In the middle of summer in Beijing, the heat is unbearable, from the end of March, there has been no rain for nearly two months, from Gyeonggi to Henan, Shandong, the drought is still continuing, Zhang Yuan learned from the Di Bao that there are even fathers and sons and brothers in the counties of Qingzhou in Shandong, women flow to the south of the Yangtze River, there is a so-called people in Huai'an who specializes in buying and selling Shandong women, at the beginning of the year, there are hungry people Zhang Jixu, Zhou Yaode and others take advantage of the famine to make trouble, in Mount Tai, Zhangqiu, Laiwu and other places haunted, Zhang Jixu called the king of the red pole, Zhou Yaode called the king of Pingshi, robbed the rich, intercepted and killed officers and soldiers, Recently, the governor Qian Shiwan sent troops to arrest and behead, and the rest of the party broke up-

Zhang Yuanxin said: "The Ming Dynasty is vast, natural disasters [***] are inevitable, it is not uncommon for a small group of displaced people to make trouble, fifteen years later, thieves in Shaanxi and other places swarmed, at that time it was difficult to clean up, it should be too late now, but how is this court party dispute a game, this attack case is secretly provoked by me, in order to stabilize the foundation of the prince, it is very necessary, Emperor Wanli is old, and Zheng Guifei's ambitions must be suppressed, so as not to cause greater turmoil, and once the son of heaven and a courtier, I want to gain a firm foothold in the court, If you can speak, it will have to be after the new monarch ascends the throne. ”

At two o'clock in the morning of May 21, Mu Zhenzhen, Wu Ling, and Wang Da Hammer sent Zhang Yuan to the North Bridge of the Jade River, watching Zhang Yuan enter the gate of the Hanlin Academy, Mu Zhenzhen and the three of them went back the same way, and the three of them came here to pick up Zhang Yuan in the evening.

There are several ear rooms on the left side of the instrument gate of the Hanlin Academy, there is a place where the book is copied by hand, there is a newspaper in about five days, and it is compiled by the officials of the six science corridors according to the recital of the officials of the yamen, and then submitted to the general administration department for approval, and then arranged by the general administration department to copy the book by hand, and the yamen in Beijing should be delivered, and the provincial political envoys and the yamen should be sent by the post, and the yamen received only one copy of the newspaper received by each yamen, so it is necessary to hire a copyist to copy a few more copies and distribute them to the main officials to read, The first thing Zhang Yuan does when he goes to the Hanlin Academy is to go to the newspaper copying room to see if there are any new newspapers, and if there is, read it first, and then go to see the official Guo Bachelor after chatting with the two newspaper copyers-

As soon as Zhang Yuan walked into the newspaper room, the two calligraphers in the room who were copying the newspaper hurriedly put down the pen in their hands, got up and saluted, and one of the calligraphers submitted a newspaper to the newspaper: "Zhang Xiu, there is a new newspaper in the newspaper." "The youngest champion of the Ming Dynasty is not the slightest bit domineering, and the two calligraphers are very willing to see this Zhang Xiu.

Zhang Yuan arched his hand and said with a smile: "You can copy by yourself, and I will just watch from the side." ”

A pine long table, two scholars sit side by side, the newspaper is placed in the middle, both sides are copied at the same time, the ear room is low, and not ventilated, although it is quite hot in the morning, Zhang Yuan took out a folding fan from his sleeve, while fanning the cool while reading this issue of the newspaper, this newspaper is slightly larger than the eight open paper, single-sided writing, the fly's head is densely packed, there is no relevant content on the newspaper on May 15, but there is an article to refute Binghe said that he defies the mandate of heaven and flatters the king, signed Shaanxi Provincial Supervision Imperial History Liu Tingyuan -

Zhang Yuan silently finished reading this righteous and strict high theory, and sneered in his heart: "Contempt for the mandate of heaven and flattery of the king, these two big hats are very scary to button down, Liu Tingyuan's performance should have been sent before the attack occurred, and he wanted to ruin my reputation." ”

