After Concubine Zheng Guiluo left Qixiang Palace, she cried to Emperor Wanli: "Your Majesty, if Pang Bao and Liu are sent out for trial, God knows how those foreign ministers will instigate the arrangement of concubines, and the concubines will die without a place to be buried." ”

Emperor Wanli said: "Who said that Pang and Liu should be handed over for trial? ”

Zheng Guifei's sideburns were untidy, her face was mixed with tears, and she was puzzled: "Didn't the emperor promise his brother to ask Pang Bao and Liu Cheng?" ”

Emperor Wanli said: "Yes, I agreed, but I didn't say that I would send it to the palace for interrogation, I only asked the three law divisions to interrogate Pang and Liu in front of Wenhua Gate, and I also ordered the people of the ceremonial supervisor to supervise on the side, how can I allow the foreign ministers to arrange you." ”

Concubine Zheng was relieved at this time and thanked the emperor for his tolerance and grace.

In the summer of June, the outside is scorching, but the apse of Qixiang Palace is cool and comfortable, Emperor Wanli asked Zheng Guifei to sit down beside him, took a sip of Longyuan primrose tea, and said to Zheng Guifei: "Ah Xiu, you should be kind to your brother in the future, your brother has no other strengths, and he is better than benevolence and filial piety." ”

Concubine Zheng argued: "When did the concubine not be kind to her brother, is the emperor still suspicious of the concubine?" ”

Emperor Wanli smiled and said, "What a smart person you are, how could you send a half-crazy and half-stupid person to break into the East Palace." ”

Although Emperor Wanli's words were excusing Zheng Guifei, it was very harsh to Zheng Guifei's ears, and she said unhappily: "What does the emperor mean by this!" ”

Emperor Wanli said: "I don't have any other intentions, I just want you to understand that no one can shake my brother's position as the prince, otherwise there will be a big chaos, Xun'er is also very good in Luoyang, and he will be his blessed king in peace and stability, don't worry too much, you have also seen that I am not very happy when I am the emperor, but fortunately I met you-" As he spoke, he gently stroked the back of Concubine Zheng's hand, and her slightly swollen face showed a gentle look.

Zheng Guifei sighed faintly, when Xun'er was born, the emperor promised her to establish Xun'er as the prince, but then the ministers of the foreign court noticed the signs, and asked to canonize the emperor's eldest son as the crown prince The music flew like snowflakes, and the Empress Dowager Cisheng also supported Zhu Changluo, the emperor tried his best to delay it for more than ten years, and finally couldn't bear the pressure from the queen mother and the foreign ministers, only Zhu Changluo was the prince, Xun'er had to be in Luoyang - the situation is like this, it is impossible to want Yi Chu, Zheng Guifei is dead, and said: " The emperor's Enpang, how can the concubines not know, but Xun'er left Beijing the year before last, and our mother and son have not seen each other for more than two years. ”

Emperor Wanli explained: "Back then, the queen mother also missed my brother King Lu, but she couldn't see it as soon as she wanted to, the ancestral system was like this." ”

The courtyard outside the Xinuan Pavilion is blazing with sunshine, and the Wanli Emperor and Zheng Guifei, who have been in love for more than 30 years, sit under the long window in the pavilion, looking at the thick shade spread by the two ancient cypresses on the side of the courtyard, and are silent for a long time.

…… On the sixth day of the first month of June, Yanjing customs call this day the Tianzhen Festival, which is said that the people draw well water to make sauce vinegar, soak melons and eggplants, and expose the clothes to the sun under the lie, as the saying goes, "June six, the chicken should be cooked", the sun is the most blazing, the palace also put the actual records of the Lie Dynasty and the imperial collection of the Lie Dynasty spread under the Lie to dry - the Hanlin Academy is also drying books, Zhang Yuan, Zhou Tingru several young Hanlin followed the side of the scholar Guo Shu to help sort out the drying classics, about the beginning of the hour, suddenly there was an internal servant to pass the decree, the emperor wanted to summon the cabinet ministers in Ciqing Palace, Six departments and five government officials and science and road officials, in addition to the hall officials, the Hanlin Academy and two more writers went to prepare for the revision of the book and the history - Guo Shu suddenly heard the edict, panicked, he was in the Hanlin Academy for more than ten years, there has never been a matter of the emperor's summons, only from the record to know that the last time the emperor summoned the ministers Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue, Xu Guo, Wang Jiaping was twenty-six years ago, Zhang Yuan said on the side: "Master Guo, the emperor summoned must be for the attack case, Master Guo hurry up." ”

