Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

"The queen mother, His Royal Highness the Prince, this is the process of the court trial, Li Kezhuo has confessed to his crimes, admitting that his desire for profit used the red pill he refined to murder the emperor, and he wants to have a good future."

Li Hongyu bowed down and said in a deep voice to Empress Li and the crown prince Zhu Youxiao, "The jury has signed and sealed the official documents of the court trial, and asked the queen mother and the crown prince to hand out the culprit. ”

"Master Li, you have worked hard during this time, so that the truth of the Red Pill case will be revealed, and Emperor Daxing will be given justice."

Empress Li bowed her head slightly when she heard this, she was very satisfied with Li Hongyu's performance, and after a deep groan, she looked at him and said, "Master Li, you are proficient in the laws of the Ming Dynasty, tell me how to judge this case?" ”

Because they have lived in the harem for a long time, neither Empress Li nor Zhu Youxiao know much about the laws of the Ming Dynasty, so usually speaking, the courtiers have prepared the charges and punishments, and Empress Li and Zhu Youxiao will decide.

"Back to the queen's mother, Li Kezhuo committed the crime of killing the monarch and should be executed by Ling Chi, and the whole house was beheaded; co-conspirators hanged; Those who are co-accused of the case will be beheaded, and those who have made meritorious contributions will be changed to 3,000 li; Those who do not report the information flow for 3,000 miles. Li Hongyu had been prepared for a long time, and after hearing this, he methodically said that the people involved in Li Kezhuo's case should be punished.

The accomplice in Li Hongyu's mouth refers to the subordinate next door who possessed Li Kezhuo's tools for refining pills, and was regarded as Li Kezhuo's accomplice because he was guilty of harboring it.

The co-defendants are those black market merchants who resell the Shenxian San on the black market, and all those who have handled the Shenxian San used by Li Kezhuo have all been punished as co-defendants, and the more unfortunate ones belong to the pond fish that have been affected:

Although they did not participate in Li Kezhuo's case, they were regarded as co-defendants because the immortals they sold scattered Emperor Taichang and killed Emperor Taichang, which was tantamount to indirect murder.

However, there is also a lucky person among these people, that is, the black market drug dealer who handed over half a bottle of the hidden Shenxian San, although he was the culprit of reselling the Shenxian San, but he took the initiative to confess the case and handed over the Shenxian San, so he was able to reduce the crime by one degree and pick up a life.

As for the person who didn't report the information, he was naturally a wandering Fangshi, he was deceived by Li Kezhuo, and like the black market drug dealer, he did not participate in Li Kezhuo's affairs, and truthfully confessed his crimes, so he was exiled to the frontier.

"Hmm!"

After listening to Li Hongyu's words, Empress Li nodded, feeling that Li Hongyu's verdict was reasonable, and then said to Zhu Youxiao, who was sitting on the side, "Prince, it will be your enthronement ceremony in a short time, and the new emperor will give amnesty to the world as usual, but these people's crimes are unforgivable, and this palace feels that they should be punished immediately!" ”

"What the queen mother said is very true."

Zhu Youxiao bowed to Empress Li, groaned for a while and said, "Queen Mother, Ling Chi is too bloody, and it is not appropriate to do such a murderous thing during the mourning period of my father, so my son thinks that it is better to change the sentence to Li Kezhuo by hanging, I don't know what the queen mother wants." ”

"The prince's kindness is the blessing of my Ming Dynasty, according to what the prince said."

Empress Li showed a look of relief on her face when she heard this, then turned to Li Hongyu and commanded, "Master Li, if the execution is carried out in two days, you will be the prisoner." ”

"Commandment." Li Hongyu bowed to Empress Li and replied in a deep voice, secretly sighing in his heart that Empress Li acted in an orderly manner and handled things reasonably, no wonder she could get the sole favor of Emperor Taichang.

Moreover, Li Hongyu also knew why Empress Li was in a hurry to execute Li Kezhuo, in addition to not wanting to reduce the guilt of the people involved in the case when Zhu Youxiao ascended the throne and granted amnesty to the world, there was another important reason, that is, to prevent some people in the DPRK from making a fuss about Li Kezhuo and cracking down on dissidents.

When Li Hongyu tried the case, he only found out the fact that Li Kezhuo used a red pill mixed with immortal powder to murder Emperor Taichang, and did not mention whether there was a behind-the-scenes mastermind, because Li Hongyu knew very well that this matter was done by Li Kezhuo's desire.

But for the various factions in the court, this is an excellent opportunity to attack the hostile faction, as long as Li Kezhuo is related to the rival faction, then the leader of the rival faction can be framed as the mastermind behind the murder of Emperor Taichang, and then deal a heavy blow to the hostile faction.

Empress Li knew that Li Kezhuo's case would intensify the factional strife in the court, so she ended it as soon as possible, and she didn't want Zhu Youxiao to face a mess after he ascended the throne.

The next day, the streets and alleys of the capital were plastered with execution notices of Li Kezhuo and others involved in the case, listing the crimes of Li Kezhuo and others, which caused an uproar among the people of the capital and became the talk of the people after dinner.

Political envoys in various parts of the Ming Dynasty received the announcement of Li Kezhuo's case one after another, and quickly distributed it to the prefectures and counties to which they belonged, and posted the announcement to the administrative units at the township level to ensure that the people of the Ming Dynasty could know about the matter.

