minister and was full of spirits, now he is about to become a prisoner, his son has just been taken from prison, and he is replaced by this important minister of the Ming Dynasty.
Different from the prison in Nanjing, the prison management of the criminal department is more strict, and the prison is generally imprisoned by the important prisoners of the imperial court and the traitors of the imperial court, this prison is more difficult to be robbed than the previous prison, and even has the military handle of the Ming Dynasty, and the guard is very strict, Zhu Yuanzhang also suffered the loss of Hu Pengju, but he did not dare to let Hu Weiyong escape again.
"I, there is one more thing to announce, from now on, Shang Hui, you collude with Hu Weiyong as soon as possible, in view of your loyalty to the Ming Dynasty and the integrity of the officials, you will not be held accountable too much, but from now on, you will no longer be a minister in the imperial history, but demoted to a higher rank, and become a provincial official and a secretary of the Ministry of Officials, can you have any objections?" Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Shang Wei, sighed, and pretended to pity, "From now on, the Ming Dynasty will no longer have the position of prime minister, and the responsibility of the prime minister will be handed over to the royal family!" ”
"Minister, Commander." In the imperial history, Cheng Shang was helpless, his official position was the same as that of Hu Weiyong and Wang Guangyang, all of them were first-class official positions, and he was demoted by Zhu Yuanzhang at the moment. Shang Wei won't complain about anything, it is a fact that he colluded with Hu Weiyong before, he does not deny it, although he withdrew early, but His Majesty wants to strip him of his official position, and he can only admit it.
"Right now, the war with the remnants of the Great Yuan is imminent, I don't want any mistakes in my court, collusion against the party, robbing the people's daughters and other errands is a taboo, the people's will, is the foundation of my Ming Dynasty's invincibility, what you do is to put my Ming under the pressure of public opinion, I announced, Chen Ning, Tu Jie, stripped of his official position, raided his home and beheaded, and together with Hu Weiyong, he was thrown into the prison of the Criminal Department!" Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Chen Ning and Tujie, his eyes were full of majesty, the two knelt on the ground and trembled, now, the evidence they used to convict Hu Weiyong has also become their crime, they thought that they could escape with the help of letters, but they didn't expect that they were still settled by Zhu Yuanzhang after the autumn.
Chen Ning and Tu Jie had panic in their eyes, they glared at Hu Weiyong viciously, and sighed helplessly, if there was no Hu Weiyong, the two of them would not have ended up in such a field, they couldn't wait to eat Hu Weiyong raw, and they would not give up if they didn't divide Hu Weiyong's five horses, they cursed Hu Weiyong countless times in their hearts, Hu Weiyong also saw their eyes, he chose to escape, he didn't argue with Chen Ning and Tu Jie, the matter has come to this, and his fate is already clear.
As for Wang Guangyang, he was a dying person, but Zhu Yuanzhang didn't pursue it too much, the matter of protecting the heirs and heirs promised before, the king's promise was definitely not a joke, he was relieved.
"Wenhe, today, you have merits, I am very pleased..."Suddenly, Ma Sanbao's heart beat faster, and Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly mentioned his name after the trial, which frightened Ma Sanbao's brain to run rapidly, thinking about whether he had done anything to be sorry for Zhu Yuanzhang.