Guo Shu hurriedly sorted out the crown belt, asked Zhou Yanru and Zhang Yuan to go with him, Zhou Yanru was promoted to the Hanlin Academy last year, originally also revised, familiar with the Wenhan system, Guo Shu is old and takes a sedan chair, Zhang Yuan and Zhou Yanru walk, enter the imperial city from Dong'an Gate, wait for a while outside the Donghua Gate of the palace city, the officials of the six departments and five mansions are basically all together, and there are internal servants who come out to guide the officials into the Donghua Gate and come to the gate of Ciqing Palace.

Ciqing Palace is now not unguarded before the revenge attack case, but the guards are heavy, the first assistant of the cabinet Congzhe, the second assistant Wu Daonan, and the first to give the matter has arrived outside the Ciqing Palace, the ministers are all excited, the emperor has not summoned the minister for decades, the last time the ceremony was just a formality, this time it is a real summon of the civil and military ministers, it can really be described as a grand event that has not been seen in 40 years, although all the officials know that the emperor's summons must be related to the attack case, it is not a festive event, but no matter what, The emperor is willing to come out to see the court, that is the blessing of the people of the country.

The officials lined up in shifts, Fang and Wu were in front, and the eunuchs of the ceremonial supervisor were guided into the gate of Ciqing Palace, passing through the second gate, until the steps of the hall were down, but they saw that the Wanli Emperor who was wearing a crown of heaven and wearing a yellow robe had been sitting in the west under the left pillar of the hall, and the crown prince Zhu Changluo wore a winged crown and wore a red robe with narrow sleeves with a plate collar, standing on the right side of the Wanli Emperor, Zhu Youxiao, Zhu Youji, Zhu Youzhen, Zhu Huiyan, the four imperial grandsons and granddaughters stood side by side under the left steps, all wearing royal swallow clothes, standing upright and motionless. The expression looked a little nervous, especially the six-year-old Zhu Huiyan, her mouth was pursed, her eyes were wide open, watching a group of officials approaching quickly, she was about to cry in fright, she was frightened because of the attack case, she was sick that night, and it took two days to get better - the officials saw that the emperor was already there, so they quickly knelt down in front of the steps and saluted, there was no red tape, Emperor Wanli said: "I have been ascended to the Holy Mother since the year before last, and I am grieved, and since this spring, my feet and knees are weak, and I am not good at walking, There are a lot of gossips in the outer court, and now Zhang Cha has been frightened and killed, and he will stop Pang Bao, Liu Cheng, Li Wancang, and Li Ziqiang from questioning, and the rest are not allowed to affect innocent people, so as not to hurt Tianhe——"

Having said this, Emperor Wanli was a little breathless, rested for a while, and said: "The crown prince is the foundation of the country, known as benevolence and filial piety, he is thirty-five years old this year, so growing up, how can I not love it, and there are many emperors and grandsons, especially I am deeply pleased, but the outer court has suspected that I have other intentions, the kingdom of the king has been thousands of miles here, since he is not called, how can he fly to the wings?" As he spoke, he took the hand of the crown prince Zhu Changluo and said to the ministers kneeling in front of the steps: "This son is extremely filial, and I cherish it very much." ”

