The sky above the Forbidden City was full of stars, the Qianqing Palace was brightly lit, and the reports of the factory guard's investigation were placed on the imperial case of Emperor Hongzhi one by one.

These reports are extremely detailed, and the movements and connections of the leader Zhou Licheng in the past few months have been completely investigated.

[On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the fifteenth year of Hongzhi, Zhou Licheng returned to his home in Changping County in Guozijian, and did not interact with others except for visiting relatives at home during the New Year's Festival. 】

[On the sixteenth day of the first month of the sixteenth year of Hongzhi, Zhou Licheng returned to Guozijian at home, and on the tenth day of April of the sixteenth year of Hongzhi, there was no abnormality in his deeds. 】

[On April 11, the sixteenth year of Hongzhi, Zhou Licheng bought a people's newspaper from the Suiya Tea Shop around Guozijian, and later criticized the state politics with the rest of the scholars in the teahouse, scolding this move for violating the laws of the ancestors. Near noon, he went straight back to Guozijian and did not go anywhere else, and thereafter, until April 26, the sixteenth year of Hongzhi, except for drinking tea in the tea shop, he did not go anywhere else. 】

[On April 27, the sixteenth year of Hongzhi, Zhou Licheng bought another copy of the People's Daily, and after reading it, he was angry with the scholars present, and then proposed to ask His Majesty to see, and everyone responded. 】

Emperor Hongzhi raised his head as if he was thinking about something, thought for a moment, then lowered his head and looked down.

[Zhou Licheng has few friends in the Guozi Prison, and has always been alone, and when asked by inferior people about the reason, this person is arrogant and arrogant, and he is disliked by others. 】

[Zhou Licheng's father is Xiucai, Xiucai's fame in the 17th year of Chenghua, since then he has repeatedly failed to participate in the township examination, and his supervision of Zhou Licheng is very strict, and he is often beaten and scolded, his mother is the daughter of a farmer in a neighboring village, and there is no official background in the family. 】

After reading this report carefully, Emperor Hongzhi stood there with the lamp in his hand, silent.

The scales in his heart had begun to tilt to the point where the matter was just an accident.

Maybe this matter was not instructed by anyone, but it was just a scholar's reading that broke his brain, recklessly, without making predictions, and as soon as his brain was hot, he ran to ask His Majesty to see him and do the thing that forced the palace.

No, even in their hearts, this is not called forcing the palace, but admonishing the country, and it is the so-called loyalty to the monarch and the country.

At least, the leading Zhou Licheng doesn't look like someone instructed him.

There was a whining sound of a copper kettle dripping in the main hall, and there was already some bright white by the window.

"Emperor, it's almost time, is the court meeting still the same today?"

Xiao Jing's voice came from outside.

"As usual. You go and ask to see how the trial of those loyal ministers is. If the trial has not yet been made, I will tell them not to try it, and they will all come to the court. ”

Emperor Hongzhi's eyes wanted to flash, but he didn't sleep all night, and his eyes were no longer bright.

"Let's let Xia Yuan also come to the court, get things done, and set it today."

"Yes."

Xiao Jing answered, and the footsteps gradually faded away.

At the end of the day, the Jingyang bell rang as usual, and the civil and military officials walked through the noon gate, and walked along the Jinshui Bridge on the side to the Fengtian Gate.

After tossing all night, Liu Jian's eyes were already a little blue, and Li Dongyang, who walked behind in order, Xie Qian. and even those officials of the Six Ministries and Jiuqing, as well as those imperial history officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple.

One by one's eyes were green, and at this time, many people were holding confessions in their hands, looking at Emperor Hongzhi who was sitting under the eaves of the Fengtian porch, holding their hands and bowing their heads, and shouting long live.

After long live, he did not get up, and the civil and military officials knelt on the ground.

Emperor Hongzhi's eyes looked at the folds they were holding in their hands and asked, "What are you holding in your hands?" ”

Liu Jian kowtowed and said, "Back to Your Majesty, what the ministers are holding in their hands is the confession of the interrogation. ”

"What did you judge all night?"

“.”

Hearing this, Liu Jian and the others couldn't keep silent, they interrogated all night, interrogated dozens of people, tortured dozens of people, and the screams and wails of the prison of the criminal department resounded throughout the night.

However, every scholar's argument was that no one instructed them, and it was purely spontaneous, and many people even wept bitterly, tearful and snotty, and asked them what these officials wanted to hear, and they only needed to say who they wanted to be the mastermind behind the scenes, and they would say who was the mastermind behind the scenes.

At this point in the arraignment of the case, from any angle, it looks like there is no mastermind behind the scenes.

But now no one dares to draw this conclusion, only one night has passed, and it is impossible to reply to His Majesty's will with such rhetoric, which is one thing, and the other is that there are still more than 200 people behind who have not been arraigned, and no one dares to make this conclusion until the end.

In case the trial is being tried, and someone suddenly comes to say that there is a mastermind behind the scenes, how can it be good at that time.

Even if all the scholars are arraigned, the matter cannot be ended, and they have to find out who is close to them, and which officials are suspected of having private affairs with them and planning this matter.

If the case goes on to the end, it is found that there is indeed no one to instruct it, but His Majesty does not listen to it, and if necessary, he will even have to find a scapegoat.

"The interrogation of the ministers has not yet been completed, and there are still many scholars and scholars waiting to be tried, these are the confessions of some people who have been arraigned and confessed, according to them, there is no mastermind behind the scenes, but only spontaneous affairs."

Zhu Youzhu didn't answer, but just glanced at Xiao Jing and motioned for him to accept these confessions.

Xiao Jing walked down the steps, collected the confessions in the hands of Liu Jian and others one by one, walked back to Emperor Hongzhi, and stood there holding this stack of confessions.

Zhu Youzhu stretched out his hand and picked up a few books and flipped through a few books at random, and then threw them on the imperial case in front of him, and said, "Let's be even." ”

Only then did the ministers slowly stand up from the ground, and Xiao Jing shouted as usual: "Today's court meeting, if the emperor says: Zhuqing, can you have a play?" ”

None of the ministers spoke, in their opinion, today's court meeting was to ask about the interrogation, and the rest of the reason was that Emperor Hongzhi had never been in court, and he didn't want to rush to court.

So at this moment, there was this court meeting, just a formality.

At this time, Xia Yuan stood up, "Your Majesty, the minister has a play." ”

Among so many people, perhaps he was the most energetic, and he slept well last night.

"What do you have to do?"

"Your Majesty, what the minister wants to say is that there is a tariff law."

Hearing this, the ministers present all looked at him suddenly, and his eyes focused on his body, Xia Yuan suddenly didn't hear it, but just said: "Your Majesty, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, taxes have been low every year, and the income has not been enough every year, and the treasury has almost no income, but the people under the rule are all poor, what is the reason?" ”

"The minister thinks that the reason lies in the tax law and the national conditions of the Ming Dynasty. The wealth of the people of the world cannot be kept in the hands of the people, and the treasury cannot be collected for the use of the imperial court, but it alone fattens some of these people! ”

Speaking of this, Xia Yuan deliberately paused, looked left and right, and all the officials he saw turned their heads, or looked away, as if they were looked at by him, and these people were talking about them.

Xia Yuan withdrew his gaze and continued: "Who these people are, the minister doesn't know, and the minister doesn't want to say it, there is only one thing the minister wants to say, reform the tax law." ”

"Your Majesty, the ministers advised to re-measure the acres of land in the world, implement the law of apportionment into acres in the world, abolish the poll tax, and no longer levy taxes according to the number of people in their families, but only on the number of acres of land."

(End of chapter)