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Sitting on his shoulder, his body swayed slightly with the footsteps of the eunuchs, which made Zhu Yousong feel fluttering.

He had already planned to handle today's prince case, and then went back to drink and appreciate Ruan Dacheng's newly compiled opera.

A thin and rapid footstep came from behind, "Emperor, Emperor!" Hearing this title, Zhu Yousong knew without asking that the person who came was a decent eunuch in the palace.

The comer ran to Zhu Yousong in small steps, "The slave Lu Jiude has seen the emperor!" "The person who came was Lu Jiude, the current governor of Nanjing.

"What's the matter?"

"Emperor Qiqi, the four hundred sect leaders allocated by the general to the slaves and maids for training the recruits of the Beijing camp, and the five thousand sets of armor and weapons have arrived. The 10,000 recruits recruited by the slaves and maids in Ningguo, Huizhou and other places are also about to arrive in Liudu, and the drill will start in a few days! ”

Zhu Yousong, like Chongzhen, hopes from the bottom of his heart to have a force of cronies under his control. This is one of the reasons why he asked Lu Jiude to train recruits. And another reason, that is, this minion has done a good job in this prince case.

There was an endless stream of officials who went to meet the prince from the north, and Lu Jiude, who was the eunuch of the Admiral Jingying, also went with the crowd, but it was difficult to distinguish the authenticity of the prince in front of him. However, the crown prince loudly reprimanded: "Lu Jiude! Why don't you prostrate?! Shocked by this momentum for a while, Lu Jiude unconsciously knelt down and kowtowed, saying: "The slave is rude." Then the prince said, "After a while, you are so fat; It can be seen that it is very useful in Nanjing! Lu Jiude avoided talking about it, just kowtowed and said, "Take care, master." After saying goodbye to the prince, Lu Jiude immediately changed his face, and said to the officers and soldiers around him: "Our family has not tried to serve the East Palace, how can we distinguish the authenticity?" It seems to be a little similar, but it is not real. Then he arranged for his soldiers, "You wait to keep watch!" The true prince should be guarded; Even if he is a fake, he is not a little god and a ruffian, so he must be prevented from escaping! It's not good to investigate the mastermind behind it and make meritorious contributions! ”

As a result, the soldiers and horses of the Beijing camp surrounded the prince's station, and they were not allowed to enter and leave at will. In this regard, Hongguang Emperor Zhu Yousong, General Li Shouhan, and Shoufu Ma Shiying were very satisfied.

Regarding the authenticity of this crown prince, Li Shouhan had already made a judgment in front of Emperor Hongguang, and according to the situation described by this person, there was no need to see him in person, Li Shouhan had already determined that he was a Xibei goods!

Therefore, when Emperor Hongguang worriedly summoned him to the Wuying Palace to secretly discuss the matter of the crown prince, he asked him worriedly, "If the prince is true, how should I deal with myself?" At this time, Li Shouhan replied to Hongguang very firmly, "I'm afraid the prince may not be able to come to Nanjing!" ”

"How so?" Emperor Hongguang suddenly came to his senses, and the gloomy clouds on his face were swept away.

"Your Majesty, first, there are not a few people in the court who have seen the crown prince, and you can ask them to identify and inquire about it, so that they can verify its authenticity. Second, in the opinion of the minister, there are too many untruths in what this person said, and it can be said that there are many flaws. It may not be the real prince! ”

Hearing what Li Shouhan said so surely, Zhu Yousong also felt a little confident, "Why did the general say this?" ”

"Your Majesty, the minister learned from the inquiry of the official who went to pay homage to this person that this person described how he escaped from the capital and how he arrived in the capital. Your Majesty, please see. Li Shouhan took out several pieces of writing paper full of small letters from the sleeves of his robe. The sneer on his face continued.