The sun was already very hot at the time, and the officials knelt in the light in front of the steps of the Ciqing Palace, sweating one by one, stretching their necks to look at the Wanli Emperor under the eaves of the palace, listening to the emperor's instructions, Zhang Yuan heard well, and he could hear clearly without listening to his ears, and thought: "The emperor is performing the deep love between father and son." Squinting his eyes, he looked at the Wanli Emperor's family on the steps:

Emperor Zhu Yijun has big ears, sitting there has a kind of pampered imperial might, the prince Zhu Changluo stands respectfully, Zhu Changluo is also obese, the father and son are quite similar in appearance, standing in the first place on the left step of the emperor's grandson Zhu Youxiao is thin and thin, at this time his eyes wander, he doesn't know where to go here, if he is in class, this is called distraction or desertion, Zhu Youji, who is beside Zhu Youxiao, looks sick, Zhu Youji seems to have died of infancy, otherwise it would not be Zhu Youzhen's turn to take over the throne of his brother Zhu Youxiao, Look at the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen, seven or eight years old, also thin, but his eyes are very bright, his expression is very focused, he is listening carefully to the emperor's grandfather, the little girl standing on the edge does not know what her name is, there should be no princess title now, this future little princess's face is pale, standing there and trembling slightly-Zhang Yuan thought again: "Wang An and others don't know how to find that Zhang Cha, Zhang Cha is a lonely man, the firewood and grass were burned by Erli and the complaint is not unjust, so that he is crazy and crazy and wants to sue the emperor in Beijing desperately, He said that he died in the prison of the Criminal Department, Zhang Cha would have suffered less pain if he died like this, otherwise the crime of breaking into the palace and hurting people would have to be even if it wasn't Ling Chi-"

"The emperor is very kind, the crown prince is very kind and filial, and the people of the world look up to him!"

Among the officials kneeling in front of the steps, someone suddenly shouted praises like this, interrupting Zhang Yuan's train of thought, and when he turned his head to look, it was Liu Guangfu, the superintendent of Henan Province, who spoke, and Liu Guangfu, who had gray sideburns, saw that the emperor and the prince were so fatherly and filial piety, and he was moved to tears, and couldn't help but praise loudly.

Emperor Wanli is old and sick, and in the past two years, he has often been dizzy, and his hearing is not as good as before, although Liu Guangfu's praise voice is not small, but Emperor Wanli did not hear it clearly, and asked Wei Jinzhong, the eunuch of the East Palace standing beside him, sideways: "What did that person say?" ”

Wei Jinzhong recognized that it was Liu Guangfu who spoke, before Liu Guangfu had gone to the palace city, the palace market was undertaken by the eunuchs, it was fat, Wei Jinzhong was in charge of the top ten treasury of the inner government, and the palace city was cut off from the financial route of Wei Jinzhong's eunuchs, Wei Jinzhong naturally hated this Liu Guangfu, and then he had an idea and replied: "Back to Long Live Lord, this person said that the emperor will love the crown prince." ”

This is literally similar to what Liu Guangfu said, but there is one more word "wish", the meaning is suddenly very different, Liu Guangfu is to praise the emperor and the crown prince's father and son's filial piety, Wei Jinzhong's paraphrase became Liu Guangfu's request for the emperor's kindness to the crown prince, isn't this just to accuse the emperor of not being kind enough to the crown prince, Emperor Wanli panted and said a lot, and took Zhu Changluo's hand and said, "Here is extremely filial piety, I cherish it very much", performed so fully in front of the ministers, but was "accused" by Liu Guangfu in public, wouldn't he be angry and reprimanded:" The inner court is filial piety, the outer court is unbridled and suspicious, and the traces are divisive! ”

Zhang Yuan knew that Liu Guangfu was a county magistrate in Zhuji County, Shaoxing Prefecture ten years ago, and had great political achievements, after Liu Guangfu left office, the people of Zhuji also built Liu Gong Temple to commemorate him, but this person was more stubborn and pedantic, and at this time Liu Guangfu wondered, why did the emperor angrily reprimand him for being arrogant and suspicious, he was not convinced, loyal ministers had to dare to speak, he argued loudly, Emperor Wanli wanted to stop him from talking several times, but he turned a deaf ear, chattered endlessly, and made Emperor Wanli's face crooked, and shouted angrily: "Where is Jinyiwei?" Where is Jinyiwei? Where is Jinyiwei! ”

But the emperor summoned hundreds of officials today, and did not pass on the Jinyi guard to serve, so the Wanli Emperor even shouted a few times, but no one from the Jinyi guard agreed, so he ordered the attendants around him to tie up Liu Guangfu and escort him to the court room to wait for the decree to be issued.