I thought again: "If I can take this opportunity to set off a big discussion on Binghe within the scope of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, I would like to, but now that the attack case has stolen the limelight, no one pays attention to Liu Tingyuan's refutation of my Binghe - Liu Tingyuan, Hu Shixiang, and Lao Yongjia of the Zhejiang Party have been retried for three days, and the result should be out." ”

In the afternoon of this day, news came out from the six corridors in the noon gate, and the criminal department completed the retrial of the attack case, and the facts of the case were roughly as follows: the criminal Zhang Cha, a native of Jing'eryu in Jizhou, Chinese New Year's Eve is eight years old today, and has no wife and children, and he said that he sells firewood and grass for a living, because Shenzong built an iron tile hall for Zheng Guifei in Huanghuashan in Jizhou, and the eunuchs Pang Bao and Liu Cheng are ready to burn bricks and tiles to sell for profit, and the local people Li Ziqiang and Li Wancang got acquainted with Pang Bao and Liu Cheng because of the charcoal. Because of the involvement of the internal officials and eunuchs, the local officials not only did not accept the case, but detained Zhang Cha, causing Zhang Cha to be angry and insane, and then came to the capital in May to redress grievances, on May 15, when you broke into Ciqing Palace from Donghua Gate with a jujube stick, after injuring the eunuch Li Jian, who was guarding the door, rushed into the front of Fengchen Palace and walked through the hall, and injured the eunuch Zhong Benhua, and was immediately captured, so the Criminal Department recommended that Zhang Cha be executed for the crime of shooting arrows and throwing stones at the palace to hurt people, and when the Yanshan avant-garde commander on duty made Zhu Xiong dismiss from his post and serve the people——

The sun is setting, the Jade River is shallow, and a group of Cilin officials are talking in front of the gate of the Hanlin Academy, all saying that the second trial of this criminal department is no different from the first trial of Liu Tingyuan, the imperial history of the imperial city, even if the criminal Zhang Cha is a madman, but a madman can break into the imperial city and the palace city, if there is no internal response, who believes it?

Wen Zhenmeng said to Zhang Yuan and Qian Shisheng: "The emperor should be most satisfied with the result of the retrial reported by the Criminal Department, a shocking case of breaking into the East Palace to murder the prince can be ended by only executing a madman and demoting a palace guard commander for the people. ”

Qian Shisheng said in a low voice: "Liu, Hu and others obviously cater to the emperor's wishes and don't want to delve into this case, and it is clear that the trial results of this case will be handed over to Dali Temple for review, and Dali Temple should have objections." ”

Wen Zhenmeng said: "Don't you know, Wang Shichang of Dali Temple, Liu Tingyuan and Hu Shixiang are fellow villagers in Zhejiang, and there will be no problems in the review." ”

Zhang Yuan smiled: "Brother and I are also fellow villagers. ”

While he was talking, Huang Zunsu came out of Donggongshengmen and came to meet Zhang Yuan and the others, Huang Zunsu was watching politics in the Criminal Department, and when he talked about the attack case, he was very indignant, saying that he had seen that Zhang Cha, who was strong and strong, with clear eyes, where did he look like a crazy person-

Zhang Yuan said: "This is not the final verdict, Dali Temple has to review, and there is also the supervision of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, we will wait and see what the case is." ”

From a distance, Zhang Yuan saw Mu Zhenzhen, Wu Ling, Laifu, and Wang Dazhui coming from East Chang'an Street, although Zhang Yuan's eyesight was not good, but he could identify the people who were familiar with him with a general outline, and immediately said goodbye to Wen Zhenmeng and others, walked to the north bridge of the Jade River, and hired a rattan sedan chair first, Mu Zhenzhen had already run over and asked, "Is the young master uncomfortable?" She knew that Zhang Yuan was very willing to walk and exercise, and generally did not take a car.