"The prince said: 'In the past, the thieves broke through Beijing, and they tended to go south, and when the thieves were afraid of going south, they were all strictly intercepted, and there were no gaps; The same is true for the east and north sides. Duzheng West all the way is a thief's nest, the thief's place is slightly sparse, so he goes west, he can't eat all day long, and he stays in the wild house at night. And Ming, go again. From the north to the seven days without eating, to the south, and then to the high dream of the house'. ”

Reading this, Li Shouhan's sneer raised an octave again. In this era, we will not mention the deployment of troops when Beijing City was captured by Li Zicheng, Tongzhou had Lao Tzu's soldiers and horses, and Tianjin also had them. Li Zicheng can only release troops in the direction of Tongzhou and Tianjin, how can he not have some gaps? Even if it happens according to the historical scene, you are a noble man who was born in the deep palace since you were a child, and you have been served by people when you have been dressing and eating since you were a child, but you are afraid that you will not even be able to go to the toilet to relieve yourself. How can they flee westward, walk in the wilderness, and be without food all day long? Sleeping in the wilderness? If you are the real prince, how can you survive alone? And not eating for seven days in a row? You didn't starve to death? Isn't this the same as Li Shouhan heard that my grandfather was killed by the Communist Party when he was eight years old and his family of more than 100 people, and then my grandmother fled from the Japanese Concession to Lianyungang in 1965!

Li Shouhan said that he had listened to Zhu Yousong's judgment, and Zhu Yousong, who had also had the experience of fleeing, couldn't help nodding yes. "When I escaped from Luoyang, if it weren't for a few internal servants fighting to protect me, I would have died in the chaos."

That's why Zhu Yousong in the Wuying Hall announced so calmly and with a high profile that if it was my nephew, the crown prince of Emperor Daxing, I would take off his robe and give way. It's almost certain that it's a fake, what are we afraid of you doing?!

In Xingshan Temple, the officials of the "Review Committee" who came to verify the authenticity of the prince looked up and down at the weak-crowned young man in front of them. Although he also has an extraordinary bearing and arrogant face, he can't be described as a heavenly person.

The young man sat eastward, ignoring the many civil and military nobles who rushed in, and he didn't raise his eyelids. Just ordered someone to help him up, lit incense and candles, knelt on the ground and recited the words "Emperor Taizu Gao, Emperor Examination" and other words, tears fell from his face.

"Your Excellency has arrived, why don't you see it?" Feng Kezong, the brocade guard who was in charge of guarding and supervising him, shouted sharply, intending to behave in front of the noble lords.

"This is my family's world, who do you want to greet with whom?" The young man was not ambiguous, and when he replied to Feng Kezong, he choked him back.

Hearing this, some of the ministers were shocked and some rejoiced, but Wang Duo and other people who had taught the prince shook their heads secretly.

Wang Duo ordered someone to unfold a drawing, "This young master, please tell us what is here?" Wang Duo, who has been the prince's teacher for three years, is already ninety percent sure that the person in front of him is a commodity from the old alley of the Yan family, but, for the sake of insurance, it is still necessary to follow the agreed procedures, so as to shut up those fools.

"This is the imperial city and palace city of Beijing." The boy was not ambiguous, and after glancing at it, he said where it was on the drawing.

Not only did he recognize the map as the Beijing Imperial Palace, but he also pointed to the Chenghua Palace on the map and said, "This is where I live." Pointing to Kunning Palace, he said, "This is where my mother lives." ”

"Where is Her Royal Highness the Princess?"

"I don't know, I guess I'm going to die!"

"It is rumored that the princess knocked on Uncle Zhou's door with the palace maid?" The official did not move, and changed the protagonist with the latest information, and tentatively refuted the young man's statement that Princess Changping was dead. Although Chongzhen slashed the princess with a sword at that time, the princess did not die, but was rescued in time, and has been placed in Beijing since then. Hongguang had sent a delegation to Beijing to inquire about the news before, so although the common people did not know about the princess's life, most of the officials in Nanjing knew it.

When an official saw that the young man had answered incorrectly, he stood up and said, "The princess fled with the palace maid to Uncle Zhou's (Zhou Kui)'s house." "This means, if you don't even know this, don't pretend to be honest.