Wu Daonan is a Jinshi in the seventeenth year of Wanli, and he has seen Emperor Wanli several times before and after, he has never seen the emperor so angry, he is very frightened, and because he has been kneeling for a long time, he is dizzy, he fell to the ground, and he struggled to get up, Guo Shu, Zhang Yuan, and Zhou Yanru knelt behind Wu Daonan, Guo Shu and Zhou Yanru hesitated and did not dare to move, but Zhang Yuan had already gotten up to help, and the first assistant Fang Congzhe also took a hand from the side and nodded to Zhang Yuan - Emperor Wanli, who was sitting on the left door post under the eaves, was furious when he saw that the second assistant was frightened, so he barely calmed his anger, Ordered the chamberlain to carry Wu Ge Lao to rest outside the second gate, and it was Wei Jinzhong and another eunuch of the East Palace who came to pick up Wu Daonan, Zhang Yuan only saw Zhong Benhua at this time standing under the right step with a group of chamberlains, and his right arm was no longer splinted, presumably the injury was almost better.

Fang Congzhe knelt down again and pleaded for Liu Guangfu: "The minister is ignorant and vain, and he looks at Ji Tianwei." ”

Emperor Wanli was still angry, and took the hand of the crown prince Zhu Changluo and asked the ministers: "Have you all seen it?" Such a son, it is said that I do not love it, for example, if you have a son who has grown up like this, can you not cherish it? He also asked the chamberlain to lead the four imperial grandsons and imperial granddaughters from the left step to the top of the stairs, stood beside him, and motioned to the ministers to take a closer look at his good grandson and good granddaughter.

Zhang Yuan noticed that there was a water trail on the stone steps where the little princess was standing before, obviously the little princess was in a hurry to urinate, the royal rules were too strict, the little princess was anxious to pee and didn't dare to walk away, she was nervous and scared, so she urinated out, and when she walked up the stairs, she took a small wet footprint step by step, but fortunately, most people were attracted by Wanli's anger, and did not pay attention to the footsteps of a little girl - Emperor Wanli said: "I am close to the crown prince, my ancestors and grandmothers have learned from each other, and the ministers are arrogant, dividing my father and son, it is really a minister, it is really a minister!" ”

The ministers kneeling below also wondered, Liu Guangfu was obviously a word of praise, how did he become a minister who separated the emperor's father and son? It is expected that the emperor will use the topic to play and vent his grievances against foreign ministers, this is really unpredictable, and the words of praise will also touch the head, so it is better to shut up - other officials can not speak, and the first assistant Fang Congzhe can't let the emperor say it alone, kowtowed: "How dare the ministers do this." ”

Emperor Wanli saw that the ministers were shocked, so he got back to the point and said: "The crazy and annihilated Zhang Cha broke into the East Palace and injured the internal officials. He turned to the crown prince Zhu Changluo and said, "If you have anything to say, tell the ministers, don't hide it." ”

Zhu Changluo knew that his father wanted him to express his stance on the attack case, and said: "If you are such a crazy person, you can just decide, and you don't need to be connected." He felt that these words were not weighty enough, and he was afraid that his father would not be satisfied, so he continued: "How dear my father and son are, there are many discussions in the outer court, would you rather frame me as an unfilial son?" ”

Emperor Wanli nodded imperceptibly, and asked the ministers, "Did you all hear what the crown prince said?" Signaling Fang Congzhe with his eyes - Fang Congzhe hurriedly replied: "The holy oracle has been clarified, the people's hearts have been decided, and I hope the emperor will not mind this." ”