This shocked the whole country, and no one could have imagined that Li Kezhuo would have the audacity to murder Emperor Taichang with red pills, which was an out-and-out crime of killing the king.

At the same time, the government and the opposition also lamented that Li Hongyu was extremely capable, and that he had found out the truth of the matter clearly in such a short period of time, and if someone else handled the case, it would definitely be a mess.

Invisibly, Li Hongyu's prestige in the officialdom and the people has risen to a new level, and Li Kezhuo's case has become an important qualification in his career.

On the afternoon of the day when the execution notice for Li Kezhuo and others was posted, a horse-drawn carriage stopped in front of a small inconspicuous grocery store in a secluded place in the inner city.

Two white, beardless men dressed in civilian clothes, one a young man and the other a middle-aged man in his forties, got out of the car.

The young man carefully helped the middle-aged man into the grocery store, where he was led to the backyard by a man dressed as a subordinate.

"Father-in-law, my family is inside." In front of a room in the backyard, the subordinate who led the way bowed down and said to the middle-aged man.

"You're waiting here." The middle-aged man explained to the young man who was supporting him and pushed the door and walked in, his voice was a little shrill and he was a servant in the palace, no wonder he was called "father-in-law".

"Manager Wang, you are out of reach!" A middle-aged man in casual clothes was frowning and drinking tea in the room, and when he saw the middle-aged waiter come in, he got up with a smile and greeted him, and said with his hand.

There is only one ruler surnamed Wang in the inner court, and that is Wang An, the eunuch who is now the powerful celebrant in the inner court.

"Mr. Liu is polite." Wang An smiled and bowed to the middle-aged man in casual clothes, and then the two sat down humbly with each other, and exchanged homely greetings while drinking tea, and the atmosphere seemed relaxed and harmonious.

Like Wang An, there is only one person in the court, "Liu University", that is, Liu Yixie, a cabinet member and Dongge University scholar who was newly promoted by Emperor Taichang.

It is worth mentioning that in addition to the cabinet members, only the left and right Chunfang scholars can be respected as university scholars in the Ming Dynasty officialdom, which shows the weight of "university scholars" in the Ming Dynasty officialdom.

Especially in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the hierarchy in the officialdom was even stricter, and if you want to become a scholar, you must be from Hanlin, otherwise you are not qualified to serve as a scholar.

For example, Liu Yixian was promoted to a scholar of Dongge University by Emperor Taichang as a Hanlin reviewer, and he was given the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites.

"Manager Wang, now that the queen is taking advantage of the prince's young age, it will definitely endanger the orthodoxy of my Ming Dynasty in time, making the country have no peace and the people will not have a good life."

After being polite, Liu Yixian turned around, put down the teacup in his hand and looked at Wang An worriedly, "As a close attendant of Emperor Daxing, Mr. Wang is responsible for guarding the crown prince, is it possible to watch the queen monopolize power and cause trouble?" ”

"Dissatisfied with the scholars, the miscellaneous family is also anxious about this, but the queen is the honor of the harem, the miscellaneous family is just a slave, even adults can't do anything, what can the miscellaneous family do?" Wang An smiled bitterly when he heard this, sighed and put down the teacup in his hand, looking helpless.

"Mr. Wang's words are wrong, the surname of the Ming Dynasty is 'Zhu' and not 'Li', whether it is Mr. Wang or the official is a courtier of the Zhu family, how can he submit to people with foreign surnames?"

Liu Yixiao shook his head suddenly, and said to Wang An, "In the past, when Emperor Taizu founded the country, in order to avoid chaos in the harem, he deliberately set the ancestral system that the harem was not allowed to interfere in politics, and now the queen interferes with the government with the middle decree, violating the ancestral system set by Emperor Taizu, how can we turn a blind eye as subordinates!" ”

Hearing the word "ancestral system", Wang An's brows couldn't help frowning slightly, Ming Taizu not only forbade the harem to interfere in politics, but also forbade eunuchs to get involved in court affairs, before Emperor Xuande set up a school in the palace to teach small chamberlains to read, eunuchs were usually illiterate.

Therefore, Liu Yixiao mentioned that Wang An was more or less embarrassed when he mentioned that the harem was not allowed to interfere in politics, although the inner court has risen now, it does violate the ancestral system of Ming Taizu.

Of course, the reason why Emperor Xuande reused eunuchs was inseparable from the political environment at the time, otherwise he would have violated the ancestral system of Ming Taizu and used the inner servants for no reason.

When Emperor Xuande ascended the throne, the civil and military ministers who followed Emperor Yongle were basically alive, and Emperor Xuande was a little powerless in the face of these senior courtiers, coupled with the strong rise of the civil official group, Emperor Xuande had to find a way to suppress it.

Therefore, Emperor Xuande reused the cabinet to suppress the six ministries, and at the same time let the celebrant control the cabinet, thereby ensuring the stability of the imperial power and creating the "rule of Renxuan" in the Ming Dynasty.

"What the scholar said is very true, the queen, as the master of the harem, should have governed the harem to relieve the prince's worries, but now she meddles in the affairs of the court and coerces the prince to order the world."

Wang An naturally wouldn't mind Liu Yixie's mention of the ancestral system at this time, and it was obvious that Liu Yixie's target was Empress Li instead of him, so he said with a regretful expression after pondering for a while, "If Emperor Daxing knew about this, he would definitely be heartbroken!" ”

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