"Your news is wrong, the person who knocked on Uncle Zhou's door with the palace maid is me."

Unconsciously, one question and one answer, in the minds of Wang Duo and other people who have the latest news and rumors, the flaws of the teenager are getting bigger and bigger, more and more.

Liu Zhengzong nodded slightly to Wang Duo for instructions, and after getting permission, he stood up, "I'm the speaker of the East Palace, do you know me?" The boy was stunned for a moment, but did not answer.

"Do you remember lecturing you there?" Liu Zhengzong asked again.

"Mandarin Palace." The boy replied.

Liu Zhengzong asked what book he was imitating and replied: "Verses." "How many lines to write? He replied, "Write ten lines." When asked about the order of reading, he replied, "Forget it." Liu Zhengzong said more to fold it, but the young man laughed and should not be; He said: "You think it is false, that is, it is false." I didn't want to be the emperor with the emperor. When he said this, he felt like he was left to die, and the people in the review committee were speechless.

The questioning continues。。。。。

After some identification, Wang Duo, a bachelor who used to teach in the East Palace, already knew that it was fake, so he asked him who the prince's lecturer was, where the prince studied, and how it was furnished, but the fake prince could not answer.

However, there was also a sudden variation.

"Can't you wait to have been an official in the Imperial Examination (Chongzhen) Dynasty! Why did it become this virtue all of a sudden? ”

As soon as the young man's words came out, the audience immediately discussed.

The case could no longer proceed.

However, in the eyes of the noble officials of the review committee, it was not for nothing, and under the leadership of Xinjian Bo and Chengyi Bo, everyone signed their names on the interrogation records and got up to return to the court.

In the Wuying Palace, Wang Duo, a former prince lecturer and a bachelor who had served as an instructor in the East Palace for three years, naturally became the best candidate for the review committee to play right to the emperor because he was familiar with the prince's situation. When he was about to leave the class to play, Emperor Hongguang, who was in a good mood at the noon gate and overlooking the maple leaves of Niushou Mountain and Meihua Mountain, waved his hand to stop him.

"Sir, slow down. Only then did he rank up to identify the authenticity of the crown prince, this thing," he ordered someone to carry the iron box, and it was carried by me, and he never left the field of vision of me and the ministers for a moment. And please check whether this seal fire paint is intact first?

The fire paint and seals were inspected one by one by Zhu Yousong, Li Shouhan, Wang Duo, Qian Qianyi, Xinjian Bo, Chengyi Bo and others in full view of everyone, and asked the Imperial History of the Inspectorate to come and verify that it was correct, and then opened the iron lock and took out the words inside.

The sound of Wang Duo's recital began to be heard in the main hall. As one of the leaders of this review committee, and he was the prince's teacher for three years, he naturally became the one who came to publish the judgment.

Wang Duo said: "When the minister saw it, he said: 'This dummy is fake, and the ghost of the plough hill is also, how can the prince be?' 'The minister is the same as the old Ministry of Rites, and the Beijing Duanjing Palace has been in the waiter class for three years, and when the examination is full, he is frustrated. Shang Ji first emperor East Palace big eyes square cheeks, loud voice and wide mouth, thick back and head high, walking Zhuang, standing solemn. He stood in front of him and said, 'Do you know me?' He said, "No." 'It was once said that the three years of the class were two feet away, and I didn't know who the minister was? The minister has confirmed that it is false. Then he asked, 'In what hall is the preaching?' He said, "Wenhua." 'Do you know that it is in the temple of Duanjing? Then he asked, 'What is the upper position?' The minister secretly remembered that he had ten calculations, but he was ignorant of it. The minister was furious,...... That is, Changyan told the ministers: 'This person is obviously false, but this matter is indeed regrettable. ……’

Liu Zhengzong also played: "The eyebrows are not similar at all. The words and imitations of the book are all wrong. ”