Emperor Wanli only then opened his face, with a smile on his face, and asked the attendants to tell the palace guards and eunuchs guarding the gate of Cining Palace, so that the late officials were allowed to go unhindered, and dozens of Taoist officials got up, knelt behind to meet Tianyan, and the Wanli Emperor performed a father-son love in public, in order to break the rumors of all kinds of easy storage outside the palace, and finally let the crown prince stand up with him, the father and son stood side by side, and the Wanli Emperor asked the ministers: "Have you seen it all?" ”

All the officials bowed down and praised, and Emperor Wanli said: "The crown prince went out of the cabinet to give a lecture again, and the cabinet discussed with the Ministry of Rites, the Hanlin Academy, and the James Mansion to hold it." ”

The officials were very happy, and the mountains shouted long live.

The eunuch Li En, the eunuch of the master of ceremonies, signaled the officials to retire, and summoned Fang Congzhe to the front of the emperor alone, and the Wanli Emperor instructed: "Come quickly, and wholesale without mistakes." "This is to rush to close the case.

Fang Congzhe returned to the cabinet, Wu Daonan has been sent back to the apartment to recuperate, and the cabinet is the only one, fortunately, the emperor has given the surname of the attack case, and it is not difficult to draft the decree, and immediately drafted an edict to deal with the attack case in accordance with what the emperor said, and the eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor waited in front of the cabinet hall, and urgently sent the edict to the Hongde Hall of the Qianqing Palace. ”

That Liu Guangfu really didn't know where the disaster started, at that time the other people around the Wanli Emperor did not pay attention to Wei Jinzhong with a "wish" word to let Liu Guangfu come to the disaster, although other officials have doubts, but this kind of thing can no longer be asked, verified, Wei Jinzhong's hand can be described as wonderful, killing people without blood, only Zhang Yuan guessed that it may be that Wei Jinzhong who passed the word said something from it, otherwise how could the emperor suddenly be so angry, because only Zhang Yuan knew how dangerous and vicious Wei Jinzhong was, and later generations had used "Magnificent shape, Words are good" to evaluate Wei Zhongxian, who has been a gangster to nine thousand years old, "Words and words" means that Wei Jinzhong is good at rhetoric and is very sharp, Zhang Yuan is vigilant about the future nine thousand years old, and when necessary, he must decisively help Zhong Benhua - on the seventh day of June, the Criminal Department intends to punish Liu Guangfu with a cane and dismiss him, and Emperor Wanli also thinks that the sentence is too light, and Liu Guangfu should be sentenced to death, which is a bit of a killing chicken and a monkey in it, and the foreign ministers dare not make irresponsible remarks about the attack case, Fang Congzhe and other science and Taoist officials wrote to rescue, but changed to the Criminal Department, the Metropolitan Procuratorate retrial.

On the ninth day of the first month of June, the three law divisions and the celebrant interrogated Pang Bao and Liu Cheng in front of the Wenhua Gate, and now Zhang Cha is dead, Pang and Liu of course denied that they had instructed Zhang Cha to break into the palace, only said that Zhang Cha was crazy and false, and they were not guilty - Li Ziqiang and Li Wancang of Jizhou have also been released to the capital, and these two people were tried in the Criminal Department, and they did not admit that they were instructed by Pang and Liu, and recommended Zhang Cha to break into the palace, and admitted that they had bullied Zhang Cha under torture, burned Zhang Cha's firewood and grass and beat Zhang Cha, and at the same time under torture, Er Li also confessed that there were many evil things of bullying men and women in Huanghua Mountain, Jizhou, and Pang Bao and Liu Cheng, two internal officials, had many protection for Er Li - Zhang Wenda, an official of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, was pro-Donglin, and Shang Shu pleaded that Zhang Cha was dead, Pang and Liu were easy to deny, and Wenhuamen was a place of dignity, so it was inconvenient to use torture instruments, and it was difficult to try the truth, and hoped that the emperor would agree to move Pang and Liu to the Criminal Department for interrogation.