Zhang Yuan said: "I'm fine, it's okay, you and Xiao Wu go back first, and Sledgehammer and Laifu will go with me to Shichahai to visit Gonggong Zhong." He didn't know that the injured eunuch of the East Palace had Zhong Benhua before, but now that he knows, of course he has to visit, although it is an extraordinary period, but there is nothing to avoid.

After the fire temple, Zhang Yuan got off the sedan chair in front of the door of Eunuch Zhong's outer house, and saw Eunuch Zhong hanging from his neck with a splint on his right arm to send an internal official out, this internal official was nearly fifty years old, with a thin body and a sick face, standing still, squinting at Zhang Yuan.

Eunuch Zhong didn't expect Zhang Yuan to come, he was surprised and delighted, and hurriedly said to the official: "Wang Gonggong, this is Zhang Xiu, the champion of today's department, and he is a friend of the miscellaneous family who was fortunate enough to meet in Hangzhou. He said to Zhang Yuan again: "Zhang Xiu, this is the companion of the Chitose Lord, Wang An, the prince of Wang'an——"

Zhang Yuan said: "The prince is erudite and talented, and he is even more courageous and loyal, and he has been famous for a long time. ”

Wang An got Zhang Yuan's evaluation, even if it was a polite word, it was a great joy in his heart, and he returned the salute respectfully: "The champion is too famous, how dare you call yourself loyal and righteous when you are crippled, but you have also read some sage books and know good and evil." After a few pleasantries, he said goodbye and returned to the palace.

Zhang Yuan asked Eunuch Zhong how his injuries were, and Eunuch Zhong said: "The forearm is a little injured, and it is not a big problem, the Chitose Lord asked the miscellaneous family to recuperate outside the palace, and there is no need to be on duty in the palace for the time being, thank you Zhang Gongzi for your concern." "Invite into the tearoom for a seat.

When the two of them whispered, Zhang Yuan resigned, Eunuch Zhong ordered the carriage to send each other, Zhang Yuan sat in the carriage and thought about what Fang had just said to Eunuch Zhong, Eunuch Zhong didn't know how Wang An contacted foreign officials, how to find such a person as Zhang Cha, Eunuch Zhong has no connections in Beijing, this attack case is planned by Wang An, Wang An has a close relationship with Donglin officials, so which Donglin general is the specific planner of this case?

……

On May 22, the meeting of the Criminal Department was held, and officials above the sixth rank were to participate, and Lang Zhong of the Criminal Department reported the results of the retrial of the case, and then the results of the trial of the case were to be handed over to Dali Temple for review. In a mansion that did not know the street, another eunuch who did not know his name handed Zhang Cha a jujube stick, pointed the way, and asked him to break into the palace.

With a sound of "coaxing", the lobby of the Criminal Department suddenly exploded, and the officials of various departments looked at each other in shock, involving the eunuchs in the palace, and the matter finally became a big trouble.

Lang Zhong Hu Shixiang, who presided over the case, said sharply: "Lord Wang, the law of the Ming Dynasty is above, if you fabricate it, your crime is not small." ”

Wang Zhiyu said calmly: "Yesterday it was the lower official who took turns to be imprisoned, I saw that Zhang Cha did not show signs of madness, so he was interrogated in prison, Zhang Cha still refused to confess at first, only said that he crashed into the palace in order to complain, beat him to death and said so, the lower official threatened to tell you to eat, not to starve to death, Zhang Cha replied that he did not dare to say, the lower official knew that there must be a hidden secret, so he ordered the left and right officials to retreat, leaving only two jailers, Zhang Cha is a confession. ”

Hu Shixiang sneered: "So Zhang Cha is only confessing to you!" ”

Wang Zhiyu said: "Hu Langzhong really believes that there is no internal response in the palace, can a madman with a jujube stick break into Ciqing Palace?" ”

Hu Shixiang was speechless, this is the most criticized part of their second-instance trial results, and it is difficult to explain.

Wang Zhiyu said categorically: "The lower official immediately asked the Holy Messenger to ask the three legal divisions of Jiuqing Kedao to interrogate, and the truth was immediately seen." ”

(To be continued)