Li Jinglian played: "The East Palace's words are calm and don't say much. And this son is good at witty arguments, and he is not the prince. ”

Dai Ying played in the military department: "This person pretended to be the prince, and he did not answer the question because the first emperor had carried the left door of the middle school, and did not answer the question in the name of Jiadingbo." There is no doubt about it! However, how can you do this in your childish years, there will be a big traitor who will take it as a strange thing; In order to investigate the root cause, it is advisable to strictly interrogate the Department of Law. ”

Dai Ying's question was even more to the point: this young man pretended to be the crown prince, and did not mention that the first emperor had asked him to observe the trial at the Zhongzuo Gate, and asked him the name of Jiadingbo, that is, the name of his maternal grandfather Zhou Kui, and he actually answered wrong!

Therefore, Dai Ying's final conclusion is that this prince must be fake! However, there are still inferences: it is impossible to do this at a young age, and there must be a traitorous and evil person behind this fake prince. Therefore, Dai Ying strongly suggested that the mastermind behind the scenes must be found out and handed over to the judicial authorities for severe punishment.

It is necessary to briefly mention the matter of the trial of the center and left door mentioned by Master Dai. At that time, Chongzhen had publicly interrogated an official named Wu Chang who made mistakes in the court, and at the same time, in order to allow the prince to accumulate some experience in governing the country and learn from it, Chongzhen specially called the prince to go to the court with him, and let him listen to the central left gate, so there were many ministers who were able to see the prince at that time.

And that incident happened in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, which was not too far away, so Dai Ying thought that if the person under him was the real prince, he would definitely have an impression. Therefore, in the stage where the ministers asked questions freely, Dai Ying raised this question to the young man in public. But the boy didn't answer.

But in addition, there is one more thing that cannot be left unmentioned, that is, in fact, an important figure in that incident back then, Wu Chang, also happened to be standing in the ranks of officials who were ordered to identify the prince at this time.

Needless to say!

"The former has a Tong demon woman, who pretends to be knotted hair. According to the confession, he is a member of the palace of a certain mausoleum, and he has now been sentenced to a canonical sentence. Today, there are people who pretend to be in the East Palace, vainly trying to misbehave, and are being strictly investigated. I and the first emperor himself brothers, I have no resentment, and I have no choice but to accept the burden from the invitation of the ministers; How can it benefit the heart of the world and poison its blood! Raise the civil and military affairs of the dynasty, who is not the former minister of the first emperor, who is not as good as the Qing, and is willing to be so far! ”

Although Zhu Yousong had known this result for a long time, the severity of this matter was far from being as simple as challenging his throne, this was a provocation to the entire clan lineage of his Zhu family! There must be a family first and then a country, there must be a huge group behind it, otherwise, how can a weak-crowned teenager have such courage?! So, Zhu Yousong was angry!

"Dressed in brocade clothes, Dali Temple, the Criminal Department, and the inspectorate will be tried. Be sure to ask me clearly, who instructed him to go to the capital to deceive, and whether he was instigated by the rebellion! Ruan Dacheng! ”

"The minister is here!"

"The Shi Kecheng who came to stay in the capital with this fake prince, isn't there a basis for the thief to rebel? Torture me! Ask him who told him to bring this son here! What is the purpose?! Is it Li Chuang or a traitor in the DPRK! ”

Zhu Yousong is a little out of the predetermined range, and he wants to expand the matter. Shi Kecheng is Shi Kefa's younger brother, if he is tortured, it will not look good on the face of the Shi Pavilion Department of Yangzhou Governor. Although Ruan Dacheng has recently arrested hundreds of people in Nanjing, Suzhou, Songjiang, Hangzhou and other places, he still has some apprehension about a person with a background like Shi Kecheng. However, the Hongguang Emperor Zhu Yousong, who was furious, looked like a god blocking and killing gods and Buddhas, so that Ruan Dacheng had to take this will hard.