Emperor Wanli did not agree to move Pang and Liu to the palace for trial, and instructed the crown prince Zhu Changluo to send a message to the three law officials, saying that they should not believe in the enemy, and they were innocent, but when the criminal department interrogated the second Li, they learned that Pang and Liu had done a lot of evil deeds in Jizhou under the pretext of repairing the iron tile hall for Zheng Guifei, and they insisted on sending Pang and Liu to the palace for interrogation, so the stalemate lasted for several days, and the news came out of the palace on June 13 that Pang and Liu were imprisoned because of the hot weather and the punishment, and they had died. Immediately Emperor Wanli issued a decree to clarify the news - there is no way to retry the Ziqi attack case, and there are rumors in Beijing that Pang and Liu are not dead, they were covered up by Zheng Guifei, and they have been secretly sent somewhere, but many people still believe that Pang and Liu are dead, because these two people are not important people, Zheng Guifei does not need to take risks to shield these two subordinates, or they are executed, which can be regarded as an explanation to the prince.

On June 15, Fang Congzhe and Wu Daonan, two elders, sent a message to the officials of the three law divisions that they should focus on the prince's lecture in the cabinet and end the attack case as soon as possible, so the next day, the criminal department submitted the handling opinions to the emperor, or convicted Zhang Cha as "really crazy and mistakenly entered the palace", Li Ziqiang and Li Wancang were sentenced to exile for abusing the villagers and doing evil deeds -- on June 18, the Wanli Emperor approved the criminal department's chapter on the attack case, agreed with the criminal department's handling opinions, and at the same time demoted Liu Tingyuan to the judge of Dengzhou. Hu Shixiang of the Criminal Department was demoted to the governor of Dengzhou, Zou Shaoguang, the director of the Criminal Department, was demoted to the magistrate of Lingbi County, Wang Zhihuan, the director of the Criminal Department, was demoted to the magistrate of Quanjiao County, and He Shijin was promoted to the magistrate of Zhejiang County, and Liu Guangfu, the imperial history who barked wildly in Ciqing Palace, was reduced to the people - three members of the Zhejiang Party and two people of the Donglin Party were demoted out of Beijing, and it seemed that both sides played fifty boards, but Liu Tingyuan was the leader of the Zhejiang Party, and in the case of Yao Zongwen's reputation was damaged, Liu Tingyuan was demoted again, and the loss of the Zhejiang Party was much greater than that of Donglin.

On June 25, Wang Zhihuan left Beijing to go to Quanjiao County, Chuzhou, Nanzhili, and Wang An, the eunuch of the East Palace, quietly sent him off, Wang An felt very sorry for Wang Zhihuan being degraded, Wang Zhihuan smiled and said: "But the East Palace is stable, and it is not a pity for Wang to die, and it is already the emperor's grace to be demoted to a county official." ”

Wang An said in a low voice: "Brother Xinyi, don't worry, sooner or later I will return to Beijing for reuse." "Wang Zhihuan, the heart of the word.

Wang Zhiyu said: "The lower officials are not for the glory and wealth he says. ”

Wang An hurriedly said: "Yes, yes, the heart is loyal, and Wang An is respectful." ”

Wang Zhiyu smiled slightly, lowered his voice and said: "The attack case is finally over, the prince's plan is wonderful, and it is the prince who really respects the lower officials." ”

Wang An said: "The miscellaneous family also has the guidance of masters. ”

Wang Zhiyu was taken aback and hurriedly asked, "Who is it?" ”

Wang Andao: "He is also an internal official, and his name will not be disclosed for the time being, this person is loyal to the East Palace." ”

Wang Zhiyu sighed: "There are many people in the world with outstanding intelligence and deep resourcefulness, depending on whether their talents are used for good or evil. After that, he waved to Wang An: "Say goodbye to my father-in-law." "Untie the cable and sail south.

(To be continued)