With the imprisonment of the fake prince and the arrest and torture of Shi Kecheng, the Jiangnan Times continued to issue supplements to follow up and report on the fake prince case, comparing the image of the prince written by the ministers and eunuchs who had seen the prince with the image of the young man who confessed that his name was Wang Zhiming, and the interrogation process of the ministers and nobles to the prince. At the same time, the imperial court also sent people to post notices everywhere to dispel suspicions.

But, do you think such propaganda is enough?

"That young man confessed that his name was Wang Zhiming, and he turned around and was not the king of Ming! It is clearly the master of my Ming Dynasty! ”

"That extraordinary young man is not the prince, who are you fooling?"

One by one, the statements and disdainful comments on this matter spread from various mansions like the Weibo of the big Vs, and quickly spread in Nanjing through the streets and alleys of teahouses, restaurants, and public toilets.

"Ruan Dacheng had better go ahead and arrest those who spread similar claims in Nanjing, and then we can say, if you don't have a weak heart, why arrest the people who are talking about the prince's case? The so-called defense of the people is more important than the defense of Sichuan, if you are not weak-minded, why do you always arrest people? ”

Hou Fangyu, who had calmly returned from the Jiming Temple to settle in Nanjing, chatted with several young students who admired him near the Gongyuan.

Originally, it was to prove that this prince was fake, and to calm the pressure of public opinion, but he didn't expect the work done to have the opposite effect, Li Shouhan was a little shocked to find that the cheeks of the Donglin officials and gentry had cultivated to such an extent that they could openly deny what they had written in black and white.

And under their fanning, Nanjing and outside the country demanded that Hongguang step down, but the call for the crown prince to ascend the throne is getting higher and higher day by day, there is only one reason, the speed of your refutation of rumors can never keep up with the speed of their rumors, and more importantly, you are not as shameless as them.

In fact, although they are both the people of the Ming Dynasty, due to the influence of regional conditions, economic factors, and especially ideological and cultural aspects, there is a considerable difference between the masses of the people in the south and the north. On the whole, because the northern region is closer to the capital and has been the location of the country's political center for a long time in history, the government's control over this area is generally strict, and any political activities and cultural interactions will be more or less restricted by rules and regulations, so this has caused a characteristic of the northern people: they are more honest and afraid of the government.

The south is different, after all, the emperor is far away, and after the Tang and Song dynasties, with the shift of China's economic center of gravity, the economic development of the south, especially the southeast, has far exceeded the rest of the country. And with the development of the economy, the thinking of the southerners has also undergone a great change. As for the end of the Ming Dynasty, thanks to the widespread spread of Wang Yangming's psychology, the minds of the people in the southeast coastal areas have been further emancipated, and what feudal morality has become a complete nonsense in everyone's hearts, although people sometimes abide by it and worship it on the surface, but in essence, they have already left these "pseudo-Taoism" and "false orthodoxy" behind, in short, this is a group of people who can despise all authority and overthrow all authority for the sake of profit. What they believe is only what they see, what they value is only the evidence they want to believe, if not, then it must be false or covered up, only what they think is true, is the real thing.

"Minister Zuo Liangyu, please protect the East Palace and appease the hearts of the subjects."

As the rumors spread step by step, Zuo Liangyu, who was trapped in Jiujiang, He Tengjiao, the governor of Huguang, and others all jumped out to express their opinions. Zuo Liangyu thinks that this person who went to the south alone is indeed the prince, and he is right. And put forward his own reasons: his own people got accurate information from Wu Sangui, and the prince was not in the hands of the Qing court and Wu Sangui, but fled to the south according to others.

Once you have this theoretical basis, then you start scolding. The first to suffer was unexpectedly Shi Kefa. Zuo Liangyu clearly accused Shi Kefa of knowing that the young man from the south was the prince but did not dare to speak, and he really had no conscience (this is not the way of the minister!). ）。 Then he scolded the other ministers, "The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty, but they know the king, and they do not hesitate to generalize." ”

Of course, Zuo Liangyu did not let go of the culprit who caused all this.

Although Li Zicheng made a rebellion before, he still treated the prince with courtesy and named the prince as the king of Song, and he couldn't bear to use torture to inflict harm, but now you are a family, but you regard each other as enemies, which is really unreasonable!

"Knowing that there is no other love for exhaustion, he will want to beg for it, so that the emperor will forget the virtue of the house and the righteousness of the subordinates! The whole world has the same grievances, the emperor and the two or three traitors are alone to protect the world, and it is unreasonable! The general meaning of this sentence is that you kid is too unconscious, be careful that the common people turn against you together!

The above tone is not respectful, and there is no discussion, it is completely like Lao Tzu is teaching his son, and the superior is criticizing the subordinate.

Pinching this menacing and commanding piece with two fingers, Li Shouhan felt a burst of nausea in his heart as if looking at a ****. One cannot make the enemy fearful on the battlefield, indiscriminately collect and surrender the masses, and the military discipline is lax. How can a general who can only abuse his prestige on innocent civilians dare to make such shameless remarks?!

"When you have hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, you can't defeat Li Chuang on the battlefield and flee for hundreds of miles. Now he is here to discuss the government in vain! Li Shouhan laughed in his mouth, and there was sarcasm in his tone.

"They think they can achieve their goal by spreading rumors and pouring dirty water?" Li Shouhan no longer plans to refute the rumors, refuting the rumors is always a passive defense, so the general will take the initiative to attack!

He ordered someone to invite Li Peiting, and the two quietly discussed in the secret room for a while, and the shopkeeper Li got up and left.

A few days later, the Jiangnan Times suddenly issued another call, and the newsboys all over the street kept running and shouting, "Watch the news!" Watch the news! The Qing Kingdom seized the crown prince in Beijing! ”

"Uncle Zhou Kui's uncle and nephew expelled the prince from the palace, and the prince angrily scolded him, and captured it for the night patrol soldiers!"

"Prince Yun knew that the princess was in the Guozhang Mansion, so he came to see him. After saying goodbye to the princess, he came back in a few days, and the princess gave him a brocade robe and warned him not to come again. On the 19th, the prince came again, and Zhou Kui stayed until the 22nd, Zhou Kui discussed with his nephew that the prince could not stay for a long time, and said to the prince: "You yourself say that your surname is Liu, and you are a scholar, so you can avoid disaster, otherwise you will be sent to the government for investigation." The prince disagreed, and that night Zhou Kui ordered his family to be expelled from the door, and the patrolling soldiers arrested him for the crime of committing the night. ”

Qian Fenglan, the director of the Criminal Department who tried the prince's case, called the eunuchs in the palace to identify, and they all said that it was the real prince, and the celebrant eunuch Wang Dehua also said that it was the real prince, and asked him to recognize the things in the palace, and he could answer them one by one. Xie Sheng, the current scholar of the Qing Dynasty, was the former prince lecturer, and when the prince called him by his name, he reminded him: Can't Mr. Xie know each other? Xie Sheng didn't answer, just bowed. ”

"Dolgon, the regent of the Qing Kingdom, said to his ministers, I have my own judgment on the truth and falsehood, so why should you argue. It doesn't matter if you say it's true or not, if it's true, it's nothing more than to give him the king, and if it's false, you have to determine it before deciding. At the same time, it was also announced that the crown prince continued to detain the prison, and Qian Fenglan, the head of the Criminal Department who presided over the case, and Zhao Xingxing, the imperial historian, were sentenced to death. ”

This issue immediately knocked down the rumors inside and outside Nanjing. You say that Wang Zhiming of Nanjing is the king of Ming, so who is the prince in Beijing who has been certified by the prince, princess, Wang Dehua, and many eunuchs and guards? If the crown prince of Beijing is fake, why did Zhou Kui stay for two days to start reporting, and why did he hug his head and cry when he first saw the princess? Why did the regent of the Qing Kingdom impose such a heavy hand on the minister who confirmed his status as the crown prince? (To be continued.) )